We Need Heroes & Heroines

Episode Transcript

Speaker 2 (00:01):
Good evening.

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Voice in the Wilderness. I'm Don Noble with
Pure Heart Ministries, and I welcome you today with exceedingly
abundantly and overflowing joy. Well, I have joy because spring
is just right around the corner, and I'm ready to
spring into action. As most of you know, I'm a gardener,

(00:22):
and spring is an exciting time. You see those little
shoots start coming up out of the soil. Yeah, I
get excited. And it's been a hard winter and I've
had a nice long winter rest, but I think I'm
getting ready to be very active outside again.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
Amen. Well tonight.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
My message is we need heroes and heroines in this
crazy culture of wokeness and DEI influenced by the socialist
Marxist beliefs. I feel we've lost our heroes and heroines.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
I really do.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
And fact in the last four years under the Biden administration.
You know, it was just as I mentioned a couple
of weeks ago, just the oppression.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
You know that just.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
It wasn't a time to find a hero and a heroine.
Let's just say that. Charles Lindbergh. Now I wasn't alive
during the time that he became famous, but boy.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
He was a hero.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
Charles Lindberg became an overnight sensation in nineteen twenty seven.
Imagine there's no social media at the time, no iPhones,
no nothing back then. But he became an overnight sensation
because he was the first American pilot to make a
NonStop flight between New York City and Paris, and he

(02:07):
flew along over the Atlantic Ocean. This flight was thirty
three point five hours. His aircraft, the Spirit of Saint Louis,
which I have seen, became an icon of adventure. He
was the first to fly solo and set a new

(02:28):
flight distance world record, and his achievement garnered him world
wide fame. Charles Lindberg was a hero. Then there was
Amelia Earhart, the first female pilot to cross the Atlantic

(02:51):
solo NonStop in nineteen thirty two, and she received the
Distinguished Fly Cross for doing it. Unfortunately, she disappeared over
the Pacific Ocean in nineteen thirty seven while attempting to

(03:12):
become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world. Amelia
Earhart was a heirin. She was one of the most
influential American figures from the late nineteen twenties and throughout
the nineteen thirties. This evening, I want to share with

(03:33):
you about some heroes of the faith, people who had
a significant role to play in America. The first person
I want to talk to you about is a man
named Peter Marshall, born in nineteen oh two in Scotland,
who emigrated to the US to attend seminary. Now I

(03:55):
don't know much. I didn't know much about Peter Marshall.
He really didn't know anything about Peter Marshall. And unfortunately
our history books are so empty and devoid of really
really good history that, you know, I feel like my

(04:18):
voice here on the radio has been you know, I
talk to you a lot about historical things, so and
I love history. I was a history major in college,
so I like to bring in those aspects of history
that you may not have learned. I certainly didn't know
of Peter Marshall. But Peter Marshall became a Presbyterian minister

(04:44):
in Georgia and later in Washington, d C. He became
the pastor, at age thirty five in nineteen thirty seven
of Washington, DC's prestigious New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, the
same church where doctor Phineas Gurley was pastor during Abraham

(05:10):
Lincoln's presidency. Braran Marshall stated, he said, I've come to
know Lincoln better the heart and the spirit of the
man since I met him in the tradition of this
church I now serve in Washington, than I ever knew
him in history books. Now, folks, I'm gonna share some

(05:33):
things here with you. I really want you to pay
attention because I've never heard this information before. I doubt
you've ever heard it before, and it's important to understand
this real key thing about Abraham Lincoln, and I want

(05:53):
to give credit where credit is due. I'm sharing information
that Bill Fetterer has put together. And as many of
you know, Bill Fetter is a historian. He I brought
him to Wheeling last year. The man is just so
full of knowledge. Anyway, as the Reverend Marshall goes on,

(06:20):
he said, soon after assuming this pastorate, I happened one
day upon an old safe little used in the church basement.
Fascinating minutes of session meetings were there, dating almost back
the year the church was born in eighteen oh two.

(06:40):
Among these were some pew rental books, and I flipped
up into a page with the inscription at the top
a period Lincoln. The annual rent of the pew was
fifty dollars a year, and the notations of payments began
in March of eighteen sixty one and continued until the
president's fascination four years later. Marshall continued. Upon coming to Washington,

(07:06):
mister Lincoln had sought the advice of a member of
his cabinet on the choice of a suitable church home
for himself, his wife, and his three boys. One of
his stipulations was that it had to be a clergyman
who holds himself aloof from politics.

Speaker 2 (07:25):
Now you know.

Speaker 1 (07:28):
All the things that I have believed and said on
this program over the last several years about how important
it is for clergy to be involved, not necessarily running
for politics, but to be part of culture talk and

(07:49):
discuss things going on in the culture. The president's choice
was happened to be this church, and the pastor was
doctor Phineas Gurley. As the clouds of Civil War gathered increasingly,
mister Lincoln sought the friendship of doctor Gurley. He liked

(08:12):
to attend the midweek prayer meetings by sitting on the
other side of a glass top door with the door ajar.
On nights when the President would be deeply disturbed by
the horror of Americans having to fight fellow Americans, he
would sometimes send a messenger to fetch doctor Gurley. Later,

(08:33):
doctor Gurley was to tell how the two of them
listen carefully, how the two of them would walk up
and down the south portico of the White House, up
and down all through the night, talking and praying until
dawn flushed pink in the eastern sky. For here was

(08:58):
a man on the horns of that tear dilemma. He
believed that a nation divided could not stand that the
Union was worth saving. Yet he loathed war, all of it,
from Fort Sumter to Appomattox. In the end, according to

(09:20):
doctor Gurley, who knew Lincoln so well, Lincoln found no
way except the route.

Speaker 2 (09:27):
Of faith in God.

Speaker 1 (09:30):
After being near him steadily and with him often for
more than four years, doctor Gurley said, I can affirm
that God's guidance and mercy were the props on which
Lincoln humbly and habitually leaned that they were the best
hope he had for himself and for his country. He

(09:53):
recognized and received the truth that God is the governor
among the nations, and that our only hope, in the
President's own words, was to humble ourselves, confess our national sins,
and pray for clemency and forgiveness. Marshall added. The biographers

(10:18):
who have rather desperately tried to prove that Abraham Lincoln
was an unbeliever, have wisely ignored doctor Gurley's testimony. The
Minister was present when Willie Lincoln died in the White
House and received from him the little iron bank containing

(10:43):
pennies which the little boy asked doctor Gurley to give
to the Sunday School. And here he was there in
the tiny hall bedroom in the red brick house on
Tenth Street, keeping an all night vigil. Excuse me, it's

(11:06):
just a little emotional keeping an all night vigil with
the leaders of the nation. As the President lay dying,
as daylight broke and the faint breathing died away, the
Secretary of War, mister Stanton, broke the stillness with words

(11:29):
which were almost a sob stating, now he belongs to
the ages. Then he asked doctor Gurley to pray, and
this is what he said. The nation needed prayer more
than ever without Lincoln, that was the note of the

(11:53):
eulogy in the East Room, which doctor Gurley delivered. He said,
it is by his deady confidence in God that he
would speak to us today, and his message would be this,
cling to liberty and write battle for them, bleed for

(12:16):
the if need be, but most important, have faith in God.

Speaker 2 (12:25):
I want to stop there a moment because I dare say.

Speaker 1 (12:29):
I know, I have never heard this information, and at
times I wondered, because I've read so many things about
Abraham Lincoln's faith that I began to wonder, I mean,
did he really believe in God? While I think this
is proof, this is proof. This is a man, a minister,

(12:53):
Abraham Lincoln's minister, who spent probably more time with Lincoln
than any other person other than maybe his wife obviously
and children. But he knew him well. And any president
that would spend all night pacing back and forth with

(13:13):
the minister and praying all night for the nation, you
can't tell me that Abraham Lincoln didn't believe in God.
So I found that I found that very heartwarming. I
don't know why I'm so overcome with emotion here. I

(13:36):
have always loved Abraham Lincoln, and now I love him
even more. But this this, this doctor or doctor and
Reverend Peter Marshall. He he became the Senate chaplain, he

(13:56):
was invited to become the US Congress Senate chap and
he offered this prayer in nineteen forty seven. He said,
God of our fathers, give unto us thy servants a
true appreciation of our heritage of great men and great

(14:17):
deeds in the past. But let us not be intimidated
by feelings of our own inadequacies. For this troubled hour.
Remind us that the God they worshiped, and by whose
help they laid the foundations of our nation, is still
able to help us uphold what they bequeath and give
it meaning. On July third, nineteen forty seven, the day

(14:45):
before Independence Day, US Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall prayed, this,
God of our Fathers, whose almighty hand hath made and
preserved our nation, grant that our people may understand what
it is they celebrate tomorrow. May they remember how bitterly

(15:06):
our freedom was won, the down payment that was made
for it, the installments that have been made since this
republic was born, and the price that must be paid
for our liberty. He continued, May freedom be seen not
as the right to do as we please, but as

(15:28):
the opportunity to please, to do what is right. May
it be ever understood that our liberty is under God
and can be found nowhere else. May our faith be
something that is not merely stamped upon coins, but expressed.

Speaker 2 (15:49):
In our lives.

Speaker 1 (15:52):
Let us, as a nation be not afraid of standing
alone for the rights of men, since we were born
that way, as the only nation on earth that came
into being for the glory of God and the advancement
of the Christian faith. Folks, don't ever forget that. Don't

(16:16):
ever let anybody, or any organization, or any group of
folks tried to convince you otherwise. This nation, the United
States of America, came into being for the glory of
God and the advancement of the Gospel. Marshall concluded, we

(16:42):
know that we shall be true to the pilgrim dream
when we are true to the God they worshiped. To
the extent that America honors THEE. Wilt that bless America
and keep her true as thou hast kept her free,
and make her good as thou hast made her rich.

Speaker 2 (17:03):
Amen.

Speaker 1 (17:06):
Later, Peter Marshall stated, the world has enough women who
are popular. It needs more who are pure. We need
women and men too, who would rather be morally right
than socially correct. Character is what a person does when

(17:26):
he is alone, the decisions he makes away from the
persuasions of his friend and true character must always be
founded upon Christianity. Peter Marshall, interestingly, I wanted to share

(17:50):
this before I forgot. On the morning of December seventh,
nineteen forty one, okay, this is the morning that Pearl
Harbor was bombed, Reverend Peter Marshall was addressing the midshipment
at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, the class of

(18:11):
nineteen forty two at on December seventh, nineteen forty one.
Listen carefully. At the last minute, he set aside his
prepared remarks and preached a prophetic message titled Go Down Death.

(18:31):
Within an hour after he finished, news of Imperial Japan's
attack at Pearl Harbor spread across the nation. So obviously
this was a man who heard from God. He was
supposed to say one thing to these men, and God

(18:52):
changed that message. So doctor Gurley, Reverend doctor Gurley, a
phenomenal clergyman, Reverend Peter Marshall, phenomenal clergyman, hero of the faith.

(19:16):
Abraham Lincoln, hero of the faith. These are mighty men
who have done great things to advance God's work. I
want to just conclude. Oh, something very exciting I've almost

(19:38):
forgot to share with you. Peter Marshall's wife, Catherine wrote
many books, just like Peter Marshall did, and she Peter
Marshall died at the age of forty six of a
heart attack.

Speaker 2 (19:52):
She wrote a memoir.

Speaker 1 (19:57):
And that memoir became in nineteen fifty that a highly
successful box office hit a movie, twentieth Century Fox's motion
picture movie called a Man Called Peter. I'm going to
try to look that up. I'd love to see the movie,
so I would just encourage you.

Speaker 2 (20:16):
I don't know if we can find it on.

Speaker 1 (20:17):
YouTube or where we can find it. It's got to
be out there somewhere. But yeah, twenty century twentieth it
was very successful. And nineteen fifty five the movie called
a Man Called Peter and has a little saying there
It says, it took a man to teach me what

(20:43):
a wonderful thing it is to be a woman. That's
what Catherine wrote about her husband. Senate Chaplain Marshall also
said some things and these are prophetic. You know this
is I'm thinking this is a roughly eighty four years
ago or so, He said. Time is running out for us.

(21:08):
We are a country plagued by almost continual industrial strife,
betrayed and exploited by political expediency, disintegrated by a steadily
increasing divorce rate, weakened and sickened by lewdness and immorality,

(21:29):
torn by racial and political hatreds. But I know this,
he said. No nation ever made progress by going in
a downward direction. No people ever became greater by lowering
their standards, least of all by changing laws to suit
the lower standards. That's what we've experienced in the last

(21:53):
four years. We were in a downward direction. We were
making laws to suit lower standards. No society was ever
enriched or improved by a looser morality. We fought two
World Wars, only to slip back into the suicidal path

(22:14):
of apathy, materialism, and the decay that is eating away
the foundations of Christian civilization, turning the world into a
vast slaughter house, reeking with the stench of human blood,
stark with hunger and despair. Where is America going? He stated,

(22:35):
You and I and other ordinary citizens are the only
ones who can answer that. For the call today is
for Christian heroes and heroines who are willing to speak
a good word for Jesus Christ, who are willing to
live by the undeluded values of Christian morality in the

(22:58):
pagan atmosphere of our societ, surrounded by lewdness, pornography, and profanity.
This may be a higher bravery than that of any battlefield,
to face ridicule, sarcasm, sneering, disdain for what one believes
to be right, to fight for goodness and right, fighting

(23:20):
the battle first in our own hearts and souls, seeking
God's help to overcome our particular temptations for the sake
of peace, for the sake of America, for our own sake,
for God's sake. The choice before us is plain Christ

(23:40):
or chaos, conviction or compromise, discipline or disintegration. I'm rather
tired of hearing about our rights. The time has come
to hear about responsibilities. America's future depends on her accepting
and demonstrating God's government. He challenged, we all hate and

(24:03):
loathe war. It is contrary to all principles and ethics
of Christ. Yet there are certain liberties, certain precious heritages,
for which a man should be willing to fight and even.

Speaker 2 (24:20):
Dare to die. Reverend Chaplain.

Speaker 1 (24:27):
Peter Marshall, you, sir, are a hero.

Speaker 2 (24:34):
Folks.

Speaker 1 (24:35):
Think about what he said. This is nineteen forty seven.
This is a long time ago. You know it sounds
exactly like now. I mean, if I didn't know that
it was nineteen forty seven, I would believe it's twenty

(24:55):
twenty five. How amazing that he could see then what
was coming to become what is now. Let me close
quickly with two Timothy, Chapter two, verses fourteen through. I

(25:23):
don't know if I can get through it all, but
through twenty one, Paul writes to Timothy, remind them of
these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive
about words to no profit to the ruin of the hearers.
But be diligent to present yourself a proof to God,

(25:44):
a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly
dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings,
for they will increase to more ungodliness and their message
will spread like cancer. Imenius and Phylatus are of the

(26:04):
sort who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the
resurrection is already passed, and they overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless,
thus solid foundation of God stands.

Speaker 2 (26:18):
Having this seal.

Speaker 1 (26:21):
The Lord knows those who are his, and let everyone
who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But
in a great house there are not only vessels of
gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some
for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore, if anyone cleanses

(26:42):
himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor,
sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. Folks,
let's be vessels for honor. Let's be sanctified, set apart

(27:05):
for the holy things of the Lord, and let's be
useful for the Master, so that maybe one day someone
may call you, that's my hero, that's my Heirine. Amen, Well,
this is Don Noble. You can go to www dot

(27:27):
pureheart dot today listen to this podcast again. You can
certainly download the iHeartRadio app. Go to Pure Heart Ministries
podcast and listen twenty four to seven and you can
email me at down at pureheart dot today that's all
lowercase letters, all one, or Dawn at pureheart dot today.

(27:54):
And of course I would appreciate your help. Your financials
a port of this program, and you can send any amount,
big or small. We are appreciative of everything, so I'm
always grateful and thankful for your prayers. I certainly do

(28:15):
look forward, truly, I look forward to being with you
again next week. This is Don Nobles saying Shalom shalom,
Peace be unto you.