Billy Graham, the famed evangelist whose movement reached hundreds of millions of people, was formally honored Thursday at the U.S. Capitol.
A seven-foot statue depicting Mr. Graham’s likeness was unveiled. Inside National Statuary Hall The ceremony was attended by Graham’s family, House Speaker Mike Johnson (Republican), North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper (Democratic), former Vice President Mike Pence, and other North Carolina lawmakers.
“I think it’s providence here. I think it’s a perfect placement.”
“Today, North Carolina presents to the nation a symbol that represents one of our greatest treasures: a man of faith and a North Carolinian, the Rev. Billy Graham,” Cooper said at the ceremony.
The statue depicts Graham holding an open Bible in his left hand and pointing to the text with his right hand. The Bible opens to Galatians 6:14. read“May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world was crucified to me, and I to the world.”
The statue’s pedestal includes two additional Bible verses.
- John 3:16: “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
- John 14:6: “Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me.”
Speaker Johnson said he was excited about the statue’s prominent location near the opening of the Capitol. millions of people We will be confronted with Bible verses and Graham’s beliefs.
“I think it’s providence here,” Johnson said. “I think it’s a perfect arrangement.”
Franklin Graham said his father’s displeasure with Thursday’s ceremony “is because he wants to focus on what he preached. He wants to focus on the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Graham was known as a presidential chaplain, counseling Barack Obama and Harry Truman, and died in 2018 at the age of 99. Because of his enormous influence, Mr. Graham became the fourth private citizen to lie in honor inside the U.S. Capitol. He was buried next to his wife on March 2, 2018, at the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Graham’s statue replaces that of Charles Aycock, a Democrat and racist who served as North Carolina’s 50th governor.of Graham statue installation campaign Back in 2015.
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