William, our correspondent in The Whole Picture: We Answer an Apologist for Counterfeit Christianity, unsubscribed during the series. We sent him the following note:
William, we are truly sorry to see you go. We hoped that instead of getting offended at your letter’s publication, you would humble yourself, see and confess your wrongness, and come into the Light, having yourself cleansed of your sins. While we would like to see this happen sooner than later, we do know that it will happen, and one day you will rejoice in the Lord with us. You will be free from the shackles of false religion and self-righteousness, which hold every man in darkness until he comes to a knowledge of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is a work of grace, and none of our doing.
William’s response:
Me, confess my wrongness? I don’t publicly defame anyone in front of the whole world as you did Reverend Graham. [Referring to How the Lord Exposed Billy Graham.] That was sin on your part. You wrote something that, for the most part, was unfounded or unsubstantiated.
It was just an opinion.
I sir, am a blood bought and redeemed child of God and to only HIM I am accountable.
You say that I was offended? On the contrary, I was irritated.
Saying that I have a false religion is like the teakettle calling the frying pan BLACK.
Self-righteousness? Well I won’t go there. I think I have spanked you soundly and enough. Amen!!
For you I would say to you…Ichabod!
(Ichabod: where is the glory? or, no glory here!!)
Oh, by the way, if you want to have someone to pick on or even trample on; there is a fellow on the WEB who is preaching that Hell is NOT eternal. Then he goes on to say that Adolph Hitler will not even be in Hell.
Peace be with thee…Amen!
Victor’s reply:
Hi William,
You say I sinned in publicly “defaming” Billy Graham. Perhaps Elijah should not have beheaded the 450 prophets of Baal publicly. The prophets of Baal were all “Reverends,” as in “Reverend Graham.” Because of that, you would say that slaying them was sin on Elijah’s part. Yet, he was translated. God apparently was not so displeased with him. Would you rather be defamed or “de-” headed? Yet we have spoken the truth so that others would hear, understand, and be saved.
You say that “for the most part” what we said was unsubstantiated or unfounded. Is that really true, William, or is it simply because you are ignorant of the facts both in Scripture and secular record that indict Billy Graham? Perhaps it is your stubbornness and self-righteousness that refuses to open the eye and confess your ignorance and error?
You seem to be at least partly allowing that there was some foundation in our words after all, saying, “for the most part.” Yet, you accuse and judge us. Why? To what end? What gives you the right to say it was opinion? Give us substance, and not your opinion that what we say is opinion. Do you not contradict yourself?
While it is true that Jesus Christ purchased you with His blood, you have yet to enter into the reality. You have never known Him and He has not known you. “Depart from Me, you that work iniquity. I never knew you,” He now says to you. We preach to inform you, so that one day you will be redeemed. We do not expect gratitude for speaking for your sake and His.
You are indeed accountable to Him, and even now do you give an account in your encounter with us, who are His servants. “He that receives you, receives Me.” While you gloat in your illusion of having spanked us, we fail to see anything but bitterness. That is not a spanking; that is enmity. “Ichabod”? The religious Billy Grahams and their followers in Jesus’ day refused to see the Glory before them. So you follow in your fathers’ footsteps today, blindly and foolishly, proud all the way.
As to the fellow on the net who preaches that Hitler will one day be saved, and that hell is not eternal, have you not red the Scriptures? They declare, unequivocally:
“Therefore as by one offense sentence came on all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of One the free gift came to all men to justification of life” (Romans 5:18).
Let us establish a thing by two or three witnesses. Another witness:
“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22).
And another:
“And through Him having made peace through the blood of His cross, it pleased the Father to reconcile all things to Himself through Him, whether the things on earth or the things in Heaven” (Colossians 1:20).
You should be thankful at the fact that Adolph Hitler will be saved. Otherwise, what chance do you and Billy Graham have? Are you righteous, William? Is it your virtue that saved you? Hitler is the “Pharisee” and you are the “Publican” at prayer; is that it? Or are the roles reversed?
Now let us look at the duration of Hell, William:
“And death and hell were cast into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death” (Revelation 20:14).
What do you know? Just as death would cease to exist because Jesus Christ defeated that final enemy, so Hell has its part with death, to reign no more. So the guy on the net is right! Why would we want to debate with someone who speaks the truth, not according to Billy Graham or you, but according to the Scripture of Truth, the Testimony of Jesus Christ? This is Whom Billy Graham presumes to preach, yet of Whom he speaks horrid lies, with your consent and support!
William, if you hadn’t been so indoctrinated, close-minded, hasty, and irresponsible, you would have responsibly red our letters, and then, with sound reason and equity, you would not accuse us of lacking substance or foundation in what we say. You accuse us falsely, without knowledge, without substance yourself. It is not that we lack the truth, but that you are willingly ignorant of it. Is that not so? Where a man is willingly, injudiciously ignorant, God will no longer wink. Repent, William. Billy Graham, after all, is not the issue. You are the issue, you and your stubborn pride.
Blessed to be able to answer, in truth and power, those who blaspheme against the One they profess to worship, thinking they do Him service,
Victor