Billy Graham is one heavyweight in the world of evangelism, and he has held countless rallies throughout his lifetime to bring people to Christ. One of his organizations known as the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) has recently been targeted by potential threats through a modern day medium -- the Internet. These threats received online have been deemed to be serious enough, so much so that the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police have stepped in in order to provide the relevant assistance and protection to a certain degree.
These threats have been allegedly sent by the same person or organization to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) since April 11, totalling 8 in number. However, WLOS claimed that the threats were only reported recently. There has been no reveal as to what the nature of these threats were to the BGEA, although a spokesperson did mention to the Charlotte Observer that they have been directed to a "third party."
The spokesperson mentioned, "The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association can confirm that it has communicated with law enforcement regarding comments received via the internet containing potential threats to a third party. As this is an on ongoing investigation, we defer any additional comments to law enforcement and appreciate their attention to the matter."
Do the threats have anything to do with Islam, especially since we are now in the month of Ramadan where extremist and militant Muslims are willing to go so far as to murder innocent people in order to earn a quick ticket to heaven, based on their twisted ideology and thinking? Perhaps, but it has been difficult to sift through all the noise in the background. It must be noted that Franklin Graham, Billy Graham’s son, continues to minister to people while preaching about how dangerous Islam is on Facebook. Franklin wrote, "Since 9/11, I have been warning America about the dangers of the teachings of Islam. Followers of Islam are taught very troubling passages that encourage them to murder and maim those they refer to infidels, or nonbelievers." Alternatively, BGEA had always been rather outspoken about persecuted Christians, which might also make them a prime target for such threats.
Certainly such open thoughts about Islam where all and sundry are able to read it will attract some of the more misguided adherents of the Mohammedan faith. After all, it does not take too much for them to cross the tipping point and go absolutely bonkers, so it would certainly be in character for them to issue threats over the Internet to the BGEA.
Franklin continued to warn about the increased radicalization among the youths and downtrodden via social media and the Internet, saying, "The threat of Islam is real. The threat of Islam is serious. The threat of Islam is dangerous. There is cause for concern, despite what some may say. We need to pray that God would give our President, our Congress, and our Senate wisdom — and the guts to do what is right for our nation, and not what's politically correct. My prayer is that the United States — and the U.K. — will wake up before it's too late."
He being the President and CEO of the BGEA is certainly putting the organization in a potentially difficult situation with such remarks, but when all has been said and done, someone needs to step up and actually call out situations for what they really are without any kind of watering down or buttering up.
Keyboard warriors are often the loudest, and do offer some of the crudest methods of rebuttal including death threats, curses, and warnings of rape. It is a pattern that has been repeated many times over, and while nothing untoward had happened yet to major figures in the Christian apologetics and evangelistic worlds, it is always better to err on the side of caution.
Acts 17 Apologetics with Dr. David Wood at the helm has also been on the receiving end of such barrages of threats in the comments section when pointing out facts about the Islamic faith, but these are often met with witty and loving responses like a Christian should.
