Should Christians Support Donald Trump? (Part 1) - Adultery, Murder, Blasphemy
Submitted by Pastor Chad Wagner on Wednesday, August 21, 2019.
Image from Newsweek.
I. This sermon needs to be preached. 1. The blind support of Donald Trump by the great majority of professing Christians is appalling and shameful. A. This will be thoroughly proved in this sermon. B. Christians had a plausible excuse for voting from Donald Trump in 2016 because he said some good things (but there were also many reasons to not vote for him as well). C. But there is no excuse for supporting him after you hear this sermon. D. This sermon is not as much of a rebuke of President Trump as it is a rebuke of Christians and supposed conservatives who support him. 2. I am not saying that President Trump has done nothing good. A. He (through congress) did cut taxes, which was good. B. But the tax cuts only caused the deficit to explode out of control, so we will be taxed through inflation to pay for the tax cuts eventually. C. He has cut some regulations, which is good. D. But these good things, and any other good things he has done, do NOT make up for his wickedness and his disastrous policies. 3. Every single thing that I will say in this sermon will be backed up with sources (I have at least 170 citations in this outline). 4. So don't shoot the messenger if this sermon offends you. 5. I have never been supporter of Donald Trump (though I liked some of the things he said while campaigning) because I knew what he was by his fruits. 6. Here is what I predicted about Donald Trump's presidency in a Bible study (Isaiah 40 - Part 1, 51-53min) on 11-16-2016 one week after he was elected. A. "My prediction is that nothing will change. Nothing. In four years from now -- I could be wrong, and this is not a prophecy, so I'm not a false prophet. This is just my guess, okay. Nothing will change. In four years from now the military will be bigger than it is now, which he's already promised to do that. We're still going to be at war in the Middle East. Obama Care will still be in place, or at least most of the parts of it will still be in place. There will be no wall on the southern border. There will probably have been no deportations, or very few of them. Nothing is going to change. Abortion will be legal, of course. Gay marriage will be legal, of course. The debt will continue to climb. The debt ceiling will be raised, every single time it comes up. That's my prediction. Nothing will change. [Question asked: 'will any significant department of the Federal Government be dismantled?] No, no. I don't think any - I think we'll still have the Department of Education, of Energy, of Commerce, Health and Welfare, all the Planned Parenthood I'll bet ya will still be federally funded. Nothing will change. That's my prediction. So we'll see. Let's see, 2020, we'll see if I was right." B. All of my predictions were right so far with a partial exception to the Planned Parenthood funding prediction. i. The Trump administration enacted a policy that withholds funds from Planned Parenthood and other family planning agencies if they refer women for abortions (New Trump rules prompt Planned Parenthood to forgo federal funds, The Hill, 7-17-19). a. But Planned Parenthood still receives millions of dollars of government money through Medicaid reimbursements. b. "PPFA is the largest single provider of reproductive health services, including abortion, in the U.S. In their 2014 Annual Report, PPFA reported seeing over 2.5 million patients in over 4 million clinical visits and performing a total of nearly 9.5 million discrete services including 324,000 abortions. Its combined annual revenue is US$1.3 billion, including approximately $530 million in government funding such as Medicaid reimbursements." (Planned Parenthood, Wikipedia, 8-19-2019) ii. Despite the rhetoric, President Trump has been deporting illegals at a slower pace than President Obama. a. "Despite a larger number of deportations in fiscal 2018 than 2017, the Trump administration’s deportation levels still fall below those under the early years of the Obama administration, according to an Axios report. Under the Obama administration, deportations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials surpassed 385,000 each year between fiscal 2009 and 2011, Axios reports, citing data from the Department of Homeland Security. In fiscal 2012, deportations hit a high of more than 409,000, the outlet reports. But toward the end of Obama’s second term, in fiscal 2015 and 2016, deportations fell below 250,000 people per year. By comparison, ICE deportations under President Trump dropped to about 226,000 in fiscal 2017, according to Axios. This number jumped to more than 250,000 in fiscal 2018. The Trump administration hit its highest total yet this fiscal year, with more than 282,000 deportations as of June. Trump has made immigration a core issue for his administration since he took office. On Monday, he issued a surprise announcement threatening to deport “millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States.”" (Trump deporting immigrants at slower pace than Obama: report, The Hill, 6-21-2019) II. It's not wrong to criticize a wicked ruler. 1. Elijah rebuked king Ahab (1Ki 18:18). 2. Elisha called the king of Israel a son of murder (2Ki 6:32). 3. A prophet rebuked king Amaziah (2Ch 25:16). 4. Ezekiel called the king of Israel a profane wicked prince (Eze 21:25). 5. Daniel told king Nebuchadnezzar to repent (Dan 4:27). 6. Daniel rebuked king Belshazzar (Dan 5:22-23). 7. John the Baptist reproved Herod for adultery and for his evils (Luk 3:19-20; Mar 6:17-18). 8. Jesus called the ruler of the synagogue a hypocrite (Luk 13:14-16). 9. Jesus called Herod a fox (Luk 13:32). 10. How many Christians and pastors are rebuking President Trump for his wickedness and hypocrisy (which will be thoroughly documented in this study)? III. Christians everywhere praise Donald Trump. 1. The vast majority of white evangelicals support Donald Trump. A. "Roughly seven-in-ten white evangelical Protestants (69%) say they approve of the way Trump is handling his job as president, according to the Center’s latest polling in January 2019. This is somewhat lower than Trump’s approval rating in the earliest days of his tenure – when about eight-in-ten white evangelicals (78%) approved of his job performance – but is in line with most polls conducted by the Center since the inauguration." (Evangelical approval of Trump remains high, but other religious groups are less supportive, Pew Research Center, 3-18-2019) B. "White evangelical Protestants who regularly attend church (that is, once a week or more) approve of Trump at rates matching or exceeding those of white evangelicals who attend church less often. Indeed, in the first few months of Trump’s presidency, white evangelicals who attended church at least weekly were significantly more likely than less-frequent churchgoers to approve of Trump’s performance (79% vs. 71%). In the most recent period analyzed – from July 2018 to January 2019 – 70% of white evangelicals who attend church at least once a week approve of Trump, as do 65% of those who attend religious services less often." (Evangelical approval of Trump remains high, but other religious groups are less supportive, Pew Research Center, 3-18-2019) C. "President Donald Trump's support among white evangelicals has remained at a steady high since taking office in January 2017, according to polls. The latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, released Monday, found that 73 percent of white evangelical Christians approve of the job Trump is doing as president, while only 23 disapprove. Four percent indicated they were unsure." (Nearly Three-Quarters Of White Evangelicals Approve Of Donald Trump, Newsweek, 7-22-2019) D. That means that nearly three quarters of "Christians" today are either ignorant of the truth about Donald Trump (will be thoroughly proved in this sermon), or they are morally reprehensible hypocrites. 2. Here are a few quotes from "Christian" leaders about Donald Trump. A. Jerry Falwell Jr. i. "Matthew 7:16 tells us that by their fruits you shall know them. Donald Trump's life has borne fruit, fruit that has provided jobs to multitudes of people in addition to the many he has helped with his generosity." (Jerry Falwell Jr., Brainy Quote) ii. "In my opinion, Donald Trump lives a life of loving and helping others as Jesus taught in the great commandment. He cannot be bought; he's not a puppet on a string like many other candidates... who have wealthy donors as their puppet masters." (Jerry Falwell Jr., Brainy Quote) iii. "I see a lot of parallels between my father and Donald Trump." (Jerry Falwell Jr., Brainy Quote) iv. "Q: You and other white evangelical leaders have strongly supported President Donald Trump. What about him exemplifies Christianity and earns him your support? "A: What earns him my support is his business acumen. Our country was so deep in debt and so mismanaged by career politicians that we needed someone who was not a career politician, but someone who'd been successful in business to run the country like a business. That's the reason I supported him." (Jerry Falwell Jr. interview: Evangelical leader praises Trump's business acumen, says poor don't give to charity, Chicago Tribune, 1-2-2019) v. "Q: The deficit and debt have increased during his first two years. "A: Yeah, Congress, the spending bill that they forced on him in order to get the military spending up to where it needed to be - he said that would be the last time he signed one of those. But he had no choice because (President Barack) Obama had decimated the military, and it had to be rebuilt." (Jerry Falwell Jr. interview: Evangelical leader praises Trump's business acumen, says poor don't give to charity, Chicago Tribune, 1-2-2019) vi. "Q: Is there anything President Trump could do that would endanger that support from you or other evangelical leaders? "A: No. "Q: That's the shortest answer we've had so far. "A: Only because I know that he only wants what's best for this country, and I know anything he does, it may not be ideologically "conservative," but it's going to be what's best for this country, and I can't imagine him doing anything that's not good for the country." (Jerry Falwell Jr. interview: Evangelical leader praises Trump's business acumen, says poor don't give to charity, Chicago Tribune, 1-2-2019) vii. "Asked if the president was a good moral example, Falwell said: “Absolutely. Ever since I’ve known him, he’s been a good, moral person, a strong leader, a tough leader – and that’s what this country needs.”" (Christian leader Jerry Falwell urges Trump support: 'He’s a moral person', The Guardian, 10-9-2018) B. Franklin Graham (Billy Graham's son) i. "The economy - 8,000 points on the DOW, that's incredible, 31% growth - that hasn't happened since FDR. This benefits everybody. If you've got a 401k, you are benefiting. And for me a Christian, it supports the work that we do. Whether you're an atheist, whether you're a Catholic, whether you're a Protestant, a Jew, it doesn't matter, we all are benefiting from this man. He's a business man. He's not a politician. And that's what I think is so good. He doesn't play by the politicians rules. He's a business man whose trying to fix a broken system. And so as a Christian I support him and pray for him. It doesn't mean he's perfect; he's not President Perfect, but he's got his flaws like we all do. But he is certainly trying to fix this nation so it'll be better for my grandchildren and his grandchildren. So I say God bless the man and let's move forward." (Franklin Graham interviewed on Fox News, January, 2018) ii. "President Trump has been defending Christians. And I find this refreshing to have a president whose not afraid to say Jesus, he's not afraid to have prayers where people end in the name of Jesus. We've never had this, not in my lifetime. And he defends the Christian faith more than any president in my lifetime." (Franklin Graham interviewed on Fox News, January, 2018) C. Ralph Reed, founder and chairman of the Faith & Freedom Coalition i. "“There has never been anyone who has defended us and who has fought for us, who we have loved more than Donald J. Trump. No one!” (Ralph Reed, Gerson: Evangelicals praise Trump at steep moral consequence, Statesman, 7-1-2019) D. Michele Bachmann, former US Congresswoman from Minnesota i. "Donald Trump has had the courage in (sic) the fortitude, and I will say to your listeners in my lifetime I have never seen a more biblical president than I have seen in Donald Trump." (Michele Bachmann praises Trump: Americans will 'never see a more godly, biblical president', The Hill, 4-16-2019) ii. "And I would say to your listeners we will in all likelihood never see a more godly, biblical president again in our lifetimes so we need to be not only praying for him; we need to support him, in my opinion." (Michele Bachmann praises Trump: Americans will 'never see a more godly, biblical president', The Hill, 4-16-2019) 3. Why do Christians and pastors support and praise President Trump given what we are going to learn about him in this study? A. The unjust should be an abomination to the just (Pro 29:27). B. Woe unto them that call good evil and evil good! (Isa 5:20) C. We are surrounded by wicked people because the vilest men are exalted (Psa 12:8). D. Those that call the wicked righteous deserve to be cursed (Pro 24:24). E. It will be proven in this study that President Trump is an ungodly and hypocritical man. IV. Why do Christians support and defend a wicked man like Donald Trump considering the following things about him? V. President Trump is an ungodly reprobate. 1. President Trump is an adulterer (Heb 13:4). A. Trump was secretly recorded on an Access Hollywood bus in 2005 saying, "I moved on her actually. You know she was down on Palm Beach. I moved on her and I failed. I'll admit it. I did try and (bleep) her. She was married. No, no. Nancy. No this was... And I moved on her very heavily, in fact I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. I said I'll show you where they have some nice furniture. I took her out furniture. I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn't get there, and she was married......I'm automatically attracted to beautiful - I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything." (Trump's uncensored lewd comments about women from 2005, YouTube, 10-7-2016) B. It has been alleged that Donald Trump has committed adultery against all three of his wives (How Many Times Has Trump Cheated On His Wives? Here's What We Know, Newsweek, 1-12-2018) 2. President Trump is a blasphemer (Exo 20:7). A. President Trump has publicly used the Lord's name in vain at least twice. B. Speaking about a rich business man he had spoken to recently, President Trump said the following. i. "I said, you know, you don't like me and I don't like you, I never have liked you and you never have liked me; but you're gonna support me because you're a rich guy, and if you don’t support me, you're gonna to be so God damn poor, you're not gonna believe it. (audience cheers)" (Trump Tells Businessman: You're Going to Vote for Me or You're Going to be So Goddam Poor, YouTube, Greenville, NC, 7-17-2019) C. At the same rally President Trump again used the Lord's name in vain when referring to bombing ISIS militants. i. "They'll be hit so God damn hard," (FULL RALLY: President Trump Rally in Greenville, North Carolina, YouTube - 1:22:38, 7-17-2019) 3. President Trump is a murderer (Mat 19:18; Psa 10:8). A. President Trump has continued the war in Afghanistan. i. Before he was president, Donald Trump said repeatedly that the US needs to get out of Afghanistan. a. "Why are we continuing to train these Afghanis who then shoot our soldiers in the back? Afghanistan is a complete waste. Time to come home!" (Donald Trump, Twitter, 8-21-2012) b. "Let’s get out of Afghanistan. Our troops are being killed by the Afghanis we train and we waste billions there. Nonsense! Rebuild the USA." (Donald Trump, Twitter, 1-11-2013) c. "I agree with Pres. Obama on Afghanistan. We should have a speedy withdrawal. Why should we keep wasting our money -- rebuild the U.S.!" (Donald Trump, Twitter, 1-14-2013) d. "We should leave Afghanistan immediately. No more wasted lives. If we have to go back in, we go in hard & quick. Rebuild the US first." (Donald Trump, Twitter, 3-1-2013) e. "We have wasted an enormous amount of blood and treasure in Afghanistan. Their government has zero appreciation. Let's get out!" (Donald Trump, Twitter, 11-21-2013) f. "Do not allow our very stupid leaders to sign a deal that keeps us in Afghanistan through 2024-with all costs by U.S.A. MAKE AMERICA GREAT!" (Donald Trump, Twitter, 11-21-2013) ii. Two and a half years into Donald Trump's presidency, he is still killing civilians by the thousands in Afghanistan. a. "Afghan security forces and their American-led international allies have killed more civilians so far this year than the Taliban have, the United Nations said in a report on Tuesday, once again raising alarm that ordinary Afghans are bearing the brunt of an increasingly deadly 18-year war. In the first six months of the year, the conflict killed nearly 1,400 civilians and wounded about 2,400 more. Afghan forces and their allies caused 52 percent of the civilian deaths compared with 39 percent attributable to militants — mostly the Taliban, but also the Islamic State. The figures do not total 100 percent because responsibility for some deaths could not be definitively established. The higher civilian death toll caused by Afghan and American forces comes from their greater reliance on airstrikes, which are particularly deadly for civilians. The United Nations said airstrikes resulted in 363 civilian deaths and 156 civilian injuries. “While the number of injured decreased, the number of civilians killed more than doubled in comparison to the first six months of 2018, highlighting the lethal character of this tactic,” the United Nations report said, referring to airstrikes." (Afghan and U.S. Forces Blamed for Killing More Civilians This Year Than Taliban Have, The New York Times, 7-30-2019) B. President Trump has continued the war in Yemen. i. Saudi Arabia (aided by the US military) has been waging a brutal war against Yemen since 2015. ii. There have been over 17,000 civilians killed and 50,000 people starved to death by this senseless war. a. "Concurrently, a coalition led by Saudi Arabia launched military operations by using air strikes to restore the former Yemeni government. The United States provided intelligence and logistical support for the campaign. According to the UN and other sources, from March 2015 to December 2017, between 8,670–13,600 people were killed in Yemen, including more than 5,200 civilians, as well as estimates of more than 50,000 dead as a result of an ongoing famine due to the war. "The conflict has been widely seen as an extension of the Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict and as a means to combat Iranian influence in the region. In 2018, the United Nations warned that 13 million Yemeni civilians face starvation in what it says could become "the worst famine in the world in 100 years." "The international community has sharply condemned the Saudi Arabian-led bombing campaign, which has included widespread bombing of civilian areas. The bombing campaign has killed or injured an estimated 17,729 civilians as of March 2019 according to the Yemen Data Project. Despite this, the crisis has only recently begun to gain as much international media as the Syrian civil war. "The US has been providing bombs to aid the Saudi forces and airstrikes in Yemen. In March 2019, this has led the US Senate to pass a resolution to end US support of Saudi Arabia. It has since been vetoed by President of the United States Donald Trump, and in May, the Senate failed to override the veto." (Yemeni Civil War (2015–present), Wikipedia, 8-6-2019) iii. Congress passed a bill that would have stopped the US military from aiding Saudi Arabia which would have ended the genocide because the Saudis can't wage their bombing campaign on their own. iv. President Trump vetoed the bill, permitting the US military to continue a war that is murdering and starving civilians by the tens of thousands. a. "The Senate on Thursday failed to overturn President Donald Trump's veto of legislation that would have ended U.S. military assistance for the Saudi-led war in Yemen against Iran-backed rebels, but lawmakers promised to keep close watch on the administration's ties with the kingdom. While the 53-45 vote to override fell well short of the required two-thirds, passage of the resolution in April was an unprecedented rebuke of Trump's foreign policy and a milestone for Congress, which invoked never-before-used powers in an effort to halt foreign military activity. The United States is providing logistical support and intelligence-sharing for a war that has killed thousands of civilians and left millions more on the brink of famine." (Trump's Yemen war policy survives Senate veto override bid, NBC News, 5-2-2019) b. Therefore, after his veto, President Trump is personally responsible for all of the murder and starvation of thousands of civilians that is happening in Yemen because the Saudis could not continue the war without the support of the US military. C. President Trump is reportedly on pace to drop over 175,000 bombs during his first term in office, during a time when were are not even officially at war with any country. i. "The United States Government, under the Trump administration, reportedly drops a bomb every 12 minutes, which means that 121 bombs are dropped in a day, and 44,096 bombs per year. The Pentagon’s data show that during George W. Bush’s eight years he averaged 24 bombs dropped per day, that is, 8,750 per year. Over the course of Obama’s time in office, his military dropped 34 bombs per day, 12,500 per year. This shows that even though American presidents are all war criminals, Trump is the most vicious of them all." (US Government Drops 121 Bombs Every Day, Reports Say, News Click, 6-13-2019) ii. "Six months into Trump’s presidency, we now have enough data to assess his own approach. The results are clear: Judging from Trump’s embrace of the use of air power — the signature tactic of U.S. military intervention — he is the most hawkish president in modern history. Under Trump, the United States has dropped about 20,650 bombs through July 31, or 80 percent the number dropped under Obama for the entirety of 2016. At this rate, Trump will exceed Obama’s last-year total by Labor Day. "In Iraq and Syria, data shows that the United States is dropping bombs at unprecedented levels. In July, the coalition to defeat the Islamic State (read: the United States) dropped 4,313 bombs, 77 percent more than it dropped last July. In June, the number was 4,848 — 1,600 more bombs than were dropped in any one month under President Barack Obama since the anti-ISIS campaign started three years ago. "In Afghanistan, the number of weapons released has also shot up since Trump took office. April saw more bombs dropped in the country since the height of Obama’s troop surge in 2012. That was also the month that the United States bombed Afghanistan’s Mamand Valley with the largest non-nuclear bomb ever dropped in combat. "Trump has also escalated U.S. military involvement in non-battlefield settings — namely Yemen, Somalia, and Pakistan. In the last 193 days of the Obama presidency, there were 21 lethal counterterrorism operations across these three countries. Trump has quintupled that number, conducting at least 92 such operations in Yemen, seven in Somalia, and four in Pakistan. "Hand in hand with Trump’s enthusiasm for air power comes a demonstrated tolerance for civilian casualties. Increased air power in Iraq and Syria has resulted in unprecedented levels of civilian deaths. Even by the military’s own count, civilian casualties have soared since Trump took office, though independent monitors tally the deaths as many as ten times higher. In Afghanistan, Trump’s tolerance for killing civilians has led to 67 percent more civilian casualties in his first six months than in the first half of 2016, according to the United Nations." (Donald Trump Is Dropping Bombs at Unprecedented Levels, Foreign Policy, 8-9-2017) D. President Trump is killing innocent civilians everyday in the Middle East, and yet he has the audacity to hypocritically condemn the killers in El Paso and Dayton who killed a fraction of a percent as many people as President Trump has.
