Posted on 12/14/2006 8:14:58 AM PST by shrinkermd
It is a struggle worthy of the Old Testament, pitting brother against brother, son against mother...
Retired and almost blind at 88, the evangelist is sitting in his modest log house on an isolated mountaintop in western North Carolina and listening to a family friend describe where Franklin Graham, heir to his father's worldwide ministry, wants to bury his parents.
The plan is as follows:
...I was horrified by what I saw," she tells Billy, in the presence of a reporter invited to be there.
The building, designed in part by consultants who used to work for the Walt Disney Co., is not a library, she says, but a large barn and silo -- a reminder of Billy Graham's early childhood on a dairy farm near Charlotte. Once it's completed in the spring, visitors will pass through a 40-foot-high glass entry cut in the shape of a cross and be greeted by a mechanical talking cow. They will follow a path of straw through rooms full of multimedia exhibits. At the end of the tour, they will be pointed toward a stone walk, also in the shape of a cross, that leads to a garden where the bodies of Billy and Ruth Graham could lie.
Throughout the tour, there will be several opportunities for people to put their names on a mailing list.
"The whole purpose of this evangelistic experience is fundraising," Cornwell says to Billy Graham. "I know who you are and you are not that place. It's a mockery. People are going to laugh. Please don't be buried there."
Billy Graham's eyes never leave Cornwell's face as she talks. Ruth Graham sighs. A lot.
"It's a circus," Ruth says at one point, softly. "A tourist attraction."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
What about the excuses he made for Bill Clinton?
SOUNDS MORE LIKE FRANKLIN!
p.s. LAUNCHING PAD ALLREADY PICKED OUT!
As much as the Grahams love the Mountains I'd think they have a place around Montreat already picked out.
She's known them practically her whole life. She wrote a biography of Ruth Graham back in the '80s.
Well it will be interesting exercise to observed just how many in this flock are allllllll about Hillry becoming next president.
What about the excuses he made for Bill Clinton?
Well it will be interesting exercise to observe just how many in this flock are allllllll about Hillry becoming next president.
What a travesty to build such a Disney-like complex and then hope to bury someone, anyone there, let alone this humble, religious, southern couple.
Decades ago I went to see Billy Graham out of curiousity when he came to Chicago at some amphitheater or other. Enormous crowd. I'll never forget the evening.
He was at the height of his powers and charisma at the time. It was quite an experience as anyone who saw him at that time can testify. He could blow just about anyone away with his preaching. The total impact of the music, the singing, the coming forward, his great voice, the emotion.....the impact was unreal.
He had the gift, that's for sure. I'm glad I went to see him. He touched people of any religion, even those who had none.
Leni
Wow - didn't know that.. interesting..
Still think the article misrepresented something..
Still addicted to the MSM.
If Franklin Graham said this, "I believe that the decision about where my parents will be buried should be made by them, and not by me, my siblings, or any outsiders, then why is he building and pushing the barn memorial? Seems to me his words are not backed up by his actions.
As I read the article, I could not help but think that Graham's memorial burial site reminded me of the "manger" that Jesus was born in. Likewise, as one moves forward through the memorial by walking on straw, I thought of the road into Jerusalem strewn with palm crosses. The only thing missing were the stones leading up to Graham's grave being painted gold, after all, doesn't he preach that the streets in heaven are strewn with gold?
Patricia Cornwall is right. It is "tacky".
On my deathbed if they ask me where I want to be buried I'm going to tell them to suprise me.
Ruth Graham does not want to be buried there. Her son should raze the barn to ground if that's what it takes to make his mom happy.
I am relieved.
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