Evangelical says Katrina will lead to revival
-04/10/05
Evangelist Franklin Graham, son and designated successor of the Rev. Billy Graham, says Hurricane Katrina could lead to a spiritual rebirth of what he called a sinful New Orleans.
Speaking at Liberty University in Virginia, Graham said life in New Orleans included satanic worship and sexual perversion.
The North Carolinian has previously caused controversy following major incidents in the US. He declared after 9/11 that Islam was “a very evil and wicked religion”, bringing calls from Christians and others to temper his comments.
He also infuriated Norman Schwarzkopf, the commander of Operation Desert Storm during the 1991 Gulf War, by shipping tens of thousands of Arabic-language New Testaments to Saudi Arabia in defiance of Saudi law and the US-Saudi military alliance.
His latest comments say that God will use the catastrophic storm to bring revival.
Graham’s Samaritan’s Purse organization, based in Boone, North Carolina, has about 500 volunteers helping to put new roofs on houses and clean mud and debris out of homes in Mississippi and Louisiana.
The organization has been criticized because gift bags distributed to displaced children include Christian tracts and a stuffed lamb that plays “Jesus Loves You.”
He said however that he doesn’t believe the devastating storm was a punishment from God – a claim made by some US evangelicals.
“I’m not saying that God used this storm as a judgment,” Graham said.
But he said the city’s Mardi Gras revelry and ties to voodoo were adverse to Christian beliefs.
“New Orleans has been known for years as a party town,” Graham said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press from his office in Boone, N.C.
“It is a city that has strong ties to the gay and lesbian movement, and these types of things.”
Graham said he has prayed with clergy in New Orleans for deliverance from “this dark spiritual cloud,” and he sees signs of promise as churches “black and white work hand in hand” to restore the city.
On Sunday, New Orleans’ historic St. Louis Cathedral held its first Sunday Mass since the hurricane, and Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes suggested the city would rebuild as a community with a stronger moral thread, free of racial tension and rampant self-indulgence.
The Roman Catholic leader reassured the congregation that God did not cause the hurricane to punish evildoers.
Evangelical says Katrina will lead to revival
-04/10/05
Evangelist Franklin Graham, son and designated successor of the Rev. Billy Graham, says Hurricane Katrina could lead to a spiritual rebirth of what he called a sinful New Orleans.
Speaking at Liberty University in Virginia, Graham said life in New Orleans included satanic worship and sexual perversion.
The North Carolinian has previously caused controversy following major incidents in the US. He declared after 9/11 that Islam was “a very evil and wicked religion”, bringing calls from Christians and others to temper his comments.
He also infuriated Norman Schwarzkopf, the commander of Operation Desert Storm during the 1991 Gulf War, by shipping tens of thousands of Arabic-language New Testaments to Saudi Arabia in defiance of Saudi law and the US-Saudi military alliance.
His latest comments say that God will use the catastrophic storm to bring revival.
Graham’s Samaritan’s Purse organization, based in Boone, North Carolina, has about 500 volunteers helping to put new roofs on houses and clean mud and debris out of homes in Mississippi and Louisiana.
The organization has been criticized because gift bags distributed to displaced children include Christian tracts and a stuffed lamb that plays “Jesus Loves You.”
He said however that he doesn’t believe the devastating storm was a punishment from God – a claim made by some US evangelicals.
“I’m not saying that God used this storm as a judgment,” Graham said.
But he said the city’s Mardi Gras revelry and ties to voodoo were adverse to Christian beliefs.
“New Orleans has been known for years as a party town,” Graham said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press from his office in Boone, N.C.
“It is a city that has strong ties to the gay and lesbian movement, and these types of things.”
Graham said he has prayed with clergy in New Orleans for deliverance from “this dark spiritual cloud,” and he sees signs of promise as churches “black and white work hand in hand” to restore the city.
On Sunday, New Orleans’ historic St. Louis Cathedral held its first Sunday Mass since the hurricane, and Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes suggested the city would rebuild as a community with a stronger moral thread, free of racial tension and rampant self-indulgence.
The Roman Catholic leader reassured the congregation that God did not cause the hurricane to punish evildoers.