Donald Trump is not a Christian

hy·poc·ri·sy
həˈpäkrəsē/
noun

The practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform; pretense.

synonyms: dissimulation, false virtue, cant, posturing, affectation, speciousness, empty talk, insincerity, falseness, deceit, dishonesty, mendacity, pretense, duplicity.

Jerry Falwell, Jr. to the contrary, The Donald is not a Christian. I am not being judgmental by saying that. I am simply taking him at his word. Or one of them; on this issue, as on so many others, he sort of speaks out of both sides of his mouth. Or rather, he lets whatever is running through his mind at the moment come out of it, and never mind consistency or rationality.

While he trots out his Bible a lot, he still has not backed down on his claim that he doesn't ask God for forgiveness because he hasn't done anything wrong.

People who don't do anything wrong don't need Saviors. People who don't believe that they don't do anything wrong don't have them, either. Or at least, don't benefit from the One we all have.

Donald Trump is not a Christian. In fact, 1 John 1:8-10 (ESV) says this of him:

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Sounds pretty conclusive to me. But despite Trump's open impenitence and unbelief, and despite his penchant for "getting even" with people, Falwell assures us that The Donald "walks in Christ's footsteps." The president of Liberty University praises the poster child for pride for following in the footsteps of the God Whose humility was such that He lowered Himself to take the form of a servant.

Why do so many Evangelicals, who know should know better (certainly Falwell should!) allow themselves to be taken in by Trump's brand of blatant and shameless hypocrisy? Of course, the larger question is why anybody lets himself or herself be taken in by this transparent phony.

The answer, I think, is simpler than it may appear: people are fooled by Donald Trump because they want to be. He is a vehicle for their fears, their malice, their irrationality, and everything they are rightly embarrassed by. And he's even willing to prostitute himself so far as to wave a Bible and pretend to be something he is not.

Donald Trump is not the Great Deceiver, Father of Lies.

He just walks in his footsteps.