Tag Archives: Abraham Lincoln

Devotional

Ultimate Reality

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Read Ephesians 6:10-18

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5 NLT).

Have you ever heard of the novel Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter by author Seth Grahame Smith? If not, you may have at least remembered the film of the same name based off of the same novel. It is a story that takes well-known facts about Abraham Lincoln, facts such as the loss of his mother due to ilness at an early age, growing up in poverty, learning to read and write himself, becoming a lawyer, then a politician, then president, etc., and weaved them into an alternate reality where vampires exist and Abraham Lincoln, despite what we think we know about him, is actually a vampire hunter.

In this reality, it was vampires who caused his mom to die, it was vampires who were funding the South and feeding off of its slaves. In fact, it was that very fact that was causing freed slaves to be brought back down South, to feed the vampires on the blood of those not even the Northerners would truly care about. In this alternate reality, Lincoln vows to kill the one who killed his mom and he takes up with a rather unlikely mentor to learn how to wield his axe against more than just trees and firewood.

The whole history of Abraham Lincoln is thus seen through this lense of a world infiltrated by vampires, evil spirits that look to divide and conquer an entire nation. Of course, for a time Lincoln hangs up his axes, so-to-speak, to run for and lead the U.S of A. as President as a way of defeating the South (and thus the Vampires) through legislation; however, that quickly leads to a Civil War that the country is doomed to lose unless Lincoln embraces his Hunter past and starts to fight the enemy on its own terms.

That’s more than enough context to begin to make a point that struck me as I was thinking of this story. In fact, I rewatched the film recently to make sure I was not off point in my memory. Still, this story would seem on the surface to be a retelling of history as we know it. It would appear to present, in fact, an alternate history, one that is more based in terrifying fantasy than reality. I mean, we all know Abraham Lincoln’s history. We know the history of racism in our country, and we need not conjure up vampires to pin evil down on the segments of humanity that perpetuate it.

With that said, in some ways, I argue that our version of history is actually dead wrong, pardon the pun, and this “alternate” history is actually more real than we realize. Now, of course, I am not suggesting that Abraham Lincoln was actually a VAMPIRE HUNTER nor that vampires in the physically undead sense are actually real, however, I am suggesting that evil forces have always been at work behind the scenes. That was no different in Lincoln’s day and it is certainly no different now. Lincoln on many levels understood this and the burden that he carried as a result was very visible. He was a broken man leading a broken nation toward some semblance of unity and righteousness. An impossible task on so many levels and yet, it was the task he undertook.

Our history as we present it only paints a very limited portrait. We in the modern world are so quick to dismiss things of the spiritual realm. Even we in the church try to dismiss things that might get us Christians preceived as “out there” or “fanatics” or “crazy”. Think about it, there is nothing we can do to stop people from thinking those things anyway.

Let’s be honest, we worship a God who shed divinity, took on a male human identity, got crucified and died. That same God rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven (a place we can’t see, touch, taste, hear, or smell…let alone sense), and sits at the right hand side of, wait for it, the Father-personality of himself…and that guy, that Jesus, will come back and judge all creation (alive and dead alike). If that doesn’t sound crazy, nothing will to the average person. But to us who KNOW IT TO BE TRUE, it is ULTIMATE REALITY. What’s more, we also know that there are evil forces, demons if you will, that exist in the Spiritual realm…that we are at war with dark forces and, truthfully, we are either the hunters or the possessed when it comes to those forces.

By hunter, I don’t mean one wields an axe or any weapon other than one’s faith in Jesus Christ. We do so through reading Scripture, through prayer, through fasting, through Holy Communion, through worship and attending to all of the ordinances of God. When we participate in the life of the Holy Spirit, we are filled with a life that wages war against the spirits and principalities in this world. That war has been going since the beginning of humanity’s fall and Christ will finally return and put sin, death, and evil to an ultimate end.

So, while we know that stories such as vampire stories are fictitious on one level, they do point to a truth on a deeper and more spiritual level. Out in the world, out the hostile and cruel world, there are forces at work beyond our imagining and, truth be told, vampires do exist everywhere. Anyone or anything that lives off of you by sucking the lifeforce out of you spiritually, emotionally, or psychologically is a vampire. We don’t respond to those dark influences judgmentally, but by prayerfully and Spiritually handing them over to Christ.

Jesus Christ, as in the fictitious stories, is the antidote evil in whatever forms it presents itself and we, his heavenly ambassadors, have the power and the obligation to resist such evil at all costs. Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, understood this. The Apostles, the earliest church Fathers and Mothers, the aesthetics and mystics, as well as saints such as Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Rev. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. all understood this and paid with their lives in one form or another. Friends, let us also understand this wisdom and allow Christ to prepare us for the spiritual war that is raging.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
We wage battle not with swords or spears, guns or tanks; rather with the Word of God, Jesus Christ, through our presence with and loving service to those the world shuns, the outcast, the needy and the least of these.

PRAYER
Lord, help me lead others to where they otherwise might not see. Help me to be a sign of your love, presence and grace to all I come in contact with. Amen.

Devotional, Previous Post

A LOOK BACK: An Indisputable Truth

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Read Mark 3:20-35

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” (Matthew 6:24a).

On June 16, 1858, then Republican senatorial candidate Abraham Lincoln gave a speech that would shake the foundations of the Illinois statehouse and, eventually, would test the moral fiber and endurance of a nation. Lincoln was advised by his law partner, William H. Herndon, not to read it; however, Lincoln insisted on reading it stating that “the proposition is indisputably true … and I will deliver it as written. I want to use some universally known figure, expressed in simple language as universally known, that it may strike home to the minds of men in order to rouse them to the peril of the times.”

Following the speech, many people called it inappropriate. They felt that it was not politically correct and felt it to be too bold a speech for someone who’s looking to be elected. In the end, Lincoln ended up losing the election to his opponent, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas. Leonard Swett, another lawyer, believed that it was the speech that caused Lincoln to lose the race.

So, what did Lincoln say that was so controversial? He quoted Jesus’ words, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” While Jesus was responding to his opponents accusation that he was in league with Satan, Lincoln was referring to the damning effects of slavery. He was saying that this nation could not carry on being half-free and half-slave; it would either have to become all of one or all of the other. Lincoln knew which end he wanted to see…the end of slavery!

When we look at the modern church, we can see a slavery of a different kind. In the church we become a slave to our own ways of doing things. We see our own theology as being the right theology. We see our own ideas as being the right ideas. We see our own cliques as being the best people in the church. Often times we become slaves to our own egos, forgetting that it is God, not us, that we are called to be serving.

But, as Jesus proclaimed we cannot carry on serving God and serving ourselves. While Jesus was speaking of money, the truth carries over to anything we place before God. We cannot serve two gods, because one will always take precedence over the other. The church, the house and body of God, often stands divided against itself because of the lack of focus on Christ who is our center. And as Christ and Abraham Lincoln both said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

The truth of the matter is, we are either serving God or we are not serving God. There is no in-between when it comes to whom we serve. In order to serve God, we must be striving to live in the image of an imageless God. We must be living examples of God’s love and God’s light. We must be bearers of God’s grace and forgiveness. We must learn to love one another, for only then will we have any business loving the world. If we strive to live into the image of God, we will no longer be divided; rather, we will be united in the eternal love that saved us from ourselves.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

Rather than standing divided amongst ourselves, let us stand united in Christ and his mission.

PRAYER

Lord, help me to see the bigger picture and to do my part in standing united in harmony with the rest of your body. Amen.

Devotional

Lord and Savior

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Read Mark 1:29-34

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. We believe, and we know You are the Holy One of God. ” (John 6:68-69 NLT)

The danger with reading stories, or even watching them on the television or in the movies, is that we tend to turn the people those stories into two-dimensional caricatures at best. This is especially true when we look at historical figures in true stories. Take Abraham Lincoln, for instance. There is so much to that particular president for us to read on and learn about. We can learn about all of his failures, his chronic depression, his doubts regarding his faith, his troubled childhood, his tumultuous marriage, his lack of self-confidence. We can learn about his courage, his rising up out of the bare-bones frontier life to become a lawyer, a politician and one of the most beloved presidents. We could read about how vastly unpopular his presidency was, how scrutinized he was, and all of the resistance he met as he led a country through a bloody civil war.

And that wouldn’t cover even a fracture of the man. Yet, even so, when we think of Abraham Lincoln, we only think of a fraction of what I just mentioned. In essence, we see good old Abe as a fraction of a fraction of who he actually is. We think of him being tall, lanky, with a weird beard. We call him “honest” abe, and mythologize him as the single man who saved the union and brought an end to slavery. That would sum up our common understanding of him is but a mere caricature.

We do the same with the people in the Bible. For instance, take Jesus’ disciple Simon. We see him as bold and brash fisherman, who may or may not have been illiterate, who often put his foot in his mouth, and who Jesus renamed Peter and is the “rock” upon which the church is built. If we add anything else to that, it is usually Peter’s fear on the water and his denial before the crowing of the rooster on Good Friday morning. In fact, we caricaturize Peter and the other Apostles so much that we think, “Well of course they followed Jesus and did nothing else. They had nothing else going for them anyway, besides fishing and collecting taxes.”

Yet, there was so much more to the disciples than that. In fact, if we look at today’s suggested Scripture reading, we find out that Peter was married and was responsible for not only supporting his wife, but also his mother-in-law. Though it isn’t mentioned, he more than likely also had children. When he said yes to follow Jesus, and through down his nets, he wasn’t just leaving fishing behind; rather, he was leaving his ENTIRE FAMILY behind. He was leaving his wife, his mother-in-law, and his children to fend for themselves. He was leaving them without any source of income, and without any means of getting food. What’s more, what happens when taxes are due and they have no means of paying those taxes.

In other words, Peter was leaving behind HIS ENTIRE LIFE because Jesus’ claim on his life was THAT IMPORTANT. Peter devotion to Christ, albeit flawed and wavering at times, was rooted deep. Jesus wasn’t just the next best prophet to him, he wasn’t just Peter’s teacher, he wasn’t just the messiah come to liberate Israel, or any such thing. JESUS WAS LORD TO PETER, and Peter submitted his life to his Lord at all costs. Ultimately, many years later, Peter ended up giving that life up literally as he was, by tradition, crucified upside down in Rome.

Today’s reflection is this: what are you leaving behind to follow Jesus? What are you willing to give up, to part ways with, to sacrifice in order to follow THE ONE WHO HAS CALLED YOU? Do you see Jesus as neat and nice guy? Do you see Jesus as a wise, sagely teacher? Do you see Jesus as a warm and fuzzy “pick-me-up” at the beginning of your week? Or do you see Jesus as YOUR LORD and SAVIOR, the one you would cross land and sea to follow at all costs? Today’s challenge is to evaluate yourself, to evaluate your faith, and to move toward more fully devoting yourself to Jesus, who is Lord of all Creation.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other.” – Jesus Christ (Matthew 6:24a NLT)

PRAYER
Lord, work in my heart that I may devote myself wholly to you. Amen.

Devotional

An Indisputable Truth

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Read Mark 3:20-35

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” (Matthew 6:24a).

On June 16, 1858, then Republican senatorial candidate Abraham Lincoln gave a speech that would shake the foundations of the Illinois statehouse and, eventually, would test the moral fiber and endurance of a nation. Lincoln was advised by his law partner, William H. Herndon, not to read it; however, Lincoln insisted on reading it stating that “the proposition is indisputably true … and I will deliver it as written. I want to use some universally known figure, expressed in simple language as universally known, that it may strike home to the minds of men in order to rouse them to the peril of the times.”

Following the speech, many people called it inappropriate. They felt that it was not politically correct and felt it to be too bold a speech for someone who’s looking to be elected. In the end, Lincoln ended up losing the election to his opponent, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas. Leonard Swett, another lawyer, believed that it was the speech that caused Lincoln to lose the race.

So, what did Lincoln say that was so controversial? He quoted Jesus’ words, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” While Jesus was responding to his opponents accusation that he was in league with Satan, Lincoln was referring to the damning effects of slavery. He was saying that this nation could not carry on being half-free and half-slave; it would either have to become all of one or all of the other. Lincoln knew which end he wanted to see…the end of slavery!

When we look at the modern church, we can see a slavery of a different kind. In the church we become a slave to our own ways of doing things. We see our own theology as being the right theology. We see our own ideas as being the right ideas. We see our own cliques as being the best people in the church. Often times we become slaves to our own egos, forgetting that it is God, not us, that we are called to be serving.

But, as Jesus proclaimed we cannot carry on serving God and serving ourselves. While Jesus was speaking of money, the truth carries over to anything we place before God. We cannot serve two gods, because one will always take precedence over the other. The church, the house and body of God, often stands divided against itself because of the lack of focus on Christ who is our center. And as Christ and Abraham Lincoln both said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

The truth of the matter is, we are either serving God or we are not serving God. There is no in-between when it comes to whom we serve. In order to serve God, we must be striving to live in the image of an imageless God. We must be living examples of God’s love and God’s light. We must be bearers of God’s grace and forgiveness. We must learn to love one another, for only then will we have any business loving the world. If we strive to live into the image of God, we will no longer be divided; rather, we will be united in the eternal love that saved us from ourselves.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

Rather than standing divided amongst ourselves, let us stand united in Christ and his mission.

PRAYER

Lord, help me to see the bigger picture and to do my part in standing united in harmony with the rest of your body. Amen.