Calvary Contender, November 2001
c/o Calvary Baptist Church, 1800 Sparkman Drive
Huntsville, Alabama 35816
In a Feb. 15 letter to a Grace Partner, John MacArthur takes issue (and rightly so) with some remarks Billy Graham made in an interview with Robert Schuller a few years ago when he said that those who may not even know the name of Jesus will be in heaven, etc. MacArthur commented that based on what he told Schuller, Graham's theology includes some unorthodox views. He added: "He claims that the Body of Christ encompasses non-believers and that God's mercy is wide enough to encompass people who don't follow Christ...Obviously [his] comments to Schuller (and later to Larry King) have caused a great deal of confusion...Can Billy Graham...truly believe people can be saved without the gospel?...Billy Graham is the highest profile evangelist of our time, and when he makes statements about the gospel people listen. And because he wields so much influence, when those statements are unclear, or contradictory, problems arise..." We have disagreed with certain of Dr. MacArthur's teachings in the past, but he is on target in taking Graham to task on this issue.