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Redemption of a Rebel: The Franklin Graham Story

We hear much of Franklin Graham, known widely as chairman of Samaritan’s Purse, and a major figure in the recovery operation at nearly every national disaster, but what is amazing is that Graham’s international stature almost never came to be.

With Billy Graham away from home much of the time, Franklin’s childhood antics degenerated into teenage rebellion. He wanted to “have fun,” to live his life in the fast lane, and he did so with gusto. Whether sharing a beer with his girlfriends, piloting a plane or riding his motorcycle, Graham was out to have a good time.

Things finally came to a head in a meeting he had with his father during a trip to Switzerland. Billy Graham pulled no punches. “I want you to know that your mother and I sense there is a struggle for the soul of your life, and you will have to make a choice.” Not too long after that conversation, in a hotel room in Jerusalem, Graham surrendered his life to Jesus Christ. Not only did it change the course of his life, but it set in motion a series of events that have impacted millions around the world.

Dr. Bob Pierce, the founder of Samaritan’s Purse, later invited Graham to join him in a six-week tour of Asia. It was a trip that was to have far-reaching consequences, for it was on tour that Graham decided this was to be his life’s calling. He became chairman of Samaritan’s Purse in 1979 following Dr. Pierce’s death, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Franklin Graham’s story is evidence again that life without God, which seems so attractive at first, will eventually be empty and unrewarding.

Even as I write, Fox News is telling of the tragic death of Ashley Mattingly, a 33-year-old former Playboy Playmate. According to family members, she took her own life. Like Ernest Hemingway, Abbie Hoffman, and Robin Williams, Ashley was just one among many who have discovered that life without God, even for those who seem to enjoy the best the world has to offer, is nothing like they had hoped.

A man can ignore his conscience and live his life in the fast lane but, eventually, he discovers that irrefutable law of life: we all “reap what we sow.” And there are no exceptions. We are all the product of our past, conditioned by the choices we have made. Within just a few years, we are all going to pass into eternity. And no one will ask you, “How well did you live.” The question will be, “What did you do with Jesus Christ?”

“And how can I know the truth in all of this?” you may ask. There are too many voices, too many religious alternatives, too many who claim to have a corner on reality.” This is especially confusing if someone you respect has taken an alternative view. I understand your dilemma and, therefore, invite you to check it out for yourself. Read your Bible; the answers are there.

God, I can assure you, wants to do something special in your life. If you will approach Him with an open heart, you, too, can discover what Franklin Graham found that red-letter day in Jerusalem: the best life has to offer begins with Jesus Christ.

DEFEATED … BUT NOT DOWN

On September 2, 1945, aboard the USS Missouri anchored in Tokyo Bay, Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signed the document known as the Instrument of Surrender on behalf of the Japanese government. With the stroke of a pen, World War II was, effectively, brought to an end.

The final days of World War II had been devastating to the Japanese people. In the bombing of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, ninety percent of the city was destroyed, with an estimated 80,000 people killed instantly. And then, following the bombing of Nagasaki three days later, Japanese Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s unconditional surrender on Aug. 15, 1945. It marked the end of hostilities, but for America, the battle was far from over.

For the next seven years, without obligation but with a sense of humanitarian concern, the United States “invaded” Japan, not with bombs and guns, but with a helping hand. Under the direction of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, sweeping social reforms were implemented and the Japanese constitution was substantially rewritten. Despite suffering devastating casualties at each other’s hands, Japan and the United States were able to forge strong diplomatic and economic ties that stand to this day.

Despite hostilities that dated back to the devastation at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, America became the prime mover toward rebuilding and restoring the Japanese people to the place of prominence and respect they enjoy today. Without the oversight of the Allied powers, they would have never have developed the democratic self-government, economic stability, and peaceful co-existence that is their strength today.

For many of us, World War II is an apt picture of our relationship with Jesus Christ. From our earliest days, we have been at war with God, demanding our own way and living as we please. Created with a free will, we have often chosen to do, not what we knew to be right, but that which was convenient.

We soon discovered, however, that life apart from God is no walk in the park. Sin is a terrible taskmaster. We resist surrender to the divine will, certain we are going to be in the hands of a tyrant. But to the contrary, when we finally “sue for peace,” when we sign our own “Instrument of Surrender,” we find that living for God turns out to be the best thing that ever happened to us.

The Apostle Paul put it this way. “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” God doesn’t just forgive; He reconstructs. Debilitating drives, devastating habits, and a self-centered life-style are slowly replaced with a new set of values and new interests. Becoming a Christian is more than a change of belief; it heralds a change of character. Fundamental restructuring takes place. In the words of the New Testament, “If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things become new.”

It is difficult for those who have not invited Jesus Christ to be the Lord of their lives to believe what I am writing is little more than hype. But this is more than just another slick promotion; it reflects what happens in the life of every believer. Almost without exception, every Christian will tell you that knowing Jesus Christ has given us a quality of life we could have found in no other way.

For more thoughts like these, follow me at indefenseoftruth.net.

WHEN GOD IS NO LONGER NEEDED

In an effort to start a new church, I was canvassing door to door in my neighborhood inviting anyone who would talk to me to visit us and at least see what we were all about.

A well-dressed gentleman answered the door and it was evident he was about to leave for work. When I stated why I was there, he said, “To be honest, Mr. Scott, I don’t need God. I have a lovely home, a good job, a fine family. What do I need God for?” Somewhat taken aback, I thought a moment and then responded. ‘Mr.,” I said, “I submit that within 50 years you are going to change your tune!” “Fifty years?” he replied. “I won’t be here then.” “Precisely!” I said, and walked away.

The man wasn’t being unkind; he was merely being honest. Along this same line, I once asked one of my close friends if he ever gave God any thought. “No. Not at all!” Gravely ill and, like all of us, facing certain death, the God he will soon meet has no place in his thinking. How can that be?

First of all, unless one takes the time to read and give thought to Jesus Christ, His world view, His philosophy of life, and the message He preached, it will be difficult to think in terms of God and eternity with any degree of certainty. The easy way out, of course, is to give God no thought at all. To be free of all constraints, able to do what we want. But that doesn’t change the truth; ignoring reality changes nothing.

And, secondly, belief in God and submission to His authority is too confining to many. To discover there is a God, and to surrender to His will really cramps our style! The convenient way out is simply to ignore Him.

Atheist Philosopher Thomas Nagel, in his book, The Last Word (as quoted by Timothy Keller in Preaching, p. 82), is honest enough to admit, “It isn’t that I don’t believe in God and naturally, hope that I’m right in my belief. It’s that I hope there is no God! I don’t want there to be a God; I don’t want the universe to be like that.”

And that, I believe, is the real issue. Whatever our world view, whatever our religious convictions, whatever our life-style, it is tempting to opt out for a belief system that leaves us free to do our own thing. Surrendering our freedom, even to God, is not to be taken lightly.

The kicker, however, is that not a one of us is truly free. Writing in Out of the Saltshaker, Rebecca Pippert notes, “Whatever controls us is our god – even if we hate it. … We do not control ourselves. We are controlled by the lord of our life. … Jesus always preserves our freedom. … [He] will not control us in the wrong way. …There are problems in this issue of control. Either we are controlled by the wrong thing or we try to control Jesus by limiting him to our terms. Jesus will accept our faith, but he will never accept our controls. … He knows he is the only one in the universe who can control us without destroying us (pages 52, 53, 54).

You want to talk about it? I would be honored, so hit me up at [email protected]

THERE IS A DIFFERENCE

The city of Cusco was but a small Peruvian town in 1949, but to this 10-year-old lad, the son of missionary parents, it was home. Far from being the tourist mecca it has become today, it was a typical Andean city of some 60,000 residents, with one short, gravel runway, only one Hotel we could recommend, and no restaurants of note. The streets were of stone, and the churches were magnificent, and reminders of the city’s Inca heritage could be seen throughout the city.

Sunday mornings were different from any other I have experienced during my many years in South America. Some time around 8 a.m. church bells began to ring, calling the faithful, most of whom did not own a clock, to Sunday Morning Mass. Each church had a distinctive set of bells and as the noise reverberated across the city and bounced off the surrounding hills, it was an early-morning wake-up call I will never forget.

Tourists today pay a heavy price to visit the city that, to me, was just home. I ran its streets, played in the ruins of Sacsayhuaman (which overlook the city) and went fishing with my dad for 21” river trout. And home-schooled with my bedraggled mother as my teacher! What a life.

If you ever have the chance, a visit to Cusco will be the highlight of your traveling experiences. There is a difference, however, between enjoying a quick visit to the city or to Machu Picchu and living there. A few days in the mountain air gives you only a glimpse of what this Andean culture is all about. You must go shopping in the open market, try to converse with someone who speaks little but Quechua, or learn how to do business in this foreign setting. A quick visit will never do; you must become a part of the culture.

You may be wondering where I am going with all of this … so, to the point.

There is a difference in knowing about God and truly knowing Him. We want to spend eternity with God, but we’d be pleased if He’d leave us to our own agenda. We want happiness without holiness, success without self-discipline, sanctification without sacrifice.

But until you experience a relationship with God for yourself, you don’t know what Christianity is all about. God has no grandchildren; you cannot inherit your parents’ faith. This is one discovery you must make for yourself.

Living for God is not a spectator sport. You can’t sit on the sidelines. It is only as you become a part of the action, face the enemy of your soul and overcome the influence of sin, that you find a reason to cheer.

Promises must be put into practice. The theoretical must become experiential. The talk must be sanctioned by your walk. What you claim you must live. To know about Him is one thing; living for Him is something else.

And it is then, and only then, that you find God to be far different from the stern, demanding, autocrat He is sometimes pictured to be. He everything you would expect from a compassionate, understanding, and patient Father.

Much has happened since those early days in Cusco. I have served the Lord for seventy years and I can tell you from personal experience, He is a good God!

You want to talk about it? Hit me up at [email protected]

WHEN A PROSTITUTE CRASHED THE PARTY

Simon the Pharisee was a gracious host and Jesus was his guest. But for this self-righteous Pharisee, the otherwise pleasant evening meal turned into a nightmare: a prostitute crashed the party.

In oriental fashion, Jesus and the Pharisee would have been reclining on divans on three sides of a low table. Jesus was no doubt given a cushion and lay on his left arm with his head towards the table, his feet, unsandalled, stretched out behind. This left His right arm free with which to eat and made it possible for servants to rinse His feet during the banquet.

At some point during the banquet, the lady sneaked into the dining room. Leaning over Jesus’ feet, she washed His feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. And then, in an act of remarkable sacrifice, she broke open the alabaster jar, worth a year’s salary for a common laborer, and anointed His feet.

We have no record the woman ever talked with Jesus. She did not admit to her life of sin and she did not ask for God’s forgiveness. But in her act of love, she indicated the place Jesus occupied in her life and that was enough. “Your faith has saved you,” Jesus said. “Go in peace.”

And she was not alone. On another occasion, a group of self-righteous Pharisees brought to Jesus a woman who had been “caught in the very act of adultery.” Presuming He would “read her from the book” they were astounded when He said, “He who is without sin, let him cast the first stone.”

No one raised a hand against her, and shortly Jesus said to her, in my words, “Sweetheart, where are your accusers? Look … I don’t condemn you either. Go … and just don’t sin anymore, OK?”

That’s God, and the marvel of His love is that no one is beyond His reach. When God intervenes, depravity does not determine one’s destiny. Indeed, ours is a God of second chances.

I still recall the evening a teenager, new to our congregation, whom I shall call Jennifer, came by invitation as a special guest to our Church’s teen group. Perhaps fourteen years of age, her eyes were glazed over and she was staggering as if in a drunken stupor. She was hooked on Quaaludes (which she was getting by ripping off her grandmother) and claimed that evening to having taken thirteen — as in 13. Perhaps … but if true, it should have killed her.

But Jennifer found a group of people who cared and within months committed her life to Jesus Christ. To detox and put her life back together she enrolled in a Texas Bible School sponsored by David Wilkerson and Teen Challenge.

You can imagine my surprise and delight when, perhaps a year later, Jennifer phoned me, ecstatic beyond words. Despite severe brain damage brought on by the Quaaludes, she had just excelled on a test that called for the memorization of a large number of Bible verses. She was on the road to recovery, as thrilled as she was surprised!

It is amazing to see what God can do with a willing heart. A penitent prostitute, a brain-damaged teenager, and countless others have discovered there is no limit to the change that comes to a life open to His love. Our God is more than willing to take us from where we are and transform us into what we might have been. But He does so only by invitation.

You want to talk about it? Hit me up at [email protected]

CHRISTIANITY AND THE EVIDENCE OF DIVINE ORIGIN

Analyze the Christian faith, not as critics portray it, but as given by those of us who have experienced God’s grace. Think it through carefully and you will discover clear evidence of its divine origin.

Every religious belief system promises life after death or at least some form of fulfillment. But there is a unique dimension to Christianity that makes it different from every other faith.

No other faith offers forgiveness for even the most heinous sins—for free. The Bible says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not of works so that no one can boast.” Forgiveness for sin and a relationship with God is neither earned nor merited. It is the gift of God.

Jesus promised a thief, a man being crucified for the wicked life he had lived, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” Without a chance to work himself into God’s favor, without even asking to be forgiven, he was assured that within just a few hours he would awaken in paradise.

The distinctive feature of our faith is that every one of us, regardless of our past, have already been forgiven. No one is beyond the heart of God; all have been offered the gift of eternal life. Those who respond and accept God’s gracious overture ratify a choice already made on their behalf. The gift is ours to accept or reject, a choice God leaves up to us.

No other faith would portray its founder as being born of a virgin, walking on water, or coming back to life after death. No myth here, for these were not legends developed centuries after the fact. These claims had a historical basis, validated by men who were eye-witnesses to Jesus’ life.

No other faith portrays a God who “so loved us that He gave His one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” And that, I would note, includes the most wicked among us. Our God is not an autocratic, mean-spirited, self-serving deity. He is a Father figure, loving His children, and committed to helping us become everything God created us to be.

And no other faith brings fundamental change to the life of the believer. The greatest miracle I have ever seen is the transformation that comes into a man’s life when he accepts Jesus Christ as his Lord. More than just the discovery of a new religious faith, there are vital changes that come to his character and perspective on life. “If any man is in Christ,” the Bible says, “he is a new creation: old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

But each of us must make that discovery for ourselves. God is a gentleman, and He reveals Himself only by invitation. Where He is welcome, however, amazing changes take place.

I am pleased to advocate for the faith that has transformed my world. I believe in its divine origin because of what God has done in my life. I cannot imagine where I would be today were it not for the goodness of God. I’m not the man I want to be, but neither am I the man I once was. I am a work in process, and the best is still to come. It is, indeed, a wonderful life!

You want to talk about it? Hit me up at [email protected]