Evangelist Franklin Graham attributed opposition to President Donald Trump to “almost a demonic power” that seeks to undermine his leadership in a Nov. 21 radio interview with author Eric Metaxas.
Screenshot of Graham’s interview with Eric Metaxas.
Graham, head of both his father’s Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and the humanitarian charity Samaritan’s Purse, talked mainly about Operation Christmas Child, a Samaritan’s Purse project that distributes shoeboxes filled with Christmas gifts to needy children around the world.
Talk turned to politics midway through the 30-minute interview, when Metaxas — author of a 2011 biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and two new children’s books titled Donald Builds the Wall and Donald Drains the Swamp — asked Graham about the “very bizarre situation to be living in a country where some people seem to exist to undermine the president of the United States.”
“Well, I believe it’s almost a demonic power that is trying …” Graham elaborated before being cut off by Metaxas. “It’s not almost demonic,” the interviewer interjected. “You know and I know, at the heart, it’s a spiritual battle.”
“It’s a spiritual battle,” Graham conceded, steering the conversation to the nation’s low unemployment rate and a booming economy.
“Here’s what that does for churches, for Christians,” Graham said. “That means more people are working so there’s more people tithing and giving to the churches. There’s more money for missions. There’s more money for your building programs. All of this is because Donald Trump said he was going to turn things around and make America great again.”
Graham said he believes that Trump is a believer. “He believes in God. He believes in Jesus Christ,” he said. The evangelist explained the president’s apparent lack of spiritual depth like this: “He went to churches here in New York, and he didn’t get a whole lot of teaching.”
Photo of Eric Metaxas and Franklin Graham posted on social media
Graham viewed impeachment proceedings in Congress as “a travesty” that is causing even deeper rifts in an already divided America.
“The people of this nation are being lied to by the media,” Graham said. “This president has done more for this country than any president in my lifetime, and they are going to try to impeach him because he’s been successful.”
“They are going to impeach him because our military is strong,” he continued. “We’re going to impeach him because our economy is on fire. We’re going to impeach him because of all these things that he’s done that he said he would do. He moved the embassy out of Tel Aviv up to Jerusalem — where other presidents said they would do that but never would do it — but he did it.”
“They actually just hate him,” Graham said of Trump’s political opponents, “and he is a good guy. We need to pray for him. He’s not a perfect person by any means or no way, but he’s doing his dead-level best.”
“He doesn’t need the money. He doesn’t need the fame,” Graham said. “He’s doing this, I believe, for my grandchildren, for his grandchildren and for future generations.”
Previous stories:
Trump’s West Bank shocker: are End Times ‘kooks’ running US foreign policy?
Fallen Southern Baptist leader props up pro-Trump pastor
Franklin Graham, toxic charity concerns send churches packing from Operation Christmas Child
Pro-Trump preachers on message against impeachment probe