The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

ON Monday, February 19, The Nassau Guardian published a quote by renowned American evangelist Billy Graham. Interestingly, a few other Graham quotes appeared in that publication during the previous week.

On Wednesday, February 21, William Franklin Graham stepped into eternity to meet his Maker at the ripe age of 99 -- a mere eight months before what would have been his centennial on November 7. He passionately proclaimed the gospel in countless nations around the globe. It has often been pointed out by observers that the most influential preacher in US history had preached to more people than anyone else had in church history. He conducted over 400 crusades in 185 countries.

Graham preached to an estimated 1 million people in a crusade in Yoida Plaza in Seoul, South Korea in 1973. His 16 week crusade at the historic Madison Square Garden arena, New York City during the summer of 1957 attracted two million people, and remains one of the greatest religious revivals in US history. He was one of the pioneers in mass media evangelism.

Graham was a co-founder of Decision and Christianity Today magazines, two popular evangelical publications. His “Hour of Decision” radio programme was a trendsetter in evangelicalism and mass media. Now that he is in heaven, Graham will be reunited with his beloved Ruth, to whom he had been married for more than 60 years. He will also be reunited with his long time Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) colleagues T W and Grady Wilson, Cliff Barrows and George Beverly Shea.

Prominent preachers of the bygone years, such as Mordecai Ham, Donald G Barnhouse, W R Newell, E R Neighbour, Theodore Elsner, AC Gaeberlein, Oswald J Smith, E J Pace, Homer Rodeheaver, Gipsy Smith, Dr Bob Jones, Dr TW Watson and Harry Himmer, all played a role in influencing the young Graham during his formative years at Bob Jones College and Florida Bible Institute. Undoubtedly, these evangelical giants will be ecstatic to greet the tall skinny preacher from North Carolina in heaven.

Graham’s international outreach and fame opened doors for him to meet political luminaries and iconic figures such as Queen Elizabeth II, Winston Churchill, Indira Ghandi, Golda Meir, Boris Yeltsin, Pope John Paul II, Margaret Thatcher, C S Lewis, Karl Barth, Mikhail Gorbachev, Kim II Sung, Haile Selassie I, Muhammad Ali and Martin Luther King, Jr.

The former Youth for Christ evangelist and president of Northwestern Schools in Minneapolis also rubbed shoulders with former US Presidents Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John F Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H W Bush, Bill Clinton and George W Bush. Graham’s illustrious life spanned many historic milestones of the 20th century, including the Great Depression, World War II, the attack on Pearl Harbour, the Korean War, the assassinations of John F and Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr and Malcolm X; the 1973 Oil Crisis, the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal, the collapse of communist Soviet Union and the Berlin Wall; the First and Second Gulf Wars and 9/11.

To the aforementioned US commanders-in-chief, Graham represented a steady and calm presence whom they reposed their confidence in. In fact, Graham devoted nine chapters in his autobiography “Just As I Am” chronicling his relationship with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Sr and Clinton. The title of his autobiography was adapted from Charlotte Elliot’s famous hymn, and was routinely sang at the conclusion of Graham’s crusade sermons.

As a loyal friend of Martin Luther King, Jr, Graham helped to champion the cause of the Civil Rights Movement when it was very unpopular for white people to do so.

To demonstrate his commitment to ending racial segregation, Graham and his BGEA hired ethnic minorities. Ralph Bell, an African American evangelist, travelled extensively with Graham throughout the 1960s as an associate, much to the annoyance of white BGEA associates who were closet racists.

But Graham was a man of deep convictions, who believed wholeheartedly that the Bible was God’s infallible Word to man. This was an issue he wrestled with after former associate Charles Templeton pleaded with him to embrace the liberal view on the Bible.

I believe that The Nassau Guardian’s decision to post several of Graham’s quotes a mere few days before his passing was nothing more than God’s providential hand in using that esteemed publication to honour His loyal and faithful servant -- whom He knew was about to step into eternity. I would like to thank the editors of the Guardian for allowing themselves to be used by God. Graham will be greatly missed. My condolences to the Graham family and BGEA staff and associates.

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport, GB 

February 21, 2018.