![](\"https:\/\/bgcdn.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/clinton1.jpg\")
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\u00a0Billy Graham<\/a>\u00a0(at right):\u00a0 To some “rightist” Christians, Graham was\u00a0way<\/strong>\u00a0too\u00a0\u201cecumenical<\/a>\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n That is, lately I\u2019ve been listening to the book-on-CD version of\u00a0The Preacher and the Presidents:\u00a0 Billy\u00a0Graham\u00a0in the White House<\/a>.\u00a0(Nancy Gibbs<\/a>\u00a0and<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>Michael Duffy<\/a>.)\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/em>I skipped over the early parts, about Graham when he was young and full of himself.\u00a0 And\u00a0way<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0more conservative than he was in later life.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Which is another way of saying that\u00a0 \u2013\u00a0<\/span><\/span>as he grew in age \u2013 Billy Graham \u201calso grew in grace.\u201d\u00a0 (See\u00a02d Peter 3:18<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/span>.)<\/em><\/p>\n Graham eventually grew in grace so much that he came to believe that God loves\u00a0all<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>people \u2013 even\u00a0Liberals<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 Which led some fundamentalist Christians to criticize him \u201cfor his\u00a0ecumenism<\/a>, even calling him \u2018Antichrist.’\u201d\u00a0 On that note, see\u00a0Deuteronomy 19:16-19<\/a>.<\/p>\n (Deuteronomy 19:16-19<\/a>\u00a0says that if you accuse someone of a crime and he\u2019s not guilty of it, you are punished as if you committed the crime yourself.\u00a0\u00a0So if you accuse someone of being \u201cAntichrist\u201d and he\u2019s not,\u00a0you<\/strong>\u00a0get punished as if you<\/strong> were the Antichrist.)\u00a0 \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n But we digress…<\/p>\n That is, on the other hand Graham started out as a\u00a0Biblical literalist<\/a>.\u00a0 That\u00a0led to an early confrontation with fellow evangelist\u00a0Charles Templeton<\/a>.\u00a0 It\u2019s described at pages 2-4 of the \u201cbook book,\u201d but you can see an Oniine version at\u00a0Billy\u00a0Graham\u00a0and\u00a0Charles Templeton:\u00a0 The Sad Tale of Two Evangelists<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0(See also\u00a0Heresy in the Heartland:\u00a0Charles Templeton<\/a>.)\u00a0 \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n In essence, it started with Templeton telling Graham:<\/p>\n Billy, it\u2019s simply not possible any longer to believe, for instance, the biblical account of creation.\u00a0 The world was not created over\u00a0a period of days a few thousand years ago;\u00a0 it has evolved over millions of years.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a matter of speculation; it\u2019s a demonstrable fact.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Graham responded, “I don\u2019t accept that…\u00a0\u00a0I believe the Genesis [account and] I’ve discovered something in my ministry:\u00a0 When I take the\u00a0Bible literally\u00a0… \u00a0my preaching has power.”<\/p>\n 40 years later he continued to express\u00a0inclusivist<\/a>\u00a0views.<\/p>\n That is, he dared suggest that some people without<\/em> <\/strong>explicit faith in Jesus can be saved.\u00a0 For example, in a 1997 interview with\u00a0Robert Schuller<\/a>, Graham said:<\/p>\n I think that everybody that loves or knows Christ, whether they are conscious of it or not, they are members of the body of Christ\u00a0\u2026 [God] is calling people out of the world for his name, whether they come from the Muslim world, or the Buddhist world or the non-believing world, they are members of the Body of Christ because they have been called by God.\u00a0<\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n In response,\u00a0Iain Murray<\/a>\u00a0–\u00a0writing from a conservative Protestant standpoint – said \u201cGraham\u2019s concessions are sad words from one who once spoke on the basis of biblical certainties.”<\/p>\n I\u2019d pick the experienced and confident one…\u00a0 I don\u2019t think that we should vote for a person just simply because he says he\u2019s a Christian.\u00a0 I think we need confident men of integrity in places of responsibility.\u00a0 We are living in a secular society.\u00a0 We have a separation of church and state in this country.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Graham added that he doesn’t “play God,” saying who is saved and who isn’t.\u00a0 The article concluded that Graham “managed to achieve that rare balance of fierce conviction and humane humility…\u00a0 He would not condemn.\u00a0 His mission was to comfort and inspire.”<\/p>\n Which brings us back to\u00a0Ecumenism<\/a>.\u00a0 It’s the effort “by\u00a0Christians<\/a>\u00a0of different Church traditions to develop closer relationships and better understandings.”\u00a0 (See also\u00a0Is\u00a0ecumenism biblical<\/a>?\u00a0<\/em> “Gotquestsions.org<\/a>.”)\u00a0 <\/em>Which means\u00a0<\/em>we could use a good dose of “Billy Graham” today.<\/p>\n We could use a popular preacher who “doesn\u2019t play God.\u201d\u00a0 We could use a popular preacher with “humane humility.”\u00a0 We could use a popular preacher whom does not condemn, but rather focuses exclusively on comforting and inspiring.\u00a0 We could use a\u00a0popular preacher who wouldn’t vote for a man “just because he says he\u2019s a Christian.”<\/p>\n That is, for another – broader – view more you could check\u00a0Ecumenical Synonyms … Thesaurus.com<\/a>.\u00a0 Synonyms for “ecumenical” include\u00a0open-minded<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>receptive<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>tolerant<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>broad-minded<\/a>,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>unbigoted<\/a>, charitable<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>inclusive<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>and\/or\u00a0<\/span>unprejudiced<\/a>.\u00a0 And they are good.<\/span><\/p>\n Because without<\/em><\/strong> such principles – without, for example, developing “closer relationships and better understandings” – you could end up with something like this:<\/p>\n * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n The upper image is courtesy of\u00a0Billy Graham Bill Clinton\u00a0– Image Results<\/a>.\u00a0 The photo is in “Billy Graham: Pastor to the Presidents – True Christian or FreeMason ‘Christian.'”\u00a0 (From the “Orthodox Christian Channel.”)\u00a0 The gist of the article was that Graham was a Mason.\u00a0 Among the quotes:\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Billy Graham called Bill and Hillary “wonderful friends” and a “great couple.”\u00a0 Billy Graham also had former country and western superstar Johnny Cash,\u00a0known to be a Mason<\/strong>, perform at his crusades on numerous occasions.\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The images in the main text are courtesy of the linked-articles in the adjacent paragraph.<\/em><\/p>\n The lower image is courtesy of\u00a0Donald Trump\u00a0– Image Results<\/a>.\u00a0 See also\u00a0\u2018Mi Dulce\u2019 \u2013 and Donald Trump \u2013 made me a Contrarian<\/a>, which featured the image.<\/em><\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0Billy Graham\u00a0(at right):\u00a0 To some “rightist” Christians, Graham was\u00a0way\u00a0too\u00a0\u201cecumenical\u2026\u201d * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * I learned something new about\u00a0Billy Graham.\u00a0 I learned that some far-right preachers\u00a0compared him to the\u00a0Antichrist\u2026 That is, lately I\u2019ve been listening to the book-on-CD version of\u00a0The Preacher and the Presidents:\u00a0 Billy\u00a0Graham\u00a0in the White House.\u00a0(Nancy Gibbs\u00a0and\u00a0Michael Duffy.)\u00a0\u00a0I skipped over the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7749"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7749"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7791,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7749\/revisions\/7791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/h1>\n
![\"Graham](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/e\/e0\/Billy_Graham_bw_photo%2C_April_11%2C_1966.jpg\/220px-Billy_Graham_bw_photo%2C_April_11%2C_1966.jpg\")
I learned something new about\u00a0Billy Graham<\/a>.\u00a0 I learned that some far-right preachers\u00a0compared him to the\u00a0Antichrist<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/4\/43\/Deedsoftheantichrist2580-detail.jpg\")
Nevertheless, this was the man some Christians called “Antichrist<\/a>.”\u00a0 It started as early as\u00a01957, when – after a crusade in New York – some fundamentalist Protestant Christians criticized Graham for his “ecumenism<\/a>.”<\/p>\n![\"2013-02-18-Graham.King.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/images.huffingtonpost.com\/2013-02-18-Graham.King.jpg\")
But see\u00a0Why Do Liberals Love\u00a0Billy\u00a0Graham<\/a>?\u00a0(HuffPost<\/a>.)\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0An example:\u00a0 He was asked about two candidates for president, one “more learned and qualified,” the other a devout Christian.\u00a0 How would he vote?<\/p>\n![\"Donald](\"http:\/\/static1.businessinsider.com\/image\/56684d90dd089548678b46f7-480\/donald-trump.jpg\")
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