Write 14 page essay on the topic Billy Graham: A Man with a Mission.Download file to see previous pages... Many of these missionaries were even threatened into ceasing their mission and renouncing the

Write 14 page essay on the topic Billy Graham: A Man with a Mission.

Many of these missionaries were even threatened into ceasing their mission and renouncing their faith, often under pain of death and dismemberment – only to prove their complete and utter dedication to God’s word by serenely choosing the latter. Indeed, the determination and tenacity of these evangelists cannot be denied. Among the earliest of them was St. Peter, who ended up dying in almost the exact same way as his Master – the one difference being that he was crucified upside-down, after deeming himself unworthy of the exact same death as Jesus. Joan of Arc was yet another example, even praying as she was being burned alive. Sts. Francis Xavier and Stanislaus Kostka also serve as examples of nobles who gave up a life of privilege in order to do God’s work on here on earth, even to the point of dying alone in faraway lands. Even the Third World has its own such saint in Lorenzo Ruiz, who along with his compatriots were executed in Japan for trying to convert the locals to Christianity. The manner of their deaths should serve to underscore just how far these evangelists were willing to go for their faith – like Jesus before them, they subjected themselves to very high, even heroic moral standards. Like their Lord and Savior, these blessed individuals all became obedient to the most painful, gruesome, tragic and even humiliating deaths possible, all in their quest to carry out the will of God. As already noted, Billy Graham is one of the more recent triumphant examples of these evangelists, having been on a first name basis with every American president since Truman, and is undoubtedly the most successful American evangelical Christian evangelist ever. Unlike the aforementioned examples whose missions all came to an untimely and bloody end, Graham continues to spread the word even today, despite his advanced age of 92 years. Indeed, that he has been preaching of God’s salvation for all those years should serve as a testament to how much of himself he has committed to the Lord. With this in mind, the purpose of this paper is twofold. First, this paper is intended to provide a look into the life of Billy Graham, with particular emphasis on those crucial junctures in his life that led to him becoming the preacher known, loved and revered all over the world. Through this, the researcher shall then highlight those character traits and decisions that were vital to the monumental success he experienced spreading the Gospel. Through this, the researcher intends to impart certain lessons not only to the general public but most especially to today’s aspiring preachers and evangelists. Billy Graham – A Comprehensive Biography Graham has been said to have preached the Gospel in person to more people than anyone else in history (Horstman, 2002)1. Indeed, his staff attests to his having successfully drawn at least 3.2 million people to his crusades, which should say something about the influence the man wielded in his prime – and arguably still does today (Usborne, 2005)2. In light of this, the fact that no less than twelve US presidents have kept him around as a personal adviser and confessor should not be much of a surprise. His current status, though, belies his humble beginnings.