Spurred by Big Left-Wing Source, Pentecostal Charisma Helps Spread Accusation of Alleged Collusion of Franklin Graham with Trump and Putin
By Julio
Severo
When Russia was the Soviet Union, U.S.
left-wingers did not see any problem. Now when Christian Orthodox conservatism
has come back to the Russian government, there is no surprise that U.S.
left-wingers are seeing all kind of problem in Russia. The big surprise is that
U.S. right-wingers, including their Protestant supporters, are embarking on a
kind of collusion with U.S. left-wingers in the same feeling of hostility to
Russia.
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| Franklin Graham and Vladimir Putin |
In a recent report titled “The Russian
Connection: When Franklin Graham Met Putin,” Charisma, which is the largest
Pentecostal media in the world, said,
When
President Trump stood beside Russian President Vladimir Putin… the subsequent
firestorm of criticism included liberals as well as prominent Republicans. But
there was one group that kept uncharacteristically quiet: the president’s
evangelical advisers.
The Charisma report added,
There
are good reasons why some Christian right leaders are less than eager to address
Trump’s attempts to warm relations between the U.S. and Russia. For years,
American evangelicals have cultivated ties with Russia, highlighted by a 2015
meeting between Franklin Graham, son of the late Billy Graham, and Putin in
Russia.
But
by the time Trump was inaugurated in 2017, the Kremlin had become what Politico
described as "the leader of the global Christian Right," largely
based on an alliance with Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill.
Graham’s
public relationship with Trump dates back to at least 2011, when he told ABC
News, “The more you listen to [Trump], the more you say to yourself, ‘You know,
maybe the guy’s right.’” The following year, Trump’s foundation reportedly gave
the organization named for Franklin Graham’s father, the Billy Graham
Evangelistic Association, a $100,000 check in 2012, while Samaritan’s Purse, a
Christian relief group also run by Franklin Graham, received $25,000 the same
year and $10,000 in 2013.
Meanwhile,
Putin’s ideological influence over parts of the American religious right dates
back to at least 2014.
In
March of that year, Putin
was featured on the cover of Decision Magazine, a publication of the BGEA,
in an issue that included an opinion article by Franklin Graham that offered
cautious praise for the Russian president. The evangelical leader pointed to
Putin’s decision to sign a law barring the dissemination of “propaganda of
nontraditional sexual relations” to children.
“It’s
obvious that President Obama and his administration are pushing the gay-lesbian
agenda in America today and have sold themselves completely to that which is
contrary to God’s teaching,” Graham wrote. He later added: “In my opinion,
Putin is right on these issues. Obviously, he may be wrong about many things,
but he has taken a stand to protect his nation’s children from the damaging
effects of any gay and lesbian agenda.”
Then Charisma mentions meetings of Russian
Orthodox Christian leaders with conservative evangelical leaders in America as
an alleged example of some sort of “intrigue.” The big problem — and you do not
need any supernatural gift of prophecy to see it — is that the source for all
the accusations of intrigue is not Charisma itself. It is not also some
conservative evangelical media. The source was the Religion News Service, which
used as its own source… Mother Jones, a famous U.S. left-wing magazine.
Actually, Charisma carelessly reproduced
the full report from the Religion News Service, which is plain propaganda
against Trump, against Graham and against Russia.
If Charisma had done a diligent
investigative report, it would have seen that the Religion News Service was not
the original source. The Religion News Service used a very big left-wing source.
The issue is not why Mother Jones and
other U.S. left-wingers are worried or even desperate about contacts of conservative
evangelicals with Trump and of conservative evangelicals with Russia. The big
issue is why evangelicals, including Pentecostals, are allowing Mother Jones
and other U.S. left-wingers to dictate to them how should be their relationship
with Trump and Russia.
Pentecostals and charismatics blindly
following non-leftist sources is bad. But to follow left-wing sources is vastly
worse.
In an extensive report titled “What
Happened in Moscow: The Inside Story of How Trump’s Obsession With Putin Began,”
Mother Jones mentioned Trump’s visit to Russia in 2013 as a worrying point.
Another worrying point was the Russian law banning homosexual propaganda to
children. This left-wing report was the source for the Religion News Service
and ultimately and consequently for Charisma.
 |
| Donald Trump and Franklin Graham |
…the
Russian Duma had passed a law that made it illegal to expose children to
information about homosexuality. The new anti-gay measure was the latest move
by Putin to appeal to the conservative Orthodox Church and ultranationalist
forces.
Human
rights and gay rights advocates in Russia and around the world denounced the
new law. Vodka boycotts were launched. There was a push to relocate the Winter
Olympics, scheduled to be held the following year in Sochi, Russia. In the
United States, the Human Rights Campaign called on Trump and the Miss Universe
Organization to move the event out of Russia, noting that under the new law a
contestant could be prosecuted if she were to voice support for gay rights.
The
uproar over the Russian anti-gay act confronted Trump with a dilemma—how to
distance himself from the law without jeopardizing his big Russia play. The
Miss Universe Organization issued a statement asserting that it “believes in
equality for all individuals.” That didn’t stop the protests. Bravo talk-show
host Andy Cohen and entertainment reporter Giuliana Rancic, who had previously
co-hosted the pageant, quit the show. Miss Universe officials scrambled and
found replacements: Thomas Roberts, an openly gay MSNBC anchor, and former
Spice Girl Mel B.
Roberts
explained his decision in an op-ed on MSNBC.com: “Boycotting and vilifying from
the outside is too easy. Rather, I choose to offer my support of the LGBT
community in Russia by going to Moscow and hosting this event as a journalist,
an anchor, and a man who happens to be gay. Let people see I am no different
than anyone else.”
This
was a godsend for Trump. He granted Roberts an interview on MSNBC. “I think
you’re going to do fantastically,” he told Roberts, “and I love the fact that
you feel the same about the whole situation as me.” Inevitably, the
conversation turned toward Putin and whether he would appear at the pageant. “I
know for a fact that he wants very much to come,” Trump said, “but we’ll have
to see. We haven’t heard yet, but we have invited him.”
Though
US relations with Moscow were at this point deteriorating, Trump was touting
Putin as a wily and strong leader. In September, Putin published an op-ed in
the New York Times that opposed a possible US military strike against the
government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria (in retaliation for its use of chemical
weapons) and that denounced President Barack Obama for referring to American
exceptionalism. The next day, Trump on Fox News commended Putin’s move. “It
really makes him look like a great leader,” he said.
The
following month, Trump appeared on David Letterman’s late-night show. The host
asked if Trump had ever done any deals with the Russians. “I’ve done a lot of
business with the Russians,” Trump replied, adding, “They’re smart and they’re
tough.” Letterman inquired if Trump had ever met Putin. “He’s a tough guy,”
Trump said. “I met him once.” In fact, there was no record he ever had.
Do
you have a relationship with Putin and any sway with the Russian leader?
Roberts asked him. Trump was unequivocal: “I do have a relationship.” He
paused. “I can tell you that he’s very interested in what we’re doing here
today. He’s probably very interested in what you and I are saying today. And
I’m sure he’s going to be seeing it in some form.”
Trump
could barely contain his praise for Russia’s president: “Look, he’s done a very
brilliant job in terms of what he represents and who he’s representing. If you
look at what he’s done with Syria, if you look at so many of the different
things, he has really eaten our president’s lunch. Let’s not kid ourselves.
He’s done an amazing job…He’s put himself at the forefront of the world as a
leader in a short period of time.”
But
Trump had decided to attend the celebration of evangelist Billy Graham’s 95th
birthday on November 7 at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina. In
Russia, Trump told Goldstone that it had been necessary for him to show up at
the Graham event: “There is something I’m planning down the road, and it’s
really important.”
Goldstone
knew exactly what Trump was talking about: a run for the White House. Franklin
Graham, the evangelist’s son, was an influential figure among religious
conservatives. When Trump two years earlier was championing birtherism—the
baseless conspiracy theory that Barack Obama had been born in Kenya and was
ineligible to be president—Graham joined the birther bandwagon, raising
questions about the president’s birth certificate. Appearing at this event and
currying favor with Franklin Graham was a mandatory stop for Trump, if he was
serious about seeking the Republican presidential nomination. And it paid off:
Trump and his wife Melania were seated at the VIP table along with Rupert
Murdoch and Sarah Palin. Franklin Graham later said that Trump was among those
who “gave their hearts to Christ” that night.
So these are the worries of Mother Jones,
one of the most left-wing publications in the United States. The mystery is not
why Mother Jones and other U.S. left-wing publications are so opposed to evangelical
involvement with Trump and Russian conservatism today and Trump’s involvement with
Russia. The mystery is why evangelicals, especially Charisma, would used its
powerful media to let a left-wing article spread its venom against Trump and Russian
conservatism.
The problem is not only a lack of
attention to God’s Word and prophecies and revelations. It is a lack of Christian
good sense.
While Charisma and some Pentecostals are
giving attention to Mother Jones and other left-wingers, the Christian
Broadcasting Network and other charismatic channels are giving attention to
neocons, the fake conservatives. This is sheer lack of good sense too.
Trump is better than Obama and Russia is
not worse than the Vatican. If the U.S. has had a long relationship and
partnership with the Vatican, why not with Russia?
Russia is vastly better than the Islamic dictatorship
of Saudi Arabia. If the U.S. has had a long relationship and partnership with
Saudi Arabia, why is the U.S. left so enraged and desperate to hinder U.S.
conservative evangelicals from a partnership with Russia?
Because
the anti-Russia pressure from left-wingers and neocons has been so massive, in
a time when Russia is more open to cooperation, the U.S. finds itself, even
under Trump, seeking all reason and non-reason to impose sanctions, alienate and
even provoke Russia.
If
the U.S. did to the Vatican only ten percent of what it has been doing to
Russia, it would be called, in the midst of outcries, anti-Catholic hostility.
If
the U.S. did to Israel only ten percent of what it has been doing to Russia, it
would be called, in the midst of outcries, anti-Israel hostility or even
anti-Semitism.
The same left that always saw no
reason to blame the old Soviet Union today sees all reason and non-reason to
blame conservative Russia for everything and nothing. Their inconsistency is
glaring to normal eyes but why not also to the Pentecostal and charismatic
spiritual eyes of Charisma and other evangelicals?
Left-wingers
and neocons are destroying the best chance that the U.S. has ever had of
partnership with a conservative Russia.
Perhaps one of the most important signs
of such partnership happened in 2014, in Moscow, when the
Kremlin held a pro-family conference attended by international pro-family
leaders, including me. The conference clearly
condemned abortion, the homosexual agenda and Marxism. The late Larry Jacobs, who
was a major leader in the World Congress of Families, told me personally that
the Obama administration and U.S. left-wingers were threatening conservative
Americans attending this conference. Jacobs and other Americans were very
courageous to challenge Obama’s threats. Jacobs was a Pentecostal from the
Assemblies of God.
Not
surprisingly, Mother Jones saw a conservative conspiracy in the pro-family
conference in Moscow. But what expect from left-wingers?
Conservative
Pentecostals and charismatics should not let neocons and left-wingers — who
embrace Saudi Arabia and their bloody petrodollars — guide them in their
hateful collusion against conservative Russia.
With
information from Charisma and Mother Jones.
Portuguese version of this article: Impulsionada
por grande fonte de esquerda, revista pentecostal Charisma ajuda a espalhar
acusação de alegado conluio de Franklin Graham com Trump e Putin
Source:
Last Days Watchman
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