At Billy Graham’s memorial service on March 2, 2018, in which 2,000 people attended, his children Franklin and Anne used the opportunity to preach to the crowd. “My father followed Jesus all the way to heaven,” Franklin said. “How about you? If this were your funeral, would you be in heaven?” [CNN]

Daughter Anne Graham Lotz speculated on a prophetic meaning behind her father’s death, saying she believed it was a “…shot across the bow from heaven. …I believe God is saying: ‘Wake up, church. Wake up, world. Wake up, Anne. Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming.’” [Charisma]

There is “no better place” to convert to Christ than this funeral, Franklin added. “The world with all of its political correctness would lead you to believe that many roads lead to God, but that’s just not true. Jesus is the only way.”

For me, the passing of Billy Graham on February 21 brought back many memories from my 25-year journey inside evangelicalism, including this kind of preaching. As a teenager, seven years before I formally “joined” the movement (in evangelical terms, when I “accepted Christ”), I saw Billy speak at a huge Jesus Festival in Dallas, Texas. Despite his typical-fundamentalism-of-the-day sermon, I found Billy to be very likeable. He had a magnetic personality and an authoritative, yet kind voice. The words he spoke that night in Dallas echoed in my life for years to come. In time, some of his other teachings also impacted me, particularly as his mindset became less fundamentalist.

Yet as the years rolled on and my own evangelical faith evolved (I ultimately left it behind), I came to realize something about this famous evangelist:

Billy Graham was an honorable man trapped in a dishonorable religion.

His religion, modern evangelicalism, teaches that individual conversion to Christ—accepting certain doctrines about Jesus and committing oneself to obey God and the Bible—is mandatory to get to heaven. The doctrines include things like believing in the divinity of Christ. And “original sin,” that humanity is totally depraved and can’t be redeemed without a Savior. Also, “substitutional atonement,” that Jesus took the punishment humanity deserved (and a punishment that God’s justice demands) to save us from death and hell. And of course, if one doesn’t accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, he or she will suffer eternal damnation in the afterlife.

Hence the common challenge that Franklin made to his listeners, “If this were your funeral, would you be in heaven?” and the urging to embrace Christ because “Jesus is the only way.”

Another Evangelical doctrine is the belief that Jesus will physically return to earth in judgment, most likely in our generation. Hence the common admonition that Anne made to her listeners, “Wake up, world. Jesus is coming,” and the implication that judgment will not go well if you don’t.

What’s wrong with this type of preaching? In short, it’s light years from the original teachings of the historical, first-century Jesus movement. And ironically, its aspects of exclusive salvation and strict adherence to the Bible, conflicts with what Billy Graham actually had come to believe.

Billy Graham was a paradox. In the 50’s and 60’s he insisted his crusades not be segregated, but he never urged his listeners to join the civil rights movement. That’s because in evangelical theology, calls for social justice are misguided. Conversion to Christ is the solution to all society’s problems.

In the 70’s, Billy reached his peak of popularity, preaching “the Gospel” to millions, and doing an old-fashioned alter call at the end of each event. Yet, through the years, Billy did not always fit tight inside the evangelical box.

In the early 80s, he told Francis Schaeffer, although he opposed abortion, he could not support the emerging anti-abortion movement. He believed it had become too political. He also deeply regretted his naivety in supporting Richard Nixon [Frank Schaeffer]. And, unlike many evangelicals, he did support global nuclear disarmament.

Ultimately, he began to question the traditional heaven-hell paradigm of the afterlife and embraced inclusivism—acknowledging God may save people outside Christendom. In a Newsweek interview in 2006, when asked if heaven would be closed to good people of other religions, he stated, “It would be foolish for me to speculate who will be there and who won’t… He gave his Son for the whole world… and loves everybody regardless of what label they have” [Newsweek]. He once made this declaration: “They [non-Christians or non-believers] may not even know the name of Jesus, but they know in their hearts that they need something that they don’t have and they turn to the only light that they have. And I think they are saved and they are going to be with us in heaven” [Charlotte Observer].

He told Larry King, “In my earlier ministry, I did the same [hellfire preaching]. But as I got older, I guess I became more mellow and more forgiving and more loving.”

[Charlotte Observer]

He changed his views on how to approach the Bible. He told Newsweek, “I’m not a [Bible] literalist in the sense that every single jot and tittle is from the Lord. This is a little difference in my thinking through the years” [Newsweek].

Billy regretted supporting Nixon through Watergate, but was always a friend to Presidents, including Bill and Hillary Clinton. He was proud of Hillary for forgiving her husband and was supportive of her political aspirations. I could never see Billy supporting Donald Trump the way most evangelicals do (including son Franklin, who is a vocal Trump supporter). The common evangelical claim that Trump’s presidency is an answer to prayer would be ludicrous to the Billy Graham that I knew, who decried religious politics.

In 2015, Billy wrote his final book, Where I Am, or at least, so his son Franklin claims. But the Charlotte Observer wrote, “One Billy Graham scholar said the book reads like it was written not by Graham but by his son, Franklin, an evangelist who has a combative style.” Regarding the book’s authorship, a professor emeritus from Duke Divinity School said, “It is clearly, indisputably Franklin” [Charlotte Observer].

This history shows Billy was slowly evolving on the level of his emotions. His love for people began to override the judgmental theology of evangelicalism, which is based on bad studies of history. For example, “hell” and “eternal punishment” are false translations of original New Testament Greek terms. Jesus never taught it. Eternal damnation vs. heaven was never a concept within Judaism until later in their history when pagan ideas began to creep into some Jewish sects. A fair reading of the New Testament and first century history reveals Jesus is not coming back to earth in judgment in our day. His “coming” (or “going,” as fits the Greek term better), is common, apocalyptic, figurative Jewish language that speaks of a first century vindication (when the Temple was destroyed in 70 CE) of the innocent anointed one. Evangelical concepts of original sin and substitutional atonement are also based on theologies in conflict with authentic church history.

In my mind Billy did not go far enough in his spiritual evolution or do enough historical study to uncover so many of these evangelical fallacies. But unlike his children, he at least questioned traditional interpretations and wasn’t afraid of rethinking theology. He put love for people over religion and politics.

This is what makes the preaching at his memorial so sad. It didn’t fairly represent the man. And as Frank Schaeffer observed, his children, particularly Franklin, never got the memo on these many changes.

But it’s not just Franklin Graham or Anne Graham Lotz. Most of evangelicalism has not learned the lessons of Billy Graham.

That’s what’s wrong.