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William Franklin Graham Jr. is a Southern Baptist evangelist who according to some media reports, preached to to more people around the world than any Protestant in history. According to his staff. Billy Graham converted more than 2.5 million people. His lifetime personal, radio, and television audiences totaled more than 2.2 billion. Between 1950 and 1990, Graham appeared several times on Gallup's list of most admired people. Graham's rise to national prominence is due in part to the assistance he received from news mogul William Randolph Hearst, whose interest in Graham was that he respected Graham for being his own person and following what he believed, though the two never met. Hearst thought that Graham would be helpful in promoting Hearst's conservative anti-communist views and sent a telegram to his newspaper editors reading "Puff Graham" during Graham's late 1949 Los Angeles crusade. The result of the increased media exposure from Hearst's newspaper chain and national magazines caused the crusade event to run for eight weeks—five weeks longer than planned. Henry Luce put him on the cover of TIME in 1954. At the Los Angeles revival, a fellow evangelist accused Graham of setting religion back 100 years. Graham replied, "I did indeed want to set religion back, not just 100 years but 1,900 years, to the Book of Acts, when first century followers of Christ were accused of turning the Roman Empire upside down." Graham also served as an advisor to presidents Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. After a special law was passed on his behalf, Graham was allowed to conduct the first religious service on the steps of the Capitol building in 1952. Graham has officiated one presidential burial and one presidential Graham officiated the funeral service of former First Lady Pat Nixon in 1993 and the funeral of Richard Nixon in 1994. He also presided over the graveside services of President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1973 and took part in eulogizing the former president.
So let's celebrate the evangelist's birthday by scarfing down a few preacher
cookies and watch the film Billy:
The Early Years (2008). These
heavenly Southern boiled cookies
were allegedly named because a harried housewife could make them in a few
minutes when the preacher arrived unannounced. |
Preacher Cookies
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1/2 cup 2% milk
1 stick margarine
2 cups sugar
3 TB peanut butter
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups quick oats
- In a large mixing bowl, add quick oats and peanut butter. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, combine butter, sugar, vanilla, milk, and cocoa. Bring to a rolling boil, stirring frequently
- Pour boiled chocolate mixture over peanut butter and oats. Mix thoroughly and quickly -- these harden as they cool.
- Drop by large TB onto waxed paper and let cool. Store in a sealed container up to two weeks.