{"id":720,"date":"2018-02-22T03:50:46","date_gmt":"2018-02-22T00:50:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jacob.zikusooka.com\/?p=720"},"modified":"2018-07-20T17:44:48","modified_gmt":"2018-07-20T14:44:48","slug":"finishing-strong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jacob.zikusooka.com\/?p=720","title":{"rendered":"Finishing Strong"},"content":{"rendered":"
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We all know Billy Graham. But have you heard of Chuck Templeton or Bron Clifford?<\/p>\n

All three men were in their mid-twenties in the 1940\u2019s. And they were packing auditoriums. After hearing Chuck Templeton preach to an audience of thousands, a theology pundit called him \u201cthe most gifted and talented young man in America today for preaching.\u201d In those formative years, everyone was betting their horses (and life-savings) on Chuck Templeton. In 1946, the National Association of Evangelicals published an article on men who were \u201cbest used of God.\u201d The spotlight was on the ministry of Chuck Templeton. Billy Graham was not mentioned even once. Bron Clifford had his own crowds. In one instance in 1945, he preached to thousands in Miami, Florida. The auditorium was jam-packed and overflowing.<\/p>\n

Graham, Templeton and Clifford.<\/p>\n

In 1945, all three came charging out of the starting blocks like Usain Bolt, Carl Lewis and the 1980’s Canadian track sensation, Ben Johnson. So what really happened?<\/p>\n

A short five years later, Templeton left the ministry to pursue a career as a news commentator. By 1950, Templeton no longer believed in the truth of the claims of Jesus Christ. Clifford? By 1954, he had lost his family, his ministry, his health, and lo, his life. Alcohol and financial irresponsibility had done him in. He wound up leaving his wife and their two Down\u2019s syndrome children. At just thirty five years of age, this once highly billed preacher died from cirrhosis of the liver in a rundown motel in Amarillo, Texas. He was then a used-car salesman. He died, as John Haggai puts it, \u201cunwept, unhonored, and unsung.\u201d Local pastors took up a collection among themselves in order to purchase a coffin and have his body shipped back home. He was buried in a cemetery for the poor.<\/p>\n

In 1945, three gifted men were preaching the gospel to throngs of thousands across America. Within ten years, only one of them was still on track for Christ. And he has stayed true to the calling for five decades, long after his two friends fell by the wayside.<\/p>\n

In life, it\u2019s not how you start that matters. It\u2019s how you finish. May God help us all to finish strong. #<\/span>JustAsIAm<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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We all know Billy Graham. But have you heard of Chuck Templeton or Bron Clifford? All three men were in their mid-twenties in the 1940\u2019s. And they were packing auditoriums. After hearing Chuck Templeton preach to an audience of thousands,… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":721,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jacob.zikusooka.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jacob.zikusooka.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jacob.zikusooka.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jacob.zikusooka.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jacob.zikusooka.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=720"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jacob.zikusooka.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":722,"href":"https:\/\/jacob.zikusooka.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720\/revisions\/722"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jacob.zikusooka.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jacob.zikusooka.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jacob.zikusooka.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jacob.zikusooka.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}