Billy Graham Was Unoriginal

When Billy Graham passed away last week, several people sent me the following quote: 
“Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God.” 
When I read it, I recognised it to be from the writing of D.L. Moody who said it about himself. Here is his quote: 
“Someday you will read in the papers that D.L. Moody of East Northfield, is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now; I shall have gone up higher, that is all, out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal—a body that death cannot touch, that sin cannot taint; a body fashioned like unto His glorious body.”
Graham, it seems, did quote these words in the context of himself, catching it from Moody who influenced him greatly. The words of these great men of God remain true and powerful. What struck me about these quotes is how easy it has become to “borrow” text from one context and switch it into another similar one.
The quote “An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind” is regularly attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr and even the Dalai Lama. Although these men’s philosophies seem to have espoused this belief, there is no evidence that any one of them said it firsthand. If you search, you will find hundreds of quotes like this where the original author gets lost in the content-vortex of reworks and remixes created by the internet. Although the lines of originality have becoming increasingly blurred, that is not necessarily a bad thing. The reality is that most things which are “original”, including this blog post, have most probably been said before. However, good things need to be said again and again. 
Billy Graham had one message that he preached. It was not his own message, but he had his own way of saying it. Here it is: “Repent from your sin, believe that the Son of God (Jesus) has paid the price for you through his death. Embrace a new life and relationship with Jesus as your Lord and Saviour.” This message has been spoken millions of times and has changed billions of lives. It originates in the Bible. 
Billy Graham is known for boldly proclaiming this message to multitudes. The message he preached was completely unoriginal, but its truth still resounds in the furthest corners of the world. I hope I can emulate this unoriginal man so that this unoriginal quote may one day be used for me.
“Someday you will hear Jonny Abraham is dead…”
Written by Jonny Abraham.
Jonny is the Chief Servant and Delegator of Fusion in New Delhi. He is passionate about servant leadership. In his non-spare time, Jonny consults on leadership training with NGOs, companies and UN agencies. In his spare time, he spares time for a lovely wife and two boisterous daughters.