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What Is Good Friday?
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“ tent meetings” were extended for a total of eight weeks as hundreds of thousands of men, women and children gathered to hear Graham’ s messages. On the heels of this campaign, Graham started the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, which was incorporated in 1950. Since 2000, Graham’ s son, Franklin, has led the Charlotte-based organization, which employs some 500 people worldwide. Billy Graham may be best known, however, for his evangelistic missions or“ Crusades.” He believed God knew no borders or nationalities. Throughout his career, Graham preached to millions in locations from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Zagorsk, Russia; and from Wellington, New Zealand to the National Cathedral in Washington. In 1973, Graham addressed more than one million people crowded into Yoido Plaza in Seoul, South Korea— the largest live audience of his Crusades. Breaking Down Barriers Preaching in Johannesburg in 1973, tell our neighbors about the Good News of Jesus Christ and reap eternal rewards. Good News Press believes that this commission begins in our own backyards. There are more than 7 Million people in the Bay Area. We want to share the good news, and bring to them the love of Jesus Christ.
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Rev. Billy Graham Continued
Graham said,“ Christ belongs to all people. He belongs to the whole world.… I reject any creed based on hate … Christianity is not a white man’ s religion, and don’ t let anybody ever tell you that it’ s white or black.” Graham spoke to people of all ethnicities, creeds and backgrounds. Early in his career, he denounced racism when desegregation was not popular. Before the U. S. Supreme Court banned discrimination on a racial basis, Graham held desegregated Crusades, even in the Deep South. He declined invitations to speak in South Africa for 20 years, choosing instead to wait until the meetings could be integrated. Integration occurred in 1973, and only then did Graham make the trip to South Africa. A 1977 trip to communist-led Hungary opened doors for Graham to conduct preaching missions in virtually every country of the former Eastern Bloc( including the Soviet Union), as well as China and North Korea.
Continued on Page 4
Good Friday is a holiday celebrated by the Christian Church in commemoration of the day Jesus died on a cross. Christians believe that the death of Jesus as a willing sacrifice paid the penalty for the sinfulness of humanity. As a result, we
can receive forgiveness today.
Christians around the world consider Jesus to have been God in the flesh— the second member of the Trinity.( The Trinity is the understanding that God is one in essence but exists with three centers of personhood.) Seeing the hopeless and sinful condition of humanity, he chose to enter into Creation in the form of the
man, Jesus Christ.
Arriving as a baby born to a virgin named Mary, Jesus grew up among us. At about the age of 30, Jesus began his public ministry of teaching, healing, and proclaiming
the Kingdom of Heaven.
Three years later, the Jewish religious leaders( who felt threatened by Jesus’ rising popularity) conspired against him. The Bible describes how they paid people to give false accusations against Jesus, implying that Jesus was rebelling against the Roman authorities that were ruling over
Israel at the time.
Jesus was subsequently arrested, put on trial, and sentenced to execution by crucifixion. After verifying that he was dead by thrusting a sword through his side, the Romans allowed the body to be taken down and buried in a tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea. Guards were stationed to watch over the tomb to ensure that no one, especially the disciples, tried
to do anything to the body.
The Bible reveals that this was all part of God’ s plan from the beginning. Several Old Testament prophecies written centuries earlier foretold the crucifixion of Jesus in detail- even before crucifixion became
a common form of execution.
So why was the death of Jesus necessary? According to Christian teaching, God is a God of love as well as a God of justice. His love desired to offer forgiveness to all of humanity for its sinful rebellion against him. But his justice demanded that wrongs be punished, and the punishment for rebellion against God is death. So the solution was for God to become a man and
pay the penalty in our place.
However, Christians also recognize that Jesus’ death was only temporary. On the third day— the day we know as Easter— his tomb was found empty. Over the next forty days, hundreds of eyewitnesses reported seeing Jesus alive. He had walked with them, taught them, and eaten with them. Their conclusion: Jesus had risen
from the dead.
Today, Christians still observe the Good Friday / Easter weekend as pivotal to their faith. All of Christianity hinges on the death of Jesus and his subsequent resurrection from the dead. It teaches that, because of his death, we can experience forgiveness. And because of his resurrection, we can know he has authority over
life and death.