Son: Billy Graham's 'Final Chapter' Points to Heaven

NEW YORK -- Evangelist Billy Graham has personally preached the gospel on every continent and in nearly 200 countries.

At 96-years-old, the world-renowned preacher hopes to reach millions more with his new book, called Where I Am: Heaven, Eternity and Our Life Beyond. The project is being called the evangelist's final chapter.

Final Chapter
 
Graham's son Franklin spoke with CBN News about the book.

"He started this over two years ago," Franklin said, recalling his father's book-writing process. "He got the outline and then he did the summations of each chapter, working with a writer."

"And then he got sick. And we put the project aside and just thought he will never finish it," he continued. "About a year later, he started feeling a little better and started working on it and so here it is."

"I don't see him doing this again at his age. I realize that I am grateful that he got through this one, because I encouraged him to do it," Franklin added.

This is Graham's 33rd book. And from its title to its final page, the evangelist explores what's written about the road to heaven, and the road to hell, in all 66 books of the Bible.

"People have asked my father, where is heaven? And I think, rightfully so. And he says heaven is where Jesus is and I am going to be with him soon," Franklin said.

"My father wrote this because he was afraid Hollywood was defining what heaven looked like. And he was concerned about pop culture, defining heaven and hell. And he wanted people to know and to understand what the Bible says about eternity so that they are ready and prepared," he said.

In the two years it's taken Graham to write his final work, he's seen the rise of ISIS and the escalation of Christian persecution in the Middle East.

There have also been multiple mass shootings in America and the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling making gay marriage a constitutional right.  

At 96, Graham still keeps up with current events.

"He does watch the news. He does keep up with current events to a point," Franklin shared. "I think after a while he just gets sick of it. He sees how quickly the world is deteriorating morally, the cliff that it seems like our country has fallen off of, the moral cliff. And so that discourages him."

"But at the same time he realizes that God's word is true. And every word that comes out of the scripture is true," he said.

Pointing to Christ

The evangelist has personally delivered that word to more people than anyone in history. He has been dubbed America's pastor.

These days, Billy Graham still misses the pulpit.

"When he quit, there was a moment when he tried to do one more," Franklin recalled. "And we looked at the possibility of doing it, we just realized that at his age the stamina to stand behind a pulpit and to deliver an evangelistic message, to give an invitation, the amount of energy that takes even for me, for a young man -- Daddy just realized that he just didn't have that stamina, even though in his heart he wanted to. And I believe God credited that to him, he wanted to do it."

North Carolina is also crediting its famous hometown preacher. The governor recently signed a bill requesting a statue of Billy Graham be placed in the hall of the U.S. Capitol, replacing the one of former Gov. Charles Aycock.

"These statues are of people who are dead and the fact that my father is still living and the state of North Carolina has thought the he is worthy. It is a great honor for my father," Franklin said.

Franklin told CBN News his dad was humbled by the honor, but did not feel he deserved it.

"He doesn't like any attention given to himself," Franklin said. "Anything that has his name on it he says it's too much Billy Graham. It needs to be more about the Lord."

After all, pointing people to Christ is Graham's life-long passion.