Word: grahamism
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...fame spread, first in evangelical circles and later nationally and internationally, Graham and his friends understood the importance of avoiding the hazards that, then and later, would disgrace other freelance preachers. One day in 1948, Graham gathered his tiny retinue in a Modesto, California, hotel room to inoculate them against temptation. To prevent sexual rumors, each agreed never again to be alone with a woman other than his wife. The "Modesto Manifesto" also pledged honest statistical reports and open finances. The money setup was further cleansed in 1950 after the Atlanta Constitution ran a photo of Graham next...
...said never again," recalls Graham, who put everyone on straight salary and later set up a board dominated by outsiders. (Graham has, however, ministered to his wayward fellow preachers; after Jim Bakker's fall from grace, he quietly visited the imprisoned televangelist in Minnesota for a prayer session.) For years Graham's annual salary was $69,150 plus a $23,050 housing allowance, but last April his board raised that to $101,250 plus $33,750. He was given homes in Florida and California but donated them to Christian causes...
...Graham always appreciated the importance both of appearances and of self- promotion. Along the way he won some unlikely backers, among the most useful William Randolph Hearst. The old reprobate publisher was so taken with the evangelist's patriotism and call for spiritual renewal that he telegraphed his editors around the country: "Puff Graham." TIME for its part declared in 1949 that no one since Billy Sunday had wielded "the revival sickle" as successfully as this "blond, trumpet-lunged North Carolinian...
...Even as Graham's preaching grew more confident, his concern about his intellectual preparation lingered. But when his friend and fellow YFC revivalist Charles Templeton urged him to come to Princeton Theological Seminary and lay a deeper academic foundation for his preaching, Graham balked. When they met on their travels, they fell into deep debates, with Templeton now armed with philosophy, anthropology and a willingness to read the Bible as metaphor. Graham found he couldn't muster the logical responses...
...Martin tells it, this led to a spiritual and intellectual turning point. "Chuck, look, I haven't a good enough mind to settle these questions," Graham finally declared. "The finest minds in the world have looked and come down on both sides." Graham concluded that "I don't have the time, the inclination or the set of mind to pursue them. I found that if I say 'The Bible says' and 'God says,' I get results. I have decided I'm not going to wrestle with these questions any longer...