Franklin Graham Begins National Tour to Encourage Christians to Vote for 'Biblical Principles'
The Reverend Franklin Graham is beginning a tour Tuesday slated to stop in all 50 states to prayerfully encourage Christians to vote for candidates who support "biblical principles."
Known as the "Decision America Tour," its first scheduled stop will be Tuesday at noon at the state Capitol building in Des Moines, Iowa. Since last year, Graham has been promoting the Decision America Tour as a way to bring American believers together to vote and live out their faith.
"Many Christians in America today want to follow Jesus at a distance. They want to give themselves a little room — they want to watch which way the wind will blow before they are publicly seen too close to the Lord," said Graham in a Facebook post from Sunday.
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"As this new year gets off to a start, it is a good time for each of us to examine the ways in which we may be trying to maintain a little space between us and our Lord. In whatever area of life it may be — don't keep your distance."
Last April, Graham announced that in 2016 he was going to tour every state to encourage Christians to vote through prayer rallies and preaching.
"I want to challenge Christians to boldly live out their faith and to pray for our nation and its leaders. I want to encourage Christians to get out and vote, and to cast their ballots for candidates who uphold biblical principles," stated Graham in April.
"I want to strongly urge Christians to run for public office at every level — local, state, and federal. We will not be endorsing any political candidates, but I will be proclaiming the truth of God's Gospel in every state."
Graham's first stop for the Decision America Tour is the very state that will host the first-in-the-nation caucus for the 2016 presidential election season.
Despite seeming preference for Republican candidates, Franklin Graham has told conservative news analyst Sean Hannity of Fox News that he will not endorse any particular candidate.
"I'm not going to endorse any candidates. The goal is to get Christians to vote. There are Christians who don't vote. They think that their vote doesn't count. It does count," explained Graham.
"I want people to vote and look at things like school boards. Could you imagine if evangelicals were able to get on the school boards of America — the impact that would have on our nation over the next 20 years?"
The Decision America Tour comes not long after Graham announced he was leaving the Republican Party for various reasons including Congressional Republicans recently voting in favor of a federal budget that included funding of national abortion provider Planned Parenthood.
