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Billy Graham, famed Christian evangelist, dies aged 99
Re: Billy Graham, famed Christian evangelist, dies aged 99
Admin Thu 22 Mar 2018, 12:13 pm
https://www.crosswalk.com/blogs/russellmoore/where-is-the-next-billy-graham.html?
Where is the Next Billy Graham?
Russell Moore's Blog
2018
Feb 27
As a child, I remember being in church and seeing a man sitting in front of me, with his arm resting on the pew. The arm was covered with a large tattoo of a woman who was, well, let’s just say she didn’t fit what we would consider biblical standards of modesty in her attire. This was not in a “relevant” urban church, mind you, but in the most stereotypically “hellfire and brimstone,” King James Version-quoting, gospel hymn-singing southern revivalist church you could imagine. I couldn’t believe I was seeing this, in my church. I was simultaneously thrilled (when else does one get to see naked women in church?) and outraged (how dare anyone do that in my church?). So I nudged my grandmother and pointed, as if to say, “Can you believe this?”
My grandmother leaned down and whispered. I expected her to share my outrage (though not my secret titillation). She was, after all, a pastor’s widow with strict moral standards who had once washed my mouth out with soap because I had said “Gosh,” which was, of course, to her just a rebranded way to take the Lord’s name in vain. But that side of her didn’t show up in that moment. She whispered, “Yes, honey, He doesn’t know the Lord yet, and he’s had a hard life, with drink and drugs and all. But his wife had been trying to get him to come to church for a long time, and we’ve all been praying for him. He’s not trying to be ugly to anybody. He just doesn’t know Jesus yet.”
I’ll never forget that word “yet.” With that one word she turned my imagination on its head. She put before me the possibility that this hardened ex-military man with the naked woman tattoo might one day be my brother-in-Christ. And, in time, he was. I suppose as time went on this new Christian started to see that his tattoo was potentially a stumbling block to others, because I started to see it less and less as he started to wear long sleeves to church. Some of the other kids in the church said that (since tattoo removal technology wasn’t much of a thing then) that he had added a bikini to her, and then later a one-piece bathing suit. For all I know, he may have died with her in a plaid pantsuit and a briefcase. I guess this man started to see that tattoo as emblematic of an old life he’d left behind. He didn’t need a tattooed pastor (and in that church, he never had one). But he did need a church that didn’t see his tattoo as evidence of a life gone too far, of someone too rowdy to be loved with the call to repentance and faith.
I don’t like tattoos, and I can’t emphasize this enough (especially if you’re one of my children, one day, reading this). But if the Spirit starts moving with velocity in this country, our churches will see more people in our pews and in our pulpits with tattoos, and that ought to change our public witness. Now, what I do not mean by this is that we need more Christians to tattoo crosses or the Apostles Creed or the sinner’s prayer across their arms and necks. That’s not a sign of gospel awakening. It’s just, at best personal fashion, and, at worst, more marketing in an already over-marketed American Christian subculture.
Tattoos don’t mean what they used to. They don’t signify necessarily, by a long shot, the kind of “tough” image they used to. But sometimes they do. There are people around us with markings of blood-drenched skulls, or of profane sexual boasts or of threats to violence. Some demonstrate fearsomeness. Some are pagan, or even occult. As I see them in the streets around me I am chastened by how rarely my first thoughts are rooted in my grandmother’s wisdom. Again, not everyone with tattoos is an unbeliever or has lived a hard life. But I wonder how many people don’t listen to our gospel message because they assume they don’t “look” like the kind of people who would be Christians—namely shiny, happy Republicans. And, shamefully, how many times to we filter out our gospel preaching and our social witness to people who would , upon baptism, be able to pose nicely for our ministry advertisements? How often do we assume the good news of Christ is a message just like a political campaign or a commercial brand, targeted toward a demographic of a certain kind of buyer?
That was precisely Jesus’ point in his story of the two sons. He turned to the religious establishment and said, shockingly, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes will go into the kingdom of God before you” (Matt. 21:31). That was Jesus’ point from his sermon in his hometown synagogue in Nazareth, throughout his public ministry, and right to his dying moments, pardoning a repentant terrorist. Jesus was building his church with those who seemed to have wrecked their lives forever: prostitutes, Roman collaborators, outcasts with infectious diseases, demon-possessed grave-dwellers, and on and on. If we’re really carrying forward his message, this means there are going to be people listening whose very bodies may carry messages contradictory of the Word of God. So did our hearts and psyches. The young woman with the “Legal Abortion Without Apology” tattoo or the old man with the Hell’s Angel marking, they may wonder, as they feel the pull of the gospel, “How can I enter with this visible reminder on me of my past?” That’s not a new question. That’s the question we all had to ask, regardless of how “respectable” we looked when we came to Christ: “Deep is the stain that we cannot hide? What can avail to wash it away?”
Jesus will build his church, with us or without us. But if we are going to be faithful to him, we must share his mission. This means we don’t just talk about lost people; we talk to them. And we don’t talk to them as enlightened life-coaches promising an improved future, but as crucified sinners offering a new birth. The hope for the future is not that Christianity will be seen as more respectable or more influential in the sectors of American power. The hope for the future is churches filled with people who never thought they fit the image of “Christian.” We’ll see that the markings on the flesh, whatever they are, count for nothing, but that what counts is a new creation (Gal. 6:15). We’ve come not to call just those who look like whatever Christians are supposed to look like, but the whole world. If the church is powered by the gospel, then the Body of Christ has tattoos.
That reality ought to crucify our dour, gloomy, curmudgeonly pessimism. Our fretfulness is evidence of defeatism, a sign of wavering belief in the promises of Jesus himself. That’s what the elderly theologian taught me, as I stood there and wrung my hands over the pragmatism, the hucksterism, the liberalizing tendencies I saw in the Christianity around me, and wondered, “Does gospel Christianity have a future in this this country at all?” He looked at me as though I were crazy. Of course gospel Christianity had, and has, a future. But the gospel Christians who will lead it may well still be pagans. He was right. Christianity is not like politics, rife with the dynasties of ruling families. God builds his church a different way.
The next Billy Graham might be drunk right now. The next Jonathan Edwards might be the man driving in front of you with the Darwin Fish bumper decal. The next Charles Wesley might currently be a misogynistic, profanity-spewing hip-hop artist. The next Charles Spurgeon might be managing an abortion clinic today. The next Mother Teresa might be a heroin-addicted porn star this week. The next Augustine of Hippo might be a sexually promiscuous cult member right now, just like, come to think of it, the first Augustine of Hippo was.
But the Spirit of God can turn all that around. And seems to delight to do so. The new birth doesn’t just transform lives, creating repentance and faith; it also provides new leadership to the church, and fulfills Jesus’ promise to gift his church with everything needed for her onward march through space and time (Eph. 4:8-16). After all, while Phillip was leading the Ethiopian eunuch to Christ, Saul of Tarsus was still a murderer. And that happens over and over again, as God raises up leaders who seem to come out of nowhere, with shady pasts and uncertain futures. And none of us would be here, apart from them.
This article is adapted from my book Onward: Engaging the Culture Without Losing the Gospel, a version of this post originally ran in October of 2015.
Photo courtesy: BillyGraham.org
Where is the Next Billy Graham?
Russell Moore's Blog
2018
Feb 27
As a child, I remember being in church and seeing a man sitting in front of me, with his arm resting on the pew. The arm was covered with a large tattoo of a woman who was, well, let’s just say she didn’t fit what we would consider biblical standards of modesty in her attire. This was not in a “relevant” urban church, mind you, but in the most stereotypically “hellfire and brimstone,” King James Version-quoting, gospel hymn-singing southern revivalist church you could imagine. I couldn’t believe I was seeing this, in my church. I was simultaneously thrilled (when else does one get to see naked women in church?) and outraged (how dare anyone do that in my church?). So I nudged my grandmother and pointed, as if to say, “Can you believe this?”
My grandmother leaned down and whispered. I expected her to share my outrage (though not my secret titillation). She was, after all, a pastor’s widow with strict moral standards who had once washed my mouth out with soap because I had said “Gosh,” which was, of course, to her just a rebranded way to take the Lord’s name in vain. But that side of her didn’t show up in that moment. She whispered, “Yes, honey, He doesn’t know the Lord yet, and he’s had a hard life, with drink and drugs and all. But his wife had been trying to get him to come to church for a long time, and we’ve all been praying for him. He’s not trying to be ugly to anybody. He just doesn’t know Jesus yet.”
I’ll never forget that word “yet.” With that one word she turned my imagination on its head. She put before me the possibility that this hardened ex-military man with the naked woman tattoo might one day be my brother-in-Christ. And, in time, he was. I suppose as time went on this new Christian started to see that his tattoo was potentially a stumbling block to others, because I started to see it less and less as he started to wear long sleeves to church. Some of the other kids in the church said that (since tattoo removal technology wasn’t much of a thing then) that he had added a bikini to her, and then later a one-piece bathing suit. For all I know, he may have died with her in a plaid pantsuit and a briefcase. I guess this man started to see that tattoo as emblematic of an old life he’d left behind. He didn’t need a tattooed pastor (and in that church, he never had one). But he did need a church that didn’t see his tattoo as evidence of a life gone too far, of someone too rowdy to be loved with the call to repentance and faith.
I don’t like tattoos, and I can’t emphasize this enough (especially if you’re one of my children, one day, reading this). But if the Spirit starts moving with velocity in this country, our churches will see more people in our pews and in our pulpits with tattoos, and that ought to change our public witness. Now, what I do not mean by this is that we need more Christians to tattoo crosses or the Apostles Creed or the sinner’s prayer across their arms and necks. That’s not a sign of gospel awakening. It’s just, at best personal fashion, and, at worst, more marketing in an already over-marketed American Christian subculture.
Tattoos don’t mean what they used to. They don’t signify necessarily, by a long shot, the kind of “tough” image they used to. But sometimes they do. There are people around us with markings of blood-drenched skulls, or of profane sexual boasts or of threats to violence. Some demonstrate fearsomeness. Some are pagan, or even occult. As I see them in the streets around me I am chastened by how rarely my first thoughts are rooted in my grandmother’s wisdom. Again, not everyone with tattoos is an unbeliever or has lived a hard life. But I wonder how many people don’t listen to our gospel message because they assume they don’t “look” like the kind of people who would be Christians—namely shiny, happy Republicans. And, shamefully, how many times to we filter out our gospel preaching and our social witness to people who would , upon baptism, be able to pose nicely for our ministry advertisements? How often do we assume the good news of Christ is a message just like a political campaign or a commercial brand, targeted toward a demographic of a certain kind of buyer?
That was precisely Jesus’ point in his story of the two sons. He turned to the religious establishment and said, shockingly, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes will go into the kingdom of God before you” (Matt. 21:31). That was Jesus’ point from his sermon in his hometown synagogue in Nazareth, throughout his public ministry, and right to his dying moments, pardoning a repentant terrorist. Jesus was building his church with those who seemed to have wrecked their lives forever: prostitutes, Roman collaborators, outcasts with infectious diseases, demon-possessed grave-dwellers, and on and on. If we’re really carrying forward his message, this means there are going to be people listening whose very bodies may carry messages contradictory of the Word of God. So did our hearts and psyches. The young woman with the “Legal Abortion Without Apology” tattoo or the old man with the Hell’s Angel marking, they may wonder, as they feel the pull of the gospel, “How can I enter with this visible reminder on me of my past?” That’s not a new question. That’s the question we all had to ask, regardless of how “respectable” we looked when we came to Christ: “Deep is the stain that we cannot hide? What can avail to wash it away?”
Jesus will build his church, with us or without us. But if we are going to be faithful to him, we must share his mission. This means we don’t just talk about lost people; we talk to them. And we don’t talk to them as enlightened life-coaches promising an improved future, but as crucified sinners offering a new birth. The hope for the future is not that Christianity will be seen as more respectable or more influential in the sectors of American power. The hope for the future is churches filled with people who never thought they fit the image of “Christian.” We’ll see that the markings on the flesh, whatever they are, count for nothing, but that what counts is a new creation (Gal. 6:15). We’ve come not to call just those who look like whatever Christians are supposed to look like, but the whole world. If the church is powered by the gospel, then the Body of Christ has tattoos.
That reality ought to crucify our dour, gloomy, curmudgeonly pessimism. Our fretfulness is evidence of defeatism, a sign of wavering belief in the promises of Jesus himself. That’s what the elderly theologian taught me, as I stood there and wrung my hands over the pragmatism, the hucksterism, the liberalizing tendencies I saw in the Christianity around me, and wondered, “Does gospel Christianity have a future in this this country at all?” He looked at me as though I were crazy. Of course gospel Christianity had, and has, a future. But the gospel Christians who will lead it may well still be pagans. He was right. Christianity is not like politics, rife with the dynasties of ruling families. God builds his church a different way.
The next Billy Graham might be drunk right now. The next Jonathan Edwards might be the man driving in front of you with the Darwin Fish bumper decal. The next Charles Wesley might currently be a misogynistic, profanity-spewing hip-hop artist. The next Charles Spurgeon might be managing an abortion clinic today. The next Mother Teresa might be a heroin-addicted porn star this week. The next Augustine of Hippo might be a sexually promiscuous cult member right now, just like, come to think of it, the first Augustine of Hippo was.
But the Spirit of God can turn all that around. And seems to delight to do so. The new birth doesn’t just transform lives, creating repentance and faith; it also provides new leadership to the church, and fulfills Jesus’ promise to gift his church with everything needed for her onward march through space and time (Eph. 4:8-16). After all, while Phillip was leading the Ethiopian eunuch to Christ, Saul of Tarsus was still a murderer. And that happens over and over again, as God raises up leaders who seem to come out of nowhere, with shady pasts and uncertain futures. And none of us would be here, apart from them.
This article is adapted from my book Onward: Engaging the Culture Without Losing the Gospel, a version of this post originally ran in October of 2015.
Photo courtesy: BillyGraham.org
Admin- Admin
- Posts : 84134
Join date : 2008-10-25
Age : 79
Location : Wales UK -
Re: Billy Graham, famed Christian evangelist, dies aged 99
Admin Thu 08 Mar 2018, 4:54 pm
Barack Obama skipped Billy Graham’s memorials and funeral
https://www.conservativeinstitute.org/conservative-news/barack-obama-skips-funeral.htm?utm_source=boomtrain&utm_medium=NS1&utm_campaign=1520281867321&utm_source=boomtrain&utm_medium=NS1&utm_campaign=1520281867217
March 4, 2018
Barack Obama skipped Billy Graham’s memorials and funeral
GovernmentZA / CCL
Former President Barack Obama apparently couldn’t be bothered to spend his time paying respects to the former spiritual advisor to American presidents.
Not only did Obama fail to attend the funeral of the highly respected Christian preacher Billy Graham, who passed away in February at the age of 99, but the former president also refused to attend any memorial services dedicated to Graham.
Although a spokesperson for Obama notified the press that the Democratic president would be absent at the events, no specific reason was provided.
Snubbing an American icon
President Donald Trump attended a memorial for Graham when his body lay in honor at the U.S. Capitol. Trump even spoke at the event and attended Graham’s funeral on Friday afternoon.
In fact, while Obama refused to honor the 99-year old pastor with an appearance, former President George W. Bush and President Bill Clinton both traveled to North Carolina to render their respects at the Graham memorial.
What was Obama doing instead of honoring one of “the most influential Christian leaders” of the 20th century? The former president ventured into a southern Chicago neighborhood to assure community organizers there that his planned presidential library would not “gentrify” their neighborhood.
Apparently, speaking with local Chicagoans about the Obama Foundations plans to construct a massive, 235-foot-tall campus in the urban neighborhood across the street from the University of Chicago transcended Obama’s desire to pay respects to a deceased national icon.
“Humble servant,” not worth his time
Obama was tactful enough to make a public tribute to Graham via social media, writing a few obligatory statements in lieu of his appearance at the memorial.
He called the pastor a “humble servant” who provided “hope and guidance to generations of Americans.”
Barack Obama
@BarackObama
Billy Graham was a humble servant who prayed for so many - and who, with wisdom and grace, gave hope and guidance to generations of Americans.
4:33 PM - Feb 21, 2018
256K
43.2K people are talking about this
Twitter Ads info and privacy
While Obama took the time to say a few words about the evangelist preacher, he had much more to say about his meeting with Chicago’s black leadership. He tweeted:
Barack Obama
@BarackObama
I got my start holding community meetings in Chicago, so it was fun to be home for one tonight. Michelle and I want the world to come together on the South Side at a place built with local ideas, values, and hopes. That’s the @ObamaFoundation and Presidential Center. https://twitter.com/obamafoundation/status/968681134480674817 …
2:58 AM - Feb 28, 2018
233K
43K people are talking about this
Twitter Ads info and privacy
Getting even?
While this snub may seem arbitrary, it is important to note that Graham refused to provide “hope and guidance” to Obama during his presidency, perhaps explaining why the former commander-in-chief refused to appear at Graham’s funeral and memorial services.
The evangelist preacher personally advised every U.S. president since Dwight Eisenhower, yet he ended that tradition because of Obama’s profoundly pro-abortion stance.
Speaking on behalf of his father, Franklin Graham spoke with the Associated Press in 2008 about the pastor’s plans:
President-elect Obama heard our position [on abortion]. And I told him that this was very difficult for us and hard for us. It’s a moral issue that we just can’t back down on.
Obama was never strong on courtesy or showing reverence to America’s great traditions.
This was the same president, after all, who sent three aides to attend the funeral of strong-arm robbery suspect Michael Brown, the famous teen who was killed while grappling with a police officer, but failed to send anyone to honor more consequential Americans like famed U.S. sniper Chris Kyle, Medal of Honor recipient Nicholas Oresko, or journalist James Foley after he was killed by ISIS thugs.
It seems our expectations of the former president are simply too high. But at least he’s out of the White House — for good.
https://www.conservativeinstitute.org/conservative-news/barack-obama-skips-funeral.htm?utm_source=boomtrain&utm_medium=NS1&utm_campaign=1520281867321&utm_source=boomtrain&utm_medium=NS1&utm_campaign=1520281867217
March 4, 2018
Barack Obama skipped Billy Graham’s memorials and funeral
GovernmentZA / CCL
Former President Barack Obama apparently couldn’t be bothered to spend his time paying respects to the former spiritual advisor to American presidents.
Not only did Obama fail to attend the funeral of the highly respected Christian preacher Billy Graham, who passed away in February at the age of 99, but the former president also refused to attend any memorial services dedicated to Graham.
Although a spokesperson for Obama notified the press that the Democratic president would be absent at the events, no specific reason was provided.
Snubbing an American icon
President Donald Trump attended a memorial for Graham when his body lay in honor at the U.S. Capitol. Trump even spoke at the event and attended Graham’s funeral on Friday afternoon.
In fact, while Obama refused to honor the 99-year old pastor with an appearance, former President George W. Bush and President Bill Clinton both traveled to North Carolina to render their respects at the Graham memorial.
What was Obama doing instead of honoring one of “the most influential Christian leaders” of the 20th century? The former president ventured into a southern Chicago neighborhood to assure community organizers there that his planned presidential library would not “gentrify” their neighborhood.
Apparently, speaking with local Chicagoans about the Obama Foundations plans to construct a massive, 235-foot-tall campus in the urban neighborhood across the street from the University of Chicago transcended Obama’s desire to pay respects to a deceased national icon.
“Humble servant,” not worth his time
Obama was tactful enough to make a public tribute to Graham via social media, writing a few obligatory statements in lieu of his appearance at the memorial.
He called the pastor a “humble servant” who provided “hope and guidance to generations of Americans.”
Barack Obama
@BarackObama
Billy Graham was a humble servant who prayed for so many - and who, with wisdom and grace, gave hope and guidance to generations of Americans.
4:33 PM - Feb 21, 2018
256K
43.2K people are talking about this
Twitter Ads info and privacy
While Obama took the time to say a few words about the evangelist preacher, he had much more to say about his meeting with Chicago’s black leadership. He tweeted:
Barack Obama
@BarackObama
I got my start holding community meetings in Chicago, so it was fun to be home for one tonight. Michelle and I want the world to come together on the South Side at a place built with local ideas, values, and hopes. That’s the @ObamaFoundation and Presidential Center. https://twitter.com/obamafoundation/status/968681134480674817 …
2:58 AM - Feb 28, 2018
233K
43K people are talking about this
Twitter Ads info and privacy
Getting even?
While this snub may seem arbitrary, it is important to note that Graham refused to provide “hope and guidance” to Obama during his presidency, perhaps explaining why the former commander-in-chief refused to appear at Graham’s funeral and memorial services.
The evangelist preacher personally advised every U.S. president since Dwight Eisenhower, yet he ended that tradition because of Obama’s profoundly pro-abortion stance.
Speaking on behalf of his father, Franklin Graham spoke with the Associated Press in 2008 about the pastor’s plans:
President-elect Obama heard our position [on abortion]. And I told him that this was very difficult for us and hard for us. It’s a moral issue that we just can’t back down on.
Obama was never strong on courtesy or showing reverence to America’s great traditions.
This was the same president, after all, who sent three aides to attend the funeral of strong-arm robbery suspect Michael Brown, the famous teen who was killed while grappling with a police officer, but failed to send anyone to honor more consequential Americans like famed U.S. sniper Chris Kyle, Medal of Honor recipient Nicholas Oresko, or journalist James Foley after he was killed by ISIS thugs.
It seems our expectations of the former president are simply too high. But at least he’s out of the White House — for good.
Admin- Admin
- Posts : 84134
Join date : 2008-10-25
Age : 79
Location : Wales UK -
Re: Billy Graham, famed Christian evangelist, dies aged 99
Admin Sun 04 Mar 2018, 2:38 pm
‘Billy Graham Loved, Hugged Me in Prison When I Was Cleaning Toilets’: Jim Bakker
https://www.christianpost.com/news/billy-graham-loved-hugged-me-in-prison-when-i-was-cleaning-toilets-jim-bakker-219899/
Mar 3, 2018 | 0 |
‘Billy Graham Loved, Hugged Me in Prison When I Was Cleaning Toilets’: Jim Bakker
Controversial televangelist Jim Bakker has said that the late Rev. Billy Graham once visited him in prison in some of the lowest moments of his life, where he hugged him and told him that he loves him. Bakker, whose ministry came to a grinding halt in 1987 after he was accused of paying hush money to his secretary for alleged rape, and later served five years in prison for various fraud charges, traveled to Charlotte on Tuesday to pay his respects to Graham, who died at the age of 99 last week. The
televangelist, who hosts “The Jim Bakker Show” in Missouri, told WBTV that Graham showed him remarkable kindness and visited him when he was in prison. “Billy Graham came into my prison when I was there. He wrapped his arms around me when I was a mess. I was cleaning toilets at that moment and I was at a very low moment in my life,” Bakker said. “Billy Graham walked in and threw his arms around me and said, ‘Jim, I love you.'” Graham’s wife, Ruth, who died in 2007, even invited him to their home in North Carolina after he was released from prison.
READ MORE https://www.christianpost.com/news/billy-graham-loved-hugged-me-in-prison-when-i-was-cleaning-toilets-jim-bakker-219899/
'Billy Graham Loved, Hugged Me in Prison When I Was Cleaning Toilets': Jim Bakker
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By Stoyan Zaimov , Christian Post Reporter | Mar 1, 2018 8:04 AM
Video Player
(SCREENSHOT: WBTV)
Jim Bakker speaking with WBTV about Billy Graham in Charlotte on February 27, 2018.
Controversial televangelist Jim Bakker has said that the late Rev. Billy Graham once visited him in prison in some of the lowest moments of his life, where he hugged him and told him that he loves him.
Bakker, whose ministry came to a grinding halt in 1987 after he was accused of paying hush money to his secretary for alleged rape, and later served five years in prison for various fraud charges, traveled to Charlotte on Tuesday to pay his respects to Graham, who died at the age of 99 last week.
The televangelist, who hosts "The Jim Bakker Show" in Missouri, told WBTV that Graham showed him remarkable kindness and visited him when he was in prison.
"Billy Graham came into my prison when I was there. He wrapped his arms around me when I was a mess. I was cleaning toilets at that moment and I was at a very low moment in my life," Bakker said. "Billy Graham walked in and threw his arms around me and said, 'Jim, I love you.'"
Graham's wife, Ruth, who died in 2007, even invited him to their home in North Carolina after he was released from prison.
"And Ruth Graham is so amazing, it would take me hours to tell. As I got out of prison, I was at the Graham home, I was at the church with Ruth Graham and all," he recalled.
"But they represented Jesus Christ to somebody who the world said was fallen and would never preach again."
Bakker said that he has received love from the whole Graham family and noted that he is looking forward to walking with the late evangelist in Heaven one day.
Bakker, who has often preached about the end of the world, wrote last week for the "The Jim Bakker Show."
"Some believed and have declared that the death of Billy Graham would signal the beginning of the last days. I don't know this to be a fact, but I do know, according to the Scriptures, we are truly living in the final days before the coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ."
He reflected that the number 99, the age at which Graham died, is a number that means fruitfulness.
"At an age of double fruitfulness, Billy enters Heaven, leaving an abundant legacy of fruitfulness that no man has ever before achieved," he wrote.
Baker, who in 1987 was dismissed as an Assemblies of God minister, continues to garner controversy for statements he makes on his show, such as arguing in August 2017 that Christians will start a "civil war" if President Donald Trump is impeached.
Other Christian leaders, such as Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren, have praised Graham for his willingness to speak with people of all backgrounds and beliefs, and share the Gospel.
"He put Catholics and Protestants, Calvinists and Charismatics, Fundamentalist and Evangelicals, Liberals and Conservatives, all on the platform together. He was criticized for it, but he knew that God blesses unity and harmony," Warren recalled in a Facebook post last week.
https://www.christianpost.com/news/billy-graham-loved-hugged-me-in-prison-when-i-was-cleaning-toilets-jim-bakker-219899/
Mar 3, 2018 | 0 |
‘Billy Graham Loved, Hugged Me in Prison When I Was Cleaning Toilets’: Jim Bakker
Controversial televangelist Jim Bakker has said that the late Rev. Billy Graham once visited him in prison in some of the lowest moments of his life, where he hugged him and told him that he loves him. Bakker, whose ministry came to a grinding halt in 1987 after he was accused of paying hush money to his secretary for alleged rape, and later served five years in prison for various fraud charges, traveled to Charlotte on Tuesday to pay his respects to Graham, who died at the age of 99 last week. The
televangelist, who hosts “The Jim Bakker Show” in Missouri, told WBTV that Graham showed him remarkable kindness and visited him when he was in prison. “Billy Graham came into my prison when I was there. He wrapped his arms around me when I was a mess. I was cleaning toilets at that moment and I was at a very low moment in my life,” Bakker said. “Billy Graham walked in and threw his arms around me and said, ‘Jim, I love you.'” Graham’s wife, Ruth, who died in 2007, even invited him to their home in North Carolina after he was released from prison.
READ MORE https://www.christianpost.com/news/billy-graham-loved-hugged-me-in-prison-when-i-was-cleaning-toilets-jim-bakker-219899/
'Billy Graham Loved, Hugged Me in Prison When I Was Cleaning Toilets': Jim Bakker
Share On Facebook Share On Twitter
By Stoyan Zaimov , Christian Post Reporter | Mar 1, 2018 8:04 AM
Video Player
(SCREENSHOT: WBTV)
Jim Bakker speaking with WBTV about Billy Graham in Charlotte on February 27, 2018.
Controversial televangelist Jim Bakker has said that the late Rev. Billy Graham once visited him in prison in some of the lowest moments of his life, where he hugged him and told him that he loves him.
Bakker, whose ministry came to a grinding halt in 1987 after he was accused of paying hush money to his secretary for alleged rape, and later served five years in prison for various fraud charges, traveled to Charlotte on Tuesday to pay his respects to Graham, who died at the age of 99 last week.
The televangelist, who hosts "The Jim Bakker Show" in Missouri, told WBTV that Graham showed him remarkable kindness and visited him when he was in prison.
"Billy Graham came into my prison when I was there. He wrapped his arms around me when I was a mess. I was cleaning toilets at that moment and I was at a very low moment in my life," Bakker said. "Billy Graham walked in and threw his arms around me and said, 'Jim, I love you.'"
Graham's wife, Ruth, who died in 2007, even invited him to their home in North Carolina after he was released from prison.
"And Ruth Graham is so amazing, it would take me hours to tell. As I got out of prison, I was at the Graham home, I was at the church with Ruth Graham and all," he recalled.
"But they represented Jesus Christ to somebody who the world said was fallen and would never preach again."
Bakker said that he has received love from the whole Graham family and noted that he is looking forward to walking with the late evangelist in Heaven one day.
Bakker, who has often preached about the end of the world, wrote last week for the "The Jim Bakker Show."
"Some believed and have declared that the death of Billy Graham would signal the beginning of the last days. I don't know this to be a fact, but I do know, according to the Scriptures, we are truly living in the final days before the coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ."
He reflected that the number 99, the age at which Graham died, is a number that means fruitfulness.
"At an age of double fruitfulness, Billy enters Heaven, leaving an abundant legacy of fruitfulness that no man has ever before achieved," he wrote.
Baker, who in 1987 was dismissed as an Assemblies of God minister, continues to garner controversy for statements he makes on his show, such as arguing in August 2017 that Christians will start a "civil war" if President Donald Trump is impeached.
Other Christian leaders, such as Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren, have praised Graham for his willingness to speak with people of all backgrounds and beliefs, and share the Gospel.
"He put Catholics and Protestants, Calvinists and Charismatics, Fundamentalist and Evangelicals, Liberals and Conservatives, all on the platform together. He was criticized for it, but he knew that God blesses unity and harmony," Warren recalled in a Facebook post last week.
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Re: Billy Graham, famed Christian evangelist, dies aged 99
Admin Thu 01 Mar 2018, 9:38 pm
Barack Obama is not planning on attending Billy Graham’s memorial
https://www.conservativeinstitute.org/conservative-news/barack-obama-billy-graham.htm
February 27, 2018
Barack Obama is not planning on attending Billy Graham’s memorial
Anirudh Koul / CCL
Barack Obama has just made his true feelings on the late Rev. Billy Graham quite clear.
The former president’s office announced Monday that Obama no plans to attend Graham’s memorial this week.
George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and President Trump all paid or will pay their respects to Graham this week.
That makes Obama one of only three ex-presidents to not attend Graham’s viewing or funeral. The other two, Carter and H.W. Bush, are much aged and possibly dealing with extenuating circumstances.
Obama to skip Graham memorial
Hundreds of people showed up to Graham’s restored boyhood home in North Carolina Monday to honor his memory. Graham will receive a four-day memorial, with two days at the library of his boyhood home and two days at the Capitol before the funeral Friday.
Several presidents, including Trump, have already paid or plan to pay their respects to the beloved “pastor of the presidents.”
But the office of former president Obama announced Monday that the controversial ex-president has no plans to pay respects to Graham, either at the four-day memorial or the funeral.
George W. Bush visited Graham’s North Carolina library Monday afternoon to pay his respects to the beloved pastor. Clinton visited Tuesday.
Public viewing will continue through Tuesday before Graham’s body is brought to Washington to lie in honor for two days. Graham is the fourth private citizen to lie in honor in the Capitol, the last being Rosa Parks in 2005.
Graham died February 21. His funeral is Friday.
Why won’t he go?
Obama has two opportunities to honor Graham – either at the four-day memorial in North Carolina and Washington or at the Friday funeral – but the former president plans to attend neither.
While neither Bush nor Clinton plans to attend the funeral, both visited Graham’s home this week. President Trump will be at the Friday funeral.
That makes Obama one of only a few former presidents – along with Jimmy Carter and H.W. Bush – who will not be attending either the viewing or the funeral. George W. Bush said his father, 93, could not attend for health reasons. As for Carter, 93, his wife underwent surgery earlier this month during which the former president was “deathly afraid.”
While the latter two are elderly, it’s hard to imagine what could be holding up a much younger man like Obama.
Graham counseled a host of sitting U.S. presidents, from Truman through George W. Bush, and met with Obama at his home 2010.
Obama tweeted last week that Graham was “a humble servant who prayed for so many.” But actions speak louder than words, and in this case, Obama’s actions are classless.
https://www.conservativeinstitute.org/conservative-news/barack-obama-billy-graham.htm
February 27, 2018
Barack Obama is not planning on attending Billy Graham’s memorial
Anirudh Koul / CCL
Barack Obama has just made his true feelings on the late Rev. Billy Graham quite clear.
The former president’s office announced Monday that Obama no plans to attend Graham’s memorial this week.
George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and President Trump all paid or will pay their respects to Graham this week.
That makes Obama one of only three ex-presidents to not attend Graham’s viewing or funeral. The other two, Carter and H.W. Bush, are much aged and possibly dealing with extenuating circumstances.
Obama to skip Graham memorial
Hundreds of people showed up to Graham’s restored boyhood home in North Carolina Monday to honor his memory. Graham will receive a four-day memorial, with two days at the library of his boyhood home and two days at the Capitol before the funeral Friday.
Several presidents, including Trump, have already paid or plan to pay their respects to the beloved “pastor of the presidents.”
But the office of former president Obama announced Monday that the controversial ex-president has no plans to pay respects to Graham, either at the four-day memorial or the funeral.
George W. Bush visited Graham’s North Carolina library Monday afternoon to pay his respects to the beloved pastor. Clinton visited Tuesday.
Public viewing will continue through Tuesday before Graham’s body is brought to Washington to lie in honor for two days. Graham is the fourth private citizen to lie in honor in the Capitol, the last being Rosa Parks in 2005.
Graham died February 21. His funeral is Friday.
Why won’t he go?
Obama has two opportunities to honor Graham – either at the four-day memorial in North Carolina and Washington or at the Friday funeral – but the former president plans to attend neither.
While neither Bush nor Clinton plans to attend the funeral, both visited Graham’s home this week. President Trump will be at the Friday funeral.
That makes Obama one of only a few former presidents – along with Jimmy Carter and H.W. Bush – who will not be attending either the viewing or the funeral. George W. Bush said his father, 93, could not attend for health reasons. As for Carter, 93, his wife underwent surgery earlier this month during which the former president was “deathly afraid.”
While the latter two are elderly, it’s hard to imagine what could be holding up a much younger man like Obama.
Graham counseled a host of sitting U.S. presidents, from Truman through George W. Bush, and met with Obama at his home 2010.
Obama tweeted last week that Graham was “a humble servant who prayed for so many.” But actions speak louder than words, and in this case, Obama’s actions are classless.
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Re: Billy Graham, famed Christian evangelist, dies aged 99
Admin Sat 24 Feb 2018, 12:04 pm
Rev. Billy Graham’s final message was one of accountability and love
https://www.conservativeinstitute.org/conservative-news/billy-grahams-final-message.htm?utm_source=aimtell&utm_campaign=automated_push&utm_medium=push
February 22, 2018
Rev. Billy Graham’s final message was one of accountability and love
Image Source: Screenshot
The last words Rev. Billy Graham posted to his Facebook account indicate that despite substantial vision and hearing loss and his suffering from hydrocephalus, he maintained clarity of thought.
Posted on Feb. 20 at 4:19 p.m., his final message was one of personal responsibility, a message that we all have to be accountable for our own actions.
A walk in the woods
The evangelist began his post with a question.
He asked, “[i]f you went for a walk in the woods, but then decided to wander off the path, and found yourself surrounded by a thicket of thorns and poison ivy, who would you blame? Would you blame the person who built the path?”
Then he answered, continuing:
No, of course not. Instead you’d blame yourself if you were honest, because you alone were responsible for wandering from the path.
The lesson
So what was the point? Graham concluded:
In a far deeper way, this is what happens when we decide to leave God out of our lives. For a time, it may seem like wandering away from Him doesn’t make any difference; it may even seem easier and freer. But eventually it catches up with us—just as wandering off that path and into the thicket caught up with you.” —Billy Graham #BG100
As usual, Graham’s preaching is forceful and incisive.
Loving tribute
Graham’s message throughout his career was one of hope — that God loves you and that eternal life can be attained through Jesus Christ.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who has been described as the Catholic Billy Graham just as Graham has been described as the Protestant pope, drafted a loving tribute to the evangelical leader. He said:
As anyone growing up in the 1950’s and 1960’s can tell you, it was hard not to notice and be impressed by the Reverend Billy Graham. There was no question that the Dolans were a Catholic family, firm in our faith, but in our household there was always respect and admiration for Billy Graham and the work he was doing to bring people to God. Whether it was one of his famous Crusades, radio programs, television specials, or meeting and counseling the presidents, Billy Graham seemed to be everywhere, always with the same message: Jesus is your Savior, and wants you to be happy with Him forever. As an historian, my admiration for him only grew as I studied our nation’s religious past, and came to appreciate even more the tremendous role he played in the American evangelical movement. May the Lord that Billy Graham loved so passionately now grant him eternal rest.
In other words, no matter what your faith is, Graham’s messages ring true — from those at the beginning of his career to his very last.
Rep. Paul Ryan’s office has announced that Graham’s body will lie in honor in the Capitol Rotunda from February 28th – March 1st. The most recent person to be so honored was Rosa Parks in 2005.
The Hill reports:
Upon his casket’s arrival, Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will hold a bicameral service honoring the life of the late Southern Baptist minister and adviser to a dozen presidents…
Ryan in a statement on Wednesday called the minister “rooted in decency, humility, and love.”
Up until his death, Graham was an honorable man who preached the gospel and worked to better the lives of everyone with whom he came in contact. He will be missed.
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Billy Graham, famed Christian evangelist, dies aged 99
Admin Wed 21 Feb 2018, 7:33 pm
Billy Graham, famed Christian evangelist, dies aged 99
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/21/billy-graham-christian-evangelist-dies-99
Father of showman evangelicalism had the ear of 12 presidents
Donald Trump and Mike Pence pay tribute to ‘a very special man’
Harriet Sherwood Religion correspondent
@harrietsherwood
Wed 21 Feb 2018 15.56 GMT First published on Wed 21 Feb 2018 13.38 GMT
Five sermons from Billy Graham, the father of showman evangelicalism – video
Billy Graham, the 20th-century Christian crusader and father of showman evangelicalism who had the ear of 12 US presidents, has died at the age of 99.
VIDEO
Among the first to pay tribute were Donald Trump and his vice-president Mike Pence, the most recent beneficiaries of the voting power of US evangelical Christians.
Billy Graham, 'America's pastor' – a life in pictures
From the 1930s until the early years of this century, Graham drew crowds of thousands to hear his rallying cry for Christianity. Over almost six decades, it is estimated that he preached to more than 200 million people.
As well as his US coast-to-coast roadshows and tours across every continent, Graham harnessed the power of the media to reach millions, deploying television and radio networks, newspaper columns, feature films and satellite hookups.
He wrote dozens of books and his sermons were translated simultaneously into 48 languages and transmitted to 185 countries by satellite.
Graham, who had suffered from prostate cancer, pneumonia and symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, died at his home in North Carolina, his spokesperson said.
Trump tweeted: “The GREAT Billy Graham is dead. There was nobody like him! He will be missed by Christians and all religions. A very special man.”
Pence, himself a renowned evangelical, said his “matchless voice changed the lives of millions. We mourn his passing but know with absolute certainty that today he heard those words: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’”
Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader and former candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, described him as “the pope of the evangelical movement”, the dominant strand of American Protestantism.
Jimmy Carter, the former president, said Graham had “shaped the spiritual lives of tens of millions of people worldwide. Broad-minded, forgiving and humble in his treatment of others, he exemplified the life of Jesus Christ by constantly reaching out for opportunities to serve.”
Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, said the global church owed him an “immeasurable and inexpressible” debt.
Graham was “an exemplar to generation upon generation of modern Christians,” Welby said. “When it comes to a living and lasting influence upon the worldwide church he can have few equals: for he introduced person after person to Jesus Christ. There are countless numbers who began their journey of faith because of Dr Graham.”
Born in 1918, Graham devoted his life to preaching the word of God after a revival meeting he attended at the age of 15. He was ordained as a Southern Baptist clergyman in 1939, and retired in 2005. At the time he said: “Do I fear death? No. I look forward to death with great anticipation. I’m looking forward to seeing God face to face.”
Many were mesmerised by his piercing blue eyes, square jaw and charisma, as well as his message, delivered loud and fast in a powerful baritone. He urged members of his audience to walk down the aisles to the stage to be saved and to commit to Christ as a choir sang religious anthems.
In 1957, a “crusade” – as he called his rallies – in New York’s Madison Square Garden was so popular that its run was extended from six to 16 weeks, ending with a rally of more than 100,000 people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ozx0ZPbyzNo
Billy Graham preaches at Wembley Stadium in 1955
Graham encouraged evangelical Christians to engage in public and political life to promote the causes they espoused. In the 1952 presidential election, he said: “I believe we can hold the balance of power.”
During and following the decades of Graham’s commanding influence over the US religious landscape, evangelical Christians backed political candidates with conservative views on issues such as abortion, women’s rights and gay rights.
But by 1981, he took a more cautious view. “Evangelicals can’t be closely identified with any particular party or person. We have to stand in the middle, to preach to all the people, right and left. I haven’t been faithful to my own advice in the past. I will in the future.”
In his early years as a preacher, Graham expressed racist and antisemitic views, although he later called for desegregation and apologised for suggesting Jews controlled the media.
But he was unwavering in his anti-communism, saying in 1947 that Christians needed to “rescue these [communist] nations from the clutches of the unbelieving. Even so, he was later invited by Kim Il-sung of North Korea to preach in Pyongyang’s officially sanctioned churches.
Graham’s son, Franklin Graham, now heads the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and is close to Trump, at whose inauguration he spoke. A regular guest on Fox News, Franklin Graham has frequently claimed that Islam and LGBT rights threaten American values.
In 2016, Franklin Graham claimed Trump’s election victory was the result of divine intervention.
“I could sense going across the country that God was going to do something this year. And I believe that at this election, God showed up,” he told the Washington Post.
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