All of us have role models in life. These are men and/or women we look up to, admire, wish to be like them, hope to follow their career path, share their ideals and so many other things about them. these people are not always perfect, but whatever they do inspires us so much we tend to ignore their bad attributes. My role model is Dr. Billy Graham. The following is a brief autobiography of my role model
Billy Graham was born on the 7th of November, 1918. He was originally named William Franklin Graham Jr (Graham, 1999). He was the first born son of Morrow, and William Graham Sr. His mother Morrow was born in 1892 and passed on in 1981. William Graham Sr was born in 1988 and passed on in 1962. He was raised in the Presbyterian church and at one time his father forced his sister and him to drink beer until they got sick, so that they would never drink alcohol again. This worked because Graham Jr never drunk alcohol again even in his old age.
His real dip into evangelism started when he was denied membership of a local youth club because he was said to be too worldly. He was introduced to an evangelistic preacher, Mordecai Ham, who converted him at the age of 16. He graduated from Sharon High school and then went on to attend Bob Jones college. He almost got expelled from this college, but he survived thanks to the advise of Bob Jones Sr. He transferred to Florida bible institute in 1937 and eventually graduated from Wheaton college in 1943, with an anthropology degree (Graham, 199).
Family
Billy Graham married Ruth Bell in 1943. Ruth Bell was his classmate at Wheaton College and a daughter of a general surgeon by the name Nelson Bell. They married only two months after they had graduated from college. Graham and Bell were blessed with five children; Virginia Leftwich was born in 1945 and is an inspirational speaker and author. Ann Graham was born in 1948 and runs Angel Ministries. Ruth Graham was born in 1950, she conducts and leads conferences throughout the US and Canada. The fourth born is Franklin Graham, who was born in 1952 and serves as president and CEO of both the International Relief Organization and the Billy Graham Evangelistic association.the 5th and last born is Nelson Edman Graham, who was born in 1958 and is a pastor running the East Gate ministries which has several missions in China. Ruth Bell, his wife, died in the year 2007, at the age of 87. Graham did not want any kind of controversy, like being associated with another woman and for this reason he was always in the company of his wife (Aikman, 2007).
Career
Graham first became a pastor while still in college. He was pastor of United Gospel Tabernacle. After graduating from college, he became pastor of a village church in Illinois where he served for around one year. He took over a radio program, “songs in the night,” from his friend because it was about to be cancelled due to lack of funding. He moved on from this program in 1945 and in 1947 was hired to serve as president of North Western Bible College located in Minnesota. He was the youngest person yet to serve in that position, a position he served for five years. He wanted to join the army and serve as the chaplain, but was denied commission because he contracted mumps. He was to be appointed evangelist for Youth For Christ International (YFCI), a position that saw him travel throughout the US and Europe (Graham, 1999).
Sexuality
Billy Graham believed in following the bible strictly. The bible prohibits sex before marriage and this is what Billy Graham advocates for. On sex before marriage, Billy Graham is opposed to this saying the bible clearly prohibits this. He also says that people should not compromise their moral standards just to please others. He does not believe in abortion and hopes that every unborn child lives to see the light of the world. On issues pertaining friends who are expecting a baby, Graham asks us not to abandon them because this is the time they need a friend most.
Social issues
Billy Graham is a defender of societal moral uprightness. Although he has been known to shy away from the controversial social issues like abortion, he has sometimes come out in the open to support his side. Recently, he came out in public to support the president of Chick-fil- A restaurant who had come under severe criticism for openly declaring that gay communities should be banned. He went ahead and praised the owner for what he called a strong stand for the Christian faith (Greene, 2012).
Conclusion
Billy Graham was an evangelist who strongly believed in the moral uprightness of society. Though he is mostly shy on controversial issues, he sometimes comes out to state his strong stand on society uprightness.
References
Aikman, D. (2007). Billy Graham. His Life and Influence. Thomas Nelson Inc.
Graham, B. (1999). Just As I Am. The Autobiography of Billy Graham. Harpercollins
Greene, A. R. (2012). Evangelist Billy Graham Defends Chick-fil-A. CNN. Retrieved from
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/07/26/evangelist-billy-graham-defends-chick-fil-a/
