There is a video floating around the internet that is…let’s call it…religiously disturbing.  It includes these lines of narration:

“God had to have someone willing to go into the den of vipers.  God said, ‘I will need someone who will be strong and courageous.  Who will not be afraid or terrified of wolves when they attack.  A man who cares for the flock.  A shepherd to mankind who won’t ever leave or forsake them.  I need the most diligent worker to follow the path and remain strong in faith.  And know the belief in God and country.  I need a caretaker.’  So God gave us Trump.”

This video, called “God Made Trump”, falls in line with a growing sense among his supporters that he is a divine messenger sent by God; a messiah akin to Jesus Christ himself.  Trump has only denied this by saying that Jesus is the only person who has ever lived who is more famous than he is.  Notwithstanding, he uses this video at his rallies.

Not only is Mr. Trump being painted as having “literally saved Christianity”, but he is increasingly being referred to in Christian nationalist circles as the “anointed” one.  Evangelical clergy have laid hands on him as one would during an ordination or commissioning of missionaries.  Large crosses were present at the January 6^th insurrection in Washington along with signs that read “Thank you, Lord Jesus, for President Trump.”

The fact that Mr. Trump is constantly in court feeds this narrative as well.  After all, who else was put on trial and persecuted?  Jesus, of course.  Just as the Romans went after Jesus, so the government is going after Trump.  “When they come after me,” he says, “They’re really coming after you.”  In other words, he is suffering on our behalf which is the common definition of Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the cross.

All of this is quite odd given that, as David Jones, founder of the Public Religion Research Institute offers:  “Trump has given us adequate evidence that he has little religious sensibility or theological acuity.  He has scant knowledge of the Bible, he has said that he has never sought forgiveness for his sins, and he has no substantive connection to a church or denomination.  He’s not only one of the least religious but also likely one of the most theologically ignorant presidents the country has ever had.”

Most social scientists don’t believe that Mr. Trump believes any of this religious attention but that he accepts it as a means of bolstering his support.  As David Gushee, a professor of Christian ethics at Mercer University writes:

“If people want to make him out to be savior, anointed one, and agent of God, he will not object.  It enhances their attention and loyalty and his power over and in this group.  Lacking any inner spiritual or moral compass that would seek to deflect overinflated or even idolatrous claims about himself, he instead reposts their artwork and videos and so on.  Anyone truly serious about the Christian faith would deflect claims to being a savior or anointed one, but he does not have such brakes operating.  I do not suppose that he actually believes himself to be any of these things, but others do, and it helps him, and it feds his ego, so why stand in the way?”

The deification of Mr. Trump is blatantly anti-Christian.  It is so basic that it shouldn’t need to be said, but for us, there is only one God and one Savior who is Jesus Christ.  Those who follow Christ are those who practice the ways of love and compassion while standing against bigotry and hatred.  

Radical Christian extremists today threaten to redefine our faith in some very dangerous ways.  It is important that we, then, do all we can to amplify our inclusive faithfulness to the one who pointed not to himself but to God; the one who came to bless and empower, not mock and undermine.

See you in church,

–Rev. Dominic