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Sunday, April 24, 2016

How Billy Graham became an American icon

The following article was written by Molly Worthen, a freelance writer and contributor for CNN's Belief Blog.

How Billy Graham became an American icon
Opinion by Molly Worthen, special to CNN

(CNN) - Under ordinary circumstances, Donald Trump and Rupert Murdoch are probably not in the habit of attending the birthday parties of elderly Christian preachers in the North Carolina mountains.

But they were both among the hundreds of well-wishers at the party on Thursday marking Billy Graham’s 95th birthday.

Graham spent his career leading revivals around the globe, following a long tradition of evangelists who have traveled far and wide to urge sinners to accept Christ. But his birthday guest list shows that he is no ordinary preacher. He is a cultural icon, the most famous face of traditional Protestant Christianity.

“We need Billy Graham's message to be heard, I think, today more than ever," former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin told the crowd.

What, exactly, is that message—and what accounts for its mass appeal? Now that Billy is 95, I wonder: is there anyone who can fill his shoes?

Graham rose to success in the God-fearing years of the early Cold War. In 1949, the year of Graham’s first big revival in Los Angeles, President Harry Truman told Americans that “the basic source of our strength as a nation is spiritual. ... Religious faith and religious work must be our reliance as we strive to fulfill our destiny in the world.”

Five years later, Congress added the words “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance. By the end of the decade, 65% of Americans belonged to a religious institution, and 90% told pollsters they believed in God and the power of prayer: they were ready to hearken to Graham’s call.

Tall, handsome, “like Gabriel in a gabardine suit” according to Time magazine, Graham appealed to Americans’ hunger for spiritual direction.

His sermons contained just the right mix of patriotism and reproof. He urged Americans to stand strong against “godless communism” but also criticized American hubris.

“We have an idea that we Americans are God's chosen people, that God loves us more than any other people, and that we are God's blessed,” he told an audience in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1958. “I tell you that God doesn't love us any more than He does the Russians.”

Graham urged his listeners to acknowledge their sins and embrace Christ; to quit making excuses and go to church. But he abandoned the strict fundamentalism of his youth for a less doctrinaire theology.

His crusades mobilized hundreds of volunteers from local churches—not just evangelical churches, but liberal Protestant and Roman Catholic parishes as well.

Graham had plenty of theological quarrels with these collaborators.

He accepted the assistance of New York Catholics during his crusade there in 1957, but three years later he helped organize Protestant ministers to oppose John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign.

However, when it came to evangelism, he was a broad-minded pragmatist - outraging hard-line fundamentalists, who demanded strict separation from other Christians.

He replied to his critics: “The one badge of Christian discipleship is not orthodoxy but love. Christians are not limited to any church. The only question is: are you committed to Christ?"

One member of Graham’s circle coined the term “neo-evangelical” to describe this attitude. They were all conservative evangelicals who had left fundamentalism to lead a revival of both the soul and the mind. They formed the National Association of Evangelicals to unite conservative Protestants. In 1956 they founded the magazine Christianity Today, an “evangelical, theologically oriented” alternative to liberal periodicals, Graham wrote.

Secular journalists quoted Graham as a capable spokesman for the evangelical point of view. Graham’s visits to the White House gave the impression that he was a Protestant pope, possessing Christian wisdom and a valuable imprimatur. Graham seemed to represent an American evangelical consensus.

But from the beginning, this consensus was more apparent than real.

Far more conservative Protestants stayed out of the National Association of Evangelicals than joined up. They thought of themselves as Baptists or Mennonites first, and “evangelical” second, if at all.

Some evangelicals rejected the idea that Christians must experience the radical “born-again experience” at the heart of Graham’s crusades: they believed that conversion is sometimes slow and incremental. Others objected to the conservative politics of Graham and his colleagues.

I have spent the past few years researching the stories of these different evangelical communities, ranging from pacifist Mennonites to tongues-speaking Pentecostals. I found that even if they disagreed with Billy Graham, they had no choice but to take him seriously.

They often defined their own beliefs against his ministry. Graham and other neo-evangelicals helped other Christians understand themselves more clearly. As a result, the fissures and tensions that have always divided the evangelical world are deeper than ever.

Billy Graham has no successor.

In today’s age of fragmented evangelicalism and social media-savvy churches, there is no individual who can represent American evangelicalism to the world. Every believer has his own favorite Christian blog, her own like-minded Twitter network. And evangelicalism’s golden age seems to be ending. The biggest denominations, booming during the height of Graham’s career, are now stagnating or losing members.   

Graham’s career ranged well beyond American shores, and conservative Protestantism is flourishing in the Global South. Some evangelists there command crowds that rival or exceed Graham’s biggest crusades. For more than 50 years, the German evangelist Reinhard Bonnke has preached throughout Africa to audiences that range in the hundreds of thousands.

But evangelists making their careers in non-Western societies face different challenges than Graham did. They are trying to reach people who worry not about the threat of secular liberalism, but the fate of their unbaptized ancestors or witchcraft in their villages. In the Global South, the label “evangelical” implies similarities to American religion that don’t exist.

Billy Graham may be an icon of an era that has passed, a Christian coalition that was never as harmonious as it seemed.

His own message, however, remains the same. In his message on Thursday —perhaps his final sermon — he warned that “our country is in great need of a spiritual awakening.”

[Molly Worthen is an assistant professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the author of "Apostles of Reason: The Crisis of Authority in American Evangelicalism."]


Thursday, April 14, 2016

Who's ? Right on YouTube


Who's ? Right has recently began creating documentary videos [on various subjects] on their YouTube Channel and would like to invite the readers of the Who's ? Right Blog to view these interesting docu-vids, which approaches each subject from different perspectives.

In keeping with the format of the Who's ? Right Blog, the various YouTube videos will include recorded programs that mainly cover the topics of Religions & the End Times, with an emphasis being placed upon the prophecies of the Biblical Prophets in the some of the docu-vids. 

Please feel free to subscribe to the Who's ? Right Channel on YouTube to keep up-to-date on future documentaries.

The following docu-vids are some of the videos that have already been created, produced and published on YouTube:

Nostradamus: The Man and His Prophecies

The following documentary takes a look at the life & prophecies of the famous  renowned prophet of the 16th century A.D.

Strange Heavenly Signs Occurring Around Israel and Jerusalem

Since 2011, strange and unexplained events have been occurring around Israel, and Jerusalem in particular. From 2011-2015, the phenomenal occurrences were few and far between; since 2016 the activity of the unknown has definitely increased. The following video examines and features some of these odd incidences occurring.

Seven Churches of Revelation

The following documentary takes a look at the Seven Churches [of Revelation] and their meaning in the Book of Revelation.

 
Dividing Israel

The following documentary draws a parallel between biblical prophecy and current events surrounding Israel and the UN Peace Conference [held in Paris] which occurred on Jan. 15, 2017.

Countdown to Armageddon

The following documentary takes a look at the biblical prophecies of the ancient prophets and how they correlate with "End Times" events in our modern world. 

Comparisons of World Religions 

The following video compares the various religions around the world in the
21st century.

Jesus' Disciples - What Happened to Them?

The following video examines the fates of Jesus' Twelve (12) Disciples.



Sunday, April 3, 2016

Joel C. Rosenberg: Biblical Prophecy and Russia

Russia's New Alliance: Biblical Prophecy Coming to Life?
10-04-2015 CBN News

Many Christians believe Russia plays a major role in biblical prophecy about the end times.

CBN News spoke by phone with best-selling author Joel Rosenberg about Russia's big move into the Middle East and what it might mean for Israel.

Rosenberg refers to the book of Ezekiel and prophecies that involve an alliance of Russia, Syria, and Iran all aligned against Israel.

He told CBN News that for the first time in 2,500 years that scenario is a reality. He is quick, however, to downplay whether biblical prophecy is in fact being fulfilled with these recent developments.

He also blamed the Obama administration for leaving a huge vacuum in the Middle East, which has allowed Russia to move in.

Rosenberg had much more to say about the future of Israel and how Christians can stand up for the Jewish state. Click play to listen to the entire interview.


Russia's New Alliance: Biblical Prophecy Coming to Life? (Joel Rosenberg)


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Where Are We on the End Times Timetable?
01-01-2016 CBN News
JERUSALEM, Israel -- The recent Russian moves in Syria have many Christians asking, "Where are we in God's End Times timetable?"

CBN Middle East Bureau Chief Chris Mitchell discussed the issue with author and Middle East expert Joel Rosenberg in Jerusalem this week. 

Click play to hear what Rosenberg told us about the book of Ezekiel, how world leaders are reacting to events in light of the Bible, and how Christians should be looking at seeming apocalyptic scenarios.

*Originally published Nov. 6, 2015.


Where Are We on the End Times Timetable? (Joel Rosenberg)


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Where Are We on the End Times Timetable?
01-05-2016  Jessilyn Justice (Charisma News)

Joel C. Rosenberg talks about Russia's military action in Syria. (CBN)

The presence of Russia in Syria reverberates end-times prophecies, says author Joel C. Rosenberg, and much of that lays at the feet of the Americans. 

"We are watching a catastrophic capitulation by the American government in the Middle East," Rosenberg says. "It was bedrock U.S. foreign policy for six, seven decades to keep the Russians out of the Middle East. Yet President Obama and his administration have surrendered—surrendered. We have withdrawn, we have surrendered, we have ceded the playing field to Vladimir Putin, who is a czar rising." 

Putin's military freedom "just a few miles north of Israel" has devastating consequences for the region. Rosenberg draws parallels between Russia's military action and the foretold war of Gog and Magog in Ezekiel.


Is Russia Fulfilling Prophecy in Syria? (Joel Rosenberg)


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Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog - With Russian & Iranian forces now engaged in combat in Syria, people are asking, “What is the War of Gog & Magog?” Here’s the answer.