The Pros and Cons of Billy Graham

I've been a Billy Graham fan, forever.  And so, it's hard to calculate the impact Graham has had on my life and ministry.  It's major.

But now Billy Graham is gone.  And so I -- like so many -- wrestle with a deep sense of void and loss. 

But as Christ-followers we eventually conclude: Billy is not really gone.  As Graham himself declared, in a much-quoted line (at one point shared every 15 seconds on Twitter):

"...Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God..." http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2018/february-web-only/billy-graham-viral-quote-on-death-not-his-d-l-moody.html

I just love that sentiment, echoing my own desired tombstone phrase: "Now more alive than ever!" 

As Billy Graham lives on forever, there is much remembering of his life here on earth. And, not surprisingly, there are mega accolades -- as well, there should be.

But we forget Billy Graham's most frequent admission and confession.  It was not the promise of eternity -- but -- Billy's constant reminder that the only way we enter eternity is by confessing: we are sinners.  

“...There were a few times when I thought I was dying, and I saw my whole life come before me…” said Graham at his Cincinnati Crusade on June 24, 2002. “I didn’t say to the Lord, ‘I’m a preacher, and I’ve preached to many people.’ I said, ‘Oh Lord, I’m a sinner, and I still need Your forgiveness. I still need the cross.’ ..."  (emphasis added) https://billygraham.org/story/billy-graham-evangelist-to-the-world-dead-at-age-99/

And so, by his own admission, there are both 'pros and cons' to Billy Graham.  And so as we remember Billy, we need to remember both -- in the context -- of great respect, for a great man of God.

We begin with the cons.

1) Billy Graham Got Too Cozy With U.S. Politicians, On Occasion. The most blatant example was Billy's enmeshment with Richard Nixon, prompting him to try to please the politician, too much, at times. A tragic episode, recorded on Nixon's infamous taping system, was Billy's comments on the Jewish people in 1972:  

''They're the ones putting out the pornographic stuff,'' Mr. Graham said on the tape, after agreeing with Mr. Nixon that left-wing Jews dominate the news media. The Jewish ''stranglehold has got to be broken or the country's going down the drain,'' he continued, ...Finally, Mr. Graham said that Jews did not know his true feelings about them. ''I go and I keep friends with Mr. Rosenthal at The New York Times and people of that sort...I mean, not all the Jews, but a lot of the Jews are great friends of mine...But they don't know how I really feel about what they are doing to this country..."  http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/17/us/billy-graham-responds-to-lingering-anger-over-1972-remarks-on-jews.html

To his credit, Graham eventually owned up to his accusations, albeit slowly.  But his words/opinions, are a great reminder, that we all tend to be people-pleasers, on occasion, especially toward people who we perceive to have more power than we do,  and thus, appear able to help us.

In reality, Billy Graham didn't need Richard Nixon's help and/or approval.  But in weaker moments (and we all have them) -- as he was still trying to 'prove' the legitimacy of his ministry -- Nixon's 'blessing' was tempting, appearing more beneficial than it really was.

The lesson:  we don't need the approval of even the most powerful.  We only need, ultimately, the approval of God.

2)  Billy Graham Never Fully Comprehended That Violence Is Contrary To The Will Of God.  To his credit, Billy, to the very end, lifted up the supremacy of the Cross.  But Billy never fully grasped the irony of the Cross, as yes, one of the most violent acts in human history, but an occurrence where violence was never returned.  https://www.amazon.com/dp/1597526088/ref=rdr_ext_tmb

Rather non-violence was offered, as the Lord of the Universe suffered, as The Crucified God.  For ultimately, God in Christ did not take up the sword, returning evil for evil, but He turned the other cheek, modeling non-conventional weaponry:  the arsenal of disarming long-suffering love.

Like many of his generation, Graham never fully connected the Cross to the theme of non-violence.  Rather, Billy viewed peace, primarily, as a matter of personal conversion and conduct, and not that which is to be lived-out,  in a wider, societal way.  As Michael Long has concluded: 

"....[thus, in Graham's mind, violence must be embraced, on occasion] in the holy crusade against godliness. For...the love of Christ demanded the use of violence in a sinful world. Just has the righteousness of God had required Israel to take up arms against its enemies, the love of Christ commands us to use violence when defending ourselves and our neighbors against godliness..." [Michael Long.  Billy Graham and the Beloved Community.  New York:  Palgrave/MacMillian, 2006, p. 199]

Thus, unlike a Martin Luther King, Billy Graham never fully repudiated violence, including the violence of the Vietnam War.  In regards to Vietnam, Graham confessed to talk-show host Larry King, afterward:  "...America never should have gotten into a no-win land war in Asia in the first place...[regretting] that he had not spoken against it..." http://harvardpress.typepad.com/hup_publicity/2018/02/billy-grahams-vietnam-grant-wacker.html

But now the pros.

1) Billy Graham Often 'Colored Outside The Lines,' Breaking With Other Conservative Christians On Social Issues.  True, Billy Graham never fully comprehended violence as contrary to the will of God.  But in 1979, Graham took a stand that shocked his peers, as he spoke out against the arms race.

In a 'turning-point' interview in Sojourners magazine, Graham was adamant:

"...Is a nuclear holocaust inevitable if the arms race is not stopped? Frankly, the answer is almost certainly yes...Neither history nor the Bible gives much reason for optimism. What guarantee is there that the world will never produce another maniacal dictator like Hitler or Amin? As a Christian I take sin seriously, and the Christian should be the first to know that the human heart is deceitful and desperately wicked...We can be capable of unspeakable horror, no matter how educated or technically sophisticated we are. Auschwitz is a compelling witness to this..."   https://sojo.net/magazine/august-2016/billy-grahams-conversion-peace

Especially noteworthy was Grahams 1982 controversial trip to Russia, at the height of the Cold War, largely in an effort to lessen 'saber-rattling' between Russia and the U.S.  As Billy recounted in an interview with the Christian Science Monitor:

"...The fear of nuclear proliferation...is what ''makes me say, 'Let's tone the rhetoric down and let's see if we can come to some understandings.' '' Nowadays, he acknowledges, such negotiation has a higher priority than anticommunism..."   https://www.csmonitor.com/1982/0603/060340.html

In regards to social issues, it's also memorable, that Graham was one of the first evangelicals to say no to public racism.  For example, in 1952, Billy declared to a crowd in Mississippi that there was no room for segregation at the foot of the cross and in 1953 at a Chattanooga, TN crusade Billy personally removed the ropes that segregated blacks from whites.  

2) Billy Graham Was Consistently A Person of High Integrity, Comprehensive Character, And 'Bone-Deep' Humility.  I will not give much detail, for this theme dominates much of the coverage of Billy's passing -- as well it should.  https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2018/billy-graham/

But whether friend or foe, persons tend to be united in their awe of Graham's very soul and being.  For he was, very much, 'America's Pastor,' able to 'rise to any occasion' out of the depths of his intimacy with God.  

Especially striking was Billy's humility.  Though hard to fathom, Graham initially told planners of his funeral (to be held this Friday) that he did not want his name mentioned in the service. Finally, however, he recanted.

Reflecting on the origins of such radical modesty, Graham biographer Grant Wacker observed, it originated from three sources"

"...The first was Graham’s habit of self-forgetfulness. Again and again, we see him keeping himself in the background, giving credit to others...The second quality is gratitude. Decade after decade, Graham showed an awareness of the unmerited grace undergirding his life. When people asked him, as they often did, why so much attention had fallen on him, he invariably responded the same way: “I have no idea."...And finally, obedience -- or, more precisely, the obedience to [his] calling...He preached as though people’s lives were at stake, because they were..."  https://www.faithandleadership.com/grant-wacker-billy-graham-and-christian-humility

Reflecting, on Graham's humility, overall, Wacker concluded:   

"...In these days of bitter division in the culture and in the church, the model of Graham’s personal humility may be as helpful as anything he ever said behind the pulpit..." https://www.faithandleadership.com/grant-wacker-billy-graham-and-christian-humilityhttps://www.faithandleadership.com/grant-wacker-billy-graham-and-christian-humility

3) Billy Graham Was Bathed In God, Always Pointing To God, Remembered Most, As A Man Of God.   Admittedly, Billy should have been more prophetic, avoiding civil religion (e.g. too cozy with politicians), along with being more attentive to the connection between war, violence, and justice -- to the Gospel.

But with that said, Graham advanced the most prophetic issue, ever:  the necessity of reconciliation with God.  Yes, other expressions of reconciliation are needed outcomes of the Gospel.  But the central priority need is reconciliation with the Creator.

And Billy Graham had no peer, in imploring persons to seek that reconnection with God.

This is reflected in the thousands and thousands of testimonies of persons, attesting to the way God used Billy Graham to lead them back to God. As George W. Bush, reflected in the Wall Street Journal, last Friday:  

"God's work within me began in earnest with Billy's outreach...His care and his teachings were the real beginning of my faith walk — and the start of the end of my drinking. I couldn't have given up alcohol on my own. But in 1986, at 40, I finally found the strength to quit. That strength came from love I had felt from my earliest days and from faith I didn't fully discover until my later years." https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/24/politics/george-w-bush-billy-graham-wall-street-journal/index.html

Bush's testimony, along with countless other testimonies, is a ringing reminder, that central to our prophetic ministry, as believers, is the proclamation of God.

Sounds obvious, but increasingly churches are proclaiming the outcome of belief in God (e.g. social justice, humanitarian 'goodness,' etc.) -- without proclaiming God.  

Translated:  we declare the necessity of peace, without declaring the necessity of knowing the God, who authors peace.  Billy Graham was never guilty of that disconnect. If we wanted peace with self and others, Billy would declare, we also needed peace with God.  

Myron Augsburger, a Mennonite evangelist of Graham's generation, modeled Graham's approach.  Reflecting on the priority of proclaiming the God, in Christ, Myron concluded:

"...I believe in justice, but I am not a preacher of a gospel of justice, but the gospel of Christ, who calls us to justice.  I believe in love, but I am not a preacher of a gospel of love, but of the gospel of Christ, who calls us to love.  I am committed to peace; but I am not a preacher of peace, but the gospel of Christ who calls us to peace...We must beware of the ultimate plagiarism, that of borrowing great concepts from Jesus, proclaiming those concepts to others, but not proclaiming the Christ who empowers those concepts..."  [Myron Augsburger.  The Peacemaker.  Nashville:  Abingdon Press, 1987, p. 203]

Billy Graham never committed the plagiarism, Myron Augsburger names.  And that, I contend, is his grandest achievement.  

Yes, most certainly, Billy missed vital implications and concepts that must flow from the Gospel; that is regrettable.

But Billy never missed the heart of the Gospel and the priority of proclaiming the One True God, in Christ -- and Christ alone.  

We thank God that God used Billy Graham. Specifically, that God used Billy to reach millions, with the core of the Gospel: the glorious Good News of transformational, beautiful life, in Christ.  Life as it was meant to be!