SubscribeWhile Billy, and later Franklin, have never been shy about proclaiming their favorite deity as the One True God, they've generally exhibited a more tolerant public image than is on display in this case.Billy Graham, once the "best Fuller Brush salesman in North Carolina,"1 has charmed his followers and the world with his usually carefully measured speeches. World leaders have flocked to him when they needed their personal spiritual void addressed. The British royal family invited him for overnight stay in no less than eleven occasions.2 He has supported Republican presidents as Nixon and Bush, while still being a registered Democrat.1 His son, on the other hand, would gladly point out that he is nothing like the father.
"I wanted to party. I wanted to have fun. I wanted to enjoy life. If I give my life to Jesus Christ . . . the fun's gonna stop."4The Graham family understands the business value of Jesus Christ.3
"There's this teaching today [that] we have to put our families first, our kids first. No. That's wrong. That's false teaching. We put Jesus Christ first and trust him for our families."5Franklin has run Samaritan's Purse for 25 years. As the heir apparent for the family's $100+ million dollar ministry business3 he is paid $150,000 a year.2 While he was not too fond of it4, for the sake of the business, have taken up Evangelical Crusading as well.3
Grace Community Church, Southern Baptist Convention, in Auburn, Washington--which counted Ned Graham, his wife, and their two sons as members established the fact that Ned Graham was an adulterer, alcoholic, wife abuser, and drug user and revoked Graham's ministerial credentials. It directed Graham to stop using the title reverend. Yet in a style reminiscent of Jimmy Swaggart, who refused to be defrocked by the Assembly of God denomination, Ned Graham left that congregation for another church.6and had to withdraw from Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability for employing family members in his church, East Gates International's board:
Ned replaced the board members with his sister Ruth Graham McIntyre, brother-in-law Stephan Tchividjian, and business leader Peter Lowe.While Franklin Graham has now become a vocal force for sexual morality, criticizing President Clinton for his indiscretions,2 he was once was 'kicked out of a Christian college in Texas for keeping a female classmate out overnight on a weekend trip to Atlanta.'4 He was not virgin at the time of his first marriage.2 He now thinks sex is sacred and should only be performed by persons of opposite gender married to each other.
Graham's sister Gigi Tchividjian has joined the office staff and Ned Graham continues as East Gates president. The ECFA requires that a majority of board members not be related by blood or marriage, which is no longer the case for East Gates ....6
"A lie is a sin, and sex outside marriage is a sin. It doesn't matter if you're the President of the United States or Franklin Graham or a busboy in a hotel."5He thinks AIDS and other STDs are a punishment from God to those who deviate from his explanation of God's view of sex:
"God has given sex to be used between a man and a woman in marriage, not between two women, not between two men. If you deviate sooner or later it is going to destroy your health. It could end your life."2
"I'm not God, but it's a consequence of sin, it's a result of sexual misbehaviour."2While he may say negative things about Islam, some of his actions seems to be in complete compliance of Islamic scriptures.
... like every other man in the organisation, he never allows himself to sit alone in a room with a woman other than his wife, Jane Austin, whom he married soon after he was "born again". Hillary Clinton once invited Billy Graham to a private lunch but he declined until she booked a table in the middle of a hotel dining-room. It makes it sound as though they think all women are predisposed to lead them astray.2Which can be found in Islamic scriptures:
The Prophet said, "Whenever a man is alone with a woman the Devil makes a third." (Hadith - Al-Tirmidhi 3118, Narrated Umar ibn al-Khattab.)Talk about irony!
Franklin Graham is more politically outspoken than his father, ... deriding the hypocrisy of politicians who fought to remove the Confederate flag from the South Carolina Capitol while saying nothing about ongoing slavery around the world.4and pitting them against the Arabs:
"Black brothers in Africa are being annihilated by the Muslims, who are Arabs, [so] it is a race war as well as a religious war. But Jesse Jackson is silent. Why is that?"5and often time sending mixed messages by supporting Saddam Hussain:
"Kuwait is part of Iraq. It is."5For what it's worth, he has even taken on McDonald's.
Hell, he says, is like a McDonald's apple pie. "People say "Is it real fire in hell?' I think so. The Bible talks about consuming flames. I ate an apple pie at McDonald's and the middle of that thing was hot and when I bit it some of that jelly fell and burned my thumb. ..."2Notes:
there is only one largely Muslim democracy in the world (Turkey)? Maybe Islam isn't bad, but it seems a majority of the world's Muslim's take on it is very problematic.raysmj:
Paris: How about Bangladesh?IFrom The National Review:
Muslims in two democratic socities, one of them Bangledesh. The other, India, has the largest number of Muslims (nearly 150 million) of any democratic society on Earth.II
Bangladesh is the second-largest Muslim democracy. As a democratic people in the Islamic world, the Bangladeshis show that Islam, democracy, and moderation can coexist.The article goes on to say that Bangladesh has been a "staunch ally" of America, yet the Bush administration has blocked its "fair access to U.S. markets" by giving "72 countries in Africa and the Caribbean a 20 to 22 percent price advantage over Bangladesh by allowing them duty-free access to the U.S. market." Brown makes a great case: "Democratic institutions cannot survive such fragile economic realities on a prayer."
. . . .
The last free and fair elections, on October 1, 2001, stood as a sign opposing fanatical regimes and boasted a 75 percent voter turnout. That 52 percent of those voters were women is a very tangible rejection of the influence of the mullahs in that country's rural areas.
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posted by Carol Anne at 4:36 PM on November 19, 2001