Why do some think Trump is a Christian, others don't, and Tucker says he may be the AntiChrist? And...some want to fight territorial demons?

Not all Christians see everything the same way. Lots of diversity. Gotta think carefully.

» Item: President Trump has identified as a Christian and some Christian leaders say they think that's true.

» Item: Donald Trump has also said, “I don’t think there’s anything gonna get me into heaven…. I think I’m not maybe heaven-bound.”

» Item: In April of this year, Tucker Carlson asks about Trump: “Could this be the Antichrist?” (It’s on tape, though Carlson has since quibbled.)

» Item: Some Christians believe demons control certain geographic regions and should be called out by name and battled.

What to make of all this? How should we understand these often-contradictory claims about spiritual life and the invisible world?

We need to make some important distinctions — not just distinctions between the religious folk and the non-religious, but between, and among, those of us who go by “Christian.”

Lots of distinctions, please. We believers agree on many things, but not all.

Who’s a Christian?

So, presumably (!), we who call ourselves “Christians” agree on Jesus, and that we need to believe in Him for the forgiveness of sins — for salvation. Presumably! This is key for us — but here’s where some nuance comes in.

What do we mean when we speak of the “Jesus” we say we believe in?

We mean: Jesus, the eternal Son of God, Second Person of the Trinity, who became a man, died on a Roman cross in Jerusalem around 30 A.D. and who rose, bodily and truly, from the dead, offering salvation from sin for all who believe in Him.

Such a definition is embraced by millions, and always has been, but it excludes some people who may use the name “Christian,” such as, say, Thomas Jefferson and others who think the way Jefferson thought — who see Jesus as merely a great man and profound teacher, but not (as Scripture describes Him) as divine and worthy of worship.

Also critical to the notion of “being a Christian”: that a person sees herself as a sinner in need of God’s forgiveness; that a person understands that he receives salvation by grace, i.e., as a gift that cannot be earned through good works. (Gifts, by definition, are not earned.)

Only God knows whether Donald Trump has what Christians call “saving faith.” But it would seem, from a human standpoint, that Trump denies any need to seek forgiveness. And he seems to think — wrongly, from a biblical standpoint — that a person attains eternal life through doing good deeds. Christianity is not moralism. He has revealed his thinking on those points quite a few times.

Moreover, there’s the question of fruit. Jesus said, “you will recognize them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:20); Paul wrote of spiritual “fruit” that characterizes the lives of true Christians (Galatians 5:22).

Need I compare the “fruit” of Trump’s life to what Scripture speaks of? Um…I think I need not. (I mean, if I were to do that, I could mention the crudity, crassness, cruelty, self-dealing, vanity-on-stilts, lawlessness, and sexual indiscretions — and sexual abuse, if a jury is to be believed. But all of that has been catalogued out the wazoo, to use the technical, legal term. “Trump’s moral depravity, which touches every area of his life, private and public, has long been in public view, undisguised and impossible to miss,” writes the evangelical observer Peter Wehner.)

He does not seem to be a Christian — to grossly understate things.

Am I making a big deal of this? Actually, no. I mean, I do hope Trump is a Christian! I really do. I bring it up only as a way of illustrating that not all Bible-believers agree on things. Some say the president is a believer; some say he is not.

Some, like Tucker Carlson, even suggest that Trump is an — or the — AntiChrist!

Oh my.

But either way, is Trump on a mission from God?

Some other believers argue that Trump — whether he’s a Christian or not — has been chosen by God “for such a time as this” (to use a biblical phrase) in accordance with prophecies made that he (Trump) would win the presidency and lead America to a revival of faith in God. Or that Trump is a modern form of the ancient Persian king Cyrus, who — though an unbeliever in the true God — was an instrument in God’s hand to help the Jews return from exile to the holy land. (See, for instance, Isaiah 44:28. On Cyrus, that is, not Trump.)

Anyway… distinctions. I sometimes see reporting and commentary that don’t make distinctions, framing all evangelicals as backing Trump, or considering him a believer, or considering him a Cyrus. And I see critics of evangelicalism — including critics who are my friends — sometimes lumping all evangelicals together, possibly because of such uncareful reporting and commentary. Thus, the thrust of this commentary — about distinctions.

Now to another area of note in the news — another facet of religious life where it’s wise not to smush all Christians together.

Demonology

Another area to be careful about — so that we might avoid the lumping and smushing I just referred to — has to do with the prevalence, power and jurisdiction of demons, and how Christians think about such things.

In a recent article in The Atlantic, entitled “The Demon Next Door,” Stephanie McCrummen introduces us to an East Tennessee couple who established a church committed to engaging in “strategic-level spiritual warfare” in their town of Maryville. That is, they believed they were told by God directly that they were to eradicate “witchcraft and demonic activity” in their area, to oppose that activity, as McCrummen writes, “by their physical presence, intensive prayer, singing, marching, and other strategies.”

These "charismatic” Christian believers discerned that a “high-ranking demon named Lilith” not only was leader of a “regional demonic stronghold,” but was orchestrating nefarious events through a local bookstore in town.

It’s a fascinating read. But again: distinctions are in order.

I tread carefully here. “Belief in satanic forces has been part of Christianity since the first century,” McCrummen writes. I don’t deny that. Scripture is plain that all of us should be on guard and prayerful because “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). We are exhorted to be aware of Satan and dark forces that desire to hinder our devotion to Jesus; we are to “resist” the devil and to “stand firm” in our faith (1 Peter 5:9) through prayer and the reading of Scripture.

The Bible does indeed speak of “spiritual warfare” (Ephesians 6:10-17): we are to don the metaphorical “armor of God” so that we can “extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” But this is best understood as careful attention to biblical truth and discernment about lies and false teaching in the Church, not about some sort of direct “battle” with demons who control territories and who may be known, and addressed, by name. No Scripture that I’m aware of encourages that kind of ministry by believers. Nor, as some charismatic ministries seem to suggest, are we to fear our demonic enemy, because “the one who is in you [the Lord] is greater than the one who is in the world [Satan]” (1 John 4:4); nor, as some ministry leaders seem to imply, should we think evil forces are somehow parallel in power with God — like the good and bad sides of “The Force” in Star Wars movies. The Bible indicates that while Satan is evil and not to be trifled with, he and his minions are already a defeated force because of the Cross of Christ (see Colossians 2:15; Luke 10:18); Jesus is Lord of all entities that exist, even the evil ones (Colossians 1:15-16; Ephesians 1:20-23).

Note: What has happened to you if you’re a believer? "He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son” (Colossians 1:13). You are safely in a new place. Resist Satan — sure. Pray to stand strong in the face of temptation — yes indeed. Hold onto biblical truth — yes. But don’t fear dark forces will overcome you; you’re in the happy dominion of “the Son.” The Bible does not, as far as I can tell, urge us to seek to do battle with named demons, or to try to liberate particular places from those entities.

We’re a diverse group

All that to say that Christians see many of these things differently, and we should resist — while we’re resisting the devil in biblically-appropriate ways — formulations in the media, and buzz among our friends, that paint all Bible-believers with a broad brush.

As I’ve written before, evangelicals differ on the age of the universe. They differ on “faith healing” and how the Holy Spirit leads and guides His children through life. In other words, though we agree on a lot, we differ on a number of non-essential, non-primary doctrines. Some have even embraced QAnon. (As I was finishing up this article, the New York Times posted an essay by Michelle Goldberg on Victor Marx, the GOP nominee for governor in Colorado. He is a Christian who reportedly used to sell a $99 guidebook for casting out demons and who has said he can perform exorcisms over the phone. Some of us would have doubts about that stuff.)

Beyond the main tenets of the faith, there’s quite a bit of variety out there in the professing-Christian world. Let’s make good distinctions. Let’s promote, and argue for, the faith, with zeal and integrity — while making clear which things are essential, which things are minor matters, and which things tend toward extremes.

Distinctions.