FAITH: The Billy Graham Story; another chapter

The April, 2018, edition of the magazine “Christianity Today” is dedicated entirely to the life and legacy of Billy Graham. Christianity Today is the magazine founded by Billy Graham early in his career. Billy Graham is a fellow graduate of mine from Wheaton College. I was very aware of Graham from his beginning. He preceded me at Wheaton by 10 years. I read Christianity Today almost from its beginning. I have read it faithfully over most of its six decade history. The April, 2018, edition was a fitting tribute to America’s most famed evangelist.

Much has been written about Billy Graham’s personal integrity. Early in his career he recognized the pitfalls and the failings of evangelists. Graham wanted no part of scandal. In 1948 during a campaign in Modesto, California, he called together his staff in his hotel room and presented them a challenge. He wanted each of them to contribute to a behavior code for the group. The next day they gathered again and drafted the “Modesto Manifesto.” He and his staff lived by those standards. The dangers to evangelists were headed by two….women and money. Graham and his staff were paid very modest salaries and were not allowed to receive “outside” money. He wrote over 20 books (sometimes with a ghost writer). Typically his books sold over a million copies. There were significant profits. Graham gave away his normal share of the profits. Billy lived modestly and apparently was never motivated by the accumulation of wealth.

Billy Graham never allowed himself to be alone with a woman (other than his wife) without the presence of a third party.

These two examples of his personal behavior illustrate the careful manner in which he handled his personal behavior. He was clean, clean, clean!

Billy Graham was a truly gifted preacher. He spoke plainly and with conviction. He was disciplined in interviews with writers and broadcast interviewers. While not handsome, he was good-looking and had a winning smile. He dressed well but not lavishly. Billy Graham reeked with integrity. He listened as well as he spoke. Billy probably knew his own weaknesses, but they did not show.

I got a different look at Graham when in seminary. It was in a homiletics class. Graham was soaring in popularity. The class analyzed a group of his sermons. The content was hard-core Fundamentalist. His theological understanding was very thin. We looked harder for reasons. Graham was theologically untrained. He never spent a day in a graduate theological seminary, and his Wheaton College degree was in anthropology. In his early years, Billy was a man of great integrity. He was a gifted speaker. However, he had embraced theology that would not stand scrutiny. Early in his career, Graham realized his shortcomings and did some changing. He began smoothing out his Fundamentalist theology and started distancing himself from Fundamentalists. Hell and damnation began to disappear from his preaching. The love of Christ was always dominant. He became totally silent about some subjects that were favorites of Fundamentalists. He stayed away from millennialism, speaking in tongues and dramatic divine healing.

Graham went looking for a sticker other than Fundamentalist. He found it in the word Evangelical. The term in history is actually found more in Lutheranism than with any other Christian group. Graham redefined the word and his meaning stuck. It was a masterfully executed move and a whole new Christian identity was born in America. People flocked to the identification of Evangelical.

Billy Graham studiously avoided major involvement with the three great social movements that took place during his active years. Civil rights came front and center during the Lyndon Johnson and Martin Luther King Jr. era. Graham played no significant role in advancing Lyndon Johnson’s civil rights legislative actions. As a highly popular evangelist, I could never understand how Billy Graham could remain so aloof as America dealt with such significant social issues. I have suspected that Graham knew that strong support for civil rights would alienate his very large southern support. He opted out. Hardly a good witness for his Lord Jesus from Nazareth.

Second, Graham avoided participation in the civil rights marches and other activities led by Martin Luther King Jr. While the two men spoke kindly of one another in public, Graham avoided any contact with King. Graham traded away his responsibility to speak truth to power for friendship with southern racial bigots. King was jailed multiple times for his peaceful protests. King spoke out against the evil of our war with Viet Nam. Graham continued to ride the popularity train of religious Fundamentalists and racial bigots. Graham continuously said that his crusades were racially integrated, but his words were hollow. Hardly a good witness for his Lord Jesus from Nazareth.

Third, the issue of full acceptance of gay persons in religious communities surrounded Billy Graham continuously. He stayed away from the issues involved and kept his friendships with the gay haters who were certain that gay persons were headed for hell. Hardly a good witness for his Lord Jesus from Nazareth.

Jesus from Nazareth loved the poor and needy. He was killed as a protesting insurrectionist. One thing I have learned. Never trust a preacher who keeps changing his hair style.

The End

The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister, who lives in Palmer, Alaska. His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.