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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[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