What a way to say “Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men.” I guess the Trump administration says it by bombing another country on Christmas Day. Really? On Christmas Day? Is that the message we are celebrating in the Christian world? Did I miss the part in the Bible that says when Jesus was born, the Angels destroyed towns and villages in celebration? Trump picked Christmas Day of all days to bomb Nigeria because he says that they are persecuting Christians. Christmas to me was always about peace and love, and not bombs and killing. When did the message change, and who changed it?

Throughout history, we have seen changes to the words of Jesus, beginning with the Roman Empire in the fourth century. Christianity went from a persecuted minority to a state-aligned institution. This created a conflict with the teaching of Jesus (nonviolence, humility, and service) to the needs of an empire (order, hierarchy, intimidation). For over 1,000 years, Christianity was fused with Monarchy, Feudalism, warfare, and social hierarchy. Jesus’s radical teachings were unjustly used to justify the Crusades, the Inquisition, and colonial expansion. Things that Jesus really said were treated as idealistic and not binding, or were just plain ignored, just like they were ignored this Christmas by the Trump administration.  Believe it or not, but I feel it was the Founding Fathers with the separation of Church and State that may have helped steer Christianity away from a monarchy and feudal system, to where Christianity became a religion for the people. Our leaders were not picked by God; they were picked by the people without the interference of the Church. The Church was able to grow without the interference of the government,

Today, Donald Trump has established a White House Faith Office, which is headed by his spiritual advisor, Paula White-Cain. She has been a spiritual advisor to Trump for a while, who previously served as chair of his 2016 presidential campaign’s advisory board. She also delivered the invocation at Trump's first inauguration in 2017. White-Cain is a televangelist and pastor from Apoka, Florida, who is known for her association with the prosperity gospel, a belief system linking faith with economic success.  In a nutshell, she believes that people of great faith will prosper, and people live in poverty because of their lack of faith. They have actually turned Christianity into a religion that benefits the rich and punishes the poor. She is the one who said, “to say no to Trump is saying no to God.” She is again associating monarchies and hierarchies with God's blessing. That, by the way, will not be found in the teachings of the Gospel. No wonder life means so little to Trump and his Administration. I think that they believe that because everyone of us is beneath them. They have twisted the teachings so much that “Peace, Good Will to Men” has no meaning.

The White House did release an official Christmas message: The First Lady and I send our warmest wishes to all Americans as we share in the joy of Christmas Day and celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and reaffirm a commitment to the principles of faith, family and freedom vowing to defend the values that make America “the greatest country in the history of the world – and we will always remain one Nation under God.”   A nice message, but too Christian Nationalist for my taste because there are Christians all over the world, and he is supposed to be a world leader. I am sure it was written by some staffer and not by Trump himself. To find Trump's real Christmas messages, you have to see what he posts on Truth Social. The first message that I saw was “Merry Christmas to all, including the Radical Left Scum that is doing everything possible to destroy our Country, but are failing badly.” Can calling people Radical Left Scum really bring the holiday spirit out of me? How about you? No? Well, me neither. In another post, he wrote: “Merry Christmas to all, including the many Sleazebags who loved Jeffrey Epstein.”  Later in the post, he wrote: “actually the only one who did drop Epstein, and long before it was fashionable to do so.” Throughout Christmas Day, Trump posted over 100 times on Truth Social. They were not to promote the meaning of Christmas or Jesus; they were mostly to promote himself or air his grievances. Reading them, you could tell the one who did not truly embrace the meaning of the day was Trump himself.

As I have written earlier, Trump’s spiritual advisor stated that saying no to Trump is saying no to God. In 2019, Trump stated, “I and the chosen one.” Trump has amplified online content that has proclaimed that “God gave us Trump,” framing him as a divine leader appointed to fight political adversaries. These actions and statements, particularly in religious and political contexts, indicate that Trump has insinuated or embraced the idea that he was chosen by God, especially among his Evangelical base, many of whom believe he is anointed for leadership. I look at the gospel, and I look at Trump's actions, and I cannot figure out how in the hell anyone can think that Trump was anointed to lead anything. It just makes me wonder how many so-called Christians out there have turned their backs on the gospel and the teachings of Jesus.

Now, Trump has built himself up as the only person who can save America, but history has seen that before. Trump has been compared to Hitler, and rightfully so. Hitler used the approach that he was the only one who could save Germany. He offered simple answers, clear enemies, and a unified worldview. He positions himself as the one who would restore Germany, much like Trump and his MAGA movement. He was the one who would defeat enemies, much like Trump has done with his deportations and his bombings. He was the one who would bring national rebirth, which is again much like Trump's MAGA movement. Hitler didn’t create a new religion; he replaced religion with himself. He built a religion that used Christian language, used religious symbolism, used religious rituals, and used religious devotion. The problem was that the object of worship was not Jesus, but Hitler. Trump and his spiritual advisor have done pretty much the same thing. North Korea is probably the clearest modern example of leadership worship. There are sacred myths about the leader's birth, along with rituals, hymns, and pilgrimages. That has made me think about all of the pilgrimages people have made to Mar-a-Lago to bend a knee to Trump.

We are approaching the New Year, and I have always felt that this time of year was a chance for everyone to be reborn into the person that we have always wanted ourselves to be. I hope that this New Year's people really examine their life and their faith that follows more to the words that are in the gospel and in the Constitution. They are two separate documents; when kept separate, can change the country and maybe the world. Maybe we can have “Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward All Men and Women too.”