Politics produce interesting situations. Franklin Graham, Billy Graham’s son is a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump and his niece, Billy Graham’s granddaughter, Jerusha Duford is opposed to Trump’s reelection and a supporter of Joe Biden’s presidential bid.
In an article titled, “Evangelicals opposed to Trump step out of the shadows with new groups and ads,” senior political writer for Yahoo news, Jon Ward, highlights the activities of several evangelical PACs (political action committees for the politically uninformed) whose purpose is to unseat Trump. The theme of the article is that evangelicals have been duped by Trump and their votes manipulated.
His star celebrity is Billy Graham’s granddaughter Jerusha Duford who writes, “Attempts to hijack our faith for votes, and evangelical leaders’ silence on his [Trump’s] actions and behavior, has presented a picture of what our faith looks like that is so erroneous that it has done significant damage to the way peoples view Jesus.”
I assume Duford believes Joe Biden is a stellar example of Christianity. I am going to say something I said four years ago in the aftermath of the presidential election that bears repeating before this one; this election is not about which two of the moral midgets is the tallest. If you think it is then you have already been duped and manipulated by one side or the other.
Billy Graham was a staunch supporter of Richard Nixon throughout the Watergate fiasco up until Nixon resigned as president and the secretly recorded Oval Office tapes were made public. Graham realized then he had been duped and manipulated by Nixon’s professed Christianity.
Graham’s experience with Nixon is why I never use my article to endorse any politicians. I will endorse righteous principles and policies, but not personalities. I remember what happened to Billy. Like him, I am one of those people who can be fooled some of the time.
If you think Joe Biden can save us from Trump’s policies and mistakes, or Donald Trump can make America great again, you have already been duped and manipulated. Only God can deliver us from this political morass we find ourselves in and only by turning to God can America become great again.
If Jerusha or her uncle Franklin believe political action has a greater impact on the future of our nation than God-soaked prayer; they have been duped and manipulated.
Solomon wrote, “The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He wishes,” Proverbs 21:1. I pray and try to inform myself on the issues and then vote my convictions, but ultimately my trust is in God, not politics or politicians. Sadly, politicians outnumber godly statesmen in our government today.
In the movie “Forrest Gump,” Forrest’s mother has taken him to a doctor because he has difficulties walking. The doctor tells her, “Mrs. Gump, Forrest’s legs are fine, but his back is as crooked as a politician.”
What I say to you I say to all; beware of politicians!
I enjoy reading your weekly column and find I agree with you most of the time. I particularly agree with you on this issue, but sometimes it’s challenging to keep from saying something to someone. For instance, I have a liberal cousin living on the West Coast who sincerely questioned me last July about why I am voting for Trump. I’ve not been sure about where this cousin stands in relationship to Jesus, so over the course of the last 3 months I’ve taken advantage of our e-mail political discussions to share with her my testimony of how I became a Christian. When I determined to do this, I knew I would be walking a rhetorical tightrope, so I invested in a couple of books: Trey Gowdy’s “I’m Glad You Asked”, and Michael Brown’s “Evangelicals at the Crossroads: Will We Pass the Trump Test?” I would highly recommend both of these books because they are excellent and fairly easy to read. However, as I was see-sawing back and forth with uncertainty and regret over introducing this subject with my cousin, Brown’s book brought much clarity to my mind as to how the subject should be dealt with. So, again, I highly recommend the book to you. I first heard about it when watching Huckabee’s TV show on TBN. Although I don’t think I’m of Brown’s spiritual persuasion (charismatic?), I couldn’t find anything I objected to in this book. Brown would agree with your advice to “Beware of Politicians”.
I read Michael Brown’s articles and find I agree with him most to the time and agreed with him about the issues that were being batted around more than John Piper’s position about this election. I am not aware if Michael Brown is what one would call a charismatic, but that would not bother me if he was. I like the way Trey Gowdy analyzes issues and his conservative perspective. So whatever these two write is of interest to me, but I do quite a lot of reading as it is and have a list of books that need reading as well. Thank you for responding to this article, I greatly appreciate getting comments from thoughtful readers, and I will give your recommendations due consideration. Thanks again!