Billy Graham: How to win atheist loved ones for Jesus Christ
Is it possible for atheist family members and friends to know Christ? Evangelist Billy Graham answered the question through an online column.
Writing for The Kansas City Star, Graham encouraged believers that it is possible for atheist loved ones to know Jesus Christ.
He said some people refuse to believe in God because they want to "run their own lives" and don't want God to have control over their decisions and actions. Some of them don't want to hear even any mention of God.
"And no matter how much you argue with them or try to reason with them, their minds are seemingly closed," Graham wrote.
However, because God created us for Himself, taking Him out of our lives creates an empty space in our hearts that only God can fill. And without God, life becomes meaningless, Graham explained.
People who live without God in their hearts also lose hope, because hope for the future is found only in God. Many atheists are coming to this realization today, he added.
As an example, Graham mentioned atheists who grew up in communist countries and the old Soviet Union but got converted to Christianity and have become "committed followers of Christ."
God can intervene in the lives of people and can do what no man can do: change their hearts, Graham said.
"Pray for your friends who claim to be atheists and don't want anything to do with God. Remember: God can do what we never can do, including changing someone's heart and mind," Graham said.
Regarding atheists, Christian apologist and author Ravi Zacharias told Christian Today in a 2014 interview that he believed atheists "have had their day" and are now declining in number.
"You see them here and there, but there is nowhere near the volume that there was," Zacharias said.
One reason for this is because they are now seeking after "personal questions of meaning," especially questions about suffering. Such questions imply that life has worth, and they can point people to faith, Zacharias said.
