In one of his most explicit endorsements of Donald Trump’s campaign to date, Franklin Graham spoke at a Trump rally in Concord, N.C., Oct. 21 and prayed aloud to God to cause Trump to win the election.
The head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse said he appeared at the rally as “a private citizen and as a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Graham talked about America being “in such trouble” and said God is the only hope but “dark forces” are arrayed against Trump.
At the same rally, Trump said his opponent — Vice President Kamala Harris — is hostile to Christianity because she would allow transgender women to play women’s sports.
Trump told the crowd he would “create a new federal task force on finding anti-Christian bias, that will begin immediately.”
WUNC public radio reported that at one point, the crowd of roughly 2,000 people chanted, “Jesus! Jesus!”
At one point, the crowd of roughly 2,000 people chanted, “Jesus! Jesus!”
Graham led the crowd in prayer for Trump.
“I believe Jesus is the Son of God who came to this earth to take our sins, that he died and shed his blood for our sins and that God raised him to life and the only hope is if we confess our sins and turn and believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,” the evangelist preached.
His next sentence praised Trump: “President Trump holds the greatest rallies. No one in the history of the United States has put on rallies like Donald Trump, nobody. People will stand for hours in line. The energy is unmatched. People leave excited, pumped up. There’s nothing like a Trump rally.”
However, he warned, rallies and “positive poll numbers” will not win the election.
“There’s a spiritual element that’s at work here. There are dark forces that are arrayed against this man. They’ve tried to put him in prison; they’ve tried to assassinate him twice; he’s attacked every day in the media; and the only hope for Donald J. Trump and our nation is God.”
Although Trump has said he does not pray and never has asked God for forgiveness, Graham said: “I’ve encouraged President Trump that when he wakes up in the morning that the first thing he does is to ask God for help and if he does, God will hear and God will answer his prayer.”
Then he asked the crowd to join in about 2 minutes out cacophonous out loud prayer: “I want you to pray out loud as God leads you in your heart to pray for President Trump that God would give him wisdom, that God would protect him, that God would guide and direct his each and every step, and that God would bless this nation once again.”
After the mass prayer time, Graham concluded with his own prayer where he mentioned the sins of the nation but not any sins of Trump.
“We pray for our nation and, Father, if it be thy will that President Trump will win this election. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
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