The Cross - Billy Graham's Message To America

Evangelist Billy Graham delivered what is being dubbed his final “sermon” to America on Thursday night. Through a special video broadcast called “My Hope America,” Graham warned that the nation is in “great need of a spiritual awakening” and that he has wept over how far the nation has moved away from God.

Evangelist Billy Graham (Credit: AP Photo/Nell Redmond, File)

The video, which is available online and through select broadcast networks across the nation (it will air on TheBlaze TV this weekend), was released today on Graham’s 95th birthday.

“I want to tell people about the meaning of the cross … the real cross of Christ,” a passionate Graham proclaimed in the video. ”I know that many will react to this message, but it is the truth and with all my heart, I want to leave you with the truth.”

Graham then went on to discuss his view on the importance of accepting Jesus Christ and following the Christian savior.

His pre-recorded message was interspersed with fiery selections from the preacher’s past sermons as well as personal testimony from musicians Lacey Sturm and Lecrae Moore.

“People don’t want to hear that they’re sinners. To many people it’s an offense,” Graham proclaimed. “The cross is offensive, because it directly confronts the evils that dominate so much of this world.”

He went on to explain that the Christian message demands that believers embrace a new lifestyle — one that directly confronts mankind’s sinful nature.

“Sin is a disease in the human heart. If affects the mind and the will and the emotions. Every part of our being is affected by this disease,” Graham said.

The evangelist told viewers, though, that God can renew their spirits and that “there is no other way of salvation except through the cross of Christ.”

Graham also warned of a cultural slide in American society — one that he is clearly worried about. He said that the nation is in great need of “a spiritual awakening.”

“There’ve been times I’ve wept as I’ve gone city to city and I’ve seen how far people have wandered from God,” he told viewers.

At the end of the broadcast, Graham invited viewers to become followers of Jesus.

“Today, I’m asking you to put your trust in Christ,” he said, offering a prayer that would invite prospective believers into the faith.

Watch Graham’s message below:

Video: The Cross - Billy Graham's Message To America

Part of "My Hope America With Billy Graham" - an urgent new message of Hope from Billy Graham, featuring Lacey Sturm and Lecrae 

Video: Party in NC to Mark Billy Graham's 95th Birthday

Among the hundreds of guests, approximately 800, were North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, New York real-estate magnate Donald Trump, Founder of The Blaze Glenn Beck and former President Bill Clinton. Singers Ricky Skaggs and Michael W. Smith were set to lead the audience in a refrain of Happy Birthday as 1,000 cupcakes were served.

Glenn Beck tweeted… They only gave me one cupcake… My wife Tania must have phoned ahead.

The Palins Arrive for Billy Graham’s 95th Birthday Event

  Happy 95th Birthday Billy Graham!!!

‘Disgusting Lies’: First Dude Todd Palin Responds to Outlandish Anti-Sarah Book

The allegations against former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin just keep getting wilder. On Wednesday, The Blaze covered “The Rogue,” the shocking, new anti-Palin book that makes some pretty outlandish charges.

Aside from claiming that the former Alaska governor has snorted cocaine and used marijuana, the book’s author, Joe McGinniss, goes on to write that she has had scandalous affairs. With press for the book beginning to come in a steady stream, Todd Palin (Alaska’s former “First Dude”) isn’t taking the punches sitting down.

In a statement to reporters, Mr. Palin said the book is filled with “disgusting lies, innuendo, and smears.” As for its author, he had plenty more to divulge.

“This is a man who has been relentlessly stalking my family to the point of moving in right next door to us to harass us and spy on us to satisfy his creepy obsession with my wife,” he said. “Even The New York Times called this book ‘dated, petty,’ and that it ‘chases caustic, unsubstantiated gossip.’”

In citing the Times, Mr. Palin was likely trying to make the point that the newspaper, which is regarded by many conservatives as being left-of-center, took a skeptical stand on the book. In her article, Times reviewer Janet Maslin writes:

Although most of “The Rogue” is dated, petty and easily available to anyone with Internet access, Mr. McGinniss used his time in Alaska to chase caustic, unsubstantiated gossip about the Palins, often from unnamed sources like “one resident” and “a friend.”

Mr. McGinniss’s most quotable, inflammatory lines call Ms. Palin a clown, a nitwit, a rabid wolf and a lap dancer — and those aren’t the parts that assail her as a wife and parent.

There is one area, and only one, in which “The Rogue” is dead-on. Mr. McGinniss knows how publicity works.

Certainly not a favorable take on McGinniss’ work. Although it should be noted that the title of the review piece is, “Sarah Palin Could See This Guy From Her House.” Clearly, this was penned in an effort to play on the 2008 campaign hoopla over Palin’s statement that Russia can be seen from Alaska lands (a true statement, in fact).

The book will be released on September 20, just days away from the time during which Palin may announce a run for the American presidency. A plotted timing on behalf of McGinniss? It’s likely.

(h/t Politico)

Video: Sarah Palin Talks About Reporter Neighbor in Alaska

 

Related:

New Anti-Palin Book’s Wild Claims:  Cocaine Use and Multiple Affairs… Please!?!

And please don’t buy this guy’s garbage book~

Farah:  How Palin Could Beat Obama Now

The Candidate

Why Sarah Can Win

Long Lost Sarah Palin Emerges From Released Emails Victoriously

If you have doubts about Sarah Palin based on what you know of her from the mainstream media smears (and especially the ‘Journolists’) or even waaaay back to just that one Katie Couric interview after she was first tapped by McCain as his running mate, do yourself a favor and read her book(s) America by Heart, do a little independent research yourself and go see the movie ‘about’ her: Undefeated before counting her out!!

If you feel that anyone in the Progressive left media has the right to print out-right lies about anyone or their families, we have bigger problems than any election can solve!

Sarah Palin is ‘The Candidate’ that fits the bill to save America… check back later today for a more detailed look at why and why she can win.

Ask Marion~

Palin Quits as Alaska Governor

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said Friday that she is stepping down at the end of the month, setting up a potential run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin shocked the political word Friday by announcing that she will step down at the end of the month and transfer power to Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell.

Palin made the surprise announcement from her home in Wasilla, flanked by her husband, Todd, and family and state commissioners.

"I never believed that I nor anyone else needs a title to do this, to make a difference," she said. "I'm determined to take the right path for Alaska, even though it is unconventional and it's not so comfortable."

Parnell will be inaugurated at the governor's picnic in Fairbanks at the end of the month, Palin said.

The announcement came on the same week that one of her top public health officials says she was forced out of office because Palin felt she wasn't in step on social issues.

Palin's decision now allows her to avoid the difficult task of running for president while serving as governor.

Todd Palin told FOX News that his wife will concentrate on "doing the things for Alaska and the country" that she is passionate about and can not do as governor with the limitation and constant opposition she deals with within the state.

Palin, who defeated incumbent Gov. Murkowski in a primary in 2006, gained national prominence when GOP presidential candidate John McCain picked her as his running mate last year. But her approval ratings in the state have skidded in recent months.

Palin has been dogged in recent months by ethics inquiries. Her office last month announced the 15th dismissal of an ethics complaint against her or one of her staff.

On Wednesday, Beverly Wooley, who has worked more than 20 years in public health in Alaska, most of it with the municipality of Anchorage, ended her stint as state public health director.

She's the second top health official to leave within days. The state's chief medical officer, Jay Butler, left in late June after declining to take on Wooley's job along with his own. He now is in Atlanta, overseeing a U.S. Centers for Disease Control task force on a vaccine to protect against the H1N1 flu virus.

FOX News' Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Posted: Daily Thought Pad

McCain-Palin TV Ads Running in Michigan & Thought For The Day 10.12.08

THE TV ADS THAT WILL RUN IN MICHIGAN:

"It Isn't Over, Until It's Over!!'

Sarah Palin and First Dude Todd Palin Hit the Campaign Trail in Michigan