Christine Darg

By Christine Darg

Today’s funeral of Billy Graham was a watershed moment in the history of the Church and the last days. Many of us have never known a world without Billy Graham, and some of us felt that he was anointed as a John the Baptist to prepare the world for the Second Coming of Jesus and to save as many souls as possible into the “fullness of the Gentiles” of Luke 21: 24.
 
Billy Graham not only faithfully preached Jesus– that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and all have need of the saviour–but he was also careful to preach consistently that Jesus is coming again!
 
There have been many prophetic words about the timing of the passing of Billy Graham and the end of the times of the gentiles. Others are prophesying that God will raise up new evangelists to carry the baton.
Today the daughters of Billy Graham eulogized him powerfully. In fact, all of Billy’s children gave outstanding messages that surely touched souls on many different levels.
President Trump, First Lady Singing Hymn at Graham Funeral

President Trump, First Lady Singing Hymn at Graham Funeral

And how wonderful that both our President and our Vice President and their wives recognized the importance of the occasion by attending the service of thanksgiving at the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, N.C.

Anne Graham Lotz said that she believes God sent a message by bringing Graham home to heaven at the age of 99 and that his death was as significant as his very significant life: “I believe God is saying: ‘Wake up church! Wake up world!'”
 
Lotz, whom Billy Graham once described as the family’s best preacher, spoke prophetically, making the connection between the timing of her father’s death and the message that “Jesus is Coming!” Lotz noted that a friend told her that Billy Graham died on the day that the Jewish people commemorate the completion of the Torah by Moses. And just as Moses was a liberator, her father had liberated millions of souls with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And, she asked the audience of politicians, ministers and friends, who had followed in the footsteps of Moses? Joshua! And the New Testament name for Joshua is Jesus:
 
“I believe this is a shot across the bow from heaven. And I believe God is saying, ‘Wake up, Church! Wake up, world; wake up, Anne. Jesus is coming! Jesus is coming!’ And when the Gospel is peached to the whole world, as it is in this service today and through churches, missionaries, ministries, Jesus said in Matthew 24: 14, then the end will come.
 
“So I would like to read to you 1 Thessalonians 4 beginning with verse 13, and I will put my name in the text just as my Mother taught me how to read the Bible, ‘I do not want you to be ignorant, Anne, concerning those who have fallen asleep [that’s what we say when God’s children die]…lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. So if you believe that Jesus died and will come again—‘[ and I do!]—‘for the lord himself [Joshua, Yeshua, Jesus]—will descend with a shout and the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first—[that’s my Daddy, my mother my husband] … After that, we who are still alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore comfort one another with these words.
 
“I pledge to you, Daddy, in view of [the Lord’s] appearing and in front of these witnesses, I will preach the word! I will do the work of an evangelist! I will share the Gospel.. . .”
 
Also in a moving tribute to her father, the Graham’s eldest child, Virginia “Gigi” Graham, tenderly shared a poem that her mother, Ruth Bell Graham, had written to God in China as a missionary kid when she was only 13 years old. The poem prophetically described the characteristics of the man she hoped to marry—and did:
 
“Dear God, I prayed, all unafraid (as we’re inclined to do), I do not need a handsome man but let him be like You; I do not need one big and strong nor yet so very tall, nor need he be some genius, or wealthy, Lord, at all; but let his head be high, dear God, and let his eye be clear, his shoulders straight, whate’er his state, whate’er his earthly sphere; and oh God let his face have character, a ruggedness of soul, and let his whole life show, dear God, a singleness of goal; then when he comes (as he will come) with quiet eyes aglow, I’ll understand that he’s the man I prayed for long ago.” – Ruth Bell Graham
“The Lord answered every single one of those prayers for Mother and many more,” Gigi Graham said. “We are now grateful that God has brought them back together again for eternity.”
 
The most emotional tribute came from daughter Ruth “Bunny” Graham who spoke to the hearts of every person who has ever made a mistake. She briefly shared how she had disappointed herself, her children and her parents with two failed marriages, yet when she came home to face her parents, Billy Graham had been waiting outside for her car. He had come out to the road leading up to their house to welcome her home with a hug…. just like the father in Jesus’s Parable of the Prodigal Son. There could not have been a dry eye during Ruth’s eulogy.
 
Rev. Franklin Graham gave a salvation appeal to the tens of thousands who were watching the funeral service live. He said that the famous evangelist was the same at home as he appeared to millions around the world.
 
He said “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.”
His grave marker reads:
Billy Graham
November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018
Preacher of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
John 14:6
 
We are so aware with the passing of Billy Graham that there is a big gap in the world of evangelism. Every evangelist wants to say, as Anne Graham Lotz said today, “Here I am! I will do the work of an evangelist! I will faithfully serve you until Jesus comes!”