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Archives For November 30, 1999

IRS targets include Graham, Baptist newspaper

Meredith Flynn —  May 16, 2013

BREAKING_NEWSNEWS |

The ministry founded by famed evangelist Billy Graham and a 180-year-old Baptist newspaper, the Biblical Recorder, say they were targeted by the Internal Revenue Service.

The revelations involving the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Samaritan’s Purse and the Biblical Recorder newsjournal of the North Carolina Baptist State Convention seem to indicate the IRS was targeting more than just Tea Party groups and conservative political organizations, Fox News reports.

Franklin Graham wrote in a letter to President Obama on Tuesday (May 14): “I am bringing this to your attention because I believe that someone in the Administration was targeting and attempting to intimidate us.” Graham described the IRS audits as “morally wrong and unethical – indeed some would call it ‘un-American.'”

Graham is president of the ministry his father founded as well as the international charity known as Samaritan’s Purse. Both organizations were notified of the IRS audits on the same day – not long after BGEA ran advertisements supporting North Carolina’s marriage amendment.

The ads encouraged voters to “cast our ballots for candidates who base their decisions on biblical principles and support the nation of Israel.” The ads concluded with these words: “Vote for biblical values this November 6, and pray with me (Billy Graham) that America will remain one nation under God.”

“I do not believe that the IRS audit of our two organizations last year is a coincidence – or justifiable,” Graham wrote in his letter.

The Internal Revenue Service did not return calls seeking comment.

Mark DeMoss, a spokesman for Graham, told Fox News it was the first time the ministry had been audited in its history.

“These certainly appear to be politically motivated since the ministry had run some newspaper ads – not mentioning any candidates – simply urging people to vote for candidates with biblical values,” DeMoss said.

The Biblical Recorder, the official newsjournal for North Carolina Southern Baptists, found itself in the same situation in March.

The newspaper garnered national attention last summer after editor Allan Blume published an interview with Chick-fil-A’s president, Dan Cathy. In reference to his support of the traditional family, Cathy said he was “guilty as charged.”

The Biblical Recorder also published the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s ads supporting North Carolina’s marriage amendment. And then came the telephone call from the Internal Revenue Service.

“It raised some red flags and made me wonder why we were being targeted for an audit when we have been around since 1833 and have never been audited before,” Blume told Fox News. “Putting it all together made me wonder.”

Blume said the timing may have been coincidental – but “it didn’t seem that way.”

“There seems to be a very anti-Christian bias that has flowed into a lot of government agencies – oppression literally against Christian organizations and groups,” Blume said. “It makes you wonder what’s going on.”

Blume said the newspaper was eventually cleared, but the audit consumed time and money.

“It was a lot of time and energy that we didn’t have,” Blume said. “It took some of our staff literally several weeks of doing nothing but that [audit],” he said.

The IRS eventually cleared both the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse but Graham noted that the audit cost the ministries money.

“Unfortunately, while these audits not only wasted taxpayer money, they wasted money contributed by donors for ministry purposes, as we had to spend precious resources servicing the IRS agents in our offices,” Graham wrote in his letter to Obama.

Reported by Todd Starnes, host of Fox News & Commentary, heard daily on Fox News Radio stations around the nation.

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Tribute: George Beverly Shea, 1909-2013

Meredith Flynn —  April 25, 2013
Famed musician George Beverly Shea passed away April 16.

Famed musician George Beverly Shea passed away April 16.

COMMENTARY | Eric Reed

There’s an ancient treasure housed in our sanctuary. It’s a Hammond organ with its Leslie speaker, a gift to the church from George Beverly Shea.

Hearing that “Bev” had died April 16, I immediately thought of the old Hammond. Long-timers at the church remember how Shea, who lived nearby, sometimes sang concerts there. On one annual visit, he noted that the church’s electronic organ had seen better days, and since he was getting a new instrument for his home, he would give them his trusty Hammond. Only half as old as 104-year-old Shea, it served faithfully him, then us for half a century. How many times must that squat brown machine with its wonderful tremolo have accompanied Billy Graham’s famed soloist.

When I first heard the organ’s history, I sat on the bench and tried to pick my way through “I’d Rather Have Jesus.” When Shea was a young man still living at home in Canada, he was facing a particular spiritual struggle. His mother sensed her son’s trouble and left a copy of the poem by Rhea Miller on their piano.

“I’d rather have Jesus than men’s applause,” young Shea read when he saw it. “I’d rather be faithful to His dear cause;
I’d rather have Jesus than worldwide fame,
I’d rather be true to His holy name.”

Shea at 20 made his choice and soon set the tune to music. He eventually gained fame not because he sought it, but because he turned to Christ. He could have been a star opera singer, but he chose the ministry instead.

Joining the Graham team in his 40s, Shea was Graham’s featured singer for more than 60 years. He produced 70 gospel albums, won a host of awards, and always sang about Jesus just before the evangelist preached. In Los Angeles and New York and Moscow and London, no matter how famous or contemporary the night’s musical guest, Shea always sang pure gospel in simple bass clef before Graham delivered the message of salvation.

I saw this in person at one of the last crusades. I crashed the choir loft. It was an accident. Arriving at the stadium early, I found myself in a line at the only open door. It was the entrance for the choir. So, intentionally, I went with the crowd.

Wedged between tenors and basses, I watched all the backstage happenings. A few moments before Dr. Graham was to preach, a golf cart brought a spry white-haired man to a special entrance. He climbed up to the pulpit and in an instant, I was singing back-up for George Beverly Shea – me and 2,000 of my closest friends.

“We should sing ‘I’d Rather Have Jesus,’” I said to our worship leader just after the old saint’s passing.

And we did.

Grateful for his musical gifts and for his enduring legacy, we could say from Shea’s example, “I’d rather have Jesus than anything 
this world affords today.”

Eric Reed is a pastor and journalist in Wheaton, Illinois. He is serving Glenfield Baptist Church in Glen Ellyn.

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Billy Graham backs away from prior Mormonism claims

Meredith Flynn —  October 23, 2012

THE BRIEFING | One of the most revered evangelists in history faced criticism from many fellow leaders last week.

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) removed Mormonism from the list of cults on its website – billygraham,org – just days after Romney visited with Graham at the 94-year-old’s North Carolina home. The site also posted an ad featuring Graham and a message urging voters to “cast our ballots for candidates who base their decisions on biblical principles and support the nation of Israel.

“I urge you to vote for those who protect the sanctity of life and support the biblical definition of marriage between a man and a woman,” the ad reads. “Vote for biblical values this November 6, and pray with me that America will remain one nation under God.” The ads later appeared in newspapers including the Wall Street Journal and USA Today.

Iowa pastor and blogger Dave Miller maintained Graham’s right to endorse Romney, but took issue with BGEA’s decision to remove Mormonism from its list of cults, asking if the organization’s action sacrificed essential truths of the Christian faith. “What can we believe but that Billy Graham, the greatest proclaimer of the gospel in the last century, has compromised biblical truth – no, GOSPEL truth – for political reasons.

“To help elect Mitt Romney, they softened their stance against the false religion he professes.”

In a Washington Post article, BGEA spokesman Ken Barun explained the thinking behind the move. “Our primary focus at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has always been promoting the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” Barun said in a statement. “We removed the information from the website because we do not wish to participate in a theological debate about something that has become politicized during this campaign.”

But Miller said he doesn’t buy it. “This waddles like a duck and quacks like a duck. Don’t tell me it is an eagle. To claim that removing the statement identifying Mormonism as a cult was done to prevent politicizing the issue defies logic and insults our intelligence.

“Mormonism is a false cult that damns souls to hell for eternity. I pray that Mitt Romney will see the truth before his life ends. But for Billy Graham to walk back his clear statement that this religion is false is sad and indefensible.”

Other news:

Mormon church shifts missionary age requirements
A new policy announced by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints may enlarge the Mormon missionary force, according to CNN. The church said earlier this month it would lower the minimum age requirement for individuals who want to embark on a Mormon mission, generally a two-year assignment. Males can now serve at 18 (down from 19), and females are eligible to serve at age 19. The previous age requirement for girls was 21, making it difficult for many to consider serving when they were already entrenched in their education or family concerns.

“The narrative of young women has been that marriage trumps everything else as your most important spiritual pursuit,” Mormon author and scholar Joanna Brooks told CNN. The decision “signals a reorganizing of expectations for women’s lives. … It changes the storyline.” Read more on CNN’s Belief Blog.

Nearly 50% affirm creationism
A recent Gallup poll found 46 percent of adults say they believe God created human beings within the past 10,000 years – the highest percentage for that answer since 2006 and the second highest since the question was first asked in 1982. Another 32 percent of Americans ‘ believe in theistic evolution, agreeing that “human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God guided the process.” Fifteen percent of those surveyed said they believe in evolution and that God played no role. Read more at BPNews.net.

Ann Romney shares pro-life ‘view’ on TV
The wife of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney jumped into one of television’s toughest debates when she appeared on ABC’s “The View,” a daytime women’s talk show that presents a variety of views, but has, in the past, tended to skew away from the Romneys conservative views. Ann Romney told the ladies of the view she is pro-life, and that her husband was a pro-choice gubernatorial candidate in Massachusetts, but changed his view when faced with legislation that would have allowed embryonic stem cell research. “…I am pro-life. I’m happy to say that,” Romney said on “The View.” She added, “”I think we have to understand that this is an issue that is so tender, and there are people on both sides of the issue that have, with very good conscience, with different opinions.” Read the full story at ChristianPost.com.

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