Billy Graham

Who is Billy Graham?

William Franklin "Billy" Graham, Jr. is an American evangelical Christian evangelist, ordained as a Southern Baptist minister, who rose to celebrity status in 1949 reaching a core constituency of white, middle-class, moderately conservative Protestants. He held large indoor and outdoor rallies; sermons were broadcast on radio and television, some still being re-broadcast today.

Graham was a spiritual adviser to several Presidents; he was particularly close to Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. During the civil rights movement, he began to support integrated seating for his revivals and crusades; in 1957 he invited Martin Luther King, Jr. to preach jointly at a revival in New York City. Graham bailed King out of jail in the 1960s when he was arrested in demonstrations.

Graham operates 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.

Famous Quotes:

• God proved His love on the Cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, I love you.
• A real Christian is a person who can give his pet parrot to the town gossip.
• Christians should never fail to sense the operation of an angelic glory. It forever eclipses the world of demonic powers, as the sun does a candle's light.
• Churchgoers are like coals in a fire. When they cling together, they keep the flame aglow; when they separate, they die out.
• I've read the last page of the Bible. It's all going to turn out all right.
• If a person gets his attitude toward money straight, it will help straighten out almost every other area in his life.
• America's founding fathers did not intend to take religion out of education. Many of the nation's greatest universities were founded by evangelists and religious leaders; but many of these have lost the founders concept and become secular institutions. Because of this attitude, secular education is stumbling and floundering.
• There is nothing wrong with men possessing riches. The wrong comes when riches possess men.
• A child who is allowed to be disrespectful to his parents will not have true respect for anyone.
• No man ever loved like Jesus. He taught the blind to see and the dumb to speak. He died on the cross to save us. He bore our sins. And now God says, Because He did, I can forgive you.