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So we are starting now the last formal class of this series called American Church History. Next week we're going to do a summary of what we've learned, looking back at why Christianity in America is the way it is, what are some lessons we learned from it. But this is the last sort of formal class and whenever you're discussing something like Billy Graham, it's always a challenge because we're in modern life. And you've heard the phrase too soon. Sometimes it's too soon because you may have people here who were converted by watching the Billy Graham crusade. And so obviously it's very personal to them. Or he just died recently and then Talking about someone who just died seems too soon. So that's always a challenge. And the second challenge is whenever you criticize someone who is sort of beloved in the community, the question always comes up, are you saying he was a false teacher? Are you saying he's not in heaven? And my answer is I have no idea if someone's in heaven. That's God's job. So I don't make those kind of evaluations of somebody's soul. We just evaluate the writings of what is said. And we just compare them to scripture. So if you're tempted to raise your hand and ask that, please don't. So let's start with the back. Well, let me start with this verse, because it actually is an important verse for what we're going to talk about. And that's Acts 4.12. And there is salvation in no one else, For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. So in evaluating the Billy Graham movement, let's look a little bit at its background. Born in 1918 in Charlotte, North Carolina, the eldest of four children raised in the Associate Reform Presbyterian Church. Didn't someone say, oh, it was David Brack who said, everything comes out of the Presbyterians. When he was 14, Graham's father forced him and his sister to drink beer until they got sick. This is Graham's own account in his book. Graham, because of that, avoided alcohol for the rest of his life. But he was considered a worldly teenager. He said he was converted at a revival meeting when he was 16. He attended Bob Jones College. Eventually, this becomes Bob Jones University. But back then, it was located in Cleveland, Tennessee. He quit after his first semester. He thought school was legalistic. Bob Jones Sr. told him, though, this is to Billy Graham, at best, all you could amount to would be a poor country Baptist preacher somewhere out in the sticks. You have a voice that pulls. God can use that voice of yours. He can use it mightily. So there was something about Graham's stature and his voice. By the way, we've been mourning about this since 2 Corinthians, right? Looking at these outward things. And so in 1937, Graham transferred to the Florida Bible Institute that's near Tampa. He says that he received his calling to be a preacher while golfing. I think he says on the 18th tee, he received his calling from God. I'm just reporting, I'm not commenting at this time. Graham was then ordained by a group of Southern Baptist clergymen at the Peniel Baptist Church in Palatka, Florida. In 1943, he graduated from Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. This is Wheaton's, of course, most well-known son. with a degree in anthropology. So it wasn't a theology degree, it was the social sciences. While attending college, he became the pastor of the United Gospel Tabernacle and started preaching elsewhere. So that's just a very brief background of Graham's upbringing and call to the ministry from the Lord, he says. His early ministry, he started crusades. Now we know Billy Graham for the Crusades, right? The Crusades was his idea. This was not done by a church or denomination. This was not somebody calling Billy to go out. Billy organized and marketed his own Crusades to preach. Now in 1949 was his first major campaign in Los Angeles. The main theme of his early crusades was anti-communism. And you can still go online today and look at his first sermons, and it was all about communism. The idea was this was the time of the Red Scare, that communism was going to take over America with the rest of the world. So in his first major campaign, he said that communism is going to destroy the greatness of America. So Graham was very outwardly supportive of an offensive war against North Korea to stop communism. He called the Truman administration cowardly for not allowing MacArthur to win the Korean War, and he was supportive of even if it meant bombing China. Now you might ask, where does Graham get the expertise for all these statements? Well, welcome to American Christianity. Graham said back then, when God gets ready to shake America, he may not take the PhD and the DD. God may choose a country boy. God may choose the man that no one knows, a little nobody, to shake America for Jesus Christ in this day. And I pray that he would. Of course, who's Graham speaking of? Himself. He would be that country boy in his mind that would save America from communism by bringing them to faith in Christ and after revival through his preaching that they would not be tempted toward communism. Graham became the most famous Armenian, as you know. Obviously, he rejected any sense of God's sovereignty and salvation. And Graham affirmed the need to walk forward in a crusade as genuine evidence that you wanted to be a Christian. If you didn't walk forward, that proved that you weren't ready to follow Christ because you were being cowardly by not publicly showing it. And so, people associated coming to Christ with walking forward. And people still today, right? But really, it was in Graham's crusades. Finney did that also, but Finney used a lot of different techniques. With Graham, it was just come forward, as you know. Well, when Graham started his preaching, it was not very well attended. These crusades had a small amount of people. until William Randolph Hearst got into the picture. Now, who's William Randolph Hearst? Yeah, famous newspaper man, multimillionaire, maybe billionaire. He wasn't a believer, did not profess Christ. He actually was carrying on an extramarital affair at the time. But he heard about Graham. And there's two, in church history, there's two words that have become famous if you're a church historian. and that is Puff Graham. Graham sent out a memo to all his, not Graham, Hearst sent out a memo to all his newspaper editors around the country, a two-word memo, Puff Graham. What does that mean? Pump him up. All of you write about this guy. And so from that point on, now, People have wondered why Hearst, a non-Christian, was so interested in Billy Graham. Because Hearst was very strongly anti-communist. And if Graham could help bring America away from any temptation to communism, then Hearst was supporting it. So within days of that famous memo that went out, that famous telegram, Hearst papers all around the country began to promote Billy Graham. One reporter told Graham, you have just been kissed by William Randolph Hearst. And so within days, some of the newspapers, the largest chains in the country were owned by Hearst. By the way, has anyone ever been to the Hearst Castle in Central California? Carl has? It's an incredible place, isn't it? It's hard to describe. One of his papers announced a new tide of faith turning under the big tent in Los Angeles. Another said Evangelist Graham seemed to be wielding the revival sickle as no one since Billy Sunday had wielded it, which was about 30 years before that. That was in the New York Times Magazine. Life Magazine devoted four pages to the rising young evangelist. Once Graham was puffed in the newspapers, attendance at his L.A. crusade spiked to 6,000 a night. So it more than quadrupled. It was about six times more than before these articles came out. Hundreds would wait outside now to get in now that the newspapers had been reporting like this. Graham exemplified a cultural masculinity. He was very, rough, he was very manly, he was athletic, he preached hell and heaven, he was a, he inspired men. Now remember we talked about last week that after the Scopes trial, fundamentalism, conservative evangelicalism sort of was embarrassed. Well Graham brought back evangelicalism in the public eye as something positive. He became a role model. And so, In The Culture of the Cold War, Stephen Whitfield noted, Graham probably remained the most consistently and deeply admired American of his time. According to William McLaughlin, Graham's popularity was part of the grassroots reaction to the whole traumatic post-war experience, the desire for reaffirmation of ideals that had given meaning and order to American life in the past. Graham became everything America should be. Religious, anti-communist, pro-freedom, masculine and tough. Graham became a model for the American culture, the American dream. Now, I couldn't track down the author, but this was a really great summary. A central achievement was his encouraging evangelical Protestants to regain the social influence they once wielded, reversing a retreat from public life that had begun when their efforts to challenge evolution theory was defeated in the Scopes trial in 1925. Now that connects last week's lesson with today's, right? They took into the public eye a huge hit. Graham brought back respectability in the minds of Christians to evangelicalism. Now we're not embarrassed the way we were in the trial, because this is sort of our model. Our president of Westminster Seminary is Robert Godfrey. Do you know who that is? Somebody once asked him, what is an evangelical? He says, an evangelical likes Billy Graham. He says, that's the best way to summarize evangelicals. And so Graham became sort of unique. He was the first one, or one of the first, to desegregate his crusades. Blacks and whites had the same standing. They could be involved in the same way, sit together. That was sort of new in the late 40s, early 50s. He became close friends with Martin Luther King Jr. He invited Martin Luther King Jr. to preach at one of his revival meetings in 1957. So there you had white Graham and black King sitting on the platform together, following each other, preaching. That was unheard of at that time. Graham then became very controversial because he did something no Protestant had done. He invited Roman Catholic priests and bishops, not only to his crusade, but to be among the ministry in his crusade. So for the first time, you're a Protestant, you turn on your TV, there's a priest behind Graham as one of the ministers. Now you're scratching your head. This is sort of new. This is taking a turn that people weren't expecting. That didn't happen in his first Crusades. And he would actually begin to say, if you've walked forward, you need to find a good church, Catholic or Protestant. So now the Protestants, on the one hand, had sort of someone they were very proud of representing them. But now they're saying, wait a second, we don't really believe that. Now there's sort of a dilemma going on. Graham admired Charles Finney greatly. We talked about a few months ago. Like Finney, Graham believed that his crusade should match the entertainment of the world. And he wrote in 1963, we are selling the greatest product on earth. Why shouldn't we promote it as effectively as we promote a bar of soap? That's from the Saturday Evening Post. So that was Finney's view, that you can promote and market Christianity to make it acceptable and popular. So Graham would bring athletes, of course, and singers and others to share their testimony, people in America who had been successful, business leaders, politicians. And even if their faith to us was questionable, if they had any type of Christian background, they were there up front at the Crusades. And it was saying, this is gonna be very exciting, both music and speaking. And then of course, Grant would always come at the end and preach his sermon. Over time, when the communist scare died down, he didn't speak of communism anymore, but he still spoke of coming to Christ, one, for your personal salvation, of course. but then also that America would be revived and strong, whatever the new threat was morally wise. So he didn't deny personal salvation, but it was often in the context of a need for America too. So Graham became so popular, we're on later ministry now, that he began to become the advisor to US presidents. It started in 1960. Graham was a registered Democrat, but he was very sympathetic to Richard Nixon. Nixon became the first president he became very close to. So he offered Nixon a Republican advice, how to defeat John Kennedy, a Catholic. So he did want a, quote, Protestant president, even though Nixon wasn't a believer, but he had Protestant roots, at least. So Graham invited more than 24 Protestant leaders to a meeting to discuss ways to defeat John F. Kennedy. So he's now, he's very involved in the politics of America. He is choosing sides early on. Over the years, he became admired most, not for his message, but for his life. Because as you know, Graham was free of moral scandal. Now there was doctrinal scandal, And we'll talk about more of that. But morally, he's not like many of these who had an affair or was stealing money. And so because morally he seemed to stay above the fray, nobody who knew him had an accusation, he became one of the most admired men in America. And so I think even up till his death, whenever Time would have a poll, the most admired men in America, Graham was always in the top five, even with non-Christians. because he was at least a Christian who was not followed by scandal. And of course, non-Christians didn't follow the theology, it was just, he seemed consistent. Now, you may not know this, but among Jewish people, he wasn't very popular, and not just for his evangelism. But when the Nixon tapes were revealed, remember after Watergate, they had Nixon tapes, all his conversations, some of those conversations were revealed with Graham and Nixon. And we find out Graham did not like American Jews. So you can imagine that we were not thrilled with Billy Graham. On one of the tapes, it is quoted as Graham saying to Nixon, a lot of the Jews are great friends of mine. They swarm around me and are friendly to me, because they know that I'm friendly with Israel. But they don't know how I really feel about what they are doing to this country. So Graham believed the Jews, if you go on and listen, were responsible for all the pornography in America and a lot of the moral evils. But on the surface, he was pretending, not pretending, but he was very friendly to Jews. So that was a little bit of a hiccup when those who actually listened to the tapes heard that. Graham became more controversial among conservative Protestants because he would praise people that we would not consider believers as wonderful Christians. Pope John Paul II, he praises a wonderful leader and shepherd. Martin Luther King, Jr., not only We know what they found he was doing before he died, all the sinful things with other people who weren't his wife. But even his doctrines, some of the basic things he denied about the Trinity and salvation. Robert Schuller, you know who Robert Schuller is? Crystal, he denied some very basic tenets of the Christian faith, and yet they were good friends and he was always praising Schuller. Norman Vincent Peale, that's a name you have to be a certain age to remember. And what's he known for? The power of positive thinking. His gospel was basically Joel Osteen. And Graham would always talk about what a wonderful Christian Peale was. And then even Bill Clinton. Graham talks about how Bill Clinton, after his scandal with Monica Lewinsky, You know, he had spiritual advisors, and Graham would meet with them and say, that's a brother in the Lord struggling, but he's growing. And many of them saying, okay, what is your definition of Christianity? If all these people are wonderful Christians, how broad is your definition? It raised a lot of questions. Now, in the 1970s, Graham began to change. The man who preached heaven and hell Salvation in Christ only began to soften his tone, and society, of course, was changing also. So in a 1977 interview with Robert Shuler, Graham said, God is calling people out of the world for his name, whether they come from the Muslim world, the Buddhist world, or the Christian world, or the non-believing world, they are members of the body of Christ because they've been called by God. They may not even know the name of Jesus, but they know in their heart they need something that they don't have. So they turn to the only light they have, and I think they are saved, and that they're going to be with us in heaven. I've met people in various parts of the world in tribal situations. They've never seen a Bible or heard about a Bible. They've never heard of Jesus, but they believed in their hearts there was a God, and they've tried to live a life that was quite apart from the surrounding community in which they've lived. They lived. Now you know why I read Acts 4.12 at the beginning. What do you do with that statement? In 2005, a New York Times reporter asked him whether he, like his son Franklin, foresaw a clash between Christianity and Islam. Graham responded, I think the big conflict is with hunger and starvation and poverty. So we would say the big clash between Christianity and Islam is what? Two ways of salvation, two different gods, right? Graham was saying, the big problem in the world is not the differences, but how we tackle starvation and hunger, which is what? That's social gospel, basically. This is probably the most famous. In an interview with Larry King in 1997, King asked him, but what about those faiths, the Mormons and the others that you mentioned? that I think he meant do not believe in Christ. They believe they will meet Christ. What about those like the Jews? Oh, he's saying Mormons at least say they believe in Christ. What about those like the Jews, the Muslims who don't believe as you believe? And Graham responds, they're in God's hands. I can't be their judge. Now Graham from 40 years ago would have said what? They need Jesus to be saved. That's what he used to preach. All people outside of Christ need Jesus. They need to believe in Christ to be saved. Now he's saying, I can't judge. And then King pushed him. You don't judge them? No, no, I don't say you're going to hell. And you're, oh, I don't. Now what's interesting is if you go back even today to his early crusades, that's what he does say in those crusades. So Graham changed. as he got older. And so obviously you can see I'm somewhat critical of Billy Graham. How do you evaluate the whole Billy Graham impact? And I just want to emphasize that did God use him and people were converted? Yes. I mean I know people who are a Christian because they went to a grand crusade and they heard Jesus died for sinners. That's all they heard and they believed. So it's not a question of if ever God uses anyone. But how do you evaluate the impact of today where he is now, he sort of represents the ideal of American evangelicalism. Yes, it did do that. There are millions of people who think they are saved because at a crusade they walk forward. Because they were under the impression from Graham that if they do and they say that prayer, they're going to heaven. So Charlie Rose, who wasn't a believer, obviously, discerned that. Interesting. Yeah, it is fair to say that Graham was never under the impression that all those people were saved. but he still, yeah, I mean, he treated him that way, but he knew that in the end, that's not all happening. But the false assurance is real, because you can talk to people today who still think that. How else do you evaluate this? What can we learn about American history when Graham started his crusades and very few went until the newspapers pumped them up and then thousands went. What are Americans going to these Crusades for? Well, Americans like a star, right? And so the big question in the Billy Graham Crusades is are they going to hear Jesus or are they going to hear Billy? Because Billy now was a star. Because before Billy was a star, people weren't interested in the gospel he was bringing. When Billy Graham became a star, the stadiums were packed. What does that tell us about American thinking? Yeah, I remember even at Westminster Seminary, and just to point that, we all have the celebrity of cult, of personality. The typical chapel service at Westminster was one of the professors giving a 15-minute devotion. Well, one day it was Michael Horton, and that room was packed. I mean, it was like five times the amount of people that normally come. And even the president at Godfrey came up to introduce him and said, where have you been? And half of them were students who don't normally come to chapel. He was a volunteer. But even in the reformed community, this cult of personality, all of a sudden, if he brings the word, and to be honest, the normal professor was bringing the word much better than I thought Horton did that time, but because it was a star, all of a sudden, everybody wanted to hear it. That was a little embarrassing. Graham, when he was getting really old, he started saying, okay, I'm done with politics. and he did stop visiting presidents toward the end of his life. But that's what he became known for, really. Yeah, it's almost, that's why I even warned you last week, I'm going to talk about Billy Graham, and I'm gonna be somewhat critical, because it's almost blasphemous to question, because of his stature in American Christianity. Any other thoughts? The second question is the phrase, Billy Graham is America. And I think, for me, that's the best way to understand it. Now, what does that mean? Well, it's interesting, and I'm not suggesting it's calculated. No one knows a man's heart but God. But it's interesting that in the 40s and 50s, when America was very tough, anti-communist, heaven and hell was still sort of a mainstream thought. Graham was right there. And because he was, he was the most admired man. Then in the 70s, when America began to change, and those were considered draconian, harsh, to speak of heaven and hell, salvation only in Christ, Graham began to change. And his tone begins to soften, and he still remains the most admired man in America as America changes. So Graham seems to reflect American culture wherever it went. That's probably the main reason why I'm critical. I have a hard time with guys who remain popular and to do it, their message changes. So like I said, I'm not suggesting Graham sat down and put his finger out and said, all right, what do I need to say now? But that's the way it ended up. He sort of was sort of taken the easy way each time. So for me, I give a lot of leeway to new Christians in their views of the gospel. It takes a while to grow. But as you get older, I don't want to see you getting further from the gospel. I expect all Christians to grow in their understanding of the gospel, not go farther and farther away from the basic truths. But Graham did seem to reflect wherever America was at, Graham was sort of right at the center of it religiously. Now there is a view out there that says when a man gets in his 80s and even 90s and he's still speaking, take that with a grain of salt because he may not be thinking as clearly and maybe he should get out of the limelight at this age. The problem is these statements of Graham start back in the 70s when he was much younger. and he just stayed consistent with those more universalistic statements for the next 40 years. He had no theological training, but we talked about in the new way of thinking, not having training was considered what? It's a badge of honor. Yeah, I remember when he had George Bush Senior as one of his speakers sharing his quote-unquote testimony. Whatever you think of the politics, you're listening to the testimony and you're thinking, that doesn't sound like a Christian. You know, you're getting the most popular speaker you can to get people in, but is that really who we, is that our ideal for a Christian? Yeah, a lot of his speakers, a lot of famous football players that ended up in all kinds of scandalous things that Johnny Cash became. So the need for fame, obviously, you're looking for anyone to draw, because what do Americans like? Americans like stars. So we've sort of already started where we're going next week. We are done with American church history. I hope it's been an eye-opening time for you the past four months. And so now we'll look back next week, and going forward, what have we learned? So let's pray.
American Church History 19
సిరీస్ American Church History
Billy Graham and the New Evangelicalism
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