Throughout the 1980s and 90s, I used Donald Trump as an example in many sermons. Those mentions were not complimentary, however. What I saw Trump was then is what I see him as now: a perfect example of what it means not to live as a Christian.
Trump and I Go Way Back
In the last ten years, I’ve met Donald Trump in person twice, but he has played in the background of my life and formation as a minister for as long as I can remember. Growing up in New York State, newspapers portrayed him as a notorious and greedy real estate magnate. He was regularly in the headlines by the time I came of age. My world knew him as a womanizer, conman, money-hungry playboy, and club-crawling Bacchanalian. At the Holiness Bible College where I had initially prepared for ordination, no one could think of a less noble character.
Back then, in the days before utterly politicized pulpits, the only time you’d hear the Trump Casino owner’s name used in an evangelical church was when a preacher was expositing scripture passages like, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (I Timothy 6:10) and “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone rich to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:24) There was good reason for them to use Trump in this way.
The Critique Is Justified
The Bible says God “hates” seven things (Proverbs 6:16-19):
- Proud eyes
- A lying tongue
- Hands that kill the guiltless
- The making of plans to do evil and the doing of it
- A witness pouring out lies
- Stirring up conflict
I’ve always thought Trump has long been guilty of six of these divinely detested traits and has every propensity to perpetrate the seventh. (While six are apparent, as for number 3 in the list, he said publicly, “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters.”)
Trump’s Violations
Trump regularly acts contrary to Jesus’ teachings and actions and what Scripture commands. Let’s look at a few instances:
- The Bible says, “humble yourselves” and “do not think of yourself more highly than you ought.” (James 4:10 and Romans 12:3). In flagrant contrast, Trump has repeatedly bragged about himself. In his Black Ink Column at MinnPost, award-winning journalist Eric Black documented just some of Trump’s pompous, self-aggrandizing self-compliments. Here are a few:
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- “No one reads the Bible more than me.”
- “Nobody knows more about taxes than me, maybe in the history of the world.”
- “Nobody’s ever been more successful than me.”
- “I can be more presidential than anybody. I would say more presidential, and I’ve said this a couple of times, more presidential other than the great Abe Lincoln.”
Failing the Enemies’ Test
In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, during which He delivered the core of New Testament principles, God Incarnate admonishes, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘Hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:43-45)
Instead of at least trying to achieve this virtuous quality, Donald Trump has consistently expressed unbridled contempt for those he considers his enemies. There seems to be no end to the hostility, verbal abuse, denigration, and even threats that Trump hurls against individuals he believes are against him. With help from researchers at the New York Times, here are a few of the slurs that got him thrown off Twitter before Elon Musk’s refashioned “X” reinstated the serial insulter:
- “Crazies”
- “Vicious”
- “Sick, very sick”
- “Truly disgusting”
- “Totally insane”
- “The greatest recruiting tool of ISIS”
- “Vermin”
Trump has called his former and very loyal Vice President, Mike Pence, whom he sees as traitorous for accepting the state-certified electoral votes in the 2020 presidential election, “delusional,” a “coward,” and a “p-ssy.” Trump even defended the January 6 mob’s cry to “hang Mike Pence.”
The Beat Goes On
As for other Biblical mandates, in a continuous thread from the Mosaic Law to Jesus’ Eschatological Discourse in Matthew 25, God’s people are commanded to show respect, compassion, and care for outsiders, refugees, those without homes, aliens, and migrants. In stark and offensive contrast, Trump has called immigrants, asylum seekers, and desperately displaced persons “invaders” from “sh-t hole countries” who are “poisoning the blood of our country.”
The True Character Test
On discerning character, Jesus said, “You will know them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:20) In other words, look for the produce, what grows in their garden. Suppose the owner is cultivating love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). In that case, you can rest assured the garden’s custodian is in sync with God’s intention for human flourishing. These are the kind of people that will make what’s around them better.
On the other hand, there is this warning from St. Paul:
“But understand this: In the last days, terrible times will come. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, without love of good, traitorous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. Turn away from such as these!” (2 Timothy 3:1-5)
Trump Opposite of All We Stand For
Perhaps the most abject proof that Trump is antithetical to Christian mores, values, sensibilities, and discipleship is his most recent “Christmas” message, sent out during the sacred season of “peace and goodwill“:
Excusing the Inexcusable
Plenty of my old friends and colleagues from the religious right continue to make excuses for Trump’s profane, caustic contumely. They brush it off as his having a bad day or being sick and tired of unjustified persecution. Reality is different, though. Trump’s dysfunctional relationships with himself, his family, his business and political cohorts, and even his donors and voters exhibit lifelong patterns. He could change all of it if he wanted to, but he clearly does not.
For earnest Christians, Donald Trump indeed remains an example–of everything opposite of what our faith seeks to promote.
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