CONTROVERSIAL EVANGELIST

HE spoke so fast, in such a rapid-fire style that he earned the nickname “God’s machine gun”, but Billy Graham’s powerful sermons hit the mark for hundreds of millions of people around the globe who heard him.

And yesterday when news came that he had died, aged 99, the world mourned the loss of the greatest-ever evangelist, a farmer’s son who became an advisor to 12 US Presidents and friend of the Queen.

Leading the tributes, President Donald Trump 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.”

The Queen, who gave Graham a knighthood in 2001, will send his family a private message of condolence.

Peter Lynas, of the Evangelical Alliance Northern Ireland, paid tribute to the famous preacher who appeared at Windsor Park a number of decades ago.

He said: “History will recall that Billy Graham was one of the most influential men of his generation.

“Many people, myself included, have been profoundly influenced by his love of Jesus, his life and ministry.”

Graham, who had suffered a number of illnesses in his last years, including prostate cancer, a build-up of fluid in the brain and symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, passed away at his Montreat