Franklin Graham ahead of national prayer march: US is 'crumbling,' God is only hope
By Brandon Showalter, CP Reporter
Saturday, September 19, 2020
The Rev. Franklin Graham speaks during Franklin Graham's "Decision America" California tour at the Stanislaus County Fairgrounds on May 29, 2018, in Turlock, California. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
As he prepares to lead a prayer march in Washington, D.C., next week, evangelist Franklin Graham said the dire problems besetting the country are ones only God can solve, and time is short.
In a phone interview with The Christian Post on Thursday about Prayer March 2020 that he will oversee next Saturday on the National Mall, Graham explained that his heart behind calling the country to prayer is in part because of the deep divisions over many issues. These divides have been compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic and widespread loss of jobs due to state lockdowns and enforced closure of businesses.
"I think there's kind of a boiling point here with many people. We have seen injustice on our streets and some of our communities. The frustration that people aren't heard, that people are marginalized. It seems that all of this is boiling at the same time," he said, noting that these tensions are accentuated in an election year where politics often exploit the issues.
Yet no one can solve the spiritual darkness besetting America, he emphasized.
"Republicans cannot fix it; Democrats cannot fix it. Only God can," Graham asserted.
God and His ways have been removed from government, schools, and in society more broadly when the country needs more, not less of Him, he said, adding that the United States is "crumbling."
"I don't see our nation able to go much further unless we repent and call upon the name of Almighty God," he said.
Asked if he believes that a remnant of praying people exists in the nation and if he has hope for a Great Awakening, the evangelist replied that it's hard to say.
"For many in the church today, they're comfortable and a lot of our pastors don't want to rock the boat," Graham said. Many will not speak out on hot-button social issues, insisting such topics are "political" when they are moral matters where churches must be bold.
Yet because they have ignored such great sin and the responsibility to speak against it, he doesn't know if there will be revival.
Thousands are expected to attend the march, with participants traveling from every state to gather together in the nation's capital.
The upcoming march is solely about prayer and calling upon God, Graham stressed.
"I don't have entertainment; I don't have music. We are coming to pray, to pray for our country, our leaders. And by starting at one end of the Mall and going to the other it's an opportunity for us to walk together and to show unity," he said.
Just as the freedom marches in the civil rights era during the 1960s were a demonstration of unity, this is an opportunity for the Church to come together, he added.
"By coming [to the march] we are participating in something that is bigger than us, and we are going directly to the throne of grace, calling upon the name of God, asking for His favor, His help, and I hope that these Christian voices, these prayers will shake the city. And not just shake the city but shake the country. And it can happen."
The evangelist went on to explain that though he does not have any hard proof of this, he believes that many Americans are quietly reevaluating what they believe and prioritize, spiritually speaking, in light of the chaotic events of 2020.
"I just sense there is something moving in our country. I don't believe that our country is going to be spared from God's judgment. We are not a Christian nation. We are a secular nation and the secularists are wanting to strip God out of everything," he said.
"Maybe this election could possibly slow that down," he added, "but we know there's going to be a one-world system one day. We know that people aren't going to be able to buy, sell, or trade unless they have the mark of the Antichrist. We know that there will be a great war."
He added: "We see God's judgment coming against this earth for the rejection of His Son and we see the Lord Jesus Christ coming back triumphant to establish a new Heaven and a new Earth. We know how the last chapters of history are written."
"I think we're kind of in that period of time on God's clock where some of these things might just be beginning to unfold. To say that we're not going to be able to reset God's clock, in the sense where He's going to change His mind, no it's written. But He might delay just a little bit."
"I've got 12 grandchildren and four children. And I know that the America that I grew up in they'll not have an opportunity or chance to see unless God intervenes," he concluded.
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