April 21, 2017
Saeed Abedini, the Christian convert who was imprisoned four years in Iran, has turned against one of his most vocal supporters, the Reverend Franklin Graham, accusing Graham of declining to help him after his release in January of last year.
Abedini turned on Graham as his divorce from his wife, Naghmeh, was finalized by an Idaho court.
Franklin Graham is one of the best-known evangelical pastors in the United States and the son of Billy Graham, now 98 years old, the premier evangelical revivalist of American history.
Franklin Graham responded angrily to Abedini’s vicious attacks and said he was cutting off all contact with Abedini in a stinging rebuke.
Abedini said his angry attack on Graham was simply “cleaning the church as Jesus cleaned the temple.”
In a series of Facebook postings, Abedini began, “As number one face of persecuted church in the world today, I have this hard responsibility to speak about the serious problems that I see to help church of God even if I lose everything.”
After Abedini was released from prison, Graham offered the family room at the Billy Graham Training Center in North Carolina so the couple could work on their broken marriage.
However, when Abedini refused, Graham allegedly backed away. In February of last year, Naghmeh said her husband “rejected counseling for anger and abuse and has filed for a divorce.”
Abedini, who is now jobless, said he believes Graham exploited his story to appear in national media. “Today, I can call Franklin Graham hypocrite,” Abedini wrote. “He stood against God in my life.”
He also alleged that Graham “has about 1000,000 $ salary and so many planes and private jets…. He tries to show he is helping persecuted a lot and he has some speech about them but this kind of life style shows he doesn’t have any idea of life of persecuted churches,” Abedini wrote. “This kind of people ask others to come to repentance nationally but first themselves needs to start the real repentance which starts with changing their life-style.”
Graham has long been criticized for his salary of $850,000 a year and the multiple jets his evangelical group owns.
Mark DeMoss, a spokesperson for Graham, said Graham did whatever he could to draw attention to the plight of this pastor and said the evangelist does not intend to address any other comments made by Abedini or his estranged wife but will continue to pray for them.
“Mr. Graham is no longer in communication with Saeed or Naghmeh—having exhausted efforts to help them be reconciled—and he does not intend to respond to future comments from either of them. However, Franklin still requests prayer for Saeed, Naghmeh, and especially their children who don’t understand the adult issues they are facing.”
Graham was not the only religious leader to find himself on the receiving end of Abedini’s ire. In another Facebook post, Abedini turned his attention to George Wood, the general superintendent of the General Council of the Assemblies of God, accusing him of being “deceived by the spirit of Jezebel.”
Two months before Abedini was released from prison, Naghmeh revealed troubles in the couple’s marriage in two emails sent to her supporters. The emails said she had suffered abuse during much of the marriage, which began in 2004.
After describing her husband’s abuse, Naghmeh reportedly received support from many, including Wood. In his Facebook post, Abedini said he called Wood to share his side of the story and demanded Wood repent for his compassion toward Naghmeh. When Wood refused, Abedini accused him of having the Spirit of Jezebel.
Jezebel is a queen in a Biblical story that says she incited her husband, King Ahab, to abandon the worship of God and encouraged the worship of Baal and Asherah instead. Jezebel became associated with false prophets.
The Idaho Statesman reported that in 2007, Abedini pleaded guilty to domestic abuse in Ada County Magistrate Court in Idaho. He received a 90-day suspended sentence and was placed on probation for a year.
Graham’s spokesman, DeMoss, said, “It is unfortunate that Graham’s efforts to secure his [Abedini’s] release from an Iranian prison and provide transportation of him from Germany to America, his financial assistance to Saeed and Naghmeh,… his provision of marital counseling at no cost to them, and various offers of employment for Saeed have now been met with a bitter Facebook post about him and his ministry.”
Abedini contests this, saying Graham has given him little support since he arrived back in the US, and has refused to grant him any good employment opportunities. “I asked Franklin Graham to help me to find a job to pay my bills but he didn’t and he always gave me the worse and lowest he could,” Abedini wrote.
DeMoss disagreed. ”While [Graham] never raised money from others for Saeed or Naghmeh, his ministry did provide funds to help Naghmeh travel and raise awareness for her husband’s case, and to help her care for her two children and herself while her husband was unable to work and provide for them.
Abedini and Naghmeh separated at the time of his release in January 2016. Their troubled marriage included instances of “physical, emotional, psychological, and sexual abuse (through Saeed’s addiction to pornography),” according to Naghmeh.
The Christian Post said two sources had told it that Graham began withdrawing his financial support for Abedini when he learned of alleged extra-marital affairs.
Abedini filed for divorce last October. The couple’s divorce was finalized last Thursday. Abedini said the judge awarded custody of their son and daughter to Naghmeh. That may have been what set off his tirades. He not only attacked Graham and Wood, but the US justice system as well. “My experience in courts both in Iran and USA was terrible and full of injustice,” he wrote on Facebook.
He also charged that Iranian intelligence officers were actively involved in destroying his reputation.
Meanwhile, a California church that raised money to support the family while Saeed was imprisoned has filed a lawsuit to resolve a dispute over the funds. Joshua Springs Calvary Chapel filed the suit asking a judge to determine who should get the money.
The church says it raised nearly $200,000 to support Naghmeh and the children and Saeed is now demanding it be given to him. The church said it cannot determine whether Saeed or Naghmeh is entitled to the money.
