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Updated at 6.15pm
THE REVEREND BILLY Graham, one of the most famous preachers of the 20th century, has died at the age of 99.
Graham transformed American religious life through his preaching and activism, becoming a counsellor to presidents and the most widely heard Christian evangelist in history.
Spokesman Mark DeMoss said Graham, who long suffered from cancer, pneumonia and other ailments, died at his home in North Carolina this morning.
Graham reached more than 200 million people through his appearances and millions more through his pioneering use of television and radio. Unlike many traditional evangelists, he abandoned narrow fundamentalism to engage broader society.
Tributes
The one-time backwoods minister who eventually became the world’s foremost Christian evangelist, spread a message of spiritual redemption at tent and stadium revival meetings, in a career that spanned decades.
“The GREAT Billy Graham is dead,” President Donald Trump tweeted in tribute. “There was nobody like him! He will be missed by Christians and all religions. A very special man.”
Donald J. Trump / Twitter
Donald J. Trump / Twitter / Twitter
The Southern Baptist preacher was close to the family of President George W Bush, who once said that a private meeting with Graham in 1985 helped him quit drinking.
Graham was a pioneer of “televangelism” to convert souls to Christianity as television got off the ground in the 1950s.
Born on 7 November 1918 he was raised as one of four children on a dairy farm in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Graham had a spiritual awakening in 1934 that changed the course of his life. He subsequently attended the Florida Bible Institute, now Trinity College of Florida, and was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1939.
In 1950, he founded the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) in Minneapolis, Minnesota and launched a weekly Hour of Decision radio programme.
Adviser to US presidents
His ministry led him to preach the gospel around the country – and the world.
Over the course of his career, he was consulted by presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John F Kennedy.
For a time he was Richard Nixon’s chaplain and golf partner. President George H.W. Bush invited him to pray at the White House in 1991 for guidance through the first long day of the Gulf War.
But of all the US leaders – almost all of whom have described themselves as practicing Christians – Graham found only Jimmy Carter to match him in dedication to his faith.
Graham also has been credited with helping hasten the end of segregation in his native south by refusing to preach to segregated audiences after 1953.
‘I belong to Christ’
While he never snagged the top spot, Graham was on Gallup’s list of most admired men more than any other – 55 times since 1955, the polling institute said in December 2011.
Among his many honors, he was presented with an honorary knighthood in 2001 and received the Congressional Gold Medal in 1996.
“My greatest comfort comes from knowing that I belong to Christ, and that no matter what happens, he will never leave me or forsake me.
He will be with me as long as I’m on this Earth, and some day I will go to be with him in heaven forever. I look forward to that day.
Graham had his detractors: noted Christian theologian Reinhold Niebuhr challenged his preaching as far too simple and not reflecting the complexity of human existence.
And one-time associate Charles Templeton, a former evangelist turned atheist, wrote:
I disagree with him profoundly on his view of Christianity and think that much of what he says in the pulpit is puerile nonsense.
But he added:
There is no feigning in him: he believes what he believes with an invincible innocence. He is the only mass evangelist I would trust.
No other religious figure in America has had Graham’s impact. Through a newspaper column, he answered thousands of questions about spirituality.
Unlike other high-profile evangelists, Graham managed to escape sex and money scandals by keeping a meticulous watch over his staff and finances.
“My greatest fear is that I’ll do something that will bring disrepute on the Gospel of Christ before I go,” Graham said in a 1991 interview.
He suffered from a host of ailments late in life, including Parkinson’s disease and prostate cancer. In 1995, weakened by illness and old age, he turned over operation of his ministry to his eldest son.
© – AFP 2018 With reporting from AP
Windows phone hasn’t really got any traction in the market. One interesting thing is that a lot of people who have the phones really like them. I have used a Windows phone since Windows 7 and I am on my third upgrade. I think to fully appreciate the advantages you have to use the features. There is excellent integration of cloud storage, email and contacts with your Microsoft account. You can open office attachments in email and edit on the go. It is also excellent if you want to add a work email account and have in a separate window with it’s own tile. For the game enthusiasts there is an excellent selection of Xbox games. Most of the popular social media apps are available bit it is true that there is less choice than apple or android. I think the failure of windows 8.1 on desktop probably put a lot of people off windows phones. Ironically Windows 8.1 is really nice on a windows phone. The emergence of Windows may make people look a bit closer at Windows phone. Anyway looking forward to my Windows 10 upgrade in the new year.
By the way I don’t work for microsoft
That’s some decent storage
Due upgrade was thinking of switching to android Samsung s6 but my cloud storage, contacts email etc arevon Microsoft I wonder is there much hassle or should I get a 950
It’s useful for my purposes with OneNote, Office Lens and integration with Office but not as adaptable as Android.
I just upgraded to the 950 from a Samsung Galaxy S5. So far, I’m impressed. What I find nice are the little things that make using the phone easy. Searching for apps / contacts on the phone is really intuitive. the groove music app is great too. And one nice feature is the ability to put playlists directly on the front tiles. great for Bluetooth integrated cars / speakers etc…
On the downside, I does overheat a fair bit, and I would recommend a cover for it, but generally I’m impressed. I haven’t tried out the continuum integration yet, but I will get to that at some stage.
The devices look great but no one is going to fork out €600 or a long contract on something they might hate. Maybe some sort of like it or your money back guarantee could be good.
It may be a device you can flip to Android if you don’t like Windows
To write as a CON that Windows 10 is buggy and needs works is just pathetic if you don’t back it up with examples. Anyway have you ever seen an OS without bugs??? I feel the CONS are just written because you couldn’t find any…
In the same boat dropped my 925 on a wooden floor and the screen went in bits. Not it’s first fall to be fair!
“With an infrared light glowing while it searches for you, it quickly recognises you and unlocks your phone, making for a more convenient experience than a fingerprint.” .. I got the new iPhone 6s plus and I just have to touch the sensor and they thing unlocks. the problem is that the Camera on the Lumia is not as good as iPhone. I moved to android for a year, got the note 3, liked the phone and size, but the camera was not great and I didn’t really use the stylus much. its hard to beat an iPhone.
It’s quite easy to beat an Iphone. Drop it on a soft pillow and the screen cracks! I’ve dropped the Lumia on a tiled floor and it was grand.Tough aul phones Nokias!
You`re are one of the lucky one`s RTibe . I dropped my 925 Lumia about a year ago, and the screen went to s**t. Loved that phone. Replaced it with a 1520 Lumia, which I picked up preowned for a steal. If you can get past it`s size it`s a superb phone with excellent specs. Everybody too their own I say. And Robert in my opinion the Lumia camera is the best you can get on a phone, just saying!
Hardcore fans = codeword for employees of Microsoft, the only people who seem to use Lumina phones
I don’t work for them and am on my third Lumia. Excellent storage, really good camera and feels more solid than most androids. However I will admit, the lack of apps is an issue. Not enough to put me off though!
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