Today's reading is a sermon from the Anglican Preacher George Whitefield (1714-1770) He was blessed with some unique talents in communication and vocalization as well as spiritual insights which he used for the glory of God.
He was surly not a perfect man... Whitefield publicly renounced slavery early on. However, he participated in this horrible practice after he won plantation owners to the Lord and they entrusted him slaves. He advocated for legalization of slavery in Georgia possibly that they might help him maintain and operate his orphanage. He vocalized the good treatment of slaves and evangelized them. Beware reader... the end does not justify the means and we all have to give account to the Lord for how we rationalize the morals that come out of our brokenness. Whitefield's connection to slavery stands out as possibly being his most grievous sin .
With that being said, history is a difficult thing to judge generally much less and yet more dangerously the intents of a heart individually... with the limited information we have and hundreds of years after the fact... And ultimately, that is one thing I cannot do to Whitefield or any other of our forefathers with good conscious. Only God knows the core of each of our hearts with its motives. I have enough trouble discerning my own heart in the present. God is judge. And knowing this... All sin is appalling and horrific and though some like slavery may seem much worse than others all sin hurts not only ourselves but others and probably more than we will ever know. In relation to God, sin puts each one of us on common ground, does it not? Like the song says: "Were you there when they crucified my Lord?". Jesus is the answer you yours and my brokenness. He is the good news... He is where I want to focus and find my delight in... He is the one I want to share with others.
I do believe it is good to know and learn about both the good and the bad things in those who went before us. We cannot throw out the baby with the bath water or we would never gain good from those who went before us nor would others listen to us. That is one of the things about the Bible... it does not hide the mistakes of Abraham, Issac, Jacob... on and on in the Old Testament as well as Christ's disciples in the New Testament we see their faults along with Gods mercy and grace upon them as a work in progress. You see its all about the Lord and his glory in his mercy and grace and his working in our life for our good!
So learn more about George Whitefield... and all of our forefathers in the faith with all their faults and all the amazing grace that God bestowed upon them for his glory... It will surly amaze and encourage you to read a biography about George Whitefield or listen to a sermon John Piper preached about him at desiringgod.org/
R Aylor
The Seed of the Woman, and the Seed of the Serpent
This is an amazing sermon that gets better and better the more he dives deep into the text.
The focal passage is:
Genesis 3:15 -- "And I will put Enmity between thee and the Woman, and
between thy Seed and her Seed, it shall bruise thy Head, and thou shalt
bruise his Heel."
