GRAHAM,
WILLIAM FRANKLIN “BILLY”

(b.November 7, 1918), an American evangelist and statesman. Since 1944, he has addressed crowds in North America, Europe, Africa, China, the Far East, Eastern Europe, and the former Soviet Union. Originally desiring to be a baseball player, he was converted at a revival meeting at the age of 16 and began preaching. He was ordained a Baptist minister, after having studied at Bob Jones University and the Florida Bible Institute. He attended Wheaton College and served as pastor in Western Springs, Illinois. In 1949, he began serving as the vice-president of Youth for Christ International, and president of Northwestern Schools. He established the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in Minneapolis, Minnesota; wrote books and columns; produced movies; aired crusades on radio and television; and broadcast his Hour of Decision program which is heard by millions internationally.

Dr. Billy Graham, who has had the unique opportunity of being friends and giving confidential counsel to every U.S. President from Harry S. Truman to Bill Clinton, was presented with the Congressional Gold Medal in 1996.

He wrote in The Chicago American, April 16, 1967:

The most eloquent prayer is the prayer through hands that heal and bless. The highest form of worship is the worship of unselfish Christian service. The greatest form of praise is the sound of consecrated feet seeking out the lost and helpless.3782

Billy Graham expressed:

God has given us two hands—one for receiving and the other for giving.3783

William Franklin “Billy” Graham stated:

The ethical and moral principles of Christianity are found all the way through the Declaration of Independence. It was on July 4, 1776 that fifty men gathered in Independence Hall in Philadelphia to declared this nation free from Great Britain … Down through the years God has mightily blessed America.3784

Billy Graham stated:

Bad politicians are elected by good people who don’t vote.3785

In discussing miracles, Billy Graham stated:

We have to go back to the basics, Jesus performed these miracles to prove his divinity, and so I accept them, and I accept them by faith. I can’t prove everything scientifically. But when I do accept the Scripture by faith, it has an impact in my own personal life, and I can apply the principles Jesus taught to everyday life.

So to me the miracles of Christ are essential. They are not essential to salvation but to one’s Christian living.3786

On April 22, 1954, Ruth Graham, Billy Graham’s wife stated:

Just pray for a thick skin and a tender heart.3787

On May 31, 1954, after meeting Sir Winston Churchill, Billy Graham stated:

I felt as if I were shaking hands with Mr. History.3788

Billy Graham’s favorite benediction, as recorded in Newsweek, February 1, 1954, was:

May the Lord bless you real good.3789

On December 12, 1955, in a comment on establishing his national headquarters in Washington, D.C., Billy Graham stated:

I just want to lobby for God.3790

On March 21, 1956, in a news conference, President Eisenhower stated:

Now, this is what I see in Billy Graham: A man who clearly understands that any advance in the world has got to be accompanied by a clear realization that man is, after all, a spiritual being. He teaches, he carries his religion to the far corners of the earth, trying to promote peace, trying to promote mediation instead of conflict, tolerance instead of prejudice. Now, he does that in this country, he does it abroad. Therefore, because of the very great crowds that he attracts to listen to him, I am very much interested in Billy Graham’s activities, but for that reason only. I have never discussed with him any plan for mobilizing nations.3791

In introducing evangelist Billy Graham to a rally in southern California, Governor Ronald Reagan commented:

There is no need in our land today greater than the need to rediscover our spiritual heritage.

Why is a representative of government here? To welcome with humble pride a man whose mission in life has been to remind us that in all our seeking, in all our confusion, the answer to each problem is to be found in the simple words of Jesus of Nazareth, who urged us to love one another.3792

Evangelist Billy Graham lauded Pope John Paul II’s 11th papal encyclical, entitled “Evangelium Vitae”—“Gospel of Life,” issued April of 1995, as:

A forceful and thoughtful defense of the sacredness of human life in the face of the modern world’s reckless march toward violence and needless death.3793

On Thursday, May 2, 1996, during the celebration of the National Day of Prayer, Dr. Billy Graham, and his wife Ruth, were presented with the distinguished Congressional Gold Medal. This award, having been given to only 263 individuals in the history of the United States, is the highest honor which can be bestowed on an American citizen, the first recipient being President George Washington. Dr. Graham stated in his acceptance speech, entitled “The Hope for America”:

Mr. Vice President, Speaker Newt Gingrich, Majority Leader Bob Dole, Senator Strom Thurmond, Members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, distinguished guests and friends. …

Ruth and I are overwhelmed by the very kind words that have been spoken today, and especially by the high honor you have just bestowed on both of us. It will always be one of the high points of our lives, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for this unforgettable event. We are grateful for all of you in the Senate and House who have had a part in it; and President Clinton for his support in signing the resolution.

As we read the list of distinguished Americans who have received the Congressional Gold Medal in the past—beginning with George Washington in 1776—we know we do not belong in the same company with them, and we feel very unworthy. One reason is because we both know this honor ought to be shared with those who have helped us over the years—some of whom are here today. As a young boy I remember gazing at that famous painting of Washington crossing the Delaware. Only later did it occur to me that Washington did not get across that river by himself. He had the help of others—and that has been true of us as well. Our ministry has been a team effort, and without our associates and our family we never could have accomplished anything.

I am especially grateful my wife Ruth and I are both being given this honor. No one has sacrificed more than Ruth has, or been more dedicated to God’s calling for the two of us.

However, I would not be here today receiving this honor if it were not for an event that happened to me many years ago as a teenager on the outskirts of Charlotte, North Carolina. An evangelist came through our town for a series of meetings. I came face-to-face with the fact that God loved me, Billy Graham, and had sent His Son to die for my sin. He told how Jesus rose from the dead to give us hope of eternal life.

I never forgot a verse of Scripture that was quoted, “As many as received Him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to then that believe on His name” (John 1:12, KJV). That meant that I must respond to God’s offer of mercy and forgiveness. I had to repent of my own sins and receive Jesus Christ by faith.

When the preacher asked people to surrender their lives to Christ, I responded. I had little or no emotion; I was embarrassed to stand with a number of other people when I knew some of my school peers saw me; but I meant it. And that simple repentance and open commitment to Jesus Christ changed my life. If we have accomplished anything at all in life since then, however, it has only been because of the grace and mercy of God.

As Ruth and I receive this award we know that some day we will lay it at the feet of the One we seek to serve.

As most of you know, the President has issued a proclamation for this day, May 2, 1996, to be a National Day of Prayer. Here in Washington you will see and hear of people throughout the District of Columbia praying today. It is encouraging and thrilling that here, and across the country, people have committed themselves to pray today for our leaders, our nation, our world, and for ourselves as individuals. I am so glad that before business each morning, both the House of Representatives and the Senate have a prayer led by Chaplain Ogilvie of the Senate, who has had so much to do with this event today, and Chaplain Jim Ford, who used to be chaplain at West Point when I went almost every year to bring a message to the cadets.

Exactly 218 years ago today—on May 2, 1778—the first recipient of this award, George Washington, issued a General order to the American people. He said, “The … instances of Providential Goodness which we have experienced and which have now almost crowned our labors with complete success demand from us … the warmest returns of Gratitude and Piety to the Supreme Author of all Good.” It was a message of hope and trust, and it also was a challenge for the people to turn to God in repentance and faith.

We are standing at a similar point in our history as less than four years from now the world will enter the Third Millennium. What will it hold for us? Will it be a new era of unprecedented peace and prosperity? Or will It be a continuation of our descent into new depths of crime, oppression, sexual immorality, and evil?

Ironically, many people heralded the dawn of the 20th century with optimism. The steady march of scientific and social progress, they believed, would vanquish our social and economic problems. Some optimistic theologians even predicted the 20th Century would be “The Christian Century,” as humanity followed Jesus’ exhortation to love your neighbor as yourself. But no other century has been ravaged by such devastating wars, genocides and tyrannies. During this century we have witnessed the outer limits of human evil.

Our mood on the brink of the 21st Century is far more somber. Terms like “ethnic cleansing” “random violence” and “suicide bombing” have become part of our daily vocabulary.

Look at our own society. There is much, of course, that is good about America, and we thank God for our heritage of freedom and our abundant blessings. America has been a nation that has shown a global compassion that the rest of the world seemingly does not understand. After World War II, because we had the Atom Bomb, we had the opportunity to rule the world, but America turned from that and instead helped rebuild the countries of our enemies.

Nevertheless, something has happened since those days and there is much about America that is no longer good. You know the problems as well as I do: racial and ethnic tensions that threaten to rip apart our cities and neighborhoods; crime and violence of epidemic proportions in most of our cities; children taking weapons to school; broken families; poverty; drugs; teenage pregnancy; corruption; the list is almost endless. Would the first recipients of this award even recognize the society they sacrificed to establish? I fear not. We have confused liberty with license—and we are paying the awful price. We are a society poised on the brink of self-destruction.

But what is the real cause? We call conferences and consultations without end, frantically seeking solutions to all our problems; we engage in shuttle diplomacy, and yet in the long run little seems to change. Why is that? What in the problem? The real problem is within ourselves.

Almost three thousand years ago King David, the greatest king Israel ever had, sat under the stars and contemplated the reasons for the human dilemma. He listed three things that the world’s greatest scientists and sociologists have not been able to solve, and it seems the more we know, and the greater our technology, the more difficulties we are in. In perhaps the best-known passage of the Old Testament, Psalm 23, he touches on the three greatest problems of the human race.

First, David said, is a problem of emptiness. David wrote, “The Lord in my shepherd; I shall not want.” He was not talking just about physical want, but spiritual want.

I stood on the campus of one of our great universities some time ago, and I asked the Dean. “What is the greatest problem on your campus?” He replied in one word: “Emptiness.” The human heart craves for meaning, and yet we live in a time of spiritual emptiness that haunts millions.

“Nirvana” is the Hindu word for someone who has arrived into the state of perpetual bliss. Media reports said that Kurt Cobain, the NIRVANA rock group’s leader, was the pacesetter for the nineties, and the “savior of rock and roll.” But he said the song in the end which best described his state of mind was “I hate myself and I want to die!” And at age 27 he committed suicide with a gun.

Second, is the problem of guilt. David wrote, “He restoreth my soul, He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness.” Down inside we all know that we have not measured up even to our own standards, let alone God’s standard.

Third, David pointed to the problem of death. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.” Death is the one common reality of all human life. Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown did not realize his tine had come when he stepped on that plane in Croatia a few weeks ago.

From time to time I have wandered through Statuary Hall and looked at all those statues of some of the greatest men and women in our nation’s history. But one thing it true of every one of them, they are all dead.

Yes, these three things—emptiness, guilt, and the fear of death—haunt our souls. We frantically seek to drown out their voices, driving ourselves into all sorts of activities from sex to drugs or tranquilizers—and yet they are still there.

But we must probe deeper. Why is the human heart this way? The reason is because we are alienated from our Creator. That was the answer David found to these three problems: “The Lord in my shepherd.” This is why I believe the fundamental crisis of our time is a crisis of the spirit. We have lost sight of the moral and spiritual principles on which this nation was established—principles drawn largely from the Judeo-Christian tradition as found in the Bible.

What is the cure? Is there any hope? Ruth and I have devoted our lives to the deep conviction that the answer is yes. There is hope! Our lives can be changed, and our world can be changed. The Scripture says, “You must be born again.” You could have a spiritual rebirth right here today.

What must be done? Let me briefly suggest three things. First, we must repent. In the depths of the American Civil War, Abraham Lincoln called for special days of public repentance and prayer. Our need for repentance is no less today. What does repentance mean? Repentance means to change our thinking and our way of living. It means to turn from our sins and to commit ourselves to God and His will. Over 2700 years ago the Old Testament prophet Isaiah declared “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call on Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him, and to our God, for He will freely pardon” (Isaiah 55:6–7, NIV). Those words are as true today as they were over two and a hall millennia ago.

Second, we must commit our lives to God, and to the moral and spiritual truths that have made this nation great. Think how different our nation would be if we sought to follow the simple and yet profound injunctions of the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. But we must respond to God, Who in offering us forgiveness, mercy, supernatural help, and the power to change.

Third, our commitment must be translated Into action—in our homes, in our neighborhoods, and in our society. Jesus taught there are only two roads in life. One in the broad road that is easy and well-traveled, but which leads to destruction. The other, He said, is the narrow road of truth and faith that at times is hard and lonely, but which leads to life and salvation.

As we face a new millennium, I believe America has gone a long way down the wrong road. We must turn around and go back and change roads. If ever we needed God’s help, it is now. If ever we needed spiritual renewal, it in now. And it can begin today in each one of our lives, as we repent before God and yield ourselves to Him and His Word.

What are YOU going to do? The other day I heard the story of a high school principal who held an assembly for graduating seniors, inviting a recruiter from each branch of the service, Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, to each give a twelve minute presentation on career opportunities. They offered to the students. He stressed the importance of each staying within their allotted time.

The Army representative went first, and was so eloquent that he got a standing ovation, but went eighteen minutes. Not to be outdone, the Navy presentation was equally superb, but took nineteen minutes. Air Force then gave a sterling presentation, which lasted twenty minutes. By now, the principal was irate, and admonished the Marine recruiter that he had only three minutes before the students had to leave for the next class!

During the first two minutes of his shortened time, the Marine didn’t say a word, but individually and carefully studied the faces of each student. Finally, he said, “I’ve looked across this crowd and I see three or four individuals who have what it takes to be a United States Marine. If you think you are one of them, I want to see you down front immediately after the assembly.

Who do you think drew the biggest crowd! This afternoon, as I look out across this distinguished group gathered here, I see more than a few men and women who have what it takes, under God, to lead our country forward “through the night” into the next millennium – individuals who represent civic and governmental authority—as well as doctors, lawyers, clergy, artists and media.

Again, Ruth and I are deeply humbled by this award, and we thank you for all that it represents. We pledge to continue the work that God has called us to do as long as we live. Thank you.3794

On Monday, January 20, 1997, on Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C., the Reverend Billy Graham delivered the invocation just prior to the second inauguration of President Clinton, who swore into office with his hand upon their family Bible, held by his wife, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, open to Isaiah 58:12. Dr. Graham stated:

President Clinton, Mrs. Clinton, Vice President Gore, Mrs. Gore, I’m going to ask that we all bow our heads in prayer.

Our Father and our God, we thank you today for the privilege of coming into your presence on this historic and solemn occasion. We thank you for your gracious hand which has preserved us as a nation. We praise you for the peaceful continuity of government that this inauguration represents.

We recall that the Bible says, “Except the Lord build a house, they labor in vain that build it.” He also said that to whom much has been given, much shall be required. We look gratefully to the past and thank you that from the very foundations of America, you granted our forefathers courage and wisdom as they trusted in you.

So we ask today that you would inspire us by their example. Where there’s been failure, forgive us; where there’s been progress, confirm; where there’s been success, give us humility and teach us to follow your instructions more closely as we enter the next century. Give to all those to whom you have entrusted leadership today a desire to seek your will and to do it.

So we ask your blessing on President Clinton and his wife, Hillary, and their daughter, Chelsea, and upon Vice President Gore and his wife, Tipper, and their children. Give to all our leaders the vision of what you desire America to become and the wisdom to accomplish it and the strength to cross the bridges into the 21st century. We pray also for the members of the House and the Senate, for the Supreme Court, and for all who bear responsibility of leadership in this nation, which is blessed with such ethnic diversity.

We have not solved all of the social problems of our time such as drugs and racism. Technology and social engineering have not solved the basic problems of human greed, pride, intolerance and selfishness. We need your insight, we need your compassion, we need your strength. As both President Clinton and Senator Dole urged us in the recent presidential campaign, may this be a time of coming together to help us deal with the problems we face. Oh, Lord, help us to be reconciled first to you and secondly to each other.

May Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream finally come true for all of us. Help us to learn our courtesy to our fellow countrymen, that comes from the one who taught us that “whatever you want me to do to you, do also to them.” Remind us today that you have shown us what is good and what you require of us: to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God.

We ask that as a people, we may humble ourselves before you and seek your will for our lives and for this great nation. Help us in our nation to work as never before to strengthen our families and to give our children hope and a moral foundation for the future. So may our desire be to serve you and, in so doing, serve one another. This we pray in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.3795

In 1986, Richard Halverson, Chaplain of the U.S. Senate, stated:

When Billy Graham comes to the Capitol, suddenly, the Senate and Congress are unimportant. To me, it’s a miracle. Wherever Billy is, there is the gospel of Christ. Everybody knows what he stands for, so he says it without a word. … I wish that were true of more of us.3796