Individuals can only get to heaven through the “perfect work of God’s son,” Jesus, Christian evangelist Franklin Graham said on Wednesday, using something President Donald Trump said during an interview as an opportunity to spread the good news of the gospel.
Graham responded to a joke President Trump made during an interview on “Fox & Friends,” in which the commander-in-chief spoke about his remarkable week meeting with European leaders and working to end the war in Ukraine.
“I want to end it. You know, we’re not losing American lives, we’re not losing American soldiers. We’re losing Russia and Ukrainian, mostly soldiers. Some people, as missiles hit wrong spots or get lobbed into cities,” Trump said during his appearance on Fox.
“But if I can save 7,000 people a week from being killed, I think that’s a pretty — I want to try to get to heaven if possible,” Trump joked.
“I’m hearing I’m not doing well,” he said, continuing with his familiar self-deprecating sense of humor. “I hear I’m really at the bottom of the totem pole. But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons.”
“President Donald J. Trump brought up the topic of Heaven on Fox News yesterday morning, and I’m glad he did because many people struggle with the question of how we can get there,” Graham said in a social media post, using this discussion as an opportunity to share the truth of the gospel.
He explained that no one can get to heaven on their own accord — only through the sacrificial work of Jesus, the Son of God, who died for the sins of humanity, reconciling us with God Himself.
“We do get to Heaven by good works—not by our own good works, but by the perfect work of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, when He came to earth, took our sins to the cross, shed His blood, died, was buried, and God raised Him to life on the third day,” Graham said.
“We all have the promise of eternal life if we repent of our sins, trust Him by faith, and make Him the Lord of our lives,” Graham added. “That’s how one gets to Heaven—not by our good works, but by His.”
Many commenters agreed, paraphrasing Jesus’s words in John 14: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Graham, who serves on President Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission, has continued to urge the nation to pray for President Trump as he leads the country, encouraging prayer last week as Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump has credited God for saving his life during the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, and stated that “we’re honoring Jesus Christ,” and we will “honor Jesus Christ very powerfully throughout our lives,” ahead of the White House Easter egg roll earlier this year.
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