Evangelist Billy Graham Just Issued A Scary Warning To Every Church In America
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"Too many Christians today are..."
The words were first penned the dawn of the Cold War in 1957 when the foundations of American society were being shaken. The Rev. Billy Graham has shared them again in 2015, when the threat of persecution is no longer from a godless communist rival across the globe, but from a society that daily makes war on Christianity.
In this month’s Decision magazine, under the headline, “Prepare for Persecution: A Message from Billy Graham,” Graham urges Americans to prepare for the trials to come.
“As a whole, our nation does not know what privation is. We do not know what sacrifice is. We do not know what suffering is. Suppose persecution were to come to the church in America, as it has come in other countries,” he wrote, noting that such an exemption from persecution is unusual.
“Christ strongly warned Christians that to follow Him would not be popular, and that in most circumstances it would mean cross-bearing and persecution,” Graham wrote.
Graham understood that privations will force many to compromise their beliefs.
“… it is likely that under pressure many would deny Christ. Those who shout the loudest about their faith may surrender soonest. Many who boast of being courageous would be cowardly,” he wrote.
Graham offered five ways for faith to survive the coming trials.
“Make sure of your relationship with God,” he wrote. “Even though most Americans see the storm clouds gathering on the horizon, by and large we are making few preparations to meet God. This is a time for repentance and faith. It is a time for soul-searching, to see if our anchor holds.”
He urged Christians to walk with God daily.
“If you are not strengthening the inner man or woman by daily walking with God now, when a crisis comes you will quake with fear and give in, having no strength to stand up for Christ,” Graham wrote.
Reading the Bible, and reading it deeply, are essential activities, he said.
“Too many Christians today are entangled with the affairs of this world, caught in a net of material interest and diversion. Scripture, to many, is little more than a reference book for biblical facts. It is seldom opened and rarely relished as the spiritual staff of life that it is,” he wrote.
Prayer is vital, Graham wrote.
“If Christianity is to survive in a world filled with materialism, the church must have a revival of prayer. As individuals, we must repent of prayerlessness. The prayer meeting must become the vital institution it was when evangelical Christianity was the mightiest force in the world,” he wrote.
“Christ must be vitally real to us if we are to prove loyal to Him in the hours of crisis,” he also wrote.
Graham’s warning concludes with a plea that Christians put their trust where it belongs.
“Our nation ranks as the greatest power on the face of the earth. But if we put our trust in armed might instead of Almighty God, the coming conflict could conceivably go against us. History and the Bible indicate that mechanical and material might are insufficient in times of great crisis,” he wrote.
“The wheels of God’s judgment can be heard by discerning souls across the length and breadth of nations. Things are happening fast! The need for a return to God has never been more urgent,” Graham wrote.
h/t: The Christian Post
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