Thank You, Billy Graham

by Jerushah Armfield

  Maria

  MY SALVATION

  I grew up hearing and watching Billy Graham on TV. My mother was a faithful follower of Rev. Graham’s. But when he was on TV, I never really heard the message. It never went to my heart. Rev. Graham was coming to Hartford in May 1985. My mother didn’t have anyone to take her. None of my siblings wanted to go. Mom begged me to take her to see the crusade. I never can forgot going into the Civic Center and seeing all those people. Having stopped going to church quite a few years before, I didn’t think people still had belief in God. We got some seats and started to listen to the program. It was okay, but not great to me. Then came Rev. Graham on stage. His message, though I don’t remember it, spoke to something inside of me, something deep down. I wanted to know more about this “salvation” thing. What is this “trust and obey” thing? I needed God more in my life. And I wanted God then and there. When the invitation came at the end of the program, my mother and I went forward. I praise God now for the special bond my mother and I experienced that night, getting saved the same day and place. Mom is in heaven now, and I know someday I will be with her because of hearing and understanding Rev. Graham that afternoon. I have been saved for twenty-seven years. I am still growing as a Christian. I got to see Rev. Graham at Flushing Meadows a few years back. I praise God that I got to hear him in person once again. Rev. Graham will always have a special place in my heart, because of that special bond I had with my mother. Thank you for spreading the Word.

  HE POINTED ME IN THE DIRECTION OF THE SAVIOR

  During my senior year in high school, my two best friends died in separate car accidents six months apart. Another close friend had died the previous year. I was miserable, lonely, and guilt ridden. I thought if I’d been there for them, they would’ve been okay. I was suicidal and on a downward spiral. I was drinking a lot, doing drugs, and hanging out with new friends who really didn’t care about me. My parents were rarely home because of their own choices they were making. I felt completely alone.

  My Christian brother, Bill, witnessed to me for a couple of years, but I didn’t listen to him. He was living a dual life, partying at the same parties I was and bringing home different girls all the time. I used to laugh at him for being drunk and unholy on Saturday night and holier than thou on Sunday morning.

  One night, I was home alone late. I was drunk. I turned on the stereo, and of course Bill had left it on a Christian station. I didn’t have the energy to get up and change it. The Southern voice on the radio was a soothing one. The man sounded compassionate and intelligent. He was saying all of the same things I had read in the little tracts Bill always left lying around the house.

  Suddenly, all of the things my brother had said that I’d been rejecting seemed within reach. This man didn’t sound like my brother, two-faced and self-righteous. He sounded like he cared about me. He pointed me in the direction of the Savior. He told me to make a decision, and I did. I decided to turn my life over to Christ that night. I only wish I’d had the nerve to call the phone number and get more information. It took me years to learn how to go to church. Believe it or not, I didn’t know a person could just walk in, sit down, and enjoy a sermon. I am very thankful to Billy Graham. I had wanted to die so I could join my friends. Now I know that when I die, I’ll be surrounded by friends and family.

  NEW CREATION IN CHRIST

  As a child, I was brought up in a Christian home, but I did not make a decision to accept Jesus as my personal Savior until I was twenty-four. I was married and living in California, where my husband was in the Air Force. I was miserable with anxiety and not knowing what was happening in the world and with me and my two young children. I blamed my husband for my unhappiness. One day, a lady asked me if I knew Jesus. I couldn’t answer her. That night, on TV, I heard Billy and his message about the Christ who died for me. It pierced my heart. It has now been forty years. I praise the Lord that I was gloriously saved and am a new creature in Christ.

  Rachel

  TROPHY OF GRACE

  Dr. Graham, I am just one of your thousands of “trophies of grace.” I grew up listening to you, but one night in 1972, in a drunken stupor watching you on TV, during your altar call, I knelt by my couch and asked the Lord back into my heart and life. I then returned to my childhood church in Detroit and made a promise to the Lord that I would now do whatever he wanted me to do in life. About six months later, the Holy Spirit rekindled the “call” that I had as a child to be a full-time evangelist … and I said “yes!” to that call. For the past thirty-five years now, I have traveled all over the United States and Canada preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I simply cannot begin to tell you how God has worked in my life, family, and ministry since the night I surrendered my life back to Him after watching your crusade, and hearing God speak to me through you that evening. And all the lives that have been changed through my ministry all these many years now, I pray that God will accredit your account accordingly.

  Dr. Graham, after traveling for thirty-five consecutive years now, I have just a little idea of the tremendous sacrifices that you and your precious wife and family made as you embraced God’s will for your life, and I just wanted to take a moment to say a heartfelt “thank you!” Not only to you, sir, but to your entire family as well. I’ve always wanted to meet you, and I look forward to that time in heaven when I will. I realize that the line will be long, and I’ll have to wait my turn, but I’ll have an eternity with God and His people to do so.

  WHY MICHAEL W. SMITH?

  I am a forty-six-year old mother of a twelve-year-old son, whom I have raised by myself. I call him my angel because I became a born-again Christian when I became pregnant with him. I rarely dated, unless the men were Christian, and even then it was few and far between. I wanted to be the best mom I could be raising my biracial son by myself.

  I have had a hard, hard life. I endured rapes, drug abuse, and near deaths, only to learn later in my life that God was the very One on High who sent his angels to me each and every time so that I might someday impact others with the truth of Jesus Christ.

  One day, when my son was about ten years old, I was watching Billy Graham on TV and I saw Michael W. Smith for the first time. I thought, Why Michael W. Smith? Why did Billy Graham choose him to play out of all choices? You see, I had been to prison several years earlier, and when I got out, the first CD I listened to was Michael W. Smith—and it changed my heart with his music. I continued to listen and buy more CDs.

  Two years later, I got married to a man I believed was a Christian. But three months after our wedding, I was in a horrible car accident, and my new husband left me when I needed him the most. It was then that I delved back into drugs, leaving my son with his grandparents as I mourned my life, asking God, “Why?”

  For the very first time in my entire life, I sought God with all my mind, heart, and soul. Even though I had been going down the wrong path, I knew I was grieving the Holy Spirit. At night, the depths of my depression left me alone in my dark house. No husband, injured drastically from my car crash, my son away from my arms, my back problems, and the pain was unbearable. It was then that I tuned in to a Christian station and heard Michael W. Smith singing “Healing Rain.” Even though I continued in my sin, something much stronger than the grip of Satan and his drugs came over me. It was God, answering all my questions through music on this one station that had only Christian music. As I continued to sin, I also continued to pray, cry, and groan with the Spirit who produced an amazing connection with Jesus Christ. I began to recall everything I had ever gone through—every person I had ever hurt, everything I had ultimately forgotten about my life, I recalled. At each instant of recollection, I prayed for that person, and I continued to search relentlessly in the Bible, and miracle after miracle happened each and every time I prayed. I had never had a glimpse of heaven until this most tragic time. No one will ever understand the miracles that took place. But God did. Groaning with the Holy Spirit and praying with tears flooding my room led
to what I believe only angels could see.

  After these times, this whole vision, dream, or what have you, left me. Only a memory remains. But this memory has been etched into my heart, starting with the question on TV with Billy Graham’s crusade, and the question of Why Michael W. Smith? I will never forget that question that stuck in my head, yet God had prepared me for a miracle. In my darkest hours, I believe I was dying and fighting death at the same time. A peace that passed all understanding came to pass in my life. I knew that God is a God of peace, a God of comfort, a God of miracles, and a God of Mercy, and it was all for me. Jesus died for you and me. He knew every hair on my head, every thought, prayer, question, desire, hurt, pain, and despair. I thank Billy Graham and his ministry. My prayer is to someday mean something to someone. God knows my heart. I now am single again (separated from my husband, who never came back), on a road to seek God with all my heart, mind, and soul again, so that I may fulfill a blessed existence and purpose. Thank you for letting me share. I pray I can touch others, because I was given that gift by others.

  I WAS A CRITIC

  Around 1971, I was into drugs and was very lost as a teenager. The only preacher I had ever heard of was Billy Graham. At the time, I did not like what he stood for and was a critic—really without a good reason, never having heard him or seen him.

  One night, I came home early after doing drugs, and my heart was searching for truth in this rat race of a world. I turned on the TV and heard a man speaking words of truth about man’s sinful condition, the world problems, and God being the answer. For the first time, I heard words of truth, and the Holy Spirit began speaking to me. I’m not sure when I actually believed and accepted Jesus as my Savior, but listening to Billy Graham that night changed my life, and I have been grateful to Billy for his stand for Christ and his ministry that allowed God to speak into my darkness and bring light. Thank you, Billy Graham, for your integrity and stand for Jesus.

  ALONE … VERY ALONE

  I sat in my apartment, alone … very alone. I had been in the army for three years, with a great number of health problems—including being told that I had to have major back surgery. I sat in my apartment, watching TV, and the only person I felt comfort from was Billy. I dropped onto my knees and found Jesus. Jesus and I have walked many roads since then, and I’ve even been blessed to see Billy in person. (What a blessing that was!) I just wanted to say, from the bottom of this child of God’s heart … thank you, Billy, for listening to the call Jesus obviously placed on your heart and life. May God provide you all the comfort in your heart that you have indeed been a faithful servant.

  Thank You, Billy Graham … for Bringing Me Back to Jesus

  I NEEDED TO RETURN TO MY FAITH

  Dear Billy, in the late 1980s I was living in Jacksonville, Florida, and I had developed a pretty bad drinking problem. Watching Rev. Graham one night on TV made me think about the Christian home I’d been raised in and how I needed to return to my faith. Through a series of events that can only be explained by God’s intervention, I quit drinking and cleaned up my act. I have been sober for seventeen years now, praise God! Thank you, Billy. You changed my life.

  SAVED FROM HELL ON EARTH

  Sometime in my twenties, I heard Billy’s message and felt I accepted Christ. I worked with my church youth group and planned to go to missionary school. But Satan took over and I listened to him and went down a long road of living in hell for many years.

  There was an intermittence of years when I tried living a moral life and prayed. Then, unfortunately, I spent years committing adultery, doing drugs, and drinking, all the roads that lead to hell. In my neighborhood, there were some Christian families that took pity on my son, Mark (praise the Lord for that). It was through their prayers and their work with my son that he went to church and accepted Christ.

  I continued on my road to self-destruction until I hit the bottom and was on the way to losing my husband, son, and home. I decided to give God another chance, or commit suicide. I called my neighbor, Kay, who had been witnessing to me, and asked to go to church with her. I told her my situation, so she was praying that I would not change my mind about going to church. I had no intentions of doing so. I had to give God one more chance.

  When the pastor completed his sermon and asked for those who wanted to give their lives to Christ, I knew I had to go forward. I was weeping so hard that I could not talk to my friend, so she went with me. We went and talked to the pastor, and I just kept nodding my head to all that was said. I also was baptized that day. To this day, I still remember the cleansing I felt and the weight that was lifted off of me when I came up from the water. I knew then I was free from the past. That was June 7, 1981. I truly believe that, through all the things I did during my days of hell on earth, as I call it, God never let me go. I thank Billy for that day long ago sharing your love for Christ to all of us on TV, and your dedication to our Lord.

  “I’LL SEE YOU IN HEAVEN”

  I have been a lifelong supporter of yours. I grew up in a Christian home, but when I became a teenager, I drifted away from the church and the Bible. I was totally immersed in the world. After two children and two marriages, I could no longer ignore the vacant spot in my heart. I started attending church and reading the Bible, but I seemed hesitant to totally commit myself to Christ. I felt I should publicly commit myself to Him. I promised the Lord that if Billy Graham came to my area again, I would go and give myself to the Lord. I was thinking this wouldn’t happen, because you rarely made crusade appearances anymore. I was utterly shocked to read in the paper soon after that you were going to be at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego. The Lord did His part of the bargain, and I kept mine. On Mother’s Day 2003, my son Gary and I attended that San Diego crusade, and I came forth for my Lord, Jesus Christ. A year later, I was baptized. Billy, I will never forget you, or what you said as you walked off that stage that night. You said “I’ll see you in heaven.” I am looking forward to that, Mr. Graham. I love you.

  DR. GRAHAM’S INFLUENCE ON MY LIFE

  I accepted Jesus Christ in 1977, at a very low point in my life. I was only eighteen or nineteen years old, and I was living with a bunch of guys I knew from my neighborhood in Huntington Beach, California. I knew that unless things changed, my life was going nowhere.

  I met a man who told me about Jesus, and I professed my faith in Christ shortly thereafter. However, for years I lived with one foot in the world and one foot on Jesus, just not wanting to commit myself entirely. I began to listen to Billy Graham on TV and went to his crusade in Anaheim in 1986. It was then I began to realize that my faith—or lack thereof—wasn’t doing it, and I was miserable. I began to listen to Billy Graham any time he was interviewed on TV, and I really began to admire him and his faith in Jesus Christ. I liked the fact that he never had a bad thing to say about anyone, no matter who they were, and that he preached the Gospel. I knew through this that I was loved.

  I eventually began to go back to church and rededicated my life to the Lord. I liked the fact that Dr. Graham was friends with Pope John Paul II and believed him to be a man of God, unlike other Christian leaders who are much more critical of anyone whose beliefs may slightly differ.

  My faith in Jesus Christ has grown, and I credit much of that to Dr. Billy Graham and his ability to speak the truth no matter what the cost. I have always liked the fact that Dr. Graham speaks the truth in love. If I would not have listened to Dr. Graham and his preaching of the Bible, I would have been hell-bound the rest of my life. I love our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and I will always admire Billy Graham. I wish I could give him a big hug, and I look forward to seeing him in heaven with all the other saints.

  My mother, who is an agnostic and is not that friendly toward Christianity, even likes Dr. Graham, saying that he is a good man. Even those of the world recognize there is something different about Billy. Billy Graham truly thinks of others before himself and has remained humble. Thank you, Billy.

  SET FREE

 
First, I’d like to thank you for your love of the Lord Jesus. Because of you, I have come back home for good. When I was younger, my grandmother and I would watch your show and we would get our Bible out. She would help me understand what you had talked about.

  As I got older and higher up in school, I got in with a bad crowd, just to fit in somewhere in this world. Then, right before I graduated, I started to drink, and I became an addict for seven years. I lived to drink. It took over my life. During that time, my grandmother sat me down and told me that she loved me no matter what I did.

  Not long after that, my grandmother was told she had cancer and she would have to have treatment right away. I was at my apartment one evening, thinking about my life, when you came on. You talked about backsliding. You said that God still loved me. So that night, I gave God all of me. When I told my grandmother, she was so happy for me that I gave my life to Christ and gave up alcohol.

  My grandmother’s cancer returned, and this time the doctor told us there was nothing more they could do. But before she went home to the Lord, she was able to see me sober and living for the Lord. Because of your ministry, I have been set free from alcohol for three years. So I just want to say a big thank you.