Lives used up in the fight for freedom for others

Today we are a nation divided, and a country united!  We are divided by ignorance of history, and by men who are set on making a name for themselves at the expense of everyone around them.  We are united by the civility of Jesus Christ, who transforms hate into love in the lives of individuals, and so into a nation that sends out the love of God.
   History does indeed matter, and knowledge, or lack thereof, will make or break a nation. That thought is not extreme, and this very issue of national destruction is found in a familiar Bible passage, which deals with a nation falling because history was forgotten.  Hosea 4:6,  ''My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.'' That passage goes on to say that the people failed to remember their history, and failed to remember their God; He, the first Historian, repeatedly, repeatedly, told His people to set up memorials and tell the meaning of God's involvement among all peoples, to tell of His Wonders as He cared for His people, of the travels of His people wherever they went because He was always with them, even into captivity. God repeatedly told His people to tell their children, and tell the aliens among them of the history of God among His people. But the people forgot.
   Today we have asked Jesus Christ to leave our schools, to not let many of our public school children, across the nation, hear the name of Jesus Christ, nor to hear most of world and national history. Thank God for the exceptions, for those who still fear and honor Jesus Christ!
   One huge portion of history we have lost, and which now divides our nation, is the vast number of Americans who opposed slavery in the 1800's, and the large number of books, newspapers, and other publications. which entreated Americans, with great pleading and emotion, to end the immoral and hideous practice of slavery!  Far too many of the descendants of those enslaved in our nation during that disgraceful period of our history do not realize the huge numbers of Americans that were responsible for ending of slavery.
   One of the heroes of the enslaved American was Elijah Parish Lovejoy.

Elijah P. Lovejoy,
Editor Alton Observer,
 1802 - 1837.
A Martyr to Liberty.



"I have sworn eternal opposition to slavery, and by the blessing of God, I will never go back."

Elijah Parish Lovejoy was a Presbyterian minister,  and champion of freedom from slavery, and free speech, Elijah Lovejoy, lived but 35 years, and in that time he published a newspaper in St. Louis, Missouri, called the St. Louis Observer, where his print press was destroyed the first of four times, and in Alton, Illinois, where in his 35th year, drunken pro-slavery mobs destroyed Lovejoy's print press three more times, and he was killed at the destruction of his fourth press.

     ''I am threatened with violence and death because I dare to advocate, in any way, the cause of the oppressed. Under a deep sense of my obligations to my country, the Church and my God, I declare it to be my fixed purpose to submit to no such dictation. And I am prepared to abide the consequences.''

   These were no idle words, he was prepared, as many were, to use up his life for the gaining of freedom for others, and others who would seldom, if ever, have a chance to repay him for his dedicated work on the behalf of those he did not know, but from the kindness of Almighty God in his heart, to give all.
   He was called , ‘Champion of Freedom'.  His murder made clear that slavery could not be ended peaceably because slavery brought in too much money and too much free labor; unruly and lazy men worshiped at the altar of easy money. Indeed, the vast majority of slaveholders were men determined to have free labor and easy money on the broken backs of their fellow countrymen, who were the descendants of the African and the Irish, shipped like disposable merchandise to the American colonies.
   Many newspapers, books, and smaller publications, reached the heart of the American people  who then supported the civil war and the Emancipation Proclamation; and Elijah Parish Lovejoy's martyrdom was one of the events that gripped the heart of the people into action.
   After Elijah Lovejoy died, his brother, Owen Lovejoy, took his place along side the many other abolitionists who daily risked their lives to free the Americans enslaved.

Sources:
National Abolition hall of Fame and Museum
Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass: The Story Behind an American Friendship by Russell Freedman
Distilled History, 2013 award of the year's best personal blog by RFT
Wikipedia

Overcome evil together

   The Underground Railroad could not have succeeded without the close association, and gut-level courage and conviction, of both White and Black to assist those wanting the freedom to breathe free air!
   We must be reminded of our true history, we must look back at heroes of the past and reflect on their words, such as these of Frederick Douglass. Mr. Douglass was born into slavery, taught himself to read after his 'master's' wife had begun to teach him, and escaped as a young man to freedom.

     "I base my sense of the certain overthrow of slavery, in part, upon the nature of the American Government, the Constitution, the tendencies of the age, and the character of the American people; and this, notwithstanding the important decision of Judge Taney. I know of no soil better adapted to the growth of reform than American soil. I know of no country where the conditions for affecting great changes in the settled order of things, for the development of right ideas of liberty and humanity, are more favorable than here in these United States.

The very groundwork of this government is a good repository of Christian civilization. The Constitution, as well as the Declaration of Independence, and the sentiments of the founders of the Republic, give us a platform broad enough, and strong enough, to support the most comprehensive plans for the freedom and elevation of all the people of this country, without regard to color, class, or clime."

Speech on the Dred Scott Decision
Frederick Douglass
May 1857

   Please note what Mr. Douglass says here...he gives credit for his hope of a unified America to the foundation of a Christian civilization. Jesus Christ is the one and only original source of civilization.

   He also gives credit to the American government, the Constitution.....and to the American people; the majority of the American people recoiled at the thought of slavery, and Harriet Beecher Stowe's ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'', and  Mr. Douglass' ''My Bondage and My Freedom'', and many other abolitionist's publications, informed the people of the United States of America of the true plight of the enslaved, and the American people rose up, and enabled President Abraham Lincoln to free the enslaved through a very bloody war and the Emancipation Proclamation, Truly, it was a minority of people who sucked the life out of others for the purpose of free labor on their large farms.

   We must tell these stories, and we must truthfully teach our children the history of these Blessed United States, and shut down the 'politically correct' and the divisive self-serving, self-promoters who have their agendas in mind only for the purpose of their own gain at the expense of any and all who are unfortunately in their way.

   God Bless America, and thank God for this nation of freedom!

 

Stronger Together

   America, you have lost your history, and have become so undereducated you do not realize the great danger you now face.
   One danger of our ignorance is found in Ferguson, Missouri, and spreading across our nation.
   The divisions between Black and White are widening because we have forgotten the impassioned cooperation of the Black and White to free fellow countrymen, women, and children from the cruel and self-serving trade and ownership of human beings in the 1700-1800's.
   The stories not only tell of people sacrificing enormous portions of their lives, but also have one common denominator that we in America are letting slide away from our schools, society, and government, and that is Jesus Christ.  While some slave owners claimed to be Christian, their lives tell an entirely different reality, and distort the image of our Great and Wonderful God that prompted the abolitionists to work so tirelessly to give these Americans the fresh air of freedom!

   A man named Vestal Coffin was one of thousands of heroes who worked many years to help those who were enslaved to reach free states or Canada. Mr. Coffin organized an Underground Railroad station in North Carolina in 1819; his young teenage son, Addison, and a cousin, Levi, risked their lives repeatedly to help those who were willing to try and reach freedom.

   William Lloyd Garrison was editor of ''The Liberator'', an anti-slavery newspaper which ran from 1831 to 1865, here is an excerpt from his first issue...

     ''I am aware that many object to the severity of my language; but is there not cause for severity? I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject, I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation. No! No! Tell a man whose house is on fire to give a moderate alarm; tell him to moderately rescue his wife from the hands of the ravisher; tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe from the fire into which it has fallen;—but urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the present. I am in earnest—I will not equivocate—I will not excuse—I will not retreat a single inch—AND I WILL BE HEARD. The apathy of the people is enough to make every statue leap from its pedestal, and to hasten the resurrection of the dead.''
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   At least once he escaped being hung by a pro-slavery mob, and he continued to risk his life daily to help free people from the satanic business of slavery.

   There are hundreds, if not thousands, of stories to be set before the eyes of the America public and bring healing to our land; through Jesus Christ, and through the stories of His liberating Hand!