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SERMON I.
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Or, The Coming Destruction of the One World Religion
<br>
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<B>THE RULE BY WHICH THE GUILT OF SIN IS ESTIMATED.</B><br>
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February 4, 1846<br>
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by Charles Grandison Finney<br>
 
President of Oberlin College<br>
 
  
<br>
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Billy Graham: Christianity's Modern Balaam
Text.--Acts 17:30-31: "And the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness, by that Man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead."<br>
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I recently preached a sermon on impenitence in which I dwelt at length on the guilt which attaches to sin committed against great light. I purpose now to discuss this point still farther.<br>
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<br>
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The text declares that God will judge the world in righteousness. I shall not at this time dwell on the fact that God will judge the world, nor upon the fact that this judgment will be in righteousness; but shall endeavor to ascertain what is the rule by which our guilt is to be measured; or in other words what is implied in judging the world in righteousness. What is the righteous rule by which guilt is measured, and consequently the just punishment of the sinner allotted?<br>
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<br>
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In pursuing this subject, I shall deem it important:<br>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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<I>I. To state briefly what the conditions of moral obligation are; and<br>
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<br>
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II. Come directly to the main point, the rule by which guilt is measured.</I><br>
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<br>
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<B>I. State briefly what the conditions of moral obligation are.</B><br>
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<UL>
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<LI>1. Moral obligation has respect to the ultimate intention of the mind. The end had in view, and not the mere external act must evermore be that to which law pertains and of which guilt is predicated. Surely guilt cannot be predicated on the outward act merely, apart from intention: for if the outward act be not according to the intention as in the case of accidents, we never think of imputing guilt; and if it be according to the intention, we always, when we act rationally, ascribe the guilt to the intention and not to the mere hand or tongue, which became the mind's organ in its wickedness.</LI>
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</UL>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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This is a principle, which everybody admits when they understand it. The thing itself lies among the intuitive affirmations of every child's mind. No sooner has a child the first idea of right and wrong, but he will excuse himself from blame by saying that he did not mean to do it, and he knows full well, that if this excuse be true, it is valid and good as an excuse; and moreover he knows that you and everybody else both know this and must admit it. This sentiment thus pervades the minds of all men and none can intelligently deny it.<br>
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<UL>
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<LI>2. Having premised so much, I am prepared to remark that the first condition of moral obligation is the possession of the requisite powers of moral agency. There must be intelligence enough to understand in some measure the value of the end to be chosen or not chosen, else there can be no responsible choice. There must be some degree of sensibility to good sought, or evil shunned; else there never would be any action put forth, or effort made; and there must also be the power of choice between possible courses to be chosen. These are all most manifestly requisites for moral choice, or in other words for responsible moral action and obligation.<br>
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<br>
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<LI>3. It is essential to moral obligation that the mind should know in some measure, what it ought to intend.</LI>
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"Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD"
</UL>
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(2Chronicles 19:2).
<BLOCKQUOTE>
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It must have some apprehension of the value of the end to be chosen, else there can be no responsible choice of that end, or responsible neglect to choose it. Everybody must see this, for if the individual when asked, why he did not choose a given end, could answer truly, "I did not know that the end was valuable and worthy of choice," all men would deem this a valid acquittal from moral delinquency.<br>
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<UL>
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<LI>4. Supposing the individual to know what he ought to choose; then his obligation to choose it does not grow out of the fact of God's requiring it, but lies in the value of the end to be chosen. I have said that he must perceive the end to be chosen, and in some measure understand its value. This is plain. And this apprehension of its value is that which binds him to choose it. In other words, the moral law which enjoins love, or good willing must be subjectively present to his mind. His mind must have a perception of good which he can will to others, in connection with which a sense of obligation to will it springs up, and this constitutes moral obligation.</LI>
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</UL>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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These are substantially the conditions of moral obligation; the requisite mental powers for moral action; and a knowledge of the intrinsic value of the good of being.<br>
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<br>
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Before leaving this topic, let me remark that very probably, no two creatures in the moral universe may have precisely the same degree of intelligence respecting the value of the end they ought to choose; yet shall moral obligation rest upon all these diverse degrees of knowledge, proportioned evermore in degree to the measure of this knowledge which any mind possesses. God alone has infinite and changeless knowledge on this point.<br>
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<B>II. I come now to speak of the rule by which the guilt of refusing to will or intend according to the law of God must be measured.</B><br>
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<UL>
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<LI>1. Negatively, guilt is not to be measured by the fact that God who commands is an infinite being. The measure of guilt has sometimes been made to turn on this fact, and has been accounted infinite because God whose commands it violates is infinite. But this doctrine is inadmissible. It lies fatally open to this objection, that by it all sin is made to be equally guilty, because all sin is equally committed against an infinite being. But both the Bible and every man's intuitive reason proclaim that all sins are not equally guilty. Hence the measure or rule of their guilt cannot be in the fact of their commission against an infinite being.<br>
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<br>
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<LI>2. Guilt cannot be measured by the fact that God's authority against which sin is committed is infinite. Authority is the right to command. No one denies that this in God is infinite. But this fact cannot constitute the measure of guilt, for precisely the reason just given--namely, that then all sin becomes equally guilty, being all committed against infinite authority; which conclusion is false, and therefore the premises are also.<br>
 
<br>
 
  
<LI>3. The degree of guilt cannot be estimated by the fact that all sin is committed against an infinitely holy and good being; for reasons of the same kind as just given.<br>
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by Tom Stewart
<br>
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<LI>4. Nor from the value of the law of which sin is a transgression; for though all admit that the law is infinitely good and valuable, yet since it is always equally so, all sin by this rule must be equally guilty--a conclusion which being false, vitiates and sets aside our premises.<br>
 
<br>
 
  
<LI>5. The rule cannot lie in the value of that which the law requires us to will, intend or choose, considered apart from the mind's perception of the value; for the intrinsic value of this end is always the same, so that this rule too as the preceding would bring us to the conclusion that all sins are equally guilty.<br>
 
<br>
 
  
<LI>6. Guilt is not to be measured by the tendency of sin. All sin tends to one result--unmingled evil. No created being can tell what sins have the most direct and powerful tendency to produce evil; since all sin tends to produce evil and only evil continually. Every modification of sin may for ought we know tend with equal directness to the same result--evil, and nothing but evil.<br>
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Preface
<br>
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<LI>7. Guilt cannot be measured by the design or ultimate intention of the sinner. It does indeed lie in his design and in nothing else; yet you cannot determine the amount of it by merely knowing his design; for this design is always substantially the same thing--it is always self-gratification in some form, and nothing else. I endeavored to show this in my last sermon on impenitence, and we need to get this idea thoroughly into our minds. The general design of the sinner being always self-gratification, and it making very little if any difference in his guilt what form of self-gratification he chooses, it follows that the measure of guilt cannot be sought here, and must therefore be sought elsewhere.<br>
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A CNN/USA Today/Gallup survey was taken of the American public on December 28th-29th 1998, sampling 1,055 adult Americans' opinions of whom they "admire the most". "Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of Me" (Isaiah 30:1). Despite the House of Representatives' vote to impeach him, President Bill Clinton was voted the most admired man-- "living in any part of the world"-- for the second consecutive year. "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the LORD" (55:8). It came as no surprise that NBA sports star Michael Jordan was included near the top of that list-- 4th most admired. However, the 2nd most admired was the only one of the top four that is not an American-- Pope John Paul II. "Moreover I will deliver all the strength of this city, and all the labours thereof, and all the precious things thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies, which shall spoil them, and take them, and carry them to Babylon" (Jeremiah 20:5). The individual that ranked as the 3rd most admired man-- by this "evil and adulterous generation" (Matthew 12:39)-- in 1998's year end poll, was Billy Graham, the Southern Baptist evangelist known throughout the world. But, "11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake. 12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in Heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you" (5:11-12).
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<LI>8. But it is time I should state, positively, that guilt is always to be estimated by the degree of light under which the sinful intention is formed, or in other words, it is to be measured by the mind's knowledge or perception of the value of that end which the law requires to be chosen. This end is the highest well being of God and of the universe. This is of infinite value; and in some sense every moral agent must know it to be of infinite value, and yet individuals may differ indefinitely in respect to the degree of clearness with which this great end is apprehended by the mind. Choosing this end--the highest well-being of God and of the universe always implies the rejection of self-interest as an end; and on the other hand, the choice of self-interest or self-gratification as an end always and necessarily implies the rejection of the highest well-being of God and of the universe as an end. The choice of either implies the rejection of its opposite.</LI>
 
</UL>
 
<BLOCKQUOTE>
 
Now the sinfulness of a selfish choice consists not merely in its choice of good to self, but in its implying a rejection of the highest well-being of God and of the universe as a supreme and ultimate end. If selfishness did not imply the apprehension and rejection of other and higher interests as an end, it would not imply any guilt at all. The value of the interests rejected is that in which the guilt consists. In other words the guilt consists in rejecting the infinitely valuable well-being of God and of the universe for the sake of selfish gratification.<br>
 
<br>
 
Now it is plain that the amount of guilt is as the mind's apprehension of the value of the interests rejected. In some sense as I have said, every moral agent has and must of necessity have the idea that the interests of God and of the universe are of infinite value. He has this idea developed so clearly that every sin he commits deserves endless punishment, and yet the degree of his guilt may be greatly enhanced by additional light, so that he may deserve punishment not only endless in duration but indefinitely great in degree. Nor is there any contradiction in this. If the sinner cannot affirm that there is any limit to the value of the interests he refuses to will and to pursue, he cannot of course affirm that there is any limit to his guilt and desert of punishment. This is true and must be true of every sin and of every sinner; and yet as light increases and the mind gains a clearer apprehension of the infinite value of the highest well-being of God and of the universe, just in that proportion does the guilt of sin increase. Hence the measure of knowledge possessed of duty and its motives, is always and unalterably the rule by which guilt is to be measured.<br>
 
<br>
 
The proof of this is two-fold.<br>
 
</BLOCKQUOTE>
 
<UL>
 
<LI>(1.) The scriptures assume and affirm it.</LI>
 
</UL>
 
<BLOCKQUOTE>
 
The text affords a plain instance. The apostle alludes to those past ages when the heathen nations had no written revelation of God, and remarks that "those times of ignorance God winked at." This does not mean that God connived at their sin because of their darkness, but does mean that He passed over it with comparatively slight notice, regarding it as sin of far less aggravation than those which men would now commit if they turned away when God commanded them all to repent. True sin is never absolutely a light thing; but comparatively, some sins incur small guilt when compared with the great guilt of other sins. This is implied in our text.<br>
 
<br>
 
I next cite James 4:17. "To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." This plainly implies that knowledge is indispensable to moral obligation; and even more than this is implied; namely, that guilt of any sinner is always equal to the amount of his knowledge on the subject. It always corresponds to the mind's perception of the value of the end which should have been chosen, but is rejected. If a man knows he ought in any given case to do good, and yet does not do it, to him this is sin--the sin plainly lying in the fact of not doing good when he knew he could do it, and being measured as to its guilt by the degree of that knowledge.<br>
 
<br>
 
John 9:41. "Jesus said unto them, if ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, we see; therefore your sin remaineth." Here Christ asserts that men without knowledge would be without sin; and that men who have knowledge, and sin notwithstanding, are held guilty. This plainly affirms that the presence of light or knowledge is requisite to the existence of sin, and obviously implies that the amount of knowledge possessed is the measure of the guilt of sin.<br>
 
<br>
 
It is remarkable that the Bible everywhere assumes first truths. It does not stop to prove them, or even assert them--it always assumes their truth, and seems to assume that every one knows and will admit them. As I have been recently writing on moral government and studying the Bible as to its teachings on this class of subjects, I have been often struck with this remarkable fact.<br>
 
<br>
 
John 15:22, 24. "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sins. He that hateth Me, hateth My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both Me and My Father." Christ holds the same doctrine here as in the last passage cited, light essential to constitute sin, and the degree of light, constituting the measure of its aggravation. Let it be observed, however, that Christ probably did not mean to affirm in the absolute sense that if He had not come, the Jews would have had no sin; for they would have had some light if He had not come. He speaks as I suppose comparatively. Their sin if He had not come would have been so much less as to justify His strong language.<br>
 
<br>
 
Luke 12: 47-48. "And that servant which knew his Lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required; and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more."<br>
 
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Here we have the doctrine laid down and the truth assumed that men shall be punished according to knowledge. To whom much light is given, of him shall much obedience be required. This is precisely the principle that God requires of men according to the light they have.<br>
 
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1 Tim. 1:13. "Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief." Paul had done things intrinsically as bad as well they could be; yet his guilt was far less because he did them under the darkness of unbelief; hence he obtained mercy, when otherwise, he might not. The plain assumption is that his ignorance abated from the malignity of his sin, and favored his obtaining mercy.<br>
 
<br>
 
In another passage, (Acts 26:9) Paul says of himself--"I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth." This had everything to do with the degree of his guilt in rejecting the Messiah, and also with his obtaining pardon.<br>
 
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Luke 23:34. "Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." This passage presents to us the suffering Jesus, surrounded with Roman soldiers and malicious scribes and priests, yet pouring out His prayer for them, and making the only plea in their behalf which could be made--"for they know not what they do." This does not imply that they had no guilt, for if that were true they would not have needed forgiveness; but it did imply that their guilt was greatly palliated by their ignorance. If they had known Him to be Messiah, their guilt might have been unpardonable.<br>
 
<br>
 
Matt. 11:20-24. "Then began He to upbraid the cities wherein most of His mighty works were done, because they repented not. Woe unto thee Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell; for if the mighty works which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom, in the day of judgment, than for thee." Buy why does Christ thus upbraid these cities? Why denounce so fearful a woe on Chorazin and Capernaum? Because most of His mighty works had been wrought there. His oft-repeated miracles which proved Him the Messiah had been wrought before their eyes. Among them He had taught daily, and in their synagogues every Sabbath day. They had great light--hence their great--their unsurpassed guilt. Not even the men of Sodom had guilt to compare with theirs. The city most exalted, even as it were to heaven, must be brought down to the deepest hell. Guilt and punishment, evermore, according to light enjoyed but resisted.<br>
 
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Luke 11:47-51. "Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchers of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers; for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchers. Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute: that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation. From the blood of Abel, unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you it shall be required of this generation." Now here, I ask, on what principle was it that all the blood of martyred prophets ever since the world began was required of that generation? Because they deserved it; for God does no such thing as injustice. It never was known that He punished any people or any individual beyond their desert.<br>
 
<br>
 
But why and how did they deserve this fearful and augmented visitation of the wrath of God for past centuries of persecution?<br>
 
<br>
 
The answer is two-fold: they sinned against accumulated light: and they virtually endorsed all the persecuting deeds of their fathers, and concurred most heartily in their guilt. They had all the oracles of God. The whole history of the nation lay in their hands. They knew the blameless and holy character of those prophets who had been martyred; they could read the guilt of their persecutors and murderers. Yet under all this light, themselves go straight on and perpetrate deeds of the same sort, but of far deeper malignity.<br>
 
<br>
 
Again, in doing this they virtually endorse all that their fathers did. Their conduct towards the Man of Nazareth, put into words would read thus--"The holy men whom God sent to teach and rebuke our fathers, they maliciously traduced and put to death; they did right, and we will do the same thing towards Christ." Now it was not possible for them to give a more decided sanction to the bloody deeds of their fathers. They underwrote for every crime--assume upon their own consciences all the guilt of their fathers. In intention, they do those deeds over again. They say, "if we had lived then we should have done and sanctioned all they did."<br>
 
<br>
 
On the same principle the accumulated guilt of all the blood and miseries of Slavery since the world began rests on this nation now. The guilt involved in every pang, every tear, every blood-drop forced out by the knotted scourge--all lies at the door of this generation. Why? Because the history of all the past is before the pro-slavery men of this generation, and they endorse the whole by persisting in the practice of the same system and of the same wrongs. No generation before us ever had the light on the evils and the wrongs of Slavery that we have; hence the guilt exceeds that of any former generation of slave-holders; and, moreover, knowing all the cruel wrongs and miseries of the system from the history of the past, every persisting slave-holder endorses all the crimes and assumes all the guilt involved in the system and evolved out of it since the world began.<br>
 
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Romans 7:13. "Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, worketh death in me by that which is good, that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful." The last clause of this verse brings out clearly the principle that under the light which the commandment, that is, the law, affords, sin becomes exceeding guilty. This is the very principle, which, we have seen, is so clearly taught and implied in numerous passages of Scripture.<br>
 
<br>
 
The diligent reader of the Bible knows that these are only a part of the texts which teach the same doctrine: we need not adduce any more.<br>
 
</BLOCKQUOTE>
 
<UL>
 
<LI>(2.) I remark that this is the rule and the only just rule by which the guilt of sin can be measured. If I had time to turn the subject over and over--time to take up every other conceivable supposition, I could show that none of them can possibly be true. No supposition can abide a close examination except this, that the rule or measure of guilt is the mind's knowledge pertaining to the value of the end to be chosen.</LI>
 
</UL>
 
<BLOCKQUOTE>
 
There can be no other criterion by which guilt can be measured. It is the value of the end chosen which constitutes sin guilty, and the mind's estimate of that value measures its own guilt. This is true according to the Bible as we have seen; and every man needs only consult his own consciousness faithfully and he will see that it is equally affirmed by the mind's own intuition to be right.<br>
 
<br>
 
A few inferences may be drawn from our doctrine.<br>
 
</BLOCKQUOTE>
 
<UL>
 
<LI>1. Guilt is not to be measured by the nature of the intention; for sinful intention is always a unit--always one and the same thing--being nothing more nor less than self-gratification.<br>
 
<br>
 
  
<LI>2. Nor can it be measured by the particular type of self-gratification which the mind may prefer. No matter which of his numerous appetites or propensities the man may choose to indulge--whether for food, for strong drink--for power, pleasure, or gain--it is the same thing in the end--self-gratification, and nothing else. For the sake of this he sacrifices every other conflicting interest, and herein lies his guilt. Yet since he tramples on the greater good of others with equal recklessness, whatever type of self-gratification he prefers, it is plain that we cannot find in this type any true measure of his guilt.<br>
 
<br>
 
  
<LI>3. Nor again is the guilt to be decided by the amount of evil which the sin may bring into the universe. An agent not enlightened may introduce great evil and yet no guilt attach to this agent. This is true of evil often done by brute animals. It is true of the mischiefs effected by alcohol. In fact it matters not how much or how little evil may result from the misdeeds of a moral agent, you cannot determine the amount of his guilt from this circumstance. God may overrule the greatest sin so that but little evil shall result from it, or He may leave its tendencies uncounteracted so that great evils shall result from the least sin. Who can tell how much or how little overruling agency may interpose between any sin great or small and its legitimate results?</LI>
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How Could This Happen?
</UL>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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Jesus Christ, the Judge, "standeth before the door" (James 5:9), and the Apostasy preceding His Second Coming is already in progress. "When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find Faith on the Earth?" (Luke 18:8). Though it may seem that the entire world has capitulated to Babylon the Great, the God of All Comfort assures His people, "I have reserved to Myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal" (Romans 11:4). The transformation of Professed Christianity into Babylon the Great must accelerate as the Man of Sin must shortly be revealed. "But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived" (2Timothy 3:13). Though Christ's free gift of salvation is offered to the world-- and "few there be that find it" (Matthew 7:14)-- apparently even fewer have an "understanding of the times, to know what Israel [i.e., the Godly] ought to do" (1Chronicles 12:32). [See our articles, "An Earnest Appeal to Roman Catholics, Or, Roman Catholicism Examined in Light of the Scriptures" and "Babylon the Great (Part 2), The Reformation and the Church of Rome", for an exposition of Rome's doctrine and history.]
  
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How could this degeneration take place for the Professed Church, if the Godly continue to "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our LORD and Saviour Jesus Christ" (2Peter 3:18)? Obviously, the Professed Church has ceased to grow, but has become "as a backsliding heifer" (Hosea 4:16). The command of the Holy One-- "Be ye holy; for I am holy" (1Peter 1:16)-- has been minimized or sinfully ignored, i.e., "Christians aren't perfect-- just forgiven". As the Saints became "weary in well doing" (Galatians 6:9), instead of reproving the "unfruitful works of darkness" (Ephesians 5:11), they opened their arms of fellowship to Babylon the Great in the name of Unity and Christian Love. But, "what saith the Scripture?" (Romans 4:3). "Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD" (2Chronicles 19:2).
  
Satan sinned in betraying Judas, and Judas sinned in betraying Christ. Yet God so overruled these sins that most blessed results to the universe followed from Christ's betrayal and consequent death. Shall the sins of Satan and Judas be estimated by the evils actually resulting from them? If it should appear that the good immensely overbalanced the evil, does their sin thereby become holiness--meritorious holiness? Is their guilt at all the less for God's wisdom and love in overruling it for good?<br>
 
<br>
 
It is not therefore the amount of resulting good or evil which determines the amount of guilt, but is the degree of light enjoyed, under which the sin is committed.<br>
 
</BLOCKQUOTE>
 
  
<UL>
 
  
<LI>4. Nor again can guilt be measured by the common opinions of men. Men associated in society are wont to form among themselves a sort of public sentiment which becomes a standard for estimating guilt; yet how often is it erroneous? Christ warns us against adopting this standard, and also against ever judging according to the outward appearance. Who does not know that the common opinions of men are exceedingly incorrect? It is indeed wonderful to see how far they diverge in all directions from the Bible standard.<br>
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Billy Graham: His Early Life and Ministry
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<LI>5. The amount of guilt can be determined as I have said only by the degree in which those ideas are developed which throw light upon obligation. Just here sin lies, in resisting the light and acting in opposition to it, and therefore the degree of light should naturally measure the amount of guilt incurred.</LI>
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Outside of the Pope, one of the best known names of the modern Christian culture is that of Billy Graham-- William Franklin Graham, Jr.-- born in 1918. "For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required" (Luke 12:48). At the age of 16, Billy Graham made a public profession of faith in the LORD Jesus Christ, under the preaching of Baptist evangelist, Mordechai Ham (1877-1961). "Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right" (Proverbs 20:11). In 1936, Graham briefly attended Bob Jones College (now Bob Jones University of Greenville, South Carolina [USA])-- founded by Bob Jones, Sr. (1883-1968), Fundamentalist evangelist-- citing an inability to adjust to Bob Jones campus life as his reason for leaving. "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" (Amos 3:3). He then transferred to Florida Bible Institute (now Trinity College). At this time, he began his life-long membership in the Southern Baptist Convention. Graduating in 1940, he then entered Wheaton College, where he also graduated; and, in 1943, he married Ruth Bell (b. 1920), daughter of missionaries to China and Korea. "For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh" (Matthew 19:5).
</UL>
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<B>REMARKS.</B><br>
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During his early ministry, Billy Graham became a well known evangelistic figure among the Fundamentalist, Bible preaching churches of America, but still not a byword to America's religious mainstream. "A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold" (Proverbs 22:1). From 1945 to 1948, Graham assisted Torrey Johnson, organizing rallies and speaking for the Youth for Christ organization. "If ye continue in My Word, then are ye My disciples indeed" (John 8:31). In 1947, William B. Riley (1861-1947)-- ardent Fundamentalist, who fought the drift of the Northern Baptist Convention into Modernism's Social Gospel-- persuaded Graham to accept the leadership of Northwestern Schools in Minneapolis, Minnesota [USA]. "Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint" (Proverbs 25:19).
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1. We see from this subject the principle on which many passages of scripture are to be explained. It might seem strange that Christ should charge the blood of all the martyred prophets of past ages on that generation. But the subject before us reveals the principle upon which this is done and ought to be done.<br>
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After all, in 1948, at the annual convention of the fundamentalist 'Conservative Baptist Association', Billy Graham was asked: "What do you expect the World Council of Churches to do this August when you visit Copenhagen?" Graham replied, "I believe they are going to nominate the Anti-Christ" (from Ian R. K. Paisley's "Billy Graham and the Church of Rome" [1970], p. 46). Contrast that to Graham's 1974 statement at the International Congress on World Evangelization in Lausanne, Switzerland: "I have nothing but the warmest of relations with the World Council of Churches" (from Dr. Bert Oately-Willis' "Billy Graham: The Facts" [Toronto Free Presbyterian Church]). "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24).
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Whatever of apparent mystery may attach to the fact declared in our text--"The times of this ignorance God winked at"--finds in our subject an adequate explanation. Does it seem strange that for ages God should pass over almost without apparent notice the monstrous and reeking abominations of the Heathen world? The reason is found in their ignorance. Therefore God winks at those odious and cruel idolatries. For all, taken together, are a trifle compared with the guilt of a single generation of enlightened men.<br>
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2. One sinner may be in such circumstances as to have more light and knowledge than the whole Heathen world. Alas! how little the Heathen know! How little compared with what is known by sinners in this land, even by very young sinners!<br>
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1949-- A Year of Decision for Billy Graham
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Let me call up and question some impenitent sinner of Oberlin. It matters but little who--let it be any Sabbath School child.<br>
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Let an excerpt from a biography of Billy Graham, "Billy Graham and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association - Historical Background", prepared by the staff of the Billy Graham Center Archives at Wheaton College-- since 1980, the designated repository for the papers of Graham and the records of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA)-- inform us of the sudden transformation of Billy Graham at the close of 1949. "Within evangelical and fundamentalist communities in America, Graham was quite well known. At the end of 1949, he suddenly came into national prominence. An evangelistic campaign Graham was leading in Los Angeles resulted in the dramatic conversion of a local underworld figure and a prominent disc jockey, among others. The newspaper magnate, William Randolph Hearst, for reasons unknown, ordered his publications to 'puff Graham' and other newspapers around the country followed suit. The campaign, planned for three weeks, lasted seven. Next, Graham went to Boston for a scheduled series of campaigns and again the results were spectacular. He then went on to Columbia, South Carolina, where he met publisher Henry Luce, who was impressed with the evangelist and had articles about him written for his publications, Time and Life magazines." "Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets" (Luke 6:26).
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What do you know about God?<br>
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I know that He is infinitely great and good. But the Heathen thinks some of his gods are both mean and mischievous--wicked as can be and the very patrons of wickedness among men.<br>
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The Way of Balaam
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What do you know about salvation? I know that God so loved the world as to give His only begotten Son to die that whosoever would believe on Him might live forever. O, the Heathen never heard of that. They would faint away methinks in amazement if they should hear and really believe the startling, glorious fact. And that Sabbath School child knows that God gives His Spirit to convince of sin. He has perhaps often been sensible of the presence and power of the Spirit. But the Heathen know nothing of this.<br>
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But, why identify the name
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of the wicked prophet, Balaam,
You too know that you are immortal--that beyond death there is still a conscious unchanging state of existence, blissful or wretched according to the deeds done here. But the Heathen have no just ideas on this subject. It is to them as if all were a blank.<br>
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with that of Billy Graham, a Bible preaching evangelist?
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The amount of it then is that you know everything--the Heathen almost nothing. You know all you need to know to be saved, to be useful--to honor God and serve your generation according to His will. The Heathen sit in deep darkness, wedded to their abominations, groping, yet finding nothing.<br>
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(1) Billy Graham, like Balaam, gives credence to the Word of God. Balaam said, "I cannot go beyond the Word of the LORD my God, to do less or more" (Numbers 22:18). Billy Graham affirms, "The Bible says".
As your light therefore, so is your guilt immeasurably greater than theirs. Be it so that their idolatries are monstrous--your guilt in your impenitence under the light you have is vastly more so. See that Heathen mother dragging her shrieking child and tumbling it into the Ganges? See her rush with another to throw him into the burning arms of Moloch. Mark; see that pile of wood flashing, lifting up its lurid flames toward heaven. Those men are dragging a dead husband--they heave his senseless corpse on to that burning pile. There comes the widow--her hair disheveled and flying--gaily festooned for such a sacrifice; she dances on; she rends the air with her howls and her wailings; she shrinks and yet she does not shrink--she leaps on the pile, and the din of music with the yell of spectators buries her shrieks of agony; she is gone! O, my blood curdles and runs cold in my veins; my hair stands on end; I am horrified with such scenes--but what shall we say of their guilt? Ah yes--what do they know of God--of worship--of the claims of God upon their heart and life? Ah, you may well spare your censure of the Heathen for their fearful orgies of cruelty and lust, and give it where light has been enjoyed and resisted.<br>
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(2) Billy Graham, like Balaam, encourages unscriptural compromise. Balaam encouraged Israel to "commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab" (Numbers 25:1), while Graham encouraged a Roman Catholic couple, disillusioned with their Catholic church-- as reported in the "Sun Telegram" (January 6th 1973)-- "Don't pull out of the [Catholic] church. Stay in it ... help your church". And,
3. You see then that often a sinner in some of our congregations may know more than all the Heathen world know. If this be true, what follows from it as to the amount of his comparative guilt? This, inevitably, that such a sinner deserves a direr and deeper damnation than all the Heathen world! This conclusion may seem startling; but how can we escape from it? We cannot escape. It is as plain as any mathematical demonstration. This is the principle asserted by Christ when He said--"That servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself, neither did according to His will shall be beaten with many stripes; but he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes; shall be beaten with few stripes." How solemn and how pungent the application of this doctrine would be in this congregation! I could call out many a sinner in this place and show him that beyond question his guilt is greater than that of all the Heathen world. Yet how few ever estimated their own guilt thus.<br>
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(3) Billy Graham, like Balaam, ostensibly refuses riches to pursue his ministry. Balaam replied to Balak's messengers, "If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the Word of the LORD my God, to do less or more" (Numbers 22:18). Though the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) took in over $102 million in 1991, Billy Graham's salary was just a little over $100,000. Money seems to be less of a motivator for Graham than the praise and adulation of man, i.e., the satisfaction that presidents and world leaders would give audience to his counsel. "5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. 6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the Spirit of Truth, and the spirit of error" (1John 4:5-6).
Not long since an ungodly young man, trained in this country, wrote back from the Sandwich Islands a glowing and perhaps a just description of their horrible abominations, moralizing on their monstrous enormities and thanking God that he had been born and taught in a Christian land. Indeed! He might well have spared this censure of the dark-minded Heathen! His own guilt in remaining an impenitent sinner under all the light of Christian America was greater than the whole aggregate guilt of all those Islands.<br>
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A thoughtful evaluation of the ministry of Billy Graham will reveal that Billy Graham has been mightily used of Satan to break down the walls of separation between the Godly and the ungodly. "And ye shall be holy unto Me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be Mine" (Leviticus 20:26). It will also reveal that Billy Graham's most effective work for Babylon the Great has been that of masquerading as a Bible believing evangelist-- doing "the work of the LORD deceitfully" (Jeremiah 48:10)-- seducing unwary Pilgrims into laying aside the "Sword of the Spirit" (Ephesians 6:17) in the name of Christian Love and Unity. If the Pope had approached the Bible-Believing-Evangelical-Community with the need for Ecumenical Unity in previous generations, he would have been viewed with suspicion-- on account of the corruptions of the Medieval Catholic Church, the terrors of the Inquisition, the wicked absurdity of Papal infallibility, etc. "Ye shall know them by their fruits" (Matthew 7:16). [See our articles, "Babylon the Great (Part 1), The Purpose and History of Babylon the Great", for a discussion of Balaam's relationship to promoting Israel's Baal worship.]
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So we may all well spare our expressions of abhorrence at the guilty abominations of idolatry. You are often perhaps saying in your heart--Why does God endure these horrid abominations another day? See that rolling car of Juggernaut. Its wheels move axle deep in the gushing blood and crushed bones of its deluded worshipers! And yet God looks on and no red bolt leaps from His right hand to smite such wickedness. They are indeed guilty; but O how small their guilt compared with the guilt of those who know their duty perfectly, yet never do it! God sees their horrible abominations, yet does He wink at them because they are done in so much ignorance.<br>
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But, when Billy Graham, who is supposed to be a respected leader of the Bible-Believing-Evangelical-Community, calls for Love and Christian Unity with the Church of Rome, i.e., Babylon the Great, it becomes palatable to the rank and file. "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" (Isaiah 5:20). Though Billy Graham is only one of "many antichrists" (1John 2:18)-- for he opposes the necessity to "come out of" Babylon the Great (Revelation 18:4), which is the antichristian Church of Rome-- he does prepare the way for the False Prophet and the Antichrist. "For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds" (2John 11). [See our article, "Babylon the Great (Part 3), The Ecumenical Movement and the Church of Rome", to trace the prophetic significance of the False Love and Unity of Ecumenism.]
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But see that impenitent sinner. Convicted of his sin under the clear gospel light that shines all around him, he is driven to pray. He knows he ought to repent, and almost thinks he wants to, and will try. Yet still he clings to his sins, and will not give up his heart to God. Still he holds his heart in a state of impenitence. Now mark here; his sin in thus withholding his heart from God under so much light, involves greater guilt than all the abominations of the heathen world. Put together the guilt of all those widows who immolate themselves on the funeral pile--of those who hurl their children into the Ganges, or into the burning arms of Moloch--all does not begin to approach the guilt of that convicted sinner's prayer who comes before God under the pressure of his conscience, and prays a heartless prayer, determined all the while to withhold his heart from God. O, why does this sinner thus tempt God, and thus abuse His love, and thus trample on His known authority? O, that moment of impenitence, while his prayers are forced by conscience from his burning lips, and yet he will not yield the controversy with his Maker--that moment involves direr guilt than rests on all the Heathen world together! He knows more than they all, yet sins despite of all his knowledge. The many stripes belong to him--the few to them.<br>
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4. This leads me to remark again, that the Christian world may very well spare their revilings and condemnations of the Heathen. Of all the portions of earth's population, Christendom is infinitely the most guilty--Christendom, where the gospel peals from ten thousand pulpits--where its praises are sung by a thousand choirs, but where many thousand hearts that know God and duty, refuse either to reverence the one or perform the other! All the abominations of the Heathen world are a mere trifle compared with the guilt of Christendom. We may look down upon the filth and meanness and degradation of a Heathen people, and feel a most polite disgust at the spectacle--and far be it from me, to excuse these degrading, filthy or cruel practices; but how small their light and consequently their guilt compared with our own! We therefore ask the Christian world to turn away from the spectacle of Heathen degradation, and look nearer home, upon the spectacle of Christian guilt! Let us look upon ourselves.<br>
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A Chronology of the Compromise of Billy Graham With Babylon the Great.
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5. Again, let us fear not to say what you must all see to be true, that the nominal church is the most guilty part of Christendom. It cannot for a moment be questioned, that the church has more light than any other portion; therefore has she more guilt. Of course I speak of the nominal church--not the real church whom He has pardoned and cleansed from her sins. But in the nominal church, think of the sins that live and riot in their corruption. See that backslider. He has tasted the waters of life. He has been greatly enlightened. Perhaps he has really known the Lord by true faith--and then see, he turns away to beg the husks of earthly pleasure! He turns his back on the bleeding Lamb! Now, put together all the guilt of every Heathen soul that has gone to hell--of every soul that has gone from a state of utter moral darkness, and your guilt, backsliding Christian, is greater than all theirs!<br>
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1966, December 6th. A National Council of Churches-- or, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., Inc., which is "the largest ecumenical body in the United States, with a membership of about 40 million" (Britannica CD 99)-- committee invited Billy Graham to speak at a December 6th luncheon. Dr. Graham said, "We need to remind ourselves of such scriptures as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, 'Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you.' [2Corinthians 6:17] Now some people have interpreted that verse to mean the National Council-- that you're to come out and touch not the unclean thing. (Laughter) That's not the meaning there, the meaning is paganism-- the evils of the world. Indeed we're to go into the world, and mingle with the publicans and sinners but we're not to participate in the moral and social evils" (from Ian R. K. Paisley's "Billy Graham and the Church of Rome", pp. 27-28). Concerning Graham's mocking of spiritual separation, "Fools make a mock at sin" (Proverbs 14:9). Ian Paisley wisely assessed that the purpose of the Ecumenical Movement is the final union of all churches with Babylon the Great. "Without a doubt the aim of both the National Council of Churches in America, and the World Council of Churches on the international level is the final unity of all churches with the Roman Catholic Church" (Paisley, "Billy Graham and the Church of Rome", p. 25). Concerning Babylon the Great, "a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit" (23:27).  
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Do you, therefore say--may God then, have mercy on my soul? So say we all; but we must add, if it be possible; for who can say that such guilt as yours can be forgiven! Can Christ pray for you as he prayed for His murderers--"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do?" Can He plead in your behalf, that you know not what you are doing? Awful! Awful!! Where is the sounding line that shall measure the ocean-depth of your guilt!<br>
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1967, November 21st. Belmont Abbey College, a Roman Catholic school in Belmont, North Carolina (USA), climaxed the week long program of its Institute for Ecumenic Dialogue-- "designed to promote understanding among Catholic and Protestant clergymen"-- with the presentation of an honorary degree of doctor of humane letters (D.H.L.) to Southern Baptist evangelist, Billy Graham. "The gospel that built this school and the gospel that brings me here tonight is still the way of salvation," Graham assured his audience of 1,700 Protestants and Catholics (from an article, "Belmont Abbey Confers Honorary Degree" by Paul Smith, taken from the "The Gastonia Gazette" [North Carolina] November 22, 1967). "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another Gospel" (Galatians 1:6).
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6. Again, if our children remain in sin, we may cease to congratulate ourselves that they were not born in Heathenism or slavery! How often have I done this! How often, as I have looked upon my sons and daughters, have I thanked God that they were not born to be thrown into the burning arms of a Moloch, or to be crushed under the wheels of Juggernaut! But if they will live in sin, we must suspend our self-congratulations for their having Christian light and privileges. If they will not repent, it were infinitely better for them to have been born in the thickest Pagan darkness--better to have been thrown in their tender years into the Ganges, or into the fires which idolatry kindles--better be anything else, or suffer anything earthly, than have the gospel's light only to shut it out and go to hell despite of its admonitions.<br>
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1968, July 5th. In the magazine "Christianity Today"-- founded in 1955 by Graham, his father-in-law L. Nelson Bell, and others "to present the evangelical viewpoint to theologically liberal Protestant pastors" (from "Billy Graham and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association - Historical Background" of the Billy Graham Center Archives at Wheaton College)-- Graham spoke of cooperation with the Church of Rome, saying, "I don't think we have all to unite and be one big church to do the work of God, but there are areas where we can cooperate" (from Dr. Bert Oately-Willis' "Billy Graham: The Facts" [Toronto Free Presbyterian Church]). Billy Graham was speaking of willingness to cooperate with Babylon the Great, i.e., to have "fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness" (Ephesians 5:11). This step in Graham's disobedience formed part of a gradual slide away from any kind of Scriptural separation. "But the Word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken" (Isaiah 28:13).
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Let us not, then be hasty in congratulating ourselves, as if this great light enjoyed by us and by our children, were of course a certain good to them; but this we may do--we may rejoice that God will honor Himself--His mercy if He can, and His justice if He must. God will be honored, and we may glory in this. But oh, the sinner, the sinner! Who can measure the depth of his guilt, or the terror of his final doom! It will be more tolerable for all the heathen world together than for you.<br>
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1977, June 3rd. "Would Billy Graham conduct a crusade at the Vatican? If a place were made available and Christian leaders in Rome wanted him to, he might. No campaign in Catholicism's capital is on the evangelist's calendar now, but his five-day crusade last month [May 1977] on the Notre Dame University Campus proved he is not afraid to go deep into Roman Catholic territory. It also showed that many elements in the once hostile Catholic community are now receptive to Graham's type of ministry. Graham's sermons were of the type that audiences around the world have heard, with only a few more references to such Catholics as Bishop Fulton Sheen and Mother Teresa of Calcutta" (from "Christianity Today" June 3, 1977). Even King David would have to disagree with Billy Graham's unscriptural evangelism. "4 I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers [pretenders]. 5 I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked" (Psalm 26:4-5). When Billy Graham began to refuse to keep his evangelistic crusades from being sponsored by the enemies of the Gospel of Christ, then he openly surrendered his ministry to the Devil. "Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men" (Proverbs 4:14). Billy Graham forgot that only the methods of the LORD could properly promote his ministry. "6 For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. 7 But God is the Judge: He putteth down one, and setteth up another" (Psalm 75:6-7).
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7. It is time that we all understood this subject fully, and appreciated all its bearings. It is no doubt true, that however moral our children may be, they are more guilty than any other sinners under heaven, if they live in sin, and will not yield to the light under which they live. We may be perhaps congratulating ourselves on their fair morality; but if we saw their case in all its real bearings, our souls would groan with agony--our bowels would be all liquid with anguish--our very hearts within us would heave as if volcanic fires were kindled there--so deep a sense should we have of their fearful guilt and of the awful doom they incur in denying the Lord that bought them, and setting at naught a known salvation. O, if we ever pray, we should pour out our prayers for our offspring as if nothing could ever satisfy us or stay our importunity, but the blessings of a full salvation realized in their souls.<br>
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1978, January. In an interview given to "McCall's Magazine" Graham said, "I used to believe that pagans in far off countries were lost going to hell if they did not have the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached to them. I no longer believe that. I believe that there are other ways of recognizing God through nature for instance and plenty of other ways of saying 'yes' to God". But, Dr. Graham, what happened to the Gospel necessity of turning solely to Jesus Christ in faith? "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association later issued a statement citing Graham as saying, "On the whole I am pleased with the accuracy of the article (McCall's)... a few statements unfortunately convey meanings which I never intended. This may be due to my own failure to make myself as plain as I should have". However, in the same McCall's article, Graham said, "I've found that my beliefs are essentially the same as those of orthodox Roman Catholics... we differ on some matters of later church tradition". Notice how the difference between Graham and the universal Church of Rome is admittedly nonexistent. "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God" (James 4:4). The Scripture telling of the degeneration of evil men, i.e., Billy Graham's departure from salvation by faith alone in Christ Jesus, must also be true. "But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived" (2Timothy 3:13).
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Let the mind contemplate the guilt of these children. I could not find a Sabbath school child, perhaps not one in all Christendom who could not tell me more of God's salvation than all the Heathen world know. That dear little boy who comes from his Sabbath school knows all about the gospel. He is almost ready to be converted, but not quite ready; yet that little boy, if he knows his duty, and yet will not do it, is covered with more guilt than all the Heathen world together. Yes, that boy, who goes alone and prays, yet holds back his heart from God, and then his mother comes and prays over him, and pours her tears on his head, and his little heart almost melts, and he seems on the very point of giving up his whole heart to the Savior; yet if he will not do it, he commits more sin in that refusal than all the sin of all the Heathen world--his guilt is more than the guilt of all the murders, all the drownings of children and burnings of widows, and deeds of cruelty and violence in all the heathen world. All this combination of guilt shall not be equal to the guilt of the lad who knows his duty, but will not yield his heart to its righteous claims.<br>
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1979, September. "The Christian Courier" of Milwaukee, Wisconsin published the following report on their recent Milwaukee Crusade: "Sister Maureen Hopkins, Director of the Ecumenical and Interfaith Commission of the Milwaukee Roman Catholic Archdiocese, and a liaison member of the Crusade committee, reported that 120 people have volunteered within the Catholic community to help her with the task of contacting each of the 3,500 inquiries. Sr. Maureen received the names and telephone numbers from the Crusade Committee, based upon the inquirers indication of leaving a Catholic background on his inquiry card... All 3,500 were immediately invited to a Eucharistic celebration which was held on August 16 at St. Theresa's Church in Milwaukee. The mass was attended by more than 400 people. The primary purpose for the mass was to remind the inquirers that their commitments to Christ should be nurtured within the sacramental framework of the [Catholic] church." "Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture! saith the LORD" (Jeremiah 23:1).
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8. "The Heathen," says an apostle, "sin without law, and shall therefore perish without law." In their final doom they will be cast away from God; this will be perhaps about all. The bitter reflection, "I had the light of the gospel and would not yield to it--I knew all my duty, yet did it not"--this cannot be a part of their eternal doom. This is reserved for those who gather themselves into our sanctuaries and around our family altars, yet will not serve their own Infinite Father.<br>
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"Christianity Today" for September 7,1979 pointed out that "Graham had sent a team member almost a year before the Crusade to conduct a seminar on the working of the Crusade for Milwaukee [Catholic] priests and lay workers". Pastor John Ashbrook writes, "It is a tragedy that 3,500 decision cards were turned over to the Roman Catholic Church, but, it is a worse tragedy when you realize that it did not 'happen,' It was planned by the world's best-known evangelist" (from John Ashbrook's "Billy Graham's Catholic Connection"). "Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness" (Jeremiah 22:13).
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9. One more remark. Suppose I should call out a sinner by name--one of the sinners of this congregation, a son of pious parents, and should call up the father also. I might say, Is this your son" Yes. What testimony can you bear about this son of yours? I have endeavored to teach him all the ways of the Lord. Son, what can you say? I know my duty. I have heard it a thousand times. I know I ought to repent, but I never would.<br>
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1979, September 27th. On the eve of the Papal visit to the United States in 1979, The Religious News Service produced a September 27,1979 dispatch which quoted Billy Graham as follows: "The visit of Pope Paul II to the United States is an event of great significance not only for Roman Catholics, but for all Americans-- as well as the world... In the short time he has been Pope, John Paul II has become the moral leader of the world. My prayers and the prayer of countless other Protestants will be with him as he makes his journey" (from John Ashbrook's "Billy Graham's Catholic Connection"). "When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers" (Psalm 50:18). And, "They that forsake the Law praise the wicked: but such as keep the Law contend with them" (Proverbs 28:4).
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O, if we understood this matter in all its bearings, it would fill every bosom with consternation and grief. How would our bowels burn and heave as a volcano. There would be one universal outcry of anguish and terror at the awful guilt and fearful doom of such a sinner!<br>
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1980, January/February. Alan Cairns recorded that, "DR. GRAHAM HAILS THE POPE AS 'THE GREATEST RELIGIOUS LEADER OF THE MODERN WORLD.'" Billy Graham wrote this in a lengthy article in the "Saturday Evening Post" of January/February 1980, referring to John Paul II as "one of the greatest moral and spiritual leaders of this century" and "an evangelist" who "sought to speak to the spiritual hunger of our age in the same way Christians throughout the centuries have spoken to the spiritual yearning of every age-- by pointing people to Christ" (from Alan Cairns' "Billy Graham and His Bible" [Greenville, South Carolina-- in association with the Toronto Free Presbyterian Church]). When the Professed Church begins to believe such lies as Graham wrote for the "Saturday Evening Post", then the Scripture is rejected. "Let not an evil speaker be established in the Earth: evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him" (Psalm 140:11). Also, the Scripture is spurned that declares, "I am a companion of all them that fear Thee, and of them that keep Thy Precepts" (119:63).
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Young man, are you going away this day in your sins? Then, what angel can compute your guilt? O, how long has Jesus held out His hands, yes, His bleeding hands, and besought you to look and live! A thousand times, and in countless varied ways has He called, but you have refused; stretched out His hands, and you have not regarded. O, why will you not repent? Why not say at once; It is enough that I have sinned so long. I cannot live so any longer! O, sinner, why will you live so? Would you go down to hell--ah, to the deepest hell--where, if we would find you, we must work our way down a thousand years through ranks of lost spirits less guilty than you, ere we could reach the fearful depth to which you have sunk! O, sinner, what a hell is that which can adequately punish such guilt as thine!<br>
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1981. Billy Graham "met the pope for the first time, and was the first Protestant to speak at the North American College, a seminary for students from North America at the Vatican" (reported from "Roman Catholic- Evangelical Cooperation" at ReligiousTolerance.org-- an unscriptural website, i.e., "tolerant of all religious beliefs, accurate in our writing, and inclusive", run by two "Unitarian Universalists", one "Wiccan" [witch], and one "liberal but unaffiliated Christian"). "Come [quickly], LORD Jesus" (Revelation 22:20). Billy Graham's toleration of wickedness is the essence of his sin, i.e., hypocritical love. "Let love be without dissimulation [literally, hypocrisy]. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good" (Romans 12:9). Any tolerance of that which is known to be evil, in the name of being balanced, fair, inclusive, etc. is a devious means of stripping the Saint of his holiness. "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the LORD, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you" (2Corinthians 6:17). When the very word "tolerance" can be used as a weapon against the Godly, then the enemy has come in like a flood. But, "when the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him" (Isaiah 59:19). Amen, and Amen!
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1984, February 9th. John Ashbrook, pastor of Bible Community Church in Mentor, Ohio, reported that the Lake County (Ohio) "News Herald" of February 9, 1984 printed a headline stating: "Graham's Help on Vatican Ties". The article was an Associated Press release: "A spokesman for Billy Graham confirms that the evangelist played a behind-the-scenes role in President Reagan's decision to establish formal diplomatic relations with the Vatican, a newspaper reported yesterday. Early in 1983, Graham was asked by the president and adviser William Clark to make informal, private inquiries among evangelical Protestant leaders about likely response to such an action, said Donald Bialy, media director for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in Minneapolis. A copy of the seven-page letter that the Baptist evangelist sent to Clark was obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times, which quoted Graham as saying, 'If anyone can do it and get away with it, it is Mr. Reagan.'" Concerning the sinful overture of the United States to the Vatican, "Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people" (Proverbs 14:34). And concerning America's departure to Rome, "My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me the Fountain of Living Waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water" (Jeremiah 2:13).
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1989, June 8th. Commenting on a highlight of his life, Billy Graham offered this anecdote about a 1989 meeting with Pope John Paul II: "There was a pause in the conversation; suddenly the Pope's arm shot out and he grabbed the lapels of my coat, he pulled me forward within inches of his own face. He fixed his eyes on me and said, 'Listen Graham, we are brothers'" (from "Today" June 8, 1989). "Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go" (Proverbs 22:24). And, "Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders" (Jeremiah 9:4).
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1995, June 2-8. "The European" reported, "DR. GRAHAM SENDS HIS ENQUIRERS INTO ROMAN CATHOLICISM, EASTERN ORTHODOXY, LIBERAL PROTESTANTISM, ETC." This has been a consistent policy since Billy Graham's early evangelistic days. "His name and address and a lot of information about him is taken and within 24 hours that is sent to a minister of the church of his choice regardless of denomination" (from an interview with Graham in the "U.S. News and World Report" of August 27, 1954). "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea" (Matthew 18:6). Why has Billy Graham done this? Like Balaam, Billy Graham "loved the wages of unrighteousness" (2Peter 2:15), i.e., the acceptance of man, the success of man, the materialism of man, etc. But, the "deceivableness of unrighteousness" (2Thessalonians 2:10) caused Billy Graham to believe the lie that he has done all of this for Jesus Christ. In the end, Billy Graham has no one to blame but Billy Graham. "Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do" (Hebrews 4:13).
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1997. In Billy Graham's autobiography, he made clear that his goal was not to lead people out of Roman Catholicism: "My goal, I always made clear, was not to preach against Catholic beliefs or to proselytize people who were already committed to Christ within the Catholic Church. Rather, it was to proclaim the Gospel to all those who had never truly committed their lives to Christ" (from Billy Graham's autobiography, "Just As I Am", p. 357). "3 If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to Wholesome Words, even the Words of our LORD Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to Godliness; 4 He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, 5 Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the Truth, supposing that gain is Godliness: from such withdraw thyself" (1Timothy 6:3-5).
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1997, January. Larry King interviewed Billy Graham, and he easily induced Graham to make statements applauding the Pope and the Church of Rome.
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KING: What do you think of the other [churches]... like Mormonism? Catholicism? Other faiths within the Christian concept?
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GRAHAM: Oh, I think I have a wonderful fellowship with all of them. For example...
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KING: You're comfortable with Salt Lake City? You're comfortable with the Vatican?
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GRAHAM: I am very comfortable with the Vatican. I have been to see the Pope several times. In fact, preaching in his cathedral in Krakow. I was his guest... [and] when he was over here... in Columbia, South Carolina... he invited me on the platform to speak with him. I would give one talk, and he would give the other...
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KING: You like this Pope?
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GRAHAM: I like him very much.... He and I agree on almost everything.
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Billy Graham's self-admitted "fellowship" with Mormonism and Catholicism makes him a "partaker of [their] evil deeds" (2John 11). "Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them" (Ephesians 5:11). However, no amount of historical proofs or Scriptural texts will convince you of the blackness of Billy Graham's compromise or the present nakedness of the Professed Church, if you are unwilling to receive it. "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself" (John 7:17). In fact, that so few of the Professed Church can understand Billy Graham's compromise and oppose it, demonstrates that the "coming of the LORD draweth nigh" (James 5:8). For, "when the Son of Man cometh, shall He find Faith on the Earth?" (Luke 18:8).
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1997. David Frost interviewed his long time friend, Billy Graham. Frost noted the change that took place in Graham from the early days of his evangelistic ministry to the present.
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FROST: When you began, people said you were the apostle of certitude-- an impossible certitude. You have, over the years, developed the ability to say, I don't know. In the sense that you have found it easier to say, I don't know, with the passing over the years.
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GRAHAM: Exactly. It's not easier, but it's the truth...
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It has become more humanistically expedient and acceptable for Billy Graham to now say, "I don't know" than in his early Fundamentalist days-- and later-- when his oft used expression was, "The Bible says". "Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake Thy Law" (Psalm 119:53). The certainty of a "plain path" (27:11) from the LORD directed by a "more sure Word of prophecy" (2Peter 1:19) has now been replaced by the same uncertainty possessed by those who perish. "17 This I say therefore, and testify in the LORD, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart" (Ephesians 4:17-18). True Christians have the Infallible Scriptures-- "16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly [thoroughly] furnished unto all good works" (2Timothy 3:16-17)-- while Babylon the Great has only an "infallible" Pope. "For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges" (Deuteronomy 32:31).
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1999. With Parkinson's disease, Billy Graham is now more of a university chancellor, watching over the vast expanse of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA)-- with his son, William Franklin Graham III (b. 1952), already positioned as his father's successor at the BGEA. "26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it" (Matthew 7:26-27). Sadly, Billy Graham still presents himself as the affable senior statesman of Evangelical Christianity, admired by the world religious community, but he has yet to repent of his adultery with Babylon the Great. "Behold, I will cast her [Jezebel, i.e., Babylon the Great] into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds" (Revelation 2:22). Perhaps the Amazingly Merciful God would allow Billy Graham to be cast into the Tribulation Week (Daniel 9:27) to gain his repentance. "When He slew them, then they sought Him: and they returned and enquired early after God" (Psalm 78:34).
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On Separating Obedience From Love, And Truth From Unity
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True Christian love responds to the Father that sent His "Only Begotten Son" (John 3:16), to the "Greater Love" (15:13) of the LORD Jesus Christ that laid "down His life for His friends" (15:13), and to the "Love of the Spirit" (Romans 15:30) that pursued us with the "Great Love wherewith He loved us" (Ephesians 2:4). The only right response of the Saints to the Love of God is loving obedience. "For this is the Love of God, that we keep His Commandments: and His Commandments are not grievous" (1John 5:3). The Body of Christ must be taught that obedience to the Word of God is the demonstration of a heart of love from a True Saint. "He that hath My Commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him" (John 14:21).
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If the Body can be somehow persuaded that Christian Love can be separated from Obedience, then the way of the Antichrist can be prepared so that no heed need be given to the warning that damnation will come to all those who receive the Mark of the Beast. "9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the Beast [the Antichrist] and his image, and receive his Mark in his forehead, or in his hand, 10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb" (Revelation 14:9-10).
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Further, if Christian Unity can be separated from Truth, then the lack of obedience to the "Word of Truth" (Ephesians 1:13) will breed a False Christian Unity-- in the name of "that they may be one" (John 17:11)-- free of the restrictions of the Word of God. But, "Sanctify them through Thy Truth: Thy Word is Truth" (17:17) was the high priestly prayer of the LORD Jesus Christ in Gethsemane, understanding that True Christian Unity only comes from submission to the Truth of the Word of God. "13 Till we all come in the Unity of the Faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15 But speaking the Truth in Love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ" (Ephesians 4:13-15).
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Once Truth has been divorced from Christian Unity, then it is unnecessary to discriminate if the one who enters Jerusalem to seat himself in the "temple of God, shewing himself that he is God" (2Thessalonians 2:4) is really Jesus Christ or simply the Antichrist. The stage has been set for the advent of that Antichrist, for the predicted Apostasy-- falling away from Obedience to the Truth of the Word of God-- that precedes the Man of Sin is well under way (and, speeding to completion). "2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the Day of Christ is at hand. 3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that Day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that Man of Sin be revealed, the Son of Perdition" (2Thessalonians 2:2-3).
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Conclusion
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The LORD Jesus Christ had His John the Baptist. "For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make His paths straight" (Matthew 3:3). The False Prophet and the Antichrist also have their Balaam to prepare their way into the Tribulation Week (Daniel 9:27)-- but, for their inevitable judgment at the conclusion of that Week. "And the Beast [the Antichrist] was taken, and with him the False Prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the Mark of the Beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a Lake of Fire burning with brimstone" (Revelation 19:20). May God grant that Modern Balaam-- Billy Graham-- "repentance to the acknowledging of the Truth" (2Timothy 2:25). But, whether or not the Sovereign God should bestow mercy-- "Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth" (Romans 9:18)-- upon Billy Graham, may the True People of God "judge righteous judgment" (John 7:24) by separating from Babylon the Great. "Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues" (Revelation 18:4).
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Tom Stewart

Latest revision as of 22:27, 18 January 2016

Or, The Coming Destruction of the One World Religion


Billy Graham: Christianity's Modern Balaam

"Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD" (2Chronicles 19:2).


by Tom Stewart


Preface

A CNN/USA Today/Gallup survey was taken of the American public on December 28th-29th 1998, sampling 1,055 adult Americans' opinions of whom they "admire the most". "Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of Me" (Isaiah 30:1). Despite the House of Representatives' vote to impeach him, President Bill Clinton was voted the most admired man-- "living in any part of the world"-- for the second consecutive year. "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the LORD" (55:8). It came as no surprise that NBA sports star Michael Jordan was included near the top of that list-- 4th most admired. However, the 2nd most admired was the only one of the top four that is not an American-- Pope John Paul II. "Moreover I will deliver all the strength of this city, and all the labours thereof, and all the precious things thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies, which shall spoil them, and take them, and carry them to Babylon" (Jeremiah 20:5). The individual that ranked as the 3rd most admired man-- by this "evil and adulterous generation" (Matthew 12:39)-- in 1998's year end poll, was Billy Graham, the Southern Baptist evangelist known throughout the world. But, "11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake. 12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in Heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you" (5:11-12).


How Could This Happen?

Jesus Christ, the Judge, "standeth before the door" (James 5:9), and the Apostasy preceding His Second Coming is already in progress. "When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find Faith on the Earth?" (Luke 18:8). Though it may seem that the entire world has capitulated to Babylon the Great, the God of All Comfort assures His people, "I have reserved to Myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal" (Romans 11:4). The transformation of Professed Christianity into Babylon the Great must accelerate as the Man of Sin must shortly be revealed. "But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived" (2Timothy 3:13). Though Christ's free gift of salvation is offered to the world-- and "few there be that find it" (Matthew 7:14)-- apparently even fewer have an "understanding of the times, to know what Israel [i.e., the Godly] ought to do" (1Chronicles 12:32). [See our articles, "An Earnest Appeal to Roman Catholics, Or, Roman Catholicism Examined in Light of the Scriptures" and "Babylon the Great (Part 2), The Reformation and the Church of Rome", for an exposition of Rome's doctrine and history.]

How could this degeneration take place for the Professed Church, if the Godly continue to "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our LORD and Saviour Jesus Christ" (2Peter 3:18)? Obviously, the Professed Church has ceased to grow, but has become "as a backsliding heifer" (Hosea 4:16). The command of the Holy One-- "Be ye holy; for I am holy" (1Peter 1:16)-- has been minimized or sinfully ignored, i.e., "Christians aren't perfect-- just forgiven". As the Saints became "weary in well doing" (Galatians 6:9), instead of reproving the "unfruitful works of darkness" (Ephesians 5:11), they opened their arms of fellowship to Babylon the Great in the name of Unity and Christian Love. But, "what saith the Scripture?" (Romans 4:3). "Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD" (2Chronicles 19:2).


Billy Graham: His Early Life and Ministry

Outside of the Pope, one of the best known names of the modern Christian culture is that of Billy Graham-- William Franklin Graham, Jr.-- born in 1918. "For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required" (Luke 12:48). At the age of 16, Billy Graham made a public profession of faith in the LORD Jesus Christ, under the preaching of Baptist evangelist, Mordechai Ham (1877-1961). "Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right" (Proverbs 20:11). In 1936, Graham briefly attended Bob Jones College (now Bob Jones University of Greenville, South Carolina [USA])-- founded by Bob Jones, Sr. (1883-1968), Fundamentalist evangelist-- citing an inability to adjust to Bob Jones campus life as his reason for leaving. "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" (Amos 3:3). He then transferred to Florida Bible Institute (now Trinity College). At this time, he began his life-long membership in the Southern Baptist Convention. Graduating in 1940, he then entered Wheaton College, where he also graduated; and, in 1943, he married Ruth Bell (b. 1920), daughter of missionaries to China and Korea. "For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh" (Matthew 19:5).

During his early ministry, Billy Graham became a well known evangelistic figure among the Fundamentalist, Bible preaching churches of America, but still not a byword to America's religious mainstream. "A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold" (Proverbs 22:1). From 1945 to 1948, Graham assisted Torrey Johnson, organizing rallies and speaking for the Youth for Christ organization. "If ye continue in My Word, then are ye My disciples indeed" (John 8:31). In 1947, William B. Riley (1861-1947)-- ardent Fundamentalist, who fought the drift of the Northern Baptist Convention into Modernism's Social Gospel-- persuaded Graham to accept the leadership of Northwestern Schools in Minneapolis, Minnesota [USA]. "Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint" (Proverbs 25:19).

After all, in 1948, at the annual convention of the fundamentalist 'Conservative Baptist Association', Billy Graham was asked: "What do you expect the World Council of Churches to do this August when you visit Copenhagen?" Graham replied, "I believe they are going to nominate the Anti-Christ" (from Ian R. K. Paisley's "Billy Graham and the Church of Rome" [1970], p. 46). Contrast that to Graham's 1974 statement at the International Congress on World Evangelization in Lausanne, Switzerland: "I have nothing but the warmest of relations with the World Council of Churches" (from Dr. Bert Oately-Willis' "Billy Graham: The Facts" [Toronto Free Presbyterian Church]). "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24).


1949-- A Year of Decision for Billy Graham

Let an excerpt from a biography of Billy Graham, "Billy Graham and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association - Historical Background", prepared by the staff of the Billy Graham Center Archives at Wheaton College-- since 1980, the designated repository for the papers of Graham and the records of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA)-- inform us of the sudden transformation of Billy Graham at the close of 1949. "Within evangelical and fundamentalist communities in America, Graham was quite well known. At the end of 1949, he suddenly came into national prominence. An evangelistic campaign Graham was leading in Los Angeles resulted in the dramatic conversion of a local underworld figure and a prominent disc jockey, among others. The newspaper magnate, William Randolph Hearst, for reasons unknown, ordered his publications to 'puff Graham' and other newspapers around the country followed suit. The campaign, planned for three weeks, lasted seven. Next, Graham went to Boston for a scheduled series of campaigns and again the results were spectacular. He then went on to Columbia, South Carolina, where he met publisher Henry Luce, who was impressed with the evangelist and had articles about him written for his publications, Time and Life magazines." "Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets" (Luke 6:26).


The Way of Balaam

But, why identify the name of the wicked prophet, Balaam, with that of Billy Graham, a Bible preaching evangelist?


(1) Billy Graham, like Balaam, gives credence to the Word of God. Balaam said, "I cannot go beyond the Word of the LORD my God, to do less or more" (Numbers 22:18). Billy Graham affirms, "The Bible says".

(2) Billy Graham, like Balaam, encourages unscriptural compromise. Balaam encouraged Israel to "commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab" (Numbers 25:1), while Graham encouraged a Roman Catholic couple, disillusioned with their Catholic church-- as reported in the "Sun Telegram" (January 6th 1973)-- "Don't pull out of the [Catholic] church. Stay in it ... help your church". And,

(3) Billy Graham, like Balaam, ostensibly refuses riches to pursue his ministry. Balaam replied to Balak's messengers, "If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the Word of the LORD my God, to do less or more" (Numbers 22:18). Though the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) took in over $102 million in 1991, Billy Graham's salary was just a little over $100,000. Money seems to be less of a motivator for Graham than the praise and adulation of man, i.e., the satisfaction that presidents and world leaders would give audience to his counsel. "5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. 6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the Spirit of Truth, and the spirit of error" (1John 4:5-6). A thoughtful evaluation of the ministry of Billy Graham will reveal that Billy Graham has been mightily used of Satan to break down the walls of separation between the Godly and the ungodly. "And ye shall be holy unto Me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be Mine" (Leviticus 20:26). It will also reveal that Billy Graham's most effective work for Babylon the Great has been that of masquerading as a Bible believing evangelist-- doing "the work of the LORD deceitfully" (Jeremiah 48:10)-- seducing unwary Pilgrims into laying aside the "Sword of the Spirit" (Ephesians 6:17) in the name of Christian Love and Unity. If the Pope had approached the Bible-Believing-Evangelical-Community with the need for Ecumenical Unity in previous generations, he would have been viewed with suspicion-- on account of the corruptions of the Medieval Catholic Church, the terrors of the Inquisition, the wicked absurdity of Papal infallibility, etc. "Ye shall know them by their fruits" (Matthew 7:16). [See our articles, "Babylon the Great (Part 1), The Purpose and History of Babylon the Great", for a discussion of Balaam's relationship to promoting Israel's Baal worship.]

But, when Billy Graham, who is supposed to be a respected leader of the Bible-Believing-Evangelical-Community, calls for Love and Christian Unity with the Church of Rome, i.e., Babylon the Great, it becomes palatable to the rank and file. "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" (Isaiah 5:20). Though Billy Graham is only one of "many antichrists" (1John 2:18)-- for he opposes the necessity to "come out of" Babylon the Great (Revelation 18:4), which is the antichristian Church of Rome-- he does prepare the way for the False Prophet and the Antichrist. "For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds" (2John 11). [See our article, "Babylon the Great (Part 3), The Ecumenical Movement and the Church of Rome", to trace the prophetic significance of the False Love and Unity of Ecumenism.]


A Chronology of the Compromise of Billy Graham With Babylon the Great.

1966, December 6th. A National Council of Churches-- or, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., Inc., which is "the largest ecumenical body in the United States, with a membership of about 40 million" (Britannica CD 99)-- committee invited Billy Graham to speak at a December 6th luncheon. Dr. Graham said, "We need to remind ourselves of such scriptures as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, 'Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you.' [2Corinthians 6:17] Now some people have interpreted that verse to mean the National Council-- that you're to come out and touch not the unclean thing. (Laughter) That's not the meaning there, the meaning is paganism-- the evils of the world. Indeed we're to go into the world, and mingle with the publicans and sinners but we're not to participate in the moral and social evils" (from Ian R. K. Paisley's "Billy Graham and the Church of Rome", pp. 27-28). Concerning Graham's mocking of spiritual separation, "Fools make a mock at sin" (Proverbs 14:9). Ian Paisley wisely assessed that the purpose of the Ecumenical Movement is the final union of all churches with Babylon the Great. "Without a doubt the aim of both the National Council of Churches in America, and the World Council of Churches on the international level is the final unity of all churches with the Roman Catholic Church" (Paisley, "Billy Graham and the Church of Rome", p. 25). Concerning Babylon the Great, "a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit" (23:27).

1967, November 21st. Belmont Abbey College, a Roman Catholic school in Belmont, North Carolina (USA), climaxed the week long program of its Institute for Ecumenic Dialogue-- "designed to promote understanding among Catholic and Protestant clergymen"-- with the presentation of an honorary degree of doctor of humane letters (D.H.L.) to Southern Baptist evangelist, Billy Graham. "The gospel that built this school and the gospel that brings me here tonight is still the way of salvation," Graham assured his audience of 1,700 Protestants and Catholics (from an article, "Belmont Abbey Confers Honorary Degree" by Paul Smith, taken from the "The Gastonia Gazette" [North Carolina] November 22, 1967). "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another Gospel" (Galatians 1:6).

1968, July 5th. In the magazine "Christianity Today"-- founded in 1955 by Graham, his father-in-law L. Nelson Bell, and others "to present the evangelical viewpoint to theologically liberal Protestant pastors" (from "Billy Graham and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association - Historical Background" of the Billy Graham Center Archives at Wheaton College)-- Graham spoke of cooperation with the Church of Rome, saying, "I don't think we have all to unite and be one big church to do the work of God, but there are areas where we can cooperate" (from Dr. Bert Oately-Willis' "Billy Graham: The Facts" [Toronto Free Presbyterian Church]). Billy Graham was speaking of willingness to cooperate with Babylon the Great, i.e., to have "fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness" (Ephesians 5:11). This step in Graham's disobedience formed part of a gradual slide away from any kind of Scriptural separation. "But the Word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken" (Isaiah 28:13).

1977, June 3rd. "Would Billy Graham conduct a crusade at the Vatican? If a place were made available and Christian leaders in Rome wanted him to, he might. No campaign in Catholicism's capital is on the evangelist's calendar now, but his five-day crusade last month [May 1977] on the Notre Dame University Campus proved he is not afraid to go deep into Roman Catholic territory. It also showed that many elements in the once hostile Catholic community are now receptive to Graham's type of ministry. Graham's sermons were of the type that audiences around the world have heard, with only a few more references to such Catholics as Bishop Fulton Sheen and Mother Teresa of Calcutta" (from "Christianity Today" June 3, 1977). Even King David would have to disagree with Billy Graham's unscriptural evangelism. "4 I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers [pretenders]. 5 I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked" (Psalm 26:4-5). When Billy Graham began to refuse to keep his evangelistic crusades from being sponsored by the enemies of the Gospel of Christ, then he openly surrendered his ministry to the Devil. "Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men" (Proverbs 4:14). Billy Graham forgot that only the methods of the LORD could properly promote his ministry. "6 For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. 7 But God is the Judge: He putteth down one, and setteth up another" (Psalm 75:6-7).

1978, January. In an interview given to "McCall's Magazine" Graham said, "I used to believe that pagans in far off countries were lost going to hell if they did not have the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached to them. I no longer believe that. I believe that there are other ways of recognizing God through nature for instance and plenty of other ways of saying 'yes' to God". But, Dr. Graham, what happened to the Gospel necessity of turning solely to Jesus Christ in faith? "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association later issued a statement citing Graham as saying, "On the whole I am pleased with the accuracy of the article (McCall's)... a few statements unfortunately convey meanings which I never intended. This may be due to my own failure to make myself as plain as I should have". However, in the same McCall's article, Graham said, "I've found that my beliefs are essentially the same as those of orthodox Roman Catholics... we differ on some matters of later church tradition". Notice how the difference between Graham and the universal Church of Rome is admittedly nonexistent. "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God" (James 4:4). The Scripture telling of the degeneration of evil men, i.e., Billy Graham's departure from salvation by faith alone in Christ Jesus, must also be true. "But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived" (2Timothy 3:13).

1979, September. "The Christian Courier" of Milwaukee, Wisconsin published the following report on their recent Milwaukee Crusade: "Sister Maureen Hopkins, Director of the Ecumenical and Interfaith Commission of the Milwaukee Roman Catholic Archdiocese, and a liaison member of the Crusade committee, reported that 120 people have volunteered within the Catholic community to help her with the task of contacting each of the 3,500 inquiries. Sr. Maureen received the names and telephone numbers from the Crusade Committee, based upon the inquirers indication of leaving a Catholic background on his inquiry card... All 3,500 were immediately invited to a Eucharistic celebration which was held on August 16 at St. Theresa's Church in Milwaukee. The mass was attended by more than 400 people. The primary purpose for the mass was to remind the inquirers that their commitments to Christ should be nurtured within the sacramental framework of the [Catholic] church." "Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture! saith the LORD" (Jeremiah 23:1).

"Christianity Today" for September 7,1979 pointed out that "Graham had sent a team member almost a year before the Crusade to conduct a seminar on the working of the Crusade for Milwaukee [Catholic] priests and lay workers". Pastor John Ashbrook writes, "It is a tragedy that 3,500 decision cards were turned over to the Roman Catholic Church, but, it is a worse tragedy when you realize that it did not 'happen,' It was planned by the world's best-known evangelist" (from John Ashbrook's "Billy Graham's Catholic Connection"). "Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness" (Jeremiah 22:13).

1979, September 27th. On the eve of the Papal visit to the United States in 1979, The Religious News Service produced a September 27,1979 dispatch which quoted Billy Graham as follows: "The visit of Pope Paul II to the United States is an event of great significance not only for Roman Catholics, but for all Americans-- as well as the world... In the short time he has been Pope, John Paul II has become the moral leader of the world. My prayers and the prayer of countless other Protestants will be with him as he makes his journey" (from John Ashbrook's "Billy Graham's Catholic Connection"). "When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers" (Psalm 50:18). And, "They that forsake the Law praise the wicked: but such as keep the Law contend with them" (Proverbs 28:4).

1980, January/February. Alan Cairns recorded that, "DR. GRAHAM HAILS THE POPE AS 'THE GREATEST RELIGIOUS LEADER OF THE MODERN WORLD.'" Billy Graham wrote this in a lengthy article in the "Saturday Evening Post" of January/February 1980, referring to John Paul II as "one of the greatest moral and spiritual leaders of this century" and "an evangelist" who "sought to speak to the spiritual hunger of our age in the same way Christians throughout the centuries have spoken to the spiritual yearning of every age-- by pointing people to Christ" (from Alan Cairns' "Billy Graham and His Bible" [Greenville, South Carolina-- in association with the Toronto Free Presbyterian Church]). When the Professed Church begins to believe such lies as Graham wrote for the "Saturday Evening Post", then the Scripture is rejected. "Let not an evil speaker be established in the Earth: evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him" (Psalm 140:11). Also, the Scripture is spurned that declares, "I am a companion of all them that fear Thee, and of them that keep Thy Precepts" (119:63).

1981. Billy Graham "met the pope for the first time, and was the first Protestant to speak at the North American College, a seminary for students from North America at the Vatican" (reported from "Roman Catholic- Evangelical Cooperation" at ReligiousTolerance.org-- an unscriptural website, i.e., "tolerant of all religious beliefs, accurate in our writing, and inclusive", run by two "Unitarian Universalists", one "Wiccan" [witch], and one "liberal but unaffiliated Christian"). "Come [quickly], LORD Jesus" (Revelation 22:20). Billy Graham's toleration of wickedness is the essence of his sin, i.e., hypocritical love. "Let love be without dissimulation [literally, hypocrisy]. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good" (Romans 12:9). Any tolerance of that which is known to be evil, in the name of being balanced, fair, inclusive, etc. is a devious means of stripping the Saint of his holiness. "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the LORD, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you" (2Corinthians 6:17). When the very word "tolerance" can be used as a weapon against the Godly, then the enemy has come in like a flood. But, "when the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him" (Isaiah 59:19). Amen, and Amen!

1984, February 9th. John Ashbrook, pastor of Bible Community Church in Mentor, Ohio, reported that the Lake County (Ohio) "News Herald" of February 9, 1984 printed a headline stating: "Graham's Help on Vatican Ties". The article was an Associated Press release: "A spokesman for Billy Graham confirms that the evangelist played a behind-the-scenes role in President Reagan's decision to establish formal diplomatic relations with the Vatican, a newspaper reported yesterday. Early in 1983, Graham was asked by the president and adviser William Clark to make informal, private inquiries among evangelical Protestant leaders about likely response to such an action, said Donald Bialy, media director for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in Minneapolis. A copy of the seven-page letter that the Baptist evangelist sent to Clark was obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times, which quoted Graham as saying, 'If anyone can do it and get away with it, it is Mr. Reagan.'" Concerning the sinful overture of the United States to the Vatican, "Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people" (Proverbs 14:34). And concerning America's departure to Rome, "My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me the Fountain of Living Waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water" (Jeremiah 2:13).

1989, June 8th. Commenting on a highlight of his life, Billy Graham offered this anecdote about a 1989 meeting with Pope John Paul II: "There was a pause in the conversation; suddenly the Pope's arm shot out and he grabbed the lapels of my coat, he pulled me forward within inches of his own face. He fixed his eyes on me and said, 'Listen Graham, we are brothers'" (from "Today" June 8, 1989). "Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go" (Proverbs 22:24). And, "Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders" (Jeremiah 9:4).

1995, June 2-8. "The European" reported, "DR. GRAHAM SENDS HIS ENQUIRERS INTO ROMAN CATHOLICISM, EASTERN ORTHODOXY, LIBERAL PROTESTANTISM, ETC." This has been a consistent policy since Billy Graham's early evangelistic days. "His name and address and a lot of information about him is taken and within 24 hours that is sent to a minister of the church of his choice regardless of denomination" (from an interview with Graham in the "U.S. News and World Report" of August 27, 1954). "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea" (Matthew 18:6). Why has Billy Graham done this? Like Balaam, Billy Graham "loved the wages of unrighteousness" (2Peter 2:15), i.e., the acceptance of man, the success of man, the materialism of man, etc. But, the "deceivableness of unrighteousness" (2Thessalonians 2:10) caused Billy Graham to believe the lie that he has done all of this for Jesus Christ. In the end, Billy Graham has no one to blame but Billy Graham. "Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do" (Hebrews 4:13).

1997. In Billy Graham's autobiography, he made clear that his goal was not to lead people out of Roman Catholicism: "My goal, I always made clear, was not to preach against Catholic beliefs or to proselytize people who were already committed to Christ within the Catholic Church. Rather, it was to proclaim the Gospel to all those who had never truly committed their lives to Christ" (from Billy Graham's autobiography, "Just As I Am", p. 357). "3 If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to Wholesome Words, even the Words of our LORD Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to Godliness; 4 He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, 5 Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the Truth, supposing that gain is Godliness: from such withdraw thyself" (1Timothy 6:3-5).

1997, January. Larry King interviewed Billy Graham, and he easily induced Graham to make statements applauding the Pope and the Church of Rome.

KING: What do you think of the other [churches]... like Mormonism? Catholicism? Other faiths within the Christian concept?

GRAHAM: Oh, I think I have a wonderful fellowship with all of them. For example...

KING: You're comfortable with Salt Lake City? You're comfortable with the Vatican?

GRAHAM: I am very comfortable with the Vatican. I have been to see the Pope several times. In fact, preaching in his cathedral in Krakow. I was his guest... [and] when he was over here... in Columbia, South Carolina... he invited me on the platform to speak with him. I would give one talk, and he would give the other...

KING: You like this Pope?

GRAHAM: I like him very much.... He and I agree on almost everything. Billy Graham's self-admitted "fellowship" with Mormonism and Catholicism makes him a "partaker of [their] evil deeds" (2John 11). "Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them" (Ephesians 5:11). However, no amount of historical proofs or Scriptural texts will convince you of the blackness of Billy Graham's compromise or the present nakedness of the Professed Church, if you are unwilling to receive it. "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself" (John 7:17). In fact, that so few of the Professed Church can understand Billy Graham's compromise and oppose it, demonstrates that the "coming of the LORD draweth nigh" (James 5:8). For, "when the Son of Man cometh, shall He find Faith on the Earth?" (Luke 18:8).

1997. David Frost interviewed his long time friend, Billy Graham. Frost noted the change that took place in Graham from the early days of his evangelistic ministry to the present.

FROST: When you began, people said you were the apostle of certitude-- an impossible certitude. You have, over the years, developed the ability to say, I don't know. In the sense that you have found it easier to say, I don't know, with the passing over the years.

GRAHAM: Exactly. It's not easier, but it's the truth... It has become more humanistically expedient and acceptable for Billy Graham to now say, "I don't know" than in his early Fundamentalist days-- and later-- when his oft used expression was, "The Bible says". "Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake Thy Law" (Psalm 119:53). The certainty of a "plain path" (27:11) from the LORD directed by a "more sure Word of prophecy" (2Peter 1:19) has now been replaced by the same uncertainty possessed by those who perish. "17 This I say therefore, and testify in the LORD, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart" (Ephesians 4:17-18). True Christians have the Infallible Scriptures-- "16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly [thoroughly] furnished unto all good works" (2Timothy 3:16-17)-- while Babylon the Great has only an "infallible" Pope. "For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges" (Deuteronomy 32:31).


1999. With Parkinson's disease, Billy Graham is now more of a university chancellor, watching over the vast expanse of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA)-- with his son, William Franklin Graham III (b. 1952), already positioned as his father's successor at the BGEA. "26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it" (Matthew 7:26-27). Sadly, Billy Graham still presents himself as the affable senior statesman of Evangelical Christianity, admired by the world religious community, but he has yet to repent of his adultery with Babylon the Great. "Behold, I will cast her [Jezebel, i.e., Babylon the Great] into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds" (Revelation 2:22). Perhaps the Amazingly Merciful God would allow Billy Graham to be cast into the Tribulation Week (Daniel 9:27) to gain his repentance. "When He slew them, then they sought Him: and they returned and enquired early after God" (Psalm 78:34).


On Separating Obedience From Love, And Truth From Unity

True Christian love responds to the Father that sent His "Only Begotten Son" (John 3:16), to the "Greater Love" (15:13) of the LORD Jesus Christ that laid "down His life for His friends" (15:13), and to the "Love of the Spirit" (Romans 15:30) that pursued us with the "Great Love wherewith He loved us" (Ephesians 2:4). The only right response of the Saints to the Love of God is loving obedience. "For this is the Love of God, that we keep His Commandments: and His Commandments are not grievous" (1John 5:3). The Body of Christ must be taught that obedience to the Word of God is the demonstration of a heart of love from a True Saint. "He that hath My Commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him" (John 14:21).

If the Body can be somehow persuaded that Christian Love can be separated from Obedience, then the way of the Antichrist can be prepared so that no heed need be given to the warning that damnation will come to all those who receive the Mark of the Beast. "9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the Beast [the Antichrist] and his image, and receive his Mark in his forehead, or in his hand, 10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb" (Revelation 14:9-10).

Further, if Christian Unity can be separated from Truth, then the lack of obedience to the "Word of Truth" (Ephesians 1:13) will breed a False Christian Unity-- in the name of "that they may be one" (John 17:11)-- free of the restrictions of the Word of God. But, "Sanctify them through Thy Truth: Thy Word is Truth" (17:17) was the high priestly prayer of the LORD Jesus Christ in Gethsemane, understanding that True Christian Unity only comes from submission to the Truth of the Word of God. "13 Till we all come in the Unity of the Faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15 But speaking the Truth in Love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ" (Ephesians 4:13-15).

Once Truth has been divorced from Christian Unity, then it is unnecessary to discriminate if the one who enters Jerusalem to seat himself in the "temple of God, shewing himself that he is God" (2Thessalonians 2:4) is really Jesus Christ or simply the Antichrist. The stage has been set for the advent of that Antichrist, for the predicted Apostasy-- falling away from Obedience to the Truth of the Word of God-- that precedes the Man of Sin is well under way (and, speeding to completion). "2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the Day of Christ is at hand. 3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that Day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that Man of Sin be revealed, the Son of Perdition" (2Thessalonians 2:2-3).


Conclusion

The LORD Jesus Christ had His John the Baptist. "For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make His paths straight" (Matthew 3:3). The False Prophet and the Antichrist also have their Balaam to prepare their way into the Tribulation Week (Daniel 9:27)-- but, for their inevitable judgment at the conclusion of that Week. "And the Beast [the Antichrist] was taken, and with him the False Prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the Mark of the Beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a Lake of Fire burning with brimstone" (Revelation 19:20). May God grant that Modern Balaam-- Billy Graham-- "repentance to the acknowledging of the Truth" (2Timothy 2:25). But, whether or not the Sovereign God should bestow mercy-- "Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth" (Romans 9:18)-- upon Billy Graham, may the True People of God "judge righteous judgment" (John 7:24) by separating from Babylon the Great. "Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues" (Revelation 18:4).

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Tom Stewart