Trump honors ‘extraordinary life’ of Billy Graham at Capitol ceremony

The ceremony honoring Graham, who died February 21 at the age of 99, illustrated both the benefit of the alliance between party and religion, and the dangers ahead.

Graham’s life began as a “North Carolina farm boy” who grew to lead “a nationwide revival”, said President Trump during the ceremony, adding that Graham’s acceptance of “Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior” not only changed our country, “it changed, in fact, the entire world”. “Let’s go see Billy Graham at Yankee Stadium.’ And it was something very special”. But my hope is that just like Billy Graham was famous for talking about someone else, that evangelicals, though we might differ on how to engage culture, might ultimately focus on, well, talking about someone else – making much of Jesus and what he’s doing in our hearts and in our lives to engage and serve our communities.

“Here in this room we are reminded that America is a nation sustained by prayer”, he said.

Trump praised Graham’s lifelong influence in his own life starting when as a child, he attended one of the preacher’s crusades at Yankee Stadium following an invitation to do so from his father.

“You have a new generation of young adults, millennials, who are simply far less religious, and far less connected to religion than were their parents and grandparents before them”, he said.

After the display is taken down, Pitman said he will send the items to the Graham family and they will be displayed in the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte.

Lotz said during their last visit with Graham before his passing, the 99-year-old minister looked over at her 11-year-old granddaughter and said, “I love you”. He is being remembered as “America’s pastor” and for some, he was – but not for people like me. The decision to grant this honor is made by a concurrent resolution of the House and Senate, and can be granted to anyone who has given a distinguished service, with the family’s approval.

“He welcomed me to the Billy Graham ministry”, Hart said. Billy Graham displayed a remarkable ability to confess his mistakes and learn from them. Then I realized that God had called me to a higher kingdom than America.

Trump also mentioned Graham’s worldwide impact and reach.

“As advocates for civil rights and religious liberty, we are concerned that lying Reverend Graham in honor would needlessly alienate non-religious people, religious minorities, and those communities whose civil rights he opposed and would set a unsafe precedent for government entanglement with religious matters”, the letter read. Henry Clay of Kentucky in 1852 and, most recently, Sen.

Lying in state is a rare honor reserved for select elected officials and military officers.

– I first met Billy Graham at his mountaintop home in Montreat in the summer of 1996. A procession on Saturday traveled 130 miles to take the evangelist’s body back to his hometown of Charlotte, where more than 10,000 people paid tribute.

As Graham’s casket sat under the natural light of the ornate Rotunda, its four doorways featuring somber black bunting, some parts of the scene seemed fitting.

George W Bush said his father will not be able to attend for health reasons, while Barack Obama will also not be attending the service.

Given the latest bathroom battles in states like Texas and North Carolina, Graham would have been right at home with today’s evangelicals.

The evangelist will be buried next to his wife Ruth, who died in 2007, in a “simple pine casket made by inmates at the correctional facility in Angola, Louisiana”.

Copyright 2018 United Press International, Inc.

This content is published through a licensing agreement with Acquire Media using its NewsEdge technology.