1. Deciding to vote or not vote for Trump has a lot to do with the perception of how bad things are now. My opinion is that the stakes are very high, i.e., things have gotten very bad in this country. Under liberal leadership, religious liberties are at stake, abortion has been promoted, sale of baby parts is accepted, freedom of speech is under attack, marriage is redefined (attempted), God is invoked to bless abortion, we are losing jobs to other countries, and we are perceived as weak by other nations.
2. I understand that many people including Christians are concerned and shocked with Trump's language and other things. Personally I am much more outraged with the smooth talking of our current leaders both democrats and republicans.
Example: Obama is good speaker. He is very polished, convincing, and smooth. But what he actually says when you listen carefully, is very troubling. Here are examples: at the National Prayer Breakfast he "admonished" Christians for supposed past "sins". That is a very arrogant thing for someone like him to say. Is he at a higher moral ground? Likewise, during a Planned Parenthood conference last year he invoked God's blessing over Planned Parenthood. With this invocation of God's blessing he, Obama basically was saying that God should bless something that we all know very clearly that God doesn't bless. That is taking the name of God in vain at one of its highest levels.
Let's contrast Obama's invocation of God to bless PP with Trump's comment that PP does a lot of good things, except abortion. Trump is not wrong - it is possible that PP does some good things.
Abortion is not one of them. But Trump is not elevating himself to a divine moral level by saying PP does some good things.
Obama was what he is now from the very beginning. Way before he was elected he was already promoting abortion, and held very liberal views. He has never downplayed it any of his extreme views. This is a very much more aggressive promotion of a liberal ideology trying to impose over everybody else. I don't want more of Obama which is what we will get with Hillary. Smooth talking is deceiving. Many wore very enamored by his elitist talk for many years.
Establishment Republicans are almost as much to blame as liberals but for different reasons. They have become complacent. They accept the status quo that is being pushed and promoted by liberal ideologues as "fait accompli" , i.e., "well what can we do about".
That is what I mean when I say the stakes are high. On the liberal side, the elites are trying to push their ideology on everybody, who you do business with, what bathrooms you use (see North Carolina recent laws about bathrooms), what words you use to not offend, the merits of abortion, gay marriage, etc, etc. On the other side, Establishment Republicans are weak and do nothing to oppose these ideological forces.
If one more liberal justice is nominated we will have liberal ideology running through the veins and heartbeat of the nation for generations to come.
3. So, why do I support Trump? He is like the bull in the china closet. And that is precisely what we need now. The country does not need the china relics standing in their elitist positions in Washington or at Universities polishing their politically correct status quo, while the country loses billions to China and Mexico, our borders are porous, US companies leave their profits overseas, we lose jobs, the middle class struggles, and moral values are corroded.
4. I support Trump on pragmatic terms. As you said, we need to wake to the fact that America is not a Christian country. I would love to be comfortable voting for Cruz or Rubio because both have very good strong values, especially Cruz. However our responsibility is not to elect a Sunday School teacher, a theologian, or a spiritual guru. Our responsibility is to elect a leader who is most likely to advance conditions for the flourishing of the nation's foundational values and to improve economical conditions.
The reality is different from just 15-20 years ago. This is a post-Christian nation. Long gone are the days of leaders like Ronald Reagan.
Trump deals with his opponents on their terms. He does not smooth talk anybody but he tells it as it is. Trump's crude words and disrespect is a at-your-face version of the much more insidious deceiving smooth talk of the elites.
A book that gives specific examples of how the left functions is called "The Silencing: How the Left is Killing Free Speech" by Kirsten Powers. Powers is a liberal who is appalled by how liberal elites try to silence other people whose views they oppose.
Of all the candidates Trump is the one with enough strength to oppose the elites. He is independent, he is not getting piles of money from any special interest group.
If he is elected I am sure there will be many things he may do that we would not agree with. But he is very unlikely try to impose liberal ideology on everyone. He is way more likely to establish conditions for freedom of religion and speech to flourish than is Hillary.
5. I understand that many Christians are opposed to Trump and I understand why. But what I don't understand is that many who are now appalled by Trump's antics, were completely silent when the videos of Planned Parenthood selling baby parts came out, or when the Supreme Court voted for gay marriage, or even when Obama invoked God over PP. In my view these are much more serious issues to which conservative Christian should react with passion.
6. Martin Luther is known to have used foul language when attacking opponents of the Gospel. I don't mean to put Luther at any comparative level with Trump. But it is helpful to remember this fact. Rightly or wrongly, Luther felt the ferocity of the devil's schemes should be attacked with the same level of ferocity and the use of foul language was one way to do it. Calvin used harsh language not as crude as Luther, but harsh nevertheless. Apparently there was much harsh language exchanged between Calvin and Servetus throughout the Servetus issue.
7. Finally, I see a parallel between Trump and Cyrus, the Great, of Persia in about 550 B.C. Cyrus was a brilliant military leader who expanded the Persian Empire to establish the largest Empire ever. He defeated the Babylonians by diverting the Euphrates and marching his troops into the city through the river bed. He is the only pagan king to be specifically called an anointed of God in the Bible.The Jews were captives in Babylon where they were systematically mistreated. After Cyrus captured Babylon he allowed the Jews to return to Judea. So in Ezra and Nehemiah we see the return of the Jews to Judea under the protection of Cyrus edict.
Cyrus was pagan king. He didn't allow the Jews to return to their land and rebuild the temple out of kindness. He did that with other peoples too. It was a geopolitical strategy. Nevertheless he was used by God to protect the freedom of God's people to rebuild the temple and worship. He did not, however turn to God himself as he should have (see prophecy about him in Isaiah 44).
Trump's language may not consistent with what you would expect of a Christian. His attitude appears to not give evidence of him being a Christian, other than a nominal Christian. But he may be the best leader for Christians because he is likely to protect Christian values rather than attack them. He has enough credibility that we can have reasonable confidence that he can negotiate better deals with China, Mexico, Iran. He is more likely to bring corporate money back to the US. He is more likely to create jobs because he already has created many jobs. And, he is more likely to not take the status quo for granted.
One way to better understand him is to read his book "The Art of the Deal". One of his strengths is his ability to negotiate when the stakes are high. That is a skill the country needs. If anyone thinks the Iran deal, Obamacare, disrespect for Israel, China trade deficit, virtual inactivity towards ISIS, job flight, US corporations paying taxes to other countries, are good things, then they probably should not vote for Trump. I think he has the strength to tackle those things in way that would be good for everybody in the country.
In the past we have had strong leaders who had many personal flaws when seen from a Christian perspective: Doug MacArthur, George Patton (foul language), and Monty were prima donnas who won us a war. Eisenhower had a mistress but hardly anyone judges him for that. Churchill was aggressive, decisive, unflinching. Reagan, the divorcee and mediocre actor was considered a political light weight before he became President. Harry Truman never finished college, had a failed business, and county judge before becoming a senator.
My point: of the people right now who could become president, who, if elected, would be most likely to create conditions for the country to flourish and for religious liberties to be protected? I don't think it's Hillary.
