In His Image?

Donald Trump Statue Liberty

I’m not a religious fundamentalist. I’ll point that out right from the get-go.

Still, each day I become more perplexed as to why most Christian fundamentalist people have yet to raise the obvious regarding Mr. Trump.

Many have him on a level akin to Jesus Christ, if not God herself. Few, to my knowledge, have tied him to another Biblical personage – the Antichrist.

Sadly, in my eyes, Mr. Trump seems to precisely fit the Antichrist role rather than the others.

"Trump does fit several of the criteria attached to popular perceptions of the Antichrist. Many earnest sources of apocalyptic speculation, including the best-selling Left Behind series by the late Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, imagine the Antichrist as a truly modern figure. Although the wildly popular 17-book series, which was published between 1995 and 2007 and has sold over 65 million copies, is fictional, the vision embraced by LaHaye and Jenkins portrays the coming apocalypse as an event where non-believers are forced to reckon with the damage wrought by the Antichrist. Here, the Antichrist is a worldly, charismatic man, often of Eastern European and Jewish heritage, who embraces modern technology and institutions for his own sinister ends. This interpretation, which is common among a large subset of American Evangelicals, believes the Antichrist’s reign — a period known as the “tribulation” — will follow the rapture of true followers of Christ."

"It’s easy to extrapolate this to Trump. He’s vainglorious, charismatic (at least in the eyes of some Americans), and obsessed with wealth. Kushner Companies, a real estate company jointly owned by Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, is headquartered at 666 5th Ave. Trump, while not Eastern European himself, has a proclivity for Eastern European women and promises better relations with Russia, a country that figures prominently in 20th and 21st century apocalyptic tales. And while Trump says that his favorite book is the Bible, he did once note that he’s “not sure” as to whether he’s asked God for forgiveness of his sins."

Perhaps it time for Mr. Trump to ask for forgiveness.

We all should pray for a miracle, too. In the meantime, Mr. Trump seems hell-bent to remake the USA in his image.