Billy Graham

Billy Graham (born November 7, 1918) is an American Southern Baptist evangelist who has preached around the world, reaching live audiences of 210 million people in 185 countries. He has led hundreds of thousands of people to make personal decisions to accept Christ into their lives, which is the main thrust of his ministry. Many of his sermons have center on the topic that "Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation". He has often advised US presidents and continues to be listed as one of the "Ten Most Admired Men in the World" in Gallup polls. He and his wife, have three daughters, two sons, 19 grandchildren and many great grandchildren.

Billy Graham made a commitment to Jesus Christ in 1934 during a revival meeting conducted by Mordecai Ham. Graham was ordained in 1939 by a Southern Baptist church. He attended Florida Bible Institute now called Trinity College . He graduated from Wheaton College in 1943. It was during his time at Wheaton, that Graham decided to take the Bible as the infallible "word of God". He also married Ruth Bell, who parents were Christian missionaries doctors in China.

Graham joined Youth for Christ[?] after graduating from Wheaton. He travelled through out the United States and Europe as an evangelist. Graham schedule a series of missions in Los Angeles, California in 1949. The missions went on for 8 weeks after being originally schedule for only 3 weeks. This happen on many other of his early missions. He had missions in London, England which lasted 12 weeks, and a New York, New York mission in Madison Square Garden in 1957 which ran nightly for 16 weeks.

Mr. Graham founded the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in 1950, which was headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Association has relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina BGEA Ministries have included:

• "Hour of Decision" a weekly radio program broadcast around the world for over 50 years.
• Mission television specials which are regularly broadcast in prime time in almost every market in the U.S. and Canada.
• a newspaper column, "My Answer," which is carried by newspapers across the United States.
• "Decision" magazine, the official publication of the Association
• World Wide Pictures has produced and distributed over 130 productions.

Books Billy Graham has written 25 books

• His autobiography, "Just As I Am," published in 1997.
• "Approaching Hoofbeats: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" (1983)
• "How to Be Born Again" (1977)
• "Angels: God's Secret Agents" (1975)
• "The Jesus Generation" (1971) .

Awards and Honors Billy Graham has received the Congressional Gold Medal; the Templeton Foundation Prize for Progress in Religion[?]; and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation Freedom Award[?] for contributions to the cause of freedom.

He has received the Big Brother Award for his work on behalf of the welfare of children. He has been cited by the George Washington Carver Memorial Institute]] for his contributions to race relations. He has also been recognized by the Anti-Defamation League of the B'nai B'rith[?] and the National Conference of Christians and Jews[?] for his efforts to foster a better understanding among all faiths.

On Friday, September 14, 2001 in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack, at noon, a prayer and remembrance service was led by Rev. Billy Graham at Washington National Cathedral, with George W. Bush, the former presidents other than Reagan, Congressional leaders, and other top officials in attendance.

In December 2001 he was presented with an honorary knighthood, Honorary Knight Commander of the order of the British Empire (KBE), for his international contribution to civic and religious life over 60 years.

Anti-Semitic remarks

In a 1994 book, the author H.R. Haldeman[?] recalled a White House conversation between Graham and then president Richard Nixon in which the two exchanged anti-semitic remarks. Graham denied this, saying:

"Those are not my words. I have never talked publicly or privately about the Jewish people including conversations with President Nixon, except in the most positive terms."

Because of his social stature and his generally good relations to Jewish organizations, the accusations were not taken seriously at the time.

In March 2002, however, the tape of the February 1, 1972 conversation between Graham and President Nixon was made public. On the tape, Graham is heard agreeing with Nixon that left-wing Jews dominate the news media, and accusing Jews of being pornographers. He said the Jewish stranglehold has got to be broken or the country's going down the drain" and went on, "A lot of the Jews are great friends of mine, they swarm around me and are friendly to me because they know that I'm friendly with Israel. But they don't know how I really feel about what they are doing to this country. And I have no power, no way to handle them, but I would stand up if under proper circumstances."

On March 16, 2002, Graham acknowledged having made the comments and apologized, saying "I don't ever recall having those feelings about any group, especially the Jews, and I certainly do not have them now." The Anti-Defamation League accepted his apology.