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Politics

'He's different than the man he was 15 years ago': Eric Metaxas defends Donald Trump's Christian journey

by Tola Mbakwe

US Christian author Eric Metaxas believes US President Donald Trump's thoughts and values have evolved over the years to ones that align with a Christian worldview.

In an interview with Premier Christian News, Metaxas said Mr Trump, who was a businessman and television personality before entering politics, never used to be pretend to be a Christian, but life events changed his views. 

"He feels uncomfortable about pretending to be some kind of big Christian because he realises that he's not somebody who's well read in the Bible," he said. 

"But I do think that he is different from the man he was 15 years ago. For example, I think with the birth of his son Barron, he really became dramatically pro-life. 

"I heard the story from a close friend of his who told me that Trump said that he and Melania were both typical New York, liberals, not evangelicals. They were firmly pro-abortion but the birth of Barron, who was a surprise, they didn't expect to have a child, changed both of them."

Last week Mr Trump revealed that he sees himself as a non-denominational Christian. In an interview with Religion News Service, he said his parents taught him about "the importance of faith and prayer from a young age". 

A recent Lifeway Research poll found that 53 per cent of US protestant pastors will vote for the president to be re-elected.

However, Metaxas said he doubts Mr Trump expected to have such a big evangelical backing the when he began running for the 2016 presidential race. 

"I think what happened was he expected when he ran for president, that the moralistic, Christian right would condemn him," he said. 

 "And I think he was stunned when they didn't, because what he didn't know about Christianity, and what I think a lot of people don't know about Christianity, is that at the very heart of our doctrines is this thing called grace. I think that he was he was startled by that."

Metaxas, who will be supporting the president in the voting booth, praised Mr Trump for advocating for Christians and religious freedom. 

He also said the president is the most vocally "pro-life president in American history", putting him above George W Bush and Ronald Regan. 

Meanwhile, Metaxas said he firmly disagrees with those who say the president is racist, allegations that ramped up after his failure to condemn white supremacists during the first presidential debate with Democratic rival Joe Biden. 

"He has an infinite number of times been called racist. I consider it really despicable that he has been tagged that way."

Metaxas called for UK Christians to pray fervently for the US during the election period. 

"Pray that the Lord's will be done because I really do believe we're at a tipping point," he said. "We're at a moment when if America as America goes away, the whole world loses a measure of freedom. There's no America 2.0 that's going to step in if we go down."

Tune into Premier Christian Radio  at 11am on 2nd November to listen to Premier's 1 hour US Election Special show. You will hear from US Christian leaders from both sides of the political spectrum. 

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