Scripture and the Church

Was Billy Graham 'A Faithful Minister of the Gospel'?

By Dr. Paul M. Elliott
As future president John Adams once said, "Facts are stubborn things."

From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

 

As future president John Adams once said, "Facts are stubborn things."

June 2018 - Was Billy Graham a faithful minister of the Gospel? The avalanche of accolades from all quarters following his death proclaimed that the answer is "Yes". But the tragic truth is that none of those accolades rested on an objective foundation. Fallible man does not provide the basis for judgment; only the inspired, infallible, inerrant Word of God does.

In 1770, future president John Adams defended British soldiers in a court of law. His defense of those men was not popular, but it was right. Many would have condemned these soldiers to the gallows despite evidence to the contrary. But Adams declared, "Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."

The facts of the legacy of Billy Graham are also "stubborn things." They paint a picture that many in the post-evangelical church do not want to see: Multiplied thousands were led to eternal destruction by the preaching of a false gospel coupled with Graham's encouragement to remain under the sway of Gospel-denying churches. The relatively small numbers who were truly saved in Graham's crusades were regenerated by the Holy Spirit despite Graham's doctrinal deviancies.

To ascertain the true legacy of Billy Graham, we must know the facts of Graham's ministry. We must then evaluate that evidence in light of the facts the Word of God gives us about the nature and purpose of faithful Gospel ministry. In that Divine light, we find that Graham was anything but a faithful minister of the Gospel. His ministry was one of the most spiritually destructive developments of the past hundred years. Pastor Dan GreenfieldAs Adams said, "whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."

On June 3, 2018, Pastor Dan Greenfield, the General Secretary of the American Council of Christian Churches, gave a presentation on the facts of Graham's spiritual legacy at Reformation Bible Church in Maryland. I urge our readers to watch this message. We also have a document containing Pastor Greenfield's notes on which the presentation was based, and we will be glad to send it to you on request.

 

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