The Review has posted an excellent piece from August 8, 1957, in which F.D. Nichol reports on the Billy Graham Crusade in New York City. The piece casts light on the greatness of both men. There were several weeks of meetings at Madison Square Garden. Nichol writes:
The great auditorium seats, by actual count, 18,500 people. By seven-thirty, all but a small portion of the highest galleries was filled. . . . Never in the history of Madison Square Garden has anyone, whether minister, entertainer, or theatrical company, drawn so many people for so many nights. Some evenings thousands must be turned away, but not before Graham gives them a short talk from an improvised stand on the curb. . . .
Promptly at eight o’clock Billy Graham took the stand. . . . Seated as I was in the press section, I had an excellent opportunity to see all that took place. I confess again to having had some critical reservations. . . . I have listened to certain popular evangelists and some so-called faith healers. I was ready to discover parallels to their preaching—dramatic stories, wild gesticulations, cheap appeals to the gallery, and the like. As a reporter seeking to give an honest story of what I saw and heard, I must state that no such parallels were found. The thought occurred that perhaps that night was an exception. But after listening to a number of meetings I was sure that he was different. The only way to describe Billy Graham is to say that he is a straightforward preacher, who, with Bible in hand, addresses himself earnestly to a great congregation. . . .
Nichol was granted an interview with Billy Graham, upon which he reports as follows:
I’m sorry I don’t possess what some reporters think they possess—the ability to evaluate a man, with infallible accuracy, from a brief contact with him. I can only say that my twenty-minute interview with [Graham] led me to feel that he is sincere and genuine. “How do you keep going night after night and week after week before so vast an audience?” I asked. His answer was direct and in the words of Scripture: “As thy days, so shall thy strength be.”
Did he think there was a real religious revival taking place in the world? Graham replied that unquestionably there is, today, a very real measure of interest in religion such as had not been for some time past. But he did not believe that the world was on the edge of conversion and that all it needed was a little improving here and there. He did not confuse curious interest in religion with genuine revival. He referred to the latter as possible only in terms of individual men and women who respond to direct appeals to give their lives to God.
And what did he think of the contradictory fact that in the face of a steadily increasing church membership in the United States there is a steadily increasing total of crimes, particularly among juveniles?
“Too often,” he replied, “people have only a form of godliness. There has to be something more than church membership. There has to be dedication of life to Christ. There must be a realization that there is indeed a God to whom we shall have to give an account for our deeds.”
Toward the end of the interview, Nichol asked about the Christian life and the core of the gospel:
He made clear that he felt that all who made decisions for Christ must be brought into a program of daily prayer, daily Bible study, and witnessing for Christ. These he placed as primary to religious experience and growth.
Upon being asked what he considered to be the essence of the gospel, he answered briefly, and in the words of Scripture: “That Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3-4).
What about the Second Advent, the subject so near and dear to the Adventist heart?
He knew of course my Adventist connection, and, in fact, that he was talking to an Adventist minister. Would he tell me what he thought about the doctrine of the end of the world and the personal second coming of Christ? He responded: “Can you stay over until Sunday night? I am going to speak on that subject then.”
What I heard that Sunday night sounded strangely like a Seventh-day Adventist sermon. He took his text from the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew. I do not know, of course, all that he believes concerning the end of the world. Undoubtedly he differs with us on more than one feature of the Advent doctrine. But his presentation that Sunday night was one with which Adventists could agree.
Again, this whole article is excellent, and I urge you to read the whole thing at the Review website, and I thank our brothers at the Review for posting it. Here is a mature F.D. Nichol, over 30 years older and a better writer than the Nichol of “Answers to Objections.”
The last meeting Nichol attended was an historic meeting in Yankee Stadium, where Billy Graham preached to 100,000 people, urging them to make a decision for Christ. Thanks to video archive that is YouTube, here is that famous Yankee Stadium evangelistic meeting; Graham is preceded by a young Vice President Richard Nixon, who rightly places the credit for America’s greatness on her godliness. It is well worth your while to listen to Graham’s superb sermon and evangelistic appeal. The past is another country; what a different world was the New York City of 1957: