pictured: Franklin Graham at the Mellon Auditorium on August 27, 2020, in Washington, D.C. Graham has criticized a new ad from an evangelical group backing Kamala Harris. Drew Angerer/Getty Images
WATCH! DANIEL WHYTE III, PRESIDENT OF GOSPEL LIGHT EVANGELISTIC SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL, TELLS FRANKLIN GRAHAM THANK YOU FOR HONORING HIM BY INVITING HIM TO YOUR FATHER DR. BILLY GRAHAM’S HOMEGOING/FUNERAL. AS YOU KNOW, IT WAS THE MOST GLORIOUS HOMEGOING/FUNERAL, PROBABLY IN NEARLY 2000 YEARS, FOR THE GREATEST PREACHER OF THE GOSPEL SINCE THE APOSTLE PAUL. ALSO, WHYTE SAYS IT WAS HIS HONOR AND JOY TO SPEARHEAD AND LEAD THE PUSH TO HONOR THIS GREAT PROPHET AND EVANGELIST DR. BILLY GRAHAM BY CALLING FOR A MONUMENT SIMILAR TO DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR’S SO THAT FUTURE GENERATIONS WILL KNOW THAT THESE TWO GREAT PROPHETS WERE CALLED BY GOD, YES, WITH ALL OF THEIR FAULTS TO TRY TO SAVE THIS COUNTRY AND THE WORLD. WITH THAT SAID, WHYTE SAYS HE HAS REBUKED YOU AND WARNED YOU FOR YEARS NOW, VERBALLY AND IN WRITING, TO STAY OUT OF POLITICS AND “GIVE YOURSELF CONTINUALLY TO PRAYER” AND THE PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL, AND IF YOU WISH TO VOTE PRIVATELY, DO SO.
NOW, LOOK AT THE FINE MESS YOU HAVE GOTTEN YOURSELF IN, GOD IN, JESUS CHRIST IN, YOUR NIECE IN, YOUR FAMILY IN, THE NAME OF BILLY GRAHAM IN, THE BILLY GRAHAM EVANGELISTIC ASSOCIATION IN, SAMARITAN’S PURSE IN, EVANGELICALS IN, AND MILLIONS-OF-LOST-SOULS-AT-STAKE IN. WHYTE REMINDS FRANKLIN GRAHAM, AS HE KNOWS HIS FATHER BILLY GRAHAM AT THE END OF HIS LIFE “REGRETTED HE HAD BECOME TOO INVOLVED IN POLITICS,” AND BILLY GRAHAM ALSO STATED HE HAD BEEN “CHASTENED BY [THE LORD] BY BEING TOO CLOSE TO CANDIDATE AND PRESIDENT NIXON.” WHYTE CALLS ON FRANKLIN GRAHAM TO PUBLICLY ANNOUNCE THAT HE IS NOT PROMOTING ANY CANDIDATE EVER AGAIN, THAT RATHER HE WILL “GIVE HIMSELF CONTINUALLY TO PRAYER” AND THE “PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL” — AND HE WILL PRIVATELY VOTE AS GOD LEADS HIM AS A REGULAR CITIZEN JUST LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE. THE DEVIL, THE WORLD, THE MEDIA, AND THE FLESH ON THE EVANGELICAL SIDE AND THE PROGRESSIVE SIDE ARE HAVING A FIELD DAY WITH THIS FOOLISHNESS AND SHOW OF PRIDE. MAY GOD HAVE MERCY UPON THE SO-CALLED CONSERVATIVE EVANGELICALS AND THE SO-CALLED PROGRESSIVE EVANGELICALS FOR THEY ARE THE ONES WHO HAVE MADE A MESS IN THIS COUNTRY BY NOT OBEYING THE GREAT COMMANDMENT OF THE LORD, THE GREAT COMMISSION OF THE LORD, AND THE GREAT PRINCIPLE OF PRAYER OF THE LORD. THEN, MAY GOD HEAL AND BLESS AMERICA.
Reverend Franklin Graham has criticized a group called Evangelicals for Harris for using footage of his late father, Reverend Billy Graham, in an ad supporting Vice President Kamala Harris.
Graham, who is president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and aid organization Samaritan’s Purse, took aim at the faith group in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday.
The new group is one of several organizations that have been formed to support Harris’ presidential bid. These include groups like Christians for Kamala, Republicans for Harris, and Haley Voters for Harris – formerly Haley Voters for Biden.
Graham shared a screenshot of Evangelicals for Harris’ ad from MSNBC‘s Morning Joe on X on Wednesday and said his father appreciated the values of former President Donald Trump.
“The liberals are using anything and everything they can to promote candidate Harris. They even developed a political ad trying to use my father @BillyGraham’s image,” Graham said. “They are trying to mislead people. Maybe they don’t know that my father appreciated the conservative values and policies of President @realDonaldTrump in 2016, and if he were alive today, my father’s views and opinions would not have changed.”
Last month, Graham thanked God for “saving the life of President Donald J. Trump” following an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania.
Newsweek has reached out to Evangelicals for Harris and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association for comment via their websites.
Evangelicals for Harris’ ad features Billy Graham, a famous evangelical leader who was consulted by several former presidents, and who passed away in 2018.
The beginning of the ad shows footage of Graham saying: “Have you been to the cross and said, ‘Lord, I have sinned. I’m sorry for my sin. I’m willing to change my way of life.”
The video then cuts to a clip of Republican pollster Frank Luntz asking former President Trump if he had “ever asked God for forgiveness?”
In a now well-known response, Trump said: “That’s a tough question. I’m not sure I have.”
“I just I don’t bring God into that picture. I don’t,” Trump ads in another clip.
The granddaughter of the late evangelist Billy Graham said she’s backing Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race against Donald Trump.
Here's the full video of Jerusha Duford (Billy Graham's granddaughter) from the "Evangelicals For Harris" Zoom call.@JonBrownDC covered the message well (link in replies) but I figure many of you want to watch it for yourselves too pic.twitter.com/kPMX3qvjCE
— Woke Preacher Clips (@WokePreacherTV) August 16, 2024
Jerushah Duford, whose mother, Virginia Graham Tchividjian, is Graham’s eldest daughter, announced her support for the Democrat in a video call to an “Evangelicals for Harris” group on Wednesday. She suggested that Christians who continue to support Trump are putting people off from following the teachings of Jesus.
“I was thinking this morning that if you told me 10 years ago that I would be taking an active role in politics, I’d have laughed,” Duford said in her recorded video. “But then I had to stop and realize this is so much more than politics.
“In 2016, when a man bragged about assaulting women, various leaders of my faith then propped up this man as a poster boy for godly manhood and leadership. This broke my heart as I have watched — quite frankly, for the last eight years — people who were curious about Jesus and his teachings [have] done a 180 and walked in the other direction from my faith.”
The Context
In 2016, evangelical support for Trump and running mate Mike Pence was crucial for their election victory.
Trump continues to be considered a figurehead among religious factions of his MAGA base, including Christian nationalists.
The Evangelicals for Harris group, formerly known as Evangelicals for Biden, is now trying to win over the demographic to help her win the 2024 election.
In April, a Pew Research poll showed that 81 percent of white evangelicals would support Trump in November’s election.
The Evangelicals for Harris group held a Zoom call on Wednesday to show their support for the vice president’s White House bid. The event was titled “A Zoom Call for All Christians and People of Good Will.”
In her video message, Duford made reference to Bible verse Isaiah 1:30, in which Isaiah attacks Israelites in Jerusalem and Judah for their unfaithfulness and disobedience to God, describing them as like an “oak whose leaf withers, and like a garden without water,” the Christian Post reported.
“First, people professing the Lord made excuses for [Trump’s] lack of kindness, then for the name-calling. Soon it was making excuses for assault. Then it became making excuses for January 6, and now making excuses for convicted assault and 34 felonies,” Duford said. “The oak leaves don’t wither overnight. And I’m terrified to think of how far this turning our head the other way and making excuses will take our country—but more importantly, our witness to the world.”
This is not the first time Duford has urged Christians and church leaders to disavow Trump.
In a 2020 opinion piece for USA Today, she attacked the former president’s behavior as being “antithetical to the Jesus we serve,” while suggesting that Trump has helped evangelicalism become synonymous with “hypocrisy and disingenuousness.”
“My faith and my church have become a laughing stock, and any attempt by its members to defend the actions of Trump at this time sound hollow and insincere,” Duford wrote.
“One of my grandfather’s favorite verses was Micah 6:8, in which we are told that the Lord requires of his people to do justly, to love kindness and mercy, and to walk humbly,” she said. “These are the attributes of our faith we should present to the world. We can no longer allow our church leaders to represent our faith so erroneously.”
Views
Franklin Graham, an evangelical leader and the son of Billy Graham, condemned the Evangelicals for Harris group for using footage of his father in an attack ad.
“The liberals are using anything and everything they can to promote candidate Harris. They even developed a political ad trying to use my father Billy Graham’s image,” Franklin Graham posted on X, formerly Twitter.
“They are trying to mislead people. Maybe they don’t know that my father appreciated the conservative values and policies of President Trump in 2016, and if he were alive today, my father’s views and opinions would not have changed.”
Franklin Graham, a devout Trump supporter, is Duford’s uncle and one of the most prominent Christian figures in the country.
Responding to Duford’s endorsement of Harris, the @VanwormerYvonne account posted on X, formerly Twitter: “Have to say, this is so refreshing to read and hear about the Evangelicals For Harris.
“The last 7 years of seeing them and Christians support a lying, cheating, hateful person made me lose my faith. They were hijacked just like ‘patriotism’ and the flag.”
Rev. Franklin Graham calls out ‘Evangelicals for Harris’ for ‘trying to mislead people’ using his father in ad
‘The liberals are using anything and everything they can to promote candidate Harris,’ the evangelist warned
Christian evangelist Franklin Graham blasted the “Evangelicals for Harris” organization for using footage of his late father in an attack ad against former President Trump.
Graham is president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse, which were founded by his father, the late Billy Graham. Billy Graham was a world-famous evangelist and considered to be an icon of American culture. A statue of him was installed at the U.S. Capitol in May.
Evangelicals for Harris, formerly Evangelicals for Biden, is a project of Faith Voters, a 501(c)4 organization.
On Wednesday, the group held a Zoom conference hosted by “reparations activist” Ekemini Uwan, who has argued that “Whiteness is wicked” and the police as an institution “needs to be destroyed and rebuilt. Policing was founded on the re-enslavement of Black people.”
A new attack ad from the pro-Harris organization against Trump juxtaposes footage of the late Billy Graham talking about confessing one’s sins with an old interview of Trump saying he wasn’t sure at the time whether he had ever asked God for forgiveness.
Franklin Graham responded on X by sharing a screenshot of the ad on the official Morning Joe account and condemning Evangelicals for Harris using his father’s image. He argued that if his father were alive, he would support Trump.
The liberals are using anything and everything they can to promote candidate Harris. They even developed a political ad trying to use my father @BillyGraham’s image. They are trying to mislead people. Maybe they don’t know that my father appreciated the conservative values and… pic.twitter.com/LZe3SEm9Al
— Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) August 14, 2024
“The liberals are using anything and everything they can to promote candidate Harris. They even developed a political ad trying to use my father @BillyGraham’s image,” he wrote in a social media post. “They are trying to mislead people. Maybe they don’t know that my father appreciated the conservative values and policies of President @realDonaldTrump in 2016, and if he were alive today, my father’s views and opinions would not have changed.”
The official Evangelicals for Harris account replied, “Praying for you” along with a heart emoji beneath his post and later said in a retweet that Graham has “forsaken the gospel.”
The issue, Franklin, is that in your worship of Trump you have forsaken the Gospel.
We are voting for Harris but we only worship Jesus. Remember the calling to which you were called. You know the Lord’s grace is always ready to receive you. https://t.co/MpPz5OmKCg
— Evangelicals For America (@Evangels4Amer) August 15, 2024
“The issue, Franklin, is that in your worship of Trump you have forsaken the Gospel,” the group’s account posted. “We are voting for Harris but we only worship Jesus. Remember the calling to which you were called. You know the Lord’s grace is always ready to receive you.”
At the Republican National Convention in July, the reverend said of Trump, “I am grateful and thankful for what he did as the 45th President of the United States. And I know that as the 47th President he will keep his word to the American people to Make America Great Once Again.”
He led a prayer thanking God for saving Trump’s life, after the president narrowly avoided an assassination attempt during a rally in Pennsylvania. Graham went on to implore God, “And we ask that if it be thy will that you would Make America Great Again.”
IF YOU WERE TO DIE TODAY, WHERE WOULD YOU GO: HEAVEN OR HELL? IF YOU’RE NOT SURE, “BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AND THOU SHALT BE SAVED” FOR JESUS CHRIST SAID THE MOST IMPORTANT WORDS EVER SPOKEN IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD WHEN HE SAID, “FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD, THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH, BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE.” READ FURTHER RIGHT HERE:
THE BIG QUESTION
GOSPEL LIGHT MINUTE X #447 WITH DANIEL WHYTE III
This is the “Chief of sinners,” Daniel Whyte III, president of Gospel Light Society International, with the Gospel Light Minute X Podcast #447 titled, “The Big Question” I’m here to remind you of what the Bible says, that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” like you and me.
“HAVE YOU BEEN BORN AGAIN?”
The question is not “Have you joined a church?” or “Are you trying to do your best?” or “Do you have religion?” but “Are you twice-born?” Jesus Christ said in John 3:3, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God”.
We enter the physical world by birth. Spiritual life likewise is entered with a birth. We become members of a human family by birth; we become members of the family of God by birth, by being “born again.” There is no other way to get into the human family except by birth, and there is no other way to get into God’s family except by the new birth. Neither education, nor cultivation, nor reformation, nor “turning over a new leaf,” will accomplish this. What is needed is not a new “leaf” but a new “life”! “Ye must be born again” (John 3:7).
A New Nature Needed
By physical birth we become partakers of human nature; by being born again we become “partakers of the divine nature”. A Christian is the product of a divine “begetting”. The second birth is not an improvement of the old nature; it is the imparting of an entirely new nature. The old nature is hopelessly corrupt and incapable of ever being made fit for His presence. The new birth requires a creative act of the Holy Spirit. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature”.
Not “Trying” But “Trusting”
“Trying to follow Christ” is not Christianity. Christianity is not imitation of Christ, it is the indwelling of Christ. Christianity is not trying to do anything. It is trusting Christ Who has done it all! He has “finished the work” and there is nothing left to do but simply to receive and trust Him. He shed His precious blood on the cross and the work is all done once and forever! Cease trying and begin trusting! Believers will progressively become more and more like Christ, but by His power, not their own.
What Must I Do To Be Saved?
Simply “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ”. The Bible says in 1 John 5:1, “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God”. The Bible states in John 1:12,13, “As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God”.
You are born again, you become a Christian by trusting a Person—receiving a Person. The very moment you do this, the Lord Jesus Christ comes in and life begins!
What Is Meant By “Believe”?
To “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” means more than simply believing the historic facts concerning Him. Intellectual belief about Christ is not sufficient. The belief that brings salvation must be “with the heart,” that is, with the whole being. This belief also includes repentance: “Repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ”. The Bible states in Acts 17:30, “God … now commandeth all men every where to repent”.
The faith which saves, then, includes the necessity to repent, and to receive Christ as Saviour and Lord, to rest upon Him alone for salvation. It means to trust Him so utterly and completely that, if He should fail, there would be no hope at all!
May I Know That I Am Born Again?
This is an important question. We know that we are born again by the testimony of God’s Word. God says in John 5:24, “He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life”. Have you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ as explained by God’s Word? If so, then you are saved, you are “born again,” you have “passed from death unto life.” God says so! Take God at His Word, and go on your way rejoicing!
One Final Word
You may “belong to a church,” you may be “trying to do the best you can,” you may be “striving to live right.” Your outward life may be the model of moral correctness, and you may be looked up to, honored, revered, and respected. Yet, if you have not been “born again” you are just as lost as if you had never heard of Christ. Yes, you may teach in the Sunday school, read the Bible, sing, shout, “feel happy,” and all the rest—but if you have never been “born again” you are still in your sins and a stranger to the Lord Jesus Christ!.
If you want to be saved from the wrath to come and from an eternity in Hell, and if you believe that Jesus Christ suffered, bled, and died on the cross for your sins, was buried, and rose again from the dead and you are willing to trust Jesus Christ with all of your heart so you can go to Heaven, please pray with me what is called the sinner’s prayer: Holy Father God, I acknowledge that I am a sinner and I admit that I have sinned against You and that I have broken Your Ten Commandments. I have lied before. I have stolen things before. I have lusted after people and things before. I have dishonored and disobeyed my parents. I have taken Your holy Name in vain. For Jesus Christ’s sake, please have mercy and grace upon my soul and forgive me of all of my sins, my failures, and my faults. As I now believe in Your Holy Son the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that He suffered, bled, and died on the cross for my sins, was buried and rose again. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and save my soul and change my life. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit and help me to repent of my sins past. Help me to turn from my old, evil life and follow You in the new life. For it is in Your Name I pray. Amen.
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