Peter A. Lillback > Quotes

“As we contemplate Washington’s words and place them in his historical circumstances, it occurs to us that a man so concerned for righteousness in his army, and for military chaplains to lead his men in seeking the blessings of heaven, just might have been a praying man himself.”
― Peter A. Lillback, George Washington's Sacred Fire

“George Washington clearly shared the foundational Virginian concern to “Christianize the savages” dwelling in the Virginia Colony. On July 10, 1789, in response to an address from the directors of the Society of The United Brethren for Propagating the Gospel Among the Heathen, Washington stated: In proportion as the general Government of the United States shall acquire strength by duration, it is probable they may have it in their power to extend a salutary influence to the Aborigines in the extremities of their Territory. In the meantime, it will be a desirable thing for the protection of the Union to co-operate, as far as circumstances may conveniently admit, with the disinterested [unselfish] endeavours of your Society to civilize and Christianize the Savages of the Wilderness.28 A Deist, by definition, rejected Christianity and accepted the equivalence of all religions’ worship of God. So no Deist could see the plan for the “conversion of the heathen” outlined by Bishop Ettwein and the Brethren as both “laudable” and “earnestly desired.” Yet those are Washington’s words.”
― Peter A. Lillback, George Washington's Sacred Fire

“Likewise, consider the statement of Benjamin Franklin delivered at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787: “I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: that God governs in the affairs of man.”
― Peter A. Lillback, George Washington's Sacred Fire

“The King’s 1606 patent for Virginia explained that the purpose of their mission to the New World was that: So noble a work may, by the Providence of God, hereafter tend to the glorie of his divine majestie, in propagating of Christian religion to such people as sit in darkness and miserable ignorance of the true knowledge and worship of God, and may in time bring the infidels and savages (living in those parts) to human civility and quiet government.20”
― Peter A. Lillback, George Washington's Sacred Fire

“And the Spirit is God himself, who is the source of infinite creativity. His presence and his special work in inspiration do not make human beings less than human. Rather, he transforms sinful humanity toward humanity as God originally designed it. More than that, the authors’ humanity is transformed into the image of Christ, who is the perfect man, the last Adam. This transformation took place in a measure even in the Old Testament, because the Holy Spirit even then was the same Holy Spirit who is one with the Father and the Son. He acted in mercy and grace toward human beings on the basis of the atonement that Christ was yet to accomplish in the future. This”
― Peter A. Lillback, Seeing Christ in All of Scripture: Hermeneutics at Westminster Theological Seminary

“Washington’s involvement and interest in the “Christianization” of the Indians reached its climax in a connection with British royalty and the evangelist George Whitefield, strange connections, indeed, for the leader of the American Revolution and an alleged Deist!”
― Peter A. Lillback, George Washington's Sacred Fire

“Is the Judeo-Christian heritage of America a reality or an interloper aimed at suppressing the secularism of the founders? Or, is it the other way around? Are today’s secularists trying to recreate the faith of our founding father into the unbelief of a Deist in order to rid our nation of Washington’s holy flame of faith?”
― Peter A. Lillback, George Washington's Sacred Fire

“Concern for the souls of the “savages” was part of the mission into Virginia. When this courageous band had been sent off from England, the Reverend Mr. William Crashaw reminded the colonists, “that the end of this voyage is the destruction of the devil’s kingdom, and the propagation of the Gospel.”19”
― Peter A. Lillback, George Washington's Sacred Fire

“George Washington’s Sacred Fire intends to convince you that when all the available evidence is considered, the only viable conclusion is that George Washington was a Christian and not a Deist.”
― Peter A. Lillback, George Washington's Sacred Fire

“The Spirit’s role is also to keep us humble, abolish our pride, and cause us to be open to the message of the Scriptures. If we want to please God and not ourselves, then we will not be threatened if Scripture presents to us a meaning that goes against one of our previously held theological or ethical views. The Holy Spirit leads us to love the true God, and thus to love what is true. This means that when God’s Word presents to us an idea that goes against something that we have greatly valued, we love God’s Word and acknowledge that our own ideas were wrong.”
― Peter A. Lillback, Seeing Christ in All of Scripture: Hermeneutics at Westminster Theological Seminary

“He is not only its omega but also its alpha, and he is and can be its omega only as he is its alpha.”1”
― Peter A. Lillback, Seeing Christ in All of Scripture: Hermeneutics at Westminster Theological Seminary

“Can a historic national hero become irrelevant? This seems to have happened to George Washington and many other “politically incorrect” founding fathers, at least in the minds of some leading educators. In fact, many of our founders—despite all their sacrifices to establish our great country with unparalleled freedoms—have been denigrated to the category of the irrelevant history of “dead white guys.” In fact, the Washington Times reported: “George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin are not included in the revised version of the New Jersey Department of Education history standards, a move some critics view as political correctness at its worst.” 13”
― Peter A. Lillback, George Washington's Sacred Fire

“Thus, we find phrases such as the following in Washington’s public and private writings: “A Christian Spirit,” “A True Christian,” “Be more of a man and a Christian,” “Christian soldiers,” “The little Christian,” “To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian.” 32”
― Peter A. Lillback, George Washington's Sacred Fire

“A successful leader must lead by example.”
― Peter A. Lillback, George Washington's Sacred Fire

“The King’s instructions included that “all persons should kindly treat the savages and heathen people in these parts, and use all proper means to draw them to the true service and knowledge of God.”21 As early as 1588, Sir Walter Raleigh had given 100 pounds for the “propagation of Christianity in Virginia.”22”
― Peter A. Lillback, George Washington's Sacred Fire

“George Washington was not a perfect man. He occasionally lost his temper; he drank wine—maybe even too much when he was a young man. 23 He was involved with activities that some would find fault with: he had a revenue producing distillery on his Mount Vernon Estate; 24 he loved to fox hunt; he went to the theatre, and occasionally to the horse races. And, sadly, he owned slaves, something all Americans today would find immoral, but which was not uncommon for a Southern gentleman of his day.”
― Peter A. Lillback, George Washington's Sacred Fire

“The erosion of accurate historicity is disconcerting: One scholar casts Washington in a Deistic mold. The next goes further and states—without citing evidence—that he didn’t even go to church. What will the next generation of scholars claim? This ignorance of the facts is what requires us to pursue our question concerning Washington’s religion by constant interaction with his own written words and the unquestionable records of his actions.”
― Peter A. Lillback, George Washington's Sacred Fire

“In Old Testament narratives one should see what the segment is saying about God and then see how the characters in the narrative relate to the redemptive-historical message about God.”
― Peter A. Lillback, Seeing Christ in All of Scripture: Hermeneutics at Westminster Theological Seminary

“The idea of morning and evening prayer led by a military officer was part of the Virginia in which Washington was raised.40”
― Peter A. Lillback, George Washington's Sacred Fire

“So, interpretation must proceed wholly by fitting those authors into their social and historical environments. Anything else is alleged to be a denial of history or a denial of humanity.”
― Peter A. Lillback, Seeing Christ in All of Scripture: Hermeneutics at Westminster Theological Seminary

“Pick up most books and articles on Washington from 1932 or earlier, and generally, with a few exceptions, you will read about George Washington the Christian. That began to change with the iconoclastic scholarship of the mid-twentieth century that sought to tear down the traditional understanding of our nation and its origins.”
― Peter A. Lillback, George Washington's Sacred Fire

“Indeed, given the facts, the burden of proof is not to prove that Washington was a Christian; the burden of proof is to prove that he was a skeptic who nevertheless sought to act like a Christian believer!”
― Peter A. Lillback, George Washington's Sacred Fire

“The inescapable conclusion is that Washington was a Christian.”
― Peter A. Lillback, George Washington's Sacred Fire

“Let’s begin by noting that Washington historian Rupert Hughes is wrong when he writes in 1926, “… there is no direct allusion to Christ, and the word Christ has been found in none of Washington’s almost countless autographs.” 3 For George Washington wrote in 1779, “You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. These will make you a greater and happier people than you are.” 4”
― Peter A. Lillback, George Washington's Sacred Fire

“a view that reflects the profound words of Dr. Gaffin: “Christ is the mediatorial Lord and Savior of redemptive history not only at its end but also from beginning to end.”
― Peter A. Lillback, Seeing Christ in All of Scripture: Hermeneutics at Westminster Theological Seminary

“We believe the truth, however, is that he was an 18th century Anglican. He was an orthodox, Trinity-affirming believer in Jesus Christ, who also affirmed the historic Christian Gospel of a Savior who died for sinners and was raised to life. But then again, we also believe it would not be accurate to call him an “evangelical” (by modern standards of the word).”
― Peter A. Lillback, George Washington's Sacred Fire

“The genuine believer takes the whole of Scripture as a living organism produced by the Holy Spirit to present Christ to him. On every page of Scripture, he finds traits and traces of the Mediator.” —Geerhardus Vos, Reformed Dogmatics”
― Peter A. Lillback, Seeing Christ in All of Scripture: Hermeneutics at Westminster Theological Seminary

“Skeptics today often claim that George Washington was not a real Christian, but in our view, the burden of proof is on them to explain why he was consistently in church throughout his life, why the churches he was part of were entirely orthodox in terms of the Trinity and the doctrine of Christ, and why he attended churches where the Bible was regularly preached on Sunday.”
― Peter A. Lillback, George Washington's Sacred Fire

“The secret of Washington’s ability to accomplish so much was his mastery of time management. Consider his statements on time. “What to me is more valuable, my time, that I most regard,” he wrote to James McHenry, September 14, 1799. Similarly, he wrote to James Anderson on December 10, 1799, “… time, which is of more importance than is generally imagined.”
― Peter A. Lillback, George Washington's Sacred Fire

“By the time George Washington was out surveying the wilderness tracts of land for Lord Fairfax, the proprietor of the Northern Neck’s vast expanse, the Indians were no longer an immediate menace, since they had been driven far back into the forests by the previous generations of armed colonists.”
― Peter A. Lillback, George Washington's Sacred Fire