Remembering Billy Graham

On Wednesday, February 21, 2018 Evangelist Billy Graham passed from the walks of this life. He seemed to be almost idolized by many – vilified by others. The majority fell somewhere in between. From my point of view, he seemed like a likable person of integrity, but I diverged widely from his methodology and some of his theology. Graham’s message was kept simple, his methods (using decoys, repeat-after-me prayers, etc.) were misguided, and his alliances were ecumenical. Here are some of the favorable and unfavorable thoughts from the World Wide Web – most written after his recent death and a few from his prime.

• All living US presidents expected to attend funeral of Billy Graham -- "But it was unclear if a member of the Royal Family would attend the service in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Friday."
• Billy Graham and Your Local Church: A Thought Experiment -- "If Joe said what Billy said, would he still be qualified to be the pastor of Rowland Springs Baptist Church?"
• Billy Graham, Elmer Gantry, and the Performance of a New American Revivalism -- "Throughout Billy Graham’s career, the evangelist sought performative manners to ensure that he would not be perceived as another “Elmer Gantry”, or huckster preacher out to win money, fame, and favor."
• Billy Graham Led Millions Astray With False Hope, Altar Calls -- "His crusades, filling stadiums and drawing crowds in the hundreds of thousands, even over a million once in Seoul, Korea, are a legacy that will be remembered forever."
• Billy Graham’s Ministry of Error (from 1966) -- "The more we read of Graham the more apparent it becomes that he is not a Fundamentalist, but a liberal ecumenist."
• Biography from the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College -- "Billy Frank, as he was called as a child, grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina, expecting to follow the lifestyle of his father and grandfathers. Frank and Morrow Graham owned a 300-acre dairy farm..."
• Examining Billy Graham's Theology of Evangelism -- "‘Examining Billy Graham’s Theology of Evangelism’ was written to advance an unbiased understanding of Billy Graham’s theology and practice."
• Franklin Graham remembers dad, Rev. Billy Graham -- "The younger Graham said his father was the same at home as he was on television."
• Remembering Billy Graham (1918-2018) -- "Billy Graham was perhaps the most significant religious figure of the 20th century, and the organizations and the movement he helped spawn continue to shape the 21st."
• There will never be another Billy Graham, because the world that made him possible is gone -- "...the fact that American Christianity hasn’t given rise to a leader like Graham over the last two or three decades isn’t just a result of the fracturing of evangelicalism into different factions..."
• When Did Graham’s Compromise Begin? -- "[In 1957] The Graham crusade committee in New York included 120 theological modernists who denied the infallibility of Scripture. The wife of modernist Norman Vincent Peale headed up the women’s prayer groups for the Crusade."