"Filled stadiums and Counseled Presidents" and accomplished little other than self-enrichment and aggrandizement.
14
Yet another false prophet who successfully sold Americans on the "Blue Pill", also known as the pyramid scheme/ system of control that is Christianity. It's because of people like this that we find ourselves with the likes of Trump in the White House.
49
An Elmer Gantry embodiment. He certainly bamboozled a great many people, and his son is the same. Acorn didn’t fall far from the tree, as they say.
13
Graham, as a religious leader, promoted the falsehoods of religion. His net worth was 25 million dollars at the end of his life. He may have stood with Martin Luther King and promoted some other worthy causes, but like all evangelicals, he was a charlatan who promoted a primitive belief system that milked his followers of their money and offered them the false comforts of a deity who cared for them and grants them eternal life. My condolences to his family at their loss but Graham was not a great man. He was just another phony preacher.
35
Friends and Family of Billy Graham: Today's news on NBC's Today Show, continues our "most important evangelist of the 20th century" work--choose Jesus Christ Savior and Lord of your life, be at "Peace With God" for we are "Nearing Home"! Let us walk with you, working for more peace and plenty here, plus planning to celebrate Billy Graham's 100th birthday in heaven! May we all be more serious about our faith, like former President George W. Bush, who with Billy Graham's persuasive efforts, became more serious about his faith and quit drinking alcohol. May we each day live a "Crusade for Christ" for the many in need of love and charity. May the hearts and minds of North Koreans invite Jesus Christ into their lives, plus be allowed to be a part of our great Christian faith, with officially sanctioned churches, small Christian grow groups in homes and public places. May more "canvas cathedrals" rally thousands of people in Africa, India, Middle Eastern, and all countries. May Olympic stadiums in China, Greece, Korea, our USA, and everywhere, be filled with Christians, new and revived, find Jesus the Christ and a solid gold faith. May 10,000 and more evangelists, be allowed to present the Bible's Gospel message of salvation and hope, God's great love for us sinners, and our Soon Coming King and Savior, Jesus the Saving Christ, for all those who simply believe and continue believing and overcoming, with the Holy Spirit's guidance and power. God's best blessings and comfort.
4
In my opinion, Mr Graham is directly responsible for the sad state of politics and religion in America. He had no problem mixing religion with politics which causes there to be no compromise due to it being "Gods will." This is part of the reason Congress can't do anything and that all politicians have to profess a faith in God.
He taught the prosperity bible which is the antithesis to the real bible. But he had to teach this in order for people not to call him a hypocrite since he wasn't following the true bible. Many preachers have followed him since conning hard working people out of their money. Part of the reason so many are turning away from religion is because these preachers aren't teaching what is in the book but what they want the book to say. People like Joel Osteen lock their churches up when they are most in need. And Billy Graham was the leader of these men.
35
You spend way too much time on the Dark Web.
6
Maybe he came to realize the damage he did to this country, and that explains the retreat to Montreat, NC.
1
Franklin Graham hasn't fallen far from the tree. His support of Trump is as repugnant as his father's support of Nixon.
71
Billy Graham was a charismatic speaker and actor, but there is no mention in his obituary of the Billy Graham charity to help people in need and he probably collected millions at his Crusades. The Grahams lived on a 200-acre mountain retreat in Montreat, N.C. Billy Graham was a business venture preaching simplistic fairy tales to the naive. The revival meetings were shows and he was a great showman. At a young age he seemed to have realized his charismatic power and that he could make a good living preaching to the so-called faithful on a large scale. He felt a kindred spirit with Nixon and in 1957 vice president Nixon addressed a capacity crowd at Yankee Stadium for the closing meeting of Mr. Graham’s New York crusade. (The first amendment talks about the separation of church and state.) And the Nixon tapes showed that he was a closeted anti-Semite. He showed his true beliefs on that tape. So good bye to the likes of Billy Graham.
34
I'm sure he didn't intend this, but the path he put America resulted in an intolerant, sickeningly corrupt public movement. I wish he had spoken up against that corruption more.
29
As a lapsed southern Baptist, in my young years, I laughed at Billy Graham jokes and took part in making fun of him. I routinely criticized fundamentalists Christians and literal readers of the Bible. But in my more mature years, after becoming an Episcopalian and therefore a "progressive" Christian, I began to see Billy Graham in a different light. I've read a great number of books on spirituality as well as having spiritual experiences and when watching Billy Graham on Larry King's show, I recognized many things that Billy Graham said as mature spirituality which is to say, he has transcended many cultural beliefs that keep people earth bound. Cultural beliefs that blind people to the message of Love preached by Jesus, a blindness which is a prism from which most of us view the world unless we make great efforts to rise above. For example, cultural wars in which people who claim to be christians actually try to say that unfettered gun rights are more important that the lives of children and their teachers and countless other victims. I now view Billy Graham as a soul whose piercingly bright light illuminated millions and whose message of the love of Jesus overshadowed his remaining cultural biases.
91
Is a "progressive" Christian for abortion? I see, identity Christianity too! as if we don't have enough with identity politics!
1
Well said, m'am.
2
Well his kid who runs the show now sure did not learn the lesson about "mature sprituality".
5
In 1944, the members of the Village (Baptist) Church in Western Springs, IL raised the $85 per week that was necessary to air Graham’s radio program “Songs in the Night.” Each program began with the words, “Coming to you from the friendly church in the pleasant community of Western Springs.” -- “Images of America: Western Springs, Illinois,” Betsy J. Green, Arcadia Publishing, 2002
5
An Elmer Gantry if there ever was one.
I’m hoping his influence recedes now that he’s gone.
156
At this point his influence has shrunk quite considerably in the face of bigger and louder phonies with more media clout. He pretty much started the "not My Jesus" movement by himself.
11
Billy Graham another Elmer Gantry. No, that would be Joel Osteen. Graham wasn't in it for the money.
3
What did he do about safety regulations concerning guns?
7
Was dragged to more than one of his stadium shows where bad Broadway mixed with high school pep rally. His commitment to ending racism, poverty or the second class status of women was zilch. His love of power and powerful slugs who had few if any Christian values was well documented as well as his endless need to produce bales of cash. I was disgusted at the age of twelve and now I am 71 - the disgust has not evaporated. Throughout the years I have seen many good and bad pastors in our country but never one that more worshiped or courted the money-changers. Or more succinctly, not my Jesus.
318
Merely human is what it always comes down to. For there are no luminously religious men and/or women, no matter what they, themselves, and theirs might say. However, there are an infinite number of know-it-alls, you can be certain of that.
What else can you read in that fist and impeccable Wall Street suit and tie and the immensely confident, finely coifed, wave of hair about to break atop an unwrinkled forehead like a sign from Heaven? All I can say is, as they say on the islands, "Eddie would go," and go he would, unknown, disdained, yet gutsy and honest and willing to die for the pure joy of being alive.
Roland Barthes wrote about his reaction to "Billy Graham at the Vel D'Hiv" stadium in Paris: paraphrased, if God speaks with the voice of Rev. Graham it must be acknowledged that God is quite stupid." But QE2 evidently responded more positively. The Rev. Will Campbell wrote an open letter to Graham during Vietnam/Nixon years that cut to the bone of Graham's idolatries. Still, his son Franklin has fallen far from the tree, and Billy should not be blamed for all of that, as Ezekiel 18 says.
Hello Max --
Perhaps you are mistaken about Graham's commitment to ending racism.
In an otherwise quite critical column just out George Will writes:
"Regarding race, this North Carolinian was brave, telling a Mississippi audience in 1952 that, in Wacker’s words, “there was no room for segregation at the foot of the cross.” In 1953, he personally removed the segregating ropes at a Chattanooga crusade. After the Supreme Court’s 1954 desegregation ruling, Graham abandoned the practice of respecting local racial practices."
5
The comments I see tell me clearly that those who comment in these pages can be very critical. Billy Graham would only have one comment for them: Jesus loves you!
4
Even though I am not an adherent of Mr. Graham's style of Christianity, I believe he was a good person who influenced many to live better lives. He pioneered new technologies to spread his message and was very very successful at it. He did not personally enjoy tremendous riches from his work, as many of the evangelical "Christian" ministers do today.
Whatever sins he may have committed (We ALL sin...) at least he was not a hypocrite.
I suspect he is having some interesting conversations where he is now.
7
Got over the religion thing a long, long time ago. Didn't like him a long, long time ago, and still didn't like him and don't like his hypocritical family. And I never heard him called "America's pastor." America doesn't have a "pastor." We should recommit to being a secular nation. And enough hypocrisy from the evangelical, religious trump and republicans. When they start acting like the christians they profess to be, perhaps I'll take notice.
13
Billy Graham was certainly a larger than life character in the country's cultural history, but his mixing together with a desire for the trappings of celebrity and welcome links to Nixon's White House, made him a sort of jaded figure. I became aware of Graham during the 60s because my father, a Unitarian minister at the time, was critical of Graham's stance on civil rights. Certainly Graham allowed blacks, and certainly he verbally condemned racism, but he never used his position to lead or protest out of moral concern for black people who were being whipped, hosed, beaten, murdered, and jailed by Southern authorities. A young fellow minister, James Reeb, traveled out of conviction to Birmingham, Alabama in March 1965. This was the time of Martin Luther King's activism in creating a movement to end segregation in the South. White hostility was everywhere, and as Reeb and a few others walked in the streets singing songs, a white man came up behind Reeb and struck him in the back of the head with a steel pipe. Reeb, in his early 30s, married with children, died at a local hospital. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave the eulogy for Reeb, declaring, ''James Reeb was murdered by the indifference of every minister of the gospel who has remained silent behind the safe security of stained glass windows." He must have had Graham in his thoughts because Graham said nothing. My father could never forget his friend nor forgive Graham's deafening silence.
7
Why is he being honored? He made his name and fortune on selling a fiction as truth.
6
Too bad Billy Graham didn't teach his children his values. Franklin Graham is a hatemonger and the worst kind of evangelical. Calling for prosecution of gay people. He's firmly in Trump's camp. Graham's daughter, Anne Graham is like her brother. Your greatest legacy is what you pass on through your children to make the world a better place.
6
We need fewer Grahams and more Berrigans.
7
Malcolm X once noted that Billy Graham was a 'white nationalist". Billy was much worse than that.
Graham opposed John F. Kennedy because he was Catholic and Mitt Romney because he was Mormon. Graham was anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim. Graham malignly mixed his faith and politics breaching the barrier between church and state subject to his own prideful advancement.
While Graham managed to live 60 years longer than the 39 year old martyr Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. he accomplished far less of lasting meaningful humble humane lasting moral empathetic human impact.
10
Even as a child growing up in Northeastern Ohio, where the airwaves were thick with televangelists, I was skeptical. It seemed to me these people were primarily after money and power. They reveled in their ability to manipulate crowds and fill their pockets. I think Graham was sincere in his own beliefs, but he encouraged generations to embrace a primitive and toxic us vs. them stance, taken many steps further by his corrupt, hypocritical, arrogant son Franklin. As someone who hasn't been saved, I'm at least comforted by the knowledge I won't have to share the afterlife with Mr. Graham and his son.
8
Re: "...His death was confirmed by Jeremy Blume, a spokesman for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association..."
I'll NOT mourn Mr. Graham's passing...
Last night's rebroadcast of his infamous conversation with the late criminal, R.M. Nixon, ('Jews have too much, {political?}, power'; paraphrased), reminds me why I abandoned my, (pedophile, riddled), Xian faith, circa '69!
It's WAY, PAST, time for 'religious' folks of all creeds to realize: the tidal wave of true_believer_deficits, multiplied by the evaporation of clerical careers in ALL 'Us-Vs.-Them' creeds...has doomed those creeds to (Neo_Darwinian) extinction* via passive attrition!
As a U.S. citizen, I've NO obligation to accept-/-retain ANY faith! I can mix - match theologies, 'as the spirit, so moves'.
NO single faith, including my, ('current'), Norse_Celtic_Rite Paganism has a corner on the 'issues-/-answers of the day' market! Abrahamic Monotheism...
as espoused by Mr. Graham, includes 'eternal damnation' for non-/-other believers as a central idea.
ALL such (exclusionary) theologies serve each, 'N, every Jihadist who DARES, take upon, themselves the awesome, (yet, mistaken), decision to usurp the Deity-/-Deities by 'punishing' the rest of us! It's NOT academic: I LOST 359 at 1-WTC...
I'll close by noting: jihadism ISN'T going away, any time soon, as evidenced by the 16 yrs, 'N, counting Iraq_pillage!
Otherwise...
Blessed, Be Kept!
*(Neo_Darwinian: 'Cultural', Vs. 'Biologic' change)
3
Billy Graham deserves a more diligent and expansive overview historically. He was able to access the very heart of American political power for decades. His influence is greatly underestimated and thought largely to be in the spiritual realm. Time and insightful investigation will show a vastly different man as his influence was huge and thoroughly infused with a fear driven view of the world and hate for anyone or religion that was different. He made a fortune on America's back and in exchange has left his poisonous views and their resulting destructive effects to be dealt by others.
3
Any religion that proselytizes, considers its Way the only Way, its Truth the only Truth and that its duty to God and religion is to impose that Way and Truth on Others can not be considered "humble".
Nor can that religion's adherents.
6
If there is a God, Graham exploited Him cynically. He became a millionaire and, of course, never paid a penny in any type of tax. Not federal, nor state, nor local, nor property tax.
Did he and his followers not drive on our roads, attend our public schools, etc. ?
I think it is high time both non-profit and religious organizations paid their fair share of taxes...just like the rest of us mere mortals (or should I say 'suckers'?).
8
Billy Graham is dead and like most of the charismatic preachers, he died with a net worth of millions. In this case, $25 million. And where did this money come from.....from the poor who were expected to give at every sermon. Kind of like paying your way to heaven. In the middle ages, the Catholic Church did this; it was called Indulgence and led directly to the Reformation, as well as to a very rich Catholic Church. Today, these rich preachers buy fancy homes, fancy cars, and huge edifices to their egos in the form of monster church buildings. With so many homeless and poor people, isn’t it about time for another Reformation to tear down these edifices, both real and virtual, Catholic and Protestant, not to mention the worshipers of money and greed, and start taking care of the poor as Jesus told us to do?
16
Billy Graham was part of my adolescence, as a child in a family in a fundamentalist Presbyterian church. Naive and impressionable in middle school (1959-60), I found my general fear of Communism manipulated by the ostensible promise held out at local Youth for Christ rallies. They felt compelling and hopeful to me. But by high school graduation, I had begun to look at the world more deeply. At college in the heart of the Sixties, I moved on to a progressive mindset. Reading today what I regard as indictments of Billy Graham in this obituary--his remarks about Jews, his closeness with Nixon, his attitude toward gays, and more--I cringe and shake my head. Nevertheless, I feel that he was a genuine enough man to re-examine his own stances as he went along, a big enough man to apologize--and possibly grow, an honest and straightforward enough man to strive to learn the lessons taught by the Jesus he worshipped. He was sincere in establishing moral standards in his life, and I am moved to honor his passing.
11
Who can forget his stirring heart-felt cries against racism? Or the way he tore into the idea of mindless accumulation of objects and things? Do you remember when he called Richard Nixon out in the Oval Office for being a bigot? Its not easy acknowledging that one's duty to god is pretty much being a middle class Southern white American, but Mr Graham told it like it is.
8
There has never been anything more destructive to Thomas Jeffersons vision for a progressive agrarian united states than conservative, evangelical christianity—more specifically their involvement in political crusades. Ever since Nixon flipped the south republican from racist rhetoric...and Reagan/ralph reed, Jim Bakker—embracing the new republican party its been a relentless hate-filled political machine. George HW bush and thousand points of light, W and his faith based initiatives....a good 3rd of america bathes in fundamentalist bigotry, couched in this virulent form—and perversion of jesus christ..as a catalyst for ushering in libertarian economics. Luckily their pews are emptying out among gen y and millennials with their scam and hate exposed. we can only hope america will be able to put this cancer into remission and begin to repair the damage calvinism has reeked on this nation on gays, woman, blacks,hispanics, muslims, poor people etc
12
"Just like Billy Sunday, in shotgun ragtime band."
Pretty much sums the guy up, what with his anti-Semite views and prostitution of himself to the likes of Nixon. He had a reported net worth of $25 million and lived on a 200-acre spread. You know what they say about camels and eyes of needles.
"I have often said that the first thing I am going to do when I get to heaven is ask, 'Why me, Lord?'" Seems a bit presumptuous. Replace the "when" with "if," and good luck. He has much 'splaining to do before the gates swing open. It takes, I think, more than cavorting with celebrities and giving sermons to be a man of God.
42
Happy he will not be around to push his homophobic dogma on any more people. I very much doubt he did more good in his life than harm.
37
Hmmm...."Returning home with a friend that night, Mr. Graham said, he thought: “Now I’ve gotten saved. Now whatever I do can’t unsave me. Even if I killed somebody, I can’t ever be unsaved now.”
Sounds familiar......
32
Matthew 19:23-26. Good luck Franklin, you'll need it!
4
Please rest in peace. Life goes on. You've done what you believed as your sacred mission.
4
There is more than a little irony in seeing this product of William Randolph Hearst celebrated in America's newspaper of record. Hearst elevated Graham to his podium, from which he launched a form of populist religion that comported well with Hearst's program of using raw emotion to influence the American government on major issues of policy. Fake news and fake religion were a match made in heaven ... or so they claimed.
15
rev. graham emitted not one peep during the two chief moral crises of the day, civil rights and vietnam, unlike his social gospel colleagues who put themselves in the line-of-fire to stand up for what's right.
29
I think Bob Dylan put it best: "This guy was like rock 'n' roll personified — volatile, explosive. He had the hair, the tone, the elocution — when he spoke, he brought the storm down. Clouds parted. Souls got saved, sometimes 30 or 40,000 of them. If you ever went to a Billy Graham rally back then, you were changed forever".
12
This country could use someone like Billy Graham today. We have lost our way, our conscience, and our moral direction. He filled that void for a long time.
12
Rest In Peace Rev. Graham. You work is done.
10
I can't get past his privately expressed anti-semitism (note: Jesus was Jewish) or regressive views on homosexuality (from his own website):
"It must be emphasized that even if a biological predisposition to homosexuality in some people exists, it would not change God’s opposition to the behavior. Neither would it change the fact that through the transforming power of Jesus Christ freedom from sinful behavior is always available.
In addition, many strugglers discover growing heterosexual attractions as they address underlying problems with the help of competent Christian support and counseling.
For a practical guide to overcoming homosexuality..."
Jesus didn't judge, Rev. Graham. He eschewed material comforts and humbly preached his message — something televangelist-authors, seeking adulation and revenue on a massive scale, seem entirely unfamiliar with. I don't admire 'faith' built on hypocrisy.
54
In the spring of 1985 I was a confused 18 year old young man recently expelled from a Massachusetts boarding school who had begun to pray a simple prayer to God in the months before I attended a Graham meeting in Hartford CT in May of that year. That prayer was something like this: "God help me to know the truth-can you fix my broken life?" Through Billy Graham's ministry that night in Hartford it became clear that my/humanity's' universal equality of brokenness is fully and uniquely addressed through Christ's death and resurrection-removing the sin that had been an otherwise insurmountable barrier to fully accessing God. This was not accomplished by an appeal to intellect from Mr. Graham though that was present-it was accomplished by a powerful spiritual encounter with God. Billy Graham was a human like any other man or woman but I am forever indebted to him that he had made himself available to show me the love of God contained in the gospel of Christ.
32
I would love to see his face when he realized it was all a story to get over the fear of dying.
20
Obviously, the man was not perfect. But it is disappointing that the proportion of laudatory commentary in this obituary was similar to that in the recent NYT obituary of Hugh Hefner (who somehow escaped severe criticism in the face of numerous accusations, as if holding someone responsible for sexual harassment started with the Weinstein reporting a week later).
Graham did a great deal of good for many, many individuals. Our country is better off in many ways for these positive contributions, and a number of individuals have reflected this positive influence in this comments section. We should continue to capitalize on his positive contributions and work to fill the gaps where he was wrong.
13
I am always suspect of anyone who claims to know the mind and wishes of God. Even so if he brought Comfort to anyone in a bewildering world without doing too much harm what more can you ask of any person's life.
6
"He stuck to his rule to never be alone with a woman other than his wife." Never heard him criticized for this. And this is different from Pence's rule, exactly?
7
He wasn’t an elected official trying to force others to obey his values.
1
RIP, Reverend Graham, you deserve it for all the good you did in the name of the Lord, spreading His word around the world so that others might be born again to live lives of joy and peace in service to God. Thank you.
10
Let's give women their due.
Aimee Semple McPherson was another early evangelist whose techniques foreshadowed those employed by Graham.
Here's how H.L. Mencken portrayed her customers in 1930:
"There is comfort here for poor and wormy folk. They swam in Los Angeles as they swarm nowhere else on earth. They come in from the farms and cow towns with their lumbago, their shortness of breath, their broken ribs, their ringing in the ears, their souvenirs of bad medicine, bad surgery, bad obstetrics, and Aimée cheers them up. In a little while they vanish into Heaven, but more are always on the way. If all the forlorn pilgrims she baptizes every year remained on her rolls, her Angelus Temple would swell to the proportions of a county, and shove Los Angeles into the Pacific. But they come and they go, each leaving a mite. The pastor no longer wonders where her next meal is coming from; it takes a great deal of exercise to keep her from growing matronly. But she is not only well-fed, she is also intelligent, and so I suspect that she is by no means as happy as she tries to look."
11
His fiscal probity should be a requirement for any organization that has 501 (c) status.
10
As a 'survivor' of many Billy Graham Crusades in Minneapolis in the early '50s (and his seemingly endless series of radio programs), I'll have to credit the evangelist for opening my eyes to the fact that religion, in all its forms, is essentially Big Business. Give me Thomas Merton or Thich Nhat Hanh anyday.
19
Billy Graham was a mixed bag. Give him credit for preaching in the South to integrated audiences. Don't take that lightly. It was a courageous thing to do, particularly for a man from the South. But to gather a group of evangelical leaders to try to prevent Kennedy from becoming president because of his Catholic faith is inexcusable. This was 1960, not 1928.
19
I just listened to a short program about Thomas A'Becket. I was an anniversary of his death. The king, Henry II of England, had a suggestion that gave rie to A'Becket's death. Back then the king had to atone for that. Would this happen today? I doubt it--the world of Europe and North America is very different. Henry VIII could kill the English archbishop without a problem. So, at least in my mind, the world had turned away from the rule of the church--and for the better. I ask myself why, but I have no simple answer.
I always thought Graham was too close to political power and comfortable with and enamored by it. That Graham lived to the age of 99 while fellow religious figure Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot dead at the age of 39 just...offers a telling commentary on life in America. In his short life King had relations with only two U.S. presidents (Kennedy and Johnson) and in both cases it was very tough going for King to persuade the White House occupant to EVER do the right thing on anything. King had openly broken with Johnson on the Vietnam War by the time he was killed in April 1968.
Graham always struck me as being more of a "Court Protestant" to U.S. presidents than somebody like King who was willing to push them and criticize them publicly if necessary.
9
Well done good and faithful servant. Welcome to your reward.
11
He got his reward in millions of dollars, just as he planned. Now he knows there is nothing beyond death.
17
Thank you for including the link to the September 23, 1991 article written by one Mr. Robert D. McFadden. His prose and serious reporting of the Central Park crusade made me a convert to the NYTimes that day. At the time I lived outside Washington D.C. and subscribed to the Post. As I read Mr. McFadden's story I continually thought that if this Crusade had been held on the Washington Mall the story in the Post would have been relegated to the Style Section with snarky witticisms that were expected from those pages. I didn't agree or disagree with Billy Graham but he was a force that needed attention. I appreciated Mr. McFadden's, dare I say, reverence for the event.
4
Overlooked in this obituary is the role Graham played in attempting to elect Richard Nixon and defeat John F. Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election. Graham, Norman Vincent Peale and other Protrestant ministers deliberately fomented anti-Catholic bigotry and bias in a blatant attempt to swing the election Nixon's way on religious grounds alone. Graham advised Nixon during the campaign and shared his mailing list to court the anti-Catholic vote. Kennedy's victory in the West Virginia primary and his famous talk to the Houston Ministerial Association in which he addressed the compatibility between his faith and loyalty to the Constitution helped turn the tide. Graham, of course, went on to support Nixon in 1968, and his reputation was irrevocably tainted by the association. He may have been a great preacher, but his legacy is sullied b ythe clear evidence of his bigotry and political naivite.
24
He was a progressive globalist in the worst way. Instead of preaching Christ's message of love, he was a torch-carrier for liberal politics. Forget him.
2
I am a Christian and Presbyterian. Rev. Billy Graham's life long commitment to bringing thousands of people to Christ is undeniably laudable. I particularly applaud his ecumenical philosophy. His character as a husband and Pastor sets a high bar.
The article includes Rev. Grahams relationship with presidents going back to Richard Nixon. One president is curiously missing - Jimmy Carter, a devout Christian and Baptist. Can you shed any light on this omission?
1
President Carter was honest and lived his faith. Graham consorted with the likes of Nixon. Is that explanation enough?
14
Maybe it's because Carter was more of a true Christian. He was never one of Graham's money grabbing religion and he never wore his religion on his sleeve, and he never wove his personal religious beliefs into politics or government.
13
He was a snake oil salesman who sought to converged church and state, playing one group against another. How truly un-American! His approach was seeing life with blinders on; the proverbial 'my way or the highway'. He was in the forefront of the societal mess we find ourselves in right now.
RIP
28
When he filled the stadiums with pastors were they all from different Christian denominations?
1
Billy Graham played a big role in our household when I was a kid. My father, a staunch Republican, idolized him. I have many memories of being forced to watch his televised Crusades with the whole family. Apparently, Billy Graham chose to separate himself from divisive political issues later in his life. What a pity his tool-of-the-alt-right son, Franklin, didn't learn that lesson from his father. He endorses a morally bankrupt, perverted President by twisting the words of Jesus into a pretzel to try to explain his own support of him. Hopefully, at some point, Franklin will have his own moment of true conversion when he honestly asks himself "what WOULD Jesus do?".
35
Another small man with a huge ego who did a superior job of using his ego to influence millions of other people desperate for salvation in the world which makes it very difficult to survive. between the anti-semite attitude deeply buried in his underbelly and his other conservative values, I can't decide which part of this man I be tested most. the sooner this Old Guard dies out of the world the better the world will be.
21
A bigot who did more harm than most in the past 50 years, spreading the lies of prosperity theology, cuddling up to leaders who killed millions in the name of spreading 'American values' (ie. r/wing christianity), and who barely made a dent in global poverty, American poverty, social justice, inequality or any other issue Jesus would have wanted addressed.
He is Trump. Trump is him. As immoral as it gets, like American Christianity in general.
Those who fall for these charlatans (ie. most posters here) are no different to those who worshipped Mao or Stalin. Same difference.
37
No sooner do you conceive of God than some body builds a religion around it and sells tickets to the show. Billy Graham was better at it than most. But..
Man proposes, God disposes. His fate is in God's hands now.
1
To many of us, Billy Graham, though a masterful speaker, was a disreputable character who made a fine living preying (“praying”) on the superstitions of 'his people'. He never met an American-led war that he could not enthusiastically support.
His legacy? Franklin Graham, his son.
No more need be said.
31
Billy Graham was consistently on the wrong side of history. His legacy has spawned today's evangelical "christians" and the prosperity gospel. He helped turn American Christians into a mockery of true christianity.
24
Reacting to an alarming critique, “Graham Predicts Religion at Polls”, J.H. Jackson, President of the National Baptist Convention, the largest denomination of African American bishops castigated Billy Graham for “making a sweeping judgment about the Catholic Church “ while further “urging the American people to rise above prejudice of every kind and go to the polls in November and vote as Americans for an American to be President of America.” Yet many years later, Graham seemed to have developed a case of selective amnesia, even denying in his Autobiography “Just as I Am” (1997) that he ever opposed Kennedy. Still Graham emerged from the contested 1960 election virtually unscathed. His pragmatic (disingenuous) public endorsement of JFK assured him further future access to power. Though President Kennedy held at arm’s length, eight years later, a gleeful Graham, leading the prayer services at President Nixon’s Presidential Inauguration bellowed poohbah style: thou has permitted Richard Nixon to lead us at this momentous hour of history”.
11
As the mother of a gay son, I note but not mourn Mr. Graham’s passing. It is because of people like him that I have a hard time stomaching any kind of organized religion.
I’m sure Franklin will carry on the family tradition just fine.
28
His inspirational message came across clear as a bell, but how it actually trickled down to society as a whole remains puzzling. To me, many pastors have always placed themselves on the sidelines, as if protected from the vicissitudes of working life by the very gospel itself.
Its one thing preaching a good clean Christian life when your job is to fill stadiums and expound the gospel as a charismatic evangelist. Its another trying to really practice those sermons down here in the trenches, slugging it out day in day out, paycheck to paycheck.
2
«Now I’ve been saved, no matter whatever I do, I can’t be unsaved. Even if I killed someone........that direct quote in the article is haunting.» I am impressed by the NYT for printing the quote in his death article. An ex-Catholic friend of mine has told me that as a boy he had holy communion for nine first Fridays in a row because the parson said by this way he would be saved, whatever he would have done in his life. All Christian confessions seem to share this ridiculous hope. All religions know how to sell their product.
8
Just to clarify: Catholics do not believe that anyone is in a permanent "state of grace." In other words, there is no guarantee of salvation. People can start out badly and end well, but people can also start out well and end badly. As St. Paul wrote, we must work out our salvation with "fear and trembling," not simply accept Christ as our Savior and then sit back and assume that, no matter what we do (even kill someone), Heaven is our destiny. Many Protestants do hold this belief. For example, Martin Luther said, "Sin boldly," because he believed that our salvation is assured regardless of how we live. St. Paul also wrote, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked."
7
Just a more polished version of Swaggert and his ilk panhandling in the name of the Lord - I’ll be waiting for a sign from Holy Bill that he made it to the pearly gates - as my favorite philosopher P. T. Barnum once said ’There’s a sucker born every minute’!
10
I wonder, in the grand scheme, how many lives he made better (Christians inspired by his words/teachings) and how many he made worse (gay folks, non-Christians, etc targeted by his words/teachings).
4
So many ugly thoughts and comments here. And all about a truly humble man who dedicated his live to the Lord and to bring him to others. The man had no "kingdom building" notions, no ego, no desire for glory. If he associated with Presidents and others in power, it was at their behest, not his. If he could give them comfort and wisdom, that was his calling.
He was criticized for his association with Nixon, but perhaps that's because he felt Nixon needed him. He was not a man to "preach to the choir", but one to try to save sinners.
He was not perfect, but was a LOT more perfect than most of us, even those of us who consider ourselves "good Christian people". I was never a follower of him - I'm an Episcopalian - the famously "frozen choosen", and his revival type ministry was just not for me. But I deeply respected this man, his organization (no scandals there) and his purpose. He was the "real deal".
We will never see the likes of him again, I fear. Far too good for us today...
14
A "truly humble man"?
4
Snake oil in a friendlier bottle. Still useless, still conning people.
13
Graham was the voice of middle-class Christianity when I was a kid. He was quite a phenomenon, and my parents listened to his TV sermons. He was pretty much synonymous with "a good religious person in America". That changed when he became a sort of human shield for the Nixon administration as a sort of "pastor in chief" figure- he was accused of anti-semitism and apologized publicly.
His son however is the cynical proof that fundamentalism co-opting Christianity had been discovered to be a very very lucrative big business. Franklin Graham now officially provides religious cover for Trump, the thoroughly secular and playboy-ish guy in the WH. Very different than his father.
8
Don't be hoodwinked. He was a snake oil salesman preying on weak people's need for fabulous fictions based on pure nothing. A whole career selling bad B-movie plot lines and filling his pockets in the process.
14
I love the NYTimes because of the arts coverage. On the other hand, I'm fascinated by the readers of the NYTimes (in a horrified sort of manner) when I compare the stream of negative comments on this obituary to the stream of positive ones on Hugh Hefner's. I'm literally speechless.
We should all be as lucky to live 99 years and halfway through realize that politics is an empty rallying cry compared to the substance of spirituality and being with family.
13
"Saving souls" is a fraudulent business model. The pastors enrich themselves by "praying" on vulnerable people. Billy Graham had nothing to offer the masses except for pie in the sky. I prefer the real thing. It is high time we removed the tax-exempt status from religious businesses.
13
You know there is no mention of his charities...probably becasue there were none, other than himself?
5
The First Amendment's number one enemy.
13
Billy Graham brought the same sort of extremist, "fundamentalist" hate, fire, and fury to Christianity that Wahhabists did to Islam. We should all be glad he's gone, and determined to contain his lingering influence.
17
I went to see Billy Graham in Candlestick Park I was 10 years old. When it came time for the “offering” I figured it all out. This entire fiasco was about one thing and only one thing...money! The noise of money hitting the bottom of the cardboard containers was deafening. That was the day I gave up all religion. I will not mourn Billy Graham. My only reaction is to hope that his son, the despicable Franklin Graham will not be far behind.
14
I hope he meets the god he believed in - they deserve each other.
40
The question is the god he believed in Christ, Baal or Mammon?
1
Billy Graham, 99, dies after a long battle against social progress
110
Zzzzzzzz... check him out on the Nixon tape.
29
Hummm. The fundamentalists actually won the Scopes Trial. It was not 'evolution' that was on trial - it was Scopes, a high school teacher.
Did he teach 'evolution'?
Yes.
Was he guilty?
Yes.
Fine him.
Case closed.
It's now 100 years later and 'evolution' is still the evil boogieman to evangelicals.
The only difference is that today 60% of the Republican Party, according to the Pew Report, believe that college education is harmful to this nation.
I would say on all of that that Billy Graham was wildly successful, wouldn't you?
The fact is, I'm 70. I remember the man and he lost all standing with me when the tape was released of him and Richard Nixon sitting in the Oval Office sneering at the Jews.
Sorry: Not my kind of man, nor is his son.
Did I mention I am a 'woman'?
He loved it when the Equal Rights Amendment was killed.
No tears here for a misogynist and anti-Semite.
If he was 99 when he died, then he had almost a century to become a finer person.
He never did.
RIP.
82
Notwithstanding the fact that the religion he peddled was sheer fantasy, at least he seemed genuinely decent. Unfortunately, not so his son Franklin, probably Billy Graham's biggest failing, who is pure evil, a monster.
25
Obviously Robert has never heard or read about Graham's virulent anti-semitism, captured on tape for posterity and easy to find. Franklin is very much his father's son.
4
How many lives did he ruin with his self-righteous moralizing, toadying-up to criminals like Nixon, and profiteering in the name of the Jesus who cast the money-lenders out of the temple (but apparently not out of Billy Graham's world)?
48
God rest his soul, Billy Graham spent much of his professional life sniffing at the hem of power. Maybe that's why he seemed oblivious to ways in which the Gospel invites us to liberate those who have for centuries been excluded from a seat at the banquet: women, African Americans, the poor, gays and lesbians, etc.
11
Maybe there is a God, and that God will forgive him, but I will never.
1
Another nobody turned into a somebody by the organized religion groups.
21
He is Franklin Graham's father and the hate he has spawned.
36
Billy Graham was never about fame or stardom, but was raised to preach the message of hope and salvation of Jesus the Christ to the world.
This is Jesus' point of view when he was asked: "“Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."
6
He was a bad influence on our country, egging on and justifying illegal wars run by crackpot presidents.
30
"God's Machine Gun," finally out of bullets.
7
End of an Era.The likes of Kathryn Kulman and Billy Graham is such real deep legacy in global evangelism.
Mr. Graham now knows whether his whole life has been a fraud. He is either talking to Jesus or is like a computer which has stopped operating.
10
Lavish mega churches and millionaire preachers is the legacy that this grifter leaves behind.
50
For 45 years I was a Roman Catholic & Mr. Graham was a "heretic" because he was a Protestant. For the next 24 years I was a Fundamentalist Protestant & Mr. Graham was a "liberal", "progressive", & lacked a belief in true Biblical inerrancy because he was not as racist, bigoted, misogynistic, and politically right wing enough for the Bible thumpers I had become associated with. Today I am an agnostic. What is my opinion of Mr. Graham today? He was a nice man like me. A good husband & father like me. He's dead just as I will one day be. And GONE ! For good. And Christ still has not come. And the trillions of dollars spent on religion of all kinds throughout history should have been used to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the prisoner, just like that Jew preacher said 2000 years before Madison Square Garden. And the wars, & slaughter caused by religion? A lot of cheeks weren't turned very much were they?
15
Wow, I really want to hear about your life story, and the story of your faith over time. I think I've been through stuff like (changes in my faith life) that and I'm curious how you get to the part where you are agnostic. What is that like?
2
I don't know if there is a heaven or not. If there is and Billy Graham didn't get there nobody will get there.
2
"But they don’t know how I really feel about what they are doing to this country."
Typical god-story salesman hypocrite.
"Hypocrite" in Greek meant actor--from hypo + krinein = under + decision or judgment. Actors needn't mean what they say. They put on a mask--a "persona".
Those lacking will power don't practice what they preach because they can't resist temptations.
Hypocrites don't practice what they preach because they don't believe it. Though they may believe it's important for others to believe--and so buy--with cold cash--their god story mythology.
12
"...he stuck to his rule never to be alone with a woman other than his wife..." Amen.
Sir, RIP.
4
And I find such thinking to just be plain ole creepy.
However, the difference between Graham and Pence, who has also said the same thing, is that Pence has sworn on the bible to uphold the equal law of the Constitution and Graham merely used the Constitution to uphold the inequalities of the bible.
What is wrong with these men?
They are both equally creepy.
They give me hives.
8
Maybe he didn't trust himself to be alone with a woman other than his wife. What other reason could there be?
4
Not a sliver of daylight between evangelicals, Catholics and the other radical Abrahamic boys clubs that also can't seem to control themselves without harming any female in the room. So, they punish and decree the females are inferior to...the boys clubs.
3
I SO wish that Mr. Graham's son had followed his father and stayed away from promoting the grotesquely Politicalized and Distorted Modern Evangelical Movement!
Far better yet, I profoundly wish both father and son had come out and said that so much of the modern movement was NOT Christian: not the Gospels, and not the teachings of Christ! Billy Graham had Extraordinary Influence. He could have done far, far more to keep the ugly racist, money grubbing politics out of it all, and as a result, he could have helped save the modern Evangelicals from themselves.
If the Evangelical Movement eventually dies off, it will be entirely due to the failure of people like Billy Graham to keep Christ front and center in Modern American Christianity. There is nothing whatsoever Christian about any of them anymore. They have morphed into a financially elite version of the KKK, rather than sticking with the Gospel of St. John...
8
It is difficult to reconcile humility with fame, integrity with shadowing Nixon and savaging the Jewish people during a tete a tete with Tricky Dick. Such behavior whispers ego mania into my ears. And I wish I were enlightened, and able to give all I have to those in need. So, who am I to criticize or question the motives and sincerity of others?
Just another foolish human being who would like to know there is something, somewhere, keeping an eye on me and mine and the fate of our world and universe.
1
Mr. Graham would say that the statement he was “saved” by Mordecai Ham is wholly incorrect. He was led to Jesus by Rev. Ham but he was saved by grace. No man can save another.
3
I grew up in Greenville, SC, as an Episcopalian. My mother disapproved of evangelists (maybe because her grandfather used to play poker with Billy Sunday), so I didn't get involved with the Baptists there. Graham's second in command, Cliff Barrows, lived in my town, and I noticed his (bright, polite) children were huge favorites with all the teachers, but I didn't really get the power of the Christian right movement until the 'seventies. For some reason I have never associated Graham with the Bakkers and Swaggarts of this world. He had the decency to regret his association with Nixon; maybe that's why. By the way, a Billy Graham crusade features in the hilarious English novel, The Towers of Trebizond, which I recommend to all.
5
I am a product of Mr. Graham's preaching. My parents were ardent believers in his "born again", evangelical theology. It imbued them, I 'm sorry and sad to say, with ignorance, intolerance and an anti-intellectual mindset whereby all that mattered was that their children be "saved" and "reborn" by believing in their God and the literal truth of the Bible. They took us to Mr. Graham's "revival meetings" whenever possible. They and Mr. Graham expected us to accept the truth of Biblical stories in his sermons on the basis of pure blind faith even when logic and common sense dictated otherwise.
I truly believe that the fundamentalist Christianity that preachers like Graham, Jerry Falwell, Orel Roberts and the rest of their ilk spread among the millions of under-educated Americans, which included my parents, during the 1950s and afterwards laid the foundation for not only the so-called "Moral Majority" that elected Nixon and Reagan, but also the voters who put George W. Bush and Donald Trump into the White House. And these evangelical Christians have provided the backbone of the Republican Party, even if most Republican politicians have seemed spineless so often, especially most recently in tolerating an undeniably incompetent, disgraceful and traitorous president.
18
The influence of Billy Graham is almost impossible to assess. I doubt that we will ever see his likes again. Billy Graham reigned supreme over the "evangelical" Christian scene for some 60 years, far above the shenanigans of many lesser preachers. Whether or not you agree with his theology, he was a man of integrity who showed that, yes, there really are some big-name Christian figures who practice what they preach. He lent the church a degree of respectability and integrity that no one else did. While he did put his foot in his mouth a few times (who hasn’t?), he had no sex or money scandals in his entire career. I became a Christ-follower in 1980 due in no small part to his influence. What grieves me the most is that I see no Christian leader on the scene today who can come close to filling his shoes. But that grief is compensated by the thought that just hours ago, Billy Graham heard the words, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant” from the Lord Jesus Himself.
7
The Graham organization was sophisticated and not without a sense of humor. In the early '90s I was assigned to cover a Graham Crusade at the San Francisco Cow Palace. On the media table was a large sign that read, "Forgive us Our Press Passes." I still have the press pass.
8
And he was not drafted or serve during WWII because, why, exactly? Spent a lot of time encouraging these war mongering Presidents though. Think how much better the world would have been - and how many people would still be alive - if Bush would have stayed a drinker! Maybe we all need to spend a lot more time thinking of how to save the the world from ourselves, rather than how to "save" ourselves. Do unto others as you would have done to you and whatsoever you do to the LEAST of my brothers, that you do unto me is all you need, folks, all you need...
15
I was diametrically opposed to Rev. Graham and his political conservatism. Still, he was an inspiration to me an Amerasian who had come from South Korea. That even if South Koreans rejected me and those that were mixed. There is a familiar story of Matthew that I know that Rev. Graham used that even for all of our sins and societal rejection, God accepts us unconditionally with all the imperfections of a human being and to follow Him.
Yes, he did say the vile anti-Semitic words on the tapes at NARA. When he was confronted with the words, he answered the question and apologized for his sin. He did not double down or go on a twitter storm to cover up his shortcomings. This is what some on this thread conveniently forget and they are perfect and unblemished without a spot of sin. To them as Jesus said, Ye without sin cast the first stone!
He was a model of organizational transparency unlike many evangelists. He was given a set salary and did not live a high-flying style. His books were wide open for inspection and there was never any impropriety about his personal life and finances. That we cannot say about the evangelists from the late 1980’s to today that have that taint.
With all of his imperfections and sins, he completed his work. I look past my differences with him and Thank God in Jesus Christ for his work. God bless Rev. Graham.
“He has fought the good fight. He has finished the race. He has kept the faith.” -2nd Timothy 4:7
11
Billy Graham played a significant role in both my mother's conversion and the development of her Christian views.
While I love her dearly, I see her as a latitudinarian simpleton, devoid of any critical thinking skill. Still she is sincere, generous, positive and helpful to others. So it isn't all bad.
10
When I think of Billy Graham, I can only remember hearing the taped White House conversation when he and Nixon denigrated the Jews and shared their paranoid fantasies. To me, there is (almost) nothing more repulsive than the politicization of faith. The Christian evangelical movement currently cozying up to Trump is just one of the legacies of Billy Graham's tenure as "America's Pastor." Who decided that for everyone else? They did.
17
While the body shall return to dust, as is our ultimate fate, the ideology of hate that he promoted is unlikely to die anytime soon, sadly.
12
He failed. Like so many religious leaders, he allowed power to corrupt him, he replaced effectiveness with fame. He let his lower nature of pride and greed and gluttony and sloth and wrath and envy and lust take over and became a bystander in our country. He paved the way for the division we experience today, supporting judgement and other antichristian behaviors eclips the opportunity to actually make a difference. He identified so much with his earthly gains, his agenda became muddy and he lost the trust of the public. He used his position to elevate his little wants and needs.
10
People will say all sorts of things about Billy Graham. He was a good and decent human being who left the world better off than he entered it. He preached the gospel unashamedly. "Well done, my good and faithful servant."
6
It is hard to understand the hate by some directed towards someone who practiced and counseled humility.
Even if one does not believe what Mr. Graham believed and advocated, how can one not admire his unshakable commitment to live his faith?
He was the first to admit his failings, ask for forgiveness, and pledge to try to do better.
That seems like a pretty good model for a full and productive life to me, particularly as I look around and see so few willing to walk that road.
11
Graham used religion as a political weapon and participated in the alignment of the christianist right-wing with the Republican Party. His son continues down that path of darkness today. He should be called out and remembered for false witness to Christianity.
17
Albin Krebs, a Times obituary writer who died in 2002, contributed reporting.
As editor of the University of Mississippi’s student newspaper in 1952, Albin Krebs wrote an editorial advocating admission of African-Americans to Ole Miss. He was rewarded with a cross burning and a mob trying to storm his dormitory.
“If we are ever to face life intelligently and constructively, we must realize that in many cases, we should not propose to simply follow tradition, but to create it.”
RIP, Albin Krebs.
45
Thank you for sharing this wonderful note!
9
Religion is the opium of the people Karl Marx wrote. How true in this case with Graham mesmerizing millions and make them feel good . That 's what it is all about. He did a great job with his charismatic speeches. I lived under the Nazi regime in Belgium and therefore mistrust any charismatic speeches, be it Hitler or Graham or any political figure. I am more with Thoreau, follow your own drummer. Think. Be good. Do good in the world. That's the message.
Rest in Peace Billy Graham.
26
The spawn that he left behind is even worse than the original, a family of con men that use religion as their access to power and money. This family is the reason that so many turn away from religion of any kind.
99
Thoughts and prayers...
13
Beside his Christian faith. He is one of Americas last true statesmen. He knew how to bring harmony within differences.
10
I shed not a single tear at the passing of this hate-filled man who spent his life trying to demonize those who didn't buy what he was selling. And though I have little sympathy for them, he did conmillions of modest economic means out of their money to fund his lavish lifestyle.
Graham was the king of the 20th century evangelical grifters.
71
Depressing to hear that Franklin Graham will carry his father's evangelical legacy. All of Billy's weaknesses (and none of his strengths) are manifested in his son. I'll never forget how Franklin vilified Muslims after 9/11.
My Baptist parents never attended Billy's revivals, because they said he drew energy and money away from local congregations. People were "saved" in a flash, but the notion that you could do as you please after that is what some call easy grace. Franklin recently said that God has already forgiven our dear leader for his abuse of women.
Ironic, isn't it, how evangelical Christianity has become today's hedonism.
59
I always wonder how someone like Franklin can "know" that Trump has already been forgiven by god. If he has access to such knowledge then perhaps he can inquire of the deity why "he" can't spend a little more time on childhood diseases and less on who's going to win the Super Bowl and helping people find their keys. Or maybe why "he" hasn't granted Trump a functioning brain complete with a conscience.
16
can we atleast appreciate Billy Graham's life and legacy without mentioning the shortcomings of his son? Please explain, like with facts and evidence, not anecdotes about some mean Christians you are so well acquainted with, how "evangelical Christianity has become today's hedonsim." That statement begs an explanation that, and this may shock you, is not readily apparent are so self-explanatory as the way you have declared it to be.
3
Fact: Billy anointed Franklin as his successor
4
Billy Graham supported Richard Nixon and the Vietnam War.
Like most Mega Church Evangelicals it's all about preaching Prosperity Theology, brainwashing the sheeple for generous offertories, then assuring them an afterlife at the right hand of God.
Graham died as a multi-millionaire.
Therein lies Graham’s legacy.
58
Billy Graham and the 15 billion humans that have rotated the sun for millenia are all flawed. He never said he wasn't.....that is precisely WHY he and we all need the Lord.
2
Anyone who claims to know gods will and makes (a very good) living off that is highly suspect to me.
39
I can’t think of a time when this country was less religious. Many today don’t even belief in god, and by their actions obviously don’t follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. Today, most Americans follow the example of our leaders, those venal men without moral direction who put material things and wealth over the thoughts and needs of their fellow man. Lie, cheat and steal has replaced the golden rule of Billy Graham, which accounts for all our current ills afflicting a society where it seems everybody is out solely for themselves.
From gun violence to opioid addiction , pornagraphy, binge drinking , to dishonesty in ever layer of society, it all stems from one source: a feeling of hopelessly and a spiritual void in the soul. It’s time to come back to the lord, It’s not too late to change our ways as a nation, Today, make your change in honor of Billy Graham. Help five people everyday , do a good deed, a blessing for five people everyday. The first step in recovery is realizing there is a problem, our country has a moral sickness, the solution is simple, believe in something more than yourself .
Rest In Peace Mr Graham .
10
Well stated Sir.
1
I'll take science any day over religion.
11
Part of Billy Graham's legacy would have to be his son Graham, whose anti-muslim, anti-gay stance, is heightened with kick-the-poor, by the Trump endorsement.
Add the anti semitism of Graham senior, and the fact that they're both multimillionaires, you have to wonder just what business are they in?
52
Correction: I meant to say, his son Franklin.
Billy Graham had an anointed ministry and the fact that he was never associated with any kind of financial or sexual scandals is quite remarkable given his popularity and the countless temptations he would have been presented with over the years. When all is said and done, I do believe he will hear the words he most desired to hear from his Savior, Jesus Christ: "Well done, thou good and faithful servant"
10
My wife and I met Billy Graham when he swam up and said hello to us in the Hotel Bel-Air pool, sometime in the early 80s. He was at the pool alone, among only a handful of people, but we didn't know him until he spoke. His commanding voice was more recognizeable to us than his face from his many TV appearances.
We spoke for a minute and he seemed a very nice, humble man, like you would expect of your local preacher. This humble preacher just happened to have the expensive tastes you might otherwise expect from a man who was rock star famous at the time. Even the Bel-Air staff, who spent their working hours catering to the rich and famous, looked a bit overwhelmed in the Rev. Graham's presence. A few summoned up the courage to approach him, Bibles in hand, to ask for an autograph.
I certainly wouldn't get nostalgic for the 80s as a kinder, gentler time, but I think Billy Graham - whatever his shortcomings - was a kindler, gentler religious leader than anyone we have today.
11
Billy Graham was truly a great man, one of the finest specimens ever produced by Common American Christianity. If anybody is in heaven now, he is for sure. RIP to a great American, one of the most important figures in twentieth century American popular culture.
7
A shining example of America's fascination with religion, that, with all logic applied, defies his behavior over the years.
We should applaud this man?
Am i missing something?
What would Jesus say? (the man, not the son of God)
8
You don't "get it" brother. He is preaching relationship NOT religion. Literally that was his message. it was anti-zealot, anti-religious. You sir, do not get it at all.
3
Graham was indeed charismatic and an ambassador for his Evangelical strain of Christianity. He passed on to millions the age old error of Evangelical Protestantism by promoting the teachings of sola scriptura (by scripture alone) and sola fide (by faith alone), both ideas utterly contradicted by the very scripture he professed to understand. (As if the Christian deity could be contained between the covers of a book and as if one's actions count for less than one's mere proclamation of faith).
These two heresies, invented by Martin Luther and John Calvin 1400 years after the Apostolic Church are what made the modern version of American Christianity come to what it is now - able to abide a godless conman like Donald Trump and a party that professes Christian values but living by the values of a second rate mind like Ayn Rand. The value of greed and the lust for power.
11
RIP, Rev. Graham. If one can minimize his association with Nixon and ignore his son Franklin's terrible veer into right-wing partisan political activism, his positive Christian message remains as strong and true today as it was when he started preaching decades ago.
7
The trial of Scopes in 1925 ended in Scopes' being found guilty of teaching evolution in a Tennessee school, in violation of state law. He was fined $100. So Christian literalists did not lose that case. It was later appealed to the Supreme Court, where the verdict was thrown out on a technicality, but the court did not rule on the constitutionality of banning the teaching of evolution in Tennessee's schools. Whether evangelical Protestants retreated from public life as a result of that trial is questionable, as is this article's assertion that Graham's success as an evangelist reversed the trend. It is far more notable that Graham's crusades were milder in tone than those of many revivalists who preceded and followed him, that his organization worked closely with churches in the communities where crusades were held in order to ensure that converts would be followed up, and that there was never a hint of financial or sexual scandal associated with Graham or his organization. One need not be a Graham fan to recognize his accomplishments.
7
The Rev. Billy Graham has received his "Come to Jesus" moment. God Bless him after he has suffered so many trials and maladies. My thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.
8
Billy Graham lived in the world of alternate facts. When one dissects his rants they are just mumbo-jumbo. It was his oratory that captured people's minds. He could just as well have been reading the phone book.
Religion is just wishful thinking, a source of intimidation and power grabs. None of it's precepts have ever been fact-checked, and can never be. Verification is difficult, which seems to explain religion as a panacea (opiate?) for the mentally lazy. I await the inevitable spirited relies.
17
As viewers of The Crown well know, Billy Graham was the Queen's unlikely heartthrob. He may have even broken his own rule about not spending time alone with a woman other than his wife. About the Queen, he writes, “Almost every occasion I have been with her has been in a warm, informal setting, such as a luncheon or dinner, either alone or with a few family members or other close friends. I wonder what Prince Philip thought.
1
What a remarkable man... specially because he was not perfect, but always pointed himself and others to the only perfect one: Jesus Christ. I just wish his son Franklin was more like him and stop being so political. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association should be just that: an EVANGELISTIC association. I pray and hope that the Graham family honors Mr. Graham's legacy by concentrating on preaching the Gospel instead of taking on other issues. My thoughts and prayers are with them today.
45
I went to a Billy Graham UK stadium event as a teenager about 35 years ago, when I was vaguely connected with an evangelical youth group. I remember being unimpressed by the preaching but astounded by the power of the audience reaction. The huge psychological effort that it took to stay in my seat while the people around me were streaming down in response to the call is something that I have never forgotten. It was very emotional at the time but I don't recall any of my already Christian group who went down to give their lives to Jesus showing any signs of being changed in the slightest once the euphoria wore off.
The whole thing was a lesson in the psychology of crowds that has always stayed with me, so I suppose I'm grateful to Mr Graham for the experience.
25
From a 1972 tape in the Nixon Oval Office was made public by the National Archives, Billy Graham and Richard Nixon denigrating Jews:
''They're the ones putting out the pornographic stuff,'' Mr. Graham said on the tape, after agreeing with Mr. Nixon that left-wing Jews dominate the news media. The Jewish ''stranglehold has got to be broken or the country's going down the drain,'' Graham continued, suggesting that if Mr. Nixon were re-elected, ''then we might be able to do something.''
The Graham continued; saying that Jews did not know his true anti-Semitic feelings about them:
''I go and I keep friends with Mr. Rosenthal at The New York Times and people of that sort, you know,'' Graham told Mr. Nixon, referring to A. M. Rosenthal, then the newspaper's executive editor. ''And all -- I mean, not all the Jews, but a lot of the Jews are great friends of mine, they swarm around me and are friendly to me because they know that I'm friendly with Israel. But they don't know how I really feel about what they are doing to this country. And I have no power, no way to handle them, but I would stand up if under proper circumstances.''
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/17/us/billy-graham-responds-to-lingering-...
Billy Graham is as fine a fake, regressive, Republican Christian as this nation has ever produced.
Billy Graham is an outstanding argument for atheism.
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Was not aware of or not committed to American ideals either.
11
reply to Socrates, Verona, NJ
And he taught his son, Franklin, very well. Apple falling close to the tree, and all that.
4
He lived through the Red Scare, the Civil Rights Movement, the Women's Movement, the Vietnam War, Watergate, the AIDS crisis and many other watershed decision points in our history.
He did not speak out on the Hollywood Blacklist.
He did not speak out against Jim Crow.
He did not ride with the Freedom Riders.
He did not stand for Women's equality before the law.
He did not stand with MLK with striking Garbage workers demanding a living wage and decent working conditions and he did not stand with him after he made the famous speech at Riverside Church against the Vietnam War.
He did not stand up for the human dignity of those suffering from the plague of HIV/AIDs.
He did stand by Nixon- even after Watergate.
He stood by Reagan as he pushed us to the brink of Nuclear War in the 1980's.
He did not speak out against the unending war in SW Asia starting with the invasion of Iraq after 9-11.
5
I was never interested in religion, but Graham fascinated me as a public speaker -- the best I ever heard. My father and I heard Graham speak at the New York World's Fair in 1964 (just before Graham on the program was Senator Jacob Javits). My father, who was an atheist, thought Graham was mesmerizing. Sometime later in the 60s I went to a Crusade at the old Madison Square Garden. I went with a friend to a Crusade at Shea Stadium in the 70s. My friend insisted that we come forward. After Graham"s sermon, a man standing next to me asked me if I wished to be contacted later. He noted on a form that I was "just curious." After the TV lights went out, I saw Graham remove the amber blazer he was wearing and put on a black suit jacket that matched his trousers. I thought that was odd, since I would have worn the dark suit on TV and changed into something more casual when it was over. But Graham was of another sensibility. I often watched his Crusades on TV, mainly to hear him and Cliff Barrows speak and to hear George Beverly Shea sing. I also liked it when Ethel Waters spoke and sang. I think Graham was largely a force for good, but he was also complicit in allowing evangelism to become a right-wing political movement, which I imagine that deep down he thought it should not be.
34
My family was fortunate to host Rev. Graham twice for dinners at our home. The first time I was incredibly nervous about what to serve and the state of our house as we had torn up floors due to water damage. It quickly became apparent that was not important to Billy, as he asked us to call him. He was all about connecting with each of us. He treated us and our teenage children with interest, kindness and respect and I imagine he treated everyone the same. The second time he visited we included our minister. Our minister was leaving the next day for a national meeting concerning ordaining homosexuals. As I recall he briefly asked Billy’s advice and Billy responded, “Well, I believe Jesus encouraged us to love one another.” Such a simple statement but I believe it summed up his true beliefs.
17
He revealed his true nature in the taped conversations with Richard Nixon.
105
Yes, and it’s reminiscent of Donald Trump on “Access Hollywood.” How much more we learn when we hear the words of people who don’t know we’re listening.
10
There are two kinds of priest in this world.
Those who tend to their communities. And those who tend solely to the ears of those power.
Graham was the latter, a man who never passed up the chance to increase his own influence, even if it meant traveling about the country in a multi-million dollar jet and spending millions more on advertising revenue rather than on good works. Like so many evangelists, he believed himself "saved", chosen by God and thus incapable of sin, a popular Protestant conceit that all too often leads to conceited acts. Such a man as that never has any problem judging others, and so Graham judged, more often than not without any personal reference at all to the objects of his self-righteous scorn. The result was that he left behind him a country and world that was far less tolerant of divergent views and lifestyles than it should have been, not to mention retarded in its growth of science and literature because such views ran counter to Grahams extremist dogma. As a result, there are millions of people today who cannot get access to contraception or modern medicine, who must live lives hidden away in fear due to their religion, sexuality, or beliefs, and all because Billy Graham decided to pay their neck of the woods a visit.
That is the true legacy of this man.
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Don't romanticize this man. Do your homework. Don't drink this kool aid. It is way past time for the truth in all things. If you really care you will really look and you will know, once again, what marketing can do.
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No man’s death cheers me but I’ll take a pass on mourning the death of a man who gave birth to the modern evangelical “Christian” movement, a tribal ritual so imbued with racist, misogynistic right-wing philosophy and hostility that we see now in our national politics.
Rev. Graham may have begun his ministry with a pure heart and commendable Christian humility but it rapidly metamorphosed into the regressive manifesto that now populates Capitol Hill and countless state houses and legislatures across America.
Rev. Graham’s theology was to extract from Christ’s messsge the hard, unforgiving metal from the frightening books of the Old Testament, those stern and punishing words of damnation, not for spiritual sustenance and edification, but to raise up a political movement that hewed hard right, one that upheld and exalted slavery and the subjugation of women. This “theology” held that human beings had the choice of sexual orientation and the “depravity “ of same-sex love was the devil’s work. But far more grievous was the reverend’s cozying up to the Nixon Southern Strategy that informs the Republican Party of the past half-century. He was revealed, in private conversations, to have spoken about Jewish people feelings contrary to his gushing public protestations of comity and tolerance. His embrace of Nixon during Watergate was disgraceful and his ministry has spawned the disreputable prosperity gospel that seeks not God but Mammon. America revered him; no surprise there.
149
Do not confuse white evangelical Protestants with Christians. Graham maligned Catholics. Graham kept a space away from black Protestants.
Jesus loved the sick, the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the homeless, the poor and the imprisoned most of all. See Matthew 25: 31-46.
1
Eleven U.S. Presidents dating back to Harry S Truman up to President Obama sought out Rev. Billy Graham’s guidance—at least for publicity purposes. One lone exception being the lone Catholic President, John F. Kennedy. Though avoiding the noxious, Nativist, anti-Catholic bile expelled by Norman Vincent Peale, Graham actively, clandestinely mobilized his legions of supporters to back Nixon. Graham insisted that Nixon nominate his handpicked Vice Presidential choice, Congressman Walter M. Judd (MN) claiming this “would put much of the South and border States in the Republican column and being about a dedicated Protestant vote to counteract the Catholic vote.” Knowing full well what he advocated may be crossing the line regarding separation of church from state, Graham advised Nixon to destroy his letter. Graham also provided Nixon full access to his massive contact list: “I have just written a letter to my mailing list of two million American families, urging them to organize their Sunday School classes and churches to get out the vote”. Further stroking his narcissism, a boastful Graham—sounding like an ethnic Catholic ward heeler—assured Nixon he could deliver millions of registered Democrats and Independent votes in the “ Middle West, California, Pennsylvania, and New York”.
Still Graham emerged from the contested 1960 election virtually unscathed. His pragmatic public endorsement of JFK assured him further future access to power.
24
One minor correction, please. President Truman did not seek out Billy Graham. Graham showed up uninvited, through an appointments secretary, and received a perfunctory greeting and was dismissed. Truman was very angry to discover a few months later that Graham had claimed in an interview that they had "prayed together." Thereafter, as author Merle Miller discovered, if you wanted to get Truman to say something really nasty all you had to do was bring up Billy Graham. Truman thought he was a huckster and a charlatan.
12
He made an awful lot of money.
28
And Franklin will bury his father in the Charlotte theme park, as he did with his mother, in spite of both their wishes to be buried at the Cove retreat in the mountains.
14
Given what evangelicals are doing to tear down this country today, it's hard to feel good about the path Rev. Graham took in his life. RIP.
32
Years from now we will look back on his time as the last gasp of religious nonsense.
56
One of the few true Christian television pastors left. He mean what he preached from his heart and lead by example. No controversies except one, 70 years ago with a remark to a President about Jews. When he was reminded of it 60 years later he didn't remember but he apologized anyway. We should all be so sinful.
His son is an apple that fell as far away from the tree as possible.
11
He revealed his true feelings in the 1970s to Nixon, not 70 years ago.
12
Now I’ve been saved, no matter whatever I do, I can’t be unsaved. Even if I killed someone........that direct quote in the article is haunting. I am impressed by the NYT for printing the quote in his death/obituary article.
He actually acted like a man that said something like that. Truthfully, watching film of his remarkable penetration into the New York City psyche it resembles a kind of Beatlemania occasion. He was discussed by high society, and critiqued like a play running on Broadway or an exhibition at a gallery.
“ if you can make there, ......
The generations of “Preachers he begat” are on balance are disgusting, I think it’s because they really believe in the most egocentric fashion that they can “never be unsaved”.
Graham was a good man, a competent thinker and an exceptional showman. Without his exceptional showmanship there would be no announcement this morning. The most Famous American Preacher in history died at 99 years old. Very unlikely that could ever happen again.
6
While working in Moscow immediately after the break-up of the Soviet Union, I was stunned to see a poster announcing a rally to be held in, of all places, the Kremlin. Such an obvious intrusion into the heart of the Russian state seemed to me both incredible and supremely insensitive at a time when people were reeling from the collapse of their known order, welcome as some aspects may have been. While Mr. Graham should be commended for avoiding the greed and personal hypocrisy of many of his colleagues, his mixing of faith and politics, mostly in support of regressive policies, in my opinion, has had a negative impact on our country. Far from embracing the Christian virtues of peace and respect for all, evangelicalism was been a vehicle for division and ongoing strife in the public sphere. While I hope that he rests in peace, I do not support how his legacy is now being continued by his son's full-throated embrace of Donald Trump and all that it implies.
123
I remember watching Billy Graham being interviewed on the former Larry King TV show around the time one of the president Bushes launched an American attack in the Mideast.
Graham stated assuredly that God was on our side in that attack. I found the idea abhorrent and deplored that a president would have Billy Graham at his side to approve a military strike. Graham represented to me the antithesis of what Christianity was supposed to be.
105
A man with talents that could have been put to better use. A life that could have been better spent.
22
The easiest argument to make is when the audience knows little about the subject and the speaker has lots of time. If the speaker is also charismatic, it's a slam dunk.
I just described that good ol' time religion.
18
He was a very wise man, that won the respect of the nation. There has been no replacement thus far, hopefully, there will be someone who will take the lead in helping to mend and restore our broken nation.
50
Well-said, Judy. But where would we find someone like that these days? The need far outstrips the supply.
5
No, not the nation, and he didn't help mend and restore our brokenness.
His desire to remove the barrier between church and state and his anti-gay beliefs precluded that.
15
Hardly, There is an acre of self-worshiping preachers itching to get their share of the Graham pie. As long as there are rich phonies who need to be told God finds them pleasing the Huckabees will roll on.
14
My thoughts and prayers are with his entire family. Reverend Graham was a man of faith and deep devotion to his country ... May his memory be a blessing!
12
Epicurus taught that we should not be afraid of death as it happens to everyone; not should we hold the gods responsible for everything that happens as it is merely part of the natural order -- codified more or less in Lucretius' De rerum natura. (For something about that and all kinds of interestng facts about the preervation of knowledge, one can read "The Swerve:what made the world modern" (or did it?) by S. Greenblatt -- novelesque nonfiction.)
I am not sure that religion has done much to create all sorts of dissent and paranoia and worst of all WAR.
Billy Graham lived a very long time.
I wonder what "advice" Graham gave the presidents? I wonder why we are expected to "believe?" (and why the one god theory is the one that managed to come out on top? more or less.)
What did Graham really accomplish? I often think of the death of Socrates (why ahd how) and Epicurus (transmitted via Lucretius and others as all of his original writings are lost).
Ninety-nine is something!!
3
Without Billy Graham's famous walk with George W. Bush, where Bush decided to change the course of his life, would Bush never have had further pursued politics, instead living a life as a businessman?
Was that walk responsible for the subsequent problems that Bush unleashed on the world?
Perhaps another president receiving that famous August 2001 bin Laden memo, warning about his plans to attack the US with airplanes would have done something about it rather than go on vacation and clear more brush from his ranch?
Perhaps another president wouldn't have had to take us to two endless "forever wars" in Iraq and Afghanistan, draining us of countless lives and money, all for nothing, turning the mid-East into a giant chest wound, killing hundreds of thousands, leaving it in crisis and chaos and giving the world ISIS and the greatest refugee crisis in the history of the world?
Or perhaps another president wouldn't have given away huge tax cuts to the wealthy, causing historic income inequality?
Or perhaps another president wouldn't have cut regulations, leading to one of the greatest economic crisis in the history of the world?
Rest in peace Mr. Graham. I'm sure you've done many good works in your life but you should not have gone on that walk with George W. Bush.
54
Over sixty years ago, when Billy Graham spoke at Madison Square Garden, this paper published his opening sermon. "We've lost God," he said. "And we're restless, and that's the reason that men and women are searching frantically for peace, and joy and happiness, and they can't find it. . . . We have the highest standard of living in the world but it hasn't brought us happiness and peace that we have searched for."
"We are searching," he said, "for something to believe in ... we have become lost in a crowd."
In the midst of our current turmoil, his remarks are, sadly, true today.
23
I lived in beautiful Asheville for a few years and was very proud to relay to visiting family and friends that the Graham Compound was within a short distance. You felt peaceful and safe in those beautiful mountains knowing a beautiful soul serving God was living just down the road. May he rest in peace.
10
You write:
"But in his later years, Mr. Graham kept his distance from the evangelical political movement he had helped engender, refusing to endorse candidates and avoiding the volatile issues dear to religious conservatives."
This is not true. During the debate on a law to ban gay marriage in the North Carolina General Assembly he took out full page ads in newspapers across the state endorsing the measure.
134
One more loss of a gifted advocate for spiritual civility.
Soon we will have the sweeping sounds of silence, the loss of cultural caring, and no compass to point us in the right direction again.
Where will the Jonahs and the Billy Grahams be to save us. "Long time passing....long time ago."
9
Though I have a different belief system, Graham was an inspiration to many of his faith, and I believe he lived his beliefs to the best of his ability. That I respect. And I wish him well on the next phase of his journey.
I do however wish I could, today, ask him one question: "now that you've seen the other side, do you have anything to add to your message."
7
What a great man! God welcomes him home today!
12
RIP Rev. Graham.
10
Condolences to his family.
9
Well, there goes news coverage about anything else for days, here in Western North Carolina. May be the best thing Billy Graham ever did for me.
16
Nothing about his symbiotic relationship with LA gangster Mickey Cohen or his support of Nixon's murderous slaughter in Vietnam, including a memo to Nixon that, should the Paris peace talks fail, Nixon should bomb the dikes of Vietnam, an attack that, by the administration's own estimate, would have resulted in the death of a million North Vietnamese?
Shameful.
166
Not going to be kind.
He was a willing tool for the Right Wing in this country during some very critical times.
An evangelist should afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted- that is not what happened. He stood with Richard Nixon despite knowing the man warts and all. Like today's evangelicals who give Trump as pass, he valued his politics above the "Kingdom of God".
217
I love the way people like Graham always seem to forget things like their anti-Semitism when they're caught on tape. Then it's the usual apology and back to the business of saving souls, a very profitable enterprise in these Benighted States.
174
Billy Graham is a real inspiration to me. He undoubtedly affected my Christian faith. It is touching to also read that a man named Albin Krebs who passed away in 2002 contributed to this article.
I'm sure that Billy Graham has done problematic things in his life. I don't take that lightly. But I know I have too. For me when I look at Christ and how to be more like Christ it means looking at your life and knowing that we don't have to defend our bad spots to be loved by Christ.
I'm not necessarily an evangelical, but Billy Grahams focus on christ, and the way he was a mirror for Christ's message has helped me tremendously and so many others
96
He was a beautiful man. People may not have agreed with him at times. However, most people who met him stated that he truly seemed to care about them personally. He could show honest empathy to people that he disagreed with on moral or religious matters. That is something that is rare in this world.
4
Wasn't Mr. Graham in 1960 the leader of a cabal of Protestant ministers at a meeting in Switzerland wherein they promoted the idea that John Kennedy, if he became president, would put allegiance to the Pope and the Vatican ahead of that to the United States? Kennedy had to issue a statement denying such a notion would ever happen, thanks to this meeting. And for years, Norman Vincent Peale was blamed for this bigotry; he only attended, out of curiosity and courtesy to his fellow Protestant leaders. Mr. Graham skated, unapologetic.
88
This was a lifelong pattern. Particularly the skating away.
10
It will be interesting to see which of Rev. Graham's legacies endures: his savvy use of new media to promote the worldwide spread of the Gospel, or his inspiration of the culture of televangelism that has become a template for countless hucksters and opportunists.
73
I put a lot of blame on sorry state of our union (endless culture wars, LGBT hate, anti intellectualism, anti-science bias, and attacks against feminist, the poor, minorities and immigrants) by Evangelical Christians and Pastor Graham was one of its leading proponents. He obviously didn't believe in Jesus' maxim of, 'Judge not, that ye be not judged.'
200
He was a "believer", and he also meant well.
13
"Recognizing his influence, presidents made a point of seeking friendly relations with Mr. Graham; Lyndon B. Johnson did so assiduously."
A the time, I thought - and still do - Johnson's relationship to Graham was entirely political exploitation. I recall during Johnson's first inauguration Graham suggested they kneel on the steps of (can't remember where) and publicly pray together. Johnson was heard to say, "Get him out of here."
52
What a great life, may he rest in peace.
14
Almost 40 years ago, my daughter's grandfather did a sketch on SNL about a religiously inspired singing telegram deliverer who shamed sinners through song, it was titled "Billy Gram".
Billy Graham was a vindictive, unforgiving, humorless man. There is no Godliness in wanting and trying to ruin a person.
250
Every indication is that Billy Graham was a faithful servant of Jesus Christ who faithfully proclaimed the "good news" of forgiveness and new life in Jesus Christ. Please let me just say this and then I'm done for the day. The only opinion of Billy Graham that really matters is God's opinion. Dr. Graham was a sinner, as we ALL are. But I truly believe he is in Heaven right now because he was one sinner who made a decision to accept the free gift of salvation offered through faith if Jesus Christ. That same gift of salvation is available to every human being who chooses to accept the gift.
18
Suzanne - please add arrogant to your list.
Mr. Graham's legacy is one of ignorance and judgement. I grew up in Charlotte and endured the Grahams and the Bakkers for far too many years. Good riddance.
76
"A vindictive, unforgiving, humorless man" - you must be talking about somebody else. There haven't been and will not be many others with the impact of Billy Graham in terms of pointing people to what "The Bible Says..."
4