Life, Faith, and Finishing Well
In the fundamentalist circles with which I am most familiar, Billy Graham‘s lifelong reputation as a God-fearing, God-honoring evangelist and preacher of the Word has not been as celebrated as it should be. Perhaps you are familiar with the sentiment, and perhaps, like me, you have always questioned why in the world this should be the case for a man who not only attracted the massive crowds at his famous “Crusades,” but also helped lead many in those crowds to faith in the Lord Jesus. The argument was always about his own personal failure to follow through with these people’s decisions—or worse, his supposed ends-justify-the-the-means approach (as seen in his sharing the stage with people of other religions).
Despite these arguments against methodology, I have to wonder: How could a man who has dedicated himself to a lifetime of preaching like this be looked down upon? If the arguments were against practice instead of doctrine, could his detractors really be speaking more from jealousy than anything else? It’s a hard pill to swallow but one worth considering.
The wind that really drove that anti-Graham fire into a sweeping blaze occurred back in 1957 when Graham joined forces with the liberal Protestant Council of the City of New York, thereby forever burning a rift between “new evangelicals” and what were properly called at that time “fundamentalists” (Nettles, Four View of Evangelicalism, 2011 – Kindle loc. 169). While many still enjoy holding Graham to the fire for his questionable associations, none can doubt the impact he has had on the hearts of millions worldwide, including the likes of George W. Bush and other world leaders.
Nearing Home was for me an exciting look at the thoughts of a man I knew little about, a man whom I honestly thought had died years ago. Far more than a simple recollection of times gone by, and nothing at all like a memoire, the aptly titled Nearing Home is actually a book of what Billy Graham does best, teaching the Word.
This is not just a book for the elderly, though they certainly can relate to the 93-year old’s stories of aches and pains. And this is not just a book for the young to whom Billy offers a great deal of advice. It is more a book for those of all ages who can agree that, while society itself has changed far more than any Christian in 1957 could have anticipated, this is no excuse for any Christian to give up or give in to an idea that Satan has already won.
Graham ends each chapter with a brief message, a call to near Home (Heaven) with qualities like hope, God’s comfort, or mature faith, and it seems that Billy has been doing just that for years. Despite the declining morality of our country, Billy Graham has great hopes for Christians in the United States, and this book, though perhaps his last, is yet another call for us all to a life of faith and right living.
©2012 E.T.