Editor's note: One more to go! Catch up rest of the list if you need to:
Click here to read #5
Click here to read #4
Click here to read #3


#2: Billy Graham

  In last summer's Olympic Games, gold medalist swimmer Michael Phelps was neck and neck with Serbia's Milorad Cavic in the 100-meter butterfly. As they reached the finish, it was not immediately apparent which man had won. After consulting photographic evidence, Phelps was declared the victor...by .01 seconds. Many of you may be quite befuddled as to why this legendary man of God is stopped short of the top. My point in bringing up the Phelps story is to illustrate the hair's breadth that exists between Dr. Graham and #1. It was a conclusion arrived at after much thought, and not at all easily.
  He's met, prayed with and advised every president since Harry Truman. As for the current president, Graham has said he would like the opportunity to pray with him, but will not offer spiritual counsel, partly because of his age and health issues, but also because of President Obama's extreme pro-abortion stance. This is just one of the more recent examples of a consistent stand on biblical principles that has extended throughout the vast majority of Billy Graham's 90 years.
  His quest to find and uphold biblical truth carried him across many established political and cultural lines. On one hand, you could find him championing the cause of peace as the first evangelist to speak behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. On the other, he was outspoken against communism in his earlier years. The gospel he was called to proclaim exceeded all other agendas in his view, and rightly so.
  Perhaps his influence explains my own restless pursuit of truth, whether it be through attempting to understand the depths of God's word, or examining human behavior and motivations. I've long believed that the truth is like medicine...it doesn't always taste good going down, but it's good for what ails you.
  A lifelong Democrat, Graham has departed from his party on many occasions when their principles did not coincide with moral or biblical doctrines. But he also avoided close links with the Moral Majority, headed by Jerry Falwell, and more currently what is called "the religious right" today.
  He reasons that Jesus did not represent any particular political party, a stance that Perplexed has always tried to emulate, perhaps not always with complete success. In the 1960's, he was openly opposed to segregation(while Falwell supported it) before doing so was en vogue. He would not accept invitations to speak in venues that were segregated, and even refused to minister in South Africa until they put an end to apartheid. He did incur an unfortunate stain on his resume' a few years back, when a taped conversation with President Nixon that was declassified revealed controversial remarks about the Jews controlling the media. When this was brought to light, he immediately took ownership of his statements and sought forgiveness from Jewish leaders.
  I think back to one time in high school, when my family and I were watching one of his many televised crusades. My dad remarked that Graham said the same things over and over when he preached. My response to him at the time was that there were people that needed to hear them over and over again before they got the message. The gospel never changed; hence Graham's feeling was, why reinvent the wheel? He never had the need to water down the gospel or incorporate a humanistic spin the way some of the megachurches that exist today routinely like to do. **coughcoughJoelOsteencough**
  I got to attend a Billy Graham crusade in person my junior year in high school as part of a class trip. Hearing 20,000 people singing hymns seemed like a prelude to what heaven would be like, the chorus of an entire human history singing glory to its Creator. When Billy began to speak later, I found myself looking up at the sky, it was a gorgeous fall day out. The clouds directly behind him---and I swear I am not making this up--appeared to have taken the shape of a giant dove. It was as if God was using his control of the earth to put his stamp of approval on the proceedings. Twenty-plus years later, it is a mental photograph that has never left me.
  In an age when many of his cohorts in the television evangelism market grab all the millions they can justify through their work and inspire the wrath of non-Christians who are already cynical enough about the gospel of Jesus, Graham allowed himself a salary that was meager in comparision to what the ministry took in. He drove the same car, lived in the same log cabin in the North Carolina hills, and generally eschewed the lavish lifestyle that most of his peers have demanded for themselves.
  Another way he departed from other evangelists was the establishment of the Modesto Manifesto, which among other things stated that the ministry staff would never allow themselves to be alone with women that were not their wives. This was to avoid falling prey to immoral temptations which had claimed the reputations of many before them. On a personal level, I plan to adhere to this as best I can if/when God ever chooses to grant me the privilege and responsibility of marriage.
  I truly believe that the day Billy Graham goes home to be with his Lord will be the day our nation loses much of her favor in the eyes of God, for she will be lacking one of her most ardent, most consistently righteous protectors. So who could possibly eke out an edge over a man who has been instrumental in providing a strong foundation for countless millions? An individual who takes such a structure and shows us how to flesh it out the right way, and he's waiting for us at the next and final stop.