Here is Graham at Decision magazine:
We witnessed one of the greatest political comebacks in U.S. history as Donald J. Trump was elected the 47th president of the United States, becoming only the second president ever to win two non-consecutive terms.
When President-elect Trump is sworn in to the White House on Jan. 20, he will have a majority in the U.S. Senate and quite possibly in the U.S. House of Representatives, though that was too close to call at press time.
In his victory speech, President Trump pointedly referenced the assassination attempts: “Many people have told me that God spared my life for a reason,” he said.
Donald Trump’s election win is historic in many ways. Millions and millions of people were praying, and I believe God allowed it by His merciful hand.
We certainly need to continue in prayer for President Trump in the days to come as he assembles a team to lead our nation. We need godly men and women who will make policies that best reflect Biblical values, so that as Scripture informs us, we “may live a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (2 Timothy 2:2).
While some might see Graham’s statement as the words of a man who speaks for God, I have a hard time seeing anything but hubris in his statement.
Though Graham doesn’t come right out and say it, the message to the readers of Decision is clear: Graham believes that God spared Trump’s life because God wanted Trump to be president again. Graham believes that Trump’s victory was an answer to prayer: “I believe God allowed it by His merciful hand.”
But how does Graham know this? Perhaps Graham remembers God’s exchange with the prophet Samuel in 1 Samuel 8:6-22:
But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. 8 As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. 9 Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.”
10 Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 16 Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle[c] and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”
21 When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the Lord. 22 The Lord answered, “Listen to them and give them a king.”
Verse 18 is worth repeating: “When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
I share Franklin Graham’s evangelical faith. But I don’t share his sense of certainty on matters related to presidential elections. Was God “merciful” to the United States in allowing Trump to win the presidency? Or was He, like Saul, giving the United States a leader who will bring the country to ruins? I can’t answer either of these questions. Neither can Franklin Graham. But he apparently thinks he can.
I am troubled as well. His dad made that mistake with an American President, he later repented. This lesson did not stick with Franklin Graham. Thank you for your response to Franklin Grahams assertion.
My prayer for the leadership of our country very likely does not match his prayer. Yet I pray.
Graham says above, “We certainly need to continue in prayer for President Trump in the days to come as he assembles a team to lead our nation. We need godly men and women who will make policies that best reflect Biblical values, so that as Scripture informs us, we “may live a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (2 Timothy 2:2).” It would appear from many of the people he has proposed to high positions in his administration that Graham is wrong about what is about to happen to our country. Will God listen to him when it does not work out as Graham thought it would?