I believe that, as Christians, we have come to place way too much importance and hope in the political realm, especially since the second election of Donald Trump as president. Now that he is president again, what now?
Let me start by saying that I voted for Donald Trump. I believe that there are a number of issues concerning which Donald Trump’s beliefs and actions align with Scripture much more closely than do those of Kamala Harris and, therefore, I do believe that he is the presidential candidate God would have had us choose. I believe that his life may have been spared, by God, on 7/13/2024, for that reason. I do believe that it is entirely appropriate that we give thanks to God for Donald Trump’s victory. However, Donald Trump is a man, just a man, and we must be very careful not to elevate him higher than that, not to make an idol of him, not to place our ultimate trust and hope in him. As Christians, our ultimate allegiance must not be given to and our hope cannot be found in a particular politician or political party. We must remember that our hope is in Christ alone. Donald Trump is only a man and we have only one Savior.
1 Timothy 2:5 says “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” and John 14:6 says “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” We have one Savior and it is not Donald Trump.
As I said, I did vote for him. I do agree with much of what he is doing. Cutting government spending is necessary. The current rate of spending and spending increase is not sustainable, long term. Immigration reform is necessary. We should help the less fortunate, including those from other countries, but there are practical limits on what we can do and we simply cannot have open borders. He is doing many things that will probably be good for our nation, especially economically. Will he be good for us spiritually? I’m not as sure about that.
I think it is important to recognize that President Trump is most likely not a Christian. I can hear people saying “We’re not supposed to judge” and I’m not going to get into the theology of the judge and judge not debate. What I will say is that, speaking of Christians, Jesus said “You will know them by the fruit they bear” (Matthew 7:15-20). What fruit has President Trump born? He tends to talk about the Bible in very vague terms, when he talks about it at all. He does not appear to believe that he needs forgiveness for sin, one of the most basic tenants of Christianity. In order to accept Christ as Savior, one first must recognize that they need saving. On this subject, I have heard President Trump quoted as referring to God as “the ultimate” but not as “Lord and Savior”. I do believe that President Trump believes in God but I have seen nothing that would lead me to believe that he is a follower of Christ.
I think that many Christians think of President Trump as, if not Christian, at least Christian-ish. He is very conservative and Christian ideals generally tend to be conservative. He is a friend to Israel, which is very good, though I think he is wrong about the Gaza solution (Gaza belongs to Israel, not the United States). He tends to make decisions and appointments that help Christian causes, like conservative appointments to the Supreme Court. He wants to end Christian persecution by the federal government and he has even established an anti Christian persecution task force. President Trump certainly does some things that are helpful to the Christian cause. God can and does use whomever He chooses, Christian or not, to accomplish His purposes.
For more about God using anyone, see my article “No Matter What Happens, God Will Prevail”. You can find that here:
Article: No Matter What Happens, God Will Prevail
Having said all that, I think that many Christians put too much stock in President Trump. There seems to be this sense that now we can just sit back and wait on him to fix everything, for everything to be OK. That is a very dangerous sentiment.
We must trust God to take care of us (Matthew 6:25-34), not President Trump. Even if President Trump does manage to “make America great again”, that will not solve our spiritual problems. Actually, it may worsen our spiritual problems.
The United States was basically founded as a Christian nation. Some say that this is not so but, from my prospective, it is so. It is true that not all of the founding fathers were Christians. Of course, even in the beginning, not all citizens or government officials were Christians but the majority were. We never had Christianity as an official state religion that was forced upon us. After all, we left Brittain in order to get away from that kind of thing. However, it is clear that Christian principles did shape most of the major decisions in our early government and this was considered to be a very desirable thing. In fact, many of the original colonies required that someone be a Christian, in order to hold public office. We did not have Christianity as a state religion but, for the first almost 200 years of our existence as a nation, we largely sought the guidance of Christ and to glorify Him. In this way, a nation that the founding fathers did not expect to survive, not only did survive, but thrived beyond anything anyone could have expected. We survived a civil war that would have destroyed most nations. BTW, Christianity was the impetus for the anti-slave movement that was largely at the heart of that war. Our nation became wealthy enough and powerful enough that we, along with the help of our allies, were able to victoriously end the greatest conflict that the world has ever seen, World War II. Not everyone our in nation or its government followed Christ but, many, many did follow Him and truly showed respect for and lived out the things He taught. In this way, as a nation, we prospered.
Then came the aftermath of the aforementioned conflict. For over a decade Prior to World War II, our nation had been suffering the results of the Great Depression. After the war, economically, things were even better than they had been before the Great Depression. Unemployment and inflation were lower, wages were higher, and the economic cycle was more stable, with recessions becoming shorter and shallower, and, as a nation, overall, we became much more prosperous. Roughly simultaneously with these economic changes came other changes. Promiscuity among young people and the rate of divorce among people of all ages began to increase. The instance of substance abuse began to increase. The work ethic began to change. There came a rise in individualism, including an emphasis on personal truth (which is a fallacy) above absolute truth, which is, ultimately, God’s Truth. With the decline of the acceptance of God’s Truth as truth came a decline in overall morality. The very fiber of society began to degrade. Church attendance and affiliation began to decline. In short, many of us in this nation began to turn away from God and we have begun to reap the consequences of that turning away.
In light of these things, consider the following Scripture.
Hosea 13
4 “Yet I am the Lord your God Ever since the land of Egypt, And you shall know no God but Me; For there is no savior besides Me.
5 I knew you in the wilderness, In the land of great drought.
6 When they had pasture, they were filled; They were filled and their heart was exalted; Therefore they forgot Me.
The children of Israel had gone through so much, had been brought through so much by God, from the time He led them out of bondage in Egypt, through their wondering in the wilderness, where they faced many hardships, hardships brought on themselves because they did not trust Him, and yet, when they cried out to Him, He took care of them. This was so, not just in the wilderness, but beyond, into the promised land, once they were established as a nation. They became prideful and arrogant. They forgot that God, not themselves, was their Savior (verse 4) and, thinking themselves strong, forgetting it was God’s strength on which they depended, they forgot Him (verse 6). Does that sound familiar? Does that sound like, over-all and in a general sense, what has happened to the United States sense World War II? I think so.
Now, keeping this in mind, consider these words of Paul.
2 Corinthians 12
7 And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.
8 Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.
9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
God’s strength truly is made perfect in weakness. Those aren’t just some words in the pages of Scripture to comfort us as we go through our weakness. Like all His Truth, it really is truth. As I have gone through my hardships, He has taught me the importance of this truth. I have found that, often, it has been the hardest times that have ultimately resulted in me getting closer to Him. In the darkest of times, He was preparing me to receive the light that He would later send. Had it not been for that darkness, His light might not have appeared to me to shine so brightly, and I may not have received it as readily. This basic principle is far from unique to me. We need the backdrop of current or past darkness, in order to fully appreciate the brilliance of God’s light, in order to fully rely on His strength. We need the darkness to make us seek His light. Honestly, in general, we just don’t handle long term ease and prosperity all that well. Israel didn’t three millennia ago and we still don’t today.
Hopefully, under President Trump, things will get better, economically. However, especially given where we are over-all spiritually as a nation, our strength, or perceived strength, will most likely make us rely even less on God. Even with Trump as president, we are headed away from God. We must seek Him and He must pull us back to Himself. President Trump is not going to do it for us. We can’t coast along and wait on things to get better. They won’t.
Please don’t misunderstand what I’m saying here. I firmly do believe that there is still time for revival. For more about that, see my article “Is Revival Still Possible”. You can find that here:
Article: Revival is Still Possible
I believe that There is time but I believe the time is growing short. We don’t have time to just sit and wait. We must work, while it is still light (John 9:4). President Trump’s election may give us more time to work but I believe we are near the end. I believe that it may be years yet, quite possibly decades, but that many of us well may see the rapture of Christ’s church. I think that President Trump will likely make things better for our nation but we are no longer a predominately Christian nation. Just helping our nation will not necessarily help the cause of Christ. In order for that to happen, we must begin to turn back to Him. That is our job, all of our jobs, as followers of His, as those who make up the Christian church, not the job of President Trump.
Christ is America’s only hope. America is not His hope. Ultimately, we must work for Him, not for America. Ultimately, we must promote Him and not President Trump. We must be careful to be seen as people of His truth, people of His light, for it is only His light that can dispel the darkness of this world.
In order to let His light shine through you, you must first have His light within you. For more about that, please see “The Most Important Thing” section of this website. May the peace that only He can give be with you.
