Franklin Graham: I'm Not 'Deplorable' to God, Even If Hillary Clinton Thinks So
Franklin Graham is criticizing Hillary Clinton this week for her now-infamous "deplorables" comment, wondering if she has considered the gravity of sin and ones standing before Almighty God.
Writing on his Facebook page Wednesday, the evangelist recounted Clinton's remarks on September 10 at a New York City fundraiser in front of an LGBT group where she generalized that half of Donald Trump's supporters amount to a "basket of deplorables."
The former Secretary of State told donors at a Manhattan restaurant that such supporters were "racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, you name it. And unfortunately, there are people like that, and he has lifted them up."
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The Democratic nominee further opined that "some of those folks — they are irredeemable, but they are not America."
Outrage at her comments quickly ensued, with some likening them to Mitt Romney's "47 percent" remark during the 2012 presidential election that proved damaging to his campaign.
The hashtag #BasketofDeplorables quickly started trending on Twitter.
Tonight, Hillary Clinton just had her "47 percent" moment.
— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) September 10, 2016
Expect poll numbers to get even tighter after this one. #Deplorables
But Graham is taking the occasion to remind the public about the reality of sin, God's forgiveness, and the price Jesus paid on the cross.
"All sin is deplorable to Him. The Bible tells us that we have all sinned and the wages of sin is death. Sin has infected the entire human race. It's a disease of the human soul," Graham wrote, "God is holy and cannot tolerate sin. So much so that when Jesus carried our sins to the cross, God had to turn His back and could not even look on Him."
"Jesus died for our sins, took our sins to the grave, and rose again triumphantly to life on the third day. If we confess our sins, repent, and believe in Him as our Savior, our deplorable sins are washed away and we can have a right standing before God," Graham intoned.
His remarks Wednesday echo a theme of what he has previously said on July 21, where approximately 900 evangelical leaders gathered to converse with Donald Trump in New York City.
"All of this to say, there is none of us is perfect. We're all guilty of sin. Franklin Graham stands here in front of you today as a sinner. But I've been forgiven by God's grace. He forgave me. I invited Christ to come into my heart and my life. He forgave me," a Yahoo transcript of his comments read.
Although Graham has not officially endorsed Donald Trump, he not held back from expressing his concerns on the current race and has been traveling around the country holding prayer rallies at state capitol buildings as part of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association's #DecisionAmerica tour.
As The Christian Post reported on July 1, in June Graham urged Christians to "hold your nose" and vote for the candidate with whom they will at least have a voice.
"I'm thankful that because of His forgiveness and mercy, I'm not 'a deplorable' to God, even though I might be in the eyes of Hillary Clinton. What about you?" Graham concluded Wednesday.
