President Donald Trump delivered his commencement speech Saturday to 18,000 students at Liberty University – America’s largest evangelical university – challenging them to buck the status quo and stick to their Christian convictions … no matter what.

At a time when bipartisan debates continue to rule the airwaves, Trump encouraged graduates at the Lynchburg, Virginia, campus to resist letting big government rule every aspect of their lives, but instead to keep tuned into God’s will – praising Him and following Him first and foremost.

“Washington is run by a small group with failed values who think they know everything,” the president orated from the Christian campus state, according to Fox News. “We don’t need a lecture from Washington on how to lead our lives. We don’t worship Washington – we worship God.”

Thrive against steep opposition

Trump also urged students to never lose heart when the going gets tough – when politically correct leaders put up all the barriers to follow conventional wisdom to keep them from doing right by God.

“Never give up,” Trump incited Liberty University grads, Fox reported. “Never stop fighting what you believe in.”

Just as he vowed to do during the 2016 presidential election year and during his first 100 days in office, Trump encouraged students to stand up for their Christian convictions – no matter how hard big government pressures them to abide by its godless ways.

“In my short time in Washington, I’ve seen firsthand how the system is broken,” the commander-in-chief exhorted, according to CBN News. “A small group of failed voices who think they know everything … want to tell everybody else how to live. But you aren’t going to let other people tell you what to believe – especially when you know that you’re right.”

When it comes to core values and moral virtues, Trump incited the Christian students to never make compromises and stoop to the standards set by the government – indicating that God’s precepts for their lives should never be substituted for those pushed by wayward elected officials.

“We don’t need a lecture from Washington on how to lead our lives,” he impressed to thousands of listening students on the Virginia campus.

Trump also let students know that he is the champion of religious freedom, promising them that he will not allow anti-Christian laws and judges prevail to keep them from living out and expressing their faith.

“As long as I’m your president, no one is ever going to stop you from practicing your faith or preaching what’s in your heart,” he assured all those in attendance, CBN News cited.

The president went on to acknowledge the great faith base of Americans from coast to coast – emphasizing how their belief in God guides every aspect of the way they live their lives.

Starting with the pilgrims who landed on Plymouth Rock, to the faith of the Founding Fathers, to the oath of office every elected recites, to those proclaiming the Pledge of Allegiance, Trump acknowledged that the people who formed and lived in the United States over the centuries have exuded a devout reverence for God.

“America is a nation of true believers,” Trump proclaimed, as quoted by the Washington Times – implying that he will not allow the government under his watch to deny Americans the right to express their faith … whether at school, in the public square or at work.

Trump followed up by reminding students that the best things in life are always difficult to come by, telling them not choose the path of least resistance, but rather choose God’s straight and narrow path – where only the few, the bold and the faithful go.

“Nothing worth doing ever … ever … ever … came easy,” he impressed, according to the Times. “I know each of you will do what is right – not the easy way.”

Lifting up those who lifted him

A pivotal part of Trump’s presidential campaign took place at Liberty, where he vowed to students that he would champion and fight for their right to live out their Christian beliefs when they entered the workforce beyond the campus gates.

“When Mr. Trump first spoke at Liberty University during the campaign, he quoted Scripture and vowed to ‘protect Christianity,’” the Times’ S.A. Miller noted. “The close ties he forged with the university leadership paved the way for evangelical support that was crucial to winning the GOP nomination and the White House.”

After winning an overwhelming 80 percent of the white evangelical vote in November, Trump returned on Saturday as president to assure students that he still does not take his vow to Champion the Christian faith lightly.

“To the class of 2017 today, you end one chapter, but you are about to begin the greatest adventure of your life,” he told Liberty graduates. “With all of those blessings and all of the blessings that you’ve been given, what will you give back to this country – and indeed, to the world?”

Students were not the only ones who looked forward to Trump’s words of encouragement, as Liberty University President Jerry Falwell, Jr., extended his invitation for Trump to speak at his institution’s graduation ceremony the month after he won the election last year.

“I’d love to hear him talk to the students about what he plans to do for them to make it a better job market – to make the United States a better place for them to raise their families,” Falwell told the Washington Post last week. “And then I’d like him to tell them what he needs them to do to help him make America great again.”

The leader of Liberty University also recently expressed his appreciation for all Trump has done for Christians since his January inauguration.

“I really don’t think any other president has done more for evangelicals and the faith community in four months than President Trump has,” Falwell recently told The Associated Press (AP) in an interview.

The new first-term president stressed during his speech that he relishes the virtues of being an outsider in Washington and in life, exhorting students to stay true to their Christian beliefs, to get ready to face harsh criticism, and to embrace the challenges of being the odd man out.

“It’s the outsiders who change the world,” Trump proclaimed to the newly graduated seniors, according to AP – quite possibly alluding to Jesus Christ and his life-changing ministry on Earth to a hostile and rejecting world.

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Copyright American Family News. Reprinted with permission.

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