Thousands of people have signed a petition calling for a national holiday to honor the Rev. Billy Graham.

Graham, who passed away on February 21st, preached the gospel message to millions of people around the world. He was beloved by many and was certainly one of the top influential people in the 20th century.

Graham has already been honored in the US Capitol last week where the public, as well as government officials, including President Trump and First Lady Melania, came to pay their respects. Over 2,000 people also attended the evangelist’s funeral in Charlotte on Friday, March 2nd.

Now, efforts have gone even further to honor Graham. Fox 8 reports that Kyle Siler started a Change.org petition addressed to President Trump which requests a national holiday to be created in Graham’s honor.

“Lets [sic] get a National Holiday for Billy Graham!! Mr. Graham preached the Gospel to more people in live audiences than anyone else in history… Mr. Graham’s counsel was sought by presidents, and his appeal in both the secular and religious arenas is evidenced by the wide range of groups that have honored him, including numerous honorary doctorates from many institutions in the U.S. and abroad. Help us with our cause of setting a national holiday to remember this great man,” Siler wrote in the petition.

Time will tell if “America’s Pastor” will get his own…

Reformed theologian John Piper is backing best-selling Christian author Francis Chan after a woman, who is single, expressed her frustration with Chan’s argument that many Christian singles are delaying marriage because they are already having sex.

“First, I know Francis Chan, and I am sure if he were with me here, he would say that the reasons people are marrying later are indeed much more diverse and complex than the fact that lots of couples are substituting sex for marriage,” Piper said during an episode of “Ask Pastor John” in response to a listener named Caitlin. “I’m starting with the assumption that Francis was emphasizing a particular factor rather than stating it as the only factor.”

Caitlin, who says that she has been deeply impacted and has profound respect for Chan, said that she had come across a 2015 episode on desiringgod.org where Chan, former pastor of Cornerstone Church in California, attempts to explain why Christians are increasingly postponing marriage.

Chan responded: “I believe that at least 90 percent of those who are postponing marriage are already sleeping together, so they don’t see a…

Buffalo Bills Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly has again been diagnosed with oral cancer.

“As our family has faced many trials and triumphs throughout the years, you have blessed us with your prayers. We are asking for those prayers once again,” Kelly said. “With all of you by my side, we will fight and win this battle together.”

Kelly was originally diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma a few years ago. He had surgery in June 2013 to remove part of his upper jaw.

Nine months later, tests showed the cancer had spread to his sinus. He underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatments. He lost about 70 pounds during treatment.

He was then declared cancer-free in fall 2014.

According to CBN News, Kelly said last week that the cancer had returned.

“Staying ‘Kelly Tough’ and trusting God will carry us through this difficult time,” he said.

Kelly had just turned 58 a few weeks before the news.

“We are shocked, heartbroken, sad, angry, confused and just darn tired,” his wife Jill Kelly wrote on her Instagram page. “Yet despite how we feel, we KNOW that God is a promise maker and keeper. … The more life and heartbreak I experience, the more I realize that this is not the end of the story.”

Kelly spent 11 seasons with the Bills before retiring after the 1996 season.

In early 2017, he also joined with several cancer organizations and…

Tribal animists upset that Christians tried to bury one of their dead in a village in eastern India seriously injured a 13-year-old girl and others who tried to protect a Christian woman the villagers threatened to burn alive.

 

On Feb. 26 Christians in Chitrangapalli, Tamguda village, were about to bury the body of a 3-year-old girl who had died of natural causes in Odisha’s state’s Malkangiri District, when villagers reached the field where they were performing last rites. The mob insisted they would not allow a Christian to be buried in their village, even though the burial site was on land owned by one of the Christians, area sources said.

 

They demanded that the Christians take the body outside the village for burial. After the land owner argued that he was free to bury his dead on his land, the villagers left, only to return at midnight with weapons.

 

About 20 to 25 villagers carrying wooden sticks surrounded the houses of the three Christian families in the village of nearly 35 families and ordered them to come out. The mob was shouting loudly, reviling them for changing their faith.

 

Some Christians came out of their houses, and the villagers told them to renounce Christianity. When they refused, the attackers entered their homes, dragged the rest of their family members out and beat them, area residents told Morning Star…

Last month, famed evangelist the Reverend Billy Graham passed away at age 99, having been in the public light for over 70 years.

A preacher who spoke before an estimated 215 million people in more than 180 nations, Graham has had an extensive cultural impact and was best known for his large open-air services calling on people to repent and believe the Gospel.

As Graham is laid to rest, many are debating the details of his legacy and examining the biggest impact he had on American culture and religious practices.

Christina Littlefield, assistant professor of Journalism and Religion at Pepperdine University’s Seaver College, told The Christian Post that Graham “had mass appeal to all socio-economic classes and ethnicities.”

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