Tag: Easter

Christians are under attack not just abroad, but also here in the United States, Franklin Graham said on Good Friday.

“We are seeing it across the globe, no question about it, and it’s frightening,” Graham, the president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and son of Billy Graham, told John Bachman and J.D. Hayworth on “America’s Forum” on Newsmax TV.

“We see the anti-Christian position in this country. We see so much of it coming out of the entertainment industry, especially in certain segments of the news media.”

“Christians are being attacked and … we see it now in Europe. Anti-Semitism, no question, it’s there. We are living in a world that is changing, and it is frightening to see how quickly [it] is changing, and we’re going to see real persecution of Christians and Jews in the years to come,” said Graham, who followed his father into the ministry.

Franklin Graham said Christians should not suppress their spiritual beliefs even in the face of growing religious apathy.

“I would encourage Christians not to back down, to stand firm, to share your faith, to stand for your faith, not to be afraid of the secularists who will scoff at you. You know, we live in a world where we want to be politically correct, we live in a world where people want to be accepted and standing for Jesus Christ. You’re not going to be accepted in some circles and you just have to be willing to accept that,” he said.

“But don’t be afraid. I would encourage Christians to stand and be proud of your faith and not to be shy, to tell others about what God has done for you, what Christ did when he died on the cross and rose from the grave, let people know that. That’s extremely important.”

Now more than ever, Graham said Christians should embrace the concept of charity and love toward their fellow man.

“You follow the example of Jesus Christ. Jesus fed people, he healed people, he used his power as the Son of God to lift people up, but he didn’t do that just because he wanted to give people a better life, he did that so people would put their faith and trust in him as the living Son of God, but at the same time Jesus had compassion for suffering and he healed people, he cared for people. I just think we as Christians today, we should do the same,” Graham said.

“We should be concerned about our fellow man, we should give, we should give to charity, we should take care of those that are hungry. In this country, the churches used to do that and now we have given this over to the government.

“The government was not in the charity business 100 years ago, but now the churches are almost completely out of it and it’s the government trying to run healthcare when the churches used to … and the churches did a much better job of it than what the government can do.”

That notion of charity is something Franklin Graham tries to bring to the world through his organization, Samaritan’s Purse.

“We’re working right now in the Ukraine. We have teams of people in the southern Sudan where there has been civil war. There’s a lot of suffering around the world,” he said.

“We’re working in Liberia with Ebola; our planes are flying the World Health Organizations and different people to these affected areas and getting people out of these areas. But Samaritan’s Purse, we … do it in the name of Jesus Christ.

“We operate in over 100 countries and we do need people’s prayers, we need people’s financial health; we can’t do the work without that. But I always covet peoples’ prayers more than anything else.”

Graham also spoke about the health of his father, the evangelist Rev. Billy Graham,  spiritual adviser to a number of presidents. Franklin said his father is stable after being hospitalized late last year.

“My father is at home,” he said. “He’s doing just a little better. He was in the hospital back before Christmas, right after Thanksgiving, but he’s just a little bit better and the warm weather has been an encouragement to him. He’s been outside a little bit, so we’re grateful for that.”

https://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Franklin-Graham-Christians-persecution-Billy-Graham/2014/04/18/id/566456#ixzz2zL2uEHBy