I agree completely, but this is different from what you inferred in your earlier post. The important point here is that donations went directly to the ministry, and not to B. Graham himself.
And here is the big difference between B. Graham and those actual con-men who bilk the gullible masses for cash. Graham did not personally benefit from such donations—at least not directly in the form of personal income. Unlike some of the more despicable televangelists such as Hinn, Poppoff, Copeland, Tilton, etc., Graham did not make outrageous miracle claims, nor did he offer promises of personal financial gain in exchange for donations. He was actively quite adamant about ensuring that donations remained WITHIN THE MINISTRY, and were NOT to be used to line his pockets. Before his retirement, B. Graham was the CEO of a multi-national, multi-million dollar organisation, and received an annual salary of around $150,000. That's a pretty modest compensation for a man in his position, and hardly indicative of someone whose intentions are to get rich.
It's possible I don't know the facts here but I'll ask the question anyway...who was the head of the Billy Graham ministry and after paying the salarys to the croneys who got the cash(and I mean cash)?
150k...are you kidding me or yourself?
For the record I think Billy is an awesome mind and possibly one of the great con artists of all time, probably the first white evangelist to fight for all human rights,a pastor to many important presidents and some say his feelings on the single church for christanity to be a "gods send idea" but in the end he made his millions being a con man...I'm OK with that actually because at least he wasn't a puke con man.
To hear activists on the Christian right tell the story, the conservative Christian American—especially the male conservative Christian American—is the most oppressed, victimized person in the country, and perhaps the history of the world. It’s all utterly disingenuous, of course: painting themselves as victims creates a cover to actually victimize other people, usually by imposing their fanatical religious views. Here’s a rundown of various ways Christian conservatives paint themselves as victims, and who the real victims actually are.
__________________ Allskonar fyrir Aumingja!!
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No, no. It doesn't work like that. God's token three answers are never actually experienced directly, nor in a timely fashion. Now that you have offered your prayer, the next step is to wait (most Christians fill this waiting time by uttering the same prayer over and over again, as if God didn't hear or didn't notice the first time). You can only know when your prayer is answered once you have discovered some correlation that even vaguely resembles the content of your prayer. At this stage, you can presume that God's default position "not yet" is in effect, and will remain so until either 1) you hook up with Brooke Pancake, or 2) something more gratifying happens (which could be anything!)
The important thing is just to stick with it, and have faith.
ah, so the silence is actually God answering "not yet" and if I keep praying and believing, God could possibly upgrade me to "I have something better in mind" and deliver Natalie Gulbis, sometime in the future.
It's possible I don't know the facts here but I'll ask the question anyway...who was the head of the Billy Graham ministry and after paying the salarys to the croneys who got the cash(and I mean cash)?
150k...are you kidding me or yourself?
No one, it stayed in the ministry. You can see the tax returns on who got paid what and the full balance sheet of income and expenses on his website.
I agree with you that getting people to give was playing on people's emotions and desires, I don't support him at all, but I think you are barking up the wrong tree here... I don't think it's fair at all to put Graham in the company of the ones that clearly manipulate for their own personal gain, I think he truly thought his ministry was saving people since his actions seem to fit with that.
I don't think he ever begged for money to build a bigger building, or to buy a nicer house or car, or told people to give otherwise he'd go out of business, or told people to give so they could be saved, etc...
__________________ Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
But certainty is an absurd one.
ah, so the silence is actually God answering "not yet" and if I keep praying and believing, God could possibly upgrade me to "I have something better in mind" and deliver Natalie Gulbis, sometime in the future.
awesome.
I'm a believer, Oh Lord.
Well it's said the god helps those who help themselves, so maybe you should go to Edmonton and offer to carry her bags.
God only gives three answers to prayer: 1. 'Yes!' 2. 'Not yet.' 3. 'I have something better in mind.'
so I will stick with the easier route of prayer, thanks.
considering your prayer treats her as an object that you want to enjoy, ignoring her own free will and desires....I'm pretty sure your answer would be number 3.
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GO FLAMES, STAMPEDERS, ROUGHNECKS, CALVARY, DAWGS and SURGE!
considering your prayer treats her as an object that you want to enjoy, ignoring her own free will and desires....I'm pretty sure your answer would be number 3.
I LOVE Nick Lewis's comments about his season ending injury:
Quote:
"Looks like my season is over, but I will tell u I serve an awesome God . I will grind thru this and if I'm able to play late, I'll play," Lewis tweeted Thursday night.
I've been reading a bit about the various sects of Islam. All kinds of Salafi, Sufi, Wahhabi, Ba'ath, and that is just within the Sunni side. Twisted up by the Muslim Brotherhoods, Husseins, Nassers, and who is running the House of Saud at any given time. That is just among Arabs; then there are Talibans, Chechnyas, Western China, Malaysia, Indonesia, geez louise.
What a complicated mess. I thought There is no God but God?
__________________
Watching the Oilers defend is like watching fire engines frantically rushing to the wrong fire
I've been reading a bit about the various sects of Islam. All kinds of Salafi, Sufi, Wahhabi, Ba'ath, and that is just within the Sunni side. Twisted up by the Muslim Brotherhoods, Husseins, Nassers, and who is running the House of Saud at any given time. That is just among Arabs; then there are Talibans, Chechnyas, Western China, Malaysia, Indonesia, geez louise.
What a complicated mess. I thought There is no God but God?
Yes, but they are all really rather confused about 'his' divinely revealed laws and things. How you should pray, at what times, what you're allowed to say, how you may dress, what you're allowed to eat and drink, who you can go to bed with and in what position, etc.
Very crazy fringe wacko religous folks out there, who are somehow relevent. Never ceases to amaze me how lunatic a lot of people are,,, these people and the people who believe them.
