John
Chapter 18 beginning with verse 37: "Pilate
therefore said unto him, art thou a King
then? Jesus answered, thou sayest that I am
a King. To this end was I born, and for this
cause came I into the world, that I should
bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that
is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate
sayeth unto him, what is truth? And when he
had said this, he went out again unto the
Jews, and sayeth unto them, I find in him no
fault at all." Now I want you to see how
totally and absolutely blind Pilate was to
the truth. Truth was standing right in front
of him and he did not see him. He was unable
to discern the truth. You see the Bible says
in 11 Timothy Chapter 3:16 "All scripture is
given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in
righteousness. That the man of God may be
perfect, thoroughly furnished unto every
good works." So the Bible then is the
written word of God. It is the written
truth. Jesus Christ said in John 14:6 "I am
the way, the truth and the life and no man
cometh unto the Father but by me." So Jesus
Christ then is the living truth. Now you put
these two together, the written truth and
the living truth, and Jesus Christ said in
John 12:48 "Verily, Verily I said unto you,
he that rejecteth me, (that is the living
truth,) and receiveth not my words, (that is
the written truth), hath one that judgeth
him in the last day even the word which I
have spoken." Now, the truth is, many people
ask for truth, but they really do not want
it. Now the reason I am giving you this
introduction is because I am going to bring
a message today which I have entitled
"Honest Abe wasn't so Honest."
You may ask for the
truth and not really want the truth. And the
evidence is that people ask for the truth
and really don't want it, is they refuse to
listen to it, and to hear it and to receive
it once it is given. Do you remember what
Jesus Christ said in John 8:32? He said "You
shall know the truth and the truth shall
make you free." But that is only true if you
receive the truth and apply the truth. You
may hear truth all of your life, but if you
do not receive it and apply it, it does you
absolutely no good. Now if you have listened
carefully to the last three lessons, you
will already know that old honest Abe was
not so honest. In fact, he was a deceitful
and dastardly wicked man. He was a liar. He
was a warmonger, and the blood of thousands
of men is upon his head. Now, I want you to
understand that truth makes us very
uncomfortable. And the reason it makes us
uncomfortable is because it means that we
have to readjust our thinking and our
attitude. I never have forgotten when I
first learned, when you really start
studying the Bible it messes up a lot of
good sermons. It really does. I mean you
know, you can preach and say a lot of good
things you think until you really start
studying and realize that what you had been
saying wasn't true at all. And once you
begin to delve into what truth really is,
all of the propaganda that we have heard all
these years and all of the ideas that we
have absorbed, all of a sudden we realize,
hey, everything we have been taught from a
child is just about a lie. And we have to
readjust our thinking and refocus our
thinking and we are forced to recognize that
our hope is not in man, but in Jesus Christ.
You see once you begin to study, you find
out some of our heroes were not so great and
they really weren't heroes at all.
I want you to turn in
your Bibles very quickly to Psalm 118. 1
think this verse is very appropriate for two
reasons. Number one, this is the middle
verse in the Bible. Number two, the contents
of this verse. Look at Psalm I 18. And let's
read verse 8 and then we shall read verse 9
since it is a parallel verse. Psalm 118:8,
God says "It is better to trust in the Lord
than to put confidence in man." Isn't that
interesting? Middle verse, "It is better to
trust in the Lord than to put confidence in
man." And the next verse, "It is better to
trust in the Lord than to put confidence in
Princes." So what He is telling us is that
men will always fail us. Men will always let
us down. Only Christ is our hope and only
Christ is our success. Now you and I must
want truth, not just for ourselves, but for
others as well. Let me give you two quotes
to begin with. The first one is by Robert E.
Lee and this is what he said concerning the
truth about the war. He said, "Everyone
should do all in his power to collect and
disseminate the truth in the hope that it
may find a place in history and descend to
posterity. History is not the relation of
campaigns and battles, and Generals or other
individuals, but that which shows the
principles for which the South contended and
which justified her struggle for those
principles." Then the second quote is from
Benjamin H. Hill. We live in Benhill County.
And Benhill County was named after Benjamin
H. Hill. And Ben Hill said this, "We owe it
to our dead, to our living, and to our
children to preserve the truth and repel the
falsehoods so that we may secure just
judgment from the only tribunal before which
we may appear and be fully and fairly heard
and that tribunal is the Bar of History."
Now, the truth is the South and Christian
Principles have been horribly maligned by
the North. In fact, I could tell you today
that it has not just been horribly maligned,
it has been perverted as well. For instance,
our conquerors teach that the Constitution
stood for a national government and not a
compact between the sovereign states. Our
conquerors teach that the advocates of
secession were traitors to the United States
government and deserved to be hanged after
the war was over. They teach that what we
were engaged in was a Civil War because we
were not a Republic of States, but a Nation.
And by the way, the war was not a Civil War,
it was not between people of the same
Nation, it was between people of two
different Nations, because the Confederate
States of America had already been dually
and lawfully organized. So it was not a
Civil War at all. Our conquerors teach that
the South fought to hold their slaves. That
was not why the South fought. And they also
taught that the slaveholders were cruel and
barbarous, which we have already seen to be
a lie. They also teach that it was Abraham
Lincoln who cut the shackles of slavery,
which is certainly not true. They also teach
that the Emancipation Proclamation set the
slaves free. That is not true as well. They
teach that the Confederate government was
formed to destroy the Union and it was only
Lincoln's wise policies that saved that
Union and that is certainly not true. They
teach that the assassination of Abraham
Lincoln was one of the greatest blows that
ever befell the South and they teach that
Abraham Lincoln was a friend of the negro
and a friend of the South, which is a lie as
well. So everything about our History has
been perverted and maligned by the North.
Lincoln was not interested in preserving the
Constitution anymore than he was interested
in preserving the South.
There is a woman by
the name of Mildred Rutherford who wrote a
book a number of years ago and the book has
recently been reprinted and the name of it
is A True Estimate of Abraham Lincoln.
And in her book she documents ten distinct
constitutional violations by Abraham
Lincoln. I want to give them to you and then
I want to give you some quotes from the
friends, from the Cabinet and from the Party
of Abraham Lincoln, to show you that people
who were alive back then knew exactly that
Abraham Lincoln was violating the
Constitution on every hand. Here are the ten
that Mildred Rutherford lists:
-
First of all
coercion in 1861, which was a violation
of Article 4. And of course that's where
Lincoln tried to coerce the South into
fighting and of course into surrendering
to him basically.
-
Lincoln
violated the Constitution when he
violated the Laws of Neutrality, which
was the Trent Affair, Article 6, Clause
2, which was a violation of
international law. Now if you don't know
what the Trent Affair was, it is very
interesting because the Confederate
Government had sent some representatives
to England to present our cause there
before the English Parliament and our
Confederate men were on an English ship
named the Trent. And the United States
government came and took the Confederate
men off a British ship and imprisoned
them. You say, well, what's so bad about
that, because of the laws of Neutrality,
and remember the War of 1812 was fought
over the same issue because the English
was doing that to our citizens. And what
happened, the North was humiliated in
this. Those men had to be released and
William Seward had to write an apology
to the English government because the
English government would not even
negotiate. They said you will either
release those men or there is going to
be war between you and England as well
as the South and England. So, Lincoln
when he violated the Constitution in
this area, by the way, do you know what
he did for the Captain who arrested
those men and took them off of the
English Ship? He gave him a gold medal.
Didn't matter to him that he violated
the Constitution.
-
He suspended
the Writ of Habeas Corpus, Article 1,
Section 9, Clause 2.
-
He declared
war without the consent of Congress in
1861, which is a violation of Article 1,
Section 8, Clause 11 and 12.
-
He made West
Virginia a State in violation of Article
4, Section 3, Clause 1. He just
separated Virginia and made West
Virginia a State all by himself.
-
He denied
the freedom of speech in the Valandeham
Imprisonment, which was a violation of
the first Amendment.
-
He blockaded
Ports of the States that were held by
the Federal government to still be in
the Union. You don't block your own
Ports.
-
The Liberty
of the Press was taken away - that is a
violation of the First Amendment.
-
Violation of
the Fugitive slave law, which was
violation of Article 4, Section 2,
Clause 3.
Now, may I remind you
last week that Lincoln confessed to six of
these Constitutional violations in his joint
resolution to Congress, trying to get
Congress to validate everything that he had
done illegally and unlawfully. So he himself
acknowledged six of them. Now the amazing
truth is this: there were many people who
were friends of Lincoln in his Cabinet and
in Congress who recognized that what Lincoln
was doing was unconstitutional and wrong.
For instance, Godwin in The Nation says
this, "The first real breech in the
Constitution was President Lincoln using his
war power to abolish slavery." He said
Lincoln had no authority to do that.
Thaddeus Stevens who was of Lincoln's own
party and was a radical Republican and here
is what he said, "I will not stultify myself
by supposing that Mr. Lincoln has any
warrant in the Constitution for dismembering
Virginia." Thaddeus Stevens says Lincoln had
no Constitutional Warrant to divide
Virginia, yet he did. McClure, who was a
friend of Lincoln's said "Mr. Lincoln swore
to obey the Constitution, but in 18 months
violated it by his Emancipation
Proclamation." They knew. Mr. Rhodes said
"There was no authority for the Proclamation
by the Constitutional Laws, nor was there
any statute that warranted it". So they
realized Lincoln had absolutely no grounds
for doing what he did. Wendell Phillips, of
the Cooper Institute, said in 1864 "I judge
Mr. Lincoln by his acts, his violations of
the Law, his overthrow of Liberty in the
Northern States. I judge Mr. Lincoln by his
words, his deeds, and so judging him, I am
unwilling to trust Abraham Lincoln with the
future of this country." So here was a
leading man of the Cooper Institute saying
Lincoln cannot be trusted. Percy Gregg said,
"Listen, Lincoln never hesitated to violate
the Constitution when he so desired. The
Chief Justice testified to this. Lincoln
suspended with Writ of Habeas Corpus in
1861. He allowed West Virginia to be formed
from Virginia, contrary to the Constitution.
He issued his Emancipation Proclamation
without consulting his Cabinet and in
violation of the Constitution." Isn't it
amazing how everyone of these men are
acknowledging, not necessarily all at once,
but at least several of his unconstitutional
acts. Charles Sumner, who was another
radical republican and a member of his own
party said this: "When Lincoln reinforced
Fort Sumter and called for 75,000 men
without the consent of Congress, it was the
greatest breach ever made in the
Constitution and would hereafter give the
President the Liberty to declare war
whenever he wished without the consent of
Congress." Now that was Charles Sumner.
Charles Frances Adams was a historian of
Massachusetts. Listen to what he said. "How
can we justify the acts of Mr. Lincoln's
administration? An unconstitutional policy
called for unconstitutional coercion. An
unconstitutional coercion called for an
unconstitutional war. An unconstitutional
war called for an unconstitutional
despotism. Authority uncontrolled and
unlimited by men, by constitution, by the
Supreme Court or by Law was Lincoln's war
policy." Let me paraphrase that. Lincoln did
whatever he wanted to do. He was not
constrained by the Constitution. He was not
constrained by Law. He was not constrained
by the Supreme Court. So when the Supreme
Court ruled against him, he just kept going
and did whatever he was going to do anyhow -
totally irresponsible. Now, may I remind you
that these men were not Lincoln's enemies.
They were his friends. They were in his
Cabinet. They were in his party. So Lincoln
did not hesitate to violate the Constitution
whenever he chose to do so, nor would he
abide by the decisions of the Supreme Court.
Let me put it to you like this: Lincoln was
a tyrant in the strictest sense of the term.
Why? Because Lincoln used lawful power
unlawfully.
Everyone in here has
heard of J.P. Morgan, the great financier.
Listen to what J.P. Morgan said, "I
supported President Lincoln. I believed his
war policy would be the only way to save the
country, but I see my mistake. I visited
Washington a few weeks ago and I saw the
corruption of the present Administration and
so long as Abraham Lincoln and his Cabinet
are in power, so long will the war continue,
and for what? For the preservation of the
Constitution of the Union? No! But for the
sake of politicians and governmental
contractors." That was J. P. Morgan. He
said, I understand what is going on. There
is no fight to preserve the Union. There is
no fight to preserve the Constitution. There
is only a fight to reward the benefactors of
Abraham Lincoln. That's it! Horace Greeley
said this: "I cannot trust honest old Abe.
He's too smart for me." The word is really
not smart. The word is cunning, deceitful.
Layman said, who was one of Lincoln's
partners, "Mr. Lincoln did not possess a
single quality for his office as president.
People said he was good and honest and well
meaning, but he never pretended that he was
great. He was only nominated by means of a
corrupt bargain, entered into by Simon
Cameron of Pennsylvania and Caleb Smith of
Indiana, provided Lincoln would pledge them
Cabinet positions. These pledges Lincoln
fulfilled, and thus made himself a party to
corrupt bargains." That was his own law
partner that said that.
Now, I want to read
something to you just for a moment that is
rather lengthy but I want you to listen. I
want to tell you why. You have never heard,
probably, of a Judge by the name of Judge
Henry Clay Dean. I have a book at home that
has just been reprinted and the book is by
Judge Henry Clay Dean and the title of the
book is Crimes Of The Civil War. But it is
not crimes of the South, it is crimes of the
North and crimes of Abraham Lincoln. You
know, I told you in time past, that Lincoln
arrested 38,000 Northerners and had them
imprisoned without a trial. Never pressed a
charge against them. Well, Judge Henry Clay
Dean was one of those that Lincoln arrested
and put in prison without a trial. I want
you to listen to first of all, his
indictment of Lincoln and his government and
then secondly, he is going to tell you why
he was arrested. Now this is very
informative. Remember this comes from a
Judge who was alive, who suffered under
Abraham Lincoln, who knew firsthand what was
going on. Here is what Judge Henry Clay Dean
writes:
"Our government is in
nothing uniform except its' contempt of law
and powerful only for the oppression of the
people. Every officer seems to contemplate
his office as an engine of destruction in
which he is engaged to work the ruin of the
particular department of government
entrusted to his care. The Postmaster
General has for the last five years been
violating the mails. The Secretary of the
Treasury has been squandering the public
wealth. The Secretary of the Navy has been
enfeebling our naval power. The Secretary of
War all crimsoned with innocent blood is
employing the army for the destruction of
the Country. The Secretary of State has been
subverting Constitutional law and disgracing
our form of government at home and abroad.
The Secretary of the Interior has been
conniving with public jobbers to defraud the
government of its' most valuable lands. The
Attorney General is gravely burlesquing
nonsense itself by defining Constitutional
construction of unconstitutional laws and is
in conspiracy with military commissions to
murder innocent women. The President is
administering the government through
military satraps in a manner unknown to
Republican systems and disgraceful to
despotism's, which regard the character of
those entrusted to power. We now witness
among our kindred the debasement of a
civilized people who are forced to submit to
the insult and domination of barbarian
negroes and foreign vagabonds. The courts of
the Country are infamously corrupt. The
state Legislatures and Congress are
flagrantly accessible to bribes, which has
become the only tangible basis of' special,
and an essential necessity in general
legislation. The people of the late
Confederate States after encountering the
terrible vicissitudes of war were overtaken
by famine, which inflicted frightful forms
of starvation and are now overrun and robbed
by predatory invasions and endangered by the
insurrection of domestic savages incited by
foreign incendiaries."
Now this is just an
overall view of the government in Lincoln's
day by a Judge and here is why the Judge
said that he was arrested. He says "I have a
personal reason for the publication of this
book. I suffered under the reign of Mr.
Lincoln, (by the way I like that word, I
suffered under the reign of Mr. Lincoln),
which was a vibration between Anarchy and
Despotism. Why was I arrested? I cannot
tell! I have never seen anything like
charges, and suppose there were none in such
forms as would be recognized at any court of
justice under the sun. And yet I am quite
sure there was a cause for it which is this:
I am a Democrat, a devoted friend of the
Constitution of the United States, a sincere
lover of the government and the Union of the
States, am anxious for a reunion, and
believe that the right and duty of a free
man in a calm candid manner to discuss in a
temperate spirit the best modes of effecting
this purpose. I have dared to participate in
these discussions freely, which I have done
from convictions of duty. This was the cause
of my arrest! This is my only offense
clearly and elaborately stated. But all this
availed me nothing so long as I was a
Democrat. A faithful supporter of the
Constitution, an ardent lover of the Union
and believed and thought then that the
integrity of the one was the only
conservative power of the other."
So why was the Judge
arrested? Well, Lincoln knew the influence
and the power that Judge Henry Clay Dean had
and he tried to bribe Judge Henry Clay Dean
and get him on his side and the Judge
refused. And of course he continued to speak
out against Lincoln and the next thing he
knew, he was arrested and thrown in prison
and did not get out until after the war was
over and Lincoln was dead. The only reason
he was arrested was he disagreed with
Lincoln.
Now, in Mildred
Rutherford's book, A True Estimate Of
Abraham Lincoln, she gives a number of
newspaper quotes and articles written in
Lincoln's day before his inauguration and
after his inauguration and I want to read
some of these to you. Some of them are so
sorrowful, they ought to make you weep.
Others are downright humorous, but yet they
show the situation that we were in at that
period in our history. The New York Herald,
on May 22, 1860, said this concerning
Lincoln: "The candidate for President,
Abraham Lincoln, is an uneducated man, a
vulgar village politician, without any
experience worth mentioning in the practical
duties of statesmanship and only noted for
some very unpopular votes, which he gave
while a member of Congress." An uneducated,
vulgar village politician! The New York
Express in February of 1861, said this: "The
tone of levity and frivolity which
characterizes the speeches of Mr. Lincoln
causes the hearts of our citizens to sink
within them. They perceive already that he
is not the man for the crisis and begin to
despond of any extrication from the
impending difficulties." What are they
saying? Everybody realized that he is not
going to get us out, he is going to get us
in deeper. The Philadelphia Argus said, "The
humiliating spectacle is thus presented by
the President-elect indulging in the merest
clap trap of a politician, thanking the
people for voting for him, flattering their
political pride and appealing to their
sectional animosities." So he is trying to
set one section against the other. Now I
like this one: This was in The New York
Tribune, June 4, 1863. They were quoting
Alfred R. Wooten, who was the Attorney
General of Delaware, now not a Southern
State by any stretch of the imagination, and
here is what the Attorney General said
concerning Lincoln and his administration:
"The administration is an insult to the flag
and a traitor to their God. Russia never
dared exercise the privileges, which Mr.
Lincoln did, without reading a newspaper to
see what the people thought. A hound might
find Mr. Lincoln, but never will find him by
an honest scent." That was the Attorney
General of Delaware. A dog might find
Lincoln but not by an honest scent. He
didn't think too much of Mr. Lincoln.
Wendell Phillips of the Cooper Institute,
once again on August 22, 1862, said this:
"The Union belongs to me as much as to
Abraham Lincoln. What right has he or any
official, our servants to claim that I shall
cease criticizing his mistakes when they are
dragging the Union to ruin? I find grave
faults with Abraham Lincoln!" The New York
World on April 13, 1864, "Mr. Lincoln is
wholly unqualified for his position. The
personal presence, the dignity nor the
knowledge demanded in the magistrate of a
great people. No branch of the
Administration has been well and efficiently
administered under him. His soul seems to be
made of leather and incapable of any grand
or noble emotion. You leave his presence
with your enthusiasm dampened, your better
feelings crushed, and your hopes cast to the
wind. Even wisdom from him seems but folly."
The New York World, June 2, 1864, says this:
"That there is in the Republican Party a
widely diffused impressions of the
feebleness, faithlessness and incapacity of
Mr. Lincoln's Administration is notorious."
What are they saying? Everybody in the
Republican Party knew that Lincoln was
wrong! The New York Herald, June 2, 1864
said "Anything for a change in this imbecile
and torpid administration! Let us have a
shaking up of its dry bones anything for a
change!" I hope you know what an imbecile
is? The New York World, June 4, 1864 said
"The age of rail splitters and tailors of
buffoons, bores and fanatics has succeeded."
Translated, Lincoln is a bore, a buffoon,
and a fanatic, he continues, "Mr. Lincoln
and Mr. Johnson are both men of mediocre
talent, neglected education, narrow views,
deficient information and of course vulgar
manners. A statesman is supposed to be a man
of some depth of thought and extent of
knowledge. Has this country with so proud a
record been reduced to such intellectual
poverty as to be forced to present two such
names as Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson
for the highest stations in this most trying
crisis of its history. It is a cruel mockery
and bitter humiliation. Such nominations at
this juncture are an insult to the common
sense of the people. Has this country with
so proud a record been reduced to such
intellectual poverty as to be forced to
present two such names as Abraham Lincoln
and Andrew Johnson for the highest stations
in this most trying crisis of its history?"
And that came from New York. In other words,
they realized these guys are buffoons. Now,
this may surprise you when I say this, but I
had to be selective of my quotes that I just
used, not because I was trying to pick out
the worst ones, but because there were a
multiplicity of such quotes. I could have
sat here for another hour reading to you
things that Northerners said about Abraham
Lincoln. When Abraham Lincoln was alive he
was mocked and ridiculed and hated and
despised. Even his infamous Gettysburg
Address was viewed and pronounced as a
failure by himself, by Secretary of State
William Seward, by Edward Everett, who also
spoke on that occasion and by W.H.
Cunningham, who was a reporter for the
Montgomery Missouri Star, who was there when
he gave the address. But after his death,
everything changed.
Let me tell you
something. And I want you to keep this in
mind, that Abraham Lincoln was not a
Christian. Abraham Lincoln mocked and
ridiculed the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Even
his dearest intimates said that the only
reason Abraham Lincoln went to church was to
mock the preacher. After the preaching was
over he would imitate him in a nasal, vulgar
manner just to get laughs. Abraham Lincoln
wrote a dissertation denying the deity of
Jesus Christ and denying the inspiration of
the scriptures. The dissertation was finally
torn up by his partner with this statement:
"You will never get elected if this gets
out." Abraham Lincoln held séances in the
White House. His law partner, his friends,
and even his wife testified that Abraham
Lincoln was not a Christian. Nicholah, his
private secretary said this, "Mr. Lincoln
did, not to my knowledge, in any way change
his religious views, opinions or beliefs
from the time he left Springfield to the day
of his death". What did he say, he never was
converted. He always hated Christ and hated
Christianity. I like what General Don Piate
says and this really puts the icing on the
cake, if this is not a picture of
politicians, I don't know what is. General
Don Piate traveled with Lincoln whenever
Lincoln was making his campaign speeches and
here is what Piate said, "When a leader dies
all good men go to lying about him. From the
moment that covers his remains, to the last
echo of the rule press, in speeches, in
sermons, eulogies, reminiscences, we here
nothing but pious lies. Abraham Lincoln has
almost disappeared from human knowledge. I
hear of him, I read of him in eulogies and
biographies, but I fail to recognize the man
that I knew and liked." So what is Piate
saying? Everybody's writing lies; they are
not writing the truth about Abraham Lincoln.
William Stanton, who was Secretary of War,
in a letter to President Buchanan, (you
remember Buchanan preceded Lincoln,)
expressed his contempt for Lincoln. None of
his Cabinet really liked him. They thought
he was an absolute fool. Do you know what
William Stanton did after Lincoln was
elected President? William Stanton, the
Secretary of War, advised the revolutionary
overthrow of the Lincoln Administration and
that General George McClellan be installed
as a military dictator. But after Lincoln
was dead, William Stanton, who hated and
despised Lincoln so, made this infamous
quote, "Now he belongs to the ages." John
Haag, who was Secretary of State, eulogized
Lincoln, after his death and he called him
"the greatest, the wisest, the Godliest man
that has appeared on earth since Christ."
Now remember what Piate said, when a leader
dies, all men go to lying about him. Listen
to what J.G. Holland wrote after Lincoln
died "Lincoln unequalled since Washington in
service to the Nation, Mr. Lincoln will
always be remembered as an imminently
Christian President. Conscience not popular
applause nor love of power was the ruling
motive of Lincoln's life. No stimulant ever
entered his mouth." (I don't know if he
drank or not, but he was partner in the
ownership of a saloon, I can tell you that.)
"No stimulant ever entered his mouth. No
profanity ever came from his lips." (And yet
he was known for his vulgar, filthy
stories.) "Abraham Lincoln was the first of
all men who have walked the earth since the
Nazarene."
The people had to do
something to deify him in the sense that
evidently they were going to try to gloss
over everything that the North did wrong to
the South and that he did wrong. Listen to
what Henry Waterson wrote. This was upon the
dedication of Lincoln's home. Get your
airbags out. The dedication of Lincoln's
home: "Your lowly cabin which is to be
dedicated on the morrow may well be likened
to the manger Bethlehem. The boy that went
thence to a godlike destiny, to the Son of
God the Father Almighty of him and us all.
Thence his prompting except from God. His
tragic death may be likened also to that
other martyr whom Lincoln so closely
resembled. There are utterances of his,
which read like rescripts from the Sermon on
the Mount. Reviled as Him of Galilee, slain
even as Him of Galilee, yet as gentle and
unoffending a man who died for me." You talk
about likening Lincoln to Jesus Christ. That
is blasphemous. Even if Lincoln had been a
godly man, it is still blasphemous because
Jesus Christ is unequalled. He is the
monogonast. His only begotten son;
monogonast is the Greek term, which means
one of a kind. He is unique. There is none
that can compare to Jesus Christ. J.M.
Merrill and The Detroit Free Press said
"Abraham Lincoln is so far above every other
man in human history, that to compare him to
others seems sacrilege. Nowhere on earth is
there a historic character to compare our
sainted martyr, Abraham Lincoln."
Albert Bushnel Heart
wrote, "Abraham Lincoln was the greatest man
of the Civil War period." If you would just
change man to criminal, I would agree with
it. Listen to the Sunday School types.
"Abraham Lincoln is the Christian exemplar
for children today." According to Judge
Stewart, "Here in this New World country,
with no pride of ancestry, arose the
greatest man since the meek and lowly
Nazarene. A man whose life had a greater
influence on the human race than any
teacher, thinker or toiler since the
beginning of the Christian Era. You mean to
tell me that Lincoln was greater than the
Apostle Paul? That Lincoln was greater than
the Apostle Peter, greater than the Apostle
John? I think that Lincoln did not have near
the influence that they wanted him.
I find an absolutely
amazing and astounding contradistinction.
Abraham Lincoln, the villain, the one who
violated his oath of office repeatedly, the
man who rent this country in pieces, that
secretly and deliberately started the War in
which a million people were wounded, a
half-a-million died, Abraham Lincoln, the
villain, is deified when Jeff Davis, who was
a Godly and devout man and a Statesman who
wanted to preserve the Constitution, is
vilified. It's amazing!
Turn to two passages
of scripture. I want you to look at Proverbs
17 and then the Book of Isaiah, Chapter 5.
Let's look first at Proverbs 17 and look
what God says. Proverbs 17:15: God says "He
that justifieth the wicked and he that
condemeth the just, even they both are an
abomination to the Lord." When you justify,
when you pronounce right, when you pronounce
just, a wicked man, it is an abomination to
God. And on the other hand when you condemn
a righteous man, it is an abomination to
God. Look in your Bibles to the Book of
Isaiah Chapter 5, Verse 20: God says, "Woe
to them that call evil good and good evil.
That put darkness for light and light for
darkness. That put bitter for sweet and
sweet for bitter." You see what has happened
in our country since Abraham Lincoln,
everything has been turned upside down and
basically what has happened is this: evil
men have been called good men and good men
have been called evil men. You look today at
our governmental structure, you look in our
society and you find the men who are held up
as our exemplars, as our heroes and the
world is trying to make them "good" when in
reality they are evil, wicked men plotting
the overthrow of our government as we know
it. All of our leaders keep talking about
our democracy. We have never had a
democracy, we have never had a democracy;
well we have one now because we perverted
the Republic. We were supposed to be a
Republic, not a Democracy. What we find is
those men who are real patriots, those men
who are real Christians, those men who want
what is right, they are now vilified and
maligned and counted as worth absolutely
nothing. They are to be gotten rid of and
disposed of. God says, "Woe unto them that
call evil good and that call good evil."
Abraham Lincoln, old honest Abe, was not so
honest. He was a wicked, ungodly individual
who violated his constitutional oath and
sunk this nation into perilous War.