Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth president of the United States. Lincoln was president during the Civil War. During this period, landowners in the south practiced slavery. These masters bought African American slaves. Many landowners made the slaves work all day, live in shacks, not go to school and not live with their families.

President Lincoln and the northern states wanted to end slavery. They felt it was not fair. This caused the bloody Civil War.

Finally, on January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln presented his Emancipation Proclamation. He stated that he believed the slaves should be freed. On December 18, 1865 that conviction was signed into law as an amendment to the United States Constitution.

Before the law was passed John Wilkes Booth shot and killed President Lincoln. John Wilkes Booth was a southerner who hated Lincoln for his beliefs. The President paid with his life because he wanted to free the slaves.

One of the saddest parts of this story, is that some slaves CHOSE to remain in slavery; even after freedom had been purchased for them. The President had given his life along with countless soldiers Yet many slaves did not take advantage of the freedom they had provided.

I wonder if they would have changed their minds if the President had returned from the dead, showed them his bullet wounds, and encouraged them to enjoy the freedom he wanted them much to have. Would a personal encounter of this nature have changed their minds?

The Lord Jesus Christ is the Great Emancipator. The Bible says all of us are slaves to the master of sin. However, Christ died. He shed his blood, so that we can enjoy freedom from sin, and serve God.

Not only that, but He did what Abraham Lincoln could never do. He rose from the dead and appeared to men! Sinners like Mary Magdalene, Thomas, and other disciples saw Him. They were freed from the master of sin by the Lord Jesus and His death at the Cross. You can also be freed from the slavery of sin. Jesus said, "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (John 8:36).

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