Rev. Billy Graham Close to Death, Grandson Says

[mystery-ak]

http://www.newsmax.com/PrintTemplate.aspx?nodeid=541650


Newsmax
Rev. Billy Graham Close to Death, Grandson Says
Friday, December 13, 2013 07:02 AM

By: Melissa Clyne

A frail and ailing Rev. Billy Graham is “close to going home to be with the Lord,” according to his grandson, Will Graham.

Will Graham, the son of Franklin Graham, CEO of Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, says his 95-year-old grandfather is not suffering but that “old age has caught up to him and is sucking the life out of him.”

“I wish (God) would give him strength, but I don’t think he needs strength anymore,’ Will Graham told the Christian website Assist News Service. “It’s time to go home.”

Since celebrating his 95th birthday on Nov. 7 at a North Carolina gala attended by more than 1,000 people, Billy Graham’s tenuous health has been declining. He was recently hospitalized for pulmonary problems and has been dealing with Parkinson’s disease for more than 20 years. He has also battled pneumonia, broken hips, and prostate cancer.

On Wednesday, Franklin Graham asked the world to pray for his father, who has offered spiritual guidance to generations of presidents beginning with Harry Truman.

“Our family would appreciate your prayers for him that the Lord would strengthen him,” Franklin Graham wrote in an online message posted at Charismanews.com.

Will Graham said that God has protected his grandfather,providing “supernatural strength and now, the only thing left is for him to come home. God has removed his hand of protection and old age has set in.”

In 2011, Newsweek reported that the charismatic preacher who became famous in the 1940s for staging revivals he dubbed crusades now lives in near seclusion in the family home in western North Carolina. He is isolated by failing eyesight and hearing, passing most of his days watching Fox News and local programming “on a massive flat-screen TV.”

[EC]

Look. I am Catholic. I will never apologize for that. As such, I view most Evangelists with suspicion.

But Rev. Graham no longer needs strength. He is, and always will be, one of the strongest and most potent witnesses for the Lord in the last century.

May he mount up on the wings of eagles,
to take his rightful place at our Father's right hand.
His sermons inspired us, his lessons gently chided us.
His faith in the goodness of God humbled us.
His trust in the Lord taught humility
And his joy in life taught gratitude.

Go, my friend. Fly.

[mountaineer]

Never were these words more appropriate: Well done, good and faithful servant.

[flowers]

http://p.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/dec/13/billy-graham-near-death-close-going-home-be-lord/

The Rev. Billy Graham is near death, and it won’t be much longer before he succumbs to old age and goes “home to be with the Lord,” his grandson, Will Graham, said this week.

“I wish [God] would give him strength, but I don’t think he needs strength anymore,” Mr. Graham said, to the Christian news site, Assist News Service. “It’s time to go home.”

Mr. Graham, who’s spread the gospel around the world — and to the highest political offices in the nation — just turned 95 on Nov. 7, celebrating with a North Carolina party that included more than 1,000 notable guests, Newsmax reported. He’s been ill for years, fighting off Parkinson’s disease, pneumonia, prostate cancer and pulmonary problems, and has also been plagued by issues from his broken hips.

Now, “old age has caught up to him and is sucking the life out of him,” said Will Graham, who is also the son of Franklin Graham. Just this week, Franklin Graham appealed to the world to pray for his father, saying in an online post at Charismanews.com, that “our family would appreciate your prayers for him that the Lord would strengthen him.”

Meanwhile, grandson Will said God’s protected his grandfather throughout the years, giving him “supernatural strength and now, the only thing left is for him to come home. God has removed his hand of protection and old age has set in,” Newsmax reported.