As cultural confusion intensifies and spiritual darkness appears to be increasing across society, the Rev. Franklin Graham is issuing a major warning to the church: many believers are engaged in a spiritual battle they don’t even realize they’re fighting.
Speaking during an interview with CBN News, Graham said one of the greatest weaknesses in today’s church is the lack of teaching on spiritual warfare. Without a firm foundation in Scripture, he warned, Christians become vulnerable to deception and the enemy’s attacks.
“If you don’t know God’s Word, you’re not going to recognize spiritual warfare,” Graham said. “You’ll just succumb to the attacks of the devil and not even know…be aware that you’ve been attacked.”
Drawing from the biblical reality described in Ephesians 6, Graham emphasized that the Christian life is not merely a series of moral choices but an ongoing spiritual conflict. He said Satan’s objective is not simply to tempt believers into isolated sins but to neutralize their faith altogether.
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“The devil is wanting to trap every believer, every Christian,” Graham said. “If he can just get them into apathy where they just kind of don’t care, then he wins.”
According to Graham, biblical illiteracy leaves Christians exposed to the enemy’s schemes. He described Satan as “a deceiver,” warning that believers are deceived every day and often fail to recognize the source of the attacks they experience.
“We have to know the Word of God. We have to study,” he said. “The devil is a deceiver.”
Rather than only attacking individuals, Graham believes the enemy actively works to sow division within the body of Christ itself. He pointed to the public criticism directed toward Erika Kirk following the death of her husband as an example of spiritual warfare manifesting through personal attacks.
“She is a nice, sweet young lady who’s grieving for the loss of her husband,” Graham said. “She’s attacked all the time—even by Christians. It just makes my blood boil.”
He continued by identifying the deeper spiritual force behind such behavior.
“All this is coming from the devil,” Graham said. “He wants us to be at each other’s throats. He wants us to not only attack one another, but he wants us to fail and he wants us to fall.”
Later in the interview, Graham addressed the widely discussed letter he wrote to Donald Trump last October after hearing the president express uncertainty about whether he was “heaven-bound.” Graham explained that he normally keeps personal correspondence with the president private but chose to discuss the letter after Trump made it public.
His purpose, he said, was simple: to clearly communicate the gospel.
“We’re not…you can’t save yourself. I can’t save myself,” Graham explained. “We’re all sinners, and we’ve failed, and our sins separate us from God.”
He went on to summarize the heart of the Christian message, declaring that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for humanity’s sins and rise again so that those who repent and believe in Him can have confidence in their eternal salvation.
Graham’s message serves as a reminder that the church cannot afford to ignore what Scripture repeatedly teaches—that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood” (Eph. 6:12).
In a generation filled with distraction, compromise and growing spiritual confusion, the challenge is clear: Christians must return to God’s Word, recognize the reality of spiritual warfare and stand firm in the victory Christ has already won. The enemy’s greatest weapon is often deception—but the believer’s greatest defense has always been the truth of God’s Word.
Abby Trivett is a writer and editor for Charisma Media and has a passion for sharing the gospel through the written word. She holds two degrees from Regent University, a B.A. in Communication with a concentration in Journalism and a Master of Arts in Journalism. She is the author of the newly released book, The Power of Suddenly: Discover How God Can Change Everything in a Moment. For interviews and media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
