Angelina said:
Billy Graham is a mighty man of God. As far as I understand...he is still alive aged 96. *"According to his biography, Billy Graham has preached to more people in live audiences than anyone else in history. He's preached the Gospel to nearly 215 million people in more than 185 countries and territories worldwide. He's also led hundreds of thousands of people to make personal decisions to live for Christ, which is the main focus of his ministry."
I have never read any of Billy's books nor have I ever watched any videos about him but as a new believer, many years back and living on the other side of the planet ~ Billy Graham was an inspiration and a role model to many young people [and old] whose desire was to follow God, to give him the due glory and to extend his Kingdom here on earth.
*
By Leonardo Blair , CP Reporter
http://www.christianpost.com/news/billy-graham-is-still-alive-rep-debunks-social-media-hoax-that-fooled-nearly-1-million-fans-130069/
Incidentally, I had given the wrong reference for that verse in the OP;
Luke 6:26Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.
If I was ever in the ministry and people & the media were praising me, I would be concerned on how I was serving Him, but I can understand how even Billy Graham and the many believers ( and I include myself ) for having gone astray in this religious guantlet, because of errant modern Bible versions.
No one has a problem with the KJV until they read something that they do not like and so they go to another Bible that changes the message that better supports their false teaching and false practises.
Like the commitment to follow Christ. Commit does not always mean "I will do it" but commitment does. Commit as used in the Bible means to roll over or entrust someone else with it as "He will do it".
Churches and evangelical leaders look to believers making a commitment as a means of getting them to be serious about following Him; thereby looking to their will & merit in following Him by keeping that commitment. That is a yoke of bondage that Jesus did not teach nor any of His disciples.
So where do believers get that idea that it is okay to make commitents or promises to Christ? Errant modern Bible versions.
1 Peter 4:19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God
commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.
KJV
This verse is totally about Jesus Christ of Whom we can entrust in doing a good job as in the well doing in the keeping of our souls while any saint suffers.
The message has been changed in some modern Bibles.
1 Peter 4:19 So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.
NIV
The subject of Him keeping our souls while we suffer has been dropped. The way it is written, many believers see this verse as justifying making a commitment to Christ and into following Him or to do good.
Not all modern Bibles will share in that same changed message of the NIV, but you should all know where the idea for the commitment to Christ and the commitment to follow Christ comes from; errant modern Bibles that decline from the testimony of the Son.
To prove that the commitment to Christ is of the flesh that men can boast in; in 1994, churches got invloved with the Promise Keeprs' program; also known as a movement of men in the media. As if that yoke of bondage of making a commitment to follow Christ was not enough, they resort to the seven promises of the PK program to "get" men where they belong as leaders in the home, church, and community. And guess what? That program failed too, and embarking on that program proved that the commitment to follow Christ fails too as the church failed to get men "serious" in following Jesus by keeping that commitment.
It is not about how serious we are, because no matter how much the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak, therefor what is impossible with men is possible with God and so it is about knowing how serious He is in helping us to follow Him which can only be done by faith in Jesus Christ... for without faith, it is impossible to please Him at all
And trying to keep that commitment to follow Him as if that is the secret or the power for living the christian life, that shall only void faith in Him that He is able to help us to follow Him all by Himself by trusting Him alone.
Our confidence is solely on Him; it is not a shared confidence wherein we can lay claim to His workmanship in our lives.
Psalm 100:3 Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Psalm 118:8 It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.
So I ask every believer to ask Jesus to set you free from your commitments & promises to Him and trust Him as your personal Good Shepherd that He will help you to follow Him through the Holy Spirit in you and you will get to know the Bridegroom because He will.
We can do all things through Christ that strengthens us because of our faith in Him & Hispromises to us; not because of our commitments & promises to Him.
