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MONTREAT, N.C. - Billy Graham is as close to a religious icon in American politics as anyone, so it’s no surprise that a U.S. presidential candidate would seek his blessing. On Sunday Republican John McCain did just that, essentially, traveling to the ailing evangelist’s mountaintop home to meet and pray with him and son Franklin, who heads the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. ...

Newsmax.com reports of a rejection by John McCain to meeting with Dr. Billy Graham have been refuted by representative of both the McCain Campaign and the Billy Graham Association. Journalist Doug Wead caused a big stir on Newsmax.com last night when he posted a story that the McCain campaign had turned down an opportunity to meet with Billy Graham. Wead wrote, “In recent weeks I have been involved with Brian Jacobs, a Fort Worth, Texas, minister and consultant to the Billy Graham Association, to broker a meeting between McCain and Graham. In May, we contacted the McCain campaign with an...

McCain Campaign Declines to Meet with Billy Graham Sunday, June 8, 2008 10:10 PM By: Doug Wead For almost six decades, Billy Graham has been America’s most influential preacher and evangelist, a man sought out by every president since Harry Truman. Editor's Note: After this report was published the McCain campaign clarified its position about a meeting with Dr. Billy Graham. Read the clarification — Click Here Now. In another disturbing sign that Sen. John McCain has little interest in reaching out to his conservative base, including evangelical Christian voters, his campaign has declined an offer to meet with the...

In another disturbing sign that Sen. John McCain has little interest in reaching out to his conservative base, including evangelical Christian voters, his campaign has declined an offer to meet with the Rev. Billy Graham. For almost six decades, Graham has been America’s most influential preacher and evangelist, a man sought out by every president since Harry Truman. Today, the 89-year-old Graham is in declining health and stays near his home in Montreat, N.C. His last public appearance, in May 2007, marked the dedication of his library. Three former American presidents -- Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush and Bill...

Why Did God Allow Adam and Eve to Sin? By Billy Graham, Tribune Media Services Q: Why did God allow Adam and Eve to sin? He must have known what they were going to do, and it seems to me that it would've been better if He had just stopped them. The world was already perfect, so why didn't God keep it that way? I've always wondered about this. -- R.M. A: The opening chapters of the Bible tell us what happened when Adam and Eve committed the first sin -- but they don't tell us exactly why God allowed...

TV preacher Joel Osteen shuns lavish lifestyle of some others MARK I. PINSKY The Orlando Sentinel ORLANDO, Fla. — If the evangelical world is looking for a poster child to offset the negative publicity surrounding rich televangelists, Joel Osteen would be a good choice. Joel Osteen, pastor of the nation’s largest megachurch, preaches at Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, where services are broadcast around the world.MCT Photo Times Leader Photo Store Osteen is among the nation’s most widely recognized television ministers, trailing only Billy Graham and Rick Warren, and in 2006 was named the most influential Christian in America by...

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Evangelist Billy Graham was recovering Thursday from a surgery to update a shunt that controls excess fluid in his brain, a family spokesman said. The 89-year-old Southern Baptist minister was expected to spend some of the day walking the halls of Asheville's Mission Hospital and to return to his usual diet later Thursday, said Graham spokesman Larry Ross. "He rested well overnight and is in high spirits," Ross said. White House spokeswoman Jeanie Mamo said President Bush placed a call to Graham on Thursday morning. "He wished Rev. Graham a speedy recovery and said that he'd...

There is an old hymn written by Fanny Crosby, sung at generations of camp meetings, which exclaims: "Crown Him! Crown Him! Prophet, and Priest, and King!" Since the emergence of evangelicalism as a cultural force in the 1950s, three approaches to politics, represented by three personalities, have emerged. They are the prophet, the priest and the kingmaker. The prophet has been psychologist James Dobson, who dispenses child-rearing advice on the radio from his Colorado ministry, Focus on the Family. On family issues, Dobson's counsel is moderate and broadly appealing. On politics, his tone sharpens. He rails against compromise on social-conservative...

ASHEVILLE (AP) — Evangelist Billy Graham remained in fair condition Tuesday, a day after experiencing a second episode of intestinal bleeding at a hospital near his home in the mountains of western North Carolina, a hospital spokeswoman said. Graham, 88, had "an uneventful, good night" after the Monday morning episode, and his condition was unchanged Tuesday morning, said Merrell Gregory, a spokeswoman for Mission Health & Hospitals in Asheville. Graham has been hospitalized since experiencing an initial bout of intestinal bleeding on Saturday. No date has been set for Graham's release, but family members have said they hoped his hospital...

Evangelist Billy Graham was admitted to a hospital near his home early Saturday for evaluation and treatment of an intestinal bleed, hospital officials said. Graham, 88, was resting comfortably Saturday afternoon, said Merrell Gregory, a spokesman for Mission Health & Hospitals in Asheville. Graham's doctors said his condition did not appear to be life-threatening, said Graham's spokesman, Larry Ross. He estimated the ailing preacher could be released from the hospital in a couple of days. The hospital said in a statement that Graham's condition had stabilized following his admission, and a endoscopy and a bleeding scan found no areas of...

<p>Could there possibly be an American who doesn't admire the Reverend Billy Graham? Apparently, yes. Have a look at the cover of this week's 'Time.' Of all the ways the editors might have positioned the logo, they managed to do so in a manner in which the 'M' in 'TIME' is transformed into horns protuding from the good reverend's head.</p>

Both Bill and Hillary Clinton were sitting with him on stage in Flushing Meadows when Graham greeted them as his "wonderful friends of many years." "I told him," Graham said of President Clinton, "when he left the presidency, he should become an evangelist, because he had all the gifts." Graham paused, and added with a smile, "And he could [let] his wife run the country." That remark caused such a furor in some quarters that Graham's evangelist son Franklin had to explain that it was meant as a joke. But Graham had praised and defended both Clintons before. And in...

I don't want you to think it was part of a typical morning at work to get a personal phone call from Mrs. Billy Graham. True, she lived just a few minutes down the road and had literally hundreds of friends in our community. But if we had bumped into each other at the grocery store—as had actually happened several years earlier—she wouldn't have known me from Adam. Now, it turned out, she had read a news feature in WORLD that she didn't think we had gotten quite right. Could I drive out, stop by to see her, and let...

MONTREAT, N.C. - Ruth Graham, who surrendered dreams of missionary work in Tibet to marry a suitor who became the world's most renowned evangelist, died Thursday. She was 87. Graham died at 5:05 p.m. at her home at Little Piney Cove, surrounded by her husband and all five of their children, said a statement released by Larry Ross, Billy Graham's spokesman. "Ruth was my life partner, and we were called by God as a team," Billy Graham said in a statement. "No one else could have borne the load that she carried. She was a vital and integral part of...

With his wife Ruth near death, Charlotte-born evangelist Billy Graham announced today that the couple have decided to be buried on the grounds of the recently dedicated Billy Graham Library in Charlotte. Bedridden for the last six months, Ruth Graham contracted pneumonia two weeks ago and slipped into a coma this morning. Four of her five children were at her bedside today, and Ned, the youngest, was traveling to the family's Montreat home. She turned 87 Sunday... ...Graham spokesman Larry Ross told the Observer that Ruth Graham was being treated at her Montreat home, "in line with her wishes." But...

The wife of the Reverend Billy Graham has slipped into a coma. According to published reports, Ruth Graham's illness took a turn for the worse this morning. Mrs. Graham has been suffering from pneumonia. The Graham family says she is being treated at home and will not be taken to a hospital. Earlier today, Billy Graham said that the two of them would be buried side-by-side at the library that was dedicated to him earlier this month. "Ruth is my soul mate and best friend, and I cannot imagine living a single day without her by my side. I am...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Visitors to the new, presidential-style museum honoring evangelist Billy Graham enter and exit the building through crosses as tall as 40 feet high, a design meant to emphasize that the $27-million complex is an extension of the minister's work. "My hope is there will be thousands of people who come here every year and accept Jesus Christ as their savior," said the Rev. Franklin Graham, son and successor to his father, the world's most widely heard preacher. On Thursday, former Presidents Carter, Clinton and George H.W. Bush met with the Graham family before the formal dedication of...

A frail Billy Graham, using a walker and leaning on his son Franklin, was honored Thursday by three former U.S. presidents as they dedicated a museum built to be a "living crusade" that will carry on his work after the minister is gone. The $27 million Billy Graham Library traces the evangelist's journey from farm boy to the most widely heard minister of all time. He befriended every U.S. president since Harry Truman and preached in person to more than 210 million. "This building behind me is just a building," Graham said in brief remarks. "It's an instrument, a tool...

Some comments on the death of Jerry Falwell: "Jerry has been a tower of strength on many of the moral issues which have confronted our nation." — evangelist Pat Robertson. ___ "Dr. Falwell's shadow falls across the face of the rebirth of conservative values in our nation, in the Southern Baptist Convention, and in the entire evangelical world. Only once in a generation will a man of his stature arise. We all owe him a debt of eternal gratitude." — Paige Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. ___ "Unfortunately, we will always remember him as...

He is 88 now, bent by age and ailments, spending his days sitting with his beloved bedridden wife, Ruth, at their home in the mountains of North Carolina. Yet the stature of Billy Graham, whose global ministry got its start in Minnesota, continues to grow. In December, the Gallup Poll named him among the 10 most admired men in the world - a 50th time for him on that list. Few living Christians have been stronger unifying forces, commanded such respect or influenced more people. Among high-profile evangelists, he stands out for personal integrity, openness to cultural change and a...

He is 88 now, bent by age and ailments, spending his days sitting with his beloved bedridden wife, Ruth, at their home in the mountains of North Carolina. Yet the stature of Billy Graham, whose global ministry got its start in Minnesota, continues to grow. In December, the Gallup Poll named him among the 10 most admired men in the world -- a 50th time for him on that list. Few living Christians have been stronger unifying forces, commanded such respect or influenced more people. Among high-profile evangelists, he stands out for personal integrity, openness to cultural change and a...

Franklin Graham, head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association disclosed Sat. that his youngest son, Capt. Edward Graham, an Army Ranger, has just been injured in Iraq, according to a report in the Charlotte Observer. "He got shrapnel in his arms, legs and back," a Graham spokesman said. "And he was recovering...in a hospital that can't be named for security reasons." Reportedly, the wounds to the 27-year-old captain were not "life threatening."

Montreat, N.C. - It is a struggle worthy of the Old Testament, pitting brother against brother, son against mother, and leaving the famous father, the Rev. Billy Graham, trapped in the middle, pondering what to do. Retired and almost blind at 88, the evangelist is sitting in his modest log house on an isolated mountaintop in western North Carolina and listening to a family friend describe where Franklin Graham, heir to his father's worldwide ministry, wants to bury his parents. Billy's wife, Ruth Bell Graham, is listening, too, curled up in a hospital bed on this bleak November evening. At...

In its Aug. 14 issue, Newsweek ran as its cover story a profile of the Rev. Billy Graham, now 87 and in poor health. I've been ruminating on it since. When I was a Southern Baptist boy, Graham wasn't just a hero to the pastors and lay members of the conservative, rural and small-town congregations I attended. He was an icon, the nearest thing to a pope we low-church evangelicals had. Newsweek's article, written by Jon Meacham, left me in a quandary. I was struck by how moderate -- or even, dare I say it, liberal -- Graham sounds today...

Over the last half century, no Christian leader has been more visible - and more vocal on behalf of the gospel - than the Rev. Billy Graham. The famed evangelist is unsurpassed not only in the numbers to whom he has preached, but also in the certitude with which he has proclaimed the message of Jesus Christ as Lord. But that certitude has been about the essentials of the faith - the redeeming power of Jesus' life, death and resurrection to save humanity from its fallen sinful nature and to bring about eternal life. It has not been about hot-button...

The Church Report is pleased to announce this year’s list of The 50 Most Influential Christians in America. Thanks to the readers of the magazine as well as the online readers for contributing over 150,000 nominations. Each of the people on this list is most deserving of this recognition. As with all types of lists, there are those who are not on the list – not because they weren’t deserving – but simply because we did not have enough space to publish a list of the 100 most influential. The staff of The Church Report did not choose this list;...

1.GRAHAM DOES NOT EMPHASIZE SALVATION THROUGH THE BLOOD OF CHRIST2.BILLY GRAHAM DOES NOT BELIEVE HELL IS A PLACE OF LITERAL FIERY TORMENT 3.GRAHAM REFUSES TO DEFEND THE BIBLE AS THE INERRANT WORD OF GOD4.GRAHAM SAYS THEISTIC EVOLUTION IS POSSIBLE5. GRAHAM SAYS THEOLOGY NO LONGER MEANS ANYTHING TO HIM6.GRAHAM SAYS THE VIRGIN BIRTH NOT A NECESSARY PART OF CHRISTIAN FAITH7. BILLY GRAHAM HAS PROMOTED PRACTICALLY EVERY PERVERTED BIBLE VERSION TO APPEAR IN THE LAST FOUR DECADES8. BILLY GRAHAM THINKS A MIRACLE HAPPENS IN INFANT BAPTISM9. BILLY GRAHAM SAYS PEOPLE IN OTHER Pagan RELIGIONS CAN BE SAVED10. BILLY GRAHAM HAS TURNED THOUSANDS...

At age 87, the Rev. Billy Graham can no longer stride to the pulpit and uses a walker to get around. Carrie Wood of Spring Hill, Ark., sings next to a statue of Rev. Billy Graham after it was unveiled at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, Wednesday, June 22, 2005, in Nashville, Tenn. The statue, done by sculptor Terrell O'Brien, is a small version of a larger piece that will be presented in June at the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting in Greensboro, N.C. - Graham's home state - and then moved to Nashville for a permanent installation later...

Christ has risen from the dead! And because He lives, we who know Him shall live also. In the Resurrection Jesus Christ conquered sin and death, and now He is alive forevermore. All over the world, churches are filled with worshipers because there is an empty tomb in Jerusalem. A Message by Billy Graham. http://www.billygraham.org/DMag_Article.asp?ArticleID=534

Yes, it was a tragedy Jesus had to die—and the reason He had to die was because of us. There was no other way for our sins to be forgiven, and no other way for heaven's door to be opened to us. He was willing to do this because He loves us, and He doesn't want us to spend eternity apart from Him. Open your heart to Christ today, and when you do, it truly will become your "Good Friday"!

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...

Evangelist Billy Graham seems to have closed out his 60-year career as the country's most famous evangelist after calling thousands to Christian faith in wounded New Orleans with the acknowledgment that "this is probably the last evangelistic sermon I'll ever preach." Frail and tentative, the 87-year-old Graham shuffled behind a walker toward the pulpit set at one end of the New Orleans Arena as a crowd his organization estimated at 16,300 stood in a sustained roar of applause on Sunday (March 12). His son and heir, Franklin Graham, gently assisted him into place. Thousands of flash bulbs exploded. An overflow...

March 20, 2006 issue - In New Orleans to preach to 1,000 clergy gathered at the First Bap­tist Church there—his first sermon in eight months—the Rev. Billy Gra­ham toured the hard-hit city last week. Afterward, the 87 year-old Graham, who has al­so just published a new book, “The Journey: How to Live by Faith in an Uncertain World,” spoke with NEWSWEEK’s Jon Meacham by telephone. Edited excerpts: This is your first trip to the coast after Katrina. What are your impressions? This is the greatest disaster that I have ever seen, and I’ve seen many, all over the world. Mile...

Finally, The Truth on National TV Billy Graham's daughter was being interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her "How could God let something like this happen?" regarding 9-11-01... And Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said "I believe that God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman that He is, I believe that He has calmly backed out. How can we ...

George Beverly Shea Profile "I've been listening to Bev Shea sing for more than 50 years, and I would still rather hear him sing than anyone else I know." -- Billy Graham Since George Beverly Shea first sang for Billy Graham on the Chicago radio hymn program, "Songs in the Night," in 1943, he has carried the Gospel in song to every continent and every state in the Union. He is the recipient of ten Grammy nominations, one Grammy Award (1965) and is a member of the Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame (1978). As the musical mainstay in Mr....

You Can Know the Christ of Christmas Once again the world celebrates Christmas. People fervently pray that the Spirit of Christmas will pervade the entire world. In many parts of the world Christmas carolers will stand outside their neighbors' doors and sing "Silent Night! Holy Night!" Everyone is busily preparing for the holiday season.

"On Church and State", by Lores Rizkalla, Freeper 'JustaWoman' Billy Graham said that "bad politicians are elected by good people who don't vote." I think the same is true of "bad propositions" passing because good people decide to stay home on election day. This Tuesday, California (among many other states) has a special election. Statistics say that an average of 5% of registered voters get out to vote in an off-year election. What's worse is the truth so beautifully, yet sadly, written by William Butler Yeats': "The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity." Where...

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - What do Pat Boone and Bono have in common? It turns out they are both fans of the Rev. Billy Graham. They are joined by such acts as Michael McDonald, LeAnn Rimes, Marty Stuart, DC Talk and others on "Thank You Billy Graham," a track organized by Boone that celebrates the evangelist's 87th birthday. Net proceeds from the song and video, out November 7, benefit Mercy Corps and Samaritan's Purse for Hurricane Katrina and Global Poverty Relief. The song, written by Boone, David Pack and Billy Dean, appears on Boone's new album, "Glory Train," which was...

One morning this past June I found myself sitting in a coffee shop across from Rockefeller Center, teaching an astonished friend how to sing the old gospel hymn "How Great Thou Art." We had just come from a press conference for the Greater New York Billy Graham Crusade, which we were going to attend that weekend in Queens. My friend, who grew up in Brooklyn and once attended a yeshiva, was looking forward to this as an anthropological expedition. He thought of me as a secular Manhattan writer, like himself, which I suppose I am. He hadn't quite understood that...

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Evangelist Billy Graham's daughter was arrested and charged with domestic abuse after witnesses told police she choked her husband in a parking lot, authorities said. Virginia Graham Foreman, 59, spent a night in jail after the July 1 confrontation outside a shopping center, police said. She was charged with misdemeanor domestic abuse and released the following day. Three witnesses told police that Foreman pushed her husband and grabbed him by the throat, authorities said. A Volusia County judge who presided over Foreman's first court appearance said Chad Foreman told police that witnesses had "just...

Open letter to Billy Graham -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: July 4, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com Dear Rev. Graham, One of the highlights of my life as a young journalist was getting to meet you and spend some quality time interviewing you. I recall how you flew in to the then-tiny Orange County airport in Southern California, traveling alone, with only a hat and dark glasses as protection from your celebrity. I would have been grateful for 20-30 minutes of your time at your hotel, but you graciously gave me hours. It wasn't so much an interview as a friendly...

May 11, 2005 Host: Vic Eliason Topic: False Doctrine Guest: David DiCanio Description: Dr. David DiCanio is Pastor of Columbine Free Presbyterian Church in Columbine, Colorado, and is involved in Christian Media, which produces television-style documentaries on religious trends and movements. Vic Eliason presents two audio cuts. One features Robert Schuller being interviewed by Dr. David DiCanio after giving a keynote address at the 2004 National Association of Evangelicals meeting. The other cut features Robert Schuller interviewing Billy Graham. The two discuss their views concerning how people are saved. Dr. DiCanio interacts with callers to discuss the opinions expressed by...

Friday, July 1, 2005 10:09 a.m. EDT Billy Graham: I Didn't Endorse Hillary Clinton The Rev. Billy Graham said Friday that he didn't intend to endorse Hillary Clinton for president when he told her husband at a massive New York City revival meeting last weekend that she should "run the country." His son Franklin Graham, who heads the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, tells the Charlotte Observer: Story Continues Below "For a long time, my father has refrained from endorsing political candidates and he certainly did not intend for his comments to be an endorsement for Senator Hillary Clinton." "My father,...

I have been a great admirer of Billy Graham for more than 30 years. For 25 of those years, Dr. Graham was my role model in many ways as my ministry in preaching and evangelism developed.He set the gold standard for integrity, led the way in using technology to communicate the Gospel and stayed 'on message' resisting trendy distractions by preaching only the simple Gospel for more than 60 years.You can imagine how delighted I was to have the opportunity to travel to New York to sit in on what will likely be his last American crusade.It was with a...

Looking over the news coverage of last weekend's Billy Graham crusade, which drew nearly 250,000 evangelical Christians in New York, I was thinking: Good for them. Seeing the ecstasy on their faces in the photos, I was happy for them. Growing up in urban, liberal America in the Sixties and Seventies, I took a distinctly different attitude toward the evangelical movement. Like other liberals, Jewish and gentile, I assumed that evangelical Christians were either stupid or rotten, or both. They didn't like Jews and they despised blacks. They hated everything I loved, and vice versa. But the photos from the...

Over the years I have appreciated and admired what Billy Graham has stood for and against. His integrity has been near perfect. When most evangelists have slipped or stuck their foot in their mouth Billy Graham has stood on the Word of God, without wavering. During the past six decades, his message of Jesus Christ has been heard by over 210 million in 185 countries. He has been counsel to presidents, a passionate evangelist, a loving husband, and a caring father. This past weekend in New York, it was Graham’s much-anticipated last revival. Instead of focusing on his revival, Graham...

Over the years I have appreciated and admired what Billy Graham has stood for and against. His integrity has been near perfect. When most evangelists have slipped or stuck their feet in their mouths, Billy Graham has stood on the Word of God, without wavering. During the past six decades, his message of Jesus Christ has been heard by over 210 million in 185 countries. He has been counsel to presidents, a passionate evangelist, a loving husband, and a caring father. This past weekend in New York, it was Graham’s much-anticipated last revival. Instead of focusing on his revival, Graham...

"I&#8216;ve seen big crowds before, but this is the biggest religious crowd I&#8216;ve seen. Very religious people here coming in this case to be saved, not just to observe, but to participate. It&#8216;s pretty strong medicine." MATTHEWS: Do you think that people like the late pope, John Paul II, do you have any sense of whether he accepted Jesus? GRAHAM: Oh, I know he was a&#8212;I&#8216;ve talked to him three separate times. I just love him. And I followed his suffering and his death. He taught us how to suffer. He taught us how to die. He taught us about...

Rev. Peterson: The Clintons’ Political Futures Received The Greatest Benefit From Billy Graham’s Revival! Los Angeles- Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, founder and president of BOND, the Brotherhood Organization of A New Destiny, issued a statement today chastising Rev. Billy Graham for his endorsement of Hillary Clinton at his final American revival meeting this past weekend in New York City. According to reports, Billy Graham surrendered his microphone to former President Clinton and heaped praise on the Clintons, calling the character-challenged duo ‘wonderful friends’ and ‘a great couple.’ Graham added that the impeached former president should become an evangelist and allow...

AP STORY From the article or Rev. Graham's American revival meeting in New York: "I was just a little boy and I'll never forget it," said Clinton, who was joined by his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. "I've loved him ever since. God bless you, friend." Graham called the Clintons "wonderful friends" and "a great couple," quipping that the former president should become an evangelist and allow "his wife to run the country." =================================================================== When some of you read the above, it probably evoked projectile vomiting. I fought it off. The words of Rev. Graham were not welcome to...