Franklin Graham entered this world in 1952 as the fourth of five children. His parents? The uber-famous and globally admired Rev. Billy Graham, and his wife, Ruth. In his 1995 book, “Rebel With a Cause: Finally Comfortable With Being Graham,” Graham lays bare just how much he strived as a boy, teenager, and young adult to deviate from the path his evangelical parents set before him.
A Wayward Youth
Although the self-effacing book sheds light on his mischievous and sometimes reckless younger years, Graham also illuminates great admiration and love for his elders: parents, grandparents, and family friends. The book is especially a love letter to his father, who died in 2018. In fact, Graham makes it clear that his father’s chivalry, faith, and attention modeled a way of life and servitude that the young Graham eventually adopted.
Franklin Graham, president and CEO of Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, in his office in Boone, N.C., on April 18, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times
