Donald Trump’s presidency has been filled with headlines, both positive and negative. And Americans are divided on their opinions of him as well—some remaining staunchly supportive while others are still opposed.
Those evangelical Trump supporters have been buoyed by his actions that have made good on his campaign promises—to protect religious liberty, defend the unborn, represent Judeo-Christian values on the Supreme Court and stand for America’s churches.
These supporters have been waiting “for such a time as this.”
In his new book, God and Donald Trump, award-winning journalist and author Stephen E. Strang tells the story of Trump’s evangelical voter base through personal interviews and behind-the-scenes reports, detailing the events that helped shape the dramatic Trump presidency thus far.
“Few people outside the four walls of a church pay much attention to what God is doing in the world,” Strang writes in the chapter titled “For Such a Time” in God and Donald Trump. “To them, acts of God are what you call tornadoes and hurricanes. But is it possible God has a plan for this nation? Is it possible He has a plan for His people? I’ve tried to make the case that President Trump won the evangelical vote by the largest margin in history, because, as (Pastor Robert) Jeffress said, Christians understood that he alone had the leadership skills and the unwavering persistence to reverse the death spiral of our nation.”
Strang added that Trump affirmed—time and again—what Christians had been waiting to hear from a national leader. “My administration will always support and defend your religious liberty,” Trump told a Kennedy Center audience during the first Independence Day celebration of his presidency. “We don’t want to see God forced out of the public square, driven out of our schools or pushed out of our civic life. We want to see prayers before football games, if they want to give prayers.” Before he even finished the sentence, attendees were on their feet with loud and resounding applause, after seeing too many examples of secular schools stamping on the beliefs of religious students. Trump added, “We want all children to have the opportunity to know the blessings of God. … As long as I am president, no one is going to stop you from practicing your faith or from preaching what is in your heart.”
Strang added in his book, “As I listened to those words, I wondered if people were asking themselves why Donald Trump was saying such things. For most of his life, he has not been very religious. He was more interested in making money—lots of money—than defending religious liberty. But just as millions of Christians were praying for someone to stand up and help turn things around, here came Donald Trump, seemingly out of left field. At first most Christians didn’t think much of him. Perhaps they didn’t believe him. But now they’re happy to know he has their back.
“Not everyone appears so happy about this new Donald Trump, however,” Strang continued. “If you’re secular, you see the world through a different lens. You may not even believe God exists. And if that’s the case, you feel there’s no reason to be concerned with such things. While people decry ‘the downward spiral,’ calling for restoration and renewal of the culture, Hillary Clinton and her supporters have been saying that everything is just fine. When Trump raised concerns about the moral decline in America, he was lampooned by the media as a hypocrite. Leftists, meanwhile, were marching in the streets for abortion on demand, and celebrating the right to take the life of an unborn child right up to the moment of birth. They were glad same-sex marriage has been validated by the Supreme Court, and that marijuana is being legalized in state after state. And when it comes to old-fashioned morality, the mantra of the secular culture these days is simply, anything goes. But most Americans recognized the problems; they didn’t have to be religious to perceive that something is wrong with the way this country has been going.”
Set for release on Nov. 7, almost a year to the day from the presidential election, God and Donald Trump, which contains a foreword from presidential hopeful and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, takes an incisive look at these and other factors that drove those conservative and evangelical voters to the polls.
Strang is an award-winning journalist and successful businessman who began his career as a newspaper reporter at the Orlando Sentinel before founding a Christian publishing house and media company while interviewing and writing about nearly every Christian leader in the country over the past four decades.
For more information on “God and Donald Trump” visit www.GodandDonaldTrump.com and view the book’s video here. Visitors to the site can also download a free chapter and pre-order the book.
God and Donald Trump is published by Frontline, an imprint of Charisma House, which has published books that challenge, encourage, teach and equip Christians, including 13 New York Times best-sellers.