Franklin Graham: Spirit of Anti-Christ Is Everywhere

The Rev. Franklin Graham says just mentioning the name Jesus Christ in the public square is increasingly frowned upon and warns: "The spirit of anti-Christ is everywhere."

The Samaritan’s Purse founder and son of beloved evangelist Dr. Billy Graham voiced his dismay at the rapid secularization of society during a Tuesday chapel service at John Brown University, a private Christian university based in Siloam Springs, Ark.

Graham, who was banned from a Pentagon national day of Prayer event last year for expressing his opinions about Islam, told students: “Even in our government today, you can't pray to Jesus in many public meetings. You can pray to God or a god. You can mention Buddha or the name of Muhammad -- but you can't pray to Jesus Christ.”

The president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association criticized the recent memorial service for the Tucson shooting victims.

Unlike the memorials held after the Oklahoma City bombing and 9/11, he said, the Tucson program did not include an official prayer or mention of God. Graham noted gratefully, however, that President Barack Obama did quote scripture from the biblical book of Job.

The one religious dedication on the program came from a member of the Pascua Yaqui tribe, who delivered a peroration that among other things called out to “"Father Sky, where we get our masculine energy" and "Mother Earth, where we get our feminine energy.”

Earlier this week, Graham penned an op-ed in the Washington Times saying it was “a shame” that the University of Arizona had failed to put God anywhere on its program.

“How sad,” the Graham op-ed stated. “Father Sky and Mother Earth can do nothing to comfort Capt. Mark Kelly, who had been at the bedside of his wife, Rep. Giffords, wondering if she'd ever leave her bed. Or Mary Stoddard, who was only alive because her husband sacrificed his life by shielding her with his body. Or the family, classmates, teammates and friends of little Christina, whose life was snuffed out before she could play another season of Little League.”

Graham told the university students what was missing from the memorial: “There was no call for God to put His loving arms around those who were hurting,” said Graham. "Why did they leave him out? They scoff at the name of Jesus Christ."

Graham predicted the persecution of Christians will get worse in coming years, and he encouraged students to use the new media and the Internet to spread the gospel.

"I'm going to build an army of young people," Graham said, according to ChristianPost.com. "We're going to find out how do you infiltrate every language of the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and do it on the Internet."