© 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,