The apostate church is rallying around the disgraced Franklin Graham. Now is not the time to stand with him.

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"Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. "Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. - Matthew 6:1-4 (ESV)

Ministry Launches 'I'm With Franklin!' Petition to Defend Graham Against Left-Wing Attack -- Charisma News

The very first commandment God has for His followers is that they are to have no other god before Him. This sin is known as the sin of idolatry. Sometimes we view this as something obvious such as the story of the golden calf but idolatry is literally putting anything before God. Some people place their job or success before God. That is their idol. Some place the pursuit of fame or money in front of God and that is their idol. Does that mean we should not care about our career or income? Of course not. The problem is when we place it BEFORE God. The trickier idolatrous lifestyles are when we place something we dress up as pious to excuse our own idolatry. We confer righteousness where it does not belong so as to cover up our idol worship. We see this for example with many pastors who fall from grace. The stories of abuse from Bill Hybels or the arrogance of people like Tullian Tchividjian come to mind. People whose positions of power over the flock should have led to greater humility but in the end they worshipped the power. The more salient example in these end days is the idolatry of politics. Christo-politics is in fact the dominant form of idolatry today in America. Dominionism is the cornerstone of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) heresies. It is widely taught or even implied throughout the vast majority of churches, even those that try to fend off incursion from the teachings of the NAR.

There is no question that it is unbiblical. The bible makes it quite clear that we have but one citizenship and that is in heaven. God does not permit dual citizenship. Our God is a jealous God - see the first commandment for reference. The bible actually says we are to be pilgrims and sojourners on our journey through this land. Exiles on our pilgrimage back to our heavenly home. While there are many who merely dabble in this idolatry there are those who lead the cause. Many who falsely follow the heretical seven mountains mandate theology that says the church must conquer seven cultural mountains to facilitate the second coming of Christ. People like James Dobson and Stephen Strang come to mind. One of their unabashed leaders however is Franklin Graham. Living off of his family name and humanitarian work, Graham's real passion is his idolatrous love for anything the Republican Party tells him to love. In 2012 Christians had a near impossible choice for president. Either the uber-liberal Christian in Barack Obama or the member of a Satanic cult in Mitt Romney. Make no mistake about it; that is what Mormonism is. The Billy Graham Association even had Mormonism listed as a cult. Well that is until Mitt Romney ran for president. Then they promptly removed it from the list. When I say "they" I mean Franklin of course since he is the CEO of the association. With that cult business sanitized, they were free to endorse Romney for president and the idolatrous NAR church followed suit. As they would in 2016 when Donald Trump became the new idol and again in 2020.

That would have been problematic enough but what happened after this past election shone a spotlight on church idolatry. Donald Trump lost the election. Nearly every false prophet from the apostate church claimed God told them he would win but nevertheless he lost by over seven million votes. It was not even close. Donald Trump however claimed the election was stolen. He offered zero proof of such and was laughed out of court in over 60 lawsuits that followed. He lost in states run by some of his most ardent followers. Some of the judges that ruled against him were appointed by Trump! Even his own personal Attorney General said there was no widespread fraud. His own administration said this was the most secure election in the history of the United States. Undeterred, Trump went on a viral rampage ginning up his followers into a frenzy. That frenzy culminated on the now infamous insurrection on the Capital on January 6, 2021.

It was at this insurrection that one police officer lost their life. Another lost an eye. Another had spinal cord injuries. Others have committed suicide since the event. They were beaten with American flags while the mob screamed to hang Mike Pence and hunt down Nancy Pelosi. Do you know one of the first things they did however once they reached the well of the Senate? They stopped and prayed. They prayed to Jesus Christ to thank Him for the victories they had enjoyed thus far. These blood-stained animals raised their hands in worship to a God they clearly do not understand nor follow. Yet let us not lose sight of the fact that they were led to this point. They were taught to this point that their cause was righteous. While most of that falls at the feet of Donald Trump he did have help. One of his most ardent supporters who helped push the big lie that led to the tragedy of January 6, 2021 was indeed Franklin Graham. As such, one group has called for the dismissal of Graham from the two institutions he presides over. The above link is the latest attempt from Charisma News to defend him. Let us reason once more beloved:

"D. James Kennedy Ministries has released a statement in support of Franklin Graham in light of recent attacks against his moral character. The statement reads, Franklin Graham is an international evangelist and a renowned humanitarian whose organization, Samaritan's Purse, delivers aid across the world to people in need. He is also an outspoken defender of Biblical moral values at a time when the left is determined to purge competing voices from American public life. That is why D. James Kennedy Ministries is collecting signatures on our "I'm With Franklin!" open letter for delivery to our friends at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan's Purse. We want him, as well as the boards of BGEA and Samaritan's Purse to know that faithful believers in Jesus Christ love Franklin and stand with him. To further show its support, the ministry has created an online petition called "I'm With Franklin" to counter the petition calling for his removal from his positions at BGEA and Samaritan's Purse." - Charisma News

Yes, a renowned humanitarian who earns over a million dollars per year in combined salaries from both organizations. A few years back it was reported that Graham was earning $880,000 in combined salary from these two charities. When he received criticism for this, he petitioned the government to change their tax classification to a "association of churches." Now obviously they were not an association of churches but this allows him now to not have to disclose his salaries anymore. Praise Jesus, pass the offering plate. This is not to diminish the efforts of the workers for each charity but as the key verses teach us today that when you do your good deeds to be seen by man then you have already received your reward. He is an outspoken defender of the Republican Party, not biblical values. Back in 1998 Graham was quite vocal about the sins of Bill Clinton but fast forward to today and we see someone who looks the other way regarding the sins of Donald Trump. The hypocrisy is staggering. Put all of that aside however and we are still left with someone who aided and abetted the big lie that led to the events of January 6, 2021. So no, I do not stand with Franklin Graham. Charisma Now reprints the original article about the Graham protests.

'Thousands have signed a petition calling for the termination of Franklin Graham from his positions at Samaritan's Purse and at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. The reason? His supposed encouragement of the Capitol riots by way of showing his support for former President Donald J. Trump. The Faithful America petition likens Graham to "blasphemous preachers" who "must be held accountable for their deadly dishonesty." The assertive language expressed in the letter goes so far as to say Graham's actions have soiled his family's legacy. "Graham gets away with his hatred and conspiracy-theories by hiding behind the humanitarian work of Samaritan's Purse and his late father's name. It's time for Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) to realize that by propping up Franklin's unchristian extremism, they are abandoning their Gospel missions, undermining democracy, and helping incite white-nationalist sedition."' - Charisma News

The truth hurts. Graham does hide behind the righteousness of charity work while furthering his idolatry. Unfortunately, a board member from both organizations has already responded that Graham has denounced the violence of January 6 and never encouraged anyone to go to DC on that day. Those are irrelevant to the matter at hand. No one is suggesting that Graham encouraged anyone to go the insurrection and what do you expect him to say in light of the violence? This was the actual statement from the group "Faithful America"

"As long as Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association stand by Franklin Graham, it must be said that these once-vaunted organizations have forgotten their original Christian missions, abandoned the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and are complicit in the spread of dishonest, discredited election conspiracy theories and the deadly, unpatriotic, white-nationalist terrorism at the U.S. Capitol incited by those lies," - Faithful America

The issue is not whether Graham literally invited people top storm the Capitol. The issue is that in the wake of the election results Graham kept siding with Trumps absurd and lethal assertions of election theft. He had tweeted that he agreed with Trump that the election as stolen. Charisma thinks it has a point by then posting these two Graham quotes:

'In a comment to the Associated Press, along with other faith leaders, Graham condemned the violence. "I do not support violence from the right or the left," he said. "Our country is in trouble. We need God's healing and we need God's help."' - Charisma News

"The division in our country is as great as any time since the Civil War. I am calling on Christians to unite our hearts together in prayer for President-elect @JoeBiden and Vice President-elect @KamalaHarris, and for the leadership in both parties. -- Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) January 7, 2021" - Charisma News

Except this was the day after the siege on Washington. The first quote is couched language that is typically used by defenders of the indefensible. Denouncing violence on both sides when there is only violence on one side is splitting the bill to ease the pain. If you truly wanted to denounce the events of January 6^th, you would direct your attention to the events of that day. When you place these quotes in context what you are left with is Graham pouring gasoline on a raging fire for two months and then incredulously demanding that someone put the fire out. Calling for peace and unity? It is a little late for that Mr. Graham.

'Paul Saber, who serves on the board of directors for both the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan's Purse, came to Graham's defense. Saber said both organizations "fully support Franklin Graham and are more than satisfied with the job he has done and is doing in leading these ministries. Franklin Graham was not in Washington, D.C., and he did not encourage people to go to the Capitol on Jan. 6." And Saber isn't the only one defending Graham. While some are criticizing Graham for supporting former President Donald J. Trump, others are recognizing his leadership in Spirit-led healing and evangelism efforts throughout suffering communities. Faithwire.com reported on the multiple efforts the BGEA and Samaritan's Purse have initiated to provide relief to health care workers as the stress of COVID-19 takes its toll on hospitals around the country. Of this project, Graham told Faithwire, "We are there in Jesus' name. It's just something God has done, and it's given us the opportunity to magnify His name in the middle of a crisis."' - Charisma News

No one is arguing if the humanitarian work of Samaritan's Purse is righteous or not. The issue is whether Franklin Graham has disqualified himself by his idolatry and soft peddling lies for political motivations that have left five people dead, including one police officer. For two months Graham allowed his god to rule over his rhetoric and the end result is an assault on our Capitol that have left another cop with the prospect of losing an eye with another having spinal cord injuries. These people did not stop to pray in the well of the Senate because of something Donald Trump taught them. It is time to stand for the Gospel and lay down your idols. It is time to not stand with Franklin Graham. Mark him and avoid him.

Reverend Anthony Wade - January 28, 2021

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.