The leadership at American Family Association (AFA) were among those offended by the image, which was a repost of a picture created as a tribute by author and Trump supporter Nick Adams in February.
AFA Vice President Ed Vitagliano on Today's Issues was very critical of the post.
“It is the opinion of leadership here at AFA that it is clearly a blasphemous post. This is inappropriate. It's careless at best, but this is a really bad thing.”
Trump was asked about the post Monday. He admitted posting the image but said he didn't see it presenting him as Jesus.
"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. Only the fake news could come up with that one. I just heard about it. I said, 'How did they come up with that?' I said, 'it's supposed to be me as a doctor.'"
The Truth Social post comes as President Trump is in the middle of a squabble with Pope Leo XIV over the pope’s comments generally seen as critical of the U.S. war with Iran.
Pope Leo has strongly criticized the U.S.-led war in Iran, calling President Donald Trump’s threat to destroy “a whole civilization” in Iran “truly unacceptable” and condemning the conflict as fueled by a “delusion of omnipotence.” He emphasized that God “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them,” citing Isaiah’s warning that “your hands are full of blood.”
Many Christians have used passages from Psalm, Ecclesiastes, Hebrews and more to illustrate that the Creator does consider some wars to be just.
The Iran war aside, AFA President Tim Wildmon said there was no excuse for the post.
“To post a picture of yourself as Jesus Christ is blasphemy. Don't give me any context. He should have better sense than that. I texted a couple of people who are close to the White House this morning and asked them about this, told them they need to get President Trump to take this down immediately.”
Wildmon was one of many Christians who asked for that response from the President, and at some point after 11 ET a.m., the post was removed. That's still not enough for Wildmon.
“It's blasphemy, is what it is, and he's evidently taking it down now because it's no longer available on Truth Social. An apology's in order, too. From the president himself, out of his mouth, he needs to apologize for this.”
Retired Army Col. Robert Maginnis, a national defense analyst and frequent AFN contributor, was equally dismayed.
"I'm incredibly distressed by what this communicates. Trump's a human being. He's not Jesus. He's not God. He's a flawed human being, as we've all seen. He's done some good things, but certainly this is beyond the pale. This is bad."
Maginnis says the White House should distance itself from the post.
"His base, which includes a lot of Christians, will be really turned off by this, and that will just fuel the Left even more. It should obviously disturb all of us Christians. This is not good."
Editor's Note: American Family Association is the parent organization of the American Family News Network, which operates AFN.net.
