What many older Americans have undoubtedly perceived as a decades-long cultural retreat from Christianity now feels like a modern revival.
In a clip posted Tuesday to the social media platform X, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy received enthusiastic and prolonged applause from midshipmen at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy when he insisted that a painting of Jesus Christ, relegated to the basement by officials in former President Joe Biden’s administration, must return to its former place of honor.
“Let’s bring Him up!” Duffy thundered.
One could barely hear the secretary’s words over the audience’s raucous cheers.
The full clip, which had more than 607,000 views on X as of Friday morning, even provided some important context.
Early in the clip, Duffy pledged to fight so that the academy received the “respect and the money that this academy deserves.”
Of course, everyone likes respect and money, so that comment brought the applause one would expect.
Those cheers, however, paled in comparison to what followed when Duffy mentioned the painting.
“Could we bring Jesus up from the basement?” the secretary asked as he concluded his remarks, looking at someone in the audience.
The midshipmen erupted in cheers, which told Duffy that he had hit upon something important to them.
“Let’s not put Jesus in the basement!” he said, barely audible above the cheers. “Let’s bring Him up!”
Those cheers continued for a full 30 seconds.
“That was the loudest applause we got!” Duffy said.
Midshipmen at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy erupted in applause when @SecDuffy demanded a painting of Jesus saving merchant mariners be restored.
The Biden admin put a curtain over the painting before putting it in a flood-prone basement.
“Let’s bring Him up!” pic.twitter.com/qQvLKXKE5r
— Jon Brown (@JonBrownDC) April 9, 2025
According to The Christian Post, the Biden administration relegated the 1947 painting, “Christ on the Water,” to a flood-prone basement “following following a 2023 letter from Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, who issued a ‘demand’ to … ‘expeditiously remove a massive, sectarian painting illustrating the supremacy of Jesus Christ.’”
Weinstein has spent years making similar demands to other military academies and installations over Christian-themed objects.
Multiple midshipmen, speaking on condition of anonymity, praised Duffy for making that very public, painting-related demand.
“I remember many times when I used to pray underneath that painting when I was on the verge of failing a class, or I had big tests or I was worried about something,” one midshipman said. “I’ve prayed underneath that painting when it used to be in Wiley Hall. So to me, it’s a very significant, important painting, and I think it’s an important part of the school’s history.”
Meanwhile, another midshipman described the painting in similar terms while adding a larger context.
“[P]eople would look up to that painting and say, ‘Everything’s going to be all right. Jesus is looking after me, just like He’s looking after these sailors who are washed up on a boat somewhere in the middle of the ocean,’” the second midshipman said.
“I think everyone was on their feet for the Jesus painting and clapping,” he added. “I thought, ‘Finally, the fight is somewhat close to over.’”
Transportation Sec. Sean Duffy promised to restore a painting of Jesus that had been displayed for generations at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. The painting was removed in 2023 after godless atheists complained. https://t.co/2oX0tj8DUR Thank you @SeanDuffyWI pic.twitter.com/MzZWfLcoG5
— toddstarnes (@toddstarnes) April 9, 2025
That word — “finally” — undoubtedly hit home for many readers.
After all, the woke elite’s war on Christianity suffered a major setback when President Donald Trump returned to the White House.
Furthermore, that relentless and tyrannical assault helped bring other prominent figures to Jesus.
Indeed, those with eyes to see and ears to hear have observed many signs of Christian revival in recent years.
Thus, kudos to Duffy for allowing those midshipmen to voice their love of Jesus and thereby provide us with one more stirring piece of evidence that God’s work in modern America continues.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
The post Watch: Military Academy Goes Wild When Trump Official Reveals Plans for Jesus Painting That Biden Admin Hid appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.