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England. Through the Federal Council of Churches, Dulles was chairman for their Commission
on a Just and Durable Peace who issued a report calling for a “world government.”
In 1957, the Protestant Council of New York, affiliated with the NCC, invited Graham to
speak at Madison Square Garden in New York. John D. Rockefeller donated $75,000 to the
Crusade, and then afterwards, Graham donated $67,618 to the Protestant Council.
In 1959 at the San Francisco Crusade, and in 1960 at the Detroit Crusade, Graham invited
Bishop James A. Pike to the platform to pray. Pike, a member of the Episcopal Church, was very
vocal on his denial of the virgin birth, the Trinity, and salvation solely through Christ. In the
November, 1960 issue of Pacific Churchman, Pike said that anyone who opposed Communism
was doing the bidding of hell. After his oldest son committed suicide in 1966, Pike began to
consult with various mediums to try to contact him. In 1969 when he died, Newsweek even
declared that he had “rejected orthodox Christianity.”
In 1959, Martin Luther King delivered the opening prayer at one of Graham’s Crusades, and
in a 1963 interview with the New York Times said that King was his “good personal friend.” As
discussed in Chapter Four, King was a known communist. In addition to his adulterous behavior,
he denied the virgin birth and resurrection of Christ. In a 1961 interview for Ebony magazine he
said: “I do not believe in hell as a place of a literal burning fire.”
In fact, Graham’s views in that regard also underwent a metamorphosis. In the July, 1978,
issue of McCall’s magazine he said: “I used to think that pagans in far-off countries were lost–
were going to hell– if they did not have the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached to them. I no longer
believe that … I believe there are other ways of recognizing the existence of God– through
nature, for instance– and plenty of other opportunities, therefore, of saying yes to God.” He
elaborated in the book A Prophet With Honor by saying that he “did not automatically consign to
hell all who never heard the Christian gospel preached.”
In an interview in the April 10, 1983 Orlando Sentinel, Graham said in response to why
many Americans didn’t accept the concept of hell: “I think that hell essentially is separation from
God forever. And that is the worst hell that I can think of. But I think people have a hard time
believing God is going to allow people to burn in a literal fire forever.” In a July, 1983 book
written by Graham for distribution at his International Conference for Itinerant Evangelists in
Amsterdam, he said:
“Hell is not the most popular of preaching topics. I don’t like to preach on it. But I must
if I am to proclaim the whole counsel of God. We must not avoid warning of it. The most
outspoken messages on hell, and the most graphic references to it, came from Jesus
Himself … Jesus used three words to describe hell … The third word that He used is
‘fire.’ Jesus used this symbol over and over. This could be a literal fire, as many believe.
Or it could be symbolic … I’ve often thought that this could possibly be a burning thirst
for God that is never quenched. What a terrible fire that would be– never to find
satisfaction, joy or fulfillment.”
In the November 15, 1993 edition of Time magazine, he is quoted as saying: “When it comes
to a literal fire, I don’t preach it because I’m not sure about it.” And finally, in a television
interview in England he said: “I do not believe in a literal hell now.”
Tom Allen, a socialist from Scotland, who is a friend of Graham, said that “Billy Graham has
one of the most acute and social consciences of any man I ever met.”
Billy Graham has been the personal friend and confidant of every President since