Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
About
Christology
Israel/Palestine
Publications
KermitZarley.com
Archives
Categories
- Angels
- Blog Description
- Book Reviews
- Christian Living
  - Unconditional Love?
- Christianity
- Christology
  - Deity of Christ?
  - Holy Spirit
  - Incarnation?
  - My Change
  - Trinity?
- Church History
- Current Events
- War on Terrorism
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
- Eschatology
- Ezekiel 38-39
- Last Empire
- Primitive Weapons
- Film Reviews
- God
- Golf
  - Billy Graham
  - Karsten Solheim
  - Lee Trevino
  - Major Championship Winners
  - Masters
  - Purpose
  - Ryder Cup
- Gospel Harmonization
- Interview
- Islam
- Jesus
- Literary Announcements
- Monotheism
- My Books
  - The Restitution of Jesus Christ
- Old Testament
- Politics
- Society of Biblical Literature
- The Bible
- Trinitarianism
- Uncategorized
FREE NEWSLETTER

Home
Progressive Christian
Religion News
Trump’s Positive Thinking Is Killing Him

Trump’s Positive Thinking Is Killing Him

Last updated on: October 6, 2020 at 6:02 pm by Kermit Zarley

Trump’s Positive Thinking Is Killing Him 2020-10-06T18:02:24-07:00 Kermit Zarley

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Thinking positive is absolutely necessary to achieve success, whether it’s in business, personal relationships, and just about everything else in life, including sports. I know this well because of my profession in competing full time on the PGA Tour and its Champions Tour for thirty years. You’ve got to envision your goal and set your mind to achieving it. It won’t happen unless you think you can do it. That’s positive thinking.

Yet I believe positive thinking can be overdone. It needs to balanced with a consideration of the pitfalls that can accompany your journey. That’s where planning your strategy comes in.

In golf, you should consider all possibilities when choosing each individual goal. For instance, when a water hazard or out-of-bounds is in play on a particular shot, it is wise to aim somewhat away from that and then hit your shot while thinking positively of where you want the ball to go, thus not thinking of the hazard or OB.

Perhaps nowhere is this made more evident than in the romantic comedy movie “Tin Cup.” Hollywood megastar Kevin Costner plays the role of a pro golfer who couldn’t get through the PGA Tour’s Qualifying School but qualified for the U.S. Open and lost the tournament on the last hole by refusing to play safe, scoring a 12. (For this film, Costner received a Golden Glove Award for Best Actor.) It’s because Costner’s character overdoes positive thinking by expecting to achieve the impossible. Occasionally that works; but in a large percentage of the cases, it doesn’t. Incidentally, Costner’s Roy character was a top college golfer at my school, the University of Houston, surely due to our all time record of winning 16 NCAA Team Championships in a period of 30 years with the same coach–Dave Williams.

In my early years on the PGA Tour, Norman Vincent Peale’s book, The Power of Positive Thinking (1952), was popular with a few pros. The two foremost were my friends Gary Player (9 major wins) and Dave Stockton (2 major wins). Peale (1898-1993) was a Methodist pastor in New York for ten years before becoming the pastor of Marble Collegiate Church in New York City for 52 years, until he retired in 1984. This book was on the New York Times’ best-sellers’ list for 186 weeks, sold 5 million copies, and was translated into 40 languages.

The Power of Positive Thinking made Rev. Peale a sought-after motivational speaker. One time when I was competing in the PGA Tour’s Firestone Invitational, at the Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, I went downtown one evening and heard Dr. Peale give a speech in a movie theatre. I think I had read his book by then.

I did not fully embrace The Power of Positive Thinking. I even got into discussions about this with some of my fellow pros on the PGA Tour. The reason was that I thought it conflicted somewhat with some of my theological beliefs as a Christian. I now feel that I probably was too critical of the book, and I definitely think that I underplayed the importance of working at thinking positive in my profession.

Yet, I think some of my objections to the book were not unsound. My main objection was that Peale advised people to apply certain teachings of the New Testament to their lives despite whether or not they had had what evangelicals call “a born-again” experience with God (John 3.3-5). Thus, Peale advised people to apply the Apostle Paul’s instruction, “I can do all things through Christ/him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4.13), thus believing you receive power from God. Another objection I had was that positive thinking can be overdone when it ignores reality. I suspect Donald Trump does both, though I’m not sure of the former.

Donald Trump tells about how his father–successful real estate mogul Fred Trump Sr.–sometimes taking his family, which included The Donald, to attend Sunday services at Marble Collegiate Church to hear the Rev. Norman Vincent Peale. It seems that what Peale preached about positive thinking, at least, made a positive impression on Fred Sr., and by association The Donald.

Years ago, Donald Trump’s eldest son Don Jr. reportedly watched televangelist Paula White on TV and became enamored with her. He told his father about White, and they eventually met. Paula White therefore delivered the invocation at Trump’s presidential inauguration in January, 2017. And in November, 2019, President Trump appointed her as his spiritual advisor. Paula White is a Pentecostal minister who preaches “the health and wealth gospel” and the “name-it-and-claim-it” practice, both of which many Christian leaders condemn as unbiblical. It should be obvious why Trump could be attracted to this. And Trump’s contracting of COVID-19 last week, his hospitalization and seeming recovery, and then his dismissal of the virus yesterday may reflect what White preaches, but surely reflect Trump’s overdoing of positive thinking.

Yesterday, when President Trump left Walter Reed Medical Center and returned to the While House, he told America concerning COVID-19, “Don’t let it dominate you. Don’t be afraid of it.” That’s overdoing positive thinking, and it can kill you. Why? It goes completely against what the medical community is saying, not just in the U.S. but around the world, about this very dangerous and contagious coronavirus. It is a failure to respect danger. (See my new book, Moses Predicted COVID-19.)

I believe Donald Trump ignores reality a lot because he suffers from a classic narcissistic personality and therefore demonstrates megalomania. Thus, he believes that whatever he thinks IS reality. He lies so much because he makes his lies his reality. It is similar to the practice of name-it-and-claim-it. I think this is positive thinking taken to the extreme and therefore an overdone positive thinking, and it can kill.

Power of Positive Thinking

Previous Post

October 5, 2020

Trump's Strategy Is to Stay Out of Prison

Next Post

October 7, 2020 Judge Barrett Disassociates from Charismatic Group People of Praise

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Angels Billy Graham Blog Description Book Reviews Christian Living Christianity Christology Church History Current Events Deity of Christ? Disarmament Eschatology Evangelicalism Ezekiel 38-39 Film Reviews God Golf Gospel Harmonization Health History Holy Spirit Incarnation? Interview Islam Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Jesus Last Empire Literary Announcements Major Championship Winners Masters Monotheism My Books New Testament Old Testament Politics Primitive Weapons Ryder Cup Science Society of Biblical Literature The Bible The Restitution of Jesus Christ Trinitarianism Trinity? Uncategorized Unconditional Love? War on Terrorism

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who dreamed of a ladder reaching to heaven?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Daniel Paul Joseph Jacob

Books by This Author Books by Kermit Zarley Blog

See All Titles »