Franklin Graham Bashes Obama's Mosque Visit: 'Islam Cannot Save Anyone'

The Rev. Franklin Graham Wednesday lashed out at President Barack Obama's visit to a mosque, saying on Facebook that "the foundations of this nation have nothing to do with Islam."

They have "everything to do with the Church of Jesus Christ," said Graham, head of both the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and the Samaritan's Purse global charity. "Islam cannot save anyone from hell or open the gates of heaven.

"Only One can do that: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who paid the debt of sin for all mankind by giving His life as a sacrifice on Calvary's cross — where he suffered and died for our sins, took our sins to the grave, and on the third day, God raised Him triumphantly to life."

President Obama visited the mosque, located outside Baltimore, in a deliberate rebuke to Republicans, whom White House aides say have stoked Islamophobia and bigotry following terror attacks inspired by the Islamic State around the world.

"When politicians insult Muslims, when a mosque is vandalized, or a kid bullied, that doesn't make us safer," Obama said. "That's not telling it like it is.

"It's just wrong. It diminishes us in the eyes of the world," the president added. "It makes it harder to achieve our goals. And it betrays who we are as a country."

But Graham said that Jesus Christ is "alive today. Muhammad is dead.

"I worship a risen Lord," he added. "Islam can't compete with that."

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