Did Franklin Graham urge voting for ‘least heathen’ candidate?

Franklin Graham in Denver (Photo: Brian Unruh for WND)

Headlines blared that Franklin Graham’s advice regarding the presidential general election is to choose “the least heathen of the two” candidates.

They included: “Franklin Graham Encourages Christians to Vote for ‘Least Heathen’ Candidate in November” and “Franklin Graham: Vote For ‘Least Heathen’ Candidate.”

Others were: “Franklin Graham Says Christians Must Vote – even if it Means Choosing ‘Least Heathen of the Two” and “Franklin Graham: Vote For ‘Least Heathen’ Candidate.”

But in the referenced interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, Graham, the CEO of Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, never made the statement.

The video:

He did urge Christians to get involved: Vote, run for office, support Christians who are running and who currently hold office. Hold them accountable.

Get James Dobson’s classic “When God Doesn’t Make Sense” from the WND Superstore.

“I’m not going to tell people who to vote for,” he said. “Let God tell you who to vote for.

“You have to look at each person,” said Graham.

Graham confirmed he has left the Republican Party and now is independent because the party has had the majority in Congress for the last couple of years and still is funding things that are “just wrong,” such as Planned Parenthood.

He said, in the interview done in conjunction with his Decision America Tour prayer rally in Denver March 15, that the consequences of Christians not being involved are huge.

“There are people who want to change the Constitution. That will happen if the Christians don’t let their voice be heard,” he said.

Seeking God’s forgiveness and holding to biblical standards are key, he said.

“We need God’s favor once again in this country.”

But there was no apparent mention of “heathen.”

At Constitution.com, Bethany Blankley noted the issue.

“Where is anyone getting the idea that Graham said anything about heathens? Is this an editorial mistake? Instead, what Graham is seeking to accomplish is quite revolutionary, and extends beyond voting.”

She said Graham “emphasizes that America is spiritually and morally broken and needs to turn to God.”

“From the capital steps at each of the 50 state capitals, Graham prays and urges Christians to confess their individual sins and the sins of the nation. Throughout his talks and interviews, he emphasizes the necessity of prayer and the need for God’s favor.”

She noted that last year, Graham encouraged Christians “to get out and vote, and to cast their ballots for candidates who uphold biblical principles.”

This year, she said it’s being reported that Graham is telling Christians to vote for the “least heathen.’

“That’s not what he’s suggesting,” Blankely wrote. “… Graham’s encouraging and reminding Christians to live out their faith in public. This includes running for office, holding corrupt politicians accountable, suggesting reforms and alternatives to harmful policies, boycotting unconstitutional laws and regulations, and speaking truth in a culture that hates it.”

At Graham’s Denver appearance, on which WND reported, he stated regarding voting: “The choice isn’t always clear. You may have to hold your nose when you go to the polls, but vote.”

Graham told a crowd estimated at more than 4,200 in an icy wind on the west steps of the Colorado Capitol that they as Christians need to pray for their nation, vote, seek office, win and start running governments from Washington to the school board based on biblical principles.

“I have zero hope in the Democratic Party,” he said. “Wait a second, before the Republicans start high-fiving each other, I have zero hope in the Republican Party. The only hope is in God. God!”

His comments:

In his Decision America Tour, he is visiting each of the 50 state capitals during the 2016 presidential election season, asking people to pray for their country and more. The events are not political; no candidates are on stage.

He preached on Nehemiah 1, which recounts how God judged Israel by allowing the people to be taken into exile because of unfaithfulness.

When Nehemiah prayed for permission to go and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, he found favor with God and, though faced with opposition, was successful.

Get James Dobson’s classic, “When God Doesn’t Make Sense,” from the WND Superstore.

“We need God’s favor,” Graham said. “When Nehemiah got back to Jerusalem, there were threats of violence, his enemies tried to discourage him, but he kept his focus and the wall was rebuilt in 52 days. Our moral walls and gates are broken down. Education, politicians, and some churches are more concerned with political correctness than with God’s truth and righteousness. Nehemiah fasted and prayed and confessed the sins of himself and his fathers and the nation. We need to confess the sins of our nation. Where do we start?”

His listed sins of abortion, “same-sex marriage,” pride, racism, not caring for the poor and morally depraved entertainment.

The theme of an America in need and hope that a Christian people can revive it was launched by world-renowned guitarist Dennis Agajanian, who declared in song: “Now, we may have done just a little fighting amongst ourselves, but the outside folks best leave us alone. We gonna get together again, you can take that to the bank.

“You never did think that we’d ever get together again.”

Agajanian said he is “walking proud, preaching loud.”

And Graham called for prayer.

“I’d like us right now, if you’d just join hands with the person next to you, maybe a complete stranger, person of another race. I want you to hold that person’s hand. I want to take the next few minutes, and I want you to pray out loud, and let’s confess the sins of our nation to Almighty God.”

He said the crowd assembled because “we’re fed up and mad with the direction this country is going.”

“What can we do? Vote – for those we believe stand and live for biblical principles. I’m often asked what my father would do. He has said, ‘It’s the duty of every individual Christian at election time to study the issues and the candidates, go to the polls and vote.’ He would explain to people where each candidate stood morally and politically. We will fail as a nation unless we participate in electing those who we believe will honor God and fear him.”

Franklin Graham said the threat to America in the 1950s, communism, now has been replaced by secularism, “which is the same thing.”

“It’s godless. It permeates Washington, our states, and our local communities. We have taken God out of our society. There are no Ten Commandments on the school room wall, no teachers leading students in the Lord’s Prayer.”

He said the solution is for Christians to vote and “run for office.”

“We need men and women of integrity … to offer themselves to public service,” he said.

The nation is in a bad state, in part, because sometimes only “the bad ones” are candidates.

“The choice isn’t always clear. You may have to hold your nose when you go to the polls, but vote,” he said. “Be an advocate for God’s truth and righteousness. I want us to be ‘One nation under God’ again. Let’s take our nation back, community by community by community. It begins with you. To God be the glory!”

Get James Dobson’s classic “When God Doesn’t Make Sense” from the WND Superstore.

 

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