Written before the SCOTUS ruling was announced.
Obama 'Is Leading This Nation on a Sinful Course, and God Will Judge Him'
By Michael W. Chapman | June 25, 2015 | 6:32 PM EDT
CNS News
The "Gay Pride" event at the White House on Wednesday, along with the many pro-homosexual actions taken by the Obama administration, indicates the "moral decline we are seeing manifest daily," said evangelist Franklin Graham, who added that President Barack Obama is leading America "on a sinful course, and God will judge him and us as a nation if we don't repent."
"President Barack Obama was right about one thing in the speech he gave at a Gay Pride event he hosted in the White House yesterday," said Rev. Franklin Graham in a June 25 post on Facebook. "He said, 'There has been an incredible shift in attitudes across the country.'"
"That’s true—but it is definitely not a shift for the good of America," said the reverend. "The shift in attitudes he refers to is the moral decline we are seeing manifest daily around us."
"Accepting wrong as right—accepting sin as something to be proud of. Yes, that’s definitely a shift," said Rev. Graham, son of world-renowned evangelist Billy Graham. "Should we be surprised that he thanked the LGBT community for all that they had helped him accomplish during his time as president? He said, 'A lot of what we’ve accomplished over these last six and a half years has been because of you.' He also noted there were two states where gay marriage was legal when he took office, but now there are 37."
"The President is leading this nation on a sinful course, and God will judge him and us as a nation if we don’t repent," said Rev. Graham.
At Wednesday's homosexual "pride" event at the White House, hosted by President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, the president said, "Together we've been able to do more to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans than at any time in our history."
Obama listed numerous pro-homosexual actions taken by his administration, including the ending of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," new rules for treatment of LGBT pateints at hospitals that accept Medicare and Medicaid, and he noted the pending Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage.
Regardless of how the Supreme Court rules, the president said, "one thing's undeniable. There has been this incredible shift in attitudes across the country."
As for transgenders, Obama said, "We've got brave folks coming out in the highest levels of business, government and sports, and in Hollywood. We're seeing television shows portraying transgender characters and families. And the power of example is slowly but surely changing people's hearts."
Obama also praised the huge crowd of LGBT people attending the White House "pride" event, reminding "the folks in this room" that they are "heroes" to young boys and girls who are "struggling with their own identity."
Rev. Franklin Graham, 62, is the president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and he also runs the international Christian relief group Samaritan's Purse. He is married and has five children and resides in Boone, N.C.
What he said
after the SCOTUS decision on homosexual marriage:
Rev. Graham on Gay Marriage Ruling: 'I Pray God Will Spare America From His Judgment'
By Michael W. Chapman | June 26, 2015 | 4:53 PM EDT
CNS News
In reaction to the Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling declaring homosexual marriage a right, evangelical leader Rev. Franklin Graham said no "manmade court" could redefine what was established by God, and added that he will pray to God to "spare America from His judgment" although there apparently are fewer and fewer reasons to delay chastisement.
"The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled today that same-sex marriage is legal in all 50 states," said Rev. Graham in a June 26 post on Facebook. "With all due respect to the court, it did not define marriage, and therefore is not entitled to re-define it."
The reverend continued, "Long before our government came into existence, marriage was created by the One who created man and woman—Almighty God—and His decisions are not subject to review or revision by any manmade court. God is clear about the definition of marriage in His Holy Word: 'Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh' (Genesis 2:24)."
"I pray God will spare America from His judgment, though, by our actions as a nation, we give Him less and less reason to do so," said the reverend.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court said that under the 14th Amendment same-sex couples had a right to marry and their marriages had to be recognized in all the states. The majority opinion was written by the liberals on the court: Anthony Kennedy, Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonya Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan. The four conservatives on the court dissented: Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, John Roberts and Samuel Alito.
"The majority's decision is an act of will, not legal judgment," said Roberts in his dissenting opinion. "The right it announces has no basis in the Constitution or this Court's precedent. Just who do we think we are?"
In his dissent, Justice Alito warned that the decision to allow homosexual marriage will result in persecution of those who support the tradition that marriage is only between one man and one woman. The court's ruling, he said, "will be used to villify Americans who are unwilling to assent to the new orthodoxy.
"I assume that those who cling to old beliefs will be able to whisper their thoughts in the recesses of their homes, but if they repeat those views in public, they will risk being labeled as bigots and treated as such by governments, employers, and schools," said Justice Alito.
