Franklin Graham has been conducting a crusade along the US-Mexico border. A ten-day tour, preaching in border towns because, he says, the people there "need to hear a message of hope," it just so happened that Graham "ran into" Donald Trump while he was making his visit to the border in the town of Eagle Pass, Texas. Trump was not there to preach a message of hope, he was there to create campaign photo ops while aiding the effort to stamp out the hope of people who see entry into the United States as their last hope for a decent, and safe, life for their family.
The fact that Graham "ran into" Trump, says more about his intentions, and the sincerity of his message, than any words that come out of his mouth while preaching during this tour. Critics have said that this "tour," during an election year, has a political motive. The meeting with Trump on February 29 confirmed their claims. How can Graham claim to be preaching a message of hope while deliberately meeting with Trump, publicly shaking hands, and endorsing his presence, which, on his side, has been a hatred-filled diatribe of bigotry and prejudice, accusations of criminal behavior that can't be proven by any factual information and one of the most blatant displays of both anti-American, anti-Christian behavior that we have seen from someone who has proven he is a master at both of those things?
That meeting, and handshake, undermined every word that has come out of Graham's mouth, not only during this border tour, but that he's ever preached. He's been a supporter of Trump for a long time now, and that tells us everything we need to know about what he supports. He's a hypocrite whose alleged words of hope are not nearly as loud as Trump's vocal support for Texas Governor Greg Abbott's placement of sharp metal barbs under the water of the Rio Grande at Eagle Pass, and other places along the border, to purposely inflict injury and pain.
I wonder if Graham mentions anything in his sermons about the advocacy of legislation that will allow property owners in border areas to shoot people on their property who they believe have crossed the border illegally. Arizona is now considering that, and Trump has enthusiastically endorsed it. So I wonder how Graham works that into his alleged message of hope, along with his endorsement of Trump? And where, between endorsing Trump and his "message of hope" does he fit the rape of E. Jean Carroll or the 13 other women who have proof of similar allegations? The multiple adulteries he committed against all three of his wives, along with the public humiliation of them in which he revelled and bragged? The business fraud? The pathological lying? Inciting an insurrection against the United States?
I'd love to hear how Graham works all of that into the sermons he is preaching on his tour.
Apparently Graham's motivation also centers around numbers, citing 20,000 as the number of people who have come out to hear him preach on his tour. Along with that, a petition, circulating among the Christian churches of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas gathered at least 20,000 signatures urging the organizers of the tour to back out, because of Graham's open endorsement of Trump. Apparently, there are a large number of Evangelical Christians who see through the hypocrisy and aren't interested in endorsing it.
Graham tried to put a positive spin on Trump's appearance in Eagle Pass, telling him, in front of reporters, that his appearance there "was a great encouragement to many people." That while protestors, who outnumbered supporters by about a four to one margin, kept conveniently at a distance so the media couldn't get photographs of them, could be heard chanting.
Frankly, I have to admit I really don't see Franklin Graham as anything but a religious profiteer. The heir to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, whose trademark program is a Christmas time distribution of shoe boxes filled with dollar store junk that Americans collect to give to the poor children of the world just adds to the fortune he already has, and continues to earn off the contributions of people who are sincere in their support of this ministry with his Dad's name on it. I just have a little bit of difficulty according leadership status and providing support to someone who grew up rich and didn't know anything about having to sacrifice for Christian ministry.
But chasing after a corrupt, worldly politician with tissues and toilet paper to try and gain their favor, while they deny every virtue and practice of the Christian gospel, including their own need for God's forgiveness, which is an essential core doctrine of Christianity, is the clincher when it comes to Graham's credibility as a Christian minister and evangelist. When he shook hands with Trump, he surrendered his credibility as an evangelist and minister of the Christian gospel to give credence and loyalty to a worldly denier of the gospel of Christ.
Going to the border for a preaching tour during an election year, and claiming to be bringing hope to the people on the American side of the border is a cruel mockery of those who have come to the border and gathered on the other side, looking at the hope of freedom and security in this country that has drawn them here. And the best thing that can be offered to them is a shoe box full of dollar store junk and an underwater barbed-wire barrier to discourage their hope? There's nothing Christian in that message.
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