Franklin Graham and the National Day of Prayer

I am an Evangelical Christian. I am often ashamed of Evangelical Christianity in America.

Ok, I'm not ashamed of every Evangelical church, but there are certain groups and individuals that take it upon themselves to speak on behalf of all Evangelical Christians in America. One particular individual is Franklin Graham, the son of the great Evangelist Billy Graham. A few weeks ago Franklin's invitation to pray during the National Day of Prayer was rescinded due to some comments he made about the Islamic religion. Following his "unvitation" Franklin had the opportunity to meet with President Obama while he visited with his dad. During the visit he apparently asked Pres. Obama to intercede with the Pentagon and get his invitation restored; Pres. Obama promised to "look into it," according to Graham.

So far I don't take issue with anything that happened, not even with his Presidential request. But then Franklin decided to speak out on behalf of every Christian in the entire world!

If President Obama fails to intervene to allow controversial evangelist Franklin Graham to lead a National Day of Prayer event Thursday inside the Pentagon, "it will be a slap in the face of all Christians," Graham said Tuesday.

Why would it be a slap in the face? The National Day of Prayer is a day for people of all faiths, so why would they allow a Conservative Evangelical Christian to lead prayer? He seems very proud and arrogant in the way he is going about his business. Look, I believe that we come to God through Jesus Christ alone, but that doesn't give us the right to act arrogantly, does it? Then this:

In an interview Tuesday with USA TODAY, Graham reiterated his belief that "Muslims do not worship the same 'God the Father' I worship." He laughed at Hinduism's many manifestations of God: "No elephant with 100 arms can do anything for me. None of their 9,000 gods is going to lead me to salvation."

How very evangelistic of him to scoff at Hinduism. If I were a person of the Hindu faith and I read this interview I would tune everything else he said out, and I'm sure that's what many have done. It is the opposite of evangelism, and it is quite embarrassing. Instead of pointing people to Jesus, he is building up a wall to keep them away.

" I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
- Gandhi (A Hindu)


My Opinion.