Billy Graham is the most popular preacher of all time, but what exactly is his message and what makes him so appealing to millions of people around the world?
Last weekend, the Reverend Billy Graham preached to over 240,000 people at the "Greater New York Billy Graham Crusade." The event, held over a three-day period at Flushing Meadows, was historic not only because of the unprecedented media coverage, but because it most likely was Graham's last sermon. At 86 years old, suffering from prostate cancer, Parkinson's, and a handful of other ailments, the most famous evangelical preacher of all time is nearing death, an event he claims to be looking forward to "with great anticipation." Why is he looking forward to death? Because Graham, along with millions of evangelical Protestants around the world, has accepted Jesus Christ as his savior, thus guaranteeing himself passage to the kingdom of heaven, where he will meet God face to face and bask in his abundant and eternal love.
Boy, I couldn't even finish that sentence before my eyes started to roll. The thing is, I'm not exaggerating. That is the kind of message and language Billy Graham uses in his sermons, in his radio programs, in his books, and even on his website. This is the message that has inspired an estimated three million people worldwide to recognize themselves as sinners and identify Jesus Christ as their only salvation. These people call themselves born-again Christians. Last weekend alone, at the "Greater New York Billy Graham Crusade," over 9,000 people became born-again Christians (or in the parlance of evangelical Protestants, "committed themselves to Jesus Christ"). I was surprised to read that many of these converts were under 25 years old.
So who is Billy Graham, why is he so famous, and what exactly is he preaching that gets people — including Generations X and Y — so worked up they decide they are doomed to eternal hellfire unless they accept a carpenter who has been dead for thousands of years as their savior?
Billy Graham has many incarnations. In one incarnation, he is a kind-hearted crusader, a devoutly religious man who has pounded the pulpit for over seven decades in an attempt to bring salvation to people around the world. Though he has befriended and influenced world leaders through the years, including Presidents Nixon, Clinton, and George W. Bush, he remains bipartisan to avoid alienating anyone. He steers away from "hot button" issues such as gay marriage and instead focuses on introducing the Gospel to as many people as possible. He is well known for his tolerance of other religions and other ways of life, a tolerance that has proven effective in spreading his message: his sermons have reached an estimated 210 million people in 185 countries around the world via television, film, radio, print, and the Internet.
Billy Graham is also an entertainer. More so than any religious figure in history, he has managed to meld religion with popular culture. Watching a production of one of Graham's revival gatherings, such as last weekend's in New York, is like watching a rock concert. There are big-screen TVs on the stage, fabulous lighting effects, hundreds of cameras, and even rock n' roll. At the New York event, acts such as Jars of Clay and Michael W. Smith played to crowds of up to 60,000 people on a given night. These are bands one can hear on the radio and on the iPods of the thousands of young people who attended the event. His sermon included references to the Mets-Yankees baseball series, the new Star Wars movie, and MTV. He even quoted the lyrics to the song "Satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones, lyrics that everyone knows by heart, and lyrics that decades ago were considered scandalous. Through his stadium preaching, Graham manages to induce in his audience the sort of collective emotion normally reserved for the encore at a U2 concert. He taps into it, he preaches the Gospel, and then at the end he invites people to come forward to commit their lives to Jesus. "You may never have another moment like this in your whole life," he told the New York crowd at the closing of the first evening's sermon. "There may never be a thing like this in New York again." If nothing else, Graham is an accomplished performer.
But Graham is more than simply a preacher and a performer. He is also a successful businessman. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) became an incorporated company in 1950 and spawned numerous subsidiaries over the years, including the Billy Graham Evangelistic Film Ministry, the Grason Company (a publishing company for books, records, and music), World Wide Publications (wholesale dealer), and the Billy Graham Center (a museum dedicated to the study of evangelism). In Graham's hands, the Gospel is not only a path to salvation, but also a powerful money-making tool. If you need further proof, simply visit the BGEA's web site and count the instances you are encouraged to offer a donation to help the spread of the Gospel.
Probably the least flattering incarnation of Billy Graham is that of Billy Graham the opportunist. Before 1949, Graham was largely unknown. He had been preaching for several years, but mostly at rallies for the Youth for Christ organizations around the country. Then, at the end of 1949, shortly after the Soviet Union exploded its first atom bomb and the Communists took over China, Graham held a sermon in Los Angeles attended by over 300,000 people. There, he capitalized on America's fear of Communism, preaching that the world was now divided into two camps, the Western World and Communism. A major part of Communism's ideology was its war on religion, so unless the Western World had an "old-fashioned revival," Graham preached, it would perish. Graham's logic is dubious at best; America's peril was more closely associated with atomic weapons that Bible burning. But the message took hold. America went through a postwar religious boom and Billy Graham was catapulted to fame. It was shortly after his Los Angeles appearance that BGEA was incorporated, and during the next decade he held evangelistic campaigns — or "crusades" as he terms them — in Africa, Asia, South America, and Europe.
So we have a picture of Billy Graham as a crusader, an entertainer, a businessman, and an opportunist. His massive fame and popularity rests largely on the successful blend of all these aspects of himself. Still, what is it about his message that is so appealing to millions of people around the world? The answer is two-pronged: simplicity and fear. When I say fear, I do not mean to paint Graham as a fire-and-brimstone preacher, condemning the entire non-Christian world to an eternity of torment. That is not Graham's style. As mentioned above, he is known for his tolerance and acceptance of other religions. Nevertheless, the threat of eternal damnation is implicit in his evangelical message.
The message is this: The only way for you to reach God and heaven is to admit you are sinner and accept Jesus Christ as your savior. It's that simple. Don't quite get it? The BGEA website has an animated video explaining the message with some very rudimentary symbolism. Picture two cliffs separated by a giant Grand Canyon-like chasm. On one side of the Grand Canyon is you. On the other is God. You can't get to God unless you get some assistance. Enter Jesus Christ, symbolized by a giant cross that forms a bridge across the Grand Canyon. Jesus Christ is your bridge to God. Accepting Jesus Christ is like walking across that bridge. If you don't walk across that bridge, then you might as well kiss God and heaven goodbye. There is no other way, there is no other bridge. Buddha and Muhammad do not make good bridges. Nor do temporal items such as fame or money.
Like I said, Graham is not preaching fire and brimstone. The animated scene on his web site does not explore what happens to you if you decide not to cross the bridge, or God forbid, you get vertigo and fall halfway across the chasm. No, Graham leaves it up to your imagination to determine your fate, which is possibly far worse than if he showed you in cartoon drawings on his web site.
The use of fear is a powerful weapon and Graham has used it — if not vindictively — then effectively throughout his seven-decade career. With that in mind, the massive turnout to Graham's New York crusade is not at all surprising. September 23, 1949, the day Truman announced the Soviets exploded an atomic bomb, has been replaced with September 11, 2001. Communism has been replaced by Islam and terrorism. Pointless, self-destructive wars to combat Communism in Asia have been replaced with equally pointless and self-destructive wars to combat terrorism in the Middle East. The post-WWII religious boom has been replaced by the rise of an ideological Republican right.
The only thing that hasn't been replaced is Billy Graham, and even when he does pass on, it is hard to imagine another figure who would have the passion, the personality, and the skill to appeal to so many people around the world.
