Billy Graham Just Stuck to the Gospel

“And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature’.”(Mark 16:15)

Billy Graham’s death this week was the end of a brand of Christianity that many of us were part of. It’s why so many lined up this week to pay honor to a life of service by getting one last chance to be with him while he lay in his casket in his boyhood home.

Like many of you, I have grown up with Billy Graham. As a child, my mother adored him. In fact, I think it was her love for him that so endeared him to me. If Billy Graham could win over my mother, well then, he must be the real thing.

I didn’t accept Jesus at a Billy Graham Crusade. In fact, I only saw Graham in person one time -Atlanta in 1994. How encouraging it was to see 70,000 people fill the Georgia Dome. But it was far more encouraging to watch thousands respond to his gentle, yet convincing invitation to come forward and accept Christ. I remember thinking as I watched them make their way to where he was just how much their lives were going to change for the better.

More people have heard Billy Graham speak that any human in history. Over his 60+ year ministry, Graham has preached the Gospel to 210 million people in 185 countries. Think about it! Millions of people are in heaven today because of Billy Graham’s obedience to God’s call to preach!

But what I liked most about Graham was the simplicity of his message. We often complicate the Gospel and run the very audience we’re trying to save away from it. Graham condensed the Gospel to just a few words. “God loves you!” He told those who attended his last crusade in New York the same thing he had told millions of others who attended the previous 416 crusades.

Larry King once asked Graham what he thought the Lord would say to him when he got to heaven. “I just hope he says well done, good and faithful servant,” Graham replied. I remember looking at my wife that night and telling her that if Billy Graham was worried about what God might say to him, I was in deep trouble.

It’s not all that often that we have the chance to witness the end of a great era. That is exactly what we saw this week. Billy Graham wasn’t just America’s pastor; he was one of the greatest missionary ever to walk on the face of the earth.

So, what happens now? There is indeed a great void to fill. But I know a great God who fills voids every day. There was only one Billy Graham just as there was only one Apostle Paul or John the Revelator. But you can rest assured that God is already at work raising great men and women of God to walk in light and continue the work of Billy Graham. One of them may very well be your own child or grandchild.

While Graham has gone to be with the Lord about whose love he preached to over 210 million people, the good news is his message is not dead. He spent a lifetime teaching us to trust Christ. Great men will come and go, but remember: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever”. (Hebrews 13:8)