Certain unnamed multi-millionaire "preachers" with their television channels could learn a thing or two from Rev. Billy Graham........
Here's the home of one such "preacher":
Posted on 03/05/2018 6:41:26 PM PST by metmom
Evangelist Billy Graham lived 99 years, wrote 30 books, met with 12 sitting American presidents and preached the gospel to millions. But when he is buried this Friday, March 2, in his hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina, he will be remembered not only as a world-changing hero of faith but as a humble preacher whose personal integrity set the gold standard for every minister in this country.
Why was this man so respected? How was he able to keep his ministry free from scandal for more than 75 years?
In 1948, when Graham was just 30 years old, he and his small ministry team met for Bible study and prayer at a tiny motel in Modesto, California. The other men in that meeting including assistant evangelist Grady Wilson, singer George Beverly Shea and song leader Cliff Barrows. Graham challenged them to pray about what codes of behavior they needed to adopt in order to keep the ministry clean.
The results of that meeting were profoundly prophetic. The men outlined what would become "the Modesto Manifesto"—a list of core ministry values that became the guiding principles of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. The BGEA was founded two years later, in 1950, just one year after media coverage of Graham's eight-week gospel campaign in Los Angeles made him a household word.
Here are the four key components of the Modesto Manifesto, along with notes that Cliff Barrows jotted down in their meeting:
Honesty: "It was resolved that all communications to media and to the church would not be inflated or exaggerated. The size of crowds and the number of inquirers would not be embellished for the sake of making BGEA look better."
Integrity: "It was resolved that financial matters would be submitted to a board of directors for review and facilitation of expenditures. Every local crusade would maintain a policy of 'open books' and publish a record of where and how monies were spent."
Purity: "It was resolved that members of the team would pay close attention to avoiding temptation—never being alone with another woman, remaining accountable to one another, etc. A practice of keeping wives informed of their activities on the road and helping them feel a part of any and all crusades they undertook would be encouraged."
Humility: "It was resolved that members of the team were never to speak badly of another Christian minister, regardless of his denominational affiliation or differing theological views and practices. The mission of evangelism includes strengthening the body of Christ as well as building it!"
Graham has always been a spiritual hero to me for this reason. Early in his ministry—in fact, before he ever became famous—he realized that his ministry was a stewardship from God and that he could not run it any way he wanted. He had to manage it according to clear biblical principles.
Graham never forgot his humble roots, and he never let popularity change him into an egotistical monster. Even though he was invited to dine with presidents, queens and celebrities, his passion was taking the message of Christ to the common person. And when an usher tried to segregate black and white sections of an auditorium in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1953, Graham removed the barriers himself. Related Articles
"I am not a great preacher, and I don't claim to be a great preacher," he once said. "I've heard great preaching many times and wished I was one of these great preachers. I'm an ordinary preacher, just communicating the gospel in the best way I know how."
He also carried with him a healthy fear that he might try to touch God's glory or take credit for evangelistic results.
Graham said: "So many people think that somehow I carry a revival around in a suitcase, and they just announce me and something happens—but that's not true. This is the work of God, and the Bible warns that God will not share His glory with another. All the publicity that we receive sometimes frightens me because I feel that therein lies a great danger. If God should take His hand off me, I would have no more spiritual power. The whole secret of the success of our meetings is spiritual—it's God answering prayer. I cannot take credit for any of it."
So much of what we call ministry today has been compromised by ego, marketing and man-made agendas. Some of our own "Spirit-filled" preachers are happy to sell a healing or a financial miracle for $29.95. Others claim spiritual superiority because they have the largest following on social media or because so many lined up to attend their packed conferences.
We have exchanged honesty, integrity, purity and humility for hype, fake anointing, manipulated photos, inflated attendance reports, sensuality and boastful swagger. God forgive us.
Billy Graham raised the bar for all ministers. I pray we will never forget his legacy.
Look, I’m not trying to personally upset you. But I think it’s a valid discussion to have, to delve into his belief in infant baptism.
Believing in infant baptism is at odds with some of his other sermons.
It’s not wrong or bad to discuss that, is it?
Just so you know, yes, I’ve heard Billy Graham preach many many times, on TV and in person.
Growing up, if Billy was on TV, you can bet our entire family was watching.
Not that we would bet, being Baptist and all...
I knew a guy that thought you should baptize infants the minute they came out of the womb to make sure they were "saved". To me, that was an awful view, what you have called heresy.
Arguing over minutia is not always helpful, particularly when we can't ask Reverend Graham to explain his position.
It is true, the man finished his course, and finished well compared to most. That's always impressive to me. He kept the Faith.
IOW, your average woman.
:-)
I can agree with that.
Thank you for a thoughtful post.
Then start a thread on something he said almost almost 60 years ago if you want to discuss it.
In the meantime, I will continue to respect him for the integrity he's showed, and that his ministry existed for so long without any accusations of impropriety.
Certain unnamed multi-millionaire "preachers" with their television channels could learn a thing or two from Rev. Billy Graham........
Here's the home of one such "preacher":
Billy Graham Evangelistic Association Statement of Faith
I didn't find anything "official" about infant baptism. If you have something controversial to share other than a personal thought he had 57 years ago, please share it.
Good article, thanks for posting.
In to days world the left are as evil as they could be... They're certainly are not above using deception and trickery to smear an honest man... Or shoot him in the back on the street....
What does Scripture say about those preaching another Gospel?
So much in fighting among so called "Christians" reinforces my disbelief in RELIGION. So many sects, so many controversial figures and all claim to be preaching the word of God.
While I do believe in a God, I believe that "religion" came into existence in order to try to explain the unexplainable.......
Why the existence of other religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam? What makes their beliefs so inferior to that of Christianity other than the fact their number of believers are less? Each one of them believes in a "savior" or "God" that allegedly appeared to them. So what makes them wrong and your religion right other than a book written by men? A similar book written by the founders of their religions?
And why didn't Christ appear to them in order to spread his word of God?
Thanks for sharing.
It would be good for every president to do this. Some would and others wouldn’t
Please don’t give up on ‘religion’. I know that the constant wrangling among the sects can be very off-putting - the people don’t seem to realize how ridiculous and pompous (not to mention unChristian!) their online arguing about God, and their various insistences upon the *Only True Way* actually seem, to non-sectarians.
But the religious impulse - the God-given, inherent desire to understand our position within Creation and to honor the power which makes the material universe possible - is the greatest gift that God gave us.
Some people read the Bible literally.
However, many of us don’t take it literally, but see it as a symbolic work; a panoramic representation and expression of the soul’s journey and purpose in the material realm, and of our relationship to our Creator.
The central ‘story’ and symbology of the New Testament was not new at the time of Jesus. It was a story that had existed long before, through many iterations, and comes back to us repeatedly in new guise and dispensation suited to the various times in which it appears anew. And in every iteration, it has represented the highest wisdom and knowledge that man had obtained to that point, as to his true position within Creation.
I realize that many may not agree with this; and I don’t mean to offend them or to disparage their way of believing; nor do I mean to suggest that other ways of seeing these things are not “true’, inspiring, and important to the world and its history. They have actually been ‘earth-shaking’, and I respect them because of that.
Without Judaism and Christianity, what great and salutary changes and improvements in human history - which we enjoy today - would never have been accomplished? The symbols filter down through the individual consciousness, and make for enlightenment and change, however the sincere individual might ‘read’ them.
The whole thing can be seen and understood on many levels; and those various levels can be equally valid.
Don’t turn away from religion just because of your observation of petty arguments about it. Search within, and find a way to approach the God that you believe in -
a way which makes inner sense to you.
Christianity's message is unique among religions.
An atheist friend of ours commented that Christianity was the only *religion* that talked about forgiveness.
Many people believe that religions are fundamentally the same and superficially different, but a Christian apologist named Ravi Zacharias, who is Indian and was born and raised in Hinduism until he found Christ, states that the reverse is actually true. That the major religions are superficially the same and fundamentally different.
Many people also have a bad taste in their mouths about God because of religion. They had a bad experience with religion and project that onto God and in rightly rejecting the religion, inadvertently also end up rejecting God.
You are correct that there are many different people who claim to be preaching the word of God who are at odds with each other. But if that's the case, then they are not preaching the word of God but their brand of Christianity. Unfortunately, that cannot be prevented nor helped.
That's why it's critical to compare what they are preaching to the Bible.
Anyway, Billy Graham managed to quite successfully avoid falling into the denominationalism trap and really did preach the gospel, that of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ.
As far as one religion being superior to others, no religion can make you right with God so in that respect, no one is better than any other. Joining a church or practicing a belief system cannot make one right with God. So someone can be a *Christian* in lifestyle and works and still not know God or be saved and while being a good Christian makes life better for everyone here on earth, good works don't cut it in light of eternity.
Just a thought - one which may not make sense to you, if you don’t believe in the premise - But:
There is a lot of literature out there about ‘near-death experince’ - NDE.
I’ve read a lot of books about this, and the thing that has struck me most powerfully is that the people who experience this mainly come back with one message:
They seem to tell us that loving other people, being kind toward other people, is the most important thing. They tell us that a lot of the things that we think really matter, really don’t; but that it’s love, kindness, concern for our fellow man that really matter.
Have you read any of this stuff, and has it informed your thinking at all?
Winchester House had better watch out!!
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