Franklin Graham Responds To Trumps Easter Message

Let us I want to share with you. I know I don't want to talk. We're going to talk about this administration for a little while.

Uh the current uh administration here in 2025. Um the White House, the president issued a an Easter message. Um and it's um a very long message.

You can find it on um you can find on the Christian Broadcasting Network uh network news. I'm going with his tweet because it was part of the story as well. Uh here's what he said in celebrating Easter, in encouraging people to celebrate Easter.

He says, "This Holy Week, Christians around the world remember the crucifixion of God's only begotten son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And on Easter Sunday, we celebrate his glorious resurrection and proclaim as Christians have done for nearly 2,000 years, he is risen. Very good.

That's all true. Good. Um through his pain and sacrifice, through the pain and sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, we saw God's boundless love and devotion to all humanity.

And in that moment of his resurrection, history was changed forever with the promise of everlasting life. Again, yes, good job. Keep it up.

Right. As we approach this joyous Easter Sunday, I want to wish Christians everywhere a happy and a very blessed holiday. America is a nation of believers.

We need God and we want God. and with his help, we will make our nation stronger, safer, greater, more prosperous, and more united than ever before. Thank you, and happy Easter.

Hey, listen. As far as his holiday um as as far as his holiday blessings go, this is a pretty good one, right? Like it you know that God's love and devot devotion for all humanity.

Oh, that's excellent. You know that that's that's great. the last paragraph, he gets a little caught in in in uh uh in in maybe his his dream for America.

Uh his his image, his vision of what America is today, but you know, no, this was this was a this was a decent message. You know, I don't really have anything to complain about. So, he didn't attack anybody.

He didn't uh demonize anybody. He didn't uh exclude anybody. you know, he he he didn't wish somebody a happy Easter, even my political enemies.

So, hey, God, just fantastic job. It really is. That that's a that's a good job.

And for anybody out there that's thinking, "Oh, when's Ed going to drop the other shoe on this? " I'm not. I I'm I'm not going to drop the other shoe about this.

There's This is a good solid message. If the president of the United States is going to is is going to to offer a an Easter message, I think this is a good one. I am however going to respond to some of the responses from from some Christians like Franklin Graham.

And what Franklin says here is, I think this proclamation is historic. And there has not been in my lifetime a president that has communicated the gospel as clearly as President Trump has in this message. That's possible.

Give it to him. And this is and for all the naysayers out there who have been, you know, poo pooing Donald Trump, Christians saying that he's not a Christian, all that sort of stuff. Well, you know, first of all, you're not to judge.

Secondly, he's very clear in his proclamation, and I'm so proud of him for doing it. Darn it. If he could have just not said anything, if he could have just sent him a little little memo, send M.

President a little memo saying, "Dear President Trump, I'm so proud of you for this Easter proclamation. " That would have been great. But he had to go and say the things he did.

So in what he said in what he said, I don't know historically if a president has ever offered this kind of message or or whatever the case is. And for what it's worth, apparently in the in the White House, the administration, they're going to have meals and they're going to have some worship services and they're going to do some stuff like that in order to celebrate Holy Week. If that's what they do, that's what they do.

I It's not my not my issue. First off, in this message from Franklin, you know, where he talks about how some Christians are, his words, poo pooing um uh Donald Trump's Christianity and saying that he's not a Christian. I've never said he's not a Christian.

Myself personally, I've never said he's not a Christian. But Franklin Graham is right. Many people do say he's not a Christian.

They do say that he's not a Christian, but they don't say it because he makes a proclamation like this. I've never heard anybody say he's not a Christian because no Christian would make a proclamation like like that one we just read. They say he's not a Christian because there is no evidence through his words and his behaviors that that he is following Christ.

Okay. There's nothing that we're seeing in the public that he's following Christ. Yes, he proclaims Jesus as Lord in his message.

Uh but there's no evidence of the fruits of the spirit. It's a it's a rare rare thing that we see, talk, observe about his kindness and his gentleness and his compassion, his perseverance, his his his generosity, his charitableness, his his love. It's a rare thing that we we we hear him describing his love for his his enemies or for people that disagree with him.

It's it's a rare thing where we see him uh raise people up. So, you know, those Christians out there that are saying he's not a Christian, I don't it's not my place to say if he is or he isn't, but I can say those that many of the people, most of the people, they're not saying he's not a Christian uh because of of posts like this. They're saying he's not a Christian because they don't see it in him.

They don't see Christ in him. They don't see him living a life where he is actively and intentionally being the hands and feet of Jesus Christ in this world alive. The other thing if we're going to talk about whether or not somebody's a Christian or not in Matthew in in in the Gospel of Matthew the 7th chapter at the 21st verse Jesus um he he's he's talking to some folks and he says you know not everyone who says to me Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but only the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven.

Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesize in your name? Did in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles? And then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you.

Away from me, you evildoers. I'm not saying I'm not offering judgment here. I'm simply saying just because I proclaim Jesus as Lord doesn't mean that Jesus is my Lord.

Just because I proclaim Jesus as Lord doesn't mean that I'm living my life as though Jesus is Lord. And just because I proclaim Jesus is Lord, it doesn't mean that it doesn't mean that I'm I've chosen to actually follow him. It may just mean that I've chosen to claim him.

And that's a different thing. When reading this article, another question popped into my brain. You know, I'm listening to from reading Franklin Graham's words here, and I'm reading what what CBN News is saying about all of this, and they seem to be very, very happy.

They seem to be very they seem to be very thrilled about this proclamation, about this tweet, about this White House uh press release. And I honestly don't understand why. Now, I shouldn't say that.

I have a sense of why, but I don't know if it's if it's real or not. I don't know if it's if it's true or not. I hope somewhere it isn't.

I hope this is just misguided. But I don't I don't care if my prime minister makes an Easter proclamation where they claim Jesus as Lord. And I don't care that the president of the United States does it.

And I don't care when some athlete does it after hitting a home run or or kicking uh a field goal or or or dunking to to win a game. You know, I I don't care. I don't care if celebrities give all credit and glory to God in their acceptance speech for some Emmy or or a Grammy or an Oscar or whatever other kind of award might be out there.

It makes no difference to me at all. It makes no difference to me at all because I don't need any person of celebrity or any person of fame to validate my faith. I I don't need somebody to to to stand up.

I don't need again I don't need a world leader to say Jesus is Lord for me to know the importance of my faith and of my of my religion. I don't need uh some world leader to stand up and say Jesus is Lord in order for me to feel good. Oh, yay.

I guess it's okay to be Christian. I don't care if it's okay to be a Christian. Like I I I don't care if the world is crashing down around my ears about my Christianity.

It's what I believe. It's what I hold to. And I hope if I'm ever in a situation, and I recognize my privilege here, I hope if I'm ever in a situation where there is persecution, where there are forces, I mean, I think about Nigeria right now, where there are forces who are who are vehemently anti-Christian.

I hope and pray that my faith remains strong and that I won't forsake it, that I won't forsake Christ. But I don't need, as far as I can see, as far as I can tell, I don't need someone of fame, of power, of status, of money, of celebrity. I don't need their I don't need their words, their proclamations in order to justify, affirm, or validate my own walk with Christ.

My fear, of course, is Franklin Graham. Oh, I'm so proud of him. That's that's interesting.

Weird, but interesting. um if he didn't post it, would you be any less a Christian? Would your celebration be any less special this this this week?

Would your would your time of worship on Easter or would your would your celebration on Monday Thursday where you wash the feet of your congregation, would that be less meaningful because the president didn't say it? Does it become more special, more meaningful, more important? Because he does.

This is, as far as I can tell, this is Franklin Graham pointing out to Christians, hey, yeah, yeah, yeah. We don't see any of the fruits of the spirit. Yeah.

Yeah. We're over that, though. Look at what he wrote for Easter.

See, he is a Christian. You can follow him with a clear conscience. At the end of the day, because I proclaim Christ doesn't mean that I am.

At the end of the day, proclaiming Christ doesn't make me a Christian. My life walking with Christ is what provides evidence of my faith in Christ, of my Christianity. I don't need for me I don't need um I don't need to hear some celebrity claiming Jesus as Lord.

I don't need to hear some athlete claiming Jesus is Lord. I don't need to hear some world leader claiming Jesus as Lord to in order to to again to to validate and and affirm and and encourage my own my own faith journey. And I and I certainly don't need them to to make a special a holy time in the church calendar meaningful and important.

I don't need their proclamation to to to make to make the Easter season more meaningful or important to me. Amen.