Hank Kunneman and Franklin Graham Weigh In On Trump-Jesus-Allah Controversy

President Trump made big waves this week, even by his standards, first for his post mocking “Allah” by writing “Praise by to Allah” on Easter Sunday…that was a doozy…and then later posting the infamous photo of him where some people thinks he looked like Jesus, other people thought he was mocking the Pope, and President Trump explained it all by saying he thought it depicted him as a doctor.

As I said…wild week! I’ve given you my thoughts on it all, I’m not bothered in least.

First of all, I have no problem mocking Islam.

Have you not read your Bibles? Elijah openly mocked the gods of the other nations when he had that fire contest against them, don’t you remember that?

Mocking the other “gods” is nothing new, and it’s certainly not Unbiblical.

In terms of posting an image of Trump allegedly as Jesus, I don’t have a big problem with that either.

Why?

Is it because I think it’s ok for Trump to compare himself to Jesus? No, of course not.

But that’s not what I think he did. First of all, he’s going so fast with these posts and saving the world in the meantime, that he might slip up every once in a while and send one out that had something wrong in it.

But I don’t think in any way his intent was to say he’s equal to Jesus. In fact, let’s once again look at what the Bible tells us…. The Edenic mandate was for us to be God’s “imagers” to the whole world! We ARE supposed to look like him!

From Dr. Michael S. Heiser:

And here’s Franklin Graham’s take:

Billy Graham’s Son Just Took An Unexpected Stance On Trump’s Controversial New Jesus Image

One of the most famous names in American evangelical Christianity just broke his silence on President Trump's latest controversial post — and his verdict is not what anyone expected. Especially not Marjorie Taylor Greene. The firestorm kicked off earlier this week when Trump shared a pair of AI-generated images on Truth Social depicting him alongside — or, some said, AS — Jesus Christ. The first image was deleted after an immediate backlash. But on Wednesday, Trump doubled down with a brand new one: a picture showing Jesus standing behind him with an arm around his shoulder. Which brings us to this morning. Billy Graham's son Franklin Graham — arguably America's most prominent Trump-supporting evangelical — just dropped a lengthy public statement that's already splitting MAGA world right down the middle. Here's exactly what he said:

I had received some questions about President @realDonaldTrump's recent posts, and here are my thoughts:

I do not believe President Trump would knowingly depict himself as Jesus Christ—that would certainly be inappropriate. I’m thankful the President has made it very clear that…

— Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) April 16, 2026

That's a stunning position from one of the most recognizable evangelical voices in the country. According to a Newsweek breakdown of Graham's remarks, his defense of the president went even further. Here's the direct language:

Graham wrote: "I like the fact that this is a picture of Jesus whispering in his ear, or at least His hand on his shoulder, guiding him." He added: "We all need that—we all need to be listening to Jesus."

On the first image — the one that Trump deleted after backlash — Graham's take was even more sympathetic. The Christian Post reported his comments in full:

"I do not believe President Trump would knowingly depict himself as Jesus Christ — that would certainly be inappropriate." "When I looked at the illustration, I didn't jump to the same conclusion as some. There were no spiritual references — no halo, there were no crosses, no angels." "I think this is a lot to do about nothing." "There is so much ill-intended speculation. I think his enemies are always foaming at the mouth at any possible opportunity to make him look bad."

But not every MAGA-world Christian was buying it. Former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene — once one of Trump's most vocal allies — ripped Graham in a blistering X post that started trending within minutes:

Franklin Graham making excuses for Trump posting himself as Jesus is one of the worst things I’ve seen.
Trump posted his blasphemous picture with Satan added above him, the original picture had a soldier.
If you search “pictures of Jesus” most of them show Jesus in white with a… https://t.co/flM4KZ3mku pic.twitter.com/kVUM9Z8LWC

— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) April 16, 2026

Her message was blunt: Graham, of all people, should have been "leading Trump to be a Christian" — not running interference for him. Graham's camp fired back almost immediately. Supporters argued he was doing exactly what a pastor should do: giving the president the benefit of the doubt rather than piling on with his enemies.

@mtgreenee Franklin Graham got it right: stop the outrage and focus on what Trump’s actually doing for Christians & USA. Funny how the same person who once compared Trump to Jesus is now demanding an apology. Pick battles, not headlines. https://t.co/fsE0yIZwue

— VanToot (@VanToot777) April 16, 2026

And that's where the story stands right now. A sitting president shares an AI image of Jesus with his arm around him. One of the most recognizable names in American Christianity defends it. A former Republican congresswoman calls it "one of the worst things I've seen." Supporters say Graham is the only one behaving like a real Christian. Whether you land with Graham or with Greene, one thing is clear: the faith debate inside MAGA world is officially out in the open. And it's only getting louder.