Bill Graham on Heaven
With the passing of Billy Graham, the eulogies and reflections on the famed Christian evangelist who died today at 99 are of course pouring in – many of them memorable and affecting, like that of Alveda King, niece of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who said:
“As a fledgling freelance journalist in the 20th century, I interviewed Dr. Graham who was in Atlanta to conduct a crusade. As he spoke, he admonished me to ‘pray without ceasing.’ As he spoke, his brilliant blue eyes were glowing with a heavenly brightness. As I naively asked how anyone could pray 24/7; he quietly responded in a reverberating voice: ‘I’m praying for you right now.’ This unforgettable experience changed my life forever.”
However, my own experience with Billy Graham is much more typical and impersonal – and yet likewise profound. As a kid growing up during the ’50s and ’60s I watched Billy Graham’s crusades on television with my parents and siblings, like the rest of America. I actually remember them pretty vividly – the passion of his preaching, his North Carolina accent, the altar calls, the particular music, and his closing admonition to “go to church next Sunday.” But in truth, I was much too caught up with my various ambitions and pursuits, my problems and selfishness – “the cares of this life” – to be penetrated very much by his message back then. It was only much later in life, after I’d suffered a lot and realized something very important was still missing from my life, that Billy Graham’s efforts truly hit “pay dirt” in me.
As the most heard evangelist in world history (an estimated 2.2 billion people), Billy Graham once explained the profound impact of his methods: “I have found that when I present the simple message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with authority and simplicity, quoting the Word of God, He takes that message and drives it supernaturally into the human heart.”
“I have one message,” Graham said at his final crusade in June 2005 in New York: “that Jesus Christ came, he died on a cross, he rose again, and he asked us to repent of our sins and receive him by faith as Lord and Savior, and if we do, we have forgiveness of all of our sins.” (Read more from “Bill Graham on Heaven” HERE)
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