Trump tempts Christian leaders with promises of wealth, power and glory
Without me winning, he warns believers, you can’t have a life of hope

Wealth. Power. Glory. Being number one. Follow me and those can all be yours.
These are among the lures of Satan as he tempts Jesus in the gospels of Matthew and Luke.
They are also the words of Donald Trump as he addressed a large gathering of Christian leaders in North Carolina earlier this week in his quest for a return to the seat of the world’s most powerful office.
And his Christian fans don’t seem to notice the juxtaposition. Trump is literally casting himself in the role of the devil as he tempts his followers with greatness. And his Christian fans celebrate instead of dismissing the temptation as Jesus did in the gospel accounts.
After the last nine or so years, none of this is surprising. And while calling Trump’s words “blasphemy” might be a stretch — unlike his 2016 claim that “I alone can fix it” — it isn’t much of one. At the very least, they turn a narrow vision of the United States into an idol.
And Trump’s speech before the 11th Hour Faith Leaders Meeting in Concord, N.C., didn’t stop with the temptations. He cast himself as the redeemer of America and implied that Christians couldn’t have lives of hope and beauty if he doesn’t win the election:
So Christians, get everyone you know and vote. You have to vote or we’re not going to have the life that we should have, a life of prosperity and hope. A life of beauty, we’re not going to have it. We’re going to be fighting for our lives.
... We stand on the verge of the four greatest years of the history of our country. With your help from now until Election Day, we will redeem America’s promise. We will put America first and we will take back the nation that we love. November 5th will be the most important day in the history of our country. And together, we will make America powerful again. We will make America wealthy again. We will make America healthy again. We will make America strong again. We will make America proud again. We will make America safe again. And we will make America great again.
It is one thing for a politician to address the public and promise greatness, but Trump in his speech was specifically and explicitly addressing Christians — people whose supposed examplar literally gave his life by rejecting calls to earthly power.
While Christians supposedly seek to emulate Jesus Christ, Jesus’ ministry was never about seeking society’s ideal of greatness. This was obvious from the earliest days of his known ministry, which in the gospels was tested for the first time with the diabolical temptation, until the end.
What happened in North Carolina this week is nothing new; some of Jesus’ followers from the beginning have struggled with his calls to reject power. Even Peter, a prominent disciple of Jesus, didn’t understand early on what was expected of him; shortly before the Crucifixion, Jesus had to tell Peter to put his sword away after Peter attacked a Roman soldier, the representation of political power at the time.1
And just as Jesus wasn’t about building a power base, neither was early church leader St. Paul. He didn’t go about telling fellow believers to try to wrest power from their persecutors; in fact, his words suggested that doing so would be akin to rebelling against God.2
In his speech, marked by his typical rambling and often incoherent style, Trump made clear that he sees the nation as being in a sort of spiritual battle, with Christians on one side and the powers of darkness, aka Kamala Harris and her supporters, on the other. But in the explicit words of Paul, the spiritual battle isn’t against political leaders (“blood and flesh” in the Greek) but against “the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”3 And when Paul urges his readers to take up weapons in this battle, he isn’t talking military weapons or political weaponization, but spiritual instruments such as truth, righteousness, peace and faith.
These are tools that Satan couldn’t offer Jesus, and that Trump can’t offer Christians. When Christians believe that he can, they are on a dangerous path.
See John 18:10ff.
See Romans 13.
From Ephesians 6:12 (NRSVue).