AMERICAN Evangelist the Reverend Billy Graham, who set crowd records on his “Southern Cross crusade to Australia”, has died at his home in North Carolina at the age of 99.

Rev. Graham, who transformed American religious life through international preaching and activism, became a counsellor to presidents and the most widely heard Christian evangelist in history.

Spokesman Mark DeMoss said Rev. Graham, who long suffered from cancer, pneumonia and other ailments, died at his home in North Carolina on Wednesday morning.

President Donald Trump and former presidents’ Jimmy Carter and George H.W Bush all eulogised the man deemed “America’s pastor”.

‘GOD’S SUPER SALESMAN’ IN AUSTRALIA

Rev. Graham first arrived in Australia on February the 12th, 1959 to start his “Southern Cross Crusade”, which began in February 1959 and lasted for four months.

Australia’s protestant churches had united and worked together for a year to bring him to Australia where he had a lasting influence on the Silent Generation and Baby Boomers.

He was welcomed in Australia as “God’s supersalesman’ and over three million Australians flocked to see him as he set an attendance record at the MCG of over 130,000 people before the size of that crowd was later eclipsed in Sydney at Randwick Racecourse.

Graham said as he left Australia: “I can hardly believe it’s been four months since we touched down at mascot airport and as the pilot circled Sydney we prayed in our hearts.

“God do a great thing in Sydney.”

PRESIDENTS PRAISE BILLY GRAHAM

Former US presidents Jimmy Carter and George H.W Bush also expressed their condolences.

“Rosalynn and I are deeply saddened to learn of the death of The Reverend Billy Graham,” Mr Carter said in a statement.

“Tirelessly spreading a message of fellowship and hope, he shaped the spiritual lives of tens of millions of people worldwide. Broad-minded, forgiving, and humble in his treatment of others, he exemplified the life of Jesus Christ by constantly reaching out for opportunities to serve.”

“Billy Graham was America’s pastor. His faith in Christ and his totally honest evangelical spirit inspired people across the country and around the world,” continued former President George H.W Bush.

“I think Billy touched the hearts of not only Christians, but people of all faiths, because he was such a good man.

“I was privileged to have him as a personal friend. He would come to Maine to visit with Barbara and me, and he was a great sport. He loved going really fast in my boat. I guess you could say we had that in common. Then we would come home and talk about life. He was a mentor to several of my children, including the former president of the United States. We will miss our good friend forever.”

Graham reached hundreds of million of people through his public appearances and through his pioneering use of television and radio. Unlike many traditional evangelists, he abandoned narrow fundamentalism to engage broader society.

“My one purpose in life is to help people find a personal relationship with God, which, I believe, comes through knowing Christ,” he said.

His relationship to US presidents from Dwight Eisenhower to Richard Nixon to George W. Bush earned him the nickname “America’s Pastor.”

He weighed in at a presidential level on issues of state — often controversially, as revealed in the declassified Richard Nixon tapes in which he made anti-Semitic remarks. He also recommended bombing North Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

Rev. Graham also spoke out against feminism, equating it with “sexual permissiveness”, and maintained a traditional Judaeo-Christian view of women’s roles.

US vice president Mike Pence, who has said that he obeys the “Billy Graham rule”, which is to never be alone with a woman other than his wife.

LIFE AND TIMES OF REVEREND BILLY GRAHAM

Born in 1918, near Charlotte, North Carolina, Rev. Graham earned degrees in theology, anthropology, and was awarded numerous honorary doctorates. After establishing a career as a Baptist pastor he ran his own campaigns from 1947 onwards, becoming history’s most-travelled Christian evangelist and speaking in person to more than 210 million people in 185 countries and territories.

He was also ahead of his time as a multimedia innovator, pushing his message through every platform possible including sermons and speeches, daily newspaper columns, 32 books, radio, television, and a non-profit organisation. He — or his organisation — was even on Twitter.

Rev. Graham’s final social media post came via Facebook a day before his death where he spoke about “wandering” away from God as “easier and freer” but that it will ultimately “catch up” with you.