When Truth is Not Popular
Billy Graham passed away in early 2018 nearly 100 years after he was born. That day, America—and the world, really—lost one of the greatest evangelists of all time. He undoubtedly communicated the gospel message to more people face-to-face than anyone in human history. Three hundred million people heard him share the simple gospel message live, and countless millions more watched and listened through television, radio broadcasts and online videos. I am among those who got to hear Billy Graham preach the gospel live. As a boy, I attended his 1996 Minneapolis Crusade. I remember DC Talk rocking out the Metrodome and then hearing Billy Graham share the gospel. I remember being astonished as thousands of people from all over the stadium made their way down to the front of the stage, with tears running down their cheeks, to make a decision of faith in Jesus Christ.
We lost a living legend. In a biography written in the 1960s, the author called a prominent Christian preacher the “Billy Graham of South Africa.” People have been using variations of that phrase for nearly 60 years. Phrases like that point to the way God used Billy Graham, who maintained his humility, integrity and focus on the gospel. Billy Graham’s message was “Christ is the only answer to the deepest needs of the human heart.”
While sharing my thoughts online after his death, I was invited as a guest to reminisce about Billy Graham’s legacy with BBC World News Service alongside several other guests throughout the day. The first several questions were about what it was like to hear Billy Graham live and to discuss how expansive his impact was. The final question mentioned a controversial statement Billy had made many years ago and asked us to respond. They said, “People say Billy Graham was intolerant. What do you think?” I was caught off guard. But I expressed my belief that anyone can throw out opinions online nowadays without knowing someone. For everyone who knew Billy Graham or was acquainted with him, he was incredibly loving and gracious.
A few weeks later, as I was reading Billy Graham’s autobiography Just as I Am, I realized how many times the press around the world had asked him similar questions. Before Billy Graham’s first London crusade, he faced a flurry of angry media criticism and questions. Ironically, all the negative media attention gave the crusade much more press and public interest than it ever would have had without the criticism. Years later, when Billy Graham was back in England, the press had become friendlier after seeing the ways God had used him positively in the region. During that visit, he had the opportunity to meet C.S. Lewis, who wasn’t yet widely known in America for The Chronicles of Narnia or Mere Christianity. Billy’s wife, Ruth, had been reading The Chronicles of Narnia prior to the trip. C.S. Lewis greeted Billy Graham as they spent some time together, and said, “You have many critics Billy Graham, but no one who has actually met you has a single bad thing to say about you.”
In our world, it is easier than ever to make divisive, critical and blanket statements about others. We think we can say whatever we want without spiritual consequences. But the Bible calls us to a different way of speaking and living.
Why would anyone think Billy Graham was intolerant? In part, it is because Billy Graham would preach the Bible, preach against sin and call people to Christ as the only answer to lasting peace and joy in the human heart. People think he was intolerant in part because he believed what the Bible has to say about human sinfulness.
Society is changing these days. A couple of years ago, The New Yorker posted an article with the title, Chick-fil-A’s Creepy Infiltration of New York City. The article says, “The brand’s arrival here feels like an infiltration, in no small part because of its pervasive Christian traditionalism.” Seriously? The people touting tolerance in our culture have become surprisingly intolerant about Christians. If The New Yorker article had been about a restaurant with owners from any other religious group, it would never have been allowed to be published, not even by the National Enquirer.
People are okay with intolerance toward people they think are intolerant. Jesus taught, “You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Matt. 10:22). And “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19).
Truth is not always popular. Sometimes the truth gets you in trouble. But God calls us to walk in both his love and his truth, no matter the consequences.
In a day when people feel like they can believe whatever they want, and no one is allowed to tell them otherwise, we need truth plus love more than ever.
© Outreach Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission. OutreachMagazine.com
Behind Enemy Lines
In simple terms, ‘situational awareness’ means nothing more than recognizing your circumstances and knowing what’s going on around you. For instance, a military commander must be aware of the total situation around him and his unit on the battlefield, as well as the bigger strategic picture. Total situation awareness is essential for successful military operations against any enemy, on any battlefield, for any warrior. As Christians and warriors in the Kingdom of God, we need to maintain complete situational awareness as inhabitants of planet earth (the battlefield environment), as well as our Commander's intent (God's strategic picture).
Sadly, we often lose focus of both our battlefield environment and our Commander’s intent for a variety of reasons. They range from our tendency to focus almost exclusively on personal growth and fulfillment, to applying human wisdom and worldly principles to the operation of the postmodern church as a whole. At both levels, the result is that the Lord of the harvest sits in the back of the bus as we arrogantly occupy the driver’s seat.
Dear friends, it is past time to regain our situational awareness and overcome our spiritual nearsightedness. For that task, we need to begin at the beginning of our lives as Christians and go from there. In a familiar and often quoted verse of Scripture, the Apostle Paul tells us:
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” 2 Corinthians 5:17
What a promise: the greatest makeover of all time! When we place saving faith in Christ, we step out of darkness and into the light, passing from death to life! We are given a new nature in Christ as the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our being, giving us a desire to serve God and the power to live a life of obedience to Him. This is common knowledge, not rocket science.
Our ‘makeover’ is so complete that in another of his letters to the early church, Paul presents what is a mystery to limited human logic:
“And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the Heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” Ephesians 2:6
This is a bit more difficult for human logic to grasp, but notice the past tense verbs in this verse. Paul is saying that as Christians, although we physically remain here on planet Earth, we have already been ‘raised up’ and ‘seated with Christ in the heavenly realms.’ Paul partially explains this mystery in more easily understood terms a bit later in the same chapter:
“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household. . .” Ephesians 2:19
A citizen is a legal resident of a nation, country or state. Paul is saying that, at the moment of salvation, our ‘spiritual citizenship’ status changed! One could say that if we could have visited the heavenly realm before we received Christ, we would have been aliens there. We are not like the child born to an American military family overseas, who has dual-citizenship status until he or she is 18 years old and needs to make a decision. We are NOT dual citizens. Now listen to the Apostle Peter in one of his letters to the early church:
“Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.” 1 Peter 2:11
Do you see the contrast here? Paul tells us that at one time we were ‘aliens and foreigners’ to God's household, while Peter tells us that as Christians we are now ‘aliens and strangers’ in the world in which we live!
Why is the world in which we live foreign territory, why are we aliens and strangers in it, and how do we apply these truths?
First, we need to understand that the world in which we live is not, in the strictest sense, the world that God created for the crown of His creation, human beings molded in His image. In fact, scripture tells us that the problem of sin in the world that was brought about by willful disobedience of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (the why), is much bigger than just our little piece of turf. There is a clear description of the present condition of God's creation in Romans 8:17-24, in which we find the following:
“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” Romans 8:22
All of God's creation is tainted, polluted by sin, and in need of redemption. Furthermore, our present world is not governed by God — although He is in complete control — but by a “temporary landlord” (Satan) ruling over the hearts of fallen man.
“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” Ephesians 2:1-2
“The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” 2 Corinthians 4:4
As believers, we are citizens of the household of God, servants of the Most High God, no longer bound by the god of this world. And as members of God’s household, we are now foreigners and strangers to the world in which we live and enemies of the Satan, the god of this world.
I have come to the inescapable conclusion that we are living behind enemy lines! Perhaps this has caused your thought process to pause for a moment of speculation. Maybe it came to a screeching halt because your first reaction was “No way!” If so, hear what the Apostle James had to say to believers in his day who were becoming a bit too friendly with the fallen culture around them.
“You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” James 4:4
If you still aren’t convinced that we are living in enemy territory, I encourage you to read the entire chapter in James, followed by Jesus' words to his followers in John, chapters 15 and 16, concerning what to expect from the world.
My friend, your opinion in this matter is between you and the Holy Spirit. I merely encourage you to prayerfully consider the premise presented in the ramblings of an old soldier. If you agree with the basic premise, you cannot escape the question: “Why are we still down here?” Think about it.
SGM Daniel Cartwright, USA (Ret.) is a 28-year veteran of the U.S. Army Special Forces and long-time member of Christian Military Fellowship. Dan is a Local Rep at Ft. Carson. He also serves on the CMF Board of Directors.
Our Ministry is Growing!
We have asked and we have received: more opportunities for service, more souls to reach for Jesus, and even the addition of more laborers for the harvest!
We praise the Lord of the Harvest for His generosity and entrustment of His resources and His precious sons and daughters.
We ask that you please continue to pray for us and prayerfully support us in our role in fulfilling the Great Commission.
Are You Interested in Becoming a Local Leader?
Christian Military Fellowship exists to help you fulfill your calling in Christ to share the hope that is in you with those with whom you interact as part of your daily life.
Briefly, CMF Local Leaders will start, and sustain a CMF fellowship made up of members of the military community in their area. While CMF is an “all ranks” ministry, our area of focus is on enlisted personnel. Local leaders institute and lead the military community in Bible study, prayer, and fellowship, keeping in communication with participants. They should also seek to build relationships with the chaplains and the chaplain team.
Toward that end we encourage you to study and complete the CMF briefing material:
Toward that end we encourage you to complete the briefing material we send to our new members:
Orientation (Brief #1) that shares an overview of the CMF ministry.
Developing a Local Ministry (Brief #2) that shares the Biblical foundation for you local ministry and delineates the logical steps in beginning your local ministry.
Pray and Plan (Brief #3) that shares the most important activity of all! Asking Jesus what He would have you to do and then being obedient to follow His leading in your local ministry. This will begin your journey of obedience to the Great Commission (Matthew 18:28-30).
If you choose to begin this process, you may send your completed and signed exams to us by US Mail or via email at:
Leader@CMFHQ.ORG
They are also available on the Get Involved → Volunteers Needed page on the CMF Web Site.
We’re praying for you!
We are pleased to announce that MinistryWatch has listed CMF as one of their “Shining Light” Ministries. To become a MinistryWatch “Shining Light,” a ministry must have earned a 5-star rating on MinistryWatch’s 5-star financial efficiency scale. Further, those ministries on this list have a Transparency Grade of “A.” That’s MinistryWatch’s highest transparency grade. Out of 700 ministries, only 13 meet these strict criteria.
Mailing Address:
PO Box 449
Veradale, WA 99037-0449
(800)798-7875
(303)761-1959