Billy Graham’s final sermon: ‘I’ve wept’ for America
At 95 and in frail health, evangelist Billy Graham is expected to attend a birthday celebration tonight that will feature what is being characterized as his final sermon. 800 were included on the guest list for the party and tribute, including Sarah Palin and Donald Trump…
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — At 95 and in frail health, Billy Graham often resists family entreaties to make excursions from his mountaintop home. But the nation’s most famous evangelist attended a birthday celebration Thursday night that featured hundreds of well-wishers and what is being characterized as his final sermon.
In a video that was recorded over the past year, Graham delivers his familiar message about the saving power of Jesus Christ and expresses concern about the nation’s direction. “Our country’s in great need of a spiritual awakening,” he declares. “There have been times that I’ve wept as I’ve gone from city to city and I’ve seen how far people have wandered from God.”
Graham, white-haired and heavier-set now than he once was, was brought into the ballroom in a wheelchair. Instead of speaking from the dais, he spoke through the half-hour film. It included photos and clips that underscore his ministry’s intersection with decades of American life and politics, showing him alongside presidents (John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton) as well as with Martin Luther King Jr., Pope John Paul II — and Johnny Carson.
The video, titled My Hope America, will be aired on dozens of Christian and other TV stations across the country and at thousands of churches.
“This will be my father’s last message to the nation,” his son, Franklin Graham, said in an interview. “He won’t be able to do this again.”
Among the hundreds of guests were North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, New York real-estate magnate Donald Trump and former President Bill Clinton. Singers Ricky Skaggs and Michael W. Smith were set to lead the audience in a refrain of Happy Birthday as 1,000 cupcakes were served.
“His message transformed my mom’s life,” Palin, one of the dinner’s speakers, said in an interview with USA TODAY.
“In the 70s, she would tune into the Billy Graham crusades, televised. My mom was raised Catholic, and she … was yearning for something more,” she said. “His invitation for people to know that they could have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ — my mom understood that from the way that he could articulate it. She became a Christian, led the rest of the family to Christ, and that I believe transformed our family.”
Franklin Graham, CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, says his father’s mind is clear but his energy often wanes. “Sometimes I try to get him out to get a hamburger, just to get him out of the house,” he says, persisting when his father demurs. “He’ll look at me half-disgusted and say, ‘Wait until you turn 95.’ ”
Watch coverage of the event at 10PM tonight (Hannity’s spot) on Fox Cable News.
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Happy Birthday, Rev. Dr. Billy Graham!
You are really the best preacher in our planet earth.
You are the most influential Christian evangelist in our world and you shared the Gospel all over the world, to both the rich and the poor, the powerful and the weak, the saved and the unsaved and you brought millions to Christ.
Thank you, Dr. Graham, for living a life of integrity. Thank you for modeling the faith so well. May God bless you on your birthday, and may He continue to sustain you in the days to come.
Thank you Dr. Graham, you are and have been a great witness for Jesus,Your reward will be great.your crowns will be many.You have fought a good fight and kept the faith.Thank you so very much ,Your rewards will be great…may God bless you, keep you. guide you and use you more and more for his glory.
Your brother in Christ,
Shapour Pourpashang
International Persian Prayer Center
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