This on the discussion about Billy Graham:
Billy Graham's Letter to Newsweek August, 2006
Letter to the Editor
I was overwhelmed by Newsweeks generous coverage of the life my wife Ruth and I are experiencing as we grow older. "Pilgrim's Progress" was an apt title for the article; like every other Christian, I see myself as a pilgrim journeying through life, looking expectantly to what God has promised in the future and yet yearning to be faithful in the present.
Jon Meacham worked diligently to understand how my thinking on certain issues has grown over the years, and I commend him for seeking to capture my commitment to the Gospel I have always preached. The world is constantly changing, and I am only one in a long line of men and women who have sought to relate God's unchanging truth to the challenges of their time.
As I grow older, my confidence in the inspiration and authority of the Bible has grown even stronger. So has my conviction that only Christ can give us lasting hopehope for this life, and hope for the life to come. As the Bible says in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
Billy Graham Montreat, N.C.
Here some excerpts from an March interview in Newsweek:
People are always struggling with the question of evil in a universe that many believe to be created and governed by a God whose central instinct is supposed to be love. Do you believe that there is a personification of evil at work in the world, contending against that God?
Well, the Scripture teaches that there is a devil, and his name is Satan, which means destroyer. Hes an accuser; he accuses us to God, and we are told that the victory over him has come through the cross. When Jesus died on the cross, he was not only dying for our sins but he was dying to destroy the power and the works of the Devil. We dont see that destruction yet. We are living in a period that Jesus predicted would be a very serious and difficult time, and as we approach the end of the age, it is going to get worse and worse. We see it on every hand today. But at the end of it, its going to be the coming of Christ, and thats the hope that we really have
And in your world view, the answer to those problems is through the Gospel.
Yes, absolutely. There is no other answer. But the Gospel that we talk about is good news to the individual that his own sins are forgiven
beyond that, national and international peace will come, I believe, when Jesus comes as the Messiah.
To a young man today, I would say: Put your emphasis on your Bible study and prayer.
Billy Graham has remained eminently Bible-centered and Christ-centered throughout decades of ministry in the lime light. I don't agree with the practice of reading every interview or statement he makes trying to find indications that he has become "liberal"; if you look for something to criticize, you will find it. Why not pay more close attention to the positive.
Hirte777
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