For 40 years, until retiring in 2011, I worked in churches in a variety of pastoral-related roles. I grew up in a conservative, evangelical church in Castle Rock. I graduated from an evangelical college in Southern California and evangelical seminary in Kansas City. My early years of ministry were in evangelical churches in south-central Pennsylvania and the Boston area. While I worked in later years with mainline Protestant churches, I have deep roots in and care for the conservative evangelical part of the church.
I am therefore deeply grieved by the apparent love affair and support that a large segment of the evangelical church has for Donald Trump. A serial philanderer and now convicted felon, his words and actions are the antithesis of the life and teachings of Jesus. He has become a hero and almost messiah to many.
WWJD, an abbreviation for “What Would Jesus Do,” originated in the early 1900s and then had a resurgence in the 1990s. It is a reminder to followers of Jesus of their moral imperative to model their lives after his. In 2024, it seems that a significant number of Christians have supplanted WWJD with WWDJTD.
It is a sad state of affairs and reflects poorly on the Christian church.
