Celebrated evangelical pastor Franklin Graham has declared that the best choice for President in Tuesday’s elections “isn’t difficult to figure out if you are a Christian,” in evident reference to Republican candidate Donald Trump.
“There’s two different pictures and two different visions for America,” Graham said on Monday. “The Democratic Party has a vision, Hillary Clinton has a vision, Donald Trump has a totally different vision for this nation with the Republican Party. This isn’t difficult to figure out if you are a Christian.”
The Rev Graham, son of renowned evangelist Billy Graham, acknowledged that for many, voting for Trump isn’t easy, while insisting that it is nonetheless the better choice and that he is a “changed man.”
“You may have to hold your nose and vote,” Graham said. “I have people that say, ‘Well, I don’t like Donald Trump. I don’t like what he says.’ Well, I don’t like what he said, either. I promise I don’t like it. But those are things that he said 11 years ago, not something that he said today.”
“I think Donald Trump has changed,” Graham added. “I think God is working on his heart and in his life. But people have to make up their own mind.”
In a Facebook post some weeks ago, Graham stated that “the difference between the candidates is night and day.”
“Some candidates have entire political ads talking about how they spent their career fighting for the rights of children,” he said. “Yet they spent their entire career fighting against the rights of unborn children!”
Graham has said that while Trump’s comments might be “crude,” Hillary Clinton’s progressive agenda is “godless” and cannot be defended.
On Saturday, Graham also posted remarks on Facebook, referencing the “depth of corruption” in the Washington politics manifested by recent Wikileaks revelations.
“WikiLeaks is giving us a much clearer picture of the depth of the corruption that is thriving in our nation’s capital,” Graham wrote, calling it “a swamp that needs to be drained.”
While quick to note that Washington DC corruption is widespread “not just in one party,” his comments were triggered specifically by revelations regarding members of Hillary Clinton’s campaign team.
“Our political system is broken, and it will take strong, tough leadership to begin fixing some of this,” Graham said.
Rev. Graham urged all Christians not to sit the election out, but to exercise their right and duty to vote, appealing to the example of Saint Paul as a Roman citizen.
“We are citizens of the United States of America, and we need to exercise our rights by voting. We’ve got to let the Christian voice be heard at the ballot box before it’s too late,” he said.
Follow Thomas D. Williams on Twitter Follow @tdwilliamsrome
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