Franklin Graham on Easter amid pandemic: ‘God never intended for man to have disease’
To hear him give a preview of it, the 20-minute Easter message Franklin Graham recorded in New York City on Tuesday — and that Fox News Channel will air on Sunday morning — will almost entirely be a timeless one, only faintly tinged by world events.
Easter is all about hope, the son of the prominent evangelist Billy Graham explains, and people are looking for hope right now.
But in a call to the Observer on Thursday evening from his home in Boone (in which he also talked about why he screens out would-be aid workers who identify as LGBT and his views on social distancing), Franklin Graham related the global coronavirus pandemic to Easter in a way viewers aren’t likely to hear during Fox News’ “America Together: Keeping the Faith” program.
Asked about a comment he made to Fox News personality Jeannine Pirro last Saturday contending that COVID-19 has spread “because of the sin that’s in the world,” the 67-year-old evangelist said:
“When God made man, he never intended for man to have disease. And to have death. He put us in a perfect world. The climate was perfect. The conditions were perfect. The food to eat. But man rebelled against God. And the Bible is very clear that, as a result of this rebellion against God, we live in what we call ‘a fallen world.’ So we have cancer. We have the coronavirus. We have diabetes. We have all of the other problems we have as a society. We have murder, we have thefts. ...
“But that wasn’t God’s intention. That’s why God sent his son Jesus Christ to take our sins. And Christ died for our sins. That’s why we celebrate Easter.
“So I see the coronavirus, I see the wars of this world, I see the economic problems — I see all these other things — as just a result of the fallen world in which we live. And that’s as a result of sin that came into the world and has infected the entire human race.”
‘Social distancing is going to help’
Graham said he “didn’t think much about” the disease, personally, until one of his staff members fell ill with COVID-19. (That individual recovered and is now “doing well, but ... it was a three-week ordeal,” Graham said.)
Now, the leader of the Charlotte-based Billy Graham Evangelistic Association is taking it seriously enough that, not only is he practicing social distancing, he’s also wearing a mask over his face when he’s in public. He is encouraging others to do the same, perhaps even after the threat from the virus has subsided.
“We want to be careful,” Graham said, “and we want to protect other people. And I think the social distancing is going to help. I think people wearing masks is a huge help. I believe we will be beyond this in the next month or so, and the country will open back up and we’ll be back going to work.
“But I think we as a nation will learn a lot coming through this. I think (in the future) social distancing and wearing masks during the flu season would be a huge help, because year before last we lost 80,000 Americans to the flu. So this is something that we need to be doing more of and not less of — especially during certain times of the year.”
(The CDC estimated that more than 900,000 people were hospitalized and more than 80,000 people died during the 2017-18 flu season.)
Graham stopped short, though, of condemning church leaders who are charging ahead with plans to defy state orders by holding church services on Sunday.
“I don’t want to criticize pastors for doing what they feel they should do,” Graham said. “I think all of us need to be careful right now, and try to help flatten this curve. Hopefully we can get the country open sooner. (But) if a pastor and his congregation felt that it was important to meet, I guess that’s their business.”
‘We do it in Jesus’ name’
While he didn’t wade too far into that particular controversy, he had no qualms about his feelings on another — the one involving Samaritan’s Purse, the Boone-based evangelical Christian organization that he leads.
Samaritan’s Purse recently worked with the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, the epicenter of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak, to set up a small field hospital in Central Park comprising 14 tents and 68 beds (including 10 ICU beds equipped with ventilators).
So far, Samaritan’s Purse says, the doctors, nurses and other medical personnel assembled have treated more than 80 patients.
But the endeavor also has come under fire due to a stance that Graham often comes under fire for: His opposition to persons in the LGBT community.
As with all of its volunteers, Samaritan’s Purse has required those wanting to help out in New York City to agree that “marriage is exclusively the union of one genetic male and one genetic female,” per its statement of faith.
“It’s a shame that the federal government has left New York with no other choice but to accept charity from bigots,” New York State Sen. Brad Hoylman (D) tweeted on March 31, the week the makeshift hospital was set up.
Graham responded with a statement saying “Our doors at the Emergency Field Hospital in the East Meadow are going to be open to all New Yorkers who need our help.”
(In related news, the New York Times this week reported that plans to turn an Episcopal church in New York City into a field hospital were shelved at least partly because its liberal-minded leaders disapproved of Samaritan’s Purse’s involvement.)
On Thursday evening, Graham elaborated on the anti-LGBT requirement regarding Samaritan’s Purse volunteers:
“All of our doctors and nurses and staff, (they’re) Christians,” he said. “We believe it’s very important that — as we serve people and help people — we do it in Jesus’ name. ...
“Of course, I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. That’s part of who we are. So we have a long list of things we want people to understand and agree with before we take them to work with us. I don’t want a person who is going to be on the job and drinks; that’s not a good witness. I don’t want a person who’s going to be using drugs to be part of our team. I don’t want someone who’s going to be swearing to be part of our team. I don’t want someone who is trying to pick up girls, and using this as an opportunity to do those kinds of things.
“So, we try to screen the people that work with us. And we want men and women who believe the way we do and have the same core values that we have.”
Graham said he would observe Easter at home in Boone with his wife, Jane, and some of their grandchildren.
His Easter message will air during a block of programming on Fox News Channel that airs between 10 a.m. and noon Sunday.
