Pastor Douglas Wilson penned an open letter to President Donald Trump this week, exhorting him to acknowledge the fleeting nature of worldly glory and accept the Gospel.
Wilson, who serves as senior pastor at Christ Church (CREC) in Moscow, Idaho, added his voice to the chorus of Christians who have expressed concern for the president’s soul after he seemed to question his salvation earlier this week.
“I don’t think there’s anything going to get me in Heaven,” Trump told a reporter Sunday on Air Force One regarding whether bringing peace to the Middle East might earn him a place in paradise. “I think I’m maybe not Heaven-bound. I may be in Heaven right now as we fly in Air Force One. I’m not sure I’m going to be able to make Heaven.”
Trump’s comments came after he suggested in August that he’s “at the bottom of the totem pole” in terms of righteousness, but that ending the Russia-Ukraine war might help him get to Heaven.
On Sunday, Trump acknowledged he was “being a little cute” when he made that remark this summer, but some of his Christian supporters worried that, despite his many Evangelical faith advisors, he still harbors the misconception that Heaven is something he can earn through good works.
Written in a pastoral tone, Wilson described himself in his Wednesday letter as “a minister of the kingdom of Heaven,” noting that he chose the open letter format because Trump’s comments were public and because his Gospel message applies to everyone who might read it.
Dear Mr. President,
Greetings in the Lord. Thank you for your service to our country.
As I have noted the various comments you have made about Heaven, I have felt burdened to write to you. I decided on an open letter and there are two reasons I can give for this.
In the first… https://t.co/Ok2NVxcYUhpic.twitter.com/9OaSV4JPaf
— Douglas Wilson (@douglaswils) October 15, 2025
Wilson, whose Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC) denomination recently planted a church in Washington, D.C., and counts Secretary of War Pete Hegseth among its congregants, also said he hopes the public nature of his exhortation might more readily reach the president himself.
Wilson, who was born seven years after Trump, soberly pointed out that life passes quickly and that both of them will likely be dead within 20 years. He noted that Trump, who is nearly as close to his 90th birthday as he is to announcing his candidacy for the presidency in 2015, is “wise to be addressing this question head on.”
“You and I and everyone else reading this will be stone-cold dead someday, and perhaps someday soon,” he wrote. He believes Trump has become aware in his elder years, after having achieved so much, that “there is no worldly accomplishment that a man can achieve that will settle his accounts with God.”
“You are an ambitious man, as we can all see,” he wrote, adding that Trump managed twice to be elected as “the chief executive of the most powerful nation that has ever existed on earth to this point.”
“And as I saw recently, you have now felt the need to set your ambitions even higher. Having become president twice, what else is left? Well, you could become a great president.”
Wilson was echoing comments Trump himself recently made during a conversation with his 18-year-old granddaughter, Kai Trump, who recorded herself asking her grandfather during a golf cart ride if there were any dreams he had yet to accomplish.
“You become president, that’s a dream right?” Trump replied after joking Kai sounded like she was interviewing him for television. “Now you dream you want to be a great president.”
President Trump was interviewed by his granddaughter, Kai, a few weeks ago — and they shared some cool moments, like when she asks him if there are still dreams he’s trying to chase. ?? pic.twitter.com/g8a3n98fFW
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 11, 2025
Wilson warned that even if Trump’s likeness were to be etched into Mount Rushmore, the praise would eventually fade as he finds himself subject to the same time and eternity as every other human being, quoting Jesus when He said, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
Wilson recounted that even the ancient pagans came to realize the futility of placing one’s value in the vain glory of this world, noting how the Greek philosopher Diogenes the Cynic famously dismissed Alexander the Great by telling him he was unable to distinguish the dead bones of the conqueror’s father from those of a slave.
Wilson concluded by urging the president to accept the gift of salvation and eternal life, which he said is open to him and everyone who asks, but only through Jesus Christ.
“[I]f there is any saving to be done, it will all have to be done by Christ and Christ alone. If you want Him to do this for you … just ask Him. And do this knowing that even the ability and desire to ask is a gift from Him. All of it is grace, and absolutely none of it is earned.”
“He has this gift for you. Just extend your hand, and He will give it. And later on, you will discover that He even gave you that extended hand. Nothing but grace.”
Jenny Korn, the director of the White House Faith Office, assured the public earlier this week that Trump’s recent comments about Heaven are evidence of growing humility in his heart. Trump narrowly escaped being assassinated twice during the 2024 presidential campaign.
“The president has his own language, and I look at it, and I know his language; it was humility,” Korn said.
Some have observed that Trump has been more outspoken about spiritual topics since his two close brushes with death last year, and especially since last month’s assassination of Charlie Kirk, a 31-year-old Christian conservative activist who was a personal friend of Trump and many close to him.
Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to jon.brown@christianpost.com
