Trump and Evangelicals
Though he claims to be a Christian ( Source ), Donald Trump’s words and actions call the legitimacy of that claim into serious question. Jesus said,
The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart. (Luke 6:45)
On another occasion, the Lord added:
The things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. These are the things which defile the man. (Matt. 15:18–20)
It does not take long to find examples in Mr. Trump’s speech—even on the campaign trail—where he revels in the very sins Jesus warned against in that passage. (If you really need proof, Michael Kruse has catalogued, “ The 199 Most Donald Trump Things Donald Trump Has Ever Said.” Be forewarned, some of the language is explicit.)
Though some have tried to defend him, most biblically-minded evangelicals recognize that Trump does not exhibit the speech or behavior that Scripture calls true believers to demonstrate. In fact, his antics are often directly contrary to the Christian ethic depicted on the pages of the New Testament.
A survey of his speech reveals that Trump openly celebrates, among other things, personal ego (arrogance), sexual escapades (fornication), getting even (revenge), exaggerating the truth (lying), and the harsh denunciation of his critics (anger/hate).
A recent editorial for the Christian Post summarized it this way:
Trump is a misogynist and philanderer. He demeans women and minorities. His preferred forms of communication are insults, obscenities and untruths. While Christians have been guilty of all of these, we, unlike Trump, acknowledge our sins, ask for forgiveness and seek restitution with the aid of the Holy Spirit and our community of believers. ( Source )
By contrast, Trump says he has never asked God for forgiveness for anything ( Source ).
It’s hard to believe that those would be qualities evangelical Christians would find attractive in a political candidate.
Yet, exit polls suggest that Trump has often garnered a higher percentage of the evangelical vote than the other Republican candidates. (For example, see here.)
The question I am exploring in this article is why?
Why are so many evangelicals voting for Donald Trump?
A number of possible answers have been offered to this question. I would like to survey three of the leading theories.
Theory 1: Evangelicals feel like outsiders. They are angry at the Washington establishment; and they are convinced that Donald Trump is the ultimate anti-establishment outsider.
According to this explanation, evangelicals recognize that they’ve lost the culture wars. Because their views are now deemed politically incorrect, they are looking for a candidate who is also viewed as a politically-incorrect outsider. They know Trump is not an evangelical, but they don’t care. They are happy to vote for a bully, as long as he has their backs.
In his article entitled, “ Why Evangelicals Are Born Again for Donald Trump,” Ben Domenech articulates the theory this way:
[Trump] is not one of them [i.e. evangelicals]—they know that. But they believe he is for them at a time when their faith and beliefs have become politically incorrect. They know he doesn’t care if he’s called a bigot, and that is a very powerful thing in today’s political fray. They don’t care if he’s a good person—they care that he’s a warrior for everything at odds with the elite opinion of the day… which now includes them.
A sense of indignation toward the political establishment may indeed explain why some evangelicals are supporting Trump. But there is no biblical justification for that kind of reactionary response.
First Peter 3:8–9 describes the way that believers are to respond to hostile governing authorities:
To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.
It is difficult to see how someone seeking to live out the truth of those verses could simultaneously support the brash bullying repeatedly exhibited by Trump.
Now, someone will inevitably object, “We are voting for a President, not a pastor.” ( Click here for a video example of this kind of defense. ) That may be true, but the sentiment behind the statement implies that Christian principles and biblical values no longer apply when we enter the public square. The consistent application of a biblical worldview to every area of life (including politics) demands that we carefully and prayerfully consider the policies and character of the candidate we choose to support.
As James White stated a few weeks ago:
“It does seem to me that those supporting Trump are divorcing a Christian worldview from decisions being made that directly impact the church, the proclamation of the gospel, and all sorts of other things that are directly relevant to the kingdom of Christ.” ( Source )
Theory 2: Some evangelicals are simply following the example of certain evangelical leaders who have publicly endorsed Trump.
Despite his brash demeanor, Donald Trump has managed to garner support from a number of high profile evangelical leaders.
Last September, a group of evangelical leaders met to pray over Donald Trump. The group included David Jeremiah and Paula White (see video here ). In January, Jerry Fallwell, Jr., similarly offered his support to Donald Trump, inviting the presidential candidate to speak at Liberty University. ( Source )
Just a few days ago, Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Church in Dallas, voiced his support for Donald Trump, calling those who refuse to vote for Trump “fools” ( Source ). Jeffress argued that Trump is the strongest of the Republican candidates, both for defeating Hilary Clinton and for stopping foreign threats like ISIS.
According to Jeffress, these political positives outweigh any perceived character flaws:
Some Christians, including a well-known Christian author, have denounced Trump for his “tone” and “vocabulary.” However, when I’m looking for a leader who is going to sit across the table from Iran or confront radical Islamic terrorists, I don’t care about that leader’s tone or vocabulary. I want the toughest, meanest, son-of-a-gun I can find! ( Source )
While Trump may indeed be a tough negotiator, Jeffress seems unaware of the disconnect between his support for a crass “son-of-a-gun” and his position as an evangelical pastor. Several months ago, Kevin DeYoung offered these helpful insights:
It’s not for me to tell you what to think of Trump’s policies, but I think by any objective measure he has shown himself to be someone who, how shall we say, would not meet the criteria for church office laid out in 1 Timothy 3… . There is something refreshing about a candidate who refuses to play by the media’s rules, but playing by your own rules is nothing to celebrate if those rules aren’t worth celebrating. ( Source )
Though DeYoung was not directly addressing Jeffress, his comments raise an important question. How can those who are called to exhibit the qualifications of 1 Timothy 3 (namely, pastors and elders) openly endorse political leaders who make an outright mockery of the holiness that undergirds those very standards? Taking it a step further: how can we instruct our people to use speech that is characterized by grace and the fruit of the Spirit, if we simultaneously endorse a presidential candidate whose words continually convey the exact opposite?
To make matters even more convoluted, in some charismatic circles Trump has been presented as the fulfillment of divine prophecy. One charismatic author relates the prophetic dream she had about Trump’s candidacy:
Suddenly, I was lifted above the United States of America and I saw the nation as if I was looking at a map. Written across the United States of America was the word “TRUMP” in big letters. As I looked at this word suddenly the letters began to rearrange and the word went from “TRUMP” to “TRIUMPH.” I then heard the Lord speak loudly in my dream “TRUMP SHALL LEAD THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA INTO TRIUMPH!!!” ( Source )
Another Charisma News article reports:
“Kim Clement, a notable prophetic voice in our nation, recently said, ‘TIME magazine will have no choice but to say what I want them to say. Newsweek, what I want to say. The View, what I want to say. Trump shall become a trumpet, says the Lord!’” ( Source )
Does this kind of prophetic, almost messianic, view of Trump explain why some self-identified evangelicals are voting for him? Perhaps so. It has certainly caused a number of evangelical leaders to express concern.
Consider Phil Johnson’s response to the enthusiasm with which Trump has been received from some evangelicals:
This man is not a Christian, and as long as he insists he is—and (evidently) manages to get lots of people to believe it,—my conscience is continually telling me I have a duty to warn my friends and members of my flock not to be duped by this swaggering loudmouth falsely masquerading as a messiah.
I’m appalled by the pathetic gullibility of hundreds of thousands who self-identify as “evangelicals” (presumably people who would say they believe the Bible is true) who nevertheless are quite willing to believe that this arrogant adulterer represents hope, or promise, or an improvement of some kind. ( Source )
Theory 3: Evangelicals aren’t really evangelical any more. The support for Trump from self-professed “evangelicals” represents something other than true evangelicalism.
In some ways, this explanation might be the most disheartening. But it also might be the most honest.
In his February 29 edition of The Briefing, Al Mohler suggested that perhaps the “evangelical” movement has changed so much that it is no longer defined by biblical principles.
Biblically-minded Christians thus need to keep in mind that what we are seeing revealed in this presidential election cycle is not just something that is shocking political scientists and party insiders, it is something that draws to our attention the fact that even as we have claimed this massive number of American evangelicals—and a part of that affirmation has been recent voting patterns in the United States—current voting patterns indicate that when it comes to core evangelical identity and core evangelical convictions, many of those, perhaps by the millions, who have been counted as evangelicals really aren’t so evangelical after all… .
What are American evangelicals actually looking for? We need to consider what this recent voting patterns says to the nation about evangelical conviction and about evangelicals as a group. If evangelicals do not overwhelmingly repudiate any association with this kind of racism and nativism, then there is every reason for the American people to wonder, as we must wonder ourselves, just how evangelical are American evangelicals? ( Source; see also this article )
Randall Balmer, writing for The Los Angeles Times, draws a similar conclusion. Balmer argues that Trump’s support is coming from a new breed of evangelical, the secular evangelical. He writes:
America’s evangelicals have become secular, more interested in the pursuit of wealth and political influence than fidelity to the teachings of Jesus. So all that head-scratching isn’t necessary; it should come as little surprise that the candidate of choice for evangelicals so far in this 2016 election season is a twice-divorced, thrice-married billionaire famous for firing people on TV, who belittles the disabled and advocates policies — on immigration, for example, or the environment — utterly at odds with the “biblical values” evangelicals purport to uphold. ( Source )
Bible-believing evangelicals have long recognized the gradual secularization of the evangelical movement. As worldliness has crept in, the church has become more and more like the culture. Perhaps it should come as no surprise, then, to recognize that the evangelical vote (as a bloc) no longer represents historically evangelical values.
Conclusion
What are we to make of these three theories?
I’m convinced all three help explain why a leading percentage of self-identified evangelicals are voting for Donald Trump. Many are angry at the federal government, and at the Republican establishment. They are looking for payback, and they believe they’ve found it in Mr. Trump (even if he doesn’t exhibit evangelical values in the way he acts and talks).
Others may be dutifully following the example of church leaders who have openly supported Trump, perhaps spurred on in some cases by alleged words of prophecy. Still more undoubtedly call themselves “evangelicals” when there is nothing truly evangelical about them. They are not concerned with thinking biblically about which candidate to choose, because that is not how they think about anything else in life.
(Of course, there may be other explanations as well. Some probably voted for Donald Trump simply because they recognize his name from “The Apprentice.”)
On the one hand, I often find trends in American evangelicalism (however one defines it) to be disheartening. This is no exception.
On the other hand, my main concern in this election season is to shepherd the people under my spiritual care, helping them to think biblically about every aspect of life, including the upcoming national election. I will not tell them how to vote. That’s not my place. But I will do my best to teach them the New Testament principles that govern a Christian worldview—one I hope they won’t leave behind when they enter the polling place.
Then, after it’s all over and a new U.S. President has been elected, I will remind them to place their hope in God, the One who “removes kings and establishes kings” (Daniel 2:21) according to His sovereign purposes.