Billy Graham honored in Rotunda of US Capitol

The body of Billy Graham lay in state yesterday in the Rotunda of the US Capitol. President Trump, senior administration officials, and many members of Congress paid tribute to the evangelist.

Dr. Graham was only the fourth private citizen, and the first religious leader, to be so honored.

Sue Brinner attended the viewing. When she was in college, a guy she liked invited her to see a movie produced by Dr. Graham’s ministry. It changed her life.

She explained: “I could have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Somehow I’d missed that, growing up in a traditional Protestant church. I always saw God as a scary, vengeful, angry person. That you could actually have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, I was blown away. Other people were getting blown away by drugs. I found faith.”

I was glad to see Sue’s testimony reported in the Washington Post, a newspaper not known for its evangelical leanings. And I noted that she found a personal relationship with Jesus through a man whose life was built on such a relationship.

“The motto of every follower of Jesus Christ”

One of Billy Graham’s friends asked him about his personal prayer life. The evangelist replied that “God had taught him to pray all day long-in the shower, driving an automobile, flying in an airplane. In fact, he said that he had been asking God for wisdom while talking to me. He wanted to know what he could do or say to encourage me.”

Dr. Graham felt that intimacy with God is essential to our relationships with other people. In fact, as he noted, “You cannot pray for someone and hate them at the same time.” He warned us that “Satan will contest every hour you spend in Bible reading or prayer.”

He urged us to begin and end the day with our Lord: “In the morning, prayer is the key that opens to us the treasures of God’s mercies and blessings; in the evening, it is the key that shuts us up under His protection and safeguard.”

And he called us to…