The Life of Billy Graham

William Franklin Graham, Jr., (born November 7, 1918) better known as Billy Graham, is an American evangelist and an Evangelical Christian. He has been a spiritual adviser to multiple United States presidents[1] and was number eight on Gallup's list of admired people for the 20th century. He is a Southern Baptist.[2][3]

Graham has preached in person to more people around the world than any other Protestant in history.[4] According to his staff, as of 1993 more than 2.5 million people had "stepped forward at his crusades to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior".[5] As of 2008, Graham's lifetime audience, including radio and television broadcasts, topped 2.2 billion.[4]

Early life

Born on a dairy farm near Charlotte, North Carolina, Billy Graham was raised in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church by his parents, Morrow Coffey and William Franklin Graham. In 1933, when Prohibition in the United States ended, Graham's father forced Graham and his sister Katherine to drink beer until they vomited, which created a lifelong aversion, in both of them, to alcohol and drugs.[5] According to the Billy Graham Center, Billy Graham was converted in 1934 during a series of revival meetings in Charlotte which were led by evangelist Mordecai Ham.[6] However, he was turned down for membership in a local youth group because he was "too worldly."[5] He was persuaded to go see Ham at the urging of one of the employees on the Graham farm.[7]


After graduating from Sharon High School in May 1936, Graham attended Bob Jones College (now Bob Jones University), then located in Cleveland, Tennessee, for one semester but found it too legalistic in both coursework and rules.[5] At this time, he was influenced and inspired by Pastor Charley Young from Eastport Bible Church. He was almost expelled, but Bob Jones, Sr. warned him not to throw his life away: "At best, all you could amount to would be a poor country Baptist preacher somewhere out in the sticks.... You have a voice that pulls. God can use that voice of yours. He can use it mightily."[5] In 1937, Graham transferred to the Florida Bible Institute (now Trinity College of Florida) on the site of today's Florida College in Temple Terrace, Florida. In his autobiography he writes that he "received [his] calling on the 18th green of the Temple Terrace Golf and Country Club," which is immediately in front of today's Sutton Hall at Florida College in Temple Terrace. A Reverend Billy Graham Memorial Park is today located on the Hillsborough River directly east of the 18th green and across from where Graham often paddled a canoe to a small island in the river, where he would preach to the birds, alligators, and cypress stumps. Graham eventually graduated from Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois with a degree in anthropology, in 1943. It was during his time at Wheaton that Graham decided to take the Bible as the infallible word of God. Henrietta Mears[8] of the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood was instrumental in helping Graham wrestle with the issue, which was settled at Forest Home Christian camp (now called Forest Home Ministries) southeast of the Big Bear area in Southern California. A memorial there marks the site of Graham's decision.

Family

On August 13, 1943, Graham married Wheaton classmate Ruth Bell (1920–2007), whose parents were Presbyterian missionaries in China, where her father, L. Nelson Bell, was a general surgeon. He met Ruth at Wheaton: "I saw her walking down the road towards me and I couldn't help but stare at her as she walked. She looked at me and our eyes met and I felt that she was definitely the woman I wanted to marry." Ruth thought that he "wanted to please God more than any man I'd ever met."[9] They married two months after graduation and later lived in a log cabin designed by Ruth in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Montreat, North Carolina.[5] Ruth died on June 14, 2007, at age 87. They have five children together: Virginia (Gigi) Graham Foreman (b. 1945); Anne Graham Lotz (b. 1948; runs AnGeL ministries); Ruth Graham (b. 1950; founder and president of Ruth Graham & Friends); Franklin Graham (b. 1952; administers an international relief organization called Samaritan's Purse and will be his father's successor at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association);[10] and Nelson "Ned" Graham (b.1958; a pastor who runs East Gates International,[11] which distributes Christian literature in China). Graham has 19 grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren. Grandson Tullian Tchividjian is senior pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Ministry

Beginning

He transferred in January 1937 from Bob Jones College to Florida Bible Institute (now Florida College) in Temple Terrace, Florida, from which he graduated in 1940 with a BTh (Bachelor of Theology degree). Florida Bible Institute later relocated and became Trinity College (Florida) in Trinity, Florida.

Graham attended Wheaton College from 1939 to 1943, when he graduated with a BA in anthropology. [12] While attending college, he became pastor of the United Gospel Tabernacle and also had other preaching engagements.

Graham served briefly as pastor of the Village Church in Western Springs, Illinois, not far from Wheaton, in 1943-44. While there, his friend Torrey Johnson, pastor of the Midwest Bible Church in Chicago, told Graham that his radio program "Songs in the Night" was about to be canceled for lack of funding. Consulting with the members of his church in Western Springs, Graham decided to take over Johnson's program with financial support from his parishioners. Launching the new radio program on January 2, 1944, still called "Songs in the Night," Graham recruited the baritone George Beverly Shea as his director of radio ministry. While the radio ministry continued for many years, Graham decided to move on in early 1945. He served as president of Northwestern College in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1947, and at age 30 was, and continues to hold the distinction of, the youngest person to serve as a sitting college president.

Initially, Graham intended to become a chaplain in the armed forces, but shortly after applying for a commission he came down with a severe case of mumps that ended that plan. After a period of recuperation in Florida, Graham went on to co-found Youth for Christ with evangelist Charles Templeton. He traveled throughout the United States and Europe as an evangelist. Unlike many evangelists then and now, Graham had little formal theological training; he turned down offers to attend Princeton Theological Seminary.[5]

Hearst intervention

Graham scheduled a series of revival meetings in Los Angeles in 1949, for which he erected circus tents in a parking lot.[4] The missions went on for eight weeks after being originally scheduled for three weeks. The Los Angeles revival is considered to be the time when Graham became a national religious figure.[13]

Graham's rise to national prominence is due in part to the assistance he received from news mogul William Randolph Hearst, whose interest in Graham was that he respected Graham for being his own person and following what he believed, though the two never met.[14] Most observers believe that Hearst appreciated Graham's patriotism and appeals to youth, and thought that Graham would be helpful in promoting Hearst's conservative anti-communist views.[14][15] Hearst sent a telegram to his newspaper editors reading "Puff Graham" during Billy Graham's late 1949 Los Angeles crusade.[5][2] The result of the increased media exposure from Hearst's newspaper chain and national magazines[14] caused the crusade event to run for eight weeks—five weeks longer than planned. Henry Luce put him on the cover of TIME in 1954. At the Los Angeles revival, a fellow evangelist accused Graham of setting religion back 100 years. Graham replied, "I did indeed want to set religion back, not just 100 years but 1,900 years, to the Book of Acts, when first century followers of Christ were accused of turning the Roman Empire upside down."[7]

Crusades

Billy Graham has conducted many evangelistic crusades since 1948. He began this form of ministry in 1947 and continued until recently. He would rent a large venue, such as a stadium, park, or street. He arranged a group of up to 5,000 people to sing in a choir and then preached the gospel and invited people to come forward. These people, called inquirers, were then given the opportunity to speak one-on-one with a counselor who clarified any questions the inquirer may have had and would pray with that person. The inquirers were often given resources, such as a copy of the Gospel of John or a Bible study booklet. In Moscow in 1992, one-quarter of the 155,000 people in his audience came forward upon his request.[5]

Graham was offered a five-year, $5 million contract from NBC to appear on television opposite Arthur Godfrey, but he turned it down in favor of continuing his touring revivals due to his pre-arranged commitments.[9] Graham had missions in London, which lasted 12 weeks, and a New York City mission in Madison Square Garden, in 1957, which ran nightly for 16 weeks. In 1959, he also led his first crusade, which was in Australia.

Graham served as the president of Northwestern College, in Minnesota, from 1948 to 1952. He founded the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in 1950, headquartered in Minneapolis. The association later relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina. BGEA Ministries have included:

* Hour of Decision, a weekly radio program broadcast around the world for more than 50 years
* Mission television specials that are regularly broadcast in prime time in almost every market in the U.S. and Canada
* A newspaper column, My Answer, carried by newspapers across the United States
* Decision magazine, the official publication of the Association
* Founded Christianity Today in 1956 with Carl F.H. Henry as its first editor
* Passageway.org, the website for a forthcoming children's program created by BGEA
* World Wide Pictures, which has produced and distributed more than 130 productions

Graham opposed segregation during the 1960s and refused to speak to segregated auditoriums, once dramatically tearing down the ropes that organizers had erected to separate the audience.[7][16] Graham said, "There is no scriptural basis for segregation.... The ground at the foot of the cross is level, and it touches my heart when I see whites standing shoulder to shoulder with blacks at the cross."[7] Graham paid bail money to secure the release of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from jail during the 1960s civil rights struggle; he invited King to join him in the pulpit at his 16-week revival in New York City in 1957.[16] During that 16-week stint, Graham was heard by 2.3 million listeners, who gathered to hear him at Madison Square Garden, Yankee Stadium, and Times Square.[4]

Later years

During the Cold War, Graham became the first evangelist of note to speak behind the Iron Curtain, addressing large crowds in countries throughout Eastern Europe and in the Soviet Union, calling for peace.[17] During the Apartheid era, Graham consistently refused to visit South Africa until its government finally allowed attending audiences to sit desegregated. His first crusade there was in 1973, during which he openly denounced apartheid.

In 1984, he led a series of summer meetings in the United Kingdom, called Mission England, using outdoor football grounds as venues.

At one revival in Seoul, South Korea, Graham attracted one million people to a single service.[9] He appeared in China in 1988—for Ruth, this was a homecoming, since she had been born in China to missionary parents. He appeared in North Korea in 1992.[7]

In 1998, Graham spoke at TED (conference) to a crowd of scientists and philosophers.

On September 14, 2001, in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, Graham led a prayer and remembrance service at Washington National Cathedral, which was attended by President George W. Bush and past and present leaders. He also spoke at the memorial service following the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.[7] On June 24, 2005, Billy Graham began what he has said would be his last North American crusade, at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in New York City. But on the weekend of March 11–March 12, 2006. Billy Graham held the "Festival of Hope" with his son, Franklin Graham. The festival was held in New Orleans, which was recovering from Hurricane Katrina.

Graham said that his planned retirement was because of his failing health. He has suffered from Parkinson's disease for about 15 years, has had hydrocephalus, pneumonia, broken hips, and prostate cancer. In August 2005, a frail Graham appeared at the groundbreaking for his library in Charlotte, North Carolina. Then 86, Reverend Graham used a walker to assist with mobility during the ceremony. On July 9, 2006, Graham spoke at the Metro Maryland Franklin Graham Festival, held in Baltimore, Maryland, at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

Until a June 13, 2007 press release saying that he and his wife would be buried alongside each other at the Billy Graham Library in his hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina, there had been controversy over where the burial place would be. Graham's younger son Ned had argued with older son Franklin about whether burial at a library would be appropriate. Ruth Graham had said that she wanted to be buried, not in Charlotte, but in the mountains near Asheville, North Carolina, where she had lived for many years; Ned supported his mother's choice.[18] Novelist Patricia Cornwell, a family friend, also opposed burial at the library, calling it a tourist attraction. Franklin wanted his parents to be buried at the library site.[18] At the time of Ruth Graham's death, it was announced that they would be buried at the library site.

On August 18, 2007, Graham, 88, was in fair condition in Mission Health & Hospitals in Asheville, North Carolina, after undergoing treatment for intestinal bleeding, but his condition was not life-threatening.[19]

Billy Graham has preached Christianity to live audiences of nearly 215 million people in more than 185 countries and territories through various meetings, including Mission World and Global Mission. Graham has also reached hundreds of millions more through television, video, film, and webcasts.[20]

Politics

Politically, Graham is and has been a registered member of the Democratic Party.[21] He leaned Republican during the presidency of his friend Richard Nixon.[14] He has not completely allied himself with the religious right, saying that Jesus did not have a political party.[5] He does not openly endorse political candidates, but he has given his support to some over the years.[14]

He refused to join Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority in 1979, saying: "I'm for morality, but morality goes beyond sex to human freedom and social justice. We as clergy know so very little to speak with authority on the Panama Canal or superiority of armaments. Evangelists cannot be closely identified with any particular party or person. We have to stand in the middle in order to preach to all people, right and left. I haven't been faithful to my own advice in the past. I will be in the future."[7]

According to a 2006 Newsweek interview, "For Graham, politics is a secondary to the Gospel.... When Newsweek asked Graham whether ministers—whether they think of themselves as evangelists, pastors or a bit of both—should spend time engaged with politics, he replied: 'You know, I think in a way that has to be up to the individual as he feels led of the Lord. A lot of things that I commented on years ago would not have been of the Lord, I'm sure, but I think you have some—like communism, or segregation, on which I think you have a responsibility to speak out.'".[22]

Pastor to presidents

Graham has had a personal audience with every sitting United States President from Harry S Truman to George W. Bush.[14] He visited in the Oval Office with Truman in 1950, urging him to counter communism in North Korea. However, Graham and his accompanying pastors were not aware of Washington protocol; they appeased the press corps waiting outside with details of the visit, with the three pastors even acquiescing to the calls of the press to kneel on the White House lawn, as if praying.[14] This led to Truman calling Graham a "counterfeit" publicity seeker, and Truman did not speak to Graham for years afterward.[5][14] Graham has often told the story, usually as a warning that he would not reveal his conversations with world leaders.[14] Graham became a regular in the Oval Office during the tenure of Dwight D. Eisenhower, whom he urged to intervene with federal troops in the case of the Little Rock Nine,[5] and it was at that time, on a Washington golf course, that he met and became close friends with Vice President Richard Nixon.[14] Eisenhower asked to see Graham on his deathbed.[23] Graham also counseled Lyndon B. Johnson, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and the Bush family.[13]

The single notable exception among modern presidents is John F. Kennedy, with whom Graham golfed but Kennedy was Roman Catholic;[24] Graham enjoyed a friendship with Nixon and prominently supported him over Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election.[5] Nixon wrote to Graham after that election: "I have often told friends that when you went into the ministry, politics lost one of its potentially greatest practitioners."[5] Graham spent the last night of Johnson's presidency in the White House, and he stayed for the first night of Nixon's.[23]

After Nixon's victorious 1968 presidential campaign, Graham was an adviser, visiting the White House and leading some of the private church services that the President organized there.[14] Nixon offered Graham the ambassadorship to Israel in a meeting they had with Golda Meir, but Graham turned down Nixon's offer.[5] Nixon appeared at one of Graham's revivals in East Tennessee in 1970; the event drew one of the largest crowds to ever gather in Tennessee.[14] Nixon became the first President to give a speech from an evangelist's platform.[14] However, their friendship became strained when Graham rebuked Nixon for his post-Watergate behavior and the profanity heard on the Watergate tapes; they eventually reconciled after Nixon's resignation.[14] Graham announced at that time, "I'm out of politics."[7]

After a special law was passed on his behalf, Graham was allowed to conduct the first religious service on the steps of the Capitol building in 1952.[5] When Graham was hospitalized briefly in 1976, three Presidents called in one day to wish him well: former President Nixon, current President Ford and President-elect Carter.[23]

He was one of Reagan's personal guests at his inauguration and gave the benediction at George H. W. Bush's inauguration.[23] He stayed at the White House the night before George H. W. Bush (who called Graham "America's pastor") launched the Persian Gulf War.[13] Two days before the 2000 presidential election, Graham spoke at a prayer breakfast in Florida with George W. Bush in attendance. At a New York revival in 2005, Bill Clinton recalled how he had attended Graham's revival as a boy in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1959.[7]

Graham has officiated one presidential burial and one presidential funeral. He presided over the graveside services of President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1973 and took part in eulogizing the former president. Graham officiated the funeral service of former First Lady Pat Nixon in 1993[5] and the funeral of Richard Nixon in 1994. He was unable to officiate the state funeral of Ronald Reagan on June 11, 2004, because of recent double hip replacement surgery, which former President George H. W. Bush acknowledged during his eulogy. Graham had been Reagan's first choice. Because of his hospitalization, the Reverend John Danforth, a Missouri Republican Senator during Reagan's tenure, officiated the funeral. Failing health prevented Graham from officiating at the state funeral of Gerald R. Ford on January 2, 2007, as well as the funeral of former First Lady Lady Bird Johnson in July 2007.

Foreign policy views

Graham has been outspoken against communism and supportive of U.S. Cold War policy, including the Vietnam War. However, in a 1999 speech, Graham discussed his relationship with the late North Korean dictator Kim Il-sung, praising him as a "different kind of communist" and "one of the great fighters for freedom in his country against the Japanese." Graham went on to note that although he had never met Kim's son and current North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il, he had "exchanged gifts with him."[25] Graham has given a globe surmounted with doves to the North Korean Friendship Museum.

During a March 12, 1991 CBS broadcast of Billy Graham's Long Island, New York crusade, Graham said in reference to the 1991 Persian Gulf War, "As our President, President Bush, has said, it is not the people of Iraq we are at war with. It is some of the people in that regime. Pray for peace in the Middle East, a just peace."[26] Graham had earlier said that "there come times when we have to fight for peace." He went on to say that out of the war in the Gulf may "come a new peace and, as suggested by the President, a new world order."[27]

Controversy

In 2002, declassified "Richard Nixon tapes" confirmed remarks made by Graham to President Nixon three decades earlier. Captured on the tapes, Graham agreed with Nixon that Jews control the American media, calling it a "stranglehold" during a 1972 conversation with Nixon.[28] These remarks were considered highly controversial by some Jewish leaders such as Abraham Foxman, who characterized them as anti-Semitic.[16]

When the tapes were publicly released, Graham apologized, stating, "[A]lthough I have no memory of the occasion, I deeply regret comments I apparently made... They do not reflect my views, and I sincerely apologize for any offense caused by the remarks,"[29] and "If it wasn't on tape, I would not have believed it. I guess I was trying to please... I went to a meeting with Jewish leaders and I told them I would crawl to them to ask their forgiveness."[30] According to Newsweek magazine, "[T]he shock of the revelation was magnified because of Graham's longtime support of Israel and his refusal to join in calls for conversion of the Jews."[30]

Malcolm Boyd expressed dismay at Graham's silence and alleged hypocrisy involving the Vietnam War and Watergate scandal. In his essay "Superchrist of a Superstate," Boyd stated: "[Graham] must surely be considered a religious leader, but it is a serious question now to what extent he has compromised his position as a moral leader."[citation needed]

Graham has been careful to take reasonable compensation far below what other television evangelists would later receive. Graham, along with associates whom he called the "Team," created in 1948 what one of them called, "The Modesto Manifesto," because they produced it in Modesto, California. They decided among themselves to avoid certain problems that gave evangelists a bad name. The first item on the list was a matter of money, to which Graham was sensitive, because of the practices of some unscrupulous evangelists. (The "manifesto" proceeded to note the dangers of sexual immorality, criticism of local churches, and exaggerated publicity.).[31][32][33][32]

In 1993, Graham said in Columbus, Ohio, "Is AIDS a judgment of God? I could not say for sure, but I think so." After seeing letters criticizing that comment, Graham later said, "I remember saying it, and I immediately regretted it and almost went back and clarified the statement," and "To say God has judged people with AIDS would be very wrong and very cruel."[34][35]

Awards and honors

Graham has frequently been honored by surveys, including "Greatest Living American," and has consistently ranked among the most admired persons in the United States and the world.[9] Between 1950 and 1990, he appeared most frequently on Gallup's list of most admired people.[36] The United States Postal Service has said that Graham is one of the few Americans, along with the current President, who can be delivered mail that simply reads his name and the country: "Billy Graham, America."[36]

He has received the Congressional Gold Medal from the United States Congress and the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Reagan, America's highest civilian honors.[36] President Bill Clinton and Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole awarded Graham the Congressional Gold Medal in a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol in 1996. [37] In December 2001, he was presented with an honorary knighthood, Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE), for his international contributions to civic and religious life over 60 years.

In 1971, Graham's hometown of Charlotte held "Billy Graham Day," at which President Nixon made an appearance.[14] On May 30, 1999, Graham was invited to give the pre-race invocation at the Indianapolis 500. On May 31, 2007, the $27 million Billy Graham Library was officially dedicated in Charlotte. Former Presidents Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, and Bill Clinton appeared to celebrate with Graham.[38][39] A highway in Charlotte also bears Graham's name.[18] In addition, in 1986, Graham was given North Carolina's highest honor, the North Carolina Award, for public service.[40]

In 2000, Former First Lady Nancy Reagan presented the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award to Graham. Graham has been a friend of the Reagans for years.[41]

Graham received the Big Brother of the Year Award for his work on behalf of children. He has been cited by the George Washington Carver Memorial Institute for his contributions to race relations. He has received the Templeton Foundation Prize for Progress in Religion and the Sylvanus Thayer Award for his commitment to "Duty, Honor, Country." The "Billy Graham Children's Health Center" in Asheville is named after and funded by Graham.[37]

In 1971, Graham received an award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews. After the Nixon tapes were released, Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League called for Graham to return the award.[16] He was honored by the American Jewish Committee with its National Interreligious Award for his efforts on behalf of Jewish-Christian relations; the committee called him one of the century's greatest Christian friends of Jews.[16]

For providing a platform during his events for many Christian musical artists, Graham was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1999 by the Gospel Music Association. A professorial chair is named after him at the Southern Baptist Samford University, the Billy Graham Professor of Evangelism and Church Growth.[16] His alma mater Wheaton College has an archive of his papers at the Billy Graham Center.[4] The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth. Graham has received 20 honorary degrees and refused at least that many more.[9]

A movie has been produced to capture the essence of Graham’s journey from a young man at the crossroads of faith and doubt to ultimately facing the moment of decision that gave way to one of history’s most influential evangelists. Billy: The Early Years premiered in theaters officially on October 10, 2008 - less than a month before Graham's 90th birthday.[42] Graham has yet to comment on the film but his eldest son, Franklin, released a critical statement on August 18, 2008, noting that the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association "has not collaborated with nor does it endorse the movie."[43] Graham's eldest daughter, Gigi, however, has praised the movie and also been hired as a consultant to help promote the film.[44]

Books authored

Graham has authored the following books:[45]

* Calling Youth to Christ (1947)
* America's Hour of Decision (1951)
* I Saw Your Sons at War (1953)
* Peace with God (1953, 1984)
* Freedom from the Seven Deadly Sins (1955)
* The Secret of Happiness (1955, 1985)
* Billy Graham Talks to Teenagers (1958)
* My Answer (1960)
* Billy Graham Answers Your Questions (1960)
* World Aflame (1965)
* The Challenge (1969)
* The Jesus Generation (1971)
* Angels: God's Secret Agents (1975, 1985)
* How to Be Born Again (1977)



* The Holy Spirit (1978)
* Till Armageddon (1981)
* Approaching Hoofbeats (1983)
* A Biblical Standard for Evangelists (1984)
* Unto the Hills (1986)
* Facing Death and the Life After (1987)
* Answers to Life's Problems (1988)
* Hope for the Troubled Heart (1991)
* Storm Warning (1992)
* Just As I Am: The Autobiography of Billy Graham (1997, 2007)
* Hope for Each Day (2002)
* The Key to Personal Peace (2003)
* Living in God's Love: The New York Crusade (2005)
* The Journey: How to Live by Faith in an Uncertain World (2006)

References

1. ^ "The Transition; Billy Graham to lead Prayers". The New York Times. December 9, 1992. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE6D61E3AF93AA35751C1A964958260. Retrieved on 2007-12-24.
2. ^ The text originally said that Graham "is a member of the Southern Baptist Convention," but individuals cannot be members of the SBC. The SBC is a convention of churches. Individuals can be members of Southern Baptist churches and can consider themselves to be Southern Baptists, but cannot be members of the Convention.
3. ^ "Billy Graham joins FBC Spartanburg". Baptist Press. 2008-12-29. http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=29579&ref=BPNews-RSSFeed1229. Retrieved on 2008-12-29.
4. ^ a b c d e "BILLY GRAHAM: A MAN WITH A MISSION.(SPECIAL SECTION)". Cincinnati Post. June 27, 2002. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-87912863.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-18.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q http://205.188.238.109/time/magazine/article/0,9171,979573,00.html Time, God's Billy Pulpit, November 15, 1993
6. ^ Who led Billy Graham to Christ and was it part of a chain of conversions going back to Dwight L. Moody?
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Billy Graham: an appreciation: wherever one travels around the world, the names of three Baptists are immediately known and appreciated--Jimmy Carter, Billy Graham and Martin Luther King, Jr. One is a politician, one an evangelist, and the other was a civil rights leader. All of them have given Baptists and the Christian faith a good reputation. (Biography)". Baptist History and Heritage. June 22, 2006. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-87912863.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-18.
8. ^ Kintera.org - The Giving Communities
9. ^ a b c d e Billy Graham: the world is his pulpit.
10. ^ Samaritan's Purse | International Relief
11. ^ East Gates International
12. ^ http://www.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/bio.html
13. ^ a b c http://www.time.com/time/time100/heroes/profile/graham01.html Time, Billy Graham, June 14, 1999
14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "When worlds collide: politics, religion, and media at the 1970 East Tennessee Billy Graham Crusade. (appearance by President Richard M. Nixon)". Journal of Church and State. March 22, 1997. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-19592304.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-18.
15. ^ "In 1949, for example, William Randolph Hearst, head of one large publishing empire, and Henry Luce, chief of another, Time, Inc., were both worried about communism and the growth of liberalism in the United States." "Billy Graham, an obscure evangelist holding poorly attended tent meetings in Los Angeles. (...) Hearst and Luce interviewed the obscure preacher and decided he was worthy of their support. Billy Graham became an almost instantaneous national and, later, international figure preaching anticommunism. In late 1949, Hearst sent a telegram to all Hearst editors: "Puff Graham." The editors did - in Hearst newspapers, magazines, movies, and newsreels. Within two months Graham was preaching to crowds of 350,000." (from Ben Bagdikian, The Media Monopoly, Boston, Mass Usa: Beacon Press, 2000 6th ed., p. 39 ff)
16. ^ a b c d e f New York Times, Billy Graham Responds to Lingering Anger Over 1972 Remarks on Jews, 17 March, 2002
17. ^ http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1627139,00.html, Duffy, Michael and Gibbs, Nancy. TIME. Billy Graham: A Spiritual Gift to All, 2007-31-05. Retrieved on 2007-24-11.
18. ^ a b c "A Family at Cross-Purposes". Washington Post. December 13, 2006. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/12/AR2006121201338.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-18.
19. ^ http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=nation_world&id=5582690 ABC12.com, Evangelist Billy Graham hospitalized, 19 August, 2007
20. ^ http://www.billygraham.org/mediaRelations/bios.asp?p=1 Billy Graham Bio
21. ^ "Rev. Billy Graham on his lasting legacy". Today Show. June 23, 2005. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8326362/. Retrieved on 2008-09-20.
22. ^ "Pilgrim's Progress, page 4". Newsweek. August 14, 2006. http://www.newsweek.com/id/46365/page/5. Retrieved on 2008-09-20.
23. ^ a b c d "The President Preacher; In Crisis, White House Turns to Billy Graham". The Washington Post. January 18, 1991. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1044879.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-18.
24. ^ "The Essence of Billy Graham; A Warm but Honest Biography of the Evangelist". The Washington Post. October 25, 1991. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1091805.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-18.
25. ^ http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2553945.ece Independent Article, Preacher power: America's God squad, 25 July, 2007
26. ^ Quotation of section
27. ^ [given source: March 1991 CIB Bulletin]
28. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1850077.stm BBC, Graham Regrets Jewish Slur, 2 March, 2002
29. ^ http://www.ujc.org/content_display.html?ArticleID=32770 Eric J Greenberg, United Jewish Communities
30. ^ a b "Pilgrim's Progress, page 5". Newsweek. August 14, 2006. http://www.newsweek.com/id/46365/page/5. Retrieved on 2008-09-20.
31. ^ MinistryWatch Summary Report
32. ^ a b Billy Graham - AOL Research & Learn
33. ^ The official biography of Graham is John C. Pollock's Billy Graham: The Authorized Biography (1966). Other helpful biographical studies include William G. McLoughlin's Billy Graham: Revivalist in a Secular Age (1960), Curtis Mitchell's Billy Graham: The Making of a Crusader (1966), The Reader's Companion to American History (1997), Gospel Communications Network (GCN), Time Daily (Nov. 95), and People (1997).
34. ^ Billy Graham Retracts Statement on AIDS as God's Judgment
35. ^ Windy City Times - WHAT A DIFFERENCE A GAY MAKES
36. ^ a b c "The Billy pulpit: Graham's career in the mainline.". Christian Century. November 15, 2003. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-111114181.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-18.
37. ^ a b "Billy and Ruth Graham awarded Congressional Gold Medal for service.". Knight-Ridder News Service. May 2, 1996. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-18252882.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-18.
38. ^ [1]
39. ^ ABC News: 3 Ex-Presidents Open Graham Library
40. ^ "A MAN IN FULL; EVEN THOSE FAMILIAR WITH BILLY GRAHAM'S LIFE, EXHIBIT MAY OFFER REVELATIONS.(LIFE)". News and Record, Piedmont Triad, North Carolina. June 3, 2001. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-80571622.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-18.
41. ^ Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Library
42. ^ http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080729/billy-graham-movie-prepares-for-oct-10-release.htm The Christian Post, Billy Graham Movie Prepares for Oct. 10 Release, June 29 , 2008
43. ^ http://www.billygraham.org/News_Article.asp?ArticleID=358 Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, A response from Franklin Graham, August 18, 2008
44. ^ http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080826/franklin-graham-among-billy-movie-critics.htm The Christian Post, Franklin Graham Among 'Billy' Movie Critics , August 26, 2008
45. ^ Graham, Billy. Just As I Am. New York: Harper Collins Worldwide, 1997. Copyright 1997 by the Billy Graham Evangelist Association.

* Graham apologizes for remarks concerning Jews
* Biofile: Billy Graham, a biography page
* Financial summary of Billy Graham Evangelistic Association
* Executive salaries, Christian ministries

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Website: www.wikipedia.org
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Related Links

• Official BGEA biography
• Time 100 profile
• Just As I Am by Billy Graham
• Billyspot
  

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Prince Of Preachers

Biography and testimony of Charles Haddon Spurgeon

CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON was born June 19, 1834, at Kelvedon, Essex, England. His parents were Congregationalists, his father and grandfather both ministers. In his youth, Mr. Spurgeon was very early impressed with things divine, and after several years under the weight of sin, Spurgeon was convicted and converted to Christ at the age of 15 while listening to an uneducated Primitive Methodist layman, speaking to a small group, roughly comment upon Isaiah 45:22 — "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else."

Spurgeon describes the occasion as follows —

When he (the layman) had gone to about that length, and managed to spin out ten minutes or so, he was at the end of his tether. Then he looked at me under the gallery, and I daresay, with so few present, he knew me to be a stranger. Just fixing his eyes on me, as if he knew my heart, he said, "Young man, you look very miserable." Well, I did; but I had not been accustomed to have remarks made from the pulpit on my personal appearance before. However, it was a good blow, struck right home. He continued, "and you always will be miserable: if you don't obey my text; but if you obey now, this moment, you will be saved." Then, lifting up his hands, he shouted, as only a Primitive Methodist could do, "Young man, look to Jesus Christ. Look! 'Look Unto Me!' You have nothin' to do but to look and live." I saw at once the way of salvation.

Immediately after he was saved, Spurgeon began to work for the Master. A few months later he was baptized. Being born into a Congregationalist family, it took him a brief period to see his way clear as to the sacred ordinance. But when he did, he went to a Baptist church and was baptized. Mr Spurgeon said, "According to my reading of Holy Scripture, the believer in Christ should be buried with Him in baptism, and so enter upon his open Christian life." "I became a Baptist through reading the New Testament — especially in the Greek — and was strengthened in my resolve by a perusal of the Church of England Catechism, which declared as necessary to baptism, repentance and the forsaking of sin."

Spurgeon's godly mother later said to him, "Ah, Charles! I often prayed the Lord to make you a Christian, but I never asked that you become a Baptist." Spurgeon could not resist the temptation to reply, "Ah, mother! The Lord has answered your prayer with His usual bounty, and given you exceeding abundantly above what you asked or thought."

In 1851, at the age of almost seventeen, Spurgeon preached his first sermon to a group of farmers and their wives, gathered in a small cottage. His text was 1 Peter 2:7 — "Unto you therefore which believe he is precious."

From then on, Spurgeon never ceased to preach "Christ and Him Crucified," except when the physical afflictions he had to endure [such as gout] were too sore for him to speak or write. From "The Boy Preacher" in the villages, he became "The Boy Preacher" in the great city of London. He was called as pastor of the New Park Street Baptist Church in 1854, after having pastored a church at Waterbeach, his very first pastorate. This London church was the church that in years past had for its pastor such spiritual giants as Benjamin Keach, John Gill, and John Rippon.

Once he had begun his ministry in London, it never ceased to prosper. The church was a praying church, and undoubtedly God had prepared the church and the minister for each other. Immediately the crowds began to flock to hear the young minister, and though some perhaps came out of curiosity, their hearts were captured by the Christ the young man preached. The conversions were quite numerous, though Mr. Spurgeon used none of the tactics of our moderns. His were conversions, not "decisions." He plainly preached the Word, pressing the Law and the Gospel upon his hearers — the Law to convict and break the hardened, and the Gospel to heal the broken.

Spurgeon was a noted British Baptist minister who preached to throngs of souls at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, England (which held a total capacity of 6000 people, including Standing Room only). Greatly blessed by the Holy Spirit, his success and worldwide popularity were due in large measure to a genius intellect, natural gift of oratory, thoroughly biblical expository messages, along with the fervent prayers of his congregational Tabernacle members. Spurgeon's many writings and brilliant sermons are still widely published today, testifying to his timeless appeal.

"The work done by C. H. Spurgeon cannot die. 'I beseech you,' Spurgeon once said, 'to live not only for this age, but for the next also. I would fling my shadow through eternal ages if I could.' He has done it. His work is as imperishable as the truth of God. His memory shall not fade like a vanishing star, nor his works be forgotten like a dying echo. He will shine on, never ceasing to brighten human lives by the truth he preached, the work he accomplished, and the stainless life he lived."

The memory of Charles Haddon Spurgeon has been cherished among evangelical Christians for over the past 100 years. Many Christian leaders consider him to be the greatest preacher England ever produced. He is commonly hailed as the "Prince of Preachers". Over 63 volumes of published sermons still bear witness to the richness and success of C. H. Spurgeon's ministry. Though known as a great preacher, it was not preaching that made Spurgeon great. Mr. Spurgeon repeatedly acknowledged his success as the direct result of his congregation's faithful prayers. "It has often been remarked that the whole church helped produce Spurgeon." When visitors would come to Spurgeon's church he would take them to the basement prayer-room where people were always on their knees interceding. Then Spurgeon would declare, "Here is the powerhouse of this church."

Spurgeon in his autobiography described his gratefulness for being blessed with such a praying church. "I always give all the glory to God, but I do not forget that He gave me the privilege of ministering from the first to a praying people. We had prayer meetings that moved our very souls, each one appeared determined to storm the Celestial City by the might of intercession." Spurgeon regarded the prayer-meeting as the spiritual thermometer of a church. His church's Monday night prayer meeting had a worldwide testimony for many years. Every Monday night a large portion of Spurgeon's sanctuary was filled with earnest and fervent intercessors.

"In Spurgeon's eyes the prayer-meeting was the most important meeting of the week." It is here many of us find ourselves in conflict with dear Mr. Spurgeon. We love our meetings for preaching and praising and yet sadly neglect those set aside for praying. One of Spurgeon's greatest concerns was that his people learn to truly pray. "He taught his people to pray, doing so far more by his example than by any preaching. People heard him pray with such reality that they became ashamed of their own mere repetition of words." Throughout his entire ministry many hearers remarked that they were moved by his preaching, but yet still more affected by his praying. D. L. Moody after his first visit to England, being asked upon his return to America, "Did you hear Spurgeon preach?" He replied, "Yes, but better still I heard him pray." A close friend of Spurgeon's, commented on his prayer life, "His public prayers were an inspiration, but his prayers with the family were to me more wonderful still. Mr. Spurgeon, when bowed before God in family prayer, appeared a grander man even than when holding thousands spellbound by his oratory." Spurgeon fully recognized that the Church's greatest need was not to have another, "Prince of Preachers", but to have more princes of prayer. One of his many published sermons expressed his feelings on this. He wrote, "Shall I give you yet another reason why you should pray? I have preached my very heart out. I could not say any more than I have said. Will not your prayers accomplish that which my preaching fails to do? Is it not likely that the Church has been putting forth its preaching hand but not its praying hand? Oh dear friends! Let us agonize in prayer . . . " There has been much talk lately about pockets of revival springing up in our nation. Many are saying they desire such revivals in our own local churches, and cities. Yet, is it not the prayer-meeting which is still most neglected? If Christ Jesus were to visit us today with real revival power, how could such a blessing be sustained where there is no ground work laid in prayer? To merely exercise our words about revival and not our knees is hypocrisy! It is time to make the prayer-meeting as crowded as our favorite preaching and praise meetings. It is then and ONLY then, that a true revival will come with lasting power! Like Mr. Spurgeon, let us regard the prayer-meeting as our most important meeting!

TESTIMONY OF SPURGEON

That Day of Days

Can you not remember, dearly-beloved, that day of days, that best and brightest of hours, when first you saw the Lord, lost your burden, received the roll of promise, rejoiced in full salvation, and went on your way in peace? My soul can never forget that day. Dying, all but dead, diseased, pained, chained, scourged, bound in fetters of iron, in darkness and the shadow of death, Jesus appeared unto me. My eyes looked to Him; the disease was healed, the pains removed, chains were snapped, prison doors were opened, darkness gave place to light. What delight filled my soul! What mirth, what ecstasy, what sound of music and dancing, what soaring towards Heaven, what heights and depths of ineffable delight! Scarcely ever since then have I known joys, which surpassed the rapture of that first hour.

The Just Ruler and The Unjust Rebel

When I was in the hand of the Holy Spirit, under conviction of sin, I had a clear and sharp sense of the justice of God. Sin, whatever it might be to other people, became to me an intolerable burden. It was not so much that I feared Hell, as that I feared sin; and all the while, I had upon my mind a deep concern for the honour of God's name, and the integrity of His moral government. I felt that it would not satisfy my conscience if I could be forgiven unjustly. But then there came the question, "How could God be just, and yet justify me who had been so guilty?" I was worried and wearied with this question; neither could I see any answer to it. Certainly, I could never have invented an answer, which would have satisfied my conscience. The doctrine of the atonement is to my mind one of the surest proofs of the Divine inspiration of Holy Scripture. Who would or could have thought of the just Ruler dying for the unjust rebel? This is no teaching of human mythology, or dream of poetical imagination. This method of expiation is only known among men because it is a fact: fiction could not have devised it. God Himself ordained it; it is not a matter that could have been imagined.

I had heard of the plan of salvation by the sacrifice of Jesus from my youth up but I did not know any more about it in my innermost soul than if I had been born and bred a Hottentot. The light was there, but I was blind: it was of necessity that the Lord Himself should make the matter plain to me. It came to me as a new revelation, as fresh as if I had never read in Scripture that Jesus was declared to be the propitiation for sins that God might be just. I believe it will have to come as a revelation to every newborn child of God whenever he sees it; I mean that glorious doctrine of the substitution of the Lord Jesus. I came to understand that salvation was possible through vicarious sacrifice; and that provision had been made in the first constitution and arrangement of things for such a substitution. I was made to see that He who is the Son of God, co-equal, and co-eternal with the Father, had of old been made the covenant Head of a chosen people, that He might in that capacity suffer for them and save them. Inasmuch as our fall was not at the first a personal one, for we fell in our representative, the first Adam, it became possible for us to be recovered by a second Representative, even by Him who has undertaken to be the covenant Head of His people, so as to be their second Adam. I saw that, I had fallen by my first father's sin; and I rejoiced that, therefore, it became possible in point of Law for me to rise by a second Head and Representative. The fall by Adam left a loophole of escape; another Adam could undo the ruin wrought by the first.

The Sinner's Friend

When I was anxious about the possibility of a just God pardoning me, I understood and saw by faith that He who is the Son of God became Man, and in His own blessed person bore my sin in His own body on the tree. I saw that the chastisement of my peace was laid on Him, and that with His stripes I was healed. It was because the Son of God, supremely glorious in His matchless person, undertook to vindicate the Law by bearing the sentence due to me, which therefore God was able to pass by my sin. My sole hope for Heaven lies in the full atonement made upon Calvary's cross for the ungodly. On that I firmly rely. I have not the shadow of a hope anywhere else. Personally, I could never have overcome my own sinfulness. I tried and failed. My evil propensities were too many for me, till, in the belief that Christ died for me, I cast my guilty soul on Him, and then I received a conquering principle by which I overcame my sinful self.

The doctrine of the cross can be used to slay sin, even as the old warriors used their huge two-handed swords, and mowed down their foes at every stroke. There is nothing like faith in the sinner's Friend: it overcomes all evil. If Christ has died for me, ungodly as I am, without strength as I am, then I cannot live in sin any longer, but must arouse myself to love and serve Him who has redeemed me. I cannot trifle with the evil that slew my best Friend. I must be holy for His sake. How can I live in sin when He has died to save me from it?

My Best Friend Murdered

There was a day, when I was walking, it came to mind, forever engraved upon my memory, where I saw this Friend, my best, my only Friend, murdered. I stooped down in shock, and looked at Him. I saw that His hands had been pierced with rough iron nails, and His feet had been rent in the same way. There was misery in His dead countenance so terrible that I scarcely dared to look upon it. His body was emaciated with hunger, His back was red with bloody scourges, and His brow had a circle of wounds clearly made by thorns.

I shuddered, for I had known this Friend full well. He never had a fault; He was the purest of the pure, the holiest of the holy. Who could have injured Him? For He never injured any man: all His life long He "went about doing good," He had healed the sick, He had fed the hungry, He had raised the dead. For which of these works did they kill Him? He had never breathed out anything but love; and as I looked into the poor sorrowful face, so full of agony, and yet so full of love, I wondered who could have been a wretch so vile as to pierce hands like His.

I said within myself, "Where can these traitors live? Who are these that could have smitten such a One as this? Had they murdered an oppressor, we might have forgiven them, had they slain one who had indulged in vice or villainy, it might have been his desert, had it been a murderer and a rebel, or one who had committed sedition, we would have said, "Bury his corpse: justice has at last given him his due." But when You were slain, my best, my only beloved, where lodged the traitors? Let me seize them, and they shall be put to death. If there be torments that I can devise, surely they shall endure them all. Oh! What jealousy, what revenge I felt! If I might but find these murderers, what would I not do with them!

I Catch The Murderer

And as I looked upon that corpse, I heard a footstep, and wondered where it was. I listened, and I could tell the murderer was close at hand. It was dark, and I groped about to find him. I found that, somehow or other, wherever I put out my hand, I could not meet with him, for he was nearer to me than my hand would go.

At last I put my hand upon my breast. "I have you now," said I, for lo! He was in my own heart; the murderer was hiding within my own bosom, dwelling in the recesses of my inmost soul. Ah! Then I wept indeed, that I, in the very presence of my murdered Master, should be harbouring

'Twas you, my sins, my cruel sins,
His chief tormentors were;
each of my crimes became a nail,
and unbelief the spear.'

My sins were the scourges that lacerated those blessed shoulders, and crowned with thorns those bleeding brows. My sins cried, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" and laid the cross upon His gracious shoulders. Him being led to die is sorrow enough for eternity; but me having been His murderer, is more, infinitely more grief than one poor fountain of tears can express.

I thought Christ was cruel and unkind

Ah, there are many men who are forgotten, despised, and trampled by their fellows; but there never was a man who was so despised as the Everlasting God has been! Many a man has been slandered and abused, but never was man abused as God has been. Many have been treated cruelly and ungratefully, but never was one treated as our God has been. I too, once despised Him. He knocked at the door of my heart, and I refused to open it, He came to me, times without number, morning by morning, and night by night; He convicted me in my conscience, and spoke to me by His Spirit, and when, at last, the thunders of the Law prevailed in my conscience, I thought that Christ was cruel and unkind. Oh, I can never forgive myself that I should have thought so ill of Him!

But what a loving reception did I have when I went to Him! I thought He would thrash me, but His hand was not clenched in anger, but opened wide in mercy. I thought for sure that His eyes would fire lightning-flashes of wrath upon me, but instead they were full of tears. He fell upon my neck, and kissed me; He took off my rags, and did clothe me with His righteousness, and caused my soul to sing aloud for joy; while in the house of my heart, and in the house of His Church, there was music and dancing, because His son that He had lost was found, and he that had been dead was made alive again.

Is there power in the Gospel?

There is a power in God's Gospel beyond all description. Once I was lashed to the wild horse of my lust, bound hand and foot, incapable of resistance, galloping with Hell's wolves behind me, howling for my body and my soul as their just and lawful prey. Then came a Mighty Hand that stopped the wild horse, cut me free, set me down, and brought me into liberty. Is there power in the Gospel? Ay, there is, and he who has felt it must acknowledge it.

There was a time when I lived in the strong castle of my sins, and rested in my own works. There came a trumpeter to the door, and bid me open it. I with anger scolded him from the porch, and said he never should enter. Then there came a goodly Personage, with loving countenance; His hands were marked with scars where nails had been driven, and His feet had nail-prints, too. He lifted up His cross, using it as a hammer; at the first blow, the gate of my prejudice shook, at the second, it trembled more, at the third, down it fell, and in He came; and He said,

"Arise, and stand upon your feet, for I have loved you with an everlasting love."

The Gospel a thing of power! Ah! That it is. It always wears the dew of its youth; it glitters with morning's freshness, its strength and its glory abide forever. I have felt its power in my own heart; I have the witness of the Spirit within my spirit, and I know it is a thing of might, because it has conquered me, and bowed me down.

"His free grace alone, from the first to the last,
has won my affections, and bound my soul fast."

The Key: Believe and Live

The key to my conversion was making the discovery that I had nothing to do but to look to Christ, and I would be saved. I believe that I had been a very good attentive listener, my own impression about myself was that nobody ever listened better than me. For years, as a child, I tried to learn the way of salvation; and either I did not hear it set forth, which I think cannot quite have been the case, or else I was spiritually blind and deaf, and could not see it, and could not hear it. But the good news that I was, as a sinner, to look away from myself to Christ, startled me, and came as fresh, as any news I ever heard in my life. Had I never read my Bible? Yes, and read it earnestly. Had I never been taught by Christian people? Yes I had, by Mother, and Father, and others. Had I not heard the Gospel? Yes, I think I had; and yet, somehow, it was like a new revelation to me that I was to "believe and live."

I was tutored in piety, put into my cradle by prayerful hands, and lulled to sleep by songs concerning Jesus; but after having heard the Gospel continually, with line upon line, precept upon precept, here much and there much, yet, when the Word of the Lord came to me with power, it was as new as if I had lived amid the unvisited tribes of Central Africa, and had never heard the tidings of the cleansing fountain filled with Blood, drawn from the Saviour's

The Word with Holy Spirit Power

When I received the Gospel to my soul's salvation, I thought that I had never really heard it before, and I began to think that the preachers to whom I had listened had not truly preached it. But, on looking back, I am inclined to believe that I had heard the Gospel fully preached many hundreds of times before, and that the difference was the power of the Holy Spirit was present to open my ear, and to guide the message to my heart. I have no doubt that I heard, scores of times, such texts as these, "Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth," "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life," yet I had no intelligent idea of what faith meant. When I first discovered what faith really was, and exercised it, I believed as soon as ever I knew what believing meant. The light was shining all the while, but there was no power to receive it, the eyeball of the soul was not sensitive to the Divine beams.

Guilt Rolled Away

Previously I could not believe that it was possible that my sins could be forgiven. I don't know why, but I seemed to be the odd one out. If God had saved me, and not the world, I should have wondered indeed; but if He had saved the entire world except me, that would have seemed to me to be right. And now, being saved by grace, I cannot help saying, "I am indeed a branch plucked out of the fire!" I believe that some of us who were kept by God a long while before we found Him, love Him better perhaps than we should have done if we had received Him earlier, and we can preach better to others, we can speak more of His loving kindness and tender mercy. John Bunyan could not have written as he did if he had not been dragged about by the Devil for many years. I love that picture of dear old Christian. I know, when I first read The Pilgrim's Progress, and saw the woodcut of Christian carrying the burden on his back, I felt such sympathy for the poor fellow, that I thought I should jump with joy when, after he had carried his heavy load so long, he at last got rid of it. And that was how I felt when the burden of guilt, which I had borne so long, was forever rolled away from my shoulders and my heart.

Revealed Word Plus Preached Word

Personally, I have to thank God for many Christian authors, but my gratitude most of all is not for books, but for the preached Word addressed to me by a poor, uneducated man, a man who had never received any training for the ministry, and probably will never be heard of in this life, a man engaged in business, no doubt of a humble kind, during the week, but who had just enough of grace to say on the Sabbath,

"Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth."

The books were good, but the man was better. The revealed Word awakened me; but it was the preached Word that saved me, and I must ever attach peculiar value to the hearing of the Truth, for by it I received the joy and peace in which my soul delights. While under conviction, I decided to attend all the places of worship in the town where I lived, in order that I might find out the way of salvation. I was willing to do anything, and be anything, if God would only forgive my sin.

I did go to every place of worship; but for a long time I went in vain. I do not, however, blame the ministers. One man preached Divine Sovereignty; I could hear him with pleasure, but what was that sublime truth to a poor sinner who wished to know what he must do to be saved? There was another admirable man who always preached about the Law; but what was the use of ploughing up ground that needed to be sown? Another was a practical preacher. I heard him, but it was very much like a commanding officer teaching the manoeuvres of war to a set of men without feet. What could I do? All his exhortations were lost on me.

How Can I Get My Sins Forgiven?

I knew it was said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved," but I did not know what it was to believe on Christ. These good men all preached truths suited to many in their congregations who were spiritually minded people, but what I wanted to know was, "How can I get my sins forgiven?" And they never told me that. I desired to hear how a poor sinner, under a sense of sin, might find peace with God; and when I went, I heard a sermon on, "Be not deceived, God is not mocked," which cut me up even worse, but did not bring me into rest. I went again, another day, and the text was something about the glories of the righteous, nothing for poor me! I was like a dog under the table, not allowed to eat of the children's food. I went time after time, and I can honestly say that I do not know that I ever went without prayer to God, and I am sure there was not a more attentive hearer than myself in all the place, for I panted and longed to understand how I might be saved.

God-Sent Snowstorm

I sometimes think I might have been in darkness and despair until now had it not been for the goodness of God in sending a snowstorm, one Sunday morning, while I was going to a certain place of worship. When I could go no further, I turned down a side street, and came to a little Primitive Methodist Chapel. In that chapel there may have been a dozen or fifteen people. I had heard of the Primitive Methodists, how they sang so loudly that they made people's heads ache, but that did not matter to me. I wanted to know how I might be saved, and if they could tell me that, I did not care how much they made my headache. The minister did not come that morning; he was snowed-in, I suppose. At last, a very thin-looking man,* a shoemaker, or tailor, or something of that sort, went up into the pulpit to preach. Now, it is well that preachers should be instructed, but this man was really stupid. He was obliged to stick to his text, for the simple reason that he had little else to say. The text was,

Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth

He did not even pronounce the words right, but that didn't matter. There was, I thought, a glimpse of hope for me in that text. The preacher began,

"My dear friends, this is a very simple text indeed. It says, 'Look.' Now lookin' don't take a deal of pains. It ain't liftin' your foot or your finger; it is just, 'Look.' Well, a man needn't go to College to learn to look. You may be the biggest fool, and yet you can look. A man needn't be worth a thousand a year to be able to look. Anyone can look; even a child can look. But then the text says, 'Look unto Me.' Ay!" said he, in a broad Essex accent, "many of ye are lookin' to yourselves, but it's no use lookin' there. You'll never find any comfort in yourselves. Some look to God the Father. No, look to Him by-and-by. Jesus Christ says, 'Look unto Me.' Some of ye say, 'We must wait for the Spirit's workin'.' You have no business with that just now. Look to Christ. The text says, 'Look unto Me.'"

Then the good man followed up his text in this way:

"Look unto Me; I am sweatin' great drops of blood. Look unto Me; I am hangin' on the cross. Look unto Me; I am dead and buried. Look unto Me; I rise again. Look unto Me; I ascend to Heaven. Look unto Me; I am sittin' at the Father's right hand. O poor sinner, look unto Me! Look unto Me!"

When he had gone to about that length, and managed to spin out ten minutes or so, he was at the end of his tether. Then he looked at me in the congregation, and I daresay, with so few present, he knew me to be a stranger. Just fixing his eyes on me, as if he knew all my heart, he said,

"Young man, you look very miserable." Well, I did; but I had not been accustomed to have remarks made from the pulpit on my personal appearance before. However, it was a good blow, struck right home. He continued, "and you always will be miserable, miserable in life, and miserable in death, if you don't obey my text, but if you obey now, this moment, you will be saved."

Then, lifting up his hands, he shouted, as only a Primitive Methodist could do, "Young man, look to Jesus Christ. Look! Look! Look! You have nothin' to do but to look and live."

I saw at once the way of salvation. I know not what else he said, I did not take much notice of it, I was so possessed with that one thought. Like as when the brazen serpent was lifted up, the people only looked and were healed, so it was with me. I had been waiting to do fifty things, but when I heard that word, "Look!" what a charming word it seemed to me! Oh! I looked until I could almost have worn my eyes out. There and then the cloud was gone, the darkness had rolled away, and that moment I saw the sun, and I could have risen that instant, and sung with the most enthusiastic of them, of the precious Blood of Christ, and the simple faith that looks alone to Him. Oh, that somebody had told me this before,

"Trust Christ, and you shall be saved." Yet it was, no doubt, all wisely ordered, and now I can say,

'Ever since by faith I saw the stream
Your flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme,
and shall be till I die.'

the murderer; and I felt myself most guilty while I bowed over His corpse, and sang that plaintive hymn, veins.