At the end of this article is a balanced tribute to Billy Graham by Dr. Steven Lawson. I’ve posted this in various places on Facebook. However, I wanted to include it on our website for future reference. As soon as I read that Dr. Graham had gone to be with the Lord, I knew some detractors wouldn’t wait for him to be buried before taking the knives out. Mean comments were quickly tweeted by various liberal celebrities. Sadly, others came from Christians – some even asserting Graham would be in hell.
Why?
Graham’s offense was his alleged cozying to the Roman Catholic Church and some unguarded controversial remarks he made during a Robert Schuler interview. Lawson notes in his tribute:
I eventually left my work with the Graham organization – partially as a response to the interview he gave with Robert Schuler, where he seemed to indicate it was possible for someone to be saved apart from hearing about Christ.
This is a serious charge. What I’ve learned over the years is that few ministries or pastors are invulnerable to criticism. John MacArthur (who I happen to hold in high regard) had been a vocal critic of Graham in the past. Yet MacArthur has also been labeled a false prophet and false minister for various reasons over the years. Some don’t like his Calvinism, his Lordship Salvation or his view that one can repent of taking the Mark of the Beast. Then there are the vocal John Darby critics.
Criticisms can be, and often are, valid. However, they should be balanced. Steven Lawson’s tribute to Billy Graham is one of the fairest I’ve read:
As we learned yesterday about the loss of Billy Graham, it is with a great deal of sadness that we say farewell to this extraordinary figure. Perhaps never again—certainly not within our life time—will we witness an evangelist with such a global outreach. He became a figure larger than life, and he did so by only preaching the simple message of the saving gospel of Jesus Christ.
Early in my ministry it was my privilege to work alongside the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, and that experience left a positive and profound impact upon my life. Here was a man who preached the gospel and attempted to reach large numbers of people for Christ. For this example, I will always be grateful.
Allow me to reflect upon my time with his ministry, and to share a few lessons I learned from my partnership with his efforts to win the lost to Christ…keep reading
Note: At the time of writing, Dr. Lawson has also come under attack for the tribute. How sad!
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