A bus company in the UK has pulled advertisements from the sides of its buses promoting an upcoming Festival of Hope featuring evangelist Franklin Graham. Reportedly, “customer feedback and reactions on social media” resulted in “heightened tension,” causing the company to pull the ads. Why were people upset about Graham coming to speak? Because of his “stance on issues such as gay marriage and Islam.”
Graham, son of the late evangelist Billy Graham, says he isn’t coming to the UK to speak on either of these issues. He is coming to share the good news of Christ. But because he takes a biblical stand on marriage (one man for one woman), and has expressed concerns about certain Islamic teachings, many LGBT activists apparently believe companies should refuse to run the ads for his event, even if the companies don’t “endorse or support any advertisement which is placed on [their] vehicles.”
Many LGBT activists are incredibly intolerant of those who do not agree with them. Apparently there’s even a petition to ban Graham from entering the UK because of his so-called “hate speech.” Increasingly, anyone who disagrees with the LGBT community is accused of hate speech, and those who dare to voice their disagreement are punished for doing so.
We’re only going to see attacks on free speech and religious freedom—and attacks on the people who hold to biblical views—increase as our Western cultures drift further from biblical truth. And this is partly because the darker the world becomes, the brighter our lights as Christians will—and need to—shine. Scripture reminds us that the world loves darkness, not light, (John 3:19) so it makes sense the world will hate us.
But we should always ensure they hate us because of the message we proclaim, not because of our attitudes! As believers, our attitude toward unbelievers should be characterized by grace and compassion. We are never to ignore truth, but we are to present that truth with grace (John 1:14), showing the love of Christ to all.
Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2018 10:02 am
Okay, not sure what to make of this. Has Franklin Graham shared with the rest of the class any convictions he has received from the Holy Spirit, whether this is a move from the Holy Spirit to prevent him from preaching (or not)? Sometimes the Holy Spirit allows us to preach and other times He does not allow us:
Acts 16:6 (NIV)
6 Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.
Acts 20:22-23 (NIV)
22 “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. 23 I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.
And then there comes a time to obey this:
Matthew 10:23 (NIV)
23 When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
...assuming he is perceptive to the Holy Spirit at all and is truly in the faith, not a mere Pharisee (who also rightly condemned homosexual behaviors/lusts on paper, religious, but elsewhere were not in accord with Scripture 100%; they nullified Commands by both their behavior and their teaching. If he is a Pharisee, then why would YHWH lend His favour to that? Woe if you don't obey what's read from Moses' seat as it is read, but instead teach self-imposed traditions (and traditional interpretations) that nullify what's actually written in the Commands, as Jesus warned:
Matthew 15:1-9 (NIV)
15 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’[a] and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’[b] 5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ 6 they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
8 “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’[c]”
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 15:4 Exodus 20:12; Deut. 5:16 b. Matthew 15:4 Exodus 21:17; Lev. 20:9 c. Matthew 15:9 Isaiah 29:13
Matthew 23:1-3 (NIV)
23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.
Matthew 23:13 (NIV)
13 “Woe to you, teachers of the lawandPharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.
Matthew 23:15 (NIV)
15 “Woe to you, teachers of the lawandPharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.
2 Corinthians 13:5 (NIV)
5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?
Romans 8:7-9 (NIV)
7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.
Ezekiel 36:27 (NIV)
27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
Proverbs 4:2 (KJV)
2 For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.
Matthew 23:23 (NIV)
23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
Matthew 5:19-20 (NIV)
19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Romans 2:19-22 (NIV)
19 if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— 21 you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?
Our teachers need to be impeccable examples in both behavior and doctrine so that we don't "travel over land and sea to win a single convert" only to make them, "twice as much a child of hell" for denying the Father and the Son's teaching to obey what's read from Moses' seat unlike the Pharisees who wouldn't obey (sincerely, both what it says and the essence of what it says, in the full scope of Scripture).
If Franklin Graham is not going to accurately represent YHWH's views to people, then YHWH will not allow people to accurately represent (nor accurately receive) Graham's views, on top of taking his influence away.
Mark 4:24-25 (NIV)
24 “Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more. 25 Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”
1 Samuel 15:23 (NIV)
23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”
James 3:1 (NIV)
3 Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.
- expect no favour from YHWH; He will reject your words when you reject His Word; He will remove your influence when He has stopped waiting for you to repent from influencing incorrectly. With higher positions of authority and the more you know, the less mercy you're shown. Sometimes, YHWH even uses the mouths of our haters to do so.
2 Samuel 16:11 (NIV)
11 David then said to Abishai and all his officials, “My son, my own flesh and blood, is trying to kill me. How much more, then, this Benjamite! Leave him alone; let him curse, for the Lord has told him to.
We better check ourselves to examine if things are going on the way that they are because of our sins (in God's eyes) or if it's baseless persecution from the world (and not from YHWH); then share with the rest of the Body so that we can interpret events correctly.
For that to happen though, we need sincere David's (who, when guilty, let you know) and/or sincere Job's (who, when innocent, let you know) to be in leadership, not Pharisees—who cover their sin, don't obey, and don't teach soundly, fully, as Jesus did and expects of us.
I don't follow Franklin Graham, so I can't tell 100% which is the case with him in this instance. But these are things we have to consider even in our own lives. It's not always persecution from the world. It could be the Holy Spirit even using the mouths of our enemies to: [A] rebuke us (e.g. David), or [B] redirect us and prevent us from doing something stupid (e.g. Josiah)—we either humbly accept the Holy Spirit's rebuke like David, or get destroyed like Josiah for pridefully refusing it and continuing in our own hard-headed ways because "conquest" even if the Holy Spirit is telling you, "no" or "not at this time". Misguided zeal (because it's not Holy Spirit guided).
2 Chronicles 35:20-24 (NIV)
20 After all this, when Josiah had set the temple in order, Necho king of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah marched out to meet him in battle. 21 But Necho sent messengers to him, saying, “What quarrel is there, king of Judah, between you and me? It is not you I am attacking at this time, but the house with which I am at war. God has told me to hurry; so stop opposing God, who is with me, or he will destroy you.”
22 Josiah, however, would not turn away from him, but disguised himself to engage him in battle. He would not listen to what Necho had said at God’s command but went to fight him on the plain of Megiddo. 23 Archers shot King Josiah, and he told his officers, “Take me away; I am badly wounded.” 24 So they took him out of his chariot, put him in his other chariot and brought him to Jerusalem, where he died. He was buried in the tombs of his ancestors, and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him.
May YHWH always gives us discernment to know what we should do and give generous amounts to those in leadership who then in turn share that discernment of what they're going through with us. That would prevent a lot of unneeded hostility ("they vs. us" mentality) if we understood YHWH's hand in all this.
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