The American Spectator

Eric Edwards br> Walnut Cove, North Carolina /p>

I am afraid that Mr. Harmon cherry picks one of the points that I made that he doesn’t like, but fails to view the argument that I made as a whole with more than one part. Mr. Harmon also chooses to imply that Mr. Graham should have emulated Jesus and the early church apostles in every particular with no notice being taken of the changed environment that Mr. Graham found some 1900+ years later. I do not know if Mr. Harmon was around and paying attention when Mr. Graham cracked the nut that was the USSR, and took a crusade to the masses behind the Iron Curtain. Either he is unaware of the difficulty of getting into the USSR to bring the message of the Christ to those folks, or he believes that he should simply have preached the Gospel to several tens of millions fewer folks. Again I use the USSR simply as an example, the same type of situation presented itself in parts of Africa, parts of southwestern Asia, other parts of Europe behind the Iron Curtain, etc.

I can also assume that Mr. Harmon would object to the intelligence that our government got from Mr. Graham and/or members of his staff. Mr. Graham was a definite anti-Communist, and I can only assume was not averse to helping our government work toward the demise of that system, that dictatorship, that so oppressed their people. It should also be noted that, with the exception of a couple of phony showcases, churches were shut down and the practice of religion forbidden in the USSR.

p>Sir, Mr. Graham was not delivering his message in the first century with the rudimentary transportation, rudimentary communication, the differences of views on many, many important issues of the modern times. I guess, Sir, that you would call for active ministers to follow our Lord in minute detail, and if that leads to ministries and missions that last for three years and then see their leaders removed, then so be it. On the other hand, Mr. Graham’s ministry lasted for 50+ years and he led millions to Christ. But hey, he didn’t do it exactly the way Jesus did, so all those conversions are of no import, right. I wonder how many fewer folks would have heard Dr. Graham proclaim the message of our Lord, if he had to have walked everywhere that he went from his home in North Carolina. After all, that is what Jesus did, and if you are going to insist on complete purity in all aspects, that is what would be demanded. Mr. Harmon, when attempting to bring converts to the Gospel of Christ, you can simply not ignore reality of the environment that you are in, not if you want to be successful as a fisher of men. br> — Ken Shreve /p>