By Michael Gordon, The Charlotte Observer –
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — On the day of his father’s 94th birthday, and the day after the country re-elected President Barack Obama president, evangelist Franklin Graham gave two-pronged advice to the American people:
Politically, it’s time for the two parties to work more closely.
Yet spiritually, Tuesday’s results sent America further down a “path of destruction.”
“Unless we’re willing to repent for our sins, we will stand in his judgment,” Graham said Wednesday, shortly after leaving a birthday party for his father, evangelist Billy Graham, in Montreat, N.C.
“I want to warn America: God is coming around. He will judge sin, and it won’t be pretty.”
In particular, Graham was referring to the re-election of Obama, a man he has accused of “waving his fist before God” by supporting abortion rights and same-sex marriage. Voters in four states Tuesday either passed laws legalizing gay unions or blocked moves to further restrict it.
In May, North Carolina voters passed a so-called marriage amendment, limiting marriage to a man and a woman. Graham does not think it will be the last.
Graham supported Republican Mitt Romney for president. Had the former Massachusetts governor won Tuesday, “the secularization of America would not have stopped, but I think it would have slowed down a little bit,” Graham said. “Many Christians are very concerned about the country’s moral decline, particularly the president’s position on same-sex marriage.”
The threat to the country is clear, he said.
“We have God’s blessing as a nation. Scripture is clear. God blesses countries, but God also brings bedlam when countries turn their back on him. If we don’t obey his laws, He will withdraw his hand of protection.”
In the last weeks of the campaign, Franklin Graham, head of his father’s evangelistic association, bought full-page ads in newspapers in most of the country’s battleground states, including North Carolina. The ads featured an iconic photo of his father, Billy Graham, who told readers to support candidates who support biblical values, including marriage, abortion and the protection of Israel.
The evangelistic association also removed from its website a list of religions it considered cults. The list had included Mormonism, Romney’s church.
Historians accused the younger Graham of using his elderly father for his own political purposes. Conservative Christians also called the removal of the list of cults hypocritical. Many Christians don’t consider Mormons to be members of Christ’s church.
The week before the election, the NAACP and a group of black ministers criticized the advertising campaign. In an open letter to the younger Graham, they suggested that he has been seduced by money and power and has threatened his family’s legacy with his actions.
Earlier this year, Graham questioned Obama’s Christianity and said he did not know if the president is a Muslim or not.
Wednesday, Graham congratulated Obama and called on Americans to come together “to take on the problems that need to be solved. This fighting and being divided isn’t going to work. I hope the president and Congress can work together for all of us.”
Asked if his comments on the country’s moral decline were divisive in nature, Graham said they were a spiritual warning consistent with his call for more political cooperation.
Franklin Graham’s critics also accused him of putting too much emphasis scriptural references to marriage and homosexuality and not on God’s message to help the poor.
Yet as executive director of Samaritan’s Purse, Graham and his staff are involved in emergency efforts in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Graham says the agency has teams in New York and New Jersey, has spent “several million dollars already and will probably spend another $10 million to $15 million” before year’s end.
“You know, there are some people who talk about helping poor and there are those who just do it. I don’t talk about it, I just do it.”
Asked if he would do anything differently in the next campaign, he said it would be “very similar.”
“I think moral standards and biblical standards must be injected into the political system of our country.”
What a freakin idiot! The only positive here is that small minded, ignorance loving, hateful bible thumpers like him are becoming less and less relevant.
What part of “equal protection under the law” is so difficult for him to understand?
Not to try to hijack this thread but I would like some intelligent Dem to answer me this. Where do you draw the line on the definition of “marriage”. Originally, it like it or not, began with religious origin. God defined marriage as a bond between man and woman. Now along comes man that likes the taste of man and woman that likes the taste of woman and says “hey, where are my rights”! So begins the political correctness to honor their “feelings”. I could care less….carpet muncher or bacon ring lover, makes no difference to me. However, where does it stop? So if I want to be legally married to two women, because I’m IN LOVE with both of them, don’t I have that right? WTF is the difference? Is it because you say it can only be between two people and that’s it? Isn’t that hypocritical? If we are going to allow gay marriage on the basis of LOVE and the right to do what you wish without the government telling you what to do, then you can’t limit it to just two people if that’s what someone else wants according to the argument by those that support gay marriage. Now, I’m no bible thumper, I’m a hypocrite thumper. So I ask you this….What are your thoughts? Tell me why it should be any different.
There are laws on the books against polygamy. If the laws are changed to allow a person to have multiple spouses, I wouldn’t be against it. It wouldn’t be interfering in my life, and I don’t even think it would be a harmful environment for children. Look at all the love and attention those children would get from adults and other kids. Frankly, I think it makes the most sense for women to have multiple husbands. Lots of good reasons. I’ll let you think about that.
It is people like this with their religious views and hypocritical beliefs along with his unwillingness to understand and work with other beliefs that caused the Republicans to lose across the board. Who do they think they are telling women what to do with their body’s. Even though I am not necessarily a gay rights supporter I do think it is a fact of life that they are here and all the pulpit pounding in the world won’t change that. We must learn to live together.
Wow, we actually agree on something! The only difference is, I DO support gay rights.
I was a life long Republican for more years than I can remember. I got politically active in college when I worked day and night for Barry Goldwater.
I still feel like a Republican at heart but am no longer active. I never left the GOP, rather they left me when they sold out to the far right Bible beaters.
Franklin is a disgrace to the legacy left by his Dad. A wonderful preacher and mentor who was spiritual advisor to Presidents of every party for decades.
@opinion-I said I didn’t necessarily support gay right. I didn’t say I opposed it. I do believe in live and let live with all things being equal.
Hey republicans, so sorry to burst your bubble. This election has shown that Americans rejected their world of imagination that you so rely on. And since when is war mongering for profit a christian value?