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Commentary From
Dr.
Kennedy |
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The Man Who Didn’t Desert |
William
Wilberforce was at a crossroads. Young, wealthy,
well-educated, a member of Parliament, and a much in demand
man about town, Wilberforce was in the throes of what he
later came to call his “great change”—his conversion to
Christianity.
Elected to Parliament in 1780 at age 21, Wilberforce
had pursued his own political ambition with little thought
for God or the Gospel. Instead, it was the pursuit of
distinction that was, he later said, “his darling object.”
An enormously gifted orator who rode his eloquence into
office, Wilberforce was called “the wittiest man in
England.” But now, at age 26, this promising, talent-laden
member of Parliament had been persuaded to trust Christ
after reading a famous devotional classic and the Greek New
Testament, while touring Europe with an old schoolmaster. He
was now an evangelical.
What next? Should he leave politics? Should he resign
from the House of Commons? Politics, after all, was, as many
evangelicals then thought, a “worldly” pursuit. It was an
endeavor fraught with moral compromise and the corrupting
quest for power. Something, in short, in which no truly
“spiritual” believer could take part. Perhaps he should
enter the clergy or pursue full-time Christian service.
Distressed and undecided, Wilberforce put the question
to John Newton, the former slave trader turned minister who
is best known today for writing the famous hymn, “Amazing
Grace.” Newton’s answer amazed Wilberforce. He advised him
not to leave his post. That would be tantamount to desertion
from the position to which God had called him. Instead, he
should serve Christ in the political arena, using all of his
talents and all of his energies.
Wilberforce soon embraced two great goals which largely
consumed his 45-year career in Parliament: the abolition of
the slave trade and the reformation of manners (moral
standards). He set about to end the abominable trade in
humans beings across the British Empire and to reform the
morals of a degenerate British society. He largely
succeeded.
Twenty years after Wilberforce took up the cause of
abolition, Parliament passed in 1807 a measure ending the
horrid British traffic in slaves. Then, in 1833, just three
days before his death, the House of Commons approved a bill
for the abolition of slavery throughout the British
colonies—an act that, according to Wilberforce biographer
Kevin Belmonte, brought
 freedom
to some 800,000 slaves.
The impact of Wilberforce was equally profound on the
moral climate of Britain. “It is a matter of history,”
according to another Wilberforce biographer, John Pollock,
“that for two generations at least after Wilberforce, the
British character was molded by attitudes that were
essentially his. Under his leadership, a Christian social
conscience attacked prevalent social ills while at the same
time seeking to better the lives of those affected by them.”
It happened before. It can happen again. The life of
William Wilberforce is a powerful, stirring, and instructive
example that we, as Christians, can bring moral renewal to
our culture. It won’t happen through government alone, as
Wilberforce well recognized, but it can happen if we answer
the summons to be salt and light for Christ in every area of
life—including the political arena. |
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1
2
3
4
5
6
7 8 |
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On
The Air in October |
Coral Ridge Hour
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3 |
Will the Church Forget? |
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10 |
For Such A Time As This |
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17 |
A Shield For America |
| 24 |
What If America Were A Christian Nation Again? |
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31 |
Needed: A New Reformation |
Truths That Transform
|
1 |
William
Wilberforce
• Kevin Belmonte |
|
2,3 |
William
Wilberforce (Part 1)+ |
|
4-6 |
Is America a
Christian Nation?
• David Barton |
|
7,8 |
Remembering
Our Foundations+ |
|
9,10 |
William
Wilberforce (Part 2)+ |
|
11 |
Center for
Reclaiming America
• Dr. Gary Cass |
|
12,13 |
Five Keys to
Transform Your Community • Dr. Gary Cass |
| 14,15 |
Why Reclaiming
America?+ |
|
16,17 |
Christian
Citizenship (Part 1)+ |
|
18,19 |
Serious Times
• James Emery White |
|
20 |
Christians and
Politics • Gary DeMar |
|
21,22 |
Government: A
Fearful Master+ |
|
23,24 |
Christian
Citizenship (Part 2)+ |
|
25,26 |
To Be
Announced |
|
27 |
One Faith:
Evangelicals United
• Thomas Oden |
|
28-31 |
Needed: A New
Reformation+ |
Verdades Que Transforman*
|
3 |
Nación Cristiana |
|
10 |
La Misión de la Iglesia |
|
17 |
La Biblia y la Constitución |
| 24 |
Las
Raíces Cristianas de los EEUU |
|
31 |
El
Ciudadano Cristiano |
For
October 2004. Subject to Change. To
request an audio or video cassette of The Coral
Ridge Hour, or an audio cassette of Truths That
Transform, please call 800-229-9673. Station
information available at
www.coralridge.org
+ Message from Dr. Kennedy.
* Spanish broadcast of
Truths That Transform. Please call 800-229-9673
or go to
www.verdadesquetransforman.org
for station information.
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