“Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ‘All this I will give you,’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me.’
Jesus said to him, ‘Away from me, Satan! For it is written: “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”’
Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.”
Will Donald Trump go to Heaven?
I honestly do not know. I would like to know, but I don’t.
I confess: my uncertainty here stems from my abject certainty that I am not God – though I suspect my self-abasement is less humility and more cowardly pride – like a puffed-up fool who has never lost a fight because he has never been in one.
Yet even this fool knows victory is marked not by the unscathed with no bruises to bear, but by the battered and bloodied who rise despite their scars.
That said, maybe I am right to avoid this particular political fight. Maybe I am right to l say, “I don’t know!” Maybe I am right to leave it up to God alone to judge Donald Trump’s soul.
Yet, even when I write “I am right,” I still find puffed-up motives dug deep in my flesh – like rotten roots feasting off beautiful flowers!
The right answer, the right action, the right belief, the right relation – all are sullied by my desire to be righteous!
God calls me to use my talents to find the right answer, the right action, the right belief, the right relation – but the more I say, “I am right,” the more I am tempted to glorify myself and simply say “I am” in the pride of my righteousness.
Yet, despite this pride laced through even the right things that I do, the question remains – will Trump go to Heaven?
Will I? Will you?
I still don’t know, though based on voting patterns some say “yes” while others shout “no.” Some are swift to cite chapter-and-verse, arguing over the mysterious interplay of grace, faith and works. Others give into political pride, saying, “Salvation for my own party and damnation for the other tribe!” Faction against faction, their competition tempts them to sin, each faction excused by the necessity that their side must win. From Pharisees and Sadducees to Democrats and Republicans, they all delight in their own suggestions, consenting to a pride so deeply dug-in that it feeds off their internal righteousness.
In their pride to win themselves a kingdom, they take the devil’s deal, bowing to worship the beast that strikes their heel. The temptations of worldly power are many, but pride especially blinds partisans to the fact that some they hate will live forever while some they love will forever die – tricked, once again, by the serpent’s original lie.
As for Trump, it is difficult to imagine any great man of politics in Heaven, yet I am happy to be surprised.
The greater one’s fire burns – especially on a political stage fraught with necessary evils – the greater the risk of getting burned by a pride that maims even the good of one’s warmth and light.
But who am I to question God’s ways? I really don’t know! I tremble recalling God’s words to Job:
‘Who is this that obscures my plans
with words without knowledge?
Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—
while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?’
"I don't think there's anything going to get me in Heaven, okay? I really don't,” Trump recently said about the question of his salvation, “I think I'm not, maybe, Heaven-bound. I may be in Heaven right now as we fly on Air Force One. I’m not sure I’m going to be able to make Heaven, but I’ve made life a lot better for a lot of people…"
Whether Trump’s humility here is righteous or a flash of false pride is for God to decide.
Though it is difficult to deny Trump’s uncanny ability to rise from the political arena battered and bloodied, my guess is Trump’s ticket to Heaven relies on whether he falls to the devil’s deal or accepts that there is no way, not even for TRUMP, to deal his way into Heaven.
Joey Clark is a native Alabamian and is currently the host of the radio program News and Views on News Talk 93.1 FM WACV out of Montgomery, AL, M-F 12 p.m. - 3 p.m. His column appears every Tuesday in 1819 News. To contact Joey for media or speaking appearances, as well as any feedback, please email [email protected]. Follow him on X @TheJoeyClark or watch the radio show livestream.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
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