Remarks at an Easter Prayer Service and Dinner

The President. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Thank you very much. It's a real honor, and we've all worked very hard to get here.

And I want to thank you for the tremendous support that we had: just about 88 percent. I'd say that's good. [Laughter] I said, "Why didn't we hit 90?" But it's pretty good. [Laughter] And all friends, and everybody in this room is a very special friend.

I want to pay great homage to the White House. There is no place like it. I've been in many houses. I've seen the nicest of the nice, and there's nothing like it and, really, what it represents, and being here with you in the middle of Holy Week as we remember two of the most monumental events in all of history: the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

I want to thank Pastor Paula White and Reverend Franklin Graham, all of the incredible, respected—highly respected members of clergy and friends—just friends—friends of great faith.

Many thanks as well to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He's been fantastic.

Many faith leaders that are here tonight.

"Angel mom" Patty Morin, who's been through hell. Where is Patty? Patty—stand up, Patty, please. Lost her incredible daughter. And her daughter is looking down on Patty today. This was some day for you, and we appreciate it, Patty. And we're all with you a hundred percent. And you are indeed an angel mom.

"Angel mom" Patricia Morin. Thank you.

The President. Thank you very much.

And a very special thanks to Charles Billingsley for the magnificent performance. Thank you, Charles. That was very good. Good.

Nearly 2,000 years ago, during this sacred week, the living Son of God entered Jerusalem in triumph. Soon after, the Savior of mankind, who brought truth and light into the world, was betrayed, arrested, and tried, beaten and nailed to a cross and crucified. For our sake, He gave up his life.

And as the very great Reverend Billy Graham once said, "God proved his love on the cross. When Christ hung and bled and died, it was God saying to the world, 'I love you.'" Those are beautiful words from a great man, Franklin, right? A great man, Franklin's incredible father.

I went to Yankee Stadium with my father many years ago to watch your father. And you think we have big crowds today? [Laughter] It was some crowd. Never forget it.

So thank you very much. And thank you for being here, Franklin, very much.

Three days—your father would be very proud of you, by the way. Incredible job you've done.

Three days later, Christ's followers found the empty tomb. Jesus had defeated darkness and death and promised new life to all of humankind. And that's what we celebrate each year at Easter as we joyfully proclaim on Sunday, "He is risen."

The death and resurrection of Jesus are the essence of the Christian faith. Whether rich or poor, healthy or sick, young or old, or in times of peace or war, Christians everywhere find solace and hope in the knowledge that Christ died for them and that they could be united with Him in Heaven. And that's what we want. That's what we all want.

The miracles of Holy Week set in motion a transformation in human existence. Countless millions of Americans have been moved by Christ's example to heal the sick, defend their families, lift up their communities, and make our country stronger, better, and greater than ever before.

With God's grace over these past 3 months—and we have had a great 3 months. They say, maybe, the best 3 months ever for a President and an administration. It was really great. We have fantastic people, and they're people that believe like you do. But we've achieved more than most administrations, they've been saying, do in 4 years or even 8 years, just in a short period of time.

And I think there's a whole new spirit in our country, and I think there's a whole new respect for our country. Our country was not respected 5 months ago, 6 months ago. Although, I think November 5 did a lot to get that respect, Franklin. I think it was—I think it was a big day. I hope it was—is going to go down as one of the most important days in the history of our country: November 5.

We're restoring our prosperity, securing our borders. We're rebuilding the U.S. military. We've—I did it once. Now I'm going to do it again and even more so.

We're standing up for a persecuted Christian and so many Christians that have been persecuted all over the world—it's so horrible, what's happened—and defending religious liberty. We had nobody fighting for our Christians in other parts of the world that were being so incredibly destroyed, killed, injured, hurt. But they died. So many died. You wouldn't think that could happen in this time—in this sort of modern time.

I proudly created the White House Faith Office and a brandnew DOJ Task Force To Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias. And there is anti-Christian—you don't hear about that very much, but there is anti-Christian bias.

We're stopping the radical indoctrination in our schools and supporting school choice, and we're going to be moving our Education Department and various educational departments down to the States, where they belong. We spend more money per pupil than any country in the world, and we don't get the answer. We are in the lower—lower tier of 40 nations—the 40 nations that they rate. And I think, when we do this, it's going to make a tremendous difference.

Think of it. We spend more per pupil than any country in the world, and yet it's Denmark and Norway, Sweden. Even China does very well in the top 10. And so we can't blame it on size. We're big, but China is really big. And we're going to be there. We're going to be there soon.

When the States run their education department instead of some bureaucrat in Washington, it's going to make a very big—I think it's going to make a very big difference.

And I also—and this was a very easy one for me. I guess some people still fight it, because I saw on television today a Democrat Congressman fighting so hard. I banned men from women's sports. Seems easy, huh?

And I signed an Executive order making it official and the official policy of the United States that God created two genders: male and female. That's not too difficult.

So there's so much to celebrate this Easter. This is really, I hope, going to be one of the great Easters ever, because we have something going that I don't think this country has seen in 100 years.

And as we gather with family and friends, we'll not forget the true source of our joy and our strength. America has put our trust in God. It will always be "In God We Trust." We will never change that. You know there's a movement to change it? It will not happen. We won't let that happen.

Can you imagine a movement to change that? Robert, you're not happy about that, when you hear that. Look at him. He's getting angrier and angrier. [Laughter] We can get angry too, can't we? Huh?

No, it's never going to change.

And with God's help, we can overcome every challenge, triumph over every evil, and restore the spirit of faith in the United States for generations to come. We have a very simple slogan: Make America great again. And that's exactly what we're doing. We're making America great again. And I like to say—I like to add that I really believe greater than ever before.

So, once again, let me wish you all a very joyful and blessed Easter. And I would now like to ask Pastor Jentezen Franklin, a supporter right from day one—been right—he's been here, I think, Paula, from the first moment that we—we started. And who would have known that it was going to turn out this way?

But the support I've had from Evangelicals, Christians, and—and everybody—people of faith, really—has been incredible. I believe it's been unprecedented, actually, by a lot, not just by a little bit.

So, Pastor Franklin, if you would, please come up. Thank you very much. Thank you for your support. Thank you very much.