"Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. "Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. - Matthew 6:1-4 (ESV)
The very first commandment God has for His followers is that they are to have no other god before Him. This sin is known as the sin of idolatry. Sometimes we view this as something obvious such as the story of the golden calf but idolatry is literally putting anything before God. Some people place their job or success before God. That is their idol. Some place the pursuit of fame or money in front of God and that is their idol. Does that mean we should not care about our career or income? Of course not. The problem is when we place it BEFORE God. The trickier idolatrous lifestyles are when we place something we dress up as pious to excuse our own idolatry. We confer righteousness where it does not belong so as to cover up our idol worship. We see this for example with many pastors who fall from grace. The stories of abuse from Bill Hybels or the arrogance of people like Tullian Tchividjian come to mind. People whose positions of power over the flock should have led to greater humility but in the end they worshipped the power. The more salient example in these end days is the idolatry of politics. Christo-politics is in fact the dominant form of idolatry today in America. Dominionism is the cornerstone of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) heresies. It is widely taught or even implied throughout the vast majority of churches, even those that try to fend off incursion from the teachings of the NAR.
There is no question that it is unbiblical. The bible makes it quite clear that we have but one citizenship and that is in heaven. God does not permit dual citizenship. Our God is a jealous God - see the first commandment for reference. The bible actually says we are to be pilgrims and sojourners on our journey through this land. Exiles on our pilgrimage back to our heavenly home. While there are many who merely dabble in this idolatry there are those who lead the cause. Many who falsely follow the heretical seven mountains mandate theology that says the church must conquer seven cultural mountains to facilitate the second coming of Christ. People like James Dobson and Stephen Strang come to mind. One of their unabashed leaders however is Franklin Graham. Living off of his family name and humanitarian work, Graham's real passion is his idolatrous love for anything the Republican Party tells him to love. In 2012 Christians had a near impossible choice for president. Either the uber-liberal Christian in Barack Obama or the member of a Satanic cult in Mitt Romney. Make no mistake about it; that is what Mormonism is. The Billy Graham Association even had Mormonism listed as a cult. Well that is until Mitt Romney ran for president. Then they promptly removed it from the list. When I say "they" I mean Franklin of course since he is the CEO of the association. With that cult business sanitized, they were free to endorse Romney for president and the idolatrous NAR church followed suit. As they would in 2016 when Donald Trump became the new idol and again in 2020.
That would have been problematic enough but what happened after this past election shone a spotlight on church idolatry. Donald Trump lost the election. Nearly every false prophet from the apostate church claimed God told them he would win but nevertheless he lost by over seven million votes. It was not even close. Donald Trump however claimed the election was stolen. He offered zero proof of such and was laughed out of court in over 60 lawsuits that followed. He lost in states run by some of his most ardent followers. Some of the judges that ruled against him were appointed by Trump! Even his own personal Attorney General said there was no widespread fraud. His own administration said this was the most secure election in the history of the United States. Undeterred, Trump went on a viral rampage ginning up his followers into a frenzy. That frenzy culminated on the now infamous insurrection on the Capital on January 6, 2021.
It was at this insurrection that one police officer lost their life. Another lost an eye. Another had spinal cord injuries. Others have committed suicide since the event. They were beaten with American flags while the mob screamed to hang Mike Pence and hunt down Nancy Pelosi. Do you know one of the first things they did however once they reached the well of the Senate? They stopped and prayed. They prayed to Jesus Christ to thank Him for the victories they had enjoyed thus far. These blood-stained animals raised their hands in worship to a God they clearly do not understand nor follow. Yet let us not lose sight of the fact that they were led to this point. They were taught to this point that their cause was righteous. While most of that falls at the feet of Donald Trump he did have help. One of his most ardent supporters who helped push the big lie that led to the tragedy of January 6, 2021 was indeed Franklin Graham. As such, one group has called for the dismissal of Graham from the two institutions he presides over. The above link is the latest attempt from Charisma News to defend him. Let us reason once more beloved:
"D. James Kennedy Ministries has released a statement in support of Franklin Graham in light of recent attacks against his moral character. The statement reads, Franklin Graham is an international evangelist and a renowned humanitarian whose organization, Samaritan's Purse, delivers aid across the world to people in need. He is also an outspoken defender of Biblical moral values at a time when the left is determined to purge competing voices from American public life. That is why D. James Kennedy Ministries is collecting signatures on our "I'm With Franklin!" open letter for delivery to our friends at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan's Purse. We want him, as well as the boards of BGEA and Samaritan's Purse to know that faithful believers in Jesus Christ love Franklin and stand with him. To further show its support, the ministry has created an online petition called "I'm With Franklin" to counter the petition calling for his removal from his positions at BGEA and Samaritan's Purse." - Charisma News
