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Franklin Graham Shares His Father’s Final Message

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Joshua Gill Religion Reporter
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Franklin Graham shared a final message from his father, renowned evangelist Billy Graham, after his death Wednesday.

Franklin recounted in USA Today his father’s 70 years of ministry spreading the message of the Gospel around the world from crowded stadiums during Billy’s signature crusades to intimate personal meetings with heads of state, as well as memories of Billy as a father and his thoughts on death. Billy, according to his son Franklin, did not fear death, and to the very end he maintained the Gospel as his personal focus and his message to others.

“Do I fear death? No. I look forward to death, with great anticipation. I am looking forward to seeing God face to face. And that could happen any day,” Franklin recounted his father saying to Newsweek over 10 years ago.

As for Billy’s final message to the world, Franklin offered Billy’s closing words in the 2005 book in which his entire first three sermons were published.

“No matter what your problem is, if you and I could sit down and talk, I would want to tell you one great truth: God loves you, and He can make a difference in your life if you will let Him.

God loves you so much that He sent His Son into the world to die for your sins. When we open our hearts to Christ, He forgives our sins and comes to live within us by His Holy Spirit. He also gives us strength for the present and hope for the future. This is the message of the Gospel — and this is the message you have read in this book.”

Franklin said that, without a doubt, that Billy would share that same message again were he still able to speak. It was, after all, “what he lived and breathed — until his very last breath.”

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