Franklin Graham: The Power of the Gospel

For far too long, the world has been haunted by Iran’s bully threats of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.” Republican and Democrat administrations alike have vowed, for decades, that Iran should never possess a nuclear weapon. And finally, an American president took decisive action. President Trump sent out B-2 stealth bombers to drop bunker-busting bombs on Iran’s entrenched nuclear facilities.

As President Trump announced the successful raid, he humbly acknowledged and thanked God: “I want to just thank everybody, in particular, God. I want to just say we love You, God, and we love our great military. Protect them. God bless the Middle East, God bless Israel, and God bless America.”

More than once, I have encouraged President Trump to begin each day on his knees in prayer, humbly asking God for help. Christians should also be praying fervently for Israel, for the United States and their leaders as they face daily challenges and pursue lasting peace in the Middle East.

The world needs peace through strength, but as Christians, we trust that “God is our refuge and strength” (Psalm 46:1). 

Every person from the White House to your house should take seriously Jesus’ warning in Matthew 10:28: “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Thankfully, God sent His only Son into our fallen world, not to condemn the world “but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17). And according to 2 Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

I’ve recently had two opportunities to proclaim this message in Europe, with an evangelistic Festival in London and the European Congress on Evangelism in Berlin.

I told the crowd of 17,000 in London that the Bible is about forgiveness. God wants to forgive you. He sent His Son Jesus Christ to Earth to pay the penalty for our sins. Jesus shed His blood, died on a cross, was buried, and God raised Him to life on the third day. He’s not dead, He’s alive—and He will come into your heart and forgive you if you ask Him and believe on His Name.

We praise God for moving in the hearts of hundreds of people who responded to the invitation to repent of their sins and place their faith in Jesus Christ. Their lives are changed for eternity, and we give God all the glory. That’s the awesome power of the Gospel doing exactly what the Bible says it will do. 

By the grace and mercy of God, we have been entrusted with the answer to the world’s greatest problem—a fatal infection of the heart called sin.

In Berlin, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association convened more than 1,000 evangelists, church planters, pastors and Christian leaders representing some 55 European countries. There’s Holy Spirit-filled power when we preach the cross. When we preach the blood of Christ, there’s Holy-Spirit-filled power. 

The Gospel message, the Good News, that every Christian has been called by God to share boldly and unashamedly is that Jesus came to this Earth to save sinners by taking our sins to the cross. His declaration is true: He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. He is the Way to God, period. And if we don’t repent and turn from our sins and by faith believe on the Name of Jesus Christ, we are condemned. There is no other hope.

The Bible says that the “message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God”(1 Corinthians 1:18). The redeeming work of the cross is what God uses to save the lost. The cross has always been offensive to the world, because it’s soaked with the blood of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

If we don’t talk about sin, how will people know they need a Savior? If we don’t talk about the blood, how can they know there is no forgiveness without Jesus Christ’s perfect, sinless sacrifice? The Apostle Paul says in Romans 10:14-15: “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?”

I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is returning soon. Until then, His church remains under orders from the King of kings and Lord and lords to take the Gospel to the ends of the Earth, to make disciples from every nation, to baptize them in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. These orders are for every believer. They were given 2,000 years ago, and they haven’t been rescinded.

And as we obey God’s com­mands, we go in the authority of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That is why I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For it truly is “the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek” (Romans 1:16). ©2025 BGEA

Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version.