Billy Graham - Tribute to Faithful Gift in the Body

[Drake]

I am opening this thread for tribute to this gift to the Body and our brother Billy Graham who passed away today.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ied/858017001/

Let us, in this thread, set aside all all rancor and argument and pay an honorable tribute either from personal experience from his crusades, his books, sermons, or your realization and knowledge of his effect in your life or the lives of others. Almost every christian has been touched or affected by Billy Graham and his ministry in some way or another.

Brother Lee shared this about this faithful servant:

"God gives faith and enlarges our heart. When our heart is large, it is easy to have living faith. Living faith enables us to receive God’s commission, God’s burden. This has everything to do with our function and our usefulness. Billy Graham was raised up by the Lord less than ten years ago and is not yet forty years old. The reason he is able to carry out his work is that he has a large heart. He is young, competent, and steady, not proud or arrogant. His large heart gives him a living faith that enables him to receive the burden of the gospel. The burden he received is from God.

Some orthodox Christians in America are unreasonable in opposing Billy Graham. Without the proper view from God, a doctrine may be dead. God asked the prophets to do things that seemed unreasonable. For example, He asked the prophet Hosea to marry a prostitute (Hosea 1:2). Hosea could only follow this command, even though he would be criticized. Some believers are opposed to Billy Graham and his crusades because even people from heretical groups attend the crusades. Billy Graham, however, cares only that people hear the gospel. He does not care who hears the gospel. He would preach the gospel even if the devil attended a crusade.

This shows that Billy Graham has an enlarged heart. He stands with God and preaches the word to whoever attends. He does not try to please people. He has living faith and receives his burden from God. The Spirit affirms his labor with a strong result and supplies him. This does not mean, however, that we should imitate him. In principle, we should receive help from others, but we are accountable to God for our work."

The Perfecting of the Saints and Building up of the House of God, Witness Lee.

[Cal]

Originally Posted by Drake

I am opening this thread for tribute to this gift to the Body and our brother Billy Graham who passed away today.

There is rejoicing in heaven as Billy Graham is received to his reward. Thanks, Drake. I will post no more in contention today in honor of our brother.

[Drake]

Originally Posted by Igzy

There is rejoicing in heaven as Billy Graham is received to his reward. Thanks, Drake. I will post no more in contention today in honor of our brother.

Thank you Brother Igzy.

I will join you in that honoring.

Drake

[awareness]

A large heart indeed.

I read back in the Bush days that Dubya related this story. I paraphrase :

When I turned back to Jesus I was reading my Bible. I came out and told my mother (Barb Bush) that from what I gathered only those that believe in Jesus will be saved, and all others will go to hell.

Barb turned to one of her aids and said, get Billy Graham on the line. And in five minutes Billy was on the line.

After introductory chit-chat she told him what her son said. Billy was excellent. He said, I agree that the Bible does seem to say that. But we should be careful. We're not God, and don't know everything.

Now that's a big heart.

[Drake]

Amen Brother awareness.

Though I eventually came to the Lord in my teens through the Jesus movement, part of the "Late Great Planet Earth" gathering , in my youth I remember watching and hearing Billy Graham speak on the telly. Being just a kid, I did not fully understand what he was saying yet hearing his voice captivated me, not just because of his eloquence, but rather I felt this man was speaking something weighty and important. My parents, dyed in the wool Baptists as they say, would watch the crusades on the telly and I remember being asked one time what I thought and if I wanted to become a christian. I didn't at the time but believe that the Lord used those crusades and this brother, this gift, to sow some seeds in my heart. After I became a born again christian I was delighted to watch the crusades and touched with the many people who went down to the receive the Lord.

Truly, he was a gift to the Body, an Evangelist, according to the scriptural definition in Ephesians. No doubt, throngs of believers brought to the Lord by his ministry will greet him as he enters his reward.

Drake

[Cal]

I, too, first saw Graham on TV. I was a teenager and a non-practicing Catholic. His crusades would be broadcast and I was drawn to them. I would watch them when no one else was home, because I thought my family would think I was foolish to be interested in them.

Watching and listening to Graham, I always had a sense of awe and, frankly, something like dread. He was so uncompromising. He really gave you the sense of God's righteous requirement, only attainable by submitting to the Gospel. It scared the willikers out of me. Yet I was drawn to it. I guess he had something to do with my salvation as well. What a legacy.

[bookworm]

What I appreciate about Billy Graham is his consistent emphasis on each person’s personal relationship with Jesus Christ and his consistent acknowledgment of his need as a sinner of redemption through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. This personal relationship is most important to our daily walk through this life and from this all our other relationships are possible and are healthy.

After a brother from the Local Church and I had been married for 10 years and when I discovered an obvious infidelity that had occurred on my husband’s part, I went to an elder and his wife and asked for help. I was told I had to forgive him and “get him back in the meetings.” At that point evidently all that was important was the meeting life and it was felt that as long as a person was in the meetings the “life” there would take care of everything. Of course, meeting attendance would also bolster the Local Church movement.

During the 30+ years following that time I dutifully enabled my husband but this did him no good. He never was faithful to attend meetings and apparently was unable to be faithful to the Lord and, in turn, to me. In the four years since our divorce, I’ve come to understand that my ex-husband had an antisocial personality disorder that rendered him incapable of healthy relationships.

What is sad to me is that 40 years ago I did not seek help that would have shed light on the obvious fact that my then husband did not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and, in turn, had no true relationship with me or our children. At this point he has no desire to change or to seek help. I have apologized to him for enabling him and we all continue to pray for him. Surely the Lord will one day heal and salvage him.

[Boxjobox]

Originally Posted by Drake

I am opening this thread for tribute to this gift to the Body and our brother Billy Graham who passed away today.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ied/858017001/

Let us, in this thread, set aside all all rancor and argument and pay an honorable tribute either from personal experience from his crusades, his books, sermons, or your realization and knowledge of his effect in your life or the lives of others. Almost every christian has been touched or affected by Billy Graham and his ministry in some way or another.

Brother Lee shared this about this faithful servant:

"God gives faith and enlarges our heart. When our heart is large, it is easy to have living faith. Living faith enables us to receive God’s commission, God’s burden. This has everything to do with our function and our usefulness. Billy Graham was raised up by the Lord less than ten years ago and is not yet forty years old. The reason he is able to carry out his work is that he has a large heart. He is young, competent, and steady, not proud or arrogant. His large heart gives him a living faith that enables him to receive the burden of the gospel. The burden he received is from God.

Some orthodox Christians in America are unreasonable in opposing Billy Graham. Without the proper view from God, a doctrine may be dead. God asked the prophets to do things that seemed unreasonable. For example, He asked the prophet Hosea to marry a prostitute (Hosea 1:2). Hosea could only follow this command, even though he would be criticized. Some believers are opposed to Billy Graham and his crusades because even people from heretical groups attend the crusades. Billy Graham, however, cares only that people hear the gospel. He does not care who hears the gospel. He would preach the gospel even if the devil attended a crusade.

This shows that Billy Graham has an enlarged heart. He stands with God and preaches the word to whoever attends. He does not try to please people. He has living faith and receives his burden from God. The Spirit affirms his labor with a strong result and supplies him. This does not mean, however, that we should imitate him. In principle, we should receive help from others, but we are accountable to God for our work."

The Perfecting of the Saints and Building up of the House of God, Witness Lee.

Billy Graham owned John 3:16 as his own, and took delight and diligence to share it with as many as he could. Thank God for such a faithful servant.

I do find it strange, but maybe not when I think about it, that Drake quotes WL concerning Billy Graham.

This is a recollection that I have of the time Billy Graham came to San Diego for a crusade, and I think he also had others in So. California. The speaking in the church in SD at that time was that BG was a nice preacher, but short of the revelation of the church, so that his ministry produced Christians but did not have a container for them, which should be the LC. I don't say this talk came straight from WL, but it was spoken, and we were, by proximity "in fellowship" with Anaheim, so my recollection was that that was proper view to hold of Mr. Graham's ministry- that it was old and out of date with God's up to date move on the earth. I went to the crusade-If I remember right, I skipped a meeting to go, and was awestruck at the amount of Christians who were there. It was held at the Jack Murphy stadium, where the Chargers played, and it was packed, so at least 45,000 attended. Message was simple, yet touched the hearts of thousands who came forward.

I didn't feel it was a good idea to talk to the other LC saints at the time about my attending; I'm sure those who have walked away from the LC can understand why, but in retrospect, I would say the church in SD was gathering at the stadium that night.

[Drake]

-1

Boxjobox,

Your point is understandable.....still ....

... he was an Evangelist and fulfilled that function powerfully. That was his commission from the Lord. God could use such a man because he had a big heart.

Drake

[Steel]

So I just had fellowship with a brother I often meet with for lunch during the week... Billy Graham came up and he asked me if I thought that Graham was a part of God's recovery... My answer was this... "If by "God's recovery" you are referring to the human effort which goes under the title of "...The Recovery...", then no, he wasn't a part of it. But if you mean the recovery that God has been carrying out since the first century, then yes, absolutely I believe Billy Graham was a part of it."

[Boxjobox]

Originally Posted by Drake

-1

Boxjobox,

Your point is understandable.....still ....

... he was an Evangelist and fulfilled that function powerfully. That was his commission from the Lord. God could use such a man because he had a big heart.

Drake

Drake, you set this as a memorial to Billy Graham: thanks for that. And maybe best not to change the subject, but I'm curious- do you have theological concepts, thoughts, opinions apart from W Lee's ministry, or do you relate all things scriptural to WL.

No problem if you don't feel this is the place for such a question.

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by Boxjobox

This is a recollection that I have of the time Billy Graham came to San Diego for a crusade ... The speaking in the church ... at that time was that BG was a nice preacher, but short of the revelation of the church, so that his ministry produced Christians but did not have a container for them, which should be the LC.

This is also what I heard, but it was also taken to another level, i.e. that "Billy Graham gives birth to children, but does not raise them up, and shame on anyone who would do such a thing as that." Regardless of what WL said on the record about Billy Graham, we know how he really felt. It's really unfortunate that Drake quoted something from WL, because it's only fair that the whole story be told.

Originally Posted by Drake

Your point is understandable.....still .... ... he was an Evangelist and fulfilled that function powerfully. That was his commission from the Lord. God could use such a man because he had a big heart.

If we want to think that God could use Billy Graham because he "had a big heart," then we must also admit that many LC leaders could not be used because they did not "have a big heart."

Billy Graham was both a gift to mankind ("And He gave some evangelists ...") and a minister faithful and obedient to a vision, (To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith ... I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision."

For WL to say privately, off the record, that Billy Graham did not "see the vision of the church," is without dispute, since we know that these comments were prevalent throughout the Recovery. It was just his way of discrediting every minister besides himself.

We do know from history that Billy Graham was indeed faithful to the vision from the day he was called until his last day. He was the most fruitful evangelist in church history. He was never stained by immorality, and became a pattern for many others to serve God. He was a friend of politicians, yet stayed out of politics. By refusing to speak to segregated crowds, Billy Graham did far more for the oneness of the body of Christ than WL ever did.

[Koinonia]

I do think it was unnecessary to tie a tribute to Billy Graham back to Witness Lee. LC members feel free to mourn the loss of Billy Graham because Witness Lee had said some good things about him. However, Billy Graham may very well have been the last living Christian figure for which Witness Lee ever had a positive comment. That's rather sad.

[UntoHim]

Originally Posted by Koinonia

..However, Billy Graham may very well have been the last living Christian figure for which Witness Lee ever had a positive comment. That's rather sad.

Probably true. Now I wonder if Hank Hannegraaff would have been able to muster up enough hypocrisy to have kowtowed and sniveled enough before the One Minister with the One Ministry for the Age enough to get a complement out of Witness Lee.

Many of us may recall when the original Bible Answer Man, Dr. Walter Martin, came to Lee's home (there on Ball road near the hall) to discuss CRI's published material about the teachings and practices of the Local Church. Apparently the meeting was recorded, and Witness Lee agreed to give Martin a copy of the recording. Lee (of course) reneged on the agreement and refused to give a copy to Dr. Martin. He gave some kind of lame excuse...like Martin was rude to him or some other such nonsense. I suspect the real reason was that Lee didn't have any good answers for Dr. Martin's reasonable theological concerns about Lee's teachings, and Lee didn't want that kind of information getting out to LC members, or God forbid, the general public.
-

[Boxjobox]

Originally Posted by Ohio

This is also what I heard, but it was also taken to another level, i.e. that "Billy Graham gives birth to children, but does not raise them up, and shame on anyone who would do such a thing as that." Regardless of what WL said on the record about Billy Graham, we know how he really felt. It's really unfortunate that Drake quoted something from WL, because it's only fair that the whole story be told.

Thanks Ohio for the confirmation- I too remember something about it kind of like being Lot's children. I couldn't recall if it was something said by an elder locally, or in a message, but it was tied to Billy Graham leading people to Christ but not taking care of them. I specifically recall that the crusade did hook people up with area assemblies, and it's amazing how many good Christians attribute their salvation to him. One would think if he was regarded as a evangelists, and came to San Diego, that the LC would encourage the saints to go support the crusade the evangelist, and assist those who came to believe.
Another sign of the "fruit" of WL's ministry.

[HERn]

Walked into my house a junior in high school after some partying (1970) and my parents were watching a Billy Graham crusade on TV. The Holy Spirit captured my attention for a few moments that I think played a role in my coming to Christ. I also heard him speak at Explo 72. Somehow by God's grace he was preserved from the things that stumbled many famous preachers. I just read where he never was in the company alone with women, that he took a salary from his board, his finances and organization was totally open, and that he used turnstile numbers to estimate attendance. Don't know if he ever referred to himself as a god-man, but I think he was.