Without really intending to, I’ve started a little blog-series on the faith of our American Presidents. Andrew Jackson’s home, the Hermitage, is near my house, and so I’ve studied his life off-and-on for years. His wife, Rachel, was a devout Christian, but she died just before they reached the White House. Andy himself was irritable, strong-willed, combative, and decidedly a non-Christian until late in his life. He made his public profession of faith in the little Presbyterian Church near the Hermitage in July of 1838.

It was very difficult for Jackson to forgive his political enemies, though he felt he must do that as a Christian. It was impossible, however, for him to forgive his wife’s enemies, for their slander had contributed to her death. Those people he simply left for God to deal with.

About seven years later, in June of 1845, as Jackson was languishing on his death bed, his lips began moving. His daughter-in-law, Sarah, bent near and caught the words of a prayer and of a hymn–”How Firm a Foundation.”

Old Hickory was quoting the verse that said: “When through the deep waters I call thee to go, / the rivers of woe shall not then overflow.”

The devil, however, tried very had to have the last word. At Jackson’s funeral, his pet parrot had to be removed because it began swearing!

PS – For Superbowl fans, the Steeler’s Head Coach, Mike Tomlin, has an outspoken Christian testimony in today’s Baptist Press.

Yesterday I referred to the faith of America’s Presidents, and today I wanted to follow up with an interesting story about Lincoln. He was, of course, assassinated on Good Friday in the year 1865, so the following Sunday was Easter. Instead of a day of joy, it was a Sunday of mourning across the United States.

In Bridgeport, Connecticut, Rev. John Fulkner Blake brought the sermon at Christ Church. It was titled, “A Sermon on the Services and Death of Abraham Lincoln.” He said, “We are accustomed at Easter to come to the house of God, and, while our souls are overflowing with joy, to mingle our glad voices in triumphant songs…. But on this Easter, His hand is so heavy upon us that we are constrained to hang our harps upon the willows and sit down and weep.”

Blake had feared for Lincoln’s life, and he recalled how nervous he had felt at the President’s inauguration. “I was in the crowd,” he said, “and I well remember the intense anxiety which was felt. I recall too that the Lieutenant-General sank exhausted on his chair in the evening, saying, ‘Thank God the day has passed without bloodshed.’”

But, now, the unspeakable had occurred. “The leader and liberator of the American people has fallen by the dastardly hand of an assassin…. Our beloved President is dead! Lost forevermore to us! Lost forevermore to his country!”

During his sermon, Rev. Blake told of Lincoln’s conversion, saying: “A gentleman, having recently visited Washington on business with the President, was, on leaving home, requested by a friend to ask Mr. Lincoln whether he loved Jesus. The business being completed the question was kindly asked. The President buried his face in his handkerchief, turned away, and wept. He then turned and said, ‘When I left home to take this chair of State, I requested my countrymen to pray for me; I was not then a Christian. When my son died, the severest trial of my life, I was not then a Christian. But when I went to Gettysburg and looked on the graves our dead heroes who had fallen in defense of their country, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ. Yes, indeed, I do love Jesus.’”

We remember Gettysburg as a tragic battlefield, a vast cemetery, and the location of Lincoln’s most famous speech. But it also seems to have been the place of new life and rebirth for the man we remember as our Sixteenth President.

The full text of Rev. Blake’s sermon, including several interesting glimpses of Lincoln’s faith, is available from the archives of Emory University here.

Have you ever wondered about the faith of our American Presidents?  The Pew Forum has just released an analysis of the Christian affiliations of each on the forty-four men who have held our highest elected office.  Nearly half of the nation’s chief executives have been Episcopalian (11 of them, going back to George Washington) or Presbyterian (including Ronald Reagan and Dwight Eisenhower).  

Andrew Jackson was a Presbyterian, and I’m convinced that his conversion, which occurred after he left the White House, is one of the most sincere and dramatic testimonies you’ll find in American presidential history.

There have been four Baptist Presidents (Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Harry Truman, and Warren Harding), and four Methodist Presidents (including George W. Bush).   John F. Kennedy is the nation’s only Roman Catholic President.

Three American Presidents were not members of any church — Andrew Johnson, Abraham Lincoln, and Thomas Jefferson.  The latter famously created his own copy of the Bible by cutting out everything having to do with God’s miraculous powers.

Barack Obama is without any denominational affiliation.  He was a member of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago until he resigned during the campaign.  He and his family are reportedly searching for a new church in the Washington area.

For the full report by the Pew Forum, go to http://pewforum.org/docs/?DocID=386.

Here are some pictures of the International Missions Retreat in Japan.  I arrived back this afternoon, exausted but thankful for a safe trip and for the privilege of being with such a great group as our team in Japan.

Hokkaido, Japan

I spent the morning at the Bishop’s house in Ebetsu tacking emails and made quite a bit of progress. After lunch, we drove to the Japanese-government-run retreat center in the mountains. It is spartan, but quite nice. My room has two small beds and little else, with bathroom facilities up the hall, minus baths or showers. Those are in another place where, from 9 to 10 at night, we have the hot baths as a nightly Japanese ritual. They are welcome, because it is very cold here, and the snow is deep. The heat in the various rooms is on sometimes and off sometimes, and I slept last night under a mountain of cover and stayed warm. The session with the missionary families went well last night. We met in a large room around tables, and I spoke on the secret weapon of leaders–a joyful attiude. The key text was Nehemiah 8, but I used personal stories and parallel passages. It was a good session.

This morning I rose early, bundled up in my clothes, scarf, coat, and a blanket and found a vending machine that served hot coffee in cans. Finding a spare room, I had a great quiet time and am looking forward to today’s activities that include cross country skiing and another teaching session with our Japanese Field Counsel, which is an excellent group of people and a great group of friends.

Hokkaido, Japan – I’ve been very encouraged the last couple of days by the first paragraph of Galatians. Everything is there. If you’re looking for a sermon outline or devotional study, go no further. Paul’s salutation to the Galatians is masterful. Consider the elements He covers.

1. God’s Purpose: To rescue us from this present evil age (v. 4).
2. God’s Person: The One who gave Himself for our sins (v. 4) and was raised from the dead (v. 1).
3. God’s People: The brothers, the church (v. 2)
4. God’s Provisions: Grace and peace (v. 3)
5. God’s Proclamation: (An apostle… sent… – v 1) – And this is the theme of the whole book of Galatians — the pure and undiluted Gospel with which we are sent to the world.
6. God’s Praise: To whom be glory forever and ever amen (v. 5).

So the Lord sent Jesus Christ to give Himself for our sins and to rise again. The reason–that we might be rescued from this present evil age. This will fully happen when we go to heaven, but until then He has placed us in His church, given us all the grace and peace we’ll ever need, and assigned us a mission of proclaiming His Pure Gospel. For all that, He receives all our praise.

Everything is there, in Galatians 1:1-5!

Starting tomorrow I’m speaking at a missionary retreat in a center in the mountains here in Hokkaido, the large northern island of Japan. I left home at 4 am on Monday morning and traveled for almost 28 hours, but it was a problem-free trip. My plane left without delay from Chicago, and its route took us over the Canadian Rockies. They were as magnificent as I’d always heard — oyster-colored mounds and peaks as far as I could see into the horizon. Deep shadows filled the valleys and chasms, except for one apparently deep valley that appeared to be completely filled with ice and draping snow with a smooth surface. I wondered if it might be a glacier.

Alaska was even more beautiful. I don’t recall having ever flown over Alaska before, and it was stunning — Alp-like, snow-clad peaks rising from a thick soup of clouds. And then in other places, the landscape looked other-worldly — like a frozen wasteland. Rivers and lakes and forests and barren lands, all frozen solid and shrouded in white ice. There were occasional roads and train tracks, but they appeared to be frozen solid, too.

The Bering Sea was frozen, too, with huge sheets of ice that were cracked like a windshield that’s been in a wreck.

Arriving in Tokyo, I had a three-hour layover before my flight north, so I found a row of seats in the departures lounge and lay down and slept like a bum on a park bench.

In Sapporo, Mirial Gainer and Judy Bailey met me at the airport, and we had a slippery late-night, hour-long drive through the snow to get to the home of Dale and Sandra Bishop, where I’m staying for a couple of days. There was about a foot of snow that fell yesterday, and it appears to me that there’s about four or five feet on the ground. But today has been bright and beautiful.

Tomorrow we travel to our retreat center on the mountain. I’m still working on what I’ll share, so I would appreciate your prayers.

PS – For those of you following the story of Lucy the Sheep, I’ve been told that it became necessary to put her to sleep. Thanks, Ethan, for taking care of the vet and the burial; and thank you, Hannah, for being there, too!

I’m writing this at 3:30 am as I’m about to shut down my keyboard and head to the airport (although it will be posted later). This will be my fourth missionary retreat with our great people in Japan, held this time at a winter resort on the northern island. I’m bracing for very cold temperatures, and I might not have internet access, so I’m not sure if I can give any updates for the next eight days. But I’ll try.

In the meantime, I’m leaving a very sick sheep. Over the weekend, we made her as comfortable as possible in the little barn. She was unable to get up, but would try to stir around some when she heard us come in. I can understand why the man in Nathan’s parable was upset over the loss of his sheep. Sheep are companionship animals, like dogs, except they have no defensive tools. They are totally dependent on a caregiver. And they’re not as intelligent as dogs.

But Lucy had enough knowledge to seem grateful when I sat down on the floor and put her old wooly head in my lap. I even prayed over her (the Lord is concerned, after all, about animals) and sang to her (“Savior, Like a Shepherd, Lead Us”). That’ll either make you laugh or cry, but I’ll have to say that it was kind of upsetting for me.

I covered her with an old blanket and kept a little space heater going nearby, so she wouldn’t get cold. But I couldn’t get her to eat or drink anything, and she wasn’t able to get on her feet. So I’m leaving her in the hands of my son-in-law, Ethan, who will give her a good Christian burial when she passes away. She’s had a very long and enjoyable life.

And with that, I’m off. But I would appreciate your prayers for the trip. Blessings!

My favorite story in today’s newspapers comes from the London Daily Mail, and it’s an inspiring story of simple courage and conviction for the sake of the Gospel.

Perhaps you’ve read about the advertising blitz by militant atheists who have paid for large signs to be painted over the buses in London (now the campaign is spreading worldwide). The message says: “There’s Probably No God. Now Stop Worrying and Enjoy Your Life.”

That presented a real and job-threatening problem to 62-year-old bus driver, Ron Heather, of Southampton. Arriving at work one day, he was assigned a bus with that message blaring from end to end. “When I first saw the bus last Sunday, I was shocked,” he said. “I was just about to board and there it was staring me in the face. My first reaction was horror. I’d heard about this silly campaign in London, but I had no idea it was coming to Southampton.”

Heather told the newspaper, “I was in a dilemma but I felt strongly I couldn’t drive that bus, and so I went up to my inspectors and told them there was no way I could drive it. They said they didn’t have another one, so I thought I’d better go home.”

Thankfully, Heather’s company is trying to provide other buses for him to drive. But, as he told the paper, he’s prepared to quit rather than compromise his beliefs or water down his witness for Christ.

In the wonderful, ironic providence of God, his testimony and act of courage is being reported all over the world, and even the Drudge Report has picked it up.

You can read the original story in the Daily Mail here.

I found Lucy the Sheep unable to get up yesterday, and I fretted about her the rest of the day.  She’s very old (probably in her nineties in human terms), blind, and arthritic.  And it’s very cold.  Ben and Jessica Polston came over with an animal stretcher, and Lucy offered no resistance to being transported to the little barn.  Ethan Pierce ran an electrical cord and we put a space heater on a nearby shelf.  We surrounded her with straw.  This morning when I went out to check on her and she bleated when she heard me and munched on some of the sweet feed I brought .  But we’re bracing ourselves.   She seems ready  to go and be with the Lord.  I’ll keep you posted.