DeeGeesLifeBlog ~ Life as Art ~ Or is it Heart?

Jesus indicated that there will be a permissive society just before He comes back … the world today is on an immoral binge such as has not been known since the days of Rome. We are in a hedonistic society, and what we are seeing is human nature expressing itself without God.
~ Billy Graham, Day by Day, 1965

Well if the great evangelist thought that we were hell-bent for trouble in the innocent carefree days of 1965 I wonder what his take would be today, some 50 years later? Well, lucky me and lucky you the reader because I have the answer from my archives and you will not be disappointed.

Evangelist Billy Graham, arguably the most well-known and respected evangelical preacher of the past 70 years, said in a recently published commentary that America was founded by men who believed in prayer and that prayer can turn the tide of history, adding that while “America is just as wicked as Sodom and Gomorrah” and deserves “the judgment of God,” this judgment can be lessened through prayer. As yours truly implied a few years ago in America on the Cusp of God’s Grace God will not allow the gross sins and iniquities into which America was sinking even then to impede his overall plan for an historic return to the splendor of the Garden of Eden in a new and improved version of Godly living and lifestyle.

Billy Graham…

The Rev. Billy Graham does not have (nor has he ever had) a stadium-sized church. As far as I know he never had a church at all. He preached the pure word into 180 countries; delivered the word to 2.2 billion people; never traveled in his own plane; still lives in the same house which he shared with his dearly-departed wife Ruth, and in which he raised his family. Never at any time has anyone been able to dig up any kind of scandal on him and I’m sure many have tried. He is a true man of God and greatly to be revered.

On the other hand of course, America as a nation, has drifted away from the tethered Godly dictates that guided this nation through the Founding Fathers and consequently, I’m beginning to think that maybe America should not be spared from the wrath of God to come. I’m having a difficult time seeing America ever recovering from the stealth attack of homosexual propagandists, blatant overt sexuality, the overwhelming declension in our moral compass from Roe v. Wade which since 1973 has led to the genocidal murder of 60 million and counting innocent babies in what should be the sanctity of a mother’s womb, and the disgrace that is turning into a modern-day nightmare known euphemistically as “Planned Parenthood!” America has become a den of perverts, defiler of the innocents, and a slave to the god of this world, Satan. This nation needs to be given a real hard lesson in humility, civility, repentance and Godly servitude.

“Even though America is just as wicked as Sodom and Gomorrah ever were, and as deserving of the judgment of God, God would spare us if we were earnestly praying, with hearts that had been cleansed and washed by the blood of Christ,” said Rev. Graham in his commentary for Decision magazine, published by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

“The problems of the world will never be settled unless our national leaders go to God in prayer,” he said. “If only they would discover the power and wisdom that there is in reliance upon God, we could soon see the solution to the grave problems that face the world!”

Sometimes I think the truly committed Christian is in conflict with society around him more than any other person. Society is going one direction, and the Christian is going in the opposite direction. This brings about friction and conflict. But God has promised, in the midst of trouble and conflict, a genuine peace, a sense of assurance and security, that the worldly person never knows. ~ Billy Graham, Day by Day, 1965 

Billy Graham is going on 97 years of age and is reportedly often bedridden at his home in Montreat, N.C. His commentary in a recent issue of Decision, under the headline “Turning the Tide of History,” was reprinted from a sermon he delivered Jan. 7, 1962 on the Hour of Decision radio program. Reverend Graham’s comments begin by declaring, “Our nation was founded by men who believed in prayer,” and notes that Benjamin Franklin, in addressing the 1787 Constitutional Convention, said that “God governs in the affairs of men.” [I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth- that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that “except the Lord build the House they labour in vain that build it.” I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel:]

“Today the world is being carried on a rushing torrent of history that is sweeping out of control,” said Rev. Graham.  “There is but one power available to redeem the course of events, and that is the power of prayer by God-fearing, Christ-believing people.”

“One of the reasons the United Nations has become so ineffective in handling world situations is that there is no prayer, no recognition of God. Unless the leaders of nations turn to God in prayer, their best plans will fail, just as did the plans of those who built the tower of Babel.”

Rev. Graham then noted numerous instances from the Bible where people “turned the tide of history by prayer.”  For example, he notes, Elisha prayed and a young man was raised from the dead; Jesus prayed and Lazarus rose from the dead; the thief on the cross next to Jesus prayed and Jesus told him he would go to paradise that day; John Wesley prayed and religious fervor grew in England, and the same happened with Jonathan Edwards here in Northampton, Massachusetts.

“I tell you, history could be altered and changed again if people went to their knees in believing prayer,” said Rev. Graham.

Then there’s this, dear people, perhaps the most dangerous activity of all, the regular indoctrination through our federal “education” department (which George Orwell in his classic 1984 described as “The Ministry of Truth”) of some of today’s future generations handling the topic of the oxymoronic “same-sex marriage” issue … There is nothing “gay” about Sodomite homosexuality, Lesbianism, nor “same-sex marriage” unless your teachers in The Ministry of Truth tell you differently .. Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in welldoing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not … ~ Galatians 6:7-9