John R. Rice and Billy Graham

I keep meaning to post here. My students are taking a test, so this is my chance.

Dr. Bauder is on target with this article. He wrote about Rice and Graham:
"During the 1950s no fundamentalist was closer to Billy Graham than John R. Rice. Not only was he a significant backer of Graham, but Graham also served on Rice’s board. When Graham committed himself to cooperative evangelism in 1956, no one felt the rupture more deeply than Rice. The older evangelist shed many tears when he found himself opposed to his younger protégé. But John R. Rice never, ever stopped loving Billy Graham."

I'll make just a couple of pertinent comments. First of all, Rice was asked by Graham to come and observe his Scotland campaign in 1955. Rice did so, and won a taxi driver to the Lord on the way from the airport. Graham mentioned this in his biography, Just As I Am, referring to Rice as "my old friend."

Graham also asked for prayer for the campaign: Graham wrote, asking for prayer: “I am asking you if you will ask through the pages of ‘Sword of the Lord’ that people pray. We believe that if hundreds of thousands of people all over the world will join in prayer, it could be the beginning of a genuine spiritual awakening.” (John R. Rice Papers, Southwestern BTS).

 

Well said. And nobody's perfect, even the famous ones of our faith.