My Last Words | Billy Graham

My Last Words

One day in Madras, a Hindu student told me, "I will become a Christian the day I find a real one." And when he told me that, he was looking at me. That was one of the greatest sermons anyone ever preached to me. Billy Graham America's pastor goes home. Billy Graham was perhaps the most important religious figure of the 20th century, and the movement and organizations he helped create continue to play a relevant role in the 21st century. Throughout his life, Graham preached to over 200 million people in person, and to millions more through television, satellite, and films. Nearly 3 million people responded to his call to accept Jesus into their hearts, which he made at the end of his sermons. In all of history, no other preacher proclaimed the gospel to more people than he did. For all of this, he became America's pastor, participating in presidential inaugurations and speaking during times of national crisis. In many respects, Billy Graham shaped and personified the evangelical movement. The theologian J. I. Packer attributes evangelical convergence to Graham: "Up until 1940, it was every man for himself. There was no sign of unity. There were some pockets of resistance trying to hold their ground against the liberal avalanche. From the 1950s onward, however, evangelicals increasingly united around Billy Graham and everything he represented and stood for. It started then and continues to this day." For many, William Franklin Graham, or Billy, as he preferred to be called, will be remembered for his humility before the Almighty, which encouraged millions of people to draw closer to God in the same spirit. May this book, which in so many ways expresses the last words he left us, encourage you to do the same. Marshal Shelley Vice President of Christianity Today