"Franklin knows he cannot use the words of Jesus Christ to defend or justify Trump--a strongman whose words and deeds reject truth, endorse violence, and advocate a worldview in opposition to the Fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Indeed, his character is more reflective of the spirits characterized as anti-Christ (I John 4:2-3, 6-21). Followers of Jesus should study closely which spirits they walk in step with (Galatians 5:16-26)--Evangelicals for Harris
Following the Vice-President's appearance on 60 Minutes on Monday, with Trump not making an appearance, a story about the war between Republican factions in Maricopa County, Arizona was aired. In that piece, 60 Minutes, "The Arizona Republican election officials working to restore confidence in results, worth watching by the way, the vice-chair of the Maricopa County Republican Party makes an appearance that characterizes the entire Trump Republican attitude toward politics, toward any of their neighbors who dare challenge or disagree with their opinions or beliefs, and demonstrates the attitude with which they approach politics.
And the woman who represented that perspective in such a grotesque, vitriolic, evil way, Shelby Busch, made a point to claim she was doing it in the name of Jesus.
I was raised in an Evangelical church, affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, and I got a good liberal arts education at one of their universities, along with a masters' degree in education at another one of their universities along with a reasonable dose of theology at both. Add to that long life experience in more progressive, "liberal" if you will, churches which understand that the Christian gospel is interpreted through the words of Jesus in the gospels, and I am able to recognize what I saw in that woman on 60 minutes.
It was not Christianity. It was evil, and it sent a shudder down my spine, listening to her words and watching her facial expressions.
"Those who say, 'I love God,' and hate their brothers or sisters are liars," says the Apostle John, I John 4:20. The hatred in the vitriol this woman was spewing out, in front of those cameras, on national television, was a testimony to her spirit, and I'm not resorting to judgment when I identify that spirit as evil.
How Did Franklin Graham Get Caught Up in this Hate-filled, Licentious, Immoral, Worldly Spirit of Antichrist?
The Evangelical version of the Christian gospel, of which Franklin's father Billy was the most well known evangelist and preacher, focuses heavily on behavior that demonstrates obedience to specific "rules" or practices, found in the Christian gospel, that are a demonstration of one's "salvation experience," or their conversion. The practice of these values are indicators of a life committed to God, an unbreakable bond created by the Holy Spirit with the soul of a redeemed human being. And while Evangelical doctrine has used a much more literal interpretation of the Bible, blended with a lot of cultural influences to determine their list of "do's and don'ts" when it comes to what constitutes faithful Christian practice, there isn't anything in their interpretation that opens the door to the kind of licentiousness--an old fashioned Biblical term meaning uncontrolled, socially unacceptable behavior which lacks any legal or moral restraint, including sexual behavior--that Trump and Trumpism brings into society.
Their defense of Trump himself is, of course, the "magic wand" of a conversion experience, rooted in the belief that the worst sinner who comes to God convicted of sin and repentant, desiring forgiveness, can receive it unconditionally. The only problem with that is that Trump has never exhibited any kind of repentant attitude publicly, and is open and free with his claim of denying he has ever committed any kind of sin requiring God's forgiveness. He has, with that statement, which he has made to Franklin Graham himself, along with several other Evangelical leaders who have tried to pin him down and get him to admit he's been converted to Christianity, openly denied any belief or faith in Jesus or the Christian gospel.
Most Evangelical Christians in this country don't pay much attention to that, because they are ignorant of the theology behind Christian conversion and can't explain the Evangelical path to redemption in Evangelical terms. Why someone like Franklin Graham ignores it, and tries to downplay it, makes me suspicious of the true motivation behind his involvement with Trump. There's no question that Franklin is no Billy Graham, not even close to it. What is clear, very clear, is that by standing with Trump and giving his endorsement, Franklin Graham is completely denying the core principles of the Christian gospel, and of Jesus Christ.
The Apostle Paul, who wrote a lot about how to live according to the virtues and values of the Christian gospel in the middle of a pagan society, compares and contrasts the difference between what he defines as spiritual depravity, as opposed to the values and virtues that are spiritually generated in the life of someone living according to Christian practice of the faith, which he calls the "fruit" of the spirit.
By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Jesus Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another." [Galatians 5:22-26, NRSV]
I'm not in any position to judge the spiritual condition of anyone, including Franklin Graham. I have, out of personal conviction, determined not to provide any support for his ministry, including for his leadership over the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, which I once did support. But I'm not making a personal judgment about Trump. He's making known, in a very public way, his denial of the Evangelical version of Christian conversion, and everything he does indicates that he not only does not live by the principles of the Christian gospel, but that he openly denies its truthfulness, relying on the worldly image he has created for himself, with his public, adulterous affairs, including sleeping with porn stars while his wife was pregnant with his son, his pathological lying, his dishonesty in his political posture, undermining core supporters by changing his position when he things that will give him an advantage with voters, and disregarding their support.
If we lay the characteristics the Apostle Paul describes, just before he gets to the fruit of the spirit, which include fornication, impurity, licentiousness, and idolatry, strife, jealousy, lying, setting people against each other, and throwing in a dose of drunkeness and and carousing, and make a fair comparison to what is seen in the attitude, vision and politics of Trump and Trumpism, it's pretty clear that no one who understands the Christian gospel clearly, and practices it by conviction, could be associated with something like that.
Now, a group of Evangelical Christians wants to hold Trump's own words and actions up to the "light of scripture," in their description, which includes Biblical warnings against leaders who exhibit the exact same characteristics of evil as Trump, and run ads pointing out the discrepancies between the Christian gospel and Trumpism.
And Franklin Graham wants to sue them to stop it.
"Franklin knows he cannot use the words of Jesus Christ to defend or justify Trump, a strongman whose words and deeds reject truth, endorse violence, and advocate a worldview in opposition to the fruits of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23," says the Evangelicals for Harris group. "Indeed his character is more reflective of the spirits characterized as anti-Christ (I John 4:2-3, 6-21). Followers of Jesus should study closely which spirits with whom they are walking in step (Galatians 5:16-26).
The Evangelicals for Harris group said Graham is putting his hope "in a man and a darkness we saw manifested when police lines were overrun at our Capitol January 6th, in Springfield [Ohio] this past month and in the spirit of fear and anger fed at every Trump rally Franklin attends."
Good luck with that lawsuit. [I Corinthians 6:1-11]
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