Stephen McDowell looks at the faith of some of America's presidents

>> Stephen McDowell: Welcome to America's Providential History Podcast, where we talk about the real story of America and explore the hand of God in our history. Now, here's your host, Steven McDowell. Welcome to this edition of America's Providential History Podcast. In the last number of podcasts, we've been looking at the faith of some of the presidents of the United States. I want to cover just a couple of more today. We won't look at all of those, all 45 different presidents that we've had, but I'll make some remarks about all of our presidents after I mention, two other presidents, that served after Abraham Lincoln. We took a couple of podcasts to look at the faith of Abraham Lincoln. But I wanted to, point out two especially Christian individuals which are expressed in their words and their actions. It served as the President of the United States. Now, remember, as we look through the faith of the presidents, one thing this declares to us is that the people that we have elected as leaders of our nation, have all professed the Christian faith. Some have been devout in their belief. Some, have spoken about it in many different ways and wrote about it. but everyone has professed faith. Now, some, it was a genuine, a living faith, a faith that came from a regenerated heart. And two of these individuals that I want to touch on in this podcast certainly had a genuine faith with a living encounter with the living God. And, one of those men was our 20th president, James Garfield. Now, James Garfield was, inaugurated in 1881 as the 20th President of the United States. about six months after taking office, unfortunately, he was assassinated and died. But if it weren't for God's providence earlier in his life, he probably, well could have died many years earlier. Now, Garfield was raised in a Christian home. His mother was very devout. Pray for him, especially as a young boy, young man, before he committed his life, to the Lord and which had not occurred, when he was 16 years old and he went to work on a canal on a boat. And one evening as he was working on a canal, actually, he woken up from sleep during the night on top of the ship and, as was wanting to connect his rope, to help them go through a canal. But, he couldn't pull it loose and pulled it very hard. And then, and the recoil of that pull, he fell overboard into the water. Now, what was especially frightening about this, he didn't know how to swim. It's interesting. He didn't know how to swim. It was working on the water, but there he Was in the night in the water, floundering around, somehow another trying to keep himself afloat. And he just happened to grab hold of a rope laying in the water and tossed it up toward the barge and it happened to get caught where he's able to pull himself to the barge and save his life. And so as he sat there recuperating from this traumatic event that he contemplated what had just happened. He said, I must have been saved by a miracle. As he said, what saved me that time? It must have been God. I could not have saved myself. Well, that incident coupled with an understanding of the prayers of his mother would drive him to surrender his life to the Lord. And after he became a Christian, he became a lay minister with the Disciples of Christ, a group of churches at this time. And he, before the Civil War traveled around and conducted many revival meetings. This is during the phase of the second Great Awakening, Preached revival meetings, for a number of years and over that time period led hundreds of people, to the Lord. In fact, in 1858, there's a letter that he wrote giving testimony of a week long series of revival meetings that he had conducted in a church. And he records how there was 34 people committed their life to the Lord, 34 additions to the church and 31 of them he baptized. Now if you're interested you can actually see a copy of that letter. Wallnua Builders has that in their collection and it's posted on their [email protected] that you can go and read this letter from our 20th president where early in his life he preached evangelistic messages. So here is one of our presidents. Before that he was a minister, and a minister who conducted evangelistic revival, meetings. Well, Garfield went on when the Civil War broke out, he served in the Union army, worked his way up to the rank of general. After the war he was elected to a member of the Congress from the state of Ohio. And then in 1879, 1880, he was elected the 20th president of the United States, states. And as I mentioned, unfortunately within six months he was shot and died in office. But throughout his life he certainly demonstrated his Christian faith. Brought up in a Christian home, responded to the prayer of his mother, recognized the hand of God upon his life when God providentially saved him, went on to carry on many evangelistic meetings. And many of his speeches and writings reflect his strong Christian faith. In 1876, at the Centennial of our Declaration of Independence, Garfield wrote these words which are certainly Pertinent for Americans today, writing in part, now more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in national legislature. Congress must always be the exponent of the political character and culture of the people. And if the next centennial does not find us a great nation with a great and worthy congress, it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces which are employed to select the men who shall occupy the great places of trust and power. And so he's saying, of course, our leaders reflect the people, and, throughout our history. This is, of course, true on the national level, on the state level, on the local level as well. And throughout our history, most of our rulers on all those levels have been good and godly men. But unfortunately, especially in the last century or so, many of them have not been good or godly. And today we see us, electing all kinds of people, communists and others who, reject the foundational principles of our nation. They reject the God of the Bible and his providence and his work and the lives of men in our nation in particular. And so, as Christians, Garfield would warn us, it's incumbent upon us as citizens to choose those who govern us. And the, future of our nation and us remaining the nation of freedom and liberty, will be dependent, upon how we fulfill our duties, one of which is to elect righteous men to office. And we, of course, have many other civil duties as well that we must fulfill. Educating ourselves and educating others, and many things. We've covered some of that in prior podcasts, and we'll cover that more in future podcasts.

James Garfield and William McKinley were devout Christians

And so James Garfield here was one of our presidents. The 20th president, who actually was a minister, preached evangelistic, messages and sermons, and was a, reflection of, really, the faith of the American people at large. Now, another president, just a couple less than two decades after Garfield was a devout believer was William McKinley. William McKinley was one of many political leaders of the 19th century who was a Christian. McKinley was the 25th president of the United States. Unfortunately, like Garfield, was assassinated in 1901 during the first year of his second term of office. He was first elected in 1896, assumed office in 1897, and his lifelong Christian faith was evident in that he forgave his murderer, immediately after he fired the shot, which was on September 6, 1901, McKinley said, Don't let them hurt him, was his first cry and his last conscious words before he died on September 14 from the wounds that he suffered from the bullet. His last words were, it is his will, not ours, that will be done now. McKinley was born in Ohio in 1843 and was raised in a methodist home. Many people at this time were being converted to that fast growing revivalist Methodist movement in this mid 19th century. And he was saved at a camp meeting at array around age 10. And in 1859, after attending another series of camp meetings, he was will was baptized and became a full member of the methodist church. Now he might have pursued, continued. It looked like he wanted to pursue the ministry, but the civil war intervened, so he served in the war. He didn't leave his faith behind when he joined the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. In fact, it was so devout it was called the psalm singers of the Western Reserve. McKinley described to his sister their Christian regiment, writing religious exercises in the company twice a day, prayer meetings twice a week, and preaching in the regiment once on a sabbath. In fact, he even called himself a soldier of Jesus. So McKinley's strong faith remained with him throughout his life and was expressed in his speeches and testified to by his friends. In his first inaugural address, delivered in 1897, he said, Our faith teaches that there is no safer reliance than upon the God of our fathers who. Has so singularly favored the American people in every national trial and who will not forsake us as long as we obey his commandments and walk humbly in his footsteps. So in his inaugural address, McKinley acknowledged what we know is an important, biblical truth, that if we walk with God and acknowledge God and obey God, he will come and bless us and be with us and will not forsake us. Now, as president, McKinley regularly read the bible and often hosted hymn sings in the White House. One biographer stated his evenings were spent with Mrs. McKinley and friends, often reading the Bible aloud until 10. McKinley wrote in 1899, My belief embraces the divinity of Christ and a recognition of Christianity as the mightiest factor in the world's civilization. Numerous friends testified of his strong Christian faith. McKinley's pastor and friend, Methodist bishop Andrews, said of him, he believed in God and in Jesus Christ, through whom God was revealed. He accepted the divine law of the scripture. He based his hope on Jesus Christ, the appointed and only redeemer of men. On the evening of his death, McKinley softly chanted the words of his favorite hymn, nearer my God to thee and Then he uttered his last words. His will be done. And so these two presidents, Garfield and McKinley, especially expressed and lived their Christian faith and preached messages of the Christian faith, as Garfield did, and testified very plainly that these were, followers of Christ, Christian individuals with a living faith that, affected their words and their actions. And so, you know, we've had 45 different presidents, since George Washington was unanimously, elected, ah, first President of the United States in 1789. 45 different men, although two men, have served two terms that weren't consecutive. So, this would, this was Rover Cleveland in the late 1800s and of course Donald Trump, today. Now, all of our 45 presidents from George Washington to Donald Trump, have attended church and associated with the Christian religion. They've taken the oath of office with their hand on the Bible, as prescribed by our Constitution by law, and have referred to God in their inaugural addresses. Most of these have also declared national days of prayer and thanksgiving. now all of these men have not lived up to their Christian profession for sure. all of them have not displayed all of the godly characteristics of good rulers. We can learn that From Deuteronomy, chapter 1 and Exodus 18, when God told Moses through his father in law, Jethro, to tell the people to choose from among themselves wise men, men who ate dishonest game, and that fear God. And three general characteristics of godly leaders are they fear God, they have Christian character, and they have a biblical worldview. All three of these are important for our leaders to display. And so all of our presidents, which certainly are a reflection of the heart of the American people, everyone has professed the Christian faith. Now, all haven't, lived out the Christian faith. All have not had a genuine fear of God. All have not been regenerated believers, and had a personal encounter like Garfield and McKinley that we've mentioned and some of the earlier presidents before them that we've mentioned and since then as well, like Ronald Reagan, who certainly professed a living faith in God, and others during the 20th century. So they all haven't feared God. they all haven't displayed Christian character. Most have, but some, display character contrary to the Christian faith. And all have not had a biblical worldview. They all haven't had a biblical view of government. And that's extremely important because your philosophy of government is going to determine, what policies you enact and how you govern. So in a way, having biblical worldview is perhaps the most important characteristic for those who govern us because they're going to enact legislation that affects our liberty, our property, our God given rights. And so we need men to think biblically so that they will act biblically. But we want men who fear God, who have Christian character and think biblically, all of them. So certainly all of our 45 presidents have not reflected biblical truth in every way. They all have not been regenerated believers. God knows the heart, he's the ultimate judge. we can know them by their fruit, Jesus said. And so we've in these past number of podcasts have highlighted the faith of some of the presidents. And maybe in the future we will look at more individuals. but all of these men have professed though this is what's important, Everyone though they might not have lived it, have professed they are Christians, have gone to church, have honored God, in some way or another because this is a reflection of the whole foundational ethos of the American Republic. It was birthed, as we've covered in podcasts before, it was birthed in Christian faith. The Bible was the central influence in the birth, growth and development of America. It affected our culture, our thinking, our worldview, and it even impacts those who are not regenerated believers that they at least profess or acknowledge the providence of God. None have claimed to be of some other religion. None have claimed to be atheist or agnostics or secularists. Now some may have secretly believed that and looking at their, their fruit you might conclude clued that. But they at least outwardly, verbally, and they've all taken an oath of office as prescribed by the Constitution. Every one of our presidents have placed his hand on the Bible, took left hand on the Bible, raised his right hand and took the oath. I do solemnly swear or affirm that I will faithfully execute the office of the President of the United States and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Now Washington, after taking that oath, he added the phrase so help me God. And all presidents have followed his example. And in 1862 this phrase became part of the oath by law. And that an oath of office means nothing unless you have a fear of God, unless you have a view of God represented by the Bible, that he holds you accountable to your words. And that's why many individuals have argued that an atheist can't be President of the United States. Those who deny a God who's actively involved in creation and speaks to men and, and speaks to you in your conscience can't really carry out the oath, office oath means nothing to him unless you have this fear of God. And so George Washington, after he took the oath of office for the first time, adding the phrase so help me God, it's been said that he actually leaned over and kissed the Bible after that. But he gave his first inaugural address, which by the way, about 40% of it was dealing with faith, with religion. Part of which he said, no people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency. We ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which heaven itself has ordained. And so Washington was a man. We covered his faith. He was a living faith, a faith that he truly believed. And when he said these words that without God in essence, there would be no United States. You can't build a free republic, without him. And that he recognized the providence of God, that God and his providence had given birth to the United States, that it's our duty to recognize that and to honor him because of that.

Every one of our 45 presidents has acknowledged God in his inaugural address

Now, as I said, every One of our 45 presidents have acknowledged God in their inaugural addresses. Now on our website providencefoundation.com we have an article on the inaugural addresses of the presidents. And I've excerpted, from all inaugural addresses of all the presidents. I think the last one when the article was written was perhaps Bill Clinton, but every one of them, our presidents in his inaugural address have acknowledged God in one way or another. Some have had prayers in their inaugural addresses. Some are explicitly Christian in their declaration. All explicitly reveal their understanding of God as the Bible depicts him, not as created by man made religions. And I'll just read you a couple examples, of some of these inaugural addresses. You can again go to providencefoundation.com just search inaugural addresses and you can read all of excerpts from all of these. yourself, Jon Adams, our second president in his inaugural address on March 4, 1797, said, and may that being who is supreme over all, patron of order, the fountain of justice, and the protector of all ages of the world of virtuous liberty, continue his blessing upon this nation and its government and give it all possible success and duration consistent with the ends of his providence. Again, when you read through these, you can't help but think these men understood, the living God, the God of the Bible, how he governs in the affairs of man, how he blesses mankind as we walk and follow and are obedient, to him. James Monroe, on his inaugural address, March 4, 1817, said, I enter on the trust to which I have been called by the suffrages of my fellow citizens, with my fervent prayers to the Almighty that he will be graciously pleased to continue to us, that protection which he has already so conspicuously displayed in our favor. See, these men recognize what most modern historians do not, is that God is the one who's protected us, watched over us, been gracious to us, poured out his favor on us as a nation, and that they were He, Monroe, and so all these, so many others acknowledged that very thing. Jon Quincy Adams on March 4, 1825, said in his inaugural address, and knowing that except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh. But in vain, of course, there he's quoting scripture with fervent supplications for his favor to his overruling providence. I commit with humble but fearless confidence my own fate and future destinies of my country. So here he's Jon Quincy Adams, committing his life, his service as president, his nation, into the hands of God. On, March 4, 1841, William Henry Harrison, in his inaugural address, said, I deem the present occasion sufficiently important and solemn to justify me in expressing to my fellow citizens a profound reverence for the Christian religion and a thorough conviction that sound morals, religious liberty, and a just sense of religious responsibility are essentially connected with all true and lasting happiness. Again, this is full of many important biblical ideas and concepts, but he's explicitly professed reverence for the Christian religion because, see, we are founded not on faith in general, not on faith of what any, by any faith that people feel like, creating their own head, but upon the Christian religion that was the founding faith of the United States of America. We were a Christian nation. We did not have an established church, as we've covered in past podcasts. We didn't have an official, in that sense, religion. But, we were founded on biblical principles, Christian principles. That's why we on the Christian religion. That's why they understood this. And while we can say that we were a Christian nation, why, our founders said that we were. Franklin Pierce, on March 4, 1853, in his inaugural address, said, it must be felt that there is no national security, but in the nation's humble, acknowledged dependence upon God and his overruling Providence. So they recognized God and the providence of God. God actively involved in his creation. Steven grover Cleveland on March 4, 1893, said in his inaugural address, above all, I know there is a supreme being who rules the affairs of men and whose goodness and mercy have always followed the American people. And I know he will not turn from us now if we humbly and reverently seek his powerful aid. So we see this theme in a lot of these inaugural addresses, and we can find the same understanding in the founding era, the founding generation, throughout the 1800s, well into the 1900s. Today, there's many of our leaders who understand, the need for God's blessing. They understand God governs in the affairs of men, but many do not. And, it's incumbent upon us again to awaken to this understanding ourselves and teach and instruct and influence in every way we can, this very important concept. Because this is the reason America was birthed as the most free and prosperous nation in history. The reason we've been around for 250 years as a United States. And our leaders understood this. Some still do, many do not. But if we, if we as a people forget these principles, we will then become a whole different nation than was given to us. William McKinley, March 4, 1897, in his inaugural address, said, I assume the arduous and responsible duties of President of the United States, relying upon the support of my countrymen and invoking the guidance of Almighty God. Our faith teaches that there is no safer reliance than upon the God of our fathers who has so singularly favored the American people in every national trial and who will not forsake us so long as we obey his commandments and walk humbly in his footsteps. And that's an important biblical idea. We need to obey his commandments in our life personally, but we need to have our civil laws reflect God's higher law. we need our civil laws to be in accordance with the truth of Scripture. And that's our nation was built upon that. March 4, 1921, Warren G. Harding, in his inaugural address, said, I have taken the solemn oath of office on that passage of holy writ wherein it, it is asked, what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with my God. This I plight to God and country. So again we see President Harvin quoting scripture. So their, their reliance was upon the God of the Bible, not just upon some, any God at all. Calvin Coolidge, March 4, 1925, in his inaugural address, said, america seeks no earthly empire built on blood and force. No ambition, no temptation lures her to thought of foreign dominions. The legions which she sends forth are armed not with the sword, but with the cross. The higher state to which she seeks the allegiance of all mankind is not of human but of divine origin. She cherishes no purpose save to merit the favor of almighty God. I think President Coolidge helped summarize well, the history of the United States. Our founders had a vision to establish a city set upon a hill, a holy experiment, unique nation. And they gave birth to a Christian constitutional federal republic. A nation that was built upon his precepts, where they sought to honor, to obey, to understand his plan and purpose. And throughout most of our history, we have, we haven't gone to conquer by the sword. We have used the sword to protect our God given rights and liberties and to help other nations who were being oppressed. And we've used the sword in that way. We're defending ourselves. but by and large, you know what we've sent out over the past 250 years are, legions of those who were armed with the cross. They've gone forth carrying the Christian message, setting up hospitals and schools, preaching truth. I've seen millions of people converted, helping establish churches and other nations, being a blessing to advance the gospel of the kingdom of Christ. And as we've covered in many previous podcasts, this was the primary founding reason for the United States, according to those who came and colonized the states, was to enlarge the glory, glory of the gospel and to plant true and sincere religion, Christian faith in all of these lands. Because this is the mission that Jesus has given us, to go and make disciples of all the nations, converting them and then teaching them to obey all that I commanded. And so most of our leaders and most of our history have acknowledged this and understood this. Many have taken part in it directly seeking to enlarge the glory of the gospel and advance the Christian, faith. But it's very important that those that we elect today will have this same understanding. Because what happens here in the United States not only is going to affect us and our children and our children's children, not only. What we do now is going to help preserve this experiment in Christian self government that has lasted 250 years, but it will impact nations all over the world. There are evil men who want to suppress God given rights and liberties, and we need to be aware of that. But the way that we combat this evil is not so much with armed forces, maybe defensive war might be necessary, to do that. And that's why God initiated civil government to defend us, to protect our God given rights and liberties. But we are to go forth with the weapon of the cross, preaching truth, preaching the salvation message, it's preaching the supernatural transformative power, of Christ and instructing in these principles of liberty so that our laws reflect that, our civil rulers, reflect that. And so this was just, you know, brief introduction to, the faith of some of our presidents. And I, encourage you to explore that even more now on our website providencefoundation.com I have, as I mentioned, excerpts from the inaugural addresses of our presidents. So you can go and read those as well. And there are many other resources, many other articles and videos and things and books that you can order. You can get those at our website, providencefoundation.com well, I hope you enjoyed just our brief look at the faith of some of the presidents. It's just another testimony of the fact that we are a Christian people. We are founded on the precepts of biblical Christianity. And there's much evidence to this. One point of evidence is that most of the leaders that we have elected throughout most of our history have understood the providence of God and knowledge, the need to cry out and obey the God of the Bible. Well, I hope you'll join us next week as we pick up, ah, another important topic, that will reveal America's providential history. Well, God bless you, Sam.

The Faith of the Presidents: James Garfield and William McKinley