Lincoln's Solution

Dear friends:

In my last message I said that I would tell you of the solution of President Abraham Lincoln to the problem of a nation which he believed had forsaken God.

In the horrible agony of the Civil War, during which over 500,000 soldiers were killed, President Abraham Lincoln was faced with this question. In desperation, he decided to declare a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer. Here is a portion of his proclamation:

"Whereas, it is the duty of nations, as well as of men, to owe their dependence upon the overruling power of God, 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 the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord....

"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 preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; And 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 to the God that made us.

"Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully concurring in the views of the Senate, I do, by this my proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th day of April, 1863, as a day of National Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer....

"Done at the City of Washington the 30th day of March, in the year of our Lord 1863. Signed/Abraham Lincoln."

End of Proclamation.

History shows that following this special day, a string of successes brought about the end of that terrible war and the salvation of the nation. Please join me in praying that God will do it again for us.

Yours for fulfilling the Great Commission
each year until our Lord returns,

Bill Bright

Dr. Bill Bright was founder and chairman of Campus Crusade for Christ, an organization which began as a campus ministry in 1951 and now has more than 25,000 full-time staff and 553,000 trained volunteer staff in 196 countries in areas representing 99.6 percent of the world’s population. In the past 50 years, Campus Crusade for Christ has seen approximately 6 billion exposures to the gospel worldwide. The film, "JESUS," which Bright conceived and funded through Campus Crusade for Christ, is the most widely viewed film ever produced. Since its use began in 1980, the film has been translated into more than 689 languages and viewed by more than 4.5 billion people in 234 countries. Dr. Bright is also the author of more than fifty books.

Copyright (c) 2002, Bill Bright. All rights reserved. However, readers may copy and distribute this message as desired, without restrictions in number, as long as the content is not altered. Forwarding this e-mail to friends is encouraged. For many free evangelistic and spiritual growth materials, visit the Campus Crusade for Christ Web site at http://www.ccci.org. See http://www.newlifepubs.com for Bill Bright's own materials.

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