Jamin Bradley

“He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.” Trump posted these words on his socials last night, paraphrased from Napoleon Bonaparte.

The night Trump was nearly assassinated, I was horrified for two reasons: (1) that someone had tried to kill him and (2) that this horrifying moment would cause him and his religious followers to double down on their beliefs. No doubt a narrative would develop that God saved Trump because he was the chosen one that would heal the United States. This is exactly what happened.

This presents a grave problem for the rest of us. Trump’s ego already couldn’t be tamed before he gained a messiah complex. If laws are nothing more than a hindrance to him and politicians and governments are not going to hold him to account, then safeguards will begin to fade.

But there is another way forward named “Jesus,” who is the Bible’s definition of “the fulfillment of the law.” Law is in fact a person, but it is not Trump. The messiah and the law has already come and it is Christ Jesus. Trump knows little about this Jesus, for Trump’s god does not know the beatitudes or the rest of the sermon on the mount. Trump’s god focuses on power, which is the way of a different beast-like god.

Dear church: follow Jesus and Jesus alone.