It was November 7, 2013.....the 95th birthday of Billy Graham. He was dressed in a blue collared shirt and navy sleeveless sweater....and while sitting in a comfortable chair in his home....he gave what has become to be known as his last message. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association released a beautiful video of this that is about 28 minutes long and can easily be viewed simply by Googling....Billy Graham's last message.
Billy himself may speak for about ten minutes....his voice a little halting but clear....and the rest of the video is clips of his life and crusades.....concluding with a song by Michael W. Smith....and a glimpse of the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte....and some pertinent information on what the BGEA is doing today. We Pittsburghers travel I-77 often as we head to and from the beach....and Billy Graham's library is right there off an exit....and a very worthwhile and blessed rest from the drive if we would only know of this and take that rest.
A lot would happen between that November day in 2013 and Billy Graham's death on February 21, 2018. Franklin Graham has said that his father did not speak much in his last year....that he Franklin would instead speak to his dad. I have at times wondered what went through Billy's mind in that year of 2017?
My knowledge on that question ends here....I can only wonder....but that imagination has led me to envision Billy Graham given visions of how this world has decayed....to the point of destruction....just like Billy said for all those decades that it would....and just as God's Word tells us that it would.
A false prophet had come down an escalator.....(not through the gate)....right into the middle of the church.....or evangelicalism as it is commonly referred to. Personally....I voted for this false prophet in 2016....not knowing anything about him other than he was rich....narcissistic....golfed....I knew of his three wives....and his long running TV show.....not having seen one single minute of it over the years....and that's about all I knew. Hillary had to lose....that's all I cared about.
It didn't take long....only a few months....and I knew that we had a big problem. I started to read about this man that I really did not know. These 90 some books take in all of Trump's life....all the various areas of his life.....some books are for him....some are against him....some were supposedly written by him. What I found out is that Donald Trump is the same exact person today that he was as when he entered the business world. He is a destroyer. He destroys. If he doesn't like someone he will attempt to destroy them....and if someone falls under his sway....or because of greed gets to close to him....they are eventually destroyed.....by the destroyer.
The Republican Party today is destroyed. Oh it should take the House back in November....if God should give us this time.....but this was to be predicted right after Biden became president. Only Trump himself could somehow mess this up. His high-profile endorsements are only more evidence of a destroyed party....where men....and some women....throw their ethics in the garbage can....to get that endorsement."
Evangelicalism is just about destroyed....having blindly followed the false prophet. We were given years of evidence....almost daily evidence....that this man needed to be rejected by us....but our discernment was....yes.....destroyed. Even today we may stumble over words when talking about Donald Trump....just wishing that he would go away.....but unable in ourselves to admit that we were wrong....and warn someone....anyone....and defend the gospel....and tell this false prophet to go away.
So I wonder if Billy Graham....in this mostly silent last year of his....was given a vision of what we had fallen for....and knowing there was nothing he could do....just prayed. I posted on Franklin Graham in 2017....it was a Trump rally....and Franklin had given a wonderful prayer on America needing to repent....but no sooner did he exit the stage.....where the people were respectfully quiet....then the shouts of USA USA USA returned. It was obvious to anyone who could see....we did not want anything to do with repentance....
