The Blind Leading The Blind

But He answered and said, "Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.  "Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch." Matthew 15:13-14

Recently we attended with our friends a religious conference on spiritual gifts..What was amazing was the mood that many of the participants of this conference who where quite upset with pastors and impersonal mega-churches and their unscrupulous methods. For we now live in a time when less people go to church in America than ever and the evangelicals are now a persecuted and even hated minority. But it is about time that the Christian Churches in America face up and pay for their crimes for allowing pedophiles, rapists, thieves, liars and murderers operate freely in their midst.

Recently the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas agreed to pay $23 million to eight former altar boys who were sexually abused for years by a priest more churches should do the same. Even if it means to sell many of its assets to finance the settlements. It is shocking that as many as 2,000 of the nation's 51,000 priests have been accused of sexual abuse in the past two decades. Churches should stop denying their responsibilities in the matter.

Also recently the media reported United Church of Canada has launched an appeal of a court order to compensate victims of sexual abuse of children at religious residential schools. The United Church along with the rest of their religious friends could not accept the British Columbia Supreme Court verdict that the church was liable for sexual attacks carried out in its schools. The United Church had gotten in touch with the leadership of the Roman Catholic, Anglican and Presbyterian churches, who also share in the sins and responsibility for the sexual assaults against young boys.

Obviously the convicted Roman Catholic pedophile priest Rudolph ``Rudy'' Kos who was stripped by the Vatican of his priesthood and bared from any church ministry. for molesting altar boys was s not a true Christian. A crime for which he is serving a well deserved prison sentence  For the media reported that  this  religious scandal led to a record $119.6 million verdict against the Catholic Diocese of Dallas, the largest clergy sexual abuse award in U.S. history.

The suit was brought by 10 former altar boys and the parents of an 11th who committed suicide. Three plaintiffs have settled for $7.5 million, and the remaining eight are close to reaching a settlement, the newspaper said. In a criminal trial later, Kos was convicted of sexual assault and indecency charges for molesting four boys more than 1,350 times between 1987 and 1992 while he was assigned to St. Luke's Catholic Church in Irving and St. John's Catholic Church in Ennis.

We have prominent Born Again Evangelicals like Baptist Pastor Henry J. Lyons, former President of the National Baptist Convention,  who was charged by the Federal Grand Jury with sixty one criminal indictments including perjury, extortion, and tax evasion being put behind bars where he belongs.  Also charged with him were two of his alleged lovers Brenda Harris and Bernice Edwards, a convicted felon and embezzler. Federal authorities have seized everything that belongs to Lyons including the $700, 000 love nest that he and Bernice shared in Terre, St. Petersburg. They all pleaded guilty to the federal charges.

Lyons is only one of many are sexual aggressive, immoral, unscrupulous, and exploiters prominent evangelicals who have been exposed by the media in the last few years. He now joins the ranks of Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, Karl Strader, Pat Robertson, Benny Hinn, Billy Graham and Bob Moorehead. All these men built for themselves religious empires that were (and are) worth millions of dollars.

But even overseas there are religious scandals for the Associated Press had reported:

A financial scandal is shaking the Orthodox Church in Greece. An internal report released July 8 reveals mismanagement and theft from 1988 to 1996, resulting in the loss of millions of dollars. Critics blame the church's secretive nature regarding finances and outdated practices of management. "There is no control," politician Nitsa Loule said. "No one oversees their budget or how they spend their money."

...Lay employees of the church embezzled funds by illegally leasing church properties and misused government grants intended for the restoration of monasteries and churches, the report alleges. No clergy have been named, but church officials said those responsible for overseeing their activities will suffer consequences. "Clergy supervised lay employees and certainly are responsible for being extremely negligent," Metropolitan Maximos of Serres said.

...Assets of the Greek Orthodox Church are estimated at $1 billion. The church is exempt from paying taxes and the government subsidizes clergy salaries and provides funds for the restoration of church buildings. Several members of Parliament are calling for more investigation and greater access to information about the church's business dealings.

For the record, no where in the bible does it state that God has ordained that one single individual or group of people be it Billy Graham, Jerry Falwell or the Southern Baptist Denomination to represent Him or be His spokesmen. For after all they are only flesh and do not accept the power which comes from having the Holy Spirit upon a person with the evidence of speaking in tongues. In other words the Baptism of the Holy Spirit that Jesus talked about and preached.

The bottom line is that God will share His glory with no one and He will not let any one steal His glory not even Billy Graham nor the pope. The sooner the fleshly religionists one in America in Christendom learn this truth the less we will see of exposures of religious scandals in Christianity by men who are walking in the flesh and not in the Spirit.

 Some Are More Equal Than Others!

The Declaration of American Independence states that "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. "

But it seems in America that some people have more rights than others. We now have minority groups who want to be treated differently from the rest of Americans and be given special privileges and preferences. We have politicians who because the ordinary man elects them seem to think they themselves are extra ordinary. We have feminist groups who want to be treated totally equally just as men but want different testing rules. We have religious clergy in the form of pastors and priests who are robbing and using the sheep for their advantage because they are the called and chosen ones.

Now all of these groups are very proper and can rationally justify their position. But that tragedy in all of this is that they are self interest groups who do not seek the good and welfare of others but primarily their own. Even though Apostle Paul wrote and told them:

Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Philippians 2:1-4

Most intelligent people will agree that race and gender should not be the criteria to be used in determining if a person's right to a particular job or school. But it is and that is wrong. For under the American Constitution all men are equal and some should not be treated more equally than others. Which is why affirmative action and racial preferences, among other things, are wrong.

Remedy to Stress and Burn Out

A popular religious motivational speaker recently gave a talk about Stress & Burnout where he stated that Signs of Stress or Burnout are Fatigue, Overwhelmed and Restlessness & Insomnia. He went on to state that 80% of Illnesses are stress related and he gave eight "Keys to Dealing with Stress & Burnout."

Work out (exercise) 3x's a week for .5 hr. Exercise helps to give you energy and relieves stress.

Rest up (sleep) - Sleep is one of the bodies best health aids. Do not read or work while in bed.

Take charge of your thoughts. Always think positive thoughts.

Laugh a lot - know to relieve stress. Also increase activities that involve creativity.

Regulate your Body Language - Act the way you want to feel. Discipline your body to act happy, smile, and have a good posture.

Mix it up. Have variety, that's the spice of life. Plan some new activities.

Vanish worry.

Develop and attitude of gratitude.

All these words sound wonderful, in theory, but their path leads to death for it has nothing to do with the Spirit of the Lord and doesn't deal with root problems. It's only mouth wash to disguise bad breathe. Following these suggestions only brings a curse rather than a blessing because there is no life in their words. As it's a clever deception, but it is still a deception.

They claim to have the truth but it is a ghost of the truth. It has no real substance yet it parades itself as the truth. For truth is found in the person of Jesus Christ and a relationship with Him and the power of life He gives to His own.

Men who call themselves Christians are not necessarily the real thing and the "truth" that they pedal is equally false. As men walk in their falsehood as false prophets and peddlers who claim to have a corner market on the truth and sell it, like a cheap commodity, to the highest bidder.

Those who can afford to go to seminars are duped into believing they have received the deepest wisdom from the greatest gurus of modern time. Yet, in fact, they peddle half-truths that have no substance and no enduring value. They have missed God though they speak very prolifically of Him.

But God is not fooled and there are many others who are not fooled by them. For they are wayward men who have used their gifts and anointing for selfish gain rather than for the profit of others.

This is their loss. They have been exposed to the Light of the Truth and found wanting. They have fallen short of their calling and have been exposed. As a result they pay in time a very exacting price for their waywardness as more people become aware of what they truly are like, false ones. For there is no defense against the truth, it just has to be proclaimed

Such men end up eating their cake and just like Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart and Dr. Henry J. Lyons did. Though these three musketeers all protested how innocent they were, they still paid for their crimes of twisting and selling the truth? So will the others

Do Evangelicals Really Care About Truth?

The St. Petersburg Times, published October 2, 1999 reported that After the horrible shooting at Columbine High School, 17-year-old Cassie Bernall became the world's martyr. She was the one we all looked to as an example of how to stand up for what we truly believe, even when a loaded gun is staring us in the face.

Cassie Bernall She was the one -- according to reports back then -- who said "yes" when one of the gunmen in Littleton, Colo., asked her if she believed in God and paid for that response with her life. She was among 12 students and a teacher killed by the two gunmen before they took their own lives. Reports of Bernall's standing up for her belief in God won her instant sainthood in churches around the world. Her photo was displayed and she was held up as a poster child for how to follow Jesus' lead. Pastors around the country wrote sermons about her.

Television evangelists held up her picture on their programs and challenged people to be as faithful as she was. "Satan wants to steal an entire generation, but Cassie stood up for God. Will you?" one evangelist reportedly said. Her mother, Misty, even wrote a moving book about her daughter's road to sainthood titled She Said Yes: The Unlikely Martyrdom of Cassie Bernall. Friday's Floridian section published a story about Bernall's mother and that book.

But now investigators say Bernall may not have been the student who said "yes" after all. According to a recent Denver Post story, it may have been another girl, Val Schnurr, 18, who uttered the famous reply. Schnurr is still alive. Schnurr told the Denver Post that as she bled from her wounds, she pleaded, "Oh, my God, oh, my God, don't let me die." That, she said, was when one of the shooters asked her if she believed in God, and she said, "Yes."

Schnurr crawled away as the gunman reloaded. Schnurr, who suffered several gunshot wounds, is now in college. A student who helped police retrace the events in the library recently told investigators he was heartsick when he realized it was Schnurr's table, not Bernall's, that he was pointing out in describing the exchange between gunman and victim.

Investigators say that although Bernall may not have been the one who made the statement, it is not their priority to determine whether she did or didn't. Schnurr said she has spoken out not because she wants to take the halo from Bernall's head but because she wants people to know the truth. "I don't want to be famous or deemed anything," she said. "I said I believed in God out of respect for myself and respect for God. That's it." The news that it was probably Schnurr who uttered those final words has barely caused a whisper.

It has not traveled far and wide as it did when Bernall was believed to have said yes. It probably won't inspire television evangelists' reports or Sunday sermons. It did not appear on the front page of newspapers across the country after it was first reported last week.

Now the wayward ones are a destructive force because they walk in their own perversions and aberrations and call them the revelations of God's truth. They do not follow the unadulterated truth of God. They follow falsehoods. They are always searching for more than they can ever find. They seek for what they will never see. They look for what they will never have. They go about trying to find what they will never know.

The truth is not their shield and buckler as promised in the Word, because they don't know how to use it appropriately. Their use of it is in half-understanding. They miss the point of it. It is there to deliver them and they cannot receive the deliverance. They are blinded by their own half-baked understanding.

The mountains are large and immovable around them. They sing and command them to move but they never seem to go. They cry and whine and complain but they never see results. Their poverty is due to their hatred of the truth. They go deeper and deeper into heresies and wonder why they are in the pit so deep. They walk in unbelief and hypocrisy. They walk in selfish ambitions and never come to the knowledge of the truth. They are ever seeking but never arriving.

Escape Goats for the Sins of the Southern Baptist Convention?

Drastic steps were needed to correct the Baptist Foundation of Arizona problems, investors were told, and, if not corrected, the BFA could be forced into receivership or bankruptcy. As a result the three top executives of the troubled BFA were fired Aug. 26, 1999 by the board of directors, investors were told in a letter from the BFA board.

PHOENIX (BP)--The three top executives of the troubled Baptist Foundation of Arizona were fired Aug. 26 by the board of directors, investors were told in a letter from the BFA board.  William P. Crotts, president, Tom Grabinski, legal counsel, and Donald Deardoff, controller, had "voluntarily" relinquished their responsibilities in late July and were put on paid leave of absence. A spokesperson told Baptist Press the three were given no severance packages when they were terminated.

Crotts, a former attorney, has been president since 1982, succeeding his father, Glen Crotts, former pastor of First Southern Baptist Church, Tucson, who was the agency's first president. The action by the board of directors came at a meeting Aug. 26. Investors were told in the Aug. 28 letter that management responsibility for BFA was given to three people hired by the board but who are not employees of the BFA.

The BFA has stopped offering and selling its investment products in an agreement with the Arizona Corporation Commission's cease-and-desist order Aug. 10. According to the order, the foundation or its affiliates sold securities from Arizona through "misrepresentations, omissions of fact and engaged in business practices in violation of state law."

Of course men, even religious ones and especially the Southern Baptist Convention, never see things God's way but only their way. They are right even when they are wrong for after all they are someone special in the eyes of God?

Now the purposes of true shepherds and religious institutions is to edify and build up the sheep and not to rob, rape and use them? For God's sheep are His vessels, temples of the Holy Ghost and they are not to be touched or offended as many religious ones have done, even in the current time of life.

Well religious ones in America, especially the Southern Baptist Convention, have been weighed in the balances by God and others and found wanting. Found wanting not because of their empty words of love which they spew out but because of their real deeds. For the Southern Baptist convention through its Arizona branch and it's agency the Baptist Foundation of Arizona sold money-losing investments to unsuspecting investors and parishioners.

But it was alright for these Southern Baptist money changers and wolves in sheep's clothing to rob, steal and lie because BFA was formed by the Arizona Southern Baptist Convention to raise resources for Southern Baptist causes. Its primary means of fund-raising, according to a spokesperson, is by conducting two lines of business -- estate planning and financial services -- to individuals and organizations.

To make matters worse Arizona has a lot of retired folks with money who were lured to invest through material misrepresentations and omissions of material fact.

The state's investigation, begun in August 1998, followed an earlier lengthy report in a Phoenix-area weekly newspaper which charged the foundation with seriously overestimating the value of some of its investment assets, especially property, and the close connections between foundation employees and property owners.

It's to be noted that it was the secular media, not the religious media, who first caught on the fact that these Evangelicals were playing hanky panky with the value of investment assets and the close connections between foundation employees and property owners.

As a result the primary concern of these Southern Baptists were not the security of the investors but the property owners and securities which were offered and sold "within or from Arizona through material misrepresentations and omissions of material fact."

But there are many still many Evangelicals in America who say they love the Lord and take the lives of the sheep, if not their money at least, and do not lay down their lives for the sheep.

When Jesus told His disciples that they would do greater works than He did, He definitely did not mean that the Evangelicals would rob, rape and use the sheep or others for their advantages. Even though South African Pentecostal Evangelist Dr. Rodney Howard Browne taught pastors that "sheep needed to be fleeced or they would have too much hair and could not see where they are going. It was the pastors job to fleece the sheep."

Sure enough the sheep were being fleeced in Arizona by so called men of God. Mind you it was known in Southern Baptist financial circles that BFA was very aggressive in its approach to potential investors and none of the Southern Baptist leadership who say they loved the Lord and the sheep did a thing to stop these crimes.  Even though Jesus told Peter to feed the sheep and not rob them. The bible records:

He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?" Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, "Do you love Me?" And he said to Him, "Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You." Jesus said to him, "Feed My sheep. John 21:17

The Arizona Corporation Commission had issued a cease-and-desist order Aug. 10 1999 to the Baptist Foundation of Arizona. As a result, the Commission accepted the proposal of the BFA to discontinue immediately the offering and selling of its investment products.

An Aug. 10 news release by the regulatory commission stated the BFA and its two related corporations have sold more than $483 million in investment products, in the form of various types of promissory notes, to more than 13,000 investors. As well as selling its own investments, BFA is the custodian of IRA investments sold by the other two corporations. The three corporations consented to the cease-and-desist order "without admitting or denying the findings of fact and conclusions of law," the commission's news release said.

According to the order, the foundation or its affiliates sold securities from Arizona through misrepresentations and omissions of fact and engaged in business practices in violation of state law. One Arizona Corporation Commission member said he likened the BFA's practices to a "complex Ponzi" scheme. Authorities have not ruled out criminal prosecution of BFA officials if the investigation warrants such indictments.

It is amazing that people swallow hook and line and sinker what their deceived religious leaders teach and tell them. When such religious institutions are nothing but scoundrels and thieves who use the dumb sheep for their own advantage just like the Pharisees of old. But Jesus' words have not change:

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, "and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.' "Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. "Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt. "Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? Mathew 23:29-33

It's About Time!

It's about time that those in government become responsible and do concrete things about the crimes and violence,  which affects this great country of ours including hand guns.

For Calif. Governor Enacts Sweeping Gun Control Laws  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California Gov. Gray Davis, holding aloft a Saturday Night Special and declaring ``it is a lot easier to childproof a weapon than it is to bulletproof a child,'' signed tough new state gun control laws into effect Friday.

The laws, among the toughest in the nation, ban the sale and possession of Saturday Night Specials, cheap handguns which police say are the weapons of choice for street gangs, and require trigger locks and other safety devices on all guns.  They also take aim at gun shows, requiring that all gun show promoters be certified and that sellers at the shows provide information on their backgrounds. And they ban minors from attending gun shows unless accompanied by an adult.

Now if would be wonderful if these same leaders would go a step further and bring back prayer and the ten commandments back into schools and public places. Commandments such as not to have other gods, not to murder, not to commit adultery, not to steal, not bear to false witness, and not to covet. This would definitely reduce the crime rate and acts of violence if people would only obey them.

More Corruption in High Places

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russian organized crime figures laundered at least $15 billion through two New York banks at the direction of President Boris Yeltsin's government, USA Today reported Thursday.  Quoting unidentified senior U.S., British and Russian law enforcement officials, the newspaper said the money might include $10 billion in International Monetary Fund loans.

The money was laundered through four accounts at the Bank of New York and one account at the Republic National Bank, also based in New York, according to the report. The officials said they do not know where the money is. The new figure is $5 billion more than previously reported.  The officials told the newspaper all the accounts were under the name of a company called Benex Worldwide Ltd., which was founded by a leader of Russia's largest organized crime group.

Officials of Russia's prosecutor general's office and Britain's National Criminal Intelligence Service said at least five current or former members of Yeltsin's government, all of whom had access to the IMF money, are being investigated to determine their roles in laundering the money.

According to the newspaper report, they include Yeltsin's daughter and adviser Tatyana Dyachenko, his former chief of staff and Finance Minister Anatoly Chubais and former Finance Minister Alexander Livshits. Senior officials of Russia's prosecutor general's office told USA Today that it was ``hard to believe'' that Yeltsin was not involved or at least not aware of what was taking place.

Russian Finance Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said Wednesday that Russia had used every cent of IMF aid as agreed and all of it had been accounted for. Bank of New York has suspended two employees and is cooperating with law enforcement officials, but there have so far been no allegations of wrong-doing by the bank itself.

The IMF has launched its own investigation into whether any funds it lent to Russia may have been misappropriated. But the director of the fund's department dealing with Russia, John Odling-Smee, defended its record in a letter to the Wall Street Journal Europe published Tuesday.

``The fact is that IMF loans have been used for legitimate government purposes, such as helping to finance the budget deficit,'' he said. ``They have been made in support of economic programs that addressed the basic problems of the economy.''  USA Today said at least six U.S. government agencies, including the FBI and the Treasury Department, are investigating the case, along with British officials.

But How About  ECFA?

The Tampa Tribune Reported - TAMPA - A permanent injunction effectively ends a church's money doubling financial program. A federal judge on Friday placed a permanent injunction on a church-based financial program that took at least $100 million from 15,000 investors nationally.

Greater Ministries International Church's ``Faith Promises'' program is defunct, said Alabama attorney Thomas Krebs, who helped secure a court-appointed receiver earlier this month. The church's lawyers vowed to appeal They rest their argument on the First Amendment and religious doctrine - that Jesus Christ is sovereign and that places their church outside secular authority. ``If we recognize a sovereign greater than Jesus Christ, then we deny Jesus Christ,'' attorney Al Cunningham said.

The argument bewildered U.S. District Judge Richard A. Lazzara who wondered aloud what secular authorities do when religious groups break the law. He peppered Cunningham and a church pastor with pointed questions that left some church supporters grumbling. ``He acted more like a prosecutor than a judge,'' one woman said after the hearing.

When Pastor Charles Strickland testified that Greater Ministries never guaranteed anyone a profit from their program, Lazzara produced a letter from an Ohio resident saying Strickland had done just that. The man lied, Strickland said. The man gave his money directly to Strickland and says he lost more than $2,000 in the program in which donors were assured they would get back double their money in 17 months.

``What did you do with the money he gave you?'' Lazzara asked. ``You were the steward.'' Strickland said he gave the money to the church. At a different point, his voice raised, Lazzara asked ``Who punishes the corrupt steward?''

Strickland repeatedly cited scriptures as the justification for the financial program, which prosecutors say is a Ponzi scheme. ``God expects his people to be givers and he expects us to do what we can to help other church people,'' Strickland said.

Who in this life, Lazzara wondered aloud, punishes those who use that tenet for ill-gotten gain? He cited case law from the U.S. Supreme Court and the 11th Circuit appellate court saying the state has a duty to protect people from fraud under the cloak of religion.  ``I recognize your argument,'' Lazzara said. ``The law of the United States Supreme Court and the law of the 11th Circuit Court seems to be at odds with the argument you are making.''

Cunningham denied that Greater Ministries engaged in fraud and said the church can distinguish itself from the case law, involving the Church of Scientology and Jehovah's Witnesses.  He pledged to appeal the ruling to the 11th Circuit.  ``The Lord Jesus Christ regulates our body,'' Cunningham said. ``That's the First Amendment.''

Strickland's testimony ended with him invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination in response to a series of questions about his role as a courier of money to the program and whether he profited by it.

He is not named in a 20-count federal indictment charging money laundering and fraud. Seven Greater Ministries leaders, including founder Gerald Payne, his wife, Betty Payne, and Pastor Don Hall, are scheduled to go on trial Oct. 4.

Friday's ruling cements a temporary injunction Lazzara issued Aug. 6 without Greater Ministries' knowledge. Armed U.S. Marshals seized the building, which now is guarded by off-duty Hillsborough Sheriff's deputies.  A court-appointed receiver is charged with securing the program's records and assets to try to return money to investors.  The receiver, West Palm Beach attorney James W. Beasley, told the court he may seek bankruptcy protection for Greater Ministries.  He called it a Ponzi scheme, a fraud in which money from newer investors is used to pay earlier investors. Such schemes ultimately collapse when the volume of money coming in can't keep pace.

Beasley said he's found no evidence of legitimate investments by Greater Ministries. Investigators working with him did find computer records and mailing lists indicating at least 15,000 people outside Greater Ministries put in ``$100 million and could be substantially larger'' sums.  While a pledge form stated that participants received no guarantees of a return, the states' lawyers offered transcripts, affidavits and videotaped evidence that the verbal pitch set out specific timetables and assurances that no one had lost money.

But is the Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability founded by Southern Baptist Evangelist Billy Graham any different from Greater Ministries? It doesn't look that way! It is a fact that Billy Graham formed the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, as Jeffrey K. Hadden and Charles E. Swann in their book Prime Time Preachers: The Rising Power of Televangelism stated: Billy Graham was embarrassed in 1977 when the Charlotte Observer discovered an undisclosed $23-million fund in Texas, apparently not mentioned in the accountings of the Minneapolis headquarters of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

As a result Graham's business manager led the formation of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability after Graham said on a national telecast, ". . . there are some charlatans coming along and the public ought to be informed about them and warned against them."

But could some idiot please tell me how a watchdog which has been formed by crooks and thieves could deem to watch itself? Doesn't a watchdog must be independent of the people it is watching?.

George W. Bush and the Billy Graham Connection - the SBC

George W. Bush attributes his moral change around and conversion from being a party animal with wild drinking binges to a conservative evangelical to his talks with Evangelist Billy Graham, a Southern Baptist.

So it's not surprising that Bush had added to his political campaing a most impressive phalanx of Southern Baptist leaders sympathetic to, if not explicitly supportive of, the Bush campaign. These include Ed Young, former convention president; Paige Patterson, convention president; Richard Land, president of the denomination's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission; and retired Texas judge Paul Pressler, who orchestrated the conservative takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention in the late 1970s.

But are Southern Baptist men of real integrity or just wolves in sheep's clothing. For the Arizona Republic reported on August 11, 1999 BAPTIST FIRM HALTS SALES OF SECURITIES

The Baptist Foundation of Arizona's which is an agency of the Arizona Southern Baptist Convention and its affiliates sold securities from Arizona through misrepresentations and omissions of fact and engaged in business practices in violation of state law. The Arizona Corporation Commission issued a cease-and-desist order Aug. 10 to the Baptist Foundation of Arizona, to discontinue immediately the offering and selling of its investment products.

It's to be noted that it was the secular media, not the religious media, who first caught on the fact that these Evangelicals were playing hanky panky with the value of investment assets and the close connections between foundation employees and property owners.

SO WILL THE INTERESTS OF GEORGE BUSH BE FOR AND WITH THE COMMON MAN THE LITTLE GUY OR FOR THE HIGH AND MIGHTY RELIGOUS LEADERS WHO HAVE SHOWED THEMSELVES NOT TO HAVE INTEGRITY OR BE ACCOUNTABLE TO THE ORDINARY PERSON?

It appears not for the Tampa Tribune reported

"Although Billy Graham encourages religious leaders to be open about their salaries and publish their finances, Howard-Browne would not disclose what he earns. He says his salary is determined by his board of directors, which is comprised of four pastors, himself and his wife. The couple does not vote on his salary. ``People get hung up on the figure,'' he says. ``But they don't take everything into account. I don't get a housing or clothing allowance. We take our kids on the road and that's very expensive.''

Not good enough, says Paul Nelson, president of the Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability in Washington. Revival Ministries International is not among its 925 members. ``When you hold yourself out as a public trust, it's just good practice to be open about your finances,'' he says. ``If you're not forthright, you leave a question in the minds of your potential givers.''

For the past five years, the ministry has been audited by Katz & Kamm, a Baltimore accounting firm. But the tax-exempt church association is not required to open its books to the public. `While I applaud them for getting the audit, I would strongly suggest they go one step further and make their records public,'' Nelson says. "

Well speaking of making their records public, while Paul Nelson, President of Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability reveals upon demand even to strangers his total salary of $ 123,000 and IRS s tax form 990 Franklin Graham, the son of Billy Graham, does not.

This makes the Grahams and ECFA hypocrites. But in actual fact none of the evangelists, including Billy and Franklin Graham, who belong to ECFA reveal their total salaries and those of their family members and special friends to their donors upon request.

As a matter of fact the total salary of Franklin Graham, the son of Billy graham is one of America's best kept secret. For the record both Grahams do not release to their donors upon request their total salary including their pension funds and other fringe benefits nor the IRS form 990 for non profit organizations for which they are chairmen.

Franklin Graham Is Chairmen Of Samaritan Purse Inc. which has been criticized along with other Evangelicals of trying to "buy souls" with "dishonest gifts" of humanitarian aid.

Although ECFA has in its files the total Salaries and remuneration of top five paid employees of Billy Graham Evangelical Organization and Samaritan's Purse it does not release them to the donors- total Salaries and remuneration including housing allowances, pension funds, direct salary, car allowances and other perks.

So it is obvious, even to an idiot, that ECFA works to protect the interests of its paying members and not those of the donors? So ECFA which was founded by Dr. Billy Graham should state that it exists not for the donors but for the members!

SO THIS SBC CONNECTION DOES NOT LOOK LIKE A GOOD THING FOR THE COUNTRY ALTHOUGH IT MIGHT BE GOOD FOR GEORGE BUSH

Unfortunately even in our days there are still money changers and wolves in sheep's clothing in the house of God who are Southern Baptists and call themselves Evangelicals and are breaking the law. Full disclosure of financial information that adequately disclosed the foundation's financial condition and the salaries to top executives is something which Evangelicals seem not to comply with:

Savage Wolves are Here Among The Flock

"For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. "Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. "Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.

"So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. "I have coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. "Yes, you yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities, and for those who were with me. "I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' " Acts 20:29-35

Rabbi Accused of School Jobs Scheme - NEW YORK (AP) - A prominent rabbi and a public school board conspired in a 20-year scheme that siphoned more than $6 million in taxpayer money to a private Jewish school and its affiliates, authorities said. Rabbi Hertz Frankel pleaded guilty to conspiring with Public School District No. 14 to place about 80 Hasidic women in no-show jobs on the district payroll, investigators said Thursday.

The plea, made Apr. 9 in federal court in Brooklyn, earned Frankel three years probation and a restitution order of $1 million. ``Many people benefited from this corrupt bargain,'' said Edward F. Stancik, the Board of Education's chief investigator. ``None of them were New York City public school students or their parents.''

The scheme involved giving the women - some with as many as 10 children - family health insurance benefits while their paychecks were often handed over to Frankel. Many were on the district payroll as school security guards. Most of that money was then given to the Beth Rachel school in Brooklyn, where Frankel is a principal. The school bills itself as the largest Jewish girls' school in the world. In exchange, Frankel assured district administrators that they had the support of a critical bloc of Hasidic men on the nine-member community school board. Stancik's office and federal prosecutors investigated the scheme for six years.

Two former district superintendents implicated in the investigation died without being charged, Stancik said. Three lower-level district administrators pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges related to the scheme, which ran from the mid-1970s to 1994.

Contrary what lying and thieving Evangelical Born Again Dr. Henry J. Lyons former president of the National Baptist Convention would want us to believe he was not being persecuted for being a Christian but was prosecuted for being a criminal. Judge Schaeffer said it very well when referring to Lyons' repeated statements in the last month that he was guilty of mistakes and misjudgments, said: "I know you call it mistakes, and I know you call it errors in judgment. But we know it's crimes because I don't put people in prison for mistakes."

"He'll do fine in prison," said the Rev. Aaron Munford of Dade City, a staunch Lyons' supporter and friend. "He'll do just like Paul did -- he'll preach in prison. He's locked up but he's free to preach." What will lying Lyons teach the prisoners what they do not already know? How to lie, steal, commit adultery and be a hypocrite? For the record Apostle Paul did none of the things which Lyons and his other pastoral friends do!

They should prosecute all the other Baptists pastors who form the board of the National Baptist Convention and supported him without look into all the facts. For Lyons used the money he stole from corporations to pay them off. How come the feds or the state are not looking into this?

Who says the other evangelical denominations in America are any better including the Church of God? Someone should look into the dealings of all of them. Each and every one of them. They are all crooks! You cannot prove other wise for you have not looked into their books?

Lyons is only the tip of the iceburg. Just look at the Strader Affair of Lakeland, the Greater Ministries of Tampa and the other criminal prosecution of religious evangelicals in Florida and say there are not many of them who are crooks or into breaking the law including selling drugs?

Imagine a religious Christian school being the center for selling drugs to the community? What will be next the local Christian church?

NEW YORK (AP) - A principal known for her good works and tough words about drug abuse has been charged with running a narcotics ring at her elementary school. Delores Hill, 53, was accused at her arraignment Friday of being the leader of a small drug ring at the Tabernacle Church of God Elementary School in Brooklyn.

Ms. Hill allegedly sold $25 bags of cocaine to an undercover policewoman on school grounds. She was arrested along with the school nurse, a janitor and another worker. Authorities - who shut down the private, 160-student school - said the defendants dealt drugs to adults behind the scenes while children were busy in class. But Ms. Hill allegedly made one sale while baby-sitting two infants in her office, said prosecutor Patricia Gatling.

Ms. Hill was charged with felony sale and possession of a controlled substance. She was held on $250,000 bail. The maximum sentence for the charges is 25 years in prison. Her attorney, Frank Paone, would not comment.

The janitor, Steven Donawa, 42, was arrested after he stopped by Ms. Hill's apartment and left carrying 51 bags of cocaine, prosecutors said. Patricia Kersey, 41, the school nurse, was arrested for allegedly selling cocaine to an undercover police officer.

Both were charged with sale and possession of cocaine. Ms. Hill had been quoted in the past as an outspoken opponent of drug use. ``There needs to be more drug education, especially for parents,'' she told Newsday in 1990. ``Our second graders know more about drugs than some of the parents.''