Tag: Crusades

“America’s Pastor” Billy Graham to Lie in State in US Capitol Rotunda Next Week – Why It’s Appropriate

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, PoliticsLeave a comment

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“Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God.” – Reverend Billy Graham

ABCNews.com reports that

The Rev. Billy Graham’s body will lie in honor in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda next week, the first time a private citizen has been accorded such recognition since civil rights hero Rosa Parks in 2005.The two-day viewing in Washington on Feb. 28 and March 1 will be part of nine days of mourning for postwar America’s most famous evangelist, who died Wednesday at his home in North Carolina’s mountains at age 99.

“America’s Pastor” will be laid to rest March 2 at the foot of a cross-shaped walkway at the worldwide headquarters of his evangelical empire in Charlotte, buried in a simple prison-made plywood coffin next to his wife, Ruth, who died in 2007.

His tombstone will read “Preacher of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday announced the plans to honor Graham at the Capitol, a rite usually accorded presidents and other statesmen. A viewing will also be held at Graham’s Charlotte library on Monday and Tuesday.

The North Carolina-born farm boy reached hundreds of millions of listeners around with the world with his rallies — or what he called “crusades” — and his pioneering use of television.

More than anyone else, Graham built evangelicalism into a force that rivaled liberal Protestantism and Roman Catholicism in the U.S., and he became a confidant of presidents and other leaders.

His coffin was built by inmates at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, Louisiana, who typically construct caskets for fellow prisoners who cannot afford one.

Graham’s son the Rev. Franklin Graham toured the prison in 2005 and said he was so moved by the simple boxes lined with a mattress pad with a wooden cross nailed to the top that he asked for ones for his mother and father.

The funeral at Graham’s Charlotte headquarters will be held in a tent in the main parking lot of the library in tribute to the tent revivals in Los Angeles in 1949 that propelled him to international fame, family spokesman Mark Demoss said.

The impact which Rev. Billy Graham made on this terrestrial ball cannot be overstated.

According to The Billy Graham Library,

In over 55 years of ministry, Billy Graham has preached the Gospel message to more than 215 million people in over 185 countries around the world. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, which he founded in 1950, reaches out to millions more each year through radio and television broadcasts, films, literature, training, events, and the Internet.

The biggest accomplishment that any of us can ever hope to achieve is to make a difference for the good in somebody’s life.

Rev. Graham made a difference in the lives of 215 million!

Yesterday morning, as I was watching Fox New’s “America’s Newsroom”, Bill Hemmer sat down for an interview with Cardinal Timothy Michael Dolan, the Arch Bishop of the New York Diocese.

Cardinal Dolan made the remark that when you watched Rev. Graham preach at one of his Crusades, there were no teleprompters. There was nothing “fancy”. It was just Rev. Graham and an open Bible.

Cardinal Dolan went on to say that Rev. Graham preached the Word of God from “The Inherent Word of God” in a way which touched the souls of those who were not only at the Crusades, both also those who were watching and listening around the world to his broadcasts on television and radio.

His unashamed love of God and his total devotion to spreading the message that ‘GOD LOVES YOU”! transcended foreign languages and cultures and brought people throughout the world to the knowledge that they “had an advocate in Jesus Christ The Righteous”.

Those of you who may not be a “Christian” are probably saying,

That is all well and good. But, why does this civilian deserve the honor of lying in state in the Capitol Rotunda? What about the “Separation of Church and State”?

Well, first off, please find for me in our Constitution where it calls for the “Separation of Church and State”.

Next, please find a more influential American over the last century than The Reverend Billy Graham.

On September 14, 2001, 3 days after the largest Terrorist Attack ever perpetrated on American Soil, Rev. Graham spoke the following words to a nation in mourning…

This week we watched in horror as planes crashed into the steel and glass of the World Trade Center. Those majestic towers, built on solid foundations, were examples of prosperity and creativity. When damaged, those buildings plummeted to the ground, imploding in upon themselves. Yet, underneath the debris, is a foundation that was not destroyed. Therein lies the truth of that hymn, “How Firm a Foundation.”

Yes, our nation has been attacked, buildings destroyed, lives lost. But now we have a choice: whether to implode and disintegrate emotionally and spiritually as a people and a nation; or to choose to become stronger through all of this struggle, to rebuild on a solid foundation.

And I believe that we are starting to rebuild on that foundation. That foundation is our trust in God. And in that faith, we have the strength to endure something as difficult and as horrendous as what we have experienced this week. This has been a terrible week with many tears.

But it also has been a week of great faith. In that hymn, “How Firm a Foundation,” the words say, “Fear not, I am with thee; O be not dismayed,/For I am thy God, and will give thee aid;/I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,/Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.”

My prayer today is that we will feel the loving arms of God wrapped around us and that as we trust in Him we will know in our hearts that He will never forsake us.

His words helped to bring hope and healing to our nation and they ring out as true today as they were when he spoke them.

To this day, America remains a Majority-Christian Nation, with 70-75% of our population proclaiming Jesus Christ as their Personal Savior.

The only other non-politician to lie in state in our nation’s Capitol was Civil Rights Pioneer, Rosa Parks. Just as she broke down barriers, so did Billy Graham. Just as she fought to free her people from the chains of discrimination, the Rev. Graham fought to free Americans from the shackles of sin which bound us and kept us from a relationship with the One who loves us.

America’s Pastor deserves to be honored as an American Hero and a Warrior for Christ.

Please allow me to end today’s post with the following prayer, written by The Rev. Billy Graham…

Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, ‘Woe to those who call evil good,’ but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable… We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from sin and Set us free. Amen!’

With the Lord’s help, may this prayer sweep over our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so that we once again can be called ‘One nation under God!’ AMEN

Amen.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Obama Slams Christian Americans At National Prayer Breakfast

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, PoliticsLeave a comment

AFBrancoTerroristAhoy252015A long time ago, a leader of men spoke eloquently to a gathering of his beloved nation’s religious leaders…

This power of prayer can be illustrated by a story that goes back to the fourth century. The Asian monk living in a little remote village, spending most of his time in prayer or tending the garden from which he obtained his sustenance—I hesitate to say the name because I’m not sure I know the pronunciation, but let me take a chance. It was Telemacmus, back in the fourth century. And then one day, he thought he heard the voice of God telling him to go to Rome. And believing that he had heard, he set out. And weeks and weeks later, he arrived there, having traveled most of the way on foot.

And it was at a time of a festival in Rome. They were celebrating a triumph over the Goths. And he followed a crowd into the Colosseum, and then there in the midst of this great crowd, he saw the gladiators come forth, stand before the Emperor, and say, “We who are about to die salute you.” And he realized they were going to fight to the death for the entertainment of the crowds. And he cried out, “In the name of Christ, stop!” And his voice was lost in the tumult there in the great Colosseum.

And as the games began, he made his way down through the crowd and climbed over the wall and dropped to the floor of the arena. Suddenly the crowds saw this scrawny little figure making his way out to the gladiators and saying, over and over again, “In the name of Christ, stop.” And they thought it was part of the entertainment, and at first they were amused. But then, when they realized it wasn’t, they grew belligerent and angry. And as he was pleading with the gladiators, “In the name of Christ, stop,” one of them plunged his sword into his body. And as he fell to the sand of the arena in death, his last words were, “In the name of Christ, stop.”

And suddenly, a strange thing happened. The gladiators stood looking at this tiny form lying in the sand. A silence fell over the Colosseum. And then, someplace up in the upper tiers, an individual made his way to an exit and left, and others began to follow. And in the dead silence, everyone left the Colosseum. That was the last battle to the death between gladiators in the Roman Colosseum. Never again did anyone kill or did men kill each other for the entertainment of the crowd.

One tiny voice that could hardly be heard above the tumult. “In the name of Christ, stop.” It is something we could be saying to each other throughout the world today.

Now, several days ago while I was very concerned about what I was going to say here today and trying to think of something to say, I received through diplomatic channels a message from far out across the Pacific. Sometime ago, our Ambassador presented to General Romulo of the Philippines the American Medal of Freedom. Not only had he been a great friend of the United States in our time of war, but then he had spent 17 years as an Ambassador here in Washington, from his country to ours. And for whatever reason, he sent this message of thanks to me for the medal that had been given, and then included the farewell statement that he had made when he left Washington, left this country, after those 17 years.

And I had to confess, I had never been aware that there had been such a farewell message, and I’m quite sure that many of you hadn’t. And so, I’m going to share it with you. I think it fits what we’re talking about today. He said, “I am going home, America. For 17 years, I have enjoyed your hospitality, visited every one of your 50 States. I can say I know you well. I admire and love America. It is my second home. What I have to say now in parting is both tribute and warning.

“Never forget, Americans, that yours is a spiritual country. Yes, I know you’re a practical people. Like others, I’ve marveled at your factories, your skyscrapers, and your arsenals. But underlying everything else is the fact that America began as a God-loving, God-fearing, God-worshiping people, knowing that there is a spark of the divine in each one of us. It is this respect for the dignity of the human spirit which keeps America invincible.

“May you always endure and, as I say again in parting, thank you, America, and farewell. May God keep you always, and may you always keep God.”
Thank you. – President Ronald Wilson Reagan, National Prayer Breakfast, 1984

From the sublime to the ridiculous…

According to Breitbart.com,

At the National Prayer Breakfast [yesterday morning], President Obama reminded attendees that violence rooted in religion isn’t exclusive to Islam, but has been carried out by Christians as well.

Obama said that even though religion is a source for good around the world, there will always be people willing to “hijack religion for their own murderous ends.”

“Unless we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ,” Obama said. “In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ.”

Obama also denounced Islamic State terrorists for professing to stand up for Islam when they were actually “betraying it.”

“We see ISIL, a brutal vicious death cult that in the name of religion carries out unspeakable acts of barbarism,” he said criticizing them for “claiming the mantle of religious authority for such actions.”

Do you know why Christians went on the crusades, all those hundreds of years ago?

It was to stop the spread of militant, radical Islam across the European continent.

For President Barack Hussein Obama to continue to equate Christianity with the heinous barbaric acts of Radical Muslims, is not only a false equivalency, but downright CRAZY.

On Tuesday afternoon, Obama held a secret meeting with Muslim leaders in the White House. This meeting was closed to the press, so no one exactly knows which “Muslim leaders” were there.

It could have been Calypso Louie Farrakhan or it could have been the head of ISIS, along with his friends, the Muslim Brotherhood, who were sitting in the People’s House, we just don’t know.

However, for the President of United States to stand at the National Prayer Breakfast and attempt such an ignorant, foolish attempt at drawing an equivalency between Islam and Christianity, was disingenuous and an insult to the 75 percent of us Americans who proclaim Jesus Christ as our Personal Savior.

Regarding his equating Christianity with Racism, he was taking a page straight out of his Former Pastor of 20 years, Former American Muslim, Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s, playbook.

Amazing how he failed to mention that Christian Americans ran the Underground Railroad, huh?

America has never seen a president who is so far removed from the beliefs and value system of the people whom he is supposed to be governing.

Yesterday’s speech by Obama was not just stupid Liberal Propaganda, it was delivered for the sole purpose of placating and reassuring those Muslim barbarians, whom he is attempting to “negotiate” with.

Those were not Christians in the Middle East, who just burned a brave Jordanian Pilot alive, or who continue to torture and behead thousands of innocent men, women, and children “in the name of the Prophet”.

And, Jesus Christ did not marry a 9 year old.

Mohammed did.

This is America. Our Founding Fathers were Christian Men.

United States President Barack Hussein Obama’s remarks, politicizing Americans’ Christian Faith, were a slap in the face of Christian Americans and were totally inappropriate.

I wish we had an American President.

Until He Comes,

KJ