The Dispatch
On April 16, 2026, Franklin Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse, posted to X that he did not believe President Trump would knowingly depict himself as Jesus Christ, that when the President learned of concerns about the AI-generated healing image he immediately removed the post, and that upon viewing the illustration himself he saw no spiritual references — no halo, no crosses, no angels — only a flag, soldiers, a nurse, fighter planes, eagles, and the Statue of Liberty. Graham described the reaction as a lot to do about nothing. Regarding the separately posted image of Jesus with his arm around the President, which the President described as quite nice, Graham wrote that he liked the fact that it depicted Jesus whispering in the President’s ear, guiding him, and that he would have to agree it was nice. The post received 1.6 million views.
On April 1, 2026, Graham delivered the opening prayer at a White House Holy Week lunch attended by the President, the Vice President, cabinet members, and six additional members of the clergy. In the prayer, Graham compared the Iranian government to the Persian regime in the biblical Book of Esther and cast the President in the role of a divinely appointed figure. “Today the Iranians, the wicked regime of this government, wants to kill every Jew and destroy them with an atomic fire,” Graham said. “But you have raised up President Trump. You’ve raised him up for such a time as this. Father, we pray that you’ll give him victory.” He closed by praying for the people of Iran to be set free from what he described as Islamic lunatics. That prayer was delivered at a White House event. A video of the prayer was subsequently removed from the White House YouTube page.
On March 31, 2026, in an appearance on Piers Morgan Uncensored, Graham pushed back against Pope Leo XIV’s Palm Sunday statement that God does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war. Graham cited the Old Testament example of King David. “Well, he didn’t reject David’s prayers, that’s for sure,” Graham said. He described the Iranian government as evil and said he hoped for regime change. He told Morgan he was not Roman Catholic and came from a different perspective. In his April 16 post, Graham expressed hope that the President and Pope Leo would meet, and that the Pope would have the opportunity to thank the President for his efforts to protect religious liberty for Catholics and people of all faiths.
Graham described the healing image as a lot to do about nothing. He said he thinks there is an attempt to spin it into something that it is not.
Source Block
Original source: Franklin Graham on X
Archived copy: archive.org
Screenshot on file: screenshots/franklin-graham-jesus-image-lot-to-do-about-nothing.png
Retrieved: 2026-04-16
Additional sources:
- Graham White House Easter prayer — IBTimes: https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/franklin-graham-white-house-prayer-backlash-1790342
- Graham Easter prayer full text — Christian Post: https://www.christianpost.com/news/franklin-graham-cites-king-david-in-response-to-papal-war-rebuke.html
- Graham at CPAC “raised him up” — Charlotte Observer via union-bulletin: https://www.union-bulletin.com/news/national/franklin-graham-says-trump-has-been-raised-up-by-god-urges-loyalty-in-midterms/article_bc1cbd4d-5aef-514f-9294-e81cd9144730.html
- Graham on Piers Morgan March 31 — Christian Post: https://www.christianpost.com/news/franklin-graham-cites-king-david-in-response-to-papal-war-rebuke.html
- White House Easter context — Religion News Service: https://religionnews.com/2026/04/06/donald-trumps-hellish-and-holy-easter/
- PBS — Graham “raised him up for such a time as this”: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/a-president-and-a-pope-two-of-the-worlds-most-influential-americans-at-odds-over-iran
- Related dispatch:
2026-04-13-trump-deletes-healing-image-doctor.md - Related dispatch:
2026-04-15-trump-jesus-arm-around-quite-nice.md
