by Keith Walker
Billy Graham,
I want to thank you for your many years of serving our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. You came to Rochester, New York in September of 1988. A friend invited me to the crusade and I went three times that week. On Friday evening the 16th, I surrendered my life to Christ at the Crusade and have been serving Him since. A short time after I was saved, a couple of Jehovah’s Witness ladies came to my door and challenged my new faith. That incident led me to become a missionary to Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons. My wife and I founded Evidence Ministries in 1992 and I have been a full-time missionary to these two cults since 1999.
This morning I read an online article which stated that you endorsed Mitt Romney, and then your ministry took down some information from your web site which describes Mormonism as a cult. The article can be read here.
I am writing because I wanted to get your side of the story and make an appeal to you. I understand the hesitancy of Christians to vote for a Mormon and I also understand why Christians would like to see him become the next President of the United States. What I do not understand is why a ministry would take down information which correctly identifies Mormonism as a cult.
I believe it is possible to be a Christian, understand that Mormonism is a cult, yet still in good conscience vote for Mitt Romney. Mr. Graham, I believe this is what you are doing. Please, correct me if I am wrong, but I also believe that the reason the critical information about Mormonism was taken off of your site is because you do not want to dissuade Christians from voting for Romney, even though he is a cult member. This is problematic for a number of reasons.
First and foremost, it sends a message that Christians must focus on perceived threats to their earthly kingdom more so than on threats to the Kingdom of God. Let’s face it. Many Christians believe that a second Obama Presidency could destroy the Constitution of this great nation. I have even had misguided Christians tell me that if we don’t vote for Romney, we will not be able to preach the gospel because it will become illegal. It has never occurred to them that a significant portion of our New Testament was written by a prisoner named Paul who was imprisoned precisely because he refused to stop preaching the gospel.
Some Christians are so fearful of Obama that they have allowed themselves to be fooled into thinking that our votes alone will be responsible for placing the president of their liking into the Whitehouse. They have forgotten that God told us in Romans 13:1-7 that He is the one who establishes governing authorities. I believe that as Christians we have a responsibility to vote for the person who best represents and will protect Godly values, but at the same time, I am not overlooking the fact that God alone is in control of the results of this election.
I can’t help but wonder if you have forgotten that. What other reason would you have for taking down information that is critical of Mormonism right after you endorsed Mitt Romney? Are you afraid that you may sway someone not to vote for Romney because he belongs to a pseudo-Christian cult? I don’t know if this is true of you (thus my purpose for writing), but I do know that many Christians are so fearful of a second term for Obama that they are willing to ignore the spiritual dangers of Mormonism.
A friend of mine visited a Family Christian bookstore after Church this past Sunday. He noticed that all of the books about Mormonism had been removed from the comparative religions section even though books on the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Scientology and Islam were still there. When he asked a clerk about the books on Mormonism, he was informed that they had been removed until the election. My friend asked what was going to happen if Romney is elected. He was told that if Romney won, the books would most likely not be returned to the shelves.
The policy of this book store may seem absurd, but I do not see much difference between what they did and what has been done to your web site. Are Christians now going to give Mormonism legitimacy for the sake of their patriotism? Which dangers should concern Christians more, temporal or spiritual dangers? I can’t help but wonder which is more important to Christians who make policies like this, their country or the souls of men? Given your many years of preaching the gospel, I pray that you are not led astray like these other Christians who have allowed their patriotism to become an idol worshiped in Jesus’ name.
If you believe that God is leading you to endorse Mitt Romney for President, then by all means do so, Just, please do not indirectly endorse Mormonism in the process. I humbly ask that you put the critical information about Mormonism back on your web site. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is very adept at fooling people into thinking that Mormonism is a legitimate expression of Christianity. They do not need your assistance.
Respectfully,
President, Evidence Ministries
(used with the permission of the author whose original version of this letter can be found here)
Beggar's Bread 
Well written. Valid points.
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I have just contacted the Billy Graham Evangelical Association via this link and, if you’re inclined, I encourage you to do so too:
http://www.billygraham.org/contact.asp
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Destructive cult or benign religion?
Orthodox religions dont strive to gain control over your money and everyday life.
Cults that are high control are Scientologist and the cult that I was in the Jehovahs Witnesses.Scientology teaches that humans are infected by the souls of dead aliens called Thetans.
Jehovahs Witnesses teach Jesus had his second coming invisibly October 5th or 6th 1914.
Benevolent religions offer hope, compassion, and want peace for your fellow man – even the nonbelievers.
A cult wants power,money, and obedience. All the outsiders must be destroyed (Armageddon). I think that’s the big distinction between two different belief systems of high demand cult or beneficial religion.
— Danny Haszard
FMI dannyhaszard(dot)com
*tell the truth don’t be afraid*
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And last but not least . . . this just in!
A fascinating, short, and annotated hidden camera tour of the inside workings of the LdS Temple ceremonies (baptism for the death and the endowment ceremony – no marriage sealing footage is included) done this year.
The filmmaker/editor expects this video to get some mainstream media attention so don’t be surprised if you see this elsewhere soon.
I suspect that had Mr. Graham’s team been aware of the information contained in this video they would have been less inclined to take down the page categorizing the LdS Church as a cult from their website.
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Per the request of Fred, I’m pasting the note I sent to the BGEA earlier this evening. I noticed after I had already sent the note that I left out one word, so I’m putting it in brackets. Everything else you see is what I sent them. I certainly encourage others who feel the same way to contact the BGEA and let them know what you think! Without further ado, here’s what I wrote:
Hello there!
I hope this e-mail finds you well. I am a Christian who has loved Billy Graham and the work he has done for a very long time.
With that in mind, I wanted to let you know about my concern that the BGEA has removed critical information from their website about Mormonism (it is not lost on me that this information was removed soon after Billy met with Mitt Romney). I find this very worrisome for some very personal reasons.
When I was in college, I almost [joined] the Mormon Church. I became very familiar with their doctrines and practices through my own research and experiences, and it literally came to the point where I felt I was ready to call up the local LDS missionaries to come teach me the discussions and prepare me for baptism. I was absolutely convinced that Mormonism was true.
With that being said, however, I did NOT join the Mormon Church. Why? Because certain people decided to study Mormonism’s teaching and history from its own sources of information, and to post what they found on the Internet. What I discovered from the information that they brought to light was staggering and caused me a great deal of inner turmoil. At the same time, I am SO glad that they did! If I had not discovered the information that they made available, I would probably be a Mormon today, giving everything I have to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, rather than giving it to Jesus Himself!
With this in mind, I plead with you to put this information back up. I understand the desire to see a certain candidate win an election, but the souls of men are SO much more important than politics! I shudder to think of the person who may join the Mormon Church because they did not find the critical information that was on your website just a few days ago. I love them because of how Jesus loves me. I ask you to do the same.
Please feel free to contact me via e-mail or phone if you wish to talk more about this. I will be praying for you.
In Christ,
Drew Roe
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Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I have contacted the BGEA with my concerns. I only hope that many more will do the same.
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The following appeal to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) was made by Don Priest who is an Evangelical Pastor in the United States. I thought it candid and articulate enough to make it worthy of a public repost – which I am now doing with Mr. Priest’s permission:
Dear Brother Graham, (Franklin as well)
I am very troubled at what I am seeing and hearing regarding the endorsement of Mitt Romney and the endorsement therefore of Mormonism.
Mormonism is a very destructive cult. Many of my friends have been led astray by them.
Despite what they will tell you, they do not believe that Jesus is the only begotten of the Father. They believe he is one of many (sons) begotten of the “heavenly father”.
They also believe that the “father” literally came to earth and had physical intercourse with the virgin Mary to produce Jesus in the earth.
Please understand, I am not trying to bash a man, but I am hoping to help your ministry see the nature of endorsing such a man to the presidency.
If you want to endorse him, that is your decision, but please put back the vital information regarding mormonism on your website. I would hate for more people to be led astray because it was not there for them to see.
Thank you for listening, and thank you for doing the work of ministry these many years.
Yours in Christ,
Don Priest
Pastor
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Very well said. I am very disappointed in Mr. Graham for wavering in his ministry.
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UPDATE: There’s speculation that the BGEA fiasco was architected by Mark DeMoss who is a long time former PR advisor to Franklin Graham (Franklin Graham’s Samaritan’s Purse specifically) – here’s the back story:
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UPDATE: Other Evangelicals are now weighing in on the BGEA situation…
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2012/october-web-only/should-billy-graham-have-removed-mormons-from-cult-list.html
… while BGEA, sadly (and conspicuously), remains silent.
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