Billy Grahamby William Edelen
After reading the cover story of the November 15 issue of Time magazine on Billy Graham, I once again, for the hundredth time, am appalled at the biblical, religious and historical illiteracy of this man. How few people are saying it like it is. Why? The truth is, and the facts are, Billy Graham is an ignorant man, religiously and biblically. An old Chinese proverb says it well: He who knows not . . . and knows not that he knows not . . . is a fool. Shun him. President Harry Truman called Graham a counterfeit publicity seeker. Graham's former friend and fellow evangelist, Charles Templeton, left the phony world of evangelism and entered the theological seminary at Princeton University. He became an educated minister. I heard him speak several times. He was excellent. He urged Billy Graham to become educated. Templeton was now armed with anthropology, philosophy, religious history and mythology, and he continually urged Graham to go to the University and become enlightened and educated. Graham refused, saying to Templeton: I don't have the time . . . or the mind. I find that if I say "God says" I get results. Can you believe it? Do you realize what Graham said. He said: I don't have the mind . . . or the time . . . to learn, to become educated, to become enlightened, to become knowledgeable, to know what I am talking about, to know what the facts are. I'll just say "God says" and continue to deceive and mislead and misrepresent truth and facts to anyone who will listen. Billy Graham has become America's token religious figure, not from what "God says," but from what William Randolph Hearst said. As many have brought out, Graham would be totally unknown had not Hearst told all of his media empire to "Puff Graham." That meant, give Graham tons of favorable publicity and exposure. Now, what is the bottom line, as they say, of all of this? It is: The damage, emotional, psychological and spiritual damage, that Graham has done to human beings is beyond comprehension. Not too many years ago, the Vermont legislature was taking a good, hard, look at the Rev. Sun Moon's Unification Church. Representative Hugh Moffett of Brandon, Vermont spoke to the Assembly in these words: We are talking about the Rev. Sun Moon . . . and yet, I personally know well two young ladies who made a decision for Jesus with Billy Graham. They went around in a daze for over ten years, going to a Bible belt fundamentalist college, wanting to "save" everyone. The finally thought their way through all that nonsense and returned to a mentally healthy life. It is my opinion that Billy Graham did those young ladies a very poor service. We today should be evaluating Billy Graham with Sun Moon. My bottom line quest is this: Where have the media been in all of this Billy Graham circus? They, by and large, have gushed around like bobby-socks teenagers over Graham and his superstitions. Where are the responsible media?Where is the accountability of the media?Where is the integrity of the media?Where is the courage of the media? The courage to examine deeply the religious illiteracy of a Billy Graham and the damage done to human beings?Graham's own words to his friend Charles Templeton say it all: I don't have the time . . . or the mind to learn.He who knows not . . . and knows not that he knows not . . . is a fool. Shun him.
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