Can the root of all evil also provide testimony?
The Love of MONEY has been referred to as 'the root of all evil' at times, probably from the Apostle Paul's comment in 1 Timothy 6:10 in the Bible though perhaps Paul got the quote from somewhere else in his own turn. And that wise warning has to be remembered and respected. Oh, what evil has been done over the course of time for the gaining of greater wealth, or the maintaining of present wealth. Wealth in whichever physical monetary form, quite frankly, is an easily transmutable form of worldly power that can cause other humans that we live among to go running this way and that way to attend to our whims and needs and bring us the things we wish for, it can sometimes help attract a mate, and it provides for the attainment of so many other things that the human ego desires. But the human ego seldom has the human soul in mind. And the love of wealth certainly takes the mind and the focus off of God and it takes away our ability to perform our proper role of being a servant to our Creator and His Son and our given King and Savior Jesus of Nazareth. Instead of seeing ourselves as a servant, we see ourselves as one who ought to be served and can very well expect to be served. And through this, men and women lose their salvation and purchase for themselves a place among the damned, do we not? Does the one who will not serve the Lord very much or perhaps not at all get to go to Heaven anyway? Great wealth can make us feel almost like we ARE a God, can't it?
But money can be a useful for buying and selling and were we not a wicked-hearted creature it could perhaps be a good enough thing in some ways. Portable and practical. But I wanted to refer to an entirely different aspect of its usefulness: God has worked with the lives and through the lives of so many of the Presidents and other people who have their likeness (their faces) on our American money that we can do a small amount of testifying for Jesus quite often when we take out a dollar, 10 dollars, etc., at the till to pay for something! Those American bills can provide many opportunities for a short bit of testimony to the greatness of God. And it is probably just as true in other Christian nations. So, here follow a few examples. I hope that anyone reading this might decide to pass the information on to others the next time they reach into their purse or their wallet and take out some money. Tell a clerk! Save a soul! Irritate the people in line behind you. Just kidding. Don't irritate the people behind you.
1.) The American $1.00 dollar bill: George Washington
George Washington wrote one of the most beautiful prayers I have ever read when he was in his very early 20's. He had very deep and sophisticated thoughts about the various ways in which men truly are inadequate. And he was said to pray every day in the morning during the American Revolutionary War. But God seemed to physically protect him...literally. He was known as "Bullet proof George Washington" to some during his lifetime. When he was a young man, and an officer in a Virginia militia he and some Virginia men joined under a British command to march far out into the wilderness to run the rival French out of Fort Duquesne (now near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.) When near the fort the wily French with their American Indian allies essentially ambushed the hundreds of British troops when they were strung out over a very long distance (several miles) as they moved towards the fort along a trail in a wooded valley. About 800 were to die that day on the British side, and around 60 some of their 80 some officers. (A young Daniel Boone was there that day at this battle.... he was a wagon driver for the British side.)
The wounded and pinned down commander, British General Braddock, near the front had to send horse mounted messengers to give instructions and receive status from the pinned down troops all along the trail. These mounted messengers (young officers) made ridiculously easy targets for the French and American Indians shooting from the safety of the trees. It is said that the French and their Indian allies had very quickly killed every British and American messenger, nailing their scalps to trees when they could reach their bodies, as a form of terrorizing the enemy. But one messenger survived. Young George Washington was one of these messengers. And he rode and rode and rode from one end of the pinned down British and American troops to the other. Per some accounts he was soon the only living messenger. But as he continued to ride and ride and ride, losing horses and changing horses and getting holes shot through his uniform coat, and as the day wore on, it is recorded that a strange thing happened. Some of the enemy literally ordered their soldiers to quit shooting at him because they recognized that something impossible was happening. There was simply no way that this many shooters could miss the world's easiest target at such close range for so long. Some history books mention that there were Indian chiefs that visited him many years later just to meet him because of this day. In their opinion he was protected by the Great Spirit. The battle was lost that day, but Washington was never hit by a bullet all day long. Nor ever in his life.
About 20 years later, when he was a General during the American Revolutionary War, soldiers wrote letters home remarking upon how he would ride his horse into the thickest part of the battle at times and just sit atop it giving out orders and calling out directions to his embattled troops as if there was n cause for concern. They would be hiding behind trees and rocks and logs firing and being fired on in a hail of bullets that had tree branches falling like rain from above their heads, yet he made no effort to hide himself sometimes, certain soldiers reported in their letters home. He again began to have a reputation as being somehow bullet proof and protected by God. And indeed, as we know, God had plans for his future that were key to the founding of a nation that would be founded on principals perhaps more Christian than any on Earth had ever previously been. He would be its first President, and among the often-contentious founding fathers of America he was a pretty universally respected figure that frequently helped them to reach a consensus on hotly debated issues. And in his humility before God he established a model of behavior for the President that varied greatly from that of the world's then reigning kings and other monarchs. The Presidents were to answer to the people. The Presidents were to serve the people. That was the standard, anyway.
God was powerful in the life of George Washington, and through the life of George Washington. So whenever we take out a dollar we could decide if it is a timely opportunity to recall these facts to someone who may never have heard them.
2.) The American $5.00 bill: Abraham Lincoln
Though not an intensely religious person, not a frequent church attender, Abraham Lincoln recognized the power of the Almighty at many junctures of his Presidency, and openly acknowledged that with writing so evolved yet simple that it remains in many minds a benchmark in American political speech. The Gettysburg Address is just beautiful in its acknowledgement of America being a nation governed by its people, but under God, for instance.
And Lincoln's second inaugural address was much more centered on the sovereignty of the Almighty God and was given just before the outcome of the American Civil War was a known certainty. He spoke about how both the North and the South prayed to the same God yet prayed for different outcomes to the same war. He mentioned that both sides could be wrong, but both could not be right, and that is a mighty important thought! It is said that on the rainy cloudy day he got up to walk to the stage and podium to give that speech that at that very moment a hole opened up in the clouds and the sun shone down suddenly and brightly upon him just as he walked up and began speaking. It was so odd and other worldly that many mentioned that it seemed like a sign from God. And only a few days later Abraham Lincoln would be assassinated, swept from the stage of politics and life after being a key figure in a war that cost many ten thousand lives. Perhaps there was a form of necessary justice in that which helped the nation more quickly heal. But he was without doubt a key and central figure in the survival of America as a nation. God used him powerfully.
He had, earlier in the war, made a deal with God when all of the first battle of North vs. South had gone so poorly for the North. He had told God that he suspected that their failure in battle might be somehow tied to the fact that he had not taken a strong stand concerning the freeing of the black slaves. Many felt that despite the many points of dissatisfaction between the North and the South, that the true root of the matter was about whether men should be allowed to enslave men. Abraham Lincoln had waffled on the matter. He had not taken a strong stand in order not to offend those in the North who weren't very opposed to slavery, and there were many Northerners who felt like that. But in a moment of private prayer Lincoln told God that if He would allow the North a great victory then he, Lincoln, would take it as a sign that he should announce freedom for the black slaves of the United States. As if in answer Lincoln quickly received news of a great victory for the North, and so in obedience to the deal he felt he had made with God he dutifully came forward with the Emancipation Proclamation, against the advice of some in his cabinet and the feelings of a great many in the North. The war began to go much better for the North despite the fierce bravery of the southern soldiers, and eventually the cause of the Union prevailed over that of the Confederacy.
3.) The American $10.00 bill: Alexander Hamilton
Not commonly known in our day for his Christianity, Alexander Hamilton was without much dispute a huge figure, a formative genius, in the shaping of early America. But he was, in his early years and in his last years a very Christian man, though he had some years in the middle where he made some regrettable moral choices which marred his Christian image at that time. A widely publicized affair with a married woman hurt him deeply in the eyes of many, for one thing. But his writings contain more than a few great and powerful endorsements of Christianity, both in his early life and his late.
His own life was gigantically impacted by - of all things - one of the great storms of the Americas....our ludicrously powerful hurricanes. God used such a storm to shape the mind and life of this brilliant and imaginative man.
He grew up on the island of Nevis in the West Indies and was tutored by a Jewish school mistress that gave him a strong Old Testament foundation even in his earliest years. It is said that he could recite the 10 commandments, and write them, in Hebrew. But as a child growing up nearly everyone of importance in his life either died, was killed, or killed themselves. He had a tragic upbringing.
But his mind was first rate, and when he was 17 years old he witnesses the mighty havoc of a great hurricane striking the island (August of 1772) and tearing up the puny structures of mankind with terrifying ease. He wrote a description of the might of this hurricane and what short work it made of the island's human efforts. This greatly impressed many influential locals and was published in a local paper, and the greatness of his writing and his eloquence convinced certain locals possessing financial means that he must be sent away to school in New York. He went, first to a prep school and then at King's College (later known as Columbia University) on the American continent. A man named Elias Boudinot became his mentor during this time period, and he could hardly have asked for a better person whose mind and life to draw from considering the future Hamilton would ultimately experience. Boudinot was a successful businessman, a devout Christian, an eventual president of the Continental Congress, and a president of the American Bible Society before his own life was over.
King's College was a very Christian college at that time, and Hamilton became a very religious young Christian man, impressing even his classmates with his fervency. But, when the American Revolution festered and broke out, Hamilton became very interested in all things military and ended up attached to George Washington. This pairing lasted for a great many years, during the war and long afterwards, and both men were said to benefit greatly from the strengths of the other.
But Hamilton's brashness, sense of rightness, and influence with Washington among other things made political enemies of many, and he had his high profile extra marital affair during these years, and then he had his famous pistol duel with Aaron Burr in which it is largely agreed that Hamilton purposely pointed his pistol upwards and fired it off target so that his shot was purposely wasted, but Burr did no such thing, and so Hamilton spent the last 30 plus hours of his life dying from the wound received. Oddly, Hamilton's son Phillip had been killed in the same location a few years earlier, and that also stemmed from politics and Aaron Burr to an extent, though that duel was not with Burr or any of his family members.
Hamilton avowed his great faith in Jesus during these last dying hours and it is reported that he took Christian communion. A final quote from him on his death bed is as follows: "I am a sinner. I have a tender reliance upon the mercy of the Almighty through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ."
4.) The American $20.00 bill: Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson was the 7th American President and no hero to many of today's native American Indians. They believe him to have been a brutal and cruel betrayer to some of their ancestors, and with quite a lot of cause. Quite reliant on the expertise of Native American scouts and allied tribes for some of the military victories that earned him such a fearsome early reputation, he was more enemy than friend to them once he was in power, and for this he is often criticized. But it is probably worthwhile to mention that the European immigrants to America, most of whom claimed themselves Christians, were pretty much glad to sit silently by and watch as Native Americans were bullied off of their lands with terrible cruelty by the American government, so that they could move in and take that land over and make it their own. Forcing some tribes to travel far away in horrible conditions to lands far inferior to those they had previously held was an intentional cruelty.... but it may have saved some tribes from near complete extermination by European immigrants to America. So, was it fair or Christian? No. Was it ultimately a tool used by God to preserve some tribes from greedy wicked violent European expansion? It might have been. I think God does some things in history for the good of the most souls over time, not always for the good of the lives walking the Earth at the time he takes the action. Souls can only be saved through Jesus. So, the actions that ultimately lead the most souls to come to know Jesus are perhaps the kindest actions. But to the wicked people who act as the instruments to attaining God's greater goals there is no consolation in this. They acted in wickedness, even if God used it for good.
But Andrew Jackson was a fighter and used HUGELY in the shaping of America. Early on he more or less invaded Florida on his own whim, without any authorization to do so, and yet it made the Spanish owners of Florida willing to give the area up since they couldn't protect it anyway. So, Jackson got a hand slapping, but was largely viewed as a hero, and the great state of America was added to the United States. Later, in the Battle of New Orleans he commanded one of the most lopsided victories of all time against the British foe. It seems impossible that God did not take a hand in so ridiculously one sided of a battle. Taking place on January 8, 1815, when the War of 1812 had actually been ended by a treaty, but the news had not reached the combatting armies yet, the American troops under Andrew Jackson lost around 60 men in that famed battle. But the British saw about 2,000 soldiers killed. 60 American casualties. 2,000 British casualties. And that is with old school weaponry! Such a disaster as that does not often and cannot easily happen, though God caused such crazy mismatches to occur in the history told by the Bible from time to time, when he fought in defense of His people Israel.
Then Jackson, a popular hero of the people, became President, became the inspiration for the Donkey symbol that Democrats still use today, and Jackson actually got America briefly out of debt! Yes, America was literally out of debt for a brief shining moment during his presidency. And he fought a huge and epically important political battle against powerful foreign banking interests that were trying to legislate themselves into holding a perpetual strangle-hold upon the young American economy. It was a truly pivotal victory that has changed the course of history in oh so many ways, though the banks did not give up and always try for more control, even today. But Jackson was the tooth and fury of the resistance that peaked in his day, and through incredible exertions and the help of God America was given a breather, a badly needed victory against this insidious threat.
So, is it surprising that Andrew Jackson survived the first US Presidential assassination attempt when a man rushed up to him and fired two pistols from a couple of steps away, and both pistols failed to fire? The man was tackled by others in the Jackson crowd then. He was an upset house painter who believed Jackson policies had caused a great downturn in the economy which had hurt him very bad personally. The next day both pistols were tested by the curious, and both were found to fire quite normally. The odd occurrence of a double misfire can only be speculated upon. But God always seemed at work in the imperfect life of the imperfect but momentous man named Andrew Jackson. God seems to often work in the lives of American Presidents, and it is likely the same in other Christian nations....just less known to me as an American.
5.) The American $50.00 bill: Ulysses S.Grant
Is there a United States composed of 50 states? Few people had as much to do with that as the President and General featured on the American $50.00 bill: the 18th President, Ulysses S. Grant. But did God have a hand in that? Of course. And the fact that his wife and her mother, strong Methodists though from a slave holding family, prophesied his improbable rise to the Presidency at a time when he was no more than a failed ex soldier who occasionally had battled a drinking problem, and was selling fire wood to passers-by on the street corners of St. Louis to try to keep his family fed. Yet, even though his wife's father considered Grant a failure, his mother-in-law said that she knew he would one day rise to one of the highest positions in the land. And her daughter, Grant's well loved and very cross-eyed wife named Julia Dent, who loved him with all of her heart and fully believed in him, openly avowed in those sad and down beaten days of Grant's disgraceful failure as a provider that he would one day become the American President. And this was all before the American Civil war had even begun.
The Dent women, Julia and her mother, believed that they had the gift of prophesy to some degree, and they were not afraid to publicize their visions. And so, a failed Ulysses Grant sold firewood on the corner, and his wife and mother in law told people that he would one day become the greatest man in the land, essentially, and that must have seemed very odd to people. But God does what He wishes, and uses who He uses, and does nothing (the Bible says) without telling his servants the prophets. (see Amos 3:7) Ulysses Grant never claimed to be a prophet, but he was a Christian, a believer in God and Jesus. Of course so were most of the leadership from the Confederacy once it formed.
But only God can see the end from the beginning, so...the fact that the Dent women made the call, spot on and accurate, before there was any real evidence of a bright future for Ulysses suggests that yes, God of course had everything to do with the rise and times of Ulysses S. Grant. And later, when the victory had been won by the North, Ulysses Grant was one of the firmest of proponents that there must be kindness and dignity for the Southerners who had fought so determinedly for their lost cause. They would keep their guns, they would keep their horses for plowing etc. There would be a respectful peace, as when true blood brothers had fought, but were still family. And we know that such thoughts and sentiments as those are probably from God.
6.) The American $100.00 bill: Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin was not a man to emphasize his religious feelings very often. In fact, Benjamin Franklin was a bit of a hedonist at times perhaps. During his years as Ambassador to France he was known for taking naked 'air baths' near open windows in his apartment, swimming naked on many days in the Seine River, and keeping close company with certain aristocratic French ladies despite being a married man. This did fascinate the somewhat worldly French of that day a great deal, which might ultimately have worked to America's advantage. But Franklin was somewhat worldly by some standards.
Yet not everyone has heard of the' Philadelphia miracle' which happened later after Franklin had returned to young America. It occurred when the various states were trying to hammer out some sort of agreement by which to live and dwell together as a union, but every state had its own interests most chiefly at heart, and the negotiations grew long and rancorous, even hostile at times, and it seemed to many that an agreement might never be reached. The situation was so hopeless that some delegates just gave up and went home believing that there was no longer any chance of the group reaching any sort of agreement.
In the midst of all this contention an 81 year old Ben Franklin stood and called for prayer, chiding them all. He said:
"In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for divine protection. Our prayers, sir, were heard; and they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending Providence in our favor. To that kind Providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful Friend? Or do we imagine that we no longer need [His] assistance? "I have lived, sir, a long time; and the longer I live the more convincing proofs I see of this truth -- that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured, sir, in the sacred writings, that 'except the Lord build the house they labor in vain that build it.' I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel; we shall be divided by our little partial, local interests, our projects will be confounded and we ourselves shall become a reproach and a byword down to future ages. And, what is worse, mankind may hereafter, from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing government by human wisdom and leave it to chance, war, or conquest. "I, therefore, beg leave to move: "That hereafter prayers, imploring the assistance of Heaven and its blessing on our deliberations, be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service." End quote
His statement was said to have such a powerful and immediate effect that people believed that it was not his words or his powers of speech, but rather the spirit of God Himself that settled upon the group and changed their hearts and minds to a very great degree. When they next returned to work it was said that an entirely new spirit was in the air and working among them all. They dropped objections, made agreements, reconciled differences and reached compromises, and before very long at all they had replaced the growingly inadequate Articles of Confederation between the states/colonies with the US Constitution, a document unlike any other in previous history, a document that has since been imitated by several successful nations, and a document which continues to serve America, a 'nation under God' as so many of us still see ourselves, to this very day. Perhaps Benjamin Franklin was a little fleshly in his earlier days, but as a seasoned 81 year old man it seems that he had developed an extraordinarily powerful appreciation for the necessity of the guidance of God if the affairs of men are ever to succeed.
(The above quote is taken from the National Center for Constitutional Studies web at http://nccs.net/blogs/articles/the-miracle-at-philadelphia
And so, there it is, a little bit you might be able to say for God and Jesus whenever you take out some of your money to buy something, or to give it to your children, etc. And there is no doubt much more to add to it in each case. But we take our money out so very often when we buy and sell, why shouldn't it be useful for testifying to the power of our God and Maker, and His Son in providentially guiding our fortunate nation despite our terrible lack of appreciation for Him and obedience to Him? We have received undeserved care in this respect, and ought to make sure that each new generation of Americans know it, right?