God, the Bushes and Billy Graham(Hey Newsweek, he's not dead yet!)

For six decades—since Eisenhower, really—Graham has been what Bush called “the nation’s pastor,” a seemingly ubiquitous figure at the highest levels. From pressing Ike to enter the 1952 presidential campaign to golfing with Kennedy to helping save George W. from a life of drift and drink, Graham has managed, with only a few missteps, to be more unifying than divisive as a Christian evangelist in the public square, which is no small feat in a country founded on religious freedom and wary of sectarian religious allusions. He belongs to a particular tradition of what Benjamin Franklin called “public religion” in America, and as he fades away, ever so slowly and with great grace, it is worth considering his legacy as the nation prepares, as it ultimately must, for a post-Billy Graham era.

Pssst...Newsweek, The Rev. Dr. Graham will be and is being replaced by his son Franklin Graham, who is a lot more vocal about his evangelicalism. So the post Billy Graham world will be more about Jesus than his father's non preaching life was. He will take stands on controversial social issues, something his father stayed away from. So get ready Newsweek, Franklin is in his 50's and may be around as long as some of the new Supreme Court nominee!

Newsweek making sure they can spin & tarnish Billy Graham's legacy while he's still alive.

Not to worry. Billy - a lifelong Democrat - did a pretty good job of tarnishing his own legacy in the build-up for, and at the podium of his 2005 final Crusade in NY, all by himself.

I have no doubt that all of us, Billy Graham included, have certain "works as filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6) to be cleansed of before approaching the Throne. I would suggest that his political affiliations/actions are just the fruit/outworking of Billy's particular "filthy rags". It's nothing that he can't/won't be forgiven of, but it's something that I think that he should repent of.

I have the feeling Billy Graham will be around for a year or so yet. His decline is sad to see, but it's the quiet pulling back of a good man, like a very old oak tree sprouting a few less leaves each spring. Billy Graham's aging is not the same thing as John Paul II's tragic illness; Rev. Graham is slow, but still moves, he's softer, but still speaks, and speaks his simple, powerful message as much as ever. It's just that he has help now, in the person of Franklin, the heir blessed John Paul could never have.
As for politics, who can say? Billy Graham, compared to too many other, flashier clergymen, has kept himself clean. He does not engage in endless, pointless fundraisers or screaming diatribes; his message is simple as Euclid, clear as mountain spring water: Jesus died for our sins. He loved us enough to die for us.
I've redicovered the eloquence (and theatrics) of the equally-admired Bishop Fulton Sheen, but even that noble man does not bear the calm, simple beauty in Billy Graham's words (one reason I'm still a Protestant, I guess), the words of the Gospel.
Of course the Reverend Billy Graham will have to stand before God, as did Mother Teresa, as must George Bush, as must we all. Of course he will be wearing the same "filthy rags" all humans wear. What he has done with those rags is for God to judge; but he has given much of himself to spread God's message to all who would listen.
When the blessed John Paul II died, it was like hearing a deep oratorio by Bach or Brahms. When Billy Graham dies (and he's not dead yet, folks!) it will be like the pure voices of an old-time hymn-sing. God be with him.

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