Trump: Rev. Billy Graham’s Faith Changed the Entire World
(CNSNews.com) - Rev. Billy Graham accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior at the age of 15 - a choice that not only changed his life, it changed the country and the entire world, President Donald Trump said as he paid tribute to Graham at a Capitol Hill ceremony on Wednesday.
“In the spring of 1934, Billy Graham’s father allowed a group of Charlotte businessmen to use a portion of the family’s dairy farm to gather for a day of prayer. On that day, the men prayed for the city. They prayed that, ‘Out of Charlotte, the Lord would raise up someone to preach the Gospel to the ends of the Earth.’ We are here today, more than 80 years later, because that prayer was truly answered,” Trump said.
“Billy Graham was 15 years old at the time. Just a few months later, he accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. That choice didn’t just change Billy’s life -- it changed our lives. It changed our country, and it changed, in fact, the entire world,” the president said.
Graham started off at “a small Bible school in Florida,” but “he soon led a nationwide revival from a large tent in Los Angeles, to 100,000 people in a single day at Yankee Stadium, to more than 2 million people at Madison Square Garden, over 16 weeks in 1957,” Trump said.
Trump said his own father, Fred Trump, was “a big fan” of Graham, and he encouraged the future president to see Graham at Yankee Stadium. “It was something very special,” Trump said.
Graham’s reach was worldwide, the president said.
“In London, Tokyo, Seoul, Bogota, Moscow, New Delhi, Saigon, Johannesburg, and scores of other places all over the world, Reverend Graham shared the power of God’s word with more than 200 million people, in person, and countless others through television and radio where people loved to watch and listen,” he said.
Trump called it fitting that Graham was honored in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol building, “where the memory of the American people is enshrined.”
“Here in this room, we are reminded that America is a nation sustained by prayer. The painting to my left is of the pilgrims as they embarked for America, holding fast to the Bible and bowing their heads in prayer. Along these walls, we see the faces of Americans who prayed as they stood on the Lexington Green, who prayed as they headed west, prayed as they headed into battle, and prayed as they marched for justice, and always marched for victory,” he said.
“Around us stand the statues of heroes who led the nation in prayer during the great and difficult times, from Washington to Lincoln to Eisenhower to King, and, today, in the center of this great chamber lies legendary Billy Graham, an ambassador for Christ who reminded the world of the power of prayer and the gift of God’s grace. Today we honor him as only three private citizens before him have been so honored,” Trump said.
“And like the faithful of Charlotte once did, today we say a prayer for our country, that all across this land the Lord will raise up men and women like Billy Graham to spread a message of love and hope to every precious child of God,” the president said.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Graham “knew better than anyone that fame and an impressive Rolodex weren’t the real standards of success.”
“His aim was simpler: sharing the good news with as many souls as he possibly could, and when there were triumphs, Billy insisted they were not man-made in the slightest. ‘The secret of my work, he explained, ‘is God. I would be nothing.’ That is what made Billy Graham America’s pastor,” the majority leader said.
“That is how he inspired countless life-changing conversions - not his great talents so much as his deep humility, his unwavering fidelity to faith and family, his plain spoken preaching of essential truths without ego or embellishment,” McConnell said.
“Billy Graham lifted up our nation, not because he occupied the spotlight so masterfully, but because he knew he wasn’t the one who belonged in it,” he said.
“He was just a happy instrument in the hands of his creator, and so we trust that he was right, that his true reward is something far surpassing all of his achievements here on Earth - a warm welcome for this good and faithful servant into his eternal home. The Senate and the nation are so very grateful for his service,” McConnell added.
“‘Love the Lord, your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ Billy Graham woke up every day and did just that,” House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said. “He shared his love of God. That love had no end and no barriers.”
Graham ministered to people from all walks of life, Ryan said - from presidents to “everyday citizens lining up to pay their respects.”
“When listening to Reverend Graham, it’s as if he’s right there next to you, praying with you, turning you to the glory of God. He did not profess to have all the right answers,” Ryan said. “Turn to the Bible, he would say, but he sure did point us to all the right questions and challenge us to look up and to look within, to reflect and to repent.
“And in those moments, when we felt weak in spirit, when our country was on its knees, he reminded us, he convinced us that is exactly when we’d find our grace and our strength,” Ryan said. “Few loved others as Billy Graham did, and few were as beloved as he was.
“Here lies America’s pastor, a man made great - not by who he was, but by who he served with all of his heart and all of his soul and all of his mind. We give thanks to God for the life and the works of this humble servant now and forever,” the speaker said. https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/melanie-arter/trump-rev-billy-grahams-faith-changed-entire-world
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Yesterday's ceremony at the US Capitol was a beautiful tribute to a great man.