Matt will probably send some throught the roof if they listen to his latest podcast about Billy Graham's last sermon. It's hard-hitting but I had to admit that, as beloved as Graham is, his legacy historically will probably be viewed as weakening the power of the Gospel rather than strengthening it. That's a hard sell to many but I'm seeing the "evangelical" method that has become standard fare.
I've begun taking my adult SS class through Knowing Scripture. I'm using that and some other material to teach them how to study the Word. I had a thought the other day as I was preparing that nobody thinks they're a heretic or that they're denying the Gospel. I mean, really, how many peopl consciously think they are storing up wrath for themselves in the doctrines they espouse?
I've been reading a history of 19th Century Protestantism and it's a hard read because the theologians were so un-Christian in their Biblical approach given their epistimological convictions. I think Kant, Hegel, Schleiermacher and their ilk really thought they were discovering theological truth because the Word couldn't be trusted. They led entire denominations eventually into ruin.
What is going to be the legacy of Graham's approach?
I had a young friend and his fiancee over last night. They are helping to organize the Graham Festival (they're not calling it a Crusade here). I've been working with he and some others for a while now but I do things slowly. I was shocked (but pleased) when he expressed severe misgivings about the approach that the Graham festival is using. I was shocked because most Evangelicals these days think the approach is great but pleased because he's starting to understand why it's so problematic.
I've got some of the materials that they brought to our Church to hand out. I'm going to scan them so you can read them from themselves. As an example of some of the goings-on however is that there were lists of names that people have written down that they want to pray for. During Church they'll hand out those lists to random people in the congregation and you're supposed to look at a list of names you don't know and pray for them while the lead prayer prays for people to come to the festival. The cards are collected back up and it will be repeated again next week.
Yesterday (Sunday) we had the coordinator for the Graham festival come and "preach" in our Church. I enclose the term "preach" in quotes because it could hardly be termed that. It was typical of all three of the people who have "preached" in the Church. They take a passage of Scripture (in his case 2 Tim 1) and then use a verse as a pretext to tell personal stories and give anecdotes for personal living. Most people can't tell the difference but it drives me through the roof. Let's call the guy yesterday Bill.
Well Bill told a nice story about his grandmother who used to pray for him. He recounted what a Godly woman she was. So Godly in fact that when the preacher for her Church was unavailable to preach, she would preach the message at the Church. OK, I can understand that a small country Church in Arkansas is going to have some ignorance concerning the Word. I don't doubt this woman was saved of her sins by Christ's righteousness. The Civil War and the lack of men really had a profound impact upon American Christendom and led to feminization of the Church. I'm not trying to judge her so don't get bent out of shape that I'm ticked off at this woman that is long since passed away.
My point is this: the man "preaching" yesterday should have known better. He's a leader in the Graham organization and has been in ministry for 40 years. His Christianity though was of the sort where he has cousins that tell him that "...God doesn't want you in Arkansas right now..." if you catch my drift. I'm certain in his, and many other folks' minds, God must have told his grandmother to preach.
That wasn't the worst of it for me yesterday. It's hard to describe these messages that are a mix of personal anecdotes about "miraculous" circumstances that led to his arrival in Okinawa and some kernels of Truth that he is not completely misrepresenting. The main theme, however, was that he was using the idea that we "...walk by faith..." and trust God to work things out rather than relying on our senses. While true as far as it goes, he took it too far into the neo-gnostic "God has told me to do this" direction. More disturbing, he capped of this idea by saying "...the just shall live by faith...." I hope I don't have to explain to too many what the contextual problem is with respect to what he was saying.
Anyway, please pray for me in how to handle all of this. This is par for the course for the organization but I'm trying to deal more in the realm of heralding the true Christ in our Church so that the muddied proclamations are seen for what they are. Too many are impoverished right now to understand if I vented as openly to them as I am to you right now. I love these folks and I'm trying to be strategically wise in how I defeat this movement.
Grace and Peace,
I've begun taking my adult SS class through Knowing Scripture. I'm using that and some other material to teach them how to study the Word. I had a thought the other day as I was preparing that nobody thinks they're a heretic or that they're denying the Gospel. I mean, really, how many peopl consciously think they are storing up wrath for themselves in the doctrines they espouse?
I've been reading a history of 19th Century Protestantism and it's a hard read because the theologians were so un-Christian in their Biblical approach given their epistimological convictions. I think Kant, Hegel, Schleiermacher and their ilk really thought they were discovering theological truth because the Word couldn't be trusted. They led entire denominations eventually into ruin.
What is going to be the legacy of Graham's approach?
I had a young friend and his fiancee over last night. They are helping to organize the Graham Festival (they're not calling it a Crusade here). I've been working with he and some others for a while now but I do things slowly. I was shocked (but pleased) when he expressed severe misgivings about the approach that the Graham festival is using. I was shocked because most Evangelicals these days think the approach is great but pleased because he's starting to understand why it's so problematic.
I've got some of the materials that they brought to our Church to hand out. I'm going to scan them so you can read them from themselves. As an example of some of the goings-on however is that there were lists of names that people have written down that they want to pray for. During Church they'll hand out those lists to random people in the congregation and you're supposed to look at a list of names you don't know and pray for them while the lead prayer prays for people to come to the festival. The cards are collected back up and it will be repeated again next week.
Yesterday (Sunday) we had the coordinator for the Graham festival come and "preach" in our Church. I enclose the term "preach" in quotes because it could hardly be termed that. It was typical of all three of the people who have "preached" in the Church. They take a passage of Scripture (in his case 2 Tim 1) and then use a verse as a pretext to tell personal stories and give anecdotes for personal living. Most people can't tell the difference but it drives me through the roof. Let's call the guy yesterday Bill.
Well Bill told a nice story about his grandmother who used to pray for him. He recounted what a Godly woman she was. So Godly in fact that when the preacher for her Church was unavailable to preach, she would preach the message at the Church. OK, I can understand that a small country Church in Arkansas is going to have some ignorance concerning the Word. I don't doubt this woman was saved of her sins by Christ's righteousness. The Civil War and the lack of men really had a profound impact upon American Christendom and led to feminization of the Church. I'm not trying to judge her so don't get bent out of shape that I'm ticked off at this woman that is long since passed away.
My point is this: the man "preaching" yesterday should have known better. He's a leader in the Graham organization and has been in ministry for 40 years. His Christianity though was of the sort where he has cousins that tell him that "...God doesn't want you in Arkansas right now..." if you catch my drift. I'm certain in his, and many other folks' minds, God must have told his grandmother to preach.
That wasn't the worst of it for me yesterday. It's hard to describe these messages that are a mix of personal anecdotes about "miraculous" circumstances that led to his arrival in Okinawa and some kernels of Truth that he is not completely misrepresenting. The main theme, however, was that he was using the idea that we "...walk by faith..." and trust God to work things out rather than relying on our senses. While true as far as it goes, he took it too far into the neo-gnostic "God has told me to do this" direction. More disturbing, he capped of this idea by saying "...the just shall live by faith...." I hope I don't have to explain to too many what the contextual problem is with respect to what he was saying.
Anyway, please pray for me in how to handle all of this. This is par for the course for the organization but I'm trying to deal more in the realm of heralding the true Christ in our Church so that the muddied proclamations are seen for what they are. Too many are impoverished right now to understand if I vented as openly to them as I am to you right now. I love these folks and I'm trying to be strategically wise in how I defeat this movement.
Grace and Peace,
