Jumping on the Trump Truck?

By: American Decency Staff

“Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God”– 1 Corinthians 10:31. 

How does that apply to the push and pull of this electoral process as we first choose a candidate and ultimately the next leader for our nation?  As Matt Walsh writes:  I do not think voting is excluded from this directive. We should make our politics subordinate to the Gospel, not the other way around. When we vote we should think, “Am I glorifying the Lord with this decision?”

So what are conservatives, more importantly, what are Christians, to think about the wave of conservative and Christian leaders jumping on the Trump truck?

Sarah Palin endorses Trump.

Phyllis Schlafly endorses Trump.

Diana West endorses Trump. 

Robert Jeffries (though not officially endorsing) however…

Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University, gushes over Trump as he introduced him before the student body of this respected Christian university.

Yet for every one of these conservative/Christian leaders fawning over Donald Trump as if he’s the last best hope for America and the savior of our national soul, there is a growing list of conservative/Christian leaders raising concern about a potential President Donald Trump.

Jerry Falwell Jr. heaped praise upon Trump, claiming that the candidate’s morality isn’t a factor when it comes to the presidency, because, as he stated to the Liberty University student body, we’re electing a president not a Sunday School teacher.  Falwell stated: “Donald Trump is a breath of fresh air in a nation where the political establishment from both parties has betrayed [its] constituencies time and time again with broken promises and a continuation of the status quo.”

Yet a counterpart to Falwell, Dr. Everett Piper, president of Oklahoma Wesleyan University, in writing why Donald Trump didn’t fit the criteria for a speaker at the university he serves, also stated:  Anyone who is pro-abortion is not on my side. Anyone who calls women “pigs,” “ugly,” “fat” and “pieces of a–” is not on my side. Anyone who mocks the handicapped is not on my side. Anyone who has argued the merits of a government takeover of banks, student loans, the auto industry and healthcare is not on my side. Anyone who has been on the cover of Playboy and proud of it, who brags of his sexual history with multiple women and who owns strip clubs in his casinos is not on my side. Anyone who believes the government can wrest control of the definition of marriage from the church is not on my side. Anyone who ignores the separation of powers and boasts of making the executive branch even more imperial is not on my side.

I’m a conservative. I believe in conserving the dignity of life. I believe in conserving respect for women. I believe in conserving the Constitution. I believe in conserving private property, religious liberty and human freedom. I believe in morality more than I do in money. I hold to principles more than I yearn for power. I trust my Creator more than I do human character. I’d like to think that all this, and more, makes me an informed and thoughtful citizen and voter. I’ve read, I’ve listened and I’ve studied and there is NOTHING, absolutely nothing, in this man’s track record that makes Donald Trump “on my side.”

I refuse to let my desire to win “trump” my moral compass. I will not sell my soul or my university’s to a political process that values victory more than virtue.

Rev. Robert Jeffress, the well-known and respected pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, gave his tacit endorsement of Trump – if not in word than in deed, as he appeared with Trump, introducing him at two Christian colleges in Iowa.  Jeffress stated:  "I want you to know that I would not be here this morning if I were not absolutely convinced that Donald Trump would make a great president of the United States." 

Jeffress also stated:  “I don't believe a Christian has to sell his soul to the devil to vote for Donald Trump.”

Yet Russell Moore, President of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, wrote: …One also cannot help but look at the personal life of the billionaire. It is not just that he has abandoned one wife after another for a younger woman, or that he has boasted about having sex with some of the “top women of the world.” It’s that he says, after all that, that he has no need to seek forgiveness.

At the same time, Trump has made millions off a casino industry that, as social conservatives have rightly argued, not only exploits personal vice but destroys families.

One may say that Trump’s personal life and business dealings are irrelevant to his candidacy, but conservatives have argued for generations that virtue matters, in the citizenry and in the nation’s leaders. Can conservatives really believe that, if elected, Trump would care about protecting the family’s place in society when his own life is — unapologetically — what conservatives used to recognize as decadent?

 In his “non-endorsement” (wink-wink) of Trump, Robert Jeffress also stated:  "There are many Christians who would say that while Donald Trump may not be the best candidate to lead Bible studies in the Oval Office he very well may be the candidate that has the best chance of beating Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders in November."

Yet as Christians who hopefully believe in the sovereignty of God – the God who removes and sets up kings (Daniel 2:21) – should our ultimate goal be to choose one godless candidate who has a better chance of beating an even worse godless candidate?  Or should we be aligning our vote with the principles of God’s word, trusting in His providence and plan for our nation?

In scripture when God’s people tried to take matters into their own hands it never ended well.  Jacob tricked his father into giving him what God had already promised.  The people of Israel demanded a king when they already had The King lovingly leading them.  The list could go on and on.

As Matt Walsh writes on The Blaze: 

Should we, as Christians, elect someone whose actions and beliefs run counter to our core values? … Our faith and trust should be in God alone, and we can trust another man only to the extent that he has faith in God. …

Second, our country was founded on Judeo-Christian principles, and it will only be saved if it returns to those principles. That is, if it rediscovers its reverence for God, its belief in the dignity of human life, its understanding of justice and Natural Law, its respect for and recognition of Truth, etc. If our country continues to ignore and undermine these values, we will be destroyed. We may or may not retain our name and our borders, but what’s contained inside will be dead and rotten and not worthy of saving anymore. This reclaiming of our foundational ideals will not happen just by electing a Christian president, but I fail to see how electing a power hungry secularist liberal could possibly help the effort.

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