Religion: The New Evangelist

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Billy's fondest hope is to spark a real religious revival in the U.S., and if any one person can do it, he is a likely candidate. He can prophesy: "The greatest sin of America is our disregard of God . . . God has allowed evil nations to be destroyed by other wicked nations . . . God may allow Russia to destroy America. Russia will get it in the end, but she may destroy America ... It may take persecution and humiliation to bring America to God . . . There's nothing wrong with being rich, but we're using so much of it for ourselves . . . When I see a beautiful city such as New York, I also have a vision of crumbling buildings and dust. I keep having the feeling that God will allow something to fall on us in a way I don't anticipate unless we return to Him."

Billy can prophesy, but, perhaps more important, he can also speak to the longing, hungry heart: "Oh, on the outside you put on a big front. You laugh and you joke and all the rest, but when you're alone, there it is—that void, that aching, that empty place. There is a questing; there is a hunger; there is a longing for something else in life; and you haven't found it yet and you want it."

Before Billy Graham is through, a lot more people will begin looking for it—in the Inquiry Tent.