During an interview Tuesday on Fox & Friends, President Donald Trump spoke at length about Monday’s historic White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders.
Sharing his burden over the rising death toll suffered on both sides in eastern Europe, President Trump then offered, with a seeming smile in his voice, another motivation for trying to help broker a peace deal.
“I want to try and get to heaven, if possible,” he explained. “I’m hearing I’m not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole. But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons.”
For Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times, President Trump’s comments were quite shocking. From the Old Grey Lady’s White House beat writer:
This would have been a highly unusual admission from any president, but it seemed especially out of character coming from this one. The man who is regarded as a messiah by many of his own supporters — a belief he has encouraged at every turn — says now that he knows he’s no saint.
This fear of perdition raised some questions. Chief among them: Who, exactly, has been informing the president that he is “not doing well” with regard to kingdom come? Did Michael the Archangel somehow get Mr. Trump’s cellphone number?
Heaven comes up a lot in popular cultural conversation, and even with people who may not even consider themselves “religious.” There are people who mistakenly believe “all roads” lead there, and then there are those who discuss it in Hollywood-esque terms, a vague place populated with angels and harps.
It’s actually not unusual for politicians, journalists and even the general public to talk about somehow earning their way into Heaven. Ask a room full of people, many of whom might even profess belief in God, whether they’re going to Heaven when they die, and you’ll inevitably hear answers comparable to President Trump’s self-evaluation.
At a campaign rally last October, President Trump told the crowd, “I know my mother’s in Heaven. I’m not 100 percent sure about my father, but it’s close.”
One of the thrilling and overwhelmingly reassuring aspects of Christianity is that admission to Heaven isn’t merit based. There is no totem pole to climb, no boxes to check – no way to earn our way by being great or even good enough. Whether you make it to Heaven won’t be decided like a photo finish of a race. Close won’t be close enough.
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them,” said Jesus (John 3:36). We later read in John’s Gospel another declarative promise from the Lord: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (14:6).
As Christians, we don’t have to wring our hands in worry or frustration. We don’t have to wonder about our eternal destiny.
Believe and be saved – simple, and yet so beautifully profound.
Image from Getty.
