This week, I want to examine the place of prayer in perhaps the most influential American ever, George Washington. His name and character have been revered not only in America but throughout the world. Washington was perhaps the most unique political leader we have ever had in our nation.

His tenacity to persevere against all reasonable odds is epic! But where did he find such courage? Where did his resolve to win come from? How could he accomplish the many miracles that seemed to surround him in battle? How could he have the humility to not seek a third term of office as President when he so clearly was the people’s choice?

Well, as with all of our founding fathers, the letters are stories of their lives, and those letters and recordings of their actions by the people of the day reveal just what they believed, particularly about the role they were playing in Nation building and how they viewed God’s place in that process.

We have a famous painting of General George Washington kneeling in the snow at Valley Forge. Here, he faced sure defeat as his rag-tag army was abandoning the great cause of freedom, and those who were staying were starving and poorly clad for the frigid winter. Let’s look at the background of how he arrived to lead this rag-tag army.

The Second Continental Congress met on May 10, 1775, and asked George Washington to become their commander-in-chief. He was charged with basically building a group of farmers into a military force that would take on the greatest Empire of the world at that time, Great Britain. Washington knew that he needed to instill in the hearts of his men a deep conviction that what they were doing was for God and that they were under God’s protection. This is what he himself believed about what he was doing, building a new and free nation, because he was directed by faith in God, and he believed that God was and would protect him. There are several stories of his miraculous escape from direct bullet fire in the midst of battle.

So, General Washington issued an order that each day was to begin with prayer led by the officers of each unit. He also ordered that, unless their duties required them to be elsewhere, every soldier was to observe “ a punctual attendance of Divine services, to implore the blessing of heaven upon the means used for our safety and public defense.”

He also forbade all profanity and promised swift punishment for any who uttered oaths that would offend God or man. Can you imagine a leader on any level or office today forbidding swearing and profanity? Profanity has become the very fabric of our culture. On a side note, I was once told that the more vulgar you speak is a sign of your high I.Q.

Oh, well, let’s move on…Washington continually sought to instill in his troops faith and reverence toward God. Going back to the story of Valley Forge, during the difficult part of the war for independence, Rev. Henry Muhlenberg was able to observe Washington’s conduct from his nearby Lutheran Church. He wrote, Washington rode around among his army yesterday and admonished each one to fear God.

Issac Potts a Quaker who lived near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. When the Continental Army, led by Washington, was quartered there. The times were difficult on every level for Washington and his men. Potts was opposed to the war until, one day, he had a life-changing experience while riding in the woods near the army camp. He said, “I heard a plaintive sound as of a man at prayer. I tied my horse to a sapling and went quietly into the woods, and to my astonishment, I saw the great George Washington on his knees alone, with his sword on one side and his cocked hat on the other. He was at Prayer to the God of the Armies, beseeching to interpose with his Divine aid, as it was ye Crisis and cause of the country, of humanity, and of the world. Such a prayer I never heard from the lips of man. I left him alone, praying. I went home and told my wife I saw a sight and heard today what I had never saw or heard before, and just related to her what I had seen and heard and observed. We never thought a man could be a solider and a Christian, but if there is one in the world, it is Washington.”

Finally, having completed his call to serve in the birthing of the nation, Washington issued his letter of resignation as Commander-in-Chief to the Continental Congress, whereupon he wrote what I would call a pastoral letter, dated June 14th, 1783, to the governors of the various states. This letter reveals again his commitment to “earnest prayer.”

One section of the letter reads, “ I now make it my earnest prayer that God would have you and the State over which you preside, in his holy protection; that he would incline the hearts of the citizens…to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another…and to demean ourselves with charity, humility and pacific temper of mind, which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without humble imitation of His example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy nation.”

In conclusion, there are many written records of Washington beseeching heaven for help and looking to God for direction and protection.

Until Next Week…

Allen

You Can Read Other installments of Pulpit Polity Here.

The post Pulpit Polity – George Washington, Faith, and God appeared first on Granite Grok.

The FBI recently showed up at the home of Brianna Suggs. She’s an associate of New York City Mayor Eric Adams. She’s also a fundraiser for a mayor who has been increasingly critical of the “migrant” situation and the impact it is having on his sanctuary city.

The FBI is “investigating whether New York City Mayor Eric Adams’s 2021 campaign conspired with the Turkish government to receive illegal foreign donations.”

Investigators are looking into the potential involvement of a Brooklyn construction company with connections to Turkey and a small Washington, D.C.-based university that has ties to both Turkey and the New York City mayor, according to a search warrant obtained by the Times. The investigation is also focused on discerning whether Adams’s campaign kicked back benefits to the construction company’s officials and employees, and to Turkish officials.

Adams was on his way to The Capitol to discuss the “M-M-M-Migrant Crisis” but, upon hearing of the raid, bailed on that trip and returned to the Big Crapple.

Anyone and everyone is insisting that the Mayor is not the target “nor if he accused of wrongdoing,” but it appears clear to me that someone is sending a message.

First, under tyrants and despots, even those posing as elected officials, you are assumed guilty of something or will be as needed. No one is innocent. The odds of being implicated turn on any number of points, including value to the regime (current or potential) and optics. Targeting “associates” is a convenient way of establishing that you can and will go after them and that those targeted could be offered the opportunity to rat you out for anything that can be imagined.

Lie for them, and they promise not to charge you with perjury, and even if it doesn’t go well, you could get a book deal.

Adams is not new to the game, so he must know this, but all he was after, as far as I can tell, was a shot at being Ukraine. How about a bailout? A few billion or whatever the presses can print while I’m in town. Please put it on a pallet. Stick it on a C130. Drop it off at Laguardia in the middle of the night. I’ll have someone there to collect it. And that will buy my silence for a few months. We’ll find a way to make it work. Please send me your uneducated and disease-infested, your terrorists, your drug cartel and gang members yearning to ruin America.

And this is New York. As with most Democrat-run urban plantations, it operates like a banana republic. If the UN brings aid, anyone who is anyone gets a piece, and if there’s any leftover, create a few photo-ops to reinforce the false hope. Adams needs to line some pockets, too. Elections don’t win themselves. So, the money, any money, will generate plenty of aid but not for the wretched huddled masses knocking on his door.

He’ll have to beg for more.

And that works, at least until or unless the FBI shows up to raid another supporter. Or maybe a bit closer to home.

It’s just a theory, but it’s only the first seal of the potential Adams Apocolypse. If the FBI shows up again with a CNN crew, he’ll know he’s in trouble.

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