WHEN I was in Chicago a few years ago and near Wheaton University, I asked my hosts whether I could visit a museum in memory of my hero, who I believe is the greatest evangelist we’ve known in the twentieth century, Billy Graham. As I reverently walked round the little museum, looking at his worn-out Bible, not daring to touch the pulpit from which he preached and other memorabilia that had been preserved, I wondered which man was it who had changed the life of this man.
I found it was a man who was a salesman who became a preacher by the name of Mordecai Ham. The story goes that he resisted God’s call to become an evangelist because he wanted to be a salesman. His grandfather and father, both preachers, had lived in poverty and Ham did not want that. But eventually the Lord prevailed, he quit his business to enter the ministry.
Just imagine if he’d continued being a salesman. I’m sure he would have been a very good one and raised his family out of poverty. On his deathbed, he would have looked around and seen a brand-new car in his garage, a new washing machine which his dad and mom would never have dreamt of having, and maybe more money in the bank than all his ancestors had.
But would he have been able to take a pie with him? His cars, his washing machine, his bank balance? No!
But I can imagine Mordecai meeting his namesake Mordecai, the uncle of Queen Esther in the Bible in heaven and the Biblical Mordecai saying, “Hey brother, we both did something that changed the course of millions of people. I did it through a queen, you through a man named Billy!”
Right, both the Mordecai’s influenced someone else who changed the destinies of multitudes of people. Billy Graham preached the Gospel to more people in live audiences than anyone else in history—nearly 215 million people in more than 185 countries and territories—through various meetings, and his advice and counsel was sought by numerous presidents of the United States and many other countries. Queen Esther saved the lives of millions of Jews through her alert mind and ability to access her husband the King of Persia. But they were both influenced by two Mordecai’s.
I had to do some research to find the name of Mordecai Ham, and the book in the Bible isn’t the Book of Mordecai is it? They lie hidden behind the people they influenced. Are you a Mordecai? A person who through your life, not just words, is influencing some great, future leader? You may never become known, but trumpets will blast, and a heavenly crescendo of an angelic choir will raise their voices as you cross to the other side. Are you a Mordecai?
—Email: bobsbanter@gmail.com
