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I sure do miss the little country churches of my youth! About 100 members. The preacher knew every man woman and child. he actually had time to marry or bury you. And he sure didnt drive a Bentley and live in a $5,000,000 mansion. back then the preacher and his family had a personal relationship with me and my family. Not me and my bank account. If Christ was still in a grave he'd be rolling over in it about now!
Last edited by Capt. Dan; 07-28-2008 at 11:08 AM..
Years ago when I was in college my room mate had a grandparent die. She had been a Baptist all her life and was a good person who had often sent money to Billy Graham’s church. My friend inherited his grandmother’s home, and would return weekends to the farm and home. He received the letters to her from Graham’s church informing her they would no longer pray for her if she failed to continue paying them the money as she had in the past. My friend was a Christian and was shaken by the letters. I feel sure his response to the Graham foundation disturbed them as much as their letter had bothered him. I love how country people can be hard and direct yet sound like sugar is flowing from their mouth.
Religion is the longest-running pyramid scheme in history, it's all about money; and "[f]or the love of money is the root of all evil...." Timothy 6:10 (KJV)
He is a bona fide minister with a mail-order Doctor of Divinity degree from the University of Apostolic Studies of Las Vegas, Nevada. However, he needs no formal credential for his ministry, as he is on a mission to spread the gospel as the self-proclaimed messenger of the Lord.
His voice calls out over the airwaves to the invisible multitude. He preaches passionately, thumping the Bible with his fist.
"All has been foretold; all shall be revealed unto you," he calls upon the faithful to bear witness, quoting from the scriptures.
"JEEEEZUS!" he shouts, working himself up into a frenzy of religious fervor. "PRAISE THE LORD! HALLELUJAH!"
This is followed by urgent requests for contributions. (Apparently, the work of the Lord requires a great deal of money.) Your tax-deductible donation will be received with the Lord’s blessing. And, for just $15.95 (plus postage and handling), you can have your own CD recording of this inspirational program - personally autographed by the Reverend himself.
Billy Graham's the only televangelest I've ever seen who actually seems like a decent person. You never see him in a $1000 suit either.
Billy Graham cursed the Jews and this is revealed on the Nixon tapes where he even referred to the Jews as "they are like a swarm of flies" that he said he let "gather around him" so "they thought I liked them."
Billy Graham also said (and it is on video) that one doesn't need Jesus Christ to be saved.
God said he will curse anyone who curses Abraham and his descendents.
This is on Youtube.
Billy Graham cursed the Jews and this is revealed on the Nixon tapes where he even referred to the Jews as "they are like a swarm of flies" that he said he let "gather around him" so "they thought I liked them."
Well, to be fair to Mr. Graham, he lated apologized and completely recanted those remarks.
Years ago when I was in college my room mate had a grandparent die. She had been a Baptist all her life and was a good person who had often sent money to Billy Graham’s church. My friend inherited his grandmother’s home, and would return weekends to the farm and home. He received the letters to her from Graham’s church informing her they would no longer pray for her if she failed to continue paying them the money as she had in the past. My friend was a Christian and was shaken by the letters. I feel sure his response to the Graham foundation disturbed them as much as their letter had bothered him. I love how country people can be hard and direct yet sound like sugar is flowing from their mouth.
Have you seen the controversy surrounding where Billy & Mrs Graham will one day be burried ? It's called the "Billy Graham Burial Site Controversey" . Seems there is a division and fight amongst family members as to where to bury Dad & Mum. Franklyn wants to burry them at a Charlotte, North Carolina site in a sort of Farm House/Barn monument and charge admission. It would be complete with a Theme Park and attract over 200,000 vistors a year and create revenue for Charlotte's and BGEA coffers. Ned Graham has been run out of numerous church organizations and is against his brother Franklyn Graham. Seems that Ned and his wife are the ones who care for the parents and has his own ambitions. But I am aware of the Mr Clean image that Born-Again Evangelicals like to paint of him. Sadly rather than point people towards Christ & God's Kingdom, he has encouraged salvation through politics as his own example shows us. The link below is an interesting story of 5 pages in the Washington Post:
He's also not as firery in his later years as he was at first. At least in the beginning he had backbone enough to take a stand on things. In his later years, he like Jerry Falwell would take a middle of the road stance to avoid controversy and accomodate large crowds. Jesus never compromised , he always told it like it was. Religion has been going down hill for years. Look for it to be completely snuffed out soon. The Securlar Progressive movement is gaining steam thanks to the direction religious leaders have taken mankind in these later decades.
Coming from Eastern NC I have had the dubious pleasure to have seen and meet with two evangelists. Boaters at Wrightsville Beach, NC often could see Jim and Tammy Baker. They owned a condo at Wrightsville Beach, NC close to where they docked their 55 foot Striker Yacht with the gold fixtures. The boat alone would have pushed a million, and I know of no property on Wrightsville beach which cost less than several million.
Boaters additional had the chance to meet Jim Whittington of the evangelist group Fountain of Joy. It was also the name of his Fountain speed boat (about $400,000) which he kept in Washington, NC. I think he like the Jim Baker went to jail over crimes related to the church funding.
Unfortunately with things like the release of the Nixon White House tapes where Billy Graham is counciling President Nixon and advising him to do far more Bombing of North Vietnam than he did. Had Nixon followed Graham's advice, millions of innocent people would lost their lives. Can you imagine Jesus Christ promoting such advice. Jesus from what I've read from the Bible, never hobb knobbed with the political elites of his time.
The other problem is what the Arizona State University students did back in 1974 in Phoenix. I read an article from "Human Behavior" magazine, about the Billy Graham Crusades. As a matter of research as to how the Evangelical world operates, they infiltrated the Graham Organization months before one of his famous Crusades. Ever see a Billy Graham Crusade that did'nt emphasize the numbers of those wanting to be saved and get baptized ??????? It's made to appear as if there is a spontaneous outpouring of Holy spirit moving these people forward. Of particular interest to ASU students was how the Alter Call worked. The claim has always been that it's the Holy ghost moving these individuals to Graham's Pulpet. But that's not what they have discovered.
What they discovered is that everything is pre-aranged and planned out. They have meetings and instruction 4 to 6 weeks before the Crusade. Everything is for show. Many thousands are planted into the audience and when he makes for the alter call of "who wants to be saved"? , these people (actually an army of about 6000 ) stand up with arms raised and encourage others around them to stand up and go forward. I had my boss who is a staunch Baptist (Which is the doctrine Billy Graham Teaches) admit that's how they do it. Because he participates in those pre-arangements. Needless to say the Graham Organization was furious. Sadly it has been nothing more than the theatrics of the time Tent Rival Shows.
And lastly, Billy Graham's last Crusade I believe was in San Diego. I actually had friends that went to that last Crusade. Most of it has had a lot of circus entertainment brought in. Even those so called Christain Heavy Metal Groups were there along with the usuals like Charlie Daniels, etc. They were apalled by what they saw going on at the stadium restrooms. There were people doing drugs, having sex in the stalls and of course that's what you can expect when you lower your standards the way many of these organizations have done to attract. I believe someone started a thread here talking about a church with a gymnasium. The problem is they have nothing to offer anymore. People are burned out and the only way to attract people back is to entertain them, as there no longer seems to be any spiritual food on the table. Hence the Junk food seems to be todays trick of choice.
Of course like the rest, there is also the fame and fortune that has been amassed over the years. Interestingly as I stated before, wealth was not the primary focuss of Jesus Christ. Nor was showmanship.
I worked for the Billy Graham Crusade when it came to Toronto. I never saw any of the things that you claim. I was also one of the prayer ministers that was down on the field when the altar call was given. There was no one staged to walk down with hands raised. We did have several hundred ministers, but nothing staged. I worked also logging the cards that people would fill out, we did research like finding out correct postal codes etc. It was accually alot of fun because we worked with people from many denominations from all across the toronto area. So, it was like a family reunion with everyone working together. I would gladly volunteer to work with the Graham Crucades again.
My parents do a lot of rodie work for bands that come to the Toronto area like Hillsong. They meet with the bands and pray with them. They drive them to their hotels and make them dinners. I have never heard of concerts with people having sex in the stalls! I think that you got your bands mixed up.
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