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Samaritan's Purse, headed by evangelist Franklin Graham, says it will help with expenses for persecuted Oregon bakers, Aaron and Melissa Klein.
The Kleins lost their baking business in the Portland suburb of Gresham, after they refused to bake a wedding cake for a lesbian couple in 2013.
The couple filed a complaint with the state of Oregon, which ruled the Kleins discriminated against the couple.
An administrative law judge fined them $135,000 on Friday and ordered them to pay the couple for "emotional, mental and physical suffering."
The Kleins also became targets for gay activists, who protested outside the Sweet Cakes shop and harassed vendors who came to supply the Kleins' business, which had been thriving.
"Basically, what has happened is that I have been stripped of my religious freedom. I cannot speak freely," Aaron Klein told Decision magazine.
"Now, all of a sudden, if you're in business as a Christian, you have no recourse. I have been told by some people that if you want to be a Christian and stick to your convictions, you should not be opening a public business," he said.
Conservative radio host Erick Erickson sent a link to the website Go Fund Me, where an account had been set up to help the Kleins. But Erickson sent out a message saying "Go Fund Me has taken down the account and cancelled the fundraiser."
Samaritan's Purse took up the cause. President Franklin Graham said, "They (the Kleins) have taken a stand for the Word of God, and they should not have to stand alone."
He added, "Please pray for Aaron and Melissa, and pray for our nation. When our judges are punishing Christians for practicing what they believe, that's persecution, plain and simple."
Franklin Graham is warning that a storm of Islamic persecution is coming against Christians in the West.
The founder of Samaritan's Purse wrote a message on Facebook after ISIS terrorists beheaded 21 Christians in Libya.
Graham asks why there hasn't been global condemnation from Muslim leaders.
"Can you imagine the outcry if 21 Muslims had been beheaded by Christians?" he wrote.
The Islamic terrorists released a video of their atrocity against the Christians, with a headline that read: "A Message Signed with Blood to the Nation of the Cross."
Graham says, "We'd better take this warning seriously as these acts of terror will only spread throughout Europe and the United States.... the storm is coming."
Other Christian leaders are also speaking out, saying the world must stand up to repudiate the ISIS massacre and the terrorist targeting of Christians.
Dr. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, is specifically calling out President Barack Obama to do more.
"We call upon the president of the United States of America and Congress to specifically address the persecution of Christians by ISIS, Islamic totalitarianism and regimes in the Middle East, and call upon the United Nations to convene a summit on Christian persecution around the world," Rodriguez stated in a press release.
He's also calling for a moment of silence Sunday to honor the beheaded Egyptian Christians and their grieving families.
Franklin Graham Takes Hard Stand Against This Muslim Prayer
Franklin Graham slammed the National Cathedral in Washington for allowing a Muslim prayer service in the Christian house of worship. (CharismaNews file)
Franklin Graham, who is widely respected as the heir-apparent to his father, iconic evangelist Billy Graham, isn't shy about speaking out for God's truth. So when he saw Christians compromise their principles to reach out to false religions in the name of ecumenicalism, it was no surprise that it drew a harsh response.
Graham this week slammed the National Cathedral in Washington for allowing Muslims to hold their first prayer service there last Friday.
"It's sad to see a church open its doors to the worship of anything other than the One True God of the Bible who sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to earth to save us from our sins," said Graham, head of the Samaritan's Purse humanitarian aid ministry.
The younger Graham took to Facebook and spoke to the news media to register his extreme displeasure that a Christian cathedral—long a Washington landmark—would willingly be handed over to Muslims by the Cathedral's Episcopalian leadership.
Muslims, in separate groups of men and women, took off their shoes, spread their prayer rugs facing east toward Mecca, turning their backs on the crucifix in front of the chapel, knelt and prayed.
"Jesus was clear when He said, 'I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me,'" (John 14:6) Graham said in a Facebook post.
Of the many comments on his post, Carol Layaog wrote, "The Lord told us these things must be, in the last days they will call evil good and good they will call evil! That doesn't make it any less heartbreaking! 'I came to them and they knew me not!'"
Some suggested that Christians and Muslims serve the same God. Graham disagreed strongly—as did Christine Weick, 50, from Michigan, who rose in the midst of the service and shouted, "Jesus Christ died on that cross. He is the reason we are to worship only Him. Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. We have ... allowed you your mosques in this country. Why don't you worship in your mosques and leave our churches alone? We are a country founded on Christian principles."
She was escorted from the cathedral and turned over to police, who took her outside and let her go without charges.
Noah, the latest Hollywood epic, splashed across the big screen last month, revealing a flood of compromise. Described as a “biblically inspired fantasy film,” reviewers bragged that “despite its compromises … it retains a sense of religious awe.” But the great compromise cannot drown the truth. To use the phrase biblically inspired and the term fantasy in the same thought adulterates a historic record.
Some say the world is not held responsible for misinterpreting God’s Word, but the Bible does not agree, as we clearly see in the story of Noah: “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ... And He was grieved in His heart. ... And God said to Noah, ‘The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth'” (Gen. 6:5-6, 13).
God not only holds His followers to account, but all of mankind. The human race continues gulping the bitter water in the sea of immorality, rejecting truth and trying to silence God’s people.
Because of pressure from the LGBT community, A&E tried to suppress Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty fame by suspending him from his television series because of his biblically based convictions. The Robertson family was willing to walk away from their wildly successful reality show rather than compromise their beliefs.
Facing the possibility of losing the Robertsons—and millions of viewers—the network reinstated the patriarch star. The family-oriented Cracker Barrel restaurant and country store that had pulled Duck Dynasty products from its shelves in the midst of the uproar also had to back up and restock the Duck Dynasty merchandise, issuing an apology for offending a large percentage of its clientele.
In both cases, the LGBT lost. While many in the liberal and progressive media have deceived the public into thinking that this group makes up a large portion of our nation’s population, surveys support the fact that this small but boisterous movement consists of less than 2 percent of society.
On the heels of these upheavals, it was particularly jolting when those who call themselves Christians departed from the clarity of God’s Word, as the leadership of World Vision U.S. did in March when they announced their employment of “gay Christians in legal same-sex marriages.”
The very day World Vision announced its great compromise on a basic truth of Scripture—that a homosexual lifestyle is sin and that marriage is between one man and one woman—the Supreme Court began hearings to determine if the Green family, owners of Hobby Lobby, should be required to provide life-terminating drugs and devices in their employee health care plan, contrary to the Christian family’s spiritual convictions.
The contrast was stunning. While the Christian-owned business stood up against a federal government bent on forcing them to compromise the right to life, a Christian charity compromised the sacredness of marriage, stating that “it’s the right thing to do for unity within the church.” Forty-eight hours after World Vision’s announcement, the organization was forced to reverse its epic decision after a flooding backlash from offended donors.
The Bible gives strong warning to those who tamper with God’s truth: “From among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away [followers] after themselves” (Acts 20:30).
The charity’s original announcement was personally shocking to me because World Vision and Samaritan’s Purse were founded by the same man, my mentor and dear friend, the late Dr. Bob Pierce. Much of my adult life has been guided by something he often said: “I want my heart to be broken by the things that break the heart of God.” I believe the heart of God was broken by the decision of the board of directors of World Vision. This is no small matter. I was as grieved by it as I have been by anything in my lifetime of ministry, because the heart of World Vision was revealed—a disregard for biblical truth.
There was a day when World Vision’s board was made up of people who believed in and stood on God’s Word, but in making this decision, they completely disregarded Scripture and made a decision based on what they perceived as public acceptance and popularity.
I do rejoice that the board of directors reversed its decision, but I pray that the fallout will cause a depth of soul-searching. True followers of Jesus Christ, whose salvation is based entirely upon God’s Word, cannot endorse same-sex marriage, regardless of what our president, the Congress, the Supreme Court, the media or the latest Gallup poll says about the matter.
This moral issue has been settled by God Himself and is not subject to man-made revisions or modifications. In the end, I would rather be on the wrong side of public opinion than on the wrong side of almighty God, who established the standard of living for the world He created. Marriage is a biblically moral issue, not a political or theological one.
This debate is ultimately about something much more important than the question of same-sex marriage. It is about the great compromise, calling into question the authority of Scripture. If Christians do not agree concerning the authority of Scripture, we will eventually disagree about all sorts of things.
The church is tied up in the red tape of compromise that is being played out in rewriting the Bible and preaching a gospel emphasizing the works of mankind.
The Bible says, “Now the Spirit [of God] expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy” (1 Tim. 4:1-2).
I agree with the late Adrian Rogers, who said, “It is better to be divided by truth than to be united in error. It is better to stand alone with the truth than to be wrong with a multitude.”
It is time for the discussion of unity within the church to come into alignment with God’s Word on the issue of marriage. When there is division within the church, it is because individuals are against Christ Himself, for He is the head of His church, made up of the redeemed who are called to be one with Christ.
The church is on dangerous ground when it departs from the teaching of Christ and attempts to redefine His commands and compromise His truth. There are many things in Scripture that Christians disagree on, but the Bible is crystal clear about the sanctity of life and marriage. It is also clear that homosexuality is spelled out as sin—there are no ifs, ands or buts.
The only way the church can be unified with one another is to be in unity with Jesus Christ, unified in “faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God ... to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be ... tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ” (Eph. 4:13-15).
Compromise is dangerous territory for the Christian—mixing a little truth with a lot of error, wavering between right and wrong. Jesus said, “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. ... Therefore ... repent” (Rev. 3:15-16, 19). I pray that the church will return to its calling to stand on God’s principles—not wavering, but steadfast, discerning the evil times in which we live. Charles Spurgeon once said, “Discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong. It is knowing the difference between right and almost right.”
My father has always said, “From compromise to deceit is a small step.” Let’s not compromise by seeing how close we can get to right; let’s stand on God’s promise to walk so close to Him that almost right becomes evil in our sight.
“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).
For anyone reading this article, if you belong to the LGBT community, you may question whether God loves you and will forgive you. The answer is yes. I want to assure you from His own Word that God is eager to forgive all sinners, including the one penning this article.
The Bible says, “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins. ... State your case, that you may be acquitted” (Is. 43:25-26). I am a great sinner who has received forgiveness by a great Savior—the Lord Jesus Christ. He went to the cross and shed His blood to cover our sin. He extends forgiveness to all who will call on His Name, turn from sin, believe in Him, follow Him as Master and Lord, and live in obedience according to His Word. My friend, God will heal your heart and give you peace the world cannot offer. Peace of mind and soul can be yours today.
Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham, is the president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse.
Click here to read the original article at BillyGraham.org.
Love For His People Editor's Note: I highly respect and appreciate Franklin Graham. Having worked at Samaritan's Purse for several years during the Christmas Shoebox time, I saw what the ministry does, as one of their major specific outreaches. It is amazing, and Franklin is such a great and honest leader.
Thank you Franklin for your commitment to share the truth, no matter what the backlash brings. We stand with you in your proclamations and witness of the truth.
Julie Joyner, the wife of Rick Joyner (MorningStar Ministries), is a woman of God.
My wife Laurie and I have known her since our moving to Charlotte in 1994. She was very helpful in connecting us with Harry & Louise Bizell of Lamb's Chapel, as Mahesh, Bonnie Chavda and I looked for a place to move All Nations Church from Ft. Lauderdale to Charlotte.
And I ended up having my office for Mahesh Chavda Ministries/All Nations Church in the small farm house they had formerly lived in. In fact, the same black stove pipe fireplace in the middle of the room by my desk was there in the same place they had occupied when first moving to Charlotte too. Nice.
Julie Joyner - MorningStar
Many of you may know her for her beautiful, soft music - shared through her voice and on her guitar. We personally have both her Christmas CD, Christmas Memories, and her other music CD. Morning Light. (You can buy both at the MorningStar webstore link below.)
Morning Light - order link below to MorningStar webstore
Following are photos from a "Night With Julie Joyner" on April 3, 2014 during the MorningStar "50+Joshua & Caleb Generation Gathering". (Her 14 songs she sang can be found on the Love For His People YouTube channel.)
What you may not know about Julie is her passion for making Christmas Child shoeboxes for Franklin Graham's ministry Samaritan's Purse. She has been doing this for years. Now she has found a way to raise money to pay for the tens of thousands of boxes she sees done on an annual basis, by having a BAZAAR (2nd hand store) in the Grand Ballroom of the MorningStar Ministries main building. And just recently, when I first walked into the room to see for myself, there she was, manning the cash register!
Julie at the cash register helping some buyers.
Julie's heart burns with passion to bless the children of the world with a shoebox each Christmas. I hope you support her in this mission - both through the BAZAAR resale shop, the upcoming boutique she will open on Main Street for "upscale" clothing for women (and maybe the guys too??!!) and when the time comes to put those shoeboxes together for the kids.
O Come, O Come Emmanuel, Do you Hear What I Hear?, What Child is This?,Joy to the World,Entre Le Boeuf Et L'ane Gris, The Little Drummer Boy,O Come All Ye Faithful, O Holy Night, Away In A Manger and Silent Night,Angels we Have Heard on High, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.
Emmanuel:
Salvation is Come, What a Night, You Did Not Know Christmas is for Me, Angels From the Realms of Glory, Freedom Is Born Today, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, Christ Is Born for All, A Virgin Most Pure, Follow the Star, Emmanuel
Christian charity World Vision has reversed its policy change on hiring applicants in same-sex marriage, just days after announcing they would accept them.
Organization board leaders said in a letter to supporters Wednesday that they had made a mistake by changing its policy.
"We are brokenhearted over the pain and confusion we have caused many of our friends who saw this decision as a reversal of our strong commitment to biblical authority," the board said in the letter.
Church leaders were quick to denounce the charity's decision to hire applicants in same-sex marriages. World Vision President Richard Stearns had said the move was not "symbolic not of compromise but of [Christian] unity."
But faith leaders like Franklin Graham, president and CEO of Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, dismissed Stearn's reasoning.
"World Vision maintains their decision is based on unifying the church -- which I find offensive -- as if supporting sin and sinful behavior can unite the Church," Franklin wrote on his Facebook page.
In addition, the Assemblies of God had called for its members to shift their support to other charities.
Stearns said the board of the non-profit had been praying about the decision for years. But in the letter to supporters Wednesday leaders admitted they had not sought enough counsel from their Christian partners.
"As a result, we made a change to our conduct policy that was not consistent with our Statement of Faith and our commitment to the sanctity of marriage," they said.
"While World Vision U.S. stands firmly on the biblical view of marriage, we strongly affirm that all people, regardless of their sexual orientation, are created by God and are to be loved and treated with dignity and respect," they said.
A fifth of the World Vision funding comes from the federal government.
Shortly after I broke the news on my radio broadcast and on social media, Christianity Today confirmed the report: World Vision has decided to embrace homosexual “marriage” among its employees and to recognize practicing homosexual employees who profess faith in Jesus as true Christians.
This is a betrayal of the gospel, a betrayal of the Lord, a betrayal of the family and a betrayal of the countless thousands of Christians who have put their trust in World Vision as a legitimate Christian organization.
In no way does it contribute to “building a better world for children”—one of the fundamental goals of World Vision. In fact, it does the opposite.
Last June, World Vision U.S President Richard Stearns stated, “No one ever died of gay marriage,” thereby trivializing the importance of the issue, as if it contrasted with the organization’s mission of providing tangible relief to suffering humanity.
Today, he went much further, claiming that this radical, unbiblical move is actually a “very narrow policy change” that should be viewed as “symbolic not of compromise but of [Christian] unity.”
What? World Vision redefines the nature of marriage—the most fundamental institution of society, ordained by God in Genesis 2 as the lifelong union of a man and a woman and reaffirmed by Jesus as such in Matthew 19—and ignores the explicit and repeated condemnation of homosexual practice throughout the Scriptures and then claims it is a “very narrow policy change”?
What? World Vision mocks the sentiments, convictions and sensibilities of countless thousands of its Christian constituents, rejects the historic testimony of virtually all branches of Christianity, decides to take a terribly controversial stand on the most socially divisive issue of the day, and then claims that this is “symbolic not of compromise but of [Christian] unity”?
With all respect to the massive amount of good that Richard Stearns and World Vision have done in helping the poor and needy for many years now, his words strain Christian credulity.
Stearns states, “We’re not caving to some kind of pressure. We’re not on some slippery slope. There is no lawsuit threatening us. There is no employee group lobbying us. This is not us compromising. It is us deferring to the authority of churches and denominations on theological issues. We’re an operational arm of the global church, we’re not a theological arm of the church.”
No slippery slope? No compromise? By sanctioning homosexual relationships, World Vision is “deferring to the authority of churches and denominations on theological issues”?
Worst of all, World Vision did not make this decision under duress or pressure, making their decision all the more inexcusable.
Stearns says, “It’s been heartbreaking to watch this issue rip through the church. It’s tearing churches apart, tearing denominations apart, tearing Christian colleges apart, and even tearing families apart. Our board felt we cannot jump into the fight on one side or another on this issue. We’ve got to focus on our mission. We are determined to find unity in our diversity.”
Is this not the height of self-deception? Does World Vision not realize that they have just exponentially increased that “tearing apart” of believers? Do they actually think that this divisive, destructive policy change will unite Christians around serving the poor? Does their board, which overwhelmingly approved the policy, actually feel that they have not “jump[ed] into the fight on one side or another on this issue”? It would be like saying, “Because politics can be so divisive and we don’t want to get into the fight, we’ll just vote for the Democrats.”
Anonymous sources informed me about this coming change two weeks ago, telling me how the convictions of committed Christians within World Vision were scorned when the new policy was announced. This is the way to find “unity in our diversity”? (One family activist suggested to me that the organization be renamed World DiVision.)
The fact is that World Vision claims to be a Christian organization, with phrases like this on its website: “World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization. ... Motivated by our faith in Jesus Christ ... ” As Stearns reiterates, “World Vision is committed to our Christian identity. We are absolutely resolute about every employee being followers of Jesus Christ. We are not wavering on that.”
Well, if claiming that two men can marry and their sexual acts be holy in God’s sight is not wavering, then words have no meaning.
That’s why listeners to my radio show who supported World Vision called in today to express their shock, feeling deeply betrayed.
One caller said that he and his wife recently decided to sponsor a child through World Vision after being introduced to them at a Christian concert in New York City that featured Casting Crowns. Now he was flabbergasted to hear that they were recognizing “gay Christianity” and same-sex marriage among their employees.
According to the World Vision website, their first core value is “We Are Christian,” even stating, “We proclaim together, ‘Jesus lived, died, and rose again. Jesus is Lord.’ We desire him to be central in our individual and corporate life.”
Let it be stated plainly to the leadership and board of directors of World Vision U.S.: The Lord Jesus is no longer central in the corporate life of your organization. You have denied His lordship by your actions.
Remarkably, Stearns claims that World Vision’s moral standards have not changed, explaining that they still require “abstinence outside of marriage, and fidelity within marriage” for their employees. So, just redefine your terms, and poof! Sin disappears.
This would be similar to saying that World Vision still requires sexual purity, except that fornication is now considered pure, or that they still require marital fidelity, except that adultery is now considered fidelity.
The fact is that no matter how much two men or two women love each other, their union is not marriage in God’s sight—nor will it ever be—and their sexual relations, even if totally monogamous, remain sinful in his eyes.
Now is the time for every church that works with World Vision, every Christian musician and artist that partners with World Vision, and every believer that supports World Vision to inform them that they have made a terrible choice and that they will no longer have your support.
And then, without missing a beat, partner together with other fine Christian, humanitarian organizations like Samaritan’s Purse or Food for the Hungry, and continue your compassionate giving.
And for every child who will fall through the cracks because of World Vision’s betrayal of its Christian principles, I say to Richard Stearns and those who made this decision together: You will have to answer to God.
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