(St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated every year on March 17, which marks the date of his death. Many celebrate on this day with drinking and parades and festivities, but few know the real story of this man’s amazing life. Below, I have chronicled a brief history of it. Do read it so that you will know the story of his amazing life.)

The backstory of Saint Patrick begins with the Great Wall of China along the Mongolian border having large sections completed by the Later Eastern Han Dynasty in 220 AD. This made it harder for the Huns to attack into China, so they turned westward, attacking and displacing tribes throughout Central Asia.

These tribes migrated further west, overrunning the western borders of the Roman Empire: Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Franks, Anglos, Saxons, Alemanni, Thuringians, Regains, Jutes, Picts, Burgundians, Lombards, Alans, and Vandals.

Rome had to withdraw its Legions from other areas of the Empire, such as the frontiers of Britain, in order to place them along the Roman border. This left Britain, which had been a Roman territory since Julius Caesar 55 BC, unprotected.

Ireland was ruled by the bloodthirsty, superstitious pagan Druids.

Thomas Cahill wrote in How the Irish Saved Civilization (Random House, 1995): “Romans, in their first encounters with these exposed, insane warriors, were shocked and frightened. They were howling and, it seemed, possessed by demons, so outrageous was their strength featuring all the terrors of hell itself. The Druids, from whom Halloween originated, believed that the trees and hills were inhabited by good and evil spirits which constantly needed to be appeased.”

Cahill continued: “(Druids) sacrificed prisoners of war to the war gods and newborns to the harvest gods. Believing that the human head was the seat of the soul, they displayed proudly the heads of their enemies in their temples and on their palisades; they even hung them from their belts as ornaments, used them as footballs in victory celebrations, and were fond of employing skull tops as ceremonial drinking bowls. They also sculpted heads – both shrunken, and decapitated heads.”

Patrick’s British name at birth was Sucat, but his Latin name was “Patricius,” meaning “Nobleman.”  

Around 405 A.D., at the age of 16 years old, while working on his father’s farm near the sea, 50 currachs (longboats) filled with raiders weaved their way toward the shore.

Mary Cagney, author of the article “Patrick The Saint” (Christian History, Issue 60), wrote: “With no Roman army to protect them (Roman legions had long since deserted Britain to protect Rome from barbarian invasions), Patricius and his town were unprepared for attack. The Irish warriors, wearing helmets and armed with spears, descended on the pebble beach. Their braying war horns struck terror into Patricius’ heart, and he started to run toward town. The warriors quickly demolished the village, and as Patricius darted among the burning houses and screaming women, he was caught. Barbarians dragged him aboard a boat bound for the east coast of Ireland.”

For six years Patrick herded animals for a Druid chieftain. He wrote in his life’s story, called The Confession of Saint Patrick: “But after I came to Ireland, every day I had to tend sheep, and many times a day I prayed; the love of God and His fear came to me more and more, and my faith was strengthened. And my spirit was moved so that in a single day I would say as many as a hundred prayers, and almost as many in the night, and this even when I was staying in the woods and on the mountains; and I used to get up for prayer before daylight, through snow, through frost, through rain.

There the Lord opened the sense of my unbelief that I might at last remember my sins and be converted with all my heart to the Lord my God who comforted me as would a father his son.”

Then Patrick had a dream, as he wrote: One night I heard in my sleep a voice saying to me: `It is well that you fast, soon you will go to your own country.’ And again a voice saying to me: `See, your ship is ready.’

And it was not near, but at a distance of perhaps two hundred miles. Then I took to flight. I went in the strength of God who directed my way, until I came to that ship.” He ran away and found a ship taking wolf-hounds back to Europe to sell as dogs and they let him come along.

He eventually made his way back to Britain and was reunited with what was left of his family with whom he stayed.

Then, when he was about 40 years old, he had another dream calling him back to Ireland as a missionary.

In his Confession, Patrick wrote: “In the depth of the night, I saw a man named Victoricus coming as if from Ireland, with innumerable letters, and he gave me one and while I was reading I thought I heard the voice of those near the western sea call out: ‘Please, holy boy, come and walk among us again.’ Their cry pierced my very heart, and I could read no more, and so I awoke.”

Patrick returned to Ireland where he confronted the Druids, and converted chieftains.

The Druids tried to ambush and kill Patrick nearly a dozen times: “Daily I expect murder, fraud or captivity, but I fear none of these things because of the promises of Heaven. The merciful God often freed me from slavery and from twelve dangers in which my life was at stake–not to mention numerous plots. God is my witness, who knows all things even before they come to pass, as He used to forewarn even me of many things by a divine message. I came to the people of Ireland to preach the Gospel, and to suffer insult from the unbelievers. I am prepared to give even my life without hesitation and most gladly for His name, and it is there that I wish to spend it until I die.”

Encyclopedia Britannica stated that Patrick challenged: “royal authority by lighting the Paschal fire on the hill Slane on the night of Easter Eve. “It chanced to be the occasion of a pagan festival at Tara, during which no fire might be kindled until the royal fire had been lit.”

As Patrick’s fire on the Hill of Slane illuminated the countryside, King Loigaire (King Leary) is said to have exclaimed: If we do not extinguish this flame it will sweep over all Ireland.”

Mary Cagney, in “Patrick the Saint” (Christianity Today, Issue 60), wrote: “Predictably, Patrick faced the most opposition from the Druids, who practiced magic and advised Irish kings. Biographies of the saint are replete with stories of Druids who ‘wished to kill holy Patrick’. One biographer from the late 600’s, Muirchu’, described Patrick challenging Druids to contests at Tara. The custom was that whoever lit a fire before the king on that night of the year (Easter’s eve) would be put to death. Patrick lit the paschal fire before the king on the Hill of Slane. People saw Patrick’s fire throughout the plain, and the king ordered 27 chariots to go and seize Patrick. Seeing that the impious heathen were about to attack him, Patrick rose and said clearly and loudly, ‘May God come up to scatter his enemies and may those who hate him flee from his face.’ By this disaster, caused by Patrick’s curse in the king’s presence because of the king’s order, seven times seven men fell. And the king driven by fear, came and bent his knees before the holy man.'”

Many miraculous acts were attributed to Patrick.

In his thirty years of ministry, Saint Patrick is credited with baptizing 120,000 people and founding 300 churches. He used the three-leaf clover to teach the Trinity.

In his Confession, Patrick wrote: “I had long had it in mind to write, but up to now I have hesitated. I was afraid lest I should fall under the judgment of men’s tongues because I am not as well read as others. As a youth, nay, almost as a boy not able to speak, I was taken captive. Hence to-day I blush and fear exceedingly to reveal my lack of education; for I am unable to tell my story to those versed in the art of concise writing — in such a way, I mean, as my spirit and mind long to do, and so that the sense of my words expresses what I feel.”

In his letter to Coroticus, he wrote: “I, Patrick, a sinner, very badly educated.”

Coroticus was a tyrant king in Britain who carried off some of Patrick’s converts into slavery. Patrick wrote to him: “You prefer to sell them to a foreign nation that has no knowledge of God. You betray the members of Christ as it were into a brothel. Ravenous wolves have gulped down the Lord’s own flock which was flourishing in Ireland, and the whole church cries out and laments for its sons and daughters.”

Leslie Hardinge wrote in The Celtic Church in Britain (Random House, 1995): “Wherever Patrick went and established a church, he left an old Celtic law book, Liber ex Lege Moisi (Book of the Law of Moses) along with the books of the Gospel.” . So, when the Irish converted to Christianity, they abandoned their pagan Druid laws, which Patrick replaced with Bible-based Latin-Irish laws. This became called the “Senchus Mor” or “Code of Patrick.”

On MARCH 17, around 461 AD, Saint Patrick died. Patrick’s influence was so profound that over 1500 years later, there is still a date on the calendar to remember him. 

An enormous wave of immigration occurred as a result of the Great Irish Potato Famine, 1845-1849. Millions of Irish died in Ireland and millions immigrated, causing the Catholic population in America to increase to 20 percent.

33 million Americans have Irish ancestry, composing about 11 percent of the U.S. population. Twenty-two U.S. Presidents have some Irish ancestry. Communities across America have Saint Patrick’s Day Parades, where all, both Protestants and Catholics, join together in celebrating St. Patrick and Irish heritage. 

In his Confession, Saint Patrick wrote: “Patrick the sinner, an unlearned man to be sure. None should ever say that it was my ignorance that accomplished any small thing, it was the gift of God.”

The World Book Encyclopedia (Chicago, IL: Field Enterprises, Inc., 1957, p. 6142) stated of Saint Patrick: “He found Ireland all heathen and left it all Christian.”

Ron

The Bible says: 1 Timothy 4:10

“We have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior.”

You have a living hope in Jesus Christ. Take this truth to heart today—though all around you appears desperate and your dreams seem to have perished No matter the present circumstances, you can take courage in the knowledge that your Savior is the triumphant Warrior who has defeated our every foe (Revelation 17:14). He helps you and will continue to fight for you regardless of what circumstances arise.

This is the strength and joy of your Christian life—it is always possible to live above the present because your future is secure. You have an incorruptible inheritance, and unwavering Defender, and your God’s unfailing love. But you must choose to believe His promises (2 Corinthians 1:20).

So if you’ve experienced loss, do not despair. This defeat is only for the moment and what is truly important can never be taken from you. Focus on your living hope. Set your eyes on Jesus, your Lord and Savior, and expect Him to lead you to victory.

(The news has been just full of the happenings in Iran. However, most folks know very little about the real history of Iran, especially its recent history. The major news networks have even eulogized Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Which is just amazing, considering how grossly evil he was and the multitudes that he murdered. Below, I have compiled a brief history of Iran for you. Do read every word. The CIA and Israel, who both really know, tell us that Iran’s leaders already have enough enriched uranium to make eleven atomic bombs and are close to having much more. And that they will for sure find a way to get them into the U.S. unless they are stopped.)

Ataturk became Turkey’s leader in 1923 and proceeded to secularize Muslim Turkey.

Likewise in Iran, Reza Shah seized power from the Qajar Dynasty in 1925 and secularized Persia (Iran).

He allowed women to be educated and wear fashionable clothing. He replaced sharia with a civil code, similar to French law, and replaced religious courts with state courts. To emphasize national identity, Reza Shah began referring to Persia as “Iran.”

Some Middle Easterners who resisted secularism formed the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928 and with other Islamist groups targeted secular leaders with assassinations, even siding with Nazis.

When World War Two began, Reza Shah hesitated driving out Germans, so in 1941, Britain and Soviet Russia joined in a coup to remove him and replace him with his son, Reza Pahlavi.

Reza Pahlavi appointed Mossadegh as Prime Minister, a powerful position within Iran’s government.

During the Cold War, Mossadegh grew anti-western, being supported by Iran’s Tudeh Communist Party. Mossadegh assumed emergency powers, dissolved Parliament and limited the Shah’s authority.

In a power struggle, Mossadegh nationalized Iran’s oil industry in 1951, and confiscated the largest oil refinery in the world, owned by the Anglo-Iranian, BP. Oil Company.

As a result, Britain experienced an oil shortage and appealed to President Eisenhower for help.

Eisenhower’s CIA Director Allen Dulles had joined in Project FF in 1952 to remove Egypt’s King Farouk, as he had opened relations with Soviet Russia.

In 1953, the CIA carried out Operation Ajax, led by Kermit Roosevelt, Jr., grandson of Theodore Roosevelt, to remove Iran’s Prime Minister Mossadegh in order to solidify support for a new leader for Iran, Shah Reza Pahlavi, a strong ally with America.

During his 37 years in office, Reza Pahlavi created one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. He was just incredible as a leader and a friend of the U.S.

He arranged trade deals with the U.S., even having the Cadillac Seville manufactured in Iran.

He promoted a secular government with freedoms, especially for women.

Pahlavi was wary of socialists and Islamists plotting to overthrow him.

The United States supported Shah Reza Pahlavi, who met with Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford. He was one of the greatest friends that the U.S. ever had on the international stage. He kept us in good relations with most everyone in the Middle East. And he was very instrumental in keeping the different factions in the Middle East at peace with each other, which proved no easy task as later events would prove.

This all changed with President Jimmy Carter.

On New Year’s Eve, December 31, 1977, Carter toasted the Shah, praising his leadership for making Iran “an island of stability in one of the more troubled areas of the world.”

The following year, though, Carter would begin planning with Ayatollah Khomeini, exiled in France, to replace the Shah. The situation was that socialist groups had recruited idealistic youth to participate in protests against the Shah. When he tried to restore order, they escalated it into color revolution riots and violence. This convinced the Carter administration that the Shah would end up being ousted and replaced with a pro-Soviet puppet leader.

Of course this was not true. President Carter’s betrayal of this great friend of the U.S., was probably one of the greatest of his many horrible acts that many of us consider bordering on treason.

The BBC published an article, June 3, 2016, titled “Two Weeks in January: America’s secret engagement with Khomeini.

In The BBC published article, of June 3, 2016 there was a trove of newly declassified US government documents that tell the largely unknown story of America’s secret engagement with Khomeini, an enigmatic cleric who would soon inspire Islamic fundamentalism and anti-Americanism worldwide.”

The BBC explained: “From his home in exile outside Paris, the defiant leader of the Iranian revolution effectively offered the Carter administration a deal: If President Jimmy Carter could use his influence on the military to clear the way for his takeover, Khomeini suggested, he would calm the nation.”

The article added:  “On November 9, 1978, in a now-famous cable, ‘Thinking the Unthinkable,’ the US ambassador to Iran, William Sullivan argued that Washington should get the Shah and his top generals out of Iran, and then make a deal, (with) Khomeini.”

Carter, influenced by his globalist advisors, pressured the Shah to leave Iran in 1979. Carter’s diary recorded he was skiing at Camp David on February 11, 1979, the exact day Khomeini’s revolutionary forces took control of Iran.

Though Khomeini had assured Carter,  “You will see we are not in any particular animosity with the Americans,” within a short time Khomeini called America “The Great Satan,” chanted “death to America,” and vowed to fight American imperialism worldwide, saying: “We will export our revolution to the entire world.”

Khomeini exported revolution, supporting Islamist organizations such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and Houthis, which attacked Israel for being the last major obstacle in reestablishing the Caliphate — a world Islamic government.  

Hezbollah established a base in Venezuela and has infiltrated drug gangs that travel through Central America into the United States.  

Khomeini executed pro-American Iranian generals on a high school rooftop, hunted down Shah supporters, and killed them by the thousands. One of his clerics even threatened to destroy the ancient palace of King Cyrus located at Persepolis, as the Shah had used it to rally national identity.

Khomeini’s strategy had been to assemble a broad coalition of people unhappy with the Shah, including liberals, moderates, leftists, Marxists, socialists, poor, and urban youth, by making promises he had no intention of keeping. Once in power, he began liquidating those groups one-by-one. Naive youth who had joined Marxist socialist groups to help Khomeini come to power were ordered shot.  

In typical Islamist “taqiyya” fashion, Khomeini broke every promise he made to Carter.

He imprisoned 52 Americans, all those from our embassy in Iran, for 444 days, only releasing them minutes after the swearing in of the next President, Ronald Reagan, whom he feared greatly.

UPI Archives recorded Ronald Reagan, October 21, 1984: “I criticized President Carter for undercutting what was a stalwart ally, the Shah of Iran. I am not at all convinced that he was that far out of line with his people or that they wanted (the Muslin revolution) to happen. The Shah had done our bidding and carried our load in the Middle East for quite some time. And I did think that it was a blot on our record that we let him down.  The Shah was building low cost housing, had taken land from the mullahs and was distributing it to the peasants so they could be land owners. Things of that kind.  But we turned it over to a maniacal fanatic who has slaughtered thousands of thousands of people calling it executions.”

Jimmy Carter’s 1979 foreign policy decision had ripple effects. It was soon followed by Iran, under the Ayatollah, fighting Iraq, under Saddam Hussein, from 1980 to 1988, with the U.S. and U.S.S.R. involved behind the scenes. Over a million died.

Khomeini wrote a book on sharia law in 1970 titled Islamic Governance of the Jurist “Hokumat-e Islami: Velayat-e faqih.” He advocated:

The laws of society should be made up only of sharia. Other laws are unnecessary because sharia laws cover “all human affairs”. Those holding government posts should have deep knowledge of sharia. Rule by “those claiming to be representatives of the majority of the people” are proclaimed “wrong” by Islam. Clerical rule is necessary to prevent injustice. Islamic leaders were so strict they insisted the Qur’an only be recited in Arabic, yet the language of the people is Farsi.

Condemning democracy, Khomeini ordered mass executions of those he deemed “enemies of Islam,” as he instituted the world’s only Shi’a Islamic theocracy. His religious police, Gasht-e Ershad, enforced sharia law: Beating and flogging women who do not adhere to strict dress codes of being covered with veils;  No freedom for liberals, leftists, or feminists, with Farrokhrou Parsa, the first woman to serve in Iran’s cabinet, being executed by a firing squad; No woman can leave her house without her husband’s permission; No woman can leave her house unless accompanied by a male relative; A woman must obey her husband in all matters or else she has no right to clothing, housing, or food.

And he continued:  A man can have multiple wives, as young as 13; A man may physically discipline a wife for disobedience; No right for a woman to divorce her husband; Men possess exclusive right to divorce, and can divorce a wife without her knowledge, consent, or formal proceeding, only two male witnesses need hear husband’s announcement. Children are automatically in custody of father; No dogs are allowed as indoor pets; -tattoos are frowned upon and cannot depict anything clerics deem obscene or western;  -no alcohol, western movies, or dances; -no music, including on radio or television;  -no men and women swimming or sunbathing;  -men punished for wearing shorts;

And he continued on with all his “laws” for the Iranians: -all homosexuals are to be exterminated;  -execution of drug addicts and prostitutes; -no freedom of speech, with “fatwa” decrees to assassinate those insulting Islam. -anything that is not Islam insults Islam;  -no freedom of assembly if deemed detrimental to the principles of Islam;  -no right for general public to own weapons unless part of government-approved groups;  -no meaningful right for the people to petition the government for a redress of grievances;  -all education must be Islamized;  -youth are encouraged to martyrdom for Islam;  -no right to a public trial by an impartial jury;  -no right to be secure from arbitrary arrests, home invasions or property seizures;  -four fingers of right hand amputated for theft, and for second offense left foot amputated;  -torture systematically used against political prisoners; -death penalty for converting to Christianity.

Voice of the Martyrs reported: “The Iranian government is among the most oppressive regimes in the world. It is illegal to leave Islam, and Christians face the constant threat of imprisonment and being falsely charged with ‘acting against national security’ for owning Bibles or even talking about Christ.”

No wonder that there was such great celebration by the people that Donald Trump was coming to their ‘rescue’.

Ronald Reagan warned in his autobiography, An American Life, 1990 (Simon and Schuster):  “Twice in recent years, America has lost loyal allies in the Middle East, the Shah of Iran and Anwar Sadat. I don’t think you can overstate the importance that the rise of Islamic fundamentalism could have to the rest of the world in the century ahead; especially if fanatical elements get their hands on nuclear and chemical weapons.”  

Obama’s foreign policy allowed the Islamic Republic of Iran to access billions of dollars while they were covertly developing nuclear technology. CNN ran the headline, June 7, 2018: “Obama admin. worked to allow Iran to exchange billions to bypass sanctions.”  

Trump’s first term sanctioned Iran’s oil sales, depriving the regime of revenue. Then Biden stopped enforcing the sanctions, allowing Iran’s oil revenues to surge.  

Russia helped Iran develop dual-use nuclear technology adaptable to weapons.    

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, adheres to Twelver Shi’a eschatology where he believes he is the prophesied “Seyed Khorasani” who will start a “final battle” of global chaos and conflict that will usher in the reappearance of the Twelfth Imam, Imam Mahdi, who will annihilate Israel, “the Little Satan,” and the United States, “the Great Satan.”

In January of 2026, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei crushed Iranians wanting freedom. TIME Magazine reported, January 25, 2026, “Iran Protest Death Toll Could Top 30,000.”  Reza Pahlavi, son of the last shah, received reports that 50,000 were killed.  

An Iranian refugee “estimates that the regime has killed thousands and more than 330,000 injured, with most victims reportedly under the age of 30.  Of the more than 24,000 protestors who had been jailed: “They will not be coming back,” the refuge said, “They will be killed in jail.”  

Sadly once protesters realized they would simply be mowed down with no hope of bringing about regime change, they gave up.”  

But, Praise God, our intrepid Donald Trump had enough of these Muslim Clerics and has done what previous presidents never did what they should have done: He is wiping them out, and on the road to finishing them all off and finishing their regime. Pray for him and all the military involved!

Despite persecutions, “Iran’s Crown Prince says Christianity is the Fastest Growing Religion in the Islamic Nation.”

Billy Hallowell of CBN has reported: “Iranian Muslims Find Jesus in Truly Miraculous Ways”: “God is using dreams to speak to Iranians all the time,” Lana Silk, U.S. director of Transform Iran told CBN News: “Iranians are open to dreams, and God uses that to speak to them” Previously, it was a death sentence to accept Christ.

Please, Let us pray for the people of Iran, and all who live under oppression, especially followers of Jesus. Today, millions of Iranians desire the freedoms taken for granted in America.  

Iran has a long history, going all the way back to Elam, the grandson of Noah who lived there. And the Bible says in Jeremiah 49:39 “But it will be in the last days that I will reverse the captivity and restore the fortunes of Elam, says the Lord.”

Ron

The Bible says: 2 Timothy 4:18

“The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom: to Him be the glory forever”

The apostle Paul approached the end of his life in a prison cell. He could have felt sorry for himself. But instead, he encouraged his friends to trust in God, even when his own circumstances looked very dismal. How was he able to do this?

Peace is the last emotion in the world Paul should have been feeling, but the apostle was unshakably secure in his faith because of his profoundly intimate relationship with the Lord. Despite Paul’s sufferings, the one foundational truth he knew was that God’s supernatural power, wisdom, and peace—though impossible to comprehend rationally—were able to see him through the trials of life.

The same is true for you. God is with you—He is operating in you and in your situation in a manner far beyond your ability to understand. And the promise of His sovereign care—regardless of your circumstances—is all you really need to make it through whatever you’re facing. So trust Him to sustain you as He did Paul.

(The word “Duty” was unusually important in the early history of America. Its significance was repeated over and over in our country’s early days. Below is a brief history of that word in our country’s founding. Do understand it.)

The concept of patriotic “DUTY” was a well understood term by America’s founders.

Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defined “DUTY” as: “That which a person owes to another; that which a person is bound, by any natural, moral or legal obligation, to pay, do or perform.”

General Washington composed a “Circular to the States,” January 31, 1782: “The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; yet, without presumptuously waiting for miracles to be wrought in our favor, IT IS OUR INDISPENSABLE DUTY, with the deepest gratitude to Heaven for the past, and humble confidence in its smiles on our future operations, to make use of all the means in our power for our defense and security.”

Washington directed from Newburg, New York, March 22, 1783: In justice to the zeal and ability of the Chaplains, as well as to his own feelings, the Commander-in-Chief thinks it is a DUTY to declare that the regularity with which Divine Service is performed every Sunday, will reflect great credit on the army in general, tend to improve the morals.”

General George Washington wrote to Congress from Annapolis, Maryland, December 23, 1783: I consider it an INDISPENSABLE DUTY to close this last solemn act of my official life by commending the interest of our dearest country to the protection of Almighty God, and those who have the superintendence of them, to His Holy keeping.”

As President, George Washington issued a Proclamation of a National Day of Public Thanksgiving and Prayer, January 1, 1795: “It is in an especial manner OUR DUTY AS A PEOPLE, with devout reverence and affectionate gratitude, to acknowledge our many and great obligations to Almighty God and to implore Him to continue and confirm the blessings we experience.”

Washington issued a Proclamation of a National Day of Thanksgiving, October 3, 1789: “It is the DUTY OF ALL NATIONS to acknowledge the Providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.”

With the assistance of James Madison, the wording of Article 16 of the Virginia Declaration of Rights was ratified June 12, 1776: Article XVI. That Religion, or THE DUTY WHICH WE OWE OUR CREATOR, and the Manner of discharging it, can be directed only by Reason and Convictions, not by Force or Violence; and therefore all Men are equally entitled to the free exercise of Religion, according to the Dictates of Conscience; and that IT IS THE MUTUAL DUTY of all to practice Christian Forbearance, Love, and Charity towards each other.”

Celebrating the victory of Fort Ticonderoga, Harvard President Samuel Langdon addressed the Massachusetts Provincial Congress with the message “Government Corrupted by Vice,” May 31, 1775: “Thanks be to God, that He has given us, as men, natural rights. If servants of the public forget their DUTY, betray their trust and sell their country, or make war against the most valuable rights and privileges of the people, THEY SHOULD BE DISCARDED, and others appointed in their room.”

A classic example of DUTY was British Admiral Horatio Nelson. He lost his right eye capturing Corsica in 1794, and his right arm attacking the Canary Islands in 1797.

He captured six and destroyed seven of Napoleon’s ships at the Battle of the Nile, trapping Napoleon in Muslim Egypt.

He assaulted then Copenhagen.

Horatio Nelson is best remembered for winning one of the greatest naval battles in history, the Battle of Trafalgar, OCTOBER 21, 1805: The daring 47-year-old Nelson defeated 36-year-old Napoleon’s combined French and Spanish fleets, consisting of 33 ships with 2,640 guns off the coast of Spain. One reason for the victory was the speed of the British ships, aided by their hulls being caulked with tar from Pitch Lake on the Island of Trinidad. The world’s largest natural asphalt lake, it was first discovered by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1595 in his search for El Dorado-the City of Gold.

Napoleon financed his military campaigns, in part, by selling 828,000 square miles, the Louisiana Territory, to the United States in 1803 for fifteen million dollars.

Napoleon’s ships intended to pick up 90,000 French troops waiting on the coast of France. From there they were planning to cross the English Channel and invade Britain. Napoleon’s ships were defeated by Admiral Nelson, ending Napoleon’s dreams of world conquest and leaving Britain with the undisputed most powerful navy in the world.

During the Battle of Trafalgar, ships were ripped apart by cannonade and musket shot at point blank range. Over ten thousand were killed or wounded. Admiral Nelson was fatally shot in the spine. He was carried below deck to the ship’s surgeon. Nelson’s last words were: “Thank God I have done my duty.”

Daniel Webster explained how Americans duty to defend liberty cannot be stopped if we have courage. He remarked at the Bicentennial Celebration of the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts, December 22, 1820: “This love of religious liberty made up of the clearest sense of right and the highest conviction of DUTY, is able to look the sternest despotism in the face, and, with means apparently most inadequate, to shake principalities and powers.”

Charles Finney wrote in Lecture XV “Hindrances to Revival” (Revival Lectures, 1855): “Politics are a part of religion in such a country as this, and Christians must do their DUTY to the country as a part of their DUTY to God. It seems sometimes as if the foundations of the nation were becoming rotten, and Christians seem to act as if they thought God did not see what they do in politics. But I tell you, He does see it, and He will bless or curse this nation, according to the course they take.”

He After 28 years of fighting slavery entrenched in the Democrat South, Congressman and former President John Quincy Adams was asked if he ever got discouraged. He responded:

“DUTY is ours; results are God’s.”

A young abolitionist Congressman from Illinois who was influenced by John Quincy Adams, and who was a pall-bearer at his funeral, was Abraham Lincoln. As the first Republican President, Lincoln challenged February 27, 1860:

“Neither let us be slandered from our DUTY by false accusations against us. Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our DUTY.”

Ron

(The Muslims in the early days were about to invade Europe and conquer it. Had they succeeded the history of the world would have been changed forever. The outcome depended on one important, momentous battle. Do read my account of it and its outcome below. You need to know about the outcome of the Battle of Lepanto.)

News arrived in Europe that in 1570, Ottoman Turks under the command of Lala Kara Mustafa Pasha, captured Nicosia, Cyprus, after a 50-day siege. 20,000 captured Nicosians were executed. Women and boys were sold as slaves. The Cathedral of St. Sophia was turned into the Selimiye Mosque.

In 1571, Lala Kara Mustafa Pasha surrounded the Christians in Famagusta, Cyprus, the last stronghold of Western Europe in the Eastern Mediterranean. He promised the defenders of Cyprus that if they surrendered, they would be allowed to leave. Lala Kara Mustafa Pasha broke his promise. He flayed alive Venetian commander, Marco Antonio Bragadin, and ordered the execution of all 6,000 Christian prisoners. The beautiful St. Nicholas Church was turned into the Lala Mustafa Pasha Mosque. The Church of Saints Peter and Paul was converted into the Sinan Pasha Mosque.

After this, the Sultan planned on attacking Rome, and from there conquer the rest of western Europe.

The Sultan’s threat was taken seriously, as centuries earlier, in 846 AD, Rome was attacked by 11,000 Muslim pirates. They sacked the city, looted the old St. Peter’s basilica, and the church St. Paul Outside the Wall, and desecrated the graves of both St. Peter and St. Paul. In response, Pope Leo the Fourth built a 39 foot high wall around the Vatican.

In 1571, with the Sultan again threatening Rome, Pope Pius the Fifth used all his influence to get the Christian states of Spain, Naples, Sicily, Venice, Genoa, Sardinia, Savoy, Urbino, Papal States, Germans, and Croatians to assemble into the Holy League. The Holy League insisted that their fleet be led by the 24-year-old son of King Charles the Fifth of Spain, Don John of Austria. Many of us believe that God, himself sent this courageous young Christian warrior to lead these Christian forces.

Spain used gold from the New World to fit out its navy to keep the Muslim Ottomans from taking over the Mediterranean.

On October 7, 1571, the largest and most decisive sea battle on the Mediterranean and probably the whole world took place — the Battle of Lepanto off the western coast of Greece. 

The courageous Christian warrior Don John of Austria led the 212 ships with nearly 68,000 soldiers and sailors of the Holy League. A danger for the Christian soldiers fighting at sea, was that if they fell overboard, their armor would cause them to immediately sink.

Ali Pasha led the Muslim Ottoman Turks, consisting of 82,000 soldiers and sailors on 251 ships powered by thousands of Christian galley slaves rowing under the decks. This was the last major battle with rowing vessels.It took place before they had cannons abord ships, since gun powder had not been acquired from China, yet.

As the sun rose on the day of battle, the Holy League found itself at a great disadvantage, having to row against a strong wind. Don John led his men on deck in a desperate prayer, then suddenly the wind changed 180 degrees to favor the Holy League. Please know that it was no accident.

The Holy League’s ships collided into Ali Pasha’s ships. Without gun powder, they had to fight with swords and battle axes. Fierce fighting went on for hours, desperate fighting. The outcome varied back and forth. In retrospect we now know that if the Muslim forces had won, we would most probably be speaking Arabic today and worshiping Allah, for real.

Outnumbered in both numbers of ships and troops, things were not going well for the Christians. Suddenly, in an act of amazing bravery, Don John sailed his flagship Real crashing into Ali Pasha’s ship.

Suddenly the 12,000 Christian galley slaves poured out from their captive rowing stations under the decks. Now, newly free, they fought ferociously. They first killed the Muslim slave masters who had been whipping them unmercifully to row faster.

Ali Pasha was soon killed, his vessel’s crescent flag was lowered and his head was hung high in its place. This caused the Ottoman warriors to lose heart. The Ottomans lost 200 of their 230 ships.

Had the Ottomans not been defeated, they would have invaded Italy and conquered Europe.

Telling the story of the freeing of the Christian galley slaves, the famous G.K. Chesterton wrote in his epic poem, “Lepanto”: “Above the ships are palaces of brown, black-bearded chiefs, And below the ships are prisons, where with multitudinous griefs, Christian captives sick and sunless, all a laboring race repines, Like a race in sunken cities, like a nation in the mines. They are lost like slaves that swat, and in the skies of morning hung. The stairways of the tallest gods when tyranny was young. They are countless, voiceless, hopeless as those fallen or fleeing on, Before the high Kings’ horses in the granite of Babylon, And many a one grows witless in his quiet room in hell, Where a yellow face looks inward through the lattice of his cell, And he finds his God forgotten, and he seeks no more a sign. But Don John of Austria has burst the battle line! Don John pounding from the slaughter-painted poop (the rear stern deck), Purpling all the ocean like a bloody pirate’s sloop, Scarlet running over on the silvers and the golds, Breaking of the hatches up and bursting of the holds, Thronging of the thousands up that labor under sea, White for bliss and blind for sun and stunned for liberty. Vivat Hispania! Domino Gloria! Don John of Austria has set his people free!”

Hilaire Belloc described the significance of the battle in The Great Heresies, 1938: “This violent Mohammedan pressure on Christendom from the East made a bid for success by sea as well as by land. The last great Turkish organization working now from the conquered capital of Constantinople, proposed to cross the Adriatic, to attack Italy by sea and ultimately to recover all that had been lost in the Western Mediterranean.”

Belloc continued: “There was one critical moment when it looked as though the scheme would succeed. A huge Mohammedan armada fought at the mouth of the Gulf of Corinth against the Christian fleet at Lepanto. The Christians won that naval action and the Western Mediterranean was saved. But it was a very close thing, and the name of Lepanto should remain in the minds of all men with a sense of history as one of the half dozen great names in the history of the Christian world.”

One of the Spanish sailors in the Battle of Lepanto was Miguel de Cervantes. He was later captured and made a slave in Algiers, North Africa. After 5 years, he was ransomed by the Trinitarian Order, returned to Madrid, Spain, and there he wrote Don Quixote, Man of La Mancha, 1605, considered Europe’s first modern novel. 

In an autobiographical passage, Cervantes wrote:  “They put a chain on me with several others marked out as held to ransom. We suffered from hunger and scanty clothing seeing at every turn the unexampled and unheard–of cruelties my master inflicted upon the Christians.  Every day he hanged a man, impaled one, cut off the ears of another, all with so little provocation. Turks acknowledged he did it merely for the sake of doing it, because he was by nature murderously disposed towards the whole human race.” 

U.S. Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts wrote in White Slavery in the Barbary States, 1853: “Algiers, for a long time was the most obnoxious place in the Barbary States of Africa, the chief seat of Christian slavery, the wall of the barbarian world. And Cervantes, in the story of Don Quixote gives the narrative of a Spanish captive who had escaped from Algiers.

The author is supposed to have drawn from his own experience; for during five and a half years he endured the horrors of Algerine slavery, from which he was finally liberated by a ransom of about six hundred dollars.”

Thus, you now know the result of the Amazing Battle of lepanto. And as a result, we are still speaking English and worshiping the Real God, Jehovah.

Ron

—

The Bible says: Colossians 3:17

“Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”

When apathy takes over, it can be difficult to get motivated. You have so much to do, but you just don’t feel like proceeding. Why have despair and boredom taken such a profound hold of you?

Many answers are possible. Perhaps you’re facing overwhelming pressures and you just want to give up. Maye you’re not where the Lord wants you. It could even be that you’re angry at yourself for where you are in life. But realize, you don’t have to allow discouragement to rule you. Instead, you can renew your passion by doing whatever is before you to God’s glory.

It is quite impossible to be where the Father wants you—doing your best and giving thanks from a grateful heart—and still be bored. So when you’re disheartened, remember reaching God’s potential for you is more about who you are than what you’re doing—it’s more about glorying Him than past mistakes or pressures.

Therefore, close your eyes, focus on Him, and thank Him for everything you can think of. He will certainly inspire you.

(Do read this true story below as related by the intended victim. It is preceded by a history of whaling which is how this man who was almost eaten got to these savage islands and was captured.)

“There she blows!” cried the lookout, sighting the great white whale, Moby Dick.

The classic book, Moby Dick, was written by New England author Herman Melville, published in 1851. In the novel, Captain Ahab, driven by revenge, sailed the seas to capture this great white whale who had bitten off his leg in a previous encounter.

In the 1956 film Moby Dick, actor Gregory Peck played Captain Ahab. Ahab finally caught up with Moby Dick in the Pacific Ocean. As fate would have it, when the harpoon struck Moby Dick, the rope flew out so fast it snagged Ahab, pulling him out of the boat. Entangled in the harpoon ropes on the side of the great whale, the revenge-filled Captain Ahab was pulled underwater several times till finally to his death.

The angered Moby Dick then sinks the Pequod. The only survivor was Ismael, who spoke a line from the Book of Job, “And I only am escaped alone to tell thee.”

Melville drew inspiration for his novel from the real life fate of a whaling ship from Nantuket, the Essex. In 1820, under the command of Captain George Pollard, Jr., the Essex chased an enormous sperm whale thousands of miles west of South America. The whale destroyed the ship, and killed most of the sailors. The remaining sailors, enduring gruesome starvation, attempted to sail their whaleboat thousands of miles to land. Only eight survived.

The story of the Essex was written down by its first mate, Owen Chase, and the cabin boy, Thomas Nickerson. Nathaniel Philbrick retold the account in his award-winning book, In the Heart of the Sea (Viking Press, 2000), which was turned into a movie in 2015, directed by Ron Howard.

Whales were hunted primarily for their blubber, which was boiled down into whale oil. This was the main source of oil throughout the early 1800s. Whales were being hunted to the verge of extinction.

Fortunately for the whales, in 1859, “Colonel” Edwin Drake drilled “The Drake Oil Well” on his Pennsylvania farm. Soon the petroleum industry in Pennsylvania and Oklahoma developed which extracted oil from the earth, thus “saving the whale” from begin hunted to extinction.

Decades later, Winston Churchill switched the British Navy from burning coal to oil. Britain had limited sources of oil, such as one small oil field located in the Sherwood Forest of Nottinghamshire, and another in the British Crown Colony of Trinidad. Oil  was discovered in the Middle East, and in 1908, the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company was formed, which later changed its name to British Petroleum (BP).

One of the fears of sailing distant seas was being shipwrecked on an island where there was cannibalism. This was first recorded on Columbus’ second voyage, and resulted in the naming of the “Caribbean Sea.” “Caribe is the Spanish word for “piranha,” a razor-toothed carnivorous fish of South America. It was also the name given to a ferocious tribe that migrated from South America, which depopulated one island after another, cannibalizing the peaceful native inhabitants.

Cannibalism occurred mostly in the Pacific Islands. British Captain Cook first landed in Hawaii in 1778. Soon after, whaling and navy ships stopped there. Some of their muskets and small swivel cannons were stolen or were bartered to natives.

With the help of these, King Kamehameha won his battles to conquer and unite all of the Hawaiian Islands. His wife, Queen Ka’ahumanu, ended human sacrifice and ritual cannibalism. She changed the kapu-taboo religion and replaced it with Christianity brought to Hawaii by American missionaries.

The story of how missionaries arrived in Hawaii begins in 1807, when the American whaling ship Triumph left Hawaii for New England. Two Hawaiian boys had stowed away aboard the ship, Henry Opukahai’a and Thomas Hopu. Through their movement to New England, they heard the Gospel and converted to Christianity. Their stories inspired Hiram and Sybil Bingham to begin a missionary movement to the Pacific islands in 1820.

In 1822, African-American Betsey Stockton went to Hawaii on the second ship of Christian missionaries, being the first single female missionary sent out from America. Betsey was the teacher at the very first mission school in Hawaii for common people.

In 1840, the whaling ship Acushnet left New England. On board with the crew was the young Herman Melville on his first whaling voyage. Herman Melville, born August 1, 1819, was the grandson of a Boston Tea Party “Indian.” At the age of 12, his father died. His mother raised him, inspiring his imagination with biblical stories.

The Acushnet, after a year and a half at sea, visited the Marquesas Islands in the Southern Pacific. The Marquesas Islands are considered by some as the remotest place in the world. They were first visited by American Maritime Fur Trader Joseph Ingraham in 1791, who named them Washington Islands.

At the Marquesas Islands, Herman Melville and his friend, Toby, jumped ship from the Acushnet, and deserted. They climbed up high into the island mountains to avoid being arrested and carried back to the ship. His friend, Toby, injured his leg in a fall. They unfortunately fell among the cannibals there, where Melville and his friend were given sumptuous food and were befriended by a beautiful tribal maiden. Tribesmen adamantly forbade them from trying to leave the village. They had “other plans” for them.

(Yes, that is the Herman Melville that later wrote Moby Dick.)

Just before a big native feast, Melville’s friend, Toby, suspiciously disappeared. Melville was not allowed to be at the feast. Afterwards, when Melville inquired about his friend’s whereabouts, the tribesmen quickly changed the subject, leading Melville to suspect he was eaten.

When a small boat piloted by a passing native providentially came close to shore, Melville fought his way into the water and climbed into it, barely escaping with his life. He wrote of the experience in his first book, Typee (1846), concluding: These disclosures will lead to ultimate benefit to the cause of Christianity in the Sandwich Islands.”

When Acting Lieutenant Fletcher Christian led mutiny on the HMS Bounty, April 28, 1789, Captain William Bligh sailed for two months in a small life boat 3,500 miles from Tahiti past the Fiji Islands to Kupang, Indonesia, writing in his journal that they dared not to stop at any land along the way out of fear of being eaten by cannibals.

In 1853, a native Hawaiian, Samuel Kauwealoha, sailed as a Christian missionary from Hawaii to the Marquesas Islands where he planted churches and started schools.

Another missionary from Hawaii to the Marquesas Islands was James Kekela. In 1864, James Kekela rescued an American seaman from death at the hands of hungry cannibals in the Marquesas Islands. In gratitude, Abraham Lincoln sent James Kekela an inscribed gold watch.

Robert Louis Stevenson related the story in his book, In The South Seas when he visited the Marquesas Islands in 1888-89: “During my stay at Tai-o-hae a whole fleet of whale-boats came from Ua-pu. On board of these was Samuel Kauwealoha, one of the pastors, a fine, rugged old gentleman, of that leonine type so common in Hawaii. He entertained me with a tale of one of his colleagues, James Kekela, a missionary in the great cannibal isle of Hiva-oa.

It appears that shortly after, a kidnapping visit from a Peruvian slaver arrived. The boats of an American whaler put into a bay upon that island, were attacked, and made their escape with difficulty, leaving their mate, a Mr. Jonathan Whalon, in the hands of the natives.

The captive, with his arms bound behind his back, was cast into a house; and the chief announced the capture to James Kekela.”

Robert Louis Stevenson continued relating the story of Mr. Whalon’s rescue from the cannibals: “In return for his act of gallant charity, James Kekela was presented by the American Government with a sum of money, and by President Lincoln personally with a gold watch.

From his letter of thanks, written in his own tongue by James Kekela, I give the following extract. I do not envy the man who can read it without emotion:

‘When I saw one of your countrymen, a citizen of your great nation, ill-treated, and about to be baked and eaten, as a pig is eaten, I ran to save him, full of pity and grief at the evil deed of these benighted people. I gave my boat for the stranger’s life. It became the ransom of this countryman of yours, that he might not be eaten by the savages who knew not Jehovah.”

The New York Times published the article “Lincoln and the ‘Cannibals'” by Jeffrey Allen Smith, Feb. 25, 2014: “The American whaling ship Congress from New Bedford, Mass dropped anchor. Sailors lowered two longboats loaded with trade goods, and a small detachment of men led by the first officer, Jonathan Whalon, rowed toward the beach in Puamau Bay.

Foolishly, Whalon went ashore alone with the Marquesans. Once well inside the tree line, the Paumau men seized Whalon, stripped him of his clothes and bound him. Tribal members reportedly pinched him, tweaked his nose, bent his fingers back over his hands, menacingly swung hatchets at him and eventually began building a fire with which to cook him. A Hawaiian missionary improbably named Alexander Kaukau (Kaukau is Hawaiian pidgin for “food” or “to eat”) and Bartholomen Negal, a local German carpenter, tried and failed to dissuade Mato, the Paumau chief, from killing Whalon.

Fate interceded with the arrival of another Hawaiian missionary, James Kekela, the first Hawaiian ordained as a Christian missionary and Kaukau’s senior. He had fortuitously just returned from a neighboring island to reports of a ‘white man is about to be roasted.'”

The New York Times article continued: Kekela donned his black preacher’s jacket and, with only his Bible in hand, set off for Mato’s village. The negotiations were tense, and at one point Kekela declared he would trade ‘anything and everything he possessed’ for the sailor’s release. Ultimately Kekela purchased Whalon’s freedom with much less: his black preacher’s jacket and his prized whaleboat.

Kekela returned Whalon to the waiting Congress, which sailed to Honolulu, where tales of ‘cannibals’ capturing an American sailor and Kekela’s heroics prompted the American minister to Hawaii, James McBride, to write a note to Secretary of State William H. Seward. McBride’s letter, dated Feb. 26, 1864, detailed the harrowing events in the Marquesas and requested that Seward ‘show to the world we have tender regard for each one of our number, and that we highly, very highly, appreciate such favors.’

Taking almost a month to make its way across the Pacific, the letter arrived on Seward’s desk by April 18, 1864. Three days later Seward replied that he had submitted McBride’s account of the rescue to Lincoln and that the President had ‘instructions’ for the diplomat. McBride was directed to ‘draw on this department for five hundred dollars in gold’ to purchase presents for Whalon’s rescuers.

On Feb. 14, 1865, McBride sent gifts to the Hawaiian missionary Kaukau, the German carpenter Negal and even the young Marquesan girl who warned the sailors in the two long boats. He gave Kekela two new suits and a gold Cartier pocket watch with the inscription, ‘From the President of the United States to Rev. J. Kekela For His Noble Conduct in Rescuing An American Citizen from Death on the Island of Hiva Oa, January 14, 1864’.

Kekela wrote a seven-page letter of thanks in Hawaiian, retelling of how he saved ‘a citizen of your great nation, ill-treated, and about to be baked and eaten, as a pig is eaten’. The heartfelt prose in Kekela’s letter to Lincoln moved many, including Robert Louis Stevenson, who wrote in his book In the South Seas: ‘I do not envy the man who can read it without emotion.'”

Robert Louis Stevenson recorded the words of James Kekela: “(The Gospel) was planted in Hawaii, and I brought it to plant in this land and in these dark regions, that they might receive the root of all that is good and true, which is love.”

James Kekela concluded: Great is my debt to Americans, who have taught me all things pertaining to this life and to that which is to come. How shall I repay your great kindness to me? Thus David asked of Jehovah, and thus I ask of you, the President of the United States. This is my only payment—that which I have received of the Lord, love-(aloha).'”

Ron(Do read this true story below as related by the intended victim. It is preceded by a history of whaling which is how this man who was almost eaten got to these savage islands and was captured.)

“There she blows!” cried the lookout, sighting the great white whale, Moby Dick.

The classic book, Moby Dick, was written by New England author Herman Melville, published in 1851. In the novel, Captain Ahab, driven by revenge, sailed the seas to capture this great white whale who had bitten off his leg in a previous encounter.

In the 1956 film Moby Dick, actor Gregory Peck played Captain Ahab. Ahab finally caught up with Moby Dick in the Pacific Ocean. As fate would have it, when the harpoon struck Moby Dick, the rope flew out so fast it snagged Ahab, pulling him out of the boat. Entangled in the harpoon ropes on the side of the great whale, the revenge-filled Captain Ahab was pulled underwater several times till finally to his death.

The angered Moby Dick then sinks the Pequod. The only survivor was Ismael, who spoke a line from the Book of Job, “And I only am escaped alone to tell thee.”

Melville drew inspiration for his novel from the real life fate of a whaling ship from Nantuket, the Essex. In 1820, under the command of Captain George Pollard, Jr., the Essex chased an enormous sperm whale thousands of miles west of South America. The whale destroyed the ship, and killed most of the sailors. The remaining sailors, enduring gruesome starvation, attempted to sail their whaleboat thousands of miles to land. Only eight survived.

The story of the Essex was written down by its first mate, Owen Chase, and the cabin boy, Thomas Nickerson. Nathaniel Philbrick retold the account in his award-winning book, In the Heart of the Sea (Viking Press, 2000), which was turned into a movie in 2015, directed by Ron Howard.

Whales were hunted primarily for their blubber, which was boiled down into whale oil. This was the main source of oil throughout the early 1800s. Whales were being hunted to the verge of extinction.

Fortunately for the whales, in 1859, “Colonel” Edwin Drake drilled “The Drake Oil Well” on his Pennsylvania farm. Soon the petroleum industry in Pennsylvania and Oklahoma developed which extracted oil from the earth, thus “saving the whale” from begin hunted to extinction.

Decades later, Winston Churchill switched the British Navy from burning coal to oil. Britain had limited sources of oil, such as one small oil field located in the Sherwood Forest of Nottinghamshire, and another in the British Crown Colony of Trinidad. Oil  was discovered in the Middle East, and in 1908, the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company was formed, which later changed its name to British Petroleum (BP).

One of the fears of sailing distant seas was being shipwrecked on an island where there was cannibalism. This was first recorded on Columbus’ second voyage, and resulted in the naming of the “Caribbean Sea.” “Caribe is the Spanish word for “piranha,” a razor-toothed carnivorous fish of South America. It was also the name given to a ferocious tribe that migrated from South America, which depopulated one island after another, cannibalizing the peaceful native inhabitants.

Cannibalism occurred mostly in the Pacific Islands. British Captain Cook first landed in Hawaii in 1778. Soon after, whaling and navy ships stopped there. Some of their muskets and small swivel cannons were stolen or were bartered to natives.

With the help of these, King Kamehameha won his battles to conquer and unite all of the Hawaiian Islands. His wife, Queen Ka’ahumanu, ended human sacrifice and ritual cannibalism. She changed the kapu-taboo religion and replaced it with Christianity brought to Hawaii by American missionaries.

The story of how missionaries arrived in Hawaii begins in 1807, when the American whaling ship Triumph left Hawaii for New England. Two Hawaiian boys had stowed away aboard the ship, Henry Opukahai’a and Thomas Hopu. Through their movement to New England, they heard the Gospel and converted to Christianity. Their stories inspired Hiram and Sybil Bingham to begin a missionary movement to the Pacific islands in 1820.

In 1822, African-American Betsey Stockton went to Hawaii on the second ship of Christian missionaries, being the first single female missionary sent out from America. Betsey was the teacher at the very first mission school in Hawaii for common people.

In 1840, the whaling ship Acushnet left New England. On board with the crew was the young Herman Melville on his first whaling voyage. Herman Melville, born August 1, 1819, was the grandson of a Boston Tea Party “Indian.” At the age of 12, his father died. His mother raised him, inspiring his imagination with biblical stories.

The Acushnet, after a year and a half at sea, visited the Marquesas Islands in the Southern Pacific. The Marquesas Islands are considered by some as the remotest place in the world. They were first visited by American Maritime Fur Trader Joseph Ingraham in 1791, who named them Washington Islands.

At the Marquesas Islands, Herman Melville and his friend, Toby, jumped ship from the Acushnet, and deserted. They climbed up high into the island mountains to avoid being arrested and carried back to the ship. His friend, Toby, injured his leg in a fall. They unfortunately fell among the cannibals there, where Melville and his friend were given sumptuous food and were befriended by a beautiful tribal maiden. Tribesmen adamantly forbade them from trying to leave the village. They had “other plans” for them.

(Yes, that is the Herman Melville that later wrote Moby Dick.)

Just before a big native feast, Melville’s friend, Toby, suspiciously disappeared. Melville was not allowed to be at the feast. Afterwards, when Melville inquired about his friend’s whereabouts, the tribesmen quickly changed the subject, leading Melville to suspect he was eaten.

When a small boat piloted by a passing native providentially came close to shore, Melville fought his way into the water and climbed into it, barely escaping with his life. He wrote of the experience in his first book, Typee (1846), concluding: These disclosures will lead to ultimate benefit to the cause of Christianity in the Sandwich Islands.”

When Acting Lieutenant Fletcher Christian led mutiny on the HMS Bounty, April 28, 1789, Captain William Bligh sailed for two months in a small life boat 3,500 miles from Tahiti past the Fiji Islands to Kupang, Indonesia, writing in his journal that they dared not to stop at any land along the way out of fear of being eaten by cannibals.

In 1853, a native Hawaiian, Samuel Kauwealoha, sailed as a Christian missionary from Hawaii to the Marquesas Islands where he planted churches and started schools.

Another missionary from Hawaii to the Marquesas Islands was James Kekela. In 1864, James Kekela rescued an American seaman from death at the hands of hungry cannibals in the Marquesas Islands. In gratitude, Abraham Lincoln sent James Kekela an inscribed gold watch.

Robert Louis Stevenson related the story in his book, In The South Seas when he visited the Marquesas Islands in 1888-89: “During my stay at Tai-o-hae a whole fleet of whale-boats came from Ua-pu. On board of these was Samuel Kauwealoha, one of the pastors, a fine, rugged old gentleman, of that leonine type so common in Hawaii. He entertained me with a tale of one of his colleagues, James Kekela, a missionary in the great cannibal isle of Hiva-oa.

It appears that shortly after, a kidnapping visit from a Peruvian slaver arrived. The boats of an American whaler put into a bay upon that island, were attacked, and made their escape with difficulty, leaving their mate, a Mr. Jonathan Whalon, in the hands of the natives.

The captive, with his arms bound behind his back, was cast into a house; and the chief announced the capture to James Kekela.”

Robert Louis Stevenson continued relating the story of Mr. Whalon’s rescue from the cannibals: “In return for his act of gallant charity, James Kekela was presented by the American Government with a sum of money, and by President Lincoln personally with a gold watch.

From his letter of thanks, written in his own tongue by James Kekela, I give the following extract. I do not envy the man who can read it without emotion:

‘When I saw one of your countrymen, a citizen of your great nation, ill-treated, and about to be baked and eaten, as a pig is eaten, I ran to save him, full of pity and grief at the evil deed of these benighted people. I gave my boat for the stranger’s life. It became the ransom of this countryman of yours, that he might not be eaten by the savages who knew not Jehovah.”

The New York Times published the article “Lincoln and the ‘Cannibals'” by Jeffrey Allen Smith, Feb. 25, 2014: “The American whaling ship Congress from New Bedford, Mass dropped anchor. Sailors lowered two longboats loaded with trade goods, and a small detachment of men led by the first officer, Jonathan Whalon, rowed toward the beach in Puamau Bay.

Foolishly, Whalon went ashore alone with the Marquesans. Once well inside the tree line, the Paumau men seized Whalon, stripped him of his clothes and bound him. Tribal members reportedly pinched him, tweaked his nose, bent his fingers back over his hands, menacingly swung hatchets at him and eventually began building a fire with which to cook him. A Hawaiian missionary improbably named Alexander Kaukau (Kaukau is Hawaiian pidgin for “food” or “to eat”) and Bartholomen Negal, a local German carpenter, tried and failed to dissuade Mato, the Paumau chief, from killing Whalon.

Fate interceded with the arrival of another Hawaiian missionary, James Kekela, the first Hawaiian ordained as a Christian missionary and Kaukau’s senior. He had fortuitously just returned from a neighboring island to reports of a ‘white man is about to be roasted.'”

The New York Times article continued: Kekela donned his black preacher’s jacket and, with only his Bible in hand, set off for Mato’s village. The negotiations were tense, and at one point Kekela declared he would trade ‘anything and everything he possessed’ for the sailor’s release. Ultimately Kekela purchased Whalon’s freedom with much less: his black preacher’s jacket and his prized whaleboat.

Kekela returned Whalon to the waiting Congress, which sailed to Honolulu, where tales of ‘cannibals’ capturing an American sailor and Kekela’s heroics prompted the American minister to Hawaii, James McBride, to write a note to Secretary of State William H. Seward. McBride’s letter, dated Feb. 26, 1864, detailed the harrowing events in the Marquesas and requested that Seward ‘show to the world we have tender regard for each one of our number, and that we highly, very highly, appreciate such favors.’

Taking almost a month to make its way across the Pacific, the letter arrived on Seward’s desk by April 18, 1864. Three days later Seward replied that he had submitted McBride’s account of the rescue to Lincoln and that the President had ‘instructions’ for the diplomat. McBride was directed to ‘draw on this department for five hundred dollars in gold’ to purchase presents for Whalon’s rescuers.

On Feb. 14, 1865, McBride sent gifts to the Hawaiian missionary Kaukau, the German carpenter Negal and even the young Marquesan girl who warned the sailors in the two long boats. He gave Kekela two new suits and a gold Cartier pocket watch with the inscription, ‘From the President of the United States to Rev. J. Kekela For His Noble Conduct in Rescuing An American Citizen from Death on the Island of Hiva Oa, January 14, 1864’.

Kekela wrote a seven-page letter of thanks in Hawaiian, retelling of how he saved ‘a citizen of your great nation, ill-treated, and about to be baked and eaten, as a pig is eaten’. The heartfelt prose in Kekela’s letter to Lincoln moved many, including Robert Louis Stevenson, who wrote in his book In the South Seas: ‘I do not envy the man who can read it without emotion.'”

Robert Louis Stevenson recorded the words of James Kekela: “(The Gospel) was planted in Hawaii, and I brought it to plant in this land and in these dark regions, that they might receive the root of all that is good and true, which is love.”

James Kekela concluded: Great is my debt to Americans, who have taught me all things pertaining to this life and to that which is to come. How shall I repay your great kindness to me? Thus David asked of Jehovah, and thus I ask of you, the President of the United States. This is my only payment—that which I have received of the Lord, love-(aloha).'”

Ron

(As far as we know Clara Barton personally experienced more deaths of people and also their miraculous recoveries than any person in human history. There is no telling how many hundreds and hundreds of young men and also women she held as they said their last words and breathed their last breath. Do read below the story of this amazing woman.)

When Clara Barton was ten-years-old, her older brother, David, fell off the roof of a barn during barn-raising in Massachusetts.

The doctors had given up hope on him, but Clara helped nurse him back to a full recovery.

He became a Captain and served as Assistant Quartermaster for the Union Army during the Civil War.

In 1839, at the age of 17, Clara Barton earned her teacher’s certificate.

She taught for 12 years in schools in Canada and West Georgia.

In 1852, Clara Barton moved to Bordertown, New Jersey, where she opened the first free school in the state. Under her leadership, it grew to over 600 students.

In 1855, she moved to Washington, D.C., where she was hired as the first woman clerk at the U.S. Patent Office. During Democrat President James Buchanan’s administration, Clara was fired because of her “Black Republicanism .” When Republican President Abraham Lincoln was elected, Clara Barton was rehired at the U.S. Patent Office as a copyist.

Soon after the Civil War began, there was a riot in Baltimore, Maryland, April 19, 1861, with the first blood of the war shed. Forty wounded Union soldiers of the 6th Massachusetts Militia were brought by train to Washington, DC., then transported to a makeshift medical unit in the unfinished Capitol building.

Clara Barton volunteered to care for the wounded soldiers, recognizing many of them as they were from her home state, with some even having been her students. On her own, she worked with Ladies’ Aid societies to collect and distribute medical supplies for the care of wounded soldiers.

In 1862, she received permission to work with the Army on the front lines. Once, after attempting to carry a wounded soldier off the battlefield of Antietam, September 17, 1862, Clara Barton wrote: “A ball had passed between my body and the right arm which supported him, cutting through the sleeve and passing through his chest from shoulder to shoulder. There was no more to be done for him and I left him to his rest. I have never mended that hole in my sleeve. I wonder if a soldier ever does mend a bullet hole in his coat?”

Clara Barton was present at some of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War: Battle of Manassas, Battle of Cedar Mountain, Second Battle of Bull Run, Battle of Antietam; and Battle of Fredericksburg.

The National Park Service recorded that Clara Barton first visited Chatham or “Lacy House” in early August 1862, bringing food and hospital supplies to help “her boys.” She returned during the Fredericksburg Campaign, December 1862. Clara Barton helped care for the wounded soldiers of both sides that were brought into the house.

A physician requested her help in the city, which required her to cross a pontoon bridge over the river. As she stepped off, an officer offered his hand. Suddenly a shell passed under their arms, tearing away part of her skirt and his coattail. The wounded officer later died.

Clara Barton set up a soup kitchen at the Lacy House, which became a makeshift hospital for the Union 2nd Corps. With doctors too busy to keep medical records, Clara wrote in her diary the names of the men who died and where they were buried. Her diary is at the Clara Barton National Historic Site in Maryland.

On December 13, 1862, the day of the heaviest fighting, Clara was in the doorway of the Lacy House when an exploding shell severed a soldier’s artery. She applied the tourniquet that saved his life. Crossing the river again, a Union provost marshall thought she was a civilian and volunteered to escort her to safety, but looking at the thousands of Union soldiers, she politely declined the offer saying she was the best protected woman in the world.

When a shell struck the door of the room she was in, “she did not flinch, but continued her duties” assisting the doctors. The next two weeks at Chatham, Clara saw “hundreds of the worst wounded men I have ever seen,” occupying every room of the house. They “covered every foot of the floors and porticos” and stair landings. A man “thought himself rich” if he laid under a table where he would not be stepped on. Clara saw five men stuffed onto four shelves of a cupboard. Others shivered in the cold muddy yard on blankets, waiting for someone inside to die so they could be brought in. Clara set up a soup kitchen in a tent in the yard to help them.

The Library of Congress has the letter Clara Barton wrote to her cousin from the Head Quarters of the 2nd Division, 9th Army Corps-Army of the Potomac Camp near Falmouth, Virginia, December 12th, 1862, 2 o’clock a.m.: “My dear Cousin Vira: Five minutes time with you; and God only knows what those five minutes might be worth to the many-doomed thousands sleeping around me. It is the night before a battle.

The enemy, Fredericksburg, and its mighty entrenchments lie before us, the river between — at tomorrow’s dawn our troops will assay to cross, and the guns of the enemy will sweep those frail bridges at every breath. The moon is shining through the soft haze with a brightness almost prophetic. For the last half hour I have stood alone in the awful stillness of its glimmering light gazing upon the strange sad scene around me striving to say, ‘Thy will Oh God be done.’ The camp fires blaze with unwanted brightness, the sentry’s tread is still but quick — the acres of little shelter tents are dark and still as death, no wonder for us as I gazed sorrowfully upon them. I thought I could almost hear the slow flap of the grim messenger’s wings, as one by one he sought and selected his victims for the morning sacrifice. Sleep weary one, sleep and rest for tomorrow’s toil. Oh! Sleep and visit in dreams once more the loved ones nestling at home.”

Clara continued: “They may yet live to dream of you, cold lifeless and bloody, but this dream, soldier, is thy last, paint it brightly, dream it well. Oh northern mothers, wives and sisters, all unconscious of the hour, would to Heaven that I could bear for you the concentrated woe which is so soon to follow, would that Christ would teach my soul a prayer that would plead to the Father for grace sufficient for you. God pity and strengthen you every one. Mine are not the only waking hours, the light yet burns brightly in our kind hearted General’s tent where he pens what may be a last farewell to his wife and children and thinks sadly of his fated men. Already the roll of the moving artillery is sounded in my ears. The battle draws near and I must catch one hour’s sleep for tomorrow’s labor. Good night, dear cousin, and Heaven grant you strength for your more peaceful and less terrible, but not less weary days than mine. Yours in love, Clara.”

Clara Barton’s patriotism came from her father, who served in the Army under General “Mad Anthony” Wayne. She wrote of helping soldiers: “What could I do but go with them, or work for them and my country? The patriot blood of my father was warm in my veins.”

Toward the end of the war, Clara noticed that thousands of letters were piling up for soldiers, with no one responding. She contacted President Lincoln’s office and was given permission to set up an office at 437 1/2 Seventh Street, in Northwest Washington, D.C., to search for missing soldiers.

During the Franco-German War, 1870-1871, Clara Barton went to Europe where she worked with Henri Dunant, founder of the International Red Cross. Dunant was the first recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He founded the Geneva chapter of the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association).

Inspired by Henri Dunant’s International Red Cross, Clara Barton established the American Red Cross Society, MAY 21, 1881, serving as its head until 1904.

Clara Barton stated: “An institution or reform movement that is not selfish, must originate in the recognition of some evil that is adding to the sum of human suffering, or diminishing the sum of happiness. I may be compelled to face danger, but never fear it, and while our soldiers can stand and fight, I can stand and feed and nurse them. I am well and strong and young — young enough to go to the front. If I cannot be a soldier, I’ll help soldiers.”

During the Spanish-American War, 1898, Clara Barton helped in hospitals in Cuba. She wrote: “In time of peace we must prepare for war, and it is no less a wise benevolence that makes preparation in the hour of peace for assuaging the ills that are sure to accompany war.”

President William McKinley stated regarding Clara Barton in his Second Annual Message, December 5, 1898: “It is a pleasure for me to mention in terms of cordial appreciation the timely and useful work of the American National Red Cross, both in relief measures preparatory to the campaigns, in sanitary assistance at several of the camps of assemblage, and later, under the able and experienced leadership of the president of the society, Miss Clara Barton, on the fields of battle and in the hospitals at the front in Cuba. Working in conjunction with the governmental authorities and with the enthusiastic cooperation of many patriotic women and societies in the various States, the Red Cross has fully maintained its already high reputation for intense earnestness and ability to exercise the noble purposes of its international organization, thus justifying the confidence and support which it has received at the hands of the American people.”

President McKinley continued: “To the members and officers of this society and all who aided them in their philanthropic work the sincere and lasting gratitude of the soldiers and the public is due and is freely accorded. In tracing these events we are constantly reminded of our obligations to the Divine Master for His watchful care over us and His safe guidance, for which the nation makes reverent acknowledgment and offers humble prayer for the continuance of His favor.”

President Woodrow Wilson mentioned the Red Cross in his Proclamation of a Contribution Day for the aid of stricken Jewish people, January 11, 1916: “Whereas in the various countries now engaged in war there are nine millions of Jews, the great majority of whom are destitute of food, shelter, and clothing; and have been driven from their homes without warning, deprived of an opportunity to make provision for their most elementary wants, causing starvation, disease and untold suffering; and Whereas the people of the United States of America have learned with sorrow of this terrible plight of millions of human beings and have most generously responded to the cry for help. Now, Therefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States … do appoint and proclaim January 27, 1916, as a day upon which the people of the United States may make such contributions as they feel disposed for the aid of the stricken Jewish people. Contributions may be addressed to the American Red Cross, Washington, D.C., which will care for their proper distribution.”

Opening the Second Red Cross Drive in New York City, President Woodrow Wilson stated, May 18, 1918: “Being members of the American Red Cross a great fraternity and fellowship which extends all over the world this cross which these ladies bore here today is an emblem of Christianity itself. When you think of this, you realize how the people of the United States are being drawn together into a great intimate family whose heart is being used for the service of the soldiers not only, but for the long night of suffering and terror, in order that they and men everywhere may see the dawn of a day of righteousness and justice and peace.”

On December 8, 1918, in an appeal of support for the American Red Cross just a month after the fighting in World War I had ceased, President Woodrow Wilson stated: One year ago, twenty-two million Americans, by enrolling as members of the Red Cross at Christmas time, sent to the men who were fighting our battles overseas a stimulating message of cheer and good-will. Now, by God’s grace, the Red Cross Christmas message of 1918 is to be a message of peace as well as a message of good-will.”

Her very last disaster mission brought her to the Texas coast.

In September 1900, Galveston faced one of the city’s worst hurricanes. Destruction and casualties abounded. Although Clara was in her 80s, she just had to be there. Clara Barton arrived on site and worked as a member of the Central Relief Committee, the team tasked with leading the recovery mission. They say that with all her experience with disasters, she was of enormous help.

Clara worked to distribute supplies for the recovery efforts. This included boots on the ground, and $120,000 in financial assistance. During her time in Galveston she also helped to acquire supplies to rebuild homes and established an orphanage for victims of the hurricane.

When asked about being in Galveston to help in her 80s, Clara iterated her favorite saying……….”You must never think of anything except the need, and how to meet it” and “I may be compelled to face danger, but never fear it”.

On May 1, 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt greeted the chairman of the American National Red Cross, Norman H. Davis, in Washington, D.C.: “The great International Red Cross organization, founded 76 years ago by the amazing Clara Barton to bring mercy to the battlefield. I am confident that whatever may be the problems which intensification of warfare may bring, the American people will respond to any appeal for funds when the Red Cross deems it necessary to call upon them for additional aid.

By such response we can aid in sustaining the spirit and morale of those in distress abroad until the happy day we all pray for, when hostilities shall cease.”

Ron

The Bible says: James 4:12 NLT

“You don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.”

Have you talked to the Father about the desire burning in your heart? You don’t have to be embarrassed or think what you yearn for is too insignificant for His notice. God cares about you, and He’s interested in what concerns you. But you’ll miss His blessings if you refuse to open your heart to Him fully.

So talk to God as a friend—share your inmost hopes and desires with him. The more specific you are about your goals and longings, the better you can see Him working in your situation.

The Father may say yes to your request immediately or He may instruct you to wait for His perfect timing. He may also show what you’re asking for doesn’t fit His plan for your life and that He has something much better for you.

Although God may not always answer in the way you think He will, the most important thing for you to understand is that He is willing and waiting to respond. So talk to your heavenly Father and be assured—He loves you and He’s listening.