Billy Graham, Cold Warrior for God

By KENYON GRADERT and JAMES STRASBURGFEB. 23, 2018

The German press nicknamed him “God’s machine gun” for his aggressive preaching, but the name also fit for deeper reasons.http://nyti.ms/2Cj2h4Q

HEIDELBERG, Germany — In the summer of 1954, 25,000 West Germans gathered in Düsseldorf’s Rheinstadium to hear “America’s Pastor,” Billy Graham. Two hundred trombones and a 1,300-person choir roared Protestant hymns before Mr. Graham preached with his signature verve and altar call, inviting repentant hearts to come forward and accept Christ as their personal savior. Hundreds did. A few days later, so did hundreds more, when Mr. Graham preached to 80,000 people in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium. Mr. Graham returned to West Germany the next year for an even bigger tour, and then again in 1960, 1963 and 1966.

The German press nicknamed him “God’s machine gun” for his aggressive, staccato preaching, but the name also fit for deeper reasons. Mr. Graham described these trips as “crusades” and saw West Germany as ground zero in what he called “Battleground Europe,” a Cold War fight to redeem the “land of Luther” from its Nazi past and secure its future as a stronghold for American-style democracy, capitalism and evangelicalism.

Yet his role in provoking a global debate about the shape of democracy, capitalism, nationalism and secularism in the modern world remains one of his lasting legacies.