The Rev. Billy Graham Has Passed Away at Age 99 … “My home is in Heaven. I’m just traveling through this world.”

MAKE WAY HEAVEN, REV. BILLY GRAHAM HAS PASSED AWAY …

The Reverend Billy Graham has died at age 99. Graham passed away from natural causes. Graham served as a counselor or minister to a dozen U.S. presidents. His ministry reached so many, no matter what their religious beliefs were. Heaven is a better place today. As the Rev. Graham would say, “My home is in Heaven. I’m just traveling through this world.” And pass through the world he did. God Bless Rev. Graham, you are home now. Thank you for all you did here on Earth. The Rev. Billy Graham will be truly missed.

Spokesman Mark DeMoss says Graham, who long suffered from cancer, pneumonia and other ailments, died at his home in North Carolina on Wednesday morning. He was 99.

Graham reached more than 200 million through his appearances and millions more through his pioneering use of television and radio. Unlike many traditional evangelists, he abandoned narrow fundamentalism to engage broader society.

NBC News: Billy Graham, evangelist pastor and counselor to presidents, dead at age 99.

Graham served as a counselor or minister to a dozen U.S. presidents, and he preached to an estimated 200 million people in 185 countries around the world during his life. His message reached millions more as he maintained a near-constant presence on radio, television and the internet.

The longtime evangelist appeared on Gallup’s list of most admired men and women 60 times since 1955 — every year the research company asked the question.

“America’s Pastor” came from modest means and grew up on a dairy farm in Charlotte, North Carolina. He found his spiritual path at 16, charmed by the traveling minister and temperance movement leader Mordecai Ham. Graham later moved to Florida and was ordained there in 1939.

He met his future wife, Ruth McCue Bell, while they attended Wheaton College, and they married in 1943. Together they would raise five children, and she would become a trusted adviser.

“When it comes to spiritual things, my wife has had the greatest influence on my ministry,” Graham said of Bell, who died in June 2007.

On July 20, 1957, Billy Graham preached to 100,000 at Yankee Stadium. At that time, it was the largest crowd to pack the venue.

FOX News: The Rev. Billy Graham, prominent Christian evangelist.

The Rev. Billy Graham, prominent Christian evangelist.Graham, who had been in ill health for a number of years, was regularly listed in polls as one of the “Ten Most Admired Men in the World.”

Shearer told Fox News that Graham died from “natural causes.”

His Christian crusades took him from the frenzy of Manhattan to isolated African villages and according to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association website, he preached to more people in live audiences than anyone else in history.

The BGEA put his audience at nearly 215 million people in more than 185 countries and territories, with “hundreds of millions more” viewing him on television, video, film and webcasts.

“My one purpose in life,” he said, “is to help people find a personal relationship with God, which, I believe, comes through knowing Christ.”