Thursday, November 7, 2024

*** This is a rough transcript of today’s show ***

It is the 7th of November 2024. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

Welcome to episode 1,873.

You might know, by now, that when I give you the count of shows, it's because I am about to do the “can you believe it’s been this many shows and we still haven’t (fill in the blank)”.

I have a list in my head of the theologians/theologies and movements that I tend to steer away from, or at least make notes on, and tell myself, “That will have to wait for later.” And it is usually because these characters are complicated but also carry baggage with their followers. Yesterday’s show on “Luthermania” and the BBC was as close as I’ve done a “Martin Luther” show (luckily, here in 1517, there is no shortage of Luther).

And today’s figure has similar name recognition and baggage. And I’ll argue it was something of a bookend with Luther for the movement we call “evangelical”. He was William Franklin Graham- “Billy Graham,” born on the 7th of November in 1918.

His dates mirror, in many ways, the last gasp of the modern West- born just days before the end of World War I, he lived from 1918 to 2018- just missing his own centenary. The obituaries from February of 2018 ran similar stats: “215 million people who attended one of his more than 400 Crusades, simulcasts and evangelistic rallies in more than 185 countries and territories. He reached millions more through TV, video, film, the internet, and 34 books.”

He was converted as a teen under the preaching of Mordecai Ham- a fiery temperance preacher- and by the late 30s, Graham was off to Bob Jones University for a semester before transferring to Florida Bible College. But the path to becoming a fundamentalist was not in the cards- in fact, Graham would become the champion- and the face- of the new Evangelicalism.

He would attend Wheaton College and graduate in 43- which, in turn, would become one of the centers of the new Evangelicalism mid-20th century. At Wheaton, he would meet Ruth McCue, the daughter of American missionaries in China. They would marry, have 5 children, and celebrate their 63rd anniversary before her death in 2007.

He would come to prominence in 1947 as a preacher with Youth For Christ. He would credit his time as a Fuller brush man- selling door-to-door- with his confidence in public speaking. He became headline news in 1949 when he held his Los Angeles Crusade- one of the first urban revivals since the Second Great Awakening. Graham’s success can be credited to many things- but, like Luther and many others, we cannot underappreciate his personal charisma, something we can’t quantify on a page, but when he spoke, people listened.

His timing was also good- just as he was beginning, America was beginning her “3rd Great Awakening”- the largest church growth movement in American history, and here we can argue about the “chicken” or “the egg” when it comes to Graham’s influence. He was helped by William Randolph Hearst, the newspaper magnate who famously told his staff to “puff Graham” (that is, make him a star), and they did.

He rebuffed his fundamentalist brethren and preached with both mainline preachers and ethnic minorities- in 1953, at a revival in Florida, he personally removed a barrier put in place to separate the races. He used his fame to help found Christianity Today- at one point, the mouthpiece of American evangelicalism. This “new” Evangelicalism sought to find a middle way between Fundamentalism and Liberalism and became the standard for American Christianity for half a century.

For 55 years, he was named in the Gallup poll as among the 10 most admired men in America. His fame brought him into contact with every American President from Harry Truman to Barack Obama. His relationship with Richard Nixon was rightly condemned as it was revealed, and he admitted himself where he became most partisan. Upon his death in 2018, those looking for something, anything, to condemn (it’s the American way!) Pointed to these partisan years and the Nixon recordings as a negative mark on his record.

Despite fame unknown to most, he remained relatively scandal-free- lesser people have succumbed to less- and he would be known by younger generations almost entirely by reputation as a byword for a sterling reputation (we can debate the “Billy Graham” rule another time).

His death in February of 2018 at 99 came 501 years after the first evangelical revolution- led by a charismatic preacher with a simple plea for Christ as Savior and Lord. When asked about what he would like on his headstone William Franklin Graham requested: Preacher of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.  

 

The last word for today is from the daily lectionary and a timely word from Psalm 146: 

I will praise the Lord all my life;
    I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

Do not put your trust in princes,

    in human beings, who cannot save.

When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;

    on that very day their plans come to nothing.

Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,

    whose hope is in the Lord their God.

He is the Maker of heaven and earth,

    the sea, and everything in them—

    he remains faithful forever.

He upholds the cause of the oppressed

    and gives food to the hungry.


The Lord sets prisoners free,
    the Lord gives sight to the blind,


the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,

    the Lord loves the righteous.

The Lord watches over the foreigner

    and sustains the fatherless and the widow,

    but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

The Lord reigns forever,

    your God, O Zion, for all generations.

Praise the Lord.

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 7th of November 2024, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who also credits selling door-to-door with his charisma. He is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by who wonders if everyone sold door-to-door in the last generation- I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.