Evangelist Billy Graham’s children honored him on the fifth anniversary of his death. On Feb. 21, Franklin Graham, Billy Graham’s son, spoke to Fox News Digital in a phone interview about his father, someone he said he misses. “It’s hard to believe it’s been five years,” he said of his father’s death at 99.
Franklin Graham runs the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and revealed what he thinks his father would feel about the non-profit organization.
“My father is in heaven — I think he’s probably watching. And I think he’d be very pleased with all the work the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has been doing,” he shared.
He spoke about the impact Billy Graham had on the world, especially with U.S presidents “from Truman to Trump” – all he met personally during his lifetime.
I invite you to come to @TheBGLibrary tomorrow from 9:30AM-5PM on the 5th anniversary of my father @BillyGraham’s homegoing to heaven. I thank God for my father’s life & the ways God used him to impact millions around the world with the Gospel. For more: https://t.co/sgvfSHaKmv pic.twitter.com/KPa6qyNTCS
— Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) February 21, 2023
“I think that had a huge impact, especially during his time, and I think it will have an impact for many people for more years to come,” he added.
Billy Graham’s legacy lives on through the Billy Graham Library, which previously opened in 2007 in North Carolina. The library was closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Its re-opening has garnered millions of visitors who can take a walk through his life.
“This is going to have an impact on people’s lives for generations. Because now people can come and see what God did through the life of a farm boy from Mecklenburg County, North Carolina — and how God took that farm boy from milking cows and working in the fields to the ends of the Earth, to preach and proclaim the gospel,” Franklin Graham said of the exhibits.
Lamentations 3:24 says, “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”
During his work as an evangelist, Franklin Graham said his father “would counsel people to put their faith and love in Jesus Christ.”
He shared:
“Our hope is not in politicians, in our military, in our economic strength. Our hope is in God. Because we know that one day, all the things of this world will not be here … The world will go on, but in a different form than we know it today. So have to put our faith in God’s son, Jesus Christ.”
Billy Graham’s daughter, Anne Graham Lotz, paid tribute to her father on her Instagram page.
“On this day five years ago, my beloved father moved to Heaven. While I am comforted by knowing exactly where he is, I still have a hollowness that will be with me until I see him again in our Father’s House. For all of you, like me, who have an empty chair at the table or beside the fire, join me as we cling to God’s great mercy that has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…(1 Peter 1:3),” she wrote.
She concluded, “This life is not all there is! Praise God! Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning! (Psalm 126:5-6).”