Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

• Mark 11:22

By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.

• Hebrews 11:4

“I had a small office building. In that little office, with my Bible and Vicars’ life in my hands, I found my way into a very vivid awakening and change, which were so remarkable that I have always set down this period as that of my conversion. It was the night of the last day of May 1857, when I had the feeling of sudden relief from the depression that had been long upon me. The joy of that night was so great that it would be difficult to attempt in any way to describe it. The next morning everything appeared to me to be changed-the sky was brighter, the trees more beautiful, and the songs of the birds were never before so sweet…. Captain Vicars  under the influence of a single verse of the First Epistle of John, ‘The blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin,’ had experienced a wonderful change   My own mind took a turn like that on reading the account of it. The influence of the same Scripture produced that strong effect on me and caused me ever after to be a different man, with different hopes and different purposes in life.

“Oliver Howard was wonderfully converted to Christ, and his faith permeated every area of his life, including his military service. When the Civil War started, Howard was among the first Union officers to face combat, and he was wounded during the Battle of Fair Oaks when two bullets struck his arm. His brigade surgeon, a Dr. Palmer, came to his bedside and gently informed him that his arm should come off.
“’All right,’ said Howard, ‘go ahead. Happy to lose only my arm.’ He was carried to the amputating room, which was a gruesome place littered with severed arms, legs, and hands not yet carried off. Soldiers waited in line, their faces warped with anxiety, waiting their turn with the saw.
“’On the long table I was nicely bolstered,’ recalled Howard. ‘A mixture of chloroform and gas was administered, and I slept quietly. Dr. Palmer amputated the arm above the elbow. When I awoke I was surprised to find the heavy burden was gone but was content and thankful.’”

• Robert J. Morgan, 100 Bible Verses That Made America

In my recent trip to visit the grandchildren, the oldest of them went with me to Nashville, to sell used books and games.  One of the books that I purchased in return was 100 Bible Verses That Made America by Robert J. Morgan.  As we approach the 250^th anniversary of the birth of the USA, I thought I would do a condensed mini-series on some of these verses, four posts per week for a few weeks – maybe not all 100 verses.

Oliver Otis Howard (1830-1909) was a Union Army Major General and career soldier.  While in Florida during the Seminole Wars, his brother, Rowland, sent him a book, the biography of Hedley Vicars.  In the book, it talked about how Vicars had been convicted of his sin reading 1 John 1:7.  Howard followed suit, giving his life to Jesus.  From that moment on, each decision he made was based on his Christian beliefs.  As a result, he earned the nickname the “Christian General.”

Early in the war (the one between North and South in the 1860s), in the battle of Fair Oaks, VA, he was wounded twice in the right arm.  He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor as a result of his bravery in the battle.  While convalescing, he was approached by another general who had lost his left arm.  They joked that they could shop for gloves together.

He made a mistake at Chancellorsville, VA, and then he was questioned about his decisions at Gettysburg, PA.  His decision to set up a defensive line at Cemetery Hill was the correct decision however.  He ended the war with his corps being the right wing of Sherman’s March to the Sea.

Lincoln was impressed by Howard’s Christian beliefs and convictions.  When the war ended, Lincoln requested that he become the commissioner of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (usually shortened to the Bureau of Freedmen).  It was the first social welfare agency in the USA.  Its goals were to provide humanitarian aid while establishing schools to incorporate the estimate four million former slaves into the workforce.

As a result, Howard led the way in founding a university in Washington, DC.  He had two ministers, chaplains of the House and Senate, acting as the president of the university before he became the third president.  The university bears his name, Howard University. He would later be the co-founder of Lincoln-Memorial University in Harrogate, TN to support higher education for people along the Cumberland Gap.

A single verse about the cleansing blood of Jesus changed his life.  He thought of retiring from the military and becoming a minister, but he continued on.  His Christian walk of faith colored his decisions and others tried to use that as a means of discrediting his decisions in battle.  At Chancellorsville, Stonewall Jackson got into position faster than anyone could imagine.  That was no fault of Howard.  And while his decisions at Gettysburg are still embroiled in controversy, Howard had basically done the right thing.  And General Meade’s lack of decision-making left the decision in Howard’s hands.

And yet, filtering every decision based on what Jesus would have done drew added scrutiny.

But in the end, God’s judgment is the only one that lasts.  And the one-armed Christian General, can now enjoy both arms in his new body in Heaven.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.