American evangelist Franklin Graham concluded his 2008 world crusade this past weekend in Taipei, Taiwan where nearly 10,000 people committed their lives to Jesus Christ during the event.
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(Photo: Billy Graham Evangelistic Association)American evangelist Franklin Graham held his last crusade in 2008 in Taipei, Taiwan where more than 150,000 people attended the four day event from Oct. 30-Nov. 2, 2008.
The four-day festival from Oct. 30 to Nov. 2 drew more than 150,000 people to the outdoor plaza of Taipei’s famous Liberty Square - formerly known as Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall – making it the largest religious gathering in the history of the venue.
Graham preached a simple but fundamental message about salvation only through Jesus Christ, which is proclaimed at all the Franklin Graham festivals.
“There is no other name under heaven by which you can be saved. It’s only through Christ,” Graham said, according to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, to citizens of a country that is 90 percent Buddhist and Taoist. “Jesus said ‘I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. No man comes to the Father but by me.’”
In addition to the 150,000 adults that attended the Taipei festival, another 33,000 kids attended a special children’s event on Sunday.
Local musical artists opened for Graham each night, including Heavenly Melody, JJ Lam, and popular mando-pop singer-songwriter David Tao.
During his visit to Taiwan, Graham also met with Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou on Oct. 30 in the Presidential Office.
President Ma called Graham “one of the world’s best-known preachers” and said he was delighted to meet the evangelist. He also praised the past evangelistic event led by Franklin’s father, renowned evangelist Billy Graham, for its positive effects on Taiwan 33 years ago and expressed that Franklin’s event would also bring the same comfort to the people in the country.
Graham also met with many of the country’s leading pastors and city leaders.
In total, some 650 local churches participated in the Festival.
The event in Taipei was the sixth Franklin Graham Festival this year. Prior festivals were held in Belfast, Northern Ireland; Knoxville, Tenn.; Villahermosa, Mexico; Timisoara, Romania; and Charleston, S.C.
For 2008, more than 487,000 people in total attended the Franklin Graham Festival events.
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This is the Good News in how we are saved.
Ephesians 1:12That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
13In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
14Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
15Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
John 1: 10He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. 11He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 6:28Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
Philippians 1: 6Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:7Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace. 8For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. 9And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; 10That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ. 11Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
Galatians 3:1O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? 2This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
Galatians 5: 1Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage...4Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. 5For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
Matthew 16:19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
1 John 3:3And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
Jude 1:24Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, 25To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
Does anyone else see anything wrong with the altar call of the Graham's crusade? It goes like this,"If you are not sure you are saved..." which sounds like an address towards believers than the non-believers...."... if you are not sure you are saved, come forward and make a commitment to follow Christ." Does anyone see the actual meaning of the altar call? In other words, "you" are saving yourself by making a commitment to follow Christ.
Granted, before the altar call, the Gospel was presented as in all those that call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. So one would think that if a believer wasn't sure he was saved, there would be no altar call but a reminder of the promise of God through Jesus Christ the Lord that all those that call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Where is the faith that He has saved us, and will help us to live as His as we rest in the promises of God since Jesus is Our Good Shepherd as well as Our Saviour? Will He not finish what He has begun in us as we have a relationship with Him based on trust thus we follow Him by faith? Surely the altar call of the commitment to follow Christ in saving themselves is a religious yoke that Jesus never gave. He simply said, "Follow Me." That is the difference between a religion in keeping one's commitment to follow Jesus, and a relationship based on trust that He will help us to live as His.