The Rev. Franklin Graham had a message for Rosie O'Donnell Thursday morning following her Christmas Day tweet telling House Speaker Paul Ryan to "go to hell" — nobody needs to go there.
"First of all, I'm glad to know that Rosie is a fundamentalist," Graham told Fox News' "Fox & Friends" program. "She believes in hell. So many people don't believe in hell. Jesus preached on hell. He taught us hell."
O'Donnell, in her tweet addressed to Ryan:
The day after, Graham told O'Donnell, through his Facebook page, that she did not "have the keys" to hell, and said he hopes one day she will put her "faith and trust in Jesus Christ and let him heal your heart, clean up your mouth, and forgive your sins."
"I wanted Rosie to know she didn't have the keys to hell," Graham said Thursday of his post. "Only Jesus Christ has those. And the bible says we are all sinners and the price for sin is death. It's hell...God will forgive us and cleanse us."
He further said he wants O'Donnell and everyone to know that they don't have to go to hell, if they trust and believe in God and Jesus Christ.
"Rosie, if you are watching, I hope you put your faith and trust in Christ because He will forgive your sins and heal your heart and can you have a new life and new beginning if you put your faith and trust in Him," Graham said.
Show co-host Brian Kilmeade told Graham that of course he was being "somewhat facetious," but he replied that "God can change a heart."
"As we look to the future, as we are going to the New Year, our country is in trouble, and I don't have any faith in our political system," said Graham. "I don't have any faith in the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. The only hope for our country is God, and there is so much political hate in Washington, it's broken."
He added that he encourages people to pray in the New Year for the president and those in authority, and he would say the same thing if Hillary Clinton had won the White House.
Graham, though, said he does appreciate that President Donald Trump is not a politician and that he has felt free to defend the Christian faith.
"He has prayer with his cabinet." said Graham. "When people are with him, he asks ministers to pray for him and to lead in prayer. He is not afraid to mention Jesus' name in public. These are all good things. And I appreciate that so much about him. But we need to pray for him because he is our president."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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