We Need Bold Leaders Today
Peter was ever the backwoods man. He was as rough as the terrain that he lived on in the early 1800’s of America’s growing and expanding population. But God always knows the true heart of a person and what they can become, and so he did with Peter. Due to the prayers of a mother interceding for her son’s life to be changed, God got Peter’s attention and softened his roughness. Peter’s stout frame didn’t change, but his heart did. And Jesus flooded his soul late one night in the year of 1802.
From there Peter began to learn of the ways of God and knew he was to be used as the Holy Spirit worked in him daily. From 18 years old until his death in 1872, Peter traveled the hills and forests of Kentucky, Illinois, and Ohio. Peter became a circuit riding preacher and God used him in so many other ways.
He was a chaplain in the War of 1812 under Andrew Jackson, who was the 7th President of the United States. He was a great debater. He ran for the state congress in Illinois and won twice, then lost his seat to Abraham Lincoln who became the 16th President of the United States.
But Peter never quit preaching, and he always had a gun on him. When he would hold his great tent revival meetings and there would be trouble from rabble-rousers, he’d give them a fight- sometimes with his fists, if need be.
His book, The Backwoods Preacher, became a best seller in 1856; and because of God’s faithfulness to him and for his faithfulness to God, Peter Cartwright contributed to the conversion of roughly ten thousand people for Christ in his 76 years on this earth.
Oh, how we need those strong men of God again today.