As world leaders prepare to gather in Miami for this year’s G20 summit, a different kind of spectacle is drawing attention and raising serious spiritual questions.
A 22-foot-tall golden statue of President Donald Trump, dubbed “Don Colossus,” is reportedly set to be unveiled at Trump National Doral, the resort that will host the December summit. According to the Independent, the statue was funded by cryptocurrency enthusiasts promoting their memecoin and commissioned as a publicity effort.
The bronze statue, which will stand 22 feet tall on its pedestal, depicts the president with his fist raised and will be covered in “pure gold leaf.” Sculptor Alan Cottrill told The New York Times that the backers wanted adjustments made to the likeness. “I had him very lifelike,” Cottrill said. “The crypto guys said I had to get rid of some of the turkey neck. I had to thin him down.”
The statue appears loosely based on an image taken after an attempted assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania, showing Trump with his fist raised. While the White House has maintained it is not involved in the crypto project, and says the resort will host the summit “at cost,” the symbolism of a golden monument to a sitting president at an international summit cannot be ignored.
This is not a political issue. It is a spiritual one.
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Scripture speaks plainly about the dangers of elevating any man to a place that belongs to God alone. “You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image,” Exodus 20:3-4 warns. The issue is not artistry. It is reverence. When gold-covered monuments rise to honor political leaders, history shows how quickly admiration can drift into idolatry.
The prophet Isaiah declared, “Their land is also full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands” (Isaiah 2:8). The danger is not merely personal pride but national consequence. Idolatry in Scripture often brought judgment not just on individuals but on entire peoples.
To be clear, many Christians are grateful for policies under the Trump administration that have defended religious liberty, protected the unborn and pushed back against radical ideologies. Public policy matters. Leadership matters. But no leader is beyond the reach of temptation, and no nation is immune from spiritual drift.
Gold statues have a long and troubling biblical history. In Daniel 3, Nebuchadnezzar erected a golden image and commanded all to bow. Those who refused faced the furnace. The issue was not politics but worship. When rulers are exalted in grand displays of glory, it tests the spiritual clarity of a nation.
This is why voices of wisdom must speak now. The president’s National Faith Advisory Board exists to provide spiritual counsel. Actions that may be framed as publicity or branding can carry deeper ramifications. Even if the statue was conceived by outside supporters, the optics of a towering golden likeness at a global summit evoke imagery Scripture repeatedly warns against.
Cottrill has said of the unfinished unveiling amid a payment dispute, “That statue will not leave my foundry until everything they owe me is paid.” Yet the greater debt at stake is spiritual. What message does a golden colossus send to the watching world about where America places its hope?
Psalm 20:7 reminds us, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.” In our era, chariots may look like markets, military strength or charismatic leadership. But trust misplaced becomes worship misplaced.
If America is to remain under God’s blessing, it must resist even the appearance of exalting any man above his proper place. Honor leaders. Pray for them. Support righteous policies. But build no golden images in their name.
This moment calls for sober counsel and immediate spiritual discernment. The ramifications of idolatry are never small. They ripple through history.
Will those tasked with offering spiritual guidance speak before symbolism becomes stumbling block?
James Lasher, a seasoned writer and editor at Charisma Media, combines faith and storytelling with a background in journalism from Otterbein University and ministry experience in Guatemala and the LA Dream Center. A Marine Corps and Air Force veteran, he is the author of The Revelation of Jesus: A Common Man’s Commentary and a contributor to Charisma magazine. For interviews and media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
