My Dear White Evangelical Friends:

Let me start by saying that I read the Bible differently than you do. I don’t believe the Bible contains any cryptic information about when the world will end. I do not believe that God will abandon the world God loves to a cataclysmic “tribulation” under the reign of the devil incarnated as a world leader termed the “beast” or “antichrist.” Neither do I believe that a selective few whose Christian belief is just right will be raptured to heaven before all of this takes place. Consequently, I do not believe that Donald Trump is the antichrist. However, if I did read the Bible the way you do, I might very likely come to a different conclusion. Moreover, if like 80% of you, I supported and voted for Donald Trump in the last election, I would also be very concerned about the state of my soul.

Remember how in July of 2024 Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt while speaking at an open-air campaign rally in Pennsylvania? Remember the iconic pictures of Trump following the event, blood dripping from the side of his head, his fist in the air and the talking heads telling us that this event would define the upcoming election? Remember all your religious leaders, including Rev. Franklin Graham, crowing at Trump’s inauguration that God had miraculously spared him from death so that he could again lead our nation?

Well, check out Revelation 13 where John of Patmos describes the “beast” you call antichrist. ^“And I saw a beast rising out of the sea….One of its heads seemed to have received a death blow, but its fatal wound had been healed. In amazement the whole earth followed the beast. They worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?” Revelation 13:1-4. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

It is said of this “beast” or “lawless one” in St. Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians, that “[h]e opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God.” II Thessalonians 2:4. Donald Trump has insisted that he has no need of law because his own “sense of morality” is the only thing he needs to guide him. Lately, he has portrayed himself on social media as a king, the pope and most recently as none other than Jesus Christ. Isn’t that exactly what the antichrist is expected to do?

Finally, Donald Trump is attempting to end birthright citizenship and, through the SAVE Act, require documentation to exercise the right to vote. Similar requirements are being proposed for entitlement to benefits and other rights of citizenship. This seems like it might be a little cumbersome, though it could be made a great deal more efficient if qualified voters could simply be marked with, say, an identifying tattoo on the forehead or the right hand? Check out Revelation 13:16-17. “[The beast] causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be given a brand on the right hand or the forehead,so that no one can buy or sell who does not have the brand, that is, the name of the beast or the number for its name.” Ridiculous, you say. Well, we all thought the idea of ending birthright citizenship in the face of clear constitutional authority to the contrary was ridiculous. Now it is before the Supreme Court. A lot of what Donald Trump has done used to be unthinkable.

Again, I do not read the Bible the way you do. If I did, however, I would be down on my knees begging God to forgive me for helping put the antichrist on the throne. I would be frantically trying to “get right” with God now in order to make the cut for the rapture, which could be any day now. And while you are praying about that, you might ask yourself what the hell is so wrong with your religion that it led you to support the antichrist? You might ask yourself whether, after all these years, you have gotten something very wrong about God’s priorities. Maybe God is not an anal compulsive morality cop that cares more about his precious rules than the people created in his image. Maybe God cares less about who loves who in what way than he cares that they love, period. Maybe God cares less about preserving the right to erect images of the holy family in public parks than he does about the rights of the the real people getting arrested for sleeping there because they have nowhere else to go. Maybe Jesus was not kidding when he said that the two greatest commandments, the commandments on which all the law and the prophets depend, the commandments that override every other law, rule and commandment, are to love God with  all the heart, with all the soul, with all the mind and with all the strength and to love one’s neighbor as oneself. Maybe the God you have been worshiping is no God at all. Maybe the Christ you have been following is an idol.  

No, I do not believe that Donald Trump is the antichrist. But I know that he is an admitted and adjudicated sexual predator, a compulsive liar, a rude, vulgar, corrupt, violent and obscene man. If your Christian faith is what led you to support him, your faith is messed up big time and in serious need of an overhaul.