President Joe Biden's omission of the term "God" in his presidential declaration marking Thursday's National Day of Prayer was criticized by prominent evangelist Franklin Graham on Facebook on Thursday.
The 68-year-old son of iconic evangelist Billy Graham, who called on Congress and President Harry Truman to deliver the first National Day of Prayer declaration in 1952, said, "I was deeply saddened to read that President Biden is the first president to omit the word 'God' in his proclamation."
Graham, who leads the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, said it's hard to imagine America has come this far and cautioned that "omitting God is a dangerous thing."
"Omitting God is a dangerous thing...Prayers to anyone or anything else are to no avail, "he stressed, while again inviting everyone to join him in prayer to Almighty God on behalf of the nation.
According to the Christian Post, other prominent Christian conservatives were also disturbed by Biden's lack of any reference to God.
"[W]e need to call on God, not just some generic gods or some power in the air," Graham said on "Fox News Primetime" Thursday. He emphasized that prayer should be directed at "God, Himself, the Creator who made and created this earth and who sent his son Jesus Christ from heaven to this earth, to save mankind from sin by dying on a cross and God raised him to life."
"There's no one else to pray to except to God," said the Reverend.
Graham thinks that Biden did not write the proclamation, but that it was written by a White House employee who may not have "even ran it by him."
The televangelist granted the president the benefit of the doubt and said, "I don't think Joe Biden would have approved that one."
Host Pete Hegseth then questioned whether Graham had a message to "people who doubt the power of prayer."
Graham responded: "God answers prayer. He hears prayer. He listens to prayer. But we've got to approach God in the right way. We have to confess our sins and ask for His forgiveness and ... not go to Him with ... dirty hands, so to speak, but with a clean heart."
As the TV host mentioned, "the tradition of a National Day of Prayer dates to 1775, when the Second Continental Congress set aside a day for Americans to pray to be ever under the care and protection of a kind providence as they began the struggle for independence."
Since 1952, presidents have released proclamations commemorating the National Day of Prayer. Since 1988, the first Thursday in May has been designated as National Day of Prayer.
In comparison to Biden's proclamation, then-President Donald Trump's National Day of Prayer proclamation last year had 11 references to God. In 2016, former President Barack Obama's final proclamation of the National Day of Prayer contained two references to God.
What the Reverend Has Been Up To
Graham has spoken out about actions taken by the Biden administration or the Democratic-controlled 117th United States Congress before, including on Thursday.
Last month, he took to Facebook to condemn the Biden administration's State Department for allowing LGBT pride flags to fly alongside the American flag in U.S. embassies across the world.
Graham accused the Democratic majority of "shaking a fist in the face of the Creator" by introducing laws against the usage of "gendered" words such as "mother and father" as the 117th Congress started in January.
Graham is one of the conservative religious figures who have spoken with Trump informally during the last four years.
Following the protests in the US Capitol, he likened Republicans who voted to impeach the former president to Judas. Graham cautioned before the election that if Biden won, "attacks on Christian businesses" will increase.
