 Billy Graham has been in
the pulpit for 68 years.
(larger image)He also led a very successful crusade (the first of several) in Australia in 1959. Counselors in training to talk with people coming forward for conversion were provided with kits which included peppermint and musk lifesavers, to ensure that their breath would not be offensive to the people being counseled. This crusade was regarded as being the most effective preaching of the gospel in Australian history and its effects led to the church growing consistently over the next 15 years and numerous new churches being founded. Many home Bible groups that were formed lasted 35 years or more. According to Ben Bagdikian's The Media Monopoly, Graham was catapulted out of obscurity by news moguls William Randolph Hearst and Henry Luce who thought that Graham would be helpful in promoting their conservative anti-communist views. Hearst sent a telegram to his editors reading "Puff Graham", while Luce put him on the cover of TIME in 1954. Dr. Graham served as the President of Northwestern College in Minnesota from 1948 to 1952. He founded the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in 1950, headquartered in Minneapolis. The Association later relocated to Charlotte, N.C. BGEA Ministries have included: - Hour of Decision, a weekly radio program broadcast around the world for over 50 years Mission television specials which are regularly broadcast in prime time in almost every market in the U.S. and Canada
- A newspaper column, My Answer, carried by newspapers across the United States
- Decision magazine, the official publication of the Association
- passageway.org, the teen website of the BGEA
- World Wide Pictures, which has produced and distributed over 130 productions
On June 24, 2005, Billy Graham began what he has said will be his last North American Crusade, at Flushing Meadows Park in New York City. Graham said that this was due to his failing health. He has suffered from Parkinsons disease for about 15 years, has had fluid on the brain, pneumonia, broken hips, and recently revealed that he is suffering from prostate cancer. In August, 2005, a frail Graham appeared at the groundbreaking for his library in Charlotte, North Carolina. Then 86, Rev. Graham was forced to use a walker to get around during the ceremony. Billy Graham has preached the good news of Jesus Christ to more people in live audiences than any one else in history. He has spoken to live audiences of over 210 million people in more than 185 countries and territories through various meetings including Mission World and Global Mission. He has also reached hundreds of millions more through television, video, film, and webcasts. Politically, Graham has been a lifelong supporter of the Democratic Party, although more recently he has adopted a flexible position, choosing to cast his vote with either party, depending on which he considers most appropriate at the time. He has had close relationships with Lyndon B. Johnson and Bill Clinton, but he is still very close to the Bush family. Just two days before the 2000 presidential election, Graham spoke at a prayer breakfast in Florida with George W. Bush in attendance and stopped short of formally endorsing him. His messages have been apolitical. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association offers the following statement with regard to his politics: It is true that many, many years ago Mr. Graham registered as a Democrat. However, throughout the years he has voted for the candidate he believes will do the best job. In other words, he has not voted a straight party ticket. Mr. Graham takes his responsibility to vote for the leaders of our country with the same prayerful seriousness that he takes other significant decisions. Mr. Graham has always maintained an optimistic attitude toward people. He seeks the good and emphasizes what is positive, even if he does not agree with them on many points, including moral or political issues. Mr. Graham's comments sometimes are not presented in the complete context in which they were made; while at other times, he himself would perhaps wish he might have phrased things a bit differently. However, he does not presently and never has condoned or defended immoral conduct. Mr. Graham's lifelong calling has been to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ throughout the world. As you are aware, he has been faithful to this mission. He has not compromised his message. Books Billy Graham has written 24 books, many of which have been translated into over 30 languages, including: - Peace With God (1953)
- The Secret of Happiness (1955)
- My Answer (1960)
- World Aflame (1965)
- The Challenge (1969)
- The Jesus Generation (1971)
- Angels: God's Secret Agents (1975)
- How to Be Born Again (1977)
- The Holy Spirit (1978)
- Till Armageddon (1981)
- Approaching Hoofbeats: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1983)
- Facing Death and the Life After (1987)
- Hope for the Troubled Heart (1991)
- Storm Warning (1992)
- Just As I Am his autobiography (1997)
see also:
Billy Graham: Amazon.com Awards and Honors Billy Graham has received the Congressional Gold Medal; the Templeton Foundation Prize for Progress in Religion; and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation Freedom Award for contributions to the cause of faith and freedom. He has received the Big Brother of the Year Award for his work on behalf of the welfare of children. He has been cited by the George Washington Carver Memorial Institute for his contributions to race relations. He has also been recognized by the Anti-Defamation League of the B'nai B'rith and the National Conference of Christians and Jews for his efforts to foster a better understanding among all faiths. For providing a platform during his events for many Christian musical artists - many new to singing and songwriting and others not so new - Billy Graham was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1999 by the Gospel Music Association. On September 14, 2001 in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Dr. Graham led a prayer and remembrance service at Washington National Cathedral attended by President George W. Bush and past and present leaders. In December 2001 he was presented with an honorary knighthood, Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE), for his international contributions to civic and religious life over 60 years. Graham has been the minister to several presidents, including speaking at one presidential funeral and one presidential burial. Graham presided over the graveside services for former president Lyndon Johnson in 1973 and took part in eulogizing the former president with former Texas Democratic governor John Connally, an LBJ protege and fellow Texan who was wounded in the assassination that made LBJ president. Ironically Graham spoke at Connally's funeral and the funeral of former first lady Pat Nixon within one week of each other in June of 1993. He also spoke at the funeral of former president Richard Nixon in 1994. Graham was unable to officiate the state funeral of Ronald Reagan on June 11, 2004 due to recent double hip replacement surgery, which former President George H.W. Bush acknowledged during his own eulogy. Graham had been Reagan's first choice. Because Graham was hospitalized, Rev. John Danforth, Missouri Republican senator in Reagan's day, officiated the funeral. Graham is the seventh most admired person in the 20th century, according to Gallup. Quotes - "My one purpose in life is to help people find a personal relationship with God, which, I believe, comes through knowing Christ."
- "If you find a perfect church don't join it: You'd spoil it."
- "After watching 'The Passion of the Christ', I feel as if I have actually been there. I was moved to tears. I doubt if there has ever been a more graphic and moving presentation of Jesus' death and resurrection."
- "Your mind cannot possibly understand God. Your heart already knows."
- "I have one message: Jesus Christ came; He died on a cross; He rose again. He asks us to repent of our sins and receive Him by faith as Lord and Savior. And if we do, we have forgiveness of all our sins."
- (Whilst being covertly recorded in conversation with Richard Nixon) "A lot of Jews are great friends of mine. They swarm around me and are friendly to me, because they know that I am friendly to Israel and so forth, but they don't know how I really feel about what they're doing to this country, and I have no power and no way to handle them."
- (On being shown the content of the covert recording of his conversation with Richard Nixon) "They do not reflect my views and I sincerely apologize for any offense caused by the remarks," he said. "I cannot imagine what caused me to make those comments . …I was wrong for not disagreeing with the President. My remarks did not reflect my love for the Jewish people. I humbly ask the Jewish community to reflect on my actions on behalf of Jews over the years that contradict my words in the Oval Office that day."
- "I urge everyone to examine themselves and renew their own hearts before God," he said. "Of greater import or concern than any tapes made in the White House, each of us must face the fact that God has 'tapes' that record not only our actions but also our thoughts and our intent."
- "I believe God has always had a special relationship with the Jewish people, as St. Paul suggests in the book of Romans. In my evangelistic efforts I have never felt called to single out the Jews as Jews nor to single out any other particular groups, cultural, ethnic, or religious." About Christianity and Judaism: "We have grown. The two don’t see the vast differences and hold the prejudices they did. People have friends across all kinds of lines."
Later years During the Cold War, Graham became the first evangelist of note to speak behind the Iron Curtain, addressing large crowds in countries throughout Eastern Europe and in the Soviet Union, calling for peace . During the Apartheid era, Graham consistently refused to visit South Africa until its government finally allowed attending audiences to sit desegregated. His first crusade there was in 1973, during which he openly denounced apartheid. At one revival in Seoul, South Korea, Graham attracted an audience of one million to a single service. He appeared in China in 1988—for Ruth, this was a homecoming since she had been born in China to missionary parents. He appeared in North Korea in 1992. On September 14, 2001, in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Dr. Graham led a prayer and remembrance service at Washington National Cathedral attended by President George W. Bush and past and present leaders. He similarly spoke at the memorial service following the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. On June 24, 2005, Billy Graham began what he has said would be his last North American crusade, at Flushing Meadows Park in New York City. But on the weekend of March 11–March 12, 2006 Billy Graham held the "Festival of Hope" with his son, Franklin Graham. The festival was held in New Orleans, which was recovering from Hurricane Katrina. Graham said that his planned retirement was because of his failing health. He has suffered from Parkinson's disease for about 15 years, has had fluid on the brain, pneumonia, broken hips, and it has been recently revealed that he is suffering from prostate cancer. In August 2005, a frail Graham appeared at the groundbreaking for his library in Charlotte, North Carolina. Then 86, the Rev. Graham used a walker to get around during the ceremony. On July 9, 2006, Graham spoke at the Metro Maryland Franklin Graham Festival, held in Baltimore, Maryland, at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. On August 18, 2007, Graham, 88, was in fair condition in Mission Health & Hospitals in Asheville, North Carolina, after treatment for intestinal bleeding, but his condition was not life-threatening. Billy Graham has preached Christianity to live audiences of nearly 215 million people in more than 185 countries and territories through various meetings including Mission World and Global Mission. Graham has also reached hundreds of millions more through television, video, film, and webcasts. Crusades Billy Graham has conducted over 41 evangelistic crusades since 1948. He began this form of ministry in 1947 and continued until recently. He would rent a large venue, such as a stadium, park, or street. He had a group of up to 5,000 people to sing in a choir and then preached the gospel and invited people to come forward. These people, called inquirers, were then given the opportunity to speak one-on-one with a counselor who clarified any questions the inquirer may have had and would pray with that person. The inquirers were often given resources such as a Gospel of John or Bible study booklet. In Moscow in 1992, one-quarter of the 155,000 in his audience came forward upon his request. Politics Politically, Graham has been a registered member of the Democratic Party and leaned Republican during the presidency of his friend Richard Nixon. He has not completely allied himself with the religious right, saying that Jesus did not have a political party. He does not openly endorse political candidates, but he has given his support to some over the years. He refused to join Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority in 1979, saying: "I'm for morality, but morality goes beyond sex to human freedom and social justice. We as clergy know so very little to speak with authority on the Panama Canal or superiority of armaments. Evangelists cannot be closely identified with any particular party or person. We have to stand in the middle in order to preach to all people, right and left. I haven't been faithful to my own advice in the past. I will be in the future." According to a 2006 Newsweek interview, "For Graham, politics is a secondary to the Gospel.. When Newsweek asked Graham whether ministers — whether they think of themselves as evangelists, pastors or a bit of both — should spend time engaged with politics, he replied: 'You know, I think in a way that has to be up to the individual as he feels led of the Lord. A lot of things that I commented on years ago would not have been of the Lord, I'm sure, but I think you have some—like communism, or segregation, on which I think you have a responsibility to speak out.'" Pastor to Presidents Graham has had a personal audience with every sitting United States President since Harry Truman. He visited in the Oval Office with Truman in 1950, urging Truman to counter communism in North Korea. However, Graham and his accompanying pastors were not aware of Washington protocol; they appeased the press corps waiting outside with details of the visit, with the three pastors even acquiescing to the calls of the press to kneel on the White House lawn, as if praying. This led to Truman calling Graham a "counterfeit" publicity seeker, and Truman did not speak to Graham for years afterward. Graham has often told the story, usually as a warning that he would not reveal his conversations with world leaders. Graham became a regular in the Oval Office during the tenure of Dwight Eisenhower, who he urged to intervene with federal troops in the case of the Little Rock Nine, and it was at that time, on a Washington golf course, that he met and became close friends with Vice-President Richard Nixon. Eisenhower asked to see Graham on his deathbed. Graham also counseled Lyndon B. Johnson, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and the Bush family. The single notable exception among modern presidents is John F. Kennedy, with whom Graham golfed; but Kennedy was Roman Catholic; Graham enjoyed a friendship with Nixon and prominently supported him over Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election. Nixon wrote to Graham after that election: "I have often told friends that when you went into the ministry, politics lost one of its potentially greatest practitioners." Graham spent the last night of Johnson's presidency in the White House, and he stayed for the first night of Nixon's. After Nixon's victorious 1968 presidential campaign, Graham was an adviser, visiting the White House and leading some of the private church services that the President organized there. Nixon offered Graham the ambassadorship to Israel in a meeting they had with Golda Meir, but Graham turned down Nixon's offer. Nixon appeared at one of Graham's revivals in East Tennessee in 1970; the event drew one of the largest crowds to ever gather in Tennessee. Nixon became the first President to give a speech from an evangelist's platform. However, their friendship became strained when Graham rebuked Nixon for his post-Watergate behavior and the profanity heard on the Watergate tapes; they eventually reconciled after Nixon's resignation. Graham announced at that time, "I'm out of politics." After a special law was passed on his behalf, Graham was allowed to conduct the first religious service on the steps of the Capitol building in 1952. When Graham was hospitalized briefly in 1976, three Presidents called in one day to wish him well: former President Nixon, current President Ford and President-Elect Carter. He was one of Reagan's personal guests at his inauguration and gave the benediction at George H.W. Bush's inauguration. He stayed at the White House the night before George H.W. Bush (who called Graham "America's Pastor") launched the Persian Gulf War. Two days before the 2000 presidential election, Graham spoke at a prayer breakfast in Florida with George W. Bush in attendance but did not officially endorse him. At a New York revival in 2005, Bill Clinton recalled how he had attended Graham's revival as a boy in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1959. Graham has also spoken at one presidential funeral and one presidential burial. Graham presided over the graveside services for President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1973 and took part in eulogizing the former President with former Texas Democratic Governor John Connally, an LBJ protégé and fellow Texan who was wounded in the assassination that made LBJ president. Graham also spoke at Connally's funeral and the funeral of former First Lady Pat Nixon within one week of each other in June 1993. He also spoke at the funeral of Richard Nixon in 1994. Graham was unable to officiate the state funeral of Ronald Reagan on June 11, 2004, because of recent double hip replacement surgery, which former President George H.W. Bush acknowledged during his eulogy. Graham had been Reagan's first choice. Because Graham was hospitalized, Rev. John Danforth, a Missouri Republican Senator during Reagan's tenure, officiated the funeral. Failing health prevented Rev. Graham from officiating at the state funeral of former President Gerald R. Ford in Washington D.C., on January 2, 2007, as well as the funeral of former First Lady Lady Bird Johnson in July 2007. Foreign policy views Graham has been outspoken against communism and supportive of U.S. Cold War policy, including the Vietnam War. However, in a 1999 speech, Graham discussed his relationship with the late North Korean dictator Kim Il Sung, praising him as a "different kind of communist" and "one of the great fighters for freedom in his country against the Japanese." Graham went on to note that although he had never met Kim's son and current North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il, he had "exchanged gifts with him." Graham has given a globe surmounted with doves to the North Korean Friendship Museum. Graham about peace and the war in the Persian Gulf "During a March 12th, 1991 CBS broadcast of Billy Graham's Long Island, New York crusade, Graham said in reference to the war, "As our President, President Bush, has said, it is not the people of Iraq we are at war with. It is some of the people in that regime. Pray for peace in the middle east, a just peace." "In a speech January 16, 1991, Billy Graham declared: "There come times when we have to fight for peace." He went on to say that out of the present war in the Gulf may "come a new peace and, as suggested by the President, a new world order."" (March 1991 CIB Bulletin)" Selection of burial site Until releasing a June 13, 2007 press release saying he and his wife would be buried alongside each other at the Billy Graham Library in his hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina, there had been controversy over where the burial place would be. Graham's younger son Ned had argued with older son Franklin Graham about whether burial at a library was appropriate. Ruth Graham had said she did not want to be buried in Charlotte but in the mountains near Asheville, North Carolina, where she had lived for many years; Ned supported his mother's choice. Novelist Patricia Cornwell, a family friend, also opposed burial at the library, calling it a tourist attraction. Franklin wanted his parents to be buried at the library site. Cristicisms - Graham has been criticized for years by some Christian Fundamentalists for his inclusive message and his close relationship with the Catholic Church (especially for his friendship with the late Pope John Paul II). Christian fundamentalism emphasizes doctrinal purity and separatism, while Graham has taken a more Evangelical position of cooperation wherever possible with other Christians.
- Before initiating the Gulf War, President Bush and his wife Barbara, fearing that the war will result in deaths of many civilians, including children, invited Billy Graham to the White House to obtain his advice on this matter. Reverend Graham based his spiritual counsel on the church doctrine of the just war, dispelled the doubts the first family had in this matter, and absolved the President of personal guilt. After the pictures of the civilian casualties caused by the Gulf War became known, especially the pictures from the Amiriyah shelter destroyed by the U.S. smart bombs and resulting in death of over four hundred women and children, questions were raised about the morality and wisdom of the Reverend Graham's counsel.
Footnotes - "The Transition; Billy Graham to lead Prayers", The New York Times, 1992-12-09. Retrieved on 2007-12-24.
- The text originally said that Graham "is a member of the Southern Baptist Convention," but individuals cannot be members of the SBC. The SBC is a convention of churches. Individuals can be members of Southern Baptist churches and can consider themselves to be Southern Baptists, but cannot be members of the Convention.
- "BILLY GRAHAM: A MAN WITH A MISSION.(SPECIAL SECTION)", Cincinnati Post, June 27, 2002. Retrieved on 2007-08-18.
- http://205.188.238.109/time/magazine/article/0,9171,979573,00.html Time, God's Billy Pulpit, November 15, 1993
- Who led Billy Graham to Christ and was it part of a chain of conversions going back to Dwight L. Moody?
- "Billy Graham: an appreciation: wherever one travels around the world, the names of three Baptists are immediately known and appreciated--Jimmy Carter, Billy Graham and Martin Luther King, Jr. One is a politician, one an evangelist, and the other was a civil rights leader. All of them have given Baptists and the Christian faith a good reputation. (Biography)", Baptist History and Heritage, June 22, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-08-18.
- Kintera.org - The Giving Communities
- Billy Graham: the world is his pulpit.
- Samaritan's Purse | International Relief
- East Gates International
- http://www.time.com/time/time100/heroes/profile/graham01.html Time, Billy Graham, June 14, 1999
- "When worlds collide: politics, religion, and media at the 1970 East Tennessee Billy Graham Crusade. (appearance by President Richard M. Nixon)", Journal of Church and State, March 22, 1997. Retrieved on 2007-08-18.
- "In 1949, for example, William Randolph Hearst, head of one large publishing empire, and Henry Luce, chief of another, Time, Inc., were both worried about communism and the growth of liberalism in the United States." "Billy Graham, an obscure evangelist holding poorly attended tent meetings in Los Angeles. (..) Hearst and Luce interviewed the obscure preacher and decided he was worthy of their support. Billy Graham became an almost instantaneous national and, later, international figure preaching anticommunism. In late 1949, Hearst sent a telegram to all Hearst editors: "Puff Graham." The editors did - in Hearst newspapers, magazines, movies, and newsreels. Within two months Graham was preaching to crowds of 350,000." (from Ben Bagdikian, The Media Monopoly, Boston, Mass Usa: Beacon Press, 2000 6th ed., p. 39 ff)
- New York Times, Billy Graham Responds to Lingering Anger Over 1972 Remarks on Jews, 17 March, 2002
- http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1627139,00.html, Duffy, Michael and Gibbs, Nancy. TIME. Billy Graham: A Spiritual Gift to All, 2007-31-05. Retrieved on 2007-24-11.
- http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=nation_world&id=5582690 ABC12.com, Evangelist Billy Graham hospitalized, 19 August, 2007
- http://www.billygraham.org/mediaRelations/bios.asp?p=1 Billy Graham Bio
- "The President Preacher; In Crisis, White House Turns to Billy Graham", The Washington Post, January 18, 1991. Retrieved on 2007-08-18.
- "The Essence of Billy Graham; A Warm but Honest Biography of the Evangelist", The Washington Post, October 25, 1991. Retrieved on 2007-08-18.
- http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2553945.ece Independent Article, Preacher power: America's God squad, 25 July, 2007
- Quotation of section
- [given source: March 1991 CIB Bulletin]
- "A Family at Cross-Purposes", Washington Post, December 13, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-08-18.
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1850077.stm BBC, Graham Regrets Jewish Slur, 2 March, 2002
- http://www.slate.com/id/2063030/ Slate Article by David Greenberg, Assistant Professor Journalism & Media Studies at Rutgers University
- http://www.ujc.org/content_display.html?ArticleID=32770 Eric J Greenberg, United Jewish Communities
- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14204483/site/newsweek/page/5/ Newsweek, Pilgrim's Progress, page 5
- The children were baptized as infants because Mrs. Graham was a lifelong Presbyterian, a pedo-baptist denomination.
- MinistryWatch Summary Report
- Billy Graham - AOL Research & Learn
- Billy Graham - AOL Research & Learn
- "The Billy pulpit: Graham's career in the mainline.", Christian Century, November 15, 2003. Retrieved on 2007-08-18.
- "Billy and Ruth Graham awarded Congressional Gold Medal for service.", Knight-Ridder News Service, May 2, 1996. Retrieved on 2007-08-18.
- ABC News: 3 Ex-Presidents Open Graham Library
- "A MAN IN FULL; EVEN THOSE FAMILIAR WITH BILLY GRAHAM'S LIFE, EXHIBIT MAY OFFER REVELATIONS.(LIFE)", News and Record, Piedmont Triad, North Carolina, June 3, 2001. Retrieved on 2007-08-18.
- Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Library
- Graham, Billy. Just As I Am. New York: HarperCollins Worldwide, 1997. Copyright 1997 by the Billy Graham Evangelist Association.
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