Mordecai Ham

{{Short description|American Evangelist preacher (1877–1961)}}
{{Infobox person
| image         = 
| image_size    =
| caption       = 
| birth_name    = Mordecai Fowler Ham Jr.
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1877|4|2}}
| birth_place   = [[Allen County, Kentucky]], U.S.
| death_date    = {{death date and age|1961|11|1|1877|4|2}}
| death_place   = [[Louisville, Kentucky]], U.S.
| resting_place =
| occupation    = [[Evangelism|Evangelist]]
| spouse        = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Bessie Simmons|1900|1905|reason=died}}
* {{marriage|Annie Laurie Smith|1907}}
}}
| children      = 3
| alma_mater    = [[Ogden College]]
| party         =
| footnotes     =
}}

'''Mordecai Fowler Ham Jr.''' (April 2, 1877 – November 1, 1961), was an American [[Independent Baptist]] [[Evangelism|evangelist]] and [[temperance movement]] leader.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://old.post-gazette.com/columnists/20020309roddy0309p5.asp|title=The two faces of Billy Graham|website=old.post-gazette.com}}</ref>

==Racism and anti-Semitism==
Ham had a reputation for racism and anti-Semitism.<ref>Balmer, R.H. [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/47208449 ''The encyclopedia of evangelicalism.''Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002.]</ref> He believed and preached on various topics based on classical [[Antisemitic canard|anti-Semitic canards]] such as believing Jews had special access to political power and influence and that they represent a subversive social force.<ref>Dinnerstein, L. [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/28631951''Antisemitism in America.''] New York : Oxford University Press. 1994.</ref> The targets for his preaching were often "nebulous rings of Jewish, Catholic or Black conspirators plotting to destroy white Protestant America."<ref name="worldcat.org">Hill, S. Lippy, C. and Wilson, C. [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/10727233 ''Encyclopedia of Religion in the South.''] Georgia: Mercer University Press, 2005, P.365.</ref> In 1926 [[W.O. Saunders]], a newspaper editor in [[Elizabeth City, North Carolina]], confronted Ham for defaming a prominent Jew during an evangelistic campaign. Ham had accused the President of [[Sears]], Roebuck & Company in Chicago, [[Julius Rosenwald]], of operating inter-racial prostitution rings in Chicago that exploited white women.<ref name="worldcat.org"/> Saunders wrote an account of the accusations Ham had made and how Saunders had proved them false called "The Book of Ham."<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://highered411.com/Albemarle/BookOfHam.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2014-12-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141227192554/http://highered411.com/Albemarle/BookOfHam.pdf |archive-date=2014-12-27 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Book was widely distributed, describing instances of Ham's negative views towards Jews. Ham believed in the ideas of [[British Israelism]], that the white Anglo-Saxon races had been chosen by God. Ham outlined this in a piece of writing called "the Need of the Anglo-Israel Truth" that is featured on some websites of the [[Christian Identity|Identity Movement]].<ref>Ham, M. [http://truthinhistory.org.html''The Need of the Anglo – Israel Truth.'']{{Dead link|date=April 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Unpublished paper.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://thetencommandmentsministry.us/ministry/blog/famous-believers/mordecai-ham|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104094529/http://thetencommandmentsministry.us/ministry/blog/famous-believers/mordecai-ham|title=The Ministry of Mordecai Ham on The Ten Commandments Ministry website|publisher=|archive-date=2016-11-04}}</ref>

However, in his booklet "The Jew" he stated unequally, "though the sins of the Jew have been many and great, yet vengeance belongeth to the Lord, and He will not let you escape if you have hated, or do hate the Jew.  Are you a Christian?  No Christian will hate the Jew.  Through him came the Christ and your Bible.  The best, the greatest and the only perfect man who ever lived on earth was a Jew by race."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ham |first=Mordecai |title=The Jew |url=https://digital.library.sbts.edu/bitstream/handle/10392/5413/Ham-The_Jew-ocr.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y }}</ref>

==Works==
*''The Second Coming of Christ and Revelation''
*''Believing a Lie''
*''Light on the Dance''
*''The Jews''
*''The Need of the Anglo – Israel Truth''
*''The Sabbath Question''

Ham received an honorary degree from [[Bob Jones University]] in [[Greenville, South Carolina|Greenville]], [[South Carolina]].

==References==
{{reflist}}
*{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060902023816/http://www.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/GUIDES/118.htm |date=September 2, 2006 |title=Billy Graham Center }}
*Balmer, R.H.  [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/47208449 ''The encyclopedia of evangelicalism].''Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002.
*Dinnerstein, L. [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/28631951''Antisemitism in America.''] New York : Oxford University Press. 1994.
*Ham, M. [http://truthinhistory.org.html''The Need of the Anglo – Israel Truth.'']{{Dead link|date=April 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Unpublished paper.
*Hill, S. Lippy, C. and Wilson, C. [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/10727233 ''Encyclopedia of Religion in the South.''] Georgia: Mercer University Press, 2005.
* Saunders, W.O. [https://web.archive.org/web/20141227192554/http://highered411.com/Albemarle/BookOfHam.pdf ''The Book of Ham''Self] Published Booklett.1928.

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070209180107/http://www.truthinhistory.org/ham.htm The Need for the Anglo-Israel Truth featured on Truth in History.Org]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20161104094529/http://thetencommandmentsministry.us/ministry/blog/famous-believers/mordecai-ham/ The Ministry of Mordecai Ham on The Ten Commandments Ministry website]
*[https://archive.today/20050323092812/http://chi.gospelcom.net/DAILYF/2003/04/daily-04-02-2003.shtml Biography from Christian History Institute]  
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20061118180928/http://www.swordofthelord.com/biographies/HamMordecai.htm Biography from Swordofthelord.com]
*[http://www.believersweb.org/view.cfm?ID=128 Biography by Ruckman]
*[http://www.higherpraise.com/preachers/ham.htm Biography from HigherPraise.com]
*[http://sermons.christiansunite.com/Mordecai_Ham.shtml Sermons by Mordecai Ham]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060220062521/http://bookshop.biblebelievers.com/product_p/green049.htm Biography by Edward E. Ham]
*[https://nyx.uky.edu/fa/findingaid/?id=xt702v2c8c6j Guide to the Mordecai Fowler Ham papers], housed in the University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections Research Center

{{Southern Baptists}}
{{Billy Graham}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ham, Mordecai}}
[[Category:1877 births]]
[[Category:1961 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:19th-century American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:19th-century Baptist ministers from the United States]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Baptist ministers from the United States]]
[[Category:American Christian creationists]]
[[Category:American conspiracy theorists]]
[[Category:American evangelicals]]
[[Category:American evangelists]]
[[Category:American male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:American radio personalities]]
[[Category:American religious writers]]
[[Category:American temperance activists]]
[[Category:Baptists from Kentucky]]
[[Category:Baptist writers]]
[[Category:British Israelism]]
[[Category:Burials at Cave Hill Cemetery]]
[[Category:Christian fundamentalists]]
[[Category:Critics of the Catholic Church]]
[[Category:Independent Baptist ministers from the United States]]
[[Category:Radio evangelists]]
[[Category:Religious leaders from Louisville, Kentucky]]
[[Category:Southern Baptist ministers]]
[[Category:People from Allen County, Kentucky]]
[[Category:People from Chicago]]