Charles Finney, “The time has come for Christians to vote for honest men”

American Minute with Bill Federer

A 29-year-old attorney, Charles Finney saw so many Scripture references in Blackstone’s Law Commentaries that he bought a Bible.

On October 10, 1821, he decided to head into the woods near his home, saying:

“I will give my heart to God, or I never will come down from there.”

After several hours, he returned to his office, later writing:

“The Holy Spirit…seemed to go through me, body and soul…Indeed it seemed to come in waves of liquid love, for I could not express it in any other way.”

The next morning, at his law office, a church deacon suing a fellow-church member asked Finney about his case. Finney replied:

“I have a retainer from the Lord Jesus Christ to plead his cause, and cannot plead yours.”

Finney began preaching, presenting the Gospel with a convincing lawyer’s argument and praying in common, colloquial language.

He began the tradition of an ‘altar call’ in his 1830 revival in Rochester, New York:

“I had found, that with the higher classes especially, the greatest obstacle to be overcome was their fear of being known as anxious inquirers. They were too proud…

Something was needed, to make the impression on them that they were expected at once to give up their hearts;

something that would call them to act, and act as publicly before the world, as they had in their sins;

something that would commit them publicly to the service of Christ…

I had called them simply to stand up in the public congregations…to bring them out from among the mass of the ungodly, to a public renunciation of their sinful ways, and a public committal of themselves to God.”

Finney’s revival preaching paved the way for evangelists Dwight L. Moody, Billy Sunday and Billy Graham.

Charles Finney’s 1835 Revival Lectures inspired George Williams to found the YMCA-Young Men’s Christian Association-in 1844.

He inspired William and Catherine Booth to found what would be called The Salvation Army in 1865.

Charles Finney formed the Benevolent Empire, a network of volunteer organizations to aid poor and aged with healthcare and social needs, which in 1834 had a budget rivaling the Federal Government.

Finney organized the Broadway Tabernacle in New York in 1831.

While Charles Finney was president of Oberlin College, 1851-1866, it was a station on the Underground Railroad smuggling slaves to freedom.

Under his leadership, Oberlin College granted the first college degree in the United States to a black woman, Mary Jane Patterson.

Charles Finney died AUGUST 16, 1875.

Concerning the Kingdom of God, he wrote

“Every member must work or quit. No honorary members.”

Charles Finney wrote:

“The time has come for Christians to vote for honest men, and take consistent ground in politics or the Lord will curse them…

Politics are a part of a religion in such a country as this, and Christians must do their duty to their country as a part of their duty to God.”

Charles Finney concluded:

“God will bless or curse this nation according to the course Christians take in politics.”

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The Moral Liberal contributing editor, William J. Federer, is the bestselling author of “Backfired: A Nation Born for Religious Tolerance no Longer Tolerates Religion,” and numerous other books. A frequent radio and television guest, his daily American Minute is broadcast nationally via radio, television, and Internet. Check out all of Bill’s books here.

180 — June 28 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

Jewett-Milo

 

The Pastor Who Couldn’t Ignore Immersion

 

Milo P. Jewett was born in Johnsbury, Vermont, on April 27, 1808, into the family of Dr. and Mrs. Calvin Jewett. Being the son of a medical doctor, young Jewett was offered the opportunity of a fine education and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1828. Looking forward to a career in the legal profession, Jewett spent a year in a law office in New Hampshire, but in 1830 he abandoned law and entered Andover Seminary. His brilliant mind fully equipped him for the field of education, and “he decided that teaching and not preaching was the work for which God had fitted him…In 1834 (he) accepted a professorship in Marietta College, Marietta, Ohio.”

 

Professor Jewett was persuaded to accept the pastorate of a Presbyterian church along with his educational duties, and for two years he served as pastor-professor. A disturbing situation developed which changed Jewett’s life, and that we might hear it in his own words, we quote from a letter he wrote from Marietta College, dated June 28, 1838:

 

Perhaps you know I have preached for about two years past to a Presbyterian church in the country. Some eighteen months ago, an elder of that church became a Baptist. On the occasion of his baptism, a sermon was preached by Rev. Hiram Gear, the Baptist minister in Marietta. This sermon disturbed several members of my church, and the session requested me to preach on baptism. . . . .

 

Afterwards I took up infant baptism; and here I found myself in clouds and darkness…I would lay down the subject for weeks, then resume it, till, some three or four months ago, I was obliged, in the fear of God, to conclude that none but believers in Jesus have a right to the ordinance of Jesus.

 

In January 1839 Jewett was baptized and united with the Baptist church in Marietta.

 

In 1840 he authored Jewett on Baptism, and the volume was blessed by the Lord in helping many to see the spiritual truth of the ordinance. Jewett passed into the Lord’s presence in 1882 after a full life of spiritual obedience and service.

 

Dr. Dale R. Hart: from This Day in Baptist History Vol. I. (Thompson/Cummins) pp. 261 – 262.

 

The post 180 — June 28 – This Day in Baptist History Past appeared first on The Trumpet Online.

 

Raised for Our Justification

 

Romans 4:23-25

 

 

“But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification,” Romans 4:24, 25.

 

 

Justification is the doctrine that God pardons, accepts and declares a sinner to be just (innocent) on the basis of Christ’s righteousness (Rom. 3:24-26; 4:25; 5:15-21).

 

Many years ago, a lawyer was contacted by a prisoner named Jim who maintained his innocence in the conviction of aggravated robbery. After careful examination of the evidence, the lawyer took the case back to the courts and the judgment was overturned. The court apologized to Jim for his false imprisonment, declared that all records be expunged of his conviction and a small monetary compensation was given to him. When the judge gave Jim time to speak to the court, he announced, “After all these years I am a free man. I have received justification.” Had the lawyer not acted on Jim’s behalf, he would have never been justified.

 

Jesus is the supreme lawyer. Every time one trusts Christ by faith as his Savior, Jesus goes before the great Judge (His Father) and declares that he is free from the penalty of sin. This is accomplished through the justification of Jesus’ death on the cross and completed by the resurrection.

 

 

Reflection

 

Jesus died, as the sacrifice for sin for sinners, and He rose so that believers are justified or accepted by God (1 Peter 1:3, 21).

 

Beverly Barnett

 

 

185 – July, 03 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

Great outpouring of God’s Spirit

Rev. John E. Clough was born July 16, 1836, in New York. Soon afterwards they moved to Illinois and finally to Iowa. While training as a lawyer in Burlington in 1857 he was brought under conviction and was gloriously saved. Believing that he was called to proclaim the gospel to those who had never heard, he trained at Upper Iowa University and graduated in 1862. His appointment as a Baptist missionary to India took place in August of 1864, and he arrived in that country in March of 1865. Others had pioneered the work before him beginning in 1836. Lyman Jewett joined the mission in 1849. In 1852 he and his wife visited Ongole. They climbed a slope that overlooked the city and prayed that God would send a missionary to Ongole. Clough responded to that prayer and relocated to that city, and a modern miracle began. On Jan. 1, 1867 they organized a church with 8 members, and by the end of 1879, that church had grown to 13,106 members with 46 national preachers and thirty assistants. His methods were biblical, tent meetings of evangelism, nationals were trained, and a circuit of more than eighty villages forty miles around Ongole. As the work grew other missionaries came to join in the work. During a 3 year famine and pestilence they didn’t baptize but when it was over they baptized on July 3, 1878, 2,222 in one day.  From June 16 to July 31, 1878, 8,691 had been immersed upon their profession of faith. This was one of the greatest outpourings of God’s spirit since Pentecost.

Dr. Greg J. Dixon: adapted From: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins/Thompson, pp. 272-73.

151 – May 31 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

151 – May 31 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

A preacher who was a lawyer

 

Elder John Bryce was born of Scotch parents in Goochland County, Virginia, May 31, 1784. He was confirmed in the Episcopal Church but became convicted of his sin under the powerful preaching of Andrew Broadus, at the age of 21, and united with a small Baptist church. About the same time he was admitted to the bar, and for some time practiced law and preached the gospel in Richmond, VA. At this time he was master in chancery for some years under Chief Justice John Marshall. He was also active in the American Colonization Society, liberated forty of his slaves and sent them to Liberia. Bryce moved to Georgetown, KY, where he practiced law and participated in the political affairs of the state. He then located in Crawfordsville, IN and practiced law and preached for ten years and also served in the state legislature. In 1844 he was appointed the surveyor of Shreveport, LA and later was elected mayor. When he arrived in Shreveport there was not a Baptist preacher within 200 miles, but when he left in 1851 there were

 

20 Baptist churches. This was accomplished though opposed by Catholic Bishop Polk. Bryce returned to KY in 1851 and pastored the church in Henderson where he invested the latter years of his life.  His calling as a preacher constrained him to obey these words, “As you therefore go, make disciples.” Because of men like John Bryce, as settlers moved westward so did the gospel, and Baptist churches were planted adds a permanent testimony throughout the land. Bryce also helped establish Concordia College in Washington, D.C. and Georgetown College while he was in Kentucky.

 

Dr. Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins Thompson /, pp. 222-223.   

 

 

118 – April 28 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

Evangelize or Fossilize

 

T. T. Martin was born on April 28, 1862, in smith county, Mississippi. In his youth the lad desired to become a lawyer. While preparing for his chosen career, T. T. Martin experienced a growing burden to preach.  Following intense self-examination, he surrendered to the leading of the Holy Spirit and devoted himself to prepare for the ministry. To support himself, he served as professor of Natural Science from 1886 to 1888 at which time he enrolled in Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.  In 1900 a new door was opened to evangelism, and T. T. Martin began a full-time evangelistic ministry.  Protracted Meetings ran from fifteen to twenty-one days, and the man of God preached twice daily and four times each Lord’s Day. His schedule often kept him on the road for six months at a time.  As demands for his services continued to proliferate, T. T. Martin organized a corps of gospel singers and evangelists.  He booked these men throughout the country.  This group was named the Blue Mountain Evangelists, and he chose choice men whose singing and preaching was Christ-centered.  Somehow, midst his strenuous schedule of evangelism, T. T. Martin authored a number of books.  He continued in his active ministry until the last few months of his life, entering the presence of his Lord on May 23, 1939.

 

Dr. Dale R. Hart adapted from:  This Day in Baptist History III (David L. Cummins) p.p.  246   –   247

 

 

Pastor jailed in Christian-vs.-lesbian case

Pastor jailed in Christian-vs.-lesbian case.

The moral corruptness of our legal system destroys families and denies Christ.

JOHN JAY QUOTE

“By conveying the Bible to people thus circumstanced, we certainly do them a most interesting kindness. We thereby enable them to learn that man was originally created and placed in a state of happiness, but, becoming disobedient, was subjected to the degradation and evils which he and his posterity have since experienced.” John Jay – First Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court and President of the American Bible Society.

This is a very interesting quotation from a well educated lawyer that became Supreme Court Justice. Those that try to demean  those that believe in God and that God is a crutch must include in the vast ranks of the unwashed, illiterate and unworthy people, those that had great responsiblilty. I love the company I keep and do believe it rather reflects on the intelligence of those that making little of believers.Technorati Tags: John Jay, God, Chief Justice, lawyer, Supreme Court