Evangelist Franklin Graham launched a TV special about the resurrection of Jesus Christ online on Easter Sunday. It features his family on tour in Israel and showcases their visits to various historical religious sites.
"Return to Holy Land" is a seven-part series accessible online that will run for half an hour per episode. The reverend's family, including his children's spouses, went to the Holy Land in full force to study the Bible and experience first-hand the sites where Jesus walked, preached and healed, as well as visit the places where He was crucified, buried and resurrected.
This isn't the first trip to Israel for Graham, though. He came to the Holy Land decades ago as a child.
"The first time I saw this beautiful land of Israel, I was with my family and I was only eight years old," the pastor said. "I had no way of knowing how special it could become to me over the years to come."
Graham, 66, is the son of noted evangelist and "America's pastor" Billy Graham, who died in February at 99 and served as a spiritual guide to many U.S. presidents. The younger Graham has succeeded in his father's footsteps as an evangelist and has been the head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association for two decades, including its charity organization Samaritan's Purse.
Observers, however, noted that the Graham patriarch and his son differed in approach, theology and temperaments despite sharing the same beliefs. The older Graham got along with both Republicans and Democrats leaders, while his son is an outspoken Trump supporter.
"Billy Graham tempered his criticisms with an eye to never alienating," Professor Anne Blue Willis told reporters. "Franklin is just built differently, more willing and readier to draw boundaries and to show where he sees a bright line."
