Stephen Mansfield
By Suzanne O'Keefe-700 Club Interactive
CBN.com –STEPHEN MANSFIELD
Stephen Mansfield grew up in West Berlin. As a teen in high school he remembers looking over the wall into machine guns during the Cold War. While living at an "outpost of freedom behind enemy lines" he had a teacher who talked to him about Abraham Lincoln and through those conversations Stephen developed a love and interest in this man who was to be the sixteenth president of the United States. Stephen earned a Bachelor's degree in history and philosophy from a Christian college and then moved to Texas where he was pastor of a church, hosted a radio show, and began acquiring a reputation as a popular speaker. He moved to Tennessee in 1991, was pastor of another church, did relief work among the Kurds in Northern Iraq, served as a political consultant, and completed a doctorate. It was during this time that he also launched the writing career for which he has become internationally known. His first book on Winston Churchill was a Gold Medallion Award Finalist. He also wrote widely-acclaimed biographies of Booker T. Washington and George Whitefield as well as a number of other books on history and leadership.
In 2002, after being in a pulpit for more than twenty years, Stephen voluntarily left the pastorate and began to write and lecture full-time. Not long afterward, he wrote The Faith of George W. Bush, which spent many weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and was credited with shaping the dialogue about religion in American politics. Stephen followed this successful venture with The Faith of the American Soldier. To research this story of religion on the modern battlefield, he was embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq at the beginning of 2005. Stephen is also widely known for his book, The Faith of Barack Obama.
150th ANNIVERSARY
As of January 1, 2013 it will mark 150 years since Abraham Lincoln's act of freeing the slaves. It is known as the Emancipation Proclamation and Lincoln always thought this act to be his most valuable accomplishment during his lifetime. What the average American is not aware of is how Lincoln's final arrival at faith in God and the intricate "rule" of God in the United States played a part in the origin of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Stephen has thoroughly researched the progression of Lincoln's faith from his early years when he was known as
the town atheist, believing that God hated him because his mother was illegitimate and concluding with his final decision that God is real and is sovereign.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
"There is no place I so much desire to see as Jerusalem." Those are the telling words he last spoke just before the shot was fired that took his life. Those words would lead to the understanding this beloved president died with the thoughts of a Savior on his heart. Abraham Lincoln is widely remembered as a president who was compassionate, had a sense of dry humor and was a man of many deep thoughts. He felt and fought passionately for those things he loved and believed in. He is most well known for the fight against slavery and to see the African American given freedom. As he fought for the slaves, he fought his own personal battle of freedom, to know God. Stephen has written this book with the desire for readers to "feel" the human conflict Lincoln went through during his quest to know God. He has said that he wants it to be known that in those dark places, "greatness can still arise." Lincoln's faith and the development of it played an important role during his years of living in the White House contrary to the distortion represented by other biographers. Stephen remarks that Lincoln is described as an atheist or he is molded into whatever that particular biographer's religion might be; Native American, Hindu, evangelical Christian etc. It is true that in his earlier years, Lincoln was anti-religion and became an atheist. His mother died when he was still a boy but she had spent those years they did have together rehearsing Bible stories to the family. As he became a young man it became obvious he was rather melancholy which gave in to the doubt he had about God and religion but surprisingly this is what led him to discover his faith in God.
DARK DAYS
February 20, 1862 was already a dark hour for President Lincoln with the weight of the war creating a dark and sullen atmosphere but it was about to become more than he could bear. Both his sons, Tad and Willie had become ill, Willie a few weeks before his brother. With various reports throughout the weeks of Willie near death, then rallying then down again it became a trying time in Lincoln's life. Having lost a son named Eddie in 1850, the news of February 20th was more than he could bear. Willie died from Typhoid. The death of Willie was unbearable. What followed however were a more intimate relationship and trust in the Lord. Lincoln turned in his grief and anguish to look deep into his faith. This deeper understanding also brought needed strength to help him maintain the office of President. In contrast Stephen writes was his wife's turn to an intensified interest in mediums and séances. Lincoln "remained unimpressed with spiritualism" and had no desire to be a part of it. He became a man who prayed in secret, trusted God and the covenants made with the Lord and through that, changed the direction of the United States of America.
EFFECTS OF THE STRUGGLE
The result of Lincoln's journey of faith, searching for the truth and desire to grow in wisdom and strength was revealed not only The Emancipation Proclamation but The Gettysburg Address and The Second Inaugural address as well. Phrases like, "bind up the nation's wounds," and "government of the people, by the people, for the people," have helped to shape this nation and created a desire to create unity in the government and political seats. Although today Stephen writes we as a nation have veered from this course, he says that many Americans are on the same kind of journey today.
Lincoln departed from his faith, spent years searching for spiritual answers only to return from the "wilderness" and the faith his mother had taught him. In the perspective of his faith, Lincoln's conclusion about the war "was not whether God was on the side of the Union but rather whether "this nation should be on the Lord's side."
Stephen and his wife Beverly live in Nashville, TN and Washington, DC.