by Whit Sasser<\/p>\n
James Garfield was the only minister elected as President. He was a preacher, even having, as a young man, once preached in a meeting with an elderly Alexander Campbell. It is claimed that he said upon his election as our 20th president, “‘I now step down from being an elder of the Lord’s church to serve as president.” Others say he said, “I resigned from the highest office known to man to be president,” thereby implying the eldership. Either way, it seems likely he was unique in this regard.<\/p>\n
President Garfield was baptized into the Lord’s church on March 4, 1849, at the age of 17. He was planning to take a riverboat trip with friends. He recalled, “But two days before we intended to leave, I injured my foot while chopping wood. It was only a small cut, but the blue dye in the homemade socks I wore poisoned the wound, and I was compelled to stay at home. While my friends were on their journey, a powerful preacher came to our town to hold revival meetings. I was invited, and since I didn’t have anything else to do, I decided to attend. The message touched me deeply, and as a result, I surrendered my heart to the Lord and was baptized into his kingdom.”<\/p>\n
He had acquired his spiritual mindedness from his mother, and when he left home, she asked him to remember that each evening at sunset she would be reading from the Bible. It became his practice throughout life to pause at that time of day to do likewise. She likewise had taught him to pray, so much so that while in the army, he was often referred to as the “praying colonel.”<\/p>\n
Moreover, he was always faithful to meet with the brethren. Even as President of the United States, he attended every service of the small congregation in Washington, D.C. Truly, he practiced his religion. He said, “‘There is nothing that can make youth so shapely, manhood so strong, and old age so beautiful, as the religion of Jesus Christ.”<\/p>\n
The first week after his inauguration as President of the United States, a member of his cabinet insisted on an urgent meeting at 10:00 Sunday morning to handle a threatened national crisis. Garfield refused to attend because he had a more important appointment. The cabinet member demanded to know what it was. The President replied, “I will be as frank as you are. My engagement is with the Lord to meet Him in His house at His table at 10:00 tomorrow, and I shall be there.”<\/p>\n
Sadly, he was shot on July 2, 1881, and subsequently died on September 19th.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Whit Sasser James Garfield was the only minister elected as President. He was a preacher, even having, as a young man, once preached in a meeting with an elderly Alexander Campbell. It is claimed that he said upon his election as our 20th president, “‘I now step down from being an elder of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[310,279],"class_list":["post-96437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-government","tag-history"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":86384,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wolf-creek-church-of-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":96437,"position":0},"title":"Wolf Creek Church of Christ","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 5, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Floyd Chappelear via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 16 No. 4, December 31, 1990 From the Belmont Bible Banner. Paul Caldwell, editor, November 19, 1974, we reprint the following: \"'For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called'\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Wolf-Creek-Church-of-Christ-png.avif","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Wolf-Creek-Church-of-Christ-png.avif 1x, https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Wolf-Creek-Church-of-Christ-png.avif 1.5x, https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Wolf-Creek-Church-of-Christ-png.avif 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":56873,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/he-says-he-didnt-do-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":96437,"position":1},"title":"He Says He Didn’t Do It","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 14, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Greg Gwin A few years ago there was a national controversy concerning allegations of immorality made against the man who was then President. He had been accused of serious and repeated sexual mis\u00adconduct. The President and his aides vehemently denied any wrongdoing. What could be done? How could we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53719,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/contradictions-in-mormon-documents\/","url_meta":{"origin":96437,"position":2},"title":"Contradictions in Mormon Documents","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 17, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dudley Ross Spears There are very obvious contradictions in the documents Mormons must hold to be divinely inspired by their god. These documents include The Book of Mormon, proposing to be \"Another Testament of Jesus\u00a0 Christ,\"\u00a0Doctrine and Covenants, proposing to be \"a collection of\u00a0 divine revelations and inspired declarations\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32837,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-you-think-of-the-president-supporting-gay-marriage\/","url_meta":{"origin":96437,"position":3},"title":"What do you think of the President supporting gay marriage?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I know you're aware of the Obama situation about passing the gay marriage bill. I had a conversation on Facebook about it and everyone -- the majority are Christian -- agree. 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