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We’re in the middle of Lent, when Christians contemplate the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ to atone for sins. But during this holy season, there are some MAGA “Christians” (note the quotes) who compare the sacrificial suffering and death of Christ to … yes, the legal troubles of Donald J. Trump.
Take, for instance, the tweets of one attorney Joseph D. McBride, Esq., who is representing some of the January 6 defendants:
President Trump will be arrested during lent—a time of suffering and purification for the followers of Jesus Christ. As Christ was crucified, and then rose again on the 3rd day, so too will @realdonaldtrump.
Nor was he finished with his Trump worship.
— Joseph D. McBride, Esq. (@McBrideLawNYC) March 22, 2023
McBride also misused the words of John the Baptist from Matthew 3:12 in this tweet:
His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
—John The Baptist, AD 30
— Joseph D. McBride, Esq. (@McBrideLawNYC) March 19, 2023
Here John was speaking of the ministry of Jesus Christ, certainly not Donald Trump. For the sake of his clients, I hope that Joseph D. McBride, Esq., is a better lawyer than he is a theologian.
A woman named Reanna Dilley, who goes by the Twitter handle of “Randy the Savage,” wants her followers to think of her as a tough defender of Trump. She must also regard herself as a theologian and a historian when she tweeted this:
Rome tried to silence a peaceful leader via political persecution, and ended up creating the most pervasive & permanent religious figure in all of world history. Good fucking luck, New York.
Donald Trump is no Jesus Christ. “Randy the Savage” knows nothing about theology, or history, for that matter. According to the New Testament accounts of Jesus’s death, it was the Jewish temple leaders who were more intent on silencing Jesus, not the Romans.
Another MAGA “Christian” posted at Trump’s Truth Social:
To the wicked who are plotting against President Trump, who has committed no crime. Who has been chosen and appointed by Jesus Christ for such a time as this. May you fall into your own nets, While President Trump escapes safely. – from Psalm 141:10.
There are even some Christian pastors who are fully aboard the Trump Train, and one of them is Pastor Jackson Lahmeyer, who launched “Pastors for Trump” in December, 2022. Lahmeyer, who is the pastor of Sheridan Church in Oklahoma City, called for nationwide prayer on March 20 for Trump.
Lahmeyer is not happy that other evangelical leaders aren’t onboard with his Trump fanaticism.
Shorter Jackson Lahmeyer: If you’re a Christian you must support Trump, and Trump alone.
MAGA “Christians” have forgotten how Trump talked about his religious faith at a Family Leadership Summit in Iowa, 2015:
I’m not sure I have ever asked God’s forgiveness. I don’t bring God into that picture.
When I go to church and when I drink my little wine and have my little cracker, I guess that is a form of forgiveness. I do that as often as I can because I feel cleansed.
For many of us — Lutherans, Roman Catholics, and Eastern Orthodox, for example — Holy Communion is more than just a “little wine” and a “little cracker.” It’s a Holy Sacrament in which the Christian takes the True Body and Blood of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins — something which Donald Trump apparently doesn’t think he needs.
But he sure knows how to go through the motions.
That’s because Donald Trump, a master of self-promotion, understands just how to fire up his evangelical Christian base. He attaches himself to grifters like Jerry Falwell, Jr., who played at being Christian in order to send Trump millions, for example.
Trump also knows that MAGA “Christians” swoon over pictures of him kneeling in prayer, or in a prayer circle with sycophant pastors laying their hands on him.
Such an honor to pray within the Oval Office for @POTUS & @VP . pic.twitter.com/JrDOSJyFeN
— Rev. Johnnie Moore ن (@JohnnieM) July 12, 2017
Lately he’s been using his legal troubles to slather on apocalyptic rhetoric, as he recently did at CPAC:
The greatest in our history, most important battle in our lives, is taking place right now as we speak. For seven years, you and I have been engaged in an epic struggle to rescue our country from the people who hate it and want to absolutely destroy it.
So the MAGA “Christians” eat it up, thinking that Trump is the only one who can save the country because, they believe, he “has been chosen and appointed by Jesus Christ for such a time as this.”
Whatever happened to the First Commandment? Thou shalt have no other gods before me. For some MAGA Christians, support for their god-man Trump supersedes any doctrine or creed, apparently.
Featured image: angelofsweetbitter2009/flickr/cropped/CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
Scott says: I make no apologies for having been a Trump supporter, but this shit is just stupid, and these people need to get a clue. While I appreciate the things he did for our country, regardless of his going through the motions, I don’t believe President Trump is any more a good Christian than I believe that Gropey Joe Biden is a good catholic..
Cameron says: Sadly, this is going to be catnip for the left and the trolls that infest this site.
Scott says: Yeah, I’m shocked that Kevin hasn’t shown up with his particular brand of dumbass
GWB says: How young is that guy that he can claim “we’ve never had a more pro-Christian president in my lifetime”? Holy moley! Reagan was significantly more “pro-Christian”. (Nancy might not have been….) Even G.W. Bush was more pro-Christian than Trump.
I want to lay it out right here: most of Trump’s Christianity appears to me to be Progressive-lite. Most of his policies were Progressive – but significantly less so than the Democrats were driving. Progressive-lite looks a bit like Christianity, but it’s not. (And I’ve reminded folks all along that he is really an old-school Democrat, running in a party that has drifted left along with the Democrats.)
The “I’ve never asked Jesus for forgiveness” thing pretty much puts Trump out of the running for being welcomed with “Well done, thou good and faithful servant”* on that last great day. A small handful of beliefs are required to make one a Christian, and the necessity for forgiveness is a key one. (If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.)
(* As of right this moment! I will not deny him the grace I have received, until he draws his last breath.)
And, mind you, I am a Trump supporter (mostly). These folks are the opposite of David French, corrupting the Gospel with the world. (French spends all his time trying to remain so heavenly minded as to be no earthly good.)
If these folks would get back to work drawing Americans to the actual Gospel, they might actually make a difference in getting back our Republic. I don’t mean they should not opine on politics as it relates to God’s Word, but that they need to focus on God – only by doing so will they cause a revival that can revive the concept of responsible freedom, instead of imposed virtue from the State.
thinking that Trump is the only one who can save the country
And this is the very problem. If we were a monarchy I might even allow this. But we are a Republic, and that means it is OUR responsibility to run this country, to hold our elected officials responsible, to enforce abiding by the compact that established this nation as free and independent and the one that knit it together into a nation of states. There is only ONE Savior, and His kingdom is not of this world – only Progressives believe otherwise on that last bit. WE have to save the country by evangelizing Christian morals and American ideals (founded in Scripture, through the Enlightenment). Then we can be self-governing once again, and only then can we live out the compact our Founders signed for us, their posterity.
GWB says: But, Kim, you do need to take a step back and look for the derision that drips onto the page when you write about him. He’s not really any worse than any other politician. Be offended by the worship of him as savior, but don’t drip derision on him for doing what he knows works to get a base rallied and voting together.
I think you may end up missing some good that comes out of this (I hope, anyway) because of your ire for Trump. (I know you’re not a NeverTrumper.)
Taylor says: Kim – The Romans crcufied Jesus, not the Jews. The Jews could not force the Romans to do anything that the Romans did not want to do. Going back to Trump – he is a serial philanderer, bully, liar, foul mouthed, and a braggart. He is playing the Religous Right (at least a good many of them) for fools. Trump worship is just as odious as Obama worship. Both were and are incompetent men.
GWB says: While you are somewhat correct, the crowd shouting “Crucify Him!” and the folks who turned down a political deal were all Jews.
Nobody gets a pass from putting Jesus on the cross. Not a single soul.
As to being incompetent? I’m not sure that’s so. Trump has built (and re-built) at least two business empires. 0bama … barely succeeded at running for office, except on his skin color and flashy smile.
Taylor says: Horsefethers!! Everything we know about Pontius Plate – a cruel and rapacious man – shows that he is not the type of man to allow a Jewish mob (or any mob for that matter) to shout him down. The Gospels were written to whitewash the Romans because they did not want to anger Rome which pretty much controlled the world. Read Josephus and Philo of Alexandria and dispense with your anti-semitic tropes.
GWB says: The Gospels were written to whitewash the Romans
OK, I’m done discussing it with you, if you’re going to take that viewpoint.
But you definitely should not be discussing anything related to Christianity, as you reject it. (If you reject the Word, you reject Christ.)
Taylor says: How many bankruptcies has Trump filed? Ever hear of Trump University? He is a mountebank. Obama was elected and re-elected for one reason only and you know what it is.
GWB says: I said why 0bama was elected.
And bankruptcies do not make one incompetent. Thinking they do shows you’ve never been involved in running a business.
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