I am extremely disappointed in Franklin Graham's judgment. While many Christians are looking at the China Olympics as an opportunity to bring the gospel into the normally restrictive country he sold out to the repressive regime saying that there should be "No missionary work during Beijing Olympics (OneNewsNow.com)"
Beijing - The son of American evangelist Billy Graham said Friday he is opposed to missionary work at this summer's Beijing Olympic Games.
Franklin Graham, also an evangelist, was speaking to reporters Friday during a visit to Beijing for meetings with the Communist Party-controlled Protestant church movement. He said he wanted to encourage authorities to resolve conflicts with the church, but would not criticize policies that critics say limit the church's independence and religious rights.
While some Christian groups have said they plan to proselytize during the August games, Graham said he was against that because Chinese law does not permit such actions. "I would not support any illegal activity at all," Graham said.
have you never read...
I've often been partially amused by the many times Jesus looked at the most religiously educated men in Israel and said, "Have you never read...." I think I suddenly understand how he felt, well at least a little.
When Peter and John were dragged (twice) before the Jewish council they were told that preaching the gospel was against the law. Peter's response?
Acts 4:19-20 "Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard."
The same thing happened again a chapter later:
Acts 5:27-29 "When they had brought them, they stood them before the Council. The high priest questioned them, saying, "We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man's blood upon us." But Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men.
Sorry Franklin, IMHO you are grievously mistaken. The Chinese government might want to stop the spread of the gospel, but Jesus has a different passion.
I agree with you entirely.
I agree with you entirely. When a government forbids any preaching of the Gospel it is our duty to obey God instead.
I Defer to Those Closer to the Action
About 30 years ago, my dad had court-side seats to our local professional basketball team's home games. I was fortunate enough to get to go with him to a number of games, where I both saw all of the action and heard the many sounds as we were as close to the players as it got without actually joining them on the court. Of course, we were also very good at really seeing (and hearing) the fouls, (some called by the refs, some not). Anyway, I also remember going to one specific game, but this time it was with a friend who had two tickets in the proverbial nose-bleed section. We were literally four rows from the top of the arena and about a mile-and-a-half from the little dots running around on the court. I'll never forget when well into the action, we heard the ref's whistle, after which some guy in a seat behind me yelled out to the ref, "you're crazy... that wasn't a foul." Of course there's no way he or anyone else up in our section could have determined how "good" the refs call really was, but I knew from experience that many, if not all, of the people sitting court-side that afternoon had a pretty clear view of what really took place. That was the day I realized the value of the first-hand, up-close experiences in determining a person's understanding of the situation and facts upon which they form their opinion. (After all, it's really just the "opinion" of each ref who blows his whistle that a player violated the rules of the game sufficient to call it a "foul.")
All of this is the reasoning behind why I personally don't have any problem with Franklin Graham's position about not going into China to evangelize people during the big, chaotic Olympic event. Some of our church missionaries currently in China or who have recently been there, have stressed to me the importance of the church in China sharing the message of Jesus with the fellow countrymen. What they are doing is working. It's what the church there does VERY well. What Franklin Graham and his Samaritan's Purse organization (www.samaritanspurse.org) do well is to provide relief to people impacted by natural disasters, such as the very recent earthquake in China that have killed many thousands and have trapped thousands more. According to our committed missionaries in China, (some of whom are working on translating the Bible into the language of a 6 million person "minority group" so that when the Chinese church reaches out to this people group, they will be able to disciple them too), the role of American Believer's in China is in a "support and encouragement" capacity. It's the way they feel it should be and know it needs to be right now lest we (outsiders) inadvertently cause the Government to come down hard on individual Chinese Believers and regional churches.
In my opinion, from my distant vantage point, and that of at least some of those very up close to the action, Franklin's involvement in sharing the message of Jesus at a high-profile event like the Olympics is not only unnecessary, but potentially unwise on the negative impact it could have on the church's momentum in China and the government's "cooperation" with the indigenous Christian fellowships. (Peter and John only had to worry about themselves and were "going where no Christian had gone before," which is not the case here.)
Anyway, in landing this comment posting I'd like to provide web links to two very recent articles that bring me great hope and encouragement for what God is doing now and is going to keep doing in the country of China, (including how He is indeed using Billy's kid):
1) China's Urban Church (www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/may/19.22.html)
2) Franklin Graham Delivers Historic Message to 12,000 in China (www.crosswalk.com/news/religiontoday/11575509/)
Praise God for what He's doing in China. Oh that He would do likewise in OUR nation.
Thanks for allowing me the opportunity to respectfully disagree in this particular situation. Take care!
Steve