Billy Graham Warns That The Human Heart Has Been Conditioned To Reject God
All Jesus Christ wanted was to spread love and kindness in the world, so why were people so bent on killing Him? This was a question one woman asked world-renowned evangelist Billy Graham as she sought to understand why anyone would object to His teachings.
Graham answered through the Bowling Green Daily News that the human heart has been conditioned since birth to reject Christ.
"Those who wanted to kill Jesus did so for one main reason: They didn't want to hand over the control of their lives to Him. To put it another way, they realised that if Jesus was the Son of God (as He claimed), then they couldn't keep on living the way they wanted to," he explained.
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Graham urged the woman to reflect on the reaction of King Herod after the three wise men questioned where they could find the new King of the Jews. The evangelist said that he was enraged by their question because he refused to give up his power for anyone, and he even attempted to eliminate Jesus.
Just like Herod, many others were threatened by Jesus' ministry because something in their lives had to change once they accepted Him. Even though Jesus performed miracle after miracle and taught people to love God and be good, many were so scared to give up their way of life and follow Him.
"Throughout Jesus' ministry, some people felt threatened by His claim to be the Son of God, and were determined to kill Him," said Graham. "They refused to believe in Him. They knew that if they did, they'd have to change their way of living and become His followers. They refused – and eventually they urged Pilate to condemn Him."
People live in a different world now, said Graham, but he warned that the human heart has not changed. He said that people will still reject Jesus every chance they get, but they should know better and give their lives to Him.
"We want to run our own lives, and we don't want to hand control over to Jesus," said Graham. "But Christ hasn't changed, and neither has His power to forgive us and save us."
Even though people's hearts will always reject God, Graham said the good news is that God's love and ability to forgive is infinite. No matter how horrible people were in the past, the ultimate sacrifice made by Jesus Christ can wash all their sins away.
"Don't keep replaying the past or telling yourself what a terrible person you are. Satan wants you to do that; he wants to convince you that God couldn't possibly love you. But God does love you!" he said.
