© 2026 Don Pinson (To download, right-click on the gray play bar and select “Save Audio As”)

There’s a little-known story about Abraham Lincoln, whose birthday we celebrate this week, which needs to be told.

Shortly before his death, an Illinois clergyman asked Abraham Lincoln, “Do you love Jesus?”  Mr. Lincoln solemnly replied:

“When I left Springfield I asked the people to pray for me.  I was not a Christian.  When I buried my son, the severest trial of my life, I was not a Christian.  But when I went to Gettysburg and saw the graves of thousands of our soldiers, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ.  Yes, I do love Jesus.”

(America’s Providential History, p. 241)

Abraham Lincoln was not by himself in his profession of Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of his life.  Most of our ancestors in America, up until 1900, did know Jesus as their Lord.  It was their faith in God, and their belief that the Bible was true, that made America the greatest nation on earth.  However, in the early 1900’s a different way of thinking began to take root in America because the churches had weakened by that time.  Liberal theology, which accepted the possibility of a different ‘creator’ of man, began to make its way into the seminaries and public school system of America.  The result was that we began to accept that anyone who was, quote, “good” or religious (meaning he went to church somewhere), was also a Christian.  No longer did the churches require that people make an open statement of their faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and their Savior.

© 2026 Don Pinson (To download, right-click on the gray play bar and select “Save Audio As”)

It was December, 1777. George Washington’s army filed silently into their winter camp at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Washington would tell of the amazing commitment of these men by reporting how you could trace their path by the bloody tracks they were leaving. A great many of the 11,000 were barefooted; many were nearly naked in this freezing cold. More than 2,000 would die that winter from lack of food and shelter. Yet the miracle was—they didn’t leave. Why?

While it won’t be revealed completely until we stand before the Lord at the Judgment, at least one reason is the praying that George Washington did that winter. There were different reports by people who said they came unexpectedly upon Washington kneeling in the snow in the woods, earnestly pleading with God for the cause of his nation. While Washington was a very private person, and not at all given to showy religion, people close to him reported of his consistent devotions to God. No doubt the last words his mother said to him before he left home to embark on his military career had greatly impacted him. Mary Washington had admonished him:

© 2026 Don Pinson (To download, right-click on the gray play bar and select “Save Audio As”)

If you have a fenced in yard, and all the sudden you notice there are animals trampling your flowers and destroying your vegetable garden, you know there’s something wrong with your fence.  So you look for where the fence is broken, where it has a gap, and you fix it.  To stop the flow of intruders into your property, you must repair the gap in your fence.

God uses this very picture in the Bible to describe what happens when His people start to disobey Him.  God evidently places a “hedge” of protection (Isaiah 5:1-7) around each individual at birth.  As we grow in age and size we learn from parents, teachers and others about life.  If what we learn is the truth as revealed in the Bible, and we choose to consistently obey that truth, the “hedge” stays up.  But if what we learn either is not the truth, or if we choose to disobey the truth, then our “hedge” of protection starts to break down.  The more disobedience there is to God’s Word, the more our fence comes down; and the more satan and his evil spirits, who come to “kill, steal, and destroy,” (John 10:10) break into our lives.  Thus, the destruction in our lives will, generally speaking, be in direct proportion to how much of God’s truth we know and are walking in.  Generally speaking—and let’s leave the exceptions to God—the Bible teaches that obedience brings blessing to the life; disobedience brings destruction.  Life really is that simple—for both individuals and nations.  The Bible says,

© 2026 Don Pinson / (To download, right-click on the gray play bar and select “Save Audio As”)

The message of judgment for sins has always been unpopular with those who want to run their own lives.  It still is.  But the fact remains:  No matter how much we try to put off or forget judgment, it will still occur, right on schedule—both in this world and the next. Judgment for rebellion is no pleasant thought when the Judge is a just God who keeps a very detailed, specific record of every thought and every action we’ve ever known.  The prophet Amos warned the northern kingdom of Israel that impending doom was near.  He had cried out,

“Woe to them that are at ease in Zion…that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near; That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock…That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of music…That drink wine in bowls, and…are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive…The Lord GOD hath sworn by himself…therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein…For, behold, the LORD …will smite the great house with breaches…for ye have turned judgment into gall…behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith the LORD the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you…”

(Amos 6: 1-14)

But Israel scoffed at Amos’ words.  In spite of increasing disease and frightful storms, the nation still didn’t really think these were “the beginning of sorrows”.  They thought “somebody will get a handle on this economy…someone will come up with a cure for this rampant disease.”  (Sounds like our sexually transmitted diseases, like AIDS, doesn’t it?)  “After all,” they said, “this Amos-guy doesn’t even have a college degree!  What could he know about judgment from God?”

But Amos faithfully kept trying to warn them.  He cried against their refusal to consider their Godly heritage.  He warned them that God was saying to them:

© 2026 Don Pinson (To download, right-click on the gray play bar and select “Save Audio As”)

Charles Spurgeon, the great English preacher, gave us a measuring stick by which we could determine if our churches were healthy.  He called it a “Grace-ometer.”  Here’s what he said:

“The condition of the church may be very accurately gauged by its prayer meetings.  So is the prayer meeting a grace-ometer, and from it we judge the amount of divine working among a people.  If God be near a church, it must pray.  And if He be not there, one of the first tokens of His absence will be a slothfulness in prayer.”

(The Metropolitan Tabernacle, 1873 edition)

According to Spurgeon’s “Grace-ometer”, I’m afraid 98% of our churches would have to admit the Lord is mostly absent!  Any discerning believer will admit that the church in America is far from what Jesus died to make her.  And likewise, the truth is:  As the church goes, so goes the nation.  A culture is always the mirror of the state of the church in a nation.  And while there are some healthy churches—most of which are unknown to the national eye—we cannot deny the obvious.  Our culture reflects the confusion we now see in the church.  More and more churches are trying to redefine marriage so as to “broaden” the “narrow way” into the church.  This confusion is the fruit of a deeper symptom of a diseased church: That is, the desertion of the Bible as absolute truth.  Only 28% of the churches in America now believe that (Recent Barna-Wallbuilders Survey).  And when you give up the Bible as the standard of truth, you give yourself to the whims of man’s shifting standards; and confusion, chaos, and death are the result.  The Bible calls that way, the way of the fool.  Proverbs 1:7 says,