This is the message of many preachers but very few enjoyed the open doors that Billy Graham did. In 1950, and not yet 32 years old, he was invited to the White House by U.S. President Harry Truman. This was the first of many invitations to that famous residence by its chief occupant of the day. Four years later, he was invited by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill for a private meeting at 10 Downing Street. He was permitted to preach behind the Iron Curtain in numerous communist countries during the Cold War years. Owning a Bible in North Korea is punishable by imprisonment or death, yet in 1994, Graham visited the "hermit kingdom" and presented its founding dictator, Kim Il-Sung, with a copy of it along with a copy of his book Peace with God. You can Google the picture.
It has often been said that his ministry thrived for decades without scandal, but that isn't quite true. No movement is ever scandal-free because no movement is people-free and where there are people, there is sin. Because he led a public life, Graham's motives were publicly debated over the years. Many faulted him for his lengthy absences from home, that his wife Ruth was basically a single mother. His children had their share of issues. Rightly or wrongly, some suggested that he pandered to the powerful and secretly reveled in the trappings of worldly influence. His personal integrity and that of his whole ministry was in peril because of his friendship with U.S. President Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal. And he was often accused of preaching a gospel of "cheap grace". Some of these accusations were likely rooted in envy while others were taken out of context. Still, others were true but in the business of public life, myths can be indistinguishable from facts. That all said, Billy Graham was a sinner like everyone else and that is something he never denied. In fact, realizing this weakness was the key to his success. He was reliant on God's grace, not on his own ability to be perfect in all things.
Quite simply, Billy knew his God. God's grace sustained him and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association through the storms that come to all people and organizations. Billy knew that God wanted to perform a perfect work through an imperfect servant like him. God went before him and filled every stadium and converted every penitent and Billy was careful in making sure God got the glory. Billy knew it wasn't about him and God honored him for that. God blessed him abundantly and how much He blesses someone is His business and no one else's.
Now Billy is gone. By God's grace his legacy will continue in the ministry work of his and Ruth's children and grandchildren, warts and all. His son Franklin is different from his dad. Where Billy sought to please, Franklin doesn't shy away from bluntly speaking the truth against the spirit of the age. He will offend and that's OK. So did Jesus. His daughter, Anne Graham Lotz, will do the same. Her father used to say that she was "the best preacher in the family". Franklin's son Will also has a thriving evangelistic ministry under the BGEA umbrella and other family members are also involved in Christian ministry of some kind. All will be well as God is gracious and as long as they all remember what Billy knew. The Psalmist more than once asked of God, "What is man that You are mindful of him?" Billy himself often wondered why God chose a North Carolina farm boy to bring His word to the world. No direct audible answer came but the fact remains that God did choose him because God is very mindful of man. That is the lesson and the legacy for the rest of us.
