Ecumenical & Interfaith Compromise / Billy Graham's Acceptance of Mormonism?

Hello, and thank you for listening to the Testing the Spirits podcast. I've titled this episode, Ecumenical and Interfaith Compromise. I'll define those terms in a moment, but a subtitle for this episode could be Billy Graham's acceptance of Mormonism.

Billy Graham, Ecumenicalism, and the Slide into Interfaith Compromise

And yes, you heard me correctly. Billy Graham, later on in life, seemed to have accepted Mormonism and rejected the idea that the LDS Church is a cult. Because in 2012, Billy Graham met with high profile Mormons, and after those meetings at his compound, Billy dropped Mormonism from his list of cults.

And then he told Larry King that he actually had, quote, wonderful fellowship with the Mormon Church. And I'll play those clips in a few minutes. So based on that, in this episode, we're going to be talking about evangelical compromise, not just with, you know, ecumenicalism and the interfaith movement, but also now the embrace or seeming embrace of the cults.

Because let's face it, one thing leads to another. So ecumenicalism, interfaith, hey, now the cults are okay. The verse that I like to quote on this podcast, it's so true, Galatians 5, 9, where Paul says a little leaven leavens the whole lump.

So it starts with just a little bit of leaven here and there, a little compromise here and.

There.

And then it jumps from ecumenicalism to interfaith. And now what, Jehovah's Witnesses, they're okay too. What Scientology is that next? So let's back up and just define the term. What does it mean to be ecumenical or what is ecumenicalism?

This is a movement that started in the 20th century and really it started among Protestants. So Protestants and then Baptists, instead of staying within your church tradition, Presbyterians, Baptists, Pentecostals, all these different groups started to come together and have dialogue.

And the idea was let's set aside some of our differences and we'll come together in unity. And maybe if we can just work together, we can get more accomplished. And a lot of people thought that sounded good.

Now, some people were totally against it and, you know, I think there are potential dangers, but people, most people, I think, got on board with the ecumenical movement. They got involved in the dialogue, pastors did, church leaders did, and they started working together with other denominations.

And then after a while, the ecumenical movement started to expand beyond just Protestants and evangelicals. Now, it expanded to include Roman Catholics and then theological liberals. This was largely because of Billy Graham on the Protestant side and then the Second Vatican Council on the Catholic side.

And we've talked about that before on this podcast. And then, you know, really at that point, you could argue that it was already interfaith since many Baptists and Protestants believe that Catholicism is indeed a different religion, that it's not Christianity.

I mean, it's certainly not Bible Christianity, rather Catholicism is a blending of Christianity with paganism. But either way, ecumenicalism morphed into what is called the interfaith movement. So now people started having dialogue with Jews and Muslims and every other religion.

The Pope certainly is well known for that. Many years ago, the former Pope or the one before him, Pope John Paul II, he made that statement that all who live a good life will be saved. And then there's that photo of him kissing the Quran.

And that sounded very similar to what Billy Graham told Robert Shuler on the Hour of Power.

Broadcast.

And you can look this up on my channel. I review that interview. But Billy Graham told Robert Shuler that there's all these people out there who have never seen a Bible. They've never heard Jesus, never heard the gospel, never heard about Jesus.

And you know, they're just doing the best they can and they are saved and they'll be with us in heaven. You say, well, Billy never said that. That's not true. Yeah, it is. And again, search it on my channel.

But that seemed to be where a lot of people were headed. That's what it sounded like. So again, started with ecumenicalism among the different Protestant groups, then included Catholicism, then jumped to interfaith.

Now all of a sudden, Muslims and Jews and Hindus and unbelievers might be saved too. So you see the problem. And then, and now it seems to be a trend for evangelicals to embrace even the cults, in particular Mormonism.

That is trendy right now. And I'm going to be doing a video later on to cover that more. I'll mention that in a moment. Just a side note. I was going to do a whole other video, speaking of compromise, I was going to do a whole other video about this new story that came out, how Pope Francis just decreed that transsexuals can receive Catholic baptism and they can stand in as godparents for those who are being.

Baptized.

So I was going to do a whole separate video on that, but quite frankly, it's just not really big news anymore. That's just more of the same coming out of Rome. But as far as evangelicals are concerned, in particular, this video we're talking about or this podcast, depending on how you're watching or listening, whether it's on YouTube or Spotify, but as far as evangelicals go, when it comes to this compromise on the cults, again, it started with ecumenicalism.

Then once you adopt the interfaith movement and accept that, then embracing the cults is no big thing. So again, I'm going to release another podcast later this week where some, I'm going to show you men in their own words, some of the most famous influential pastors and leaders of evangelical Christianity.

They now seem to be accepting of Mormonism, that cult founded by Joseph Smith in the 1800s. And I'm just telling you, if someone thinks Mormonism is a valid form of Christianity where now Mormons are saved too, once you accept that, how can you not accept the Jehovah's Witnesses?

And then why not Christian science? And then where does it end? Here's the only difference with the Jehovah's Witnesses. I was going to do a video doing, with titled, hey, Joel Osteen affirms the Jehovah's Witnesses, but that would be clickbait, so I don't want to do it.

But I was going to show him embracing Mormonism and then just make the point, well, if he thinks Mormons are saved, he must think Jehovah's Witnesses are saved, right? But here's the thing, Jehovah's Witnesses, why isn't there a new movement to accept them?

Well, I don't think they want to be accepted by evangelicals. Mormons do. And again, there's a trend to embrace Mormonism, but as soon as JWs want to be accepted and as soon as it's popular and as soon as there's some high profile Christian leader with the clout of Billy Graham to do that, once it happens, then Jehovah's Witnesses will be embraced as well.

My friends, there's no end to this. Once you open this door, you cannot shut it. So once leaders are doing that, national leaders, then it trickles down into the local churches and then pastors are embracing all sorts of cults and false religion, and that's where you get church splits.

And that's the kind of thing we want to avoid. So that's actually one of the reasons why I do this podcast, to help the local church. What's the name of the podcast? Testing the Spirits. We are commanded in Scripture to test the spirits, 1 John 4, 1.

In fact, we are told to test all things, 1 Thessalonians 5, 21, and to hold fast to that which is good. So when something is unbiblical, the best thing to do is to deal with it head on, show people why it's not in line with the Bible, and then protect the flock by exhorting them in sound doctrine and refuting those who contradict, Titus 1, verse 9.

So the Bible teaches very clearly separation. Just search that term on my channel and you'll find a few videos where I explain the biblical doctrine of separation. But the ecumenical movement, you know, I did one sermon, ecumenical but separate.

That's either on my channel, Pastor Michael Grant, or on the Morris Corner Church channel. You can check that out. I believe in working together with other people. Don't get me wrong. But concerning ecumenicalism, we have to be careful.

Okay, I'm all for working together with other saved people who have a high view of Scripture, but we need to be discerning. So that's one thing. Interfaith, that is out of the question. Compromise on the cults embracing Mormonism, again, absolutely out of the question.

But why are people now starting to accept the cults? I think, you know, the podcast and, you know, the video I'm going to release later on this week, it's going to shock some people. It's going to show you why this is happening.

Billy Graham as a Catalyst for Accepting Mormonism

But where did it all originate? This idea that evangelicals and Bible believers have been wrong for the past 150 years and that Mormonism is in fact not a cult? I think that came from Billy Graham. Now, I just want to start by saying this.

If you like Billy Graham, without a doubt, many people watching do like Billy Graham. So if you like Billy Graham, you've listened to his sermons and you thought they were helpful. Hey, I'm not against you.

And I'm not even trying, I'm not trying to run Billy Graham down. I'm just trying to be faithful with what the Word of God says. The Bible tells me to test all things. So that's what I'm doing. I'm sure Billy Graham did a lot of good.

I'm sure a lot of people were saved at his crusades. I've heard Billy, growing up, I thought Billy Graham was the greatest preacher of all time. That's the idea I had growing up. I like some of the sermons I've heard from him.

So this isn't anything that's like anti Billy Graham, but there are some serious problems. I mean, just watch that Robert Shuler interview. I mean, I just, I can't get over that. But what we need to do is we need to take what Billy said and what he did, just like what I am saying, we need to test it against the scripture.

The scripture is our authority. I'm not the authority. Billy Graham is not the authority. The Bible, the Word of God is our authority. So I assume that Billy Graham said that at times. I'm sure he probably stood up in front of his audience and said, hey, you need to test what I'm saying against the scripture.

I hope he would say that. Every pastor, every Bible believing pastor should say that. I've certainly said it. So again, we need to test what Billy Graham said, test what I'm saying. So basically what happened is that back in 2012, some high profile Mormons went to Billy Graham's compound and they held these meetings.

One of those men was Glenn Beck. And here is his testimony of what happened.

Listen.

I was with Billy Graham at his house. Billy Graham and I became friends probably in the last five years of his life. And I loved him, loved him. And just a spiritual giant. But, you know, it was his organization that had, you know, Mormons as a demon cult.

And I went to visit him and somebody else was there with us who was good friends with him on the first time we met. And he said, so tell me about your relationship with Christ and with God. And I started saying something.

And the person said, well, remember, remember, Billy, he's a Mormon. And he just turned and looked at him. And then he looked at me and he said, you were saying, and I told him. And at the end, he was crying and I was crying.

And he looked at the other guy and said, he sure sounds Christian to me. And it was that weekend that he actually removed Mormons from the cult status.

Okay.

Glenn Beck's Testimony and Billy Graham's Removal of Mormonism from the Cult List

So you heard him say it. It sounds like Billy affirmed that Mormons were true Christians. Now that statement from Glenn Beck, admittedly is not enough evidence on its own. If that was all there was, I wouldn't say anything about it.

But another piece of evidence is you can check this out online. What Glenn Beck said was true. Billy Graham did in fact drop Mormonism from his list of cults. So that's a separate piece of evidence. There's what Glenn Beck said, where Billy seemed to embrace him as a true Christian.

There's the fact that the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association did drop Mormonism from its list of cults. That's two pieces of evidence. And then, hey, here's the proof. Here is Billy Graham on CNN telling Larry King that he has quote, wonderful fellowship with the Mormons.

Listen.

Okay.

There you go.

Billy Graham, Larry King, and the Meaning of Fellowship

That's proof. And just so you know, that term fellowship, it's the same word that means communion. It's a Christian way or theological way of saying we are of the same spirit. Saying you have fellowship with Mormons or the Mormon church, that is the same thing as saying that they are legitimate.

They are saved. They have the Holy Spirit just like us. So I contend that that right there, what you just saw, that evidence, that is what has led us to this point. Billy is the man that pastors looked up to, a whole generation of pastors.

When they saw Billy Graham adopt this position, they adopted it as their own. Because in a very real sense, you know, just thousands of pastors, tens of thousands, they were in effect disciples of Billy Graham.

And then they adopted this position and then they ended up making their own disciples. So this viewpoint, this position of embracing the cults, you know, ecumenicalism, maybe even interfaith, but embracing Mormonism, it just spread throughout the body of Christ.

So stay tuned for the next installment. My next podcast on this topic will be titled, Four Evangelical Leaders Who Accepted Mormonism and Why It Matters. So we'll go over this again in more detail and talk about some other Christian leaders.

And I'll explain why this should matter, not just to you, but why it matters to your local church. So again, thanks for listening. And until next time, may the Lord be with you and have a great day.