But will the statue weep...
Posted September 13, 2006
A statue of evangelist Billy Graham -- 7 feet tall -- will soon tower over Tennessee residents. The larger-than-life graven image will be dwarfed by a 17-foot-tall metallic cross, press reports say. The statue of the world-famous preacher, Bible in hand, will be on display outside Southern Baptist Convention-related offices in Nashville.
Several hundred miles farther south, in Louisiana, another TV evangelist will also be immortalized by sculptors. Jimmy Swaggart, the prostitute-visiting, teardrop-shedding defrocked Pentecostal preacher will be visible at his hometown's museum in Ferriday.
An article in The Oklahoman did not say whether the Swaggart sculpture will have supernatural tear-shedding abilities...
Archived Comments
Mr Lockwood: It might be fairly enlightening to do a story on the Mormon humanitarian efforts, for members and non-members alike, in this country (Katrina, for example) and throughout he world. Example; providing one million measle shots to the children of Africa. Also, our Perpetual Education fund and how it is used.
I must confess that I kind of like "Brother Jimmy" Swaggart, and not just cause he's a first cousin to both Mickey Gilley ("The Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time") and Jerry Lee Lewis, who once remarked that if he had corrupted the youth of America, as claimed, that he "had done a damn good job of it."
Lewis Grizzard said that he had two requirements of a tv preacher, that he be able to cry and sweat, and he said that Brother Jimmy could do both as well as anyone he had ever seen.
I remember watching Brother Jimmy's apology for the whole prostitute scandal, and it involved tears, crying, sweating, and singing that would have made Cousin Mickey and Cousin Jerry Lee proud.
And now a statue. I mean, if all those Catholic statues can cry real tears, why not a protestant version?
Saint Jimmy? Well, maybe not, but he's good theatre . . .
I knew if I waited long enough, we would get to Billy Graham. He is an ordinary guy who has a following unmatched in the world today. I also had a chance to see one of his evangelical stops and I was quite taken by the simple message he conveyed. This man has more power than many of us can imagine, yet he uses it so wisely. I am so impressed with the simplicity of his preaching style and his message, I would certainly rate him as important as and pope in his day. I would truly love to study life under this man, it would be so rewarding.
I love Billy Graham. Though his beliefs differ from my own, it's mostly just details. Same for Mother Teresa.
Swaggart, now, ah... nevermind. Thumper was raised right.
Peace, Cliff
Next we'll be seeing Jimmy's image on a tortilla. Billy's on a toasted cheese sandwich.
Perplexed, your name suits you. At least I didn't have to come up with a demeaning adjective to place in front of it!
Billy Graham is a hell bound sinner. He has lead more people to Hell than any human being of our time. He preaches a terrible lie: God loves everybody! That is a bold faced lie that is not supported by scripture but is rather debunked by scripture.
Larry King asked Billy if God loves the Devil. Billy paused for a moment and then said yes. Realizing that he could not promote his lie because it is so easy to ask "Does God love the billions suffering in Hell?", Billy Graham now says that he no longer believes in Hell!
Billy, Hell is very real and here very very soon you will believe in it again.
Bart, somewhere along the way, I gather from your previous posts, you have developed a cynicism for mankind and you think God is out to get man. If God wanted to get man, the one thing in my mind as a reason would be the abortion of 44 million babies. What other reason would he need. You don't the Pope, You don't like Billy Graham, these are people who have dedicated their lives to converting people to Christianity yet you accuse them of left wing demonic activity. Whats your deal man, Any person who is trying to save souls should be commended, yes Even Swaggart, so what he sinned against the flesh, he's human. If you could imagine where Billy is on the plane of life, where his search has taken him, whats left for him, how many countless lives he has brought out of the gutter and lead to a productive state of being maybe you wouldn't be so hard. Makes me wonder about you Bart, whats happened to you to make you so bitter.
Bart, if I ever meet you, I'm going to give you a hug and a smile. I think you need it.
Not everyone is so enamored of Rev. Graham. I have to admit I find some of these comments startling from a purported Christian leader:
(from http://stevenjcamp.blogspot.com/2006/08/bearing-crossby-octavius-winslow.html --Mr. Lockwood, dude, you really should allow your commenters to use HTML. Also post from oldest first; it's easier to follow. JMHO, of course.)
Rev. Graham: And that's what God is doing today, He's calling people out of the world for His name, whether they come from the Muslim world, or the Buddhist world, or the Christian world, or the non-believing world, they are members of the Body of Christ, because they've been called by God. They may not even know the name of Jesus, but they know in their hearts that they need something that they don't have, and they turn to the only light that they have, and I think they are saved, and that they're going to be with us in heaven."
Um, yeah, don't Christians pretty much believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven?
I am saddened by this statute. I'm not sure what happened to Billy Graham but the easy believism and cheap grace has been part of most of his sermons over the last 20 years or so. May the Lord God of heaven have mercy on his soul.
Marcia, dudette, certainly fundamentalists and many evangelicals believe that christianity is the only key to open the gates of heaven, and the Catholics used to go one step further and say they had the only set of keys, but they've kind of backed off on that in recent years, and acknowledged that maybe there's another set or two floating around somewhere.
Mainline churches don't generally believe in the exclusivity of christianity, and I'm glad to see Billy Graham acknowledge that.
Graham has always gotten flack from both the right and the left, which I suppose makes him a moderate. The left has always accused him of being a jumped up country preacher with questionable to nonexistent academic credentials who has brushed the sawdust off his shoes, dumbed down his message, and sold out to the Republican presidents (particularly Nixon) to whom he was so close.
Jimmy Carter, the only true evangelical to ever occupy the White House, gave him the cold shoulder, and when Brother Bill Clinton got in such trouble over sins of the flesh, he turned to Tony Campolo, who is about the only evangelical leader I have any respect for.
The right has always distrusted Graham, whose family, after all, is presbyterian, and they got positively livid over his alliances with mainstream churches, including, egads, even the Catholics, during his crusades.
I have to give Graham his due: In the '40s and '50s, when most american denominations, and particulary the Southern Baptists, were very racially segregated, he demanded that his crusades be fully integrated, which explains why many of his early crusades were held outside the south, where integrated meetings would have been illegal. Martin Luther King helped organize for Graham, and spoke with him on a number of occasions. I can only imagine the rancor that his racial tolerance caused in the south of that time, and particularly among the Southern Baptists.
I watched Billy Graham's tv crusades growing up, and frankly I don't remember the content of a single one of his sermons. But I do remember hearing Ethel Waters sing "His Eye is on the Sparrow," and George Beverly Shea singing "How Great Thou Art," and seeing Johnny Cash and June Carter speak and sing with him.
I deeply respect the fact that Graham has been willing to learn during his long lifetime. I saw an interview with him not long ago where he talked about how his positions had softened over the years as he'd learned more about people and more about how religion really works in life.
I'm not much on bumper sticker theology, but I've come to respect Graham, because I tend to respect anyone who's willing to learn and think rather than just posture.
Boy you hit the nail on the head. The statue of Billy Graham AND the cross is nothing more than an idol. The Southern Baptists are ear deep in idolatry. Every last one of them headed to hell!