Franklin Graham Responds to Wheaton Meeting on Evangelicalism: 'We Shouldn't Get Sidetracked'

Days after some 50 evangelical leaders gathered at Wheaton College in Illinois to discuss the state of evangelicalism in the Trump era, prominent evangelist Franklin Graham decided to weigh in on "what is evangelical?"

As the meeting, which took place Monday and Tuesday, did not include Graham or several other conservative evangelical leaders who have engaged with the Trump administration, Graham took to his Facebook page to say:

"Recently some people have had discussions about the state of evangelicalism today, almost referring to it as a politically-related term. I can't speak for others, and I'm certainly not a spokesperson for any kind of evangelical movement, but I can tell you what I believe.

"I believe in God. I believe in His Son, Jesus Christ. And I believe in the Holy Spirit," Graham said. "I believe my God is three-in-one. I believe that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to this earth to take our sins. That He died on a cross and shed His blood for all the sins of mankind. I believe He took our sins to the grave, and I believe in the resurrection. God raised Him to life on the third day, and I believe He is coming again. This is God's Gospel."

Graham, who is president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, explained that Jesus commanded His followers to "go into all the world and proclaim the gospel."

"I believe without Christ, a soul will be lost, condemned to hell for all eternity. This should motivate all of us to share the Good News of God's love to a sick, dying, and compromising world," he stressed. "I am called and committed to preaching this message as long as I have breath or until the Lord returns."

While many today who don't know the true definition of evangelical increasingly view the term in a political context, Graham reminded Facebook users that the word's connotation is completely based on a theological meaning.

"Evangelism is simply reaching the lost with this message," he argued.

"We should be concerned about how we can reach more, and not get sidetracked.

Read more about evangelicalism on The Christian Post.