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| − | + | Or, The Coming Destruction of the One World Religion | |
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| − | ' | + | Billy Graham: Christianity's Modern Balaam |
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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" | |
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| − | + | by Tom Stewart | |
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| − | + | 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). | |
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| − | + | 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). | |
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| − | + | 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). | |
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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). | |
| − | + | 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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| − | + | 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). | |
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| − | + | The Way of Balaam | |
| − | + | But, why identify the name | |
| + | of the wicked prophet, Balaam, | ||
| + | with that of Billy Graham, a Bible preaching evangelist? | ||
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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". | |
| − | + | (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, | |
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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). | |
| + | 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.] | |
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| − | + | 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). | |
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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). | |
| − | + | 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). | |
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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). | |
| − | + | "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). | |
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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! | ||
| − | + | 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... | |
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| + | 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). | ||
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| + | 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). | |
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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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Latest revision as of 23:27, 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