Ruth Bell Graham, wife of Billy Graham, was born at Qingjiang, Kiangsu, China, on June 10, 1920. She went to be with the Lord on June 14, 2007 at the age of 87. We look back at her life and legacy on the sixth anniversary of her death.

by Kristen Driscoll, with reporting by Amanda Knoke, Jerri Menges and Bob Paulson—Decision magazine staff

Growing Demands

Billy’s ministry expanded, and in January 1945 he left his pastorate to become the first full-time evangelist of Youth for Christ, a ministry to youth and military service people. It was just the beginning of the couple’s difficult partings. During those early years, before the children were born, Ruth traveled with Billy when their budget would allow.

She often counseled and prayed with those who responded to the invitation to accept Christ. She especially had an eye for the down-and-out who were struggling to survive, and she would write to the inquirers for years. But then the children began to arrive, and the Crusades grew longer and bigger. Ruth took to heart some words of advice that Cliff Barrows’ late wife, Billie, had received from “Ma” Sunday, the wife of evangelist Billy Sunday.

Ma said that she had traveled with her husband to his evangelistic meetings because that is what he wanted. “But all my children are on the road to hell,” she tearfully told Cliff and Billie. She encouraged Billie to stay home and rear their children rather than travel with the Crusades. Billie told Ruth about that conversation.

Ruth took on the responsibilities of managing the Graham household, giving Billy the freedom to travel and preach wherever God called him.

Just before the birth of their first child, Gigi, in September 1945, Billy and Ruth moved from Illinois to Montreat, N.C., where Ruth’s parents had settled after leaving China. The Grahams lived with the Bells until they bought a house across the street just before their daughter Anne was born. Ruth (called “Bunny” as a child), Franklin and Ned were born in the following years. In the late 1940s, Billy’s ministry grew to include citywide campaigns and radio, leading to the incorporation of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in 1950.

Rather than complaining about staying behind, Ruth strived to make their home a shelter for Billy when he wasn’t traveling. When their home was overrun with curious tourists, she took matters into her own hands and compiled plans to build “Little Piney Cove,” a mountain home constructed of timber from abandoned log cabins. From the very beginning she took control of the project, going as far as getting a loan and buying property when Billy was in California. When the home was finished, she filled it with treasures from the mountains and from her travels.

Jean Wilson, a friend in the United Kingdom, remembers how Ruth searched out the small antiques and old Christian books that filled her home: “That is my biggest memory of her—all the collections she kept. She was a great pack rat, as she called it.” The pair often visited secondhand bookshops in England, and if Ruth found a book she wanted, “she’d pounce on it,” Wilson said. “She would be on her hands and knees, looking on the lowest bookshelf, or on a ladder trying to get up to the top shelf in these really old, old bookshops. ... I’d end up with a car just packed with books.”

While Ruth dealt with architects and builders, furnishing the home, repairs around the house and extensive correspondence, she also raised five spirited children—who were not angels, as some might have thought—and helped her aging parents. Rearing the children when their father was away for months at a time proved challenging. When asked how she managed, she merely replied: “On my knees.” Her account of one particularly trying morning is a tale that mothers everywhere will understand.

“It had been one of those hectic nights, and I had overslept,” she wrote in her book “It’s My Turn.”

“Without fixing my hair or pausing for makeup, I hurriedly pulled on my bathrobe, lifted Franklin out of his bed without bothering to change him, and set him in the high chair. I proceeded to set the table hurriedly for breakfast so the children would not be late for school.

“That morning, every time Gigi opened her mouth to say something, Bunny interrupted. Finally, in exasperation, Gigi slammed down her fork.

“‘Mother!’ she exclaimed. ‘Between listening to Bunny and smelling Franklin and looking at you, I’m not hungry!’”

The Graham children grew up mostly unaware of their mother’s loneliness and struggles to manage the family when their father was away.

“I don’t think she ever talked about him leaving,” Franklin wrote in his book “Rebel With a Cause.”

“We knew he was preaching, but we thought that everyone’s father was away a lot. It’s just something we grew up with. She was always positive and would quote the old mountain man: ‘Make the least of all that goes, the most of all that comes.’”

Ruth sprinkled life with humor and observations. “I’ve never considered divorce,” she said once. “Murder, yes, but not divorce.” From childhood on, she was known to be mischievous. Whether chasing her sister Rosa with a dead bug in China or sliding a firecracker under Franklin’s bedroom door to wake him, she seemed to hold her father’s belief that Christians need not be glum and pessimistic. Not even the members of Billy’s Team were exempt from Ruth’s pranks. Once she took Associate Evangelist Grady Wilson’s travel sleeping pills and filled the capsules with mustard powder.

When Billy came home, Ruth tried to keep things peaceful and relaxing. She kept her schedule flexible and made time to help him find sermon illustrations, write books and create scripts for The Hour of Decision radio program.

Ruth’s rock-solid support of Billy’s ministry and her ability to manage their household on her own earned the respect of his Team. “There would have been no Billy Graham as we know him today had it not been for Ruth,” said Billy’s longtime assistant, T.W. Wilson.

No one respected Ruth more than Billy did.

“What I missed!” he wrote in “Just As I Am,” his autobiography, “And what Ruth missed by not having me to help her. Whenever I did get home, I got a crash course in the agony and ecstasy of parenting. If Ruth had not been convinced that God had called her to fulfill that side of our partnership and had not resorted constantly to God’s Word for instruction and to His grace for strength, I don’t see how she could have survived.”

An Evangelist at Home
Ruth looked for ministry opportunities of her own in Montreat.

“If she saw anyone in need or anyone who was especially hurting, she would reach out to that person,” said Dorothy Thielman, whose husband, the late Calvin Thielman, pastored the church the Grahams attended.

Tracy Taylor Bailey, conference manager at the Montreat Conference Center, said that in 1993, after her husband was killed in an automobile accident, Ruth invited Bailey and her three small children to the Graham home. “It was like going to Grandma’s house,” Bailey recalled. “She had fixed a dinner of kid-friendly food, and then she made a game, a scavenger hunt. She had taken things and hidden them throughout the house, and she gave us a list of things to look for. ... We found all the things on the list, and she was just delighted, watching that.”

Tong and Sear Mei Chhay, owners of Ruth’s favorite restaurant, Tong Sing, also told of Ruth’s kindness. When they came to the United States from Cambodia 28 years ago, they were sponsored by Montreat Presbyterian Church, where the Grahams attended. Sear Mei’s brother was sponsored by Black Mountain Presbyterian, and at one point the two churches cooperated to buy a house for the Chhays. Tong recalled with tears how he discovered later that the down payment came from Ruth. “She was like my mother,” Sear Mei added.

“She has the heart of an evangelist,” said her daughter Anne in a 2002 interview. “Although her gift is often overshadowed by my father’s, Mother’s gift is exercised effectively on behalf of individuals. At her deepest core is the desire for individuals to know Christ in a personal and intimate way. My father preaches sermons to the masses, reaching thousands; my mother talks to individuals, loving them one by one.”

In the early 1970s, when the Graham children were grown, Ruth led a Sunday school class on the campus of Montreat College, where her son Franklin was a student.

Franklin’s friend Preston Parrish came to that class, along with some 150 other students. Ruth took an interest in Parrish, a new Christian, occasionally inviting him for dinner and giving him odd jobs working on the house.

“Ruth always had an eye for encouraging and helping somebody to come to the Lord,” Parrish said. “She would wait for God to straighten them out and then encourage them and help them grow. I guess she saw that in me—a new, young, zealous Christian who didn’t know anything but in whom God might have put a little potential for something.”

Ruth asked Parrish to pray with her that Franklin would surrender his life to Christ, and soon after, Franklin did, starting him down the path that led him to become the head of both BGEA and the relief and evangelism agency Samaritan’s Purse. Parrish, a former pastor and now BGEA vice president at large, says Ruth’s encouragement in the early years of his faith and marriage has had a profound impact on his ministry.

“She had a son who at that time was making her pull her hair out, so she knew how to keep up with rowdy kids,” he said. “Ruth gave you a vision of how you could grow in the Word of God, and you could not be with her without catching that vision. Scripture memory was not just some spiritual discipline. It was like breathing for her, and she thrived on it.”

‘It’s My Turn’
With her children grown and married, Ruth was free to pursue her lifelong love of writing.

Although she was the wife of one of the world’s most famous evangelists, self-promotion was not her motive. Since her childhood, she had used writing to release emotions that she could not express to other people. In 1975, just before publishing her first book of poetry, “Sitting by My Laughing Fire,” she wrote to Decision magazine editor Sherwood Wirt, “I was terribly shy and diffident about these poems at first but have suddenly decided, ‘Shucks! If they express what I was going through or how I felt about what someone else was going through, it doesn’t really matter whether everybody else likes them.’”

Ruth’s longtime secretary Evelyn Freeland said, “Whenever there were requests from anyone to quote her materials, her response was always, ‘My writing is to be a ministry.’”

Ruth wrote to encourage the new Christian, the mother of the prodigal, the lost soul who hadn’t yet found the Savior—people in all walks of life.

Her poetry was practical, reflecting a life with loneliness and struggles but overflowing with trust in God. Sometimes whimsical, it often drew from the beauty of the mountains and forests surrounding her home in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Her books “It’s My Turn” and “Legacy of a Pack Rat” are filled with short chapters that communicate nuggets of biblical truth and encouragement gleaned from her years as a wife, mother and Christian. She sprinkled in a variety of ancient and contemporary quotes, as well as bits of humor. “No person is absolutely unnecessary, ” she said in reference to disagreeable people. “One can always serve as a horrible example.”

In writing about her family and her life, Ruth did not hesitate to reveal her weaknesses. Many who read her column in Decision wrote to thank her for her down-to-earth advice.

“Every time I read something of hers, I feel like she is speaking directly to me,” one woman wrote. “Thank God for her and her willingness to be used for God’s work.”

The Best Years
In 1974, while making a pipe slide for her grandchildren at Gigi’s home in Wisconsin, Ruth fell and sustained serious injuries, triggering back and hip problems that would limit her activity for the rest of her life. Yet, while her body slowed down and was often in pain, her spirit remained vibrant and encouraging.

“I was so impressed,” said Dorothy Thielman of a visit to the Grahams’ home. “She was almost bedfast, but she maintained her sweet spirit and uncomplaining and utter trust that what the Lord had allowed in her life was for His own glory and her good. This is just the way she thought and the way she was.”

Eventually Ruth’s eyesight dimmed, but she kept sending letters to friends and continued to work on her writing with the help of her daughter Gigi and friends like Kerri Bruce, her executive assistant. And just as she had encouraged others to do as they faced the inevitable restrictions of aging, she prayed—for Billy and his ministry, for her family and friends, and for a wealth of people she’d known through the years.

Even in their later years, Billy and Ruth’s love for each other was obvious—in the way they teased each other and in the way their eyes lit up when they were together, their children have said. On their 60th wedding anniversary, Aug. 13, 2003, Ruth alluded to their early years. “There was some adjusting during the first few years, but it has pretty well adjusted now.”

Billy called their relationship a romance.

“We have a better relationship now,” he said. “We look into each other’s eyes and touch each other. It gets better as you get older. The secret is the Lord Jesus Christ—to have Him in the center of our lives.”

Read Part One

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Ruth Bell Graham, wife of Billy Graham, would have turned 93 years old today. She continues to impact people in many ways. Read about her life and legacy.

by Kristen Driscoll, with reporting by Amanda Knoke, Jerri Menges and Bob Paulson — Decision Magazine staff

Everyone who knew Ruth Bell Graham knew that she loved Jesus and she loved people. In her writing, speaking and simple acts of kindness—to neighbors, friends and anyone who needed a lift—she demonstrated the grace and mercy of the Savior she first met when she was a little girl in China.

 At Home in China
Happy Christians, Ruth once said, were a part of her heritage. Her parents, Dr. Nelson and Virginia Bell, were medical missionaries at Love and Mercy Hospital in Tsingkiangpu, China, in the difficult years from 1916 until World War II began.

China had been in upheaval for centuries. A 1911 revolution had overthrown a regime that had held power since 1644. Foreign countries had exploited the nation in the 1800s, and, as a result, the Chinese people resented all foreigners, calling them “foreign devils.” Warlords, bandits, the Japanese, the Communists and the Nationalists fought one another frequently, and sometimes these conflicts became wars against foreigners—with no distinction made for missionaries. Often, non-Chinese were urged to flee to avoid kidnapping and death, and afterward they returned to looted homes.

In spite of this environment, laughter and songs rang out from the Bell home on the hospital grounds. Ruth, the second-oldest child, was born June 10, 1920. She and her siblings, Rosa, Virginia and Clayton, learned the basics of Christian faith early through their parents’ example of daily prayer and Bible study, in addition to family prayers before breakfast each morning. Ruth could not remember a morning that her father was not reading his Bible or kneeling in prayer when she got up.

The Bells demonstrated to their children a great love for Jesus Christ and a dedication to the medical and evangelistic work of the hospital. Ruth recalled that her mother “built a house, had three children, buried one, had two more, taught her children at home through fifth grade, ran the women’s clinic, always had a missionary or two in the home, ... entertained well and often, and wrote home faithfully.”

Dr. Bell kept a busy schedule, too, as surgical chief and administrative superintendent at the hospital. Although the hospital had a pastor on staff, Bell made the healing of souls a priority in his work, gently explaining the Gospel to his patients. This atmosphere of love for Jesus, for family and for the Chinese people, helped shape the woman that Ruth Bell Graham would become.

The Bell children grew up hearing stories of martyrdom and sacrifice among missionaries and Chinese believers. These testimonies affected Ruth deeply, and Rosa often heard her little sister praying that she would die as a martyr for Christ before the year ended. Rosa, the more practical of the two, thought the prayer dreadful and followed with one of her own: “Lord, don’t pay any attention to her!”

Despite her tendency to be dramatic, Ruth became best known for her tender heart. She had a menagerie of pets, including baby ducks and chicks, and even took some to bed with her at times. Every dead animal, pet or not, had to be given a funeral. This childhood tenderness toward the defenseless provided a glimpse of how she would later react to the spiritually lost and helpless around her.

Leaving Home
A seeming injustice struck Ruth at 13. So that she would have the education she needed to return to the United States one day, her parents sent her to Pyeng Yang Foreign School in what is now Pyongyang, North Korea. Quietly, so as not to disturb her roommates, Ruth cried with homesickness every night for weeks. Several days in the infirmary finally brought some comfort when, during a brief illness, she read all 150 psalms. It was the beginning of what she later called her boot camp. God used homesickness to teach her to find solace in His presence during what would be a lifetime of separations from loved ones.

On Aug. 13, 1937, Shanghai, the capital of China, fell to the Japanese. Having finished high school, Ruth was back in Tsingkiangpu to get ready for college. But her September trip to Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill., was delayed when the Japanese mined the Yangtze River and destroyed the Nanking-Shanghai railway.

The missionaries were urged to go north to Haichow, where a United States Navy destroyer would take them to the port city of Tsingtao. Reluctantly, they made the difficult journey by canal and train. Dr. Bell arranged passage for Ruth on a United States troopship that was evacuating military families. On Oct. 22, Ruth said goodbye to her family and left China. Although her family would remain in China until 1941, it would be decades before Ruth returned to the land of her birth.

First Impressions
Ruth arrived safely at Wheaton and studied Bible and art. After growing up with air raids and bandits, she did not fully appreciate seemingly unnecessary rules such as curfew—until the dorm mother caught her climbing through a window, returning late from a Friday night date. On Monday, the dean scolded her harshly and confined her to campus. Crushed, Ruth worried that she had disgraced her parents, but the faculty soon realized that the infraction stemmed from naiveté and lifted her sentence.

Ruth soon settled in, made friends and became popular with the boys. She did not attach herself to anyone in particular—until her second year, when a new student named Billy Graham flew past her on the stairs of East Blanchard Hall.

“He’s surely in a hurry,” she thought. She’d heard about this new student and his fiery preaching. That Sunday morning, she heard him praying during a prayer meeting.

“There is a man who knows to Whom he is speaking,” she thought.

Billy had heard about Ruth, too. His friend Johnny Streater had described her as one of the prettiest and most spiritual girls on campus. When Billy finally saw her, it was love at first sight.

After watching her from afar for a few weeks, Billy gathered his courage and asked Ruth to attend a performance of Handel’s Messiah. She accepted, and after the date she went back to her room and prayed, “Lord, if You’d let me serve You with that man, I’d consider it the greatest privilege of my life.”

Billy and Ruth continued dating and began talking about marriage, but one issue stood in the way: For years, Ruth had felt that God was calling her to be a missionary in Tibet. While Billy wasn’t opposed to becoming a missionary, he felt a strong calling to preach the Gospel as an evangelist. Ruth tried persuading him otherwise, but it caused more tension. Eventually, they took time apart to pray about the matter.

As Ruth told the story in her book “It’s My Turn,” it was obvious that she was the one trying to give Billy a calling to Tibet—not God. Finally Billy turned to her and said, “Do you believe that God has brought us together?”
She did.

“In that case,” he replied, “God will lead me and you will do the following.” That pivotal conversation settled the issue, although Ruth believed strongly in the old saying, “When two people agree on everything, one of them is unnecessary.” The following summer, while Billy was preaching at a church in Florida, he received a thick letter from Ruth, postmarked July 6, 1941. “I’ll marry you,” the first sentence read. An ecstatic Billy preached that evening, although afterward he didn’t know what he’d preached about. The pastor said he wasn’t sure anyone else knew, either. Billy and Ruth were married Aug. 13, 1943.

In later years, Ruth had no regrets about letting go of Tibet to marry Billy Graham. She would have been in Tibet no more than four years before the political situation would have forced her to leave. And of that time, Ruth later wrote, “I would have missed the opportunity of a lifetime of serving God with the finest man I knew, having five terrific children, and 15 [now 19] of the most delightful, interesting and lovable grandchildren imaginable. All this, plus an unusual, if not easy, life.” God used her desire to go to Tibet to test her willingness to obey Him.

Adaptations
In January 1943, Billy accepted a call to pastor Western Springs Baptist Church, about 20 miles outside of Wheaton. He didn’t ask his bride-to-be what she thought of the idea, but Ruth didn’t let that stop her from telling him. Pastoring a church, she believed, would sidetrack him from his call to evangelism. It was a lesson that Billy would remember for years to come. Later, under pressure to run for political office, he heeded her advice: “When God calls you to be an evangelist, you don’t stoop to be president.”

Billy was not accustomed to the strong-willed, and often well-informed, opinions of the Bell women. “Bill was brought up in a house where the women did not question the men,” Ruth recalled, “while in the Bell house, that’s all we did.”

Anne Graham Lotz, the Grahams’ second daughter, said, “My daddy didn’t have to seek my mother’s advice to get it. I remember a time she [told] about him fussing at her because he just didn’t want her opinion. He does not like opinionated women, and he [had] a house full of them. It takes awhile for a man who’s been living independently to take on his partner and consult her. I think in some of those stories Daddy was just learning to be a husband. … Today he would not only consult her opinion, he would respect it and honor it and listen to her.”

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In the tenth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, our Lord Jesus Christ says: “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword” (Matthew 10:34).

By Billy Graham

And we say to ourselves, “I thought He was the Prince of Peace. I thought the reason that He came on that first Christmas was to bring peace; and here He says, ‘I came to bring a sword.’” Then He goes on to explain. “I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’” (Matthew 10:35-36).

In other words, He says some will believe Him and some will reject Him. This will bring division. “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 10:37-39).

That’s a hard saying, in a way. Jesus is teaching His disciples and telling us that when you come to Him, you must love Him supremely. He must be first in every relationship. He’s asking to take control of every area of your life.

But the subject I want to address is peace. Jeremiah said, “They are saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace” (Cf. Jeremiah 6:14). The word peace has been used often in recent years. We talk about peace, and we have many peace conferences; yet at the moment it seems that the world is heading toward anything but peace.

“The way of peace have they not known” (Romans 3:17), the Apostle Paul said concerning the human race. We are given to violence. It fills our screens, fills our novels and our books. As we look around, we find that there is little personal, domestic, social, economic or political peace anywhere. Look at marriages that are breaking up, the tensions in the home, the fighting among members of the home. I see absolutely no hope for us having permanent peace in spite of all the work and the efforts of the United Nations. Why? Because something is wrong with the human heart. We all have the seeds of hatred and violence within us.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Matthew 5:9). We are to work for peace. But Jesus also predicted: “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom” (Matthew 24:6-7).

Jesus said there is going to be war until the end of the age. He knew that human nature is not going to change without a spiritual new birth. He knew that the vast majority of the human race was never going to be converted to Him. The vast majority of the people of the world today are not born again. So we always have the potential that violence will break out in a home, in a community, in the world.

There are three kinds of peace described in the Bible. First, peace with God. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). There is a peace that you can have immediately—peace with God.

The greatest warfare going on in the world today is between you and God. You may not realize that you’re at war with God. But if you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and if you haven’t surrendered to Him as Lord, God considers you to be at war with Him. There is a great chasm between you and God, and that chasm has been caused by sin. The Bible says that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

“Oh,” you say, “I have joined the church. I have been baptized.” But has Jesus come to live in your heart as your Lord?

It would be the greatest tragedy if I didn’t tell you that unless you repent of your sins and receive Christ as your Savior, you are going to be lost.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever [that “whoever” is you] believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). It’s not just head-belief. It’s heart-belief too. It’s total trust, total commitment. We bring everything to the cross where the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins. He made peace with God by His death on the cross. If you turn your back on Him and don’t commit your life to Him, you will have no hope in the future.

For you to have peace with God, it cost the blood of His Son. “With the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:19), said Peter. If you were the only person in the world, He would have died for you, because He loves you. His love is pouring out from the cross.

The Bible says that God is the Author of peace. God provided salvation through the cross. He made peace by the shedding of His blood. The war that exists between you and God can be over quickly, and the peace treaty signed in the blood of His Son Jesus Christ.

The second peace spoken of in the Bible is the peace of God. Everyone who knows the Lord Jesus Christ can go through any problem, face death and still have the peace of God in his or her heart. When your spouse dies, or your children get sick, or you lose your job, you can have a peace that you don’t understand. You may have tears at a graveside, but you can have an abiding peace, a quietness.

A psychiatrist was quoted in the newspaper as saying that he could not improve upon the Apostle Paul’s prescription for human worry. Paul said, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7). Be anxious for nothing. How many times do you fret and turn, looking for a little peace? God’s peace can be in your heart—right now.

The third peace that the Scriptures mention is future peace. The Bible promises that there will be a time when the whole world is going to have peace. It seems that the world is heading toward Armageddon. We’re not going to have peace—permanent peace—until the Prince of Peace comes.

And He is coming. One of these days the sky is going to break open and the Lord Jesus Christ will come back. He will set up His reign upon this planet, and we’re going to have peace and social justice. What a wonderful time that’s going to be.

Isaiah prophesied, “The government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end” (Isaiah 9:6-7). Think of it: no fighting, no war, no hatred, no violence. It will all be peace.

Do you know Christ? Are you sure He’s in your heart? Perhaps you have been thinking, I want to be sure I have peace with God. I want to be sure that I’m ready for death. I want my sins forgiven. I want my guilt removed. I want to be with Christ when He comes and sets up His Kingdom.

It can be yours, and it’s free. You don’t have to work for it. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Give your heart and life to Christ. Don’t put it off. D ©1977 BGEA

Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version.

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By Franklin Graham

The rising tide of evil in our culture—and around the world—should come as no surprise to followers of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Bible says that man’s heart apart from Christ is deceitful and depraved, (Jeremiah 17:9), and that the whole world system lies “in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19). Until Christ returns to establish His Kingdom on earth, we can expect the forces of evil to only increase in intensity and ill effect.

Not only has our culture here at home become darker and more dangerous as men and women forsake God and His ways, but the entire world stage is clearly becoming more unstable, violent and chaotic every day.

The Middle East is a caldron of foreboding forces. Just a few weeks ago, the nation of Egypt, one of the oldest countries in the world, voted to approve a constitution that is heavily Islamist. I am troubled by what that means for the Christians who remain in that ancient land who no doubt can expect increased opposition and persecution.

In Syria, the civil war between Islamic forces has claimed more than 60,000 lives, according to the United Nations. And there is tremendous concern that the hostility will spill over to surrounding countries, including Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, where tens of thousands of refugees fleeing the conflict have already settled.

The possibility of chemical warfare by the Syrian government is real, and in nearby Iran—which supports the Syrian regime—the threat of nuclear weapons has the entire region on high alert.

In the midst of this unsettled, menacing evil, it can be easy to lose sight of our sovereign God, who is steadfastly and relentlessly working “all things after the counsel of His will” (Ephesians 1:11), and who authoritatively “nullifies the counsel of the nations” and “frustrates the plans of the peoples” (Psalm 33:10).

Our mighty God is the Lord of all history, the One who “declares the end from the beginning” (Cf. Isaiah 46:10). He sovereignly turns the heart of the kings of the earth wherever He desires (Proverbs 21:1), so that He may one day soon return as the King of kings and Lord of lords to finally subdue and banish evil once and for all.

In the meantime, the Scripture says that we are to “overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21). Christ dealt our adversary, the devil, a decisive blow on the cross, and the enemy knows that his doom in the lake of fire is sure. That is why his rage is so great now.

The greatest good is the Gospel, the Good News of Christ’s triumph over the forces of darkness—the principalities, rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. When the Gospel is preached, the power of God is released to set free those who respond in repentance and faith. The light of the Gospel dispels the darkness and deceit of the adversary, and the heart of man is transformed by the Holy Spirit of God.

Here in North America through our My Hope evangelistic campaign in November, and around the world through our Crusades, it is the power of the Gospel that works mightily and supernaturally to conquer the forces of evil. Pray with us. Pray for us.

As Martin Luther wrote in his hymn “A Mighty Fortress”:

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him. 

©2013 BGEA

Scripture quotations are taken by permission from the New American Standard Bible, ©1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif.

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by Don Wilton

When God issued this commandment to Moses on Mount Sinai, He demonstrated His sovereign plan for real relationships. How grand to be reminded of the wonderful truth concerning His invitation for all people to have a personal relationship with Him. Herein lies the hallmark of our Christian faith. In response to the love of the Father, Jesus Christ gave His life on the cross so that all sinners might believe in Him. This relationship comes when we repent of our sin before a holy and righteous God, confess that sin to the Lord Jesus Christ, and then trust in Him by faith.

What God demands of all those who have been brought into this personal relationship with Him is simple and clear: We are to honor Him. And just as we are to honor the One who created us, so we are to honor those who were chosen to carry out God’s plan for our creation—our fathers and mothers!

Before we unpack this beautiful command, allow me to say a word to those who have not had the joy of being reared by godly parents. This kind of pain is severe because the relationship between parents and their offspring is meant to be positive, nurturing and wholesome. Nonetheless, there are many who hurt deeply because of various kinds of parental abuse. How does a believer carry out God’s commandment here, and what would God have to say about this? May I suggest six things to consider?

1) Pray for your parents.

2) Keep on trying to help them, even though that may be difficult at times.

3) Model Jesus for them.

4) Exercise restraint in front of them.

5) Weep for them before the Lord, pouring your heart out to Him on their behalf.

6) Forgive them. The Lord can help you do this!

God designed parent-child relationships to be among the most vital of all human relationships. This may be why He spoke not only of honor, but also attached the promise of “long life” to His command in Exodus 20:12: “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.”

In Proverbs 6:20-23, God’s Word tells us to pay attention to our fathers and to listen to our mothers. We are to hold their instructions in our hearts and tie them around our necks. In return, we receive guidance, protection, teaching and discipline—four ingredients no one can afford to live without. This command is certainly not a simple suggestion from God! It is a very serious exhortation to all of us.

This is especially true in our world today. We are living in a time when God is being humanized, genders are being neutralized, marriage is being ostracized and children are being victimized. The family is being trivialized, fathers are being demonized, mothers are being marginalized, roles are being disenfranchised and God’s order is being vandalized! Phew! As God “looked down” on the children of Israel in the valley below, He certainly had all people of all nations and all generations in mind.

God’s command to honor our parents is consistent with His divine order. He knows what is best for us. He loves us. He made us. That is why He issues this command and connects this promise into His basic plan for mankind. Just as we will live forever because we honor the Lord our God, so it is that we are given the promise of a well-lived, fruitful and happy life when we honor our parents.

The promise of a long life is the promise of God’s lifelong protection, guidance, deliverance and provision. Surely, there is hardly anything more precious than living in a loving relationship with your parents. In fact, you did not choose your parents. God did. And His design is for you to live your entire life in a continual state of honor and blessing.

Just as all believers give honor to almighty God and receive bountiful joy in return, so it is that children who give honor to their parents receive “boatloads” of joy in return. It is the law of God! Both my wife and I can bear testimony to this divine fact.

So, permit me to give you what I call the “Seven Keys to Honoring Parents.”

1) Value your parents’ world. No matter how old they are, they are living in a world that is highly relevant and valuable to them.

2) Respect your parents’ age. Don’t mock their limitations and inabilities. Love them in it.

3) Model your parents’ godly attributes. You know the many things they said and did that simply blessed your life, so go and do likewise! It honors them and the Lord. Besides, if it blessed you, just think how much it will bless their grandchildren.

4) Protect your parents’ individual dignity. The older they become, the more they will cherish your hedge of protection. Remember, they protected you when you were just starting out!

5) Fulfill your parents’ essential joy. Make it your business to find out what gives them joy. Sometimes it is as simple as a regular phone call—and please answer their calls. It makes their day.

6) Provide for your parents’ basic needs. Make certain you are not feasting at the king’s table while your precious parents are living on cans of baked beans! And, by the way, make sure they are eating right.

7) Just do it: Honor your God-given responsibility. Just do it. God said it. You will be so glad you did. D

© 2013 Don Wilton

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version.

Billy Graham’s book “Nearing Home” talks about life, faith and finishing well. It may help you better relate to your parents. To order a copy, visit billygrahambook-store.org. You may wish to get a copy for Mom and Dad, too!

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A major component of the November evangelistic venture My Hope With Billy Graham is reaching out and telling friends and family about Jesus. To provide practical tips on evangelism, Decision talked with three Christians—all mentored by the discipleship ministry The Navigators—about their own evangelism efforts. Three words stand out: intentional, respectful and prayerful.

By Richard Greene

Just two weeks in the United States, Shilin was ready to talk. And Kevin Galloway, having just sat down in the same graduate student lounge, was ready to listen.

Shilin had arrived at the University of Maryland from a sensitive country in Asia and didn’t know a soul. Kevin walked in that evening and instead of reading a book while eating dinner, he struck up a conversation with Shilin. That encounter didn’t just open a conversation floodgate, it started a budding friendship between the two graduate students.

Kevin invited Shilin on a nighttime tour of Washington, D.C., an event sponsored by several area churches. Soon after, Shilin joined Kevin for a dinner and game night with some of Kevin’s friends, who often open their home to nonbelievers who know little about Jesus.

As the two spent more time together in the ensuing months, Kevin shared with ?Shilin that he was a Christian and, while Shilin graciously respected Kevin’s faith, he didn’t indicate he wanted to pursue that dimension much further. But Kevin yearned to.

What Kevin didn’t expect was the sudden news that Shilin would be switching doctoral programs and transferring to Stanford University. That announcement served as a wake-up call to Kevin, now gripped by an urgency to talk more in-depth with his friend.

“I thought I had a lot more time with Shilin, but I would be saying goodbye in just a few weeks, and I wanted to present the Good News of Jesus Christ to him,” Kevin remembers. “So I became more intentional and prayed that God would open the door to a deeper spiritual conversation and allow me to share the Gospel.”

The two friends went to dinner and during the course of the meal, Kevin sensed an opening and inquired whether Shilin knew the main message of the Bible. He did not. Kevin asked if he could share that with him, and Shilin warmly said yes.

Kevin explained that all people are sinners, separated from God, but that God loved Shilin and sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross for his sins so he could be forgiven and have a personal relationship with God through Christ—if he would only confess his sins and receive Christ into his heart by faith. Shilin asked thoughtful questions and thanked Kevin but didn’t make any decision that evening.

Kevin purchased a Bible in Shilin’s language and gave it to his friend. At semester’s end, Shilin departed for California.

Three weeks later, Kevin emailed Shilin, asking how his trip went. His response warmed Kevin’s heart. “He said he wanted me to know that he was now a Christian, had been baptized and was involved with a Christian group,” Kevin recalls. “He then said what I shared with him at dinner had played a key part in his coming to Christ.”

Kevin also left Maryland, moving to Ann Arbor, Mich., where he holds a post-doctoral research position in electrical engineering at the University of Michigan. He will soon join the faculty at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., where he studied as an undergraduate. He’s still befriending non-Christians and praying for opportunities to tell them about Jesus and how they can faithfully walk with Him.

“When I think of friendship evangelism, there’s a tendency to either make it mostly about friendship and never quite get around to talking about Christ, or going to the other extreme where it’s mostly about evangelism but they’re more of a project than a friend,” Kevin explains. “God commands us to witness but in a spirit of Christlike love.”

Melissa Sutton (a pseudonym) also exudes passion about communicating the love of Jesus. She asked Decision for anonymity because she lives in a city and culture that can be antagonistic to the Gospel, and she wants the continued freedom to reach out to her non-Christian friends. Melissa works in a nonprofit organization that helps serve public schools, and she’s also in graduate school.

Melissa purposefully arranges her schedule to spend time with her colleagues outside of work and with fellow graduate students outside of class. “I enjoy being with my nonbelieving friends because that’s what Jesus did, and I want to be like Him,” she says. “Jesus said the crowds were harassed and helpless and like sheep without a shepherd, and I want to introduce my friends to Jesus as the Good Shepherd.”

Meals at her home definitely attract Melissa’s friends. They feel comfortable around her and her husband, Randy (also a pseudonym)—who don’t focus on religion, nor debate issues, but rather gauge where their friends are on their spiritual journey.

“Sometimes there’s a fear of bringing faith and Jesus into the conversation, but I’ve had so many rewarding occurrences, I’m not super scared of it anymore,” she said. “I think you just have to do it.”

As she and Randy did with one of Melissa’s best friends and her boyfriend, for whom they’ve been praying for well over two years. The four went on a weekend trip together, which spurred an “awesome” spiritual conversation.

“They told us about their experiences with church, and we shared how we’re really excited about knowing Jesus and how He’s changed our lives and why we love Him and His Word,” Melissa says. “We’re planning to ask them to read the Gospel of John with us, and we’re praying for the chance to explain the Gospel to them. We’re on this long walk with them and will stick with them.”

Elizabeth Huber is also committed to her non-Christian friends. Elizabeth is a captain in the U.S. Marine Reserves, having left active duty last August. Her husband, Justin—soon to be home from Afghanistan—has been in the Marines for 11 years. The two will be transferring from Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, N.C., to an assignment in Buffalo, N.Y.
Much of Elizabeth’s ministry revolves around her neighborhood. “People can be intimidated to invite neighbors over to their house, but I’ve found that they’ll welcome an invitation,” she says.

Elizabeth has also found that she can connect with dog-loving neighbors by asking them to join her and her new black Labrador Retriever puppy, Bella, on a leisurely—well, spirited—walk. Those have led to nonthreatening spiritual conversations.

 Friends come to know what Elizabeth believes and where she stands. “If I really believe the Bible and am basing my life on Jesus and loving and living for Him, then how sad it would be to let a relationship go by where people have to wonder if I’m a Christian,” she says.

God recently gave Elizabeth a golden opportunity to convey the Gospel to the wife of a Marine, whom she met a few months ago. “Her life is so stressful, and she feels tossed about,” Elizabeth explains. “I shared with her that God holds our lives in His hands, and He has a plan, though sometimes we can’t see it, but that we can trust Him.”

That led to question after question, and Elizabeth sketched out the plan of salvation on a scrap of paper. No decision yet, but a genuine openness.

Elizabeth invited her friend to church the next Sunday, and she enjoyed Elizabeth’s small group and fellowship meal afterward. “I continue to pray for her, and she knows that I care for her and her husband,” she says. “God’s timing is always perfect.”  ©2013 BGEA

Learn how to share your faith with your friends. Go to MyHopeWithBillyGraham.org (in Canada, MyHopeWithBillyGraham.ca), sign up and find a training session near you. Or, go through the training online.

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By Anne Graham Lotz

As thousands gathered in the square of St. Peter’s Basilica, looking expectantly for the smoke from the Sistine Chapel, an assembly of Catholic cardinals met in secret conclave to choose one who was worthy to be the 266th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church.
A few months earlier, millions across the United States had gathered in front of TVs, looking expectantly for the announcement of the one who would be chosen as worthy to be president for the next four years.

When Queen Elizabeth II is in the royal residence at Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle, the flag is flown, signifying that she is worthy to be the sovereign ruler over the United Kingdom.

But one day thousands upon thousands will gather before the throne of God and proclaim Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, as the only One worthy to receive glory and honor and power—forever and ever! And as that scene unfolds in Heaven, on earth “every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” He is The Worthy World Ruler.

READ REVELATION 4

HE IS ENTHRONED IN POWER
Revelation 4:1-2

Who was seated on the throne? Read Revelation 4:2, 5:1 and Hebrews 12:2.
Who actually saw and recorded this scene in Heaven? See Revelation 4:1, 1:1-2, 5:1.
Describe John’s circumstances when he saw this, in Revelation 1:9.
Who else saw a similar scene, and what was the circumstance of each? See Isaiah 6:1 along with John 12:41; Ezekiel 1:1-5, 22, 26; and Acts 7:54-60.
If you are going through an extremely difficult time, how do these passages encourage you?

HE IS ENCIRCLED IN PROOF
Revelation 4:3-8

Proof of His Mercy
What were the circumstances of the first rainbow? Read Genesis 7:24-9:13.
What did the rainbow symbolize? See Genesis 9:12-17.
What did the rainbow remind Noah of, in Genesis 9:15-16?
Explain the difference between Noah remembering the covenant, and Noah remembering that God remembered the covenant.
Give phrases from the following verses that describe God’s mercy: Isaiah 63:9, Micah 7:18, and Habakkuk 3:2.
Now explain in your own words the possible symbolism of the rainbow encircling His throne in Heaven.

Proof of His Authority
Besides the rainbow, what else encircled the throne? Read Revelation 4:4.
Give one of the titles for Jesus that relates to this scene, from Revelation 19:16.
Generally speaking, who do you think the 24 elders are? See Matthew 20:20-23, 2 Timothy 2:11-12 and Revelation 20:6.
What do you think their white robes symbolize? See Revelation 7:13-14 and Isaiah 1:18.
How do the following verses encourage you? Revelation 2:26; 3:5, 21; and 7:13-17.

Proof of His Activity
What words imply activity around the throne, in Revelation 4:5?
Read 2 Samuel 22. Underline all the verbs, and give verse numbers, that imply the activity of God.
Since God cannot be less than Himself, and He is active, how does this encourage you when you pray?

Proof of His Purity
Who is represented by the blazing lamps? See Revelation 4:5, 1:4-5; Luke 3:15-16; and Acts 2:1-4.
What is implied by His name? Read John 14:25-26, 16:8-11 and 1 Peter 1:15.
What needs to be purged from your life so that you more clearly reflect the purity of the Holy Spirit? See Malachi 3:2-3 and Hebrews 9:22.

HE IS ENVELOPED IN PRAISE
Revelation 4:9-11

Where did the praise in the Throne Room of Heaven originate? See Revelation 4:6 and 5:8-10.
Who are these living creatures? Read Genesis 3:24, Ezekiel 1:4-14 and Psalm 103:19-20.
How often did the four living creatures praise Jesus, according to Revelation 4:8?
Since they do a lot of work in the Bible, yet “day and night never stop” praising Jesus, is this a contradiction? How is it possible to work and worship at the same time? Explain.
Who began praising Jesus when they heard the four living creatures praise Him? See Revelation 4:9-11.
How did the praise become contagious, in Revelation 5:11-12?
How far-reaching was the praise, according to Revelation 5:13?
What has interrupted, or even silenced, your praise?
Who is praising Jesus because you are?
What was the ultimate act of praise described in Revelation 4:10?
Relate this act to yourself. See 1 Corinthians 3:10-15.
What crowns are available to a believer to lay at His feet? Read Philippians 4:1, 1 Thessalonians 2:19, 2 Timothy 4:8, James 1:12, 1 Peter 5:4 and Revelation 2:10.
How is it possible to be saved and get into Heaven, but without a crown? See 1 Corinthians 3:15 and Revelation 3:11.

What crowns will you have to lay at His nail-pierced feet? What do you need to do today, or to start doing, so that you will not be bare-headed on that day?

One day Jesus will rule the world. And He is the only One who is worthy and able to rule your world. How accurately does your life reflect His rulership now? Does He rule on the throne of your heart in power? Is He encircled with proof of His mercy, activity, authority and purity in the way you live your life? And while you pour yourself into His work, is He enveloped in praise, 24/7? 

©2013 Anne Graham Lotz

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By Ruth Bell Graham

There are times, I have found, when praying is not enough. God says, as it were, “What are you praying for? Do something!”

Moses, hotly pursued by Pharaoh, cried out to God, who replied, “Wherefore criest thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward” (Exodus 14:15, KJV).
After Israel’s ignominious defeat at Ai, the desperate Joshua prostrated himself in prayer before the Lord, only to hear Him say, “Wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? Israel hath sinned” (Joshua 7:10-11, KJV).

If our hearts are listening as we pray, we will from time to time hear, “What are you praying for? Do something!” And we will know what it is we must do. There will be a wrong to put right, a sin to confess, a letter to write, a friend to visit or a child to be rocked and read to.

C.S. Lewis suggested that as we pray, Christ stands beside us changing us. “You may realize that,” he wrote, “instead of saying your prayers, you ought to be downstairs writing a letter, or helping your wife wash up. Well, go and do it.” And again, “I am often, I believe, praying for others when I should be doing things for them. It’s so much easier to pray for a bore than to go and see him.”

And so it is with us. We must be quick to pray, and just as quick to obey.


Taken by permission from “Growing in Prayer,” by Ruth Bell Graham, Decision magazine, May 1974, ©1974 The Ruth Graham Literary Trust.

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By Billy Graham

In this uncertain hour when the very foundations of the Christian home, as we have known it, seem to be yielding to the battering rams of unbelief, selfishness and immorality, there is a great need to consider the subject of motherhood.

There can be no great men and women without great mothers. Abraham Lincoln said, “All that I am or hope to be I owe to my angel mother.”

We honor the dignity and sanctity of womanhood. Whether women realize it or not, they owe everything they have to Jesus Christ. Only in Christianity have women been lifted to a true equality with men. In many parts of the world, a woman is still considered almost a beast of burden. It was Christ who elevated womanhood.

The Bible is full of stories of women of God who contributed to making this world a better place in which to live, and who helped to advance the Kingdom of God.

After the passing of Israel through the Red Sea, it was Miriam who led the women in their rejoicing, saying, “Sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted” (Exodus 15:21).

Ruth put God first, and as a result became an ancestress of King David (Ruth 1:16; 4:17).

Deborah was one of the judges of Israel (Judges 4:4-5).

The royal Esther took her life in her hands to plead for her doomed people (Esther 4:10-16).

In Luke 7:38, a woman’s thankfulness caused her to wash the Master’s feet with her tears and wipe His feet with her hair.

Mary Magdalene, bringing spice to anoint Him, first greeted the risen Lord and received the first commission—“Go, tell” (John 20:17-18; Mark 16:9).

We could mention scores of others who have been followers of God and whose names are recorded in Holy Scripture.

The Bible teaches that the mother is crucial in the family. The family, in the historic sense, is a distinctively Christian institution based on the love of one man for one woman, symbolizing Christ’s love for His bride, the church. Today, due to so many different situations, the definition of family has been stretched and sometimes distorted.

Living for Christ in the home is the acid test for any Christian. It is far easier to live an excellent life among your friends—when you are putting your best foot forward and are conscious of public opinion—than it is to live for Christ in your home. Your own family circle knows whether Christ lives in you and through you.

If you are a true Christian, you will not give way at home to bad temper, impatience, faultfinding, sarcasm, unkindness, suspicion, selfishness or laziness. Instead, you will reveal through your daily life the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, longsuffering and all the other Christian virtues that round out a Christlike personality.
Not only your family but also your grocer, your mail carrier, your newsperson, will know that you are a devout Christian and that you regard your Christian stewardship as something that applies to every hour of the day. You will remember that the Golden Rule applies to laborers and to business associates as much as it does to your own family and social friends.

Our nation is in desperate need of consecrated Christian mothers. If we had more Christian mothers, we would have less delinquency, less immorality, less ungodliness and fewer broken homes. Every mother owes it to her children to accept Christ as her personal Savior, so that she may be the influence for good in the lives of those whom Christ has graciously given to her.

The influence of a mother upon the lives of her children in her home cannot be measured. They know and absorb her example and attitudes when it comes to questions of honesty, life habits, kindness and hard work.

One of the most difficult jobs in the world is to bring up a family in the nurture and admonition of the Lord during these terrible days. And it is even more difficult for single mothers or fathers. With the magazines full of filthy stories, with immoral conditions in schools and with a thousand temptations that previous generations never knew, it is only by the grace of God that a child can grow up in the fear of the Lord. Mothers cannot do it alone. They must spend time on their knees in prayer.

The Scripture says, “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it” (Proverbs 22:6). Your first and foremost job as a mother is to train your children to know Christ, and when they know Him everything else will fall in line. The Bible promises that even though they resent the discipline and training now, they will rise up someday to call you blessed (Proverbs 31:28).

My father and mother made me go to Sunday school, and on Sunday afternoons my mother would read Bible stories to us. I sometimes rebelled, thinking she was too rigid and that she was trying to cram religion down my throat. But later—and always on Mother’s Day—I called her and told her again of my love and appreciation for those early years in which she and my father trained me in the things of God.

Are your children Christians? Have you done all in your power to win them? If they have not come to know Christ as Lord and Savior, and are not living the kind of life you think they should live, keep on praying for them.

You may have had a Christian mother who has prayed for you many times, but you have never surrendered your heart and life to Christ. Perhaps your mother has gone to Heaven. She is there waiting for you. The door is still open—the Savior is still inviting, appealing, entreating, wooing and welcoming.

You ask, “What do I have to do?” Receive Christ as your Savior today. Let Him forgive all of your sins and change your life.

He is waiting for you to come to Him. “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me” (Revelation 3:20).

©1953 (renewed 1981), revised 1992, 1998 BGEA?
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version.

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by Don Wilton

It is amazing how intricate the human body is. God did this; He created us in His image. In so doing, He made us to look like Him, to love like Him and to live with Him. No wonder the Psalmist said, “I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). When Adam and Eve sinned against God, this beautiful fusion between God and His prime creation was shattered. People could no longer look like God, love like God or live with God. This is why the love of God in Christ Jesus is so wonderful.

Jesus Christ came to this earth and gave His life so that all who believe in His name would once again be able to look like God, to love like God and to live with God forever.

And so it is with the tongue. What a small instrument it is compared to the rest of our bodies, but as James 3 tells us, how great a fire can be set ablaze by the words it produces! When God spoke the commandment, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain” (Exodus 20:7, NKJV), He was issuing a very serious warning to all people who in any way misuse His name.

Of all the synonyms associated with the taking of God’s name in vain, the one most closely identified is blaspheme. Some others include curse, abuse, profane, desecrate and revile. The bottom line is still the bottom line: God is making it very clear that blasphemy is the use of His name in any way other than to glorify Him alone! This means we can blaspheme by speaking God’s name irreverently and by using God’s name unlovingly.
One can hardly watch a movie these days without hearing God’s name or the name of the Lord Jesus used in this manner. I watched a supposed family movie recently and was once again treated to the repeated use of Jesus’ name as a curse word. Many in our world don’t even think about it anymore. God’s name is used to “inform” Him just how hot the weather is, and by athletes to describe how well they have just run or hit the ball. Beauty pageant contestants cover their mouths in shock as results are announced and proceed to use God’s name to emphasize their joy and triumph. Live microphones catch well-known politicians exchanging ringing criticisms and endorsements accompanied by blasphemies of every kind.

When God issued this commandment to Moses from the top of Mount Sinai, He was not making a suggestion that people merely “soften” or “ramp down” their use of His name in any way other than to glorify Him. He was letting them know just how serious this sin is. Blasphemy is no joke. When God’s name is evoked, this is not the time for a simple “Oops!” Remember, the Bible says He will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name. Perhaps the rampant disregard for the name of our heavenly Father is symptomatic of the serious spiritual condition we find ourselves in today.

This is why we have so much hope in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Taking the Lord’s name in vain is not the unpardonable sin any more than any of the other Ten Commandments are. This sin can be forgiven because the Lord Jesus Christ came and gave His life. This is exactly what the cross is about. Moses was the law-carrier. If you want Moses to run your life, you will be limited by the law instead of by God’s grace. Jesus Christ came not to do away with the law but to fulfill it. This is why it is imperative for you to repent of all sin and trust in Jesus Christ by faith.

The name of God has everything to do with all that God is. When His name is pulled down into the mass of human society, everything pertaining to His unique and sovereign ability is devalued. Think about this for a minute. The Bible tells us in John’s Gospel that Jesus came in the Father’s name (John 5:43), that Jesus performs miracles in the Father’s name (John 10:25), that we can ask anything in His name (John 14:13), and that we are kept safe in His name (John 17:11). In Acts 4:12, we are reminded that there is no other name under Heaven whereby anyone can be saved, and in Philippians 2:10, the Apostle Paul reminds us that it is at the name of Jesus that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

I have always believed this is the reason why everyone, from Hollywood to Wall Street, never uses as blasphemy the name of another person, president or prime minister, bishop, evangelist or religious leader from any religion near or far—only the Lord Jesus Christ. In a strange, reversed sort of way, every time I hear the name of Jesus used as a curse word, I think God is affirming the truth of His Word. He is using the very ones who defame and demean Him to demonstrate that He is the One who is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6, NKJV).

This is what blasphemy does: First, it discredits God’s name. Remember, it was the Lord Jesus who taught us to say, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name” (Matthew 6:9, NKJV). Second, it denounces God’s character. In the Old Testament, God’s name was written only with consonants so that no one could pronounce it. If God’s name is unpronounceable, and His person is untouchable because of His holiness, how more so is His character unutterable? Third, the misuse of His name crucifies Jesus all over again. Blasphemers are simply allying themselves at the base of the cross alongside all who screamed at Him and demeaned Him. Fourth, it aligns blasphemers with Satan himself. The devil is the one who opposes God in every way and demands to spread the ultimate lie that Jesus is just another ordinary man who can be reviled and spat upon. Fifth, and most serious, blasphemy places a serious question mark on a person’s salvation. All of the commandments have to do with the heart. If our words are a reflection of what is in the heart, then surely a person who knows and loves our Savior cannot utter His name in such a manner.

And, what if you do blaspheme? Here it is again—my hope, your hope, every person’s hope—Jesus Christ loves you. Here are three things you can do. First, look in. Examine your own heart before the Lord Jesus. Next, look out. When you do look out you will see that God is exactly who He says He is—in word, name and deed. And finally, look up. Look into His face and live. He loves you. He died for you. He wants to forgive you. There is hope.  ©2013 Don Wilton

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version, 1984.

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