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Will Donald Trump go to heaven when he dies? · The Daily Article

• 0:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's Thursday, November the 6th, 2025, and you've joined the Dinnison Forum's daily article podcast.
• 0:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome!
• 0:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm narrator Chris Elkins, giving voice to today's daily article Written by Cultural Theologian Dr. Jim Dinnison.
• 0:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: This week's elections have been framed by many, especially those critical of President Trump as a negative referendum on a second term.
• 0:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Some are even predicting that the Democrats' victories portendate blew wave in next year's midterms.
• 0:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: By contrast, other suggest that Zoran Mamdoni's victory in New York City's mayoral race is a political gift for Mr. Trump, so long as he understands voters' frustrations that lead to Mr. Mamdoni's ascension.
• 0:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: While I would not offer partisan advice to Mr. Trump as he responds to these partisan views, I have been reflecting on his approach to a far more significant election in his future.
• 0:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: The president dialed into Fox and Friends a few days ago to discuss the war in Ukraine.
• 1:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: During the conversation, he explained his motivation for trying to broker and into the conflict.
• 1:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: He said, I want to try and get to heaven if possible.
• 1:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm hearing I'm not doing well.
• 1:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: I am really at the bottom of the totem pole, but if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons, in quote, prodded recently by a reporter to elaborate Trump said, I'm being a little cute.
• 1:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think there's anything that's going to get me into heaven.
• 1:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think I'm not maybe heaven bound, he added, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to make heaven, but I've made life a lot better for a lot of people.
• 1:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: In quote, Mr. Trump's satiriology, which means that Dr. of Salvation needs a significant biblical corrective.
• 1:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: We are saved by grace, not by works, by what Jesus has done, rather than by anything we can do, declared in Ephesians 2 verses 8 9 and Romans 11 verse 6.
• 1:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: If Donald Trump has trusted Christ as a Savior, he is a child of God and has eternal life now as we read in John 1 verse 12 and John 3 16.
• 2:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: If he has not, he urgently needs to make this commitment noted in 2 Corinthians 6 verse 2.
• 2:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: But I'm focusing today, less on the president's soul and more on yours and mine.
• 2:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: My assumption is that you have already trusted in Jesus as your Savior and Lord.
• 2:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you have not, I encourage you to read my article, why Jesus, make the commitment I explain at its end.
• 2:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Then reach out to a Christian friend who can help you grow in your new faith.
• 2:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: A link to the article is in today's podcast episode notes.
• 2:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: My point is this, we know we are saved by grace, but many of us live by works.
• 2:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: We agree with St. Augustine that God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.
• 2:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: We've heard pastors assure us that Jesus would die on the cross all over again just for us.
• 2:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: But in every other dimension of our lives, we are what we do.
• 3:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Imagine appealing to grace when you undertake your next assignment at work, take your next test at school, or owe your next mortgage payment to the bank.
• 3:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: Even marriage and family have performance-based conditional limits relative to adultery and abuse.
• 3:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: The same is true in a sense with our souls.
• 3:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: As we have been discussing this week, we are commanded to love our Lord and our neighbor, holistically and unconditionally as stated in Matthew 22 vs. 37 through 39.
• 3:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: This takes discipline and devotion.
• 3:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: We go to church on Sunday, pray and read the Bible during the week, devote significant time and resources to Christian causes and even read and write articles like this one,
• 3:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you're like me, you live with the knowledge that you don't always love God holistically or your neighbor unconditionally.
• 3:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, we fall short on both counts, sometimes far short, every day.
• 4:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: And working harder to do better seems to be a path not to progress and holiness, but to discouragement and burnout.
• 4:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Last night, we saw the brightest supermoon we'll see this year.
• 4:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: If we didn't know better, we would think that this was because the moon itself became larger and more luminous.
• 4:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: However, astronomers and formats that the moon's light is a reflection of the light of the sun and that the moon was closer to our planet and thus appeared to be larger and more luminous.
• 4:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: I would not know any of this to be true if someone who knows more than me had not told me.
• 4:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: My part is to trust their scientific expertise rather than my flawed observation.
• 4:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: So it is with our souls.
• 4:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: Trying harder to be more godly doesn't make us more godly, at least not in the long run.
• 4:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: We need a source of light and wisdom beyond ourselves, and we need to trust that source
• 5:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: What does God's word tell us about spiritual progress?
• 5:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: When facing temptation, 1 Corinthians 10, verse 13 tells us, God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability.
• 5:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: But with the temptation, He will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it.
• 5:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: When facing decisions, consider Proverbs 3, verses 5 and 6.
• 5:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
• 5:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: When facing difficult circumstances, second Corinthians 1, verse 9 reveals, we felt that we had received the sentence of death.
• 5:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: But that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead.
• 5:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: When facing death, we learn from Romans 8, verse 11, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
• 6:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: In short, according to Jude 24, God alone is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy.
• 6:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: As with astronomical wisdom, our role is to believe that this is so.
• 6:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: As with the moon and the sun, we are to receive what our source offers by grace and then to reflect that grace to a graceless world.
• 6:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: This means that we read Scripture, pray, worship, and serve not so God will love us, but because He already does.
• 6:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: We practice spiritual disciplines not to grow spiritually, but to position ourselves to experience the sanctification only the Spirit can affect in our lives.
• 6:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: First 15, our ministry's devotional resource noted recently, of all the wonders our creator provides us, boundless and unadulterated relationship with Jesus, vastly exceeds them all.
• 6:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is the best thing we will ever know.
• 7:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: His love restores, satisfies, transforms, and heals.
• 7:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: His grace empowers and brings transcendent peace.
• 7:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: His nearness resolves the great fears of our hearts.
• 7:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: And his kingship calls us to a right relationship of living for heaven, rather than a pursuit of that which is worldly and fleeting.
• 7:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: In quote, Tim Keller was right.
• 7:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: To be loved but not known is superficial, to be known and not loved is our nightmare.
• 7:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Only Jesus knows us to the bottom and loves us to the sky.
• 7:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: When last did His love change your life?
• 7:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Why not today?