Showing posts with label beliefs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beliefs. Show all posts

Monday, January 25, 2016

Doug Addison: "2016 Prophetic Word: Get Ready for Realignments and New Assignments" - THE ELIJAH LIST

Doug Addison: "2016 Prophetic Word: Get Ready for Realignments and New Assignments"


Jan 25, 2016
THE ELIJAH LIST
Steve ShultzFrom the desk of Steve Shultz:
Doug Addison is a good friend and one of our most popular writers on the Elijah List. People get really excited to read his words about the season(s) we are in.
Below is Doug's word for the New Year and is full of revelation...and what is coming to the Body of Christ. Please make sure and forward his word on to all of your friends and family...they will want to read this word by Doug!
ALSO...Doug Addison has a brand new book called 2016 Prophetic Forecast that we rushed to get into our store...it's an amazing prophetic book that is full of prophetic words, dreams, and supernatural experiences that he gets on a regular basis and...it's been selling like hotcakes! You can order it below or just click here.
I will leave you with this key word that Doug shares: There is a lot of shifting happening right now that is going to bring about a major restructuring for those looking for the next level in their lives.
Hey! Now one last thing. The "What is God Saying for 2016?" conference has JUST ended and NOW YOU CAN ORDER THE CDs, DVDs OR MP3 DOWNLOAD.
Friends, this truly, truly, truly was the best conference yet and I've NEVER EVER heard so many positive words coming forth from God's prophets. Our speakers were: Chuck Pierce, Jane Hamon, Dutch Sheets, and Dr. Alveda King (niece to Martin Luther King, Jr).
Here is the link to purchase the full message sets in DVD, CD, or MP3 audio formats:
Enjoy! And thanks for forwarding this to your friends! They cansubscribe just below...
Order the Download
Steve Shultz, Founder and Publisher
The Elijah List & Breaking Christian News 
http://www.elijahlist.com
P.S. – Oh, and a Quick Note to our readers: To have daily, encouraging prophetic emails from The Elijah List sent to your inbox, just CLICK HERE or go to: http://elijahlist.com/subscribe. PLUS: HEY! Please EXPLORE our more than 4,000 Christian Prophetic books, CDs, and gifts at: elijahshopper.com.
HR

Prophetic Words for 2016
This year will be a time of healing and breakthrough for those who have suffered unjustly. 
We will open the year with a purging of the things that are not of God. We are all walking through a John 15 experience in which God will be pruning things from our lives over the next few months.(Photo via Pixabay)
The result of this time of deeper cleansing will be a closer relationship with God and you will have greater authority.
If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. John 15:7 NIV
Major Adjustment in Our Beliefs
God will be revealing to us the beliefs, values, and doctrines that are not for now. This will be a major adjustment for many people as God is moving us away from mere tradition and revealing deeper revelation that will be needed to operate in the new things being released from Heaven this year.
This will not create new doctrine necessarily, but we will all be challenged with how we express our faith. 
Expect to be stretched, as God will be pushing our faith to new levels.
Hold on, as God is going to challenge you; you will need to get these verses in your spirit: (Photo via The Elijah List)
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13 NKJV),
and,
"...but with God all things are possible"(Matthew 19:26 NIV).
God has mercy and compassion for all people. He is bringing His heart to us so that we too can operate in new levels of His love and mercy.
Positioning is Very Important
It is crucial to align with the right people and places this year. It is important to look at the lives of those you are aligned with. What is the fruit of their ministry or efforts?
Are people thriving, or is there a trail of brokenness? Alignment and location is important for this new season. God will be moving some people unexpectedly because of new assignments that are coming.
First Quarter Forecast
January will be a continued time of deeper pruning as God prepares us to operate at the higher levels coming. 
What we did in past seasons we will not be able to do in the New Year. 
God will be revealing and healing things at a deeper level. (Photo via Pixabay)
February will be a time of old things dying, but the result will bring new life. Two major prophets (Bob Jones and John Paul Jackson) went to Heaven in February 2014 and 2015, and we can expect to reap a greater level of revelation in the month of February because of this. Some strange events will make sense later. Watch for God to speak to the world with a prophetic message in the NFL Super Bowl.
March is a breakthrough month. We will see a sudden acceleration of favor and sudden advancements. 
Expect to see lots of movement as God is realigning you to operate at new levels. 
The saying, "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb" is going to be reversed. We are going to go out like a lion. We will see the start of new things. They might look small, but the result will be a greater impact.
Christmas Surprise
On Christmas morning last month I was awakened to an encounter in which I saw an angel taking measurements for expansion. This angel was very busy and ultra-focused. It reminded me of Ezekiel 40-43 where the angel was measuring to rebuild the temple.
Then I saw masses of worker angels assembling to rebuild a spiritual temple because the glory of the Lord is returning like never before. What I was seeing was God preparing for a coming movement.
This "spiritual temple" I was seeing is "The House" that the late prophet Bob Jones often referred to when he talked about the billion-youth revival.
Bob Jones' entire life and ministry was to help us get ready for one of the greatest moves of God and revivals in history. He died in 2014 before it manifested on earth. But the plans are still in place and God is setting this up right now. (Photo via Pixabay)
There is a lot of shifting happening right now that is going to bring about a major restructuring for those looking for the next level in their lives.
Bob's Lumberyard Experience
On April 10, 2007, I received a phone call from Bob Jones. He told me about a spiritual experience where he was given a paid receipt from Heaven to buy the lumber to build the "house" (for the billion-youth revival).
In the experience, Bob went into a lumberyard and placed the order from Heaven on the counter, but the foreman refused to fill the order. Bob picked up a silver hammer that was lying there and pounded it on the counter and demanded the goods, but the foreman refused, so Bob left.
I asked Bob if the foreman was a demon and he said, "Of course not, or I would have killed him with the hammer." He told me that the foreman represented the leaders of the Church. They want their own and their prodigals, but they do not want to reach this group of outcasts.
Bob's health declined after this, and he died in 2014 – which was seven years later. The Church said no at that time, but now it is time to pick up the calling and bring it into reality.
Radical Move of God Coming
A week before my Christmas encounter, I heard a distant rumble in the spirit, and it was the Lord coming. 
The glory of the Lord is returning like never before. It is not coming in the current Church structure, though churches are invited. 
It will not fit in the old wineskin because it will blow many churches up by causing division.
It is because of God's love and mercy for the current Church that He will not allow this movement to be damaged. We will still have our old church structure, and this move of God will be like what happened during the 1950's Healing Revival. That move of God took place mostly outside of churches in tents. 
I am not saying this new move of God will be tent meetings again, but in a similar fashion, it will happen outside and not inside.(Photo via Wikipedia)
There Will Be a Cost
Those who say yes to this new movement will pay a great price, but the reward will be even greater. 
The new anointing of fire and oil from Heaven can only be touched by those who are called by God and have made it through the tests of humility. 
This will cause jealousy from many leaders, who will try to control or own it – but they will not be able to. This new movement will not be contained by one group and will spread like fire around the world.
I do not know the timing of it. But something is starting for sure.
The Outcasts are God's Priority
Last year on New Year's Eve I had a very powerful encounter in which I literally heard the audible cries of people who have been wounded by uncaring Christians and leaders. Then I heard (this part was not audible) the Lord say,"Their blood has reached My ears and I must respond."
In 2016 God's new agenda is about those who have been wounded by Christianity.
These are the spiritual outcasts who do not fit into typical churches. Many have been pushed away and deeper into darkness by the very ones who hold the keys to God's light and love. (Photo by James Lee via Flickr)
I have been prophesying this for a few years now. But it is getting closer and closer.
High Grace Required
To operate in the new move of God for this year it will require us to have high levels of grace, mercy, and love for people. God is going to start moving on people that might be offensive to many Christians. We will need to give up the "tough love" attitude toward people to allow them to get healed relationally and spiritually.
Tough love is when we require people to come up to our level or agree with our beliefs in order for us to like or interact with them. Saying things like, "I am not going to candy-coat things for people, I am going to give them the truth."
This kind of behavior will not work this year. It will wound people and push them further away from God as opposed to drawing them closer. It is also a form of spiritual pride on our part. 
We need to be humble and get God's heart for people in need. (Photo by Sean McGrath via Flickr)
God is not a drill sergeant or an uncaring, angry father. This is a time to reveal the Father's heart to people through unconditional love.
ElijahList Prophetic Resources
The Spirit of Elijah is Being Revealed
An angel spoke to John the Baptist's father, Zechariah, about the calling on his son:
"And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous – to make ready a people prepared for the Lord" (Luke 1:17 NIV).
Right after this encounter, Zechariah lost his voice and was not able to speak because of his negativity and doubt. After the birth of John, his voice was restored. This is a prophetic sign of what God is doing in this season. We are being called to bless the sons and daughters (spiritual or natural), and God is silencing our negative talk.
To prepare for this, you may need to ask forgiveness of people in your life.
Releasing What was Bound
There are judgments that have been made by Christians that need to be released.
Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in Heaven. 
Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by My Father in Heaven.Matthew 18:18-19 NIV (Photo via Pixabay)
Judgments against others cause us to come into agreement with darkness and not the Lord. A name for satan in the Bible is the Accuser of the Believers. We do not want to come into agreement with that. We need to agree with Heaven over people, cities, and nations.
So, what has happened is that people with spiritual keys of authority have locked down people and even geographic regions; knowingly or unknowingly this is what has happened.
God showed me that cities that have judgments against them usually have a spiritual root. I saw that there was a leader who was carrying a spiritual key to open revival over a major city in the U.S. But this leader got wounded and became judgmental.
Because this person was carrying the spiritual key from Heaven, when they got judgmental, it caused the entire world to look at this city (and cities similar to it) with judgment. 
In a vision I saw these keys being collected all over the world, and they are about to be redistributed.
Keys of Authority Reassigned
There are spiritual keys that have been given to people that unlock and lock things in the spiritual realm in and over people and regions. This is similar to the key of David mentioned in Revelation 3:7b:
"...These are the words of Him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What He opens no one can shut, and what He shuts no one can open."
There is also a key of David mentioned in Isaiah 22:22. This is in the Old Testament, and it is mentioned in the context of judgment.
But the key in Revelation 3:7 is the redeemed key of authority that can open and close things with God's heart and love. 
There are people with spiritual authority operating in the Old Testament version of this gift. They often close things down in their anger and opinions (see Isaiah 22:22).
Because this has greatly wounded people and closed people down based on opinions and anger and not God's desires, these keys are now being reassigned. (Photo via Pixabay)
I saw two angels traveling the world right now, gathering these keys or assignments. This is happening over ministries, churches, cities, and even nations. Something has changed, and I am literally weeping daily over the intimacy level with the Lord. 
What is happening is that God is lining things up for a breakthrough in March!
Why 2016 Could Be the Start of Something New
The last global movement of God's power started 22 years ago this month in January 1994 with the Toronto Blessing. It was very powerful and lasted a few years, but was eventually spoken against, and some major leaders disassociated themselves with it. This caused division and even brought judgment on the ministries and churches of those who spoke against what God was doing.
This amazing move of God got bound by people with keys of authority, and the result is that we have not seen a sustained global movement of God for 22 years. This is related to the keys that I saw being redistributed.
There has been a move of God every 11 years dating back to the Azusa Street Revival in 1906. The 11-year intervals fall on the 1950 Healing Movement, the 1961 Charismatic Renewal, the 1972 Jesus People Movement, and in 1983, the Third Wave Charismatic Movement.
1994 had the Toronto Blessing, and 11 years later there would have been a movement that actually did start around 2005. But this amazing movement from God never got off the ground because of judgments. It was cut short, judged, and bound by those with the keys of authority. 
The 2005 move started with unusual signs of God's glory, such as gold fillings appearing in people's mouths, gold dust, and gemstones appearing supernaturally in meetings. But the move never went global as God intended and was very limited.
It is now 11 years after 2005, which is 2016, and there is a move of God coming this year. 
It will be with fire and oil from Heaven that cannot be touched by those who have not been prepared. This is what I saw in my Christmas morning encounter – an angel measuring for it, and worker angels being assigned to bring it about. (Photo via Pixabay)
2016 Financial Release
This new movement from God is going to cost a lot of money to fund, because it is going to be targeted to the poor in spirit and the outcasts; basically, young people and those who do not have much money.
It will cost a lot of money, so God is releasing financial strategies right now. God is calling us to something new, but we are holding things back by doing things according to tradition as opposed to "doing what the Father is doing."
Jesus said, "I only do what I see the Father doing," but many people today are only doing what they see their spiritual fathers or forefathers doing. This does not allow us to branch into new things as God opens them up.
An example from Genesis 26 is when Isaac was going to go to Egypt during the famine like his father did, but God spoke to him to go into the land of the Philistines instead. The result was that he got blessed 100-fold in a time of famine.
Many people are stalled because they keep trying to go back to old ways instead of leading out in the new. 
We need to get a new strategy to reach people and also to make money to finance what is coming.
A Major Key for this Year is Found in Isaiah
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. Isaiah 43:18 NIV (Photo via Pixabay)
We will need to let go of things that no longer work or that God is no longer moving on. Going into this new era will require us to look to God for our strategy. 
Just like with Isaac in Genesis 26, God wants to bless us 100-fold in the midst of economic difficulties.
What to Expect in 2016
Just to recap, we have a lot to look forward to this year. God is bringing a long past-due movement, and we will see the release of new spiritual gifts and blessings. 
Financial strategies are going to be revealed to help fund new Kingdom work. Expect to be encouraged and to see many prophetic promises of God that will be renewed and fulfilled in your life this year.
Doug Addison
InLight Connection

Email: respond@dougaddison.com
Website: DougAddison.com
Doug Addison is a prophetic dream interpreter, speaker, writer, Life Coach, and stand-up comedian. Doug travels the world bringing a message of love, hope, and having fun! His unique style helps people discover their destiny and experience God's supernatural love and power. 
Doug releases Daily Prophetic Words online and is the author of several books, including Understand Your Dreams Now: Spiritual Dream Interpretation and Personal Development God's Way. He and his wife Linda live in Los Angeles, California.
To subscribe to The Elijah List go to:http://elijahlist.com/subscribe

ElijahList Prophetic Resources
Doug Addison's Itinerary:
Note: Events are subject to change at the ministry's discretion. We suggest you always check first with the event contact listed here and/or directly visit their website for latest updates on each event.
February 3, 2016 (6pm-7pm PT)
Spirit Connection Webcast
Doug Addison shares prophetic insight and teaching. He interprets dreams and does live Q&A about the supernatural.
dougaddison.com/webcast
February 20, 2016 (10am-12pm PT)
Live Online Interactive Webinar with Doug Addison
Join Doug Addison on his next LIVE Interactive Webinar
MORE INFO TO COME!
March 2, 2016 (6pm-7pm PT)
Spirit Connection Webcast
Doug Addison shares prophetic insight and teaching. He interprets dreams and does live Q&A about the supernatural.
dougaddison.com/webcast

ElijahList Prophetic Resources

ElijahList Prophetic Resources
ebookNEW!
2016 Prophetic Forecast
by Doug Addison 
Book 
$12.00
Order the Download
$7.99
Order the Download
WIGS2014NEW!
What Is God Saying for 2016?

by Dr. Alveda King, Chuck Pierce, Dutch Sheets, and Jane Hamon(Note: all product is scheduled to begin shipping ON OR BEFORE January 28th)
$49.00
Order the CD
$59.00
Order the CD
$35.00
Order the Download
by phone

ElijahList Prophetic Resources
An ElijahList Paid Advertisement

Sunday, January 3, 2016

Dr. Michael Brown - "Christians & The Cultural War" - MorningStar 12.30.15


Dr. Michael Brown 
"Christians & The Cultural War" 
MorningStar 12.30.15




Published on Jan 3, 2016

Michael Brown - "Christians & The Cultural War" - MorningStar 12.30.15

- testimony, LGBT, beliefs

Videos filmed and photos shared by Steve Martin - to give appreciation to and love for those we support, through Love For His People, Inc.

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Lincoln's Faith in God

Lincoln's Faith in God

by Gordon Leidner of Great American History


Lincoln's relationship with God is a subject highly debated by historians and students of history. Some say Lincoln was an unbeliever, or at least a skeptic, of Christianity. A few say he was an atheist. Many say he was a "deeply religious" man that daily sought God's guidance.

What were Abraham Lincoln's religious beliefs? Was he a Christian? A deist? Or, was he a theistic rationalist, like many of America's Founding Fathers were?
Many books have been written on the subject of Lincoln's religion. When one reads Lincoln's presidential speeches and letters, filled with his references to the Bible and demonstrative of his dependence on prayer for God's guidance, it is difficult to comprehend why anyone would perceive President Lincoln as anything but a man that sincerely depended on God.

So . . . you are invited to read further for the evidence, or jump to the Conclusions below.

Why the debate?


The primary reason for this debate over whether or not Lincoln was a man of faith can be summed up in two words: William Herndon. Herndon was Lincoln's young law partner while Lincoln lived in Springfield. He shared a law office with Lincoln for many years. To make a long story short, Herndon wrote a biography of Lincoln many years after Lincoln was assassinated, and in it he proclaimed Lincoln an "infidel."

There is little doubt that Lincoln, as a young man, went through a period of skepticism towards Christianity. But as is evidenced by Lincoln's own words, he changed. (Herndon either never understood this, or had his reasons for refusing to accept it.) There is some debate as to when this change took place, and to what extent it went. His wife said that he "was never a technical Christian." But what she meant about "technical" Christian is in doubt. In that day, "born again" was not a commonly used, or understood, phrase. It is likely she found his relationship with God lacking due to his reluctance to join any specific church.

It is true that Lincoln never joined a church, although he attended church services regularly while President. The reason he gave for refusing to join a church was that he could "never be satisfied" with all the dogmas and creeds that the denominational churches of his day required. On this subject Lincoln wrote:
"When any church will inscribe over its altar, as its sole qualification for membership, the Savior's condensed statement of the substance of both law and Gospel, 'Thou shalt love the lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul and thy neighbor as thyself' that church will I join with all my heart and all my soul."

One of Lincoln's earliest statements on the subject of his faith came in 1846:
"That I am not a member of any Christian church is true; but I have never denied the truth of the Scriptures; and I have never spoken with intentional disrespect of religion in general, or of any denomination of Christians in particular....I do not think I could myself be brought to support a man for office whom I knew to be an open enemy of, or scoffer at, religion." [July 31, 1846]

Note: All Lincoln quotes on this page are taken from Abraham Lincoln: Quotes, Quips, and Speeches

Lincoln's Faith Increases


Mrs. Lincoln stated that after the demise of their son Willy in early 1862, her husband drew much closer to God. The evidence of this increases steadily while he is in the White House. Many of Lincoln's presidential speeches are superb examples of a man seeking God. Below is one of Lincoln's many proclamations, as president, for a national day of fasting and prayer. Few ministers of the gospel could have done better:
"It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, and to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in Holy Scripture, and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord. And, insomuch (sic) as we know that by His divine law nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisement in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people? 

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which has preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us. It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended power, to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness." [March 30, 1863]

On January 5, 1863 Lincoln responded to a letter from some Quakers that had written to encourage him and tell him they were praying for him:
"It is most cheering and encouraging for me to know that in the efforts which I have made and am making for the restoration of a righteous peace to our country, I am upheld and sustained by the good wishes and prayers of God’s people. No one is more deeply than myself aware that without His favor our highest wisdom is but as foolishness and that our most strenuous efforts would avail nothing in the shadow of His displeasure."

On September 4, 1864 Lincoln responded to Elizah P. Guerney, another Quaker, thanking her for her prayers and kind letter:
"The purposes of the Almighty are perfect, and must prevail, though we erring mortals may fail to accurately perceive them in advance. We hoped for a happy termination of this terrible war long before this; but God knows best, and has ruled otherwise. We shall yet acknowledge His wisdom, and our own error therein. Meanwhile we must work earnestly in the best lights He gives us, trusting that so working still conduces to the great ends He ordains. Surely He intends some great good to follow this mighty convulsion, which no mortal could make, and no mortal could stay."

The following demonstrates Lincoln's humble, unquestioned dependence on God's aid. Rarely do our history books tell the story of a president on his knees in prayer! This was a statement he made to General Dan Sickles, a participant in the battle of Gettysburg:
"Well, I will tell you how it was. In the pinch of the campaign up there (at Gettysburg) when everybody seemed panic stricken and nobody could tell what was going to happen, oppressed by the gravity of our affairs, I went to my room one day and locked the door and got down on my knees before Almighty God and prayed to Him mightily for victory at Gettysburg. 

I told Him that this war was His war, and our cause His cause, but we could not stand another Fredericksburg or Chancellorsville... And after that, I don't know how it was, and I cannot explain it, but soon a sweet comfort crept into my soul. The feeling came that God had taken the whole business into His own hands and that things would go right at Gettysburg and that is why I had no fears about you." [July 5, 1863]

Lincoln stated the following upon receiving a gift of a Bible from a group of African-Americans from Baltimore:
"In regard to this great book, I have but to say, it is the best gift God has given to men. All the good Savior gave to the world was communicated through this book. But for it we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man's welfare, here and hereafter, are to be found portrayed in it." [Sept. 9, 1864]

Lincoln: A Statesman Under God


While in the White House, Lincoln wrote out his private "Meditation on Divine Will":
"The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be, wrong. God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war it is quite possible that God's purpose is something different from the purpose of either party -- and yet the human instrumentalities, working just as they do, are of the best adaptation to effect His purpose. I am almost ready to say that this is probably true -- that God wills this contest, and wills that it shall not end yet. By his mere great power, on the minds of the now contestants, He could have either saved or destroyed the Union without a human contest. Yet the contest began. And, having begun He could give the final victory to either side any day. Yet the contest proceeds."[September, 1862]

He also said:
"Whatever shall appear to be God's will, I will do."[September 13, 1862]

"Amid the greatest difficulties of my administration, when I could not see any other resort, I would place my whole reliance in God, knowing that all would go well, and that He would decide for the right." [October 24, 1863]

The following is from Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address. This address is widely recognized as one of the world's greatest speeches. Unlike modern day presidents, Lincoln did not have a "speech writer" to put together inspiring statements for him to read to the people. What he usually did with major documents, such as the inaugurals, was write out the complete text himself, and then submit it to a few trusted friends for comment. He rarely made anything other than minor changes as a result of these criticisms.

In this, the latter half of his second inaugural address, Lincoln starts off in describing how both the North and South was surprised at how long the war had lasted, and how they were both surprised that the cause of the war (slavery) was on the road to ending, but the war still went on. [Note: the 13th amendment, ending slavery, had been pushed through Congress by Lincoln and was already in the process of ratification by the states. The Confederate Congress was making provisions, also, of using slaves as soldiers, and as a result of that--providing the black soldiers with freedom.]

"...Neither party expected for the war, the magnitude, or the duration, which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces; but let us judge not that we be not judged.

The prayers of both could not be answered; that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!" If we shall suppose that American Slavery is one of those offences which, in the providence of "God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South, this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offence came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a Living God always ascribe to Him?

Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled up by the bondsman's 250 years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another draw with the sword, as was said 3000 years ago, so still must it be said, ‘the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan--to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations." [March 4, 1865]

This is Lincoln's proclamation that the last Thursday of November should be set aside as a day of Thanksgiving. Many days of Thanksgiving had been proclaimed by presidents before this one, but this is the one that finally turned into the national holiday that we celebrate annually.

"It has seemed to me fit and proper that they (gifts of God) should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens." [October 3, 1863]

Rarely do our presidents invoke the power of the Holy Spirit in their national proclamations:
"I invite the people of the United states (on Aug 6)... to invoke the influence of His Holy Spirit... to guide the counsels of the government with wisdom adequate to so great a national emergency, and to visit with tender care and consolation throughout the length and breadth of our land all those who, through the vicissitudes of marches, voyages, battles, and sieges have been brought to suffer in mind, body, or estate, and finally to lead the whole nation through the paths of repentance and submission to the Divine will back to the perfect enjoyment of union and internal peace." [July 15, 1863]


Conclusions about Lincoln's religious beliefs


Lincoln was raised in the Christian-Calvinistic traditional faith, which he abandoned when a young man. William Herndon was close with Lincoln during his years of skepticism towards Christianity, but did not go to Washington DC with Lincoln when he became President, and consequently never witnessed the change in his old friend that took place in his later years. While President of the United States, Lincoln became a man of tremendous faith and dependence on the God of the Bible. 

There is no reliable evidence that he ever accepted Christ as his personal saviour, but he did believe Christ was THE Saviour. There is ample evidence that Lincoln read the Bible daily, prayed, and returned to his Christian-Calvinist roots while President. As President, he was neither an atheist nor a deist, since he obviously believed in God, prayed, and believed that God was intervening in the affairs of the United States of America. He was clearly at least a theist, and attended the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church frequently.

Since he believed that God still intervened in the affairs of mankind, and considered the Bible to be the truth (reading it nearly every day while in the White House) theistic rationalist is a possible interpretation of Lincoln's religious beliefs.

For additional discussion, see my blog post on the Confusion about Lincoln's religious beliefs.


For further reading

The modern day, definitive study on Lincoln's religious beliefs is Allen C. Guelzo's Abraham Lincoln, Redeemer President. Also excellent is Stephen Mansfield's Lincoln's Battle with God: A President's Struggle with Faith and What It Meant for America