The Death of Billy Graham
Billy Graham died in February 2018 at the age of 99. The present writer heard him in Bristol in the summer of 1984, when he spoke for five nights at the Bristol City football stadium, with an average attendance of 40 000 people each night. A disused railway line was opened for the occasion to help transport the crowds who wanted to hear him, or, at least, had been persuaded by others to attend.
Billy Graham warned about sin, judgement and hell, and invited sinners to come to Christ for salvation. This was equated with getting out of one’s seat and coming to the front, as a declaration of repentance and as a statement that one was “opening one’s heart to Christ”. The duty of physically
coming forward was pressed with great force. By that time, Billy Graham had fallen under the spell of Pope John Paul II, and any Roman Catholics who came forward were sent back to their priests for further counselling.
Looking back, it is surprising that so many people who were resolutely irreligious – before and since – were persuaded to attend the meetings; and it is perhaps also surprising too how little effect such vast meetings had on religion in England. During the course of the tour, Billy Graham must have addressed a significant proportion of the total population of the country, but how little fruit there was. Of the thousands who came forward, how few continued in any profession of Christianity at all. Those who made a profession and then fell away were hardened by the experience, and many others were confirmed in their prejudices against Christianity – they had heard Billy Graham and were satisfied that they knew enough about Evangelical religion. The Day of Judgement will declare what true fruit there was, but in the meantime the Christian Church is left with the legacy of confusion, Arminianism, tolerance of Romanism and liberalism, and a low regard for the ordinary settled ministry of the Church – which have been the hallmarks of the big evangelistic campaigns.
DWBS
Islamic Crimes in Britain
As our nation becomes more accommodating to the idea of a multi-faith society, and particularly Islamic culture, are we in danger of ignoring crimes associated with this religion? Heinous events are reported which appear to point in this direction. Recently The Mirror newspaper carried out an investigation in Telford, England, into what it called the “worst ever child grooming scandal . . . hundreds of young girls raped, beaten . . . and some even killed over 40 years, as authorities failed to act”. In its year-and-a-half-long probe there, the newspaper discovered that 1000 children may have suffered under these gangs over four decades. Alarmingly the report concluded that many social workers knew of the abuse, but the police would not investigate. Why was there such reluctance to act? It appears that details of abusers from Asian communities were deliberately not recorded for fear of being branded as “racist”. They conveniently chose to view the abused children as prostitutes instead of victims. It is claimed that police ignored a recent case five times until an MP put pressure on them to act.
A spokesman from Christian Concern comments, “There is a strong Islamic connection with these crimes and their justification from Islamic teaching”. He argues that “thousands of young girls are being sacrificed on the altars of multiculturalism and political correctness”, and questions, “How long before we are prepared to speak the truth about what is happening?” He
then states that “white or Sikh British girls, some as young as 11 years old, are being drugged, raped and beaten by ‘Asian’ sex gangs over an extended period of time”. In this context he alleges that Asian is “a euphemism for ‘men of Muslim background’, predominantly Pakistani”, adding that it is a, “familiar story because of the exposures of similar sex gangs in Rotherham, Rochdale and Oxford”.
Reporter Peter McLoughlin compares the Telford situation to the tragic events in Rotherham, where the whole Council Cabinet had to resign over the covering up of the activities of such gangs. He questions why other places such as Telford were also allowed to turn a blind eye to such abuse – all in the name of political correctness. McLoughlin has carefully compiled a list of gang convictions since 1997, for grooming girls, and has found that, out of over 300 people convicted to date, 86% seem to have Muslim names. While we must be careful with statistics, it appears that a large proportion of those guilty of the crimes would identify as Muslim. The Rotherham reports make it clear that child exploitation was carried out by men mainly from the Pakistani heritage community, who are predominantly Muslim.
Peter McLoughlin goes on to demonstrate that the Qur’an actually advocates sex slavery – with, for instance, Boko Haram taking girls captive and ISIS fighters carrying out despicable acts throughout the world. “Slaves” are referred to as “those your right hands possess”. He states, “In the worst examples of the doctrine of multiculturalism being applied, those convicted of serious crimes are excused because of their culture. In one case in 2013, a Muslim man in Nottingham, who had raped an underage girl, was spared a prison term after the judge heard that the man had been taught in an Islamic faith school that women are worthless”. He claims that Islamic values are “undermining the fundamental principle of one law for all”. He warns, “What is even more problematic is that Islamic values are rarely mentioned as a factor in explaining these rape gangs”, adding, “There is a conspiracy of silence even at the cost of more girls being raped. Until we recognise the strong Islamic cultural factors involved, we will not be able to properly tackle this problem. Multiculturalism and political correctness continue to prevent us from properly protecting young girls.”
The solemn conclusion is that Islamic culture is gaining more and more of a foothold in our nation, is perpetrating evil practices, and is intent on destroying our culture; while Christianity, which for generations has formed our morals as well as shaped our welfare, health and education systems, among many other things, is being attacked and rejected by our people. Multiculturalism brings in confusion and is being used by Satan to further his evil designs. We are to pray for the downfall of his kingdom and for the
day when all false systems, with their attendant horrors, will be abolished for ever. Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Mt 6:10). KHM