Who knew?\u00a0 Donald Trump is a Christian.\u00a0 In all of his public life to date, I have never once been tempted to think of Trump as\u00a0a follower of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Now, don’t get me wrong.\u00a0 I’ll try not to question the Donald’s self-professed faith anymore than I do the self-professed faith of the current occupant of the Oval Office.\u00a0 But, self-professed faith — no matter who is making the profession — is not evidence of true faith.<\/p>\n
In the New Testament book of James, Jesus’ brother (technically half-brother) wrote these inspired words:<\/p>\n
“So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.\u00a0 But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.\u00a0 Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.’\u00a0 You believe that God is one; you do well.\u00a0 Even the demons believe — and shudder!\u00a0 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?” (James 2:17-20)<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In a recent exclusive interview with David Brody<\/a>,\u00a0Chief Political Correspondent for Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network’s CBN News, Donald Trump\u00a0stated that he is a Christian:<\/p>\n
“I believe in God. I am Christian. I think The Bible is certainly, it is THE book. It is the thing. I was raised and I gave you a picture just now and perhaps you’ll use that picture I found it from a long time ago. First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica queens is where I went to church. I’m a protestant, I’m a Presbyterian. And you know I’ve had a good relationship with the church over the years. I think religion is a wonderful thing. I think my religion is a wonderful religion.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Unfortunately for Mr. Trump, just stating one’s belief in God does not a Christian make.\u00a0 After all, Satan and his demons most assuredly believe in God, but they don’t obediently follow God by any stretch of the imagination.\u00a0\u00a0And while Donald Trump may have a good relationship with the church, does he have a relationship with the Lord of the Church –Jesus Christ?\u00a0 Religion indeed is a wonderful thing, but religion — without a relationship\u00a0by grace through faith in\u00a0Jesus Christ\u00a0and His shed blood on the Cross of Calvary and His death, burial, and Resurrection —\u00a0simply will not be enough for Mr. Trump or anyone else in this world, no matter how rich or poor.<\/p>\n
As to Mr. Trump’s church-going habits, he offers a rather telling clue as to just how committed he is to the bride of Christ — the church.\u00a0 When asked if he actively goes to church, Trump responded:<\/p>\n
“Well, I go as much as I can. Always on Christmas. Always on Easter. Always when there’s a major occasion. And during the Sundays. I’m a Sunday church person. I’ll go when I can.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
No offense to the Seventh Day Adventists, but it’s good to know that Donald Trump considers himself a “Sunday church person.”\u00a0 <\/em>If it wasn’t for all those “Sunday church people” <\/em>showing up on the day when most churches worship, I’m not sure what\u00a0pastors would do.\u00a0 Of course, with Easter coming up in less than two weeks, Mr. Trump will join all those other “Sunday church people”<\/em> who only show up on Easter and Christmas.<\/p>\n
From reading his bio online<\/a>, I do not know if David Brody, the Chief Political Correspondent for CBN News, is a Christian.\u00a0 Given the fact that he is in the position he is in, it would be nice to think that Mr. Brody is a believer.\u00a0 However, if he is a Christian, his analysis of Donald Trump’s answers is quite perplexing, but understandable given the political nature of Pat Robertson and his entire organization.<\/p>\n
Donald Trump has piqued the interest of some Evangelical leaders. His bold talk is something conservative Christians like to hear. . . .<\/p>\n
The fact that he has expressed conservative positions on abortion and marriage will make him even more intriguing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Who are these Evangelicals that Donald Trump piqued the interest of?\u00a0 Ralph Reed and Tony Perkins (here<\/a>), both well-known leaders of Evangelical political organizations, apparently think that Trump will be given a hard look by Evangelicals and social conservatives.\u00a0 If Reed thinks that Evangelicals will\u00a0like Mr. Trump’s “pro-marriage stance,”\u00a0then\u00a0the bar for being considered pro-marriage has been considerably lowered.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I do not blame politicians like Trump, Sarah Palin, and Newt Gingrich who conflate — either intentionally or unintentionally —\u00a0civic religion with\u00a0true Christian faith.\u00a0 I do blame Evangelical leaders like Reed and Perkins\u00a0who should know better!\u00a0 For any Evangelical Christian, particularly Southern Baptists — known as a people of The Book — to flirt with the candidacy of Donald Trump shows just how much the line between the true Gospel and politics has been blurred.<\/p>\n
If Evangelicals want to support a\u00a0social and political conservative, they should look to Mike Huckabee.\u00a0 An ordained Southern Baptist pastor and former governor of\u00a0Arkansas, Huckabee’s not afraid to take on the special interests\u00a0or the threat of radical Islam.\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0 And, he’s not afraid to say the J word — Jesus!\u00a0 Maybe that’s why he has done so well in recent polls.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n
I’m not ready to endorse Huckabee, but for Mr. Brody to practice the art of moral equivalency with Donald Trump and the other GOP candidates is absurd:<\/p>\n
“Does Trump have some landmines? Of course. Who doesn\u2019t in this GOP field?\u00a0 But Evangelicals seem ready to listen to what he has to say.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The only reason that anyone is willing to listen to what Donald Trump has to say is because he is a wealthy celebrity.\u00a0 Apart from that, there is absolutely no reason for\u00a0Evangelicals to listen to what Mr. Trump says.\u00a0 If he can’t even get the\u00a0religious lingo straight\u00a0for\u00a0his softball interview with\u00a0CBN, what credibility on religious and moral issues\u00a0does any thinking\u00a0religious conservative believe that Trump really has?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
I’m glad that Donald Trump says he believes in God and is a Christian.\u00a0 It’s nice to hear a politician say that they have a wonderful religion.\u00a0 However, for Evangelical Christians in 2012, the words of politicians can be both deceitful and dangerous.\u00a0 Responding to one word might get you a bowl of stew.\u00a0 Responding to another word might get you a promised blessing.\u00a0 Knowing which is which will be a test of faith.\u00a0 At the end of the test, let’s just hope Evangelicals don’t\u00a0hear an authority higher than Donald Trump\u00a0say,\u00a0“You’re Fired!”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Who knew?\u00a0 Donald Trump is a Christian.\u00a0 In all of his public life to date, I have never once been tempted to think of Trump as\u00a0a follower of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Now, don’t get me wrong.\u00a0 I’ll try not to question the Donald’s self-professed faith anymore than I do the self-professed faith of the current occupant…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,34,35],"tags":[46,202,219,3370,230,287,322,356,371,551,656,763,823,920,972,992],"class_list":["post-1846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-politics","category-religion","tag-2012-presidential-primary","tag-cbn-news","tag-christian-broadcasting-network","tag-christianity","tag-church","tag-david-brody","tag-donald-trump","tag-evangelicals","tag-faith-and-works","tag-jesus","tag-mike-huckabee","tag-pat-robertson","tag-ralph-reed","tag-southern-baptists","tag-the-donald","tag-tony-perkins"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LP7G-tM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1846\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}