In just a few months, Americans will go to the polls to elect our national, state and local leaders, including the next president of the United States. This summer, both parties are holding their 2024 national conventions to nominate their respective candidates for president.
We all know that our nation is in trouble, as we deal with unchecked illegal immigration, escalating tensions around the globe and an alarming moral and spiritual decline. My grandchildren’s generation is facing an epidemic of “deaths of despair”—suicides and drug overdoses both now outnumber fatal auto accidents. It’s heartbreaking to see so many young souls living without hope.
None of us knows exactly what will be the outcome on Nov. 5, when more than 100 million voters will cast their ballots. I encourage every voter to prayerfully examine the platforms from both parties and see how they measure up to Biblical principles. In addition to the presidential election, we need to pay attention to all the other races, from Congress to local school boards.
However, the answers to our country’s fundamental problems are not to be found in the Republican or Democratic parties. Many of our ills are the result of our nation turning its back on God. I pray and hope that voters will seek God’s will, knowing that His sovereign wisdom and counsel will heal our nation.
Recently I was in Washington, D.C., for the unveiling of a statue in the U.S. Capitol honoring my father’s lifetime of ministry. The bronze statue portrays him preaching the Gospel, with a Bible draping his left hand and his right hand open in an invitation to the lost.
A plaque on the statue describes him as a “Preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
The pedestal, carved from pink North Carolina granite, conveys two powerful Scriptures. One side has John 14:6: “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” The other side has John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
My father called John 3:16 his favorite verse. He learned it from his mom, and it became a hallmark of his Crusades. He often described it as the Bible in miniature.
The statue has another subtle message in the pages of his Bible, which is open to Galatians 6:14. This was a verse that Daddy had underlined in red in his study Bible. “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (KJV). Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson read that passage from my father’s study Bible during the dedication ceremony.
Among the statues in the U.S. Capitol building, seven are of former presidents—including four my father knew. Others are tributes to the likes of Thomas Edison, Will Rogers, Rosa Parks and Amelia Earhart. Now, the Capitol finally has a preacher!
My father’s statue is displayed in the Crypt, which was originally conceived as a final resting place for the father of our country, George Washington—though no one was ever buried there. Because public tours of the Capitol begin there, some 3 million tourists per year will encounter the truths of Scripture as they view my father’s statue.
In these tense political times, it was good to see both political parties represented at the ceremony, including former Vice President Mike Pence, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, North Carolina Sens. Thom Tillis and Ted Budd, and my local congresswoman, Virginia Foxx.
My father was a humble man and would have been uncomfortable having a statue in Washington, but I think he would have been glad to know our nation has made room for the Gospel on Capitol Hill. That’s a start. It’s a wonderful tribute to my father’s enduring legacy as a global evangelist who dedicated his life to fulfilling Jesus’ Great Commission.
Jesus Christ is the hope of our nation and the world, and it is our mission to proclaim His Gospel to those who are lost. “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?” (Romans 10:14-15, NKJV).
The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association recently brought the Gospel to two of the largest cities in the United Kingdom: Birmingham, England; and Glasgow, Scotland. Earlier this year, we held Gospel Festivals in Poland and Mexico, and I preached in 10 cities along our Mexican border from Texas to California. Later this year, I will be preaching in Naples, Italy; and Can Tho, Vietnam. “For God so loved the world …”
My father was a preacher of the Gospel, and that is precisely what the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has been about for more than 70 years—and will continue to be as we proclaim the Lord Jesus Christ around the world. ©2024 BGEA
Photo: Shealah Craighead / ©2024 BGEA