Graham Association Plans to Continue with Evangelistic Rock Concerts
Following a successful inaugural tour this summer, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association is planning to make their new Rock the River tour an annual event to reach out to America’s youth.
“I believe God is leading us to have an evangelistic concert tour every summer,” reported BGEA President and CEO Franklin Graham in a letter recently posted on his organization’s website.
Since embarking on the tour up the Mississippi river, the BGEA has reached out to well over 113,000 youth and young adults and witnessed around 1,000 decisions for Christ in four cities – Baton Rouge, La.; St. Louis, Mo.; Davenport, Iowa; and Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn. The new youth outreach, according to Graham, is a continuation of the youth-focused ministry that his father and his team started more than 60 years ago with Youth For Christ....
The scary thing about "modern churchianity" is that the world sees no difference between the bride of Christ and paganism because of the lack of biblical preaching in America. This kind of so-called Christian practice does not call for self-denial...it is self-indulgent. It needs to be shunned.
The modern church has concluded that the Bible is not sufficient to reach the lost with the gospel. So, worldly methods are now used. No wonder so many churches have become very, very, very popular. And very, very, very dead. Lots of attractions, but no substance. The great awakenings and revivals of the world began with the Word of God, not flashy gimmicks.
“The Bible says that we are to use “all possible means” (1 Corinthians 9:22) to reach lost people with the message of repentance and salvation,” Graham noted.
Which quote evidently indicates Mr. Graham is using either an NIV or a TNIV Bible, since that is the translation they give.
1 Corinthians 9:22 (Today's New International Version) "To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some."
How different from the AV!
1 Corinthians 9:22 (King James Version) "To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some."
Still, I don't recall Paul setting up, for example, a 'sanitized' version of Greek temple worship in order to win the Corinthians to Christ, or setting up Ashteroth on the high places so he could preach the gospel to the idolators in between 'sets' of their pagan 'worship.'
Leveller, I note that per the article there are also hip-hop and rap artists in addition to the rock music. Apparently 'Christian rock' does make as much sense as 'holy hip hop'!
True Christians are attracted to Christ because of His distinctiveness (or holiness). When people try to present Christ through the worldly lens of rock and roll, and other worldly trappings they end up greatly distorting or even occulting (love that word!) God's true nature, making it actually MUCH harder to get to really know Him as He is.
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