“God loves you.”
Billy Graham
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The world renowned evangelist known for saying: “My home is in Heaven. I’m just traveling through this world,” is finally home. Billy Graham passed from this life into eternity this morning, and he will be terribly missed! Had he lived to celebrate his next birthday on November 7th, he would have been 100!
Graham, who preached to more people than anyone in history, had humble beginnings. Billy grew up on his family’s dairy farm near Charlotte, North Carolina. He was the eldest child and had two sisters and a brother. When Billy was 16 years old, one of the farm workers, Albert McMakin, convinced him to go to a tent revival in Charlotte where Mordecai Ham was speaking. According to his autobiography, Graham was converted in 1934 during that series of revival meetings.
After graduating from high school, Billy briefly attended Bob Jones College, which at the time was located in Tennessee. After just one semester, he found it too legalistic, so he transferred to Florida Bible Institute. Two years later (1939), he was ordained by a group of Southern Baptist clergymen at a church in Florida. Billy then headed to Wheaton, Illinois, graduating from Wheaton College in 1943 with a degree in anthropology.
Soon after graduation, Billy Graham married his college sweetheart Ruth Bell, who passed away back in 2007. They were married for almost 64 years. Together they had five children, Virginia Leftwich (Gigi) Graham, Anne Graham Lotz, Ruth Graham, Franklin Graham, and Nelson Edman Graham. There are 19 grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren.
Billy was greatly influenced by Henrietta Mears, who helped him wrestle with the issue of the infallibility of Scripture, which Graham came to accept. At the age of 30 Graham became the president of Northwestern Bible College in Minneapolis, purportedly the youngest president of any college or university at the time. He served in that position from 1948 to 1952.
It was during his tenure as college president that Graham held a series of revivals in Los Angeles. The year was 1949, and Graham ended up attracting national media attention preaching under circus tents in a parking lot. The revival event was to take place over a period of three weeks, but it was so popular that it ran for eight weeks!
Billy Graham attracted national media coverage, and, as they say, the rest is history. Early in his ministry career Graham became a national figure, garnering media coverage from the wire services and national magazines. An article in Christianity Today (which Billy Graham co-founded with his father-in-law, Dr. L. Nelson Bell) states the following:
During his life, Graham preached in person to more than 100 million people and to millions more via television, satellite, and film. Nearly 3 million have responded to his invitation to “accept Jesus into your heart” at the end of his sermons. He proclaimed the gospel to more persons than any other preacher in history. In the process, Graham became “America’s Pastor,” participating in presidential inaugurations and speaking during national crises such as the memorial services following the Oklahoma City bombing and the 9/11 attacks.
“He became the friend and confidante of popes and presidents, queens and dictators, and yet, even in his 80s, he possesses the boyish charm and unprepossessing demeanor to communicate with the masses,” said Columbia University historian Randall Balmer.
Graham’s online biography reveals what we believe to be the reason for his worldwide audience. It states:
He is known as a pioneer in the use of new technologies to preach the Gospel, from radio and television to films and the internet.
Not only that, Graham wrote over 30 books, and many of them were on the best-seller lists for months. Just As I Am (2007), was one of them. In this autobiography, Graham reflected on how his life and ministry call as an evangelist had been shaped by his faith in Christ.
When I was growing up, ‘Billy Graham’ was a household name, and whenever his ‘crusades’ were televised, my family would always watch. He took priority over anything else that was on TV, and we were so proud that he was a native North Carolinian. The picture at the top of the post is how I best remember him. I am so grateful for my Christian parents and for Billy Graham who affirmed in such a convincing way that God loves me.
Dee wanted me to share that when she was a teenager in Salem, Massachusetts growing up in a non-Christian home and never hearing about Jesus or the Gospel, the first time she ever heard about a God who loved her was from the lips of Billy Graham and because of his faithful explanation of a loving God, it led her to begin seeking after God and striving to understand the Bible. Her whole life she has been so grateful to Billy Graham for his television ministry. She also reminisced that during her formative years, her father and mother would sit with her and listen to him on TV.
Boz Tchividjian has written a wonderful tribute to his grandfather (whom he fondly called ‘Daddy Bill’), which was published in The Washington Post. Boz explained:
My earliest memories of Daddy Bill are of spending summers and holidays with him and my amazing grandmother Ruth Bell Graham in Montreat, N.C., traveling to his evangelistic meetings around the country, and hosting them at our home in South Florida. There, my grandfather would take us to his favorite restaurant, Morrison’s Cafeteria.
Billy Graham always came across as a humble servant of God, and the above information confirms it. Boz then wrote:
I am forever humbled to have known and loved a man who was the real deal — who was same person whether he was in front of thousands or whether we were walking alone through the woods. In an era when many evangelical leaders were exposed for deep moral and financial failings, I am grateful that my experience was much different. I could have easily grown to become cynical about Jesus and those who claim to follow him, but I knew and loved a man who made Jesus that much more beautiful to me.
There is so much to say about this trailblazer who impacted nearly 200 million people in his lifetime. Billy Graham was such a wonderful example of a Godly servant, yet he admitted publicly that his faith was a challenge to him, acknowledging that the Christian walk is a difficult one, but one worth walking.
How incredible that what started in 1949 as a Tent Revival became the largest ministry in the world. For such a time as this…
What most impressed Dee and me about Billy Graham was his ability to reach across denominational lines and unify those ‘in the faith’. Where are the Christian leaders today who can bring together so many different denominations (as Billy Graham did)?
Dee called to say that the Lenten service at her church this evening started off by talking about the legacy of Billy Graham. Then the congregation sang Just As I Am. Dee shared how on the way out of church she told the vicar (at her Lutheran church) that the reason she was there tonight is because when she was a young teen she heard Billy Graham say that the Creator of the Universe loves her. It’s a reminder that none of us can hear too often…
Soon Billy Graham will be laid to rest beside his beloved Ruth on the grounds of the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte.
Dee and I had the privilege of visiting this special place a while back, and we highly encourage everyone to go! We enjoyed a wonderful lunch there and could have spent hours going through all of the exhibits. That day I took the photo on the left.
We understand that Billy Graham’s tombstone will be inscribed with the following words:
“Preacher of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ”
We leave you with the message Billy Graham delivered in the wake of the 9/11 attack. It was comforting then and is inspiring now.
first
Thank you for covering his life so beautifully. He was a remarkable servant of God. I was at one of his crusades in the 1980s, as one of the many helpers that area churches offered.
Just a note, I lived in a ministry house down the street from where Mr. Graham was speaking. The ministry house was geared towards people with disabilities. I got to live there for several years and it was like heaven to me. I did not go because, well not now maybe later. I went outside by where the house was and I could hear Billy Graham’s voice echoing down from downtown San Jose I then got a phone call with some of the folks that took some young people with disabilities to his crusade. I always watched Billy Graham’s meetings even when I was young. I rarely believed the refrain that God loved me, a gift from my evangelical past but I do thank God for letting me have these memories of him. My main joy is that through is preaching and popularity he was able to develop Samaritan’s purse something I consider far more sacred than any of his sermons. I hope he finds peace, I know he gave peace to many this side of eternity. Dee’s tweets truly touched me.
Always found comfort in listening to Billy Graham. Saw him twice in the Boston Crusade in the early sixties. Then again in Indianapolis in 1980. He was consistently preaching the same message….God loves you.
A truly remarkable man, who faithfully spent his life preaching the gospel.
Billy Graham was the foremost of those who came to be known as “New Evangelicals.” I visited his library the week it opened and felt it to be more of a shrine to a man who compromised much than an inspirational place. There is also the issue of his improper relationship with politicians, culminating with his influence of Ronald Reagan in the early 80’s resulting in formal relationship with the Holy See. Jesus has a harsh warning for men like Mr. Graham in Luke 6:26.
His apolitical stance on the key issues of the day was a much needed breath of fresh air to Christians around the world.
In 1973 I served as a Counselor Supervisor during the Atlanta Billy Graham crusade. My job was to come forward at the invitation and listen in on conversations between counselors and responders. Specifically, I was to look for cultist who used this as an opportunity to recruit (esp. The Children of God). I was able to identify 3 or 4 of these conversations and told the cultists to either leave or I would notify security.
While a new generation of Southern Baptists spend their time vying for greatness, competing in the flesh to see who will sit on the SBC throne, fussing and fighting about whose theology will win … a truly GREAT Southern Baptist just passed into Glory. Billy Graham never compromised, he never wavered from the simple Gospel message that even a child can understand – whosoever will may come … and millions did under his preaching. My family benefited from his ministry – we will miss him.
I went to an BG meeting when he was at the Cow Palace in the 1990s. Great seeing people of different ethnicities at the meeting and those who could not understand English using special translation headsets.
I could also say Billy Graham influenced the direction of my life. I heard him speak at the Urbana ’84 Convention, where the main message was basically ‘Are you willing to go wherever God would have you to go?’ That led to a 3-mo. short-term missions trip, which led me to the conviction that I needed to go back to school, and ended up in medicine. Also appreciated him keeping his message simple and not throwing up denominational barriers.
My most memorable prayer offered by Rev. Graham was the 1993 Presidential Inaugural Invocation for Bill Clinton:
“We thank you for the moral and spiritual foundations which our forefathers gave us and which are rooted deeply in Scripture. Those principles nourished and guided us as a nation in the past, but we cannot say that we are a righteous people. We’ve sinned against you. We’ve sown to the wind and are reaping the whirlwind of crime, drug abuse, racism, immorality, and social injustice. We need to repent of our sins and turn by faith to you.”
A prayer not heeded, things have gotten worse in America.
Dale wrote:
Jesus also had words for those who think they’ve got it all figured out and who’d prefer to go to war with those not of their tribe rather than make peace.
Would that men everywhere regardless of tribal affiliation learn from Graham’s example of integrity and honor.
Dale wrote:
Dale,
I am certainly not a fan of ecumenicalism or political ties, but when all is said and done one fact remains: He was a faithful “Preacher of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ” (with no trademark added to Gospel), and he lived accordingly.
I hesitate to post this, but I think it may be beneficial to read what the neo-cal lunatic fringe at Pulpit and Pen said yesterday.
http://pulpitandpen.org/2018/02/21/billy-graham-led-millions-astray-false-hope-altar-calls/
I’m one of those converted through his televised crusades. Don’t anyone try to peddle the false teaching of false conversion to this old lady. You might need a proverbial paddling.
Worse yet, I’ll pray for you:)
He was the greatest Preacher of the modern age, and sadly I do not see any capable of following in his footsteps.
I agreed with and loved his ecumenicalism, and his simple message of a personal savior who wants a personal relationship with you, which is the entire point of the New Testament. He did not compromise on the important thing which was that Jesus died for our sins and would save any who believed, and that whosoever will may come, just as I am.
He did not try to hide the Gospel behind man-made denominations, or theology.
He did not engage in the behavior of so many preachers and teach a Pharisaic Christianity.
He decided NOT to accept a pulpit, after he left his first one, because he knew that he could not be an Evangelist and a Pastor, something I wish others would understand.
I have no doubt that he is now in Heaven, resting in the arms of Jesus, with his beloved Ruth, as George Beverly Shea and Cliff Barrows lead a choir of all the souls that Rev. Graham brought to Jesus.
In addition, like Rev. Graham, Morrison’s Cafeteria was my favorite restaurant!
Dale wrote:
Yeesh! The worst was a relationship with the holy see? Read a transcript of the Nixon tapes sometime. Regardless, Billy Graham was an influential preacher who was far more tolerant (at least in public) than many of his peers. I’m no fan but Rev. Graham could have done a lot worse with his influence.
I have no personal connection to Graham. But my grandmother’s brother was choir leader for one of the crusades.
I’m clerk of my church, and have this year been transcribing the old record books. We are located in a Boston suburb, and had a few references to Billy Graham in the volumes covering up to 1950. They show a real turn in attitude associated with his “1950” (started 31 Dec 1949) Boston crusade.
1) Dec 1949 – leadership committee votes not to participate in a joint Watch Night (New Year’s Eve) service with Billy Graham, and instead to continue holding the church’s own.
2) Mid-January 1950 – leadership committee recommends and church unanimously votes to postpone church business meeting so there won’t be an obstacle to participating in the crusade.
3) March – committee recommends and church votes not to hold any meetings services for three days in April for full participation with the crusade.
4) December 1950 – church votes to participate in a joint Watch Night service led by Graham instead of holding their own.
Ken P. wrote:
I unfortunately went to check it out. What a nasty piece of work! Who are these people? The whole site just drips with hate…
Rev. Billy Graham to Lie in Honor in U.S. Capitol Rotunda
https://www.speaker.gov/press-release/rev-billy-graham-lie-honor-us-capitol-rotunda
roebuck wrote:
Pulpit and Pen is a “ministry” of hyper-Calvinist J.D. Hall. He is not prejudiced – he hates everybody the same.
Ken P. wrote:
Wow! No words.
First reaction:
Relief that Franklin can no longer sign Billy’s name on his Culture War Manifesto of the Week.
roebuck wrote:
Gawd’s Speshul Pets, The Predestined Elect with their Perfectly-Parsed Theology.
Ask Ergun Caner’s son about them sometime.
Dale wrote:
1) Luke 6:26 reads as follows:
Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.
2) I thought BG’s “improper relationships with politicians” culminated with him getting used and burned by Tricky Dick Nixon during Watergate, and that he stayed neutral on politics after that.
3) “… his influence of Ronald Reagan in the early 80’s resulting in formal relationship with the Holy See.” And for that you invoke Luke 6:25 as a clobber verse. Dale, is it physically possible for you to pass up any opening to bash Antichrist Romish Popery?
Max wrote:
How sad… how do people get to be like this? Do they honestly think it’s helpful in any way? Things seem to just get more and more hateful… I’m in my 60’s, and I’ve seen it get worse and worse…
roebuck wrote:
The really sad thing is … how do “preachers” get to be like this?!
roebuck wrote:
Well, the Bible is clear … the world (and the condition of the organized church) is not going to get better and better as we enter the end times. I truly believe that we are now in the final church age, the great apostasy – a falling away from that which is right, both in and out of the church.
From a personal point of view I stopped reading his (auto)biography (?) after I saw the picture of Billy Graham kneeling on the lawn of wherever praying for the President…I thought that this was a stunt and publicity seeking.
I also remember the following from one of the “best” evangelical leaders in the UK.-
“Despite Billy Graham’s high standing with most British evangelicals, the enthusiastic support he received from the secular media, the fact that his name was a household word, and despite the significant place in world evangelicalism that he was offering to Dr Lloyd-Jones, the latter stood by his biblical principle, and declined all the overtures. He would not commend or work with Dr Billy Graham. This is true loyalty to God’s Word, and protectiveness of one’s congregation. Dr Lloyd-Jones adopted the same attitude to Billy Graham’s London crusades. He took the view, and stated it publicly, that to have visible unity with those who are opposed to essential matters of salvation was sinful. (He also believed the invitation system was a source of mass-delusion and harm to churches.”
And this was endorsed by a significant number of Baptists/Evangelicals in the UK at the time. So let’s not be too critical of those who disagree with his legacy.
http://www.metropolitantabernacle.org/Christian-Article/Secondary-Separation-When-to-Stand-Apart/Sword-and-Trowel-Magazine
@ Max:
roebuck wrote:
Ugh…I made the same mistake! Frankly, I’ll take Mr. Graham’s simple message that “Jesus loves you” over the vitriolic venom spewed by J.D. Hall any old day! Sounds like Mr. Hall has a bad case of “altar-call-envy” in my opinion. Makes you kind of wonder how many have come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ after hearing Hall’s preaching, doesn’t it?
I hate to break it to J.D. Hall, but the Gospel IS a simple message for ANY who believe. And if your “gospel” can’t look someone square in the eye and tell them that “Jesus loves you and died for you” and truly mean it, then your “gospel” is worthless!
Max wrote:
I had heard of Pulpit and Pen but never looked at it until today. Your assessment is spot on. I did a search on JD Hall and found this strange article: http://beginningofsorrows.org/2017/12/23/john-macarthur-exposed-pulpit-pen/. This guy is even more extreme than Hall. Reading it was surreal because he bashes all the usual suspects from the YRR movement, but from a very different direction than what I’ve seen elsewhere. He also bashes BG. Reading stuff like this is what stimulates me to investigate church history. It’s amazing how detached from it guys like this have become.
Oops…I typed my email in incorrectly on my previous entry. I haven’t posted in a while, so I’m a little rusty! Let me also say this, Graham was the real deal. His message never wavered or changed in his entire ministry and was the same simple message Paul delivered in I Corinthians 15:1-8!
Lowlandseer wrote:
I wouldn’t expect reformed ministers, such as Dr. Lloyd-Jones, to agree with Billy Graham.
Personally, I see Dr. Lloyd-Jones view on “the essential matters of salvation” to be wrong, but not necessarily sinful.
Lowlandseer wrote:
Well, there are kinder ways for one preacher to disagree with another preacher’s legacy. I invite you to read Mr. Hall’s piece yourself at the link provide by Ken P. upstream in the comments.
brian wrote:
Brian, you are so loved. Jesus loves you to folly. He loves you infinitely. He loves everything about you. He knows and loves every molecule in your body and every nook and cranny in your soul. He is nuts about you. He longs to immerse you in the fathomless ocean of His infinite love and mercy. He longs to press you to His Merciful Sacred Heart. You are enfolded in His arms. You are precious and special to Him. He calls you Beloved. You are His special chosen one. I would stake anything on this. God bless you.
Muff Potter wrote:
Amen!! Thank you!
Billy Graham is a Saint, capital S, as far as I’m concerned.
Billy Graham, ora pro nobis!
Ken F (aka Tweed) wrote:
Ken F, Pulpit and Pen = the same folks who raked Hank Hanegraaf over the coals for converting to Eastern Orthodoxy. Their willful ignorance is matched only by their bigoted arrogance.
Rev. Billy Graham left a godly legacy. The articles disagreeing with him just strike me as petty and unnecessary. Sure, Rev. Billy Graham was not a perfect human; no one is. Kind of odd and petty to attack his legacy over methodology (as it seems to me) before his body grows cold, IMO.
I have no doubt Rev. Billy Graham was used by God to advance His Kingdom. If only more of our leaders–including spiritual ones–had and maintained his level of character, integrity, and commitment to sharing God’s Good News, I think this would would be a better place. It is certainly poorer with him no longer in it.
Divorce Minister wrote:
Amen!!!
Dale wrote:
Having a good reputation is not an indication of complicity with a fallen world and being at war with it is not an indication of virtue. I’d be more inclined to invoke 1 Peter 2:12, “Your conduct among the heathen should be so good that when they accuse you of being evildoers, they will have to recognize your good deeds and so praise God on the Day of his coming.”
If Mr. Graham ministered in this present age of hyper-partisanship I fear he would have been attacked and disparaged much more. My observation is that Graham stuck to what he did best, he was an evangelist and he didn’t try to build a mega-church nor did he try to keep his thumb on people.
Lowlandseer wrote:
This simply sounds like spiritual arrogance to me. Lloyd-Jones is so biblically right and Graham so wrong? Sad.
I had little interaction regarding Graham. There are things I do not agree with him on, but if men and women came to know and love God through his preaching, and serve Him for life, then why do I believe I should assault his character now that he is dead? I would not speak ill of Lloyd-Jones at his death either.
I certainly don’t know Graham’s motive for kneeling on the lawn, but I’m sure you’ve done something that seems suspicious since you have become a Christian. Yes?
. . . true loyalty to God’s Word? I’ve heard that so many times it makes me want to run and hide from the speaker.
@ Ken F (aka Tweed):
Quite the link there Ken. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the blog owner (Joshua Chavez) appears to be just another tin-pot inquisitor who’d put you (generic you) on the rack in a Protestant minute if you didn’t sign on to his version of the faith.
All to the glory of the Lord Jesus of course.
When I think of Billy Graham, I think of my Dad, who was born the same year and passed away a year and a half ago, so this makes me a little pensive. I think my Dad volunteered at a crusade years ago.
Also, when I was nine, I watched one of his crusades on TV at my brother’s house while he and my Dad fixed a car outside. When he gave the altar call, I stood up. I was an innocent Catholic girl, and he made it plain for me.
My final thought is that there’s no one as diplomatic and not out for personal gain any more – including some in his own family.
George Will apparently does not like Billy Graham (or that’s how this came across to me):
“Billy Graham Was No Prophet” by George Will
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/billy-graham-was-no-prophet-thats-why-america-loved-him/2018/02/21/398ce31a-1722-11e8-92c9-376b4fe57ff7_story.html
Something about these contrarian, critical posts, about someone who was relatively benign, being published within mere days of their passing, having always bothered me. Comes across as rather tasteless and petty.
@ Daisy:
And, I’ve been reading some of the comments under that editorial by George Will about Billy Graham. The comments under that George Will op ed by various visitors to that page are even worse.
Good gravy do people ever detest Billy Graham. So very strange.
I don’t expect people to agree with all of Graham’s theology, but the vitriol in that comment box at that WaPo page under that editorial by George Will, by many different people, is absolutely stunning to me.
Headless Unicorn Guy wrote:
LOLOLOL. See my link above to the George Will penned editorial, and scroll down to see the billions of comments, out of the ones I read, about 99% of them were hate-filled diatribes against Graham.
People were not speaking well of Graham on that WaPo page, neither on social media. I saw a lot of vitriol being Tweeted about Graham the other day, even within moments of his death being announced.
I think the hate against the man by those leaving comments says more about them than it does about Graham, quite frankly.
Also, I’m not a big fan of the people who mock “just saying a prayer, making a decision, easy believism,” which Will was doing on that page.
Jesus did not make coming to faith in him a complex matter. One does not need to attend a seminary and have a I.Q. of 150 to have saving faith in Christ.
Root 66 wrote:
Satire site:
Calvinist Comes Forward During Altar Call To Correct Pastor’s Theology
http://babylonbee.com/news/calvinist-comes-forward-altar-call-correct-pastors-theology/
“As the organist played “Softly and Tenderly” one last time, Johnson solemnly rose from his seat near the back, walked to the front of the church, and began to debate the pastor on the “man-centered theology” apparent in his altar call presentation, according to witnesses.”
Catholic Gate-Crasher wrote:
From this very blog:
JD Hall and Friends: “Theological Thuggery” and Braxton Caner’s Suicide
http://thewartburgwatch.com/2014/08/05/jd-hall-and-friends-theological-thuggery-and-braxton-caners-suicide/
I also recall in some blog post or another it was reported something or other that Hall was sending critical Tweets to the Caner boy, because in one photo on the boy’s timeline (or somewhere), the teen boy was with his girlfriend, who was in a bathing suit. J D Hall seemingly feels it is smutty for a teen girl to wear a bathing suit.
Hall is still living in the 19th century, when it’s thought tawdry for a woman to show bare ankle.
I’d also like to know what a middle-aged man is doing scoping out a teen girl to comment on her attire. It’s skeevy.
If you’re a hetero male paying THAT much attention to a teen girl, her clothing and body, that is a Red Flag to me, and it’s not one that screams you care about modesty bu that you use modesty culture as an excuse to leer at teen girls and women.
Also from the Babylon Bee site, satire:
Man Criticizing Billy Graham Has Never Preached Gospel One Single Time
http://babylonbee.com/news/man-criticizing-billy-graham-never-preached-gospel-one-single-time/
@ Ken F (aka Tweed):
i had a wee look at this. I also had a look at the blogger’s own article on “Secondary separation and guilt by association”, in which he (I think bemoans the logical fallacy of guilt by association before declaring Literally Everybody Everywhere guilty by association. I thought he was a good example of the fallacy of Its-Different-When-I-Do-It-So-Eff-Off.
Daisy wrote:
“And”? Don’t you mean “or”?
Max wrote:
Potayto, potarto.
Max wrote:
I think that too.
Max wrote:
I don’t know anything about Hall but he seems to be in the same mould as the Westboro Baptist folk.
Three gospels:
1) Progressive justification through infusions of righteousness of Christ and the saints via the sacraments of the Church;
2) Immediate justification through the Imputation of the righteousness of Christ through faith alone;
3) Pan justification – anything goes when it comes to justification. What you say about “the gospel” and how you say it doesn’t matter.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Martin Luther and many evangelicals hold firmly to the second. Luther claimed that the gospel is that by which the church stands or falls. Billy Graham and the “New Evangelicals” fall under category three.
Many of those in the second camp (me included) see those in the third camp as traitors to the cause of Christ. Just saying.
Daisy wrote:
This shouldn’t seem strange to us at all. In fact, in Matthew 5:11-12, Jesus guaranteed this type of treatment would happen to those who follow Him. But Jesus says, “rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great…”
Billy Graham has entered into his reward. Let’s pray that those who now berate and undermine him will one day understand the truth and be able to do likewise!
Billy Graham was an evangelist who rose to celebrity status and, it seems to me, used that celebrity status to accomplish some things which were good and some which were, in the eyes of some, not all that great. What more can anybody ask of a human? BG was not and did not pretend to be a theologian or an academician and he should not be held to those standards in retrospect. BG’s potential was recognized early on by a media mogul; he did not apparently set out to be some evangelical rock star as far as I can see, but he utilized the opportunity with outstanding success.
I come from parents who were not all that impressed with BG early on because they thought he over-simplified the message. God loves you is true, but it is not the entire story. Cheap grace should not be considered ‘the gospel’ but grace is certainly to be preached and choice to respond to God’s offers is also to be preached. To say God loves you is a way to preach grace, and to say choose you this day is a way to again say that Jesus said ‘follow me’. BG did that. Such is the role of the evangelist.
IMO Billy Graham did what he knew to do and could do and God, who neither limited by human limitations nor empowered by human strength (ed.), gave this nation a person who could and did fill a needed role at the time. I am with Deb on this: to God be the glory. Time to move on from either this man’s successes or his weaknesses.
FWIW I think that both BG and Pope St. John Paul II are a couple of God’s heroes; heroes of the God who does not require human perfection before He can use someone for the sake of the Kingdom and in the words of Jesus ‘for My sake…’
@ okrapod:
Should be ‘neither limited by….nor empowered by…’ I am not a whiz at grammar or sentence structure or vocabulary-obviously.
@ okrapod:
Made the correction. 🙂
Dale wrote:
What particular doctrines did Jesus require you to believe in to follow Him? I don’t think the Centurion knew any Hebrew scriptures or theology and yet believed in Jesus and was credited by Him with more faith than in all the rest of Israel.
Justification is just a doctrine. I personally find evidence of all three positions you mentioned in the Bible and all of them seem to be supported. That could quite easily present a paradox in which all of them are true simultaneously.
@ Lowlandseer:
Ironically, Graham would agree with you. He was naively responding to a reporter early in his ministry. From then on, he was very circumspect. I am not a Graham apologist and have similar views to Okrapod.
Daisy wrote:
An example of the secular trying to explain the spiritual. “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.” (1 Cor 2:14)
roebuck wrote:
They wouldn’t get anywhere if people didnt follow them and give them money. It’s all voluntary. Btw, JD Hall has a tiny church and a big internet presence. He has also been defended by some other well known pastors including this blogs pastor. They literally help one another stay in business.
Lowlandseer wrote:
That article is dripping with anti-Catholic bigotry IMO. Getting divisive over persnickety theological differences seems to be a sin to me.
hoodaticus wrote:
Oh I’m sorry! That was a different article, not the one you linked! Please disregard.
Daisy wrote:
Rev. Graham never claimed to be a prophet. He was an evangelist; he fulfilled that calling.
Regarding George Will, he is no Christian! We should not expect a favorable report on a great evangelist from someone who confesses to be “an amiable, low voltage atheist.”
http://dailycaller.com/2014/05/03/george-will-im-an-amiable-low-voltage-atheist/#ixzz30kf5svXK
Regarding “prophets”, America could sure use one right now.
@ Lowlandseer:
From the article:
“Dr Lloyd-Jones told Billy Graham that if he would stop having liberals and Roman Catholics on his platform and drop the invitation system he would support and chair the Congress”
Correct me if I am wrong but isn’t Metropolitan Tabernacle Spurgeons old church in London? Masters in the same vein as Spurgeon? Spurgeon who gave us these gems:
“It is no novelty, then, that I am preaching; no new doctrine. I love to proclaim these strong old doctrines that are called by nickname Calvinism, but which are truly and verily the revealed truth of God as it is in Christ Jesus. (Spurgeon’s Sovereign Grace Sermons, Still Waters Revival Books, p. 170).
“I have my own opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else.” Charles Spurgeon, The New Park Street Pulpit, Vol. 1, 1856
“… and I will go as far as Martin Luther, in that strong assertion of his, where he says, ‘If any man doth ascribe of salvation, even the very least, to the free will of man, he knoweth nothing of grace, and he hath not learnt Jesus Christ aright.’ It may seem a harsh sentiment; but he who in his soul believes that man does of his own free will turn to God, cannot have been taught of God, for that is one of the first principles taught us when God begins with us, that we have neither will nor power, but that He gives both; that he is ‘Alpha and Omega’ in the salvation of men.”C.H. Spurgeon from the sermon “Free Will A Slave”, 1855
Get it? Free will means no grace! And it’s a good thing Calvin came along to explain the Good News because no one could understand it before???
That sort of rigid stance, which included the downgrade controversy, pitted brother against brother. As we saw with Spurgeon brothers. To refuse to share with a Catholic and use “essentials of salvation” as the reason is about as arrogant as one can get. Ecclesiastical Judge and jury. (Shivers) I may not agree with Catholic polity, history or some of their practices but who am I to declare their salvation? The Reformed are often ridiculous about Catholicism when they actually have a similar heirarchical polity!
I have no problem with people separating. It’s often healthy. But gee whiz, just separate and debate differences. Why try to undermine them?
@ Max:
Will is an arrogant insider establishment elite. He has bored me to death since the 90’s when he was a regular on the insider media panel discussion shows.
@ Bridget:
“. . . true loyalty to God’s Word? I’ve heard that so many times it makes me want to run and hide from the speaker.”
One of my biggest pet peeves in Christendom! First of all, Jesus Christ is the “Word”. Not the scriptures. And loyal to which translation, which interpretation? And where does the Holy Spirit fit into this loyalty? I love scripture yet so many with power pulpits try to ruin it for people!
Lydia wrote:
Ditto.
It is exactly what Jesus called out regarding the religious leaders of His time.
(And all due respect to the work of Jesus Christ through His servant, BG.[The Post])
Frankly, I thought the message Graham told (which he borrowed from Moody) and is making the rounds all over social media now is the most powerful for today:
“Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God.”
@ Lydia:
Yes, the Metropolitan Tabernacle was where Spurgeon preached. The analysis you give after that is a bit lopsided as usual to fit your worldview. 🙂
@ Jarrett Edwards:
Don’t forget Ethel Waters! ……..His Eye is on the Sparrow.
Lowlandseer wrote:
Yes, many don’t think I have a “biblical” worldview and they would be right. I have never understood the logic of such a stance considering the vast chasm between free will/determinism in interpretations.
@ Dale:
You know what is interesting? Faith “Alone” was added. By Luther. If such were the case, why would Christ come teaching “repent (metanoia) and believe? I stopped getting into the weeds with this not long ago, but this one is used to undermine the full concept of the Good News and gets on my last nerve. To use it now on Graham seems vengeful. So, one can continue as an ax murderer because they have faith “alone” with no metanoia? They heave “imputed righteousness”, I suppose. It’s why Luther did not like the book of James. “Faith without works is dead”. Belief and behavior have no correlation? Blasphemy? I am surprised Luther accepted 1 John!
Max wrote:
America has many prophets now, located somewhere in the cacophony of bloggers, talking heads, TedX speakers, social media flamers, preachers, politicians, journalists. The problem is figuring out who is in fact the Lord’s prophet. That is also a challenge that was around in Old Testament times. (It is a lot easier to recognize a prophet in retrospect after it is too late than in advance when repentance and reform could make a difference.)
I hope Deb and Dee are prophets for the #churchtoo sexual abuse issue that this blog addresses. But even there I feel they are a prophet that too much of the church is not listening to or going to listen to. And one thing we can all be grateful for is that there has been no need to criticize Billy Graham on the sexual abuse issue. Indeed, the Billy Graham rule on this front is still worthy of admiration. (Although I recall them having occasion to address Franklin’s behavior in the Saeed Abedini matter.)
Daisy wrote:
I have an estimated IQ somewhere around 160.
I can attest that it has its downside.
Max wrote:
Max.
I heard that almost word-for-word back in the heyday of Hal Lindsay, when SCRIPTURE PROVED that Henry Kissinger and/or the King of Spain WAS The Antichrist and All Prophecies Prior to The Rapture had Already Been Fufilled in Today’s Headlines. Yom Kippur War Rapture Scare, Comet Kohoutek Rapture Scare, 1975 Rosh Hashanah Rapture Scare, 1981 Jupiter Effect Rapture Scare, 1988 88 Reasons Rapture Scare. “THIS IS IT! IT’S ALL IN REVELATIONS, PEOPLE!”
Then I read End Time Prophecy books from 20-30 years previous and they said the exact same thing, all proven from Revelations. Great Apostasy, Falling Away, Things Just Getting Worse, then The Rapture. “THIS IS IT! IT’S ALL IN REVELATIONS, PEOPLE!”
Root 66 wrote:
Doesn’t Matter.
What matters is that Hall and his Pulpiteer fanboys get to Count Coup.
Divorce Minister wrote:
Them that can, do.
Them that can’t, write nasty petty articles out of jealousy.
“Anyone who can do something better than me is as FAAAAG!”
— 60’s Mad Magazine cartoon punch line
Daisy wrote:
I am sure that has happened for real somewhere.
Though the secondhand stories I’ve heard had to do with the communion line in a Catholic Mass back in the Seventies instead of an altar call line.
As over-the-top and crazy as you can imagine for satire, there’s a True Believer out there twice as over-the-top, twice as crazy, and DEAD SERIOUS.
Daisy wrote:
There are more and more people saying the same thing about Will. I’m not sure who he is trying to appeal to but if it is the crowd that commented on is WaPo article, then enough said.
Daisy wrote:
Tasteless and petty people are like that.
@ Thersites:
I heard Mohler on the radio praising Graham. There is a Billy Graham center at SBTS. Yet Mohler has promoted the opposite “Gospel” message of Graham for 20 years. The hypocrisy just wears me out.
@ Headless Unicorn Guy:
Max has been commenting here for years. Good guy. Just views things differently and doesn’t shove it down people’s throats.
Dale wrote:
The last statement is why I do not call myself Christian.
Will the real Jesus Christ please stand up?
– Multiple bibles with multiple translations of multiple passages
– The magic 8 ball of scriptural justification – put your hand in the hat and see what God’s saying today
– We’re eating Jesus’ body – no wait we’re not, but we are – but not really.
– we’re monotheistic but in triplicate – sort of like a three for one pizza deal – 1 pizza in the guise of three.
– We need to follow “God’s law” – we’re just not sure which ones. Homosexuality is wrong but pork sandwiches are just fine!
And everyone who doesn’t believe what I believe is a traitor!
Look, while I don’t believe in what Rev. Graham believed and I don’t think he was a saint – I do respect the tolerance of his worldview. He was Christian and if you come together and agree that there is redemption in the resurrection then whether you were dunked as an infant or an adult matters not a whit.
Lydia wrote:
There seems to be a new alignment forming in these last few years. I have found much agreement with a gay atheist you mentioned recently, Dave Rubin, while at the same time types like Will make less and less sense. It is as if the leaders who had been dividing us were actually in collusion against us. Graham never appealed to their “in group” with their disdain for us commoners so they discount and diminish him. I wonder if that group of elitists fits the Luke 6:26 that Dale referenced.
Lydia wrote:
What Lydia said. Cheers loudly. I wanted to say something similar, but I am really grateful to Lydia for saying it instead.
Lydia, we may disagree on many things, but I completely respect your penchant for common sense.
I debated posting anything, because I have a complicated perspective on Graham. I think I can do this respectfully, so if you hate what I say, please know I mean no offense.
I really respect the ecumenical spirit of Graham. That article on Pen and Pulpit breaks my heart, but it isn’t unexpected. Christians, especially some fundegelicals, only seem interested in setting up boundaries between people rather than looking for common understanding. The anti-Catholic hate is ridiculous. I’m not a Catholic and never will be because I fundamentally disagree with some of their doctrine, but I deeply respect the Catholic church and its contribution to the world. There are some Catholics that look down their nose at Protestants, and that annoys me too. Graham seemed interested in what unifies us, and that spirit will be missed. I wish some of that had rubbed off on Franklin, but he seems more interested in partisan food fights than anyone.
Warren Throckmorton had a great article on Graham’s financial transparency. This is an excellent legacy that the church could learn from. If that was his only contribution to Christianity, that would be life well lived.
The difficult thing for me about Billy Graham’s legacy is the fear that his gospel presentation stirred in me. This could just be an issue for people like me who grew up in the church and have what J.B. Phillips calls a “morbid conscience.” I was constantly afraid of hell because of pastors and revival meeting speakers giving “what if you died tonight in a car crash, do you know where you would go?” alter calls. I was constantly rededicating my life to Christ an experiencing guilt and fear about my salvation. I am not blaming Billy Graham for this, I am just saying this was, for me, an unintended consequence of this type of gospel presentation. Not wanting to think this way anymore is what lead me to become a Calvinist. That way of thinking was a nowhere road for me as well, as I have said on here before. What has ultimately brought me freedom is Trinitarian/Barthian theology. Baxter Kruger says “the main question isn’t if you have accepted Jesus into your life, because the fact is Jesus has already accepted you into his.” I’m not saying I know the “right way” to believe. Rather, I have found a way that I can believe.
My reaction to Billy Graham is really mixed. I have a lot of respect for many aspects of his ministry, and some of the things I didn’t like started me on a journey that has lead me to a way of believing that I can rest in.
Thersites wrote:
Best talk show host in America. If there was any justice, he would host one of the major Sunday morning shows. Really talented interviewer.
@ Dale:
I read somewhere that the new evangelicals were the fore-runners to the new Calvinists. Are you suggesting that Graham was connected to that?
As Nick would say,
ION: Sport
The Winter Olympics are currently taking place in South Korea. Usually, there are inspiring stories from the Olympics about skaters, skiers and hockey players overcoming adversity and obtaining Olympic glory. This year, there is a great story developing regarding the USA Men’s Curling Team and their skip (team captain) John Shuster.
If you don’t know, curling is a relatively obscure sport kind of like shuffleboard on ice, except using 40-pound granite stones and using brooms to sweep the stones to the best location. John Shuster was a member of the 4-man team that won a bronze medal at the 2006 Olympics. After that, Shuster formed his own team. As skip, his teams qualified for the Olympics in 2010 and 2014.
Unfortunately, his team’s performance and Shuster’s personal play was not very good. They finished 10th in 2010 and 9th in 2014 out of 10 teams. Shuster in particular was heavily criticized for his play. He seemed to have the ability to miss the easiest shots in the worst possible situations. (In 2010, there was a fake Wikipedia biography made for Shuster. One part said that he had once tried to shoot himself in the head – and missed.)
To add insult to injury, after the 2014 Olympics, the US Curling Association threw his team out of their High Performance Program (HPP), which subsidizes top American teams and assists in training. Also after the 2014 games, one of his team members retired and returned to teaching 8th grade Science. (There is not much money to be made in curling in the USA.) Undaunted, Shuster recruited another team member and went back to practice.
Team Shuster competed on the World Curling Tour in 2015, mostly in Canada, where curling is a big deal. His results were much improved, so much that USA Curling invited his team back into the HPP.
While the HPP helps curlers financially, it is not exactly a lot of money. Shuster spent the next 3 years working part time at Dick’s Sporting Goods. With his wife working full time, he took his sons (now 2 and 4 years of age) to daycare on weekdays, spent 6 hours a day practicing and went to tournaments on weekends. The teams performance got better, including a bronze medal and a 4th place finish at the World Curling Championships. His team then qualified again for the current Olympics.
Shuster’s team started the Olympics poorly again, winning only 2 of their first 6 games. With 3 games to play in the round-robin competition, they had to win their remaining games and hope for some losses by other teams to make the playoffs.
Over the next 3 days, the team beat 3-time defending gold medalists Canada, Switzerland and Great Britain (actually Scotland, but that’s another story), all 3 teams ranked in world curling’s top ten. With the help of a loss by Japan, Shuster’s team made the playoffs.
This past Thursday, Shuster’s team beat Canada again (no USA team had ever beaten a Canadian team in the Olympics) and late tonight/early tomorrow they will play the Swedish team of Niklas Edin, currently the top ranked team in the world, for the gold medal.
The game will be televised live on the NBC Sports Network at 1:30am tonight/Saturday morning, so be sure to take a nap this evening and watch. If you can’t do that, they will show replays tomorrow and I promise not to post the result.
By the way, curling is enjoying a widespread increase in popularity in the US. There is even a club (Triangle Curling Club) in Wake Forest and they host events for beginners, so I hope the Deebs will give it a try. I hope they write about it too.
Ricco wrote:
Same here, but I chalked that up to first introduction being by way of Jack Chick and Hal Linsday. Not sure what a “morbid conscience” is, but I do have a morbid imagination and my best writing has been dark. Maybe if we’d been born a couple decades later we’d have gone Goth?
Lydia wrote:
“No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.”
— H.L.Mencken
“There’s a sucker born every minute.”
— P.T.Barnum
@ Ricco:
My favorite interviewer. Ever.
@ Thersites:
I miss free speech “liberals”. Hee hee.
Ricco wrote:
Hell is a staple in fundagelicalism whether reformed or non-reformed.
In many cases it’s the deal closer, the stick when the carrot doesn’t work.
It works like a charm.
___
“A BLESSED HOPE”
*
Q. What becomes of the broken hearted?
*
hmmm…
*
“This SAME Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven
shall so come in LIKE MANNER as ye have seen Him GO INTO HEAVEN.
Act 1:11”
*
“In My Father’s House are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and “prepare a place for you, I WILL COME AGAIN, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, thereye may be also.” John 14:2-3.
*
‘Go out to the highways and the hedges and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full… -The Master
*
“As a Prophet Jesus died for our ‘JUSTIFICATION’, as a Priest Jesus lives at the right hand of God not only as our Advocate, but our ‘SANCTIFIER’, and when Jesus comes again as a King it will be for our ‘GLORIFICATION’. “
*
Hope for the broken hearted, and a little peace of mind…Someone who cares…Jesus is famous for “happy endings” !
*
God became one of us so we could be like Him, and also live with Hm , in that day, ‘for always’, in the place He has prepared for our sweet dwelling(s)!
*
(Please see the Bible for details)
*
“For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that TRUSTS in Thee…” Psalm 84: 1-12.
*
ATB
Sòpy
—
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GXQi-QTJghs
Bonus:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eHlm2AO8_ak
;~)
– –
Headless Unicorn Guy wrote:
I think he means overactive conscience. I always think I’m wrong.
Also, I’m way to much of a rule follower to be a goth. The only way I would have been a goth was if my dad told me to be a goth.
Ricco wrote:
Same here. All my life in constant GUILT GUILT GUILT to the point I wished I was born a psychopath, totally unable to ever feel guilty.
Some of it has to be due to growing up a kid genius, with Utter Perfection being the MINIMUM expected of me. Everything I do was nitpicked under an electron microscope to the point I could NEVER measure up. There’s still a voice in my head going “HOW COULD YOU? YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE A GENIUS!”; “WHAT DO YOU MEAN, ‘I DON’T KNOW’? YOU’RE A GENIUS!” And then in my teens came a Fundy Christ who called that genius IQ filthy rags and demanded Utter Perfection or Hell (and was going to end the world any minute now — Don’t be Left Behind!)
The result was the coping mechanism “If you never attempt anything, you can’t catch hell for doing it wrong, can you?” I’m still functional, but it’s still an uphill battle to motivate myself; if I can’t get it utterly totally perfectly right the first time… I sympathize a LOT with the servant in the parable who buried his talent under a rock.
My current church calls it “Excessive Scrupulosity”, a form of OCD.
Ricco wrote:
JMJ over at Christian Monist calls that “Guilt Manipulation”, and a LOT of Christendom is really into it. As one put it on Christian radio in the Eighties, “If you can’t love ’em into the Kingdom, SCARE ‘EM INTO THE KINGDOM!” We’re both living proof of the side- and after-effects of that approach.
P.S. The “If You Died This Minute, Do You KNOW Where You Would Spend ETERNITY?????” was a common Witnessing cold opening during my time in-country. Especially when fueled by guilt and desperation that if you “let the heathen get away”, God Would Hold you Accountable(TM).
Catholic Gate-Crasher wrote:
I disagree with everyone here at one time or another. If we agreed on everything then one of us would be redundant.
Jack wrote:
I don’t call myself Christian either, for a complex raft of reasons, but one of them is this one. Those who divide large groups of people into “camps” will always need to have one or more enemy camps to despise as traitors to the cause. Within Christianity (and any other widespread religion in which God’s ultimate revelation of himself to humanity is held to be a written document), each of these camps claiming to have “the truth” will quote verses of their choosing, in a context of their choosing. And all the time, they’ll denounce the “traitors” for making up their own beliefs – doing, in other words, exactly what they themselves are doing.
Thersites wrote:
Actually, someone who agreed with me on everything would be enormously useful. (They’d be great for my ego.)
Nick Bulbeck wrote:
On the other hand, doing this is a lot easier than investigating historical Christianity. It’s much easier to be right when one does not have to be bothered by evidence (or lack of evidence).
Headless Unicorn Guy wrote:
I hear you. How many times has this clobber passage been thrown around: Ezekiel 3:18 or Ezekiel 3:20 – “… but his blood I will require at your hand.” It’s pretty amazing which verses get thrown around as inviolate guarantees while others are dismissed.
Dale wrote:
Why do you limit the options to just these three? It’s really more of a spectrum. After almost wishing I had never investigated Christian history, it seems to me that most Christians throughout history congregated around a position between 1 and 2, but closer to 1 than 2. Option 2 is a very recent invention, which should at least require us to make it be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Option 3 could be much older than Christianity or Judaism. One of the problems with the “once saved always saved” viewpoint is it takes away free will. If God honors our choices, then why would he not honor decisions to turn away from him? Also, it seems that if growing in the likeness of Christ means anything, then our decisions about turning toward or away from Christ will make a real difference. Or is it all just a script where our choices don’t matter?
@ Ricco:
You may have what clinical psychologist Dr. Jordan Peterson calls “high conscientiousness”. It’s not a bad thing. At least you care and seek truth.
@ Lydia:
I haven’t taken a big 5 traits test, but you are probably right. I think our greatest weakness are just the flip side of our greatest strengths in many cases. One thing the evangelical church doesn’t do well is help people find balance within themselves. Everything has to be “extreme” and “radical.” I’m stubborn and contentious enough to actually try all the crazy things pastors or my parents tell me I have to do. I’m learning to live differently.
It’s also great knowing I’m not the only Jordan Peterson fan here:-)
@ Headless Unicorn Guy:
My favorite thing about this site is connecting with people who have had the same problems in the church as I have and are willing to ask questions and seek truth. We all won’t come to the same conclusions, but it is great knowing you aren’t alone on the journey.
Nick Bulbeck wrote:
You’ve hit upon the reason a lot of overly paid film actors with seemingly shallow minds have overly large egos, everyone around them likely expresses agreement.
Dale wrote:
Why do you believe he teaches “anything goes”?
Ricco wrote:
Actually I’ve found the balance is found with other people, it is a major strength of the Jesus’ metaphor of the body. If you are liberal and high in openness then you should greatly value those high in orderliness and are more conservative. The problem I encountered in the variants of institutional churches was the leaders saw us all as interchangeable cogs in their machine and unless I was perfect and never differed from them I was to be sidelined and later disposed of. Such a process greatly squelches the Spirit they so infrequently spoke of.
Thersites wrote:
Wow. Interesting observation.
Lydia – concering the quote:
“Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God.”
SEE:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2018/february-web-only/billy-graham-viral-quote-on-death-not-his-d-l-moody.html
Thersites wrote:
Film actors, and celebrity pastors (who are also actors).
@ L. Lee:
Confused. I gave Moody credit.
@ Thersites:
I can attest to this working with Megas. I got to the point of thinking, If the pew sitters only knew how the leaders really viewed t them. Basically as an audience to admire them and, of course, giving units. It’s all very cult of personality.
@ Lydia:
Yes, that confused me a bit too.
Headless Unicorn Guy wrote:
I suspect I have scrupulosity as well. My Baptist church growing up talked about “being left behind”; I saw the Thief In the Night/Distant Thunder movies about the mark of the beast; and when I was baptized in a sect of the Churches of Christ, EVERYTHING became about “getting it right” and “inviting as many as you can to church/Bible study/etc,” getting them into Bible studies, and getting them baptized. How many people you baptized was directly tied to how “spiritual” you were.
There are groups within the Churches of Christ that honestly believe that if you use instruments in a worship service, you will go to hell because God never commanded it. If you point out the Old Testament use of worship, they will say, “Well, that’s the Old Covenant and we’re under the New Covenant.” If you point out that there are trumpets and harps in Revelation, they will point out that that’s in heaven and not on the earth.
My own Church of Christ added an instrumental service a couple of years ago. We’ve had people leave because we did that, at least one church has disfellowshipped us, and my preacher is no longer allowed to speak at his alma mater.
Lydia wrote:
And it really makes no difference if the mega is reformed or not, both brands are just as rapacious.
Billy Graham is criticized for his influence on Ronald Regan. No one seems to take issue on Nancy Regan’s belief in astrology as an influence on her husband
@ Anne Lapuh:
My guess is Reagan had his own thoughts and wasn’t much influenced. I know he and Nancy disagreed on several issues.
Tina wrote:
I’ve got a couple anecdotes about Thief in the Night:
1) I’m old enough to remember when it first came out in the early Seventies. I remember the posters advertising showings at various churches; after a good look at one, I decided to stay away for my own sanity’s sake. Later on an Eighties talk show, I heard that it freaked out a LOT of Christian kids and WAS used as the warmup to the Altar Call.
2) In the late Eighties or early Nineties, I first saw clips from Thief in the Night as part of a PBS documentary on Christianese parallel pop culture. Three short clips; here are my exact reactions, primed by a couple years staying up late for Mystery Science Theater 3000:
2.1) “THAT’s Thief in the Night? Looks more like Manos, Hands of Fate.”
2.2) “Where’s Joel and the Bots? This needs Joel and the Bots at the bottom of the screen.”
2.3) “AAAAAAAGH! WE HAVE MOVIE SIGN!”
3) Some years after that, my writing partner (the burned-out preacher) told me about a scene from one of the sequels; goes like this:
3.1) Mid-Trib; a couple characters (including one heathen) hiding out in a little cabin in the middle of the Canadian wilderness.
3.2) Something knocks at the door; the token Heathen answers it. As soon as he opens the door…
3.3) A Giant Rubber Scorpion Stinger SLOWLY extends through the open door and nails Token Heathen in the chest. Token Heathen collapses to the floor screaming in agony.
3.4) Giant Rubber Scorpion Stinger SLOWLY retracts through the doorframe, closing the door after itself. Token Heathen still writhes screaming on the floor. Cut to…
3.5) Stock footage of galloping horses’ hooves while a voice-over recites Revelation 9:3-6 about the plague of demon locusts.
Ever since we’ve used the term “Giant Rubber Scorpion Stinger Scene.”
<blockquote and when I was baptized in a sect of the Churches of Christ, EVERYTHING became about “getting it right” and “inviting as many as you can to church/Bible study/etc,” getting them into Bible studies, and getting them baptized. How many people you baptized was directly tied to how “spiritual” you were.
Out here it was that God would judge your reward (the “Crown of Glory”) entirely on “How Many Souls (not people) Did You Lead to Christ?” (Implied God at the Great White Throne would ask you that exact question as you replaced the guy in Jack Chick’s “This Was Your Life”.)
Coupled with the Ezekiel warning that if you didn’t Witness to them and they died Unsaved, God WILL Hold You Accountable, this led to some really crazy Wretched Urgency (“Faster! Faster! The Heathen’s Getting Away!”) and some equally crazy desperation Witnessing moves.
Nick Bulbeck wrote:
You DO know what the Koine Greek word for “actor” is, don’t you?
Lydia wrote:
“Excessive Scrupulosity” is when “high conscientousness” becomes an OCD that takes over your personality and impedes your ability to function.
Ken F (aka Tweed) wrote:
A LOT.
I’m surprised someone hasn’t made a Christianese Motivational poster of it.
And after enough of it, you either go crazy, kill yourself, or bail out completely.
That Way Lies Madness.
Lydia wrote:
My exact thoughts when I read Mohler’s tweets about Rev. Graham. Mohler would never preach the Gospel truths that Graham proclaimed. To him, Calvinism = Gospel.
Max wrote:
Hmmm. Reminds me of HUG’s post above about the koine greek word for ‘actor’.
Headless Unicorn Guy wrote:
Yes, and I was confident Wartburgers would notice the allusion.
Headless Unicorn Guy wrote:
I recently learned that Christians did not belive in a rapture like this until the late 1800s. Now it has become an essential belief among many (but not all) Protestants. Many ideas like this would never get traction if we spent more time studying Christian history.
Ken F (aka Tweed) wrote:
Or spent more time looking at scripture. Or had more common sense. Or, interestingly, spent more time listening to Al Mohler, of all people You might be interested in this. This is a short segment of Q&A of Al Mohler talking about eschatology, specifically the rapture ideas. He also does not believe in the sort of rapture theory that you all seem to have run upon with some people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vPI8ZgIeg0
And, no, many of the ideas about a future eschatological event are not limited to Revelation but rather are from various places elsewhere in the NT, some of which do not seem to me to justify belief in some two stage event like rapture theory at all but do equate with a future event of some sort.
That said, not everything out there is due to BG, however much I think his ministry was a mixed bag-not that anybody said that but rather just that I wanted to say it. And, in my opinion, Al Mohler is not the ultimate boogie man either, however much he may have passed up opportunities to do the right thing. There is enough blame to go around, in my opinion.
Max wrote:
Mohler may honor Rev. Graham with his lips, but his theological heart is far from him. When he says the following, he essentially rejects the Gospel message that Graham preached.
“Where else are they going to go? If you’re a theological minded, deeply convictional young evangelical, if you’re committed to the gospel and want to see the nations rejoice in the name of Christ, if you want to see gospel built and structured committed churches, your theology is just going end up basically being Reformed, basically something like this new Calvinism, or you’re going to have to invent some label for what is basically going to be the same thing, there just are not options out there, and that’s something that frustrates some people, but when I’m asked about the New Calvinism — where else are they going to go, who else is going to answer the questions, where else are they going to find the resources they going to need and where else are they going to connect. This is a generation that understands, they want to say the same thing that Paul said, they want to stand with the apostles, they want to stand with old dead people, and they know that they are going to have to, if they are going to preach and teach the truth.” (Al Mohler, The Gospel Coalition, 2010)
Rev. Graham did not walk the pathway of New Calvinism to preach and teach the truth.
Lowlandseer wrote:
Huh?
Here’s an account of a sermon given by Billy Graham at Westminster Chapel. Wasn’t that Lloyd-Jones’s church?
https://web.archive.org/web/20041211235045/http://www.assistnews.net/strategic/s0109029.htm
“From the moment that Billy Graham started speaking, our attention was riveted upon him and we hung on his every word. It was a deeply biblical message. He constantly referred us back to the Bible…in his address in Westminster Chapel on that Wednesday night…Graham told how burdened he had become for Britain.”
Ken F (aka Tweed) wrote:
The rank and file pew serfs in the mega-biggies (reformed or not, makes no difference) have no desire to study church history. They want to be told what to believe by their honchos because it relieves them of any of the hard work involved in self study and critical thinking. It also gives them a sense of total security and tribal identity.
@ Jerome:
No contradiction. Graham’s views had become clearer between 1948 and 1966 and that change prompted Lloyd-Jones’ stance.
As for the 1948 report and Hildenborough Hall, Tom Rees and the staff, it brought back memories of many happy times there after Tom had passed the mantle to his son Justyn. The Hall is now the HQ for a Christian Travel Company(!)
I was never impressed by Billy Graham. He just didn’t make sense when I listened to him (my Mom was a fan).
Lowlandseer wrote:
Your source says one of the things Lloyd-Jones later demanded in exchange for his support was that Graham stop giving invitations as he did (MLJ “believed the invitation system was a source of mass-delusion and harm to churches”). Graham’s use of the invitation was quite clear in 1948, was it not?
God bless Billy Graham..
I was always proud of him, among Protestant leaders, for being one of the few who unabashedly befriended and defended the civil rights movement and MLK Jr. Even to this day, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth of some evangelicals, strangely. But to me, both of these men were preaching the gospel. People simply ascribe political motives to MLK (and culture at large has done this too), but he called the Civil Rights movement “Gospel Power”. It was Good News and Jesus’ principles in action. People also overly ascribe Gandhi’s influence to MLK, but both of them were more influenced by Leo Tolstoy, who first codiefied his non-violent methods from the Gospel, in a little known movement to defend Serfs in pre-Bolshevik Russia against the Czar. He wrote a book called “The Kingdom of God is Within You”. It was a call to action, a call to Eschatology in the here and now, of realizing Jesus’ principles in ACTUAL LIFE.
Billy knew this, even if he focused on just delivering a Call to Conversion in his ministry. Something many Evangelicals are sadly out of touch with. Something that even splits the “Conservative” world of Evangelicals to this day, and their lack of engagement with the real world. And by doing so, they’ve let humanist steal all the causes that were once the causes of Christians.. from MLK, to Tolstoy, to the Abolitionists, even back to the Reformers, or to Constantine and the early bishops who changed Rome..
…Ahem! Now I’m ranting, and it’s only barely about Billy Graham. My apologies. I just liked that these two worlds of Billy and King had met, at one point.. and “I have a dream” that someone could pick up from there again.
Muff Potter wrote:
I can’t believe I’m going to step in to defend mega churches, but you’re being a bit uncharitable. At least to the average people. Also, it’s a little ironic that you mention Christian history, when being a critical thinker was a rather late development. Limited to the West. Orthodox to this day kind of scoff at the whole Western hemisphere for it. This is why Augustine and Aquinas aren’t saints in their eyes.
That said, it’s easier to foster a sense of trust and authority in church leaders, when they come from a succession of bishops and councils that trace back millenia. You’re still right to mock “Pastor Fred”, and those who unquestioningly obey him. For the most part, no one “laid hands” on these guys. They just pop up out of the woodwork at random.
Ken wrote:
I don’t run a charity when it comes to opinions and general assessments.
I survived the Calvary Chapel Bible cult and in a general sense it’s true, it’s just teachers and teachees, no in between.
While I’ll back-pedal a skoash and say that yes, there are exceptions in the rank and file (I should know, I’m one of em’, that’s why I got out), I stand on my original comment.
Headless Unicorn Guy wrote:
Dale wrote:
Dale. This is not accurate in any way. Neo Evangelicalism was created to promote what the Principals called “Low Calvinism.”
Don’t know if you will see this reply, because the thread has aged.
@ Lowlandseer:
I don’t think is is correct.
Catholic Gate-Crasher wrote:
This made me cry.
Catholic Gate-Crasher wrote:
Why not?
Though formal veneration would primarily be on All Saints’ Day, reserved for those saints who were never formally canonized by the RCC.
One comment not allowed. We no longer allow comments which accuse people of being involved in conspiracies ala Druids, FreeMasons, Illuminati, Flat Earth, etc. ROFL
Muff Potter wrote:
Fair enough. and sorry for this late reply. I have less respect for the teachers, but there’s a lot more hope for the regular folks. I mean.. you’re here, right? 😀