Americas Future
in the balance
How the canditates align with
biblical and moral issues
Pray and vote but
put your Hope in God
A Message from Franklin Graham
Dear Friend,
In just a few weeks, our nation will hold one of the most consequential elections in decades. Voters will go to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 5, to cast their ballots for the next president of the United States, as well as for many crucial congressional, state and local offices.
The future of our nation is at stake. America has drifted far from the Biblical values that once stood as our rock-solid foundation. In so many ways, we have turned our back on God, and the results have been devastating.
Progressive, liberal thought and activism have so contaminated the mainstream of American life and culture that once-unthinkable abominations such as same-sex marriage, abortion on demand and transgender advocacy have become dogma in one major party’s platform.
Our dangerous plight reminds me of Isaiah’s warning to apostate Israel, which had abandoned allegiance to Almighty God and instead adopted the godless culture of surrounding nations. “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20).
Be warned, if we continue down this rebellious path, our nation will reap the bitter fruit of blatant immorality that shakes its fist in the face of God. Remember, we reap what we sow, more than we sow, later than we sow. “Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction” (Galatians 6:8, NIV).
In this special 2024 election issue of Decision, we have carefully examined and outlined the positions of the presidential candidates and their parties on key moral issues. We also highlight the difference in the platforms of both political parties. Additionally, we examine the critical congressional and gubernatorial races, along with pivotal state contests.
The Bible clearly teaches that governments are ordained by God to restrain evil and enable righteousness to flourish (Romans 13:3-4). That’s why Christians should carefully pray and vote for candidates who best align with and stand for Biblical principles.
Above all, I encourage believers across this nation to pray for God’s merciful, providential hand to turn our nation back to Him. For Almighty God to heal our land, we the people must first cry out to Him in repentance. We can’t expect God to bless America while godlessness runs rampant in our land. My hope for our nation’s future—as always—remains in Christ alone.
Free exercise of religion
"“Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men.’”
—Acts 5:29, ESV"
Kamala Harris:
- Sponsored the Do No Harm Act, which would have prohibited use of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act as a defense in many cases.
- Joined an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to rule against Hobby Lobby and other businesses that objected to the government’s mandate to provide contraceptive and abortifacient coverage.
- Supports the Equality Act, which would criminalize employees, medical professionals, parents and organizations that hold Biblical views on sexuality.
- The Biden-Harris State Department removed Nigeria from its list of Countries of Particular Concern, reversing a Trump administration designation despite genocide against Christians.
- The Biden-Harris administration reversed a Trump federal rule denying federal funds to colleges that violate the religious liberties of students.
Republican Platform:
- Respect the right of every American to worship according to their conscience, and to live out their beliefs in everyday life.
Donald Trump:
- Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services issued a rule protecting religious nonprofits from the Obama administration’s contraceptive mandate.
- Funded programs that advanced international religious freedom.
- Signed executive order integrating religious freedom into foreign diplomacy.
- Hosted a U.N. conference on international religious liberty, calling on nations to end religious persecution, repeal laws that restrict freedom of religion and increase prosecution for crimes against religious communities.
Free Speech
“You shall speak My words to them, whether they hear or whether they refuse, for they are rebellious.” —Ezekiel 2:7, NKJV
Democratic Platform:
- Says the party supports “protecting the Constitutional right of our citizens to free speech.”
Kamala Harris:
- As California attorney general, tried to require that nonprofits report the names of people donating $5,000 or more, which was widely seen as having a chilling effect on free speech.
- Harris criticizes conservatives for “banning books” in schools, but the Biden-Harris administration coerced tech companies to censor books, videos, posts and other online content.
- Administration officials compared parents’ speech at school board meetings to “domestic terrorism.”
Republican Platform:
- Prohibit the federal government from colluding to censor free speech.
- Defund institutions engaged in censorship.
- Protect free speech online.
Donald Trump:
- Signed executive order withholding federal funds from colleges that don’t protect free speech on campus.
- Administration filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in support of Jack Phillips of Masterpiece Cakeshop, who had declined to use his artistic talents to create a custom cake that would celebrate a same-sex wedding.
Our enemies are waging war on freedom and faith, on science and religion, on history and tradition, on law and democracy, on the family, on children, on America itself.
—Donald Trump, speaking to Moms for Liberty in June 2023
Sanctity of Human Life
“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.”
—Psalm 139:13, ESV
Democratic Platform:
- Calls the overturning of Roe v. Wade an “extreme act” with “devastating consequences nationwide.”
- Pledges to pass national legislation to make Roe the law of the land again.
- Promises to repeal the Hyde Amendment, which bans the use of federal funds for abortion.
- Promises to promote access to the abortion pill.
Kamala Harris:
- Supports legislation to make abortion legal nationwide.
- Held more than 90 pro-abortion events in 21 states since the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
- Co-sponsored California law (later struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court) that required pro-life pregnancy centers to inform clients about abortion services.
- Twice voted against protecting babies born alive after abortion attempts.
- At an abortion clinic, called pro-life laws “immoral.”
- The Biden-Harris administration endorses the “Women’s Health Protection Act,” which would strike down more than 1,300 state pro-life laws.
Republican Platform:
- Affirms that the 14th Amendment protects the life of the unborn.
- Defers to states to make their own laws regarding abortion.
- Opposes late-term abortion.
- Supports policies to advance prenatal care, access to birth control and in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Donald Trump:
- Took action to ensure abortions weren’t taxpayer-fund-ed (defunded Planned Parenthood).
- Appointed Supreme Court justices who helped over-turn Roe v. Wade.
- Cut funding to the pro-abortion U.N. Population Fund.
- First sitting president to address the March for Life.
- HHS issued federal guidance supporting conscience protections for health care workers who do not wish to participate in abortions.
Education
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.”
—Proverbs 9:10, ESV
Kamala Harris:
- The Biden-Harris administration drafted a radical rewrite of Title IX as federal education policy to give biological males access to female private spaces as well as girls’ sports.
- Harris called Florida lawmakers “extremists” for a law prohibiting teaching of sexual orientation or gender identity in grades pre-K through 8.
- The Biden-Harris administration announced in 2022 that any K-12 school receiving government funding must adhere to transgender-inclusive policies or risk losing federal funds that subsidize free breakfast, lunch and snacks to students of low-income families.
- The Biden-Harris administration targeted institutions it is ideologically opposed to, such as fining Grand Canyon University $37.7 million for what the school, in a detailed rebuttal, calls “frivolous” claims.
- As senator, Harris voted against legislation providing funding for school choice and homeschooling.
Republican Platform:
- Focus on the essentials of education.
- Defund schools that engage in political indoctrination.
- Champion the First Amendment right to pray and read the Bible in school.
- Support school choice.
- Expand education savings accounts.
- Support homeschooling families equally.
Donald Trump:
- Updated federal guidance protecting prayer and religious expression in public schools.
- Signed into law the FUTURE Act, making permanent $255 million in annual funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and increasing funding for the federal Pell Grant program.
- Pledges to withhold funding from schools teaching critical race theory.
House Republicans passed an extreme bill today that will further jeopardize the right to reproductive health care in our country. This is yet another attempt by Republican legislators to control women’s bodies.
—Kamala Harris, commenting on the passage of a bill to provide medical attention to babies born alive after an abortion attempt
Border Security
“Peace be within your walls and security within your towers!”
—Psalm 122:7, ESV
BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION:
- From January 2021 through July 2024, there were more than 9.9 million migrant encounters nationwide and more than 8.1 million encounters at the southwest border, compared to about 3.1 million in fiscal years 2017-2020.
- Roughly 2 million known “gotaways” have evaded Border Patrol agents since fiscal year 2021.
- Some 375 terror suspects from 36 countries have been apprehended at the border since 2021—a 3,000%increase in attempted illegal entry.
- Loose enforcement has resulted in nearly 100 illegal immigrants on the terror watchlist entering the country and remaining at large.
- Rescinded a Trump executive order that denied federal funds to sanctuary jurisdictions for illegal immigrants.
- This fiscal year alone, more than 1.2 million illegal immigrants have been released into the country with a Notice to Appear (NTA) before a judge at a later date.
Republican Platform:
- Halt all releases of illegal immigrants into the U.S.
- Finish the southern border wall.
- Use military to crack down on cartels trafficking drugs into the country.
- Utilize Navy to create a fentanyl blockade.
- Remove all known or suspected gang members, drug dealers or cartel members from the country.
- Return trafficked children to their families in their home countries.
- Use strict vetting to protect the country from terrorism.
- Cut funding to sanctuary cities for illegal immigrants.
Donald Trump:
- Built or replaced 450 miles of border wall.
- Expanded collection of migrants’ DNA information to add to FBI criminal database.
Family & Parental Rights
"“Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men.’” —Acts 5:29, ESV"
Democratic Platform:
- Pledges to “continue to fight for LGBTQI+ youth by building on President Biden’s historic actions to ban so-called ‘conversion therapy.’”
Kamala Harris:
- As senator, cosponsored legislation to block religious freedom for adoption providers.
- As state attorney general, refused to defend at the U.S. Supreme Court California’s Proposition 8, which recognized marriage between a man and a woman only.
- The Biden-Harris administration rescinded waivers for faith-based adoption and foster care agencies.
- The Biden-Harris Department of Justice has filed statements in federal district courts against state laws that ban or criminalize transgender procedures for minors.
- HHS adopted a rule requiring state child welfare agencies to place LGBTQ children with foster parents who will support the child’s LGBTQ status or identity.
Republican Platform:
- Promote a culture that values the sanctity of marriage, the blessings of childhood, the foundational role of families, and supports working parents.
- Fight against policies that punish families.
- Restore parental rights in education.
- Stop schools from discriminating on the basis of race.
Donald Trump:
- Supports school districts’ adoption of a Parental Bill of Rights.
- Finalized a rule through the Department of Health and Human Services allowing faith-based adoption agencies to receive funding despite not placing children with LGBTQ parents.
A Warning to the Nation
By Billy Graham
Americans have every right to be discouraged at the deteriorating world conditions. Everywhere we look in the world there is explosion and trouble. The world is falling apart.
Why has there been such an increase of trouble for the United States? Could it be that our sins are beginning to catch up with us? Centuries ago, Moses proclaimed to Israel that if she served God, she would be the most blessed of all nations, but if she disobeyed God, terrifying judgment would come: “And among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; but there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul. Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no assurance of life” (Deuteronomy 28:65-66).
Moses warned that Israel’s enemies would conquer her if she disobeyed God. And we know the history of Israel—we know that Israel did disobey God and that she suffered one judgment after another.
Today our nation is following the same dangerous path. We worship the gods of secularism and materialism. God is displeased, and I warn you that His anger is being kindled. If ever a nation has enjoyed prosperity and the blessing of God, it is America. But instead of giving thanks to God, we have offered our reverence and wor-ship to created things. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “They are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in heir thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Romans 1:20-21).
Could this be the difficulty with some of our leaders today? Has all the planning of the past few years by some of America’s most brilliant intellects begun to end in futility?
Paul said that although they boast of their wisdom, they have made fools of them-selves. Then comes the awful judgment: “Therefore God also gave them up to unclean-ness, in the lusts of their hearts” (Romans 1:24). In other words, the Bible says there will come a day when a nation sins so much against God that God will give them up, and will allow them to go on for a time in pleasure, worldliness, idolatry, wickedness and immorality. The Scripture says that there is pleasure in sin for a season (Hebrews 11:25), but warns that the pleasure will be extremely short-lived and that judgment will follow. “As they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness … who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the
“We worship the gods of secularism and materialism. God is displeased, and I warn you that His anger is being kindled.”
Paul said that although they boast of their wisdom, they have made fools of them-selves. Then comes the awful judgment: “Therefore God also gave them up to unclean-ness, in the lusts of their hearts” (Romans 1:24). In other words, the Bible says there will come a day when a nation sins so much against God that God will give them up, and will allow them to go on for a time in pleasure, worldliness, idolatry, wickedness and immorality. The Scripture says that there is pleasure in sin for a season (Hebrews 11:25), but warns that the pleasure will be extremely short-lived and that judgment will follow.
“As they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness … who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them” (Romans 1:28-32). These words are from the Scriptures, but they sound like something taken from our daily news.
The Bible teaches that the kindness and patience of God are meant to lead us to repentance (Romans 2:4). However, we have spurned God’s mercy and kindness to America and have gone deeper into sin. The Bible says that God will render indignation and wrath “to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness” (Romans 2:8).
From the beginning of the Bible to the end, God warns that any nation that departs from Him is going to suffer judgment. America has been given more spiritual and moral light than any nation in the history of the world. We have millions of Bibles at our disposal; there are hundreds of thousands of churches. Yet in spite of all this, we continue to be the most crime-ridden, the most divorce-prone, and the most immoral nation on earth. We spew the filth of pornography all over the world.
"I pray that God will give us candidates for office who are God-fearing, God-loving men and women. One of our deep-rooted troubles today is that so many of our leaders either do not know God or deliberately deny His existence by the way they live."
How long will God withhold His hand of judgment? I tell you it will not be long. Unless we as a nation repent and turn to God, we are going to suffer a judgment such as no nation has ever endured. The Prophet Ezekiel said: “Every heart will melt, all hands will be feeble, every spirit will faint, and all knees will be weak as water. Behold, it is coming and shall be brought to pass,’ says the Lord God” (Ezekiel 21:7).
This day God is speaking to our nation in a thousand ways, urging us to repent of our sins and to turn to Him before it is too late. But as the Prophet Jeremiah said, “They have made their faces harder than rock; They have refused to return” ( Jeremiah 5:3). So there is nothing left but judgment.
Three thousand years ago, when King Jehoshaphat ascended to the throne of David, his country, like ours, was surrounded by threatening foes. Earnestly and sincerely, King Jehoshaphat sought peace for his people. This great ruler was a man of God. The Bible says that “he walked in the former ways of his father David” and that he “sought the God of his father, and walked in His commandments. … And his heart took delight in the ways of the Lord” (2 Chronicles 17:3-4, 6).
I pray that God will give us candidates for office who are God-fearing, God-loving men and women. One of our deep-rooted troubles today is that so many of our leaders either do not know God or deliberately deny His existence by the way they live.
When the United Nations representatives met in London to frame their constitution, a delegate from the Republic of Panama was distressed because there was no reference to God in the proposed draft. He pleaded fer-vently for the Name of God to be included. He recalled that the Japanese and the Nazis had renounced God, and he demanded, “Where are they now?” The assembly remained silent. When the debate was closed and the vote was recorded, it was found that only Panama and Colombia favored the motion. As a New York newspaper reported at that time, “God was rejected.” How different this was from the attitude of our Founding Fathers who landed at Plymouth Rock! They knew they could not succeed without God; and so the constitu-tion they penned—the Mayflower Compact—begins with the Name of God.
When King Jehoshaphat sought peace and social progress for his people, what was his course of action? Did he try new laws, new social plans, new educational projects and new financial programs? No. He went back to the Word of God. Jehoshaphat demanded that his people learn the Word of God, that they live by it and that they humble them-selves before God.
When Judah returned to the teachings of the Bible, one of the most striking triumphs of military history occurred. When Jehoshaphat’s enemies—the Ammonites, the Moabites and the Edomites—made an alliance against Judah to destroy her, Jehoshaphat trusted God. And he sent into the field the strangest army that the world of warfare has ever witnessed. Ahead of his forces marched not infantry or cavalry, not men with swords and bows, but singers who chanted the Lord’s praises and the words of Scripture. No wonder that without fighting a battle, without losing a man, Judah put the enemy to flight! Obedience to the Word of God had brought peace.
If our nation at this hour would turn to the Word of God, then I guarantee on the author-ity of God’s Word that the enemies at our gates could be pushed back; God would intervene and put them to flight. Visitors to Pitcairn Island in the South Pacific have compared the island to the Gar-den of Eden because it is a place of much happiness and contentment. It was first set-tled by mutineers and outlaws seeking to escape punishment. Because of the brutality that these criminals practiced on the little island (which was then only two miles long and one mile wide), it became filled with treachery, betrayal, racial strife, murder and war. Yet within 20 years after they had come to this island, the community had undergone a complete change. Harmony and goodwill reigned. Quarreling and cursing and war disappeared.
The people had turned to the Bible. They never began a meal without a prayer of thanks-giving. If during the day an islander had spoken hastily to his neighbor, he refused to let the sun go down on his wrath. On the Sabbath, everyone went to church. All business was stopped. They had no labor troubles, no social troubles, no racial problems. Why? Years earlier, before the criminals burned the ship on which they had mutinied, someone rescued its Bible; and that Word of God brought the people to Jesus Christ and made a small utopia out of a lonely island in the South Seas.
What would happen today if the Bible were the supreme authority in the United States, and if every individual in America would accept Christ as Savior and begin to live up to the terms of the Sermon on the Mount? Jesus Christ can solve the problems that the nation faces—the race problem, the crime problem, the home problem, the international problems. He can also lift the burdens that we have as individuals; He can reach the problems down in the innermost recesses of our own souls.
The things I have said here about the United States are largely true in other countries as well, so those nations also need to repent if they are to be spared the judgment of God.
But many of you have frustrations and difficulties on a personal level. You have a civil war raging inside of you. I want to tell you that Jesus Christ can solve that problem and lift that heavy burden. He can bring peace to your soul.
My message today to the nations of the world is this—turn to God before it is too late! And that is my message to you as an individual as well. Turn to God before it is too late.
©1964 BGEA Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version.
