Jesus is the “ultimate source of our strength and hope,” former President Donald Trump told members of First Baptist Church in Dallas last Sunday. Trump quoted scripture and discussed the influence of Christianity on the United States.
“Our country needs a savior right now, and our country has a savior,” he said. “And that’s not me — that’s somebody much higher up than me, much higher up. The life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ forever changed the world. It’s impossible to think of the life of our own country without the influence of his example and of his teachings. Our miraculous founding, overcoming Civil War, abolishing slavery, defeating communism and fascism, reaching boundless heights of science and discovery.
“The United States ultimately becoming a truly great nation, and we’re going to keep it that way. We’re going to keep it that way. We’re not going to let it go. But none of this could have ever happened without Jesus Christ and his followers and his church — none of it. And we have to remember that Jesus Christ is the ultimate source of our strength and of our hope.”
Trump read from a prepared text but noted that he was going off-script, saying he wanted to speak from the heart.
“We’re in trouble,” he said. “I think our nation’s in great trouble. I don’t think we’ve ever had a time like this with what happened in Afghanistan the way that was done so badly. And you look at the borders and you look at the inflation, which is going to rip our country to pieces. We had no inflation, we had oil — much of it coming from Texas. We even filled up the strategic reserves. For decades and decades, they were empty and getting lower all the time. But I will say that there’s a lot of clouds hanging over our country right now — very dark clouds.
“We have an incredible country. It will be more incredible in years to come. We will do what has to be done to make America great again. We are going to make America great again. We are never going to forget that message. It’s America first and make America great again, and we will do it.”
The popular former president, who now out-polls President Joe Biden in a hypothetical 2024 match-up, also spoke about racism.
“We have to work together to confront bigotry and prejudice wherever they appear, but we’ll make no progress and heal no wounds by falsely labeling tens of millions of decent Americans as racists or bigots. We have to get everybody together. We have to get everyone in the same path,” he said.
Trump’s comments came during a week in which he made several high-profile public appearances. In Florida on Monday, he pointed to the great success of his administration pushing through the development of covid vaccines and encouraged people to get the booster shot. “It saved millions,” Trump said of the vaccines that were in response to the deadly virus that originated in Communist China.
–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice