Christianity: Billy Graham: Influential US evangelist dies at 99

US evangelist Billy Graham - one of the most influential preachers of the 20th Century - has died aged 99. 

Graham became one of the best-known promoters of Christianity, beginning his worldwide mission in large arenas in London in 1954.

He died at his home in Montreat, North Carolina, a spokesman for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association said.

In a 60-year career, he is estimated to have preached to hundreds of millions of people.

Read more: Billy Graham: Influential US evangelist dies at 99 - BBC News

Christianity: Billy Graham Interview: Satan is real and should be feared

Q to Billy Graham by Kansas City Star Newspaper reporter: "You don’t actually believe the devil is real, do you? I think “Satan” is just an imaginary idea that people dreamed up to explain why there’s so much evil in the world. But that doesn’t mean he’s real, like you or me". — Q.G.

Is Satan Real?

A: You’re partly right; Satan is not like you or me. But the reason is because Satan is not only real, but he is far greater than we are, so great that we should have every reason to fear him.

How do I know Satan is real? One reason is because Jesus engaged in battle with him. At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry Satan did everything he could to turn Jesus away from the work God had given him. Satan knew that Jesus was the divine son of God, sent into the world to deliver us from sin and death and hell — in other words, to deliver us from Satan’s power.

But Jesus refused every temptation from Satan. When Jesus did that, He wasn’t fighting a fictional idea; Jesus’ conflict with Satan was real. (Matthew 4:1-11.)

But I also know Satan is real by looking at the world around me, and even within my own heart. How else can we explain terrorism, or racism, or injustice, or a hundred other examples of evil and destruction and brokenness? Satan, the Bible tells us, “was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him” (John 8:44).

Don’t be deceived, and don’t be misled by Satan’s false promises. Instead, face your need for God’s forgiveness and help, and turn to Jesus Christ for the new life and hope you need. He alone is “the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6).

Yes indeed: Satan comes in many forms: Terrorism, Daesh, Wall Street, Prejudice, Discrimination, Child Abuse, Militarism, Drug Addiction, Corporate financial manipulation - you name it.

Read more: Billy Graham: Satan is real and should be feared | The Kansas City Star

US Presidential elections: 'With 'horses and bayonets,' Obama casts Romney as out of touch

President Barack Obama

If Mitt Romney’s foreign policy was an unknown to average voters, President Obama came to the table for the third presidential debate ready to sum it up in one word: dated.

In his final face-off against the former Massachusetts governor, Obama unleashed a series of zingers all casting Romney’s foreign policy ideas as old — sometimes really, really old.

Obama started by tearing into Romney’s description of Russia as a “No. 1 geopolitical foe.”

“And the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because, you know, the Cold War's been over for 20 years,” Obama said, reviving a bit of snark he’s used on the campaign trail. “But, governor, when it comes to our foreign policy, you seem to want to import the foreign policies of the 1980s, just like the social policies of the 1950s and the economic policies of the 1920s.”

Obama reached quite a bit further back for his next, practiced attack. Answering Romney’s familiar critique about the Navy having fewer ships today than under past presidents, Obama said Romney “hasn't spent enough time looking at how our military works.”

“Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets because the nature of our military's changed. We have these things called aircraft carriers where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines,” he said. “And so the question is not a game of Battleship where we're counting ships. It's — it's what are our capabilities.”

Note EU-Digest: Last week to the surprise of many Christians and non-Christians but obviously to the delight of the Republicans  Billy Graham’s Evangelistic Association removed the word Mormon from its website, where it used to be listed along with Jehovah’s Witnesses and Scientology as a cult. The move comes just a week after Romney visited Graham at his home in North Carolina.


Read more: With 'horses and bayonets,' Obama casts Romney as out of touch - latimes.com