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Show The Questions I'm Asked This famous evangelist answers pointed queries about his crusades, hippies,the public-oriented. Jesus preached to audiences of thousands—not because He enjoyed publicity, but because the multitudes were hungryfor the “bread” He had to give them. He sent Hisdisciples out and told them to preach the Gospelto all the world. In His day, there was no such thing as a secret disciple. They took the good news to the people. Our services are not “demonstrations.” They differ little from a Sunday morning church service, with everything in good taste. As to tv and radio, ete., since our Lord told us to take His Gospelto all the world, do you know a better way to reach people than by modern media? Of course, if we were doing it for any other reason, then the implication of your question that we were employ- ing Madison Avenue techniques with ulterior motives would be true—and it would be wrong. Christ taught humility, yet your name is always up in lights and on posters. How do you rationalize this? John the Baptist said, “I am the voice of one erying in the wilderness.” John sought no publicity for himself, yet the “voice” could not be separated from the man. God has chosen to work through humanpersonality. If this were not true, the names of Augustine, Wesley, Luther, and even the Pope would be unknown. I have wrestled with this question. If anyone can suggest a better way andstill rally people to hear the Gospelof Christ, I am more thanready to listen. Young people from ali over the world have questioned Billy Graham and have found new enlightenment. Do you think the hippie movement indicates a breakdown in the religious and moral life of American youth? I believe the problem gues a bit deeper than that. In myopinion, the hippie movementhas its roots in the disillusionment of many young people with the integrity of their elders and the kind of world they have inherited. Frightened by the evils inherent in our society, they seek withdrawal and escape. Such passive, noncreative withdrawal, however, only has compounded their personal problems and made them a repulsive spectacle to the rest of society and the world. Young people everywhere, I find, are open to truth and are searching for authoritative answe.'s to the staggering questions of our times. The hippie movementis just a misspent search for a better wayoflife. All of us have an obligation to these frightened youngpeople, andI believe that, instead ofcriticizing them, we should find the cause for their defection from normal society. It would be better for all concerned. After your recent crusades in England, have you any new evidence that those who come 8 Family Weekly, February 11, 1968 forward at your evangelistic services do last as Christians? It is really too early to tell. We do know, however, that enough people “follow through” with their commitment to warrant the expenditures of time and money in our campaigns. One night at Earl’s Court, for example, we had 60 young men on our platform who were converted to Christ in previous crusades and were preparing for the Christian ministry. The surprising thing is not how many come back to Christianity but the great number that stay. Conversion is not something that I manipulate but something that Christ does. If people are merely “converted to me,” or some other superficial cause, they will backslide. But if they are really converted to Christ, they will go on to be effective disciples. Since religion is a private matter between God and the individual, how do you justify conducting such huge public demonstrations with all the ballyhoo of tv, Madison Avenue advertising, and publicity? Religion may be a private matter, but the Bible teaches that Christianity is unique in thatit is Is modern youth less moral than your own generation? I wouldn’t generalize on the morals of modern youth. Historically, every generation has hadits share of immorality. The Bible indicates that as history progresses, immorality will increase, ani I believe that the present downward trend bears this out. Morality in a nation comes when men respect the authority and the personhood of God. Whenour maindrive is secular rather than spiritual, sagging morality is the natural result. Many experts (not all of them Christian) agree that the trend of immorality in our nation is alarming— not only with our young people but principally with the adult population. I see no valid reason to disagree with them. To me, the moral state of the world reconfirms what the Bible predicts for this day and age. Do you believe that all Christians should join one superchurch? If so, how long do you think it will take? Actually, there is just one church—andthatis the church of Jesus Christ. There are many denominations, and these exist due to the differences in humanpersonality andslight differences of Scrip- tural interpretation. The New Testament speaks of One Church—the one that Jesus referred to |