Posted on 02/27/2018 5:32:25 AM PST by Kaslin
I was profoundly disappointed to learn that National Review had published George Will’s ugly attack on evangelist Billy Graham just days after America’s pastor died.
“Billy Graham: Neither Prophet nor Theologian,” the conservative publication’s headline declared.
I would expect to read such anti-Christian mockery in the pages of The New York Times and Washington Post, but not National Review. My, how times have changed.
“Prophets take adversarial stances toward their times, as did the 20th century’s two greatest religious leaders, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Pope John Paul II. Graham did not. Partly for that reason, his country showered him with honors,” the self-described atheist wrote.
Will went on to describe Graham as an “entrepreneurial evangelical who consciously emulated masters of secular communication.”
He also derided those who walked the aisle to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord at Graham’s crusade meetings.
“His audiences were exhorted to make a ‘decision’ for Christ, but a moment of volition might be (in theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s phrase) an exercise in ‘cheap grace.’ Graham’s preaching, to large rallies and broadcast audiences, gave comfort to many people and probably improved some,” Will wrote.
Robert Jeffress, the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Dallas and a spiritual advisor to President Trump, delivered a blunt rebuke of the so-called conservative writer.
“George Will’s article reveals that he is neither a conservative nor a Christian,” Jeffress told the Todd Starnes Radio Show.
Some of the nation’s leading Christian leaders were also quick to condemn Will’s ugly screed.
“George Will’s snide and spiritually clueless criticisms of the incomparable Billy Graham reveal far more about Will’s ignorance and hostility to the spiritual than he perhaps intended,” Southern Evangelical Seminary President Richard Land said.
“When I read Will’s column the image that came to mind was of an ignorant Pekingese yapping at the heels of a spiritual Great Dane,” the noted seminary president remarked.
Of Graham’s theology, Will referenced an off-hand question he answered regarding his belief in miracles.
“Billy Graham answered: Yes, Jesus performed some and there are ‘many miracles around us today, including television and airplanes.’ Graham was no theologian,” Will wrote.
Emir Caner, the president of Truett McConnell University in Georgia, disputed Will’s assertion.
“Graham was a solid theologian, standing for the inerrancy of Scripture, the exclusivity of salvation in Jesus Christ and the fundamentals of the faith,” Caner told me.
Will also brought up an infamous Oval Office conversation the evangelist had with President Richard Nixon regarding Jews in the media.
“One can reasonably acquit Graham of anti-Semitism only by convicting him of toadying,” Will wrote.
Caner called that Will’s greatest misstep in the hit piece – feeding the liberal media’s narrative that Graham was an anti-Semite.
“Will never mentions Graham’s apology years later and the Jewish community’s acceptance of the apology. Will never mentioned how Graham visited the newly formed state of Israel in 1960 when such a visit was unpopular in many Evangelical circles. Will never mentioned that it was Graham who personally brought the plight of Soviet Jews to the attention of President Nixon,” Caner said.
In spite of the shameful smear, I doubt Billy Graham would’ve been all that bothered.
I reckon he would’ve smiled at George Will and reminded him that we are all sinners and that God loves him and wants to have a relationship with him.
Do you suggest polyester slacks?
Jimmy Graham would never want the title "prophet" and he was a Theologian who spoke the plain and simple Word of God and focused on the gift of Jesus Christ - pray for George - Jimmy is.....
i meant to say lonelier “without” him. I feel the loss. His sermons brought tears to my eyes and were so profound about who Jesus was.
I often said, If I could only have one sermon to show someone who Jesus was....one message from a preacher......it would be this one. I can’t watch it enough....it is riveting, compelling, no words to describe how great it is. He seems to cover everything.....even race:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U89zkUZPd5w
Will long ago revealed himself to be a secular progressive putz.
I hate it when has beens have to say something dumb and controversial in an attempt to get back into the game. I thought Will had died.
shame on National Review for publishing this....glad I quit subscribing a few years ago.
I used to appreciate Will. I suppose he is generally more right than wrong, but I don’t think I will go out of my way to read him again.
George Will just plays a conservative on TV, he has never really been one.
In the court of public opinion, Mr Will certainly has his fair share of people sharing his opinion. But if Mr Graham and Mr Will were standing together before God, his arguments would have no merit.
Not a blue denim fan after age 40. Jeans or jackets.
+1
Do you suggest polyester slacks?
The writer who suggested "black;" make that "black, skinny" jeans is on target.
One of my granddaughters had me try on a pair and they look great!
Not that there's anything wrong with keeping the checks flowing in.
To my knowledge, Billy Graham never claimed to be a theologian or a prophet. He simply preached “Christ crucified”, a freely offered act of grace and love for all. Atheists are practiced at intellectual contortions, which makes George well-suited for his disgraced vocation. No matter how misshapen your logic is, that does not change the fact that Billy Graham was a good man committed to doing the work of his Lord and Savior.
Will, here, epitomizes the same arrogant stupidity, which has virtually destroyed the vakue of National Review in recent decades.
Superficial hogwash!
On King, see Plastique In The Foundation.
AGAINST TRUMP
Was the National Review’s celebration of anti-Trump pseudo intellectuals like George Will and Glenn Beck, among others.
When Will enters hell, perhaps he’ll give Satan an autographed copy.
I read that article, too, and immediately placed Will on my list of commentators whose opinion is not worth a bleep.
Too bad. I once thought rather highly of him.
Rev. Robert Jeffress of the First Baptist Church of Dallas is exactly correct when he stated that George Will is neither a Conservative nor a Christian.
That fact is self-evident.
George Will needs to stick to things he knows something about, like baseball trivia.
George, didn’t your mother teach you to not speak ill of the dead?
5.56mm
George Will is NOT a conservative. He supported Hillary. If that is conservative, the term has no meaning.
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