How Shall We Disciple Donald Trump?

How Shall We Disciple Donald Trump?

I want to take just a moment and thank the 200+ Facebook friends who tagged or messaged me with the article quoting the esteemed Dr. James Dobson with regards to the recent commitment Donald Trump made to Jesus Christ. I mean that genuinely and it is heartfelt (you can stop the tagging now). Despite not personally endorsing or supporting Donald Trump, I do want the man and his family to know Jesus Christ, be prepared for heaven, and be genuinely converted in his life and thought. It does him and us no service to simply be culturally assimilated into the ranks of the “tares” of the American Church. I will also say that through the primary process of getting to “know” Donald Trump there have been at least 3 separate and recent accounts to this Christian commitment and it would be nice to hear the actual testimony and/or journey from the candidate himself. Perhaps that will soon be clarified.

Let me be clear and just say, a new Christian certainly deserves our compassion and encouragement in their new found faith. I do not want to give off the “vibe” that I am expecting a believer who has at best a year or less of walk under his belt to have the maturity or depth of those pastors and leaders supporting or critiquing him. If this commitment is real, then time will tell and we certainly will know by listening to his testimony, watching him bear the fruits of repentance, and bearing the fruits of a Christian life. These three things minimally will give the Church confidence that what has been declared is so.

But let’s stop here for a moment and ask the question now that Donald Trump’s conversion has been announced and it is this…

How shall we disciple this businessman/celebrity/presidential-nominee so that he is successful in this walk?

Let me ask another question…

What would you do with any recent convert in the church?

What would you do with Joe Ordinary or Sally Average? How would you disciple them? AND… Does Donald Trump warrant the same considerations or because of his position, celebrity, and public status have a different route or even standard applied to him? Be careful how you answer for hypocrisy may be lurking in your next words.

The reason I ask these questions is because I genuinely want DT to succeed in his faith walk. In fact, I think his commitment to Jesus Christ and his ultimate success at that and the relationships he has around him are far more important eternally than the presidency might be temporally. As we cheer DT’s new found faith, let’s be sure we are cheering for the right reasons. Let’s be sure our cheers are for his soul and not that it simply makes evangelical support less dicey. Do we care for the man…or do we just want him elected to the position?

It takes no graduate degree in Church History to know that celebrity conversions are fraught with perils. I can easily name a dozen high profile people who claimed commitments to Jesus Christ whose celebrity and position did them more harm than good when it came to discipleship. The initial pressure of being transferred into a whole new “Kingdom” reality that is at odds with the world and the flesh is massive on its own. Think about that in your own life. Think about how the mind needed to be renewed and the wisdom which needed to be imparted. Think about the darts of the enemy who attempted to discourage you in so many ways. Conversion is a radical thing when you get right down to it. Now add on top of that the burden of living in a celebrity “fish bowl” and the pressure becomes exponential and success is nearly impossible. Perhaps that is why most (if not all) the notable biblical characters that are used to illustrate the possibility of God using DT spent time OUT OF THE LIMELIGHT before they were thrust back into the spotlight.

Sure, God can use DT like He used Moses. My question is when and where is DT’s 40 years in the wilderness preparing? Yes, God can use DT like He used David; however where are the Cave of Adullam years? Of course, God can pluck DT out from among them all like a Paul, but where are the years in the house of Ananias of Damascus? You see, God is no respecter of persons and His desire may indeed be a great position of leadership for DT, but celebrities do not get special dispensations or routes. There is a reason for this…every human being is inflicted with the same malady called sin (selfishness) and it needs weeded out by service, consecrating moments and the renewing of the mind by the study of the Word.

For Donald Trump to be successful in this new walk, I would suggest the following:

1. He schedules a stop at a Christian Church of his choice which allows him 30 minutes to clearly tell us the story of his conversion in his own words which may be different than we are used to. In this account he can clear up the statement of not needing forgiveness. That would be huge to hear it first hand and not testimonies through surrogates. He has no problem with speeches, this should be relatively easy.

2. He introduces to us his pastor and/or mentors that will be helping him be successful in this new journey.

3. He demonstrates this new reality in a Zacchaeus type moment where there is an acknowledgment of wrongly gained riches. After all, one who became rich off exploiting people through casinos and strip clubs surely is analogous to Zacchaeus who did the same thing through tax collecting.

4. He goes to the GOP Convention and with counsel of those Christians he trusts (I am assuming his new evangelical advisory board) he yields his delegates to a more biblically qualified candidate and voluntarily becomes a vice-presidential candidate. Why? “If you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own.” (Luke 16:12) DT could be mentored in both the faith AND the application of that faith in the civil arena without the full pressure of the presidency. It would be an incredible, uniting moment that would serve this nation through his humility. It would take the anger and ego out of the country. It would be so monumental that the ticket would win in a landslide and DT would be given the credit for changing the cultural tone of this era. It would assure him of a place in history and the presidency whenever the Lord released him to run for it.

Will all that happen?

Probably not…

And I suspect there will be many who think I have lost my mind…

But my question is…

Is discipleship important? Does Donald get to skip the preparation time? Do we really believe he can be successful in his faith without it? If this isn’t a good template then what biblical template best applies?

Praise God, if Dr. Dobson’s account is accurate. However, let’s not let our election preferences veil our biblical mandate. Donald Trump is no exception.