Cissie Graham Lynch, the late Rev. Billy Graham's granddaughter, told Newsmax on Thursday that while her grandfather would have been a bit embarrassed by the unveiling of his statue on Capitol Hill, one message he was unashamed to preach to the world was that "God loved them."
Lynch, appearing on Newsmax's "Wake Up America," said Thursday was a "special day" for the Graham family to be together in Washington, D.C., "celebrating the life of my grandfather."
"My grandfather, he was a man who was just a humbled man," Lynch said. "Anybody that met [him] would have told [you] that, so this would have been maybe a little bit embarrassing for him. But we're here to celebrate a man who spent his life being a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ."
A seven-foot bronze statue of Graham was unveiled at 11 a.m. ET. Graham was selected to represent North Carolina in the Capitol's Statuary Hall after members of the state's General Assembly asked a congressional committee to approve his likeness. Each state is allowed to have two statues, which honor deceased individuals, on display.
Lynch said she has been to Washington three times to honor her grandfather's legacy and the family is "thankful" for the opportunity to "celebrate his life."
"The last time we were here, of course, was when he was laid at rest in the rotunda," she said. "When I was a little girl, the first time I was ever at the Capitol Building was when he and my grandmother were receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor. So, it's been a privilege to be here the three times that Congress has recognized him but for them to allow us to celebrate his life — a man who preached the gospel of Jesus Christ — we're thankful as a family."
When it came to public persona versus private persona, Lynch said that "the same Billy Graham you saw on stage was the same Billy Graham we got behind [closed] doors."
"When you walked into the door, just me as a granddaughter, his eyes were solely focused on the person he was talking to," she said. "He was a man that cared about the person that was right in front of him, whether that was a crowd of thousands or just one on one.
"He wanted the world to know that there was hope, that God loved them, and that whoever believed in his son Jesus Christ would have life. And that was a message that he never wavered from.
"It didn't matter who his audience was. And I'm just so thankful, the older I get and the world that we're in, I am so thankful for that heritage — of grandparents and especially a grandfather, now parents — who taught me the love, but the truth, in a world that's seeking truth, they taught me the truth of Jesus Christ."
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