Franklin Graham: The Light of the Gospel in Dark Days
As we begin 2013, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association is preparing for one of the most significant events in our 63-year history.
In November, we will celebrate my father’s 95th birthday with My Hope with Billy Graham, an unprecedented evangelistic event in the United States and Canada.
The timing for this event could not be more urgent. The U.S.—the leader of the free world for decades—is in grave danger if it keeps turning its back on God. The Lord is patient, though. He has brought revival in before, and I believe He is ready to do it again.
These are challenging times, to be sure. Remember, though, how Jesus Christ remained focused on His mission, even when He was coming face to face with the misguided religious and political authorities who were ready to kill Him in order to silence Him. “He steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51, KJV).
We Christians today need the same bedrock conviction as we confront sin and tell others—starting with our families and neighbors—how they can have the hope of eternal life through repentance and faith in our Lord and Savior.
Right now, we are working to lay the groundwork—training believers, mobilizing churches and taking advantage of new media that allow us to spread the Gospel in ways we could not have imagined even a decade ago.
My Hope with Billy Graham will be far bigger than any stadium Crusade. It will be happening in thousands of homes in cities and towns throughout the U.S. and Canada, as believers just like you invite neighbors and loved ones into their homes, where they can hear my father present the Gospel.
My Hope is a program the BGEA has implemented in dozens of countries over the past 10 years, and God has used it in a mighty way. Millions of people around the world have given their hearts to Christ through the witness of their friends and neighbors.
This will be the first time we have presented My Hope in the United States and Canada. Your prayers and participation are vital.
God’s people know better than to think that elected leaders can solve all our problems. Their values simply reflect those of a population that largely does not honor God or know Jesus. If we want to see change in our nation, we need to start at the grassroots—by introducing those we know and love to our wonderful Lord and Savior.
The media tell us that our nation is hopelessly divided, and it is. But the Bible assures us that believers can be united despite our ethnic backgrounds, economic standing or gender. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28, NIV).
As for these great nations? “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:14, NIV).
Click here to read the original story at BillyGraham.org.
