Billy Graham passed away at 99 on Wednesday and the praise for the great evangelist rang out from all quarters, including the White House. “There was nobody like him,” tweeted President Donald Trump, and that was true in several ways.

William Franklin Graham was born on November 7, 1918 in Charlotte, North Carolina, part of a South then brimming with racism, in which African Americans were second-class citizens or worse. A young Billy Graham found nothing in his favorite book, the Bible, to support such discrimination, and duly became the first major American evangelist to hold integrated meetings.

In 1957, before the Civil Rights Act, Graham invited The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to offer a prayer at one of his Madison Square Garden campaigns. Ku Kluckers and southern segregationists opposed him, but Graham was all about broadening his audience.

His 1949 campaign in Los Angeles, originally slated for three weeks, stretched on to eight weeks, with more than 350,000 attending. A four-month “crusade” in New York City drew more than more two million. In 1973 he preached to more than half a million in South Korea and by the time he was done he had reached more than 200 million people in 185 countries.

A Southern Baptist, Graham shared the stage with Catholics and what were once mainline Protestants, though never fell for the “social gospel.” Likewise, Graham practiced what he preached and never fell into the antics of a Jimmy Swaggart.

Graham counseled with presidents and in 1972 he told Richard Nixon that American Jews held a “stranglehold on the media.” When a tape of the conversation emerged decades later, Graham told Jewish leaders he had done wrong, and for their part they forgave him. So the preacher, known to millions as a man of God, could own up to his own faults. That only boosted his standing with the American people during his emeritus years.

The previous resident of the White House, the first African American to hold the office, remembered Graham as a “humble servant who prayed for so many, and who with wisdom and grace, gave hope and guidance to generations of Americans.”

Bill Clinton, who also had to confess his faults in public, tweeted: “Billy Graham lived his faith fully, and his powerful words and the conviction they carried touched countless hearts and minds.”

Former president Jimmy Carter described Graham as “broad-minded, forgiving, and humble in his treatment of others.” Billy Graham spent his life “tirelessly spreading a message of fellowship and hope, he shaped the spiritual lives of tens of millions of people worldwide.”

The man of God was also remembered as a regular guy, a “personal friend” to president George H.W. Bush, who called Graham a “great sport,” a pal who “loved going really fast in my boat.”

For Ben Carson, “one of the greatest privileges of my life was to speak at one of his rallies and to personally experience his charisma.” Steve Scalise, perhaps mindful of his recent brush with death, tweeted, “Billy Graham’s steadfast faith in God inspired me and many others across our nation to lead better lives. He will be missed.” Even Dan Rather got in the act, opining, “the great preacher and pastor has died, leaving a legacy of being one of the most influential Americans of his time.”

Contrast that praise with Nia Vardalos, the actress known for such timeless classics as My Big Fat Greek Wedding and I Hate Valentine’s Day. “Billy Graham, rest In Peace sir,” Vardalos tweeted, “I hope God bunks you with Liberace.” The reference might be lost on millennials, but apparently the actress-writer sees herself as something of a comic.

And how about Lauren Duca, who has written for The Nation and The New Yorker and is also a columnist at the illustrious Teen Vogue, which bills itself as “fashion, beauty and entertainment news for teens.” As Duca spun it for the kids, “the big news today is that Billy Graham was still alive this whole time. Anyway, have fun in hell, bitch.” After catching flak for that, Duca fired back that respecting the dead “only applies to people who weren’t evil pieces of sh*t while they were alive, thanks.”

Lauren may be okay once she comes out of her shell. What we have here, boys and girls of Teen Vogue, is a sample of the sub-nihilist fare that has become standard issue on the left.

Nothing this troll excretes will affect the legacy of Billy Graham, who passed the torch to son Franklin. He heads the evangelical, non-denominational relief agency Samaritan’s Purse, providing aid to victims of natural disasters around the world. The day of Billy Graham’s passing, the Samaritan’s Purse website quoted Revelation 14:13:

“Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord… that they may rest from their labors and their works follow them.”

Amen.