Faithful America, which claims to be the largest online community of Christians putting faith into action for social justice, has posted an online petition calling for the firing of Franklin Graham from Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA).
The petition, which has garnered more than 24,500 signatures, claims that Graham has betrayed the mission of both groups by spreading “discredited election conspiracy theories” and “white nationalist terrorism,” which it says led to the riot at the U.S. Capitol.
“As long as Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association stand by Franklin Graham, it must be said that these once-vaunted organizations have forgotten their original Christian missions, abandoned the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and are complicit in the spread of dishonest, discredited election conspiracy theories and the deadly, unpatriotic, white-nationalist terrorism at the U.S. Capitol incited by those lies,” the petition states.
The petition’s initial goal was 20,000 signatures, but organizers have raised the bar to 25,000.
This isn’t the first time Faithful America has asked Samaritan’s Purse board members to remove Franklin Graham. Last August, the group posted a similar petition that garnered over 14,000 signatures. The petition listed the group’s grievances with Graham due to his support of President Donald Trump and Graham’s prayer at the Republican National Convention, which thanked God for the “many blessings” of Trump’s presidency.
Your tax-deductible gift helps our journalists report the truth and hold Christian leaders and organizations accountable. Give a gift of $30 or more to The Roys Report this month, and you will receive a copy of “Hurt and Healed by the Church” by Ryan George. To donate, click here.
The current petition claims that Graham gets away with his political rhetoric “by hiding behind the humanitarian work of Samaritan’s Purse and his late father’s name.”
Faithful America cited one of Graham’s recent social media posts, which compared Republicans who voted for Trump’s second impeachment to Judas Iscariot. The group argued that the post essentially likened Trump to Jesus and was blasphemous.
Faithful America also accused Rev. Graham of shrugging off the violence that took place at the Capitol building that left five people dead.
Citing a quote from Graham about Trump (“We knew he had flaws when he ran for office in 2016”), the group claims there is nothing Christian about Graham’s seeming ambivalence to the role many believe Trump played in inciting the violence.
In a statement given to the Charlotte Observer, Paul Saber, a board member with Samaritan’s Purse and the BGEA, claimed that Faithful America “fabricated this lie that (Graham) incited violence at the Capitol.”
Saber also said, “The Boards of Directors for Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association have expressed that they fully support Franklin Graham and are more than satisfied with the job he has done and is doing in leading these ministries. Franklin Graham was not in Washington, D.C., and he did not encourage people to go to the Capitol on January 6.”
The night before President Joe Biden’s inauguration, Rev. Graham stuck a conciliatory tone on social media and encouraged Americans to pray for their new leaders.
“Today as our country inaugurates a new president, there are concerns that there could be violence in Washington, DC, and in state capitals across the nation,” Graham wrote. “I encourage Christians to make this a day of prayer—for peace and calm, and praying for our new leaders, President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.”
On Wednesday, the day of the inauguration, Rev. Graham urged President Biden not to push for the impeachment of Donald Trump.
“I appreciated the conciliatory words of President Joe Biden today, urging both parties to work together,” Graham wrote. “If the Democrats go ahead with pushing for the impeachment of a president who has left office, it would only further divide our nation. I hope President Biden will stand up to those on Capitol Hill who want to impeach Donald Trump and tell them to put this behind us.”
Jesse T. Jackson is an author at Church Leaders, where this article first appeared. Jackson also serves as a deacon, a growth group leader, and is a member of University Baptist Church in Beavercreek, Ohio.
English 
Spanish
70 Responses
So Franklin Graham is apparently fine with blatant lying, corruption, and pushing bogus conspiracy theories in a way that encourages lawlessness and violence, as long as he gets to pay less in taxes on the 2 big salaries he collects.
Another example of how nepotism in ministry succession seldom turns out well.
Franklin Graham has long checked off the “social justice” virtue signal box, before it was cool for millennials, with his Samaritan’s Purse ministry.
In the previous generation “Judas” = traitor, ultimate disloyalty, even among non-Christians. No analogy is a perfect one-for-one comparison. One can be a “Judas” while the one betrayed is not “Christ.” Didn’t these critics take Eng lit in high school?
Rep Maxine Waters took the pulpit in a Black church and preached that Trump was demonic. This is widely accepted practice in Black churches, i.e. to hurl Biblical insults at political opponents. Where were these people then?
What’s maddening is one side gets a pass, the other side doesn’t. BLM burning down 32 cities, no charges and no bail releases, no problem. Conservatives meeting in the Washington Mall to ask for an investigation into election fraud, a threat to the Constitution and democracy. Dems & media have unceasingly tried to remove Trump from office for four years– “by any means necessary.” So why wouldn’t these same folks commit election fraud? An FBI investigation could have easily cleared the air. There was a bigger investigation over a looped rope handle at NASCAR than there was for the election fraud.
SJW is for the most part the “social gospel” re-packaged. J. Gresham Machen addressed this a long time ago.
https://www.christianbook.com/christianity-and-liberalism-revised/j-machen/9780802864994/pd/864994?en=bing-pla&event=SHOP&kw=academic-0-20%7C864994&p=1179517&dv=c&msclkid=8a3520fd7fe21cd536b140f35dff816d&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Shopping%20Main&utm_term=4580702881405433&utm_content=s-all%20products
So now we have to politically correct with our ideas and talk even in “Christian circles” SO SAD that a so called Christian church(or whatever Faithful America is)is against freedom of speech. Politically we do not have to be the same to be a part of God’s work on earth.
Mervin,
“Faithful America”, whoever they are, may be a den of Sadducees but Franklin has beclowned himself and tainted the Kingdom with his big mouth and at bare minimum appearance of impropriety (have you seen how much bank he gets paid by Samaritan’s Purse?). People like him are turning the world away from Jesus the Christ. It would be nice to see real Christians checking him and not these liberal cultists.
Faithful America is an abomination from way out in left field (pun intended) politically, morally, and spiritually.
That said, an objective, grievous problem with Franklin Graham is that he has been thickly lining his pockets for many years with 2 exorbitant salaries, not to mention other perks, from the donations of others through Samaritan’s Purse and The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. This, at least, makes him a shameful embarrassment to his dad’s legacy, and infinitely more importantly, to Jesus and those who follow Him. See below:
https://ministrywatch.com/ministry-spotlight-4/
“President’s Salary and Other Compensation: The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association does not release its Form 990, so the salary of Franklin Graham and other top executives is not known. However, in 2014, the last year available, Graham received a salary from BGEA of $258,677. Graham is also president of Samaritan’s Purse. In 2019, his total compensation from Samaritan’s purse was $722,403. (MinistryWatch’s position is that Christian ministries should release their Form 990s to the public.”