John Peter Muhlenberg

John Peter Muhlenberg was a pastor of two churches in 1775. One was a German-speaking Lutheran Church in Shenandoah Valley, VA; the other was an English-speaking Episcopal Church in Woodstock, VA. He was one of the founders of the Lutheran church in America. His brother, Frederick Muhlenberg, was a pastor in New York City. (Spiritual Heritage)

John is famous for a message he gave one morning, has he read from Ecclesiastes 3:1. He read,

“ 1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: 2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; 3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; …8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. Eccl 3:1-8 (KJV). Then this he spoke out, “In the language of the Holy Writ, there is a time for all things. There is a time to preach and a time to fight. And now is the time to fight.” (God and Country p.460)

Then, Reverend John Peter Muhlenberg removed his clergy robe and stood before his congregation in an officer’s uniform of the Continental Army. He asked for a drum roll to sound outside; he was joined by 300 members of his congregation as new soldiers of the 8th Virginia Regiment.

His brother, Frederick Muhlenberg, thought this was wrong. He wrote to Peter, saying that they were men of God and should focus on teaching and preaching the word of God, leaving the fighting to the soldiers. John wrote back to Frederick saying that if we do not fight now, then we will not have a church to preach in, nor men to preach to. Soon, Frederick found out the hard way what John was speaking about. The British troops chased Frederick out of town, burned down his church, and told him that if they saw him again, they would kill him. (David Barton)

Why are these men as important to us as Americans and Christians? John Muhlenberg became Colonel of the 8th Virginia Regiment in 1775. By the end of the war, John Muhlenberg became one of the few Major Generals serving directly under General George Washington. He later served as Vice-President of Pennsylvania (Lieutenant Governor) in 1785. He also served in the House of Representatives and in the Senate.

Frederick Muhlenberg was a member of the Continental Congress in 1779 and 1780, and served in the State House of Representatives from 1780 to 1783 and was elected speaker on November 3, 1780. He was a delegate to and president of the State constitutional convention in 1787. He called to ratify the United States Constitution. (Wikipedia) As the Speaker of the House, Frederick was one of the only two signers of the Bill of Rights.

The point of this story is that both of these famous men, two of our founding fathers, were in fact minister of the word of God. They were two of several pastors that became political leaders during the birth of this great nation. Men who helped write the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Then why do Christians fear getting involved in political policies today, especially when those policies contradict God’s word and the original intent of the founding fathers?