Evangelist Franklin Graham did not bother to mince words when he slammed former House Speaker John Boehner for calling Republican presidential contender Ted Cruz as "Lucifer in the flesh."

Writing on his Facebook page on Friday, the son of legendary evangelist Billy Graham said Boehner's name calling is an "embarrassment to our nation."

"Former Speaker of the House John Boehner shame on you!" Graham said.

"You had no business calling Ted Cruz 'Lucifer in the flesh'—this is an embarrassment. And it's an embarrassment to our nation," the 64-year-old evangelist said.

"Then lowering yourself further by calling him a SOB? I'm not endorsing Cruz or any other candidate, but your verbal rant at Stanford is beneath the public office you were elected to hold. The Bible warns us to watch our tongues, 'The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body' (James 3:6)."

Boehner blasted Cruz on Wednesday before a crowd at Stanford University, describing the Texas senator as a "miserable son of a b****" and comparing him to Satan.

"I have Democrat friends and Republican friends. I get along with almost everyone, but I have never worked with a more miserable son of a b**** in my life," the former Speaker said, according to The Stanford Daily.

Cruz calmly responded to Boehner's comments in an interview with Fox News' Megyn Kelly Thursday evening.

"I don't know John Boehner. He and I have never worked together," he said. "If you think John Boehner is the kind of leader you want running in the Republican Party, then Donald Trump is your guy."

"Boehner's comments reveal everything that is wrong with Washington," Cruz added.

The mockery on Cruz did not end with Boehner's comments.

Rep. Peter King, the Republican congressman from New York, went on national television to say that Boehner's likening Cruz to Satan actually "gave Lucifer a bad name."

"I fully agree with John Boehner," King told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "Maybe it gives Lucifer a bad name by comparing him to Ted Cruz," he said, according to the Blaze.

King blamed Cruz for the shutdown of government, an act he described as a selfish manoeuvre aimed at boosting his own name recognition.

The Satanic Temple, through its spokesman Lucien Greaves, also took potshots at Cruz by saying he was hardly like Satan – that such comparisons were offensive to Satanists.