FergusonPoetryProject LLC

Billy Graham’s, “Storm Warning”

‘Whether Global Recession, Terroritst Threats, Or Devastating Natural Disasters, These Ominous Shadows Must Bring Us Back to the Gospel’

Also, Referencing Paul C. Vitz’s “Psychology of Religion: The Cult of Self-Worship”

This book was originally written thirty years ago (as of 2022). In the year 1992 Billy Graham was already elderly in his years and towards the end of his revolutionary ministry on earth. All of those who had the blessings and opportunities to see him live and in person still recount those fond memories to this day. The relevance and impact this book held in 1992 was prophetic and of power gifted through the Holy Spirit.

In 2010, Billy Graham re-released the book to help consider modern times. Even more towards the end of his life he saw the relevance of needing to address the hard hitting political topics to the people and ultimately body of Christ.

From his home state of North Carolina, Billy Graham wrote a new preface for this book. His son Franklin Graham also wrote the foreword to help guide back into the reintroduction of these phenomenal topics with a touch of modern influence. If only this book could have been released in a post-COVID world. At a time when the world needed Billy Graham most… he vanished. A beautiful life, and a beautiful century long testimony about a man after God’s own heart was taken to the history books to become legend in 2018 at the age of 99.

In sixteen chapters Billy Graham walks you through events in his life that dwarf experiences of the common man, yet he does so with the absolute grace and humbleness of Jesus. A life dedicated to following Jesus in the twentieth century was not an easy task, but God certainly allowed Billy to be at the right place, and at the right time. Growing up in a house without electricity or running water is a concept that the common person in America is absolutely foreign to, but this was the common world until the indrtocution of the light bulb, the printing press, and the industrial revolution.

As technology began to compound itself through evolutionary means the television was soon introduced to the common persons household. With the introduction of the television began the beginnings of mass population control be it for good or evil. This is not based upon conspiracy theory, but it is based on the reality that before the television is was not possible for hundreds of millions of people to simultaneously be whistling the Andy Griffith theme song while skipping like Ron Howards, “Opie” through the streets. These mimicking acts are just one representation of the benefits of televised streaming that enraptured and captured generation to this day.

What Billy Graham did not live to see was the continued evolution of social media cascading from Myspace, to Facebook and Instagram, and now TikTok. As we reflect on both Revelation 13: 3-4 and 2 Thessalonians 2: 8-12 it can be seen that when the Bible references the ‘whole earth’ viewing an event we are now there. The threshold hold many biblical prophecies have come to fruition as we inch day by day towards the end times. Now, this is not to say the end times are today, tomorrow, or even within the twenty-first century, but as time moves forwards and not backwards it can be assumed that tomorrow will be closer to the end than today.

To avoid redundancy, these writings from Billy Graham are not to be trepid, but in fact intrepid. These writings are not meant to be gloomy, but informative towards preparation. The most simple way to put it, Billy Graham spent a century on earth inviting people from all over the globe and from all walks of life to turn away from their lives of sin and follow Jesus.

Brother, Sister, friend, and stranger… today is your day. This day, that the Lord has made, is perfect for you. You were designed for the now, the present, and you were designed to spend an eternity in perfect harmony with your creator and your creators creations. Through Jesus, mankind can be connected to God, the sin of your life can be washed away, and the weight of past sufferings lifted in Jesus name because of his sacrifice on the cross and his resurrection in light and love.

The chapter titles are the Winds of Change, the Rising Storm, Signs of the Times, a Changing Landscape, Inside the Apocalypse, the Blinding Vision, He who Overcomes, Standing before God, White Horse Loosed, the Cult of Spiritual Deception, the Cult of Self, the Red Horse Rides, the Black Horse Thunders, Death Mounts the Pale Horse, Sealed from the Storm, and the Savior Reigns.

Each chapter title has dropped below a relevant verse from either Luke, Acts, Ecclesiastes, or Revelation to tie back the wholeness within the novel to scripture. This art form is present in many modern religious and Christian novels, but very few perform it as eloquently. Ending the book with notes cited from some unsuspecting characters in history like Osama Bin Laden, George H. W. Bush, Elizabeth Cohen, Dwight Eisenhower, Leslie Gelb, Larry Kramer, C. S. Lewis, Harold Meyerson, Friedrich Nietzsche, and many more.

One book that sticks out in reference is “Psychology as Religion: The Cult of Self-Worship” which was a book written by Paul C. Vitz in 1977. Carl Jung is noted for his Jungian Psychotherapy to introduce a modern form of spiritual guidance and systematic education. This was a state of the art concept in the 1930’s. Other self-theorists include Erich Fromm, Abraham Maslow, and Rollo May.

The reason that Paul C. Vitz was selected to be reference by Billy Graham is that because the discernment and clarity from the Holy Spirit to Billy Graham allowed him to witness throughout the course of his life the shift towards individualism. In a very similar way that theologians refer to the four hundred years of silence in scripture that brings forth the era of Philosophers, so are we in an era of Psychological Reform.

The world shifts sociologically as time passes on, and as empires rise and fall throughout history, but one thing remains the same and that is the God of man. Even though Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates laid the road to Alexander the Great and the Greek Empire, eventually Rome took over the known world. As Rome fell, Persian armies, Germanic Tribes, and Islamic warfare pushed and pulled over the same territories and continue to on this day.

From the standpoint of the Americas we can see the psychological warfare first hand. It is not in the form of rockets and machine guns, but it is in the form of individualism and slavery of the tongue. As freedom of speech is stripped away and the illusion of privacy and security is sold to the common man it can be seen from a distance that the road the modern man is on will have unique trials and tribulations unrelated to the past. With the emergence of modern technologies like smart phones, social medias, and Artificial Intelligence, the common man seems to be far inferior to the creations within the Universe of the Internet or the World Wide Web.

And so, rooted in Individualism, these modern technologies are designed for the individual to customize. The encouragement to stand out, to be unique, and to express yourself radically is both blessed and condemned through the internet. To go against the grain is ostracized unless one has a million or more followers and then their actions whether good or evil are blessed by the masses by even more clicks, views, and advertisement revenue.

To follow Jesus is to turn away from your life of evil and sin and to follow. To follow the money is to continue doing whatever it takes to obtain more followers and ultimately pursue a fame that is more fleeting than the passing seconds. The illusion of fame and fortune is exactly what Jesus was referring to when he mentioned that man cannot serve both God and Money.

Having a passion for creating potentially beneficial theories and presenting them to mankind is no sin. The truth though is that if the theories are not rooted in the grace, truth, and mercy of Jesus Christ, then the theory will ultimately not be good for man. All good things come from God and God alone. Through Jesus, the common man can access this goodness, but it is only through Jesus and not through the self. The revelation allows for immense depth and wisdom to be gifted, but that is not in tandem with the ability for mankind to create, invent, and or innovate. When an unreligious man creates a remarkable new technology mankind stands in awe and worship over this man. The smart phone has catapulted mankind into a new era of civilization, but is it good? Is it good, really?

Technology and efficiency do not translate to character. If anything, it is revealing the heart of man in a way that was written about thousands of years ago through scripture. One small example is found in the world of virtual pornography. Whereas polygamy and polyamory was present in ancient days it was frowned upon by the church in Jesus lifetime. Prior to Jesus we have the stories of the Judaic fathers Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, or David and Solomon who had multiple wives, concubines, and baby-mamas… but by the time Jesus came into history these ways of life were not as common. Jesus was specific on referencing himself as the groom and the church or his followers as the bride in many parables throughout the gospels.

Pornography on the internet makes up for a large percentage of all searches daily. The latest statistics today make up for about one third of the entire internets traffic. That means that one out of every three people are only looking up porn on a regular basis, or that every single person who accesses the internet has watched porn at least once, but most likely views it regularly. And so, how does this pair with the Bible, with religion, with the teachings of Jesus, or with life lessons from Billy Graham? These are ideas that the modern church has to begin diving deep into, but do to widely accepted individualism and the fear of cancel culture it is a topic people want to stay far and clear from.

The truth is that we are all sinners. The truth is that only through Jesus we can be saved. The truth is that conviction can only occur when people ask God into their hearts, minds, and lives. Whether it be through the Holy Spirit, through following Jesus, or through seeking God with every fiber of your existence. Conviction is a gift that can correct behaviors one may believe to be permanent habit. Pornography is just one example of something in the modern world, brought through modern technology that causes suffering worldwide for countless reasons. Yet, people flock to it as if it water. The culture is more and more accepting of more wild and wild behaviors, and fetishes once called taboo are considered normal and beautiful.

Billy Graham refers to these things as Storm Warnings as mankind approaches the end of days inch by inch. Paul C. Vitz notes that many decisions that lead people towards evil is a belief that self-worth is determined by material possession rather than faith. He calls for every Christian or Jesus follower to not have internal issues with self-worth, because if our faith stands true, then that means our belief that we are made in the image of God is more than enough to suffice for our understanding of our own self-worth.

And so, the root of individualism stands in the first commandment given by Moses in Judaic Law. It stands within idolatry. Ultimately every sin stems from this, and we are all guilty of it. When non-religious or non-Christian people hear the religious and or Christian use the phrase, “We are all sinners…” it is in reference to idolatry whether one realizes it or not. The type of Individualism that is plaguing the modern man through what some refer to as Emotional Spiritualism is rooted in one being their own God of worship. Whether substituted with influencers, fame and fortune, or gods of culture, the sin is still the same. There is only one God deserving of worship from humanity and it is the God of Jesus, the God of Abraham, the God of Noah, and since the beginning the God of Adam.

Selfism, as worded by Vitz, is not a science but a religion. One hundred years later in the twenty-first century it is now beginning to be fused with Christianity by the modern church. Far too often we are seeing churches divide whether into a new sect of Christianity or due to the removal of certain scripture from teaching and preaching from the pulpit.

Christianity has its own complex History, but the truth in Jesus remains the same. The truth stands in his life, testimony, death, and resurrection. Billy Graham, saw this and dedicated his life to it. Millions today also see it, but fear to dedicate their lives to it for the fears of being cancelled by a digital, non tangible public inside the ether of the Internet.

In closing, Billy Graham wrote and awesome book. His references are awesome. The rabbit holes are there to journey down if one is seeking to pursue a deeper relationship with God through inspired writings that pair well with Gospel truth.

As always, God Bless,

James Arthur Ferguson