Western Christianity being exposed for the sham that it is, another icon has been shattered with the exposure of Billy Graham as being, in the words of journalist Duncan Campbell (Guardian, Monday April 15th, 2002), "a liar, a hypocrite and an anti-Semite".
Tapes of conversations between President Nixon and Billy Graham in 1972 record the president and his spiritual adviser discussing what they perceived to be Jewish control, with Billy Graham stating, "This stranglehold has got to be broken or this country's going down the drain". Billy Graham is on tape moaning about how Jews "swarmed" around the president, and that "they're the ones putting out this pornographic stuff". Both Nixon and Graham confessed that such remarks had to be kept confidential, as their support was needed politically.

Such anti-Semitic views, citing a supposed "control" and the idea that Jews pollute society, is an age old anti-Semitic myth, and has often been used as an excuse for pogroms, persecutions and most recently the holocaust in Nazi Germany. So the revelation that so venerated a figure as Billy Graham expressed the same sentiments has produced justified disgust from those who stand in solidarity with God's covenant people.

The tapes prove that the accusation of anti-Semitism against Billy Graham is true, and the proper response from him should have been to apologize and repent of such views. But this would have been too much to expect. Billy Graham had in the past denied claims that he and President Nixon had held explicitly anti-Semitic conversations. These claims had been made by former Nixon aide HR Haldeman, and dismissed as false by Billy Graham. So in addition to "anti-Semite", the labels "liar" and "hypocrite" do appear to be justified.

So what about their response to the latest revelations? Rather than apologize for these offensive remarks and the opinions that underlie them, Billy Graham's son and heir, Franklin Graham stated, "The issue has never been Jewish people. His concern was liberalism at that time in the media. And it's changed". This is a rather poor explanation. After all, if one wants to condemn liberals, then one says "liberals". One doesn't say "Jews"!

[Try it now -- say the word very carefully- li-be-ral -- it isn't difficult and in no way resembles the word "Jew". And anyway, nobody in their right mind would argue that the American media is or was "liberal"! So just how right-wing are the Grahams?]

As we have been saying for some time now, the "church" is in for a massive shaking. If the most famous and respected icons like Billy Graham are not beyond this, then nobody is.

__SB

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Appeared in Issue CETF 8.1 December 2002
"...contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" -- Jude v3