Transcription
What happens when a political leader starts to look like a savior? This week, a viral image lit up the internet again. President Donald Trump in a glowing white robe with a red sash extended his hand over a sick man in a hospital bed with beams of light and American flags, even angels and soldiers in the background. To a lot of people, it didn't just look symbolic. It looked very spiritual, like heavenly, like savior-ish. And the backlash was intense. It was immediate. And surprisingly, it was from both political parties. So, not just from Trump's critics on the far left, but also from the conservatives, from deeply religious Christians, friends of mine, and even some of his own cabinet members like Mike Johnson who asked him to delete the post. So, here's the question. Why did this strike such a nerve?
Now, of course, there's lots of things happening in the news right now. Um, the Strait of Hormuz has been blockaded effectively by our naval fleet and all sorts of other things happening in the economy in the Midwest with weather and more tragic violent acts happening. But this one really caught my mind and I want to point out something that I hope will give you great encouragement, help you to take heart and give you courage going forward.
So Trump's post, the image that he posted sometime in the wee hours of the morning was on his own platform, Truth Social. It was an AI-generated picture showing President Trump Jesus-like. And it was kind of Christlike. He is in the robe. He's healing. He's radiant. The clouds of heaven parting behind him. Almost kind of divine. And people noticed right away. Um, there were voices all across the spectrum who said, "Wait a minute, wait a minute. Hold on. We like Trump. We support Trump and doing great things, but this is crossing a line. This goes too far." Uh, one prominent conservative voice called it gross blasphemy. And another conservative warned that God shall not be mocked. Even conservative Christian journalists like a friend of mine said, "You can support someone and still say this crosses a line."
And this post by Trump didn't happen in isolation. Remember what happened just around the same time. It was posted right after President Trump publicly criticized Pope Leo, calling him weak on crime and misguided on foreign policy, particularly regarding the war in Iran. So now you've got politics, religion, global conflict, and Jesus symbolism all colliding in one meme moment. Then just as quickly as it appeared, the image disappeared, like uh a David Copperfield magic trick. And when people asked Trump about it, Trump said it was supposed to be an image of me as a doctor, uh somebody who makes people better. And he said, "And in classic Trump fashion, and I do make people better. I make them a lot better."
Now, now this actually isn't even the first time that he's posted these shocking posts. There was another moment when an image circulated portraying Trump as the pope. Remember that? And he said that he thinks that he he would make a good pope. Now, at first, this most recent post was blamed on a staffer. Uh, somebody said that a staffer posted it uh, wrongly, but then later Trump said when asked by a reporter that he himself did post it. I don't know about you, but I see a pattern here of imagery that elevates leadership into something more, more spiritual, more divine. And that's where the reaction of both the right and the left supporters and detractors really becomes important.
Now, this may surprise you, but something really encouraged me about all of this. The backlash, the outrage, the intense criticism. Not because I love criticism, not because the outrage is good, but because it revealed something that I think is right under the surface of many Americans and deeply embedded into the hearts of some of our freedom fighters. Here's what it is. There are still people in this country who know there is only one savior. That's why they were offended. And and they know it's not a president. It's not a billionaire. It's not a a tech entrepreneur. It's not a political hero and it's certainly not an AI-generated image wrapped in patriotic symbolism. People instinctively know you don't place any man, even a powerful one, into the role that belongs to Jesus Christ because no one even comes close to him. Jesus is not just the founder of a religion. He's not just a great movement leader. He's not just a medical healer. He's not just a moral teacher. Jesus stands alone above every king. Above Putin, above Xi Jinping, above Trump, above everybody, every president, every military general, every influencer, every celebrity, every angel, every demon. And Satan himself, nobody comes close in power, in influence, and in sovereign dominion than Jesus. He's totally unique. He is completely unmatched. And that's not my opinion. That's scripture.
Now listen. This is where everything comes back into focus. Because in moments like this, we don't need to be outraged. We don't need to be freaked out and scared. We don't need to get angry and nasty. We don't need to lie and cover stuff up. We don't need anybody else's opinion about this. All we need is truth. We need clarity. We need the scriptures. And scripture gives us a crystal clear picture of who Jesus actually is. And then we'll try to make the comparison. Open up the book that God wrote. Turn to the book, the letter of Colossians in the first chapter, starting at verse 15. He Jesus is the image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created. Everything in heaven and on earth, everything seen and everything unseen was created through Jesus and for Jesus. And right now, Colossians tells us that he is holding all things together. Every nation, every leader, every moment in history is held together by Jesus. And then in verse 18, it says that he is the head of the church. He is the beginning. He is the supreme over all who rise from the dead. Uh nobody else has done that. Nobody else has risen from the dead. Nobody else holds all things together by his own power. So that the scriptures say in everything he is first. Not first among many but first. Period. And then we get into verse 19 and following and it says that all the fullness of God lives in Christ through him. God reconciles all things to himself. There are dealmakers out there. There are those who can reconcile enemies. But Jesus alone reconciles all things to himself. And he makes peace through the blood of his cross. Not through economic trade, not through rhetoric, but through the sacrificing of his own life. That's the blood of the cross. And then it goes on to say, "And this includes you." Jesus even reconciled you. You who were once far off from God. You were separated. You were even an enemy. But now through Jesus, you are brought near to God. You are made holy and blameless and are able to stand before God without a single fault.
So what do we want to do with all of this? Well, we don't panic. We don't rage. We don't lose our minds or our perspective. We respond like Christians. First, we stay clear-headed. It's easy to get all worked up and swept up into personalities and use this as a chance to just rant and rage. Strong leaders, bold voices, big promises. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But we've got to remember, no leader is a savior. As much as they may want to portray themselves as one, the moment that we start placing that kind of hope in a person, we are setting ourselves up for disappointment at best. And idolatry at worst. Second, we stay humble because this isn't just about leaders. This is about the human heart. The same tendency can come upon you and me. We are wired in such a way because of our selfishness to love praise. And scripture gives us stiff warnings about accepting praise that doesn't belong to us. Do you remember in Acts 12, King Herod when he was receiving all of this praise as if he was a god and Herod didn't reject it, he actually accepted it and received that which belongs only to Jesus. And what happened? God struck him down. In fact, he struck him with a disease. He was filled with worms and he died. Why? Because he didn't give glory to God. So when glory that belongs to God is taken by man, it never ends well. Thirdly, we pray. We stay clear-headed. We stay humble and we pray. The Bible tells us, "Pray for those who are in authority." So what should we pray for Donald Trump? What should we pray for Mike Johnson? What should we pray for your mayor? For those who are in authority over us, God, give him wisdom. God, give them the fear of the Lord. God, guard their hearts from pride and surround them with people who will speak the truth to them in love. Lord, help them see themselves rightly and you rightly because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
So yes, this week gave us a uh a very strange moment, a viral image, a cultural uh flash point. And some felt that this was a line that had no business being crossed. But it also gives us something really good, a reminder. It's a reminder that deep down people still know. We're not ready to give up on Jesus Christ. That's why people got outraged. There is only one savior and people know it. He doesn't share that title with anybody. Not with a president, not with a pope, not with a pastor, not with anybody. So take heart. Be of good cheer. People still know the truth and they're willing to speak up about it. So let's keep our eyes where they belong. Keep your heart grounded. Hang on to your shirt. Keep your prayers strong. And remember Jesus Christ is not one option among many religious leaders, political leaders, whatever. He is the king of kings. He is the lord of lords. He alone is the great physician and the only savior of the world.
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Okay, let's take a look at some videos that are making their way around the internet.
>> The religious systems are designed to enslave, to hold back. Religion would be the same thing as envisioning a fish inside of a fishbowl and then you put the fishbowl in the ocean. Spirituality would be a fish swimming in the ocean and says, "Hey, why is there a fish with a fishbowl in my ocean? I'll just keep swimming through the ocean." And so there's this restriction that's placed on you with religious concepts and dogma. Whereas spirituality really releases you and frees you. It makes you realize that you can forgive yourself. You can love yourself. You can love others and you can have a direct connection to the divine. And also it makes you realize that you are already divine.
Oof. He started out sounding like he was going to speak some truth there, but then fell on his own sword when he starts describing his own religious system he calls spirituality. First of all, this is what happens when you don't have a divine word revealed from the the Holy Spirit that you're pointing to. You think you can forgive yourself. You think that you can love yourself, forgive yourself, love others. But the truth is, you actually can't. And you don't know that apart from the one who gives you the instruction manual and the one who has the power to actually die in your place to pay the punishment for your sins against the divine. And no, you can't become divine. Uh you never will. That's the big deception of so many cults. True spirituality, not man-made religion, reveals that this guy has actually created his own little fishbowl that he calls spirituality. And he thinks that it's the ocean, but he's actually trapped within his own limited framework without the liberating, freeing word of God.
>> You won't find evidence for God here. What are you nuts? We're like characters in a book looking for evidence of the author inside the book. God, I hope you're stoned. We're like We're like characters in a book looking for evidence of the author inside the book, but the author isn't in the book. Do you understand? Harry Potter can't find J.K. Rowling at Hogwarts. She's not there. So that might be frustrating for him. It would be within his rights to be like, "Well, this is," you know what I mean? But deep down in his essence, Harry Potter is J.K. Rowling. He borrows his reality from J.K. Rowling. His mind is an apparent limitation of J.K. Rowling's mind. And the greatest evidence of an author isn't in the book. The greatest evidence of the author is the book. And there is a book. Let's pray. Heavenly Father.
So, this guy's drifting into pantheism a little bit here, but I like some of the concepts of what he's saying. Some of it is true. If we want to understand who we are, just like Harry Potter needs to understand that he is not just a limitation of J.K. Rowling's mind, but he's actually the creation of J.K. Rowling's mind. And I think that's a better description of who we are. If we want to understand who God is, we actually can find evidence of God inside our book. He actually wrote a real book. But if we're talking about the story that we're living in like like life, uh the scriptures tell us that God has given us everything that we need to understand his divine attributes and his existence. That is creation tells us of God's glory, tells us of his divine nature and his eternal power. And we are made in the image of God as his handiwork. The Bible says we are living, breathing works of art, similar maybe to Harry Potter coming from the mind of J.K. Rowling. We are creations of the Almighty with plenty of evidence within our story book to know lots about the creator.
>> Mr. President, did you post that picture of yourself depicted as Jesus Christ?
>> Well, it wasn't depicted. It was me. I I did post it and I thought it was me as a doctor and had to do with Red Cross as a Red Cross worker there which we support and uh only the fake news could come up with that one. So I I had uh I just heard about it and I said how did they come up with that? It's supposed to be me as a doctor making people better and I do make people better. I make people uh a lot better.
>> Only Trump. Only Trump is this just so classic. Apparently, it wasn't just the fake news that that thought that it was uh imaging Jesus or a savior. Uh Riley Gaines thought the same thing. And you have David Brody uh thinking the same thing and others saying it crossed the line. It was really, in fact, we did a whole episode about this. And I myself thought that it looked very heavenly and divine. I wasn't sure who it was. I thought it maybe because it came around the time of his criticisms of the Pope being weak on crime that it was depicting him as the pope with the white robes. And then there was a sick man in a hospital bed and he he's reaching his hand out onto his forehead to heal him, but he had a ball of light in his other hand, angels behind him. Definite Jesus vibes.
Why do you think the Bible says when you get married, your body no longer belongs to you? Why would it say that? But see, people don't serve each other today. They use each other today. Come on.
>> My goodness. A lot of people get married because they're using the individual because they're lonely. They're using the individual because they can't pay their bills by themselves. They're using the individual for who knows a host of many different reasons. But nobody is serving one another. The marriages that make it are the ones. What? Let me say what? Skip the sinners. They supposed to be stupid. Christians are the ones what? Why are you talking about love? Love. You actually read the definition of love? Why you not doing that for the one you said you love? Most people don't even treat their spouses the way the Bible says you're supposed to treat your enemy. Wait, if you go back and read what the Bible says about treating your enemy in love, most people don't even treat their spouse. How are you supposed to treat your enemy?
This guy is spitting fire. I love it. Absolutely. Absolutely. I love it. So, I've been married for 35 years and I am studying fresh like it's the first time. 1 Corinthians 13, love is patient. Love is kind. Love does not envy. Love is not self-seeking. All of these things are so very, very challenging. And it's not just for marriage. This is just for for everybody. This is love even for your enemies. As he said, how much more should we be loving our spouse who we stood at an altar with and committed covenanted before God in the presence of all of our family and friends to love sacrificially till death do us part. This is challenging and that's why we need the Holy Spirit to transform our heart so that we can begin to love others the way God loves us.
>> Say what you want about atheists, man, but they choose to be good people not out of a fear of hell, but because it's the right thing to do. Uh, which personally I think God would actually appreciate more.
I'm so glad that we chose this video because she she reveals the in the whole atheist armor. She says that atheists choose to be good because it's the right thing to do. First, we have to ask the question, ma'am, what does it mean to be good? Why do you think being kind or being uh sacrificing for other people is good? In an atheistic worldview, there is no objective morality. Cancer cells are not evil over and against human organ cells in an atheistic worldview. And then you said because it's the right thing to do, the atheists are good. Well, what do you mean right? According to who? Who sets the standard for what is right? Who judges that? Who who determines that moral law and line to say this is right or this is wrong? This is good or this is bad? You have none. You have to actually steal from a Christian biblical worldview to even make the statements that you just made. And it's okay because it's written on your heart. You have a conscience. You know it's true. You were made in the image of God. That's how you know that that you can choose to be good because it's the right thing to do. But you can only do that because God does exist.
>> And Mr. President, no one has paid the price like you have paid the price.
>> It almost cost you your life. You were betrayed >> and arrested >> and falsely accused. It's a familiar pattern that our Lord and Savior showed us. But it didn't end there for him and it didn't end there for you. God always had a plan. On the third day, he rose. He defeated evil. He conquered death, hell, and the grave. And because he rose, we all know that we can rise.
>> And sir, because of his resurrection, you rose up. Because he was victorious, you were victorious. And I believe that the Lord said to tell you this, because of his victory, you will be victorious in all you put your hands to.
I mean, she straight up implying that he's the second savior. Uh I mean I mean he just as Jesus rose uh he will rise just as he was falsely accused and he was betrayed and and and he was poorly treated that that Trump was too and he's going to rise and he's going to come back and God has a plan and then God told her to say this to him. Ah, I don't buy it. When the president is surrounded by people who are likening him to divinity, it makes sense that that will be reflected in the kinds of posts that he makes. Think about it. You got to you got to pray for President Trump. He needs to be surrounded by wise biblical counsel.
Isn't it funny how believing in crystals or star signs makes you spiritual, but believing in Christ makes you crazy. The world doesn't mind spirituality as long as it does not require surrender. You can talk about energy vibes or trusting the universe and everyone uploads.
>> That's right.
>> But the moment you say Jesus has saved me,
>> suddenly
>> you're brainwashed. Why? Because truth exposes darkness. The gospel doesn't just comfort, it confronts. It doesn't just make you feel good. Oh my gosh. Yes. It transforms you. The cross has always confronted one thing and one thing in particular.
>> Wow. I'm getting goosebumps.
>> The idol of self. The world says trust yourself. But the word says deny. Because freedom without surrender isn't freedom. It's rebellion dressed as peace. The enemy doesn't want you to be free. He doesn't mind you being spiritual as long as you're not surrendered. But real freedom, the kind that heals, restores, and gives you peace, is only found in Jesus. Freedom without him is an illusion. Literally, true freedom is only found in Jesus. It's only found in him.
Pass the offering plate. We just went to church, y'all. This was so great. Oh my goodness. You know, it encourages me so much just to see people I've never met. And she is preaching the truth. She is declaring what the heavens declare. And I just want to high-five her across the internet right now what because what she's saying is absolutely true. Amen. Hey, thanks for watching the show everybody. Great to be with you. I hope you have a great weekend. Don't forget to subscribe to the channel, uh like this video, and share it with a friend. We want to grow this army of compassion and help you see through the chaos and the clutter with the clear lens of scripture. God bless you.