MUST HEAR: Commitment (audio) by Billy Graham

Wow, I'd always discounted Billy Graham as a lukewarm preacher... I was wrong. It's a cold day in Tokyo, but I'm feeling pretty toasty!

"Where in God's name are our men today!" -Billy Graham

What happened to him?

One thing that conservative historians point to is his late wife. She was the daughter of missionaries which is often pointed out but her family came from a very liberal mainline denomination. Billy Graham, however, was at one time a fundamentalist evangelical.

BrianMira wrote:
What happened to him?

My wife and I have been reading his "How to be Born Again" as a devotional book, of which I believe others had a hand in writing, and it seems as though he was a firm and narrow believer that Jesus is the only Way. However, with Schuller and the interview with Bush, it seems as though he has waivered.

Is there any truth in that or is 'getting old' a valid excuse? :-(

I personally wrote to the BGEA some time ago after the Shuller interview and they didn't whitewash the incident but expressed Billy's regret over his own statements. I'm not "in the loop" on Preachers and how they go about speaking and living their lives (as I have my own walk with Christ) yet in this particular instance I made a point of contacting them over this very serious matter and it is clear that Billy Graham made a grievous error for which he is extremely regretful. I do believe he has repented of such an interview with Shuller.

I personally wrote to the BGEA some time ago after the Shuller interview and they didn't whitewash the incident but expressed Billy's regret over his own statements. I'm not "in the loop" on Preachers and how they go about speaking and living their lives (as I have my own walk with Christ) yet in this particular instance I made a point of contacting them over this very serious matter and it is clear that Billy Graham made a grievous error for which he is extremely regretful. I do believe he has repented of such an interview with Shuller.

You will recall that Peter did a similar thing in scripture when certain came from James and he did not uphold the truth of the Gospel for fear of the Jews (See Galatians 2). We have no record of any public repentance or confession; only that Paul dealt with him and that Peter loved Paul (I take this as a show of his acceptance of Paul's rebuke).

Beloved, our lives are not over yet. We should use caution in how we criticize a person's actions when we have not been under that level of pressure to know if we would have in fact 'passed the test'. I'm [u]not[/u] saying what happened is OK. I have never been on Schuller or Larry King so I cannot say how I would react, especially given all the variables in place; I pray I would answer rightly.

[color=000066] Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man [u]draw back[/u], my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who [u]draw back[/u] unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. (Hebrews 10:38, 39)[/color]

The word underlined here in Greek is hupostellō. It was a military type term used by Polybius to signify the withdrawing of his troops as a strategy. The idea is that they retreat out of caution. In Peter's case it has been suggested that he 'withdrew' (same Greek word) to prevent causing an offense.

The word was also used of shipping when the storm began to rise the men would 'furl the sails' to protect the ship from damaging winds. Peter was an expert in shipping as he was a fisherman and by tradition had several fishing boats. Life has its storms like Peter and Billy experienced. The question is; how will we respond? Will we draw back to a safe spot to avoid causing trouble for ourselves or persecution arising from offense? Time and testing will tell. May we pray that we do rightly.