ANDREW JACKSON NEEDS TO REPENT
I heard about a famous preacher by the name of Peter Cartwright. He became one of the leaders of what we now refer to as the 2nd Great Awakening. Cartwright personally baptized over 12,000 people during his ministry. He was a Circuit rider and spent most of his ministry in Kentucky and Tennessee. He didn’t beat around the bush and was famous for telling it like it was.
In 1830 Cartwright was preaching a Revival at a church in Washington D.C. The pastor and the other leaders in the church found out that President Andrew Jackson was going to attend on Sunday morning. They were excited about the President’s visit, and didn’t want to offend him in any way. So they pulled Mr. Cartwright aside and said, "Listen Peter, the President is going to be here on Sunday and we know that sometimes you can get kind of offensive, so would you mind toning it down just a little. We wouldn’t want to upset the President." Sure enough, the President attended the service that morning and when Peter stepped up to the pulpit this is what he said, "I understand that the President of the United States, Andrew Jackson is with us this morning. I have been asked to be guarded in my remarks. But the truth is, Andrew Jackson will go to hell if he doesn’t repent."
The pastor and other church leaders were appalled, but when the service was over Andrew Jackson grabbed Mr. Cartwright’s hand, shook it and said, "Sir, if I had an army of men like you, I could whip the world."
(From a sermon by Dave Kinney, "A Revival Prayer" 7/26/2009)