Rev. Billy Graham died at the age of 99. He
was known for his charisma, but said "I despise all this attention on
me...I'm not trying to bring people to myself, but I know that God has sent me
out as a warrior."
William Franklin Graham Jr. KBE (November
7, 1918 – February 21, 2018) was an American evangelical
Christian evangelist and an ordained Southern Baptist minister
who became well known internationally after 1949. He has been called one of the
most influential preachers of the 20th century. He
held large indoor and outdoor rallies with sermons which were broadcast on
radio and television, some still being re-broadcast into the 21st century. In
his six decades of television, Graham hosted annual Billy Graham
Crusades, which ran from 1947 until his retirement in 2005. He also hosted
the popular radio show Hour of Decision from
1950 to 1954. He repudiated segregation and, in addition to his religious aims,
helped shape the worldview of a huge number of people coming from different backgrounds
leading them to find a relationship between the Bible and
contemporary secular viewpoints. Graham preached to live audiences of nearly
215 million people in more than 185 countries and territories through various
meetings, including BMS World
Mission and Global Mission.
He also reached hundreds of millions more through television, video, film, and
webcasts.
Graham
was a spiritual adviser to American presidents and provided spiritual counsel
for every president from Harry Truman to Barack Obama.He
was particularly close to Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon B.
Johnson (one of Graham's closest friends), and Richard Nixon. He
insisted on racial integration for his revivals and
crusades in 1953 and invited Martin Luther King Jr. to preach jointly
at a revival in New York City in 1957. Graham bailed King
out of jail in the 1960s when King was arrested in demonstrations. He was also
lifelong friends with another televangelist, the founding pastor of the Crystal
Cathedral, Robert H. Schuller, whom Graham talked into doing
his own television ministry.
Graham
operated a variety of media and publishing outlets. According
to his staff, more than 3.2 million people have responded to the invitation at
Billy Graham Crusades to "accept Jesus Christ as
their personal savior". As of 2008, Graham's estimated lifetime
audience, including radio and television broadcasts, topped 2.2 billion.
Because of his crusades, Graham preached the gospel to more people in person
than anyone in the history of Christianity.
Graham
was repeatedly on Gallup's list of most admired men and women.
He appeared on the list 60 times since 1955, more than any other individual in
the world.[10] Grant Wacker reports
that by the mid-1960s, he had become the "Great Legitimator"
The world's best-known evangelist, the Rev. Billy Graham, died Wednesday. He was 99.
From the gangly 16-year-old baseball-loving teen who found Christ at a tent revival, Graham went on to become an international media darling, a preacher to a dozen presidents and the voice of solace in times of national heartbreak. He was America's pastor.
Graham died at his mountain home in Montreat, N.C., where he retired in 2005 after nearly six decades on the road calling people to Christ at 417 all-out preaching and musical events from Miami to Moscow. His final New York City crusade in 2005 was sponsored by 1,400 regional churches from 82 denominations. In recent years, he was plagued by various ailments, including cancer and pneumonia.
He took his Bible to the ends of the Earth in preaching tours he called "crusades." Presidents called on Graham in their dark hours, and uncounted millions say he showed them the light.
"The GREAT Billy Graham is dead," President Trump tweeted Wednesday. "There was nobody like him! He will be missed by Christians and all religions. A very special man."
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, noting Graham's humble beginnings, said that "because he yielded himself to God, he was used to accomplish the extraordinary — forever impacting the lives of countless people."
On the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance following the 9/11 attacks, Graham spoke of the "mystery of iniquity and evil," of "the lesson of our need for each other" and, ultimately, of hope.
"He was so real, he made Christianity come true," said Susan Harding, an anthropologist at the University of California-Santa Cruz. "He was homespun, historical and newsworthy all at once. He could span the times from Christ to today, from the globe to you, all in one sentence."
US evangelist Billy Graham - one of the most influential preachers of the 20th Century - has died aged 99.
He died at his home in Montreat, North Carolina, a spokesman for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association said.
In a 60-year career, he is estimated to have preached to hundreds of millions of people around the world.
Former presidents are among the many who have been paying tribute. President Trump called him "great" and a "very special man".
After becoming one of the best-known promoters of Christianity in the US, Graham embarked on his global mission with an event in London in 1954.
Graham reached millions of worshippers through TV - the first to use the medium to convey the Christian message on such a scale.
Young preacher to worldwide phenomenon
Born in 1918 and raised on his family's dairy farm in Charlotte, North Carolina, Billy Graham became a committed Christian at the age of 16 after hearing a travelling evangelist.
He was ordained a minister in 1939, aged 21.
Graham's public profile was raised in the United States when he held a two-month ministry in a giant tent in Los Angeles in 1949.
REUTERS
His global mission took him to all corners of the world including Nigeria and communist North Korea.
An early sermon outside the US took place before 12,000 worshippers in 1954 in Harringay Arena, London.
At first ambivalent about the civil rights movement in the US, he became more sympathetic in the 1950s, preaching to racially integrated congregations.
His fiery delivery became more measured with advancing years and controversy surrounding the techniques of mass evangelism.
Graham avoided the scandals - sexual and financial - which dogged some contemporary televangelists through the decades.
A social conservative, he opposed same-sex marriage and abortion.
Graham preached his final revival meeting in New York in 2005 at the age of 86.
As the end of his life approached, he said: "I know that soon my life will be over. I thank God for it, and for all He has given me in this life. But I look forward to Heaven."
'Plus side of history' - tributes
In a tweet, President Donald Trump called him a special man.
He wrote: "The GREAT Billy Graham is dead. There was nobody like him! He will be missed by Christians and all religions. A very special man."
Former President Barack Obama said he was a guide to millions of Americans.
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