Franklin Graham on Easter this year: 'Our only hope is God'

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Ukrainian choir comprised of refugees celebrates Easter from Lviv

President of Samaritan's Purse Franklin Graham, also the president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, holds an Easter service live from Lviv, Ukraine.

Just ahead of Easter 2022, the Rev. Franklin Graham, CEO and president of Samaritan's Purse as well as CEO and president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, shared a compelling message for all people of all faiths this season. 

He also spoke about the crisis in Ukraine, a country he's been visiting amid the war, and said prayer and help are needed not just for Ukrainians, but to help turn around the heart of Russia's president, Vladimir Putin.

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In a phone interview with Fox News Digital this week, Graham said, "The problem we have in the world today is a sin problem. People have turned their back on God."

"In Ukraine, there are billboards that say, ‘Our only hope is God.’ We need some billboards like that here in this country." — Franklin Graham to Fox News Digital

He added about America, "The only hope is God. That's the only hope. Only God can turn [our] nation around."

"This Easter," he said, "I pray that people will look to God, pray to him and ask him for his help in all that we do — and that he'll bless the nation."

Franklin Graham's Easter message this year premiered on Fox News Channel on Sunday at noon; it will also be available for streaming on Fox Nation.  (Billy Graham Evangelistic Association)

"But to do that," said the faith leader, "we've got to repent, turn from our sins and believe on the name of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ."

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Graham also said, "A lot of people give lip service [to God] … They would agree, 'Yes, we need to pray,' but then they don't do it."

"You are always going to have people like that," he added. "But there are always some out there who know how to pray — and God hears those prayers."

Despite their enormous challenges right now amid the war, "the people that you meet and talk to [in Ukraine] are strong."

He noted, "We don't have to be 100% praying, but if just the men and women of God would pray, God would use those prayers possibly to turn this nation around … I hope that our nation would wake up and see the problems we're facing and realize that the only hope is God."

He added, "In Ukraine, there are billboards that say, ‘Our only hope is God.’ We need some billboards like that here in this country."

Rev. Franklin Graham (at left) is shown praying with a team of volunteers on the ground in Ukraine as they help people whose lives have been torn apart by the war. Graham spoke to Fox News Digital by phone this week. (Samaritan's Purse)

Graham himself has been on the ground in Ukraine, which was attacked by Russian forces beginning on Feb. 24, 2022. Samaritan's Purse has been operating six medical sites across Ukraine — one emergency field hospital and five clinics — noted Graham. 

"This may be one of the hardest countries that we have worked in," he said of the crisis. "It's a big country, the size of Texas. And transportation [alone] is an issue. They have trains, and trucks and so forth, but fuel is a big issue. You can't always get fuel" there.

"We give the food to these churches, and they distribute it to their congregations and to their communities."

Teams of doctors and nurses with Samaritan's Purse have treated over 5,000 patients so far, the organization noted. The group has also airlifted more than 232 tons of emergency relief supplies to Ukraine on 8 separate airlift missions.

Graham noted that his humanitarian group has been working with a network of over 3,200 churches to share medicine and food with the Ukrainian people. So far, Samaritan's Purse has provided more than 165 tons of food to churches in Ukraine and Moldova that are helping people in need, his organization reported. 

Franklin Graham (at right) is shown in April 2022 at one of the medical clinics his organization has set up in Ukraine amid the Russia-Ukraine war.  (Samaritan's Purse)

"We give the food to these churches, and they distribute it to their congregations and to their communities."

He said the eastern part of Ukraine is the most desperate right now. "That's where there's famine and great food shortage," he said of the area most impacted by the war.

Yet despite their enormous challenges amid the war, "the people that you meet and talk to [in Ukraine] are strong," said Rev. Graham. 

A Ukrainian woman is shown here being comforted by a volunteer on the ground in Ukraine in April 2022.  (Samaritan's Purse)

"There's no question there's despair and there's fear. But they are determined they are going to fight for their land. And I just admire the [Ukrainian] people for the stand that they're taking," he added. 

"And their faith in God. It's obvious that these people have a strong faith in God."

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He noted there are over 5,000 churches in the country — "we work with over 3,200 of them" — and the churches in Ukraine are "full on Sunday. They're packed. Catholic, Orthodox, evangelical, Pentecostal, Baptist — they're packed. The people's faith is strong in Ukraine right now. Very strong."

Members of a Ukrainian refugee family, displaced from their home after the Russian forces' attack on their country, are shown during an emotional reunion at the Polish border.  (Samaritan's Purse)

This is such "a tribute" to their faith, he said. 

"And I admire them, and we want to do all that we can to help them. It's a mess. It's going to get worse, I'm afraid. And what President Putin's end game is, I don't know. But I think we just need to pray that God can change his heart," he added. 

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"And I would recommend for people to pray for Putin. I don't want to be misunderstood [on this point]. I want people to pray that God would change his heart. And turn his heart around, and that he would see the sin that he's involved in. That he would repent and turn from it." 

He added, "And if we pray, that could happen."

Just ahead of Easter, Rev. Franklin Graham urges "people to pray that God would change his heart. And turn his heart around," he said of Putin. (Getty Images)

Rev. Graham also noted the great danger Ukrainians face in their country — dangers that cannot be underestimated. 

In a vivid example, Graham revealed that "four of the [Ukrainian] people who had been distributing food through Samaritan's Purse were killed recently. These people trying to help their own citizens, their own people," he said.

"People are living in the shadow of death" there, he said. Still — they have the sense that God is with them. 

At a facility in Ukraine staffed by volunteers with Samaritan's Purse, a Ukrainian family awaits medical attention and assistance.  (Samaritan's Purse)

Rev. Graham has written to Vladimir Putin and to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asking for a ceasefire from April 15-24. 

That period of time encompasses the 10 days of Holy Easter observances around the world, he noted.

Graham added to Fox News Digital, "We [all] need to repent and turn from our sins. And maybe God will hear us from heaven."

"Pray for yourself. Just examine your heart. And if something's not right in your life, confess it to God and turn from it."

We have a tendency to look at other people and what they are doing, he said — "but we need to look at ourselves."

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He stressed, "God hears our prayers. And I believe that."

To see a preview of Franklin Graham's Easter Sunday sermon from Ukraine, click here.