Timely Wisdom From Billy Graham

Excerpts from an interview with Parade Magazine in 1981:

The Billy Graham who preached that God was on our side during the Cold War of the ’50s wants no part of the Cold War in the ’80s. Thirty years and more than 50 countries later, Reverend Graham has decided that God doesn’t choose countries. God chooses people.

“It was a mistake to identify the Kingdom of God with the American way of life,” says Graham. “I’ve come to see that other cultures have their own way that may be of just as great a value. I think we consume too much, and I think we have become too materialistic. I spend half my time abroad now. I feel that God has called me to a world ministry. I don’t look upon myself as an ambassador of the United Status, as I did at one time. I look upon myself as a world ambassador.”

“I’m for morality. But morality goes beyond sex to human freedom and social justice. We as clergy know so very little to speak out with such authority on the Panama Canal or superiority of armaments. Evangelists can’t be closely identified with any particular party or person. We have to stand in the middle in order to preach to all people, right and left. I haven’t been faithful to my own advice in the past. I will be in the future.”

Source: Michaels, Marguerite. “Billy Graham: America Is Not God’s Only Kingdom.”?Parade Magazine, February 1, 1981. Billy Graham was 62 years old at the time of the interview.