Franklin Graham talks about his last days with Billy Graham and what he misses most
Graham said he started writing his book nearly 12 years ago. It's about the lessons he learned from "Daddy," as he called the world-famous,
Father and son were last together on
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"I said, 'Daddy, I won't be here this week. I'm going to be down in
And that's the last time I saw him."
Billy Graham died the following Wednesday. His son got the call in
What does he miss most now that his father -- the namesake of the
"It's a little bit lonely on Sundays because I always looked forward to driving down just to see him,"
"We're not changing nothing," he said. "And we're not going to re-invent ourselves and we're not going to try to come up with a new face or a new voice for evangelism. We're just going to keep on doing what we've been doing. ... We're going to call people to put their faith and trust in Christ and to turn from their sins. "
But one thing is different, Graham said. His father, who started the organization in 1950 and turned it into an international ministry, is no longer there to pray for him.
"The last few years of my father's life -- though he could not preach, he shifted his ministry to praying," his son said. "Not only praying for the leaders of our country, but praying for our family and our ministry around the world. That's why I felt it was so important to see him on Sundays, to fill him in on what we were doing and things we were working on. So he could be praying for us. If I miss anything, it would be my father's prayers. I sense a void there in my life. He's not there any longer, praying for me."
Besides laying out the lessons his father taught him over the years, Graham also uses his new book to try to clear Billy Graham of what many consider one of the biggest blemishes on his record: His comments about Jews during a 1972 conversation with then-President
In 2002, decades after that
In the conversation, Graham also seemed to blame Jews for the R-rated movies coming out of
In his book,
"My father said that he was uncomfortable with some of the people in
He had, which is why the tape was such a bombshell. Though
Graham joined in after the conversation switched to the so-called Jewish control of the New York Times,
When the tape was released, Billy Graham first said he did not remember the conversation. But he later personally apologized to a group of rabbis.
"In hindsight, my father would have done things a lot differently,"
One lesson Billy Graham himself learned after getting burned by his close relationship to Nixon well into the Watergate scandal was to keep some distance from politics. He continued to pastor to
It's a lesson
His answer?
"People may think I'm closer to
Billy Graham was the face of Christian evangelicalism for decades. Now his son is one of several high-profile evangelical leaders at a time when that word -- evangelical -- has become controversial because conservative Protestant voters have become part of Trump's base. Even some fellow Christians say that, in exchange for a Supreme Court justice and some conservative policy changes, Graham and the others give Trump a pass for his crude name-calling and his alleged affairs with a porn actress and a
"These things (with other women) happened long before he was president. Twelve years ago, I think," Graham said about the criticism. "I think everybody in America knew about his past. when they voted for him. So I don't think there's anything new. I'm not giving him a pass. I don't condone immoral behavior. But I also know that that immoral behavior was 12 years ago. ... If those things were happening (while Trump is in the
But what about Trump's personal attacks -- not the kind of language heard in a church?
"He's not my preacher, either. He's a communicator, and he knows how to get your attention," Graham said. "I think he's got
In his book,
So Air Force One and Air Force Two were moved to Dulles, and the presidential party made the funeral. "I personally appreciated that great effort they made to come," Graham writes in his book. "It is doubtful almost any other past president would have gone that extra mile."
Like his wife Ruth, who died in 2007, Billy Graham was buried on the grounds of the library bearing his name, in a pine plywood casket was handmade by inmates at the
In the Observer interview, Graham was also asked about . . .
What will happen to Billy Graham's home in Montreat: "Not sure. The
What people would be surprised to learn about Billy Graham: "Billy Graham never wanted to be famous.. .. My father never wanted that for himself. And he never saw himself as a celebrity. He saw himself just as a farm boy from
Any retirement plans: "At 66, if I have health. can I make it to 76? If I have the health, could I make it to 86? I don't know. But as long as I have health, I want to continue. I have no intention of retiring. I mean, what would I do?"
Whether his son
How his style is more combative than his father's was: "Remember -- I'm also my mother's son as well as my father's son. And my mother was -- I don't want to say had more backbone. But I think growing up (the daughter of Presbyterian missionaries) in
On the widely held view that Billy Graham mellowed and became less judgmental as he aged: "My father never changed his views. He believed sin was sin. He believed that abortion was murder. He believed that homosexuality was sin. He did not mellow as related to sin.. ... But I think when you get older, you get a little wiser. And you begin to maybe get a little more focused on what you want to communicate. And I think my father, in the latter years of his life, wanted to communicate more clearly than ever that Jesus was the way, and he was the truth and he was the life. And that Jesus came to die for sinners. ... And he rose from the dead."
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