Trump’s Holy Week Message

This past Sunday Donald Trump posted a couple of messages on Truth Social regarding Holy Week, and many of his supporters immediately celebrated as they saw it as Trump acknowledging that Jesus is our savior. So let’s take a quick look at what happened.

This was his first message that he posted on Sunday night, and it reads:

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!

Now I think it’s safe to say that Trump did NOT write this message. He has several people who help him out with his social media postings, and that was clearly the case here. However the ending does have a Trumpian vibe to it, so he might have had some input there.

Trump’s other post on Truth Social, also on Sunday, was this image, which included a short caption at the top, and 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.” –President Trump

On the image itself you’ll also see those words, although for some strange reason the first part of the quote is highlighted in yellow, while the rest is not. That is not something I did, but how it was posted on Truth Social. It did strike me as odd, however, how unhappy Donald and Melania look.

The quote on this image was taken from a lengthier statement on WhiteHouse.gov, which I’m not going to read here, but if you’d like to just go to WhiteHouse.gov and scroll down to “News.” The statement on WhiteHouse.gov was also clearly NOT written by Donald Trump.

But, it’s not so much a question of whether Trump wrote these things – which he did not – but a question of whether he believes them. Does Donald Trump actually believe that Jesus is our savior. To answer that, let’s go back in time.

This is Norman Vincent Peale, a man who most of us probably already know. He wrote the bestseller “The Power of Positive Thinking” which was published back in 1952. Peale wrote about a world that was more mental than physical – one that could be controlled by our thoughts.

Specifically, Peale talked about what he called: “… a form of mental activity called imaging. It consists of vividly picturing, in your conscious mind, a desired goal or objective, and holding that image until it sinks into your unconscious mind, where it releases great, untapped energies.”

Peale also claimed to be a Christian minister, and yet said this about God: “Who is God? Some theological being? He is so much greater than theology. God is vitality. God is life. God is energy. As you breathe God in, as you visualize His energy, you will be reenergized!”

He also said on Phil Donahue, “It’s not necessary to be born again. You have your way to God, I have mine. I found eternal peace in a Shinto shrine … I’ve been to Shinto shrines and God is everywhere. … Christ is one of the ways! God is everywhere.”

As should be obvious, “The Power of Positive Thinking” not only had a great deal of influence on secular beliefs such as the Law of Attraction, but on publications such as “The Secret” – which claimed to teach how to speak things into existence.

Peale’s teaching is also seen as a direct forerunner of the Prosperity Gospel movement, which emphasizes God’s desire for his followers to be prosperous, especially financially, and that wealth is a sign of God’s blessing.

But not only did Norman Vincent Peale set the groundwork for the Prosperity Gospel, he was also a powerful influence on one Donald J. Trump. Listen to how Trump described going to church with his family when he was younger, to hear Norman Vincent Peale preach.

The power of positive thinking was something that Trump learned in church and directly from Norman Vincent Peale. Trump would later claim that Peale told him that he was his greatest student of all time.

However, Trump’s version of the power of positive thinking adds in his own extreme narcissism and astounding disregard for the truth. Instead of “The Power of Positive Thinking” we’re left with “The Power of Repeatedly Lying.”

But let’s get back to whether or not Trump believes that Jesus is our Lord and Savior. A moment ago I played his comments about listening to Norman Vincent Peale speak, but here is the longer segment of that video, in which Trump was asked if he had EVER asked God for forgiveness.

What we heard is that the God Trump believes in is the God he was taught by Norman Vincent Peale. That God is a force or energy that you can mold with your thoughts for your own benefit. This is why he can’t remember having ever asked for forgiveness – there is no need to with his God.

And importantly, because Trump doesn’t see a need to ask forgiveness – or, as he said, he doesn’t even bring God into that picture – there is no need for a savior from those sins.

This means that anything Trump says about God or Jesus – including what he posted as his Holy Week Message – is completely insincere. He is pandering to Christians.

Thanks for watching and I’ll talk to you guys soon. ♦