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First Response: Billy Graham and the Last Crusade? |
 Billy Graham may have completed his last Crusade in New York, Sunday,
June 26, in Flushing Meadows, Queens. If so, an era not only in
American Christianity, but World Christianity ends. Certainly this has
been Billy Graham’s half-century, from the early 1950’s to the present.
He has vied, along with the Popes, for top billing as the most
respected man in the world. He has preached to over 200 million people,
traveled the globe again and again (180 countries), and spearheaded the
revival of evangelical Christianity here and abroad. The popular
journal Christianity Today, institutions such as Fuller Theological
Seminary and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, along with several
Southern Baptist Seminaries and the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton
College (his alma mater) bear his stamp. Graham has touched millions
more through radio, film, TV, Decision Magazine and his books, starting
with the early Peace with God (the first Christian book I ever
purchased as a new teen-age Christian). I could go on and on.
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First Response: Evangelizing the Ivy League |
When the Sunday New York Times puts evangelical news on its front page
with a color picture of two students praying in Manning Chapel at Brown
University, this becomes national news of a special sort. What the
Times, clearly known for its secular worldview, records is a personal
and sociological study of the growing evangelical presence at major
East Coast Universities. I am on the mailing list of the “Christian
Union,” the evangelical cover organization for this movement and have
received their literature for the last couple of years. But what makes
this more interesting to me is that kingdom ministry is filtering into
this evangelical thrust.
By Don Williams
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Joel Osteen - Your Best Life Now: A Biblical Critique |
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 Joel Osteen,
pastor of the Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, has written Your Best
Life Now. Along with Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life, it has
dominated the New York Times’ “Self-Help” list for months. Because of
its influence, and Osteen’s national TV ministry, we summarize it here
and then bring our critique. Osteen is a prominent leader in the Word
of Faith Movement.
By Don Williams
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In its Easter Cover
Article, Newsweek features how Jesus became “Christ.” The subtitle for
the piece is “From Resurrection to the Rise of Christianity.” The
author, Jon Meacham, offers us a summary of current scholarly consensus
in a highly accessible form. Past efforts to explain the gospel from
eastern mystery religions, Gnostic “redeemer myths,” and assimilation
to the pagan (Hellenistic) culture with a Jewish veneer go unmentioned.
This is a relief. Jesus and the early church are placed squarely in the
context of Israel, the Old Testament, and the continuing traditions of
Hebrew faith.
Don Williams reflects with insight and a suggested Christian response. |
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The Crafty Attacks on Evolution |
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Inspired and provoked by the New York Times Editorial of January 23,
2005, Don Williams offers a cleverly formed and imaginary response to
the evidently hostile and pro-evolutionary suggestions of the Editor in
question. Taking on the guise of Cornelius Hunter, author of Darwin's
God (italic), Williams offers a relevant, Christian counter commentary. |
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Evil: The Secular Re-evaluation |
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The New York Times led its “Science Times” section, Tuesday,
February 8, 2005, with an article entitled, “For the Worst of Us, the
Diagnosis May Be Evil.” A large color print of Adam and Eve holding
apples, while a human faced, crowned serpent wraps itself around the
tree between them, takes up half the page. What’s up with the Times?
Don Williams reflects with insight and a suggested Christian response. |
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First Response
