Ruth Bell Graham has gone into a coma. According to reports, they are not expecting her to survive. It is interesting how much the last 12 months have provided to the many leaders of evangelical Christianity. D. James Kennedy has not recovered from a heart attack and remains in poor condition, Jerry Falwell went to be with his Lord, and now Mrs. Graham is not doing well. It will be interesting to see who rises as the next generation of evangelical leaders.A humorous story that is retold in Billy Graham's biography from about 10 years ago tells the story of Mrs. Graham being asked to be 'baptised' by some of the Baptist brothers. Mrs. Graham always refused to be re-baptized because she has always been a proud Associate Reformed Presbyterian!
Pray for her and her family in this trying hour.
10 comments:
We can only hope that the next generation of 'evangelical' 'leaders' aren't as pathetic as Kennedy, Falwell and Graham. These guys are about as great for our faith as the Bishop of Rome. From the looks of it, weasels like Joel Osteen are ready to take over. Oh joy, oh rapture.
Thanks for posting this, I'd missed the story. I'll certainly be praying for the Grahams.
Is James Kennedy still in GR? I'd heard he was in one of the local hospitals, but that was ages ago.
I never heard that before! What was your source Mark??
My folks saw it in the paper or something, and I think it was on the Coral Ridge website. I believe he was at St. Mary's, but I'm not 100% sure.
I exerted myself a bit and actually checked the Coral Ridge site, and they say he's back home now. He's still in rehab, but apparently doing better.
Is it right to say this is something of note to call to mind God-granted faithfulness or is it to mourn the end of all men as well as a life wasted in all the theological grief the husband has caused?
"Mrs. Graham always refused to be re-baptized because she has always been a proud Associate Reformed Presbyterian!"
Billy once was a Presbyterian too. So much for that...
Out of a charitable curiousity, I wonder if Billy and Ruth got married before Billy went SBC?
Ought we extol Billy in the same manner as he who has Finney's picture in a position of honor in one of his buildings?
I puzzle over what to pray in regards to this.
I never said to pray that Billy's theology becomes more prominent or that Ruth abandons whatever is left of her faithfulness to Presbyterianism, but only pray for her as she will soon pass into eternity and her family in this difficult time.
There is much to become irritated over in the life of the Grahams and the whole Crusade thing; but there are also commendable points as well.
Pray that she dies well.
What commendable points? So far as I can tell, these people have done nothing for the faith but water down the message and embarrass the faithful. The left-wing, anti-Christian media loves Billy Graham, which ought to tell us something about him.
First of all, as regards D. James Kennedy, he spent several months in rehab at Mary Free Bed. He is now recovering at home in Florida. http://www.coralridge.org/
As regards the Grahams, we may well not agree with every point of their theology, but I don't agree with everything I read here, either. For crying out loud, "head scratcher" (you too, Steve) - stop scratching body parts and start reading your Bible!!! We are COMMANDED to love each other! Can you not find it in your heart to love? The Grahams are NOT the enemy; they are our brothers and sisters in Christ. Pray for them as you would anyone in the body of Christ who is walking through the valley. When it comes time for judgments, God will not need your help. May God have mercy on them, on you, and on me.
And another thing... :-)
I recently read an article by Andree Seu (World magazine) about John Frame's rules for writing and I truly think its time to apply this to the blogging world. He keeps a list of the fruits of the Spirit next to him when writing and tries to make sure that his words don't contradict what he professes by checking himself against them. For example, is what I just wrote loving, is it kind, does it exhibit self-control, etc.? When we, as Christians, write public things such as blogs, we should take heed that we represent Christ well, or we ourselves could very well be the ones "embarrassing the faithful."
I believe, despite BG's Arminian theology, that his desire to live uprightly before all men for the sake of Christ and the Gospel is quite commendable. He NEVER entered an elevator alone with a woman who was not his wife because he did not want an accusation to mar the name of Christ.
That in itself is walking more uprightly than I usually do.
May Christ strengthen us all to be that concerned with His honor.
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