Electrifying evangelist who captivated world dies at 99
EVANGELIST Billy Graham, hailed as one of the most influential Christian preachers of the 20th century, died yesterday at the age of 99.
Dubbed “God’s ambassador”, Dr Graham had battled Parkinson’s disease for many years and passed away at his home in North Carolina.
The Queen, who met Dr Graham several times and awarded him an honorary knighthood in 2001, is to send a private message of condolence to his family, Buckingham Palace said.
US president Donald Trump, who had long been a follower, tweeted: “The GREAT Billy Graham is dead. There was nobody like him! He will be missed by Christians and all religions. A very special man.”
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said: “There are countless numbers who began their journey of faith because of Dr Graham. The debt owed by the global church to him is immeasurable and inexpressible.
“He was one who met presidents and preachers, monarchs and musicians, the poor and the rich, the young and the old, face to face. Yet now he is face to face with Jesus Christ, his saviour and ours. It is the meeting he has been looking forward to for the whole of his life.”
Influence
Dr Graham’s biographer William Martin, author of A Prophet With Honor: The Billy Graham Story, said: “No more than one or two popes, perhaps one or two other people, came close to what he achieved.”
During a six-decade career, Dr Graham became one of the best-known promoters of Christianity, preaching to worldwide audiences in large arenas, beginning in London in 1954.
He was estimated to have preached to 210 million people in 185 countries and reached hundreds of millions more through his radio and television ministry.
Dr Graham was also friends with singer Sir Cliff Richard, who hosted his first “televangelist” show in 1996, watched by an estimated 2.5 billion people.
His soft-spoken Southern style was in direct contrast to the fire and brimstone adopted by many evangelists but he also held huge political influence, becoming the de facto White House chaplain to several presidents, most famously Richard Nixon.
Dr Graham met scores of world leaders and was the first noted evangelist to take his message behind the Iron Curtain. Ronald Reagan gave him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1983 and Bill Clinton said: “When he prays with you in the Oval Office or upstairs in the White House, you feel he’s praying for you, not the president.” In a 2013 video Dr Graham’s son Franklin said his last message was that America was “in great need of a spiritual awakening”.
He is survived by his five children and 19 grandchildren. His wife Ruth Bell died in 2007.