According to the Book of Acts, the Bible’s account of the first days of the church, Herod Agrippa I, king of Judea, gave a public address that prompted those listening to say, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.” And because the king didn’t reject that blasphemous praise, “an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.”

It’s doubtful that President Donald Trump, who has seemed far more interested in putting his name on the Bible than reading it, knows of that biblical cautionary tale. If Trump knew the story and believed it had meaning, then he wouldn’t have dared share a meme Sunday night appearing to portray him as Jesus Christ.

In the AI-generated image, Trump as Jesus appears to be providing a healing touch to a man in a hospital bed, with eagles and fighter jets flying overhead and fireworks bursting in the sky as an American flag ripples behind him. It’s not just blasphemy. It’s tacky, jingoistic blasphemy.

Trump’s decision to share the meme finally provoked outraged from prominent members of the white evangelical community that helped put him in power. Because that community has stuck with him through so many potentially career-ending scandals, it has long appeared there was nothing Trump could do to warrant its condemnation. But being asked to think of Trump as God’s anointed is one thing — (albeit a deeply problematic thing.) Being asked to think of Trump as Jesus is something that even some of those who have been singing in the Trump choir can’t abide.

Sean Feucht, the Christian songwriter and musician who held mass “worship protest” concerts in 2020 and 2021 in defiance of pandemic restrictions, posted on X, “This should be deleted immediately. There’s no context where this is acceptable.”

The post was deleted from Trump’s social media platform Monday, but the president made a preposterous attempt to put his post in context.

Asked by a reporter if he posted “the picture of yourself as Jesus Christ,” Trump said, “I did post it, and I thought it was me as a doctor. And had to do with Red Cross as a Red Cross worker, which we support. And only the fake news could come up with that one.”

And to think, there were some people on X defending the meme by saying it doesn’t depict Trump as Jesus, but rather it depicts him as having the power to heal that Jesus left his followers.  

But, to repeat a point above, it’s not likely that a president who read the title of one of the epistles as two Corinthians and not Second Corinthians knows enough New Testament to make such an argument. That’s why he has feigned an understanding that the meme shows him as being in the Red Cross. (Because Red Cross workers are, in Trump’s version of reality, widely known to have divine light emanating from their palms.)

Among other conservatives to call out Trump’s post was former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who wrote on X, “I completely denounce this and I’m praying against it!!!” Megan Basham, a well-known conservative Christian commentator, called the meme Trump “OUTRAGEOUS blasphemy” and said the president should “ask for forgiveness from the American people and then from God.” Brilyn Hollhand, the former co-chair of the Republican National Committee Youth Advisory, also posted to X, “This is gross blasphemy. Faith is not a prop.”

But seeking forgiveness is not Trump’s style. During his first presidential his campaign, he said he was not sure he had ever asked God for forgiveness. Asked how a Christian could say such a thing, he said, “Why do I have to repent or ask for forgiveness if I am not making mistakes?” And Trump’s white evangelical base has given him every reason to believe that faith is a prop — and that the base approves him using it as such.

Despite his suspect professions of faith and his glaring unfamiliarity with scripture, conservative Christian leaders have praised him. They know of his infidelities. They know of his unrepentant mendacity. They know of his hard-heartedness and arrogance, and they have heard him gleefully boasting that he hates his opponents. And they have still described him as heaven sent.

Clearly, Herod is not the only one wrong in the Acts passage. Also wrong are the people who likened him to a god. It was not two weeks ago that Paula White, a spiritual adviser to Trump, told him he was just like Jesus.

Speaking on the Wednesday of Holy Week as Trump hosted faith leaders, White told Trump, “You were betrayed and arrested and falsely accused — it’s a familiar pattern that our Lord and Savior showed us. But it didn’t end there for him, and it didn’t end there for you. … And sir, because of his resurrection, you rose up. Because he was victorious, you were victorious.”

There were some rumblings of conservative disapproval even then, but Trump clearly didn’t pay attention to them.

Trump, whose approval ratings are about as low as they have ever been, should have immediately rejected the comparison — at least out of fear of political consequences. But he embraced the comparison instead. In doing so, not only did he show us what he thinks of himself, but he also showed his evangelical followers what he thinks of them and their beliefs.

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