BY : Samantha Kamman,  Christian Post Reporter

Evangelist Franklin Graham says he sees many young people in the United Kingdom searching for answers that only God can provide as he prepares to speak in Manchester on Saturday as part of his “God Loves You Tour.”

“People are searching. There are a lot of hungry souls out there that are looking,” Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA), told The Christian Post. “They’re looking for truth. That’s what they’re looking for.”The event is scheduled for Saturday night at Manchester’s Co-op Live. Last month, the BGEA announced that seats have been booked for more than 8,000 people.

As he prepares for the event, Graham aims to share the Gospel in a way that people of all ages can understand.

“You want to be able to speak in such a way that a child can understand, that an adult understands,” he said. “You don’t want to; sometimes people speak over the top of a person’s head. I don’t want to do that.”

The son of the late evangelist Billy Graham acknowledged that his message has drawn opposition over the years. He said the response to the Manchester event has been “extremely positive,” though he added that “you always have your detractors out there.”

Despite the opposition, Graham does not intend to change his message to avoid offending people, particularly when it comes to what he believes Scripture teaches about sin.

“There are a lot of Christians, a lot of churches, because they don’t want to offend anybody, so they’ll go along with sinful behavior,” Graham said. “You want to warn people, and you want to tell people the consequences of sin.”

On issues such as homosexuality, the evangelist said such behavior is “just one sin of many,” adding that the Bible teaches that everyone is a sinner.

“So my warning is to, we don’t pick out individual sins,” he said. “God is going to judge sin and one day, we all have to stand before Him and give an account for how we’ve lived our life.”

Graham stressed that Jesus Christ came to earth to suffer and die on the cross, taking the sins of mankind with Him to the grave.

“And on the third day, God raised Him to life. And that is the hope of every Christian: that we have our faith not in a dead Savior, but in a living Savior,” Graham said. “Jesus is alive, and he’ll come into our hearts if we invite him. And people are searching for truth.”

The tour comes amid differing reports about the religious beliefs of young adults in the U.K. While some studies suggest certain groups of young people are more likely to hold specific religious beliefs, other reports assert that nonreligious identity among younger generations in the U.K. is a permanent shift.

Graham, however, said his experience at evangelistic events has convinced him that young people are actively looking for spiritual answers. At a London event last year, Graham said, 60% of the people who responded publicly to an invitation to receive Christ were young people, and many appeared to be younger than 30.

When he stands before thousands in Manchester, Graham said he does not know how many people will respond right away. He recalled an event from when he first began preaching evangelistic messages. When he gave an invitation at the end to accept Christ, no one came forward.

Some time later, Graham met a man who said that after he went home that evening, he got down on his knees and welcomed God into his heart.

“So you never know. We don’t know the outcome. God knows that,” Graham said, explaining that the responsibility of Christians is to give people the chance to receive the Gospel.

“We just want to be faithful to make sure that the Gospel is presented and give people a chance, an opportunity to say yes to Christ,” he said.

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