Missouri Baptists take their duty seriously
As I write this note to you, my Missouri Baptist family, I confess that I am heavy hearted over the State of Missouri’s passing of a clone-to-kill amendment to our state constitution on Nov. 7. It passed by a miniscule margin, but it still passed. I have asked myself: “Did we (I) do enough? Will God give us grace?” I had many more thoughts like this, but I have now come to a new resolve.
There have been darker days in the life of this republic called the United States of America and it has survived and thrived once again. America rose out of the moral mess several times because the righteous did not run to a hole and have pity parties. This nation has thrived because the righteous “pray without ceasing,” work without tiring and evangelize as if it is the last day we have.
John Quincy Adams was a very devoted Christian man and statesman. Born in Braintree, Mass., in 1767, he watched the Battle of Bunker Hill from the top of Penn’s Hill above the family farm.
At age 26 he was appointed Minister to the Netherlands. In 1802 he was elected to the United States Senate. Six years later President Madison appointed him ambassador to Russia. In 1824 he was elected the 6th president of the United States.
John Quincy Adamswas one of the few presidents to re-enter politics after having served as president. He became a congressman in 1831 and adamantly opposed another great American tragedy, slavery. Nicknamed the “Hell-Hound of Slavery,” he single-handedly led the fight to lift the House of Representatives’ “gag rule” which had prohibited discussion of the slavery issue in Congress. It took him eight years! When asked why he never seemed discouraged or depressed over championing such an unpopular fight, John Quincy Adams replied:
We still have a duty and we must be faithful. We may not be victorious this year with the clone-to-kill amendment; but we will never leave the fight for what is biblically right in the arenas of abortion, marriage, freedom of religious expression, the sovereignty of a free nation “under God” and more!
I was reminded by another brother that the homosexuals don’t abandon their agenda with one or even five or more defeats. Neither do the gambling interests go away after a series of defeats … nor will we. We will continue to fight for life – old life (against euthanasia), unborn life (abortion or cloning), young life (against sexual exploitation) or civil liberties of all people.
What does the future hold? At this point, only God Himself knows. But duty is ours!
John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg (1746-1807) was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1774. As a 30-year-old pastor, he preached on the Christian’s responsibility to be involved in securing freedom for America. In 1775, after preaching a message on Ecclesiastes 3:1, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven,” John Peter Muhlenberg closed his message by saying:
“In the language of the Holy Writ, there is a time for all things. There is a time to preach and a time to fight. And now is the time to fight.”
He then threw off his clerical robes to reveal the uniform of an officer in the Revolutionary Army. That afternoon, at the head of 300 men, he marched off to join General George Washington’s troops.
Missouri …. the Baptists are still here. And we aren’t going anywhere!