Posted on 09/09/2009 10:02:01 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
Who couldn't like Jimmy Stewart? He gave one memorable screen performance after another.
High on the list of most people's favorite Christmas movies is his classic, "It's a Wonderful Life."
In that role, Stewart got to do what many of us secretly wish we could do - see what the world would have been like had we never been born.
Stewart's character, George Bailey, learns that a lot of surviving servicemen would be dead because his brother - the war hero he envied - wouldn't have been there to save them. He would have died in a childhood accident because there was no George to save him.
The respected town pharmacist would be a skid-row bum, pilfering drinks from strangers, because George wasn't there to keep him from wrongly filling a prescription that caused a child's death.
The wife George loved so dearly would have lived a barren life because she never would have married.
Finally, George prays to get out of this oddball world and back to the life he so frivolously renounced.
I once heard a sermon on the harm of regretting the way things were or what might have been. Today, I can only recall one thing the preacher said: "We don't worship a God of 'What if?' We worship a God of 'What is!' "
Today, the one-year anniversary of the South Texas Billy Graham Crusade, that sermon snippet has taken on added meaning.
A year ago, thousands of lives were changed during the four-day crusade at the Alamodome.
Thousands more Christians - Catholics and Calvinists, Methodists and Mormons, Pentecostalists and Presbyterians - joined hands in unity to prepare for that crusade with long hours of work, worship and prayer.
Competing Christian radio stations joined forces for special broadcasts before and after each crusade.
The groundwork was laid for an ongoing ecumenical crusade that would change San Antonio for years to come.
But that second wave of continuing spiritual change and growth never materialized.
Sure, individuals were glowing in the spirit for weeks. Many church pews were filled with new members and a keener desire to serve God.
Yet the impetus to unity the crusade generated somehow dissipated.
Why that happened, I don't know.
Maybe church leaders, weighed by the burdens of their congregations, were drawn back to business as usual.
No citywide leaders emerged to guide the willing flock. The pull of denominationalism proved to be a strong centrifugal force.
The approaching end of school and summer vacations drew people's attention elsewhere.
Perhaps San Antonians needed a specific event to focus their energies.
Or maybe, no effort of such magnitude could be long sustained.
In any case, the post-crusade performance has yet to meet its promise.
But the doors to ecumenical cooperation are mostly still open.
If the Christian community here really wanted to, it could build on the spirit of unity and cooperation of that four-day event a year ago and create a lasting crusade that would enrich this city and its inhabitants for decades.
If Christians here really wanted to, they could turn this past year's "What if?" into a powerful "What is!"
In the Bible, bigger miracles began with much less.
Nov. 7, 1918: William Franklin Graham Jr. born on his family's dairy farm near Charlotte, N.C., the first child of Frank and Morrow Coffey Graham.
Fall 1934: Graham dedicates his life to Jesus Christ during a revival preaching session by Brother Mordecai Ham. Tells parents, "I'm a changed boy."
1936: Began classes at Bob Jones College in Cleveland, Tenn.
1937: Transferred to Florida Bible College.
March 1938: After struggle with a call to a preaching ministry, Graham accepted the call while on a golf course near Florida Bible College.
1938: While student at FBC, Graham begins preaching on the street, in country churches and on the school's radio program. Switches from Presbyterian to Southern Baptist affiliation.
1940: Ordained minister, Southern Baptist Convention.
1940-43: Attends Wheaton College.
1943: Graduates from Wheaton College.
Aug. 13, 1943: Graham marries McCue Ruth Bell, daughter of a Presbyterian missionary, whom he met at Wheaton (Ill.) College.
1945: Graham joins Youth for Christ International as a "field representative"(traveling evangelist), visiting 47 states that first year. Daughter Virginia born.
1945-50: Charter Vice President, Youth for Christ International
1947-52: President, Northwestern Schools, consisting of a liberal arts college, Bible school and theological seminary.
1948: Daughter Anne Morrow born.
September-November 1949: Graham is invited to preach to large crowds at a tent revival in Los Angeles. Press baron William Randolph Hearst orders his newspapers to "puff Graham," launching his national reputation as an evangelist.
From a related article at the same source:
The life and ministry of Billy Graham [timeline]
Curious posting, Alex. Not sure if “Methodists and Mormons” means that we don’t need to be concerned about what it is we say about Jesus as long as something is said, but I thought you were more discriminating than this.
Graham, with his Democrat leanings and Arminian slant, misrepresented the Gospel from day one. In truth, the busses won’t wait, and the “prompters” in the crowd induced no one to be rescued. He left this country with a mishmashed message of “come forward and you will have a happy life.” While he was a sort of nice guy, he should have sat down and studied the Book he claimed to represent.
I’ve never met Billy graham, never heard him preach in person...
But I got saved through his ministry at age 8...
Teams were sent form his monistry from church to church and a lady preached the Gospel to me and my friends off in a room by ourselves...
I dont know what that dear Christian lady looked like but she was beutiful to me...
for a long time afterwards I received lessons etc from them through the mail...
Followup ??? Well they used to back in the 1950s...
I lost ALL respect for him when he said Hitlery would be a good president. That said it all. Plus, I’m still waiting for a solid, easily understandable condemning of abortion and homosexual behavior from this gentleman.
But back to his comments on Hitlery. That said it all. If I see him on TV, I turn the channel.
You have to remember, many of the people who come forward at a Graham Rally are actually counselors or friends coming with friends. Some people come forward hoping for a fix to their problems rather than responding to the need for a Savior e.g. The “Cry for Help” converts
This Graham says Christians don't need to take every word of the Bible literally, and that equally sincere believers can find very different meanings in the Scriptures. "I'm not a literalist in the sense that every single jot and tittle is from the Lord," he says. "This is a little difference in my thinking through the years." He still loves the Bible and recites favorite passages to himself, but doesn't read it as if it's a scientific textbook for understanding the earth's origins or a blueprint for predicting Armageddon.Instead of embracing biblical inerrancy, he prefers to ponder the mysteries inherent in our limited knowledge of God. He thinks there are a lot more truths we humans don't understand than truths we do.
-- from the thread Billy Graham far from evangelical firebrand rhetoric
If he had his life to live over again, Graham says he would spend more time immersed in Scripture and theology. He never went to seminary, and his lack of a graduate education is something that still gives him a twinge. "The greatest regret that I have is that I didn't study more and read more," he says. "I regret it, because now I feel at times I am empty of what I would like to have been. I have friends that have memorized great portions of the Bible. They can quote [so much], and that would mean a lot to me now."
-- from the Newsweek 8/14/06 cover story "Pilgrim's Progress on Billy Graham [also an FR thread, now pulled].
A picture of just how thin this guy really is when it comes to understanding the Gospel of the Bible. He waffles on innerancy and universalism. No wonder he like the Clintons.
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