EXCLUSIVE — Pastor Doug Wilson, the Reformed theologian who has gained notoriety as a spiritual mentor to government officials, including War Secretary Pete Hegseth, believes President Donald Trump needs clearer spiritual guidance after committing “blasphemy” with artificial intelligence.
Trump posted an image to social media Sunday evening that depicted himself in scarlet robes and illuminating light that evoked the appearance of Jesus Christ. He removed the image on Monday morning after the illustration, which portrayed him healing a sick man while being prayed to by adorers and watched from above by celestial beings, was criticized as blasphemous by Christian supporters.
At a later press availability, Trump told reporters that he “thought it was me as a doctor and had to do with [the] Red Cross” and blamed the press for stoking the outrage.
Wilson, however, said the explanation does not quite cut it.
“I am glad he deleted it, and glad that he rejected the idea of portraying himself as Christ,” he told the Washington Examiner on Monday night. “But this was not manufactured by the press — it hit pretty much everybody the same way, Left, Right, and in the middle.
“It was a robe around his neck, not a stethoscope, and the cosmic figures in the sky were something else, and the woman with praying hands.”
The pastor continued, “Even with his explanation accepted, it was accidental blasphemy, not high blasphemy. He has to do better either way.”
The AI image was based on the image generated months ago by Australian-born MAGA influencer Nick Adams, who was recently appointed as a special presidential envoy for American tourism, exceptionalism, and values.
Even thoroughly MAGA-aligned Christian personalities were offended by the post, questioning how a president who relied so heavily on the church community to win his campaigns could stumble into a public message so obviously offensive to the religion.
Some commentators pointed the finger at Trump’s idiosyncratic religious mentors, such as senior adviser to the White House Faith Office Paula White-Cain, who is known for her sermons that include speaking in tongues and prosperity gospel theology that promises material reward for religious devotion.
One such accusation came from conservative Christian podcast host Allie Beth Stuckey, a longtime supporter of Trump, who called the offensive image “what happens when Paula White is your personal pastor and people around you are continually comparing you to Christ.”
White compared Trump to the messiah earlier this month when she said: “Mr President … you were betrayed and arrested and falsely accused. It’s a familiar pattern that our lord and savior showed us.”
Wilson joined the chorus of frustration with Trump’s spiritual mentorship, telling the Washington Examiner that “much more care and discernment is needed” in how the White House interacts with religion.
“I also think more orthodox pastoral guidance would be good, and that Paula White is not it,” he added.
Wilson is an ally and mentor of Hegseth, who is among his most prominent followers. He was invited by Hegseth to speak at the Pentagon in February.
He does not have any formal relationship with the White House, but his Washington-based Christ Church is also popular with Reformed Christians within the administration.
Trump’s questionable self-portrait was posted following a long-winded rebuke of Pope Leo XIV and the Vatican’s opposition to the ongoing Iranian conflict.
That message, which accused the pope of being “weak” and owing his selection at last year’s conclave to Trump’s electoral victory, outraged Catholic leaders.
TRUMP CRITICIZES POPE LEO AS ‘WEAK ON CRIME’ AND ‘TERRIBLE ON FOREIGN POLICY’
Wilson, a Protestant who sees Catholics as co-belligerents in the spiritual war against secularism but criticizes Catholic theology, was hardly scandalized by the hostility toward the Roman pontiff.
“I thought that Trump’s statement criticizing the pope was just a typical Trumpian blast against a political opponent, which is what the pope was being,” Wilson said. “I would not put it in the same category as the AI image at all.”
