Important!
Franklin Graham made a recent appearance in Little Rock. The Arkansas Times described it this way:
He preached against godless politics; advocated more church in government (particularly installation of more Ten Commandments monuments on public ground) and claimed to be proclaiming no partisan interests while repeating standard Republican Party talking points — anti-gay, anti-abortion and so forth. He also preached against materialism — curious message from a man making $880,000 a year, a lot of it from a putative relief organization.
Regardless, it inspired this bit o’ hellfire and brimstone in the Hot Springs Sentinel Record, from the inimitable little Lloyd Hoffman, under the banner title of “Franklin inspires” (yawn)…
My response is in the comments following…
— Jacques d’Nalgar
Dear editor,
In my last letter (April 10), I encouraged everyone who is genuinely concerned about the future welfare of our nation to please attend the prayer rally led by the Rev. Franklin Graham, who is visiting all 50 states with his most important message. I’m happy to report that it was estimated to have had between 5,100 to possibly 9,000 people standing on the state Capitol steps and grounds! The event made the front page of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazettewith a photo and nice article.
God even caused the rain to stop and gave us a beautiful sunny day! Some church people were interviewed who had driven from as far away as Fort Smith to hear this critical historic message that was no doubt God inspired!
Those of you who didn’t attend really missed hearing an unusually bold and powerful message from God which practically sounded as if God was speaking to us from the sky through a huge megaphone! “Our country is in trouble,” Franklin said. “But we’ve got a great God. We’ve got an awesome God. He can rebuild those walls. He can rehang those gates … Go back to your community. Advocate for God’s truth and His righteousness. Elect men and women to office who will really lead this nation back to being one nation under God that can truthfully say once again, ‘In God we trust.'”
“If God’s not first in our lives and our nations, then we have no hope. It certainly puts me on my knees when I see the moral decline we are seeing. It’s heartbreaking.”
“Franklin made clear that on bended knee is the place to begin addressing the spiritual, moral, economic and racial chaos in America. No political party can fix it. I have zero hope in the Democrat Party! I have zero hope in the Republican Party!”
“My only hope is in Almighty God. That’s our only hope and the most important thing we can do as Christians is to pray — pray to God.”
“Then Franklin asked the people to silently confess their own sins … For any in the crowd who were not sure where they stood with God, he explained the Gospel (salvation through faith in Jesus Christ as Savior) and led them in a prayer.”
“Finally, he outlined a plan of action. He asked those in attendance to go home and form groups to pray for the nation, the state and for local communities. He urged them to vote for candidates who stand for biblical values and are willing to live by them. And he challenged them to be willing to run for local, state or federal office, which could trigger an influx of godly leadership in elected positions around the nation!” (Quotes are from Decision magazine.)
So — we’ve heard the message — will we respond or not? Let’s form those prayer groups, in the churches, in our neighborhoods and/or in public gatherings on a regular, deeply committed basis! And, of course, immediately commit to begin now individually to pray for America every day and then wait and watch what God can do. Pray for revival and spiritual awakening!
Lloyd Hoffman
Hot Springs
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Author
Dear editor,
So the occasion of warmongering, Islam-hating evangelist Franklin Graham’s state-hopping into Little Rock on his daddy’s coattails, attracting far fewer of the state-wide fundamentalist faithful than did our mayor’s bane (our very own raucous St. Patrick’s Day parade), warrants yet another holy harangue from our very own little brother? Sorry, but this brother begs to differ!
God causes the rain to fall on the just and unjust alike, suggesting that the same is probably true of the “beautiful sunny day” little brother ascribes to the recent appearance, in the flesh, of Billy’s boy. But never mind such illogical, pagan prognostications about Arkansas weather. Let’s instead examine the blessed bona fides of this opportunistic offspring of America’s most famous mass evangelist, shall we?
Once upon a time, Squire Franklin was practically giddy at the prospect of beloved war criminal George Bush’s trumped-up (deliciously ironic, ain’t it?) invasion of Iraq. He and the Southern Baptist Convention were “poised and ready” to follow in on the heels of our high-tech slaughter and cleanse (sorry, convert) the shocked and awed remnants of a “very evil and wicked religion.”
That Christian crusade didn’t turn out so well, did it? No matter, young Franklin merely shifted his gaze to more immediate prospects, namely the fertile crescent of unrest here at home over the uppity black man in the White House. According to little brother, Franklin sees no hope, either on bended knee or by gazing into the sun directly, in either the Democrat (sic) or Republican Party. Heartbroken, he laments that America’s last recourse is Gawd A’mighty hisself. Theocracy is the way to go, democracy, thy name is mud!
Let’s cut to the chase. Today, Franklin Graham is just another tea party darling, telling his faithful few to vote only for Christians determined to preserve the sanctity of public restrooms and closed borders. Had he lived a half-century earlier, no doubt young Franklin would have stood with George Wallace against integration. And he’d have been among the lily-white mob screaming their love of Christ at the Little Rock Nine.
So yes, little brother, let’s pray for revival and spiritual awakening. Let’s pray that we soon awaken from the delirium of our idolatrous notions that only we exceptional Americans are deserving of the blessings that come from being sentient beings on this backwater planet in a minor solar system in a remote corner of the Milky Way. Let’s pray that we soon get over ourselves.
Your bigger brother,
Jacques d’Nalgar
Hot Springs, Arkansas
God bless you!
Author
Dear editor:
After witnessing the sad, pathetic way that America’s political scene has been going recently, I am more convinced than ever that Rev. Franklin Graham’s message to America is exactly what is needed. He said that he has absolutely no confidence in either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party being able to turn America around in the right direction again.
Our problems are so numerous and so overwhelming that Rev. Graham is telling America that only the Almighty God of the Bible is powerful enough to make America great again. Unless America realizes that our whole future and all of our blessings are entirely dependent upon the gracious hand of God, we will unfortunately be destined to continue on our steady decline as a nation.
This past Thursday was the “National Day of Prayer” and from what I could tell, the people in general didn’t seem to be showing up in large numbers to pray for our nation. God is giving all of us a very plain message through Rev. Franklin Graham. God promises to heal and bless our land again, but it is a conditional kind of promise. We (Christians) must turn back to God in a very serious way if we expect God to take us seriously. God rightly expects to be the first priority in our lives.
Read 2 Chronicles 7:14 again. It begins with the world “if,” as I’m sure you already know. But knowing what it says and really doing what it says is the problem. How many Christians are sincerely trying to fulfill God’s conditions by genuinely humbling themselves before God in daily prayer, realizing afresh that without Christ, we can do nothing (John 15:5). Real prayer is the turning from ourselves to God. Are we seeking Him regularly? Are we really trying to turn from our sins so we can be closer to God again? These are the conditions that God presents to all Christians. God doesn’t want us to be halfhearted, lukewarm Christians! Where’s our fire? Do you really want God to show up with power? If so, we must do what He says!
Unfortunately, most people probably are still not concerned enough to make all this effort to pray fervently for our nation regularly. Most are probably just not desperate enough yet to pray like that! I wonder what God might have to do to get our attention?
Franklin Graham’s message is a plea for America to return to God. It should also be regarded as a warning.
“With all the talk of God blessing America in the wake of 9/11, the great missing factor was repentance. America must face the magnitude of its moral and spiritual descent, the degrading of its culture … the multitude of its idols … The idols of carnality, impurity, greed, materialism, vanity, self-obsession … and the altars covered with the blood of its innocent. Only in repentance can judgment be averted, and only in a true turning away from darkness to the light.” (Quotes from “The Harbinger” by Jonathan Cahn, Page 223.)
Lloyd Hoffman
Hot Springs
Author
You come across as the prophet of doom and gloom. You are obsessed with thoughts about the idols of carnality, impurity, greed, materialism, vanity, self-obsession … and the altars covered with the blood of its innocent. – your words.
You seem to believe that God is a being. A being that hears requests, rewarding goodness, punishing offenders, people and nations, the consequence believing in man-made religion. You begin with the concept of God as a person. If you remain there, God will never make sense to those who read your letters. I am not a theologian, but I have read the works of theologians and after I retired from the marketplace in 1976 I performed in Christian ministry or 20 years and was privileged to have personal discussions with John Stott,- R. C. Sproul and many other well-known theologians. Most theologians identify God as spirit but go further that God is much more than spirit, God is an indescribable mystery.
I believe prayer is not mouthing words but action and doing something. Prayer in action is feeding the hungry, clothing the needy, sheltering the homeless and caring for the sick and voting for the best qualified.
I wish for all of us humans to live well, and that includes you Lloyd. Time to stop worshiping the bible and follow the teachings of Jesus.
[…] for the extremely liberal Hillary or the old socialist Bernie! I still maintain, along with the Rev. Franklin Graham, that America’s greatest problem is that we have turned away from God. What shall we choose […]