(This day of June 14 is authorized by our Congress as Flag Day in America. I think it is important for our people to undestand how and why that day came about, and why it should be celebrated. Below I have attempted to answer both of those questions. Do read it to ‘fine out’.)

Thirteen Stars and Thirteen Stripes.

It was on JUNE 14, 1777, that the Second Continental Congress selected the FLAG of the United States. Our founders were in the midst of fighting an eight year long war to come out from under the dominion of the most powerful globalist king in world history.

Twenty years after the Civil War, Union Army Captain George Thatcher Balch wrote the first version of the Pledge of Allegiance in 1885. Balch became auditor of the New York City Board of Education where he authored Methods of Teaching Patriotism in the Public Schools, 1890. He is largely responsible for flag poles being placed in front of public schools.

Balch ‘s Pledge, called a “salute to the flag,” was: “I give my heart and my hand to my country—one country, one language, one flag.”

Balch’s Pledge was revised in 1892 by 36-year-old Baptist minister Francis Bellamy, who was ordained in the Baptist Church of Little Falls, New York. Bellamy was a member of the staff of The Youth’s Companion, which published the Pledge of Allegiance on September 8, 1892, in Boston, Massachusetts. The magazine recommended the Pledge be part of school programs celebrating the first “Columbus Day,” together with prayers, patriotic speeches, the singing of “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee”, also known as “America,” written in 1831 by Samuel Francis Smith.

The fourth stanza stated: “Our father’s God, to Thee, Author of Liberty, To Thee we sing, Long may our land be bright With Freedom’s Holy Light. Protect us by Thy might, Great God, Our King.”

Students were also encouraged to read President Benjamin Harrison’s proclamation July 21, 1892: “Let THE NATIONAL FLAG float over every schoolhouse in the country and the exercises be such as shall impress upon our youth the patriotic duties of American citizenship. Let there be expressions of gratitude to Divine Providence.”

Public-school children first recited the Pledge at the National School Celebration dedicating the Chicago World’s Fair, October 12, 1892, for the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ discovery of America.

In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson designated JUNE 14 as “NATIONAL FLAG DAY.” “I call your attention to the approach of the anniversary of the day upon which THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES was adopted by the Congress as the emblem of the Union. I therefore request that throughout the nation, the FOURTEENTH DAY of JUNE be observed as FLAG DAY with special patriotic exercises to give significant expressions to our thoughtful love of America, our comprehension of the great mission of liberty and justice for an America which no man can corrupt, no influence draw away from its ideals, no force divide against itself. Done at the City of Washington in the year of Our Lord one thousand nine hundred and sixteen.”

In 1954, the Knights of Columbus led a campaign to add “One Nation Under God” to the Pledge, resulting in Congress passing Public Law 396.

President Dwight Eisenhower signed it into law on Flag Day, June 14, 1954: “Section 7”. The following is designated as the Pledge of Allegiance to THE FLAG: ‘I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.’

Such pledge should be rendered by standing with the right hand over the heart. However, civilians will always show full respect to the flag when the pledge is given by merely standing at attention, men removing the headdress. Persons in uniform shall render the military salute.”

President Eisenhower then stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol Building and recited the revised Pledge of Allegiance for the first time. The words “under God” were taken from Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863: “that this Nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom.”

In 1979, a publication approved by and printed under authority of Congress titled “The Capitol-A Pictorial History of the Capitol and of the Congress” (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1979), p. 24, commented regarding the Pledge: “This Pledge attests what has been true about America from the beginning. Faith in the transcendent, sovereign God was in the public philosophy — the American consensus. America’s story opened with the first words of the Bible, ‘In the beginning God’. We are truthfully one nation under God ‘and our institutions presuppose a Divine Being,’ wrote Justice William O. Douglas in 1966:

“Only a nation founded on theistic presupposition would adopt a first amendment to ensure the free exercise of all religions or of none. The government would be neutral among the many denominations and no one church would become the state church. But America and its institutions of government could not be neutral about God.”

Speaking of the Flag, President Calvin Coolidge stated May 31, 1926: “Our condition today is not merely that of one people UNDER ONE FLAG, but of a thoroughly united people who have seen bitterness and enmity which once threatened to sever them, and a spirit of kindness and good will reign over them all.”

Coolidge stated May 25, 1924, at the Confederate Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia: “It is the maintenance of our American ideals, BENEATH A COMMON FLAG, under the blessings of Almighty God. We know that Providence would have it so.”

President Franklin D. Roosevelt stated November 13, 1935: “OUR FLAG for a century and a half has been the symbol of the principles of liberty of conscience, of religious freedom and equality before the law; and these concepts are deeply ingrained in our national character.”

During World War Two, President Franklin D. Roosevelt stated on FLAG DAY, June 14, 1942: “The belief in man, created free, in the image of God – is the crucial difference between ourselves and the enemies we face today. We ask the German people, still dominated by their Nazi whip-masters, whether they would rather have the mechanized hell of Hitler’s ‘New’ Order or – in place of that, freedom of speech and religion.

We ask the Japanese people, trampled by their savage lords of slaughter, whether they would rather continue slavery and blood or – in place of them, freedom of speech and religion. We know that man, born to freedom in the image of God, will not forever suffer the oppressors’ sword.”

Roosevelt continued: “I am going to close by reading you a prayer: ‘God of the free, we pledge our hearts and lives today to the cause of all free mankind. Grant us victory over the tyrants who would enslave all free men and Nations. Grant us patience with the deluded and pity for the betrayed. Grant us valor that shall cleanse the world of oppression and the old base doctrine that the strong must eat the weak because they are strong.'”

After the Revolution, on June 14, 1783, General George Washington sent a “Circular Letter” to the thirteen Governors of the newly independent states. He stated: “I am now preparing to resign. Before I carry this resolution into effect, I think it a duty to make this my last official communication, to congratulate you on the glorious events which Heaven has been pleased to produce in our favor. The Citizens of America are from this period to be considered as the actors of a most conspicuous theater, which seems to be particularly designed by Providence for the display of human greatness and felicity. Heaven has crowned all its other blessing, by giving a fairer opportunity for political happiness, than any other nation has ever been favored with.”

Washington continued with a warning: “According to the system of policy the states shall adopt at this moment, they will stand or fall; and by their confirmation or lapse, it is yet to be decided, whether the Revolution must ultimately be considered as a blessing or a curse, not to the present age alone, for with our fate will the destiny of unborn millions be involved.”

(Washington’s concern for “unborn millions” was indicative of the founders, who sacrificed prosperity for posterity. Today, some are willing to sacrifice their posterity for prosperity, yoking future generations with ungodliness and unpayable debt.)

John Adams wrote, April 26, 1777: “Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make a good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it.”

Washington concluded with an admonition to follow the example of “the Divine Author of our blessed religion”: “I now make it my earnest prayer that God would have you, and the state over which you preside, in His holy protection; that He would incline the hearts of the citizens to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and particularly for their brethren who have served in the field; and finally, that He would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind, which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy nation.”

Yale President Ezra Stiles spoke of the American flag, May 8, 1783, describing how this nation is different from others which dominate their people through concentrated power: “That symbol of union, THE AMERICAN FLAG with it increasing stripes and stars, may have an equally combining efficacy for ages. The senatorial constitution and consulate of the Roman Empire lasted from Tarquin — the last Roman king, 509 B.C. — to Caesar — Roman dictator, 49 B.C..

The Assyrian endured without mutation through a tract of one thousand three hundred years from Semiramis — legendary ancient Babylonian queen — to Sardanapalus — alleged last Assyrian ruler, 627 B.C.. Nor was the policy of Egypt overthrown for a longer period from the days of Metzraim — upper and lower Nile kingdoms, c.3,300 B.C. — till the time of Cambyses — Persian conqueror of Egypt, 525 B.C. — and Amasis — last great Egpytian ruler, 526 B.C. — The Medo-Persian — 550-330 B.C. — and Alexandrine Empires — 356-323 B.C. — and that of Timur — 1370-1405 A.D. — who once reigned from Smyrna to the Indus, were of short and transitory duration. Pragmatic sanction secured the imperial succession in the House of Austria for ages — Habsburgs, 1020-1780. Whatever mutations may arise in the United States, perhaps hereditary monarchy and a standing army will be the last.”

Ben Franklin warned June 2, 1787: “There is scarce a king in a hundred who would not, if he could, follow the example of Pharaoh – get first all the people’s money, then all their lands, and then make them and their children servants forever. There is a natural inclination in mankind to kingly government. I am apprehensive that the government of the states may, in future times, end in a monarchy.”

Yale President Ezra Stiles continued: “This great American revolution, this recent political phenomenon, will be contemplated by all nations. Navigation will carry THE AMERICAN FLAG around the globe itself; and display the thirteen stripes and new constellation at Bengal and Canton, on the Indus and Ganges, on the Whang-ho and the Yang-tse-kiang; and with commerce will import the wisdom and literature of the east. That prophecy of Daniel is now literally fulfilling – there shall be a universal traveling to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. This knowledge will be brought home and treasured up in America: and being here digested and carried to the highest perfection, may re-blaze back from America to Europe, Asia and Africa, and illumine the world with truth and liberty.”

Ezra Stiles added: “John Adams observes — in letter from Amsterdam, April 28, 1782: ‘But the great designs of Providence must be accomplished. The progress of society will be accelerated by centuries by this revolution. American ideas of toleration and religious liberty will become the fashionable system of Europe very soon. Light spreads from the Dayspring in the west — Luke 1:78; and may it shine more and more until the perfect day — Proverbs 4:18.”

Stiles concluded: “The United States will embosom all the religious sects or denominations in Christendom:

The Presbyterian, the Church of England, the Unitas Fratrum, Moravian bishops, Ancient Bohemian churches, the Baptists, the Friends. Quakers, the Lutherans, the Romanists, the Dutch, and Gallic, and German reformed or Calvinistic churches, a Greek church brought from Smyrna, Wesyans, Mennonites, all who will give the religious complexion to America, Episcopal, Greek and Armenian patriarchates. With a most generous benevolence of a friendly cohabitation of all sects in America, proving that men may be good members of civil society, and yet differ in religion. Little would civilians have thought ages ago, that the world should ever look to America for models of government.”

President James Buchanan stated March 4, 1857: “We ought to cultivate peace, commerce, and friendship with all nations in a spirit of Christian benevolence toward our fellow-men. The people, under the protection of THE AMERICAN FLAG, have enjoyed civil and religious liberty.”

In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln commented to State Senator James Scovel of New Jersey: “If God gives me four years more to rule this country, I believe it will become what it ought to be — what its Divine Author intended it to be — no longer one vast plantation for breeding human beings for the purpose of lust and bondage. But it will become a new Valley of Jehoshaphat — Joel 3:2, 12, where all the nations of the earth will assemble together UNDER ONE FLAG, worshiping a common God, and they will celebrate the resurrection of human freedom.”

When Lincoln died, President Andrew Johnson stated April 25, 1865: “In order to mitigate that grief on earth which can only be assuaged by communion with the Father in heaven. I appoint the 25th day of May next, to be observed, wherever in the United States THE FLAG OF THE COUNTRY may be respected, as a day of humiliation and mourning, and I recommend citizens assemble in their respective places of worship, there to unite in solemn service to Almighty God.”

President Rutherford B. Hayes noted in his diary that during the Civil War: “Archbishop John Baptist Purcell strung THE AMERICAN FLAG, in the crisis of our fate, from the top of the Cathedral in Cincinnati April 16, 1861! The spire was beautiful before, but the Catholic prelate made it radiant with hope and glory for our country!”

When Rutherford B. Hayes died, President Benjamin Harrison described him, January 18, 1893: “He was a patriotic citizen, a lover of THE FLAG and of our free institutions, an industrious and conscientious civil officer, a soldier of dauntless courage, a loyal comrade and friend, a sympathetic and helpful neighbor, and the honored head of a happy Christian home.”

President Andrew Johnson stated while serving as a Senator from Tennessee (The Life and Public Services of Andrew Johnson-State Papers, Speeches and Addresses, by John Savage, NY: Derby & Miller, 1866, p. 247, appendix p. 87, January 31, 1862): “Let us look forward to the time when we can take THE FLAG OF OUR COUNTRY and nail it below the Cross, and there let it wave as it waved in the olden times, and let us gather around it and inscribe for our motto: ‘Liberty and Union, one and inseparable, now and forever,’ and exclaim, ‘Christ first, our country next!'”

In dedicating the Oregon Trail, President Warren G. Harding stated July 3, 1923: Never in the history of the world has there been a finer example of civilization following Christianity. The missionaries led under the banner of the Cross, and the settlers moved close behind under the STAR-SPANGLED SYMBOL OF THE NATION.”

On January 10, 1963, Democrat Congressman Albert Sydney Herlong Jr., of Florida, read into the Congressional Record the 45 communist goals for America, which included:

“12. Do away with all loyalty oaths.

17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers’ associations. Put the party line in textbooks.

18. Gain control of all student newspapers.

19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.

25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.

27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with “social” religion. Discredit the Bible.

28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of “separation of church and state.”

29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned …

30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the ‘common man.’

31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the ‘big picture’.

42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use ‘united force’ to solve economic, political or social problems.”

Socialist Howard Zinn wrote A People’s History of the United States, 1980, in order to debunk America’s heritage.

An exposé revealing Zinn’s manipulation of the facts was written by Mary Garbar, Debunking Howard Zinn: Exposing the Fake History That Turned a Generation against America, 2019.

The Founding Fathers, for all their human failings, gave a present to future Americans, namely, each citizen gets to determine their own destiny, in a sense, be the king of their own life, and then all citizens, together, are the king of the country.

The pledge is “to the Flag and to the Republic for which it stands.”

A “republic” is where the people are king, ruling the country through their public servants called representatives.

Kings have subjects, who are subjected to the king’s will. Republics have citizens. The word “citizen” is Greek for co-ruler, co-sovereign, co-king.

When a person pledges allegiance to the Flag, they are pledging allegiance to us being in charge of ourselves. They are saying that we, the people, are the king, not some power-usurping globalist totalitarian deep state dictator.

When someone protests the flag, they are effectively saying: “I don’t want to be the king anymore, I protest this system where I participate in ruling myself, I would rather relinquish authority over my life to deep-state government bureaucrats.”

Whether they fully realize it or not, those who dishonor the flag are effectively rejecting:

• equality before the law,
• freedom of speech,
• freedom of conscience,
• freedom of religion, and
• inalienable rights from the Creator.

“Kneeling” is the universal sign of surrender. Old Testament believers, such as Daniel, or Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, would rather be thrown into the lion’s den or into the fiery furnace than kneel to something other than God.

Early Christian believers would rather be martyred in the Roman Colosseum than kneel to something other than God.

At the Dodger versus Giants baseball game, July 23, 2020, Giants pitcher Sam Coonrod was to only player not to kneel. When asked why, Coonrod stated: “I’m a Christian, so I just believe that I can’t kneel before anything besides God.”

The Christian Post reported, August 3, 2020: “Orlando Magic forward Jonathan Isaac was the lone player to stand during the national anthem. He cited the Gospel later when asked to explain his reasoning. ‘I don’t think that kneeling for me, personally, is the answer. For me, black lives are supported through the Gospel, all lives are supported through the Gospel. My life has been supported by the Gospel. Everyone is made in the image of God and we all share in His glory.'”

Isaac continued: “We all make mistakes but I think the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that there’s grace for us and that Jesus came and died for our sins, and that we all will come to an understanding of that and that God wants to have a relationship with us.”

Ron

The Bible says: Hebrews 12:1-2

“Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.”

Whenever you struggle with your faith in a particular situation, remember: you can place your trust in Jesus because of who He is and what He’s done.

He is your Savior, Lord, Life-giver, Protector, Provider, Counselor, Sustainer, and Redeemer. He knows everything about you—even details you don’t know about yourself.

Because the Lord God is omniscient and omnipotent, He always knows what is absolutely best for you. And because He loves you, you can count on the fact that He will faithfully provide it for you.

Your wonderful Savior has forgiven you of all your sins (Colossians 1:13-14) He is absolutely sovereign, unfathomably wise, and He cares for you perfectly.

Friend, you can trust Jesus to guide your steps. So place your absolute faith in Him, confident that He will honor your trust in Him and lead you to life at its very best.

Pray: “Lord Jesus, I fix my eyes on You, confident You will lead me in the best way possible, amen.“

(We hear a lot about the famous generals of WWII like McArthur and Eisenhouer, but little about Omar Bradley. He was also an integral part of the victory that saved fredom for the civilized world. Below is a brief history of his life and some of his thoughts about life and America so you will know. Do read it.)

Five-Star General Omar Bradley died APRIL 8, 1981.

In August 1944, General Omar Bradley led the 12th Army Group in France and Germany, consisting of a million men in four armies.

President Johnson addressed him, May 23, 1964: “General Bradley, you were the field commander of more American fighting troops than any commander in any era.”

Born 1893, in his grandparents’ cabin a short distance from Clark, Missouri, Omar Bradley would walk to school with his father.

He helped provide food for his family through hunting and fishing.

Bradley was 12 years old when his father died.

 He became a star player on his high school baseball team.

In his autobiography, A General’s Life-An Autobiography by General of the Army Omar N. Bradley (Simon & Schuster, 1983), he wrote:

“The editor of the 1909 yearbook wrote of me, ‘a good ball player, if he does not look like one.'”

Bradley worked for Wabash Railroad, similar to another Missouri leader, Harry S Truman, who worked for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway.

Like Harry S Truman, who attended a Presbyterian Sunday School, Omar Bradley attended Central Christian Church Sunday School, as he stated in A General’s Life (1983):

“Father was raised in the Church of Christ, baptized by immersion at about age 15 and called a ‘Christian.’ Mother, like all the Hubbards, was a Baptist, but she converted to the Christian Church. We walked to the Church of Christ every Sunday, wearing our finest clothes.

Although mother was not a devout woman, she was a regular Sunday churchgoer, as was I. We joined the Central Christian Church, an impressive new stone structure with a soaring steeple and a large congregation.”

Omar Bradley’s church attendance was providential, as it was his Sunday School superintendent at Central Christian Church in Moberly, Missouri, who recommended he apply to West Point.

He wrote: “Every member of our baseball team at West Point became a general: this proves the value of team sports.”

President Eisenhower said, April 29, 1954: “I thank General Bradley, my old comrade in arms, my classmate from West Point, my great associate in World War II.”

Bradley commanded the 2nd Army Corps in North Africa and was Senior Commander of U.S. Ground Forces for the invasion of France.

General Omar Bradley wrote of being on the USS Ancon during the invasion of Sicily, July of 1943, (A General’s Life-An Autobiography by General of the Army Omar N. Bradley, Simon & Schuster, 1983, p. 181):

“Paratroopers left me with no immediate reserves ashore to call on. Allen’s sector was thus a potential weak link in the beachhead chain. And yet I counted our blessings. All our forces had got ashore with negligible casualties and were displaying remarkable aggressiveness. Surveying the chaotic beaches with binoculars from the bridge of the Ancon I offered a silent prayer of thanks to God. The Allies had returned to Europe to stay.”

He later wrote: “I have returned many times to honour the valiant men who died.Every man who set foot on Omaha Beach was a hero.”

After liberating Nazi prison camps, Bradley stated: “The smell of death overwhelmed us even before we passed through the stockade. More than 3200 naked, emaciated bodies had been flung into shallow graves. Others lay in the streets where they had fallen. Eisenhower’s face whitened into a mask. Patton walked over to a corner and pucked. I was too revolted to speak. For here death had been so fouled by degradation that it both stunned and numbed us.”

General Omar Bradley was quoted in Edgar F. Puryear’s 19 Stars: A Study in Military Character and Leadership (1981): “Dependability, integrity, the characteristic of never knowingly doing anything wrong, that you would never cheat anyone, that you would give everybody a fair deal. Character is a sort of an all-inclusive thing. If a man has character, everyone has confidence in him. Soldiers must have confidence in their leader.”

Bradley stated:

• “I learned that good judgment comes from experience and that experience grows out of mistakes.”

• “Bravery is the capacity to perform properly even when scared half to death.”

• “This is as true in everyday life as it is in battle: we are given one life and the decision is ours whether to wait for circumstances to make up our mind, or whether to act, and in acting, to live.”

 General Bradley was Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, 1948-49, and first Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1950.

President Gerald Ford remarked upon presenting Omar Bradley with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, January 10, 1977: “Military hero, courageous in battle, and gentle in spirit, friend of the common soldier, General of the Army, first Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he embodies the best of the American military tradition with dignity, humanity, and honor.”

General Omar Bradley stated in an Armistice Day speech, November 10, 1948 (published in Omar Bradley’s Collected Writings, Volume 1, 1967): “To ignore the danger of aggression is simply to invite it. We shall doom our children to a struggle that may take their lives. We know that unless free peoples stand boldly and united against the forces of aggression, they may fall wretchedly, one by one, into the web of oppression.”

General Omar Bradley stated on Armistice Day, 1948: “With the monstrous weapons man already has, humanity is in danger of being trapped in this world by its moral adolescents. Our knowledge of science has clearly outstripped our capacity to control it. We have many men of science; too few men of God. We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount. The world has achieved brilliance without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. If we continue to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant may prove to be our executioner.”

 In contrast to the totalitarian dictators he fought against, General Omar Bradley stated in his Armistice Day Address, November 10, 1948: “In the United States it is THE PEOPLE who are SOVEREIGN. The Government is THEIRS—to speak THEIR voice and to voice THEIR will.”

He explained: “The nation needs men who think in terms of service to their country and not in terms of their country’s debt to them.”

He continued: “Freedom, no word was ever spoken that has held out greater hope, demanded greater sacrifice, needed more to be nurtured, blessed more the giver. . . or came closer to being God’s will on earth.”

Bradley warned: “America today is running on the momentum of a godly ancestry, and when that momentum runs out, God help America.”

Ron

The Bible says: Romans 1:17

“The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, ‘But the righteous man shall live by faith.'”

The greatest barrier to our faith is not circumstances, your past, or anyone’s actions. Rather, it’s your lack of belief in God’s sovereignty, wisdom, and love. You don’t trust Him. And it’s hindering His power from flowing in your life.

So how do you overcome faulty faith? First, ask the Lord to help you be so centered on Him that when difficulties arise, you immediately look for Him and He will help you achieve this focus as you spend time with Him and meditate on His Word daily.

Second, relinquish you desire for control. Friend, it’s scary to let go; there’s no doubt about it. But whenever the Father calls you to follow Him in Faith, He promises to support you every step of the way. He assumes full responsibility for your needs and is ready to equip you for whatever arises.

So overcome your faulty faith by releasing your need to direct your circumstances and trusting in your sovereign Savior. Obey God and leave the consequences to Him. He will certainly bless you.

So pray: ‘Father strengthen my faith. Help me to trust you fully whenever troubles arise and keep my eyes fixed on You, Amen’.

(Below is an accurate account of the founding of the U.S. Marines and the U.S. Coast Guard. Do read it so that you will know the history of their beginning)

When a lower court does not give you justice, you appeal your case to a higher court, and ultimately to the Supreme Court.

But what if the Supreme Court does not give you justice?

You appeal to Heaven!

This was the inspiration behind one of the first flags of America’s navy — The Pine Tree Flag.

Why the Pine Tree?

Eastern White Pine Trees grew to a height of over 150 feet and were ideal for use as masts on British ships.

The King would send forest surveyor agents onto colonial American farms and mark the best trees as belonging to the King.

These pines contributed to the British navy becoming the most powerful navy in the world.

Colonists did not like government agents coming onto their property.

In 1734, there was a Mast Tree Riot where men disguised as Indians chased away the King’s forest surveyor.

In 1772, New Hampshire had another show of resistance with the Pine Tree Riot.

The King sent agents to enforce his claim to every tree in New England over 12 inches in diameter.

In 1772, the sheriff came to South Weare, New Hampshire, to arrest those who had cut down some of the King’s trees.

In retaliation, 30 men burst into the sheriff’s room at the inn at night. With their faces blackened with soot to hide their identity, they beat the sheriff sore with switches made from pine branches.

The men were later arrested and forced to pay a fine.

This incident was a test of the King’s authority and was considered by some as the beginnings of the revolution.

When the Revolutionary War started, General Washington’s secretary, Colonel Joseph Reed, suggested in a letter, October 21, 1775:

“Construct a flag with a white ground and a tree in the middle, the motto AN APPEAL TO HEAVEN.”

On July 26, 1776, the Massachusetts General Court chose it as the flag of the state’s navy:

“…that the Colours be a white Flag, with a green Pine Tree, and an Inscription, ‘APPEAL TO HEAVEN.'”

CNN published the article “The history behind the controversial ‘Appeal to Heaven’ flag,” May 31, 2024, stating:

“The Appeal to Heaven flag has multiple meanings and has been used in differing capacities. The flag served as a naval ensign in Massachusetts until 1971, and until recently, flew outside San Francisco’s city hall alongside other historic flags.” 

The Pine Tree Flag was a symbol of resistance similar to the Liberty Tree Flag.

Both were flown in New England towns, churches, riverbanks, as well as at the nation’s capital in Philadelphia. The flag’s phrase, “An Appeal to Heaven,” was first used by John Locke in his Second Treatise on Civil Government, 1690, regarding the right of citizens who have been denied justice to go above the King’s head: “Where the body of the people is deprived of their right where there lies no appeal on earth … they have just cause to make their appeal to heaven. Where there is no judicature (justice) on earth, to decide controversies amongst men, God in heaven is judge. He alone, it is true, is Judge of the right. So in this he should appeal to the Supreme Judge.”

Patrick Henry referenced the phrase in his “give me liberty or give me death” speech at the Second Virginia Convention, March 23, 1775:

“An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us! We shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations.”

Massachusetts Provincial Congress stated April 26, 1775, following the Battles of Lexington and Concord:

“Appealing to Heaven for the justice of our cause, we determine to die or be free.”

Thomas Jefferson helped draft The Declaration of Causes and Necessity for Taking Up Arms, July 6, 1775, which stated:

“We most solemnly, before God and the world resolved to die freemen rather than to live slaves. With an humble confidence in the mercies of the Supreme and Impartial Judge and Ruler of the Universe.”

The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776, stated:  The American navy can be traced back to the “Appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States.”

In June of 1775, citizens acting as merchant mariners captured the British schooner HMS Margaretta around Machias, Massachusetts (present-day Maine).

That same month, General George Washington, with the help of merchant ship owner Colonel John Glover of Marblehead, Massachusetts, chartered and outfitted several ships to interrupt the British supplies.

The marker at the base of John Glover’s statue in Boston states:

“John Glover of Marblehead – A Soldier of the Revolution. He commanded a regiment of one thousand men raised in that town known as the marine regiment, and enlisted to serve throughout the war.

He joined the camp at Cambridge, June 22, 1775, and rendered distinguished service in transporting the army.”

On September 2, 1775, George Washington personally financed America’s first armed naval vessel, the USS Hannah, named for John Glover’s daughter. Less than a week later, on September 7, 1775, the USS Hannah captured the British ship HMS Unity, the first prize taken by a U.S. naval vessel.

Other ships were outfitted by John Glover:

• Franklin,
• Warren,
• Hancock, and
• Lee.

These ships had crews mostly of experienced Massachusetts fisherman who defended American ports and raided British ships transporting ammunition and supplies.

This flotilla, sometimes referred to as Washington’s fleet, captured 55 British ships.

The American schooner Lee captured the British brig HMS Nancy on November 29, 1775, with its cargo of 2,000 Brown Bess muskets, 100,000 flints, 30,000 of artillery ammunition, 30 tons of musket ammunition, and a 13 inch brass mortar.

This was a tremendous benefit to the new Continental Army stationed near Boston.

A Continental Congress resolution to create a navy was introduced October 13, 1775, but was tabled.

On December 22, 1775, the resolution passed, and the Continental Congress authorized a Continental Navy, consisting of:

• two 24-gun frigates, Alfred and Columbus;

• two 14-gun brigs, Andrew Doria and Cabot;

• three schooners, Hornet, Wasp, and Fly.
• he Continental Navy was put under the command of Esek Hopkins, Esq.

Plus the three masted fighting ship, The Eagle, which served with distinction during the war and is still maintained by the Cadets at Annapolis in sailing condition.

Four captains were appointed:

Dudley Saltonstall, Abraham Whipple, Nicholas Biddle and John Burrows Hopkins.

Congress also commissioned five first lieutenants, one of whom was the future naval hero, John Paul Jones.

On August 27, 1776, Washington lost the devastating Battle of Brooklyn Heights. The entire American army was trapped against the water. The Revolutionary War would have ended there unless Washington could find a way to evacuate his army.

John Glover and his Marblehead fishermen saved the day by rowing Washington and the entire Continental Army, under an amazing fog, that all knew was provided by God, for there had never been suck a fog on the East River to last most all day.  It caused no sound to be heard by the British forces, dug-in right there, as Washington’s men escaped across the East River to Manhattan Island.

Glover’s large Durham rowboats also ferried Washington and the Continental Army across the ice packed Delaware River for the surprise attack on the German Hessian troops at the Battle of Trenton, December 26, 1776 on Christmas day.

Another early American flag was designed by Brigadier General Christopher Gadsden, a South Carolina delegate to the Continental Congress.

The flag had the words “Don’t Tread On Me.”

Ben Franklin had made that phrase popular during the French and Indian War by printing it in his Pennsylvania Gazette, 1754, in a call to join the Albany Congress.

Ben Franklin and John Adams described Gadsden’s flag in a letter to the Ambassador of Sicily, 1778:

“ A South Carolina flag with a rattlesnake in the middle of thirteen stripes.”

South Carolina congressional journals, February 9, 1776, recorded:  “Col. Gadsden presented to the Congress an elegant standard, such as is to be used by the commander in chief of the American Navy; being a yellow field, with a lively representation of a rattlesnake in the middle in the attitude of going to strike and these words underneath, “Don’t tread on me.”

A version of the Gadsden Flag was called the First Navy Jack, and was flown by Esek Hopkins, the first Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Navy, on his flagship the USS Alfred.

It was also flown by John Paul Jones and other Navy ships.

Where the army fought on land, and the navy fought at sea, and a special force was created of soldiers who could sail and fight with the navy and also lead an invasion and fight on land.

On November 10, 1775, the Continental Congress passed a resolution creating two battalions of Continental Marines.

The first marines were recruited at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia, and served under the command of Captain Samuel Nicholas.

The first Marine amphibious assault was on March 3, 1776, when they sailed to the Bahamas and captured a British ammunition depot and naval port, Fort Montagu and Fort Nassau.

America’s first navy grew to over 40 vessels.

On August 4, 1790, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton recommended the creation of the Revenue Marine, later called Revenue Cutter Service.

It consisted of 10 ships charged with stopping smuggling and French privateers from operating in American waters.

The Revenue Marine’s first seven masters (captains) were commissioned by President George Washington on March 12, 1791. The Revenue-Marine was the only armed maritime service of the United States till the Department of the Navy was created in 1798.

During the U.S.-French Quasi War of 1798, eight Revenue Cutter vessels were among the 45 American ships that served in combat.

The Marines were recommissioned on July 11, 1798. The Marines fought in the Barbary Wars, “to the shores of Tripoli,” against the Muslim pirates of North Africa, 1801-1805, 1815. (And in my favorite movie “The Wind and The Lion” the Marines marched in in their dress blues and mowed down all the guards of the Pasha and freed Mrs. Pedecaris from the Raisuli.)

Marines fought courageously in future American conflicts, as in the War of 1812, where they firmly held the center line of defense at the Battle of New Orleans, under the command of General Andrew Jackson.

The United States Revenue-Marine ships began intercepting slave ships from North Africa after the U.S. Government passed the Slave Trade Act of 1794.

Captured Africans had been sold at Arab Muslim slave markets since the 7th century, notably in Morocco, Algiers, Tripoli, Cairo and Zanzibar.

Beginning in the 15th century, Arabs sold African slaves to Portuguese merchants, followed by Spanish, Dutch, French and English merchants.

Arabs made slaves of Europeans they captured at sea or coastal towns.

The Ottoman Empire captured and sold about 2 million Russians and Polish-Lithuanians as slaves, most notably at slave markets in Caffa (Feodosia) on the Black Sea.

A 19th century account of the Arab-African slave trade was given by the missionary David Livingstone.

“We passed a slave woman shot or stabbed through the body and lying on the path, an Arab who passed early that morning had done it in anger at losing the price he had given for her, because she was unable to walk any longer.

We passed a woman tied by the neck to a tree and dead.

We came upon a man dead from starvation.

The strangest disease I have seen in this country seems really to be broken heartedness, and it attacks free men who have been captured and made slaves.”

David Livingstone estimated that each year over 80,000 Africans died before reaching the Muslim slave markets, writing to the editor of the New York Herald:

“If my disclosures regarding the terrible Ujijian slavery should lead to the suppression of the East Coast slave trade, I shall regard that as a greater matter by far than the discovery of all the Nile sources together.”

On January 1, 1808, exactly 55 years before Republican President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, Congress closed all U.S. ports to the importation of slaves.

The U.S. Revenue Cutter Service intercepted slave ships coming from Africa and freed nearly 500 slaves.

One such slave ship, the Antelope, was captured by the U.S. Revenue-Marines on June 29, 1820, off the coast of Florida.

To free the slaves, Francis Scott Key fought legal battles in their defense, spending his own time and money for seven years, arguing for the slaves’ freedom all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Francis Scott Key also gave legal help to John Quincy Adams in his 1841 fight to free slaves from the ship La Amistad.

The U.S. Revenue Cutter Service defended the United States in many major conflict, including the:

• Quasi War with France;

• War of 1812;

• Counter-Piracy operations;

• Mexican-American War; (From which “From the Halls of Montezuma” was added to the Marine Anthem.)

• Civil War,

• Spanish-American War,

• World Wars I and II.

In 1915, the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service was merged with the U.S. Lifesaving Service to form the U.S. Coast Guard.

The original anthem of the  Guard U.S. Coast was:

“To sink the foe or save the maimed,

Our mission and our pride,

We’ll carry on ’til Kingdom Come,

Ideals for which we’ve died.”

In 1939, the U.S. Lighthouse Service was merged into the U.S. Coast Guard, as was the Steamboat Inspection Service and Bureau of Navigation in 1946.

In 1967, the U.S. Coast Guard was transferred to the Department of Transportation.

President John F. Kennedy remarked aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Training Barque “Eagle,” August 15, 1962:  “This is a very ancient service in our country’s history. Its first father Alexander Hamilton, began the Coast Guard as a revenue collecting service, asked the Congress of the United States for appropriations for 10 vessels.

The first, Eagle, was one of our most distinguished warships, and in actions against privateers of France, captured over five vessels, and recaptured seven American vessels”

President Kennedy ended:  “This is the oldest continuous seagoing service in the United States, stretching back to the beginning of our country.”

Acknowledging that protecting the borders was a primary reason for the creation of the Federal Government, President Herbert Hoover stated December 27, 1929:

“A further proposal is the definite expansion of the Coast Guard in the matter of border patrol.”

Included in the list of casualties at the WWII Battle of Okinawa, President Truman stated, June 1, 1945:  “Navy and Coast Guard losses were 4,729 killed and 4,640 wounded.”  

At the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, September 20, 1952, President Truman stated:  “I was just reading about the Coast Guard’s icebreaker that has been closer to the North Pole than any other ship in delivering food and supplies to a station up there. That, my young friends, is what makes this country great.”

President John F. Kennedy continued his address aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Training Barque “Eagle,” August 15, 1962:  “You serve our country in peacetime, on ice patrols and weather patrols, in protecting the standards of the merchant marine, in protecting safety at sea and in time of war you, with the American Navy, as you did in World War II and at the time of Korea.”

At the U.S. Coast Guard commencement in New London, June 3, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson remarked:  “Winston Churchill once said: ‘Civilization will not last, freedom will not survive, peace will not be kept, unless mankind unites together to defend them and show themselves possessed of a power before which barbaric forces will stand in awe’. In every area of national strength America today is stronger than it has ever been before, It is stronger than the combined might of all the nations in the history of the world. And I confidently predict that strength will continue to grow.”

President Johnson continued:

“No one can live daily, as I must do, with the dark realities of nuclear ruin, without seeking the guidance of God to find the path of peace. We have built this staggering strength not to destroy but to save, not to put an end to civilization but rather to try to put an end to conflict.”

At a U.S. Coast Guard commencement, May 18, 1988, President Reagan stated to the Cadets: 

“It’s our prayer for you to serve America in peace. It’s our commitment to defend her in war.”

Ron

The Bible says: Psalm 42:2

“My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.”

Do you feel discouraged, dry, and weak, as if God has disappeared and you’re merely surviving? At times, the Father allows you to face a season when you feel defeated and spiritually parched in order to draw you closer to Himself.

Although you might think the desert experiences of life would drive you farther from the Savior, but they can actually mature your faith in Him greatly, like a lost child looking for his parents, you seek Him desperately, listen intently for His voice, and long for His presence.

You also cast off anything that would hinder you from finding Him. In fact, more than likely you’ll discover that when you don’t feel the Father’s presence, it’s because you’ve unintentionally become focused on something other than Him. You are distracted and no longer drinking in His marvelous presence. He’s not your first priority, so He creates a thirst for Him in you.

So return to the Lord and enjoy Him. it may take time to rebuild your relationship, but be assured, those who seek Him “shall be satisfied” (Mathew 5:6).

Prayer: ‘Lord, I am thirsty for Your wonderful presence. Restore our fellowship and help me experience Your love, Amen’.

(We hear much about the courage and sacrifice of the founders of our Republic. However, there were others in recent years with just as much courage and sacrifice. Here is the story of four amazing ‘Men of God’ with such courage that they willingly gave their lives that four others could live. Please read about them below.)

On the frigid night of FEBRUARY 3, 1943, the overcrowded Allied ship U.S.A.T. Dorchester, carrying 902 servicemen, plowed through the dark, freezing waters near Greenland.

At 1:00am, a Nazi submarine fired a torpedo into the transport’s flank, killing many in the explosion and trapping others below deck. It sank in 27 minutes. The two escort ships, Coast Guard cutters Comanche and Escanaba, were able to rescue only 231 survivors.

In the chaos of fire, smoke, oil and ammonia, four chaplains calmed sailors and distributed life jackets:

George L. Fox, Methodist

Alexander D. Goode, Jewish

Clark V. Poling, Duch Reformed

John P. Washington, Roman Catholic

When there were no more life jackets, the four chaplains ripped off their own and put them on four young men. As the ship went down, survivors floating in rafts could see the four chaplains linking arms and bracing themselves on the slanting deck. They bowed their heads in prayer as they sank to their icy deaths.

Survivor Grady Clark wrote: “As I swam away from the ship, I looked back. The flares had lighted everything. The bow came up high and she slid under. The last thing I saw, the Four Chaplains were up there praying for the safety of Survivor the men. They had done everything they could. I did not see them again. They themselves did not have a chance without their life jackets.”

The Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba was able to rescue only 231 survivors from the Dorchester:

By an Act of Congress, July 14, 1960………The Four Chaplains Medal was created:

In 1998, Congress honored them by declaring February 3rd “Four Chaplains Day.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt acknowledged Protestants, Catholics, and Jews working together for liberty in his address at Madison Square Garden, October 28, 1940:  “Your government is working with representatives of Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish faiths. Without these three, all three of them, things would not be as easy.”

FDR stated January 31, 1938:  “There has been definite progress towards a spiritual reawakening. I receive evidences of this from all our Protestant Churches; I get it from Catholic priests and from Jewish rabbis as well.”

FDR stated December 6, 1933:  “Government guarantees to the churches, Gentile and Jewish, the right to worship God in their own way.”

In a Radio Address, November 4, 1940, FDR stated:  “Democracy is the birthright of every citizen, the white and colored; the Protestant, the Catholic, the Jew.”

On February 3, 1951, President Harry S. Truman dedicated the Chapel of the Four Chaplains, currently located at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.

Truman said: “This interfaith shrine will stand through long generations to teach Americans that as men can die heroically as brothers so should they live together in mutual faith and goodwill.”

In 1984, the Chapel of the Four Chaplains gave an award recognizing the military chaplain team, made up of a Protestant minister, a Catholic priest, and a Jewish rabbi, who were present at the 1983 Beirut Bombing where fundamental Muslim terrorists blew up the U.S. Marine barracks, killing 241 U.S. Marines.

President Ronald Reagan memorialized them in a speech at the Baptist Annual Convention, April 13, 1984: “On that October day when a terrorist truck bomb took the lives of 241 marines, soldiers, and sailors at the airport in Beirut, one of the first to reach the tragic scene was a chaplain, the chaplain of our 6th Fleet, Rabbi Arnold E. Resnicoff. He said, ‘Screams of those injured or trapped were barely audible at first, as our minds struggled to grapple with the reality before us, a massive four-story building, reduced to a pile of rubble; dust mixing with smoke and fire, obscuring our view of the little that was left.

Trying to pull and carry those whose injuries appeared less dangerous in an immediate sense than the approaching fire or the smothering smoke. My kippa was lost. (That is the little headgear that is worn by rabbis.) The last I remember it, I’d used it to mop someone’s brow. Father Pucciarelli, the Catholic chaplain, cut a circle out of his cap, a piece of camouflaged cloth which would become my temporary head-covering. Somehow he wanted those marines to know not just that we were chaplains, but that he was a Christian and that I was Jewish.”

Reagan continued quoting Chaplain Rabbi Resnicoff: “The words from the prophet Malachi kept recurring to me, words he’d uttered some 2,500 years ago as he had looked around at fighting and cruelty and pain. ‘Have we not all one Father?’ he had asked. ‘Has not one God created us all?’ To understand the role of the chaplain, Jewish, Catholic, or Protestant, is to understand that we try to remind others, and perhaps ourselves as well, to cling to our humanity even in the worst of times. We bring with us the truth that faith not only reminds us of the holy in Heaven, but also of the holiness we can create here on Earth. We have within us the power to reflect as God’s creatures the highest values of our Creator. As God is forgiving and, merciful, so can we be.'”

Reagan stated January 31, 1983: “Let us come together, Christians and Jews, let us pray together. All of us, as Protestants, Catholics, and Jews, have a special responsibility to remember our fellow believers who are being persecuted in other lands. We’re all children of Abraham. We’re children of the same God.”

On February 7, 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower spoke from the White House for the American Legion ‘Back-to-God’ Program: “And we remember that, only a decade ago, aboard the transport Dorchester, four chaplains of four faiths together willingly sacrificed their lives so that four others might live.

Eisenhower continued: “Today as then, there is need for positive acts of renewed recognition that faith is our surest strength, our greatest resource. This ‘Back to God’ movement is such a positive act. Whatever our individual church, whatever our personal creed, our common faith in God is a common bond among us. Together we thank ‘the Power’ that has made and preserved us a nation. By the millions, we speak prayers, we sing hymns-and no matter what their words may be, their spirit is the same – ‘In God is Our Trust.'”

Another inspiring story of a Christian risking his life to save soldiers was combat medic Desmond Doss, as portrayed in the award-winning film Hacksaw Ridge (2016). Doss saved 75 soldiers during the Battle of Okinawa, for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor.

Yet another inspiring story was that of Chaplain William Thomas Cummings, who served with the U.S. Army in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured by the Imperial Japanese and died when his unmarked prisoner ship was sunk sailing to Japan on January 18, 1945. Earlier, while serving with the American troops during the Battle of Bataan, January 7 to April 9, 1942, Chaplain Father Cummings gave a stirring field sermon in which he declared: “There are no atheists in the foxholes.”

Eisenhower repeated these words in his address February 7, 1954: “As a former soldier, I am delighted that our veterans are sponsoring a movement to increase our awareness of God in our daily lives. In battle, they learned a great truth — ‘that there are no atheists in the foxholes’. They know that in time of test and trial, we instinctively turn to God for new courage and peace of mind. All the history of America bears witness to this truth.

In the three centuries that separate the Pilgrims of the Mayflower from the chaplains of the Dorchester, America’s freedom, her courage, her strength, and her progress have had their foundation in faith.”

Ron

The Bible says Genesis 17: 1-2 (Emphasis Added)

“I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be blameless. I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly”

Do not miss the pivotal words in the covenant between the Lord and Abrahan: “I will.” From the beginning, God took the full responsibility for fulfilling His promise. It was up to Him to give Abraham a son and multiply his descendants.

Have you asked the Father to help you in some area? Is His answer taking longer than you expected? Does the attainment of your hope seem impossible? Don’t make the terrible mistake of taking matters into your own hands. Sarah did so by offering her maidservant Hagar to Abraham, and Israel is still suffering because of her impatience.

Rather, remember that it’s “God who accomplishes all things” for you (Psalm 57:2). Abraham’s only responsibility was to follow the Lord obediently, and the same is true for you.

So stop trying to handle everything on your own. It’s His responsibility. Trust that the Father has wondrous plans for your life and that he will bring them about.

On this one trip to Honduras, it was so very hot and humid.  I worked mostly in the dental clinic, for there were always way more people needing relief from severe dental problems than we could possibly treat.

Before we go, I always ask the doctors going for the first time to go back and study some of the things that they had in medical school but have never seen in their practice in the US.   On this one occasion I remember that an older man came in with advanced jungle rot.  His whole foot was grossly swollen and just covered in a mass of it.  The doctor came over to me and said:  “Ronald, I don’t know what to do about this.  I can’t do an amputation down here.  What shall I do?”  

I told his nurse to spray it all down with Hydrogen Peroxide and bandage it up.  The old gentleman went away happy and smiling.

Also, on this trip, I was walking through the room where the ladies were finding the glasses from all those that had been donated to match the prescriptions that Dr. Youngerman had written.  They were then adjusting them to fit the heads of the patients with that prescription after those glasses had been found.  Just as I was about to leave, I noticed this one lady who was just standing there, quietly crying.

Of course, I asked her what was wrong, like was she ill?  She assured me that she was fine, but that it had to do with this one older Hispanic lady who had just left.  She said that after she had fitted the lady with her new glasses, she just stood there looking at her hands.  She asked the lady if something was wrong with her hands.

Did she need to go see one of the doctors?  The Hispanic lady said that her hands were fine.

She just said:  “This is the first time that I have been able to see my hands in as long as I can remember.”

This just struck an emotional chord with this lovely lady volunteer from Hurst, Texas and brought her to tears.

As you might suspect, finding the optimum job for each volunteer can be a challenge.  And in that heat and pressure, some folk’s temper gets the better of them late in the day.

On several trips this one guy went with us who was not mean, but just very aggressive.  The other team members called him “Rambo”.   I finally found just the right job for Rambo.  Almost without exception almost everyone down there needs worming.  It won’t last that long with the grownups, but we hope that the children will be able to stay worm free long enough for their mental facilities to develop so that they will not be impaired later in life.  I learned to put Rambo out in the very front of each clinic.   His job was to worm every single person coming into the clinic.  It worked great, and he really “adapted himself” to the task.

But on this trip, we encountered a major catastrophe.  We ran out of worm medicine with several more days to go.  I rely on the doctors to furnish the particular drugs that they think that they will need.  Much of the time they are able to use the samples that the drug salesmen leave at their offices.  However, someone slipped up this time and did not order nearly enough worm medicine.

On this trip our pharmacist was the pharmacy director for a Sack-and-Save store in Denton, Texas.  He was a real character.  Some might have described him as a “real piece of work.”  He told me not to worry about it, that he would take care of it.  And he for sure did.  He went to the one agricultural store in that town of Tela and bought a supply of cattle spray.  He was good; he knew what he was doing.  He diluted it down sufficiently with some organic chemicals and that became our worm medicine.  It turned out to be a bright pink, and, wow, was it effective.  I kid you not, for years after that I got calls from down there wanting some more of that pink worm medicine.  They had never had anything so effective.

So, I kept hearing a rumor on this one trip that some of the people had found a little girl and were planning on bringing her back with us.  I did not investigate and did not talk with them, but only when we got to the airport at San Pedro Sula did I see the little girl.  Her mother had dressed her in her best dress, and she was just a darling girl with the most engaging smile.  Her problem was that this massive growth covered the whole area of what would have been her right eye…….that whole area of her face.  I guessed her to be about 9 years old.

One of the doctors with us had called his friend in Mississippi who he knew specialized in such things.  The doctor in Mississippi had promised to operate on her.  Other than that horrible growth, she was just the cutest thing with her very best dress on.  Her name is Valentina.

I did not see her again until we got to Houston.  I waited until most all of our group had gone through immigration.  Then I looked way over where those huge curtains were pulled back from the floor to ceiling windows in the Houston terminal.  There was this group of our people with the little girl.  No one was headed toward immigration so I went over to see what was wrong.

They had panicked.  They had realized that this girl had no passport and no visa to enter the United States.  No one wanted to be the person to try to take her up to immigration, so they just handed her to me.

I don’t know how to tell you what happened next.  Just believe me. 

At that moment this powerful rush of power or energy just invaded my body.  It seemed to permeate every single cell.  I suddenly felt as if I could walk through fire or even walk on water.  I just took that little girl by the hand and said:  “Come on ‘little darlin’ Valentina, let’s go to the Estados Unidos”.  I headed straight ahead to the first open immigration station.

I had my passport out, but, of course, she had nothing, not even any ID.  There behind the counter was this huge black man in his green uniform.  He was not fat, he was just really huge and quit official and imposing looking.  He knew why she was there. He looked down at that little girl, and she just smiled up at him.  Big tears welled up in his eyes.  All he could say was:  “Lord bless you sir, Lord bless you sir.  You all just go right on.”  

He did not check my passport or anything as respects Valentina.  So, we just went right on.  She sat next to me on the flight to Dallas.  When we got there, I took her on up to my ranch west of Denton, Texas.  She really enjoyed visiting with my two daughters and my two youngest sons by the swimming pool that looks out over the prairie.  They were so kind to her. 

Before dark, I took her back to Carrollton to Onelia.  Onelia, who is from Honduras and is a nurse with a U.S. RN degree, escorted her to Mississippi the next morning.

A few days later I called Onelia to inquire about the operation.  She said that it was successful, but that the doctors told her that they estimated that the girl would have died in only 3 more weeks without that operation.

Onelia hopes to get her an artificial eye, later, some day.

On every trip that I took to Honduras, this wonderful, impressive lady went with us.  Her name is Barbara Borre.   She is over six feet tall and perfectly proportioned, not overweight and not skinny and very nice looking.  She was one of the top Immigration Officials in the Dallas Region.  Barbara just effused authority.  Since her shoulders were a little wider than most women and the military way in which she carried herself made her all the more impressive looking, especially when she put on her Immigration uniform.

It was very helpful to have her on those trips, since she could tell us what we could take out of the US and what we could bring in.  On every trip she worked in the Dental Clinic. 

When she heard about the little Honduran girl that I have just described and how she was able to get into the US without a passport or even a visa, here is what Barbara said to me by phone:  “Ronald, I can tell you with authority, that was absolutely a miracle from God!”

PS:  When writing this, I became curious about whatever happened to Valentina, so I called down there to Honduras just now.  They told me that she was living up in the mountains with her father and doing fine.

Memorial Day in America, as an annual observance, can be traced back to the end of the Civil War, a war in which over a half-million died. Southern women scattered spring flowers on graves of both northern Union and southern Confederate soldiers.

One of the places where it was first observed was Charleston, South Carolina, where a mass grave was uncovered of 267 Union soldiers who had died in a prison camp. On May 1, 1865, former slaves organized a parade, led by 2,800 singing black children, in which they prayed, read Bible verses, sang spirituals, and reburied the soldiers with honor as an act of gratefulness for their ultimate sacrifice which gave them freedom.

In 1868, General John A. Logan, commander of the Civil War veterans’ organization “The Grand Army of the Republic,” called for a Decoration Day to be observed annually on May 30.

An estimated 180,000 Black soldiers served in the Union Army during the Civil War.

Republican abolitionist Frederick Douglass gave a Decoration Day address at Arlington National Cemetery in 1871:

“We must never forget that the loyal soldiers who rest beneath this sod flung themselves between the nation and the nation’s destroyers.”

President James Garfield’s only executive order was in 1881 where he gave government workers May 30th off so they could decorate the graves of those who died in the Civil War.

In 1921, President Warren Harding had the remains of an unknown soldier killed in France during World War I buried in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington Cemetery.

Inscribed on the Tomb is the phrase: “HERE RESTS IN HONORED GLORY AN AMERICAN SOLDIER KNOWN BUT TO GOD.”

Since 1921, it has been the tradition for Presidents to lay a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which is guarded 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

The number 21 being the highest salute, the sentry takes 21 steps, faces the tomb for 21 seconds, turns and pauses 21 seconds, then retraces his steps.

The number 21 is explained on the U.S. Army Center of Military History website (history.army.mil/index.html): “Warriors demonstrated their peaceful intentions placing their weapons in a position that rendered them ineffective.

Rendering a salute by cannon originated in the 14th century as firearms and cannons came into use. Since these early devices contained only one projectile, discharging them once rendered them ineffective.

Originally warships fired seven-gun salutes—the number seven probably selected because of its astrological and Biblical significance. The Bible states that God rested on the seventh day after Creation, that every seventh year was sabbatical and that the seven times seventh year ushered in the Jubilee year.

Land batteries, having a greater supply of gunpowder, were able to fire three guns for every shot fired afloat, hence the salute by shore batteries was 21 guns.

Early gunpowder, composed mainly of sodium nitrate, spoiled easily at sea, but could be kept cooler and drier in land magazines. When potassium nitrate improved the quality of gunpowder, ships at sea adopted the salute of 21 guns.

The 21-gun salute became the highest honor a nation rendered.

Great Britain, the world’s preeminent seapower in the 18th and 19th centuries, compelled weaker nations to salute first. Eventually, by agreement, the international salute was established at 21 guns, although the United States did not agree on this procedure until August 1875.”  

On Decoration Day, 1923, President Calvin Coolidge stated:  “There can be no peace with the forces of evil. Peace comes only through the establishment of the supremacy of the forces of good.  That way lies through sacrifice. ‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.'”

The Memorial Day poem, “In Flanders Fields,” was composed during World War I, by a Canadian Expeditionary gunner and medical officer named John McCrae, who fought in the Second Battle of Ypres near Flanders, Belgium.

Describing the battle as a “nightmare,” as the enemy carried out one of the first chlorine gas attacks, McCrae wrote:

“For seventeen days and seventeen nights none of us have had our clothes off, nor our boots even, except occasionally. In all that time while I was awake, gunfire and rifle fire never ceased for sixty seconds.  And behind it all was the constant background of the sights of the dead, the wounded, the maimed, and a terrible anxiety lest the line should give way.”

Finding one of his friends killed, McCrae helped bury him along with the other dead in a field.  Noticing the field covered with poppy flowers, he wrote:

“In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. if ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.”

Notable individuals who fought in World War I include:

Sergeant Alvin York, who single-handedly took out 35 machine guns and captured 132;

• John J. Pershing, General of the Armies;
• Douglas MacArthur, Brigadier General;
• George S. Patton, tank commander;
• Leonard Wood, future Army Chief of Staff;

Harry S Truman, artillery officer and future 33rd President;

• Eddie Rickenbacker, commander of 94th Areo Squadron;
• Quentin Roosevelt, a pilot, son of President Theodore Roosevelt, was shot down and died;
• Charles Whittlesey, commander of the “Lost Battalion” behind lines;
• Frank Luke -“balloon buster”

• Irving Berlin, composer of “God Bless America”;
• Edouard Izac, naval office captured on a U-Boat, who escaped;
• Henry Johnson of the “Harlem Hellfighters”;
• Dan Daly, Marine Sergeant charged and captured machine gun nests;
• Ernest Hemingway, author of A Farewell to Arms;
• J.R.R. Tolken, British author of The Lord of the Rings

• C.S. Lewis, British author of The Chronicles of Narnia.

One soldier was Orval William Epperson.

Born on a rugged Ozark farm near Anderson, Missouri, he fought in France, being assigned to the 338th Machine Gun Battalion 88th Division.

Upon returning to America, he married Therese DeBrosse, and had three children: Joan, Orval Wilford, and Tirzah, whose mother was a famous author.

Orval and Therese’s only son was Orval Wilford “Billy” Epperson.

He served in World War II as a bombardier on a B17 Flying Fortress, 525th Squadron, 379 Bomb Group A.P.O. 550 (#0-768946). 23-year-old “Billy” Epperson flew from Camp Crowder in southwest Missouri to Kimbolton, England. He had written a Mother’s Day note to his mom, tied it with a handkerchief to a small weight and dropped it from the plane as it flew over his hometown of Neosho, Missouri.

A neighbor got it and brought to his mother, who lived at 344 S. Hamilton. Little did either know that that would be the closest they would be again, as Billy was shot down by the Nazis over the English Channel near Holland on July 9, 1944.

His name is on the monument near Omaha Beach, at the Cimitière Amèrican de Normandie (in Colleville-sur-Mer, France) at the Killed in Action Wall (“Tablet of the Missing”).

On June 6, 1944 President Franklin Roosevelt offered a D-Day Prayer, which is now part of the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., thanks to the effort led by Chris Long of the Ohio Christian Alliance, as documented in his book For Their Honor:

“My fellow Americans: I ask you to join with me in prayer:  Almighty God, Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our republic, our religion, and our civilization. Give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith. They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. We know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph. Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.”

In 1958, President Eisenhower placed soldiers in the tomb from World War II and the Korean War.  In 1968, one hundred years after the first observance, Decoration Day was moved to the last Monday in May.  In 1971, Decoration Day was renamed “Memorial Day.”

In 1984, President Ronald Reagan placed a soldier from the Vietnam War in the tomb.  DNA test later identified him as pilot Michael Blassie, whose A-37B Dragonfly was shot down near An Loc, South Vietnam. He had graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1970, and prior to that, graduated from St. Louis University High School in 1966. 

                                                                                                                                        IIn 1998, Michael Blassie’s remains were reburied at Jefferson Memorial Cemetery, St. Louis, Missouri.

In 2000, Congress passed The National Moment of Remembrance Act (Public Law 106-579), whereby on each Memorial Day, at 3:00pm, citizens should pause for a moment of prayer: “Congress finds that it is essential to remember and renew the legacy of Memorial Day, to pay tribute to individuals who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to the United States. Greater strides must be made to demonstrate appreciation for those loyal people whose values, represented by their sacrifices, are critical to the future of the United States, and to encourcitizens to dedicate themselves to the principles for which those heroes of the United States died. A symbolic act of unity to honor the men and women of the United States who died in the pursuit of freedom and peace as a day of prayer for permanent peace.”

Memorial Day grew to honor over 1.3 million service men and women who gave their lives defending America’s freedom in every war.

• Revolutionary War (1775-1783) 25,000;
• Barbary Wars (1801-1805; 1815) 45;
• War of 1812 (1812-1814) 20,000;
• Mexican-American War (1846-1848) 13,283;
• Civil War (1861-1865) 625,000;
• Spanish-American War (1898) 2,446;
• World War 1 (1917-1918) 116,516;
• World War 2 (1941-1945) 405,399;
• Korean War (1950-1953) 36,516;
• Vietnam War (1955-1975) 58,209;
• Persian Gulf War (1990-1991) 258;
• Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan (2001-2014) 2,356;
• Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003-2012) 4,489; and
• subsequent wars against Islamic terrorism, securing our borders, and in Ukraine.

At the Memorial Day Ceremony, May 31, 1993, President Bill Clinton remarked:  “The inscription on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier says that he is ‘Known but to God.’ But that is only partly true. While the soldier’s name is known only to God, we know a lot about him. We know he served his country, honored his community, and died for the cause of freedom. And we know that no higher praise can be assigned to any human being than those simple words. In the presence of those buried all around us, we ask the support of all Americans in the aid and blessing of God Almighty.”

Charles Michael Province, U.S. Army, wrote the poem: “It is the Soldier, not the minister Who has given us freedom of religion. It is the Soldier, not the reporter Who has given us freedom of the press. It is the Soldier, not the poet Who has given us freedom of speech. It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer Who has given us freedom to protest. It is the Soldier, not the lawyer Who has given us the right to a fair trial. It is the Soldier, not the politician Who has given us the right to vote. It is the Soldier who salutes the flag, Who serves beneath the flag, And whose coffin is draped by the flag, Who allows the protester to burn the flag.”

Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary stated in its definition of “MEMORIAL”: “That which preserves the memory of something. A monument is a memorial of a deceased person, or of an event. The Lord’s supper is a memorial of the death and sufferings of Christ.”

Memorials are important in Scripture. The Lord told Moses in Exodus 12:  “Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel: In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house. Your lamb shall be without blemish. And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses.

For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and execute judgment and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you. And this day shall be unto you a MEMORIAL throughout your generations, an ordinance for ever.”

Memorial is mentioned in Joshua, chapter 4:  “When all the people were clean, they passed over Jordan. Joshua called twelve men out of every tribe. And Joshua said unto them, Pass over before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of Jordan, and take ye up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder. That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones?

Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it passed over Jordan, and these stones shall be for a MEMORIAL unto the children of Israel for ever.”

In his Memorial Day Address, May 31, 1923, President Calvin Coolidge said: “Settlers came here with mixed motives. Generally defined, they were seeking a broader freedom. They were intent upon establishing a Christian commonwealth in accordance to the principle of self-government. It has been said that ‘God sifted the nations that He might send choice grain into the wilderness.'”

Coolidge was citing an Election Sermon given in Boston, April 29, 1669, by Massachusetts Governor Judge William Stoughton, who described the Puritans fleeing persecution in England to settle in the New World.

“God sifted a whole nation that he might send choice grain over into this wilderness.”

Henry W. Longfellow used a similar line in his classic Courtship of Miles Standish:

“God had sifted three kingdoms to find the wheat for this planting.”

This was explained further in Benjamin Franklin Morris’ classic The Christian Life and Character of The Civil Institutions of The United States (1864): “The persecutions of the Puritans in England for non-conformity, and the religious agitations and conflicts in Germany by Luther, in Geneva by Calvin, and in Scotland by Knox, were the preparatory ordeals for qualifying Christian men for the work of establishing the civil institutions on the American continent. ‘God sifted’ in these conflicts ‘a whole nation that He might send choice grain over into the wilderness’; and the blood and persecution of martyrs became the seed of both the church and the state. It was in these schools of fiery trial that the founders of the American republic were educated and prepared for their grand Christian mission. They were trained in stormy times, in order to prepare them to establish the fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty and of just systems of civil government.”

Concluding in his Memorial Day Address that America’s republic is worth preserving, President Calvin Coolidge stated May 31, 1923: “They had a genius for organized society on the foundations of piety, righteousness, liberty, and obedience of the law. Who can fail to see in it the hand of destiny? Who can doubt that it has been guided by a Divine Providence?”

Douglas MacArthur told West Point cadets, May 1962:

“The soldier, above all other men, is required to practice the greatest act of religious training-sacrifice. In battle and in the face of danger and death, he discloses those Divine attributes which his Maker gave when He created man in His own image. No physical courage and no brute instinct can take the place of Divine help which alone can sustain him. However horrible the incidents of war may be, the soldier who is called upon to offer and to give his life for his country is the noblest development of mankind.”

Ron

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