Oct. 10, 2021, column:

Franklin Graham: Still a rebel with a cause

By Mike Haynes

                Franklin Graham says he still is a “Rebel With A Cause.”

                The son of Billy Graham – who is well known for his own preaching, humanitarian work and political views the past few decades but always will be associated with his famous father – spoke to an estimated 11,600 people in Amarillo’s John Stiff Memorial Park on a warm Sunday afternoon two weeks ago. It was the largest audience of his eight-city Route 66 God Loves You Tour that started Sept.  19 with 8,700 people attending in Joliet, Illinois, and ended Oct. 2 before 6,800 in San Bernardino, California. Total tour attendance was around 56,000.

           

     Preparation for the event spanned months and included 165 Texas Panhandle churches. Many members brought “unchurched” family and friends.

                Franklin Graham preached Sept. 26 from a small podium on a large stage filled with drums and other equipment of the tour’s musicians. Spread out in front of him were the thousands of local and area people, mostly sitting in lawn chairs, some with umbrellas to ward off the 86-degree sun.

                His message was a basic evangelistic appeal, with the story of “blind Bartimaeus” from Mark 10:46-52 his scriptural focus.

                Graham had told me he would touch on cultural issues and the state of the country, and touch on them is all he did, listing stealing, taking God’s name in vain, worshipping idols, lying, adultery, sex outside of marriage, murder and abortion as examples of sins that fall short of God’s standards.

                “Any type of sexual relationship outside a marriage relationship is a sin against God,” he said. “And let me tell you what a marriage relationship is: It’s a man and a woman. … That’s how God defines marriage. God made us male and female.”

                While calling abortion a sin, Graham continued, “In a crowd this size, there are a number of women who have had an abortion. … Will God forgive you for what you’ve done? I’m here to tell you that absolutely, he’ll forgive you.

                “But you’ve got to come to him with faith in Christ. The point is, all of us are guilty of breaking one or more or all of God’s laws. There is no one who can keep the laws of God. … God sent his son to save us, to save you, to save me. And all we have to do is be willing to accept it by faith. Wow. What a good God. What a great God that he loves us that much.”

                Although such viewpoints are merely the traditional beliefs the Christian church has held for 2,000 years, they make Graham a controversial figure in a world that increasingly embraces relativism with no moral absolutes. That’s why, at a short news conference before the event, I asked whether he still considers himself a “Rebel With A Cause.” That’s the title of his 1995 book that describes his rebellious youth and his eventual full acceptance of a calling to preach God’s Word.

                “Sure,” he answered with no hesitation. “What I mean by ‘rebel’ – I believe in telling the truth and standing up for what’s true. And I don’t care if it’s politically correct or not. I’m going to just say what I believe the Bible teaches, and it’s what I believe, and if it steps on people’s toes, I’m sorry.

“But this country of ours is in trouble. We’ve turned our back on God; the politicians want you to look to them to solve all your problems. They just make the problems worse. And it’d be better if the politicians just got out of the way and just let people like here in West Texas just do what they do, and things would be a lot better. Our country’s just in trouble morally, spiritually, economically, we’re in trouble.”

Despite Graham airing those convictions, the overwhelming spotlight of the day was on the words “love” and “hope.” The evangelist from North Carolina pointed out the faith of Bartimaeus that resulted in Jesus giving him sight. “There was no hope for a blind guy,” he said. “All he could do was sit on the side of the road and beg.

“Being a good person has nothing to do with salvation. It’s accepting the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross. “It’s not by works, but by faith. And Bartimaeus cried out in faith.”

Christian band Newsboys, led by Michael Tait, echoed the message with songs such as “He Reigns,” as did Marcos Witt, who sang in English and Spanish, and longtime Graham musical colleague Dennis Agajanian.

A chapter in “Rebel With A Cause” recalls the first meeting of Agajanian and Franklin Graham – on the Texas Tech University campus during the 1975 Billy Graham crusade in Lubbock.

At the Sept. 26 event, Agajanian skillfully picked his guitar and sang old hymns such as “Nothing But the Blood.” And he pleased the crowd with “Amarillo By Morning.”

Wearing a wide-brimmed hat reminiscent of the Grand Ole Opry or Woodstock, Agajanian said, “Jesus Christ is a greater savior than you are a sinner. He loves you, man.”

After Graham’s message, locally trained counselors met throughout the park with those who stood up in response, giving them a guidebook for the next steps of Christian faith.

Franklin Graham headed to Alaska after the tour to greet a new group of wounded veterans attending one of the retreats his organization provides each summer. I suspect he planned to repeat something he said in Amarillo:

“Let’s live the life God has called us to live. Let’s do it forgiven, cleansed, knowing we’re on our way to heaven.”