America Online Transcript
from July 6, 1999

Time Online: Welcome to TIME's chat with Rev. Billy Graham! Mr. Graham has just arrived, so we are ready to begin! Mr. Graham is one of the few chat guests who needs no introduction. He has brought the Gospel to millions around the world, and his words have touched the hearts of millions, as well, from presidents to ordinary Joes. TIME recently named Mr. Graham as one of the most influential people of the 20th century. Welcome, Mr. Graham!

Rev. Billy Graham: Greetings to all of you that are in the auditorium.

Time Online: Let's go to our first question...

Question: How can I discover God's will for my life?

Rev. Billy Graham: Well, there is only one way. And that's first of all to really have a personal relationship with God, and be sure that your life is in tune with him -- and in tune with God's plan, his commandments and his Word. His word is found in the Bible, and the Bible is a message to you. And if you live according to that, he has a plan for you, and the ultimate end of that plan is total happiness, and joy and peace and the solution to your problems.

Question: Do you think Christ's return will happen in our lifetime?

Rev. Billy Graham: I don't know. Jesus himself said that we are not to speculate or try to guess at the time of his arrival. We know it will be sometime, but we don't know the exact time. As far as I am personally concerned, he will be coming into my heart and into my lifetime, because I expect to die and I expect to go to heaven, and I'm looking forward to it with great anticipation.

Question: How do we know if God is real in our lives?

Rev. Billy Graham: I heard about a little boy that was flying a kite many years ago, and some people were standing around watching him. They said to him, "What are you doing?" He said "I'm flying a kite." It flew so high it went into the atmosphere, and the people said, "We don't see it." And they asked, "Well how do you know it's up there?" He said, "I can feel the tug on the string." And that's the way that we go about knowing God in our own lives. We may not see Him, but we can feel the tug in our hearts. Everybody knows that there is a God or supernatural power. I sat beside Mrs. Gorbachev once at a dinner at the White House. Her husband was then in power in Russia. And I knew that she was an atheist. And I had asked the Russian Ambassador what I should talk about. He said, "Talk to her about religion, because that's what she's really interested in." And I find everywhere people are interested in religion. They are interested in talking about God and the supernatural. I think in the newspapers today there was an article about the percentage of people in America that believe there is a personal God, and over 90 percent of Americans believe there is a God. And the article went on to state that that is probably the percentage of the whole world population.

Question: What kind of lifestyle did you live before you preached?

Rev. Billy Graham: About the same as now. I lived on a farm. The only difference was I had to get up early in the morning and go milk cows. When I came back from school that day, I had to milk those same cows. There were about 20 cows I had to milk. By hand. That was before they had those machines. I loved being a farmer. But God called me to this work that I'm in now. I knew it was God calling. I said, "Yes. I will follow what God wants me to do." And so I went to two or three schools to get education. Then I became pastor of a church. Then I went into evangelism.

Question: Rev. Graham, I am a young pastor. I am currently going to seminary in North Carolina and pastoring my second church. What advice do you have for me? Something I can use the rest of my life?

Rev. Billy Graham: Study the Bible constantly. That's where I think I have failed. I don't know the Bible nearly as well as I wish that I did, and I wish I spent more time studying it. If you study it, put it into practice in your daily life. I think a young minister must know the Bible and preach from the Bible. I believe that God uses what we call expository preaching -- which means that you explain paragraph by paragraph, chapter by chapter to the congregation what God said.

Question: What was the toughest obstacle you have had to overcome in all your years of ministry?

Rev. Billy Graham: Possibly health problems. And not having the strength and the stamina that I would like to have had that I've seen in other people and sort of envied. I've had quite a bit of sickness in my life. But God has helped me through every one of them. And at the age of 80 at the moment I feel very well and very strong, even though I'm going to the hospital tomorrow to get something checked.

Question: Mr. Graham, how do you think the year 2000 will affect our world with all the hype and fear being pumped in by the media?

Rev. Billy Graham: I don't think there's going to be much of a change as far as we are concerned when we cross the line into the next century. There are all kinds of speculation, anticipation many parties being planned. People [are] afraid because of the problem in computers. But I feel that we won't really in our lives see much difference. Because we're the same people and it's the same God and the same Gospel.

Question: Which president has most influenced Rev. Graham's life and which president has most surprised him?

Rev. Billy Graham: Very difficult, because I've had the privilege of knowing nine or 10 and I've known several of them very well including the present president. I couldn't answer that question because each has influenced me to a certain extent. I suppose I was closer to a few than I was to others. And the first president that I knew was Eisenhower, and before he became president he asked me to come to Paris where he was the head of SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe). I went to Paris and got acquainted with him, and then when he was nominated, he asked me to come to his hotel in Chicago because he thought I could help him write speeches. I think he was soon disillusioned, but he did accept some suggestions I made on religious matters because he did want a spiritual message in his speeches to the American people. Eisenhower was a very religious man.

Question: Rev. Graham, how is your health these days? I pray for your strength and thank you for what you've meant to me and this great land of ours. I was saved shortly after your Crusade in Atlanta, Georgia about four years ago and my daughter was saved a few weeks after!

Rev. Billy Graham: I'm very thankful and take no credit whatsoever for any of the things people hear and read about. I have to give all the glory and the credit to God. Because it's been God's doing. I never dreamed I'd have the privilege of going all over the world to proclaim the Gospel. And as far as my health is concerned, it's excellent. Except I have a few problems that old men get. I have Parkinson's disease, which keeps me off balance some and about half the time I use a cane.

Question: What is your perspective on the situation in Bosnia, and how can Christians help heal the wrong that were inflicted by the Serbs on the Kosovars, who are mostly Muslim?

Rev. Billy Graham: Well, we have quite a bit of work with my son going on in both Bosnia and Kosovo, and in Macedonia and Serbia itself, and we send a tremendous amount of material aid and spiritual help to the people, and they have been very receptive and very grateful. We have people there full-time. We have doctors, and we have technicians, and we have all kinds of people that can help in those areas. And it's been a tremendous privilege for us to be involved in the humanitarian side of what is going on there.

Question: Rev .Graham what are your thoughts on all the recent school shootings in this country?

Rev. Billy Graham: Well, of course, dismayed, shocked -- and yet I'm not shocked. Because what is happening is coming from the human heart. It's not the guns. It's not the people who make them or sell them. It's the people who do the shooting. What is their motive? What is in back of that? That brings us to spiritual and moral questions. And I think that there is another force at work in the world that brings about war and that kind of evil that we were just talking about -- and that's the Devil. In all the discussion that we've heard on television and radio, we haven't heard much about the Devil. The Bible says that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil. Therefore, we are to put on the full armor of God. That means reading the Bible. Being sure the Holy Spirit fills your heart; that you proclaim in your life and in your conversations the Gospel of peace, which God gives us. Because the Bible says that the Devil is shooting flaming arrows at us. And we need to take the arm of God into the battle every day. It's a daily battle that we all face between good and evil.

Question: Sir; why did God give us free will?

Rev. Billy Graham: He gave us free will because we are made in the image of God. Why he gave it to man, not to other creatures -- I don't know the answer to that. There's a mystery to that. We're entering the realm that only God can answer.

Question: What is the greatest event you have witnessed God perform?

Rev. Billy Graham: When my wife said "yes" to me when I asked her to marry me. I had fallen in love with her. But it took her about a year to reciprocate. We've had a wonderful life together. We have five children. I think 19 grandchildren. And about seven or eight great-grandchildren. She's a wonderful wife!

Question: Rev. Graham, I am a cancer patient. I have heard many ministers talk about how if you have enough "faith" you will be healed. Can you tell me what the Bible says on this opinion and why not everyone gets healed? Thank you and God bless!

Rev. Billy Graham: Thank you. I have never had the gift of healing people. Some clergy have said that they have that gift. I have never had it. But I do go and pray for people with cancer, and I always pray, "God, your will be done.'

Question: How involved are you with the religious life of our current president?

Rev. Billy Graham: I couldn't make a comment on that.

Question: Rev. Graham, how do you personally feel about being named one of TIME's most influential people?

Rev. Billy Graham: I think somewhere along the line, somebody exaggerated. I sincerely believe that!

Question: I enjoyed reading Mrs. Graham's book "Prodigal Son." As the mother also of a prodigal son, can you give me any advice to get me through the tough times when I think he will never come back to the Lord?

Rev. Billy Graham: Yes, I think that we decided not to push our son, argue with him, or demand things of him. We just prayed and loved him. And he -- well, we have two sons and both are wonderful men who are serving the Lord, and we are thankful for both of them. They went through their tough teenage and post-teenage periods up to about 22 or 23 years of age. Loving and waiting, I remember my wife carried the heavy load because I was gone so long at a time, holding meetings in various parts of the world. And we always, if they went out at night, we always waited until they came home, if it was 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. Because we found at that time they were willing to talk. It's difficult sometimes to get young people to open up and talk. So we tried to keep communication open between us.

Question: Is there one person whom you wish you could preach to, but haven't had the opportunity?

Rev. Billy Graham: Oh, my, that would be very difficult. That would be most of the population of the world. I preached in China, I've preached in every country in the communist world before it turned away from communism. I had crusades in Moscow, and then I have preached in Muslim-dominated countries, Buddhist countries, where they believe in another religion. And I've found a wonderful reception in all of them. People are looking for someone who believes something. It comes across if you really believe it.

Time Online: Unfortunately, we've got time for just one more question for Rev. Graham....

Question: Rev. Graham: If you had one message to our young people today what would it be?

Rev. Billy Graham: Give your heart and life as best you know how to Christ. Invite Him into your heart Because He will give you the joy, the peace, the satisfaction, that young people are searching for. You can walk down the streets of our country in big cities or go to the universities, as I often do and you sense that they're searching for something, but they don't know what. And I would call this the "searching generation."

Time Online: Thank you very much for joining us this evening, Mr. Graham. We greatly enjoyed having you online with us.

Rev. Billy Graham: Thank you. I'm grateful to all those who came to the auditorium and you who didn't get a question in, maybe we can answer it on another occasion.

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