The following are two posts from much earlier this year....of two men used mightily of God....two men who along with preaching the glories of Jesus Christ and His wondrous Gospel....warned America every bit as much as Jeremiah and Ezekiel warned the children of Israel. Both are with their Lord now....R. C. Sproul passing on to glory last December and Billy Graham following him in February of this year. That fact alone....that these two men completed their missions.....should give Christians great pause as to why God took them at roughly the same time.
R. C. Sproul was a pastor/teacher/theologian whose influence on the church in America was up there with that of George Whitefield or Jonathan Edwards or Billy Graham. His ability to explain and expound upon the great doctrines of the Bible was surely a God given blessing to all of us.
He was a Pittsburger. I say 'Pittsburgher' rather than just 'born in Pittsburgh' because Western Pennsylvanians are almost a breed unto themselves. Let me give you an example. In all of the history of major league baseball you will not find a more uplifting or heartwarming season than that of 1979. The family atmosphere of that Pirate season was pure Pittsburgh.....it effected the the players.....and the fans....and even reached out into the nation.
R. C. Sproul's personality was formed on these streets that did not have the hustle-bustle of a Manhattan or the quirkiness of Califormia. There was no uppityness here....no great mountains to take our attention away....and no summer surf for outsiders to flock to....on the whole just a friendly and fair people....but it does have history. My father was raised smack dab on a battlefield where God gave rise to a young George Washington.....and yet hardly anyone even knew the importance of the Battle of the Monongahela.
These streets are where God also gave rise to a man who would start a ministry that would restore in American Christianity the knowledge of the holiness of God. If you doubt what I say then go and listen to some of the audio on R. C. Sproul's teaching ministry. It's all there. All you have to do is touch a few keys on your keyboard.....ligonier.com. Go there now and hear for yourself!
And then there was Billy Graham:
If you know even a little bit of the life of Billy Graham you have heard of the two-word phrase....."Puff Graham." Just as God had prepared Cyrus the Great to give an edict for the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem.....he prepared William Randolph Hearst....in the middle of that famous 1949 Los Angeles crusade....to give that two-word directive to all of his newspapers. 'Puff Graham' meant to put him on the front pages.....to build him up.....for Hearst knew a good story when he saw one.....God had made sure of that!
The ultimate result of making this young preacher from North Carolina an instant celebrity was that for the next almost six decades Americans could not go very long without coming across a Billy Graham crusade on their television sets. God was out of our public schools but the evangelistic message given by Billy Graham permeated our life through the television. While flipping channels from Peter Gunn to the Danny Thomas Show in 1959, or from Lawrence Welk to Green Acres in 1969, or from Threes Company to Hawaii Five-O in 1979, or from Twin Peaks to Cheers in 1989, or Frazier to Family Guy in 1999, one might very well come to a crusade....and be drawn....if even for a minute or so....to those powerful words spoken in a strong southern drawl....."Come foreword.....your friends will wait for you.....commit your life to Jesus Christ!
The Reverend Graham was very well-known for his friendships with US Presidents. I have a feeling that this might not be what he was most thankful for as he looked back upon his ministry....a ministry that seemed to change somewhat after Richard Nixon. He wrote these humble words in his last book....Where I am...."I wish I had preached more on the Resurrection of Christ because without it, there would be no Gospel."
This is my opinion.....my observation......that Billy Graham's ministry became more intense in the 1980s concerning God's warnings to America and to the entire world. One book reviewer even lamented that the Reverend Graham's books took on a much more serious tone the longer that he lived. The 'friend to presidents' many times became the 'sinners in the hands of an angry God' preacher. Indeed the introductory chapter of that last and finest book of his....Where I Am.....implored of the reader to consider that there is a hell....and that God is not mocked....and that we must receive Him....on His terms!
We no longer have Billy Graham's crusades on television.....we no longer have God in our schools.....and we no longer have Christian bookstores everywhere. Billy Graham and R. C. Sproul have both gone on to be with their Lord and Savior.....and both men.....once again from my observations..... felt an increasingly extreme urgency at the end of their lives to proclaim that Jesus Christ was returning in power and glory.....and judgment.
R. C. Sproul was a pastor/teacher/theologian whose influence on the church in America was up there with that of George Whitefield or Jonathan Edwards or Billy Graham. His ability to explain and expound upon the great doctrines of the Bible was surely a God given blessing to all of us.
He was a Pittsburger. I say 'Pittsburgher' rather than just 'born in Pittsburgh' because Western Pennsylvanians are almost a breed unto themselves. Let me give you an example. In all of the history of major league baseball you will not find a more uplifting or heartwarming season than that of 1979. The family atmosphere of that Pirate season was pure Pittsburgh.....it effected the the players.....and the fans....and even reached out into the nation.
R. C. Sproul's personality was formed on these streets that did not have the hustle-bustle of a Manhattan or the quirkiness of Califormia. There was no uppityness here....no great mountains to take our attention away....and no summer surf for outsiders to flock to....on the whole just a friendly and fair people....but it does have history. My father was raised smack dab on a battlefield where God gave rise to a young George Washington.....and yet hardly anyone even knew the importance of the Battle of the Monongahela.
These streets are where God also gave rise to a man who would start a ministry that would restore in American Christianity the knowledge of the holiness of God. If you doubt what I say then go and listen to some of the audio on R. C. Sproul's teaching ministry. It's all there. All you have to do is touch a few keys on your keyboard.....ligonier.com. Go there now and hear for yourself!
And then there was Billy Graham:
If you know even a little bit of the life of Billy Graham you have heard of the two-word phrase....."Puff Graham." Just as God had prepared Cyrus the Great to give an edict for the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem.....he prepared William Randolph Hearst....in the middle of that famous 1949 Los Angeles crusade....to give that two-word directive to all of his newspapers. 'Puff Graham' meant to put him on the front pages.....to build him up.....for Hearst knew a good story when he saw one.....God had made sure of that!
The ultimate result of making this young preacher from North Carolina an instant celebrity was that for the next almost six decades Americans could not go very long without coming across a Billy Graham crusade on their television sets. God was out of our public schools but the evangelistic message given by Billy Graham permeated our life through the television. While flipping channels from Peter Gunn to the Danny Thomas Show in 1959, or from Lawrence Welk to Green Acres in 1969, or from Threes Company to Hawaii Five-O in 1979, or from Twin Peaks to Cheers in 1989, or Frazier to Family Guy in 1999, one might very well come to a crusade....and be drawn....if even for a minute or so....to those powerful words spoken in a strong southern drawl....."Come foreword.....your friends will wait for you.....commit your life to Jesus Christ!
The Reverend Graham was very well-known for his friendships with US Presidents. I have a feeling that this might not be what he was most thankful for as he looked back upon his ministry....a ministry that seemed to change somewhat after Richard Nixon. He wrote these humble words in his last book....Where I am...."I wish I had preached more on the Resurrection of Christ because without it, there would be no Gospel."
This is my opinion.....my observation......that Billy Graham's ministry became more intense in the 1980s concerning God's warnings to America and to the entire world. One book reviewer even lamented that the Reverend Graham's books took on a much more serious tone the longer that he lived. The 'friend to presidents' many times became the 'sinners in the hands of an angry God' preacher. Indeed the introductory chapter of that last and finest book of his....Where I Am.....implored of the reader to consider that there is a hell....and that God is not mocked....and that we must receive Him....on His terms!
We no longer have Billy Graham's crusades on television.....we no longer have God in our schools.....and we no longer have Christian bookstores everywhere. Billy Graham and R. C. Sproul have both gone on to be with their Lord and Savior.....and both men.....once again from my observations..... felt an increasingly extreme urgency at the end of their lives to proclaim that Jesus Christ was returning in power and glory.....and judgment.
