Andrew

𝐓𝐔𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐑 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐀𝐂𝐂𝐔𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐅𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐊𝐋𝐈𝐍 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐇𝐀𝐌 𝐎𝐅 𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐎𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 “𝐌∗𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐅 𝐂𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐒” — 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐆𝐄𝐓𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐎𝐅 𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐘 𝐖𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐆 Tucker didn’t go after fringe pastors. He went after 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐥𝐢𝐧 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐡𝐚𝐦 — the son of Billy Graham, arguably the most respected name in American evangelicalism. Tucker said Graham showed up at the White House “𝘺𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘺 𝘞𝘦𝘦𝘬, 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘌𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳” — “𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘡𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵, 𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯 𝘏𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴” — and accused him of coming not to pray for wisdom, but “𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮∗𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘳 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵, 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦”. Tucker then said what these Christian leaders are preaching “𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺” and “𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘦”. That’s Tucker Carlson — a political commentator — telling the son of 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 that he doesn’t understand his own faith. His theological argument centered on the Book of Esther, which Graham reportedly referenced. Tucker described it as “𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺, 𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴, 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴. 75,000 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴. 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘢𝘯. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘬!𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥”. He added it’s “𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘉𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦, 𝘖𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘛𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘎𝘰𝘥” — implying it’s theologically suspect. Here’s what Tucker either doesn’t know or deliberately omitted. The Book of Esther is the story of Haman, a senior Persian official, who obtained a royal decree to 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐉𝐞𝐰 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞. Queen Esther exposed the plot. The king then authorized the Jews to 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬 on the day the massacre was scheduled. The 75,000 were not random Persians k!lled for being Persian — they were 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞 and were k!lled in self-defense. The Jewish holiday of Purim commemorates this survival every year. Tucker flipped a story about Jews defending themselves against extermination into a story about Jews committing genocide against Persians. He turned the victims into the aggressors. And he used that distortion to accuse Franklin Graham — on Easter weekend — of endorsing war crimes. Pastors have prayed over every Commander-in-Chief during every American war. Lincoln had them. FDR had them. Bush had them after 9/11. Framing that as endorsing “m∗rder” isn’t theological analysis. It’s a smear. 𝐓𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐥𝐢𝐧 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐡𝐚𝐦 𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞.

I'm with Iran.