The Faith of Donald J. Trump - A Spiritual Biography

A+ journalism. I appreciated the clarification I received from this read, as I have watched from afar the dance between evangelicals and Trump. The author does a great job of giving them each voice, speaking in respectful tone, yet, in Philip Yancey style, telling me what I want to know. I am more than ever, motivated in my prayer life for President Trump as I have renewed vision. I got to see how people were praying for him and in turn, it gave me direction beyond THE PRESIDENTIAL PRAYER TEAM items. I did not realize the historical education I would receive in reading this, but it was all worthwhile. Kudos to Brody and Lamb.

A beautifully written foray into the fantasy world of a man named Donald who makes a pact with seeminly friendly spirits who *spoiler alert* end up being counter intelligence for foreign goverments. The protagonists hubris and band of troll like advisors lead him into all sorts of misadventures. Without spoiling too much, let's just say that quite a few apples are dangled in front of our hero. You will have to read the book to see how many times he takes a bite!

Well written to understand about D Trump's character and can see clearly who he is in Christ.
I don't question anymore why he speaks & act such a way but trust him as loving person in depth.
No one can be without fear if the person does not stand on God's truth.

The authors, David Brody & Scott Lamb, showed us another dimension of our present President. The spiritual one.
I remember him addressing some Jewish folks in Washington by saying something like «  I am so proud of my Jewish grand babies « 
while running for President. Mind you!
Whoever wrote the powerful ( obviously politically motivated ) script for that speech, it does NOT matter, Mr Trump chose to deliver it.
Did anyone else before him express publicly such pride of being a Jewish grandfather ( not being Jewish himself )?
Donald J Trump is a fascinating, so multi faceted American!
And the book will not disappoint.

Author David Brody uses personal interviews with Donald Trump, Mike Pence and many others from about 2011, including in the Oval Office. You’ll be fascinated to learn just how a kindhearted, generous, strong work ethic, with great respect for God, Clergy, CEOs, and the common man, really shows in Mr. Brody’s positive and unbiased look at Mr. Trump.
You’ll note in this book that Mr. Trump’s public policies are aligned with key Biblical issues such as pro-life, pro-Israel, traditional marriage, second amendment rights, a strong military, great, godly Supreme Court Justices, and that he is against the Iran nuclear deal; and he is for defunding Planned Parenthood and no amnesty, meaning no free rides for illegal aliens! Mr. Trump has proven to be the most conservative candidate and now President of the United States.
It’s obvious to me, from this book, how God used many key persons to help bring about Mr. Trump’s nomination and election to the U.S. Presidency for perhaps God’s purpose to bring a Great Awakening!!

Love it. Always felt constrained by Christianity to do good and all that but this shows opens up being a Christian in so many ways. So many Christians are misguided but Trump the real savior is finally setting things right.

This is an amazing and wonderful book, explaining how while Trump had a more shallow relationship with Jesus before, the pressures of entering the political realm caused him to ask for prayer more than he had ever done in the past. He discovered that the prayer helped him tremendously, and so his hunger for things of God has continued to increase. He has begun regular counsel, Bible study, prayer with others as well as on his own...due mainly to realizing how much help Christ gives him to face his monumental job leading our country. All the prayer and Bible studies have also had another consequence... a man with a new outlook on life, and changed heart, and one with a passion for things of God.

It is amazing how so many say he couldn't have changed...while claiming change for inner city people, immigrants, prisoners, anyone else.. But OOHH NOOO Trump could never change. Isn't that a little bit of a double standard, isn't that a little bit unfair? In fact, maybe a total lie?? Yes, it's a total lie. Trump, like anyone else, can change, has changed, and the change has been all for Jesus Christ, as his life clearly exemplifies. Whatever your political persuasion, you have to stop lying, and admit he has done more than any President to date in bringing awesome changes in all facets for our country. And he gives the glory to Jesus Christ, thanks God, and looks to Him. Isn't it time you looked to Jesus too?

The Faith of Donald J. Trump

The Faith of Donald J. Trump confirmed what I knew in my spirit that God has chosen Donald J. Trump to become President of the United States for such a time as this. This book brought out an insight into his European roots, childhood upbringing and religious teachings that as I read, quickened my spirit. Donald Trump had everything money could buy and learned the hard way that fame and fortune have pitfalls and seemed to go off the rails at times. What I see is a clear picture of a man who met the God of the Bible on the 2015 – 2016 presidential campaign trail giving him a crystal clear purpose, driven by the Holy Spirit. I want to thank David Brody and Scott Lamb who co-authored this fascinating book on #POTUS45 for answering questions that have lingered for the past 2 years.

“When my friend David Brody told me he was writing a book entitled The Faith of Donald J. Trump, I was tempted to laugh... But I didn’t” (the first line from the Forward to the book by Eric Metaxas --author of Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther, and more importantly, with regard to this book, If you Çan Keep It. The Forgotten Promise of American Liberty.

So, suppose I was a #Nevertrumper, or I felt the Bern, or voted for Hillary, why on earth would I even consider reading a book about that profligate, racist, homophobic Donald Trump? First, because this riveting book is in two parts, the first of which highlights the character of the first settlers to this land, and carries forward in time to the second part, which separates chaff from wheat in exposing the inner Trump.

Part I.

Early in the book, the authors cite a Nov 26, 1929 quote from theologian Rudolf Bultmann: “It is impossible to use electric light and the wireless and to avail ourselves of modern medical and surgical discoveries, and at the same time to believe in the New Testament world of spirits and miracles...to do so is to make the Christian faith unintelligible and unacceptable to the modern world.”

The narrrative begins with the early Christian pilgrims who settled in New England and the plains surrounding what would become New York City in the early 1600s. It traces the ups and downs of Christian worship and submission to Biblical authority up to the present, and poses the question of whether America is a Christian nation or not.

The authors tell how in the decades before and after the Revolutionary War America experienced two “Great Awakenings”--periods of protracted interest in and conversion to Christianity. In fact, Part 1 of this book is a fascinating account of the many bible believing churches which surfaced and receded from the 1920s to the 60s and establishes Trump’s heritage and family in this stream. Trump’s family was Presbyterian, and some years before Donald was born, the Presbyterian church splintered into two factions: fundamentalists and modernists. The Trumps were modernists, or Mainliners, whose numbers from 1960 to 2015 had plummeted from 4.1 million members to 1.6 million members. Some time after the Trumps left the church, it gave its blessings to same sex marriage for laymen and clergy alike. As a result of similar schisms in the three major mainline denominations (Presbyterians, Methodists, and Lutherans) they remain predominantly lily-white (88-96% Caucasian) while evangelical (Fundamentalist) and Catholic churches have a strong racial diversity.

The authors touch briefly on the secularization of our public institutions and schools which came about during Trump’s life with the Supreme Court’s ruling that there was a “separation of church and state” a consequence modernist reading (or misreading) of the First Amendment, and which has resulted, as Justice Potter noted in his dissent, “in an establishment of a religion of secularism.”

Trump stands apart from this. Michele Bachmann is quoted as saying, “What I really like about him (Trump) is that he has 1950s sensibilities. He really does believe in a strong America because he grew up being proud of the United States---” a John Wayne America.”

There are several chapters dealing with those Trump has befriended and counselled with, such as Norman Vincent Peale, Reverend Billy Graham. James Robison, Paula White, Kenneth Copeland, Darrell Scott, Jerry Falwell Jr., Samuel Rodriguez, Tony Perkins, Robert Jeffress to mention a few. He comes off as a bigger than life figure. As Peggy Noonan noted, Trump, unlike many before him, isn’t beholden to the special interests of any donors: he is independently wealthy. Thus no behind the scenes entity has the power to influence what he promotes or signs into law: he is refreshingly his own man.

One of the fascinating sidebars of Part 1 is the story of the resurgence of evangelical churches in New York, a city formerly known as Sodom and Gomorrah and the Secular City. Seven out of ten evangelical churches were started since 1960, and 120 of the roughly 200 evangelical churches have begun since 1978, the year Trump started his first project in NY, the Commodore Hotel Project.

Part II is witty and spellbinding. Included are his comments on Roe v Wade, The Johnson Amendment of 1954, and Planned Parenthood,

A discussion of #NeverTrump, defined in a document titled “Christians Called to Resist Trump’s
Bigotry” occurs in Chapter 20, but in the next chapter Mike Huckabee, former Southern Baptist preacher and two-time presidential candidate, believes Trump “has a God consciousness about him that’s real...that for all his vulgarity...Trump has a deep abiding respect not just for God, but for all people who truly follow God.”

On Inauguration Day, Robert Jeffress delivered a sermon in which he likened Trump to Nehemiah in the Bible “who rebuilt Jerusalem and knew a thing or two about building a wall.
He refused to allow his critics to distract him, he refused to allow setbacks to stop him, and he sought God’s supernatural power.” And James Robison in his prayer for the president on that day prayed : “we believe, dear God,that the stage is set for the next great spiritual awakening. I want to thank you for giving us a leader who is fearless, who is tireless...who is committed, and who has so obviously, by his very manner, and the way he treats people and expresses appreciation for them, and for the way he forgives those who have been unkind, and even given them an opportunity to serve. “

There is much much more, and for those who are not predisposed to disrespect Trump, you will find Part II refreshing and even uplifting. And for those of us, who are secularists, or atheists, that is, those of us who believe that we humans evolved by chance from a single cell amoeba, and ultimately by natural selection from apes, we need to revisit and update the above 1929 quote of Rudolf Bultmann, who asserted that the New Testament “world of spirits and miracles” has been trumped by modern advances in science, as follows:

We need to add advances in communications, entertainment, relativity theory, quantum mechanics, neurophysiology, information theory, molecular biology, in particular the structure of our DNA. And in so doing, we can assert unequivocally that there is nothing in any of the above disciplines which supports or lends credence to Darwin’s theory of Evolution. (See Woodward and Gills The Mysterious Epigenome, and/or Darwin Under the Microscope.) This sort of pulls the rug out from those who believe that the religion of the Bible is all smoke and mirrors, and that Evolution, which is taught as “science” to our school children, is supported by scientific evidence. (See Nathaniel T. Jeanson, Replacing Darwin, 2017.)

And so, as unlikely as it may seem, the stage may be set for another Great Awakening. Should that happen, Donald J. Trump will be in the forefront of it.

Just finished this fascinating book. The behind the scene view of President Trump shows a side of him the media will never show. As a Christian, I was encouraged and so very thankful for God’s mercy on our nation – that He would stir up a leader for times such as these. I pray for President Trump, his family and his administration and will continue to do so with zeal now that I see God’s hand in the matter more clearly.
Negative reviewers and Never-Trumpers are of no matter and to them I recite Acts 5:38-39:
“Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”

God uses everything for His Glory when we yield ourselves to Him. Clearly President Trump has yielded himself and the Lord is using him to make level the path to the Lord’s blessing of the United States of America. Read the Bible and learn God uses Imperfect people to accomplish His purposes, when His people pray!

This is an amazing and well researched book about the Faith of Donald Trump. Additionally, it sheds much light on his amazing and miraculous journey to the White House. It should be a must read for every American who cares for and believes in our remarkable country. The book will hopefully be a catalyst to encourage more Americans to pray for our country, our Commander in Chief and his cabinet.

Full disclosure, I have not nor have any intention of spending $24.29 of my hard-earned money on this book. I have, however, read the description and have also seen multiple interviews with the author, so I'm somewhat qualified to write this as long as you're at a distance and squint a bit.

David Brody works for the Christian Broadcasting Network, a politically conservative network and very, very much geared toward those who are of the Evangelical, speaking-in-tongues sort of Christian. (I mean nothing disrespectful by that description - to each their own when it comes to religion.) My point is, before you even read the front cover it's fairly clear that the author is rather biased toward Trump in general, as well as being a very fervent believer in his version of Christianity. So there's that. Now for my opinion.

The subtitle of 'A Spiritual Biography' was the second thing on the cover that really annoyed me, the first was the title itself. I'm not sure how much more abundantly clear Donald Trump has made that he worships only the dollar - his wealth (but omitting his millions in debt of course) has been his major point of pride for decades, and until the election it was what he brought up constantly whenever someone spoke to him. Now it's Hillary but every so often he brings it up. I'm not entirely sure what was possibly said during these one-on-ones with Trump that could give Brody anything, however fragile, to use as evidence that Trump actually understands what it means to be religious or has any interest in it whatsoever, but bless him he managed.

It's telling that the reviews are from Fox News contributors and hosts as well as two unknown pastors/religious leaders and not from any literary critics nor respected authors or journalists. This 'book' is nothing more than pandering to the remnants of Trump's base, and is an insult to those who actually have sincere faith of any denomination.

Clearly, the negative reviews were from those who neither read the book, know the authors, or have any spiritual insight. These authors explain what many of us intuitively know about this presidency that is hard to explain in secular terms. This book is part of the process of the light exposing the darkness and why we needed this president for this time.