3466 Billy Graham's New Orleans Crusade

I must be the last person on the planet to open an e-mail to receive a forwarded, forwarded, forwarded, forwarded x100 story about Billy Graham leading a crusade in NOLA to Bourbon Street and having sinners rejoicing and singing along with the thousands who attended. I don't know why someone would make this up, and often the press is hostile to Christians, but folks, this didn't happen. When you see something--maybe it's medical, or political, or artistic, or spiritual--that sounds just a tad fishy ("the press will never cover this" is a good clue), do a little checking. I always use the Snopes site when I'm suspicious, but common sense wouldn't hurt either. Here's what a NOLA Baptist pastor said about the story.

One clue should be Graham's organization. It is a huge marketing machine--the Graham organization was a pioneer in using the media to spread the Gospel. His camera crews would have been right on top of this--if it happened. I'm on their mailing list, and if you've ever been in the cross hairs of a Christian group raising money, whether Mennonite or Samaritan's Purse, you know this opportunity, if true, would have arrived via snail-mail, not e-mail, with a return envelop.

Also, this is not a story the press would be afraid of. The press loves Billy; my public library which has little of value or interest for Christians, probably has every title the man ever published.

Now, go tell someone the Good News of Jesus Christ.

And a reminder from Paul: "See to it no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy." Col. 1:8