Reports are saying a mysterious person has led Donald Trump to Christ.
James Clayton Dobson, Jr. is one of America's top evangelicals. He is the founder of Focus on the Family (FOTF), an American Christian conservative organization. Tagged by Time as the nation's most influential evangelical leader, he has been a crucial player in securing a lot of Christian votes for George W. Bush, according to an article published in Harper's Magazine by Chris Hedges in 2005.
Hallelujah! Trump Is Now Suddenly A Born Again “Baby Christian”[/tweetthis]
According to him, Donald Trump, the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party in the 2016 American presidential election, recently accepted a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. He is now a born-again Christian. Dobson refused to disclose the identity of the person that led Trump to make this significant change, however, he said that Trump made the commitment very recently. Dobson revealed this during an interview with Michael Anthony, a Pennsylvania pastor.
The interview was given following a closed-door meeting with Trump in New York last week, and saw hundreds of top evangelical leaders trying to get to know Trump and his policies better for the purpose of offering him their support.
For evangelicals, the major criteria in becoming a genuine Christian include accepting Christ at heart, acknowledging one's sins, and declaring Christ as savior. According to Kedron Bardwell, a political science professor at Simpson College, Iowa, the evangelical expectation of becoming a true Christian is a 180-degree turn from the life of sin to following Christ.
Becoming a born-again Christian is often done in prayer with another true Christian. The mystery person Dobson claims responsible for Trump to follow Christ is most probably the person who lead Trump in prayer during the conversion.
Dobson was a Trump-criticizer prior to the New York meeting, and he had reasons to be. During his initial campaigning sessions, Trump was not much into religion. Even though he identified himself as a tremendous believer and a true Christian, he has not been able to answer even the basic questions about the religion.
Trump received Christ! Believe It, Evangelical Leader Says https://t.co/rW0UJY1ADb #ifTrumpwereevangelical Christians Pray for Mr.Trump
— Melissa (@Sweetatertot) June 27, 2016
Even when he claimed Bible as his favorite book, he could not name his favorite verse from it. Also, his revelation that he never confessed in his entire life, did not sit well with a lot of Christians and Christian leaders. The New York meeting saw none of the evangelical leaders offering him full endorsement, however, most of them said after the meeting that they are remarkably close to endorsing him.
According to Dobson, Trump was not brought up in the true Christian way, so it is only fair to cut him some slack. He does not know the Christian language yet, however, there is hope for him.
During the New York meeting, Trump questioned his Democrat rival Hillary Clinton's faith. He also said that most of the political leaders today are selling Christianity down the tubes.