Should American Christians take the warnings of Donald Trump seriously?
Recently Donald Trump warned those gathered at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference that “the worst is yet to come” should Biden win another term in office. He said “Four years ago, I told you that if crooked Joe Biden got to the White House, our borders would be abolished, our middle class would be decimated, and our communities would be plagued by bloodshed, chaos and violent crime,” he followed with, “We were right about everything.”
Trump believes that he prophesied and it came to pass! He warned again “If Crooked Joe Biden and his thugs win in 2024, the worst is yet to come. Our country will go and sink to levels that were unimaginable.” He also warned Americans that Biden would weaponize law enforcement to hunt conservatives and people of faith as well as religious Americans.
Trump's warnings were many and spell doom for the American people, especially Christians, and other people of faith. To what extent should these warnings be taken seriously? How have people of faith faired in this first tenure of Joe Biden nationally and internationally?
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Recently, Abraham Cooper and Frederick A. Davie, the chairman and the vice chairman of USCIRF, respectively, commented: “There is no justification as to why the State Department did not designate Nigeria or India as a Country of Particular Concern, despite its own reporting and statements. USCIRF calls on Congress to convene a public hearing on the failure of the State Department to follow our recommendations.”
This indicates that religious freedom is under serious threat at the moment. There are numerous reports of abuse of the rights of Christians under Joe Biden’s watch. Do we think the situation will get better in his second tenure?
Now, it is clear to everyone that Donald Trump has many moral failures. Some have described him as a racist, others a corrupt leader, and some say he is a liar. But If he wins the primary of his party, between him and Biden, who do you think will create an environment for Christianity to thrive? Or do we pretend that our faith does not matter when politics are concern? Sincere answers to these questions will guide your decisions come November.
I know that Trump has his weaknesses, but he did something that endeared him to us in Nigeria. On September 8, 2020, our then-president Muhammadu Buhari said: “I believe I was about the only African amongst the least developed countries that Trump invited and when I was in his office, only myself and himself, only God is a witness, he looked at me in the face and said, ‘Why are you killing Christians?’”
It takes a man who believes in the sanctity of life and love for humanity to ask such delicate and sensitive questions. I must confess that I was touched by this question which indicated that someone cares about the survival of the Nigerian Christians. Now that no one is asking this question, we have seen how Nigerian Christians are slaughtered on a daily basis recklessly.
This is not the time to be politically correct, nor the time for interdenominational criticisms. The evangelicals should also know that this is not the time to discriminate or claim that they can do it all alone. This is the time to bring everyone who calls on the name of Christ together. All should pray and work hard so that all will be free to practice their faith when religious freedom is restored first in America and then all around the world, including in my own country of Nigeria.
When one of you says, “’I am a follower of Paul,’ and another says, ‘I follow Apollos,’ aren’t you acting just like people of the world?” (1 Corinthians 3:4) A house divided against itself shall not stand (Mark 3:25). I am not oblivious to the fact that Trump and Biden claim to be Christians, but it is not about their claims that should matter to American Christians, but their dispositions.
Who between the two will favor the course of the Christian faith? Let all American people of faith vote to have freedom to serve their God without intimidation or harassment.
Oscar Amaechina is the president of Afri-Mission and Evangelism Network, Abuja, Nigeria. His calling is to take the gospel to where no one has neither preached nor heard about Jesus. He is the author of the book Mystery Of The Cross Revealed.
