A review by Bayo Ogunmupe
For thirty years, Billy Graham and the author Sir David Frost
fascinated television audiences with their conversations about God, the
Bible and Graham's decades long ministry. Frost asked the questions that
millions of viewers wanted to ask. Graham answered them with
authenticity and grace. In this book, put together by Frost, with
engaging honesty, Graham tells stories of his earliest crusades, his
civil rights escapades and his role as a spiritual mentor to several
American presidents. He also speaks about his failures, his ideological
anguish and doubts.
With a chronology of Graham's earthly sojourn, a preface from Frost who
weaved the stories with the interviews; the reflections will inspire
you as you hear from a theologian who has lived and loved triumphantly.
Graham's dialogues with Frost is in hard copy; it has 228 pages, 10
chapters, an epilogue of two pages and notes of 15 pages. Enclosed are a
foreword which is a tribute to Graham by the publishers. The preface to
Dialogues is from Frost again and its introduction by David Cook. It
was printed in 2014 by David Paradine Limited, London. Dialogues was
first published in 1997.
The publishers were happy to be invited to publish a book by
intellectual giants: Graham and Frost who fascinated audiences with
their dialogues on faith. Dr Graham answered every question without
pretense or religiosity. If Graham didn't know the answer to some
puzzling theological conundrum, he said so. If he had an opinion not
rooted in the Bible, he qualified his answer. When the answer was in
Scripture, Graham put a spotlight on God's Word and gave his
interpretation. Invariably, he uttered what later became his trademark:
"The Bible says...."
The television interviews went for grand viewing all over the world.
The overriding question was as regards the relevance of the interviews.
But in reviewing the footage, they found that far from being dated, they
were as relevant as ever to the world's spiritual rebirth. The Bible as
a book for all seasons confirmed that Graham's ministry was focused on
the ageless Word of God. Which was why publishing the interviews was a
way of giving them historical permanence. It is gratifying that the
Dialogues on faith works to document the life and times of Billy Graham
who died only recently at the age of 99 years. His life served to
glorify the existence of God.
From chapter four, in this second part of the book review, Frost once
asked Graham his goal on the pulpit; his reply, "First of all, I want
the content to be accurate. I want it to be biblical and I want it to be
simple." According to daughter Gigi Graham, one of Graham's five
children, her father was away from home most of the time. He left most
of the responsibilities and the burden of rearing the children to her
mother, Ruth whom he married in 1943. Whenever Billy was home, he led
them in daily prayer, reading the Bible and praying. How precious it was
to have him take up his role as spiritual leader. Graham practiced at
home what he preached in public.
Children need to see fathers on their knees, acknowledging and bowing
to a higher authority and loving their wives. However, on politics, like
in other spheres of life, Graham has no hidden agenda. Though
fascinated by politics, Graham was not an emissary for any political
party or leader. In spite of being friend to many U.S presidents. he was
only an emissary for Christ. But he was involved in politics in 1964
when the Republicans sought to nominate him for president. Graham didn't
renounce his presidential ambition until his wife said: "If you
announce you are going to run for president," she said, "I'll divorce
you, and America will not elect a divorced man."
Graham said the presidential ambition was there "for a moment as
telegrams were coming in from people who said that they would pledge
their delegates to me and so forth. And interestingly, it was the
Republicans and I'm a Democrat." Graham had also being offered positions
by presidents. President Richard Nixon offered him any position he
wanted. President Lyndon Johnson offered him the ambassadorship to
Israel. In response to that offer, he told the Israeli prime minister,
Golda Meir, "I am not the man. God has called me to preach." He happened
to be friends with three presidents John Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon
before they became presidents. Interestingly, I am writing this review
on November 22, the anniversary of Kennedy's assassination.
Graham's association with American presidents established him as their
spiritual adviser and global evangelist. His lifetime audience,
including those reached by radio and television was over two billion
people. He appeared on Gallup Poll's list of most admired people 57
times, more than any other person in history. He lived and died at
Charlotte, North Carolina. He had a voice that pulls people. The simple
country preacher had preached in 185 countries. he had preached by word
of mouth to more than 210 million people. Frost first interviewed Graham
for the London Daily Mail newspaper during his crusade in Paris, France
in 1963.
Surprisingly, Graham's evangelism was not diminished by having to speak
through an interpreter in France. To his credit, Graham doesn't offer
pat spiritual answers to inexplicable questions. Thus, when disaster
strikes and he is asked whether God had a hand in it, he doesn't
prevaricate. Random floods, hurricanes, tornadoes- scenes which he often
visited offering comfort. He doesn't beg the question. He believed God
must have a hand in them. A case in point was the 1995 Oklahoma City
bombing. At the memorial service where President Bill Clinton, Oklahoma
governor Keating spoke. It was Graham who offered the most comfort to
those who lost loved ones. There, he urged the people to face the
adversity with faith and trust in God. He believed God allowed disasters
for purposes that are unknown to us.
On sin and temptation, Graham was regarded as having the qualities of
raw, childlike, unblinking goodness. He simply happened to be stricken
by a staggering passion for the pure, the sanitary, the wholesome and
upright. He had been described as a paragon of American righteousness.
For the author of Dialogues on faith, Sir David Frost (1939-2013), he
was an English journalist, comedian and television host. He was famous
for his history- making interviews of top political figures. Frost was
the only person to have interviewed eight British prime ministers who
served between 1964 and 2010 and seven U.S presidents in office between
1969 and 2009. He was also the last person to interview the last Shah of
Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi.
Frost was the author of several books including his autobiography. His
famous interviews with President Nixon were the basis of the film Frost
on Nixon. He was knighted by the British Queen Elizabeth 11. Frost died
in 2013.
