William (Billy) Franklin Graham, Jr. is an American missionary who gained international fame for his epic crusade preaching and friendship with many US presidents.
Billy Graham: Biography
Religious leader and evangelical Christian Baptist was born on November 7, 1918 in Charlotte, North Carolina, to William Graham and Morrow Graham. He was the first of four children who grew up on their dairy farm. The early years of Billy Graham's life said little about the fact that one day he would preach the Christian gospel to 215 million people in more than 185 countries around the world. More people listened to him than anyone in history, not counting the millions he reached on radio, television and in books.
Graham's parents were strict Calvinists, but an unfamiliar itinerant preacher directed him to a deeply spiritual path. At the age of 16, Billy attended a series of revival meetings led by evangelist Mordecai Ham. Despite the fact that Graham was a good teenager, Ham's sermons about sin shocked the young man. After graduating from high school, he moved to Tennessee to attendconservative Christian school, Bob Jones College. But here he felt alienated from the rigid school doctrine and soon transferred to the Bible Institute of Florida. During his studies, Graham joined the Southern Baptist Convention Church, where he was ordained in 1939.
After graduating from the Bible Institute with a Bachelor of Theology degree, Billy moved to Illinois and entered Wheaton College for further spiritual study. Here he will meet his future wife, Ruth McKew Bell. She was the daughter of a missionary and lived with her family in China until the age of 17. After graduating in anthropology, Graham and Bell married on August 13, 1943. Together they raised five children.
Working with Christian youth
Graham briefly pastored First Baptist Church in Western Springs, Illinois. He then joined the Baptist missionary group Youth for Christ, which campaigned for the conversion of military personnel and youth to God. In 1947, Billy Graham became president of the Northwestern Schools, a group of Christian educational institutions in Minnesota. In 1948, he left the missionary group and concentrated on the schools until 1952, when he decided to go into preaching.
Charisma Preacher
Soon, many were drawn to the charismatic and heartfelt sermons of Billy Graham's gospel. In 1949, a group called "Christ for Greater Los Angeles" invited him to preach in the second most populous city in the United States. After Graham took part in the radio showStuart Hamblen, his popularity began to grow. The public filled the preacher's tents, and evangelistic services were extended for another five weeks. At the urging of newspaper tycoon William Hearst, newspapers across the country gave extensive coverage of the event.
Superstar Preacher
As a result, Billy Graham became a Christian superstar. Sociologists believe that his success was directly related to the cultural climate in the US after the end of World War II. Graham spoke out against the evils of communism, one of the greatest fears that gripped the American mind. In a 1954 interview, he stated that "either communism must die, or Christianity, because in reality it is a struggle between Christ and the Antichrist." With the advent of nuclear weapons, which demonstrated the fragility of human life, people turned to religion as a means of comfort, and Graham led their way.
Thus, he helped unify the country through its religious revival. By paying attention to the finer details of Christianity and using moderate doctrines, Graham made Baptism attractive, safe, even comfortable, and the media made his messages accessible to millions.
Televangelist
In order to expand and sustain the ministry, the preacher and his colleagues formed the Billy Graham Evangelical Association (BGBA). He began broadcasting his sermons on the radio during the Christian show Songs in the Night. He also hosted the weekly programon ABC's Decision Hour. Initially, 150 stations broadcast it, but then their number increased to 1200 across America.
The program eventually turned into a television show that ran for three years. The success of the preacher's radio and television programs speaks volumes about his role as a Christian media visionary. Billy Graham, who has been preached to millions around the globe, used the media as a vehicle to spread the gospel.
Mass Evangelism
With Graham's success, EAHBG opened numerous international offices and began releasing periodicals, records, cassettes, films and books. The association has also accepted invitations from religious leaders around the world to conduct evangelical "crusades" abroad. Representatives were sent there to reserve seats, organize volunteer choirs, and draw up lists of speakers. At the end of these events, the audience was invited to turn to Christ and meet with their spiritual guides.
New recruits received home Bible study manuals and referrals to local Baptist pastors. In the end, the EGBG began to broadcast these crusades on national television. In 1952, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association formed the Baptist Film Commission to disseminate personal conversion stories through films. EGBG has also acquired several radio stations across America to reach a wider audience with broadcasts of the preacher's radio show.
Billy Graham: books and magazines
Speaking of print media, in 1955 the EGBG launched Christianity Today. This magazine continues to be the leading organ for evangelical Christian Baptists. In 1958, the monthly magazine "Resolution" began to be printed. It published biblical studies, articles, church histories, and a chronicle of new "crusades". This magazine was published in Spanish, French and German. Books authored by Billy Graham - Peace with God (1953), The Secret of Happiness (1955, 1985), My Answer (1960), Angels: God's Secret Agents (1975), How to Be Born Again (1977), Holy Spirit (1978), Storm Warning (1992), Death and Life After (1994), Key to Personal Peace (2003), Journey: Living Faith in a Changing world” (2006), etc.
Impact and criticism
Graham's detractors criticized him for being too liberal and refusing to participate in politics. The fundamentalists disowned him after he denounced the violent actions of the anti-abortion group Operation Salvation. Theologian Reinhold Niebuhr called him "simplified", and Baptist Bob Jones believes that Graham did "more harm to the cause of Jesus Christ than any other living person". President Truman even called him a "liar." In 1972, some of the preacher's and Nixon's anti-Semitic comments were taped.
Yet the preacher's consistency has moved millions to heed his spiritual guidance, including Martin Luther King, Bono, Muhammad Ali andPresidents of the United States from Eisenhower to Bush. Gallup has named him one of the ten most respected people in the world 51 times. Contemporaries consider him a man with a sense of humor, open-minded, sincere, innocent and receptive.
Awards
Billy Graham received the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation Freedom Award, Congressional Gold Medal, Templeton Religious Progress Award, Big Brother Award and Speaker of the Year award. In addition, the National Conference of Christians and Jews awarded him an honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire for promoting understanding between faiths.
Seclusion
In 1992, the preacher announced that he had been diagnosed with hydrocephalus. His son William Franklin Graham III was elected as his father's successor as head of the EGBG after his departure. In 2005, Billy and his wife retired to their home in Montreat, North Carolina. Ruth passed away in 2007 from pneumonia and degenerative osteoarthritis. She is remembered by her husband, five children and 19 grandchildren. In 2008, the famous preacher turned 90.
In 2013, Graham distributed one of his latest sermons. In a video titled "My Hopeful America," he expressed his concerns about the nation's spiritual he alth. “Our country is in dire need of a spiritual awakening,” he said. “There were times when I cried as I moved from city to city, and I saw how far people had strayed from God.”
Interesting facts
Over the long years of Billy Graham's life in the majoritycases it was presented in a positive light. A Time reporter even called him "the pope of Protestant America." Another reporter from USA Today wrote that Graham "was a Baptist who didn't rip off millions (like Jim Becker), didn't deal with prostitutes (like Jimmy Swaggart), didn't build megachurches (like Joel Austin), didn't ran for president (like Pat Robertson) and did not organize a Christian political lobby (like Jerry Falwell).”
In November 2013, Billy Graham, who rarely leaves his home, attended his 95th birthday celebration in Asheville, North Carolina. About 900 people participated in the event.
