Cissie Graham Lynch first traveled to Rome with her dad, Franklin Graham, when she was 19. She was recently back in Italy with her dad before his Noi Festival. Franklin and Cissie sat down to talk about what’s happening in the world today and how Christians should respond to the chaos around us. Hear how the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association is responding around the world and where we can look to find hope and peace despite living in times of uncertainty. Want to know Jesus? Visit https://PeaceWithGod.net/Fearless
or call 855-255-PRAY. For more resources and additional episodes visit https://cissiegrahamlynch.com
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[Applause]
[Music]
welcome back to a special episode of
fearless and I say special because I’m
here in Rome and I’m here with my dad
dad welcome back to Fearless thank you
Dad when I think of Rome this might be
one of my favorite cities to visit and
yes because of everything there is to
visit here in Rome but it’s because of
special memories I have with just you
and me I think back when I was 19 years
old I went on a Around the World trip
with just you and me and you and I have
traveled a lot since then but this was
the first one of just you and me and we
did two weeks around the world stopping
at different Samaritans purse sites um
and then you had a crusade as well with
the Billy Graham Evangelistic
Association but in Rome it was our first
just kind of stay
overnight um it didn’t get off to a
smooth start because I woke up and I had
forgotten all my makeup and you took me
makeup shopping do you remember that who
I remember coming down to breakfast and
I was just horrified to tell you I had
forgotten my makeup and I needed to go
buy some but for me that trip is what
changed my life so this was kind of the
first night staying here in Rome that
changed my relationship with you that
gave me a respect for the ministry and
changed my heart for Ministry seeing
what God had been doing all over the
world and at as teenager he made me
realize as a daughter I had a father
that was obedient to God’s calling on
life so that’s why this City’s special
to me and the very first time I came
here with you do you remember the first
time you came to Rome I uh I do s say um
I’m not sure I remember the exact first
time because I’ve been here many times
uh first time I think was with uh uh my
mother and uh we stopped here in I think
it was
1969 and so uh remember went to the
marittime president mother your your my
mother your grandmother she fell she
tripped they didn’t have those nice
stairs at that time and she hit her head
and had a big big lump on her head so
that was my my first visit but I’ve come
back over the years many times love this
city love the people of this city the
architecture to think of um the Roman
government their form of
government uh is uh basically the form
of government that most democ CES around
the world today uh model their their
government after and so the Romans that
were tremendous uh Engineers
Architects uh they had pagan gods they
worshiped uh and it wasn’t until much
later that uh they adopted Christianity
but Paul was here uh Peter was here uh
so many of the Epistles uh in the
scriptures were written by Paul from
prison here so for the Christian this is
a very important city the military the
Roman military their strategies and in
in in war are still studied by armies
today how the Romans fought and many of
the our soldiers our generals have used
Roman tactics so it’s um so much history
and those Romans that were built
buildings that are still standing today
mhm that are incredible bridges that are
still crossing the rivers that trucks
and cars drive on today is incredible
what they have been able to do but
spiritually uh Rome has uh had an impact
on the world and today of course is the
head for the Catholic Church uh but yet
there’s we’re here to preach the gospel
we’ve invited by not the Catholic church
but by independent churches Evangelical
churches
to preach Paul wanted to come to Rome to
preach and uh he came in Chains and he
uh preached uh people could come to him
and uh while he was in prison and so
many people believed and we’re here to
preach this week for the first time this
has never happened where Evangelical
churches have been permitted to preach
and so I’m excited about it Sis that
that we’re here here with you and got
your husband got the family here and
we’re we’re going to take the gospel to
the people of Rome most people don’t
realize daddy Bill your dad I call Daddy
bille never had the opportunity to speak
here in Rome but I want to go back a
couple of years to what brought you here
today because the world has changed
quickly um when we look at what happened
with covid and the response that samar’s
purse and BGA had here in Italy share
how that invitation came well in 2020
and February I just finished preaching
in Guam and came back to United States
and of course the pandemic was just
starting a few people in Japan had covid
there was uh I think a person in Seattle
in a rest home that gotten covid and uh
I didn’t think much about it I thought
it’d be something like the swine flu or
something that would be over with in
just a few days a few weeks and so uh
within the next 10 days uh Co hit the
world like a tsunami and here in Italy
uh Northern Italy was the epicenter for
for
Europe uh Lombardi State uh the cromona
was the hospital was filled uh the ICU
was filled they they quit doing all
medical procedures except Pediatrics and
maternity everything else was just
respiratory trying to save people’s
lives we didn’t know what it was and so
we’ve got a call from the uh the Govern
government here in Italy asking if we
wouldl one of our field hospitals in
cromona and I said yes and so within 3
days we had a hospital up and running
and we had the Italian Air Force the
Army we flew our cargo plane into a NATO
base the Italian Air Force helped unload
it and the military took it and set up
on trucks and got it to Crona and then
we set it up in the parking lot so in
three days we had patience in the field
hospital we treated about 300 people
over course of two months and these are
people that might have not made it uh
might have died and one of the big
problems at that time were you could not
have family members and so people were
dying Alone with nobody beside them no
one to hold their hand and we just
decided we weren’t going to let anybody
die alone uh we our nurses were going to
hold their hands and we were going to
pray for them and so no one died alone
we we had we lost a few patients uh but
for the most part uh we we had success
because we treated covid-19 like we
treated Ebola and we knew how to treat
Ebola and the precautions that we needed
to take to protect ourselves from Eola
and Eola will kill you and uh but at
that time we thought maybe covid-19 was
kind of like Eola that it would kill us
and it did it killed many people but we
began to release patients and people
would leave the hospital so people would
cheer and clap as as they would be
released and they celebrate and and the
encouragement this gave to the Italian
hospital to the doctors and nurses that
somebody would care enough to come help
them in their hour of need and so that
opened up a door for us to be invited to
preach in Milan last year uh churches
here in Rome saw what happened in Milan
they wanted that to be here and so they
invited us to come to Rome and so this
is the invitation as a result of of the
churches um cooperating for the first
time it’s never happened before uh and I
just had a pastor say today this has
never happened in my lifetime another
Pastor told us that it didn’t happen to
his grandfather’s lifetime it didn’t
happened in his father’s lifetime hasn’t
happened in his lifetime and no one can
remember when the churches ever came
together they’re not sure it ever
happened so I want people to I wanted
them to know that story because God used
that moment of responding in a time of
need in a dark storm but he was using it
to orchestrate for his good and it’s
brought this moment used the pandemic he
used a pandemic and and God uses things
he he’ll use tragedy in our life he will
use those things to bring us uh closer
to him and I think for here the pandemic
opened up a door uh for the gospel when
we look at the world now you know as a
mom of little ones I have a lot of
concern not fear but concern true which
is different and when you look at the
world right now when you look there’s a
war in Europe War in the Middle East now
um and this is three years after the
pandemic where the world was shut down
the world has just changed so quickly
when you look at the world right now
what do you think what do you think
we’re in the middle of or what’s
happening well I I think s we’re in just
my opinion I I believe we’re getting
close uh to the end of time is the way
we know it I believe that the Lord Jesus
Christ could come back at any moment we
need to be ready as Christians we need
to be watching looking up uh because uh
our Redemption draw nigh so I think we
need to be uh looking uh but that
doesn’t mean we stop uh doing our work I
think if anything that should encourage
us to work harder uh to be more
Evangelistic to to make sure that our
neighbors are saved to make sure our
families are saved make sure that our
co-workers know the Lord Jesus Christ
Don’t Be Afraid don’t be ashamed some
will criticize you some may even curse
you but at least tell them how they can
have a relationship with God through
faith in his son Jesus Christ tell them
that Jesus is the son of God that he
took our sins to the cross that he died
he shed his blood for our sins that he
was raised from the grave on the third
day and he’s alive and he’ll come into
your heart if you you’re willing to
repent of your sins and Believe on the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ you can be
saved don’t be afraid to share that and
um yeah there’ll be some people who will
get mad there’ll be some people who tell
you to get out of here some people will
curse you but there will be others who
will say thank you uh what do I need to
do to be saved just like the the the
Philippian Jailer uh when Paul uh silus
were in prison and and uh the ground
Shook and the the prison began to fall
in and the the Jailer want know what
must I do to be saved and uh so people
going to ask that what do I have to do
to be saved so let’s be ready like Paul
let’s be ready in the middle of a
earthquake or storm a war whatever is
coming let’s be ready ready to your own
communities and priv it’s not time to be
private yeah keep your faith private
it’s time to share it with those that we
love and not to be afraid when you
travel the world do you see a hunger for
that truth right now that people are
hungry for it I don’t know if it’s uh
it’s a hunger I think people are
searching but they don’t even know what
they’re searching for and they realize
that uh materialism hasn’t satisfied and
alcohol or drugs don’t satisfy sex
doesn’t satisfy they’re missing
something and they don’t quite know what
it is and they’re searching and I think
there’s a lot of searching hearts out
there searching souls and uh there is a
spiritual hunger among many people no
question about that but again they they
look into Eastern mysticisms and you
know various other religious thinking
that’s going to satisfy them but it
doesn’t people even young people they’re
they want to know what can we do right
now um I get text messages from people
that have never really paid attention to
what’s going on in the world world or
politics and they’re concerned for their
children and you know when you look at
your grandchildren and you see the
concerns of the world today what would
you tell these young families like when
they ask what can we do we know we
should be praying but what else can we
be doing that be studying the Bible and
make sure that you take time with your
kids every day to study God’s word
memorize the scripture remember when you
were a little with had the gospel
alphabet you know that we would memorize
together as with you when you’re were
younger but my my mother uh always uh
insisted that we memorize scripture and
um I I didn’t see the need for it but
today I I look at the verses that she
had me memorized and how meaningful they
are to me that we’re able to hide the
word of God in our hearts so that we may
not sin against him and that’s important
to have God’s word in our hearts uh to
know his word my mother always felt that
a day was coming when the we that Bibles
would be taken and we wouldn’t have them
anymore and uh so she wanted us children
to memorize as many scriptures as we
possibly can so we’ have have God’s word
in our hearts we’ve got Bibles in our
country but there are lots of places
where bibles are taken away from there
are places where bibles are burned and
uh so with young families study the word
of God with your children and not only
will it God will bless you the parents
but the children what would you say to
those parents that are scared right now
you know there’s rumors of World War III
Wars going on what would you say to
those parents that are scared well again
we we we need to be ready uh because
those things could happen no question
we’re living in a very dangerous period
of history but the world’s not going to
come to an end um we know that there’s
going to be Wars we know there’s going
to be pestilence we know there’s going
to be are these things coming because
Jesus told us it’s coming so we don’t
need to be surprised and we don’t need
to be Afra afraid because we know who
writes the last pages of history and
just read Revelations and you’ll figure
you’ll find out exactly how it turns out
uh Jesus is coming back and he’s going
to establish his kingdom here on this
Earth and for those of us that have put
our faith and trust in him we’re going
to be with him when you look at our own
country what do you think is the and we
have an election year coming up what do
you think our biggest challenges are in
our nation that we’re well first of all
it’s true uh we’re so much of the the
information we get from the media is uh
is is is false and it’s misleading and
it’s skewed it’s um filtered the way
they want it to be filtered I think the
things is it’s not that uh every
candidate is Christian but I vote for
candidates that that stand for the
Christian faith I would certainly vote
for them if they’re running not all of
them are going to be running but then if
they’re not running vote for the Canada
that’s going to be at least friendly to
our Christian faith they may not be
Christians themselves or they may not uh
have it evident in their life because
they’re lost but at least they’re going
to be friendly and supportive of our
faith our beliefs and that’s support to
vote for those people because there are
lots of politicians out there that um
stand for policies that go against what
the Bible teaches and as we get ready to
close I know heavy on your heart has
been evangelism especially these last
few years because you believe we have
maybe a short time why why do you
continue why why is it in your heart to
continue to go to all these cities and
these countries to share the gospel well
because it’s what God has called me to
do and I think we have to in life we
have to uh carry out uh God’s calling
for 2020 we missed a couple years where
we could do this uh and so I just have
feel there’s an urgency uh while I still
have strength and health to preach the
gospel so I’m going to do that and I
want to encourage people that I think
even our churches theyve forgotten
evangelism and
discipleship and um that’s just
important I I’m thankful that I’ve been
able to see that firsthand a father that
has never neglected of what we’re all
called to do in the Great Commission and
that’s evangelism dad when we look at
Israel and what’s happening there a lot
of people don’t know that you’ve been
going there since you were a a young boy
speaking of trips you and I’ve gone
there a couple times together that was
another trip that changed my life you
surrendered your life to Christ gave
your uh life to Christ there on top of
the Mount of Olives how is Samaritan’s
Purse responding and BGA responding we
we have a team of uh in Israel right now
working with local
Christians uh we’re providing food boxes
for displaced people there are tens of
thousands of Israelis that have had to
leave their homes because the fighting
you know the Rockets Landing in their
Villages so they’ve had to move and
they’re living in hotels in different
places uh so uh we’re we’re helping
those families with uh food boxes and
hygiene items for the children that sort
of thing so uh we also have coupons that
they can use in stores grocery stores
and so forth so they go buy stuff them
themselves uh food vouchers so we’ve
been doing those kinds of things there’s
a war going on so uh we are working with
churches on the West Bank these would be
Palestinian churches that they they are
needing help and there’s a lot of fear
and then Lebanon uh you know that’s
we’ve got churches in Lebanon that we’ve
been friends with for many years and
it’s the whole world could uh implode um
the the political alliances are changing
in the world today and we need to be
mindful of uh there’s a there’s a a
spirit of antichrist in the world so the
spirit of antichrist is here and one day
the Antichrist will be
revealed and I believe that person may
be alive today I don’t know but uh it
feels that way well Dad thank you I know
a lot of people um are encouraged when
they hear from you thank you for being a
dad that is faithful and serving um
unwaveringly in their faith and keeping
your eyes lasered focused on the cross
and what God has called you to do um and
days like this I’m very thankful as you
know and the most important thing is for
everyone even who’s watch in this
podcast to understand and to know that
God does love us but our sins separate
us from him and you can’t have a
relationship you can’t you can’t have uh
your prayers can’t be answered uh you
can pray all day long but it’s like
praying to the
wall uh it’s because of sin and God is a
holy God and we cannot approach him in
sin but if we’re willing to receive his
son by faith Jesus Christ Jesus took our
sins and he died and shed his blood for
our sins he died in our place if you’re
willing to receive Christ by faith then
God will forgive you he’ll cleanse you
and he’ll heal he’ll hear your prayers
and heal your heart but you have to turn
from your sins tell God I’m sorry and
Believe on the name of his son the Lord
Jesus Christ and you’ll be saved if you
never done that do that today do it
right now just say God I’m a sinner I’m
sorry forgive me I believe believe Jesus
is your son I want to trust him as my
savior and I’m willing to follow him as
my Lord From This Day Forward so if you
prayed that prayer right now you’re safe
you’re secure your soul is the hands of
God thank you Dad thank you for joining
us in the episode of fearless and if you
prayed that prayer or you were looking
for more resources I encourage you to
reach out to us on billygraham.org um
for more resources thank you
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