MOV:Dr. Billy Graham And The Wolves  by Gladys Eileen MacLean GEM R.R.

1, Box 252 Newcastle, N.B. E1V 3L8

   Dr. Billy Graham's trip to Moscow is now history. Choosing to reject
the advice of U.S. government officials and the pleas of many refugees,
he walked straight into the trap which the Soviet brass had set for
him. For six days they royally rolled out the red carpet. At the end of
his visit he said exactly what the wolves in sheep's clothing wanted
him to say: "I saw no evidence of religious repression in Russia."

   Alexi Bichkov, General Secretary of the Russian Baptist Church, and
patriarch Pimen, head of the Russian Orthodox joined in inviting Dr.
Graham to Moscow.

   In the past leaders of both these churches have been identified as
KGB, (the Soviet secret police) while posing as clergy. All churches
registered in the USSR are subservient to the Communist government, and
are aiding the cause of godless Communism throughout the world.

   I have just received a letter from pastor Georgi Vins; he spent 8
years in prison in Russia. He says there are 160 Baptists still in
prison, and that Christians who refuse to be used for Russian
propaganda suffer physical abuse, house raids, fines, disruption of
worship services, confiscation of books, destruction of Church
buildings, forcible separation of children from parents, and brain
washing in psychiatric hospitals.

   He requests prayer for pastor Yakov Stornyakov (53) who is seriously
ill with stomach cancer, but is denied medical care, and is forced to
do heavy manual labor at the strict regime concentration camp, where he
is serving a five year sentence. If you would like to know more write
to Pastor Vins at P.O. Box 1188, Elkhart, Indiana 46515. He is in exile
in the USA as a part of a prisoner exchange that took place between USA
and the USSR in 1979.

   Dr. Graham spent six Communist controlled days in Russia, and then
announced to the world, "I saw no evidence of religious repression in
Russia."

   The Los Angeles Times published a cartoon of him with a big Bible in
one hand, and the leash of a big bear in the other. He is wearing dark
glasses.

   The Baltimore Sun depicts faces of prisoners peering out from behind
prison bars. Dr. Graham is down on his hands and knees peering in,
saying, "I see you are all gathered together for your free religious
service. May I lead in prayer?" Above the window there is a hammer and
sickle. A burly Russian soldier is standing on guard.

   Dr. Graham has served the Communists well by telling Baptists and
other Christians to obey soviet law - laws which have condemned
thousands of Baptists to prison, torture and death for the crime of
practicing their faith.

   With typical religious naivete and politicking he closed his eyes
and ears to the cries of the faithful, suffering believers, and praised
the wolves. He and his fellow Baptists did the same thing when the
Baptist World Alliance was held in Toronto in 1980. Pastor Vins was
denied a place on the platform. Bichkov served on the Resolution and
Future Planning Committees, the Ethics Commission, and the B.W.A.
General Council.

   While Pastor Vins and other refugees who had suffered for Christ's
sake stood on the outside of the Maple Leaf Gardens carrying posters
with the warning, "Christians beware! There are wolves in your midst in
sheep's clothing." Dr. Graham and the other Baptists ignored them,
choosing rather to take sides with the enemy on the inside.

   Perhaps Peter Worthington, Editor of The Toronto Sun summed it up
best for us when he succinctly asked, "But has it not always been so
with the prophets?"

   Why am I so concerned? Because I am a Baptist missionary who spent
years working with refugees in the Far East who had fled from the Red
regime, and I love and care enough to stand on the outside of the camp
with them. (Heb.13:11-14)

   I think the great apostle Paul has a relevant word for those who
walk by "on the other side" of the persecuted church. (Luke 10:25 -37)

   Writing from his prison cell, he says, "Be not thou therefore
ashamed of the testimony of the Lord, nor of me, His prisoner, but be
thou a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power
of God. (2 Timothy 1:8)

   Dear reader, where do you stand? Are you on the side of the apostate
Communist controlled crowd or with God's faithful remnant?