#Billy Graham Crusades

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Today in Christian History

Today is Thursday, September 1st, the 244th day of 2022. There are 121 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

256: North African bishops vote unanimously that Christians who were baptized by rival sects must be rebaptized upon reentering the catholic church. The vote leads to a war of words between the North Africans and Rome, where Bishop Stephen (pope) disagrees. Eventually the worldwide church accepts the position held by Stephen.

1680: Beheading of Angelis, a young goldsmith in Constantinople who had shown little seriousness toward his faith. However, when confronted with the choice to convert to Islam or lose his life, he had boldly confessed Christ.

1687: Death at Cambridge, England, of Dr. Henry More, a theologian and philosopher deeply interested in mystical questions regarding spiritual beings, apologetics, and union with God, as well as more standard philosophical and scientific topics. He had communicated with many thinkers of repute in his day, including Robert Boyle, Isaac Newton, and Rene Descartes.

1784: Shortly after four in the morning, John Wesley meets with Thomas Coke and James Creighton, presbyters of the Church of England, to ordain Richard Whatcoat and Thomas Vasey as deacons for America. The following day they will ordain Whatcoat and Vasey as elders (Presbyters) and appoint Coke as Superintendent  (Bishop) for America.

1803: The Massachusetts Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge is instituted in Boston, the first tract society established in North America.

1836: When missionaries Marcus Whitman, H. H. Spalding, and their wives reach Walla Walla, Washington, Eliza Spaulding and Narcissa Whitman are the first white women to have crossed the North American continent.

1901: Death of Isabella Thoburn from Asiatic cholera. She had been a notable missionary-educator.

1923: Jessie Wengler, an Assemblies of God missionary in Japan, experiences an earthquake and flees to a bamboo grove for safety.

1936: Death of Lewis E. Jones, YMCA leader. He wrote the hymn tune POWER IN THE BLOOD ( “Would You Be Free from Your Burden of Sin?”).

1940: Death in Manila of Gregorio Aglipay, the main founder and first bishop of the Philippine Independent Church (Iglesia Filipina Independiente).

1957: At a massive rally in Times Square, Billy Graham concludes his sixteen-week New York City evangelistic crusade in New York City, attended by nearly two million people.

1970: Mei Yibao begins serving as president of the New Asia College of the Chinese University in Hong Kong. A Christian, he had served as traveling secretary for the YMCA for a year and had led Yanching University, a Christian institution, during the difficult days of Japanese occupation.

1975: Martyrdom in Boniato Prison of Gerardo Gonzalez Alvarez, a Cuban Bible preacher.

2018: A mob of nearly 1,000 Islamists attacks Christians gathered in a home to pray in Dimshaw, Egypt. The mob claims that the Christians don’t have a license, and a rumor spreads that they are on the verge of building a new church. Only twenty-five attackers are arrested and the court will release twenty-one of them.

[tmarshconnors]

"Since the Bible is God's Word, we shouldn't be surprised if Satan tries to convince us otherwise."

William Franklin Graham Jr. was an American evangelist, ordained Southern Baptist minister and civil rights advocate whose broadcasts and world tours featuring live sermons became well known in the mid- to late 20th century.

Born: 7 November 1918, Charlotte, North Carolina, United States

Died: 21 February 2018 (age 99 years), Montreat, North Carolina, United States

Renowned Evangelist: Billy Graham was one of the most influential Christian evangelists of the 20th century. He preached to over 210 million people in more than 185 countries and territories, spreading his message of Christianity and salvation through large-scale revival meetings and crusades.

Advisor to Presidents: Graham served as a spiritual advisor to several U.S. presidents, from Harry Truman to Barack Obama. He was often called "America's Pastor" and provided counsel to leaders during times of crisis, including offering prayers at presidential inaugurations and national events.

Television and Radio Pioneer: Graham was a pioneer in using media to spread his message. His radio program, "Hour of Decision," began in 1950 and reached millions of listeners weekly. He also launched a television ministry that brought his crusades into homes across the United States and around the world.

Founder of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA): In 1950, Graham founded the BGEA, which became a major force in global evangelism. The organization produced numerous films, publications, and television programs aimed at spreading the Christian gospel.

Author and Writer: Billy Graham authored 33 books, many of which became bestsellers. His writings covered a range of topics, from spiritual growth to personal testimonies and reflections on his life and ministry. Notable works include "Just As I Am," his autobiography, and "Peace with God."

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Nicholas Kristof

Published: Aug 23, 2023

While much of the rest of the industrialized world has become more secular over the last half-century, the United States has appeared to be an exception.

Politicians still end their speeches with “God bless America.” At least until recently, more Americans believed in the virgin birth of Jesus (66 percent) than in evolution (54 percent).

Yet evidence is growing that Americans are becoming significantly less religious. They are drifting away from churches, they are praying less and they are less likely to say religion is very important in their lives. For the first time in Gallup polling, only a minority of adults in the United States belong to a church, synagogue or mosque. (Most of the research is on Christians because they account for roughly 90 percent of believers in the United States.)

“We are currently experiencing the largest and fastest religious shift in the history of our country,” Jim Davis and Michael Graham write in a book published this week, “The Great Dechurching.”

The big religious shifts of the past were the periodic Great Awakenings that beginning in the mid-1700s led to surges in religious attendance. This is the opposite: Some 40 million American adults once went to church but have stopped going, mostly in the last quarter-century.

“More people have left the church in the last 25 years than all the new people who became Christians from the First Great Awakening, Second Great Awakening and Billy Graham crusades combined,” Davis and Graham write.

This “dechurching,” as they call it, is apparent in most denominations, reducing the numbers of Presbyterians and Episcopalians and also of evangelicals like Southern Baptists. White and Black congregants have left churches in similar percentages, but Hispanic religious attendance has dipped less.

To be clear, the United States remains an unusually pious nation by the standards of the rich world. Pew reports that 63 percent of American adults identify as Christian — but that’s down from 78 percent in 2007. And in that same period the percentage of adults who say they have no religion has risen to 29 percent from 16 percent.

If this trend continues at the same pace, by the mid-2030s fewer than half of Americans may identify as Christian.

There are various theories for what is behind the struggles of Christianity, and multiple factors are probably at work. One noted by Davis and Graham is that to many people the church hasn’t seemed very Christian.

When the Rev. Jerry Falwell dismissed AIDS as God’s lethal judgment on promiscuity, he conveyed a sanctimoniousness that in the 1980s and 1990s allowed much of the religious right to turn a cold shoulder to the suffering of people with the virus.

Jesse Helms, a leader of the religious right in the Senate, even suggested in 1995 that funds for fighting AIDS should be reduced because gay men contract the virus through “deliberate, disgusting, revolting conduct.” In retrospect, the most immoral conduct in America in the late 20th century was not taking place in gay bathhouses but in conservative churches where blowhards preached homophobia, embraced bigots like Helms and resisted efforts to counter AIDS — allowing millions of people, gay and straight alike, to die around the world. That is not morally inspiring.

Then in 2001, Falwell and the Rev. Pat Robertson suggested that the Sept. 11 terror attacks were God’s punishment for the behavior of feminists, gay people and secularists. My view was that God should have sued them for defamation.

The embrace of Donald Trump by many Christian leaders, even as he boasted about assaulting women, separated children from parents at the border and backed an insurrection, was for some a final indication of moral decay.

(It’s important to note that conservative churches had another side that worked tirelessly and without much recognition to address disease and poverty, as I’ve often written. It was evangelicals like Michael Gerson who in 2003 helped persuade President George W. Bush to adopt a huge initiative to fight AIDS worldwide. That may be the single best American program of my lifetime, saving some 25 million lives around the world so far. We owe Bush and evangelicals our thanks for that.)

The loss of religious community has far-reaching implications. Congregations are a crucial part of America’s social capital, providing companionship, food pantries and a pillar of community life. There’s also some evidence that religious faith is associated with increased happiness and better physical and mental health.

One of the most thoughtful contemporary religious commentators, Russell Moore, an evangelical who is now editor of Christianity Today, bluntly acknowledges the challenges ahead.

“American Christianity is in crisis,” Moore writes in his new book, “Losing Our Religion.” “The church is a scandal in all the worst ways.”

Moore is deeply critical of the way many evangelical leaders embraced Trump, and he is pained by church sex abuse scandals. In his own ministry, Moore said that he increasingly has heard from committed young Christians who are upset that their parents have been politically radicalized: “I was less likely to hear about wayward children going out into ‘the real world’ and losing their faith as I was to hear about wayward parents retreating into an imaginary world and losing their minds.”

Moore cites data suggesting that the reason people leave churches is not that they lose their belief in God so much as that they lose confidence in religious leaders and in the church’s moral leadership. He thinks faith can still recover; I’m not so sure.

Religious charlatans like Falwell may have meant to usher in a new Great Awakening, but in fact they taught millions of Americans to be wary of preening ventriloquists who claim to speak for God.

[ Archive: https://archive.is/UTeJx ]

==

As I've said before, the statistics on church non-attendance don't correspond to non-belief - there will always be more people who believe than go to church. But non-attendance predicts a reliable pathway that does lead to non-belief.

"Church attendance is the first thing that goes, then belonging and finally belief — in that order. Belief goes last." -- Ryan Burge

[wutbju]

It is Holy Week. It's time to remember the sins that put Jesus on the cross.

On Monday, April 1, 1957, at Bible Conference, Bob Jones Sr. manipulated the student body and faculty at Bob Jones University to sing about the "Old Time Religion."

But what he really meant by all that was white male supremacy. This is the semester he was expelling students for PRAYING for Billy Graham's 1957 NYC revival. Billy Graham, you see, was not believing in the "old time religion" because Martin Luther King, Jr. was scheduled to pray at that Crusade. Billy Graham did not believe in the "old time religion" because he integrated his crusades in the audience too.

The "old time religion" was Klandamentalism pure and simple. It always was for Bob Jones University.

The next day on April 2, Bob Jones, Sr. said as much:

[msclaritea]

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: The Story Within A Story

In Tinker, Control resigns his post on November 14, 1973. I thought Control to be an odd name, and I know how dates are very important to the Brits. They lost Control....control of what? Recall all of the references to Gold, Gold Dust, Treasure, so on.

The full description of dropping the Bretton Wood structure makes it clear that Connelly was behind the push to remove gold reserves.

According to Wiki, the Nixon Shock as it was called has calamitous results:

The Nixon Shock has been widely considered to be a political success, but an economic failure for bringing on the 1973–1975 recession, the stagflation of the 1970s, and the instability of floating currencies.[citation needed] The dollar plunged by a third during the 1970s. According to the World Trade Review's report "The Nixon Shock After Forty Years: The Import Surcharge Revisited", Douglas Irwin reports that for several months, U.S officials could not get other countries to agree to a formal revaluation of their currencies.[citation needed] The German Mark appreciated significantly after it was allowed to float in May 1971. Further, the Nixon Shock unleashed enormous speculation against the dollar. It forced Japan's central bank to intervene significantly in the foreign exchange market to prevent the yen from increasing in value. Within two days August 16–17, 1971, Japan's central bank had to buy $1.3 billion to support the dollar and keep the yen at the old rate of ¥360 to the dollar. Japan's foreign exchange reserves rapidly increased: $2.7 billion (30%) a week later and $4 billion the following week. Still, this large-scale intervention by Japan's central bank could not prevent the depreciation of US dollar against the yen. France also was willing to allow the dollar to depreciate against the franc, but not allow the franc to appreciate against gold. Even much later, in 2011, Paul Volcker expressed regret over the abandonment of Bretton Woods: "Nobody's in charge," Volcker said. "The Europeans couldn't live with the uncertainty and made their own currency and now that's in trouble."

A note about Armand Hammer, the grandfather of actor, Arnie Hammer. An American of Soviet descent, he was singlehandedly responsible for the reviving of the Soviet Union. As for Billy Graham...

Mendel: "My friend just wants peace and quiet to work, Mrs. Pope-Graham. No Disturbances."

To Smiley: "Real name is just Graham. Added the Pope for a touch of class."

2005

"Billy Graham. We know that his messages are solid gospel. Few in or out of the Christian World have not heard of him. Since 1949 he has held the spotlight as the most prominent evangelist in Christendom. He has just finished his 416th crusade in Pasadena, California that drew over 300,000 people in four days. 13,000+ responded to his altar calls. Graham is now 86 years old and has one more crusade scheduled in New York City next year, health permitting.

The Pasadena crusade was on the anniversary of his first Los Angeles revival 55 years ago. It was after that meeting that Graham was "kissed by William Randolph Hearst" according to Dr Cathy Burns in her book, Billy Graham and His Friends. This meant that Hearst had decided to promote Graham's ministry in his nationwide chain of newspapers.

Immediately, reporters and photographers were crawling all over the Graham meetings. Front page articles began to appear in the leading local papers wherever Graham held meetings. One reporter was assigned full time to travel with Graham's team.

In 1991, Graham claimed that this sudden attention remained a mystery. Burns describes a more complex scenario. Regardless, the publicity propelled Graham into the national, if not international, limelight.

Jesus warned, "Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you." Over the years, Graham became the friend of presidents and kings, a beloved "America's Pastor."

But the fame came with a price. In his book, Smokescreens, written in 1983, Jack Chick describes how Roman Catholic leaders viewed and used Graham as a key player in their ecumenical plans. As early as 1965, he was a guest speaker at Catholic Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina where he received an honorary doctor's degree. A college official's letter describes Graham's address as "theologically sound" as may have been given by "any other Catholic preacher." The letter further states, "I would state that he could bring Catholics and Protestants together in a healthy ecumenic spirit." Graham was also speaking at several other Catholic colleges at that time..."

Connelly was said to be on secret peace mission with Hammer. Richard Nixon gave a speech that talks of 'the challenge of peace' in unveiling his new economic plan. In Tinker, Irina is taken and killed by Russia. Irina means Peace.

John Le Carré really is a genius writer because this was brilliant.

[redcarpetview]

Jason Crabb Set to Join Voices With Jay Demarcus and Jason Scheff to Perform National Anthem Sunday, August 6th

Jay Demarcus, Jason Crabb and Jason Scheff. Media image.

Jason Crabb is set to join voices with Jay DeMarcus and Jason Scheff to sing the National Anthem for “The Big Machine Music City Grand Prix NTT INDYCAR Series” race on Sunday, August 6th with a start time of 11:30am CST.  

Jason, Jay and Jason will perform the National Anthem LIVE at 11:11am CST prior to the race. The National Anthem and race will be broadcast on NBC.

One of Gospel and Christian music's most iconic voices, Kentucky-born Jason Crabb has been honored with two GRAMMY® Awards and 22 GMA Dove Awards, the latter including nods for Artist, Male Vocalist, and Song of the Year. He is the youngest member inducted into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame, and his hometown of Beaver Dam, Kentucky has paid tribute with a street in his name.

Since his first solo release in 2009, he has performed on many of the world's most prestigious stages such as Carnegie Hall, the Grand Ole Opry, the Brooklyn Tabernacle, and Billy Graham's final crusade. Crabb's electrifying stage presence, powerhouse vocals and magnetic personality have endeared him to millions across the world through extensive personal appearances, media coverage, and social media including over 20 million views on YouTube.

Following a wildly successful music career as the bassist, pianist, harmony vocalist, songwriter and producer of superstar vocal group Rascal Flatts, Jay DeMarcus brought his unparalleled experience to the industry, launching his rising record label, Red Street Records in 2018. After 17 #1 hits, over 33m albums sold and more than 40 trophies earned from the ACA, ACM, AMA, CMA, People's Choice and more, the GRAMMY-winning producer has opened the door for Christian and County acts alike to thrive under his expertise.

DeMarcus has worked with such acts as the legendary band Chicago, Ronnie Dunn, Kix Brooks, Shenandoah and Reba. He was also honored in 2020 for his work producing Jason Crabb's album Unexpected which was named "Best Roots Gospel Album” by The Recording Academy.

Singer, songwriter and bassist Jason Scheff is most known as the bassist and lead vocalist for the band Chicago, one of the longest-running and best-selling music groups of all time, for over 30 years. After leaving Chicago in 2016, Scheff participated as a judge for American Super Group and has now joined Jay DeMarcus in the group Generation Radio.

Sunday's activities will also include the popular Stadium SUPER Trucks, GT America, the GR Cup on track, and a post-race concert with fan favorite Tim Dugger immediately after the INDYCAR race.

The Big Machine Music City Grand Prix, an action-packed three-day motorsports festival weekend, features the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, along with INDY NXT, GT America, GR Cup, the Big Machine Spiked Cooler Trans Am TA2 Series, and Stadium SUPER Trucks along with some of the biggest names in entertainment. 

Tickets are still available for Sunday at www.musiccitygp.com/tickets, by calling (615) 270-8705 or via email at tickets@musiccitygp.com.

Tickets for the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix are digital, and all fans must adhere to the Nissan Stadium rules and regulations, including the clear bag policy.  For a complete list of FAQs on ticketing and race weekend policies, please visit www.musiccitygp.com.

# # #

[testormblog]

Lou Lou

By high school, I had grown into a confident lad with respect to the sweeter gender.  Mother had taken me to community dances from the age of seven.  By ten years old, I had mastered the steps to many ballroom dances.  By fourteen, I was sweeping young ladies off their feet.  Neither did they allow me to rest my feet.  Other local lads were clueless as to where they should put their feet and stepped on their partners’ toes.  Thus, when I walked through the high school’s gates, my eyes widened.  I saw attractive girls everywhere and soon realised many were smart.  Soon after, my election to House Captain guaranteed my popularity with them.

I had met Elizabeth, the pretty girl in my confirmation class, a few times to see movies together.  Though, I faded into her background afterwards.  She, being a couple years older, began to look for a marital prospect.  Alas, her little sister, Lou Lou, sought me out.  We were in the same year at high school.  She decided I’d be hers not her big sister’s.  She was prettier and more vibrant too.  Better yet, she possessed a rebellious streak.  Lou Lou ensnared me the moment I stared into her eyes.  Her lips curled into a saucy smile.  She knew she had won.

We thought we were the perfect match.  She and I were equally pegged in intelligence.  We were both born to local German families and shared the same religious faith.  What we didn’t expect was our families’ religious bigotry towards each other and our blossoming relationship.

Lou Lou’s parents were horrified she had hooked up with me.  Her father and uncle both served as church elders at local Lutheran churches.  Her family attended church services every Sunday whereas mine never did.  They were respectable people; my family wasn’t.  Between Dad’s irreligious weekend pursuits and his disreputable friendships along with Mother’s and my frequency at heathen dance halls, my morality was suspect.  My parents were deemed ignorant too.  They were barely capable of basic arithmetic.  Whereas Lou Lou’s Uncle Ernie was an educated man; he being the mathematics teacher at Beenleigh Primary.  Worse yet, this uncle and her aunt lived opposite us at Bethania and knew our comings and goings.  On the flipside, Lou Lou’s family home faced my aunt’s house in Beenleigh.  This led to her parents finding a reason to dislike my relative too.  To worsen the animosity, Ernie provoked me into a verbal brawl one day at Bethania Railway Station with false accusations about my bird enterprise.  These hurt me as I cared very much about my birds, their health and the cleanliness of their aviaries.

Despite our relationship being troublesome, we enjoyed its forbidden status.  We engineered apparently chance meetings to avoid suspicion.  We met up at the Brisbane Show away from local eyes.  We both belonged to Lutheran Youth and successfully escaped to the beach together for a few days under the guise of the annual camp at Coolum.  Afterward, we were eager for another escapade.  The Billy Graham Rally seemed a perfect opportunity for our subterfuge.  The irony of our duplicity made us laugh.

In 1959, the American Baptist evangelist, conducted a revival crusade around Australia to ‘save the youth’.  He was the religious equivalent of a charismatic rock star, who packed sports stadiums with naïve teenagers and filled them with hype.  In Brisbane, the local churches organised giant rallies by region and supplied bus transport to the Brisbane Exhibition Ground.  On our region’s designated night, about sixteen packed buses travelled from Beenleigh.  At the time, this was a considerable number of teenagers from the small rural area.

What a stage show!  Lou Lou and I squeezed between thousands of others to sit on the ground.  American gospel singers warmed up the crowd’s mood with their powerful voices.  We hadn’t heard music and songs like theirs before.  These captured our hearts and lifted our spirits.  Then, Billy Graham appeared on stage.  He glowed, probably with sweat.  His voice boomed from amplifiers all around us.  He delivered his sermon with theatrical frenzy.  He told us our souls would be eternally damned if we didn’t repent of our supposed sin and follow Christ’s teachings.  When the crowd’s hysteria reached its height, ushers appeared with milk buckets to extract cash from everybody.  At the sermon’s zenith, Graham called those attendees touched by God’s spirit to come forward and to pledge their lives to Christ.  Whilst I wasn’t caught up in the moment’s phrenzy, Lou Lou was.  I knew never to promise anything to anybody especially a preacher.  Still, I had to wait for Lou Lou to return from the long line of dedicatees.  Looking back, I’d wonder if these people would fulfil their pledges.

Unfortunately for Lou Lou and I, our damnation came the following day for not abiding by the teachings of another.  Our Form and Mathematics teacher, Mr Powell, had deliberately set us a compulsory assignment the prior day.  Of course, we hadn’t time to complete it.  Consequently, we suffered a severe reprimand in front of our class.  I suspected Mr Powell thought our relationship had become too intense and used the opportunity to make his opinion known.

We found meeting up at school socials problematic.  A few teachers had wised up to our ruses and had warned us to cool our relationship.  These warnings only warmed it up further.  One night after a school social, Mr Powell drove around Beenleigh searching for us.  Lou Lou and I evaded discovery by hiding in the shadow of a shop doorway.  This gave us such a thrill.

Soon after, we met up with another young couple for a double date.  After a night of just hanging out together, the other lad drove me home in his car in the wee hours of the morning.  My parents weren’t pleased!  They probably had received backlash that I was corrupting a church loving, god fearing girl; they perhaps realised the opposite was more likely true.

Both sets of parents put their feet firmly down.  Dad saw Lou Lou at Beenleigh Train Station and told her his thoughts quite bluntly.  He didn’t want her to ruin my future.

Our relationship waned then faltered after our junior exams.  Lou Lou started her senior studies at Salisbury High School.  Our flame briefly reignited then life sent us in different directions.  Lou Lou would never finish her studies and marry instead.  Sadly, she’d lose her husband young.  She’d marry again and end up with a blended tribe of multi-racial children, many adopted.  She’d keep her pledge and not inherit her family’s bigotry.

The irony of our relationship was that people’s perception of it didn’t equate to its reality.  It was driven by the excitement generated by our ruses.  Whilst I was enamoured with Lou Lou, I liked other girls too and still attended dances with my mother, much to Lou Lou’s disgust.  Hence, I never moved past holding her hand or kissing her.  If Lou Lou hadn’t been forbidden to enter a dance hall and had danced with me, our story may have ended differently.

[rebekah-beene]

North Georgia And Beyond

I’ve been watching some videos about the North Georgia Revival going on now. This morning I remember the Billy Graham Crusades of my childhood on tv. I loved to listen to the preaching, the singers and even watching the crowds walking to the altar at every event. Some in my family always made fun of those crusade programs. The North Georgia Revival is taking it to a next level. The pastor who…

[thehoneycombdailydevotional]

•●🍯THE HONEYCOMB🍯●•

✝oday's honey🌱

May 11, 2024

*Bilquis Sheik*

_Knights of the Kingdom Series_

🛐📈📈📈📈📈📈📈📈 🛐

Meet Bilquis Sheik; certainly an interesting name but her story is much more extraordinary. Born in 1912 to a high profile and elite Muslim family in northern Pakistan, she lived as a Muslim for the early part of her life. She married General Khalid (former Pakistani Interior minister) and was involved in politics and social work.

Following abandonment by her husband, she moved to the Himalayan mountains where she began living in discontent and depression. It was in these times that she decided to learn more from the Qur'an. In her readings, she noticed Jesus was mentioned several times. Her driver gave her a Bible which she read diligently. This sparked a desire to know the Lord. She began to have visions in which she encountered Christ. Eventually, she met a Christian Doctor who told her to speak to God like a Father, for God wanted to show her that He is a loving Father. She had never seen God as a Father before. This intimate knowing led to her conversion in December 1966.

After her conversion, her family abandoned her, friends labelled her a heretic. There were many threats upon her life even to the extent of her house being set on fire. She had to move to the United States. There, she began preaching in churches and praying to God. Her testimony was a great example and beacon to many. She shared her testimony at a Billy Graham crusade in Singapore with many in attendance. Her testimony led many to Christ and encouraged people from other faiths to be bold about the truth.

Her autobiography is titled "I dared call Him Father."

Bilquis Sheik died in 1997 having lived as the Lord's witness. Bilquis's life teaches us to be ready to risk our all for Christ.

Famous Quote: I dared call Him Father.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

THE HONEYCOMB©

Bless a life by sharing

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[logang777]

Billy Graham's 1957 New York Crusade Sermon at Yankee Stadium

[chrisshields18]

Billy Graham used the Bible as the basis for his revivals and ministry. 🗣️

During his crusades, he would immerse his audience in the Bible through sermons, banners, and music. Our newest “Personal Stories” exhibit will emulate this experience by immersing guests in the ways Billy Graham used the messages in the Bible to influence the world, reaching over 70 million people across the globe.

“Billy Graham’s Canvas Cathedral," opening April 19, will feature 32 artifacts spanning the 60 years of Billy Graham’s ministry. Explore more at https://bit.ly/43itK0v.

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

by Grace Pike | Charles Haddon Spurgeon treasured this “precious hymn” written by Charlotte Elliott. Well-known for its use in the Billy Graham Crusades, “Just As I Am” is one of many hymns composed by Elliott. With ten hymns included in Spurgeon’s “Our Own Hymn Book,” hers is one of the most represented female voices in the compilation. In addition to savoring and sharing her hymns, Spurgeon once used the story of Elliott’s conversion in one of his sermons at the Metropolitan Tabernacle as an illustration of God’s providence. But who was this woman…

[tmarshconnors]

"Christianity is not a white man's religion. And don't ever let anybody tell you that it's white or black. Christ belongs to all people! He belongs to the whole world!"

November 7, 1918

Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S.Died

February 21, 2018 (aged 99) Montreat, North Carolina, U.S.

Billy Graham was a significant figure in American religious history. Here are five facts about him:

Global Evangelist: Billy Graham was one of the most prominent Christian evangelists of the 20th century, known for his powerful preaching and ability to reach large audiences worldwide. He held numerous crusades in countries around the globe, including the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and many others.

Adviser to Presidents: Graham served as a spiritual adviser to several U.S. presidents, offering them counsel and prayer. He was particularly close to Presidents Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard Nixon. His influence extended beyond religious matters to political and social issues.

Founder of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA): In 1950, Graham founded the BGEA, an organization dedicated to spreading the Christian message through various means, including crusades, television, radio, and publications. The BGEA continues to operate today, promoting evangelism and discipleship worldwide.

Author and Speaker: Graham authored numerous books on Christian living, faith, and spirituality. His writings reached millions of readers globally and continue to inspire people with his message of hope and salvation. Additionally, he was a sought-after speaker at conferences, universities, and churches, where he shared his insights on Christianity and contemporary issues.

Interfaith Bridge Builder: While firmly rooted in his Christian beliefs, Graham was known for his efforts to foster dialogue and understanding between different religious groups. He met with leaders from various faith traditions, including Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism, to promote peace and cooperation. Despite theological differences, he emphasized the importance of mutual respect and cooperation for the greater good.

[wutbju]

The cruelty is the point, friends. Never forget that.

A colleague at Furman said to me yesterday, "It's so obvious that this whole thing at BJU is being cooked up in Bob Jones III's living room."

I couldn't agree more.

This is no different, my dear friends, than what happened in 1957. Do you know the story?

Billy Graham attended Bob Jones College in Tennessee. He hated it. Too many rules.

He left and attended Florida Bible Institute. When he left Bob Jones, Sr. yelled at him and said that he'd never amount to anything.

But eventually, BJU claimed him and bragged on him as their own. They were all cozy.

Until 1953.

In 1953 at his Chattanooga Crusade, Billy Graham personally and physically pulled down the ropes racially segregating his audience. He told two ushers, “either these ropes stay down or you can go on and have the revival without me.” The head usher resigned in protest, and the Chattanooga papers were silent on the matter.

Throughout the following weeks, Graham downplayed the move, but the ropes never returned for that Crusade. Within three years, President Eisenhower would ask Graham to convince Southern clergy to soften their ecclesiastical segregationism.

In February 1956, Graham was the leading story on the front page of the fundamentalist Sword of the Lord, with a passionate defense of him from editor John R. Rice. Graham sat on the Sword “cooperating board” with a Who’s-Who list of fundamentalist power players: Richard Clearwaters, M. R. Dehaan, Bob and Jack Shuler, Pat and Bernie Zondervan, and both Joneses. Only 20% of the twenty board members were from South of the Mason-Dixon line.

But by July 1956, Graham was off the Sword, condemned for being too “worldly” and too “inoffensive” and was starting his own publication with Carl F. H. Henry, Christianity Today. A year later, Graham had Martin Luther King, Jr. open a New York City crusade event in prayer.

And it was all over at that point. That's when BJU, inc. "separated" from Billy Graham. BJU alone coded "segregation" as "separation." Do you get what that means?

We were sold a bill of goods by the Bob Jones family. When we were told to "separate" from evangelicals, underlying that story was racial segregation. It's a white supremacist story we were told, all cloaked in religious language. It was never religious. It was never about separation. It was always about miscegenation.

And the vitriol Bob Jones, Sr. and Bob Jones, Jr. spewed at Billy Graham in this time is astonishing. I have 209 documents from just 1957 related to BJU and Billy Graham, and I don't know where to start for this brief overview. Look at what a current BJU student said in March 1957 -- right after Bible Conference:

Dear Fellow Students:

You and I know that the situation here in Bob Jones University is unbelievable. Our parents do not know it or they would not have sent us here.

Instead of a Christian institution where we are taught to love God, His Word and His people, we are being fed on hate and misrepresentation day after day. We are being brainwashed and you know it. We cannot think our own thoughts or make our own decisions. We cannot even pray fora a Christian leader like Billy Graham whom God is using so much.

The so-called "Bible Conference" was mostly one prolonged smear campaign against Billy Graham. Some of the speakers said things they knew were untrue and we knew it too.

The student attached an article from Bob Jones, Jr. about Billy Graham. I've got the whole thing, of course, but just look how it starts:

A San Francisco Telecast of Liberal Opinion on the Forthcoming Graham Crusade

By Bob Jones, Jr.

Bible-believing Christians who condone Billy Graham's unscriptural modernistic sponsorship should have their eyes opened as to the true facts in regard to the Billy Graham can1paigns by an article which appeared in the OAKLAND TRIBUNE on Tuesday, December 17, 1957.

These same gullible Bible-believing fundamental Christians, strangely enough, seem to have been as deaf to Dr. Graham's innuendos and jibes at Fundamentalists as they have been blind to his fawning attitude toward modernists, infidels, and Unitarians. Slowly but surely these folks are becoming less gullible and the scales have fallen from the eyes of many. This article should increase that number.

Bob Jones, Jr. is petulant and ugly in just these first paragraphs -- cruel to his fellow Christians. He's name-calling. He's angry.

Let's be blunt. He's acting like a malignant narcissist. And the family business lets him rule the roost just like it did with Senior. It's a family trait.

III is acting exactly the same right now. All you Boomer and Gen-X BJU graduates, you remember how Third would have tantrums. Lots of us in the Fine Arts department, at least, have been the recipient of those tantrums. Remember them? Remember how you'd sweat and break out into hives? Remember how small you felt? Remember how you were numb for days after (a sign of trauma, my friends)?

You've probably blocked it. But you need to remember it.

That rage is documented as part of a personality disorder. History proves that Senior did it. Junior did it. You see it up above. And many of us were the target when III did it. You know that.

The entire organization of Bob Jones University for the last century is built on this rage. This irrational, frightening, brutal rage is what fuels Bob Jones University. You cannot detach BJU from this megalomania. You can't.

So if Pettit has been the recipient of that rage from Bob Jones III and his toady John Lewis, why are you surprised? You were too. Why are you defending Pettit now when he has profited off this rage for his entire public career?

I know why. Fundamentalism loves powerful men, and we were taught to defer to those powerful men. So when an affable Pettit says, "THEY ARE RAGING AT ME!" (and no doubt they are), we good little fundies all run to his defense because he's a powerful man too.

But when a sexual assault victim says, "Chuck Phelps put me up for church discipline!" what do we do? When a 300-page document says, "Jim Berg did not follow the law for mandatory reporting," what do we do? When Bob Jones III rages at us, what do we do?

Stop doing that. Wake up.

The cruelty is the point at Bob Jones University. It always has been. Face it, friends.

[carolap53]

Filled with the Holy Spirit

TGIF Today God Is First Volume 2 by Os Hillman

02/27/2024

Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord-Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here-has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit"(Acts 9:1). Billy Graham, the great evangelist, shared a personal story about the role of the Holy Spirit in his life-long ministry and how he came to see the importance of being filled with the Holy Spirit.

"In my own life there have been times when I have also had the sense of being filled with the Spirit, knowing that some special strength was added for some task I was being called to perform. We sailed for England in 1954 for a crusade that was to last for three months. While on the ship, I experienced a definite sense of oppression. Satan seemed to have assembled a formidable array of his artillery against me. Not only was I oppressed, I was overtaken by a sense of depression, accomplished by a frightening feeling of inadequacy for the task that lay ahead. Almost night and day I prayed. I knew in a new way what Paul was telling us when he spoke about "praying without ceasing." Then one day in a prayer meeting with my wife and colleagues, a break came. As I wept before the Lord, I was filled with deep assurance that power belonged to God and He was faithful. I had been baptized by the Spirit into the Body of Christ when I was saved, but I believe God gave me a special anointing on the way to England. From that moment on I was confident that God the Holy Sprit was in control for the tasks that lay ahead. That proved true."[1]

As a believer, God has provided the Holy Spirit for you and I so that we can experience the power of the gospel that allows us to live the Christian life. Today, if you have not done so, invite the Holy Spirit to fill your life to overflowing so that you can be a witness in your workplace, city and nation.