| Subject: Re: The Thievery of Evangelist Billy Graham |
Author:
Shayne
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Date Posted: 20:04:09 03/20/02 Wed
In reply to:
george watts
's message, "The Thievery of Evangelist Billy Graham" on 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/go
>dfraud.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/p
>rint.html
>http://cnt10.tripod.com/home.htm
>http://www.sptimes.com/news/102699/tampabay/edwards_sen
>tenced_to_.shtml
>http://sptimes.com/news/080701/tampabay/church_leader_g
>ets_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
First of all I would like to apologize in advance if any of the following is interperted as offensive in any way.
With that said, I would like to point out the fact that these alligations against Billy Graham is merely speculation and nothing more. He has neither been convicted of such crimes, nor has he come forward about such actions. I would also like to point out that Billy Graham is not the youngest of people. He is ailing and in need of staff and nurses which you put across as unneeded. Billy Graham has become the international figuare of Christian Evangelism, saving thousands of people, taking the weak and hurt, the beaten and oppressed, and given them a shred of hope in a hopeless world. Though I would not condone any illegal or immoral actions on even his part, I am offended that you would make such accusations and make them sound as if they are a court-ruled fact. The truth is that this is not anywhere near that. Would we be so suprised that Bill Gates is taking full salary for his inventions/businesses, why then should we be surprised that a man such as Billy Graham would also take the salary that he has so rightly earned. I see that you have highlighted that Mr. Graham has spent a large amount of time in the hospital, but is that not plausible considering Mr. Graham, and old man, has traveled the world over, indulging in both physically, emotionally, and spiritualy strenuous activities. If my grandfather were to have done the same things of Graham, I would certainly not be surprised for him to be in hospital. Your blatent attacks built upon speculation and heresy against both the Southern Baptist church, the churches as a whole, and Billy Graham who is most obviously an honorable man (and I will admitt that that is my opinion) are not becoming of yourself.
In Christ,
FISH <><
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