{"id":320230,"date":"2024-10-13T15:37:09","date_gmt":"2024-10-13T20:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=320230"},"modified":"2024-10-11T22:45:31","modified_gmt":"2024-10-12T03:45:31","slug":"evangelicals-harris-pro-life-billy-graham-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/evangelicals-harris-pro-life-billy-graham-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Evangelicals for Harris’ uses footage of the late pro-life evangelist Billy Graham to bash Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The political action committee Evangelicals for Harris has come under fire for using sermon clips of the late Reverend Billy Graham in a million-dollar ad campaign excoriating former President Donald Trump. In the ad<\/a>, the group juxtaposes clips from Graham’s sermon on 2 Timothy 3:1-5<\/a>, preached in 1988, with clips of some of Trump’s most unflattering public remarks. The Scripture passage in questions reads:<\/p>\n

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.<\/span>\u00a0People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,<\/span>\u00a0<\/sup>without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,<\/span>\u00a0treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God\u2014<\/span>having a form of godliness\u00a0but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Billy Graham Evangelistic Association threatens legal action<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to The Christian Post<\/a>, “The ad marks the second time the PAC has attacked Trump using footage from Billy Graham’s sermons, prompting pushback from Billy Graham Evangelistic Association CEO Franklin Graham, Billy Graham’s son.”<\/p>\n

Now, the PAC may be facing legal action. The Blaze reports<\/a>, “After the ad’s release, lawyers for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association reportedly sent Evangelicals for Harris multiple letters, including a cease-and-desist notice. One letter, the Religious News Service\u00a0reported<\/a>, even threatened a lawsuit on the basis of copyright infringement. In a statement, the BGEA confirmed it shared its concerns with Evangelicals for Harris about ‘unauthorized, political use of BGEA\u2019s copyrighted video.'”<\/p>\n

That statement accurately noted that Rev. Graham had “relationships with 11 U.S. presidents” over the extensive course of his ministry, and “sought only to encourage them and to offer them the counsel of Christ, as revealed through God\u2019s Word. He never criticized presidents publicly and would undoubtedly refuse to let his sermons be used to do so, regardless of who is involved.”<\/p>\n

Evangelicals for Harris retorted that<\/a> “Franklin [Graham] is scared of our ads because we do not tell people what to do or think. We merely hold Trump\u2019s own words up to the light of Scripture, the necessity of repentance, and Biblical warnings against leaders exactly like Trump.”<\/p>\n

People of faith<\/strong><\/p>\n

The PAC claims that Harris is a “deeply committed and faithful Christian” and links to her “faith story” on its website, yet Harris has drawn the ire<\/a> of many people of faith by promoting the message that one can support the killing of preborn children while simultaneously holding to the tenets of Christianity. Very recently, she made this assertion<\/a> during an appearance on the popular “Call Her Daddy” podcast. But the message is not new. At the National Baptist Convention in 2022, Harris said<\/a>:<\/p>\n

As extremists work to take away the freedom of women to make decisions about their own bodies, faith leaders are taking a stand, knowing one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held religious beliefs to agree that a woman should have the ability to make decisions about her own body and not have her government tell her what to do, and she will choose, in consultation with her pastor or her priest, or a doctor and her loved ones, but the government should not be making that decision….<\/em><\/p>\n

To be clear, the “decision” about “her own body” is actually a decision to kill the body of her living preborn child growing within her, via induced abortion:<\/p>\n