A crowd of 5600 was reported for evangelist Franklin Graham’s noon hour prayer rally at the King Street entrance to the Wisconsin State Capitol building.
Graham is touring the capitols of all 50 states with an appeal for Christians to invest more heavily in the political process by praying for the country and actually running for office on the local, state, and national levels.
Graham did not endorse any political candidates. He said he did not trust in the Democratic or Republican parties to turn the country around. Rather, he said at least three times, “The most important thing we can do today is pray for America.”
Graham said that just as the Old Testament leader Nehemiah rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, Christians need to rebuild the traditional structures of American society. “Our walls are broken down,” he said.
Graham led the large crowd in three prayers of confession and then a prayer for state political leaders and law enforcment. He followed that with a call to faith, urging anyone who had prayed the prayer of salvation to text a number on their phones so someone could follow up with them.
Then Graham challenged the Christians in the audience to not only pray for politicians but to actually consider getting involved in politics. He noted the Old Testament Daniel who served as Prime Minister for seven kings in two different empires.
“Everyone of you could run for something,” he said. “This may be the last opportunity we have,” suggesting that darker days are ahead if Christians don’t help turn the country around.
He said voting in the next election was critical for Christians. “Your vote matters, don’t stay home” he said. “I’m not telling you who to vote for; God will tell you who to vote for.”
Speaking with reporters afterwards, Graham said, “Our country is in trouble. We have become a Godless nation.” He said that pastors should be getting involved in the issues of their community and running for office, suggesting that school board elections could be as important as presidential elections.
He said that he has resigned from the Republican Party out of frustration and that the nation is in trouble. “God has withdrawn his hand of blessing from this country it seems,” he said.
In response to a question from madisonchristians.com about how well the state capitol tour has gone now, that it’s a little over halfway done, he said, “Much better than I ever dreamed.” Graham said their original permit for the event put expected turnout at 500. “I thought if 500 people showed up, we’d have a great prayer meeting,” he said. More than ten times that number came, from all over the state of Wisconsin.
We also pointed out that the Rev. Jerry Falwell did a similar state capitol tour in 1980. “Jerry Falwell did it for the Republican Party,” he said. “I’m not doing it for any political party. I’m doing this for God.”
WisconsinEye has video of both the Graham rally and the following news conference.
Wisconsin State Journal news coverage
Wisconsin State Journal photos