Billy Graham says this weekends NYC revival will be his last in United States, Please pray for him and the salvation of those that attend
Articles / In The News
Date: Jun 22, 2005 - 01:04 PM
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Billy Graham says this weekends NYC revival will be his last in United States, Please pray for him and the salvation of those that attend.
NEW YORK - An ailing Billy Graham, acknowledging that his life's work is near its end, said Tuesday that his upcoming revival meeting in New York "will be the last in America, I'm sure."
The 86-year-old preacher said he is still considering an invitation to preach in November in London, but said his death "could happen any day."
"I look forward to death," Graham said at a news conference ahead of his three-day New York crusade, set to begin Friday. "I look forward to seeing God face-to-face."
Failing health
Graham is suffering from a host of ailments, including hydrocephalus, or fluid on the brain, and prostate cancer and told The Associated Press last week that he has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. He uses a walker due to a pelvic fracture last year and had to be guided to his seat by aides before speaking with reporters.
His powerful voice has diminished over the years, and his hearing is failing, yet he responded strongly to questions Tuesday. He also showed that his sense of humor remains intact.
Talking about the promise of heaven and, looking at the crush of news photographers surrounding him, Graham said, "I hope I'll see all of you there. And bring your cameras."
Graham plans to preach for about 35 minutes at each of the three rallies this weekend. His son, Franklin, now head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, will stand by as substitute preacher in case of emergency. A pulpit has been designed for the elder Graham with a movable seat hidden from view, so he can sit if he feels tired.
Organizers originally planned to hold this week's meeting in Madison Square Garden, where in 1957 Graham held a legendary crusade that was so popular it was extended from six to 16 weeks. It remains his longest revival meeting ever. "I ran out of sermons after a week or two," Graham recalled.
Large crowd anticipated
However, due to expectations of large crowds, this week's event was moved to a bigger venue, Corona Park in Flushing Meadows, near Shea Stadium.
Seating is available for 70,000 people, with room for overflow. Graham told the AP that he knew many people planning to attend because they believe it will be his last rally.
Graham said he was returning to New York because Christian leaders here had told him the city was more open to a spiritual message after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Thousands of volunteers from more than 1,300 New York area churches have been organizing the event, which is free to the public.
Graham declined to discuss politics because he said it would detract from his message of salvation through Christ. "There are many times I went too far in talking about those issues. I think this time, I want to stick only to the Gospel," he said.
Yet he said that he believed the increase in political activism among evangelicals was positive for the country. That trend has overwhelmingly benefited the Republican Party.
Graham has befriended many presidents and emphasized that he knew the Bush and Clinton families and had invited President Clinton to the crusade. "I like them both and love them both," Graham said of the two families.
It was not known whether Clinton, whose offices are in New York, would attend.
In six decades of preaching, Graham has held several major rallies in the greater New York area. During that time society has changed, but people have not, he said.
"At my age, I have one message and that is that Jesus Christ came, he died on the cross, he rose again and he asks us to repent of our sins," he said. "We don't have any possibility of solving our problems today except through Jesus."
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Billy Graham says this weekends NYC revival will be his last in United States, Please pray for him and the salvation of those that attend.
NEW YORK - An ailing Billy Graham, acknowledging that his life's work is near its end, said Tuesday that his upcoming revival meeting in New York "will be the last in America, I'm sure."
The 86-year-old preacher said he is still considering an invitation to preach in November in London, but said his death "could happen any day."
"I look forward to death," Graham said at a news conference ahead of his three-day New York crusade, set to begin Friday. "I look forward to seeing God face-to-face."
Failing health
Graham is suffering from a host of ailments, including hydrocephalus, or fluid on the brain, and prostate cancer and told The Associated Press last week that he has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. He uses a walker due to a pelvic fracture last year and had to be guided to his seat by aides before speaking with reporters.
His powerful voice has diminished over the years, and his hearing is failing, yet he responded strongly to questions Tuesday. He also showed that his sense of humor remains intact.
Talking about the promise of heaven and, looking at the crush of news photographers surrounding him, Graham said, "I hope I'll see all of you there. And bring your cameras."
Graham plans to preach for about 35 minutes at each of the three rallies this weekend. His son, Franklin, now head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, will stand by as substitute preacher in case of emergency. A pulpit has been designed for the elder Graham with a movable seat hidden from view, so he can sit if he feels tired.
Organizers originally planned to hold this week's meeting in Madison Square Garden, where in 1957 Graham held a legendary crusade that was so popular it was extended from six to 16 weeks. It remains his longest revival meeting ever. "I ran out of sermons after a week or two," Graham recalled.
Large crowd anticipated
However, due to expectations of large crowds, this week's event was moved to a bigger venue, Corona Park in Flushing Meadows, near Shea Stadium.
Seating is available for 70,000 people, with room for overflow. Graham told the AP that he knew many people planning to attend because they believe it will be his last rally.
Graham said he was returning to New York because Christian leaders here had told him the city was more open to a spiritual message after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Thousands of volunteers from more than 1,300 New York area churches have been organizing the event, which is free to the public.
Graham declined to discuss politics because he said it would detract from his message of salvation through Christ. "There are many times I went too far in talking about those issues. I think this time, I want to stick only to the Gospel," he said.
Yet he said that he believed the increase in political activism among evangelicals was positive for the country. That trend has overwhelmingly benefited the Republican Party.
Graham has befriended many presidents and emphasized that he knew the Bush and Clinton families and had invited President Clinton to the crusade. "I like them both and love them both," Graham said of the two families.
It was not known whether Clinton, whose offices are in New York, would attend.
In six decades of preaching, Graham has held several major rallies in the greater New York area. During that time society has changed, but people have not, he said.
"At my age, I have one message and that is that Jesus Christ came, he died on the cross, he rose again and he asks us to repent of our sins," he said. "We don't have any possibility of solving our problems today except through Jesus."
Graham's days revolve around prayer and Bible study. He's begun writing his 25th book, "a Biblically based guide to daily Christian living," says Graham's publicist of 24 years, A. Larry Ross.
His first and last words every day are prayers, and in between, prayers run like a generator in the back of his mind. "Let's just say Billy likes to stay prayed up all the time," Ross says, quoting the evangelist's longtime aide, the late T.W. Wilson.
Before he asks God's help, Graham says, he begins with praise and thanksgiving for God's gifts: the beauties and bounty of nature, "even the pleasures of sex, within the boundaries of marriage," for God's word as revealed in the Bible, for God's love, revealed in Jesus.
Psalms and proverbs
"I used to read five psalms every day — that teaches me how to get along with God. Then I read a chapter of Proverbs every day and that teaches me how to get along with my fellow man."
It's hard now, he says, to maintain the devotional pace that once enabled him to go through the books of Psalms and Proverbs in a month and start over again. Now, it's a psalm or two a day and proverbs as he can.
His days are about what he can do. Most are threaded through with exercise, therapy and naps, staff meetings and sermon writing.
There's nursing staff here around the clock for him and his wife, Ruth, and aides for his work. His two sons and three daughters — all active in Christian writing, preaching or missions — visit often.
The Rev. Franklin Graham, his older son, now heads the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, ensconced in new headquarters in nearby Charlotte.
Franklin, however, has a more exclusive view of where and how to share the faith. Billy Graham always prayed "in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit" at nine presidential swearing-in ceremonies or related events.
But Franklin caused a stir by praying at George W. Bush's first inauguration "in Jesus' name." And Franklin, not Billy, was invited to join in Justice Sunday (although he did not attend because of a scheduling conflict).
Billy Graham is his son's staunchest defender: "I'm proud of him. He has a terrific ministry." In June, Franklin will walk his father to the microphone, as he does at each crusade where the nightly highlight is Billy's sermon.
To prepare for those sermons, the aging evangelist walks up the road behind his house once or twice a day to reflect and rehearse.
It's on the short list of things he can do, like watching the Yankees or golf on TV or movies with Ruth.
He also knows what cannot be. He cannot preach forever — and the world has changed profoundly since Graham first rose to prominence in the early 1950s.
The Christian world today is full of niches — from the vaguest spiritual seekers to the most doctrinally rigid conservatives who decry the ecumenical movement and see tolerance as moral relativism. Words like pluralism and inclusivity, which Graham considers positive, have taken on negative connotations, as if they meant all paths to God were equally valid.
Many preachers, wary of frightening off anyone on the cusp of conversion, no longer end their sermons with anything so old-fashioned as an altar call — a public invitation to come to Jesus, an invitation the skinny 16-year-old farm boy Billy Graham once accepted at a tent revival.
Graham says the changing winds of evangelism remind him of a scene from The Sound of Music. After Germany invaded Austria, the Austrian Baron von Trapp, astonished when a teenager snaps into a Hitler salute, says in dismay, "My world is passing me by."
"It's true for me," Graham says. "I see all this going on, but I just understand the basic principles that will be true in every generation. My world is passing me by."
There's no anger or complaint in his voice, just the calm of someone certain that another world awaits.
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