Hope all of you are encouraged by my articles. I'm very sorry that I have not given enough time to writing the past couple of weeks.. I hope to make up for the lost time by sharing with you all a story behind the most popular hymn of the church.
You most probably are familiar with the recent movie "Amazing Grace". The movie traces the history of the antislavery movement led the William Wilberforce. This movement was the first of it's kind. It began in 1787 in London with a meeting of 12 deeply religious men. It took them 20 years for these men to finally end the slave trade.
What was amazing was that these men, Wilberforce in particular, was driven not by secular but by resolute Christian morality. Wilberforce's friend was John Newton, a former slave trader, who wrote the hymn Amazing Grace. John Newton, following his conversion to Christianity, repented and devoted the rest of his life serving others in an attempt to atone for his contribution to the slave trade. John Newton was no doubt an inspiration for Wilberforce.
Thus secularists and atheists would do well to note that slavery was halted not by anything other than pure Christian values. Jesus Christ himself said that "The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve".
However the tragedy of slavery still continues today in the form of human trafficking. In the African continent children are the biggest victims. They are forced into slavery, recruited as child soldiers or sold into prostitution. The prophecies of trading in the souls of men are clearly given in Revelation 18:12.
Clearly the world is long overdue for another William Wilberforce. We, the church, can set up an example to the secular world and to remind them with Wilberforce's story that nothing can be accomplished without the Amazing Grace that Christ posseses.
You most probably are familiar with the recent movie "Amazing Grace". The movie traces the history of the antislavery movement led the William Wilberforce. This movement was the first of it's kind. It began in 1787 in London with a meeting of 12 deeply religious men. It took them 20 years for these men to finally end the slave trade.
What was amazing was that these men, Wilberforce in particular, was driven not by secular but by resolute Christian morality. Wilberforce's friend was John Newton, a former slave trader, who wrote the hymn Amazing Grace. John Newton, following his conversion to Christianity, repented and devoted the rest of his life serving others in an attempt to atone for his contribution to the slave trade. John Newton was no doubt an inspiration for Wilberforce.
Thus secularists and atheists would do well to note that slavery was halted not by anything other than pure Christian values. Jesus Christ himself said that "The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve".
However the tragedy of slavery still continues today in the form of human trafficking. In the African continent children are the biggest victims. They are forced into slavery, recruited as child soldiers or sold into prostitution. The prophecies of trading in the souls of men are clearly given in Revelation 18:12.
Clearly the world is long overdue for another William Wilberforce. We, the church, can set up an example to the secular world and to remind them with Wilberforce's story that nothing can be accomplished without the Amazing Grace that Christ posseses.
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