Involvement

William Wilberforce was one man who had a profound influence upon Great Britain and the world. Today I watched the last session of the Truth Project (Community & Involvement) in preparation for next week's meeting. In it, Dr. Tackett talked about William Wilberforce and his mission to end slavery in Great Britain.

Immediately after I finished watching the video, I walked over to my office shelf and picked up How Christianity Changed the World by Alvin Schmidt. Hmm, I thought when I noticed a bookmark still in the pages. I never finished reading the book after I was done with the required chapters (a byproduct of late nights at FFI). So I flipped it open to the marked page. Lo and behold, there before me was a description of William Wilberforce. It talked about his marked efforts in the Parliament over 20-some years to bring about the abolition of the slave trade and freedom of slaves. It was an effort he devoted his entire life toward. Literally a few days before his death, he finally received word that Parliament had passed the Abolition Act, freeing some 700,000 slaves in the English colonies.


As the book describes it: "No proponent for the abolition of slavery ever accomplished more." He heard the sound of the slave chains more clearly than perhaps anyone else around him. And according to his love for and fear of God, he was compelled to do something about it. He could not stand idly by.

"If you want to follow Him [God], then you must be involved in the battle." Dr. Del Tackett