February 21, 2018

Billy Graham has died.

The great evangelist walked the earth for 99 years.

Here's the USA Today report. Excerpt:
From the gangly 16-year-old baseball-loving teen who found Christ at a tent revival, Graham went on to become an international media darling.... Presidents called on Graham in their dark hours, and uncounted millions say he showed them the light. He took his Bible to the ends of the Earth in preaching tours he called "crusades."....

Franklin has mocked both Islam and LGBT rights...
That's not the right tone for an obituary. "Mocked"? That's a hostile characterization, and I don't even want to look up the actual quotes on the theory that it's inaccurate. It's simply inappropriate for an obituary. [ADDED: I missed the "Franklin." Only the son is accused of mockery. That makes the offense I'm feeling much less bad.] Let me retreat to my go-to news source, the New York Times:
A central achievement was his encouraging evangelical Protestants to regain the social influence they had once wielded, reversing a retreat from public life that had begun when their efforts to challenge evolution theory were defeated in the Scopes trial in 1925.

But in his later years, Mr. Graham kept his distance from the evangelical political movement he had helped engender, refusing to endorse candidates and avoiding the volatile issues dear to religious conservatives.

“If I get on these other subjects, it divides the audience on an issue that is not the issue I’m promoting,” he said in an interview at his home in North Carolina in 2005 while preparing for his last American crusade, in New York City. “I’m just promoting the Gospel.”....

He was not without critics.
That's an appropriate tone.
Early in his career, some mainline Protestant leaders and theologians accused him of preaching a simplistic message of personal salvation that ignored the complexities of societal problems like racism and poverty. Later, critics said he had shown political naïveté in maintaining a close public association with Nixon long after Nixon had been implicated in the cover-up of the Watergate break-in.

Mr. Graham’s image was tainted in 2002 with the release of audiotapes that Nixon had secretly recorded in the White House three decades earlier. The two men were heard agreeing that liberal Jews controlled the media and were responsible for pornography.

“A lot of the Jews are great friends of mine,” Mr. Graham said at one point on the tapes. “They swarm around me and are friendly to me because they know that I’m friendly with Israel. But they don’t know how I really feel about what they are doing to this country.”

Mr. Graham issued a written apology and met with Jewish leaders. In the interview in 2005, he said of the conversation with Nixon: “I didn’t remember it, I still don’t remember it, but it was there. I guess I was sort of caught up in the conversation somehow.”...
This is the right way to present the negative, with specific facts. It's important for us to remember how and when anti-Semitism is expressed in America. If it weren't for the recordings, you wouldn't believe Graham would have said that. He himself seems to have found it hard to believe he said that. Or so he told us, if you believe him. But the important important belief is: Jesus:
Mr. Graham drew his essential message from the mainstream of evangelical Protestant belief. Repent of your sins, he told his listeners, accept Jesus as your Savior and be born again. In a typical exhortation, he declared:

“Are you frustrated, bewildered, dejected, breaking under the strains of life? Then listen for a moment to me: Say yes to the Savior tonight, and in a moment you will know such comfort as you have never known. It comes to you quickly, as swiftly as I snap my fingers, just like that.”...
Much more at the link.

Let me add that I listened to Billy Graham sermons many times in the 1960s and loved them. These were brilliant speeches — powerfully persuasive and simply beautiful.

84 comments:

Michael K said...

Expect mockery from the left. Their religion, whether they admit it or not, is Marxism.

Kevin said...

Haven't you heard? Mocking Christians is all the rage this week.

Henry said...

Louie Zamperini, Olympic runner and hero of Laura Hillenbrandt's Unbroken, was saved by Billy Graham.

TrespassersW said...

Attacks against a dead man who was an outspoken (and strikingly effective) messenger of Christianity surprises you?

rhhardin said...

The obit has been in the can for a long time if he's 99.

Jason said...

The USA Today is run by idiots.

They know NOTHING.

Graham took a lot of heat from the theological conservatives for sticking up for Muslims and other non-Christians.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

The scene in The Crown where a young Queen Elizabeth meets with Billy Graham is great.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

USA Today must have some a-hole leftists on the staff.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The true State Run Theocracy mocks Christians.

Quaestor said...

Franklin Graham is not dead.

exhelodrvr1 said...

"Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

Ann Althouse said...

I read USAToday too quickly and missed the shift over to talking about the son's worst moments.

hawkeyedjb said...

What reason would there be for including a comment about the son's (supposed) comments in an obituary about the father? If you want people to take responsibility for the things they say, then don't associate them with words that are not theirs.

hawkeyedjb said...

Perhaps if the leftists write an obituary about my father (one of the kindest, gentlest humans who ever lived) they will find it necessary to write about what an asshole I am. For balance, you know.

tcrosse said...

Jay Leno called USAToday the world's largest school newspaper.

Bay Area Guy said...

Good man, historical figure. Myself,I'm not an evangelical, so Graham didn't appeal to me personally, but it was clear that he appealed and gave great comfort to tens of thousands. So, that's worthwhile.

Godspeed, Mr. Graham. A life well-lived.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

The interview of Billy Graham by Woody Allen in the USA Today obituary is interesting. There’s some context for what he said to Nixon.

Danno said...

Hasn't it (USA Today) been known as McPaper since it was founded to appeal to people that were stuck in airports and/or traveling?

mockturtle said...

Well done, good and faithful servant.

Sebastian said...

"That's not the right tone for an obituary. "Mocked"? That's a hostile characterization"

It's nice of you to notice, but it is the right tone for progs: they are fighting the culture war, and Graham was their great antagonist. Asserting that Jesus and the Bible are more important than prog heaven on earth is the greatest affront to their cause. They were right to vilify him. He stood in their way, for a while. One down, a few more to go.

mockturtle said...

Liberal Jews running the media?! Shocking! Next you'll be telling me that carnival games are rigged!

lgv said...

He was despised at the conservative Christian university I attended and among other fundalmentalists. He was far too liberal. Preaching salvation and being born again, but sending the converts back to their original church, that often did not preach the gospel.

He indeed stayed out of the fray on many subjects, either to the left or right, in order to reach a wider audience. This foreshadowed the even more watered down Christianity and messaging of people like Schuller and Osteen.

Having said all that, I don't categorize him as a con man as I do so many others like him. He's a true to life believer.

gspencer said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Wince said...

Ann Althouse said...
I read USAToday too quickly and missed the shift over to talking about the son's worst moments.

Like the time his father told him to get a summer job?

tcrosse said...

Leaving his message aside, Billy Graham had an unfashionable regional accent. That's enough to put him beyond the pale.

rhhardin said...

A friend as a kid was into Billy Graham and it made no sense to me, nor does it now.

On the other hand I didn't care what Billy Graham thought about anything. Fallings out seem to be an interest group thing.

gadfly said...

Quaestor said...
Franklin Graham is not dead.


Indeed he is not. He is living in Boone, NC - scraping by on a paltry $880,000 per year - $660,000 from Samaritan's Purse and $220,000 from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association . He is the highest paid CEO of all Christian non-profits. His salary is down from $1.2 million in 2009.

Graham, of course, will inherit a large portion of Billy's $25 million net worth so we can quit worrying about him running out of cash.

rhhardin said...

Imus was and is into evangelical preachers, and did one himself for comic effect. Let the people believe it or not but it does sound weird.

It's like women arguing what men ought to think. There's a gene missing or something.

Ann Althouse said...

"The interview of Billy Graham by Woody Allen in the USA Today obituary is interesting. There’s some context for what he said to Nixon."

I watched that too and made a new post on the subject with the video embedded. If you want to talk about the video, please shift to the other post.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

I presume that Billy Graham did a lot of good for a lot of good people and I'm perfectly content to leave it at that.

Ann Althouse said...

"It's like women arguing what men ought to think. There's a gene missing or something."

You don't want to say "gene missing." It's men who have the gene deficiency with the Y instead of the X. Maybe say: "too many genes."

Ann Althouse said...

I know you think men have more, because of the conspicuous genitalia, but that's a big distraction.

The Godfather said...

Granted that Franklin Graham's behavior is off-topic in an obituary of his father, still I was struck by the statement that he "mocked" Islam. Why "mocked"? "Criticized" would make sense, but "mocked"? So I googled "Franklin Graham mocks Islam", and the first story to come up was one from 2015 where Franklin criticized the Mohammed cartoonists for "mocking Islam": https://www.christianpost.com/news/franklin-graham-says-islam-should-not-be-mocked-condemns-draw-muhammad-event-in-garland-texas-138893/

So why did USAToday choose the word "mocked"? Could it be that the liberal secularists at USAToday were trying to mock Franklin?

Fernandinande said...

"The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can change this."

Fernandinande said...

I mock the way so many people assume that irreligious people are Marxists or some other stupid shit.

Etienne said...

"There is no path to Nirvana by reading translated Greek books from violent misogynist desert dwellers" - Buddha

gspencer said...

Bringing in extraneous topics ("hey look, a squirrel") is very much the aim of the left. "Don't look at what we're doing, pay attention to what we accuse that other guy of doing." USA Today is part of the left's fabric.

"Franklin" and "mocked" are just examples.

Bringing the message of the Good News of Jesus Christ was Graham's purpose, and of course that should have been the central point on any obituary on Billy Graham. That message, "You [meaning each one of us; Rom. 3,23] are worthless and have no business even thinking you could find yourself in the presence of God. But if you repent of your errors/sins and accept My sacrificial atonement which I give you freely and all you have to do is repent and accept, then you'll be made anew."

D. said...

"It's men who have the gene deficiency with the Y instead of the X. Maybe say: "too many genes.""

diversity is our strength

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Billy was an old fashioned sort in that he had a message, he knew is message well, and he stuck to his message unwaveringly. That he made little comment outside of preaching the gospel raises him in my esteem. The revival tent format reminds me of how Paul would travel the "civilized" world of his time spreading the Word and always basing his statements on what Christ did that we should emulate and his personal experience living his faith. Actually living one's faith is a very difficult prospect, and to keep it up for so long during such a tumultuous and insane historical moment is something few can do.

Think of all the new-age religions people have embraced and how no one exemplifies what "living" those "faiths" means. To truly devote one's self to a cause is very rare.

mockturtle said...

The Gospel is a simple message and that's what confounds. Man is inclined to create complex systems and rituals for salvation rather than accepting the free gift of Christ's atoning sacrifice.

Ralph L said...

Did calling them Crusades mock Islam? Perhaps that led to one of Franklin's worst moments.

tam said...

20+ years ago, I joined a small in-home Bible study. One of the couples there had recently been to a Billy Graham crusade and gone forward. Shortly after that, they joined our local church and our local Bible study. We've been friends through ups and downs since then. That crusade and their decision to go forward quite literally changed their life.

Multiply that by the thousands (and millions?) of people who were affected by his ministry and it is a mind-boggling legacy that he has left.

Ralph L said...

Bill Clinton would have done better to have been counseled by Graham than J Jackson in 1998. Jesse probably thinks the same.

Freeman Hunt said...

"Later, critics said he had shown political naïveté in maintaining a close public association with Nixon long after Nixon had been implicated in the cover-up of the Watergate break-in."

LOL Yeah, what's a pastor doing hanging out with sinners!

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Eric the Fruit Bat said...
I presume that Billy Graham did a lot of good for a lot of good people and I'm perfectly content to leave it at that.

2/21/18, 8:45 AM

I agree with this.

rhhardin said...

I assume by Nixon's sins people mean he was a piano player.

rhhardin said...

There's a lot that's amusing in Islam. People overlook the entertainment value.

buwaya said...

Ditto re "The Crown" (current BBC series).

The episode with Billy Graham (Second season, "Vergangenheit"), is one of the better ones, and if need be can stand alone. It is also unusual in modern TV in that it takes religion very seriously.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Nixon's sins are unforgivable.

Clinton's sins and crimes - we ignore.

hombre said...

"... when their efforts to challenge evolution theory were defeated in the Scopes trial in 1925."

History via the NYT and Hollywood. Scopes was convicted. There was no live tv coverage of the trial.

Roughcoat said...


I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.

2 Timothy 4:7-8

hombre said...

Bloggers exhelodrvr1 and mockturtle said...

"Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

Exactly!

Unknown said...

"Louie Zamperini, Olympic runner and hero of Laura Hillenbrandt's Unbroken, was saved by Billy Graham."

Billy Graham would have said that it was Jesus who saved Louie Zamperini and that he (Billy) was merely the messenger of the good news of Jesus.

Birkel said...

I'm curious why Althouse believes saying a thing that is true is somehow anti-something. The question, it seems to me, is whether the proposed thing is true. Recognition of facts is anti-nothing. Telling a person they can't tell the truth is anti-truth.

If somebody wants to talk about extra genetic code, they'll have to talk about XXY. XX and XY are normal.

Quick question: Why do so many people get rid of babies that have an extra chromosome? That seems cruel, discriminatory and murder-y.

hombre said...

Blogger Ann Althouse said...

"I know you think men have more, because of the conspicuous genitalia, but that's a big distraction."

That begs for an obvious retort. Out of respect fort Billy Graham I will forego it.

traditionalguy said...

Interestingly, Billy Graham's evangelical Christianity was the first post war World II movement towards world rule. He brought people together from ever nation and every ethnic group asking them to make commitment to the One Man, Jesus, whom the Jewish Prophets said would be coming again to rule the World from Jerusalem( See, Psalm 110)

All Billy ever asked for was a making decision for Christ.

Big Mike said...

[ADDED: I missed the "Franklin." Only the son is accused of mockery. That makes the offense I'm feeling much less bad.]

No. It makes it worse. Bad enough that “the sins of the fathers are visited upon their sons.” There is no reason besides sheer spite and meanness to try to visit the (purported) sins of the son upon the father.

Henry said...

At Unknown. True enough. But the stretcher bearer also deserves credit.

etbass said...

After reading David Halberstam's The Fifties, and noticing that he had absolutely not a word to say about Billy Graham amongst all the luminaries who had an effect on that decade, I wrote him and asked, "Why not?"

Can't remember his exact short reply but basically it was, that there wasn't enough space to include everything.

Tyrone Slothrop said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tyrone Slothrop said...

De mortuis nil nisi bonum.

Rob said...

From the NYT obit: "But what really caught the attention of the aged newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst was that Mr. Graham was preaching a fiery brand of anti-Communism. From his retreat in San Simeon, Calif., Mr. Hearst is said to have issued a terse directive: 'Puff Graham.'"

That's all it took. "Puff Graham." And what a Citizen Kane-like pronouncement from Hearst, almost a decade after the movie was made.

Paddy O said...

"He was despised at the conservative Christian university I attended and among other fundamentalists. He was far too liberal. Preaching salvation and being born again, but sending the converts back to their original church, that often did not preach the gospel."

He also was okay with Catholics!

At the conservative Christian college I attended he was the most celebrated alumnus. That's the marker between Evangelicals and Fundamentalists: what did they think about Billy Graham?

He was one of the pillars of the neo-Evangelical movement in the late 40s, and helped set in motion the kind of socially/politically engaged movement it is today. He was also the last vestige of the 19th century revivalism, a bridge between 2 very different religious eras.

My grandparents were volunteers at the 1949 Los Angeles crusade, and I spent many an hour in the Billy Graham Museum while at college (it was a quiet retreat sort of place for me). So, I never saw him in person, but just about everything I've done and still do has been affected by his work.

rhhardin said...

Billy Graham is dead at 99 of natural causes, the radio news announced.

No rapture there.

FleetUSA said...

AA said "...and that's a big distraction."

I'm sure the Meade's enjoyed that line. :-O

mockturtle said...

AA said "...and that's a big distraction."

Just how big, we are not told.

Paddy O said...

“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.” ~Billy Graham

YoungHegelian said...

Ye golden lamps of heav’n farewell,
With all your feeble light;
Farewell thou ever changing moon,
Pale empress of the night.

And thou refulgent orb of day,
In brighter flames arrayed;
My soul which springs beyond thy sphere,
No more demands thy aid.


Sacred Harp Hymn #112: The Last Words of Copernicus

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Like most children in the seventies, I hated Billy Graham. His stupid Crusades always pre-empted my TV shows. It was bad enough to have to put up with that on the Sundays I was forced to go to church, but he had to interrupt my free time.

n.n said...

Only the son is accused of mockery. That makes the offense I'm feeling much less bad.

It makes it worse when included in the father's obituary.

evolution theory

Evolution is a chaotic process. The creationist aspect of evolutionary theory is an anthropomorphized framing similar to the articles of faith held by other belief systems. It's ironic that evolutionary creationists are more likely to deny evolution of human life, but it's predictable that are more likely to deny intrinsic value and individual dignity.

challenge evolution theory were defeated

Not, it was not defeated, only recharacterized under the Church's twilight faith and Pro-Choice religious/moral philosophy.

liberal Jews controlled the media and were responsible for pornography

They may and maybe, respectively. A similar corruption is normalized by liberal/reformed Jews in Israel, and in other places and other times under communism, socialism, and other Marxist derivatives. Not the least of which is to reimagine and reduce the Judaic faith, religion, and traditions.

Rockport Conservative said...

My grandmother attended some of his first rallies (revivals) in San Diego in the early 1950's. She proudly sent us newspaper articles about them. I wish we still had those.

The lives of the people in my town of Rockport, Texas are being impacted by his love and ministry through the Samaritan's Purse run by his son Franklin, a great man in his own right.

Samaritan's Purse showed up in Rockport right after the storm, they have worked very hard in helping clear out debris and rebuild homes. They are building a gym sized building on the grounds of the First Baptist Church here and plan to stay for at least THREE years.

After they leave the building will be donated to that church. The church has been the clearing house for all volunteer needs and lists of those who need help. Much has been and will be needed here, we are so grateful for their help.

Of course, they are not the only volunteers in town, every denomination, every end of the spectrum from Amish to Scientology have helped. The Amish are here in force, they have sent groups who stay about a month. Off topic from Billy Graham, I know.

Back in 1953 I was thrilled to just be able to hear his musical director and great voice, George Beverly Shea, sing at a revival meeting in Corpus Christi and hear his long time associate, Cliff Barrows. What a team they were!

mockturtle said...

Rockport Conservative: Thank you for the report. It is refreshing to hear of all the church support since the MSM would have us believe that the government and the Red Cross are the only entities helping disaster victims. A church I used to attend sent people to New Orleans several times for about a month to rebuild and to help people and it was only one among thousands.

Birches said...

I wasn't really aware of Billy Graham besides hearing his name connected with GW Bush and what not until I read Unbroken in 2012. What a great man.

Bilwick said...

I'm a non-believer, but I liked Graham. He had, from what I can tell on the sidelines, integrity. I liked that. a Southerner, he integrated his congregation way before that became PC. I don't know how accurate it was, but I once heard that he defended that position by telling the following anecdote (the veracity of which I cannot confirm):

After the Civil War and the freeing of the slaves, at an Episcopalian church in Virginia, a Black man walked down to the altar to receive communion. The White congregation remained seated, not wanting to participate in the communion with a Black Man. Then a white-haired Caucasian gentleman got up, and walked to the altar receive communion alongside the Black man. At that moment, the rest of the Caucasians who wanted to receive communion walked up to the altar, the path having been blazed, so to speak, by the white haired gentleman. That white-haired gentleman was Robert E. Lee.

I have no idea whether the anecdote about Lee, or Graham telling it to his congregation, is true; but I hope it is.



mockturtle said...

William C., I also hope the anecdote is true. Both Lee and Graham were gentlemen of the highest order.

Paddy O said...

I hope the story was true too. I think Lee was quite a gentleman indeed. I just wish he had stood up and walked with the black man in 1861. Maybe his gave him the courage after the war to stop sitting with his state. He did what he thought was right in both cases, and it is very hard to turn one's back on one's neighbors. He would have become President had he stayed with the Union, and likely a very good one.

Gabriel said...

Later, critics said he had shown political naïveté in maintaining a close public association with Nixon long after Nixon had been implicated in the cover-up of the Watergate break-in.

What kind of moral teacher would associate with publicans and sinners?

hombre said...

Rhhardin wrote: "Billy Graham is dead at 99 of natural causes, the radio news announced.

No rapture there."

Not amusing, rh. Just disrespectful.

Trumpit said...

"Billy Graham is dead at 99 of natural causes, the radio news announced.

No rapture there."

Now that was funny, rhhardin. Speaking of "disrespect," the New York Times added comments to the obituary, something that I don't remember seeing. They posted my comment, but later removed all comments, perhaps out of respect. It must be the norm about not speaking ill of the dead.

Kirk Parker said...

Paddy O,

"He also was okay with Catholics! "

That was a YUUUGE bone of contention between William Cameron Townsend and the board of Wycliffe Bible Translators, which he founded. The Fighting Fundies on that board were all bent out of shape because (paraphrasing) "we are giving rides to Catholic priests in our airplanes!" [referring to Peru and Ecuador.] WCT's answer was to say, ok then fire me.

They blinked.

He didn't.

The stories about Townsend in (pre-Soviet-collapse) Russia are legendary, and having met the man I believe every single one of them.

(Full disclaimer: I only met him once, long post-retirement, but anyone who found Ken Pike and promoted this unpromising young man is one of God's genuine heroes in my book. Pike I had several very interesting and profitable encounters with.)

mockturtle said...

Rhhardin obviously doesn't understand the rapture. Forgive him, Father, for he knows not what he doesn't know.

bolivar di griz said...

I think too much time is spent on what divides believers, instead of what unifies them. This is true within Christendom. Now Christianity arose out the ethos of Judaism and expanded,

WhereAS Islam is at its heart a great heresy of same, to believe Jesus is the great prophet is untenable.

bolivar di griz said...

At the risk of being curmudgeonly, who are the left behind, those who are saved, or those that thrown into the fire like wheat chaff. Furthermore when does it happen.

stephen cooper said...

bolivar de griz - in contemporary language, the "left behind" is a specific reference to those who, in a specific interpretation of certain Bible verses, will live on this earth after many of their contemporaries are taken up into heaven all at once. It has not happened yet and so is a future event, the exact time is not known to anyone but God. Thessalonians is the Bible book with the most information on this future event, although not the only one; based on the scattered references in the Bible, there are several different interpretations of what the future when some are "left behind" will exactly be like (millennialism, pre-millennialism, and so on, if you are interested) .

"Those who are saved" - that is a more difficult question when asked about others. (When asked about ourselves, it is a direct question we pose to Jesus - Have You saved me?) To be saved, the minimum requirement, the Bible teaches, is to accept Jesus as our saviour at some point before the moment of death, as the good thief (formerly a bad thief, and possibly a bad person until his last few moments of life) on the cross next to him did. However, rather than worry about other people, it is important for each of us (I think) to ask what we would answer if Christ explained to us who we are and why he created us and then asked us if we wanted to accept his saving grace.

The "wheat chaff" question is interesting. Who among us does not feel disgust at some of the nasty people we share this earth with? Proud, sloppy, gluttonous, boring, functionally friendless, smelly, and so on.
But what if we were asked to volunteer to go back in time and be born into a family that one of those nasty people was born into? To be surrounded every moment of our lives from our first breath with the challenges the proud and sloppy and gluttonous were challenged by - the greasy alcohol-loving mother, the stupid older siblings, the indecent and filthy habits of the nasty societies that so many have been born into? What if we were told that everything we were proud of - our good temper, our intelligence, our good hygiene - was a result of our good luck in not being born into such a milieu, and that only by volunteering to go back in time and be born this time into that awful and disgusting fate could we prove that we are grateful for our blessings? Well, think about how you would answer that challenge. God knows what you would say, yes or no, and God loves all of us. In short, none of us really know who God is talking about with all that crazy wheat chaff language. So don't let that language make you think God is not fair and just and kind. God is not only fair but more fair and just and kind than we can imagine.