One of the Most Influential People to Ever Live
He was chosen one of the ten most admired people in the world a record-breaking 59 times
He preached to live audiences of more than 210 million people in 185 countries, with an estimated lifetime audience, including radio and television broadcasts topping 2.2 billion people! Because of his many crusades, it is estimated he preached the gospel to more people than anyone in the history of Christianity. More than 3.2 million people responded to the invitation “to accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior” at his crusades.
Chosen as one of the ten most admired men in the world a record-breaking fifty-nine times in the Gallop poll, he was a friend to many celebrities and presidents, and one of the most influential people to ever live. He once stated “My calling is to preach the love of God and the forgiveness of God and the fact that He does forgive us. That’s what the cross is all about, what the resurrection is all about, that’s the gospel.”
Called the Pope of Protestant America by some, and one of the world’s best-known preachers, he was born in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1918. William Franklin Graham, Jr. lived a long and full life, dying at the age of 99 years old in 2018.
Best known by the name Billy Graham, he was on television for more than six decades, with many of his rallies and sermons continuing to be broadcast today. He also operated a variety of media and publishing outlets and wrote dozens of books.
Let’s take a look at a small portion of this man’s extraordinary life through some of his words from a wide variety of books, videos, recordings, and the abundant resources of the web. Whether you are a Christian or not, there is great wisdom in much of what Graham had to say. Check out the section on wisdom for some truly amazing insights about life.
The Gospel
“The message I preach hasn’t changed. Circumstances have changed. Problems have changed, but deep inside man has not changed, and the gospel hasn’t changed.“
“Now the Gospel of Christ has no meaning unless it is applied to our fellow man who hurts and is in need.”
“When people walk by here and see the name Billy Graham and some kid yells out, “Who in the world was Billy Graham? What rock group did he play for?” They’ll be answered with, “No, he was a preacher of the Gospel.” And they might explain the Gospel to them and many people may find Christ in that.”
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“If I didn’t believe that the Bible and the Gospel of Jesus Christ held the answer to this world’s baffling problems, I would go back to the farm and the rural life that I love and spend my days in peaceful solitude.”
“You don’t have to know much when you come to Christ. You don’t have to know the whole Gospel. You don’t have to know the Bible. You just come like you are.”
Christianity
“I have never known anyone to accept Christ’s redemption and later regret it.”
“Becoming a Christian is the work of a moment; being a Christian is the work of a lifetime.”
“We aren’t only called to become Christians; we are called to be Christians.”
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“I can’t live the Christian life alone. I’m a failure. Billy Graham cannot live the Christian life.”
“The Christian’s journey through life isn’t a sprint but a marathon.”
“Being a Christian is more than just an instantaneous conversion — it is a daily process whereby you grow to be more and more like Christ.”
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“The marvel is not so much that Christians are happy, but that they are not happier. We need to awaken to a new consciousness of our divine origin. Born of God — what a heritage!”
“Living the Christian life means striving for holiness.”
“You can be born in a garage, but that doesn’t make you an automobile. You can be born in a Christian home, but that doesn’t make you a Christian.”
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“Christianity is not a white man’s religion. And don’t ever let anybody tell you that it’s white or black. Christ belongs to all people! He belongs to the whole world!”
“Our voices, our service, and our abilities are to be employed, primarily, for the glory of God.”
“Believers, look up — take courage. The angels are nearer than you think.”
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“If Christianity is important at all, it is all important. If it is anything at all, it is everything. It is either the most vital thing in your life, or it isn’t worth bothering with.”
“The Christian is to take his place in society with moral courage to stand up for that which is right, just, and honorable.”
“An atheist only sees a hopeless end to life. But the Christian sees an endless hope.”
Jesus Christ
“We say to our children, ‘Act like grown-ups,’ but Jesus said to the grown-ups, ‘Be like children.’”
“Christ not only died for all: he died for each.”
“The cross shows us the seriousness of our sin — but it also shows us the immeasurable love of God.”
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“When you come to Jesus Christ, you don’t commit intellectual suicide. You come to Christ with your mind.”
“The only hope for enduring peace is Jesus Christ.”
“In Him and Him alone can we find the strength, the stability, and certainty for tomorrow. Christ alone can bring truth to the mind, cleansing to the heart, and power to the will.”
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“I have never known a man who received Christ and ever regretted it.”
“With Christ as your Savior and constant Companion, you, although “alone, need never be lonely.”
“The heart of man … is big enough for Christ to live in, if man will only make room for Him.”
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“And how many of you are trying to put the puzzles of life together in your life, in your marriage, in your business, in your school, in your work, with your friends? Life is a big puzzle, and you haven’t found a way to put it all together yet. Jesus Christ can do it for you, if you’ll let Him.”
“My hope does not rest in the affairs of this world. It rests in Christ who is coming again.”
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“The most important events in human history were the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
“Without the resurrection, the cross is meaningless.”
“Once you have been to the cross, you will never be the same.”
God
“Someone asked me recently if I didn’t think God was unfair, allowing me to have Parkinson’s and other medical problems when I have tried to serve him faithfully. I replied that I did not see it that way at all. Suffering is part of the human condition, and it comes to us all. The key is how we react to it, either turning away from God in anger and bitterness or growing closer to him in trust and confidence.”
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“God never takes away something from your life without replacing it with something better.”
“God’s business now is to mold you into the image of Christ so that you will love like He loves, have peace like He has, joy like He has, gentleness like He has.”
“Salvation is an act of God. It is initiated by God, wrought by God, and sustained by God.”
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“All you need is God. If you’re totally surrendered and totally dedicated and say, “Lord, here’s my hand with all I’ve got,” God has a place for you. He can use you.”
“You will never understand who you are until you understand who God is.”
“Don’t take the holiness of God lightly, for it is the very essence of His character.”
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“In this age with all the emptiness, the loneliness, the anguish, the guilt and the bereavement and the suffering in the world, it is a thrilling thing to know that God is for every person everywhere as individuals.”
“Look up on a starry night, and you will see the majesty and power of an infinite Creator.”
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“Nothing in our lives takes God by surprise.”
“If you have been trying to limit God — stop it! Don’t try to confine Him or His works to any single place or sphere. You wouldn’t try to limit the ocean.”
Holy Spirit
“The Holy Spirit can rejuvenate a tired Christian, captivate an indifferent believer, and empower a dry church.”
“I’ve tried. I can’t do it. But with the help of the Word of God and the help of the Holy Spirit, I can live the Christian life. But He lives it through me.”
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“The Spirit of God takes the Word of God and makes the child of God.”
“It is the Holy Spirit’s job to convict, God’s job to judge and my job to love.“
The Bible
“Every time I read the Bible, any part of the Bible — I don’t care where I open up — it speaks to me.”
“As Christians, we have only one authority, one compass: the Word of God.”
“The Bible is not an option; it is a necessity. You cannot grow spiritually strong without it.”
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“The Bible clearly says that faithfulness and persecution often go hand in hand.”
“The Bible is the only book in the world that predicts the future. The Bible is more modern than tomorrow morning’s newspaper.”
“World events are moving very rapidly now. I pick up the Bible in one hand, and I pick up the newspaper in the other. And I read almost the same words in the newspaper as I read in the Bible. It’s being fulfilled every day round about us.”
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I’ve read the last page of the Bible. It’s all going to turn out all right.
“Each of us has our reference point and as a Christian the reference point by which I measure my life and thought is the Bible.”
“God never leads us to do anything that is contrary to the Bible.”
“Some shy away from Christianity because they know they cannot live perfect lives. But according to the Bible, the Christian life is not for perfect people. It’s for people who are imperfect, like you and me. Jesus said, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Prayer
“God welcomes our prayers. He is much more concerned about our hearts than our eloquence.”
“Prayer should not be merely an act, but an attitude of life.”
“Prayer serves a dual purpose: the blessing of man and the glory of God.”
“If we are to depend on prayer during tough times, we should be people of prayer before the crisis hits.“
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“No matter how dark and hopeless a situation might seem, never stop praying.”
“In the Bible God speaks to us; in prayer we speak to God. Both are essential.”
“Long after you and I are gone, God will still be at work — and many of the things we prayed for will finally come to pass.”
Eternity
“Knowing we will be with Christ forever far outweighs our burdens today! Keep your eyes on eternity!”
“Death is not the end of life; it is only the gateway to eternity.”
“Time is the dressing room of eternity. In the few fleeting days of life on this planet we are given the opportunity to prepare for eternity.”
Death and Heaven
“Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it! I shall be more alive then than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God.”
“The moment we take our last breath on earth, we take our first in heaven.”
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“Earth’s troubles fade in the light of heaven’s hope.”
“My home is in Heaven. I’m just traveling through this world.”
“I’m not afraid to die, for I know the joys of heaven are waiting. … Will you be making the journey with me?”
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“Only in heaven will we know exactly what heaven is like.”
“Heaven is real and hell is real, and eternity is but a breath away.”
“The most thrilling thing about heaven is that Jesus Christ will be there. I will see Him face to face. Jesus Christ will meet us at the end of life’s journey.”
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“Heaven is full of answers for which nobody ever bothered to ask.”
“God will prepare everything for our perfect happiness in heaven, and if it takes my dog being there, I believe he’ll be there.”
Love
“The transformed man loves when others hate. He is just when others are prejudiced. He is understanding when others misunderstand and he is poised when others are frantic.”
“The whole Bible is a love story. It’s a love story between God and man. God loves you!”
“God proved His love on the Cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, ’I love you.’”
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“We are looking for a universal solution to our problems, but the cross presents itself in the midst of our dilemma as our only hope. Here we find the justice of God in perfect satisfaction — the mercy of God extended to the sinner, the love of God covering every need, the power of God for every emergency, the glory of God for every occasion. Here is power enough to change the world.”
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“There is one thing God’s love cannot do. It cannot forgive the unrepentant sinner.”
“I am convinced that the greatest act of love we can ever perform for people is to tell them about God’s love for them in Christ.”
“God’s love is unchangeable; He knows exactly what we are and loves us anyway.”
Grace
“People put a person who is publicized a little bit on a pedestal. I don’t belong there. I belong in the gutter with all the sinners that have been saved by grace. I’m a sinner saved by the grace of God.”
“Quit beating yourself up. We all live under grace and do the best we can.”
“The will of God will never take us where the grace of God cannot sustain us.”
Forgiveness
“We cannot walk as we ought to walk; we cannot rise to our intended stature under God until we receive divine pardon and forgiveness.”
“In one bold stroke, forgiveness obliterates the past and permits us to enter the land of new beginnings.”
“When God forgives us and purifies us of our sin, He also forgets it. Forgiveness results in God dropping the charges against us.”
Faith
“When I stepped on this platform last night — I’d never been on this platform before — I didn’t get down and examine it to see if it would hold me up. I accepted by faith that the carpenters that built it, built it to hold a man. And by faith you receive Christ in the same way. You totally commit yourself. You say, “Lord, I’m not trusting anything else to save my soul except Jesus.””
“To suffer for the faith is not a penalty; it is a privilege.
“Christians who are strong in the faith grow as they accept whatever God allows to enter their lives.”
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“Without the “fuel” of the Bible, prayer, and Christian fellowship, our faith grows cold.”
“The secret strength of a nation is found in the faith that abides in the hearts and homes of the country.”
“When one bears suffering faithfully, God is glorified and honored.”
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“Faith points us beyond our problems to the hope we have in Christ.”
“I know where I’ve come from. I know why I’m here. I know where I’m going and I don’t have any doubts about it. You can have that same peace, that same assurance, that same joy by putting your confidence and your faith in Jesus Christ.”
Sin and Satan
“Discouragement is the opposite of faith. It is Satan’s device to thwart the work of God in your life.”
“When our minds are on Christ, Satan has little room to maneuver.”
“My wife has said that a bitter, sour Christian is one of Satan’s greatest trophies — and she’s right.”
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“Every manifestation of evil is the result of basic sin — sin that has remained unchanged since the moment it first entered the human race.”
“Envy and greed starve on a steady diet of thanksgiving.”
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“A Christian is not one who is sinless, but one who has had sin forgiven.”
“Evil is real — but so is God’s power and love.”
“Sin is the second most powerful force in the universe, for it sent Jesus to the cross. Only one force is greater — the love of God.”
Money and Wealth
“There is nothing wrong with men possessing riches. The wrong comes when riches possess men.”
“If a person gets his attitude toward money straight, it will help straighten out almost every other area in his life.”
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“When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost.”
“The Internal Revenue Service wants a record of how you spend your money, but that is nothing compared to the books God is keeping.”
Wisdom
“God has given us two hands, one to receive with and the other to give with.”
“Take one day at a time. Today, after all, is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.”
“Our society strives to avoid any possibility of offending anyone — except God.”
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“We are the Bibles the world is reading; we are the creeds the world is needing; we are the sermons the world is heeding.”
“Mountaintops are for views and inspiration, but fruit is grown in the valleys.”
“Comfort and prosperity have never enriched the world as much as adversity has.”
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“God has promised to supply all of our needs, but He’s never promised to supply all of our greeds.”
“We have a tremendous amount of knowledge. We have universities by the scores and hundreds and thousands throughout the world. But we’ve lost wisdom, in the midst of all of our knowledge.”
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“The regeneration of the individual is much more needed than the revolution of society.”
“The way we live is often more convincing than the words we say.”
“When we come to the end of ourselves, we come to the beginning of God.”
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“A suffering person does not need a lecture — he needs a listener.”
“God doesn’t comfort us to make us comfortable, but to make us comforters.”
“Suppose you could gain everything in the whole world, and lost your soul. Was it worth it?”
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“Be grateful and you won’t grumble. Grumble and you won’t be grateful.”
“Life and death is not a do-it-yourself project.”
“The framers of our Constitution meant we were to have freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.”
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“Don’t waste your life, and don’t be satisfied with anything less than God’s plan.”
“Tears shed for self are tears of weakness, but tears shed for others are a sign of strength.”
“Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.”
Humor
“A real Christian is the one who can give his pet parrot to the town gossip.”
“They asked her (Ruth Graham) did she ever think about divorce and she said, ‘No, I’ve never thought of divorce in all these 35 years of marriage, but,’ she said, ‘I did think of murder a few times.’”
“The only time my prayers are never answered is on the golf course.”
I hope you gained insight into this man’s amazing life and what he stood for through his words. Although he is missed by many, he is in a far better place now. I want to challenge those Christians reading this to take to heart this final quote:
“What is your story? Be ready to share it when the Lord gives you the opportunity.”
To those of you who do not know and confess the Lord, my prayers are that you will accept Him in your heart before your final day comes on this earth.
Bill Abbate Leadership Writer and Editor in ILLUMINATION.
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