When Donald Trump, during a telephone interview on Fox News on Tuesday, August 19, 2025, said about ending the war in Ukraine, “I want to try and get to heaven. If I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons,” many evangelicals may have nodded approvingly. After all, peace-making is a noble pursuit. But if the Truth Be Told, that statement, though appealing to the ear, is not biblical and it exposes a fundamental misunderstanding of the gospel that every Sunday School student learns before they graduate from the beginner’s class.
Heaven is not earned by negotiation tables, peace treaties, or political maneuvering. It is not the reward for humanitarian acts, as commendable as they may be. The Bible is very clear, Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “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.” If Mr. Trump believes that one day he will stand before the throne of God and present his diplomatic résumé as his ticket into glory he in for a big surprise. That is not Christianity. At best it is civic religion dressed up as salvation.
What Trump needs is what every man, woman, boy, and girl must come to grips with. He needs to be taught that getting into heaven comes through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ alone. As a child I learned this song in Sunday School and we would sing it regularly, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” I also learned John 3:16 by heart before I was taught algebra: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” There is not one mention of Ukraine, NATO, or foreign policy in that verse, just the cross of Christ.
So maybe it’s time we stop excusing theological ignorance just because it comes from someone with power. I submit today that most Christians, evangelicals included, in America, if they are honest, too often let politics blur their theology. We would not let a child in Sunday School walk away thinking they can earn heaven by being a good classmate or sharing their crayons. Why, then, would we or should we tolerate a president thinking he can earn heaven by ending a war?
The truth is that Donald Trump and every politician who invokes heaven for applause lines and support need Sunday School more than they need another campaign rally. They need to sit in a folding chair, open a Bible, and be reminded that salvation is not a matter of human bargaining but divine grace. They need to be reminded of Romans 10:9, 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Ending war may make history books. Only Jesus makes saints.
Evangelicals, let us not be seduced by applause or flattered by proximity to power. Let us remember that the gospel is not for sale, not to be co-opted, and not to be confused with diplomacy. Donald Trump says he wants to get to heaven. The only way there is the same way every Sunday School teacher has been proclaiming since Sunday School began in 1780: through Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
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