Franklin Graham preached in Perth to kick off a six-city evangelistic tour across Australia. He’s proclaiming the powerful name of Christ on each stop, just as his father did 60 years ago.
In the 1950s, during the early days of Billy Graham’s ministry, the young evangelist had what he called “an overwhelming burden to visit the distant continent of Australia.”
As his Crusades in cities like New York and Los Angeles drew worldwide media attention, he began to receive invitations from church leaders across Australia asking him to come and preach the Gospel there.
When Mr. Graham kissed his family goodbye in February 1959 and headed south for a three-month Crusade across Australia and New Zealand, he had no idea nearly a third of Australia’s population would attend one of his events by the time all was said and done.
As Mr. Graham and his team proclaimed the love of Jesus Christ night after night in city after city, the response was overwhelming. The Sydney Morning Herald called the Crusade “one of the most remarkable religious phenomena ever experienced in this city.”
Exactly 60 years later, Billy Graham’s oldest son Franklin Graham is holding an evangelistic tour across Australia. As you pray for the Holy Spirit to move powerfully across the nation, enjoy reading five of the most remarkable stories from Billy Graham’s landmark Crusade, as documented by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in 1959.
Explosives at the Crusade
One night, a man was standing near a Crusade usher when Billy Graham gave the invitation to receive Jesus Christ as Savior. The man turned to the usher and asked, “Will Christ really forgive any sin?” The usher assured him of God’s forgiveness.
That’s when the man thrust a package into the usher’s hands and went forward. Inside the package the usher found a loaded revolver, explosives and detonators.
The man found the usher again later and shared his story of salvation. He had been a criminal but was moved by the Holy Spirit to turn his life over to Christ. Within the week, he brought nine other men to the Crusade, all of whom accepted Christ as Savior.
Confession at the Bank
In Sydney, a man came forward to accept Christ and ask forgiveness for his sins—which included embezzling a large amount of money from the bank where he worked.
Though he hadn’t been caught, he confessed the next morning to the bank manager and offered to pay the money back. As Billy Graham wrote in his autobiography Just As I Am, the man knew he faced “almost certain dismissal and prosecution.” But that’s not what happened.
“The manager was so impressed with the man’s change of heart that he not only kept him on staff,” Mr. Graham wrote, “but went to the Crusade that night and gave his own life to Christ.”
SOURCE: BGEA