Franklin Graham: America Is Lifting Up Sin; 'It's Like Little Children Shaking Their Fist at Almighty God'
The Rev. Franklin Graham, president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritans Purse, says the government's attacks against Christianity and bans on traditional Christmas themes while society glorifies sin is "like little children shaking their fist at Almighty God."
"What's happening is we're glorifying sin, we're lifting up sin. And it's like little children shaking their fist at Almighty God," Graham told Fox News host Megyn Kelly during a Wednesday segment of "The Kelly File."
Speaking about atheists and secularists' actions to ban celebrations of Christmas in schools and government buildings, Kelly commented on American Atheists' "skip church" billboard ad campaign, which The Christian Post has reported on. She also cited the city of Pittsburg's previous plan to rename the Christmas holidays "sparkle days" and the ban on poinsettias at a Minnesota court house, among others.
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"It's all over the country," Graham asserted. "You have the secularists and the humanists who are wanting to deny that Jesus ever existed. And they want to take His name off of everything."
Graham continued: "What's happening now is that it's infiltrating our government. And our government is attacking Christmas. And it's not only attacking Christmas, but the name of Christ."
Christians, he suggested, need to stop being pacifists and defend their rights by writing to their representatives on the school board, city council, state legislature and in Congress.
"Many times Christians are polite; they don't want to be confronting anybody, so they just back off. But Christians need to write their politicians, and [they] need to stand up and defend their rights, because if you don't, we'll lose them. And we're already losing them, just one at a time," Graham said.
Similarly, violence and the hyper-sexualization of women that's promoted in American culture are among the myriad of examples that show why the country's in great need of the spiritual healing that comes from God, Graham further explained.
"In our country, our hearts need to be healed. We look at all the problems — the violence that we have, the discord in our country, the separation that we see between the Democrats and the Republicans, between the races — it's only Jesus Christ and putting our faith in Almighty God that can bring us back," Graham explained, before sharing that God will forgive the sins of all who put their faith and trust in Him.
"We are glorifying sin. People have got to understand that God takes sin seriously, because sin will separate us from God for eternity. Hell is a real place. And that's where every person who turns their back on God [will go] — and God will condemn them. He's a righteous judge. He has no choice but to condemn a person because of their sins. But He's willing to forgive a sin, every sin," he added.
Graham was also on "The Kelly File" to share the opportunity believers have to bring Christmas to children throughout the world by taking part in Operation Christmas Child.
Operation Christmas Child was started 21 years ago in 1993 through Samaritans Purse, and this year they expect to collect 10 million shoeboxes filled with toys that will be given to children in 110 countries.
"A little box like this could bring joy to a child in a refugee camp," Graham said, adding that he asks each person who takes part to pray for the child who'll be receiving the gift.
