Jamin Bradley

“It’s not about character, it’s about policies.” I received this comment several times on my last political post. On the one hand, I’m grateful that Christians who are voting for Trump are more openly recognizing his faults this time around. But on the other hand, I’m troubled that Christians have decided that character doesn’t matter to justify their vote.

If policies are more important than character, then ditch Jesus and get on board with the religious leaders he opposed. Sure, they might devour widow’s houses and rob the poor, but they’ll uphold the Scriptures and form their policies around them. Or consider Nazi Germany. When Hitler took charge, much of the church became Nazis, endorsed, and followed him. He was the man they believed could get things done, and they liked his policies. History shows us the extremes to which choosing policy over character can go. 

If you think Trump’s character was flawed the first time he was president, imagine his character the second time around when he’s under the spell of a god-complex. He lost an election but returned four years later. He faced the justice system and was found guilty, but it didn’t phase him or his supporters. He was told that God saved him from a bullet because he was God’s chosen one. Upon becoming president again, his already great narcissism will be unimaginable, unstoppable, and spiritual. Nothing has stopped him, and nothing can stop him—and we taught him that. He will have become a god, and we will have helped him ascend there.

And with his rise to power will come a toxic form of the church that will uphold him as a messiah figure. I know that during his first presidency, some of the most well-known Charismatic churches and prophets prophesied that Trump would be elected a second time. Their words were proven false when he lost the election, but if he becomes president again, they’ll raise those false words from the dead archives of history and say they simply misinterpreted them.

Brothers… Sisters… We are Christians. Character matters deeply to us. We preach it in our churches every week. We disciple people into it. We desire the Holy Spirit to cultivate it in us every day. This idea that character matters everywhere, except in the most powerful position in the world, is nonsensical. If you’re going to vote for Trump, find a different mantra than “It’s not about character, it’s about policies.” History has not smiled on such thinking.