It's one year this week since I've had the privilege and responsibility of teaching the Men's Sunday School class. It's hard work, but I love it!! And it makes me SO much more appreciative of the amazing things God did through Billy Graham in his lifetime, especially as it would have been Billy's 100th birthday TODAY!!
In January. "Decision" magazine (above) started celebrating Billy's 100th year and then he died in FEBRUARY. I'm sure that the Special Edition in the picture was already in the works when the Lord took him, but still it is VERY well-organized, comprehensive and it gives GOD the glory for Billy and what "he" accomplished. Kudos to those who put it together!!
Of course, I already knew about the dozens of countries Billy Graham has preached in...and to a guy who has only been privileged to preach in three STATES. over 40-plus years, well, that was mind-blowing!! But I never realized how many BOOKS Dr. Graham authored....each of which were decidedly clear and SCRIPTURAL. Here's a page from the magazine, listing his books...
There are those brethren who disagree with Billy's "altar calls" at his live Crusades, and won't even OPEN a mag called "Decision" because of this. And, I wasn't a fan of those EITHER...but how can anyone find fault with the solid BOOKS Dr. Graham wrote over the years?? There were no "altar calls" in THOSE (books), and, for that matter, the millions who saw his preaching on TV, or who heard it on the radio, could not walk down an aisle EITHER. Which brings me to ANOTHER thing I admire about Billy....the way he used the MEDIA, and technology, to spread the Gospel. Here's another page from the Special Edition...
Yes, Billy was frequently on secular magazine covers, or an interviewed guest on secular TV shows, and always managed to talk about Christ, and the Gospel, Heaven and Hell, in a non-offensive way. He used the MEDIA to get out CHRIST'S message!! He was TRULY a "fisher of men"...a fisherman doesn't wait for the fish to swim ashore to where HE is....he casts the bait, or the net, into where THEY are, to try to catch them. I know more about CRABBING than fishing, but I know that a fisherman goes either IN or ON the water....he doesn't stay on dry land and PRAY for the fish to come to HIM. This, I believe, is what Billy was doing...going where the fish are. Now, (back to those secular magazine covers pictured above), some may say that Christians must be compromised somehow if the world esteems them highly, and that is certainly possible....but let us never forget the verse which says "when a man's ways are pleasing to the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him." Sometimes (as in Billy's case) the world admires men who AREN'T compromised.
As I've written in the past, I admire how Billy kept himself from the POSSIBILITY of sexual scandals by avoiding temptations or even the APPEARANCE of evil, despite all of the traveling he did. He kept himself accountable to others, out of potentially compromising situations with women, and there was never a hint of FINANCIAL scandal that I'm aware of regarding him, EITHER. I could go on and on and on. Was Billy Graham perfect?? Of course not...like the time he excused President Clinton's adulteries by saying he can't help himself, women throw themselves at him, or something like that. His interactions with Presidents may have made him TOO "diplomatic" at times, but unless we've been where he's been, who are WE to judge another man's servant?? Again...as is often truly said...no one is perfect.
By the way, Billy Graham, like me, LOVED BASEBALL. He once met Babe Ruth and was inspired, early in life, by baseball player-turned-preacher Billy SUNDAY.
Dr. Graham's final book was published 3 years ago and it talked about how he knew he was going to Heaven soon because of Christ ALONE, not because of all the good works he did. All I can say, looking over how little *I* have done for God's Kingdom compared to Billy Graham, is that I am thankful that salvation IS by Grace Alone and not because of our works!! If it was by WORKS then most of us wouldn't even be ABLE to enter Heaven because our accomplishments for Christ are so ANEMIC compared to this man's...he might CROWD US OUT (only kidding, of course.) I was privileged to see Billy preach live three times, including his LAST Crusade, and I got to see and hear FRANKLIN Graham live, as WELL. Scripture says "remember those who spoke the Word of God to you" and Billy Graham's messages were the first I ever heard, well before I was saved, as he sowed the seed of Scripture on TV and in his book "Peace With God.".
Billy IS now receiving an eternal reward for his labors and THAT is all of grace, ALSO. May the Lord ALONE be praised for giving us Billy Graham, 100 years ago today!! He was a sinner saved by grace but also an EXAMPLE and MOTIVATION to Christian men in SO many ways, as we see what God did with, and through, this man.
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