As you may know, Billy Graham left this world today at age 99 years. He died at 8 a.m. EST at his home in Montreat, North Carolina. A counselor to many famous and powerful men and women, his message was always the same, to everyone.
According to Reuters,
In a rare trip away from his home in his later years, Graham had celebrated his 95th birthday on Nov. 7, 2013, at a hotel in Asheville, North Carolina, where some 800 guests, including Republican politician Sarah Palin, business magnates Rupert Murdoch and Donald Trump and television hostess Kathie Lee Gifford paid tribute.
The celebration featured a video of a sermon that his son Franklin said was Graham’s last message to the nation. Graham had been working for a year on the video, which was aired on Fox News. In it, he said America was “in great need of a spiritual awakening.”
Here is his message to us:
Stella's Place 
What Billy Graham has said was his favorite hymn.
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Tears. I can remember my grandmother humming this as she did house chores………….I’m feeling sadness and joy in this remembrance on this day. Thank you for this post.
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I know. It reminds me of my mother and my aunt.
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My Mom’s favorite as well. Thanks for posting. Sweet memories.
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My Dad went around singing this song along with other hymns to himself as he went about his home chores. I am 84 & sticks indelible in my mind.
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I’m Episcopalian pre-green book, which says something about how deep the heathen have taken us. But, with his passing I am reminded of that great English hymn that sings “God moves in mysterious ways; His wonders to perform; …”
God bless a man that tried to take all of us to the angels.
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This is my memory, too, of my grandmother humming or actually singing this as she worked around in the kitchen. The posts on this site have been very beautiful and helpful. Thanks.
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I always had a lot of admiration and respect for Billy Graham.
With all of this #me too stuff I think about hearing him say how he was never alone with a woman, whether in an elevator or a maid in his hotel room.
My mother loved Billy Graham and when we lost my brother her sister-in-law wrote him asking him to pray for my mother. He sent a letter back asking for my mother’s address and he sent her a handwritten letter that she always treasured.
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“Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God.” ~ Billy Graham
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Amen
WP won’t let me like any posts,
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Dear lovely, if I am using Fire Fox, the same happens to me.. I have to use Chrome to even see the like, share, or re-blog buttons..
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I use Firefox, and I don’t have any problems.
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DADDY IS HOME
February 21, 2018
STATEMENT by ANNE GRAHAM LOTZ
Regarding the death of her father, Billy Graham
My Father’s legacy is one that encompasses the world…and engulfs my own life. When I think of him, I don’t think of Billy Graham, the public figure. I think of my Daddy. The one who was always a farmer at heart. Who loved his dogs and his cat. Who followed the weather patterns almost as closely as he did world events. Who wore old blue jeans, comfortable sweaters, and a baseball cap. Who loved lukewarm coffee, sweet ice tea, one scoop of ice cream, and a plain hamburger from McDonald’s. Who was interested in everything and everyone, from the small to the great. Whose mind remembered details that even a computer would have trouble recalling.
But when I think of him I also think of his message because he was immersed in it. Saturated in it. He was his message…a simple man who had responded to God’s love by placing his faith in Jesus, receiving the assurance that his sins were forgiven, that he would not perish, but would have everlasting life. Simple faith. Faith that now matters more than anything else.
For years, over his head as he preached was the banner that quoted the words of Jesus: I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Jesus completed that sentence by saying that no one comes to the Father but by Me. Based on what Jesus said, Daddy is safely with the Father. In Heaven. Daddy not only claimed Jesus as the only Way to God, he lived by the Truth publicly on platforms and privately behind closed doors, and is now enjoying real Life.
I have often stated that I was raised by a single parent because ministry took my father away from our family—for weeks and months at a time. Daddy estimated that he was gone from home approximately 60 percent of his children’s growing-up years. Now, he has left again. This time, he will not be coming back. At least, not until Jesus does, too.
While he may be physically absent and his voice silent, I am confident that his message will continue to reverberate throughout the generations to come. My prayer on this day of his move to Our Father’s House is that his death will be a rallying cry. That tens of thousands of pastors, teachers, evangelists, and ordinary men and women will rise up to take his place. That they will take up his message like a baton being passed in a relay race and faithfully pass it on to those with whom they come in contact. Because Daddy’s message is God’s message. And it’s a message of genuine hope for the future, of love for the present, of forgiveness for the past.
It’s a message, when received, that brings a fresh beginning, unshakable joy, unexplainable peace, eternal significance, meaning and purpose to life, and opens Heaven’s door.
It was this message, which Daddy carried to the world, that penetrated my own heart as a young girl and has created in me a personal, passionate resolve to communicate it myself to as many people as possible. And so, even as my tears seem to be unending, I silently rededicate my life to picking up and passing on the baton. Would you do the same?
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I am not going to Heaven because I have preached to great crowds or read the Bible many times.
I’m going to Heaven just like the thief on the cross who said in that last moment: ‘Lord, remember me.’
~ Billy Graham
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Amen
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Reblogged this on The Last Refuge and commented:
Eternal rest grant unto him, oh Lord.
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Beautiful words, from Mr. Graham, his daughter, and you, the blogger. Thanks.
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i’ll always remember his sermon at the national cathedral after 09/11…if you’ve never heard it, here it is…
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🙂❤️🌹
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I have followed Billy Graham’s life and ministry for most of my adult life. I have always believed that once he left the world stage there would never again be a man who could so captivate and inspire the world with the Gospel. There are so many charlatans in the world today posing as men of faith but their lives and their message don’t add up. Billy Graham was the real deal and his passing while heaven’s gain is our loss.
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Wait Til You See My Brand New Home
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I love Vestal Goodman, another great soul that is missed 🙂
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The Gaithers have been almost as big as Billy Graham in my life. Great to see other Treepers enjoy them too.
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Following in the steps of Paul the Apostle who was the good and faithful servant.
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I am so saddened by this day but grateful,for the opportunity to hear his words and lasting prayer on the video you posted. How wonderful that PDT was there for his last public appearance. I hope he carries one of the batons that Graham’s daughter points out in her eulogy posted here.
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Rev. Billy was the greatest evangelist of all time. Years ago I remember my mom saying that five generations in our family had heard Rev. Graham preach the Word. We marveled at how God used him for generations and generations and he faithfully preached God’s Word as it was written.
God used him for such a time as this.
“”His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ Mt. 25:23
May God comfort his daughter, Ann Graham Lotz, and son, Franklin Graham, and all other family members and all the of us who will miss him.
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Amen… Save us from …SIN
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Billy Graham’s rallies are still being broadcast on TV every Sunday . I was at one of his first, In a tiny town (5,000) in California that was in Rpley’s Believe It or Not for having the most churches per capita of any city in the world. I accepted the Lord as my Savior, at that rally. With me was my husband and 2 month old son who just accepted Christ as his savior on his 60th birthday. We “passed the baton” to our 3 children and will keep trying to pass it to our 4 millenial-grandchildren.
Franklin Graham and Greta VanSusteren often work together, doing the Lord’s work in foreign places, through Samaritan’s Purse, the Graham organization that always shows up to help in mass crisis situations.
Billy Graham’s life was SUCH a gift and his TV rally rebroadcasts are as much a blessing now as they were to us 62 years ago. God Bless the Graham Family, and thank you for sacrificing time with your Father for The Greater Good of the World.
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Interesting. Greta is a Scientologist and I assumed an atheist who would shun someone like Graham. It speaks to the power and grace of Graham that these individuals would do volunteer work together.
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I am a Greta FB friend, and she posts frequently about the efforts of Samaritan’s Purse, and travels with them.
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President TRUMP Has nominated a top exec at Samaritan’s Purse, Ken Isaacs, to head the International Organization for Migration.
https://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/2018/02/20/bipartisan-efforts-underway-to-support-samaritans-purse-exec-for-top-un-refugee-job
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Fascinating link. Thanks Two Laine.
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YW. A can’t think of anyone I’d trust more in this position than a true Christian at heart.
“In the 20 years I’ve known Kenny, he has always prioritized the needs of refugees and disaster victims. This is his mission in life. President Trump made a great choice.”
~Rep. Robert Pittenger (R-NC)
“I have frequently written to commend the professionalism of Samaritan Purse’s staff in their commitment to provide unconditional help regardless of religion, race, tribe, color or any other potential criteria for discrimination,” she said. “I have the highest regard for Ken and the work of Samaritan’s Purse.”
~Caroline Cox, Member of the British House of Lords and the CEO of Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust
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Such reverence in his passing to be held in Our Lord’s arms.
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Very, very emotional, as it signals, in some ways, a terrible loss to country. His voice was soothing and convicting. The above video, with his old dog limping beside him, brings tears of both joy and sadness. Thank you, and praise to our LORD Jesus for your work on the cross. Until we meet again, in Him. May the LORD bless and keep us all, and heal our land.
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My friends. Watch what happens.
LOL @ Gospel Explosion!
The Press is preaching the Gospel. Honestly.
What just happened is like a Marvel movie.
And GO FRANKLIN!!!
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I’m going to cry again when I hear Ravi’s message about Billy Graham, as he is a protege.
So far he hasn’t published one.
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Wooly, I accidentally deleted a comment of yours that was in the spam queue. Sorry!
By the way, there was one nasty Billy Graham op-ed in the Washington Post. There is a twitter link in the General Discussion thread, and SD made a post.
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No biggie, Stella. I’ve composed many you should have deleted, and probably will again.
😀
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Billy will be greatly missed.. yet we rejoice for his presence with the Lord..
The great patriarchs of the faith are quickly passing.. I pray that others will take up their torch, and remain true to the gospel..
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I watched one of his crusades on TV years ago & remember them playing “Just As I Am” for an extended altar call. Every time I hear that song, or even think about it, I remember Graham’s loving outreach to others with the Truth of the Gospel. Even humming a few bars of that hymn reminds me that the Lord is always there accepting us & drawing us toward Himself.
Billy’s passing truly marks the end of a nobler era…& an enriching of the Lord’s Kingdom while impoverishing this natural plain…
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