| Subject: The Thievery of Evangelist Billy Graham |
Author:
george watts
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Date Posted: 09:13:20 01/17/02 Thu
The Thievery of Evangelist Billy Graham
Billy Graham has become a god to Southern Baptists and Evangelicals when to others he is a liar, a thief and a con artist demonstrated by his taking total compensation of over $500,000 annually for the last ten years and not disclosing it to his donors while working less than fifty percent of the time.
His money did not come from God but from the public. His non profit tax exemption did not come from God but from the public. Lying Lyons supporters argued that if his board approved something that it was all right. But that is not what the Judge who convicted and sentenced Lyons to jail said.
It's the law of the land that all non profit chairman of corporations must reveal their total salary and that Billy, Ned and Franklin do not speak volumes of their hypocrisy especially considering the fact that the Tampa Tribune reported:
Although Billy Graham encourages religious leaders to be open about their salaries and publish their finances, Howard-Browne would not disclose what he earns. He says his salary is determined by his board of directors, which is comprised of four pastors, himself and his wife. The couple does not vote on his salary. ``People get hung up on the figure,'' he says. ``But they don't take everything into account. I don't get a housing or clothing allowance. We take our kids on the road and that's very expensive.''
Not good enough, says Paul Nelson, president of the Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability in Washington. Revival Ministries International is not among its 925 members. ``When you hold yourself out as a public trust, it's just good practice to be open about your finances,'' he says. ``If you're not forthright, you leave a question in the minds of your potential givers.''
For the past five years, the ministry has been audited by Katz & Kamm, a Baltimore accounting firm. But the tax-exempt church association is not required to open its books to the public. `While I applaud them for getting the audit, I would strongly suggest they go one step further and make their records public,'' Nelson says.
WHY DOESN'T BILLY GRAHAM BE OPEN ABOUT HIS FINANCES AND TOTAL COMPENSATION? Although Billy Graham encourages religious leaders to be open about their salaries and publish their finances.
Graham was embarrassed in 1977 when the Charlotte Observer discovered an undisclosed $23-million fund in Texas, apparently not mentioned in the accountings of the Minneapolis headquarters. Since then, anyone who requests a copy of the BGEA audit is mailed one. Graham's business manager led the formation of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability after Graham said on a national telecast, ". . . there are some charlatans coming along and the public ought to be informed about them and warned against them." (Chapter 2:The Video Vicarage Prime Time Preachers by Jeffrey K. Hadden and Charles E. Swann)
For the record, Billy Graham helped start the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, a self-policing organization, and has insisted that neither he nor any other male employees of his organization meet privately with a woman other than their wives reported the St. Petersburg Times on Oct 11, 1998.
….In 1992 his ministry, Samaritan's Purse, had a run-in with the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, the self-policing organization his father helped start. The ECFA suspended Samaritan's Purse while it looked into Franklin's (Graham) compensation and use of the company plane.
( FRANKIN'S REAL COMPENSATION AND PERSONAL USE OF HIS COMPANY PLANE IS STILL A REAL PROBLEM TODAY AND NED GRAHAM'S PROBLEMS HAVE PROBLEMS)
"Total Compensation" is more than your basic minimum salary. It includes everything including housekeeping, servants, cars and other perks. For Southern Baptist Billy Graham it includes the support staff and nurses who provide him with 24 hr care at his home!
Graham who has legally been stealing his full salary and other benefits for the last fifty years is unique in his special privileges in his non-profit religious organization as no other employee in the Billy Graham Evangelistic Organization other than Billy Graham is paid a full one hundred percent salary and is allowed to spend fifty percent of his time in bed or at the hospital.
"President Bill Clinton would make a great evangelist, Billy Graham told U.S. News & World Report in an interview. ... Graham said he was impressed with Clinton's charisma and 'with some of the things he believes. ... From a biblical point of view, we should be headed in the direction of goodness and righteousness, away from crime and immorality,' Graham said, 'and towards one's neighbors who are in need. I'm encouraged by the emphasis President Clinton (a Southern Baptist) and Hillary are putting on that.'
It’s a fact that Christianity Today founded by Billy Graham did not report on one of its own pastors Ollin Collins of Harvest Baptist Church in Fort Worth, and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary's board chairman. A man who resigned amid sexual misconducts allegations when he was accused of having sexual relationships with two women who sought counseling.
But it did report about the adultery of a black man and a National Baptist but not about the adultery of a white man and Southern Baptist. An adultery that was more hideous and gross because Collins raped unsuspecting trusting women, while Lyons adulterous relationships were consensual. It has been said that Lyons will go down in the history books as "Hugh Hefner of the New Testament." http://headlines.yahoo.com/Full_Coverage/US/Henry_Lyons
Now concerning the fallen hero, the church had suspended Pastor Collins with pay pending an investigation. He resigned from his board position one day after a story in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported the women's allegations and their intent to sue. Southwestern is the world's largest evangelical seminary, with 3,000 students on eight campuses.
But of course neither the Seminary nor the Church did anything for the real female victims but they did help and console the aggressor? Just like Billy Graham stated about Bill Clinton "I forgive him . . . because I know the frailty of human nature, and especially a strong, vigorous young man like he is. "He has such a tremendous personality that I think the ladies just go wild over him." In other words it was the fault of the victims not the victimizer?
Even though a President of an Evangelical Ministry must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, and not greedy for money, Ned Graham, the son of Billy Graham, Southern Baptist minister, president East Gates International, a group that distributes Bibles in China told Christianity Today in an interview that he had abused alcohol and spent an "inappropriate amount of time" with two women on his staff.
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.
Most of the staff and board members of East Gates International resigned amid controversies. East Gates, in Sumner, Wash., withdrew its membership in the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability after Ned replaced the board members with his sister Ruth Graham McIntyre, brother-in-law Stephan Tchividjian, and business leader Peter Lowe.
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 reported Christianity Today. A December East Gates fund-raising letter included a note from his father saying that "Ruth and I are proud of and grateful to God for our son Ned." East Gates has distributed 2 million Bibles to Christians in China, Billy Graham said, encouraging Christians to "back this unique and effective ministry."
They are nothing but crooks and con artists and their smooth words do not change this fact!
Otherwise hypocritical Baptist leaders who preach integrity to others would not hide their salaries but be honest and state the "total compensation" of their five top employees, including Billy and Franklin Graham!
Check Out Money Changers and Thieves
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/extra/bfa/baptist.html
http://www.bfafraud.com/
http://headlines.yahoo.com/full_coverage/us/henry_lyons
http://www.courttv.com/trials/lyons/061899_ctv.html
http://www.davidicke.net/religiousfrauds/pentecostal/godfraud.html
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/9te/9te026.html
http://www.discernment.org/charismania/drjoyce.htm
http://tampabayonline.net/reports/minister/homealt.htm
http://tampatrib.com/news/greaterministries.htm
http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/lewd.html
http://www.salon.com/people/feature/2000/11/21/tilton/print.html
http://cnt10.tripod.com/home.htm
http://www.sptimes.com/news/102699/tampabay/edwards_sentenced_to_.shtml
http://sptimes.com/news/080701/tampabay/church_leader_gets_27.shtml
http://www.letusreason.org/pent23.htm
http://www.svic.net/paulhumphries/nine.html
http://www.eflgc.org.uk/index.shtml
http://members.aol.com/cebijp/
http://religiousbroadcasting.lib.virginia.edu/primetime/c6.html
http://www.ecfa.org
http://abpnews.com/abpnews/
http://www.sbcbaptistpress.org/
http://www.charismanews.com
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