A Prophet with Honor

by William C. Martin

  577.How staffers are eased out. Interviews, Kenneth Taylor, July 19,1986; Plowman; Adams, February 9, 1987; Robert and Lois Ferm.

  578.“You cannot break in. . . .” Lane Adams, interview, February 9, 1987.

  578.“that’s not forty years.” John Lenning, interview, February 27, 1987.

  578.“When you have been together . . . react.” Barrows, interview, February 27, 1987.

  578.Lenning on Barrows. John Lenning, interview.

  579.Grady in Columbia. Personal observation, May 1, 1987.

  580.“Why put all our eggs . . . except for God?” Walter Smyth, interview, June 11, 1986.

  580.Comments on Walter Smyth. All were made as part of a special recognition for Smyth during the 1987 Team and Staff Conference at the Homestead, November 13, 1987.

  581.“I think we gave him about $400,000.” BG, interview, February 27, 1987.

  581.Living in BG’s shadow. John Lenning, interview; Tedd Smith, interview, April 30, 1987.

  581.“You don’t feel very important. . . . Who am I to disagree?” Lois Ferm, Interview March 28, 1987.

  582.“There is a need . . . work out their problems. Harvey Thomas, interview, June 16, 1987.

  582.“They’re like overgrown schoolboys.” John Stott, interview, September 29, 1986.

  582.“The most effective small team.” The Reverend Gilbert Kirby, interview, September 29, 1986.

  Chapter 35: The Bible [Still] Says

  583.“I have read . . . a whole book about it.” Robert Ferm, oral history, June 21, 1978, and January 19, 1979, CN 141, Box 3, Folder 37, BGCA.

  583.Colleagues comment on BG’s theology. Interviews, Carl Henry, February 10, 1987; John Akers, February 26, 1987.

  583.Garden of Eden location. BG, sermons, Washington, D.C., April 27, 1986, and Paris, September 27, 1986.

  583.“Jesus born of virgin.” BG, interview, United Church of Christ Observer, quoted in Carl McIntire, Outside the Gate (Collingswood, N.J.: Christian Beacon Press, 1967), p. 87.

  584.“plenary verbal inspiration.” Cf., e.g., Billy Graham, The Holy Spirit (Waco: Word Books, 1978, paperback edition), p. 60.

  584.“not saved because of views of Bible.” Legends, CNN, 1986.

  584.“everyone knows . . . supernatural being.” BG, sermon, Paris, September 20, 1986.

  584.“it’s not what I don’t understand.” BG, interview, March 26, 1987.

  584.“Garden of Eden long ago.” BG, Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast, Washington, D.C., April 30, 1986.

  584.“coming to Christ . . . in just a moment.” Sermon, Washington, April 27, 1986.

  584.“pagans . . . no longer believe that.” BG, quoted in James Michael Beam, “I Can’t Play God Anymore,” McCall’s, January 1978.

  585.Response in “Graham’s Beliefs: Still Intact,” Christianity Today, January 13, 1978, pp. 49–50.

  585.“Hitler and Schweitzer,” quoted in Ian R. K. Paisley, Billy Graham and the Church of Rome (Greenville, S.C.: Bob Jones University Press, 1970), p. 55, citing Sunday Magazine, June 1966.

  585.“I don’t think I can play God”. . . . “ask the theologians up there in heaven.” BG, interview, March 26, 1987.

  585.BG sure of heaven. Sermons, Washington, April 28,1986, and Columbia, South Carolina, May 1, 1986.

  585.BG not afraid to die. Billy Graham, on Larry King Live, CNN, January 18, 1988, and January 17, 1989. On the second of these programs, King, who had suffered a heart attack and was obviously fascinated by Graham’s equanimity in the face of death, recalled the bomb incident and asked Graham to give his response again.

  585.Heaven may be North Star. Edward Fiske, “The Closest Thing to a White House Chaplain,” the New York Times Magazine, June 8, 1969, p. 109.

  586.Heaven and Elvis. Heaven described in Billy Graham, Till Armageddon (Waco, Tex.: Word Books, 1981), pp. 214–15; BG expects to see Elvis, David Lawrence, “Conversations with Billy Graham,” September 25, 1977.

  586.“Suffering is simply . . . pain and sorrow.” Billy Graham, Approaching Hoofbeats: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Waco, Tex.: Word Books, 1983), pp. 61, 94.

  586.Interpretations of suffering. 1962: Bulawayo Chronicle, June 16, 1962, CN 360, MF Reel 14, BGCA; 1988: TV show of Syracuse crusade.

  586.Embroidery image, Graham, Till Armageddon, p. 53.

  586.BG on angels. Billy Graham, Angels (New York: Doubleday, 1975; New York: Pocket Books, 1975), pp. 28, 34, 46, 124–25, 175–76.

  587.BG alters dispensationalist beliefs. Interview, March 26, 1987.

  587.BG will not speculate about dates. BG, interview, February 26, 1987.

  587.“battle of Armageddon.” Graham, Approaching Hoofbeats, p. 224.

  587.“global harmony will be realized.” Graham, Till Armageddon, pp. 22–23.

  588.Middle East and the End. BG, interview, February 26, 1987; BG, sermon, Paris, September 27, 1986; Knotts, England, Worksop Guardian, May 17, 1985.

  588.BG ministry may be preparation for Second Coming. Sermon, Washington, May 4, 1986.

  588.Four Horsemen “on the way.” BG, Sermon, Amsterdam, July 20, 1986.

  588.BG on tongue speaking. Interview, March 26, 1987.

  588.Healing and prophecy. Billy Graham, The Holy Spirit (Waco, Tex.: Word Books, 1978), pp. 241, 244, 207.

  588.BG criticizes prosperity theology. Interview, March 26, 1987.

  589.Colleagues comment on BG’s preaching. John Corts, interview, August 5, 1987; T. W. Wilson, interviews; Robert Ferm, oral history, 1978, CN 141, Box 3, Folder 37, BGCA.

  589.“preach with compassion.” BG, sermon, Amsterdam, July 14, 1986.

  590.BG’s anachronisms. Sermon, Washington, D.C. April 27, 1986.

  590.“Tie a Yellow Ribbon.” BG, sermon, Washington, D.C. May 3, 1986, conversations following.

  590.“I’ll rework those.” BG, interview, February 26, 1987.

  590.John Wesley White aids BG. Akers, interview; John Wesley White, interview, May 2, 1987.

  591.“Like a lot . . . trouble.” Edward Plowman, interview, February 10, 1987.

  591.“Maiodes.” Sermon, Amsterdam, July 20, 1986.

  591.“Eli Weasel.” BG, sermon, Washington, April 25, 1986.

  591.Dostoyevski “dead now.” BG, sermon, Columbia, South Carolina, May 3, 1986.

  591.BG’s imprecisions: “psychologist.” Sermon, Washington, April 28, 1986.

  591.“sociologist.” Washington, May 3, 1986. “Harvard . . . Time,” BG, sermon, Paris, September 20, 1986.

  591.“over four hundred . . .” BG, sermon, Paris, September 24, 1986.

  591.“modern novel.” Ibid.

  591.“Male sex drive six times greater.” BG, sermon, Columbia, South Carolina, May 1, 1987.

  591.“Didn’t get it from me.” John Wesley White, interview. Graham’s secretary, who types Graham’s sermons and is thus aware of the sources of his quotes, believed Graham has based his comment on a comment by his brother-in-law, Clayton Bell, to the effect that “a recent study says that the average man thinks about sex six times an hour while he is awake.” Letter, Stephanie Wills to William Martin, February 26, 1991.

  592.BG jokes about his credulity. Columbia, South Carolina, April 30, 1987.

  592.“There is no magic . . . human person.” Reid: “You and Me as Well as BG,” London Church Times, February 3, 1984.

  592.“They hear another voice.” John Innes, interview, May 1, 1987.

  592.BG’s assessment of his gift. Sermon, “The Evangelist’s Gift and Calling,” Amsterdam, July 13, 1986; Address, YFC Convention, 26 July–4 August 1974, YFC Archives, BGCA.

  592.“I become exhausted.” Charlotte Observer, June 15, 1969.

  593.BG develops appreciation for structures. In a 1974 Christianity Today interview, Graham said, “I think we have to identify with the changing of structures in society and try to do our part.” January 4, 1974, p. 17.

  593.“I do not believe the Bible teaches teetotalism.” “Carter Will Restore Confidence, Graham Says,” Miami Her
ald, December 26, 1976. I have heard Graham make similar statements in recent crusades.

  593.“Once in a while . . . a sip.” BG, quoted in Angela Levin, London Sunday Mail, April 8, 1984. Graham has confirmed this to the author.

  593.“It’s very difficult . . . to live a clean life.” Legends, CNN, 1986.

  593.Resisting temptation. Charlotte Observer, July 2, 1979; “Just Say NO,” TV show of Peaks to Plains Crusade, September 9, 1987.

  593.“you don’t have to have sex . . . part of your body.” BG, sermon, Columbia, South Carolina, April 29, 1987, and interview, March 26, 1987.

  594.“Thus far, and no further.” Legends, CNN.

  594.If BG children had pre-marital sex. BG, quoted in Madison, Wisconsin, State Journal, March 13, 1976.

  594.Homosexuality no worse than adultery. Billy Graham, Approaching Hoofbeats, p. 97. In another context he listed jealousy, pride, greed, and lust as sins of equal magnitude. Page 4 of a transcript of a press conference (n.d.).

  594.Homosexuals should “ask God to help you.” Legends, CNN. 585 AIDS and condoms. BG syndicated telecast, March 1988.

  594.Abortion: “individual cases.” Graham, Approaching Hoofbeats, p. 157; view similar to pope’s, National Press Club, April 24, 1986. Elsewhere as well.

  594.Birth control. “Billy Graham: The Man at Home,” Saturday Evening Post, Spring 1972, p. 105.

  595.“God can forgive adultery.” Interview, March 26, 1987.

  595.Husband and wife should share power. “Of Religion and Politics,” Boston Globe, August 16, 1976.

  595.“Satanic deception.” “‘Lib Endangers Family, Graham Warns,” San Diego Tribune, August 17, 1976.

  595.“discriminated against.” San Diego Evening Tribune, April 1, 1976; “A Chat with Billy: Religion and Politics,” San Jose Mercury, September 27, 1981.

  596.BG “not sure” about women as pastors. UPI, July 24, 1975.

  596.“don’t object . . . God called them.” “What Makes Graham Special,” Charlotte Observer, February 7, 1977.

  596.“a certain amount of socialism.” Ibid.

  596.250 verses on the poor. “Why Broadcast Trends Worry Billy Graham,” Belfast Newsletter, January 11, 1985.

  596.“slight cynicism” toward government programs. “Don’t Rock the Ark,” the Washington Post, June 23, 1969.

  597.Only the Second Coming can cure poverty. See, for example, Mary Bishop, Billy Graham, the Man and His Ministry (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1978), p. 68.

  597.Travel and study changed BG. Charlotte Observer, April 15 and 25, 1982; “The Political Education of Billy Graham,” Washington Post, April 14, 1986.

  597.World Emergency Fund. Graham, Approaching Hoofbeats, p. 159.

  597.Love-in-Action “a gesture, to demonstrate . . .” BG, sermon, Denver, July 26, 1987.

  597.BG on poverty. At Harvard, Charlotte Observer, April 25, 1982; “Political Education of Billy Graham;” Graham, Approaching Hoofbeats, p. 152, passim; interview, March 6, 1989.

  598.Unemployed not second-class. “Billy is Worth Listening To,” Newcastle Sunday Sun, May 27, 1984; also, Tom Minnery, “A Royal Reception for Billy Graham in England,” Christianity Today, March 2, 1984, pp. 34–36.

  598.“My heart goes out.” “The President of Presence,” Sheffield Star, June 20, 1985.

  598.British churchmen gratified. Douglas Brown, “Billy’s Back at Start of Heritage Year,” London Church Times, May 4, 1984. Similar statements were made by Gilbert Kirby, John Stott, and Gavin Reid during interviews with the author.

  598.“Many of our crimes.” Graham, Approaching Hoofbeats, p. 166.

  598.BG’s views on gun control. “I am for some sort of restraint and registration. [We] should know where the 40 million handguns are.” San Antonio Express-News, April 26, 1981.

  599.BG and Ruth on capital punishment. Charlotte Observer, June 10, 1979. In 1973 the UPI quoted Graham as saying, “[W]hen capital punishment is administered equally, it’s proved to be a deterrent,” Charlotte Observer, March 23, 1973.

  599.“extended statement” on disarmament. Graham, Approaching Hoofbeats, pp. 131, 133, 137, 141–43.

  599.“Terrorists . . . come to Christ.” BG, sermon, Columbia, South Carolina, April 29, 1987.

  599.“no Secretary of State.” Press release, 1986 Greater Washington Crusade, BGEA.

  600.Peace “a realistic present hope.” BG, quoted in James E. Nash, “The Bomb, Rev. Billy, and the Second Coming,” Christianity and Crisis, May 30, 1983, p. 215.

  600.“Every gun . . .” Graham, Approaching Hoofbeats, p. 170.

  600.BG’s approach “the scare tactics of a preacher.” Christianity Today, April 6, 1984, p. 30.

  600.“still in process.” Graham, Approaching Hoofbeats, pp. 146, 144.

  Chapter 36: What Manner of Man?

  601.BG “the most spiritually productive servant of God in our time.” Bishop Maurice Wood, interview, September 30, 1986.

  601.“I honestly believe . . . you have to wonder.” Lane Adams, interview, February 9, 1987.

  602.“Rabbi Tanenbaum Praises Work of Billy Graham,” Jewish Week-American Examiner (New York, N.Y.), March 19, 1982.

  602.BG on Muslims. Press conference, National Press Club, April 24, 1986; Dedication Service, Greater Washington Crusade, April 25, 1986; Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast, April 30, 1986.

  602.“Eisenhower once said . . . not as dogmatic.” Charlotte Observer, August 30, 1981.

  603.Description of charisma. See Max Weber, From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, trans., ed. H. H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills (New York: Oxford University Press, 1946), pp. 245–52; Robert C. Tucker, “The Theory of Charismatic Leadership,” Daedalus, Summer 1968, pp. 731–56; Eric Hoffer, The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements (New York: Harper & Row), p. 112.

  604.Stott on BG. Interview, September 29, 1986.

  604.BG not an intellectual, but a genius. I cannot cite the source of this quotation. Somehow, in the process of lifting it from the data base in which it was originally placed, it was separated from its author. I do know it is an authentic quote from a person well acquainted with Graham, and it seemed better to admit I have lost the source than to omit the observation.

  604.“Psalms for how to get along.” T. W. Wilson, interviews.

  604.“I hate to be late.” “A Conversation with Billy Graham,” IRTV Guide, 1974, p. 10.

  604.BG “can’t stand to be idle.” Bob Terrell, interview, March 27, 1987.

  605.BG’s speeches to prestigious meetings. Conversation with Grahams, March 26, 1987.

  605.Frady compares BG to Billy Budd. Marshall Frady, Billy Graham: Parable of American Righteous ness (Boston: Little, Brown, 1979), pp. 11, 13, 437–40.

  606.BG never alone with a woman. Harold L. Myra et al., “William Franklin Graham: Seventy Exceptional Years,” Christianity Today, November 18, 1988, pp. 22–23.

  606.BG and Joan Collins. Larry Ross, interview, March 28, 1988.

  606.BG sees Dangerous Liaisons. Interview, March 5, 1989.

  607.Plaudits for Ruth. Interviews, T. W. Wilson, February 27, 1987; Cliff Barrows, February 24, 1987; BG, February 26, 1987.

  607.Ruth “a little tougher.” Kenneth Chafin, interview, December 18, 1986.

  607.Ruth on women’s liberation. AP, April 15, 1976.

  607.“He did that to Castro, too.” Charlotte Observer, June 10, 1979.

  607.Ruth and Velma Barfield. T. W. Wilson, February 27, 1987.

  608.Grady on Ma Sunday and Ruth. Interview, March 1, 1987. Others told similar stories. In an oral history, Mrs. Donella Cochran Brown recalled that the Sundays had visited in her home often when she was a little girl and that “Ma Sunday always said, ‘Take care of your little boys; take care of your little boys.’” The Reverend Fred Brown and Donella Cochran Brown, oral history, December 29, 1976, CN 141, Box 2, Folder 39, BGCA.

  608.Ned Graham. Interview, May 8, 1991.

  609.BG “most admired.” In 1990, The Gallup Organization repor
ted that Graham had been named to its “most-admired” list 32 times in the 40 years it had conducted the poll, placing him “at the head of the list of the men the American public has admired the most over the past four decades.” Decision, November 1990, p. 21.

  609.BG best known of “living giants.” Martin E. Marty, “Name Games,” Christian Century, October 16, 1974, p. 975.

  609.Ladies’ Home Journal survey. Charlotte Observer, June 22, 1978, citing the July 1978 edition of Ladies’ Home Journal. For the record, Abraham Lincoln and Eleanor Roosevelt edged both God and Graham in the competition to determine who had done the most good for the world.

  609.BG only clergyman invited to meet Gorbachev. Larry Ross, interview.

  609.“pleasing God or man?” BG, Legends, CNN, 1986.

  610.“Unless, of course, some major school . . .” BG, interview, February 27, 1987.

  610.BG’s problems with privacy. John Lenning, interview, February 24, 1987; Robert and Lois Ferm, interview, March 28, 1987.

  610.“a paradox in his personality.” Jean Graham Ford, interview, March 4, 1989.

  611.God can get BG’s attention. This quotation is a combination of two similar comments made by Busby, April 25, 1986, and April 30, 1987.

  611.“We don’t have to wait for the pope.” BG, sermon, Columbia, South Carolina, April 30, 1987.

  612.“To my best buddy.” T. W. Wilson, interview, February 26, 1987.

  612.BG’s hyperbole “don’t make anybody mad.” Melvin Graham, interview, November 17, 1987.

  612.“no dark side to Billy Graham.” Robert Evans, interview, July 9, 1986.

  613.BG “a good guy.” Charles Templeton, interview, December 1, 1987.

  613.Leighton and Jean Ford on Graham’s ailments. Interview, March 4, 1989.

  613.BG not “over the hill too far.” Melvin Graham, interview.

  Chapter 37: “To the Ends of the Earth”

  614.BG ruminates about the future. Interview, March 5, 1989.

  614.Chafin and BG discuss Franklin. Chafin, interview, spring 1986. After stepping down from his role with the School of Evangelism, a role he performed while serving as pastor of Houston’s South Main Baptist Church, Chafin was the Billy Graham Professor of Evangelism at Southern [Baptist] Seminary in Louisville before taking a pastorate in that city.