You lose on your Washington:
Historian Barry Schwartz writes: "George Washington's practice of Christianity was limited and superficial because he was not himself a Christian... He repeatedly declined the church's sacraments. Never did he take communion, and when his wife, Martha, did, he waited for her outside the sanctuary... Even on his deathbed, Washington asked for no ritual, uttered no prayer to Christ, and expressed no wish to be attended by His representative." [New York Press, 1987, pp. 174-175]
Paul F. Boller states in is anthology on Washington: "There is no mention of Jesus Christ anywhere in his extensive correspondence." [Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1963, pp. 14-15]
You sure put a lot of stake in the words of men.
An historian, who never met Gen. Washington, passes judgment on his faith.
So he declined the church sacraments? Big deal.
They’re not what saves you anyway. It’s repentance and Christ alone.
I Timothy 2:5For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time.
Go through Christ and there’s no need for anything else as salvation is based on faith, not works.
John Gano was chosen to be Washington’s personal chaplain of the portion of the Continental Army under his direct command. At the close of the war, Washington asked Gano to baptize him by immersion. (See the Evidence of General Washington’s Baptism by L.C. Barnes in the Archives of the American Baptist Historical Society, Rochester, N.Y.)
Although this event in history is doubted by some and even made fun of by modern historians, the evidence shows that it is a fact of history. General Washington was an Episcopalian. His pastor at Williamsburg, Virginia, was a Loyalist (Tory) in sympathy with the British Crown. It is no wonder that George Washington would sit outside the window of the Baptist church in New York City and listen to the preaching of Gano:
Cathcart Writing about John Gano:
~~snip~~
Any wonder that Washington should say of chaplains likeMr. Gano, (and there were other Baptists of his spirit) that “Baptist chaplains were the most prominent and useful in the Army?” (See William Cathcart, Baptist Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, P. 434.)
When the war was over, General Washington had John Gano give the final prayer of Thanksgiving.
There is a portrait of Gano baptizing Washington, Commissioned by the Gano Family. The portrait is hanging in the lobby at the John Gano Memorial Chapel in Liberty, Missouri.