MONTREAT (US), Feb 21: Billy Graham,
who transformed American religious
life through his preaching and activism,
becoming a counsellor to presidents and
the most widely heard Christian evangelist
in history, died today. He was 99.
Graham, who long suffered
from cancer, pneumonia
and other ailments,
died at his home in North
Carolina, spokesman
Mark DeMoss told the Associated
Press.
More than anyone else,
Graham built evangelicalism
into a force that rivaled
liberal Protestantism
and Roman Catholicism
in the United States.
His leadership summits
and crusades in more than
185 countries and territories
forged powerful global
links among conservative
Christians, and threw a lifeline to believers
in the communist-controlled Eastern
bloc. 
Dubbed America’s pastor, he was a
confidant to US Presidents from Gen
Dwight Eisenhower to George W Bush.
In 1983, President Reagan gave Graham
the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s
highest civilian honour. When the Billy
Graham Museum and Library was dedicated
in 2007 in Charlotte, former Presidents
George HW Bush, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton attended.
When he prays with you in the Oval
Office or upstairs in the White House, you
feel he’s praying for you, not the president,
Clinton said at the ceremony.
President Donald Trump tweeted : The
GREAT Billy Graham is
dead. There was nobody
like him! He will be
missed by Christians and
all religions. A very special
man. B e y o n d
Graham’s public appearances,
he reached untold
millions through his pioneering
use of prime-time
telecasts, network radio,
daily newspaper columns,
evangelistic feature films
and globe-girdling satellite
TV hookups.
Graham’s
message was not
complex or unique, yet he
preached with a conviction
that won over audiences worldwide.
The Bible says, was his catch phrase. His
unquestioning belief in Scripture turned the
Gospel into a rapier in his hands, he said.
A tall, striking man with thick hair, stark
blue eyes and a firm jaw, Graham was a
commanding presence at his crusades. He
would make the altar call in his powerful
baritone, asking the multitudes to stand,
come down the aisles and publicly make
decisions for Christ, as a choir crooned
the hymn Just As I Am. AP
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