David Brody - The Faith of Donald J. Trump: A Spiritual Biography

David would like to thank:

Jesus... plus nothing. Ultimately, I owe all the credit to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ so I begin with Him. Im so thankful that I serve a God who loves me even when I fail... and that happens pretty regularly! He gave me the strength to partake in this venture and the serenity to see it through!

To my wife Lisette, thank you for putting up with lost weekends and late nights. When I look up the word sacrificial in the dictionary, your picture is front and center.

To my children, Drew, Lance, and Arielle, your constant encouragement means the world to me and the fact that you followed this endeavor along the way has been so meaningful.

Thank you to my CBN family: Rob Allman and Dana Brown Ritter, who, right from the very beginning, gave me the flexibility to do this project. A big bless your heart to Jennifer Wishon, who has been a big fan of this book from the very beginning; to my joyful CBN Faith Nation co-host and friend Jenna Browder, a dedicated prayer warrior who encouraged me throughout this process; and thank you to Amber C. Strong, Ben Kennedy, and John Jessup, who all lifted me up and took great interest throughout the development of this venture.

Finally, a big thank you to my co-author, Scott Lamb. Call him whatever you want: assiduous, faithful, indefatigable. The list of adjectives goes on and on. All I know is that beyond being one of the smartest guys I know, hes genuinely one of the nicest too. Thank you, Scott, for this partnership but even more importantly, thank you for a friendship that will last a lifetime.

Scott would like to thank:

To my wife Pearl, thank you for walking so faithfully through life with me and our children. Because of you, Enjoy life with the wife whom you love (Ecclesiastes 9:9) is a delightful verse.

To my five sons and daughterJosiah, Nathanael, Isaac, Benjamin, Savannah, and Aaroneach of you are a grace from the Lord, a daily remembrance to me that the Lord is good and faithful. Love Jesus with all your heart, soul, mind, and strengthand the rest of life will flow from that affection.

To David Brody, I am grateful for your friendship and your jumping into this project when your plate of commitments was already full beyond measure. Long before we met, your godly reputation among our mutual friends preceded you. And now, having worked long hours together on this book, I can say that every bit of those accolades is true. And in addition to that, you exemplify Proverbs 22:29: Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings; they will not serve before officials of low rank.

David and Scott would like to thank:

A heartfelt thank you to Hope Hicks, Marc Lotter, and Jarrod Agen, who were instrumental in making two very important interviews happen. And while were on the subject of interviews, thanks to the dozens of newsmakers, pastors, and political commentators who took the time to talk with us about this very important subject. This book is immensely better because of your efforts.

To the team at Broadside Books: Eric Nelson and Eric Meyersthanks for believing in this book and making it sing!

DAVID BRODY is an Emmy Awardwinning, thirty-year veteran news journalist who is currently the chief political correspondent for CBN News, host of the show Faith Nation , and the author of The Brody File , a respected national blog featuring top newsmakers that explores key issues relating to faith and politics. He is also a political analyst for Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC, and has appeared frequently as a roundtable panelist on NBCs Meet the Press .

SCOTT LAMB is a vice president of Liberty University, a Baptist minister, and a columnist for the Washington Times . He has authored three biographies with HarperCollins, including Pujols: More Than the Game and Huckabee: The Authorized Biography .

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Donald Trump stood before twenty thousand people at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, and 35 million people watching live on TV. At its peak, The Apprentice drew 20 million viewers, so this was the largest ever number of eyes on himthe biggest stage of his life.

My dad, Fred Trump, was the smartest and hardest-working man I ever knew. I sometimes wonder what hed say if he were here to see this tonight. Donald wanted the world to know that Fred was a man of great accomplishment and character. Fred had put it into his heart that life is about competition and developing skills needed to succeed in the world. Donald knew that whatever success had come his way, the legacy of his father and grandfather had made that possible. And so, he wanted the viewers to hear about the glory of the Trump family name. After all, this is the heart of the Fifth Commandmentto make your fathers name great by honoring him in word and deed.

Trump also used this same language about another mans father when he addressed fifty thousand people at Liberty Universitys 2017 graduation. He said, When I think about the visionary founder of this great institution, Reverend Jerry Falwell Senior, I can only imagine how excited he would be if he could see all of this and all of you today, and how proud he would be of his son and of his family. Generally speaking, Trump and Falwell Jr. both followed in their fathers businesses and expanded that work many times over. Neither son began his work from scratch. In the case of Trump, both his father and grandfather built up a foundation of resources (construction skills, capital, and contacts) for the multigenerational success of a family business focused on real estate development. These family patriarchs, though far from perfect, accomplished these works through hard work, frugality, calculated risk-taking, savings, and delayed gratification.

Scholars debate where the most influential source of the Protestant work ethic originates. Was it the Lutheran theological stream that arrived on the shores of America with wave after wave of German immigrants? Or was it the Calvinist theology of the Presbyterian Puritans and Pilgrims, coming to the New World from the Netherlands, England, and Scotland?

Either way, Donald Trump is covered. Donalds parents brought to America a worldview steeped in the two leading branches of the Protestant Reformation. His Presbyterian mother emigrated to America from Scotland in 1930 at the age of eighteen. And his father came to America while in the womb of Donalds grandmother, as she and her entrepreneurial husband emigrated from Martin Luthers Germany.

Frederick Trump, Donald Trumps grandfather, came to New York City in 1885 as a sixteen-year-old, leaving his parents and hometown of Kallstadt, Germany. When he arrived on the Lower East Side of Manhattan (also known as Little Germany) to live with his married sister, he immediately found work as a barber. He stayed there for six years before moving out to Seattle (population less than fifteen thousand) with his life savings of a few hundred dollars.