For this Lent, may Christians repent of Trump and his wars

We’re in the first weeks of Lent, the 40 days when Christians are called to devote themselves to goodness, and the Trump administration appears to be having a good time by making its war with Iran look like a bunch of tween kids playing “Call of Duty.”

While Jesus calls for believers to live life as docilely as possible, the White House continues to churn out social media posts that mix images of American forces blowing up the Iranian regime with everything from SpongeBob SquarePants to Iron Man to “Grand Theft Auto.” While Proverbs warns that “everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination in the sight of God,” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who likes to show off his bad tattoos referencing the Crusades, delivers overly soppy speeches about the supposed glories of this war that sound more bloodthirsty than Count Dracula.

Although Jesus commanded that people should not publicly pray out loud “like hypocrites,” President Trump happily allowed a group of priests to deliver him in the Oval Office this week as one God “continues to give our President the power he needs to lead our nation as we return to one nation under God.”

Which God: Jehovah or Trump?

At last month’s National Prayer Breakfast, the president boasted that thanks to him, “religion is back, now warmer than ever.” Perhaps the most unchristian man ever to serve as commander in chief has consistently disguised himself as Jesus – and many Christians have applauded him, ignoring the Bible’s repeated warnings against false prophets.

Flannery O’Connor could have written an entire novel about Christian hucksters from Year One of the second coming of the Trump administration.

This devotion to Trump is turning into idolatry as the Iran war accelerates with no end in sight.

Pastor Greg Laurie – famous for holding Harvest Crusade reenactments in Southern California in the last generation – wrote online He thinks Trump’s Iran campaign is “a reason for us to sit up and take notice” because it aligns with the End Times prophecy that the Middle East will go to war just before the Second Coming. Non-profit Military Religious Freedom Foundation He announced that he received hundreds of complaints Soldiers claiming that what happened to their superiors was commanded in the Bible.

Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told reporters that what was happening was a “religious war” that would “determine the course of the Middle East for a millennium”; This is the time period in which the Book of Revelation states that Jesus will reign until Satan returns. Some Trump supporters even compared their savior to Cyrus the Great, the Persian king who rescued the Israelites from the yellows of the Babylonians and whom the Book of Isaiah calls God’s “anointed one” who “will subdue the nations before him and strip the armor of kings.”

The entire Bible is not kumbaya. But from the Old Testament to the New Testament, he constantly preaches for believers to be humble and help the poor and oppressed. Trump’s version of Christianity instead preaches no mercy for those who oppose him, demands that his followers exalt him above all else, exalts the ostentatious over the godly.

This Lent magnifies his apostasy like never before.

It is time to fast from our excesses; Trump continues to push for a White House design that would make the Palace of Versailles look as ostentatious as a mud hut. Those of us who participate in Lent are asked to repent of our sins; Trump double-doubles them as if they were McDonald’s fries. We need to reflect on our wrongs and ask for forgiveness from God Almighty and those we have wronged; Has Trump ever done this?

We are also supposed to give alms as a way of honoring Christ and helping those less fortunate than ourselves, noting that the only way to give is to give at a cost to you. Trump has always said that he ultimately looks out for the common man; But instead of helping the millions of people his economy had already left behind before the Iran campaign, he shrugs off their hardships and asks Americans to tighten their belts, resist price increases, and just believe in him.

Or is this Him?

Conservative Christian leaders have consistently gotten on the wrong side of American history, from slavery to imperialism to Jim Crow to women’s rights. So it’s not surprising, but still disappointing, that 69 percent of white evangelicals think Trump is doing a good job in a Pew Research Center poll released earlier this year. Although Pope Leo XIV has consistently condemned America’s foreign and domestic policies, fifty-two percent of white Catholics agree, while only 23% of Latino Catholics agree.

Lent is also the time when Christians remember that the pain of Christ’s death gave rise to the hope of Easter. Therefore, during this season of Lent, let Christians repent against Trump as never before.

War has always been a time for propaganda, demonizing the enemy and strengthening your own side. This is a sad, tragic event filled with death, carnage and endless mourning. Children die. Even if war is necessary, it is not something to be celebrated. Even if Ayatollah Ali Khamenei deserved his downfall and Iranians both at home and abroad rightly celebrated it, there is great skepticism about this latest incident.

But history’s greatest warriors know that victory is temporary, to quote the ending of the Oscar-winning biopic “Patton.” Trump, Hegseth and the like are not them. These are the men from whom the Psalms ask God to save us; They are warmongers who “dream mischief in their hearts” and “constantly” seek violence. Seeing how this administration and its supporters are showing off right now reminds me of the song Johnny Cash once sang: Sooner or later, God’s going to cut you down.

Let’s hope the rest of us are saved when this happens. If you pray, please do. (And not to Trump).