Billy Graham Turns 96, Talks About Heaven

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Charisma News‎:

Jeremy Blume

11/6/2014

 

At 96 years old, Billy Graham's desire to share hope with the world is as strong as ever. On Nov. 7, the day Graham celebrates his birthday, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association will debut Heaven, a film that includes a never-before-seen message from Billy Graham.

 

Graham's message was recorded last year, while the aging yet still passionate evangelist worked with a camera crew to capture his thoughts in a series of interviews at his home in Montreat.

 

"I know I'm going to heaven. I'm looking forward to it with great anticipation," said Graham, who explains in the film how people can share that same hope.

 

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For his 96th birthday, Graham plans a more subdued evening at home enjoying the company of family members who plan to visit him during the week of his birthday. However, he hopes people will join him in watching Heaven, the latest My Hope with Billy Graham film.

 

"Although his physical condition keeps him homebound, he remains interested in current events and the ongoing work of the ministry that he began more than 60 years ago," says Franklin Graham, his eldest son and president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. "Opportunities like My Hope and the Heaven film are ways that we can help my father to continue the work that God called us to do. Please pray for my father, and for those who will watch this film—that they too may know the peace found in Jesus Christ."

 

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Q&A: Billy Graham biographer talks about impact of Charlotte-born evangelist
Tim Funk
Thursday, Nov. 06, 2014

 

Just in time for Billy Graham’s birthday – he turned 96 on Friday – there’s a major new biography out about the Charlotte-born evangelist.

Grant Wacker, a professor of Christian history at Duke University Divinity School, worked for seven years on “America’s Pastor: Billy Graham and the Shaping of a Nation.”

It was worth the wait. Wacker, who is an expert on evangelicalism, puts Graham and his worldwide ministry into historical, cultural and theological context. And he’s the first historian to explore the wealth of personal letters sent to Graham by ordinary Americans.

 

The Observer talked with Wacker about Graham and his impact on America from the 1940s until his last crusade in 2005. Here is the full transcript.

 

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Q Why Billy Graham? Why did this son of a Charlotte dairy farmer became, as you say, America’s pastor?

 

A He rode the waves of current trends and I think he did that both self-consciously and unselfconsciously. One of his associates said, “He did his best work on the back stroke.” It was instinctive. He just knew what the current trends were and so he rode those waves. He capitalized on new trends in communications and the growing American fascination with the South and Southerners. He fell into an ecumenical mood which wasn’t universal – it wasn’t that everybody was ecumenical, but there were enough people who wanted to build bridges that they found in him a voice. He was effective in making major inroads with the major politicians of the era. And they carried him forward – sometimes for good, and sometimes it created problems for him. And I think also he brought extraordinary personal gifts to the project.

 

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