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Associated Press

The Washington Post

The Reverend Billy Graham was laid to rest on Friday, his funeral attended by political and religious figures including US President Donald Trump and his vice-president, Mike Pence. 
The two US leaders made a rare double appearance for the event, but did not speak, instead leaving it to Graham’s adult children – all speakers or preachers in their own right – to remember ‘America’s Pastor’. 
“The Billy Graham that the world saw on television, the Billy Graham that the world saw in the big stadiums, was the same Billy Graham that we saw at home. There weren’t two Billy Grahams,” said son Franklin Graham.
“He loved his family. He stood by us. He comforted us.”




Billy Graham died February 21 aged 99, after a lifetime spent preaching and advising presidents.
His children recalled being taught by their parents how to read Scripture aloud and deliver sermons – but also taking quiet walks with their father and feeling his embrace even when they made mistakes.
Franklin Graham, who delivered the main funeral message, said all of those qualities were part of the whole.
His message, which included a Gospel call to repentance and salvation, followed shorter remarks by his siblings in a service that lasted just over an hour before an invitation-only crowd of around 2,000.
How Billy Graham preached to North Korea’s Communist masses
“I believe, from Heaven’s perspective, that my father’s death is as significant as his life. And his life was very significant. But I think when he died, that was something very strategic from Heaven’s point of view,” said his daughter Anne Graham Lotz.
She later added: “I believe God is saying: ‘Wake up church! Wake up world!’”
Although they did not speak at the event, Trump and Pence both met with Graham’s family before the funeral. 



Graham’s sister Jean Ford, 85, eulogised her brother soon after a private meeting with the politicians at the Billy Graham Library, where Graham will be buried.
Ford said that Trump had told her, “Your family has good genes.”
“He didn’t know that my name was Jean,” she joked.
On Wednesday, Trump had spoken briefly at a ceremony honouring Graham, telling the story of his father taking him to hear Graham preach at Yankee Stadium in 1957. 
“And it was something very special,” Trump said. “But Americans came in droves to hear that great young preacher. Fred Trump was a big fan. Fred Trump was my father.”
‘Tens of thousands’ in Hong Kong became Christians after Graham’s rallies
The funeral served as a Billy Graham crusade told through his children. Lotz read Scripture, inserting her name into the passages to make her relationship with God more personal and breaking it down intellectually, like her father. 
Youngest daughter Ruth told about how she sinned and didn’t listen to her father with a hasty marriage, but he was waiting for her with open arms when she realised her mistake.
And oldest son Franklin, now CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, wrapped up with his father’s central theme: that the only path to salvation is to accept Jesus Christ.



While Franklin Graham steered clear of politics during his message, the Trumps and Pences were the first guests he welcomed as he began.
And his invitation to be saved by Jesus contained this barb: “The world, with all of its political correctness, would want you to believe that there are many roads to God. It’s just not true.”
Like Graham’s famous crusades, the funeral featured singers who had shared his stage in years past: Linda McCrary-Fisher, Michael W. Smith and the Gaither Vocal Band.
The line-up of clergy and singers from as near as North Carolina and as far away as Asia, was racially diverse – more so the mostly white audience.
Evangelist to millions Billy Graham dies aged 99
Other notable guests included television host Kathie Lee Gifford, musician Ricky Skaggs, evangelist Rick Warren and politician Rudy Giuliani. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper attended, as did his predecessor Pat McCrory.
Graham was being buried next to his wife in a memorial prayer garden at the library, with his grandchildren serving as pallbearers.


His pine plywood casket was made by inmates at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. The grave marker reads: “Preacher of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Friday’s goodbye also emphasised the message that only Graham’s earthly journey has come to an end, a point underscored by Franklin Graham as he stood behind the same pulpit his father used in the 1990s.
Graham recalled one of his father’s frequent sayings that people shouldn’t believe it when they hear the famous evangelist had died: “He said: ‘I’ll be more alive than I am now. I’ll have just changed addresses, that’s all.’”
Billy Graham met or prayed with every president from Harry Truman onwards. Ronald Reagan presented Graham with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 
None of the five living former presidents accepted invitations to attend the funeral, although Bill Clinton and George W. Bush came to the Billy Graham Library to pay their respects.
In 2007, Clinton, Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush attended the library’s dedication.


Among the statements issued by former presidents, one from George H.W. Bush noted Graham’s role as an adviser not only to presidents but also to their families.
“I was privileged to have him as a personal friend,” Bush wrote. “He was a mentor to several of my children, including the former president of the United States. We will miss our good friend forever.”
The younger Bush credited a talk with Graham with helping him quit drinking.
“God’s work within me began in earnest with Billy’s outreach,” Bush wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published two days after Graham’s death. “I couldn’t have given up alcohol on my own.”
“But in 1986, at 40, I finally found the strength to quit,” Bush wrote. “That strength came from love I had felt from my earliest days and from faith I didn’t fully discover until my later years.”
Graham said later in his life that he should have steered clear of politics.
After tapes came out in 2002 revealing he and President Richard M. Nixon had shared anti-Semitic views, Graham acknowledged weeping and vomiting.


The appearance of Trump and Pence at the funeral was unusual, as the two men do not often appear together outside the White House.
Their decision to jointly honour the most influential American evangelical leader is partly a marker of the importance of evangelical political support for both men.
Exit polls showed that about 80 per cent of white evangelical voters voted for the Trump-Pence ticket – the largest vote for a Republican presidential candidate since 2004, when such voters overwhelmingly chose President George W. Bush by a margin of 78 per cent to 21 per cent.
White evangelicals are the religious group that most identifies with the Republican Party, and they were a mainstay of Pence’s support as an Indiana politician. 
Pence’s selection as his running mate is credited with helping solidify evangelical support for Trump, a self-proclaimed Christian who had not expressed strong religious views.


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Religion

Pastor Billy Graham is laid to rest as Donald Trump, Mike Pence and 2,000 others watch on

A casket carrying the body of Reverend Billy Graham is carried to his funeral service at the Billy Graham Library on Friday in Charlotte, North Carolina. A spiritual counselor for every president from Harry Truman to Barack Obama and other world leaders for more than 60 years, Graham died February 21 at the age of 99. Photo: Getty Images via AFP

epa06575323 US President Donald J. Trump (L) First Lady Melania Trump (2-L), US Vice President Mike Pence (2-R) and Karen Pence attend the funeral service for the late U.S. Christian evangelist Billy Graham at the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, 02 March 2018. Billy Graham, aged 99, died at his home Montreat, North Carolina, 21 February 2018. EPA-EFE/ERIK S. LESSER

epa06575583 US Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue (L) attends the funeral service for the late U.S. Christian evangelist Billy Graham at the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, 02 March 2018. Billy Graham, aged 99, died at his home Montreat, North Carolina, 21 February 2018. EPA-EFE/ERIK S. LESSER

A man sings during the funeral service for the late U.S. evangelist Billy Graham at the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S. March 2, 2018. REUTERS/Leah Millis

CHARLOTTE, NC - MARCH 2: A casket carrying the body of Rev. Billy Graham is carried away from his funeral service at the Billy Graham Library on March 2, 2018 in Charlotte, North Carolina. A spiritual counselor for every president from Harry Truman to Barack Obama and other world leaders for more than 60 years, Graham died February 21 at the age of 99. Brian Blanco/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

CHARLOTTE, NC - MARCH 2: A mourner holds a program before the start of a funeral service for Rev. Billy Graham at the Billy Graham Library on March 2, 2018 in Charlotte, North Carolina. A spiritual counselor for every president from Harry Truman to Barack Obama and other world leaders for more than 60 years, Graham died February 21 at the age of 99. Brian Blanco/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

CHARLOTTE, NC - MARCH 2: Mourners pay their respects during a funeral service for Rev. Billy Graham at the Billy Graham Library on March 2, 2018 in Charlotte, North Carolina. A spiritual counselor for every president from Harry Truman to Barack Obama and other world leaders for more than 60 years, Graham died February 21 at the age of 99. Brian Blanco/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

CHARLOTTE, NC - MARCH 2: A casket carrying the body of Rev. Billy Graham sits in front of the stage during his funeral service at the Billy Graham Library on March 2, 2018 in Charlotte, North Carolina. A spiritual counselor for every president from Harry Truman to Barack Obama and other world leaders for more than 60 years, Graham died February 21 at the age of 99. Brian Blanco/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham, delivers a sermon during the funeral service for the late U.S. evangelist Billy Graham at the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S., March 2, 2018. REUTERS/Leah Millis

epa06575586 Religious leaders attend the funeral service for the late U.S. Christian evangelist Billy Graham at the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, 02 March 2018. Billy Graham, aged 99, died at his home Montreat, North Carolina, 21 February 2018. EPA-EFE/ERIK S. LESSER

U.S. President Donald Trump smiles as he, first lady Melania Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen (L) attend the funeral service for U.S. evangelist Billy Graham at the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S., March 2, 2018. REUTERS/Chris Keane

epa06575462 A bagpiper plays during the funeral service for the late U.S. Christian evangelist Billy Graham at the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, 02 March 2018. Billy Graham, aged 99, died at his home Montreat, North Carolina, 21 February 2018. EPA-EFE/ERIK S. LESSER

Ned Graham, son of the late U.S. evangelist Billy Graham, speaks at his father's funeral ceremony at the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S., March 2, 2018. REUTERS/Chris Keane

Franklin Graham (R), son of U.S. evangelist Billy Graham, escorts relatives during the funeral service for U.S. evangelist Billy Graham at the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S. on March 2, 2018. REUTERS/Chris Keane

Reverend George Battles Jr. delivers the benediction during the funeral of Reverend Dr. Billy Graham in Charlotte, North Carolina. Graham, who preached to millions of faithful face to face over his decades-long career and tens of millions more through the power of television, died last week at age 99, leaving a Christian evangelist movement without its best known champion of modern times. / AFP PHOTO / Logan Cyrus

‘Tens of thousands’ in Hong Kong became Christians after American evangelist Billy Graham’s rousing gospel rallies

American evangelist Billy Graham giving a sermon. Photo: Sunny Lee

After his trip to North Korea and China, American evangelist Dr Billy Graham talks to reporters in Hong Kong. Dr Graham thinks the plight of some Christians in China is "terrible, almost unforgivable" but he adds that God is "using them to further the gospel in China". He recounts a conversation with a Chinese leader two years ago about the reasons why Christianity was growing so fast: "He said, 'Because we are persecuting them [but] we are going to stop it because they are growing so fast that the more we persecute, the faster they grow.'"

American evangelist Dr Billy Graham (right) giving a sermon at the Hong Kong Stadium. With him is Dr Daniel Tse Chi-wai, President of the Hong Kong Baptist College.

Evangelist preacher to millions and adviser to US presidents Billy Graham dies at 99

US evangelist Billy Graham, who counselled presidents and preached to millions across the world from his native North Carolina to communist North Korea during his 70 years on the pulpit, died on Wednesday at the age of 99. Photo: Reuters

FILE - In this Oct. 16, 1971 file photo, Evangelist Billy Graham and President Nixon wave to a crowd of 12,500 at ceremonies honoring Graham at Charlotte, N.C. Graham, who transformed American religious life through his preaching and activism, becoming a counselor to presidents and the most widely heard Christian evangelist in history, has died. Spokesman Mark DeMoss says Graham, who long suffered from cancer, pneumonia and other ailments, died at his home in North Carolina on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018. He was 99. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - In this May 31, 2007 file photo, former Presidents, George H.W. Bush, left, Bill Clinton, second left, and Jimmy Carter, right, join Franklin Graham, second right, as they pose with Billy Graham, center, in front of the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, N.C. Graham, who transformed American religious life through his preaching and activism, becoming a counselor to presidents and the most widely heard Christian evangelist in history, has died. Spokesman Mark DeMoss says Graham, who long suffered from cancer, pneumonia and other ailments, died at his home in North Carolina on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018. He was 99. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton, File)

FILE - In this Dec. 12, 1961 file photo, Evangelist Billy Graham, left, talks with President John F. Kennedy during a call at the the White House in Washington. Graham, who transformed American religious life through his preaching and activism, becoming a counselor to presidents and the most widely heard Christian evangelist in history, has died. Spokesman Mark DeMoss says Graham, who long suffered from cancer, pneumonia and other ailments, died at his home in North Carolina on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018. He was 99. (AP Photo, File)

FILE PHOTO: Evangelist Billy Graham, speaks to the capacity crowd at Raymond James Stadiun in Tampa, Florida, U.S. October 22. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

FILE - In this June 27, 1954 file photo, Evangelist Billy Graham speaks to over 100,000 Berliners at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany. Graham, who transformed American religious life through his preaching and activism, becoming a counselor to presidents and the most widely heard Christian evangelist in history, has died. Spokesman Mark DeMoss says Graham, who long suffered from cancer, pneumonia and other ailments, died at his home in North Carolina on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018. He was 99. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - In this May 10, 1966 file photo, President Lyndon Johnson presents the Man of the Year award of the Big Brothers organization to evangelist Billy Graham at the White House in Washington. Graham, who transformed American religious life through his preaching and activism, becoming a counselor to presidents and the most widely heard Christian evangelist in history, has died. Spokesman Mark DeMoss says Graham, who long suffered from cancer, pneumonia and other ailments, died at his home in North Carolina on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018. He was 99. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - In this July 7, 1954 file photo, Evangelist Billy Graham poses with his his wife, Ruth, and their three daughters on the Queen Mary following his arrival in New York. Graham, who transformed American religious life through his preaching and activism, becoming a counselor to presidents and the most widely heard Christian evangelist in history, has died. Spokesman Mark DeMoss says Graham, who long suffered from cancer, pneumonia and other ailments, died at his home in North Carolina on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018. He was 99.(AP Photo)

FILE PHOTO: Evangelist Billy Graham, preaches the Gospel to thousands of believers during the meeting at Bercy's Stadium in Paris as part of a worldwide crusade, September 20, 1986. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

North Korea: how preacher Billy Graham opened door for America to the ‘hermit kingdom’

Billy Graham, the American evangelist, presents his book ‘Peace With God’ to North Korean President Kim Il-sung in Pyongyang on April 2, 1992. File photo: AFP

Evangelist Billy Graham visits the birthplace of Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang on Jan. 28, 1994. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service/AP)

FILE - In this Jan. 8, 2014 file photo, former NBA star Dennis Rodman sings "Happy Birthday" to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, seated above in the stands, before an exhibition basketball game at an indoor stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea marked Kim Jong Un's birthday on Sunday, Jan. 8, 2017, in a decidedly low-key manner. Kim, who is believed to be 33 or 34 and the world's youngest head of state, assumed power after the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, in late 2011. (AP Photo/Kim Kwang Hyon, File)

(100825) -- PYONGYANG, Aug. 25, 2010 (Xinhua) -- A child salutes to former U.S. President Jimmy Carter upon his arrival at the airport in Pyongyang, capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), on Aug. 25, 2010. Carter arrived in Pyongyang Wednesday afternoon aboard a civilian jet. His trip is reportedly aimed at securing the release of an imprisoned American. (Xinhua/Yao Ximeng) (nxl)