What Has Donald Trump Said Publicly About His Relationship With Jesus?

What Has Donald Trump Said Publicly About His Relationship With Jesus? August 30, 2016

What has Donald Trump said about his relationship with Jesus Christ publically?

Donald Trump on Christianity

Donald Trump, the Republican candidate for the U.S. Presidency, has spoken a few times about his beliefs and has done so publically more than once. To think that he’s not being transparent about his belief in God is to not be honest with what’s been said publically by Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump spoke last year at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa (July 18, 2015) and said that “People are shocked when they find out that I am a Protestant. I am Presbyterian. And I go to church and I love God and I love my church.” This statement is not ambiguous at all. It’s crystal clear about what he believes, regardless of what the skeptics say. Mr. Trump recalls the late pastor, Norman Vincent Peale who used to preach at the Marble Collegiate Church in New York City. At the Iowa summit, he said that Pastor Peale was “so great. He would give a sermon, and you’d never want to leave.

Is Donald Trump Born Again?

Ultimately, only God can know for sure who is and who isn’t saved, because only He can see into the human heart (1st Sam 16:7), besides, the fact is that even Mr. Trump cannot make himself born again. That is fully a work of God (John 6:44). When you read John 3:3 and then look at the way in which it was written in the Greek, John chapter 3:3 takes on a much greater meaning. In this verse, Jesus said “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). The word translated into born “again” is “anōthen” and this means to be born “from above, from a higher place.” We could read this verse like this: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born from above (or born of God) he cannot see the kingdom of God” and be very accurate to the context and meaning. Is Donald Trump born again? Again, we cannot know this man’s heart, but listen to what he says. Dr. James C. Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, says he knows the person who led Mr. Trump to saving faith in Christ. Dr. Dobson didn’t name them because he was probably protecting them from a media blitz that would surely come their way. In an article in the New York Times, the author asked:

“Has Donald J. Trump become a born-again Christian? That is the suggestion of James C. Dobson, one of America’s leading evangelicals, who said Mr. Trump had recently come “to accept a relationship with Christ” and was now “a baby Christian.” [1]

From some of his comments, you can sense that he is relatively new to the faith because he does speak more about religion than about a relationship with Jesus Christ and having faith in Him, but not every new believer can fully express what it means to be saved. At least not for time.

If-you-confess-with-your (2)

Trump on the Bible

Donald Trump, even back in 2011, said that he is a Christian and that he’s a “Sunday church person,” saying “I believe in God. I am Christian. I think the Bible is certainly…THE book. It is the thing.” [2] He also says in this same Christian Post article that he has a good relationship with his church and that religion is a wonderful thing for him. We know that Trump’s taken a very conservative stand on social issues. For example we know that he supports American’s rights to bear arms and he is staunchly pro-life. Mr. Trump states a deep respect for the Bible and said that he’s given many of them away, however none of this seems to matter to the liberal media. They are more interested in finding skeletons than finding facts so the news media focus on the mud not the issues. They’d rather look for scandals than platforms, because scandals drive ratings up and that means more profits. They don’t want to confuse us with the facts, I guess. I say this because most will disparage Mr. Trump’s faith because of what he has done in the past, but that’s why salvation is so great. It’s not based upon what we do (Eph 2:8-9) or have done in the past (Rom 10:9-13). It’s about what God has done through His Son (John 3:16), not what we or anyone else has done in the past. God cleanses us from all of our sins (1 John 1:9), and He expects us to not trip over what’s behind us. That’s the media’s job, I suppose, because all they seemingly want to do is dig up what’s been buried long ago by God, and trying to resurrect things that are long since dead to God.

Conclusion

I cannot know Mr. Trump’s heart and neither can you, and neither can the media. We should give people the benefit of the doubt because we can’t know what’s in their heart. It’s impossible to know with 100% certainty where they are in their relationship with Christ or if they’re actually saved or not. It’s wrong to label someone as a false convert without giving a new Christian a chance to grow and learn. No one is perfect, including the Christian; it’s just that they have been accounted as perfect before God because of Christ’s work on the cross (2nd Cor 5:21). We don’t feed steak to babies because they’re not ready for it. They can’t express themselves that well until they learn more about life. So too with a new Christian. Is Donald Trump as Mr. Dobson called him; a “baby Christian” or a babe in Christ? Only God knows. We don’t. Give the man time; give him the benefit of the doubt, because ultimately, that is between him and God. God alone knows this man’s heart.

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.

1. New York Times, June 26, 2016, page A14 of the New York edition with the headline: A Born-Again Trump.

2. Christian Post “Donald Trump on Faith: I am Christian, Sunday Church Person. Aug. 11, 2011. Accessed Aug. 30, 2016. http://www.christianpost.com/news/donald-trump-on-faith-i-am-christian-sunday-church-person-49797/


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