For many years, we have prayed that God would raise up men and women of God to positions of leadership and influence in our country. However, since the end of the George W. Bush administration, there have been previous few answers to that prayer.
Who would have thought that Donald Trump might be the answer to that prayer? No, not that he is a Christian – there are no signs of that, sadly. But he certainly seems poised to appoint a number of them to his first cabinet and other White House positions – Senate confirmation permitting. Consider the following names who profess to be Christians:
Mike Pence (Vice-president elect): “My Christian faith is at the heart of who I am” and “I’m a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order.”
Reince Preibus (Chief of Staff): “At Grace Church, Reince Priebus known as principled, devout Christian.”
Jeff Sessions (Attorney General): According to an earlier Senate bio, he “has served as a lay leader and as a Sunday school teacher at his family’s church, Ashland Place United Methodist Church, in Mobile. He served as the Chairman of his church’s Administrative Board and has been selected as a delegate to the annual Alabama Methodist Conference.”
Dr. Ben Carson (Housing and Urban Development): Interview with Christianity Today. “I would describe myself first of all as a Christian—Evangelical in the sense that I believe we have a responsibility to proclaim the gospel and show other people why we live the way that we do and hopefully that will affect their lives. I think that’s a very important component of what we do.”
Betsy DeVos (Education): Has “deep ties to the Christian Reformed community” and “heavily influenced by Abraham Kuyper.” She sees education as “one of the ways that God advances his kingdom.”
Rex Tillerson (latest favorite for Secretary of State): According to Wikipedia, he and his wife donated $5,000-$10,000 to the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches in 2012. It was also reported on the radio last week that he is a devout Christian who attends Church weekly and teaches Bible Study.
Scott Pruitt (EPA): According to the Oklahoma Office of Attorney General, the Pruitts are members of the First Baptist Church of Broken Arrow, where Pruitt serves as deacon.
Mike Pompeo (CIA): Family attends Eastminster Presbyterian Church, where he serves as a deacon and teaches Sunday School to fifth-graders.
Nikki Haley (Ambassador to UN): Christianity Today report her words: “My faith in Christ has a profound impact on my daily life and I look to him for guidance with every decision I make. In an interview, she said: “God has blessed my family in so many ways and my faith in the Lord gives me great strength on a daily basis. Being a Christian is not about words, but about living for Christ every day.”
I don’t know the personal lives of these people and I can’t vouch for their orthodoxy or orthopraxy. In some cases, there do seem to be inconsistencies between their professed faith and their practice. However, when you think about what we’ve had for the past eight years, and the further hounding and persecuting of Christians we’d be facing if Hillary had won, we surely must be thankful that President-elect Trump will have some Christian counsel around him and that prayer will ascend from the Oval Office again.
I can understand why some Christians fear a Trump presidency, but these appointments may offer some hope and reassurance in uncertain and unpredictable times.
No reason to stop praying though. Indeed, plenty reason to pray all the more.
