Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

From the writings of the Rev. Billy Graham

Dear Rev. Graham: I’m having to disengage with my friends [fellow teachers] because of their activities that lead to godlessness, which follows their extreme progressive thoughts and behavior. They try to coax me from a traditional lifestyle, which they claim is my soapbox, into a progressive lifestyle they call “their rights” which trample over the rights of others. They seem desperate to woo me into their circle. What makes it especially hard is that many of them grew up as I did, in church and Sunday school. How has this new thinking taken over an entire population? – A.W.

Dear A.W.: Self-styled progressives have made great changes in our philosophy of education. They have used the classroom as a soapbox for their gospel of the new social order, which has led to a mass departure from traditional ideals and Biblical morals. They substitute instinct for knowledge, and emotion for reason. They contend the old, the tried and proven, and the heritages of the past must be replaced by new ideas. They scoff at the concept of a vital, personal faith in God. Such intellectuals brook no authority, make no allowances for the lessons of the past, and scoff at traditional beliefs.
The world is madly obsessive. Ears are dull and eyes are blind. They don’t want to hear truth, and they hurry to their doom. While there’s legitimate pleasure for people to enjoy, anything that takes the place of God is sin.
The church is a storehouse of spiritual food whereby the inner man is fed, nourished, and developed into maturity. When the church fails, it isn’t fulfilling its purpose as a church. Christians are often called to stand alone. The very ones whose social pressure tempt us to compromise, often — down deep — respect such convictions but still try to knock us off course. God will give an inner conviction to confirm which way He wants us to go, and it will always be to follow Christ.
—————
This column is based on the words and writings of the late Rev. Billy Graham.