You could call it the tale of two evangelists. Both rose to prominence, both filled the stadiums, but their lives took on completely different trajectories. One was named Billy Graham, the other Charles Templeton. In the mid 1940’s they often shared the stage, until one major difference occurred. Billy Graham held to a literal interpretation of Scripture, while Charles Templeton compromised this position placing his faith instead on his intellect, science, and the popular logic of the day.

This is a quote from a conversation between the two:
“In the course of our conversation I said, “But, Billy, it’s simply not possible any longer to believe, for instance, the biblical account of creation. The world was not created over a period of days a few thousand years ago; it has evolved over millions of years. It’s not a matter of speculation; it’s a demonstrable fact.”

“I don’t accept that,” Billy said. “And there are reputable scholars who don’t.”“Who are these scholars?’ I said. “Men in conservative Christian colleges?”

“Most of them, yes,” he said. “But that is not the point. I believe the Genesis account of creation because it’s in the Bible. I’ve discovered something in my ministry: When I take the Bible literally, when I proclaim it as the word of God, my preaching has power. When I stand on the platform and say, ‘God says,’ or ‘The Bible says,’ the Holy Spirit uses me. There are results. Wiser men than you or I have been arguing questions like this for centuries. I don’t have the time or the intellect to examine all sides of the theological dispute, so I’ve decided once for all to stop questioning and accept the Bible as God’s word.”

“But Billy,” I protested, “You cannot do that. You don’t dare stop thinking about the most important question in life. Do it and you begin to die. It’s intellectual suicide.”

“I don’t know about anybody else,” he said, “but I’ve decided that that’s the path for me.” Their trajectories had been chosen.”

Throughout Scripture we see the absolute authority of both Father God and Jesus, the Son. After the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7, we read the conclusion in 7:28-29, “And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, For He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes”. His disciples recognized this authority. In Matthew 21:2-3, Jesus sent two of His disciples to Bethphage with specific instructions of what to do and what would occur when they picked up the donkey for him to ride on. We read their response in 21:6, “So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them.” As Jesus approaches Jerusalem on the Palm Sunday road, we read in 21:9, “Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ Hosanna in the highest!” Hosanna means: “Save now”.

But what the multitudes meant by “save now”, was “overthrow the Roman government”, “Help is economically”, “Lead us militarily”. This was their preconceived notion of their Messiah. They had missed the truth that Jesus would come twice: first as the Suffering Servant to die for our sins, next as the Conquering King to set all things right on earth. It was because of this error in their intellect and reasoning that many in this multitude when they realized that Jesus had no intention of doing anything they had hoped for, turned against Him and instead of screaming “Hosanna”, we read in 27:23, “But they cried out all the more, saying, “Let Him be crucified!”

Billy Graham remained steadfast in the Word of God, and as a result he led a life as a powerful evangelist. Templeton began to chip away at the authority of God’s Word based on his own intellect and reasoning. He could not reconcile the atrocities of Nazi Germany through the eyes of a loving God. He held the faulty science of evolution as the ultimate authority and as a result diminished the authority of the Genesis account of creation. Science is filled with pride, faulty intellect, etc. Evolution is more of a faith than a science. Unfortunately, Templeton sought answers by attending Princeton Theological Seminary, which at that time adhered to a very liberal study of the Bible, discounting the authority of the Genesis creation. We must all decide what and more importantly Whom we place our faith in. Do we, like Billy Graham hold unwaveringly to the authority of Scripture, or like Templeton are we going to follow that slippery slope of compromise. Oddly, many will falsely claim that Graham’s position is anti-intellectual. But this is not the case. It simply is the position of submission to a higher intellect than our own. As we continue through the One Year Bible Challenge may we all gain strength and resolve as we make a decision to follow the One True God with all of our heart and all of our mind. This decision will lead to clarity for our walk on this earth.