Proverbs: Kingship, Household Wisdom, and Warning

Where We Are & How We Got Here # 12 of 14

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Old Testament Studies

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 1998-09-13

Synopsis: John Weaver argues that Abraham Lincoln was a deceitful, unconstitutional tyrant, not the honest hero portrayed in mainstream history. Using contemporary quotes from Lincoln's own party and cabinet, Weaver contends that Lincoln repeatedly violated the Constitution, waged an unjust war, and was widely despised in his own time. After his death, a campaign of deification through 'pious lies' transformed him into a false icon. Weaver calls believers to judge leaders by Scripture, not propaganda, and to recognize that only Christ is trustworthy.

[John Weaver] All right, let's open our Bibles into John chapter 18. John 18, verse 37. Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this then was I born, and for this cause came I to the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth?

[John Weaver] And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews and said unto them, I find in him no fault at all." Now, I want you to see how totally and absolutely blind Pilate was to the truth. Truth was standing right in front of him, and he did not see him. He was unable to discern the truth. You see, the Bible says in 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 16, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man may be perfect, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished in every good work. So the Bible then is the written word of God. It is the written truth. Jesus Christ said in John 14 and verse 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh unto the Father but by me. So Jesus Christ, then, is the living truth. Now, you put these two together, the written truth and the living truth, and Jesus Christ said in John 12 and verse 48, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that rejected me, that is the living truth, and receiveth not my words, that is the written truth, one that judges him in the last

[John Weaver] day, even the words which I have spoken." Now, the truth is, many people ask for truth, but they really do not want it.

[John Weaver] Now, the reason I'm giving you this introduction is because I'm going to bring a message today which I have entitled, Honest Abe, Was It So Honest? you may ask for the truth and not really want the truth. And the evidence is that people ask for the truth and really don't want it is they refuse to listen to it and to hear it and to receive it once it is given.

[John Weaver] You remember what Jesus Christ said in John 8 in verse 32? He said, you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. But that is only true if you receive the truth and apply the truth. You may hear truth all of your life, but if you do not receive it and apply it, it does you absolutely no good.

[John Weaver] Now, if you've listened carefully to the last three lessons, you will already know that old Honest Dave was not so honest. In fact, he was a deceitful and dastardly wicked man. He was a liar. He was a warmonger. and the blood of thousands of men is upon his head."

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to understand that truth makes us very uncomfortable. And the reason it makes us uncomfortable is because it means that we have to readjust our thinking and our attitude. I never have forgotten when I first learned, when you really start studying the Bible, it messes up a lot of good sermons. It really does. I mean, you know, you can preach and say a lot of good things, you think, until you really start studying and realize that what you've been saying wasn't true at all. And once you begin to delve into what truth really is, all of the propaganda that we've heard all these years and all the ideas that we've absorbed, all of a sudden we realize, hey, everything we've been taught from a child is just about a lie. And we have to readjust our thinking and refocus our thinking.

[John Weaver] And we're forced to recognize, listen, that our hope is not in man, but in Jesus Christ. You see, once you begin to study, you find out some of our heroes were not so great and they really weren't heroes at all. I want you to turn in your Bibles very quickly to Psalm 118. Psalm 118, and I think this verse is very appropriate for two reasons. Number one, this is the middle verse in the Bible. And number two, the contents of this verse. Look at Psalm 118, and let's read verse 8, and then we shall read verse 9, since it's a parallel verse. Psalm 118 verse 8, God said it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. Isn't that interesting? Middle verse, it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. And the next verse, it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.

[John Weaver] So what he's telling us is that men will always fail us. Men will always let us down. Only Christ is our hope, and only Christ is our success.

[John Weaver] Now, you and I must want truth not just for ourselves, but for others as well. Let me give you two quotes to begin with. The first one is by Robert E. Lee, and this is what he said concerning the truth about the war. He said, everyone should do all in his power to collect and disseminate the truth. in the hope that it may find a place in history and descend to posterity.

[John Weaver] History is not the relation of campaigns and battles and generals or other individuals, but that which shows the principles for which the South contended and which justified her struggle for those principles. Then the second quote is from Benjamin H. Hill. We live in Bend Hill County. and Binhill County was named after Benjamin H. Hill, and Binhill said this, we owe it to our dead, to our living, and to our children to preserve the truth and repel the falsehoods so that we may secure just judgment from the only tribunal before which we may appear and be fully and fairly heard, and that tribunal is the Bar of History. Now, the truth is, the South And Christian principles have been horribly maligned by the North. In fact, I could tell you today that it has not just been horribly maligned, it has been perverted as well.

[John Weaver] For instance, our conquerors teach that the Constitution stood for a national government and not a compact between the sovereign states. Conquerors teach that the advocates of secession were traitors to the United States government and deserved to be hanged after the war was over. They teach that what we were engaged in was a civil war because we were not a republic of states but a nation. And, by the way, the war was not a civil war. It was not between people of the same nation. It was between people of two different nations because the Confederate States of America had already been duly and lawfully organized, so it was not a civil war at all. Our conquerors teach that the South fought to hold their slaves. It was not by the South's fault, and they also taught that the slaveholders were cruel and barbarous, which we've already seen to be a lie. They also teach that it was Abraham Lincoln who cut the shackles of slavery, which is certainly not true. They also teach that the Emancipation Proclamation set the slaves free.

[John Weaver] That is not true as well. They teach that the Confederate government was conformed to destroy the Union, and it was only Lincoln's wise policies that saved the Union, and that certainly is not true. They teach that the assassination of Abraham Lincoln was one of the greatest blows that ever befell the South, and they teach that Abraham Lincoln was a friend of the Negro and a friend of the South, which is a lie as well.

[John Weaver] So everything about our history has been perverted and maligned by the norm. Lincoln was not interested in preserving the Constitution any more than he was interested in preserving the South. There's a woman by the name of Mildred Rutherford who wrote a book a number of years ago, and the book has recently been reprinted, and the name of it is A True Estimate of Abraham Lincoln. And in her book, she documents ten distinct constitutional violations by Abraham Lincoln.

[John Weaver] I want to give them to you, and then I want to give you some quotes. from the friends, from the cabinet, and from the party of Abraham Lincoln to show you that people who were alive back then knew exactly that Abraham Lincoln was violating the Constitution on every hand. Here are the ten that Mildred Rutherford lists. First of all, coercion in 1861, which was a violation of Article IV. And, of course, that's where Lincoln tried to coerce the South into fighting and, of course, into surrendering to him, basically. Number two, Lincoln violated the Constitution when he violated the laws of neutrality, which was the Trent Affair, Article VI, Clause 2, which was a violation of international law. Now, if you don't know what the Trent Affair was, it's very interesting because the Confederate government had sent some representatives to England. to present our cause there before the English Parliament, and our Confederate men were on an English ship named the Trent. And the United States government came and took the Confederate men off a British ship and imprisoned them.

[John Weaver] You say, what's so bad about that? And remember, the War of 1812 was solved over the same issue because the English were doing that to our citizens. And what happened, the South was humiliated, not the South, but the North was humiliated in this. Those men had to be released, and William Seward had to write an apology. to the English government, because the English government would not even negotiate. They said, you will either release those men, or there's going to be war between you and England, as well as the South and England. So, and Lincoln, when he violated the Constitution in this area, by the way, do you know what he did for the captain who arrested those men and took them off the English ship?

[John Weaver] He gave him a gold medal. Number three, he suspended the writ of habeas corpus, Article 1, Section 9, Clause 2. Number four, he declared war without the consent of Congress in 1861, which is a violation of Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11 and 12. Number five, the Emancipation Proclamation, which is a violation of Article 4, Section 3, Clause 2. He made West Virginia a state in violation of Article 4, Section 3, Clause 1. He just separated Virginia and made West Virginia a state all by himself. Number seven, he denied the freedom of speech under the Landingham Imprisonment, which was a violation of the First Amendment. Number eight, he blockaded Fort And of the states that were held by the federal government that still be in the Union, you don't block your own porch. Number nine, the liberty of the press was taken away, that a violation of the First Amendment. And number ten, violation of the Fugitive Slave Law, which was a violation of Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3. Now, may I remind you last week that Lincoln confessed to six of these constitutional violations in his joint resolution to Congress, trying to get Congress to validate everything that he had done illegally and unlawfully.

[John Weaver] So he himself acknowledged six of them. Now, the amazing truth is this. There were many people who were friends of Lincoln in his cabinet and in Congress who recognized that what Lincoln was doing was unconstitutional and wrong. For instance, Godwin in The Nation says this, quote, The first real breach of the Constitution was President Lincoln using his war power to abolish slavery. He said Lincoln had no authority to do that. Thaddeus Stevens, who was of Lincoln's own party. Thaddeus Stevens was a radical Republican, and here's what he said. I will not stultify myself by supposing that Mr. Lincoln has any warrant in the Constitution for dismembering Virginia. Thaddeus Stevens said Lincoln had no constitutional warrants to divide Virginia. Yet he did. McClure, who was a friend of Lincoln, said, Mr. Lincoln swore to obey the Constitution, but in 18 months violated it by his Emancipation Proclamation. They knew. Mr. Rhodes said there was no authority for the Proclamation by the Constitution laws, nor was there any statute that warranted it. So they realized Lincoln had absolutely no grounds for doing what he did.

[John Weaver] Wendell Phillips of the Cooper Institute said in 1864, I judge Mr. Lincoln by his acts, his violations of the law, his overthrow of liberty in the northern states. I judge Mr. Lincoln by his words, his deeds, and so judging him, I am unwilling to trust Abraham Lincoln with the future of this country. So here was a leading man of the Cooper Institute saying, Lincoln cannot be trusted. Percy Gregg said, listen, Lincoln never hesitated to violate the Constitution when he so desired.

[John Weaver] The Chief Justice testified to this. Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus in 1861. He allowed West Virginia to be formed from Virginia contrary to the Constitution. He issued his Emancipation Proclamation without consulting his cabinet and in violation of the Constitution. Isn't it amazing how every one of these men are acknowledging, not necessarily all at once, but at least several of his unconstitutional actions? Charles Sumner, who was another radical Republican and a member of his own party, said this, when Lincoln reinforced Fort Scepter and called for 75,000 men without the consent of Congress, it was the greatest breach ever made in the Constitution and would hereafter give the President the liberty to declare war whenever he wished without the consent of Congress. Now, that was Charles Sumner. Charles Francis Adams was a historian of Massachusetts. Listen to what he said, quote, How can we justify the acts of Mr. Lincoln's administration? An unconstitutional policy calls for unconstitutional coercion. An unconstitutional coercion calls for an unconstitutional war. An unconstitutional war called for an unconstitutional despotism.

[John Weaver] Authority uncontrolled and unlimited by men, by Constitution, by the Supreme Court, or by law with Lincoln's war policy." Let me paraphrase that. Lincoln did whatever he wanted to do. He was not constrained by the Constitution. He was not constrained by law. He was not constrained by the Supreme Court. So when the Supreme Court ruled against him, he just kept going and did whatever he was going to do anyhow. Totally irresponsible. Now, may I remind you that these men were not Lincoln's enemies. They were his friends.

[John Weaver] They were in his cabinet. They were in his party. So Lincoln did not hesitate to violate the Constitution whenever he chose to do so, nor would he abide by the decisions of the Supreme Court. Let me put it to you like this. Lincoln was a tyrant in the strictest sense of the term. Why? Because Lincoln used lawful power unlawfully. Everyone in here has heard of J.P. Morgan, okay? The great financier.

[John Weaver] Listen to what J.P. Morgan said. J.P. Morgan said, quote, I supported President Lincoln. I believe his war policy would be the only way to save the country, but I see my mistake. I visited Washington a few weeks ago, and I saw the corruption of the President's administration, and so long as Abraham Lincoln and his cabinet are in power, so long will the war continue. And for what?

[John Weaver] For the preservation of the Constitution and the Union? No, but for the sake of politicians and governmental contractors." That was J.P. Morgan. He said, I understand what's going on. There is no fight to preserve the Union. There is no fight to preserve the Constitution. There is only a fight to reward the benefactors of Abraham Lincoln. That's it. Forrest Greeley said this, I cannot trust honest old age.

[John Weaver] He's too smart for me. The word is really not smart, the word is cunning, deceitful. Layman said, who was one of Lincoln's partners, Layman said this, Mr. Lincoln did not possess a single quality for his office as president. People said he was good and honest and well-meaning, but he never pretended that he was great. He was only nominated by means of a corrupt bargain entered into by Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania and Caleb Smith of Indiana, provided Lincoln would pledge them cabinet positions. These pledges Lincoln fulfilled and thus made himself a party to corrupt bargains."

[John Weaver] That was his own law partner that said that. I want to read something to you just for a moment that's rather lengthy, but I want you to listen. I'm going to tell you why. You've never heard, probably, of a judge by the name of Judge Henry Claydean. I have a book at home that has just been reprinted, and the book is by Judge Henry Claydean, and the title of the book is Crimes of the Civil War. But it is not crimes of the South. It is crimes of the North and crimes of Abraham Lincoln. You know, I told you in time past that Lincoln arrested 38,000 Northerners and had them imprisoned without a trial. Never pressed a charge against Well, Judge Henry Claydeen was one of those that Lincoln arrested and put in prison without a trial. And I want you to listen to, first of all, his indictment of Lincoln and his government. And then, secondly, he's going to tell you why he was arrested.

[John Weaver] Now, this is very informative. Remember, this comes from a judge. He was alive, who suffered under Abraham Lincoln, who knew firsthand what was going on. Here's what Judge Henry Clay Dean writes, Our government is in nothing uniform except its contempt of law and powerful only for the oppression of the people. Every officer seems to contemplate his office as an engine of destruction in which he's engaged to work the ruin of the particular department of government entrusted to his care.

[John Weaver] The Postmaster General has, for the last five years, been violating the mails. The Secretary of the Treasury has been squandering the public wealth. The Secretary of the Navy has been enfeebling our naval power. The Secretary of War, all crimson with innocent blood, is employing the army for the destruction of the country. The Secretary of State has been subverting constitutional law and disgracing our form of government at home and abroad. The Secretary of the Interior has been conniving with public jobbers to defraud the government of its most valuable land. The Attorney General is gravely burlesquing nonsense itself by defining constitutional construction of unconstitutional laws, and is in conspiracy with military commissions to murder innocent women. The President is administering the government through military satraps.

[John Weaver] Is that how you pronounce that? S-A-P-R-A-P-S. in a manner unknown to Republican systems and disgraceful to despotism which regard the character of those entrusted to power. We now witness among our kindred the debasement of a civilized people who are forced to submit to the insult and domination of barbarian Negroes and foreign vagabonds. The courts of the country are infamously corrupt. The state legislatures and Congress are flagrantly accessible to bribes which have become the only tangible basis of special and an essential necessity in general legislation. The people of a late Confederate state after encountering the terrible vicissitudes of war were overtaken by a famine which inflicted frightful forms of starvation and are now overrun and robbed by predatory invasions and endangered by the insurrection of domestic savages incited by foreign incendiaries."

[John Weaver] Now, this is just an overall view of the government in Lincoln's day by And here is why the judge says that he was arrested. He says, I have a personal reason for the publication of this book. I suffered under the reign of Mr. Lincoln. By the way, I like that word. I suffered under the reign of Mr. Lincoln, which was a vibration between anarchy and despotism. Why was I arrested? I cannot tell. I have never seen anything like charges, and suppose there were none in such form as would be recognized in any court of justice under the sun.

[John Weaver] And yet, I am quite sure there was a cause for it, which is this. I am a Democrat. A devoted friend of the Constitution of the United States, a sincere lover of the government and the Union of the States, am anxious for a reunion and believe it the right and duty of a free man in a calm, candid manner to discuss in a temperate spirit the best modes of effecting this purpose. I have dared to participate in these discussions freely, which I have done from convictions of duty. This was the cause of my arrest. This is my only offense But all this availed me nothing so long as I was a Democrat, a faithful supporter of the Constitution, an ardent lover of the Union, and believed and thought that the integrity of the one was the only conservative power of the other."

[John Weaver] So why was the judge arrested? Well, Lincoln knew the influence and the power that Judge Henry Claydean had, and he tried to bribe Judge Henry Claydean. and get him on his side, and the judge refused. And, of course, he continued to speak out against Lincoln, and the next thing he knew, he was arrested and thrown in prison and did not get out until after the war was over and Lincoln was dead. And the only reason he was arrested was he disagreed with Lincoln.

[John Weaver] Now, in Mildred Rutherford's book, a true estimate of Abraham Lincoln. She gives a number of newspaper quotes and articles written in Lincoln's day before his inauguration and after his inauguration, and I want to read some of these to you. Some of them are so sorrowful they ought to make you weep, and others are downright humorous but yet they show the situation that we were in at that period in our history. The New York Herald, on May the 22nd, 1860, says this concerning Lincoln. The candidate for president, Abraham Lincoln, is an uneducated man, a vulgar village politician without any experience worth mentioning in the practical duties of statesmanship, and only noted for some very unpopular votes which he gave while a member of Congress. An uneducated, vulgar, village politician. The New York Express in February of 1861 said this, the tone of levity and frivolity which characterizes the speeches of Mr. Lincoln causes the hearts of our citizens to sink within them. They perceive already that he is not the man for the crisis.

[John Weaver] and begin to despond of any extrication from the impending difficulties." What are they saying? Everybody realizes he's not going to get us out, he's going to get us in deeper. The Philadelphia Argus said,"...the humiliating spectacle is thus presented by the President-elect, indulging in the merest claptrap of the politician, thanking the people for voting for him, flattering their political pride, and appealing to their sectional animosity. So he's trying to speck one section against the other. Now, I like this one.

[John Weaver] This was in the New York Tribune, June the 4th, 1863. They were quoting Alfred R. Wooten, who was the Attorney General of Delaware. Now, not a southern state by any stretch of the imagination, and here is what the Attorney General said. concerning Lincoln and his administration. Quote, the administration is an insult to the flag and a traitor to their God. Russia never dared exercise the privileges which Mr. Lincoln did without reading a newspaper to see what the people thought. A hound might find Mr. Lincoln, but never will find him by an honest scent. That was the Attorney General of Delaware. A dog might fire Lincoln, but not by an honest spirit. He didn't think too much of Mr. Lincoln.

[John Weaver] Linda Phillips of the Cooper Institute once again, on August 22, 1862, said this, What right has he, or any official in our service, to claim that I shall cease criticizing his mistakes when they are dragging the Union to ruin? I find grave fault with Abraham Lincoln." The New York World, April 13, 1864. Mr. Lincoln is wholly unqualified for his position. The personal presence, the dignity, or the knowledge demanded in the magistrate of a great people.

[John Weaver] No branch of the administration has been well and efficiently administered under him. His soul seems to be made of leather and incapable of any grand or noble emotion. You leave his presence with your enthusiasm dampened, your better feelings crushed, and your hopes cast to the wind. Even wisdom from him seems but folly. The New York world. June 2, 1864, says this, that there is to the Republican Party a widely diffused impression of the feebleness, faithlessness, and incapacity of Mr. Lincoln's administration is notorious. What are they saying? Everybody in the Republican-marked party knew that Lincoln was wrong. New York Herald, June 2, 1864, they said, anything for a change in this imbecile and torpid administration.

[John Weaver] Let us have a shaking up of its dry bones. Anything for a change. I hope you know what an imbecile is. The New York World, June 4, 1864, said, the age of rail splitters and tailors, of buffoons, boars, and fanatics has succeeded. Translated, Lincoln is a bore, a buffoon, and a fanatic. He continues, Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Johnson are both men of mediocre talent, neglected education, narrow views, deficient information, and, of course, vulgar manners.

[John Weaver] A statesman is supposed to be a man of some depth of thought and extended knowledge. Has this country, with so proud a record, been reduced to such intellectual poverty as to be forced to present two such names as Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson from the highest stations in this most trying crisis of its history? It is a cruel mockery and bitter humiliation. Such nominations at this juncture are an insult to the common sense of the people." Has this country, with so proud a record then reduced to such intellectual poverty, has to be forced to present two such names as Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, who are the high stations in this most trying crisis of its history?"

[John Weaver] Yeah, that came from New York. In other words, they realized, hey, these guys are buffoons.

[John Weaver] Now, this may surprise you, When I say this, but I had to be selective of my quotes that I just used, not because I was trying to pick out the worst ones, no, but because there was a multiplicity of such quotes. I could have sat here for another hour reading to you things that northerners said about Abraham Lincoln. You see, when Abraham Lincoln was alive, he was mocked.

[John Weaver] and ridiculed and hated and despised. Even his infamous Gettysburg Address was viewed and pronounced as a failure by himself, by Secretary of State William Seward, by Edward Everett, who also spoke on that occasion, and by W.H. Cunningham, who was a reporter for the Montgomery, Missouri Star, who was there when he gave the address. But after his death, everything changed. Let me tell you something, and I want you to keep this in mind, that Abraham Lincoln was not a Christian. Abraham Lincoln mocked and ridiculed the gospel of Jesus Christ. Even his dearest intimate said that the only reason Abraham Lincoln left the church was to mock the preacher, and after the preaching was over, he would imitate him in a nasal, vulgar manner just to get laughs. Abraham Lincoln wrote a dissertation denying the deity of Jesus Christ and denying the inspiration of the scriptures.

[John Weaver] The dissertation was finally torn up by his partner with this statement, you will never be elected if this gets out. Abraham Lincoln held seances in the White House.

[John Weaver] Let me tell you something. His law partner, his friends, and even his wife testified that Abraham Lincoln was not a Christian. His private secretary said this, Mr. Lincoln did not, to my knowledge, in any way change his religious views, opinions, or beliefs from the time he left Springville to the day of his death. What did he say? He never was converted. He always hated Christ and hated Christianity.

[John Weaver] I like what General John Pyatt says, and this really puts the icing on the cake. Don't you listen carefully. If this is not a picture of politicians, I don't know what is. But General Don Hyatt traveled with Lincoln whenever Lincoln was making his campaign speeches. And here's what Hyatt said. When a leader dies, all good men go to lying about it. Now, I won't finish. Listen now. When a leader dies, all good men go lying about him.

[John Weaver] From the moment that covers his remains to the last echo of the rule of press, in speeches, in sermons, eulogies, reminiscences, we hear nothing but pious lies. Abraham Lincoln has almost disappeared from human knowledge. I hear of him, I read of him in eulogies and biographies, but I fail to recognize the man that I knew in life."

[John Weaver] What is Pius saying? Everybody's writing lies. They're not writing truth about Abraham Lincoln. William Stanton, who was Secretary of War, in a letter to President Buchanan, remember Buchanan preceded Lincoln, expressed his contempt for Lincoln. And none of his cabinet really liked him. They thought he was an absolute fool. Do you know what William Stanton did? After Lincoln was elected President, William Stanton, the Secretary of War, advised the revolutionary overthrow of the Lincoln administration, and that General George McClellan be installed as a military dictator. But after Lincoln was dead, William Stanton, who hated and despised Lincoln so, made this infamous quote, John Hay, who was Secretary of State, eulogized Lincoln after his death, and he called him the greatest, the wisest, the godliest man that has appeared on earth since Christ. Now, I want you to remember what Priatt said.

[John Weaver] When a leader dies, all men go to lying about it. Listen to what J.G. Holland wrote after Lincoln died. This is unbelievable. Lincoln unequals since Washington in service to the nation. Mr. Lincoln will always be remembered as an eminently Christian president. Conscience, not popular applause. nor love of power was the ruling motive of Lincoln's life, no stimulant ever entered his mouth. I don't know if he drank or not, but he was partner in the ownership of the saloon, I can tell you that. No stimulant ever entered his mouth, no profanity ever came from his lips, and yet he was known for his bald or filthy stories. Here he goes on, Abraham Lincoln was the first of all men who had walked the earth since the Nazarene. Stupidity.

[John Weaver] Not just stupidity, but the fact they had to do something now to deify him in the sense Evidently, you know, they were going to try to gloss over everything that the North did wrong to the South and that he did wrong. Listen to what Henry Watterson wrote. This was upon the dedication of Lincoln's home. Ah, get your airbags ready. The dedication of Lincoln's home. You lowly cabin, which is to be dedicated over Marah, may well be likened to the manger of Bethlehem, the boy that went fest to a godlike destiny, to the Son of God, the Father Almighty of Him and us all. Which is prompting except from God? His tragic death may be likened also to that other martyr whom Lincoln so closely resembled.

[John Weaver] There are utterances of his which read like rescripts from the Sermon on the Mount, reviled as hymn of Galilee, slain even as hymn of Galilee, yet as general and unoffending a man who died for me.

[John Weaver] even if Lincoln had been a godly man, it is still blasphemous, because Jesus Christ is unequaled. He is the monogamate. His only begotten son, monogamate, is the Greek term which means one of a kind. He is unique. There is none that can compare to Jesus Christ. J.M. Merrill in the Detroit Free Press said, Abraham Lincoln is so far above every other man in human history that to compare him to others seems sacrilege. Nowhere on earth is there a historic character to compare to our sainted martyr Abraham Lincoln. Albert Bushnell Hart wrote, Abraham Lincoln was the greatest man of the Civil War period. All right, hey, if you would just change man to criminal, I'd agree with it.

[John Weaver] Listen to the Sunday school tirades. Abraham Lincoln is the Christian exemplar for children today. According to Judge Stewart, here it is. Here in this new world country, with no pride of ancestry, arose the greatest man since the meek and lowly Nazarene, a man whose life had a greater influence on the human race than any teacher, thinker, or toiler since the beginning of the Christian era." You mean to tell me that Lincoln was greater than the Apostle Paul? That Lincoln was greater than the Apostle Peter? Greater than the Apostle John? I think that Lincoln did not have nearly the influence that they wanted him.

[John Weaver] And you know, I find an absolutely, an amazing, an astounding contradistinction. Abraham Lincoln, the villain, the one who violated his oath of office repeatedly, the man who ripped this country in pieces, that secretly and deliberately started the war in which a million people were wounded, a half a million died. Abraham Lincoln, the villain, is deified when Jeff Davis, who was a godly and devout man and a statesman who wanted to preserve the Constitution, is vilified. It's amazing.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to turn to two passages of Scripture. I want you to look at Proverbs 17 and then the book of Isaiah chapter 5. Let's look first at Proverbs 17 and look what God says. Proverbs 17 and verse 15. God says, he that justifies the wicked and he that condemns the just, even they both are an abomination to the Lord. When you justify, when you pronounce right, when you pronounce just, a wicked man, it's an abomination to God. And on the other hand, when you condemn a righteous man, it is an abomination to God. Look in your Bibles to the book of Isaiah chapter 5. Isaiah chapter 5 and note verse 20.

[John Weaver] Here's a curse that certainly falls upon a lot of individuals. Isaiah 5 verse 20, God says, Woe to them that call evil good and good evil, that put darkness for light and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. Woe unto them that call evil good, and that call good evil." You see, what has happened in our country since Abraham Lincoln, everything has been turned upside down. And basically what has happened is this. evil men have been called good men, and good men have been called evil men.

[John Weaver] You look today at our governmental structure. You look in our society, and you find the men who are held up as our exemplars, as our heroes, and the world is trying to make them good when in reality they are evil, wicked men plotting the overthrow of our government as we know it. All of our leaders keep talking about our democracy. We've never had a democracy. Well, we have one now because we perverted the republic. We were supposed to be a republic, not a democracy. What we find is, those men who are real patriots, those men who are real Christians, those men who want what's right, they are now vilified and maligned and counted as worth absolutely nothing.

[John Weaver] They're to be gotten rid of and disposed of. Now, it's just one of them that call evil good, and they call good evil. Abraham Lincoln, old, honest Abe, was not so honest. He was a wicked, ungodly individual who violated his constitutional oath and sunk this nation into perilous war. Let's pray. Father, we ask today in the name of Jesus Christ that you would help us. and able us, Lord, to judge men not just by what they say, but what they do. And may we take what they do and judge them by the Word of God, for our Lord said, by their fruits you shall know them. May everything be held to the touchstone of Scripture, as Isaiah 8 and verse 20 says, to the law and to the testimony. If they agree not, it's because there is no truth in them. Help us, Father, to judge by the word of God. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask. Amen.

Where We Are & How We Got Here # 12 of 14

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	3290483236
Subject	Old Testament Studies
Course	Proverbs: Kingship, Household Wisdom, and Warning
Genre	Sermon
Date	1998-09-13
Dictation Name
Book	Book 119: Where We Are & How We Got Here — Chapter 12
Source Timed Segments	57

Formatted Transcript

Introduction: The Nature of Truth

Weaver opens with John 18:37-38, highlighting Pilate's blindness to truth standing before him. He emphasizes that the Bible is written truth and Jesus is living truth, and that many ask for truth but reject it when given.

All right, let's open our Bibles to John chapter 18. John 18, verse 37: "Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth?" And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews and said unto them, "I find in him no fault at all." Now, I want you to see how totally and absolutely blind Pilate was to the truth. Truth was standing right in front of him, and he did not see him. He was unable to discern the truth. You see, the Bible says in 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 16,

Scripture Reading — 2 Timothy 3:16

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."

So the Bible then is the written Word of God. It is the written truth. Jesus Christ said in John 14 and verse 6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me." So Jesus Christ, then, is the living truth. Now, you put these two together, the written truth and the living truth, and Jesus Christ said in John 12 and verse 48, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that rejecteth me," that is the living truth, "and receiveth not my words," that is the written truth, "hath one that judgeth him in the last day, even the words which I have spoken."

Now, the truth is, many people ask for truth, but they really do not want it. Now, the reason I'm giving you this introduction is because I'm going to bring a message today which I have entitled, "Honest Abe, Was He So Honest?" You may ask for the truth and not really want the truth. And the evidence that people ask for the truth and really don't want it is they refuse to listen to it and to hear it and to receive it once it is given.

Truth Requires Readjustment

Truth makes us uncomfortable because it forces us to change our thinking. Weaver shares how studying the Bible corrected his own preaching and exposed lifelong propaganda.

Now, I want you to understand that truth makes us very uncomfortable. And the reason it makes us uncomfortable is because it means that we have to readjust our thinking and our attitude. I never have forgotten when I first learned, when you really start studying the Bible, it messes up a lot of good sermons. It really does. I mean, you know, you can preach and say a lot of good things, you think, until you really start studying and realize that what you've been saying wasn't true at all. And once you begin to delve into what truth really is, all of the propaganda that we've heard all these years and all the ideas that we've absorbed, all of a sudden we realize, hey, everything we've been taught from a child is just about a lie. And we have to readjust our thinking and refocus our thinking.

Our Hope Is in Christ, Not Man

Citing Psalm 118:8-9, the middle verses of the Bible, Weaver stresses that men will always fail us; only Christ is our hope and success.

And we're forced to recognize, listen, that our hope is not in man, but in Jesus Christ. You see, once you begin to study, you find out some of our heroes were not so great and they really weren't heroes at all. I want you to turn in your Bibles very quickly to Psalm 118. Psalm 118, and I think this verse is very appropriate for two reasons. Number one, this is the middle verse in the Bible. And number two, the contents of this verse. Look at Psalm 118, and let's read verse 8, and then we shall read verse 9, since it's a parallel verse. Psalm 118 verse 8, God said,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 118:8-9

"It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man."

Isn't that interesting? Middle verse,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 118:8-9

"It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man."

And the next verse,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 118:8-9

"It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes."

So what He's telling us is that men will always fail us. Men will always let us down. Only Christ is our hope, and only Christ is our success.

The Duty to Preserve Truth for Posterity

Quoting Robert E. Lee and Benjamin H. Hill, Weaver asserts the obligation to collect and disseminate truth about the South's principles, countering Northern falsehoods.

Now, you and I must want truth not just for ourselves, but for others as well. Let me give you two quotes to begin with. The first one is by Robert E. Lee, and this is what he said concerning the truth about the war. He said, "Everyone should do all in his power to collect and disseminate the truth, in the hope that it may find a place in history and descend to posterity." "History is not the relation of campaigns and battles and generals or other individuals, but that which shows the principles for which the South contended and which justified her struggle for those principles." Then the second quote is from Benjamin H. Hill. We live in Ben Hill County, and Ben Hill County was named after Benjamin H. Hill, and Ben Hill said this, "We owe it to our dead, to our living, and to our children to preserve the truth and repel the falsehoods so that we may secure just judgment from the only tribunal before which we may appear and be fully and fairly heard, and that tribunal is the Bar of History." Now, the truth is, the South and Christian principles have been horribly maligned by the North. In fact, I could tell you today that it has not just been horribly maligned, it has been perverted as well.

Northern Perversions of History

Weaver lists false teachings of the 'conquerors,' including that the war was a civil war, the South fought for slavery, and Lincoln freed the slaves, all of which he refutes.

For instance, our conquerors teach that the Constitution stood for a national government and not a compact between the sovereign states. Conquerors teach that the advocates of secession were traitors to the United States government and deserved to be hanged after the war was over. They teach that what we were engaged in was a civil war because we were not a republic of states but a nation. And, by the way, the war was not a civil war. It was not between people of the same nation. It was between people of two different nations because the Confederate States of America had already been duly and lawfully organized, so it was not a civil war at all. Our conquerors teach that the South fought to hold their slaves. It was not by the South's fault, and they also taught that the slaveholders were cruel and barbarous, which we've already seen to be a lie. They also teach that it was Abraham Lincoln who cut the shackles of slavery, which is certainly not true. They also teach that the Emancipation Proclamation set the slaves free.

That is not true as well. They teach that the Confederate government was formed to destroy the Union, and it was only Lincoln's wise policies that saved the Union, and that certainly is not true. They teach that the assassination of Abraham Lincoln was one of the greatest blows that ever befell the South, and they teach that Abraham Lincoln was a friend of the Negro and a friend of the South, which is a lie as well.

Lincoln's Constitutional Violations

Weaver details ten specific constitutional violations by Lincoln, such as suspending habeas corpus, declaring war without Congress, and the Emancipation Proclamation, noting Lincoln himself confessed to six.

So everything about our history has been perverted and maligned by the North. Lincoln was not interested in preserving the Constitution any more than he was interested in preserving the South. There's a woman by the name of Mildred Rutherford who wrote a book a number of years ago, and the book has recently been reprinted, and the name of it is "A True Estimate of Abraham Lincoln." And in her book, she documents ten distinct constitutional violations by Abraham Lincoln. I want to give them to you, and then I want to give you some quotes from the friends, from the cabinet, and from the party of Abraham Lincoln to show you that people who were alive back then knew exactly that Abraham Lincoln was violating the Constitution on every hand. Here are the ten that Mildred Rutherford lists. First of all, coercion in 1861, which was a violation of Article IV. And, of course, that's where Lincoln tried to coerce the South into fighting and, of course, into surrendering to him, basically. Number two, Lincoln violated the Constitution when he violated the laws of neutrality, which was the Trent Affair, Article VI, Clause 2, which was a violation of international law. Now, if you don't know what the Trent Affair was, it's very interesting because the Confederate government had sent some representatives to England to present our cause there before the English Parliament, and our Confederate men were on an English ship named the Trent. And the United States government came and took the Confederate men off a British ship and imprisoned them.

You say, what's so bad about that? And remember, the War of 1812 was fought over the same issue because the English were doing that to our citizens. And what happened, the South was humiliated—not the South, but the North was humiliated in this. Those men had to be released, and William Seward had to write an apology to the English government, because the English government would not even negotiate. They said, you will either release those men, or there's going to be war between you and England, as well as the South and England. So, and Lincoln, when he violated the Constitution in this area, by the way, do you know what he did for the captain who arrested those men and took them off the English ship? He gave him a gold medal. Number three, he suspended the writ of habeas corpus, Article 1, Section 9, Clause 2. Number four, he declared war without the consent of Congress in 1861, which is a violation of Article 1, Section 8, Clauses 11 and 12. Number five, the Emancipation Proclamation, which is a violation of Article 4, Section 3, Clause 2. He made West Virginia a state in violation of Article 4, Section 3, Clause 1. He just separated Virginia and made West Virginia a state all by himself. Number seven, he denied the freedom of speech under the Vallandigham Imprisonment, which was a violation of the First Amendment. Number eight, he blockaded Fort Sumter—and of the states that were held by the federal government that still be in the Union, you don't blockade your own ports. Number nine, the liberty of the press was taken away, that a violation of the First Amendment. And number ten, violation of the Fugitive Slave Law, which was a violation of Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3. Now, may I remind you last week that Lincoln confessed to six of these constitutional violations in his joint resolution to Congress, trying to get Congress to validate everything that he had done illegally and unlawfully.

Contemporary Condemnation from Lincoln's Own Circle

Quoting Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner, J.P. Morgan, and others, Weaver shows that Lincoln's friends and party members recognized his unconstitutional and corrupt actions.

So he himself acknowledged six of them. Now, the amazing truth is this. There were many people who were friends of Lincoln in his cabinet and in Congress who recognized that what Lincoln was doing was unconstitutional and wrong. For instance, Godwin in The Nation says this, quote, "The first real breach of the Constitution was President Lincoln using his war power to abolish slavery." He said Lincoln had no authority to do that. Thaddeus Stevens, who was of Lincoln's own party. Thaddeus Stevens was a radical Republican, and here's what he said: "I will not stultify myself by supposing that Mr. Lincoln has any warrant in the Constitution for dismembering Virginia." Thaddeus Stevens said Lincoln had no constitutional warrant to divide Virginia. Yet he did. McClure, who was a friend of Lincoln, said, "Mr. Lincoln swore to obey the Constitution, but in 18 months violated it by his Emancipation Proclamation." They knew. Mr. Rhodes said there was no authority for the Proclamation by the Constitution laws, nor was there any statute that warranted it. So they realized Lincoln had absolutely no grounds for doing what he did.

Wendell Phillips of the Cooper Institute said in 1864, "I judge Mr. Lincoln by his acts, his violations of the law, his overthrow of liberty in the northern states. I judge Mr. Lincoln by his words, his deeds, and so judging him, I am unwilling to trust Abraham Lincoln with the future of this country." So here was a leading man of the Cooper Institute saying, Lincoln cannot be trusted. Percy Gregg said, listen, Lincoln never hesitated to violate the Constitution when he so desired. The Chief Justice testified to this. Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus in 1861. He allowed West Virginia to be formed from Virginia contrary to the Constitution. He issued his Emancipation Proclamation without consulting his cabinet and in violation of the Constitution. Isn't it amazing how every one of these men are acknowledging, not necessarily all at once, but at least several of his unconstitutional actions? Charles Sumner, who was another radical Republican and a member of his own party, said this, "When Lincoln reinforced Fort Sumter and called for 75,000 men without the consent of Congress, it was the greatest breach ever made in the Constitution and would hereafter give the President the liberty to declare war whenever he wished without the consent of Congress." Now, that was Charles Sumner. Charles Francis Adams was a historian of Massachusetts. Listen to what he said, quote, "How can we justify the acts of Mr. Lincoln's administration? An unconstitutional policy calls for unconstitutional coercion. An unconstitutional coercion calls for an unconstitutional war. An unconstitutional war called for an unconstitutional despotism."

"Authority uncontrolled and unlimited by men, by Constitution, by the Supreme Court, or by law with Lincoln's war policy." Let me paraphrase that. Lincoln did whatever he wanted to do. He was not constrained by the Constitution. He was not constrained by law. He was not constrained by the Supreme Court. So when the Supreme Court ruled against him, he just kept going and did whatever he was going to do anyhow. Totally irresponsible. Now, may I remind you that these men were not Lincoln's enemies. They were his friends.

They were in his cabinet. They were in his party. So Lincoln did not hesitate to violate the Constitution whenever he chose to do so, nor would he abide by the decisions of the Supreme Court. Let me put it to you like this. Lincoln was a tyrant in the strictest sense of the term. Why? Because Lincoln used lawful power unlawfully. Everyone in here has heard of J.P. Morgan, okay? The great financier.

Listen to what J.P. Morgan said. J.P. Morgan said, quote, "I supported President Lincoln. I believed his war policy would be the only way to save the country, but I see my mistake. I visited Washington a few weeks ago, and I saw the corruption of the President's administration, and so long as Abraham Lincoln and his cabinet are in power, so long will the war continue. And for what?"

"For the preservation of the Constitution and the Union? No, but for the sake of politicians and governmental contractors." That was J.P. Morgan. He said, I understand what's going on. There is no fight to preserve the Union. There is no fight to preserve the Constitution. There is only a fight to reward the benefactors of Abraham Lincoln. That's it. Horace Greeley said this, "I cannot trust honest old Abe."

He's too smart for me. The word is really not smart, the word is cunning, deceitful. Lamon said, who was one of Lincoln's partners, Lamon said this, "Mr. Lincoln did not possess a single quality for his office as president. People said he was good and honest and well-meaning, but he never pretended that he was great. He was only nominated by means of a corrupt bargain entered into by Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania and Caleb Smith of Indiana, provided Lincoln would pledge them cabinet positions. These pledges Lincoln fulfilled and thus made himself a party to corrupt bargains."

Judge Henry Clay Dean's Indictment

Weaver reads from Judge Dean's book 'Crimes of the Civil War,' detailing the government's contempt for law and Dean's own arrest for being a Democrat and speaking out.

That was his own law partner that said that. I want to read something to you just for a moment that's rather lengthy, but I want you to listen. I'm going to tell you why. You've never heard, probably, of a judge by the name of Judge Henry Clay Dean. I have a book at home that has just been reprinted, and the book is by Judge Henry Clay Dean, and the title of the book is "Crimes of the Civil War." But it is not crimes of the South. It is crimes of the North and crimes of Abraham Lincoln. You know, I told you in time past that Lincoln arrested 38,000 Northerners and had them imprisoned without a trial. Never pressed a charge against them. Well, Judge Henry Clay Dean was one of those that Lincoln arrested and put in prison without a trial. And I want you to listen to, first of all, his indictment of Lincoln and his government. And then, secondly, he's going to tell you why he was arrested.

Now, this is very informative. Remember, this comes from a judge. He was alive, who suffered under Abraham Lincoln, who knew firsthand what was going on. Here's what Judge Henry Clay Dean writes, "Our government is in nothing uniform except its contempt of law and powerful only for the oppression of the people. Every officer seems to contemplate his office as an engine of destruction in which he's engaged to work the ruin of the particular department of government entrusted to his care." "The Postmaster General has, for the last five years, been violating the mails. The Secretary of the Treasury has been squandering the public wealth. The Secretary of the Navy has been enfeebling our naval power. The Secretary of War, all crimson with innocent blood, is employing the army for the destruction of the country. The Secretary of State has been subverting constitutional law and disgracing our form of government at home and abroad. The Secretary of the Interior has been conniving with public jobbers to defraud the government of its most valuable land. The Attorney General is gravely burlesquing nonsense itself by defining constitutional construction of unconstitutional laws, and is in conspiracy with military commissions to murder innocent women. The President is administering the government through military satraps."

Is that how you pronounce that? S-A-T-R-A-P-S. "...in a manner unknown to Republican systems and disgraceful to despotism which regard the character of those entrusted to power. We now witness among our kindred the debasement of a civilized people who are forced to submit to the insult and domination of barbarian Negroes and foreign vagabonds. The courts of the country are infamously corrupt. The state legislatures and Congress are flagrantly accessible to bribes which have become the only tangible basis of special and an essential necessity in general legislation. The people of a late Confederate state after encountering the terrible vicissitudes of war were overtaken by a famine which inflicted frightful forms of starvation and are now overrun and robbed by predatory invasions and endangered by the insurrection of domestic savages incited by foreign incendiaries."

Now, this is just an overall view of the government in Lincoln's day by Judge Henry Clay Dean. And here is why the judge says that he was arrested. He says, "I have a personal reason for the publication of this book. I suffered under the reign of Mr. Lincoln." By the way, I like that word. "I suffered under the reign of Mr. Lincoln, which was a vibration between anarchy and despotism. Why was I arrested? I cannot tell. I have never seen anything like charges, and suppose there were none in such form as would be recognized in any court of justice under the sun."

"And yet, I am quite sure there was a cause for it, which is this. I am a Democrat. A devoted friend of the Constitution of the United States, a sincere lover of the government and the Union of the States, am anxious for a reunion and believe it the right and duty of a free man in a calm, candid manner to discuss in a temperate spirit the best modes of effecting this purpose. I have dared to participate in these discussions freely, which I have done from convictions of duty. This was the cause of my arrest. This is my only offense. But all this availed me nothing so long as I was a Democrat, a faithful supporter of the Constitution, an ardent lover of the Union, and believed and thought that the integrity of the one was the only conservative power of the other."

So why was the judge arrested? Well, Lincoln knew the influence and the power that Judge Henry Clay Dean had, and he tried to bribe Judge Henry Clay Dean and get him on his side, and the judge refused. And, of course, he continued to speak out against Lincoln, and the next thing he knew, he was arrested and thrown in prison and did not get out until after the war was over and Lincoln was dead. And the only reason he was arrested was he disagreed with Lincoln.

Newspaper Quotes Revealing Contempt for Lincoln

Weaver presents numerous newspaper quotes from Lincoln's era calling him uneducated, vulgar, imbecilic, and a buffoon, demonstrating widespread disdain.

Now, in Mildred Rutherford's book, "A True Estimate of Abraham Lincoln," she gives a number of newspaper quotes and articles written in Lincoln's day before his inauguration and after his inauguration, and I want to read some of these to you. Some of them are so sorrowful they ought to make you weep, and others are downright humorous but yet they show the situation that we were in at that period in our history. The New York Herald, on May the 22nd, 1860, says this concerning Lincoln: "The candidate for president, Abraham Lincoln, is an uneducated man, a vulgar village politician without any experience worth mentioning in the practical duties of statesmanship, and only noted for some very unpopular votes which he gave while a member of Congress." An uneducated, vulgar, village politician. The New York Express in February of 1861 said this, "The tone of levity and frivolity which characterizes the speeches of Mr. Lincoln causes the hearts of our citizens to sink within them. They perceive already that he is not the man for the crisis."

"...and begin to despond of any extrication from the impending difficulties." What are they saying? Everybody realizes he's not going to get us out, he's going to get us in deeper. The Philadelphia Argus said, "...the humiliating spectacle is thus presented by the President-elect, indulging in the merest claptrap of the politician, thanking the people for voting for him, flattering their political pride, and appealing to their sectional animosity." So he's trying to set one section against the other. Now, I like this one. This was in the New York Tribune, June the 4th, 1863. They were quoting Alfred R. Wooten, who was the Attorney General of Delaware. Now, not a southern state by any stretch of the imagination, and here is what the Attorney General said concerning Lincoln and his administration. Quote, "The administration is an insult to the flag and a traitor to their God. Russia never dared exercise the privileges which Mr. Lincoln did without reading a newspaper to see what the people thought. A hound might find Mr. Lincoln, but never will find him by an honest scent." That was the Attorney General of Delaware. A dog might find Lincoln, but not by an honest scent. He didn't think too much of Mr. Lincoln.

Wendell Phillips of the Cooper Institute once again, on August 22, 1862, said this, "What right has he, or any official in our service, to claim that I shall cease criticizing his mistakes when they are dragging the Union to ruin? I find grave fault with Abraham Lincoln." The New York World, April 13, 1864: "Mr. Lincoln is wholly unqualified for his position. The personal presence, the dignity, or the knowledge demanded in the magistrate of a great people." "No branch of the administration has been well and efficiently administered under him. His soul seems to be made of leather and incapable of any grand or noble emotion. You leave his presence with your enthusiasm dampened, your better feelings crushed, and your hopes cast to the wind. Even wisdom from him seems but folly." The New York World, June 2, 1864, says this, "That there is to the Republican Party a widely diffused impression of the feebleness, faithlessness, and incapacity of Mr. Lincoln's administration is notorious." What are they saying? Everybody in the Republican Party knew that Lincoln was wrong. New York Herald, June 2, 1864, they said, "Anything for a change in this imbecile and torpid administration."

"Let us have a shaking up of its dry bones. Anything for a change." I hope you know what an imbecile is. The New York World, June 4, 1864, said, "The age of rail splitters and tailors, of buffoons, boors, and fanatics has succeeded." Translated, Lincoln is a bore, a buffoon, and a fanatic. He continues, "Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Johnson are both men of mediocre talent, neglected education, narrow views, deficient information, and, of course, vulgar manners." "A statesman is supposed to be a man of some depth of thought and extended knowledge. Has this country, with so proud a record, been reduced to such intellectual poverty as to be forced to present two such names as Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson from the highest stations in this most trying crisis of its history? It is a cruel mockery and bitter humiliation. Such nominations at this juncture are an insult to the common sense of the people." Has this country, with so proud a record, been reduced to such intellectual poverty as to be forced to present two such names as Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson for the highest stations in this most trying crisis of its history?

Yeah, that came from New York. In other words, they realized, hey, these guys are buffoons.

Lincoln's Mockery of Christianity and Posthumous Deification

Weaver asserts Lincoln was not a Christian, mocked the gospel, and held séances. After his death, 'pious lies' transformed him into a Christ-like figure, which Weaver calls blasphemous.

and ridiculed and hated and despised. Even his infamous Gettysburg Address was viewed and pronounced as a failure by himself, by Secretary of State William Seward, by Edward Everett, who also spoke on that occasion, and by W.H. Cunningham, who was a reporter for the Montgomery, Missouri Star, who was there when he gave the address. But after his death, everything changed. Let me tell you something, and I want you to keep this in mind, that Abraham Lincoln was not a Christian. Abraham Lincoln mocked and ridiculed the gospel of Jesus Christ. Even his dearest intimate said that the only reason Abraham Lincoln left the church was to mock the preacher, and after the preaching was over, he would imitate him in a nasal, vulgar manner just to get laughs. Abraham Lincoln wrote a dissertation denying the deity of Jesus Christ and denying the inspiration of the scriptures.

The dissertation was finally torn up by his partner with this statement, "You will never be elected if this gets out." Abraham Lincoln held séances in the White House.

Let me tell you something. His law partner, his friends, and even his wife testified that Abraham Lincoln was not a Christian. His private secretary said this, "Mr. Lincoln did not, to my knowledge, in any way change his religious views, opinions, or beliefs from the time he left Springfield to the day of his death." What did he say? He never was converted. He always hated Christ and hated Christianity. I like what General John Pyatt says, and this really puts the icing on the cake. Don't you listen carefully. If this is not a picture of politicians, I don't know what is. But General John Pyatt traveled with Lincoln whenever Lincoln was making his campaign speeches. And here's what Pyatt said: "When a leader dies, all good men go to lying about it." Now, I won't finish. Listen now. "When a leader dies, all good men go lying about him."

"From the moment that covers his remains to the last echo of the rule of press, in speeches, in sermons, eulogies, reminiscences, we hear nothing but pious lies. Abraham Lincoln has almost disappeared from human knowledge. I hear of him, I read of him in eulogies and biographies, but I fail to recognize the man that I knew in life."

What is Pyatt saying? Everybody's writing lies. They're not writing truth about Abraham Lincoln. William Stanton, who was Secretary of War, in a letter to President Buchanan, remember Buchanan preceded Lincoln, expressed his contempt for Lincoln. And none of his cabinet really liked him. They thought he was an absolute fool. Do you know what William Stanton did? After Lincoln was elected President, William Stanton, the Secretary of War, advised the revolutionary overthrow of the Lincoln administration, and that General George McClellan be installed as a military dictator. But after Lincoln was dead, William Stanton, who hated and despised Lincoln so, made this infamous quote. John Hay, who was Secretary of State, eulogized Lincoln after his death, and he called him the greatest, the wisest, the godliest man that has appeared on earth since Christ. Now, I want you to remember what Pyatt said.

"When a leader dies, all men go to lying about it." Listen to what J.G. Holland wrote after Lincoln died. This is unbelievable. "Lincoln unequaled since Washington in service to the nation. Mr. Lincoln will always be remembered as an eminently Christian president. Conscience, not popular applause nor love of power, was the ruling motive of Lincoln's life. No stimulant ever entered his mouth." I don't know if he drank or not, but he was partner in the ownership of a saloon, I can tell you that. "No stimulant ever entered his mouth, no profanity ever came from his lips," and yet he was known for his bawdy or filthy stories. Here he goes on, "Abraham Lincoln was the first of all men who had walked the earth since the Nazarene." Stupidity.

Not just stupidity, but the fact they had to do something now to deify him in the sense. Evidently, you know, they were going to try to gloss over everything that the North did wrong to the South and that he did wrong. Listen to what Henry Watterson wrote. This was upon the dedication of Lincoln's home. Ah, get your airbags ready. The dedication of Lincoln's home: "You lowly cabin, which is to be dedicated over Marah, may well be likened to the manger of Bethlehem, the boy that went forth to a godlike destiny, to the Son of God, the Father Almighty of Him and us all. Which is prompting except from God? His tragic death may be likened also to that other martyr whom Lincoln so closely resembled."

"There are utterances of his which read like rescripts from the Sermon on the Mount, reviled as Him of Galilee, slain even as Him of Galilee, yet as gentle and unoffending a man who died for me."

Even if Lincoln had been a godly man, it is still blasphemous, because Jesus Christ is unequaled. He is the monogenes. His only begotten Son, monogenes, is the Greek term which means one of a kind. He is unique. There is none that can compare to Jesus Christ. J.M. Merrill in the Detroit Free Press said, "Abraham Lincoln is so far above every other man in human history that to compare him to others seems sacrilege. Nowhere on earth is there a historic character to compare to our sainted martyr Abraham Lincoln." Albert Bushnell Hart wrote, "Abraham Lincoln was the greatest man of the Civil War period." All right, hey, if you would just change man to criminal, I'd agree with it.

Listen to the Sunday school tirades. Abraham Lincoln is the Christian exemplar for children today. According to Judge Stewart, here it is: "Here in this new world country, with no pride of ancestry, arose the greatest man since the meek and lowly Nazarene, a man whose life had a greater influence on the human race than any teacher, thinker, or toiler since the beginning of the Christian era." You mean to tell me that Lincoln was greater than the Apostle Paul? That Lincoln was greater than the Apostle Peter? Greater than the Apostle John? I think that Lincoln did not have nearly the influence that they wanted him to have.

Biblical Judgment on Calling Evil Good

Weaver cites Proverbs 17:15 and Isaiah 5:20 to condemn the reversal of moral judgments, where wicked Lincoln is deified and godly Jefferson Davis is vilified.

Now, I want you to turn to two passages of Scripture. I want you to look at Proverbs 17 and then the book of Isaiah chapter 5. Let's look first at Proverbs 17 and look what God says. Proverbs 17 and verse 15. God says,

Scripture Reading — Proverbs 17:15

"He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are an abomination to the Lord."

When you justify, when you pronounce right, when you pronounce just, a wicked man, it's an abomination to God. And on the other hand, when you condemn a righteous man, it is an abomination to God. Look in your Bibles to the book of Isaiah chapter 5. Isaiah chapter 5 and note verse 20.

Here's a curse that certainly falls upon a lot of individuals. Isaiah 5 verse 20, God says,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 5:20

"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that call evil good, and that call good evil."

You see, what has happened in our country since Abraham Lincoln, everything has been turned upside down. And basically what has happened is this: evil men have been called good men, and good men have been called evil men.

Conclusion: Judge by Fruits and Scripture

Weaver calls for judging leaders by their actions and the Word of God, not by propaganda, and closes in prayer asking for discernment according to Isaiah 8:20.

You look today at our governmental structure. You look in our society, and you find the men who are held up as our exemplars, as our heroes, and the world is trying to make them good when in reality they are evil, wicked men plotting the overthrow of our government as we know it. All of our leaders keep talking about our democracy. We've never had a democracy. Well, we have one now because we perverted the republic. We were supposed to be a republic, not a democracy. What we find is, those men who are real patriots, those men who are real Christians, those men who want what's right, they are now vilified and maligned and counted as worth absolutely nothing.

They're to be gotten rid of and disposed of. Now, it's just one of them that call evil good, and they call good evil. Abraham Lincoln, old Honest Abe, was not so honest. He was a wicked, ungodly individual who violated his constitutional oath and sunk this nation into perilous war. Let's pray. Father, we ask today in the name of Jesus Christ that You would help us and enable us, Lord, to judge men not just by what they say, but what they do. And may we take what they do and judge them by the Word of God, for our Lord said, "By their fruits you shall know them." May everything be held to the touchstone of Scripture, as Isaiah 8 and verse 20 says, "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." Help us, Father, to judge by the Word of God. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask. Amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

The Nature and Rejection of Truth

Summary: Truth is personified in Jesus Christ and written in Scripture, but people often ask for truth while refusing to receive it when it challenges their beliefs.

Evidence: Weaver cites John 18:37-38, John 14:6, and 2 Timothy 3:16, and states, 'the evidence that people ask for the truth and really don't want it is they refuse to listen to it and to hear it and to receive it once it is given.'

The Unreliability of Human Heroes

Summary: Human leaders, even those celebrated as heroes, are flawed and often wicked; only Jesus Christ is a trustworthy hope.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'once you begin to study, you find out some of our heroes were not so great and they really weren't heroes at all,' and cites Psalm 118:8-9.

Historical Revisionism by the North

Summary: The victorious North has perverted and maligned the true history of the South, spreading falsehoods about the Constitution, secession, slavery, and Lincoln.

Evidence: Weaver lists multiple false teachings, such as 'the war was not a civil war' and 'it was not by the South's fault,' and quotes Benjamin H. Hill on preserving truth.

Lincoln as a Constitutional Tyrant

Summary: Abraham Lincoln repeatedly and deliberately violated the U.S. Constitution, acting as a tyrant who used lawful power unlawfully.

Evidence: Weaver lists ten constitutional violations and states, 'Lincoln was a tyrant in the strictest sense of the term. Why? Because Lincoln used lawful power unlawfully.'

Contemporary Awareness of Lincoln's Wickedness

Summary: Lincoln's own friends, cabinet members, and party colleagues recognized and condemned his unconstitutional actions and corruption during his lifetime.

Evidence: Quotes from Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner, J.P. Morgan, and Lincoln's law partner Lamon are provided, e.g., Lamon said Lincoln was 'nominated by means of a corrupt bargain.'

Posthumous Deification Through Lies

Summary: After Lincoln's death, a campaign of 'pious lies' transformed him from a despised, un-Christian man into a Christ-like figure, which is blasphemous.

Evidence: Weaver quotes General John Pyatt: 'When a leader dies, all good men go to lying about him,' and cites eulogies comparing Lincoln to Jesus.

Moral Inversion Condemned by Scripture

Summary: Calling evil good and good evil is an abomination to God, as seen in the deification of Lincoln and vilification of godly men like Jefferson Davis.

Evidence: Weaver cites Proverbs 17:15 and Isaiah 5:20, stating, 'what has happened in our country since Abraham Lincoln, everything has been turned upside down.'

Judging Leaders by Biblical Standards

Summary: Believers must evaluate leaders by their fruits and by the Word of God, not by popular propaganda or historical myths.

Evidence: Weaver prays, 'may we take what they do and judge them by the Word of God,' and references Matthew 7:16 and Isaiah 8:20.

Key Arguments

Lincoln was not an honest man but a deceitful warmonger.

Summary: Contrary to his nickname 'Honest Abe,' Lincoln was a liar and warmonger responsible for the deaths of thousands.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'old Honest Abe was not so honest. In fact, he was a deceitful and dastardly wicked man. He was a liar. He was a warmonger, and the blood of thousands of men is upon his head.'

Lincoln repeatedly violated the Constitution.

Summary: Lincoln committed at least ten distinct constitutional violations, including suspending habeas corpus and declaring war without Congress, and he himself acknowledged six.

Evidence: Weaver lists the ten violations and says, 'Lincoln confessed to six of these constitutional violations in his joint resolution to Congress.'

Lincoln's own contemporaries condemned him.

Summary: Friends, cabinet members, and party allies recognized Lincoln's unconstitutional and corrupt behavior, proving his wickedness was evident at the time.

Evidence: Quotes from Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner, J.P. Morgan, and Lamon are provided, e.g., 'Mr. Lincoln did not possess a single quality for his office as president.'

Lincoln was not a Christian and mocked Christianity.

Summary: Lincoln ridiculed the gospel, denied the deity of Christ, and held séances; his supposed faith is a posthumous fabrication.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'Abraham Lincoln mocked and ridiculed the gospel of Jesus Christ... his dearest intimate said that the only reason Abraham Lincoln left the church was to mock the preacher.'

After his death, Lincoln was deified through lies.

Summary: A deliberate campaign of false eulogies and biographies transformed Lincoln into a Christ-like figure, which is historically inaccurate and blasphemous.

Evidence: Weaver quotes General Pyatt: 'When a leader dies, all good men go to lying about him,' and cites eulogies comparing Lincoln to Jesus.

The deification of Lincoln and vilification of Jefferson Davis is a moral inversion.

Summary: Scripture condemns calling evil good and good evil; Lincoln the villain is deified while Davis the godly statesman is vilified.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'Abraham Lincoln, the villain, is deified when Jeff Davis, who was a godly and devout man... is vilified,' and cites Proverbs 17:15 and Isaiah 5:20.

The Civil War was not a civil war but a war between two nations.

Summary: The Confederate States of America was a duly organized nation, making the conflict an international war, not a rebellion.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'the war was not a civil war. It was not between people of the same nation. It was between people of two different nations because the Confederate States of America had already been duly and lawfully organized.'

Truth demands a readjustment of thinking and allegiance to Scripture.

Summary: Accepting truth requires abandoning lifelong propaganda and judging all things by the Bible, not by human heroes or historical myths.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'once you begin to delve into what truth really is, all of the propaganda that we've heard all these years... we have to readjust our thinking,' and closes with Isaiah 8:20.

Scripture References

John 18:37-38

Context: Weaver reads the passage where Pilate asks Jesus 'What is truth?' and uses it to illustrate blindness to truth standing right in front of him.

2 Timothy 3:16

Context: Cited to establish that the Bible is the written Word of God, profitable for doctrine and instruction.

John 14:6

Context: Quoted to show that Jesus Christ is the living truth.

John 12:48

Context: Used to connect rejection of the living truth (Jesus) and the written truth (His words) to judgment.

John 8:32

Context: Cited to emphasize that truth must be received and applied to bring freedom.

Psalm 118:8-9

Context: Identified as the middle verses of the Bible, teaching that it is better to trust in the Lord than in man or princes.

Proverbs 17:15

Context: Quoted to condemn justifying the wicked and condemning the just as an abomination to the Lord.

Isaiah 5:20

Context: Cited to pronounce woe on those who call evil good and good evil, applied to the moral inversion regarding Lincoln and Davis.

Matthew 7:16

Context: Alluded to in the closing prayer: 'by their fruits you shall know them,' as a principle for judging leaders.

Isaiah 8:20

Context: Quoted in the closing prayer as the touchstone for testing all teaching: 'To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.'

Historical References

Robert E. Lee

Context: Quoted on the duty to collect and disseminate truth about the war for posterity.

Benjamin H. Hill

Context: Quoted on the obligation to preserve truth and repel falsehoods for the sake of the dead, living, and children.

Mildred Rutherford

Context: Author of 'A True Estimate of Abraham Lincoln,' which documents ten constitutional violations by Lincoln.

Trent Affair

Context: Described as a violation of neutrality where Union forces removed Confederate diplomats from a British ship, nearly causing war with England.

Thaddeus Stevens

Context: Radical Republican who stated Lincoln had no constitutional warrant to divide Virginia.

Charles Sumner

Context: Radical Republican who called Lincoln's reinforcement of Fort Sumter without Congress the greatest breach of the Constitution.

J.P. Morgan

Context: Financier who initially supported Lincoln but later saw the corruption and said the war was for politicians and contractors.

Judge Henry Clay Dean

Context: Author of 'Crimes of the Civil War,' arrested by Lincoln for being a Democrat and speaking out; his indictment of the administration is read at length.

Gettysburg Address

Context: Mentioned as being viewed as a failure by Lincoln himself and others at the time.

Jefferson Davis

Context: Contrasted with Lincoln as a godly and devout statesman who wanted to preserve the Constitution but is vilified.

Important Quotes

Abraham Lincoln, the villain, the one who violated his oath of office repeatedly, the man who ripped this country in pieces, that secretly and deliberately started the war in which a million people were wounded, a half a million died. Abraham Lincoln, the villain, is deified when Jeff Davis, who was a godly and devout man and a statesman who wanted to preserve the Constitution, is vilified.

Significance: Crystallizes the central moral inversion the sermon condemns, contrasting the treatment of Lincoln and Davis.

Lincoln was a tyrant in the strictest sense of the term. Why? Because Lincoln used lawful power unlawfully.

Significance: Defines the nature of Lincoln's tyranny as the abuse of legal authority, a core charge in the sermon.

It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.

Significance: The middle verse of the Bible, used to anchor the sermon's theme that human heroes fail and only Christ is trustworthy.

He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are an abomination to the Lord.

Significance: Biblical basis for condemning the deification of Lincoln and vilification of Davis.

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Significance: Scriptural pronouncement against the moral inversion seen in American historical memory.

I find in him no fault at all.

Significance: Pilate's declaration about Jesus, used to highlight his blindness to truth, paralleling modern blindness to Lincoln's faults.

I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me.

Significance: Establishes Jesus as the living truth, contrasting with the falsehoods about Lincoln.

Discussion Questions

How does Pilate's question 'What is truth?' reflect the attitude of many people today toward uncomfortable historical or biblical truths?

Context: Weaver uses Pilate's encounter with Jesus to illustrate willful blindness to truth.

In what ways have we placed confidence in human leaders or heroes, and how does Psalm 118:8-9 challenge that?

Context: Weaver emphasizes that only Christ is trustworthy, using the middle verses of the Bible.

Why is it important to 'collect and disseminate the truth' about historical events, even when it contradicts popular narratives?

Context: Weaver quotes Robert E. Lee and Benjamin H. Hill on the duty to preserve truth for posterity.

How should Christians respond when they discover that widely accepted historical figures were deeply flawed or wicked?

Context: Weaver discusses the discomfort of learning that heroes were not great and the need to readjust thinking.

What does it mean to 'call evil good and good evil' in the context of how we remember historical figures like Lincoln and Davis?

Context: Weaver applies Isaiah 5:20 to the deification of Lincoln and vilification of Davis.

How can we apply the principle of judging by fruits (Matthew 7:16) when evaluating political leaders, past or present?

Context: Weaver closes with a prayer referencing judging by fruits and testing by Scripture.

What are the dangers of posthumous hagiography, and how does General Pyatt's quote ('all good men go to lying about him') expose this?

Context: Weaver uses Pyatt's quote to explain the transformation of Lincoln's image after death.

How does the concept of 'pious lies' affect the church's witness when it embraces historically inaccurate narratives about national figures?

Context: Weaver criticizes the deification of Lincoln and the blasphemous comparisons to Christ.

Applications

Judge leaders by their actions and Scripture, not reputation.

Summary: Believers must evaluate political and historical figures by their fruits and conformity to God's Word, not by popular myths or propaganda.

Evidence: Weaver prays, 'may we take what they do and judge them by the Word of God,' and references Matthew 7:16 and Isaiah 8:20.

Be willing to readjust thinking when confronted with truth.

Summary: Accepting truth often requires abandoning long-held beliefs and propaganda, even when it is uncomfortable.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'once you begin to delve into what truth really is, all of the propaganda that we've heard all these years... we have to readjust our thinking.'

Trust in the Lord, not in human leaders.

Summary: Psalm 118:8-9 teaches that confidence should be placed in God alone, as men will always fail.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'men will always fail us. Men will always let us down. Only Christ is our hope, and only Christ is our success.'

Preserve and disseminate historical truth.

Summary: Christians have a duty to ensure that accurate history, especially regarding principles and justice, is passed to future generations.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Robert E. Lee: 'Everyone should do all in his power to collect and disseminate the truth, in the hope that it may find a place in history and descend to posterity.'

Reject the deification of human figures.

Summary: Comparing any human to Christ is blasphemous; believers must resist cultural narratives that elevate sinners to savior status.

Evidence: Weaver calls comparisons of Lincoln to Jesus 'blasphemous' and says, 'Jesus Christ is unequaled. He is the monogenes... one of a kind.'

Do not call evil good or good evil.

Summary: Scripture pronounces woe on those who invert moral categories; believers must align their judgments with God's standards.

Evidence: Weaver cites Isaiah 5:20 and applies it to the deification of Lincoln and vilification of Davis.

Test all teaching by the Word of God.

Summary: Isaiah 8:20 provides the touchstone for evaluating any message or historical claim: it must align with Scripture.

Evidence: Weaver closes with Isaiah 8:20: 'To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.'

Recognize that truth brings freedom only when applied.

Summary: Hearing truth is insufficient; it must be received and acted upon to produce freedom.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'You may hear truth all of your life, but if you do not receive it and apply it, it does you absolutely no good,' referencing John 8:32.

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-04T14:53:13Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-05T19:02:50Z

Clean Transcript

Where We Are & How We Got Here # 12 of 14

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

All right, let's open our Bibles to John chapter 18. John 18, verse 37: "Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth?"
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And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews and said unto them, "I find in him no fault at all." Now, I want you to see how totally and absolutely blind Pilate was to the truth. Truth was standing right in front of him, and he did not see him. He was unable to discern the truth. You see, the Bible says in 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 16, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." So the Bible then is the written Word of God. It is the written truth. Jesus Christ said in John 14 and verse 6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me." So Jesus Christ, then, is the living truth. Now, you put these two together, the written truth and the living truth, and Jesus Christ said in John 12 and verse 48, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that rejecteth me," that is the living truth, "and receiveth not my words," that is the written truth, "hath one that judgeth him in the last day, even the words which I have spoken."
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Now, the truth is, many people ask for truth, but they really do not want it.
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Now, the reason I'm giving you this introduction is because I'm going to bring a message today which I have entitled, "Honest Abe, Was He So Honest?" You may ask for the truth and not really want the truth. And the evidence that people ask for the truth and really don't want it is they refuse to listen to it and to hear it and to receive it once it is given.
#4 | 2:05 to 2:35 | cleaned
You remember what Jesus Christ said in John 8 and verse 32? He said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." But that is only true if you receive the truth and apply the truth. You may hear truth all of your life, but if you do not receive it and apply it, it does you absolutely no good.
#5 | 2:36 to 2:57 | cleaned
Now, if you've listened carefully to the last three lessons, you will already know that old Honest Abe was not so honest. In fact, he was a deceitful and dastardly wicked man. He was a liar. He was a warmonger, and the blood of thousands of men is upon his head.
#6 | 2:59 to 3:18 | cleaned
Now, I want you to understand that truth makes us very uncomfortable. And the reason it makes us uncomfortable is because it means that we have to readjust our thinking and our attitude. I never have forgotten when I first learned, when you really start studying the Bible, it messes up a lot of good sermons. It really does. I mean, you know, you can preach and say a lot of good things, you think, until you really start studying and realize that what you've been saying wasn't true at all. And once you begin to delve into what truth really is, all of the propaganda that we've heard all these years and all the ideas that we've absorbed, all of a sudden we realize, hey, everything we've been taught from a child is just about a lie. And we have to readjust our thinking and refocus our thinking.
#7 | 3:19 to 4:15 | cleaned
And we're forced to recognize, listen, that our hope is not in man, but in Jesus Christ. You see, once you begin to study, you find out some of our heroes were not so great and they really weren't heroes at all. I want you to turn in your Bibles very quickly to Psalm 118. Psalm 118, and I think this verse is very appropriate for two reasons. Number one, this is the middle verse in the Bible. And number two, the contents of this verse. Look at Psalm 118, and let's read verse 8, and then we shall read verse 9, since it's a parallel verse. Psalm 118 verse 8, God said, "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man." Isn't that interesting? Middle verse, "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man." And the next verse, "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes."
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So what He's telling us is that men will always fail us. Men will always let us down. Only Christ is our hope, and only Christ is our success.
#9 | 5:26 to 5:38 | cleaned
Now, you and I must want truth not just for ourselves, but for others as well. Let me give you two quotes to begin with. The first one is by Robert E. Lee, and this is what he said concerning the truth about the war. He said, "Everyone should do all in his power to collect and disseminate the truth, in the hope that it may find a place in history and descend to posterity."
#10 | 5:39 to 6:07 | cleaned
"History is not the relation of campaigns and battles and generals or other individuals, but that which shows the principles for which the South contended and which justified her struggle for those principles." Then the second quote is from Benjamin H. Hill. We live in Ben Hill County, and Ben Hill County was named after Benjamin H. Hill, and Ben Hill said this, "We owe it to our dead, to our living, and to our children to preserve the truth and repel the falsehoods so that we may secure just judgment from the only tribunal before which we may appear and be fully and fairly heard, and that tribunal is the Bar of History." Now, the truth is, the South and Christian principles have been horribly maligned by the North. In fact, I could tell you today that it has not just been horribly maligned, it has been perverted as well.
#11 | 6:07 to 7:16 | cleaned
For instance, our conquerors teach that the Constitution stood for a national government and not a compact between the sovereign states. Conquerors teach that the advocates of secession were traitors to the United States government and deserved to be hanged after the war was over. They teach that what we were engaged in was a civil war because we were not a republic of states but a nation. And, by the way, the war was not a civil war. It was not between people of the same nation. It was between people of two different nations because the Confederate States of America had already been duly and lawfully organized, so it was not a civil war at all. Our conquerors teach that the South fought to hold their slaves. It was not by the South's fault, and they also taught that the slaveholders were cruel and barbarous, which we've already seen to be a lie. They also teach that it was Abraham Lincoln who cut the shackles of slavery, which is certainly not true. They also teach that the Emancipation Proclamation set the slaves free.
#12 | 7:16 to 8:39 | cleaned
That is not true as well. They teach that the Confederate government was formed to destroy the Union, and it was only Lincoln's wise policies that saved the Union, and that certainly is not true. They teach that the assassination of Abraham Lincoln was one of the greatest blows that ever befell the South, and they teach that Abraham Lincoln was a friend of the Negro and a friend of the South, which is a lie as well.
#13 | 8:39 to 9:05 | cleaned
So everything about our history has been perverted and maligned by the North. Lincoln was not interested in preserving the Constitution any more than he was interested in preserving the South. There's a woman by the name of Mildred Rutherford who wrote a book a number of years ago, and the book has recently been reprinted, and the name of it is "A True Estimate of Abraham Lincoln." And in her book, she documents ten distinct constitutional violations by Abraham Lincoln.
#14 | 9:06 to 9:48 | cleaned
I want to give them to you, and then I want to give you some quotes from the friends, from the cabinet, and from the party of Abraham Lincoln to show you that people who were alive back then knew exactly that Abraham Lincoln was violating the Constitution on every hand. Here are the ten that Mildred Rutherford lists. First of all, coercion in 1861, which was a violation of Article IV. And, of course, that's where Lincoln tried to coerce the South into fighting and, of course, into surrendering to him, basically. Number two, Lincoln violated the Constitution when he violated the laws of neutrality, which was the Trent Affair, Article VI, Clause 2, which was a violation of international law. Now, if you don't know what the Trent Affair was, it's very interesting because the Confederate government had sent some representatives to England to present our cause there before the English Parliament, and our Confederate men were on an English ship named the Trent. And the United States government came and took the Confederate men off a British ship and imprisoned them.
#15 | 9:48 to 11:12 | cleaned
You say, what's so bad about that? And remember, the War of 1812 was fought over the same issue because the English were doing that to our citizens. And what happened, the South was humiliated—not the South, but the North was humiliated in this. Those men had to be released, and William Seward had to write an apology to the English government, because the English government would not even negotiate. They said, you will either release those men, or there's going to be war between you and England, as well as the South and England. So, and Lincoln, when he violated the Constitution in this area, by the way, do you know what he did for the captain who arrested those men and took them off the English ship?
#16 | 11:14 to 12:11 | cleaned
He gave him a gold medal. Number three, he suspended the writ of habeas corpus, Article 1, Section 9, Clause 2. Number four, he declared war without the consent of Congress in 1861, which is a violation of Article 1, Section 8, Clauses 11 and 12. Number five, the Emancipation Proclamation, which is a violation of Article 4, Section 3, Clause 2. He made West Virginia a state in violation of Article 4, Section 3, Clause 1. He just separated Virginia and made West Virginia a state all by himself. Number seven, he denied the freedom of speech under the Vallandigham Imprisonment, which was a violation of the First Amendment. Number eight, he blockaded Fort Sumter—and of the states that were held by the federal government that still be in the Union, you don't blockade your own ports. Number nine, the liberty of the press was taken away, that a violation of the First Amendment. And number ten, violation of the Fugitive Slave Law, which was a violation of Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3. Now, may I remind you last week that Lincoln confessed to six of these constitutional violations in his joint resolution to Congress, trying to get Congress to validate everything that he had done illegally and unlawfully.
#17 | 12:11 to 13:42 | cleaned
So he himself acknowledged six of them. Now, the amazing truth is this. There were many people who were friends of Lincoln in his cabinet and in Congress who recognized that what Lincoln was doing was unconstitutional and wrong. For instance, Godwin in The Nation says this, quote, "The first real breach of the Constitution was President Lincoln using his war power to abolish slavery." He said Lincoln had no authority to do that. Thaddeus Stevens, who was of Lincoln's own party. Thaddeus Stevens was a radical Republican, and here's what he said: "I will not stultify myself by supposing that Mr. Lincoln has any warrant in the Constitution for dismembering Virginia." Thaddeus Stevens said Lincoln had no constitutional warrant to divide Virginia. Yet he did. McClure, who was a friend of Lincoln, said, "Mr. Lincoln swore to obey the Constitution, but in 18 months violated it by his Emancipation Proclamation." They knew. Mr. Rhodes said there was no authority for the Proclamation by the Constitution laws, nor was there any statute that warranted it. So they realized Lincoln had absolutely no grounds for doing what he did.
#18 | 13:42 to 15:09 | cleaned
Wendell Phillips of the Cooper Institute said in 1864, "I judge Mr. Lincoln by his acts, his violations of the law, his overthrow of liberty in the northern states. I judge Mr. Lincoln by his words, his deeds, and so judging him, I am unwilling to trust Abraham Lincoln with the future of this country." So here was a leading man of the Cooper Institute saying, Lincoln cannot be trusted. Percy Gregg said, listen, Lincoln never hesitated to violate the Constitution when he so desired.
#19 | 15:10 to 15:54 | cleaned
The Chief Justice testified to this. Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus in 1861. He allowed West Virginia to be formed from Virginia contrary to the Constitution. He issued his Emancipation Proclamation without consulting his cabinet and in violation of the Constitution. Isn't it amazing how every one of these men are acknowledging, not necessarily all at once, but at least several of his unconstitutional actions? Charles Sumner, who was another radical Republican and a member of his own party, said this, "When Lincoln reinforced Fort Sumter and called for 75,000 men without the consent of Congress, it was the greatest breach ever made in the Constitution and would hereafter give the President the liberty to declare war whenever he wished without the consent of Congress." Now, that was Charles Sumner. Charles Francis Adams was a historian of Massachusetts. Listen to what he said, quote, "How can we justify the acts of Mr. Lincoln's administration? An unconstitutional policy calls for unconstitutional coercion. An unconstitutional coercion calls for an unconstitutional war. An unconstitutional war called for an unconstitutional despotism."
#20 | 15:55 to 17:27 | cleaned
"Authority uncontrolled and unlimited by men, by Constitution, by the Supreme Court, or by law with Lincoln's war policy." Let me paraphrase that. Lincoln did whatever he wanted to do. He was not constrained by the Constitution. He was not constrained by law. He was not constrained by the Supreme Court. So when the Supreme Court ruled against him, he just kept going and did whatever he was going to do anyhow. Totally irresponsible. Now, may I remind you that these men were not Lincoln's enemies. They were his friends.
#21 | 17:28 to 18:08 | cleaned
They were in his cabinet. They were in his party. So Lincoln did not hesitate to violate the Constitution whenever he chose to do so, nor would he abide by the decisions of the Supreme Court. Let me put it to you like this. Lincoln was a tyrant in the strictest sense of the term. Why? Because Lincoln used lawful power unlawfully. Everyone in here has heard of J.P. Morgan, okay? The great financier.
#22 | 18:09 to 18:39 | cleaned
Listen to what J.P. Morgan said. J.P. Morgan said, quote, "I supported President Lincoln. I believed his war policy would be the only way to save the country, but I see my mistake. I visited Washington a few weeks ago, and I saw the corruption of the President's administration, and so long as Abraham Lincoln and his cabinet are in power, so long will the war continue. And for what?"
#23 | 18:39 to 19:08 | cleaned
"For the preservation of the Constitution and the Union? No, but for the sake of politicians and governmental contractors." That was J.P. Morgan. He said, I understand what's going on. There is no fight to preserve the Union. There is no fight to preserve the Constitution. There is only a fight to reward the benefactors of Abraham Lincoln. That's it. Horace Greeley said this, "I cannot trust honest old Abe."
#24 | 19:08 to 19:46 | cleaned
He's too smart for me. The word is really not smart, the word is cunning, deceitful. Lamon said, who was one of Lincoln's partners, Lamon said this, "Mr. Lincoln did not possess a single quality for his office as president. People said he was good and honest and well-meaning, but he never pretended that he was great. He was only nominated by means of a corrupt bargain entered into by Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania and Caleb Smith of Indiana, provided Lincoln would pledge them cabinet positions. These pledges Lincoln fulfilled and thus made himself a party to corrupt bargains."
#25 | 19:47 to 20:35 | cleaned
That was his own law partner that said that. I want to read something to you just for a moment that's rather lengthy, but I want you to listen. I'm going to tell you why. You've never heard, probably, of a judge by the name of Judge Henry Clay Dean. I have a book at home that has just been reprinted, and the book is by Judge Henry Clay Dean, and the title of the book is "Crimes of the Civil War." But it is not crimes of the South. It is crimes of the North and crimes of Abraham Lincoln. You know, I told you in time past that Lincoln arrested 38,000 Northerners and had them imprisoned without a trial. Never pressed a charge against them. Well, Judge Henry Clay Dean was one of those that Lincoln arrested and put in prison without a trial. And I want you to listen to, first of all, his indictment of Lincoln and his government. And then, secondly, he's going to tell you why he was arrested.
#26 | 20:35 to 22:05 | cleaned
Now, this is very informative. Remember, this comes from a judge. He was alive, who suffered under Abraham Lincoln, who knew firsthand what was going on. Here's what Judge Henry Clay Dean writes, "Our government is in nothing uniform except its contempt of law and powerful only for the oppression of the people. Every officer seems to contemplate his office as an engine of destruction in which he's engaged to work the ruin of the particular department of government entrusted to his care."
#27 | 22:06 to 22:50 | cleaned
"The Postmaster General has, for the last five years, been violating the mails. The Secretary of the Treasury has been squandering the public wealth. The Secretary of the Navy has been enfeebling our naval power. The Secretary of War, all crimson with innocent blood, is employing the army for the destruction of the country. The Secretary of State has been subverting constitutional law and disgracing our form of government at home and abroad. The Secretary of the Interior has been conniving with public jobbers to defraud the government of its most valuable land. The Attorney General is gravely burlesquing nonsense itself by defining constitutional construction of unconstitutional laws, and is in conspiracy with military commissions to murder innocent women. The President is administering the government through military satraps."
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Is that how you pronounce that? S-A-T-R-A-P-S. "...in a manner unknown to Republican systems and disgraceful to despotism which regard the character of those entrusted to power. We now witness among our kindred the debasement of a civilized people who are forced to submit to the insult and domination of barbarian Negroes and foreign vagabonds. The courts of the country are infamously corrupt. The state legislatures and Congress are flagrantly accessible to bribes which have become the only tangible basis of special and an essential necessity in general legislation. The people of a late Confederate state after encountering the terrible vicissitudes of war were overtaken by a famine which inflicted frightful forms of starvation and are now overrun and robbed by predatory invasions and endangered by the insurrection of domestic savages incited by foreign incendiaries."
#29 | 23:52 to 24:56 | cleaned
Now, this is just an overall view of the government in Lincoln's day by Judge Henry Clay Dean. And here is why the judge says that he was arrested. He says, "I have a personal reason for the publication of this book. I suffered under the reign of Mr. Lincoln." By the way, I like that word. "I suffered under the reign of Mr. Lincoln, which was a vibration between anarchy and despotism. Why was I arrested? I cannot tell. I have never seen anything like charges, and suppose there were none in such form as would be recognized in any court of justice under the sun."
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"And yet, I am quite sure there was a cause for it, which is this. I am a Democrat. A devoted friend of the Constitution of the United States, a sincere lover of the government and the Union of the States, am anxious for a reunion and believe it the right and duty of a free man in a calm, candid manner to discuss in a temperate spirit the best modes of effecting this purpose. I have dared to participate in these discussions freely, which I have done from convictions of duty. This was the cause of my arrest. This is my only offense. But all this availed me nothing so long as I was a Democrat, a faithful supporter of the Constitution, an ardent lover of the Union, and believed and thought that the integrity of the one was the only conservative power of the other."
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So why was the judge arrested? Well, Lincoln knew the influence and the power that Judge Henry Clay Dean had, and he tried to bribe Judge Henry Clay Dean and get him on his side, and the judge refused. And, of course, he continued to speak out against Lincoln, and the next thing he knew, he was arrested and thrown in prison and did not get out until after the war was over and Lincoln was dead. And the only reason he was arrested was he disagreed with Lincoln.
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Now, in Mildred Rutherford's book, "A True Estimate of Abraham Lincoln," she gives a number of newspaper quotes and articles written in Lincoln's day before his inauguration and after his inauguration, and I want to read some of these to you. Some of them are so sorrowful they ought to make you weep, and others are downright humorous but yet they show the situation that we were in at that period in our history. The New York Herald, on May the 22nd, 1860, says this concerning Lincoln: "The candidate for president, Abraham Lincoln, is an uneducated man, a vulgar village politician without any experience worth mentioning in the practical duties of statesmanship, and only noted for some very unpopular votes which he gave while a member of Congress." An uneducated, vulgar, village politician. The New York Express in February of 1861 said this, "The tone of levity and frivolity which characterizes the speeches of Mr. Lincoln causes the hearts of our citizens to sink within them. They perceive already that he is not the man for the crisis."
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"...and begin to despond of any extrication from the impending difficulties." What are they saying? Everybody realizes he's not going to get us out, he's going to get us in deeper. The Philadelphia Argus said, "...the humiliating spectacle is thus presented by the President-elect, indulging in the merest claptrap of the politician, thanking the people for voting for him, flattering their political pride, and appealing to their sectional animosity." So he's trying to set one section against the other. Now, I like this one.
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This was in the New York Tribune, June the 4th, 1863. They were quoting Alfred R. Wooten, who was the Attorney General of Delaware. Now, not a southern state by any stretch of the imagination, and here is what the Attorney General said concerning Lincoln and his administration. Quote, "The administration is an insult to the flag and a traitor to their God. Russia never dared exercise the privileges which Mr. Lincoln did without reading a newspaper to see what the people thought. A hound might find Mr. Lincoln, but never will find him by an honest scent." That was the Attorney General of Delaware. A dog might find Lincoln, but not by an honest scent. He didn't think too much of Mr. Lincoln.
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Wendell Phillips of the Cooper Institute once again, on August 22, 1862, said this, "What right has he, or any official in our service, to claim that I shall cease criticizing his mistakes when they are dragging the Union to ruin? I find grave fault with Abraham Lincoln." The New York World, April 13, 1864: "Mr. Lincoln is wholly unqualified for his position. The personal presence, the dignity, or the knowledge demanded in the magistrate of a great people."
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"No branch of the administration has been well and efficiently administered under him. His soul seems to be made of leather and incapable of any grand or noble emotion. You leave his presence with your enthusiasm dampened, your better feelings crushed, and your hopes cast to the wind. Even wisdom from him seems but folly." The New York World, June 2, 1864, says this, "That there is to the Republican Party a widely diffused impression of the feebleness, faithlessness, and incapacity of Mr. Lincoln's administration is notorious." What are they saying? Everybody in the Republican Party knew that Lincoln was wrong. New York Herald, June 2, 1864, they said, "Anything for a change in this imbecile and torpid administration."
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"Let us have a shaking up of its dry bones. Anything for a change." I hope you know what an imbecile is. The New York World, June 4, 1864, said, "The age of rail splitters and tailors, of buffoons, boors, and fanatics has succeeded." Translated, Lincoln is a bore, a buffoon, and a fanatic. He continues, "Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Johnson are both men of mediocre talent, neglected education, narrow views, deficient information, and, of course, vulgar manners."
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"A statesman is supposed to be a man of some depth of thought and extended knowledge. Has this country, with so proud a record, been reduced to such intellectual poverty as to be forced to present two such names as Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson from the highest stations in this most trying crisis of its history? It is a cruel mockery and bitter humiliation. Such nominations at this juncture are an insult to the common sense of the people." Has this country, with so proud a record, been reduced to such intellectual poverty as to be forced to present two such names as Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson for the highest stations in this most trying crisis of its history?
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Yeah, that came from New York. In other words, they realized, hey, these guys are buffoons.
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Now, this may surprise you when I say this, but I had to be selective of my quotes that I just used, not because I was trying to pick out the worst ones, no, but because there was a multiplicity of such quotes. I could have sat here for another hour reading to you things that northerners said about Abraham Lincoln. You see, when Abraham Lincoln was alive, he was mocked.
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and ridiculed and hated and despised. Even his infamous Gettysburg Address was viewed and pronounced as a failure by himself, by Secretary of State William Seward, by Edward Everett, who also spoke on that occasion, and by W.H. Cunningham, who was a reporter for the Montgomery, Missouri Star, who was there when he gave the address. But after his death, everything changed. Let me tell you something, and I want you to keep this in mind, that Abraham Lincoln was not a Christian. Abraham Lincoln mocked and ridiculed the gospel of Jesus Christ. Even his dearest intimate said that the only reason Abraham Lincoln left the church was to mock the preacher, and after the preaching was over, he would imitate him in a nasal, vulgar manner just to get laughs. Abraham Lincoln wrote a dissertation denying the deity of Jesus Christ and denying the inspiration of the scriptures.
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The dissertation was finally torn up by his partner with this statement, "You will never be elected if this gets out." Abraham Lincoln held séances in the White House.
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Let me tell you something. His law partner, his friends, and even his wife testified that Abraham Lincoln was not a Christian. His private secretary said this, "Mr. Lincoln did not, to my knowledge, in any way change his religious views, opinions, or beliefs from the time he left Springfield to the day of his death." What did he say? He never was converted. He always hated Christ and hated Christianity.
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I like what General John Pyatt says, and this really puts the icing on the cake. Don't you listen carefully. If this is not a picture of politicians, I don't know what is. But General John Pyatt traveled with Lincoln whenever Lincoln was making his campaign speeches. And here's what Pyatt said: "When a leader dies, all good men go to lying about it." Now, I won't finish. Listen now. "When a leader dies, all good men go lying about him."
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"From the moment that covers his remains to the last echo of the rule of press, in speeches, in sermons, eulogies, reminiscences, we hear nothing but pious lies. Abraham Lincoln has almost disappeared from human knowledge. I hear of him, I read of him in eulogies and biographies, but I fail to recognize the man that I knew in life."
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What is Pyatt saying? Everybody's writing lies. They're not writing truth about Abraham Lincoln. William Stanton, who was Secretary of War, in a letter to President Buchanan, remember Buchanan preceded Lincoln, expressed his contempt for Lincoln. And none of his cabinet really liked him. They thought he was an absolute fool. Do you know what William Stanton did? After Lincoln was elected President, William Stanton, the Secretary of War, advised the revolutionary overthrow of the Lincoln administration, and that General George McClellan be installed as a military dictator. But after Lincoln was dead, William Stanton, who hated and despised Lincoln so, made this infamous quote. John Hay, who was Secretary of State, eulogized Lincoln after his death, and he called him the greatest, the wisest, the godliest man that has appeared on earth since Christ. Now, I want you to remember what Pyatt said.
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"When a leader dies, all men go to lying about it." Listen to what J.G. Holland wrote after Lincoln died. This is unbelievable. "Lincoln unequaled since Washington in service to the nation. Mr. Lincoln will always be remembered as an eminently Christian president. Conscience, not popular applause nor love of power, was the ruling motive of Lincoln's life. No stimulant ever entered his mouth." I don't know if he drank or not, but he was partner in the ownership of a saloon, I can tell you that. "No stimulant ever entered his mouth, no profanity ever came from his lips," and yet he was known for his bawdy or filthy stories. Here he goes on, "Abraham Lincoln was the first of all men who had walked the earth since the Nazarene." Stupidity.
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Not just stupidity, but the fact they had to do something now to deify him in the sense. Evidently, you know, they were going to try to gloss over everything that the North did wrong to the South and that he did wrong. Listen to what Henry Watterson wrote. This was upon the dedication of Lincoln's home. Ah, get your airbags ready. The dedication of Lincoln's home: "You lowly cabin, which is to be dedicated over Marah, may well be likened to the manger of Bethlehem, the boy that went forth to a godlike destiny, to the Son of God, the Father Almighty of Him and us all. Which is prompting except from God? His tragic death may be likened also to that other martyr whom Lincoln so closely resembled."
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"There are utterances of his which read like rescripts from the Sermon on the Mount, reviled as Him of Galilee, slain even as Him of Galilee, yet as gentle and unoffending a man who died for me."
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Even if Lincoln had been a godly man, it is still blasphemous, because Jesus Christ is unequaled. He is the monogenes. His only begotten Son, monogenes, is the Greek term which means one of a kind. He is unique. There is none that can compare to Jesus Christ. J.M. Merrill in the Detroit Free Press said, "Abraham Lincoln is so far above every other man in human history that to compare him to others seems sacrilege. Nowhere on earth is there a historic character to compare to our sainted martyr Abraham Lincoln." Albert Bushnell Hart wrote, "Abraham Lincoln was the greatest man of the Civil War period." All right, hey, if you would just change man to criminal, I'd agree with it.
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Listen to the Sunday school tirades. Abraham Lincoln is the Christian exemplar for children today. According to Judge Stewart, here it is: "Here in this new world country, with no pride of ancestry, arose the greatest man since the meek and lowly Nazarene, a man whose life had a greater influence on the human race than any teacher, thinker, or toiler since the beginning of the Christian era." You mean to tell me that Lincoln was greater than the Apostle Paul? That Lincoln was greater than the Apostle Peter? Greater than the Apostle John? I think that Lincoln did not have nearly the influence that they wanted him to have.
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And you know, I find an absolutely amazing, an astounding contradistinction. Abraham Lincoln, the villain, the one who violated his oath of office repeatedly, the man who ripped this country in pieces, that secretly and deliberately started the war in which a million people were wounded, a half a million died. Abraham Lincoln, the villain, is deified when Jeff Davis, who was a godly and devout man and a statesman who wanted to preserve the Constitution, is vilified. It's amazing.
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Now, I want you to turn to two passages of Scripture. I want you to look at Proverbs 17 and then the book of Isaiah chapter 5. Let's look first at Proverbs 17 and look what God says. Proverbs 17 and verse 15. God says, "He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are an abomination to the Lord." When you justify, when you pronounce right, when you pronounce just, a wicked man, it's an abomination to God. And on the other hand, when you condemn a righteous man, it is an abomination to God. Look in your Bibles to the book of Isaiah chapter 5. Isaiah chapter 5 and note verse 20.
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Here's a curse that certainly falls upon a lot of individuals. Isaiah 5 verse 20, God says, "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that call evil good, and that call good evil." You see, what has happened in our country since Abraham Lincoln, everything has been turned upside down. And basically what has happened is this: evil men have been called good men, and good men have been called evil men.
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You look today at our governmental structure. You look in our society, and you find the men who are held up as our exemplars, as our heroes, and the world is trying to make them good when in reality they are evil, wicked men plotting the overthrow of our government as we know it. All of our leaders keep talking about our democracy. We've never had a democracy. Well, we have one now because we perverted the republic. We were supposed to be a republic, not a democracy. What we find is, those men who are real patriots, those men who are real Christians, those men who want what's right, they are now vilified and maligned and counted as worth absolutely nothing.
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They're to be gotten rid of and disposed of. Now, it's just one of them that call evil good, and they call good evil. Abraham Lincoln, old Honest Abe, was not so honest. He was a wicked, ungodly individual who violated his constitutional oath and sunk this nation into perilous war. Let's pray. Father, we ask today in the name of Jesus Christ that You would help us and enable us, Lord, to judge men not just by what they say, but what they do. And may we take what they do and judge them by the Word of God, for our Lord said, "By their fruits you shall know them." May everything be held to the touchstone of Scripture, as Isaiah 8 and verse 20 says, "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." Help us, Father, to judge by the Word of God. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask. Amen.
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-04T14:53:13Z

Where We Are & How We Got Here # 12 of 14

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

John Weaver argues that Abraham Lincoln was a deceitful, unconstitutional tyrant, not the honest hero portrayed in mainstream history. Using contemporary quotes from Lincoln's own party and cabinet, Weaver contends that Lincoln repeatedly violated the Constitution, waged an unjust war, and was widely despised in his own time. After his death, a campaign of deification through 'pious lies' transformed him into a false icon. Weaver calls believers to judge leaders by Scripture, not propaganda, and to recognize that only Christ is trustworthy.

Introduction: The Nature of Truth

Scripture Reading — 2 Timothy 3:16

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."

Truth Requires Readjustment

Truth makes us uncomfortable because it forces us to change our thinking. Weaver shares how studying the Bible corrected his own preaching and exposed lifelong propaganda.

Our Hope Is in Christ, Not Man

Citing Psalm 118:8-9, the middle verses of the Bible, Weaver stresses that men will always fail us; only Christ is our hope and success.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 118:8-9

"It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man."

Isn't that interesting? Middle verse,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 118:8-9

"It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man."

And the next verse,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 118:8-9

"It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes."

So what He's telling us is that men will always fail us. Men will always let us down. Only Christ is our hope, and only Christ is our success.

The Duty to Preserve Truth for Posterity

Quoting Robert E. Lee and Benjamin H. Hill, Weaver asserts the obligation to collect and disseminate truth about the South's principles, countering Northern falsehoods.

Northern Perversions of History

Weaver lists false teachings of the 'conquerors,' including that the war was a civil war, the South fought for slavery, and Lincoln freed the slaves, all of which he refutes.

Lincoln's Constitutional Violations

Contemporary Condemnation from Lincoln's Own Circle

Quoting Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner, J.P. Morgan, and others, Weaver shows that Lincoln's friends and party members recognized his unconstitutional and corrupt actions.

Judge Henry Clay Dean's Indictment

Weaver reads from Judge Dean's book 'Crimes of the Civil War,' detailing the government's contempt for law and Dean's own arrest for being a Democrat and speaking out.

Newspaper Quotes Revealing Contempt for Lincoln

Weaver presents numerous newspaper quotes from Lincoln's era calling him uneducated, vulgar, imbecilic, and a buffoon, demonstrating widespread disdain.

Yeah, that came from New York. In other words, they realized, hey, these guys are buffoons.

Lincoln's Mockery of Christianity and Posthumous Deification

Weaver asserts Lincoln was not a Christian, mocked the gospel, and held séances. After his death, 'pious lies' transformed him into a Christ-like figure, which Weaver calls blasphemous.

The dissertation was finally torn up by his partner with this statement, "You will never be elected if this gets out." Abraham Lincoln held séances in the White House.

"There are utterances of his which read like rescripts from the Sermon on the Mount, reviled as Him of Galilee, slain even as Him of Galilee, yet as gentle and unoffending a man who died for me."

Biblical Judgment on Calling Evil Good

Weaver cites Proverbs 17:15 and Isaiah 5:20 to condemn the reversal of moral judgments, where wicked Lincoln is deified and godly Jefferson Davis is vilified.

Scripture Reading — Proverbs 17:15

"He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are an abomination to the Lord."

Here's a curse that certainly falls upon a lot of individuals. Isaiah 5 verse 20, God says,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 5:20

"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that call evil good, and that call good evil."

Conclusion: Judge by Fruits and Scripture

Weaver calls for judging leaders by their actions and the Word of God, not by propaganda, and closes in prayer asking for discernment according to Isaiah 8:20.

Where We Are & How We Got Here # 12 of 14

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	3290483236
Subject	Old Testament Studies
Course	Proverbs: Kingship, Household Wisdom, and Warning
Genre	Sermon
Date	1998-09-13
Dictation Name
Book	Book 119: Where We Are & How We Got Here — Chapter 12
Source Timed Segments	57

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction: The Nature of Truth: Weaver opens with John 18:37-38, highlighting Pilate's blindness to truth standing before him. He emphasizes that the Bible is written truth and Jesus is living truth, and that many ask for truth but reject it when given.
Truth Requires Readjustment: Truth makes us uncomfortable because it forces us to change our thinking. Weaver shares how studying the Bible corrected his own preaching and exposed lifelong propaganda.
Our Hope Is in Christ, Not Man: Citing Psalm 118:8-9, the middle verses of the Bible, Weaver stresses that men will always fail us; only Christ is our hope and success.
The Duty to Preserve Truth for Posterity: Quoting Robert E. Lee and Benjamin H. Hill, Weaver asserts the obligation to collect and disseminate truth about the South's principles, countering Northern falsehoods.
Northern Perversions of History: Weaver lists false teachings of the 'conquerors,' including that the war was a civil war, the South fought for slavery, and Lincoln freed the slaves, all of which he refutes.
Lincoln's Constitutional Violations: Weaver details ten specific constitutional violations by Lincoln, such as suspending habeas corpus, declaring war without Congress, and the Emancipation Proclamation, noting Lincoln himself confessed to six.
Contemporary Condemnation from Lincoln's Own Circle: Quoting Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner, J.P. Morgan, and others, Weaver shows that Lincoln's friends and party members recognized his unconstitutional and corrupt actions.
Judge Henry Clay Dean's Indictment: Weaver reads from Judge Dean's book 'Crimes of the Civil War,' detailing the government's contempt for law and Dean's own arrest for being a Democrat and speaking out.
Newspaper Quotes Revealing Contempt for Lincoln: Weaver presents numerous newspaper quotes from Lincoln's era calling him uneducated, vulgar, imbecilic, and a buffoon, demonstrating widespread disdain.
Lincoln's Mockery of Christianity and Posthumous Deification: Weaver asserts Lincoln was not a Christian, mocked the gospel, and held séances. After his death, 'pious lies' transformed him into a Christ-like figure, which Weaver calls blasphemous.
Biblical Judgment on Calling Evil Good: Weaver cites Proverbs 17:15 and Isaiah 5:20 to condemn the reversal of moral judgments, where wicked Lincoln is deified and godly Jefferson Davis is vilified.
Conclusion: Judge by Fruits and Scripture: Weaver calls for judging leaders by their actions and the Word of God, not by propaganda, and closes in prayer asking for discernment according to Isaiah 8:20.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

Lincoln was not an honest man but a deceitful warmonger.

Contrary to his nickname 'Honest Abe,' Lincoln was a liar and warmonger responsible for the deaths of thousands.

Weaver states, 'old Honest Abe was not so honest. In fact, he was a deceitful and dastardly wicked man. He was a liar. He was a warmonger, and the blood of thousands of men is upon his head.'

Lincoln repeatedly violated the Constitution.

Lincoln committed at least ten distinct constitutional violations, including suspending habeas corpus and declaring war without Congress, and he himself acknowledged six.

Weaver lists the ten violations and says, 'Lincoln confessed to six of these constitutional violations in his joint resolution to Congress.'

Lincoln's own contemporaries condemned him.

Friends, cabinet members, and party allies recognized Lincoln's unconstitutional and corrupt behavior, proving his wickedness was evident at the time.

Quotes from Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner, J.P. Morgan, and Lamon are provided, e.g., 'Mr. Lincoln did not possess a single quality for his office as president.'

Lincoln was not a Christian and mocked Christianity.

Lincoln ridiculed the gospel, denied the deity of Christ, and held séances; his supposed faith is a posthumous fabrication.

Weaver says, 'Abraham Lincoln mocked and ridiculed the gospel of Jesus Christ... his dearest intimate said that the only reason Abraham Lincoln left the church was to mock the preacher.'

After his death, Lincoln was deified through lies.

A deliberate campaign of false eulogies and biographies transformed Lincoln into a Christ-like figure, which is historically inaccurate and blasphemous.

Weaver quotes General Pyatt: 'When a leader dies, all good men go to lying about him,' and cites eulogies comparing Lincoln to Jesus.

The deification of Lincoln and vilification of Jefferson Davis is a moral inversion.

Scripture condemns calling evil good and good evil; Lincoln the villain is deified while Davis the godly statesman is vilified.

Weaver says, 'Abraham Lincoln, the villain, is deified when Jeff Davis, who was a godly and devout man... is vilified,' and cites Proverbs 17:15 and Isaiah 5:20.

The Civil War was not a civil war but a war between two nations.

The Confederate States of America was a duly organized nation, making the conflict an international war, not a rebellion.

Weaver states, 'the war was not a civil war. It was not between people of the same nation. It was between people of two different nations because the Confederate States of America had already been duly and lawfully organized.'

Truth demands a readjustment of thinking and allegiance to Scripture.

Accepting truth requires abandoning lifelong propaganda and judging all things by the Bible, not by human heroes or historical myths.

Weaver says, 'once you begin to delve into what truth really is, all of the propaganda that we've heard all these years... we have to readjust our thinking,' and closes with Isaiah 8:20.

Scripture References

John 18:37-38: Weaver reads the passage where Pilate asks Jesus 'What is truth?' and uses it to illustrate blindness to truth standing right in front of him.
2 Timothy 3:16: Cited to establish that the Bible is the written Word of God, profitable for doctrine and instruction.
John 14:6: Quoted to show that Jesus Christ is the living truth.
John 12:48: Used to connect rejection of the living truth (Jesus) and the written truth (His words) to judgment.
John 8:32: Cited to emphasize that truth must be received and applied to bring freedom.
Psalm 118:8-9: Identified as the middle verses of the Bible, teaching that it is better to trust in the Lord than in man or princes.
Proverbs 17:15: Quoted to condemn justifying the wicked and condemning the just as an abomination to the Lord.
Isaiah 5:20: Cited to pronounce woe on those who call evil good and good evil, applied to the moral inversion regarding Lincoln and Davis.
Matthew 7:16: Alluded to in the closing prayer: 'by their fruits you shall know them,' as a principle for judging leaders.
Isaiah 8:20: Quoted in the closing prayer as the touchstone for testing all teaching: 'To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.'

Historical References

Robert E. Lee: Quoted on the duty to collect and disseminate truth about the war for posterity.
Benjamin H. Hill: Quoted on the obligation to preserve truth and repel falsehoods for the sake of the dead, living, and children.
Mildred Rutherford: Author of 'A True Estimate of Abraham Lincoln,' which documents ten constitutional violations by Lincoln.
Trent Affair: Described as a violation of neutrality where Union forces removed Confederate diplomats from a British ship, nearly causing war with England.
Thaddeus Stevens: Radical Republican who stated Lincoln had no constitutional warrant to divide Virginia.
Charles Sumner: Radical Republican who called Lincoln's reinforcement of Fort Sumter without Congress the greatest breach of the Constitution.
J.P. Morgan: Financier who initially supported Lincoln but later saw the corruption and said the war was for politicians and contractors.
Judge Henry Clay Dean: Author of 'Crimes of the Civil War,' arrested by Lincoln for being a Democrat and speaking out; his indictment of the administration is read at length.
Gettysburg Address: Mentioned as being viewed as a failure by Lincoln himself and others at the time.
Jefferson Davis: Contrasted with Lincoln as a godly and devout statesman who wanted to preserve the Constitution but is vilified.

Important Quotes

Abraham Lincoln, the villain, the one who violated his oath of office repeatedly, the man who ripped this country in pieces, that secretly and deliberately started the war in which a million people were wounded, a half a million died. Abraham Lincoln, the villain, is deified when Jeff Davis, who was a godly and devout man and a statesman who wanted to preserve the Constitution, is vilified.

Crystallizes the central moral inversion the sermon condemns, contrasting the treatment of Lincoln and Davis.

Lincoln was a tyrant in the strictest sense of the term. Why? Because Lincoln used lawful power unlawfully.

Defines the nature of Lincoln's tyranny as the abuse of legal authority, a core charge in the sermon.

It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.

The middle verse of the Bible, used to anchor the sermon's theme that human heroes fail and only Christ is trustworthy.

He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are an abomination to the Lord.

Biblical basis for condemning the deification of Lincoln and vilification of Davis.

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Scriptural pronouncement against the moral inversion seen in American historical memory.

I find in him no fault at all.

Pilate's declaration about Jesus, used to highlight his blindness to truth, paralleling modern blindness to Lincoln's faults.

I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me.

Establishes Jesus as the living truth, contrasting with the falsehoods about Lincoln.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

How does Pilate's question 'What is truth?' reflect the attitude of many people today toward uncomfortable historical or biblical truths?

[Context]

Weaver uses Pilate's encounter with Jesus to illustrate willful blindness to truth.

[Question]

In what ways have we placed confidence in human leaders or heroes, and how does Psalm 118:8-9 challenge that?

[Context]

Weaver emphasizes that only Christ is trustworthy, using the middle verses of the Bible.

[Question]

Why is it important to 'collect and disseminate the truth' about historical events, even when it contradicts popular narratives?

[Context]

Weaver quotes Robert E. Lee and Benjamin H. Hill on the duty to preserve truth for posterity.

[Question]

How should Christians respond when they discover that widely accepted historical figures were deeply flawed or wicked?

[Context]

Weaver discusses the discomfort of learning that heroes were not great and the need to readjust thinking.

[Question]

What does it mean to 'call evil good and good evil' in the context of how we remember historical figures like Lincoln and Davis?

[Context]

Weaver applies Isaiah 5:20 to the deification of Lincoln and vilification of Davis.

[Question]

How can we apply the principle of judging by fruits (Matthew 7:16) when evaluating political leaders, past or present?

[Context]

Weaver closes with a prayer referencing judging by fruits and testing by Scripture.

[Question]

What are the dangers of posthumous hagiography, and how does General Pyatt's quote ('all good men go to lying about him') expose this?

[Context]

Weaver uses Pyatt's quote to explain the transformation of Lincoln's image after death.

[Question]

How does the concept of 'pious lies' affect the church's witness when it embraces historically inaccurate narratives about national figures?

[Context]

Weaver criticizes the deification of Lincoln and the blasphemous comparisons to Christ.

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-05T19:02:50Z