President Donald Trump is comfortable telling you what is on his mind. For good or bad, that means there is a long history of recorded statements from Trump, giving his frank and unfiltered thoughts on a variety of topics. For the last ten years, I have been particularly interested in noting whenever he has spoken about his personal views on spirituality, salvation, and his own eternal destiny. It reveals a decade-long spiritual journey in relationship to the gospel of grace that is both fascinating and, at times, tragic.
On Not Asking for Forgiveness
In his earlier celebrity years, Trump distanced himself from Christianity. In a 1990 profile with Playboy magazine, he said: “I don’t believe in reincarnation, heaven or hell—but we go someplace. Do you know, I cannot, for the life of me, figure out where.”
Twenty-five years later, Trump had announced his intention to run for president and was on the circuit wooing American evangelicals. This was the first time I really noticed Trump expressing his current understanding of Christianity. At the 2015 Family Leadership Summit, Trump identified himself as a Christian, and to his credit, the host asked him a key gospel question:
“You used the word ‘Christian’. Have you ever asked God for forgiveness?”
Trump responded, “That’s a tough question. I don’t think in terms of that. I’m a religious person…”
He then went on for a minute or two, entertaining the crowd with anecdotes. Again, to his credit, the host brought him back to the question:
“But have you ever asked God for forgiveness?”
Trump replied frankly:
“I’m not sure I have. I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I don’t think so. I think if I do something wrong, I think I just try and make it right. I don’t bring God into that picture… I don’t think in terms of that. I think in terms of let’s go on and let’s make it right.”
“I Am Good … I Have a Very Great Relationship with God”
Not long after this, Trump was questioned on CNN about his answer and his understanding of Christianity. Anderson Cooper asked him:
“The idea of repentance. Is that something that’s important to you?”
Trump answered, “I think repenting is terrific.”
Cooper responded, “But do you feel a need to? As part of forgiveness?”
Trump expanded on his answer, saying:
“If I make a mistake then yeah, then I think it’s great. But I try not to make mistakes. I mean, why do I have to, you know, repent? Why do I have to ask for forgiveness if you’re not making mistakes? I work hard. I’m an honorable person. I have thousands of people who work for me. I’ve employed tens of thousands of people over the years.”
Months later, in early 2016, reporter Jake Tapper from CNN asked him again about his response to repentance and forgiveness.
Trump responded:
“I like to be good. I don’t like to have to ask for forgiveness. And I am good. I don’t do a lot of things that are bad. I try and do nothing that’s bad. I live a very different life than probably a lot of people would think. I have a very great relationship with God.”
At this stage, Trump hadn’t won his first term as President, but he was still trying to win over Christian voters. In August 2016, he jokingly said to a group of pastors in Florida:
“Once I get in, I will do my thing that I do very well. And I figure it’s probably maybe the only way I’m going to get to heaven. So I better do a good job. Okay?”
“I Am Really at the Bottom of the Totem Pole”
Jump to 2024, Trump had been through a lot. In particular, the near-miss assassination attempt in July of that year would have at least given him reason to contemplate his own mortality. In the last few years he has surrounded himself with a mix of Christians who have probably told him a variety of understandings of Christianity—from the prosperity gospel, to Christian nationalism, to the simple, biblical gospel of grace.
Yet Trump seemed to still believe the idea that heaven is a reward for good people. In August 2024, he was being interviewed by Fox News, defending the importance and goodness of religion for society. He said:
“Religion, it gives you some hope. Gee, if I’m good I’m going to heaven… and if I’m bad I’m going to someplace else.”
Soon after that, he reiterated that message in a cabinet meeting where he said:
“I want to be good because you want to prove to God that you’re good so you go to that next step, right?”
In August 2025, Trump called into the Fox and Friends breakfast show and more concretely pinned his hopes for getting into heaven on his ability to end the war in Ukraine. He said:
“If I can save 7 000 people a week from getting killed, that’s pretty good. I want to try and get to heaven, if possible. I’m hearing I’m not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole. But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons.”
“I Don’t Think There’s Anything Going to Get Me in Heaven”
It’s now October 2025, and whilst the war in Ukraine has not ended, Trump has been able to secure a peace deal between Israel and Hamas, bringing some form of an end (Lord willing) to the current conflict. The other day, on Air Force One, Fox News’s Peter Doocy asked Trump:
“A couple weeks ago, you were doing an interview and you talked about how you hope to end the war in Ukraine because it might help you get into heaven. How does this help? Does this help?”
Trump responded in his usual joking (though revealing) style:
“I mean, you know, I’m being a little cute. I don’t think there’s anything going to get me in heaven. Okay? I really don’t. I think I’m not maybe heaven-bound. I may be in heaven right now as we fly on Air Force One. I’m not sure I’m going to be able to make heaven.”
Salvation by Grace
Just in case, you weren’t aware, I’ll state it here plainly: no one gets to heaven on the basis of their good works. We only find salvation by grace through trusting in the atoning work of Christ on our behalf:
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8–9)
A person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. (Galatians 2:16)
But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:4–7)
For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:20–26)
The Tragedy of Missing God’s Amazing Grace
At the very least, over the last ten years, Trump has gone from saying: “I am good” and “I have a very great relationship with God”, to acknowledging that “I’m hearing I’m not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole” and “I think I’m not maybe heaven-bound.” He may still think that he needs to do something good to climb that totem pole to heaven, but understanding that you’re not heaven-bound is definitely the first step towards understanding your need for a saviour.
When I looked back at photos from ten years ago, when Trump was asked if he ever asked God for forgiveness, I noticed on the coffee ta
ble there was a small piece of art with the words “AMAZING GRACE” written in silver and in the shape of a cross. It is sad that Trump missed those words, and seems to continue to miss them. In his recent comment, Trump tragically said, “I don’t think there’s anything going to get me in heaven.”
The good news is that for Donald Trump, for all of us, there is hope. It’s still right there. Amazing grace in the shape of a cross. Let’s hope he sees it and receives it one day.
