• Contact
  • Return to IBSA
  • Advertise Through Us
  • Subscribe
  • E-Reader

IBSA News

Illinois Baptist State Newspaper

  • Quick Links
    • E-Reader
    • Subscribe
    • Advertise
    • Resource
  • News
    • IBSA
    • SBC
    • Culture
    • Illinois Churches
  • Stories
    • Church Planting
    • Mission
  • In Focus
  • Columns
    • Nate Adams
    • Eric Reed
    • Meredith Flynn
    • Table Talk
    • Reporter’s Notebook
    • Encouraging Words

‘We’re losing our country’

July 22, 2016 By Morgan Jackson

“The only hope for the United States of America is the Almighty God,” evangelist Franklin Graham told a crowd estimated at 6,000 in front of the Illinois State Capitol. “I have no hope in the Democratic Party, and I have no hope in the Republican Party,” Graham said, in a speech urging increased Christian involvement in the election process. He endorsed no candidate, but called on Christians to pray and vote.

The Tuesday, June 14 stop on his 50-state “Decision America” tour brought an enthusiastic crowd to the steps in front of the statue of Abraham Lincoln. Church busses were parked along the streets around the capitol, and the crowd enthusiastically sang “How Great Thou Art” and a number of other well-known gospel songs preceding the rally.

The eldest son of famed evangelist Billy Graham, Franklin brought greetings from his 97-year-old father, and then led prayer for the people affected by the mass shooting in Orlando the preceding Sunday. Using the tragedy as an example of our nation’s sinfulness, Graham said, “Our country is in trouble spiritually, racially, economically, and politically.”

Reading from Nehemiah 1:2-7, a passage illustrating the sinfulness and disobedience of the Israelite people, Graham emphasized how easily biblical and moral walls can come down. Just as Nehemiah fasted and prayed over the sins of his people, Graham urged the crowd to do the same thing. People in the crowd held hands as Graham prayed.

After interceding for local law enforcement and government leaders, Graham shared the Gospel and the path to salvation.

Moving on to focus on the current election, Graham was adamant that the easiest thing Christians can do to start enacting biblical change in our country is to vote – vote for candidates who stand for biblical principles and actually live them. When that choice is not immediately obvious, he encouraged that we pray for God to reveal who to vote for.

Stating that an estimated 20 to 30 million evangelical Christians did not vote in the last election, Graham offered a simple prompt: “Get involved. We’re losing our country, friends.” Christians must make their voices heard if America is to be preserved, he said. “For unless America turns back to God, repents from its sin, and experiences a spiritual revival, we will fail as a nation,” Graham said, “and I believe God honors leaders in high places who honor Him.”

Without telling the people who to vote for in the upcoming presidential election, Graham asked the crowd to make a pledge: to daily live out biblical principles, honor God in public, vote for political candidates if at all possible who uphold biblical standards, pray for our country, and lastly, consider if God so leads, to run for office.

“Our job as Christians is to make the impact of Christ felt in every [area] of life—religious, social, economic, political,” Graham said. “But we can only do [this] as we surrender ourselves completely to God, allowing Him to work through us… Let’s elect men and women to office who will lead this nation back to really being one nation under God.”

Graham’s next scheduled stop was Madison, Wisconsin, where some religious leaders were planning protests.

Share This Story

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Featured Columns

SBC25 Dallas

7 BOLOs for the Dallas Convention

Eric Reed

If the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Dallas June 10-11 proves to be a rowdy rodeo, we will “be on the lookout” for these issues. 1. The long arm of the Law Amendment. The open letter to SBC churches on a method to resurrect the Law Amendment virtually guarantees that someone will try it. Asked […]

Nate Adams

Between summits

Nate Adams

Those who know me or who have been reading this column for a while know that I am on a bit of a quest to climb as many of Colorado’s 14,000-foot mountains as possible. My oldest son, Caleb, and I have summited 37 “fourteeners” together, some with other family members. My wife, Beth, would be […]

Turning volunteers’ no’s into enthusiastic yes’s

Daniel Kim

In the third week of my internship, I was assigned to tear down chairs and tables after an event in our gym. Coming from a smaller church, I assumed I could handle it on my own—until I saw eight tables and 150 chairs that needed to be cleared. After three grueling hours, one thought kept […]

More Columns

SBC 2025: Back where we started

Illinois Baptist Staff

Dallas | Messengers to the 2025 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Dallas June 10-11 arrived at the probability that motions from the floor on women and the pastorate, financial transparency, and the fate of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission would dominate the discussion. In the business sessions, they did. But in the end, […]

News

Pressley reelected

SBC: New and familiar faces elected

Lisa Misner

Dallas | Clint Pressley was reelected to a second one-year term as president of the Southern Baptist Convention on the first day of the Annual Meeting in Dallas June 10. And his new first vice president is an evangelist familiar to many because of triumph over significant disabilities. One candidate elected without opposition was presented […]

Jennifer Lyell dies after brief illness

HLGU opposes mandate

More News Stories

Mission

“While we have not yet arrived at the destination we envision, I believe we are clearly headed in the right direction,” said IMB President Paul Chitwood to trustees in the May 22 plenary session. IMB Photo

IMB trustees appoint new missionaries, elect first woman chair

Leslie Caldwell

Richmond | International Mission Board trustees approved 65 fully funded missionaries for appointment during their May 21-22 meeting near Richmond, Virginia. The missionaries approved for appointment will be recognized during a Sending Celebration on Tuesday, June 10, at 10:08 a.m. CDT in conjunction with the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Dallas. The event will […]

Metro East church plant hosts multiplication meeting

Sallateeska baptism demonstrates SBC connections

More Mission Stories

  • News
  • Mission
  • In Focus
  • Columns

Copyright © 2025 · Website by Megaphone Designs