It is not helpful when fundamentalists try to discredit the evangelistic fruitfulness of Graham’s ministry or when evangelicals use that fruitfulness to justify all of Graham’s associations and actions. Both attempts are rooted in the same false assumption—God can only use those who are perfectly obedient (or close to it). … The evangelical, coming from the opposite angle but with the same assumption, feels compelled to argue that since God used Graham, what Graham was doing can’t be wrong (or, at least, not that bad).

Dave is giving some good analysis in his series of articles, but this paragraph seems to describe precisely the problem I have with the way some fundamentalists talk about their evangelical ‘faves’.

And I have one other point where I want to make a mild objection.

Here it is:

Also, it is important to recognize that some evangelicals disagree with the ecumenical practices of Graham, yet still see him as someone whom God used to spread the gospel to millions around the world.

Isn’t it more supportive than that? Don’t most evangelicals think what Graham and Henry and Ockenga et al did was right? Necessary? A benefit to the church? A proper ‘toning down’ of the craziness that was fundamentalism?

You see, what I hear the evangelicals saying is something like this: “Well, we don’t like the ecumenicalism and the problems it brings, but we sure do appreciate the New Evangelicals marginalizing the fundamentalists like they did.”

Dave sees some evangelicals as ‘developing’ separatists. I don’t actually see that. I hope I’m wrong.

As for Dave’s ‘way forward’, I agree with all of that. I have no problem acknowledging that Billy Graham’s ministry actually brought many into the kingdom. At least one member of our church is the fruit of Graham’s ministry (by watching him on television, no less). I don’t think much is gained by cursing Graham, but we have to constantly teach about his great error and its consequences.

I hope evangelicals will come to see the New Evangelical error for what it is and completely repudiate it.

By the way, I think it is important to keep the New Evangelical term alive in this context. New Evangelicalism is still alive and well in the minds of many, that is why they can’t bring themselves to completely repudiate Graham. They think he did a service. They think New Evangelicalism was a good thing. I think they mostly think the problems came after the ministry of Graham et al – others took things too far. Until they see New Evangelicalism as the problem, there will be no common ground with Fundamentalists.

An article discusses an upcoming movie about Billy Graham. It has this interesting paragraph concerning Franklin Graham’s biggest objection to the movie:

A scene Franklin Graham found more “troublesome,” DeMoss said, was one he categorized as embellished. In it, Bob Jones Sr., then-president of fundamentalist Bob Jones College, tells young Billy Graham, a student who has questioned some of the school’s strict views, that he will never amount to anything. In the scene, darkness partly obscures the ranting Jones.

DeMoss said Franklin Graham felt that the scene “completely misrepresented Bob Jones” and has written a letter to Bob Jones III, now president of Bob Jones University, assuring him that “we didn’t collaborate on the film.”

UPDATE: Christianity Today weighs in with their own article.

Corny? You bet. I am quite astonished, actually, at the way the display starts at the library. To each his own, I suppose. It just seems quite out of keeping with the purpose and general professionalism of the whole exhibit.

In our recent trip south, we flew in and out of Charlotte, NC, home of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and the Billy Graham Library. We had a little time at our disposal Tuesday afternoon and the admission is free, so we decided to take the exhibit in.

The exhibit itself consists of some 13 or so galleries, some with video, audio, or slide presentations, each done up to portray various aspects of Billy Graham’s ministry over the years. Without a doubt, Billy Graham is an influential man and worthy of our attention, even though we are critical of his philosophy and methods.

Our time was limited, so I skipped part of the galleries (to the chagrin of the staff, I think). I wanted to get to the bookstore. The galleries began with a short video presentation with four or five individuals talking about their testimonies. These preliminary testimonies talked about the pain the individuals had suffered in various life situations – abuse, ghetto upbringing, loss of a child, etc.

In the subsequent galleries, we saw bits and pieces of Billy’s ministry, including some video from his early Los Angeles Crusade where he was a fiery preacher, calling for repentance from sin and submission to Christ. In general, however, the emphasis on repentance was muted and short. My sons reported on the last gallery with its video presentation. It basically answers the painful circumstances testified to in the first gallery with the notion that Jesus will make your life wonderful, no matter how painful it is.

No one denies the genuineness of these painful circumstances nor the power of Jesus Christ to heal the wounds they cause. But the gospel is no guarantee of a painless life, it is a guarantee of a sins-forgiven and sinful-nature_conquering life.

Overall, the impression of the presentation was about what I expected, as was the bookstore. I was interested to see the titles on the shelves. They were quite an eclectic mix, aside from the expected Graham titles:

• Three different titles from A. W. Pink
• Luther’s Bondage of the Will
• Hannah Whitall Smith’s The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life and The God of All Comfort
• Several volumes by Andrew Murray
• A biography of Charles Finney with a subtitle “America’s Greatest Evangelist” (!)
• Several books by Piper, including his book on missions
• Several books by MacArthur
• Quite a few prominently displayed titles by Greg Laurie

All in all, the titles seem to convey the broad-minded philosophy of Billy Graham, where simple confession of Christianity seems to be enough, the finer distinctions need not apply. Some of these titles may be beneficial, but others are appalling. I leave it up to you to determine which is which!

For myself, I picked up two books here. One is D. L. Moody On Spiritual Leadership by Steve Miller. I’ve read the first chapter and it looks quite valuable as not only a summary of Moody’s views but as a tool for discipleship. I may have more later when I finish the book. The second book is The Life of Matthew Henry and the Concise Commentary on the Gospels which includes the 1828 biography by J. B. Williams and an abridged version of Henry’s commentary on the four Gospels. I am looking forward to someday actually reading this one. I am notorious for buying and stacking good books. One of these days I’ll actually read some of them.

Finally, as we left the Library, we picked up a copy of the current Decision magazine. For fundamentalists, there is one particular article of interest. I will blog on that later.