Franklin Graham told Trump he can still get into Heaven. That’s the problem.
The evangelist's letter, shared by Trump, highlights how faith can excuse even the worst behavior
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Yesterday, Donald Trump posted a letter on Truth Social sent to him by evangelist and MAGA enthusiast Franklin Graham assuring Trump he could get into Heaven if he accepted Jesus into his life.
The letter was dated from October, when Trump said to reporters (half-jokingly), “I don’t think there’s anything [that’s] gonna get me [into] Heaven… I think I’m not, maybe, Heaven-bound... I’m not sure I’m gonna be able to make Heaven.”
He echoed those thoughts a couple of days later. But none of that was new. Months earlier, he called into Fox & Friends to make the same point:
“I want to try and get to heaven, if possible,” he explained. “I’m hearing I’m not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole. But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons.”
He wasn’t “hearing” anything because that’s not how religion works, but he was referring to his useless attempts to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine. The October remarks involved his other useless attempts to broker peace between Israel and Hamas.
All of these lines about Heaven, though, were remarkable admission largely because he was, for once, being honest. If someone as cruel, ignorant, and heartless as Trump can get into Heaven, then there’s no reason anyone else should worry about not getting in and no reason anyone should want to get in. What sort of hellish eternity would that be?
Also, it’s good to know that even he’s thinking about his own mortality.
Given everything Trump has done in his life that we know about—and the numerous things that have yet to be released—his life is a picture-perfect sermon example of everything you’re not supposed to do but that white evangelical voters have completely ignored in their quest for power over the rest of us.
So good on Trump for acknowledging that he really deserved to be roasting in Hell forever. Not that that’s going to happen, either, but at least he possesses some self-awareness.
That was the backdrop for Graham’s letter. Graham wanted to reassure Trump that in his version of Christianity, your actions don’t count for shit because salvation can only come through Christ. It was boilerplate evangelism that opened with Graham sucking up to Trump by saying his “leadership is historic” and his accomplishments were “incredible.”
It’s not clear if Graham intended for that letter to go public, but he’s said a version of it on social media before. And it all just shows you the moral bankruptcy at the heart of evangelical Christianity. You can cause as much chaos and misery—and needless deaths—as you want but if you just do this One Little Thing, all will be forgiven. It’s the sort of Christian logic that brings hope to people who need it… and gives some of the worst people in the world permission to continue causing others pain because their slate will be wiped clean when all is said and done.
That’s the problem with Christians like Franklin Graham, too. You can’t count on him to be a good judge of character because he doesn’t pay any attention to anyone’s character. He’s never going to criticize Trump’s irresponsible decisions. And because of his name and wealth, he’s never going to have to live with the consequences of anything Trump does. He cares about one answer to one question. It’s a delusion that allows white evangelicals and conservative Catholics to pat themselves on the back when voting for him time and time again despite everything he’s done.
In a just world, these kinds of people would face karma for their crimes against humanity. But the truth is it’ll be up to everyone else to fix everything they broke. Their faith allows them to ignore atrocities, even when one of their own is causing them.
On a side note, it’s wild that Graham is explaining Christianity 101 to Trump more than a decade after conservative Christians tried to convince people Trump was already one of them. (James Dobson said of Trump in 2016, “He did accept a relationship with Christ.”)
Graham is still on Trump’s side even though Trump is a thrice-married racist who paid hush money to porn stars he was having affairs with when his current wife was pregnant with his fifth child. The guy convicted of 34 criminal charges. The sexual abuser. The Two Corinthians guy. The candidate caught bragging about non-consensually grabbing women because he was a celebrity. The guy who lies about everything. The guy who says he doesn’t need forgiveness. The guy who couldn’t name his favorite Bible verse. The guy who held up a Bible in front of a church after his team used tear gas to drive away peaceful protesters.
As I’ve said before, not a single white evangelical church in America would ever allow Trump to be their pastor if they wanted to be taken seriously. And yet more than half of Republican voters (a good chunk of whom would describe themselves as conservative Christians) seriously believe Trump is a person of faith.
He can’t get a Nobel Prize without stealing it from someone else or receiving an imitation from another group, but conservative Christians will gleefully raise him up because he pretends to be one of them.
Meanwhile, at least one religious letter made it clear someone like Trump was not on God’s good side. Pope Leo XIV said on Sunday that leaders who have their hands “full of blood” because they wage war—a not-so-subtle nod to the Trump administration—would not be heard by God.
“This is our God: Jesus, king of peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war,” he told tens of thousands of worshippers. “He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.”
Quoting a Bible passage, Leo added: “‘Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood.’”
You don’t have to agree with their theology to appreciate the sentiment. I would hope, though, that Graham’s argument that it’s never too late for Trump to get into Heaven sends a clear signal to everyone else that they should run far, far away from any religion that rewards Trump for eternity after everything he’s done.
(Portions of this article were published earlier)
One would think that all these stupid games about "getting into heaven" or not would have become tiresome by now. To anyone with an objective view of reality, heaven is a kid's game, something to soothe a frightened child when confronted with the inevitability of death. But nope. Adults are still indulging in that game, with Graham and Trump at or near the top of that list.
One wishes they'd grow up. One pretty well knows they won't.
Franky Graham is every bit the bigot and liar that his dad Billy was and so is his sister who prayed for San Francisco and Hollywood to be obliterated by The Big G a la Sodom and Gomorrah.
I remember hearing the Nixon tapes where Billy let his anti-Semitism run unchecked. Proving to the whole world what a fake and fraud he was. It still ticks me off that they let that sleazy pulpit pimp lie in state at the Capitol.