Billy Graham and The Forgotten Factor in the Overthrow of Soviet Communism

By Julio Severo

As an American tourist in the former Soviet Union, Billy Graham prayed in a Moscow empty stadium in 1959. He prayed for God to open the doors for the Gospel to be preached in that nation.

Billy Graham preaching in Moscow in 1992

The answer came decades later. Before and after the fall of the Soviet empire, Billy Graham had the unique opportunity to preach the Gospel to the Soviet people and leaders. Before the fall of the Soviet Union, critics interpreted his evangelistic trips to Moscow as an American being a naïve pawn in the hands of Soviet communists. What critics did not know was that before the trips, Graham took advise with his Republican conservative friends, including Ronald Reagan.

Billy Graham in a Moscow stadium in 1959

A Republican conservative president told him, “The message you have is more important than the criticism you will get.” Being criticized, Graham preached the Gospel in Moscow. He said that he knew that they would be using him, but that this was also an opportunity for him to use them to share the Gospel with them, including Soviet political and military leaders.

After the fall of the Soviet empire, Graham preached in a Moscow stadium to 50,000 Russians in 1992 and God’s action was so fantastic that the choir singing “The Battle Hymn of Republic” (Glory, Glory, Hallelujah! His truth is marching on) was the Red Army itself. Several red soldiers in the choir went forward to receive Christ after Graham gave the invitation.

Red Army soldiers singing Glory Hallelujah in a Billy Graham Crusade in Moscow in 1992

Left-wing historians rule out the Gospel as a factor in the overthrow of the Soviet Union. Yet, conservative historians are not immune to misrepresentations.

I have all the anticommunist books by Paul Kengor, a Catholic author who writes extensively about Soviet communism from the Catholic standpoint.

Even though Billy Graham visited Russia several times before and after the Soviet Union, and Pope John Paul II never visited Russia, Kengor singularly extolled the pope as the most prominent Christian to defeat Soviet communism.

This representation goes against what Kengor said in his book “A Pope and a President” where he quoted President Ronald Reagan as saying at the National Religious Broadcasters in the early 1980s: “The most awesome military machine in history [the USSR]… is no match for that one, single man, hero, strong yet tender, Prince of Peace.”

Billy Graham preaching to 50,000 people in Moscow in 1992

The proclamation of the Gospel was so a powerful factor to defeat communism that, as Kengor recognized in his book, “Reagan unleashed VOA literally to spread the Word.” VOA is the Voice of America, the official radio of the U.S. government. VOA was used by Reagan not to spread Catholicism, but the Word of God.

There is no greater force against communism than the Gospel. And no one in the West preached more the Gospel in the Soviet Union than Billy Graham did.

Yet, the Gospel is no once mentioned in Kengor’s book “The Crusader,” where he chronicles Reagan’s battle against Soviet communism. Billy Graham, whom Kengor recognizes as a close Reagan friend, is marginally mentioned in Kengor’s books. On the other hand, Pope John Paul II is extensively mentioned.

The only antidote against communism and socialism is not the right. There are right-wing groups, like the Moonies, who follow the false messiah Rev. Moon, which brainwash their followers.

The only antidote against communism and socialism is not Catholicism. Catholic Latin America is filled with socialism and communism, thanks to the Liberation Theology preached by Catholic leaders. This is the reason that the more Catholic is a Latin American nation, the more prone to socialism it is. Venezuela is massively Catholic — 97 percent of its population. Cuba is also massively Catholic.

The only antidote against communism and socialism is the Gospel. This is the reason the more evangelical is a nation, the more prone it is to oppose socialism. Guatemala, which has now become 50 percent evangelical, is not so prone to socialism as Catholic Venezuela is. This is the reason that the main political base of Bolsonaro in Brazil against socialism was evangelicals, even though he has been empowering right-wing groups that brainwash people. Brazil, which was some decades ago so massively Catholic as Venezuela and Cuba, now has become about 30 percent evangelical.

The main political base of Donald Trump was also evangelicals.

It is not coincidence also that the most anticommunist president in the U.S. history — Ronald Reagan — was supported by evangelicals and was a Protestant himself. In fact, Reagan proclaimed 1983 as Year of the Bible in the United States.

The basic difference is that in Catholic churches the Gospel is not so prominently preached as it is in evangelical churches. This is the secret against communism: The proclamation of the Gospel.

When the Gospel begins to be effectively proclaimed in the Catholic churches in Venezuela, Liberation Theology will die away and socialism will disappear.

Yet, if the Catholic Church in Venezuela and other Latin American nations do not begin to preach the Gospel, evangelical churches will increase and emerge as the main force against communism by merely preaching the Gospel.

There is no greater conservative and anticommunist force in the universe than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. All the other “antidotes” fail and brainwash people, but only the Gospel transforms, delivers, heals and saves people.

Information and pictures about Billy Graham Crusade in Moscow were taken from the movie “Billy Graham: God’s Ambassador.”

Portuguese version of this article: Billy Graham e o fator esquecido na derrubada do comunismo soviético

Source: Last Days Watchman

Recommended Reading:

Billy Graham, the Best of America to the World

Ronald Reagan: A Christian Example against Communism

The Religious War between CIA and KGB in Latin America