A Prophet with Honor

by William C. Martin

  Billy Graham turned ninety on November 7, 2008. A small gathering of family, caregivers, close friends, and staff members from the Montreat area celebrated with him at Little Piney Cove on the day of record, followed by a larger celebration a few days later at the Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. That event opened with a short video, narrated by veteran radio broadcaster and old friend Paul Harvey, who sat at Graham’s table, had recently turned ninety himself, and would die in early 2009. Dignitaries including former President George H. W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, sent warm greetings, as did then-President George W. Bush in a separate video greeting. Stephan Nelson Tchividjian, the oldest of Graham’s nineteen grandchildren, thanked “Daddy Bill” for the many valuable lessons he had taught them in both word and deed. Daughter Ruth recounted the enveloping grace her father had shown when she drove home after a failed marriage they had tried to discourage. Billy’s younger sister, Jean Ford, recalled incidents from their childhood, noting that “All of us knew from Day One that he was Mother’s favorite.” And a notable musical trio of Michael W. Smith, Cliff Barrows, and Bev Shea, who would soon turn 100, led the assembly in “Happy Birthday.”

  Throughout the program, Graham sat staring emptily and impassively, reminding one of elderly nursing-home patients whose minds have long departed. When she spoke, Ruth even said, “Daddy, it’s Bunny.” But then, when he was handed a microphone for a response to the tributes and gifts, he spoke for nearly five minutes, his voice weak but his mind still clearly intact. He expressed gratitude to his family, his staff, and his many friends and gratitude for the opportunity to preach the gospel of Christ for so many years. Then he said he hoped to see everyone again at his ninety-fifth birthday party.

  In preparation for that evening, Franklin had sent out a message asking anyone who had come to Christ under his father’s ministry to send a letter or e-mail telling their story and sending birthday greetings. Like the multitudes that had streamed down the aisles at Graham’s crusades, the response was visibly impressive, as waiters rolled in the first of several large carts containing more than 120,000 messages. Franklin noted that one had come from a woman converted in 1938, surely one of the first in Billy’s crown, and it summarized thousands of others with the words, “We love you and we thank you.” Graham managed a weak “Love you” that set off a prolonged and, for many, tearful outpouring of applause.

  Franklin announced that his father was tired and needed to go to bed, wheeling him out while dessert was being served. Ruth, looking back on the occasion later, was not so sure. “Daddy thought Franklin took him out too soon. He wanted to stay longer. He talked about that night for weeks. He absolutely loved it.”

  Billy Graham may seriously have intended to stay free of partisan politics, but Franklin made that difficult for him. In November 2009, he invited John McCain’s 2008 running mate and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin and her family to meet with his father for dinner at Little Piney Cove. After the gathering, Graham issued a statement calling it an honor to have Governor Palin in his home and noting, “I, like many people, have been impressed with her strong commitment to her faith, to family and love of country.” Afterward, Franklin told the Charlotte Observer, “Daddy feels God was using her to wake America up.” He later took Palin with him on a Samaritan’s Purse relief effort to Haiti and featured her in a Samaritan’s Purse video wearing one of the organization’s sweatshirts as she and husband, Todd, helped clean up after the May 2011 tornadoes in Alabama.

  In April 2010, at a request from the White House, the elder Graham received President Obama, marking the first time an incumbent president had ever visited him at his Montreat home. With Franklin present, they met for half an hour and prayed together, president for preacher as well as preacher for president. After the meeting, Graham issued a statement expressing pleasure at the visit and adding, “As we approach the National Day of Prayer on May 6, I want to encourage Christians everywhere to pray for our President, and for all those in positions of authority, and especially for the men and women serving in our military.”

  The reference to the Day of Prayer and the military was surely a conscious allusion to the fact that a week earlier, the Pentagon had rescinded an invitation to Franklin to lead a prayer service on that day, responding to public criticism of his repeated negative statements about Islam.

  Franklin later described Obama as “a very nice man” and “very gracious,” but indicated he was not sure if Obama was a true Christian, criticized him for appearing to be more concerned about Muslims than about Christians persecuted by Muslims, and told Fox News host Sean Hannity that he wished “the president could come under some good, sound biblical teaching.”

  When Mitt Romney became the Republican candidate in the 2012 presidential election, Franklin noted that “He’s a Mormon” and “Most Christians would not recognize Mormons as part of the Christian faith,” but added, “He would be a good president if he won the nomination, because I think he’s got the strength, business-wise, politics-wise. He’s a sharp guy. And he’s proven himself.”

  Perhaps as a caution to his less circumspect son, Billy had told Christianity Today in early 2011 that if he had a chance to “go back and do anything differently, I would have steered clear of politics.” Though grateful for the opportunities to minister to powerful people, he admitted that, “looking back, I know I sometimes crossed the line, and I wouldn’t do that now.” But in 2012, he appeared once again to cross that self-drawn line. In October, with the election only weeks away, Franklin brought Governor Romney to Montreat to visit his father.

  That visit led immediately to a report that the elder Graham had said he would do all he could to help Governor Romney in the campaign “and you can quote me on that,” and that Franklin had pledged to help turn out Evangelical Christians to vote for the governor. Soon after, BGEA produced full-page ads bearing Billy Graham’s iconic visage and signature alongside copy urging voters to support “those who protect the sanctity of life and support the biblical definition of marriage between a man and a woman.” The ads appeared in USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, and newspapers in battleground states, with smaller versions sent to churches to insert in their Sunday bulletins. Graham representatives note that the ads do not mention a specific candidate or party, an observation surely intended more for the IRS than for the target audience. Given that Governor Romney opposed same-sex marriage and that President Obama supported it and by doing so had, to use Franklin’s words, “shaken his fist” at God, the ads left no doubt about their intent. To clarify matters further, Franklin wrote a piece in the October issue of Decision explaining “Why Evangelicals can vote for a Mormon,” and the BGEA website deleted a long-running item identifying Mormonism as a cult. The explanation offered for the latter action was that BGEA did not want “to participate in a theological debate about something that has become politicized during this campaign.”

  Because of Graham’s reentering the political arena “out of due season” by offering an endorsement of Romney and focusing on a topic that had never been central to his ministry when he was active, some observers charged that Franklin had steered his father in that direction, perhaps against his will or at least without full enthusiasm. Skeptics, including former and then-current BGEA employees, wondered if Graham actually made the pro-Romney statements attributed to him or had much to do with the advertising campaign. Franklin turned away reporters seeking direct confirmation or clarification from Mr. Graham himself, on the grounds that his father’s infirmities made that impossible. A disappointed insider familiar with the ministry for decades suggested that, in the absence of a definitive statement by Billy Graham himself, or even if one should be forthcoming, perhaps the best course would be “to remember him as he was for most of his ministry.”

  When President Obama was reelected by nearly five million votes, Franklin saw a dark future. “If we are allowed to go down this road in the path that this president wants us to go down,” he lament
ed, “I think it will be to our peril and to the destruction of this nation.” Fewer than half of evangelical voters showed up to vote, and Graham considered that an insufficient turnout. “If Christians are upset,” he said, “they need to be upset at themselves. We need to do a better job of getting our people—the Church—to vote. . . . If Christians would just vote, then elections in this country would be much different.”

  Franklin determined to do what he could to achieve a better result in the 2016 election. While many people were surprised by the popularity of Donald Trump, Franklin turned out to be remarkably prescient about Trump’s appeal. In fact, in his 2011 interview with Christiane Amanpour, Franklin had said of Donald Trump, who had floated the idea of a 2012 run, “When I first saw that he was getting in, I thought, well, this has got to be a joke. But the more you listen to him, the more you say to yourself, you know, maybe this guy’s right.”

  “So, he might be your candidate of choice?” Amanpour asked.

  “Sure, yes,” he responded.

  In the same interview, Franklin had echoed Trump’s “birther” views by saying that if Obama had a legitimate birth certificate, he should produce it. Not surprisingly, Trump liked the sound of those views and called Franklin a few days later to tell him so. Graham chose not to reveal the content of their conversation beyond saying, “I never told him he should run. I don’t feel that’s my role.” But their exchange obviously went well. In 2012, BGEA received a $100,000 donation from Trump’s Foundation; Samaritan’s Purse received $25,000. On November 7, 2013, Donald and Melania Trump sat alongside News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch at a table next to Billy Graham as more than eight hundred people gathered in a hotel ballroom in Asheville to celebrate the evangelist’s ninety-fifth birthday. A photo of the two tables, with then Fox News Host Greta Van Susteren leading the crowd in singing “Happy Birthday” to Graham, appeared in the January 2014 issue of Decision.

  In keeping with his determination to light a fire under lukewarm Christians during the 2016 election campaign, Franklin led a “Decision America Tour” that featured rallies at the capitols of all fifty states. He professed to be nonpartisan—“My hope is not in either party. Both have failed miserably over the past few decades, compromising with evil all too often, and refusing to take a bold stand for righteous behavior.” The aim of his campaign, he said, was “to put God back in the political process.” He left little doubt, however, as to how he thought God wanted people to vote “according to His will and purpose.” He repeatedly decried the policies and actions of “our government today” and opined that, despite the widely publicized blots in his copybook, “I think Donald Trump has changed. I think God is working on his heart and in his life.”

  When Trump surprised the world by defeating the heavily favored Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, with the help of 81 percent of the evangelical vote, Franklin professed not to be surprised by what he called “the biggest political upset of our lifetime.” After large crowds showed up for his rallies at the capitols during his fifty-state tour, he told the Washington Post, “I could sense God was going to do something this year. Prayer groups were started. Families prayed. Churches prayed. Then Christians went to the polls, and God showed up.” As for the political pundits and secular media, “None of them understood the God-factor.”

  Though Graham never explicitly endorsed Trump during the campaign, the president-elect invited Franklin to join him at a “thank you” event in Alabama a few weeks after the election and acknowledged the boost Graham had provided: “Having Franklin Graham, who was so instrumental, we won so big, with evangelical Christians.” At Trump’s inauguration on January 20, Franklin continued the long tradition of Graham participation in signal rituals of American civil religion by reading from I Timothy 2:1–2, which urges “that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way.”

  At his ninety-fifth birthday celebration in Asheville, Billy Graham was quite frail and said little, but his few words were directed to Cliff Barrows, who had turned ninety himself a few months earlier. “Cliff,” he said, “I want to thank you. This celebration is partly for you as well. I want to thank you for all you have meant to me all these years. Thank you, and God bless you.” Barrows responded, “Happy Birthday, dear Bill. I thank God for every remembrance of you.” Notably missing was the third member of the seventy-year inner circle, George Beverly Shea, who had died in April of that year at age 104.

  The evening also served as the occasion to draw attention to a new nationwide effort called “My Hope America,” in which Christians across the country are encouraged to invite friends and neighbors into their homes to watch BGEA-produced videos that include messages from Billy Graham. The first of these, “The Cross,” which aired on nationwide television a few days later, featured dramatic testimonies of people whose lives had been transformed by accepting Christ, punctuated by scenes of individuals struggling up a mountain to reach a large cross covered with ugly, misshapen pieces of wood that represented the sins of the world. Also interspersed were film clips of Graham’s proclaiming the old, old story at various points in his long life and contemporary scenes of the venerable evangelist sitting in a chair at his home in Little Piney Cove. Although his eyes had dimmed and his natural force had abated, his conviction remained as strong and powerful as ever as he told the familiar story at the heart of the gospel he had preached since boyhood. Near the end of the video, as a young woman stood at the foot of the cross and sang of Jesus’ resurrection, the ugly branches and tangles fell away, leaving an unblemished symbol of redemption and salvation. A younger Graham, recorded at the height of his powers, proclaimed, “God says, ‘Receive Him. Believe Him. Put your trust and your confidence in Him, and I will forgive your sins, and I will guarantee you eternity in heaven. It’s all yours, and it’s all free. All you have to do is receive it.’” Then, for the last time in his legendary ministry, Billy Graham exercised his remarkable gift of the invitation: “Today, I’m asking you to put your trust in Christ and pray this prayer, sentence by sentence after me. ‘Dear Heavenly Father, I know that I’m a sinner. And I ask for your forgiveness. I believe you’ve died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins. I repent of my sins. I invite you to come into my heart and my life. I want to trust and follow you as my Lord and Savior. In Jesus’ name, Amen.’”

  As the program ended, Graham was shown sitting in a rocker on his porch, rubbing his large black dog’s neck and looking past the old rail fence at the border of the yard to the Blue Ridge mountains in the distance as the voice of his younger self said, with blessed assurance, “He’s given me a reason for existence. I know where I’ve come from. I know why I’m here. I know where I’m going. Do you?”

  Earlier in the year, Graham had published The Reason for My Hope: Salvation, which proclaimed a similar positive message and seemed to be an appropriate valedictory volume. Indeed, that was said to be the expectation within the Graham family and BGEA, but in September 2015 another book appeared, this one officially identified as the thirty-third and last in the string of (mostly) bestsellers. The title, Where I Am: Heaven, Eternity, and Our Life Beyond, would have attracted little attention in itself, but early reviewers were surprised by a greater emphasis on hell, described as “a place of wailing and a furnace of fire; a place of torment, a place of outer darkness, a place where people scream for mercy; a place of everlasting punishment” and the stark warning, “If you accept any part of the Bible, you are forced to accept the reality of hell, the place for punishment for those who reject Christ.”

  In the early years of his preaching, Graham used familiar fire-and-brimstone imagery and language when speaking of the ultimate fate of the unredeemed, but for most of his long career, he spoke of hell more as a state of separation from God, without much allusion to or description of the agonies of eternal physical fire. In 2005
he had told CNN’s Larry King, “That’s not my calling. My call is to preach the love of God and the forgiveness of God and the fact that he does forgive us. That’s what the cross is all about, what the Resurrection is about. That’s the Gospel.” He acknowledged that he had once preached a harder line: “In my earlier ministry, I did the same. But as I got older, I guess I became more mellow and more forgiving and more loving.”

  Inevitably, some observers reckoned that the harsher tone of the new book reflected Franklin’s views and temperament more closely than those of his father. Franklin rejected such speculation. “This isn’t a cut-and-paste of his old sermons or anything like that,” he insisted. He acknowledged that his former secretary, Donna Lee Toney, had helped with the actual writing of the book, but insisted that the idea, the organization, and the actual content were entirely his father’s. “It’s a new book. Where we needed to fill in some gaps, we went back and checked his sermons to make sure it was accurate.… It’s all him. Nothing in the book was written that’s not in his words.” As for a perceived difference in tone and emphasis, Franklin said, “Maybe this was a burden, that he felt he didn’t preach (about hell) strong enough in his latter years. I don’t know.”

  As the years rolled past, Billy Graham continued to outlive those who had stood by his side through the decades. Howard Jones, BGEA’s first black associate evangelist, died in 2010. Maurice Rowlandson, longtime head of the BGEA offices in the UK, followed in 2015, as did Graham’s son-in-law Danny Lotz, Anne’s husband. The following year saw the passing of researcher and sermon writer John Wesley White and Billy’s faithful companion and closest friend, Cliff Barrows. Photographer Russ Busby died in 2017.