Posted on 11/06/2011 5:17:25 PM PST by NCjim
RALEIGH, North Carolina — For the Rev. Billy Graham, America's most famous evangelist across a career that lasted some six decades, the prospect of old age and death was for a long time something he tried not to think about, despite his convictions about the eternity that awaits human beings.
"I fought growing old in every way," Graham, who turns 93 on Monday, writes in the newly-published "Nearing Home," a book that ranges from Scripture quotations about the end of life to basic advice on financial planning. "I faithfully exercised and was careful to pace myself as I began to feel the grasp of Old Man Time. This was not a transition that I welcomed, and I began to dread what I knew would follow."
(Excerpt) Read more at wral.com ...
I went to one of his revivals when I was a young girl. He was so impressive. I always remembered that event. We went with a church group to see him.
“Graham did a great deal by simply avoiding scandal, sticking to his primary work (evangelism),
and being accountable with money.
(would that others had followed this pattern...)”
Amen to that!
I was lucky to go to the same college that he did -
Wheaton College. I was there after he was a student, but he returned every so often, and I worked with his sister-in-law on the school magazine. I have the greatest for him. He was the same in person as people saw him on T V.
Isn’t there some story about him turning sheep loose in one
of the buildings for a prank?
Happy Birthday, Mr. Graham!
I remember attending one of his crusades held at the Astrodome when I was about 8-9. Our church had gotten a group to attend and some had actually volunteered for the event.
I made an impact on many around us that night. As the offering plate was passed down our row and the person next to me handed it over I didn’t get a firm grasp on the plate, and I dropped it. It loudly banged against the cement floor and change went everywhere. My poor mother got on her knees in the dark looking for the money to try to put it back into the offering plate.
I will be praying for his pain to be relieved. What a great Christian. He never had a scandal. He always had a chaperone when woman were around in the ministry.
I think Pope John Paul II spoke to ten times the amount of people that Mr. Graham has hosted. A million here, a million there: that’s two weeks worth of his pontificate.
I found an interesting statement on Wiki: “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.” Awesome. I bet Mr. Graham doubled that number to 6.4 million (which is the size of JP II’s audience in Manila on 15 January 1995).
And what did he preach?
No dementia, just a lot of grace. Eph. 4:26
Oops. I meant Eph. 4:32
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