Prominent evangelist Franklin Graham urged Americans to return to prayer Thursday, insisting the nation’s problems stem from having “turned our back on God.”
“Our country is spiraling in a heap of confusion and lies,” Rev. Graham wrote to his 10 million Facebook followers.
“As a nation we have turned our back on God and His Word, and we are seeing the results. Violence, crime, and suicide are rampant,” he declared.
The only solution to the nation’s escalating problems is a return to God, Graham asserted, in his remembrance of the National Day of Prayer, an annual observance designated by the U.S. Congress and held on the first Thursday of May.
The National Day of Prayer was established by President Harry S. Truman in 1952 as part of the public reaction to the threats occasioned by the Korean War, mandating that each subsequent president sign a yearly proclamation urging all Americans to pray on this day.
At that time, Rev. Billy Graham — Franklin Graham’s father — was a leading voice in urging the country to adopt a national day of prayer.
File/Part of the estimated crowd of 30,000 people that listened to Billy Graham at the Capitol, Gertrude Dill (left) and Thelma Williamson, both of Washington, sing from an evangelist song book. Graham called on President Truman to proclaim a Day of National Prayer. (Getty Archives)
“What a thrilling, glorious thing it would be to see the leaders of our country today kneeling before Almighty God in prayer,” Billy Graham said.
“What a thrill would sweep this country. What renewed hope and courage would grip the Americans at this hour of peril.”
In his own remarks on the commemoration, Franklin Graham insisted that our hope “isn’t in politicians and programs — our hope is in God.”
File/Evangelist Billy Graham addresses an estimated crowd of 30,000 people at the Capitol asking that President Truman should proclaim a day of national prayer in the United States. (Getty Archives)
“As Christians, we need to be more intentional than ever about PRAYER,” he added. “The Bible instructs us to make prayer a priority. Pray for our leaders — from the President, to those serving in Congress, to those in leadership at the state and local level — that God would give them wisdom, guide them, and have mercy on our nation.”
Citing his father, Rev. Graham said that prayer “is the Christian’s greatest weapon.”
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