See the connection between the Greatest Modern Evangelist in the 1700's and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution as we get ready to celebrate 250 years of American Independence.
The great Founding Father Benjamin Franklin said that Whitefield, who preached to about 75% to 80% of the known 13 American Colonies, in three decades of ministry, WAS the American Revolution.
His preaching inspired scores of the great preachers of the American Revolution, led to the yearning for Religious Liberty and the greatest document ever written - since the Bible - the US Constitution.
When Jesus was dying on the Cross, one of His Seven Statements rang resoundingly, through the pages of History. They are taken directly from Psalm 22, verse 1 where the Lord cries out in pain,"My God, My God, why has thou forsaken Me?"That cry was a reflection of the abandonment by God the Father, Who could not bear to look at the vile sin of all mankind, of all time.
But there is another verse in Psalm 22 (see below) which emphasizes it's importance as a Messianic Psalm. In Verse 6, the Lord says "I am a worm, and no man".....here is where we pick it up, as we study the Sacrifice of so many, on Memorial Day, 2026.
Psalm 22 (ESV)
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.
3 Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.
4 In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
"For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servantof Christ". (Galatians 1:10 ESV)