"But if someone were to ask me what is the greatest need in the church in Europe. I would say - a return to the authority of the scriptures - a return to the authority of the scriptures. You might as well quit talking about evangelism, you're not going to have any evangelists if that book isn't God's word and if you haven't settled it. It was not easy. I had a struggle, but I settled it on the basis of faith. I came to the point that I saw the problems more than I did the message, and those problems became stumbling blocks and when I stood in the pulpit to preach. I was not sure of my message, so I took the bible one day and I opened it and I said, 'Oh, God, there are many problems in this book that I don't understand, but from this moment on I accept this book by faith as thy inspired word.' From that moment on there was a new authority in my preaching...." Dr. Billy Graham.When did this happen? It happened in 1946 when Billy Graham and his friend Chuck Templeton had just completed three years on the rally and revival circuit. They were facing the problem of final authority: is the Bible - the word of God today? The Bible they were using was of course the Authorised Version.
The story and events leading up to Billy Graham's step of faith make fascinating reading. This was no passing decision but a momentous commitment to his Bible as the word of God today. It happened 25 years before his address at Amsterdam. Today, at Forest Home, a bronze tablet identifies the Stone of witness, where Billy Graham accepted, once and for all, the absolute authority of the Scriptures.
Yes, some people see many problems in his commendation of many other versions since then, but in such cases we must remember Matthew 7:1,2 and Romans 14:10. There is far too much judgment of fellow believers today.
Sufficient to say this, so far as the Bible
and evangelism are concerned, the most effective evangelists have been
those who held a high view of the Bible being the word of God today.