Is Trump Your Savior?

In every presidential election season since I have been old enough to follow (which would be since Reagan's initial election), I remember so many voices proclaiming that we must "save America" by voting for one candidate, or by voting against another. This was especially apparent in the 2016 election. "The only hope for America is to elect Trump!"

In conscience, I must deny that such a concept is any way biblical.

An anonymous Hebrew poet recorded God's words on this subject in Psalm 146:3-4:
"Put not your trust in princes,
     in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; 
     on that very day his plans perish."

There is no salvation in a king or a president? Why? Because he dies and turns to dust just like any other man. On that day, his political plans, as wonderful as they might have been, are buried in the grave with him.

However, that Hebrew poet didn't stop there, as if he saw no hope in the world of men. Rather, he continued, in Ps. 146:5-7,
"Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
     whose hope is in the Lord his God,
who made heaven and earth,
     the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;
     who executes justice for the oppressed, 
     who gives food to the hungry."

First, notice what he does not say. It is common to say about any problem, "You just have to have faith." Not faith in, but just faith. Faith in faith. No, the Psalmist says. Rather, we must have faith in God, the triune God of the Bible. It isn't faith as such that saves, but rather faith in the proper object, the one true God.

Why is God the only proper hope? Because, unlike human kings - or presidents - He is eternal. Men die, and they and their plans rot into dust. Not so with God. He is eternal, as are His purposes, as is His sovereignty. 

And this isn't simply a practical issue, one of depending on a resource that can sustain that dependency. Rather, for the Christian, this is a matter of faithfulness. How easily we forget the First Commandment: "You shall have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:3). "I don't think Trump is God," you are no doubt saying. However, whatever you depend on for salvation is your god, whether you use that word or not. As Jesus Himself said (Matthew 6:24), "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money." He speaks of God or money, but it is just as true of God or government. "I, I am the LORD, and besides Me there is no savior" (Isaiah 43:11).