You Will Know Them by Their Fruits
Christianity’s Make-or-Break Moment
A few years before his death in 1883, Karl Marx was asked what he thought of the many misguided, doctrinaire, short-sighted (and thus unsurprisingly unsuccessful) revolutions that had broken out across Europe in the decades since the publication of his now infamous Communist Manifesto. He is said to have replied, “If anything is certain, it is that I myself am not a Marxist.”
Critics have often dismissed this as little more than a bit of buyer’s remorse, but I have always had considerably more sympathy for the sentiment. After all, every one of these so-called “Marxist” uprisings had two things in common. They ignored practically everything Marx had ever written on the subject while simultaneously claiming to be his most devoted disciples. If the current state of American Christianity is any indication, I imagine Jesus must be feeling largely the same way.
Since that fateful day in 2015 when Donald Trump first descended the golden escalator, white evangelical voters (who make up about a quarter of the entire American electorate) have consistently overlooked every unchristian thing he has said and done, reliably backing him with a fervor that borders on the fanatical. If anything, the worse he behaves, the more devoted they become, as evidenced by the fact that his support among them has only grown stronger with each election (80% in 2016, 81% in 2020, and 82% in 2024). Nothing, it seems, (not even a violent insurrection) can break the spell this charlatan has cast over their hearts and minds. And yet, it was Jesus himself who warned his followers of this in his “Sermon on the Mount”:
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, by their fruits you will know them. (Matthew 7:15–20)
And what, exactly, are the “fruits” of Trump’s public life?
Trump’s Treatment of His Enemies
Jesus did not merely suggest kindness toward one’s enemies, he commanded it. “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). Trump, on the other hand, built his political brand on vilifying and dehumanizing those who stand in his way. He publicly mocked a disabled reporter, suggested that veterans who were captured in war were not really heroes (even going so far as to call those who died “suckers” and “losers”), and routinely attacks journalists and political opponents in the most vicious ways imaginable, from callously calling them “vermin” and “the enemy of the people” to openly inciting violence against them. And if all that were not enough, he is currently attempting a systematic purge of the entire federal government, ousting anyone who was in any way involved in the myriad investigations into him as well as those with whom he simply disagrees. (Given the scope of his crimes and the unconstitutionality of his many positions, this equates to thousands and thousands of people.)
If evangelicals truly believed in the words of Christ, they would have abandoned him the first time he opened his mouth to spew hatred. But they did not.
Trump’s Treatment of Migrants
Few things are more central to Christ’s teachings than his command to care for the immigrant, the stranger in need. Leviticus 19:33–34 makes it plain. “When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native born. Love them as yourself, for you were once foreigners in Egypt.” And yet, Trump launched his campaign by calling migrants “rapists” and “murders”, and his latest plan is to detain up to 30,000 undocumented immigrants at Guantánamo Bay because apparently simply imprisoning desperate people fleeing violence was not cruel enough for his base.
Apparently, “love thy neighbor” stops at the border.
Trump’s Treatment of the Marginalized (LGBTQ People & People of Color)
Jesus preached a message of radical unity, declaring that in God’s kingdom, “there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). In a single sentence, Paul obliterated every artificial division humans cling to. Race, class, even gender itself. He declared them meaningless in the face of God’s love. But if Trump has proven anything, it is that nothing makes his followers more loyal than keeping those divisions alive.
After all, he launched his campaign by calling Mexicans criminals, spent years promoting birther conspiracy theories about Barack Obama, and told four U.S. congresswomen of color, all of whom were American citizens, to “go back” to where they came from.
And his contempt for difference does not stop at race.
Thus far in his second term, Trump has made it his personal mission to strip away rights from LGBTQ people, especially transgender individuals, weaponizing gender itself as a means of exclusion. He reinstated the ban on transgender people serving in the military, pushed policies to deny trans students the right to play sports, and tried to take away healthcare protections for trans individuals, effectively erasing them from legal existence when and wherever possible. But if Galatians 3:28 means anything, it means their dignity is not his to take. Scripture makes it clear that God does not sort people into categories, nor does he use identity as a tool for exclusion. But Trump and the Christians who follow him seem determined to do exactly that.
Trump’s Treatment of Women
Christ always treated women with dignity and respect, which was radically countercultural in his time. He defended the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1–11), praised the faith of the Canaanite woman (Matthew 15:21–28), and first revealed himself as the Messiah to a Samaritan woman (John 4:7–26). Trump, by contrast, was caught on tape boasting about sexual assault, dismissed his own accusers as too unattractive to be believable (despite confusing one of them with his own wife during an interrogation), and referred to others as “fat pigs”, “dogs”, and “slobs.” And yet, they continue to insist that he is God’s chosen vessel, though if that is truly the case, then somebody should really check for lifeboats.
Trump’s Treatment of Non-Christians
Jesus went out of his way to embrace the outsider. He healed the servant of a Roman centurion (Matthew 8:5–13), engaged in theological debate with a Samaritan woman (John 4:7–26), and even made a hated Samaritan the hero of one of his most famous parables (Luke 10:25–37). Trump, by contrast, proposed a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the U.S., implied that Jewish Americans who did not support him were disloyal, and proudly declared that he had “never asked God for forgiveness.” Paul warned about this very thing in 2 Corinthians 4:4, writing that “the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ.” That evangelicals can look at Jesus, who welcomed the foreigner and lifted up the despised, and then turn around and follow Trump, who demonizes and scapegoats both, is not just a failure of faith, it is a complete repudiation. But that is what happens when Christianity becomes a tribal banner instead of a true belief.
The Reckoning
And yet, not all who call themselves Christians have abandoned the gospel in favor of this felonious, false prophet. Bishop Mariann Budde, Reverend William Barber, Dr. Jacqui Lewis, and a handful of brave others have very publicly refused to bow to this wannabe dictator. Instead of kissing the ring or retreating into stunned silence (as have so many of you), they have done what true faith demands. They have championed the cause of the defenseless and held their ground against their would-be oppressors, refusing to let Christianity be hijacked by hatred. For, as scripture reminds us: “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26).
But what about the rest of you? The choice is now before you, as clear and compelling as it has ever been. Either you can follow Christ, or you can follow Trump. And after all these years, all these warnings, all these chances, if you still choose him, you must be seen for what you are, not merely misguided, not merely lost, but willful disciples of something despicable. And for you, let there be no misunderstanding: we will know you by your fruits as well. This is your last chance. The time for half measures is over. No more excuses. No more equivocations. Either renounce him now, once and for all, or stand ready to be condemned alongside him.
Of course, if the past ten years are any indication, we already know how most of you will choose. Which is why I imagine that if Jesus were asked about the state of American Christianity today, he would say much the same thing Marx did all those years ago:
“If anything is certain, it is that I myself am not a Christian.”
And honestly, who could blame him? When the gospel you claim to follow has been gutted, hollowed out, and twisted into a weapon of cruelty, bigotry, and shameless self-interest. You have not been deceived, you have been exposed. You have chosen power over principle, grievance over grace, and a tyrant over the teachings of Christ himself. And so if still you stand by him, then know this: the judgment you so eagerly pass on others will one day be the measure by which you, too, are judged.
Dr. Dave Buckner is an associate professor of history, humanities, & philosophy at Mountain Empire Community College in Virginia. He writes at the crossroads of faith, politics, and history, unflinchingly exposing the hypocrisies that define modern America. His work pushes readers to reckon with uncomfortable truths and recognize the weight of the choices before them.
