Evangelist and Samaritan's Purse CEO Franklin Graham cited the Old Testament example of King David earlier this week to push back against Pope Leo XIV's claim that God rejects the prayers of those who wage war.
Speaking during a Tuesday episode of "Piers Morgan Uncensored," Morgan asked Graham to respond to the pontiff, who devoted his Palm Sunday homily to rebuking those who would justify war in the name of Jesus Christ.
"He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them," the pope said, quoting Isaiah 1:15, when the prophet condemned ancient Judah for its violence: "Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood."
"Oh, I don't know," Graham told Morgan in response. "You know, David, King David, he prayed that God would train his hands how to fight his enemies. We know that God does take sides in history, certainly as it relates to biblical history. God gave great favor to David, great wisdom to David, every time he went into battle."
Graham explained there are just wars, singling out World War II as an example, and went on to claim that the Iranian regime has become "a danger to the whole world." He ultimately blamed Iran for the approximately 70,000 Palestinian deaths in Gaza since October 2023, as well as for the thousands of deaths in Lebanon and Yemen.
"I want peace, I don't want war," Graham said. "I don't support war, but I do believe, at times, there is justification when you're fighting evil. And the Islamic Republic of Iran, I believe, is an evil government. And so I hope there is a regime change. I really do."
When Morgan pressed Graham again to respond to the pope, Graham noted he is not Roman Catholic and that he comes "from a different perspective," though he implied he disagrees with the papal assertion that God rejects the prayers of those who wage war.
"Well, he didn't reject David's prayers, that's for sure," he said. "I think that Pope Leo, maybe he's putting that in a modern context. But if you take it from a biblical context, no question God heard the prayers of King David as he went against his enemies. And God gave him wisdom and guided him and directed him in his hands of war."
When Morgan later asked him to comment on the Christian Zionism debate, Graham said the idea that Jesus Christ cannot return until Jews regather in their ancestral homeland is not in the Bible, though he believes the land promises to Abraham in Genesis remain in effect and that the 1948 establishment of Israel was "a fulfillment of prophecy."
"That does not mean that the government of Israel is doing the work of God or anything like that. I don't believe that. It's a secular government. Most of them in government don't believe in God. So it's a secular country, but it's still a fulfillment of prophecy," he said, adding that he believes many in Israel will someday accept Christ.
Avraham Burg, a native Israeli who briefly served as interim president of Israel in 2000 in his capacity as speaker of the Knesset, was another guest on Morgan's show, and suggested Graham was misapplying the story of King David.
"I cannot tolerate shallowness," Burg told Morgan immediately after Graham's remarks. "He spoke about King David. King David, yes, was a warrior, but he explicitly, in the Bible, was not granted to build the temple for the good Lord because, as the prophet [Nathan] said, 'Your hands are full of blood.'"
"Bloody warriors are not entitled to build the house of God, the house of peace," Burg added, in an apparent reference to 1 Chronicles 22:8. "This is the real King David, not all of these Disneyland images of him."
Burg, who was raised in a prominent religious-Zionist family but has been an outspoken critic of political Zionism and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said that while he is not Roman Catholic himself, his heart went out to the pope for his remarks, which he likened to the message Nathan delivered to David. He urged Christians to separate foreign policy from their eschatology.
"Do me a favor," he said. "You want redemption? You want [the] Second Coming of God, of the Messiah? [All that] is good. Keep out of my political scenario. I do not want to die in your Armageddon."
Burg, who also served in the Israel Defense Forces and was among a small group of reserve soldiers and officers who protested the 1982 Lebanon War, added that he has friends and family members "who were killed because of holy wars."
Graham's remarks on Morgan's show echo a prayer he made during an Easter lunch at the White House on Wednesday, when he likened the modern Iranian regime to the ancient Persians in the book of Esther.
Graham compared President Donald Trump to Esther, the Jewish queen who was providentially raised to a position of political prominence to foil Haman's genocidal plot to annihilate the Jews in the Persian Empire.
"Father, you tell us in the book of Esther that the Persians, the Iranians, were wanting to kill every Jew — woman, child — and to do it all in one day. But you raised up Esther to save the Jewish people," Graham said.
"Father, we thank you. Today, the Iranians, the wicked regime of this government, wants to kill every Jew and destroy them with an atomic fire," he continued.
"But you have raised up President Trump. You've raised him up 'for such a time as this.' Father, we pray that you'll give him victory. Father, we pray for our military, that you'd watch over and protect them. We pray for the people of Iran who want freedom, to be set free from these Islamic lunatics," Graham added.
Graham's prayer came hours before Trump delivered an address to the nation providing an update on the war, which has lingered for more than a month, while prompting concerns regarding the influence religion and especially eschatology are playing in the conflict.
Last month, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth drew criticism for invoking the imprecatory psalms against the enemies of the United States during a Pentagon prayer service, asking God to provide U.S. forces with "overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy."
