RIP Billy Graham: Nov. 7, 1918 - Feb. 21, 2018

[rockne10]

... the matter of cultural priorities may be legitimately questioned.

Amen to that!

[Bill Pressler]

As CEO of Samaritan's Purse he nets an $800,000 salary; in addition to his main income running his father's ministries.

I seem to remember, and not that long ago, "Samaritan's Purse" being rated on "Rate a Charity" or something of that ilk, as one of the charities where the highest percentage of donations actually go to the needs of the charity, itself.

For what it's worth, I found this, after searching for no more than ten seconds:

Charity Navigator - Rating for Samaritan's Purse

https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=4423

Dec 22, 2017 - Samaritan's Purse is a International charity rated 4 of 4 stars by Charity Navigator. Located in Boone, NC, it is one of 9020 organizations rated by Charity Navigator.

I think one of the most interesting, and even humorous, clips I've seen in the past few years, is Louis Zamperini, for whom the film "Unbroken" was about, talking about his life (meeting Hitler at the 1936 Olympics and facing unbelievable sadism by the Japanese as a WWII POW), and telling how his nightmares went away almost immediately upon meeting Billy Graham:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRJrS8Vsn_Y

I've never heard Billy Graham more than a clip on TV over the years, but I can say I've never heard a bad thing about him, either.

[t walgamuth]

See also Post #37, Ted.

To your point, you'll likely remember that Indianapolis Colts Quarterback Andrew Luck started few (or no?) games last year. But according to NFL Roster Information, and I quote directly:

In 2018, Luck will earn a base salary of $12,000,000 and a roster bonus of $6,000,000, while carrying a cap hit of $24,400,000 and a dead cap value of $22,200,000.

I don't propose to know what all those numbers mean and Luck is a nice guy, but that sounds like an awful lot of money for someone currently questionable for the next season.

Thankfully, it appears that Tom Brady's base salary throwing footballs for The New England Patriots will keep him a couple million dollars further removed from poverty:

In 2018, Brady will earn a base salary of $14,000,000.

In all three cases (Franklin Graham, Andrew Luck, and Tom Brady), the money they receive will have been tendered by people voluntarily giving it to them; no one is coerced into supporting any one of the three men...although many NFL stadiums have been built with all or partial tax dollars extracted from the populace under threat of incarceration and/or wealth confiscation if not paid.

AFAIK, donations to Samaritan's Purse are tax-deductible charitable donations, as well they should be. (Given the Parkland FL events that began unfolding on Valentine's Day, it would appear to me that this would be an inadvisable time for the United States culture to move [further] away from the core message of Billy Graham ministries.) IMHO, of course... BP

Please explain how the Billy Graham ministries is impacting the Parkland mass shooting....?

[Packard53]

The 8 richest pastors in America.

Kenneth Copeland $760 million dollars
Pat Robertson $100 million dollars
Benny Hinn $42 million dollars
Joel Osteen $40 million dollars
Creflo Dollar Jr. $27 million dollars
Billy Graham $25 million dollars
Rick Warren $25 million dollars
Joyce Meyer $8 million dollars

As a side note it believed that Franklin Graham is worth $3 million dollars or more

John S.

[BobPalma]

Please explain how the Billy Graham ministries is impacting the Parkland mass shooting....?

Read the material in parentheses again, Tom....slower and more carefully. I didn't say Billy Graham Ministries had anything to do with the Parkland Shootings. BP