Truth from the White House to a Nation that Needs It

By: Lisa Van Houten

What a difference a year – and an election – makes!  Last year, Joe Biden made a mockery of Easter, celebrating “Transgender Day of Visibility” on the most significant day of Christendom – Resurrection Sunday.

One year later Trump’s White House released an Easter greeting laying out the meaning of Easter and the salvation message more clearly than many wishy-washy churches will do this coming Lord’s Day.

The Presidential Message on Holy Week reads:

This Holy Week, Melania and I join in prayer with Christians celebrating the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ—the living Son of God who conquered death, freed us from sin, and unlocked the gates of Heaven for all of humanity.

…This week is a time of reflection for Christians to memorialize Jesus’ crucifixion—and to prepare their hearts, minds, and souls for His miraculous Resurrection from the dead.

During this sacred week, we acknowledge that the glory of Easter Sunday cannot come without the sacrifice Jesus Christ made on the cross.  In His final hours on Earth, Christ willingly endured excruciating pain, torture, and execution on the cross out of a deep and abiding love for all His creation.  Through His suffering, we have redemption.  Through His death, we are forgiven of our sins.  Through His Resurrection, we have hope of eternal life.  On Easter morning, the stone is rolled away, the tomb is empty, and light prevails over darkness—signaling that death does not have the final word.

This Holy Week, my Administration renews its promise to defend the Christian faith in our schools, military, workplaces, hospitals, and halls of government.  We will never waver in safeguarding the right to religious liberty, upholding the dignity of life, and protecting God in our public square.

As we focus on Christ’s redeeming sacrifice, we look to His love, humility, and obedience—even in life’s most difficult and uncertain moments.  This week, we pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon our beloved Nation.  We pray that America will remain a beacon of faith, hope, and freedom for the entire world, and we pray to achieve a future that reflects the truth, beauty, and goodness of Christ’s eternal kingdom in Heaven.

May God bless you and your family during this special time of year and may He continue to bless the United States of America.

This presidential message doesn’t water down the meaning of Easter or refer to God in some vague, innocuous, “unoffensive” way as past presidents might have done. Rather, it lays out the gospel message plainly and unashamedly – Christ’s atoning sacrifice, which paid the penalty for our sins; the conquering of death through His resurrection; and the promise of eternal life.  One theological bone I will pick with the Easter message above is that the gates of Heaven are not unlocked for all of humanity, but only for those who believe and confess Christ as Lord. (Romans 10:9-10).  As Jesus Himself makes clear: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” (John 11:25) Every person is called to repent and believe.

It seems unlikely that President Trump wrote the White House Easter message himself. And it’s unclear if President Trump has truly repented and put his faith in Christ – I pray that if he hasn’t, he will do so – yet how encouraging that he obviously endorsed this statement, welcomes prayer in his administration and is surrounded by Christians who bring their faith into his administration! As it says in Philippians 1:15-18, “…whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.”

In addition, showing that this message wasn’t just an action by the administration, President Trump followed by posting this hope-filled statement on his own Truth Social page, replete with his quintessential use of capitalization that he’s known for in his personal posts:

This Holy Week, Christians around the World remember the Crucifixion of God’s Only Begotten Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and, on Easter Sunday, we celebrate His Glorious Resurrection and proclaim, as Christians have done for nearly 2,000 years, “HE IS RISEN!”

Through the pain and sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, we saw God’s boundless Love and Devotion to all Humanity and, in that moment of His Resurrection, History was forever changed with the Promise of Everlasting Life.

As we approach this Joyous Easter Sunday, I want to wish Christians everywhere a Happy and very Blessed Holiday.  America is a Nation of Believers.  We need God, we want God and, with His help, we will make our Nation Stronger, Safer, Greater, more Prosperous, and more United than ever before.  Thank you, and HAPPY EASTER!

Yet, are we truly a nation of believers? 

It’s obvious that the number of Americans who identify as Christians has been steadily declining.  In 2007, 78% of adults said they were Christian, yet by 2023 that number had dropped to just 62%. In addition, Americans who don’t identify with any religion—referred to as “nones” —went from 16% in 2007 up to 29% by 2024.  It’s also important to note that “identifying” as a Christian, does not necessarily equate to actual faith.

In addition, a massive Pew Research study, taking place across 36 countries revealed that “a fifth or more of all adults have left the religious group in which they were raised.” Pew further emphasized, “In most of the countries surveyed, Christianity has the highest ratios of people leaving to people joining — the largest net losses.”  This should be a wakeup call to Christian parents and churches who are failing to disciple their children.

Yet, as it says in Matthew 16:18, Christ IS building His Church and there are hopeful signs for the church in America.

The same young people who we failed to disciple are ripe for harvest.  In the annual World Happiness Report the U.S. dropped out of the top 20 happiest countries and, as the report added, “if you were only to assess those below 30, the U.S. wouldn’t even rank in the top 60 happiest countries.” The report added this tragic information, “nearly one in five young adults in the U.S. said they had no one they could count on for support. And in the U.S., the number of people dining alone has increased by 53% since 2003.”   Coinciding with the drop in Christianity, levels of anxiety and depression among Americans have dramatically risen.

Yet the news is not all bleak; there are hopeful signs that perhaps America is on the cusp of a spiritual awakening.  The most recent Pew Research study, which has shown the decline of Christianity in America over the last two decades, now shows that decline has leveled off. Even more encouraging, is the growth of interest in God’s Word – from increased Bibles sales to the use of Bible/religious apps. The app, Bible Chat, has been downloaded 7 million times since 2023 and on the first Sunday of January this year, almost 800,000 new users installed the Bible app YouVersion, with 18.2 million people opening the app that same day. The Catholic app, Hallow, has also been downloaded 23 million times since 2018 and hit the number one spot on Apple’s App Store on Ash Wednesday, both this year and last year.  There is also encouraging evidence of thousands of young people responding to the gospel on college campuses, including Ohio State, Purdue, and WVU.  In addition, the Barna Group has released data showing a rise in faith among those in their twenties and thirties – especially young men. Barna also shows that more than half of teenagers are “very motivated” to know more about Jesus, with an additional 25% at least somewhat motivated.

There are millions in our nation who are hungering for hope, for meaning, for truth – and we have what they are ultimately longing for: Jesus Christ, who was so beautifully lifted up to our nation in the presidential Easter posts.

May we heed the calling in the presidential message and “pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon our beloved Nation” so that we truly could become a nation of believers.

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