Thread: Billy Graham's casket was hand built by inmates at Angola

ANGOLA, LA (WAFB)

Inmates at one of the country's most well-known prisons will have a hand in laying Reverend Billy Graham to rest. At his request, Angola inmates built his casket back in 2006.

Louisiana State Penitentiary is known as the "Alcatraz of the south." It’s home to the state's most notorious criminals, but is also home to a renowned prison ministry.

“I feel there is a great outpouring of the holy spirit behind bars at this time,” said Clifford Bowman.

Bowman is in bible college at Angola. He was selected to be part of a special team on a special mission: to build a casket. It’s a regular casket for a not so regular man: evangelist, Billy Graham.

“We of course prayed before we started and that's something that does not happen every day when they are doing it in the regular work. Where God is working the devil's gonna’ be there working, so he's gonna’ try and get his licks in too,” said Bowman.

“This was a great honor. Because this is a great man of God and he wants him an inmate to build his coffin and get the inmate preachers involved and its mind boggling it sends a great message,” said Burl Cain.

Richard Liggett constructed the casket for Graham with a couple of modifications from his usual work and it’s ready. “I respect the man. I've listened to him. I know what he preaches. You know, but other than that, I just wanted to do the best job I could,” said Liggett.

Angola first began building their own caskets about 18 years ago. Inmates before then were buried in cardboard boxes, which often fell apart or caved in from the weight of the dirt.

“It’s so symbolic, even though the prisoners have committed horrible crimes... God loves them too,” said Cain.

And so did Reverend Billy Graham.
http://www.wafb.com/story/37560797/b...ates-at-angola

This speaks volumes about our beloved Rev. Graham.

Billy Graham's Being Laid To Rest In a $200 Casket Built By Inmates, and It's Perfect
Brittany M. Hughes
February. 23. 2018
http://tinyurl.com/yc4ugxpx

It was a simple casket for a great man who passed into glory the same way that he’d lived: humbly, and with a heart for others.

The remarkable life of Billy Graham, one of America’s greatest evangelists, was celebrated Friday at an invitation-only funeral service in North Carolina, where Graham's body lay in a simple $200 plywood and pine casket built by inmates at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, Louisiana.

A Facebook post shared Friday by Billy Graham's son, Samaritan's Purse founder Franklin Graham, showed the touching scene:

Photo and description
http://tinyurl.com/yc4ugxpx


The story goes something like this. In 2005, Franklin Graham had just wrapped up a sermon at the Louisiana prison when the warden told him that inmates had been building caskets for their fellow prisoners who died in incarceration.

"He asked if they could make one for his mother and father," said Mark DeMoss, a family friend and prominent Christian PR executive. "The caskets are made of pine, plywood and lined with a mattress pad. A wooden cross is nailed to the top of the casket."...