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04/30/2014

Franklin Graham was 'as grieved by' World Vision's temporary tolerance as 'anything in my lifetime of ministry'

by Jeremy Hooper

Screen Shot 2014-04-30 At 9.23.05 AmFranklin Graham, the future's lock-solid Jeopardy! response for "scion most determined to define his esteemed daddy's legacy by anti-LGBT animus," is back with yet more obsession over gay people and our basic acceptance. Addressing the recent situation in which the World Vision Christian charity temporarily made room for believers in same-sex marriages before ultimately reversing itself in a truly cowardly about-face, the younger Graham reveals that this one organization's days-long measure of basic goodwill grieved him more than just about anything else that has ever happened in his life:

I believe the heart of God was broken by the decision of the board of directors of World Vision. This is no small matter. I was as grieved by it as I have been by anything in my lifetime of ministry, because the heart of World Vision was revealed—a disregard for biblical truth.

There was a day when World Vision’s board was made up of people who believed in, and stood on, God’s Word, but in making this decision they completely disregarded Scripture and made a decision based on what they perceived as public acceptance and popularity.

I do rejoice that the board of directors reversed its decision, but I pray that the fallout will cause a depth of soul-searching. True followers of Jesus Christ, whose salvation is based entirely upon God’s Word, cannot endorse same-sex marriage, regardless of what our President, the Congress, the Supreme Court, the media or the latest Gallup poll says about the matter. This moral issue has been settled by God Himself and is not subject to man-made revisions or modifications. In the end, I would rather be on the wrong side of public opinion than on the wrong side of Almighty God who established the standard of living for the world He created. Marriage is a biblically moral issue, not a political or theological one.
FULL:
The Flood of Compromise [Billy Graham Evangelistic Assoc]
(H/t: Thom Watson)

When you have polls that show steady majority support for civil marriage equality, there is no doubt that a lot of "followers of Jesus Christ" do, in fact, endorse same-sex marriage. Franklin and his recent penchant for turning the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association into an offshoot of the other anti-LGBT politics groups may not like that fact. However, he can't just stamp his feet and say, "but my daddy promised me I'd inherit a God that only made room for heterosexuals!" He's going to have to swim within the waters of reality. Those waters do increasingly include many citizens who see LGBT people as their fellow swimmers in the pond and not as hungry sharks out to eat away all that is right and normal and virtuous.

And if Franklin doesn't want to work within that Christian reality, he can always move into what seems to be his better calling anyway: dramatic acting. The Christian movie industry seems to be heating up. Perhaps the younger Graham can channel his dramatic denigrations of same-sex love in order to snatch up a truly golden opposite-sex pair: Oscar and Emmy.

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