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When genuine religion wanes, people tend to make politics their religion, and the nation becomes an idol, that is, something people use to replace God. “Christian nationalism,” which is rampant in the United States right now, is idolatry. People are more dedicated to the nation than to truth and God. However, God is bigger than any nation, philosophy, theology or religion, even the Catholic religion. Why, believe it or not, God is even bigger than Donald Trump!

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American evangelical Christians and Catholics need to remember this: Trump is mortal like the rest of us. If the bullet had been just an inch to the right, Trump would have been gone, and we would be living in a completely different world now, quite likely with Kamala Harris as the U.S. president.

Trump, of course, claimed that being spared the assassin’s bullet proved that God had called him to save the American people. Evangelicals and Catholics, to justify their loyalty to Trump despite his unsavoury personality and criminal record, often compare him to the Biblical King Cyrus. Cyrus the Great was a pagan ruler of Persia who delivered the Jewish people from their hopeless captivity in Babylon and allowed them to return to the promised land (Ezra 1: 1-4). In other words, King Cyrus made Israel great again! The Jewish people considered him to be an instrument of God.

On the other hand, Matthew Fox, an Anglican theologian, wrote a handbook for the 2024 election titled Trump & the Maga Movement as Anti-Christ. In a previous article, I wrote that I did not believe Trump was the Antichrist because he had not destroyed millions of lives. Perhaps I should have added the word “yet.”

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Now, I think he may destroy at least the livelihoods, if not the lives, of millions of Canadians by his tariffs. He may also destroy the hopes of millions of underprivileged Americans by cutting the “diversity, equity and inclusion” (DEI) program, deporting innocent people, and, with the help of Elon Musk, slashing government jobs to the bone as well as the funding of American aid (USAID) to numerous countries.

Recently, I discovered that the Bible says there can be numerous “antichrists,” not just one. “You have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and now many antichrists have already come” (1 John 2:18). Possibly, Trump and Musk are not the one-and-only Antichrist, but on a smaller scale, they are modern-day antichrists. Time will tell.

One thing is clear: a new religion is emerging, which could best be called “Trumpianity.” In this religion, which opposes genuine Christianity, the goal is power over others, not humility. You take revenge on your enemies rather than loving them, as Jesus taught. Compassion is seen as a weakness for losers, and there is no forgiveness for past sins. “Sin” defined here means “anything or anyone that opposes Trump or anything he disagrees with.” The leader demands his acolytes worship him, something Jesus of Nazareth never required of his followers. These are all antichrist goals, actions and demands. Jesus simply asked his disciples to follow his example of doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God (Micah 6:8).

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Trump has even created his own “Trump Bible,” a sure sign he thinks he is God. When John Roberts, chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, presented Trump with the opportunity to lay his hand on the Bible while reciting the swearing-in oath at his inauguration Jan.20, Trump chose not to do so. Should not this, and the chaos Trump has caused since that moment, give the evangelical Christians and ultra-conservative Catholics who so strongly backed him, pause to consider that, perhaps, they have chosen to follow the wrong God?

Bruce Tallman is a spiritual director and educator of adults in religion. brucetallman.com

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