INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Christian Speakers Max Lucado And Joel Osteen Weigh In On Donald Trump

By Noelle Nicholas
Published on: 03:37 PST, Apr 1, 2016

The fight for the presidential nomination is underway, and with it, the remaining candidates are growing increasingly desperate to win over the majority of voters. Like it or not, billionaire businessman Donald Trump is leading the pack and has been for most of the race. His methods are extremely controversial, but apparently, Americans like what they hear.

Although Donald Trump claims to be a follower of Jesus, reviews of his sincerity are mixed within the Christian world. Donald Trump is a love-him-or-hate-him type of guy. His “Make America Great Again” slogan, along with his strong views on important issues such as border control, appeal to a large portion of the American public. People want a strong president in office again, one who upholds the values from our great history, and for some voters, Donald Trump seems to fit the bill.

What do professional Christians think of Donald Trump? The range is as varied among pastors and Christian speakers as it is among the general public. Recently, Pastor Joel Osteen, of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, upheld Donald Trump as “a good man.” After receiving harsh backlash over his endorsement of presidential hopeful Trump, Osteen made it clear that his statement was not an endorsement of The Donald.

A related report by the Inquisitr notes that while Joel Osteen’s personal opinion of Donald Trump is high, he does not involve himself in political debate.

“Mr. Trump is an incredible communicator and brander. He’s been a friend of our ministry. He’s a good man.”

North Jersey reports that Joel Osteen keeps his political opinions to himself so as not to offend his followers.

“Our general message speaks to staying in peace and being respectful and staying full of joy and staying positive… It’s not about building up a religion or a doctrine. It’s about building a relationship with God… I don’t get specific about the politics, but our core message deals with [how] every day, you have to choose to be happy, you have to overlook things that are done wrong and things that are said.”

Max Lucado is the pastor of Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas. He is a very popular author of both adult and children’s books. According to the Christian Post, Lucado’s opinion of Donald Trump is vastly different than his fellow pastor, Joel Osteen. Max Lucado does not support Donald Trump for president, mainly because he fears that people will get the wrong idea about Christians when seeing Trump’s behavior.

“My concern is that somebody would make a decision against Christianity because of Mr. Trump’s behavior. And that’s my high concern here. And to that person I would say, the way he speaks about people is not the way our master, our savior has taught us to speak, it’s not the way our scriptures urge us to speak.

“The Bible urges us to be respectful to all people, especially people with whom we have disagreements, to never libel people, to never label people.

“Now this is a huge deal in scripture, and so I would encourage that person, and the reason I’ve gone so verbal and vocal with this is because I’m protective of the reputation of Christ and the church, and I would ask that person not to interpret the Christian faith through the words of Mr. Trump.”

While Lucado’s views on Donald Trump are not personal, the pastor does believe his methods, while in the limelight, are misleading others in the true way of Christianity.

Donald Trump says he is a Christian. There’s really no way to know for certain. Everyone has a different opinion.

Do you think Donald Trump is a Christian? Does his public demeanor harm the reputation of Christianity?

[Image credit: Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated Press]

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