At the start of Easter week this year, President Trump posted:
“Melania and I join in prayer with Christians celebrating the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ—the living Son of God who conquered death, freed us from sin, and unlocked the gates of Heaven for all of humanity.”
It was a hopeful post, in which he refers to Jesus as his Savior and Lord, as well as the Son of God, and confesses faith in Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection, and victory over sin. Amen!
Later in the week, on Easter morning, the President posted:
“Melania and I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Easter! Whether you are heading out to Church or, watching Service from home, may this day be full of Peace and Joy for all who celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. HE IS RISEN!!”
Here again, the President confesses faith in Jesus’ resurrection. And again, I say Amen!
Here are some related gospel promises:
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Rom 10:9).
But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name (John 20:31).
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well (1 John 5:1).
Of course, we are all aware that politicians have social media teams creating this content for them. And we also know that politicians often say things they don’t mean for the sake of pleasing voters. I have no idea if President Trump really wrote those things, let alone believes them. Still, I’m glad to hear him profess fundamental gospel truths.
But then, on August 19th, 2025, in referring to the war between Russia and Ukraine, President Trump said this:
“I wanna end it. You know, we’re not losing American lives ... we’re losing Russian and Ukrainian mostly soldiers. I wanna try and get to heaven if possible. I’m hearing I’m not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole. But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons.”
I am glad that President Trump is thinking about heaven and wants to get there “if possible.” I want him to get there, too. It’s good that he’s thinking about heavenly matters. At 79, he should be thinking about eternity. He doesn’t have much time left.
But he’s got it seriously wrong.
He’s thinking about heaven, but he’s not sure if he’ll get there. He lacks assurance of his salvation. But worse, he lacks assurance because he doesn’t understand how someone is saved. Gospel confusion and doubts about one’s salvation often go hand in hand. For example, Trump says that he hopes brokering peace between Russia and Ukraine could be “one of the reasons” he will be allowed into heaven. That’s a works salvation mindset. In other words, despite what he confessed about Jesus’ death and resurrection, he clearly thinks that salvation depends upon doing good works—really huge, great big works like making world peace. But he’s not sure if even that’s enough.
So let’s clear that up, so that he will go from merely hoping he can be saved, to knowing he has eternal life:
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life (1 John 5:13).
Trump jokingly says that he’s heard that he isn’t doing well and that he’s at the bottom of the totem pole. I’m not going to begrudge him using an expression like that, but I have to point out that totem poles are indigenous idolatrous objects that have nothing to do with the Christian gospel. But he is clearly thinking of salvation as a ladder he has to climb, starting at the bottom rung. And that’s the whole problem. Salvation isn’t a ladder at all—it’s a gift! We don’t climb up, Jesus came down, so we can go up—for free!
I’m glad that President Trump is working for peace. We should be peacemakers. That’s exactly what I hoped he would do as President. However, in no way, shape, or form would that ever be a reason for being saved.
The President, famous for his “Art of the Deal” approach to everything, obviously thinks that getting into heaven will be the result of just another successful negotiation. If he can broker peace, then that will be part of his leverage to negotiate his way into heaven.
But the gospel isn’t a negotiation, and salvation isn’t an award—it’s a gift given freely, not only apart from our sins, but also apart from any righteous things we might do. As Paul told Timothy, God saved us apart from any such consideration:
He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life (Titus 3:5-7, emphasis added).
I hope and pray that someone will clarify the meaning of grace salvation to the President. When a jailer asked the apostles how to be saved, they simply said:
“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household” (Acts 16:31).
The problem is, President Trump’s confusion about the gospel is widespread among Americans, including clergy. I’m sure many of the Christians he has around him believe in salvation by works. His wife is Roman Catholic. So is the Vice President and a third of his cabinet picks (see here). He is definitely surrounded by people who believe in salvation by works. I’m sure they’re hoping to be good enough to get into heaven, too. That’s bad news. I pray that he meets grace believers who can share with him the really good news of Christ’s finished work and the freeness of eternal life.
Mr. President, you don’t need “reasons” to get into heaven. You need Jesus. He loves you. He died for you. He finished the deal. He did it all. The only thing left is to believe in Him!
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Send your questions or comments to shawn@freegrace.in.
Read his latest book, The Myth of Tithing and the Joy of Grace Giving by getting it from us or from Amazon.
Good post, Shawn! Just to clarify, the moment that Donald Trump believes in Jesus for everlasting life, then he has that life, apart from a Romans 10:9 declaration with his mouth that "Jesus is Lord."