{"id":12976,"date":"2025-12-19T12:41:53","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T12:41:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=12976"},"modified":"2025-12-19T12:41:53","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T12:41:53","slug":"pete-hegseth-joins-rev-franklin-graham-at-first-pentagon-christmas-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=12976","title":{"rendered":"Pete Hegseth joins Rev. Franklin Graham at first Pentagon Christmas service"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Reading Time:<\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

(THE WASHINGTON TIMES) \u2013 Defense Secretary\u00a0Pete Hegseth\u00a0nearly missed Wednesday\u2019s inaugural\u00a0Christmas\u00a0worship service at the\u00a0Pentagon, though he had a good reason.\n<\/p>\n

Jo<\/span>i<\/span>n the community of Monthly Ministry Partners and help IFA provide prayer resources to other intercessors<\/span>.<\/span><\/h4>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr.\u00a0Hegseth\u00a0was at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for the transfer of two Iowa Army National Guard troops and their interpreter, who were killed in Syria while combating the Islamic State.\n<\/p>\n

Mr.\u00a0Hegseth\u00a0joined President Trump and other White House officials in saluting the flag-draped coffins as they were carried off the C-17 transport aircraft.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you tell Americans who\u2019ve lost the greatest gift they could possibly give? There are no words for the grief,\u201d he said on his return to the\u00a0Pentagon. \u201cThe president does a phenomenal job, but you just do the best that you can.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The dead were identified as Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown, Iowa; Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, of Grimes, Iowa, and their civilian interpreter, Ayad Sakat, of Michigan.\n<\/p>\n

Mr.\u00a0Hegseth\u00a0said he was confident that the three men served their nation and were now in a better place.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThey put on the uniform and served on behalf of all of us. They also serve a bigger and greater God, and we know where they are,\u201d he said. \u201cWe pray for them, and we think of them today.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Mr.\u00a0Hegseth\u00a0stood on a stage at the\u00a0Pentagon\u00a0that featured two\u00a0Christmas\u00a0trees and a Menorah.\n<\/p>\n

He instituted monthly voluntary worship services within the\u00a0Pentagon\u00a0soon after he took over the reins at the Department of Defense.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cEach day you are asked to do impossible things, work impossible hours with impossible odds, which mere men and women could not do,\u201d he said during the outdoor\u00a0Christmas\u00a0service. \u201cThat\u2019s why we \u2018bend the knee,\u2019 because we know where our strength comes from, and we need that wisdom and that guidance.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The Rev. Franklin Graham, son of the Rev. Billy Graham, gave an address at the\u00a0Pentagon\u00a0event, during which he asked for prayers for the nation.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI pray that God will forgive the sins of our country when they think of all the things that we do and the mistakes that we make,\u201d Mr. Graham said. \u201cI pray that God will heal our land, and that America will once again return to the God of our Fathers.\n<\/p>\n

He applauded Mr.\u00a0Hegseth\u2019s\u00a0plans to overhaul the military\u2019s chaplain corps by restoring its focus on religious ministry.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so grateful to them because this is the bedrock of our country,\u201d Mr. Graham said. \u201cThere\u2019s not a community \u2026 that doesn\u2019t have a church [or] house of worship.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

How are you praying for our leaders and their faith? Share your prayers and scriptures below.<\/h4>\n

This article was originally published in The Washington Times.<\/em>
\n \n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reading Time: 2 minutes (THE WASHINGTON TIMES) \u2013 Defense Secretary\u00a0Pete Hegseth\u00a0nearly missed Wednesday\u2019s inaugural\u00a0Christmas\u00a0worship service at the\u00a0Pentagon, though he had a good reason. Join the community of Monthly Ministry Partners and help IFA provide prayer resources to other intercessors. \u00a0 Mr.\u00a0Hegseth\u00a0was at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for the transfer of two Iowa Army<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12977,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[813,778,779,2295,2114,3532,2565,3665,1780],"class_list":["post-12976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-prayer","tag-christmas","tag-franklin","tag-graham","tag-hegseth","tag-joins","tag-pentagon","tag-pete","tag-rev","tag-service"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}