Abraham Lincoln: Was He A Christian?

MATTHEW 7:21 – 23
JESUS CHRIST said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven…” (Matt. 7:21).

What does it take then to enter the kingdom of heaven? In answering this vital question, let’s use the life of a great American to assess what doesn’t save and what does.

Consider the life of the 16th President of America, Abraham Lincoln. Was Mr. Lincoln a Christian?

After the war, Democrats attempting to undermine the reconstruction of the South painted Mr. Lincoln in scurrilous terms. By aristocrat Wendell Phillips, he was called “the white trash of the South spawned on Illinois,” ” a first-rate second-rate man…waiting to be used.”

Brahmin historian Francis Parker complained in 1862 that Mr. Lincoln was the “feeble and ungainly mouthpiece of the North.”

The “London Herald” wrote of him: “Mr. Lincoln is a vulgar, brutal boor, wholly ignorant of political science, or military affairs, or everything else which a statesman should know.”

New Yorker George Templeton Strong wrote in his diary that Mr. Lincoln was “despised and rejected by a third of the community, and only tolerated by the other two-thirds.”

Remember, it matters not what others think of us, but what we think of Christ that is important in the matter of salvation.

I. PEDIGREE
In 1806, Peter Cartright was the premier evangelist in rural Kentucky. Their rather primitive form of worship would seem strange by our standards. One night as Cartright was preaching in an outdoor meeting a young man jumped to his feet and began to dance in the joy of the Lord as King David had done before the ark of the Lord. His name was Tom Lincoln. A short time later a young woman, in praise of the Lord, jumped to her feet and joined in with the others dancing as unto the Lord. Her name was Nancy Hanks. Soon thereafter she married Tom Lincoln and three years later gave birth to a son. This Godly couple gave their son a Bible name Abraham.
Blessed is the child who has Christian parents. But that doesn’t save us.
Young Abraham was taught Scripture verses and Bible principles by his parents. As a young boy, the first of what seemed to be several untimely deaths occurred in his family. As his mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, lay dying, her last words to her nine-year-old son were: “I am going away from you, Abraham, and I shall not return. I know that you will be a good boy; and that you will be kind to Sarah and your father. I want you to live as I have taught you, to love your Heavenly Father and keep His commandments.”

On several occasions when asked how he had declined a tempting bribe or resisted a strong suggestion to do wrong, Lincoln said he recalled the voice of his mother repeating, “I am the Lord thy God; thou shalt have no other gods before me.”

II. PRECEPTS
Mr. Lincoln believed the Bible. At a very early age he was taught the Bible. He memorized the Ten Commandments. Through his life there are many instances where his conduct was guided by one of the commandments. It was evident all through his life that he honored his father and mother which is the first commandment with promise.

A. The commandments motivated his honesty and integrity. He was so honest that as a young lawyer arguing a case he would even befriend his opponent. If the attorney arguing a case against him forgot a point, he would remind him of it. Thus, he became known as “the most honest lawyer east of China.” Part of this label lasted through his life, and he is still known as “Honest Abe.”

B. On an occasion he was heard to say, “When I am confronted with temptation, I can still vividly hear the tones on my mother’s voice saying, ‘I am the Lord thy God, which brought you out of Egypt. Thou shall not steal.”

C. He had a great regard for the Lord’s Day. At the approach of the battle of Falmouth General McDowell came to him on Saturday and said, “Sir, my troops are ready at a moment’s notice and can move out tomorrow.” The inquiry was made by General McDowell because he knew Mr. Lincoln’s regard for the Lord’s Day. The president replied, “No, give them the Lord’s Day of rest.”

He knew the Scripture well. In his great debates with Steven Douglas in 1858, he corrected his opponents incorrect use of Scripture several times.

He once told a friend who professed to be a skeptic, “Take all this book upon reason that you can, and the balance on faith, and you will live and die a happier and better man.”

When presented a ceremonial Bible inscribed as being from “the Loyal Colored People of Baltimore,” he responded with these oft-quoted words, “In regard to this Great Book, I have but to say, it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Savior gave to the world was communicated through this book. But for it we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man’s welfare, here and hereafter, are to be found portrayed in it.”

He had great regard for the commandments and sought to keep them. However, it is not by works of righteousness which we do that we are saved.

III. PROVIDENCE (DIVINE PURPOSE)
He believed that God works in the affairs of people. He believed God gave him a good body. His gaunt, pitted, sallow complexion made him unattractive to many. However, he responded physically with gratitude for a good body. Few know that he was the champion weightlifter in his parts as a young man. He was also the region’s champion wrestler and distance runner.

He believed it was God’s providence that enabled him to find a copy of Blackstone’s Law Book while rummaging through an old barrel. This book was the seed resulting in him becoming a lawyer.

He was a man of profound God-consciousness and morality in whose mind lived a vision linking the nation with the providence of God. He believed American ideals closely reflected the principles of divine morality.

His many defeats and ultimate victory he attributed to the providence of God. This alone, however, does not save.

After being elected President he left Springfield for Washington. A lady who loved the Lord and Mr. Lincoln prepared and hung out a large banner with his favorite Scripture verse: “Be strong and of good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed for I am with thee whithersoever thou goest.”

Mr. Lincoln believed God was with him. Some years ago as guest of the President I had the liberty of staying in the Lincoln bedroom. Sitting there late one night I reflected that it was in this room on the morning of January 1, 1863, Mr. Lincoln called his Cabinet together. He had in his hand his characteristic tall, silk hat. He reached into his hat and pulling out a document placed it on the table and said, “Gentlemen, with this document I am prepared to free the slaves.” It was the Emancipation Proclamation. He continued, “I promised the Great God if He would give us victory at Antietam, I would so act.” He believed that at Antietam, one of the strategic battles of the War Between the States, the providence of God was at work in the affairs of the country. He acted to free the slaves out of gratitude.

In a letter to two Iowans who wrote him commending him for his bravery in freeing the slaves and assuring him of their prayers, he wrote he was “sustained by the good wishes and prayers of God’s people.”

In his first inaugural address, March 1861, Mr. Lincoln espoused the belief that “intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him, who has never yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent to adjust, in the best way, all our present difficulty.”

He had confidence that even the war which he despised so strongly had a purpose and stated that he believed that God “permits it for some wise purpose of His own, mysterious and unknown to us; and though with our limited understandings we may not be able to comprehend it, yet we cannot but believe, that He who made the world still governs it.”

Perhaps the statement that best reveals his reliance on the providence of God was contained in an address to a delegation of Baltimore Presbyterians in 1863. To them he said, “Amid the greatest difficulties of my Administration, when I could see no other resort, I would place my whole reliance in God, knowing that all would go well, and that He would decide for the right.”

To a close friend he confided: “I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.”

HE WAS GRATEFUL FOR HIS PEDIGREE, HE BELIEVED BIBLE PRECEPTS, AND HAD FAITH IN THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD, BUT WAS HE SAVED? How close did he come to Calvary?

Biographers record that he never joined a church. If he was saved that means church membership doesn’t save…and it doesn’t. What did Mr. Lincoln believe about the – – –

IV. PERSON (JESUS CHRIST)
For our beloved Lord to get to Calvary He had to go through Gethsemane. Mr. Lincoln had his Gethsemane. There was an occasion when a friend saw Mr. Lincoln sitting before a great fireplace with his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. The friend listened as he prayed, “Oh God, oh God, help me, I cannot lead these people without your help, without you.” When the friend returned the next morning, the fire was but embers; but Mr. Lincoln still sat as he was the night before. This time the friend heard him pray, “Oh God, oh God, if it be Thy will, let this cup pass from me.”

All of his life Mr. Lincoln was dogged by defeat, hounded by failure, and stalked by tragedy. Starting with the death of his mother at age nine, grief followed his footsteps like an unshakable shadow. Youthful love shared with Ann Ruthledge ended in heartache at her death. He experienced deep anguish at the death of his son, Eddie, at age four and later, as President, the death of his beloved son, Willie.

Henry Ward Beecher was one of the most prominent ministers of the day. Early one, cold, winter’s morning in the chill of night he was awakened by someone knocking at his door. Upon opening the door he found standing there Mr. Lincoln. The tall, lean, gaunt figure was so gripped with grief and agony that at first Dr. Beecher didn’t recognize Mr. Lincoln. As Mr. Lincoln poured out his soul to the minister, he said, “I think I shall never again be glad…”

A somber President soon thereafter made his way to the battlefield at Gettysburg where he was to deliver his most famous address. Many school children can quote those immortal lines. Historians remember well a letter he wrote soon thereafter which many persons do not know of. Soon after his Gettysburg address, he wrote a friend in Springfield. Therein he said, “When I came to Springfield, I was not a Christian. When I left Springfield to go to Washington and asked you to pray for me, I was not a Christian. When I came to Gettysburg, I was not a Christian; but there at Gettysburg, I consecrated my life to Christ.”

Remember the line from that address: “This nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom…”

November 19, 1863, at Gettysburg where Mr. Lincoln spoke of new birth he experienced it personally through faith in Christ.

There at Gettysburg where he spoke of “dedicating ourselves to unfinished work…” he consecrated his life to Christ. Abraham Lincoln had endured the purifying fires of tribulation to come forth as gold.

This led him to acknowledge before his death: “…I am responsible…to the American people, to the Christian world, and on my final account to God.”

Thereafter, he sought to live and lead a nation to live by these words he quoted there from Scripture: “With malice toward none and charity toward all.”

Mark this date, Tuesday, April 13, 1865. That day Mr. Lincoln wrote a letter to Pastor Gurley of the church in Washington he had attended with increased regularity. In that letter he told of his saving faith in Jesus Christ. Note these lines from that letter dated April 13, 1865,: “On the forthcoming Lord’s day, I would like to make public my commitment.”

The date of the forthcoming Lord’s day would be April 18. Mr. Lincoln’s letter was mailed April 13. The day after the letter was mailed Mrs. Lincoln insisted that they get away from the pressures by going to a play that evening at the Ford Theater.

They arrived late and were seated in the Presidential Booth. During the course of the play the president’s bodyguard left his post to go to a nearby bar for a drink. During the play it was apparent to Mrs. Lincoln the President was preoccupied. Biographers record that during a lull in the play Mr. Lincoln leaned over and whispered to Mrs. Lincoln. “Mary,” he said, “Do you know the one thing in all the world I would like to do? I would like to take you on a trip with me to the Near East and we could visit Bethlehem where He was born.” Just then John Wilks Booth approached the Presidential Box unnoticed. The President paused. Booth raised his gun and the President continued, “We could go to Nazareth, Bethany…” Booth took aim as Mr. Lincoln said, “Mary, we could even go up to Jerusalem.” Just then a shot rang out. Mr. Lincoln slumped forward mortally wounded.

7:22 A.M., April 15, just three days before Mr. Lincoln proposed to walk the aisle of his church to make known his faith in Jesus Christ, Mr. Lincoln walked the golden streets of the New Jerusalem. He was blessed to do so because two years before his death, on November 19, 1863, at Gettysburg, as he later wrote, “There I concentrated my life to Christ.”

That is the only way for a president or any person to be saved. Have you ever made such a commitment? If not do it now.

Why God Created Children

(And In The Process Grandchildren)

[The following came in an email and the source is unknown.]

To those of us who have children in our lives, whether they are our own, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, or students…here is something to make you chuckle.

Whenever your children are out of control, you can take comfort from the thought that even God’s omnipotence did not extend to His own children.

After creating heaven and earth, God created Adam and Eve And the first thing he said was “DON’T!”
“Don’t what?” Adam replied.
“Don’t eat the forbidden fruit.” God said.
“Forbidden fruit? We have forbidden fruit? Hey Eve…we have forbidden fruit!!!!!”
“No Way!”
“Yes way!”
“Do NOT eat the fruit!” said God
“Why”
“Because I am your Father and I said so!” God replied, wondering why He hadn’t stopped creation after making the elephants A few minutes later, God saw His children having an apple break and He was ticked!
“Didn’t I tell you not to eat the fruit?” God asked.
“Uh huh,” Adam replied.
“Then why did you?” said the Father.
“I don’t know,” said Eve.
“She started it!” Adam said
“Did not!”
“Did too!”
“DID NOT!”

Having had it with the two of them, God’s punishment was that Adam and Eve should have children of their own. Thus the pattern was set and it has never changed.

BUT THERE IS REASSURANCE IN THE STORY!

If you have persistently and lovingly tried to give children wisdom and they haven’t taken it, don’t be hard on yourself. If God had trouble raising children, what makes you think it would ld be a piece of cake for you?

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT!

1. You spend the first two years of their life teaching them to walk and talk. Then you spend the next sixteen telling them to sit down and shut up.

2. Grandchildren are God’s reward for not killing your own children.

3. Mothers of teens now know why some animals eat their young.

4. Children seldom misquote you. In fact, they usually repeat word for word what you shouldn’t have said.

5. The main purpose of holding children’s parties is to remind yourself that there are children more awful than your own.

6. We child proofed our homes, but they are still getting in.

ADVICE FOR THE DAY: Be nice to your kids. They will choose your nursing home one day.
AND FINALLY: IF YOU HAVE A LOT OF TENSION AND YOU GET A HEADACHE, DO WHAT IT SAYS ON THE ASPIRIN BOTTLE: “TAKE TWO ASPIRIN” AND “KEEP AWAY FROM CHILDREN”

Where Did God Come From?

Every parent has shuddered when asked by a child, “Where did God come from?”
Based on experience I am convinced most parents have a ready answer: “Let’s wait and ask the pastor.”

Children ask childish questions and deserve childish answers not long complicated ones. God has just always been. There never was a time when He wasn’t and there never will be a time He isn’t.

When thinking of time we think in a straight line. Physicists call it the arrow of time. (For more on this see the “Time Helps Us Understand Eternity” under Price Tags.)

To aid a child’s understanding holdup an object such as a pencil or piece of string. Explain to the child we tend to think of beginnings and ends. Point to the two ends. A day begins and a day ends. A new year begins and an old year ends. A child is born and an elderly person dies.

With God there is no beginning or ending.

Hold up a ring in such a way that the child can see through it. Then ask, “Where is the beginning and end of the ring?” Rings don’t have beginnings and endings. Neither does God. He just always has been.

Where Did Cain Get His Wife?

Adam was the “first man” (I Cor. 15:45). Eve was “the mother of all living” (Genesis 3:20). There was no pre-Adamic race. Cain was the first son of Adam and Eve (Genesis 4:1). After he killed his brother Able he was fearful “others” might kill him (Genesis 4:14). It is said had a wife (Genesis 4:17).

From where did these “others” come? Genesis 5:4 says of Adam “he begat sons and daughters.” Adam and Eve had many children.

Later as the race developed for genetic reasons interfamily marriages were forbidden. At this early stage the gene pool was such that to initiate the expansion of the human race brothers and sisters married. There is no other explanation.

Adam lived to be 930 (Genesis 5:4). It is likely some of the offsprings were of such diverse ages that they were not reared in the same family setting.

What Difference Would It Have Made If Christ Had Not Been Born?

Every Christmas we are reminded by the classic film It’s a Wonderful Life, how George Bailey discovered what life would be like if he had not been born. Now there is a thought to personalize!

Our world would be considerably different if a certain baby had not been born in a manger in Bethlehem. Christmas has been trivialized, commercialized, and almost crowded off the calendar by Kwanza, Hanukkah, and now Ramadan. While giving the last three their holidays Christmas and the one whose birth is celebrated deserves their hour. Those who celebrate it have reason to say, “Merry Christmas.” Had Jesus Christ not been born there would be little reason for any celebration of anything.

Infants have reason to celebrate because of Mary’s infant. At the time of His birth in Roman and Greek culture abortion was prevalent. Unwanted infants were left in the forest as animal food or for deviates to use for their pleasure. Followers of Christ started foundling homes, nurseries, and orphanages.

Women have reason to celebrate. At the time of His birth females were considered incompetent for independence. In the Orient, Rome, and Greece wives were considered property of the men. Female infanticide was common. In India and other societies widows were burned alive on their husband’s funeral pyres. British missionaries were instrumental in stopping the last vestige of this.

A Hindu woman said the Bible must have been written by a woman. When asked why she said, “Because it says so many kind things for women. Our pundits never refer to us but in reproach.”
Some women, with little knowledge of history, claim Christianity has oppressed women. Had it not elevated them most of these critics might never have been born or lived long.

Though some Christians betray their Master in matters of sexual purity it was Christ who ameliorated family values. Aristides, writing to the Emperor Hadrian in 125 A.D., recorded the result of the Christian ideal: “They do not commit adultery or immorality….Their wives, O King, are as pure as virgins, and their daughters as modest. Their men abstain from all unlawful sexual contact and from impurity…” That was a dramatic change.

Johannes Kepler, Blaise Pascal, Robert Oppenheimer, and Alfred Whitehead are but a few notable scientists who have been motivated by their faith in the baby of Bethlehem.

The source of education for the masses goes back to John Calvin during the Reformation. Following the example of Christ who encouraged learning they believed the Reformation could only succeed if the people could learn to read the Bible for themselves. Most of the first 123 colleges in America have Christian origins.

It was the emergence of the work ethic advocated by Christ that gave birth to the free enterprise system.

Had Christ not been born there would be no traffic jams around malls. Giving of gifts would not be practiced as did the wise men. Our economy would know no boost in December.

Those are some of the reasons Christians should be allowed every liberty to say, “Merry Christmas,” anywhere.