I C H A B O D
News of the Eternal Insecurity of Believers for Backsliders
Volume 2, Number 30, 26 September 2002
Edited by HP Opus for Fellow Servants of Christ

ICHABOD THEN... And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel; because the ark of God was taken...  (1 Samuel 4:21) Remember therefore whence thou art fallen, and repent and do the first works; or else I come to thee, and will move thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent.  (Revelation 2:5) -----   ...ICHABOD NOW

-- In 1986 at one of his famous crusades, THE EVANGELIST BILLY GRAHAM TOLD THE AUDIENCE THAT THEY SHOULD REGARD MUSLIMS NOT AS THE ENEMY BUT AS FELLOW BELIEVERS, THAT THEY ALL WORSHIPED THE SAME GOD.  OVER A WEEK HE REPEATED IT EIGHT TIMES, IN CASE ANYONE MISSED HIS POINT.  ...The elder Graham is remembered as the nation's preacher-statesman, who never took sides, who HAD KIND WORDS FOR EVERY RELIGION, EVERY PRESIDENT.  ...Mark DeMoss, a spokesman for Franklin Graham [said,] "[What] his dad did [is] going to great lengths to avoid it [controversy]..."  ...William Martin, the elder Graham's biographer [wrote that] Billy Graham emerged as their [the evangelicals'] AMBASSADOR TO THE MAINSTREAM WORLD.  HE BEFRIENDED PRESIDENTS...AND MADE IT RESPECTABLE TO CALL YOURSELF EVANGELICAL AGAIN.  ...BILLY GRAHAM HAD SAID "JESUS" AT MANY OF THE EIGHT [PRESIDENTIAL] INAUGURATIONS HE'D PRAYED AT, BUT NO ONE HAD OBJECTED.  (Hanna Rosin, "Younger Graham Diverges from Father's Image: Ministry's Patriarch Accepted Islam, but His Son Condemns the Religion," WASHINGTON POST, 02 September 2002, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24620-2002Sep1.html)

-- I want to repeat to you something I said earlier.  IT'S REALLY IMPORTANT FOR SOMEBODY IN MY POSITION TO...UNDERSTAND THAT PEOPLE COMMUNICATE WITH GOD AND REACH GOD IN DIFFERENT WAYS.  IT JUST DOESN'T HAVE TO BE MY WAY.  AND I THINK IT'S REALLY IMPORTANT [THAT I'M] TRYING TO UNITE A NATION THAT IS DIVERSE AS OURS...  AND I REALLY MEAN THAT.  ...AND I AM MINDFUL OF WHAT BILLY GRAHAM ONE TIME TOLD ME, FOR ME NOT TO TRY TO FIGURE OUT -- TRY TO PICK AND CHOOSE WHO GETS TO GO TO HEAVEN.  (US President George W. Bush, "George W. Bush: Running on His Faith," US NEWS ONLINE, 1999, http://www.beliefnet.com/story/33/story_3345_1.html)

-- One evening MY DAD [FORMER US PRESIDENT GEORGE HW BUSH] ASKED BILLY [GRAHAM] TO ANSWER QUESTIONS from a big group of family gathered for the weekend.  ...Over the course of that weekend, Reverend Graham planted a mustard seed in my soul, a seed that grew over the next year.  HE LED ME TO THE PATH, AND I BEGAN WALKING.  ...Laura and I visited Israel in 1998.  ...OUR DELEGATION INCLUDED FOUR GENTILE GOVERNORS - ONE METHODIST, TWO CATHOLICS, AND A MORMON, AND SEVERAL JEWISH-AMERICAN FRIENDS.  ...one of our friends...he, a gentile, and his friend, a Jew, had...JOINED HANDS UNDERWATER, AND PRAYED TOGETHER, ON BENDED KNEE.  ...NOW JEW AND GENTILE, MEETING, FROM MANY A DIFFERENT SHORE, AROUND AN ALTAR KNEELING, ONE COMMON LORD.  FAITH CHANGES LIVES.  I KNOW, BECAUSE FAITH HAS CHANGED MINE.  (George W. Bush, A CHARGE TO KEEP, ed. Mickey Herskowitz, Morrow,William & Co., November 1999)

-- It's my honor to welcome to the White House my fellow Americans -- Arab Americans, Americans who are Muslim by faith...  I HAVE TOLD THE NATION MORE THAN ONCE THAT...THE TEACHINGS OF ISLAM ARE THE TEACHINGS OF PEACE AND GOOD.  ...AND I ALSO APPRECIATE THE PRAYERS TO THE UNIVERSAL GOD.  (US President George W. Bush, "Text: Bush Welcomes Muslim Americans to White House," 26 September 2001, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/specials/attacked/transcripts/bushtext2_092601.html

-- I APPRECIATE YOUR [THE RUSSIANS'] UNDERSTANDING THERE IS A UNIVERSAL AND GRACIOUS GOD.  ...May God bless Russia.  And may God bless the United States.  (US President George W. Bush, "Remarks by the President to Community and Religious Leaders, Spaso House, Moscow, Russia," Office of the Press Secretary, 24 May 2002, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/05/20020524-12.html

-- YOU KNOW, IT'S INTERESTING, THERE IS A UNIVERSAL GOD, IN MY OPINION, and the first conversation I ever had with Vladimir Putin was about God -- in Slovenia.  ...THERE IS A -- I THINK THAT THE ALMIGHTY IS IMPORTANT -- OBVIOUSLY, IMPORTANT PART OF MY LIFE, BUT VERY IMPORTANT PART OF THE LIFE OF OUR COUNTRY.  (US President George W. Bush, "President Bush, President Putin Discuss Joint Efforts against Terrorism: Remarks by President Bush and Russian President Putin in Photo Opportunity - Calgary, Kananaskis, Canada," Office of the Press Secretary, 27 June 2002, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/06/20020627-3.html

-- AS MORE AND MORE PEOPLE GO TO THEIR CHURCHES AND SYNAGOGUES AND MOSQUES AND HEAR THAT UNIVERSAL CALL TO LOVE A NEIGHBOR, AMERICA'S CULTURE IS CHANGING.  ...OUT OF THE EVIL DONE TO THIS GREAT LAND IS GOING TO COME INCREDIBLE GOOD...  May God bless you all, and may God bless America.  (US President George W. Bush, "President Talks Homeland/Economic Security at Mt. Rushmore: Remarks by the President on Homeland Security and the Budget," Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, Office of the Press Secretary, 15 August 2002, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/08/20020815.html

-- As we remember the tragic events of September 11, 2001, and the thousands of innocent lives lost on that day, we recall as well the outpouring of compassion and FAITH THAT SWEPT OUR NATION IN THE FACE OF THE EVIL DONE THAT DAY.  (US President George W. Bush, "National Days of Prayer and Remembrance Proclamation,"  Office of the Press Secretary, 31 August 2002, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/08/20020831-2.html

-- We [Americans] love the fact that people can worship an almighty God in a free land, ANY WAY THEY CHOOSE TO WORSHIP.  ...And the enemy doesn't view it that way.  ...See, they've hijacked A GREAT RELIGION [ISLAM]...  God bless America.  (US President George W. Bush, "President Bush Thanks America's Workers at Labor Day Picnic, Carpenters Joint Apprenticeship Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,"  Office of the Press Secretary, 02 September 2002, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/09/20020902.html

-- ISLAM IS...A FAITH BASED UPON LOVE, NOT HATE.  ...Tomorrow [on the anniversary of September 11], AMERICANS OF ALL FAITHS WILL COME TOGETHER IN A SPIRIT OF UNITY and remembrance and resolve.  I call on every American to uphold the...value that we believe that EVERYBODY OUGHT TO WORSHIP THE ALMIGHTY, HOWEVER THEY SO CHOOSE.  (US President George W. Bush, "President Bush Holds Roundtable with Arab- and Muslim-American Leaders, Embassy at Afghanistan, Washington, D.C.," Office of the Press Secretary, 10 September 2002, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/09/20020910-7.html

Source of this newsletter in total: http://fellow-servants-of-christ.0catch.com