{"id":6764,"date":"2023-02-12T06:46:22","date_gmt":"2023-02-12T10:46:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/?p=6764"},"modified":"2023-02-12T12:14:10","modified_gmt":"2023-02-12T16:14:10","slug":"the-real-presidents-real-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/2023\/02\/12\/the-real-presidents-real-day\/","title":{"rendered":"The Real Presidents\u2019 Real Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

2-12-23<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people of recent times have torn down statues and monuments of American history’s great figures, including those of presidents. I am not only condemning vandals armed with paint balls and ropes, who were widely videotaped but never so much as arrested or fined. I refer instead to government officials and descendants of those leaders who scurried and hurried to align themselves with PC mobs, and support the desecration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those despicable anti-patriots in their suits and from their offices might be the virtual vandals, but they can never subtract from the greatness of many historical figures, including two whose birthdays we observe this month, Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. Theodore Roosevelt said of them, \u201cThere have been other men as great and other men as good; but in all the history of mankind there are no other two great men as good as these.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want to linger a moment before Lincoln. From his roots in crushing poverty and absence of schooling, he rose to be the savior of the Union, his wisdom equaled only by his humanity. It seems a miracle that that this unlikely person was the perfect leader at a unique time. I believe it was God’s working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also want to linger on the misconception that Lincoln was an atheist, or an agnostic. Yes, he was unchurched and seldom attended formal services. But his Bible was well-worn; he quoted Scripture extensively; and indeed by the end of his presidency, his messages and speeches were as much sermons as civic documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His humanity? We remember his reading the stack of requests for soldiers\u2019 pardons he considered one day, each with testimonials from influential people\u2026 except one plea from a soldier who left his ranks to return home to a sick mother. \u201cDoes this man have no \u2018friend\u2019?\u201d Lincoln asked. He was told No. The President said, \u201cWell, he does now,\u201d and pardoned him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His faith? We remember his clear and powerful statement of theology, when he said in effect, \u201cI am not so much concerned that ‘God is on our side,’ but that I and this nation should be on the Lord\u2019s side.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lincoln\u2019s personal secretary John Hay testified to Lincoln\u2019s spiritual struggles, and his reliance on prayer in the White House. It is inspiring to read of Lincoln\u2019s steadily increasing faith\u2026 the progression of his appeals to God\u2026 invocations of Providence\u2026 seeking the Lord\u2019s guidance\u2026 Biblical quotations\u2026 allusions to Bible history\u2026 setting aside national days of prayer, fasting, humiliation, and thanksgiving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lincoln\u2019s first inaugural address acknowledges his \u201cfirm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored land.\u201d In the second address: \u201cthe judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.\u201d And of course his reference in the Gettysburg Address that this \u201cnation shall under God have a new birth of freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A proclamation:
It is fit and becoming in all people, at all times, to acknowledge and revere the Supreme Government of God; to bow in humble submission to His chastisement; to confess and deplore their sins and transgressions in the full conviction that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and to pray, with all fervency and contrition, for the pardon of their past offenses, and for a blessing upon their present and prospective action. And whereas when our own beloved country, once, by the blessings of God, united, prosperous and happy, is now afflicted with faction and civil war, it is peculiarly fit for us to recognize the hand of God in this terrible visitation, and in sorrowful remembrance of our own faults and crimes as a nation and as individuals, to humble ourselves before Him and to pray for His mercy.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In private communication, 1862:
We are indeed going through a great trial \u2013 a fiery trial. In the very responsible position in which I happened to be placed, being a humble instrument in the Hands of our Heavenly Father, as I am, and as we all are, to work out His great purposes, I have desired that all my works and acts may be according to His will, and that it might be so I have sought His aid.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

About his dark moments when Lee\u2019s army invaded Pennsylvania, Lincoln wrote:
When everyone seemed panic-stricken\u2026 I went to my room\u2026 and got down on my knees before Almighty God and prayed\u2026 Soon a sweet comfort crept into my soul that God Almighty had taken the whole business into His own hands\u2026.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lincoln said about the Bible:
In regard to this Great Book, I have but to say I believe the Bible is the best gift God has given to man. All the good Savior gave to the world was communicated through this Book.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And other reflections:
I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

God loves us the way we are, but too much to leave us that way. I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God\u2019s hands, that I still possess.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We do not need to contrast these confessions of a sitting President, whom ignorant secularists like to portray as an unbeliever, with the actions of the current sitting President who recalls his days as a choir boy but supports the murder of babies and other policies in contradiction to his Church\u2019s teachings. But the temptation is strong to draw contrasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet Abraham Lincoln, as a Christian Patriot, can stand on his own, without human contrasts. And he compares well with standards laid out by God Almighty, His Son Jesus, and the Holy Bible. Let us stand in that manner, too, on this President\u2019s Day; and all days.<\/p>\n\n\n

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+ + +<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click: Battle Hymn of the Republic<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2-12-23 Some people of recent times have torn down statues and monuments of American history’s great figures, including those of presidents. I am not only condemning vandals armed with paint balls and ropes, who were widely videotaped but never so much as arrested or fined. I refer instead to government officials and descendants of those […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11,9,75],"tags":[175,176,1289,3702,1156,3703,173],"class_list":["post-6764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-government","category-patriotism","tag-abraham-lincoln","tag-george-washington","tag-john-hay","tag-john-philip-sousa","tag-julia-ward-howe","tag-presidents-day-2","tag-theodore-roosevelt"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1bRYz-1L6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6764"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6772,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6764\/revisions\/6772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}