Jack Graham challenges Christians to ‘be on our knees’ following Trump win, calls for ‘grace and humility’

Jack Graham | The Christian Post

Jack Graham, pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church, has challenged Christians who supported former President Donald Trump to be “on our knees” after he was reelected for a second, non-consecutive term to serve as the 47th president of the United States.

“The posture for Christians should be on our knees, the posture should be prayer, and we should pray for unity in the country,” the 74-year-old Plano, Texas-based pastor and former Southern Baptist Convention president told The Christian Post.

“We know the country is deeply divided and half the country is disappointed in the result of the election, and yet now is our opportunity,” he continued. 

“If you supported the election of President Trump, as I do, it is our opportunity to now, with the president and our government, to govern well and to respond with grace.”

Graham, who leads an estimated 50,000-member congregation, stressed that this isn’t a time to “spike the ball,” adding that he’s observed the shift in culture toward overt celebrations of political victories — gestures he said do little to heal the divides. 

“Now, everybody dances in the end zone, spikes the ball, jumps up and down, struts, flips the bat,” he said. “In my era, we tried to win with a little more grace and humility.”

Christians, who are called to be both witnesses and ambassadors of their faith, should respond to this political moment with a similar measure of grace and restraint, the pastor said. He stressed the need for spiritual revival and awakening — his foremost hope for a divided nation.

“Christians need to show a great deal of humility and integrity, and in praying for our leaders and living the Christian life,” he said. “We need to pray for spiritual revival, we need to do what we've always been called to do, which is to proclaim the Gospel, to witness to our neighbors and the nations. We can make a difference by living out our faith and praying for spiritual revival and spiritual awakening in our country. That, in the end, is what I'm most interested in.”

Graham has been vocal about his support for Trump and Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, who defeated the Democratic ticket of Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Nov. 5. 

Ahead of the election, Graham was among Christian leaders who prayed over Trump at the National Faith Advisory Board summit in Georgia, along with televangelist Paula White.

"We love you, Jesus, and we also love our country. And we thank you that you have raised up a man, Donald J. Trump, to be a warrior for the word of God and the wisdom that comes from God," Graham prayed. "Thank you for protecting him, for keeping your hand of blessing upon him, and we pray as you raise him up once again to be our president that you would give him strength and wisdom and joy in the journey."

Ahead of the election, he also expressed his disapproval of fellow Christian leaders who advised against voting in the election. 

He wrote: “If you are a pastor or Christian leader advising people not to vote in this most consequential election, you have lost all credibility not only in the church but before a watching world,” referencing Matthew 5:14-16.

The pastor previously told CP that in his many decades of church leadership, he’s seen the Body of Christ deal with hot-button issues, such as “the question of marriage,” like never before.

“The Bible is clear on male and female; He created them. So, we're not going to be flying rainbow flags in the church that's reaching families for Christ, because it is an opposition to the Bible.”

“We have to deal with it. We have to give people a reason to believe and a reason to know, but people don't know their Bibles,” he said. “That's why I keep getting back to the Bible. People just don't know what the Bible says. So we go by our feelings, or we go by culture, we go by what our friends are saying, or even maybe what our parents said. We're just trying to get people to open their Bibles and to help explain what the Bible says about all these issues.”

The pastor, who hosts “The Bible in a Year with Jack Graham” podcast, also told CP that Christians have a duty to support Israel, rooted in both faith and moral conviction.

"For Christians, we do have a biblical obligation to love Israel," he said, pointing to the deep-rooted connection between Christianity and Judaism. 

"God loves Israel," Graham emphasized. "He chose them according to His Word as His own particular people. He established them as a nation, gave them a land, a life and a legacy for generations. As Christians, we are forever grateful for the heritage that we have in the Old Testament and the Jewish people. […] Our Messiah, our Bible, came from the Jewish people […] so we have this tremendous connection with the Jewish people.”

Graham also clarified the distinction between spiritual and political support of Israel. "The Church, in my understanding of the Bible, does not supplant Israel," he noted, dispelling notions that the Church has replaced Israel in God's plan.

"God still has a plan and a purpose for Israel,” he said. “That’s where we start. If we love someone, we stand with them and support them. It doesn’t mean we support, as Christians, everything political Israel, the government, may do.”

“But [we support] the people and their right to exist. What you have now is this movement of genocide and antisemitism that's rising, not only in the Middle East, but in Europe and America. And so, we must stand against that hatred at our church.”