Categories
Politics

Christian politicians in Georgia: 1969 and 2021

Thread 👇
In 1969, when Raphael Warnock was born, the Georgia governor was Lester Maddox, who became famous for chasing away at gunpoint three Black seminary students coming to his chicken restaurant in 1964—after the Civil Rights Act.

Martin Luther King Jr. was very upset when Maddox won the race for governor in 1966. The Klu Klux Klan had supported Maddox. A Baptist (like King), Maddox believed segregation was "Christian and American." He did not allow King's body to lie in state at the State Capitol in 1968.

Bob Jones University gave him an honorary doctorate in 1969.

Maddox was born in 1915 and died in 2003. My Grandma was also born in 1915 and is still alive at 105.

Stacey Abrams lost by 1.4% in the 2018 Georgia governor's race. She helped Warnock win the Senate seat in 2021.

Stacey Abrams

Truett McConnell University president.
Baptist Convention of the State of Georgia.

https://twitter.com/EmirCaner/status/1347226898980548609

Originally tweeted by Andy Rowell (@AndyRowell) on January 8, 2021.

Categories
Evangelicals

The DeVos avoidance of integrity and accountability

DeVos Thread

Dick DeVos, Betsy's husband, is the chair of the board of the Global Leadership Network (Willow Creek Association) that runs The Global Leadership Summit. Nancy Beach, Jon Wallace, and Kara Powell resigned in 2015 because the Board would not investigate Bill Hybels.

Chicago Tribune:

Dick DeVos signed the May 2018 letter.
https://twitter.com/AndyRowell/status/997250673073905664?s=20

Here was my July 2018 response:

Dick DeVos inherited his money from his father who started Amway. (Listen to the The Dream podcast by Jane Marie about multi-level marketing (MLM)).

The DeVos family also opposed their local Congressman Justin Amash when as a Republican he voted to impeach Trump.
https://twitter.com/JeremyKonyndyk/status/1133543845692628997?s=20, and

And Betsy's brother is Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater. Blackwater employees slaughtered Iraqis. Trump pardoned them in December 2020.

The DeVos theme is defending unethical behavior in order to make money and get done what the DeVos family thinks needs to get done. The ends justify the means.

Betsy DeVos is resigning so she does not need to keep a man accountable.

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Originally tweeted by Andy Rowell (@AndyRowell) on January 8, 2021.

Categories
Franklin Graham

The Board of Samaritan’s Purse should force Franklin Graham to resign

The board of Samaritan’s Purse should make him resign. He has no business being part of an international Christian relief organization. And if you support Operation Christmas Child, stop. You’re just enriching Franklin Graham and his whole family.

And here are the 2019 Board of Directors at Samaritan’s Purse. Jerry Prevo, who was chair of the board of trustees at Liberty University under Jerry Falwell Jr., is one. Skip Heitzig is another. Only 12 of the 18 “are independent.”

Thread on Samaritan’s Purse financial information:

The QAnon person wearing the horns is not “Antifa.”

Originally tweeted by Andy Rowell (@AndyRowell) on January 7, 2021.

See also:

Good to see The Charlotte Observer. @theobserver publishing some reporting by Tom Fiedler of @AvlWatchdog about Franklin Graham.

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/living/religion/article247126671.html

For more on renting the Trump Hotel, see:

For more on Franklin Graham’s history, see:

Here is more about Franklin Graham’s mixing of truth and falsehood to provoke outrage at Democrats in his massively popular Facebook posts:

Here is his outrageous Facebook post from yesterday:

Originally tweeted by Andy Rowell (@AndyRowell) on November 14, 2020.

Franklin Graham & Trump’s tax returns thread:
“In 2017, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association paid at least $397,602 to the Washington hotel, where the group held at least one event during its four-day World Summit in Defense of Persecuted Christians.”

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/27/us/donald-trump-taxes.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

“Summit organizers told The Intercept that ‘800-plus’ people attended the dinner. An estimate provided by Trump hotel event planners put the average cost of food at roughly $105 per plate, not including audio-visual and room rental fees.”
https://theintercept.com/2017/05/16/mike-pence-speaks-to-religious-group-next-day-they-banquet-at-trump-hotel/ @Schwartzesque

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association paid $397,602 whereas “celebrations at the Trump International Hotel for a crowd of several hundred can run from $40,000 to $60,000, according to cost estimates from the hotel seen by Reuters.”
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-hotel-idUSKBN1640LE
@JuliaHarte1

Why is Franklin Graham directing almost $400,000 to Donald Trump? Is this furthering evangelism? Is it helping persecuted Christians? Do people giving to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association think that their money is going personally to Donald Trump?

Note that Franklin Graham’s Billy Graham Evangelistic Association no longer files a 990 disclosure form https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/410692230 because it maintains it is legally “a church” and so does need to not disclose financials like other non-profit organizations.

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association does file a revenue and expenditures list with @ecfa but that is useless for any form of accountability or transparency.

https://www.ecfa.org/MemberProfile.aspx?ID=4764&Type=Member

Welcoming persecuted Christians has dramatically fallen under Trump.
In 2020, “the US will receive 90-percent fewer Christian refugees this year than five years ago.”
https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2020/july/persecuted-christian-refugees-trump-open-doors-world-relief.html
https://twitter.com/crampell/status/1306588350489530368
https://twitter.com/chrispalusky/status/1309499983109001217

– Trump also used the Trump Foundation to give to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in 2012.
– Trump himself had stopped donating to his own Trump Foundation in 2008.
– The Trump Foundation was shut down in 2019 and fined $2 million because it was not used for charity.

After Franklin Graham voiced support of Trump running for president in 2011, the Trump Foundation gave the Billy Graham Evangelical Association $100,000 in 2012 and Samaritan’s Purse $25,000, and $10,000 in 2013.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-s-foundation-wrote-many-checks-path-nomination-n659811

Franklin Graham did a prayer rally on Saturday in Washington DC with a number of Republican Trump promoters. Trump gave to Franklin and Franklin gave to Trump. And Franklin runs two charities that are not supposed to support specific candidates and hides the BGEA finances.

Fun fact: I was at the dedication of the Billy Graham Center in Wheaton, Illinois 40 years ago in Sep 1980 when I was 5. Billy Graham made clear he was not endorsing Ronald Reagan or Jimmy Carter though Carter sent a telegram and Barbara Bush (wife of Reagan’s VP candidate) came.

Originally tweeted by Andy Rowell (@AndyRowell) on September 28, 2020.

Franklin Graham has shown himself to be utterly ignorant about or callous about public health, endangering thousands. If he has not been infected himself, he is very fortunate because he was in contact with four who tested positive.

Originally tweeted by Andy Rowell (@AndyRowell) on October 8, 2020.