Referencing Trump’s 2020 loss and various indictments, Wallnau compared Trump to the biblical character Job before expressing his belief in the unfounded claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
Bakker added that Trump “was anointed” to be president.
“I think we’ve gotta talk about why people think Trump isn’t a Christian,” Bakker said later in the conversation. “I know the people who have led him in the sinner’s prayer. I mean, people have literally prayed with him.”
Bakker indicated that Wallnau also knew people who had led Trump to salvation.
“Yeah, I’m laughing,” Wallnau said, “because I’m hoping that he doesn’t think that he has to accept Jesus into his heart several times a year in order to become a Christian.”
Wallnau continued, “Trump has prayed three times that I know of to accept Jesus. I’m sure one of them stuck.”
For his part, Trump has continued to sprinkle his public comments with positive references to Jesus and the Christian religion, as has been his practice throughout his political career.
While Trump has long shown a lack of fluency in evangelical conversations, as illustrated by his now-infamous reference to “Two Corinthians” and his non sequitur responses to questions about his personal faith journey, his efforts to speak to evangelicals on their terms has nevertheless been well received.
Just this week, Trump name dropped Jesus in his remarks about the ongoing inability of the House of Representative to elect a new Speaker in the wake of Kevin McCarthy’s ouster.
Explaining that gaining broadband Republican support is “very tough,” Trump said, “There’s only one person who can do it all the way. You know who that is? Jesus Christ.”
“If Jesus came down and said, ‘I want to be Speaker,’ he would do it,” Trump added. “Other than that, I haven’t seen anybody that can guarantee it. But at some point, I think we’re going to have somebody pretty soon.”
