The Sin of Tolerance: CHRISTIANS MUST BE AWARE OF COMPROMISE [Billy Graham]

Billy Graham Evangelistic Association ^ | Feb. 22, 2013 | Billy Graham

[Colofornian]

At home and abroad, the American people plead for broad-mindedness, tolerance and charity. Abroad, our ambassadors use all of their powers to influence warring parties to come to the conference table in a spirit of give-and-take. There is a sense in which the world needs broad-mindedness and tolerance.

However, in the realm of Christian experience there is a need for intolerance. In some things Christ was the most tolerant, broad-minded Man who ever lived, but in other things He was one of the most intolerant.

TOLERANCE CAN BECOME TOO STRETCHED

One of the pet words of this age is tolerance. It is a good word, but we have tried to stretch it over too great an area. We have applied it, too often, where it does not belong. The word tolerant means liberal and broad-minded. In one sense, it implies the compromise of one’s convictions, a yielding of ground upon important issues.

We have become tolerant about divorce, the use of alcohol, delinquency, wickedness in high places, immorality, crime and godlessness. We have been sapped of conviction, drained of our beliefs, and we are bereft of our faith.

The sciences, however, are narrow-minded. There is no room for careless broad-mindedness in the laboratory. Water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit at sea level; it is never 100 degrees nor 189 degrees, nor 211. Fresh water freezes at 32 degrees; it is never 23 degrees nor 31.

Mathematics is also narrow-minded. The sum of two plus two is four, never three-and-a-half. Geometry is narrow-minded. It says that a straight line is the shortest distance between two points on a plane. A compass is narrow-minded; it always points to the magnetic north. If it were broad-minded, ships at sea and planes in the air would be in danger.

If you should ask a man the directions to New York City and he said, “Oh, just take any road you wish, they all lead to New York,” you would question both his sanity and his truthfulness. Nevertheless, we have somehow gotten it into our minds that “all roads lead to Heaven.”

But Jesus Christ, who journeyed from Heaven to Earth and back to Heaven again, who knew the way better than anyone who ever lived, said, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).

JESUS WAS NARROW ABOUT THE WAY OF SALVATION

Jesus plainly pointed out that there are two roads in life. One is broad, lacking in faith, convictions and morals. It is the easy, popular, careless way. Jesus said, “There are many who go in by it.” But He pointed out that this road, heavily traveled though it is, leads to destruction. And in loving, compassionate intolerance, He says: “Enter by the narrow gate … because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life.”

His was the intolerance of a pilot who maneuvers his plane through the storm, realizing that a single error, just one flash of broad-mindedness, might bring disaster to all his passengers.

Once when we were flying from Korea to Japan, we ran through a rough snowstorm. When we arrived over the airport in Tokyo, the ceiling and visibility were almost zero. The pilot had to make an instrument landing. I sat up in the cockpit and watched him sweat it out as a man in the tower at the airport talked us in.

I did not want this man to be broad-minded. I wanted him to be narrow-minded. I knew that our lives depended on it. Just so, when we come in for the landing in the great airport in Heaven, I don’t want any broad-mindedness. I want to come in on the beam, and even though I may be considered narrow here, I want to be sure of a safe landing there.

Christ was so intolerant of our lost estate that He left His lofty throne in the heavenlies, took on Himself the form of man, suffered at the hands of evil men and died on a cruel cross of shame to purchase our redemption. So serious was our plight that He could not look upon it lightly. He could not be broad-minded about a world held captive by its lusts.

Christ spoke of two roads, two kingdoms, two masters, two rewards and two eternities. And He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). We have the power to choose whom we will serve, but the alternative to choosing Christ brings certain destruction. The broad, easy, popular way leads to death and destruction. Only the way of the cross leads home.

Peter was reflecting Christ’s teaching when he said, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name [than Jesus Christ] under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

The popular, tolerant attitude toward the Gospel of Christ is like a person going to watch the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Atlanta Braves play a baseball game and rooting for both sides. Baseball fans are very intolerant. If you were to cheer for both sides in Los Angeles or in Atlanta, someone would yell, “Hey, you, make up your mind who you’re rooting for.”

Christ said, “You cannot serve God and mammon … no one can serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24). We need more people who will step out and say unashamedly: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).

JESUS WAS INTOLERANT TOWARD HYPOCRISY

He pronounced more woes on the Pharisees than on any other sect because they were given to outward piety, but inside they were a sham. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” He said, “For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence” (Matthew 23:25).

A counterfeit Christian, single-handedly, can do more to retard the progress of the church than a dozen saints can do to forward it. That is why Jesus was so intolerant of sham! A great church leader said that the greatest need in the church today is for church members to live what they profess.

The hypocrite has nothing but the contempt of his or her neighbors and the judgment of God hereafter. That is why Jesus said, “Do not be like the hypocrites” (Matthew 6:16).

JESUS WAS INTOLERANT TOWARD SELFISHNESS

He said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself” (Luke 9:23). Self-centeredness is the basic cause of much of our distress in life. Hypochondria, a mental disorder that is accompanied by melancholy and depression, is often caused by self-pity and self-centeredness.

Jesus was intolerant of selfishness. To the rich young ruler He said, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven ...” (Matthew 19:21). It wasn’t the giving of his goods that Jesus demanded, but his release from selfishness and its devastating effects on his personality and life.

Jesus was intolerant of selfishness when He said, “For whoever desires to save his life shall lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25). The life that Jesus urges us to lose is the selfishness that lives within us, the old nature of sin that is in conflict with God. Peter, James and John left their nets, but Jesus did not object to nets as such; it was the selfish living they symbolized that He wanted them to forsake. Matthew left the “custom seat,” a political job, to follow Christ. But Jesus did not object to a political career. It was the selfish quality of living that it represented that He wanted Matthew to forsake.

JESUS WAS INTOLERANT TOWARD SIN

He was tolerant toward the sinner, but intolerant toward the evil that enslaves the sinner. To the adulteress He said, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more” (John 8:11). He forgave her because He loved her; but He condemned her sin because He loathed it with a holy hatred.

God has always been intolerant toward sin! His Word says: “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil ...” (Isaiah 1:16).

“Awake to righteousness, and do not sin” (1 Corinthians 15:34).

Christ was so intolerant toward sin that He died on the cross to free men and women from its power. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Sin lies at the root of most of society’s difficulties today. Whatever separates a person from God disunites that person from others. The world’s problems will never be solved until the question of sin is settled.

The cross is God’s answer to sin. To all who will receive the blessed news of salvation through Christ, it crosses out—cancels forever—sin’s power.

Forest rangers know the value of the “burn-back” in fighting forest fires. To save an area from uncontrolled fire, they carefully burn away the trees and shrubs to create a safety barrier. When the forest fire reaches that burned-out spot, plants and animals standing inside the area protected by the burn-back are safe from the flames. Fire is thus fought by fire.

Calvary was a colossal fighting of fire by fire. Christ, taking on Himself all of our sins, allowed the fire of sin’s judgment to fall upon Him. The area around the cross has become a place of refuge for all who would escape the judgment of sin. Take your place with Him at the cross; stand by the cross; yield your life to Him who redeemed you on the cross, and the fire of sin’s judgment can never touch you.

God is intolerant toward sin. That intolerance sent His Son to die for us. He has said “that whoever believes in Him shall not perish.” The clear implication is that those who refuse to believe in Him will be eternally lost. Come to Christ today, while His Spirit is speaking to your heart!

© BGEA

Scripture Quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New King James Version.

[Colofornian]

From Billy Graham: At home and abroad, the American people plead for broad-mindedness, tolerance and charity...However, in the realm of Christian experience there is a need for intolerance. In some things Christ was the most tolerant, broad-minded Man who ever lived, but in other things He was one of the most intolerant. TOLERANCE CAN BECOME TOO STRETCHED One of the pet words of this age is tolerance...we have tried to stretch it over too great an area. We have applied it, too often, where it does not belong. The word tolerant means liberal and broad-minded. In one sense, it implies the compromise of one’s convictions, a yielding of ground upon important issues. We have become tolerant about divorce, the use of alcohol, delinquency, wickedness in high places, immorality, crime and godlessness. We have been sapped of conviction, drained of our beliefs, and we are bereft of our faith.

From Billy Graham: Christ was so intolerant of our lost estate that He left His lofty throne in the heavenlies, took on Himself the form of man, suffered at the hands of evil men and died on a cruel cross of shame to purchase our redemption. So serious was our plight that He could not look upon it lightly. He could not be broad-minded about a world held captive by its lusts. Christ spoke of two roads, two kingdoms, two masters, two rewards and two eternities. And He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6)...the alternative to choosing Christ brings certain destruction. The broad, easy, popular way leads to death and destruction. Only the way of the cross leads home...

From Billy Graham: Christ was so intolerant toward sin that He died on the cross to free men and women from its power... Sin lies at the root of most of society’s difficulties today. Whatever separates a person from God disunites that person from others. The world’s problems will never be solved until the question of sin is settled. The cross is God’s answer to sin. To all who will receive the blessed news of salvation through Christ, it crosses out—cancels forever—sin’s power. Forest rangers know the value of the “burn-back” in fighting forest fires. To save an area from uncontrolled fire, they carefully burn away the trees and shrubs to create a safety barrier. When the forest fire reaches that burned-out spot, plants and animals standing inside the area protected by the burn-back are safe from the flames. Fire is thus fought by fire. Calvary was a colossal fighting of fire by fire. Christ, taking on Himself all of our sins, allowed the fire of sin’s judgment to fall upon Him. The area around the cross has become a place of refuge for all who would escape the judgment of sin. Take your place with Him at the cross; stand by the cross; yield your life to Him who redeemed you on the cross, and the fire of sin’s judgment can never touch you. God is intolerant toward sin. That intolerance sent His Son to die for us...

ALL: Blessed "love one another" Thursday [--the "new commandment" of John 13:34, mandated by Christ, hence the word Maundy (from mandatum) Thursday.]

[twister881]

The four stages of apostasy:

Outrage —> Tolerance —> Acceptance —> Practice

[Colofornian]

From Billy Graham: He [Jesus] pronounced more woes on the Pharisees than on any other sect because they were given to outward piety, but inside they were a sham. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” He said, “For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence” (Matthew 23:25). A counterfeit Christian, single-handedly, can do more to retard the progress of the church than a dozen saints can do to forward it. That is why Jesus was so intolerant of sham!

Sham legalistic versions of "religion" that counterfeit "faith" were condemned by Jesus. Indeed love one another -- and realize that for some -- like the Pharisees, "love rejoices in the truth" (1 Cor. 13:6) and it's better to engage in "tough love" like Jesus did with the Pharisees.

[tiki]

We Catholics learn the spiritual works of mercy:

•To instruct the ignorant;
•To counsel the doubtful;
•To admonish sinners;
•To bear wrongs patiently;
•To forgive offences willingly;
•To comfort the afflicted;
•To pray for the living and the dead.

To admonish sinners is one of the hardest.

[colorcountry]

I read this today:

Keith Walker quote from Dave Mitchell’s book, “Challenge to Investigate:”

1. The LDS say my church (traditional Christianity) was “hatched in hell” (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Volume 6, page 176).
2. My Christianity is perverted and apostate (Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 1979, page 132).
3. My church is the church of the devil (1 Nephi 14:10).
4. My church is wrong. (Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith History 1:18-19, as was state above).
5. My church is the anti-Christ (McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 1979, page 40).
6. My church is evil and is the Whore of Babylon (McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, page138).
7. My church is leading me to hell. (McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 1966, page 419).
8. My church will be hewn down and cast into the fire of no return (McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 1979, page 139).
9. My Heavenly Father is imaginary (Apostle Parley P. Pratt, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 3, page 39).
10. My Heavenly Father is invented (Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, page 426).
11. My Jesus is mythical (McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 1979, 269).
12. My triune God is a monster (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, page 372).
13. My creeds are an abomination ” (Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith History 1:18-19, stated above).
14. My justification is pernicious (Joseph Fielding Smith, The Restoration of All Things, page 192).
15. My grace is a fallacious doctrine originated by Satan (Spencer W. Kimball, Miracle of Forgiveness, page 206).
16. My pastor is corrupt (Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith History 1:18-19, stated above).
17. My pastor is presumptuous and blasphemous for performing marriages and offering communion (Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness, page 55).
18. My Bible is untrustworthy (Book of Mormon, I Nephi 13:28).
19. I am a fool for believing in the Bible alone (Book of Mormon, II Nephi 29:6).
20. I am a child of the devil (McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 1979, page 138).
21. My baptism is invalid (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, page 192)
22. I am unforgiven (Rulon S. Wells, Conference report, April 1936, page 42).
23. I am damned (Bruce R. McConkie, The Millennial Messiah, page 77).
24. I know nothing of God (John Taylor, May 6, 1870, Journal of Discourses 13:225).
25. My hope of salvation is influenced by the devil (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, page 270).
26. I have no right to preach the gospel (McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 1979, page 136).
27. I am not a true Christian (McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 1979, page 132).

“Then, when I attempt to offer any sort of disagreement or rebuttal, you [LDS] accuse me of hatred, bigotry and un-Christlike behavior. If that isn’t enough, to add insult to injury, you want to steal my name and have me accept you as a Christian.

“That’s not happening. What do you call something that insults you, never apologizes and in an attempt to convince you that it is just like you, cozies up to you because you have something it wants? My friends, that is called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” (www. evidenceministries.org, “Mormonism’s Hypocritical Attack,” March 2012).

[SoFloFreeper]

Amen. Love the sinner, hate the sin.

[matginzac]

Would you agree that silence or standing by while wrong is being committed is equally sinful?

[Colofornian]

I read this today: Keith Walker quote from Dave Mitchell’s book, “Challenge to Investigate:...
4. My church is wrong. (Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith History 1:18-19, as was state above)....
13. My creeds are an abomination ” (Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith History 1:18-19, stated above)....
16. My pastor is corrupt (Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith History 1:18-19, stated above)....

Around 2009 I described to some FREEPER Mormons the tendency for them to "speak softly" and carry a big Pearl of Great Price stick...#4, #13, and #16 on your list are all sourced in the Lds "scriptures" from the "Pearl of Great Price."

IoW, many Mormons themselves just won't bring themselves to utter anything outloud from this list provided. But their tithing goes to reproduce it all around the world in "lds scriptures" reprints; curricula; digital media; magazine media; etc.

They somehow think that just because they've let their wallet do their "talkin'" that they are somehow not culpable for participating in the slander you've outlined.

[metmom]

bflr

[svcw]

Very concise and easily understood list.

[WorkingClassFilth]

I understand what Mr. Graham is saying but I find it hard to reconcile with his recent past. Remember krinton and Billy?

[greyfoxx39]

Great post.

“Then, when I attempt to offer any sort of disagreement or rebuttal, you [LDS] accuse me of hatred, bigotry and un-Christlike behavior. If that isn’t enough, to add insult to injury, you want to steal my name and have me accept you as a Christian."

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

A great historian in 1888 briefly discussed “Tolerance” by stating it means an inability to say “Yes” or “No.” It expresses the users “... the inability to take a stand.”

[daniel1212]

Brilliant anointed message. To God be the glory.

[Tolkien]

This from the same guy who compromised the gospel?

[Elsie]

I can barely tolerate you so called 'christians' CONSTANTLY bringing forth facts and quotes to use against my beloved church!!

--MormonDude(speechless)

[Elsie]

TOLERANCE CAN BECOME TOO STRETCHED

It seems so...

---

---

Questions put to Joseph Smith: "'Do you believe the Bible?' [Smith:]'If we do, we are the only people under heaven that does, for there are none of the religious sects of the day that do'. When asked 'Will everybody be damned, but Mormons'? [Smith replied] 'Yes, and a great portion of them, unless they repent, and work righteousness." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 119).

Joseph Smith: "for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible" (from Pearl of Great Price 1:12). "What is it that inspires professors of Christianity generally with a hope of salvation? It is that smooth, sophisticated influence of the devil, by which he deceives the whole world" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.270).

 

 

 

Brigham Young stated this repeatedly: "When the light came to me I saw that all the so-called Christian world was grovelling in darkness" (Journal of Discourses 5:73); "The Christian world, so-called, are heathens as to the knowledge of the salvation of God" (Journal of Discourses 8:171); "With a regard to true theology, a more ignorant people never lived than the present so-called Christian world" (Journal of Discourses 8:199); "And who is there that acknowledges [God's] hand? ...You may wander east, west, north, and south, and you cannot find it in any church or government on the earth, except the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" (Journal of Discourses , vol. 6, p.24); "Should you ask why we differ from other Christians, as they are called, it is simply because they are not Christians as the New Testament defines Christianity" (Journal of Discourses 10:230).

 

 

 

Orson Pratt proclaimed: "Both Catholics and Protestants are nothing less than the 'whore of Babylon' whom the Lord denounces by the mouth of John the Revelator as having corrupted all the earth by their fornications and wickedness. Any person who shall be so corrupt as to receive a holy ordinance of the Gospel from the ministers of any of these apostate churches will be sent down to hell with them, unless they repent" (The Seer, p. 255).

 

 

 

Orson Pratt also said: "This great apostasy commenced about the close of the first century of the Christian era, and it has been waxing worse and worse from then until now" (Journal of Discourses

, vol.18, p.44) and: "But as there has been no Christian Church on the earth for a great many centuries past, until the present century, the people have lost sight of the pattern that God has given according to which the Christian Church should be established, and they have denominated a great variety of people Christian Churches, because they profess to be ...But there has been a long apostasy, during which the nations have been cursed with apostate churches in great abundance" (Journal of Discourses , 18:172).

 

 

President John Taylor stated: "Christianity...is a perfect pack of nonsense...the devil could not invent a better engine to spread his work than the Christianity of the nineteenth century." (Journal of Discourses , vol. 6, p.167); "Where shall we look for the true order or authority of God? It cannot be found in any nation of Christendom." (Journal of Discourses , 10:127).

 

 

 

James Talmage said: "A self-suggesting interpretation of history indicates that there has been a great departure from the way of salvation as laid down by the Savior, a universal apostasy from the Church of Christ". (A Study of the Articles of Faith, p.182).

 

 

 

President Joseph Fielding Smith said: "Doctrines were corrupted, authority lost, and a false order of religion took the place of the gospel of Jesus Christ, just as it had been the case in former dispensations, and the people were left in spiritual darkness." (Doctrines of Salvation, p.266). "For hundreds of years the world was wrapped in a veil of spiritual darkness, until there was not one fundamental truth belonging to the place of salvation ...Joseph Smith declared that in the year 1820 the Lord revealed to him that all the 'Christian' churches were in error, teaching for commandments the doctrines of men" (Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 3, p.282).

 

 

 

More recent statements by apostle Bruce McConkie are also very clear: "Apostasy was universal...And this darkness still prevails except among those who have come to a knowledge of the restored gospel" (Doctrines of Salvation, vol 3, p.265); "Thus the signs of the times include the prevailing apostate darkness in the sects of Christendom and in the religious world in general" (The Millennial Messiah, p.403); "a perverted Christianity holds sway among the so-called Christians of apostate Christendom" (Mormon Doctrine, p.132); "virtually all the millions of apostate Christendom have abased themselves before the mythical throne of a mythical Christ whom they vainly suppose to be a spirit essence who is incorporeal uncreated, immaterial and three-in-one with the Father and Holy Spirit" (Mormon Doctrine, p.269); "Gnosticism is one of the great pagan philosophies which antedated Christ and the Christian Era and which was later commingled with pure Christianity to form the apostate religion that has prevailed in the world since the early days of that era." (Mormon Doctrine, p.316).

 

 

 

President George Q. Cannon said: "After the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized, there were only two churches upon the earth. They were known respectively as the Church of the Lamb of God and Babylon. The various organizations which are called churches throughout Christendom, though differing in their creeds and organizations, have one common origin. They all belong to Babylon" (Gospel Truth, p.324).

 

 

President Wilford Woodruff stated: "the Gospel of modern Christendom shuts up the Lord, and stops all communication with Him. I want nothing to do with such a Gospel, I would rather prefer the Gospel of the dark ages, so called" (Journal of Discourses , vol. 2, p.196).

[Elsie]

We Catholics learn the spiritual works of mercy:

And have produced some good men...

Bishop Fulton J. Sheen quotes:

 

 

"A Plea For Intolerance" (1931)

 

Tolerance is an attitude of reasoned patience toward evil ... a forbearance that restrains us from showing anger or inflicting punishment.

 Tolerance applies only to persons ... never to truth.

 

America, it is said, is suffering from intolerance — it is not.

It is suffering from tolerance.

Tolerance of right and wrong, truth and error, virtue and evil, Christ and chaos.

Our country is not nearly so overrun with the bigoted as it is overrun with the broadminded.

 

 

 

Too many people get credit for being good, when they are only being passive.

They are too often praised for being broadminded when they are so broadminded they can never make up their minds about anything.

As quoted in Seven Words to the Cross (1979) by Ellsworth Kalas, page 93.

 

 

[Elsie]

Remember krinton and Billy?

Yes; but maybe not the way you do.

Can you be a bit more specific?

[Elsie]

This from the same guy who compromised the gospel?

Maybe; mayhbe not.

Could you be a bit more clear in your allegation?