A recent video on Youtube by Dr Clarence Sexton makes a number of statements about Donald John Trump, the 45th US President, and his link to the Hebrides revival that occurred between 1948 and 1952 [1]. An internet search shows that such claims derive from various blogs that date back at least to 3 September 2017. The earliest blog post I can find is by the National Day of Prayer of Wyoming and the Mountains States, entitled Donald Trump’s Connection to the Hebrides Revival [2] and a second later blog seaministries.org makes further claims relating to Trump’s Bible. [3]
The first claim is that Donald Trump is closely related to two elderly Smith sisters, Peggy and Christine, who were powerful prayer warriors in the Hebrides revival, and to a young boy called Donald Smith, who was allegedly their nephew and convert in the revival. However, this family connection to Trump is not accepted by sources close to those involved. Kathie Walters has written an historical account of the Hebrides revival (called Bright and Shining Revival) having first-hand information from those involved. She rejected the connection, printed as a correction on Sapphire Throne Ministries blog on 21 August 2018, having consulted with leading historians and family connections. The young boy was called Donald Macphail, not Smith [4] [5], although there was a Donald John Smith connected to the revival, possibly the blacksmith mentioned by Duncan Campbell.[6] [7]
The family history expert in the Hebrides is Bill Lawson (hebridespeople.com) – through personal correspondence he confirms there is no evidence of a link at least back as far as the ‘early 1700s’, reiterating common knowledge that the Smith name derives from a trade, so is not an historic clan name. The two Smith families – that of Peggy, Christine and possibly Donald John Smith on the one hand, and the line of Trump’s mother on the other, also come from different parts of the Lewis island – the first family from Barvas, the second, Trump’s line, from South Lochs, later Tong. Thus, a close family link is not accepted by family and local historians. Of course, a more distant link is possible through other ancestral lines of Trump’s mother, such as the Macleod and Macaulay clans, but of questionable consequence.
The second claim, which relates to Trump’s Bible, arose on 14 March 2019 through Faithwalk Ministries International and the connected seaministries.org [3], although there may be earlier sources. This is that the Bible used in Trump’s inauguration, that was given to Donald Trump by his mother, was first used in the Hebrides revival, and that she received it from one of the Smith sisters, who were her aunts. Not only does this blog repeat previous claims that were shown to be false in August 2018, but it adds another unsubstantiated claim, that can also be shown to be false. The Washington Post has previously given details of the inauguration Bible (18 January 2017), asserting that it was published in 1953 in New York – and this is confirmed via a friend’s correspondence with the Museum of the Bible. This is the Washington Post’s comments
“The president-elect’s second
Bible selection references his Presbyterian upbringing in Jamaica, Queens, in
New York City. His mother gave it to him on June 12, 1955, upon his graduation
from Sunday Church Primary School at First Presbyterian Church on Children’s
Day.
The Bible is a revised standard
version published by Thomas Nelson and Sons in New York in 1953 and is embossed
with his name on the lower portion of the front cover,” Barrack, the
inauguration chairman, said in a statement. “The inside cover is signed by
church officials and is inscribed with his name and the details of when it was
presented.” [8]
So, in summary, an internet search shows a different picture, with authoritative evidence from 2017 and 2018 available: that regrettably Donald Trump, and his Bible, are not closely connected to the central characters of the Hebrides revival of 1948-1952. However, there have been a number of revivals in Hebrides in previous years, and clearly his mother was a devout Christian woman who was committed to raising her son in the Presbyterian Church.
Andrew Sibley
References
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyMghy2Zpqk
[2] https://ndpwy.wordpress.com/2017/09/03/donald-trumps-connection-to-the-hebrides-revival/
[3] https://seaministries.org/ronsreflections/364-PRESIDENT-TRUMPS-TRUE-HISTORY?sel=1-
[4] https://sapphirethroneministries.wordpress.com/tag/hebrides-revival-and-president-trump/
[5] https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Bright_and_Shining_Revival.html?id=K2VXBNWimBkC&redir_esc=y
[6] http://www.revival-library.org/index.php/pensketches-menu/historical-revivals/the-hebrides-revival
[7] https://ukwells.org/revivalists/outer-hebrides-revivals and https://ukwells.org/wells/shader-2
[8]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/01/18/the-symbolism-of-trumps-two-inaugural-bible-choices-from-lincoln-to-his-mother/
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