Billy Graham went from tent revivals to the White House
Locally, pastors impressed by his simple message
MONTREAT, N.C. As a young man, he practiced his sermons by preaching to the alligators and birds in the swamp. At his height years later, he was bringing the word of God into living rooms around the globe via TV and dispensing spiritual counsel and political advice to U.S. presidents.
The Rev. Billy Graham, dubbed “America’s Pastor” and the “Protestant Pope,” died Wednesday at his North Carolina home at age 99 after achieving a level of influence and reach no other evangelist is likely ever to match.
Reaction in Porterville was a mix. People were sad to hear of his passing, but also felt it was a time of celebration.
“It is a really sad day, but we are absolutely sure he is with the Lord and has been reunited with his wife. So, for that we are overjoyed,” said First Christian Church Pastor Ken Mabon.
Others said his influence will never be forgotten and that his message should be cherished.
“He had the same message his entire life,” said Glad Tidings Church Pastor Lee Hartman. “It was repent and be baptized. He said it no matter what people thought. He was a great man of God and will be missed.”
Living Word Fellowship Pastor Ken Rollans said, “He talked about hope and love and the promises of love. He’s been an important figure for my whole life in the sense of representing the truth of Christ to our nation.”
More than anyone else, the magnetic, Hollywood-handsome Graham built evangelicalism into a force that rivaled liberal Protestantism and Roman Catholicism in the United States.
The North Carolinaborn Graham transformed the tent revival into an event that filled football arenas, and reached the masses by making pioneering use of television in prosperous postwar America. By his final crusade in 2005, he had preached in person
to more than 210 million people worldwide.
All told, he was the most widely heard Christian evangelist in modern history.
“Graham is a major historical figure, not merely to American evangelicals, but to American Christianity in general,” said Bill Leonard, a professor at Wake Forest University Divinity School in North Carolina. Graham was “the closest thing to a national Protestant chaplain that the U.S. has ever had.”
A tall figure with swept-back hair, blue eyes and a strong jaw, Graham was a commanding presence in the pulpit with a powerful baritone voice. His catchphrase: “The Bible says ...”
Despite his international renown, he would be the first to say his message was not complex or unique. But he won over audiences with his friendliness, humility and unyielding religious conviction.
He had an especially strong influence on the religion and spirituality
of American presidents, starting with Dwight Eisenhower, whom he urged to run for office and baptized at the White House. George W. Bush credited Graham with helping him transform himself from carousing, hard-drinking oilman to born-again Christian family man.
His influence reached beyond the White House. He delivered poignant remarks about the nation's wounds in the aftermath of Sept. 11 during a message from Washington National Cathedral three
days after the attacks. He met with boxer Muhammad Ali in 1979 to talk about religion. He showed up in hurricaneravaged South Carolina in the 1980s and delivered impromptu sermons from the back of a pickup truck to weary storm victims.
In the political arena, his organization took out full-page ads in support of a ballot measure that would ban gay marriage. Critics blasted Graham on social media on Wednesday for his stance on gay rights.