It says in the Bible: 1John 3:1 
“See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God.

No one  loves you more intimately and unconditionally than God does. He created you to be in relationship with Him—to glorify Him, have fellowship with Him, and be His beloved child forever. 

He wants you to know how deeply and unconditionally He cares for you. There is nothing you could ever do to surprise or disappoint Him because He knows all things and is never shocked by your actions. Although He does not approve of sin, and may urge you to repent of ungodly behavior, He will always invite you back into His presence and accept you when you repent (1 John 1:9).

Therefore, when you do stumble, always remember you have an Advocate before the Father—Jusus Christ—who hears your prayers for forgiveness and cares when you are hurting. God may discipline you when you yield to temptation, but He will never withhold His love from you. You are His child. This truth never changes. And because He is righteous, loving, and steadfast, He will certainly never fail you.

Ron 

You hear much about the men of the American Revolution, but there were many women who were deeply involved. In fact, many believe we never would have won that war without those women. Below I have referenced many of them. You can look on Google to read about the whole story of each one.

Women of The American Revolution

Courageous women have always played a vital role in American history. Addressing the Daughters of the American Revolution, April 19, 1926, President Calvin Coolidge stated: “The importance of women in the working out the destiny of mankind is well known. As there were fathers in our Republic so there were mothers. By their abiding faith they inspired and encouraged the men; by their sacrifice they performed their part in the struggle out of which came our country.”

“We read of the flaming plea of Hanna Arnett, which she made on a dreary day in December, 1776, when Lord Cornwallis, victorious at Fort Lee, held a strategic position in New Jersey. A group of Revolutionists, weary and discouraged, were discussing the advisability of giving up the struggle.  Casting aside the proprieties which forbade a woman to interfere in the counsels of men, Hannah Arnett proclaimed her faith. In eloquent words, which at once shamed and stung to action, she convinced her husband and his companions that righteousness must and will win.”

Women followed the American army to Valley Forge, enduring the freezing 1777. Over 2,500 soldiers perished from hunger, typhoid, jaundice, dysentery, and pneumonia, but also an estimated 500 women died there too. “We have been told of the unselfish devotion of the women who gave their own warm garments to fashion clothing for the suffering Continental Army during that bitter winter at Valley Forge. The burdens of the war were not all borne by the men. Referred to as “camp followers,” these women were organized by Martha Washington, Lucy Knox, wife of Colonel Henry Knox, and Caty Greene, wife of General Nathanael Greene.

To help the Continental Army, they scavenged for supplies, cooked food, washed clothes, formed sewing circles to knit and mended ragged uniforms and blankets, and cared for sick and dying soldiers. One of the ladies, Mrs. Westlake, described Martha Washington: “I never in my life knew a woman so busy from early morning until late at night as was Lady Washington, providing comforts for the sick soldiers.

Esther DeBerdt Reed, wife of officer Joseph Reed, and Sarah Franklin Bache, daughter of Benjamin Franklin, organized “The Ladies of Philadelphia” and raised $300,000 for General Washington to buy warm clothes for American troops.

During the Revolution, many, like Lucy Knox, left their Loyalist British families who sailed for England, never to see them again, in order to join their patriotic American husbands on military assignments in shifting encampments. Lucy and Colonel Henry Knox did not have a permanent home till they were married 20 years later.

“Many have heard of Molly Pitcher, whose heroic services at the Battle of Monmouth helped the sorely tried army of George Washington!” Molly Pitcher is generally believed to be Mary Ludwig Hays. When her husband enlisted, she became one of the “camp followers.”

During the intense heat of the battles, these women would go from trench to trench, carrying pitchers of water to the parched soldiers. These women also carried a continuous supply of water to those loading the cannons. Water was needed to cool and clean the hot barrels of the cannons between shots, using a soaked end of a long ramrod. If this was not done, the cannons would soon overheat and become useless.

At the Battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1778, Molly Pitcher was bringing water to soldiers, while her husband manned one of the cannons. When her husband collapsed from heat stroke, Molly took his place swabbing and loading the cannon for the rest of the battle. A British cannonball flew between her legs, tearing off part of her skirt. Molly straightened up and uttered, “Well, that could have been worse,” and resumed loading the cannon.

As Soldier Joseph Plumb Martin described: “A woman whose husband belonged to the artillery and who was then attached to a piece in the engagement, attended with her husband at the piece the whole time. While in the act of reaching a cartridge and having one of her feet as far before the other as she could step, a cannon shot from the enemy passed directly between her legs without doing any other damage than carrying away all the lower part of her petticoat. Looking at it with apparent unconcern, she observed that “it was lucky it did not pass a little higher, for in that case it might have carried away something else, and continued her occupation.”

Hearing of her courage, General George Washington commended “Molly Pitcher” (Mary Ludwig Hays) issuing her a warrant as a non-commissioned officer. She was known as “Sergeant Molly.”

A similar story is that of Margaret Cochran Corbin, wife of artilleryman John Corbin. On November 16, 1776, John Corbin, along with 2,800 Continental soldiers, defended Manhattan’s Fort Washington, which was being attacked by 9,000 Hessian mercenary troops. Margaret Corbin was bringing water to swab the cannon, when her husband was killed. She immediately took his place at the cannon, and helped return fire. Seriously wounded in her arm, Margaret Corbin, or “Captain Molly,” was the first woman in U.S. history to be awarded a military pension.

When the men of Pepperell, Massachusetts, went off to war, Prudence Cummings Wright and Sarah Shattuck formed their own militia of women to protect the remaining townspeople – “Mrs. David Wright’s Guard.” Their weapons were everything from muskets to farm tools.

Women managed homesteads while their husbands fought. They worked the farms, raised families, and defended against Indians stirred up by the British to attack. Women raised money for suffering soldiers, organized resistance protests, boycotted British-made products, which meant going back to using their old spinning wheels. Women engaged in the riskier roles as messengers, scouts, saboteurs, or spies, the punishment for which, if caught, was hanging.

In addition to well-known names, such as Abigail Adams, Mercy Otis Warren, Dolley Madison, and Deborah Read Franklin, there were:

Catherine “Kate” Moore Barry, the “Heroine of the Battle of Cowpens,” who rode through the back trails of South Carolina to warn of approaching British troops and round up militia, including her husband, to join General Daniel Morgan for the Battle of Cowpens, January 17, 1781.

16-year-old Sybil Ludington, on the night of April 26, 1777, rode 40 miles through Putnam and Dutchess Counties waking up patriots to join the militia, led by her father, Colonel Henry Ludington. Sybil delivered the urgent warning that the British had burned Danbury, Connecticut, and were fast approaching.

Lydia Darragh, a Quaker, had her home commandeered by British officers for weeks. During their meetings, Lydia would hide in a closet under the stairs and listen through the walls. Hearing their plans, Lydia made notes on small pieces of paper and sewed them into button covers on her son’s coat, instructing him to go to General Washington’s camp at Whitemarsh. Her intelligence saved the Americans from a surprise British attack.

22-year-old Deborah Champion, in September 1775, disguised as an old woman wearing a silk hood and an oversized bonnet, risked her life to ride from New London, Connecticut, to Boston, passing several British checkpoints. Deborah was delivering an urgent message from her father, Henry Champion (the Continental Army’s commissary general), to General George Washington, hiding the important papers under the bodice of her linsey-woolsey dress.

Anna Smith Strong was an integral part of the Culper Spy Ring, which gathered information for General Washington, 1778-1781. Robert Townsend, pretending to be a loyalist, learned of British troops movements around New York and told tavern owner Austin Roe, who got it to Abraham Woodhull. Woodhull was signaled by  Anna Smith Strong, when she hung her laundry outside to dry on a clothesline in pre-arranged configurations, since Caleb Brewster was waiting in a cove to take the information across Long Island Sound to Major Ben Tallmadge and General Washington.

Hot tempered Nancy Hart had her cabin searched by six British soldiers. They shot her prized turkey and ordered her to cook it. While serving the soldiers wine, she discreetly passed their stacked muskets through a crack in the wall to her daughter outside. When the soldiers finally noticed what she was doing, she pointed one of the guns at them saying that she would shoot the first one who moved, which she promptly did. Nancy held the rest at gun point till her husband arrived. She insisted they be hung. In 1912, a railroad construction worker grading land near the old Hart cabin found a neat row of six skeletons…..one tough young lady.

Deborah Samson Gannett, after being freed from being an indentured servant on a farm, bound her chest to hide her breasts, dressed as a man, and enlisted in the Continental Army under the name Robert Shurtliff. Deborah served three years, being injured several times, but refused medical attention for fear of being found out. It was not until she became deathly ill of fever that the doctor discovered her identity. She was honorably discharged. In 1792, Deborah received back pay, and in 1805, Congress granted her a pension as a war veteran.

Martha Bratton, wife of Colonel William Bratton, blew up a cache of gunpowder to keep it from the British. When questioned, she proclaimed, “It was I who did it!” A British officer held a reaping hook to her throat, demanding she confess where her husband was, but Martha refused to tell. When a battle was taking place right outside her home, Martha extinguished the fire in the fireplace and put her little son up the chimney to keep him from being hit by stray gunfire.

Nancy “Nanyehi” Ward was a Cherokee in eastern Tennessee. The Cherokee had sided with the British during the French and Indian War, and again during the Revolution. But Nancy hated the British. Nanye’hi learned that the British had incited her tribe to attack a nearby American settlement. She took the risk of freeing American prisoners so they could warn their village, one of whom, Lydia Bean, was expecting to be burned to death the next day. While captives, Lydia Bean and Nanye’hi reportedly traded cooking advice, such as making butter.

The Ladies of Havana, Cuba are credited with saving the American Revolution. They donated their own gold and jewelry, estimated at several million dollars, and sent it to help General Washington defeat the British at Yorktown. Their story is seldom told are even known about by most Americans. Those that know consider it Divine Intervention. The message that the “Ladies of Havana” sent with their contribution was: “So the American mothers’ sons are not born as slaves.” Washington reportedly threw his hat in the air when he heard the news of their gift.

(The Continental Army had borrowed every penny that it could and was now totally destitute. The Revolution was finished. However, it is my opinion that it was not the Will of God that the Revolution stop right then and there.  God put it into the hearts and minds of the Ladies of Havanna to sell their jewelry and their rings and their financial assets of gold and send all the proceeds to save the Continental Army.  Otherwise, there would have been no more America and it would never have evolved to the nation that we are today.)

General Jean Baptiste de Rochambeau wrote in his “Daily Memoirs” (Library of Congress): “The joy was enormous when it was received, the money from Havana: The contribution of 800,000 silver pounds and more which helped stop the financial bankruptcy (of the Revolutionary Army) and raised up the moral spirit of the Army that had began to dissolve.”

Historian Stephen Bonsal wrote in When the French Were Here (Doubleday, Doran & Co.,1945): “The millions that were supplied by the ladies of Havana, may, with truth, be regarded as the ‘bottom dollars’ upon which the edifice of American independence was erected.”

On January 2, 1952, the U.S. Postal Service issued a 3-cent stamp in Philadelphia to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Betsy Ross. Born a day earlier, January 1, 1752, to a Quaker family in Philadelphia, Betsy was the 8th of 17 children. Betsy apprenticed as a seamstress and fell in love with upholsterer John Ross, son of an Episcopal rector at Christ Church and nephew of Declaration signer, George Ross. John and Betsy eloped, as Quakers forbade interdenominational marriage. They were married by the last colonial Governor of New Jersey William Franklin, the son of Ben Franklin.

John and Betsy Ross attended Christ’s Church with: George Washington, Robert Morris, Francis Hopkins, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin. The Ross’ pew, number 12, was next to a column adjoining George Washington’s pew number 56 and not far from Ben Franklin’s pew number 70. During the Revolution, John Ross died when a munitions depot he was guarding blew up.

Shortly after, in June 1776, General Washington reportedly asked Betsy Ross to sew an American Flag. With the Continental Congress meeting in Pennsylvania, Betsy Ross also made a flag for the Pennsylvania navy ensign, which had 7 red stripes and 6 white stripes, as well as a commissioning pennant with 13 red-and-white stripes. Betsy Ross and her family continued to make U.S. flags for 50 years. They were the ones used to honor our nation and the designe still used today.

To continue the heroic legacy of the women in the American Revolution, the Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in 1890, and incorporated by an Act of Congress in 1896. Its motto is: “God, Home, and Country.”

Voicing the sentiment of the courageous, patriotic women of the Revolution, Abigail Adams wrote to her husband, September 16, 1775: “And unto Him who mounts the whirlwind and directs the storm, I will cheerfully leave the ordering of my lot and whether adverse or prosperous days should be my future portion, I will trust in His right Hand to lead me safely through! I need not say how sincerely I am your affectionate, Abigail Adams.”

Ron

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It is acknowledged by all those who really understood the Civil War that if this great general had not been killed when he was by his own sentry, the South would have for sure won that war. And that this country would still be divided into two entities. Even though I have always loved and favored the South. I must acknowledge that it was for sure the will of God that America still remain as one country through history. Below, I have set out what happened for you to see. Do read it so that you will understand what happened and how:

“Stonewall” Jackson

During the Civil War, on March 30, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a National Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer.

Lincoln stated: “Whereas, the Senate of the United States devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and just Government of Almighty God in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the President to designate and set apart a day for national prayer and humiliation; and Whereas, it is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history: that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.

And, insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations like individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisement in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious Hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.

Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.

Now, therefore, in compliance with the request and fully concurring in the view of the Senate, I do, by this my proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th day of April, 1863, as a Day of National Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer. And I do hereby request all the people to abstain on that day from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at their several places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping the day holy to the Lord and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion.

All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the Divine teachings, that the united cry of the nation will be heard on high and answered with blessing no less than the pardon of our national sins and the restoration of our now divided and suffering country to its former happy condition of unity and peace.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this 30th day of March, A.D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-seventh. Abraham Lincoln. By the President: William H. Seward, Secretary of State.”

Lincoln’s National Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer was observed April 30, 1863.

Just Two days later, a freak accident occurred which altered the entire course of the war. One of the South’s very best generals was accidentally shot by his own men.

Lt. General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson was considered one of the greatest tactical commanders in history. He refused to let his men give ground at the First Battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861, standing there “like a stonewall.”

Often outnumbered, sometimes 2 to 1, Jackson successfully fought the Shenandoah Valley Campaign:

• Battles of McDowell, May 8, 1862;

• Front Royal, May 23, 1862;

• Winchester, May 25, 1862;

• Port Republic, June 9, 1862;

• Seven Days Battles, June 25-July 1, 1862;

• Second Battle of Bull Run, August 28-30, 1862;

• Antietam, September 17, 1862.

• Fredericksburg, December 11-15,
• Chancellorsville, April 30-May 2, 1863.

Stonewall Jackson wrote to Colonel Thomas T. Munford, June 13, 1862: “The only true rule for cavalry is to follow the enemy as long as he retreats.”

Jackson advised General John D. Imboden (Robert Underwood and Clarence C. Buel, eds. Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, 4 vols. New York: Century Co., Vol.2, p. 297): “Always mystify, mislead, and surprise the enemy, if possible; and when you strike and overcome him, never let up in the pursuit so long as your men have strength to follow; for an army routed, if hotly pursued, becomes panic-stricken, and can then be destroyed by half their number.

The other rule is, never fight against heavy odds, if by any possible maneuvering you can hurl your own force on only a part, and that the weakest part, of your enemy and crush it. Such tactics will win every time, and a small army may thus destroy a large one in detail, and repeated victory will make it invincible.”

The day after Lincoln’s Day of Fasting was observed, April 30, 1863, the Battle of Chancellorsville began, May 1, 1863. Outnumbered two to one, Stonewall Jackson’s 60,892 Confederate troops successfully attacked the flank of 133,868 Union troops. The Union suffered a devastating 17,197 casualties to the Confederate 13,303.

At the end of the day, May 2, 1863, Jackson surveyed the field and returned to camp at twilight. Suddenly, one of his own men shouted, “Halt, who goes there,” and without waiting for a reply, a volley of shots were fired.

Two bullets hit General Jackson’s left arm and one hit his right hand. Several men accompanying him were killed, in addition to many horses. In the confusion that followed, Jackson was dropped from his stretcher while being evacuated. His left arm was mangled, became infected, and had to be amputated.

General Robert E. Lee wrote to Jackson: “Could I have directed events, I would have chosen for the good of the country to be disabled in your stead.”

General Lee sent the message through Chaplain B.T. Lacy: “He has lost his left arm but I my right. Tell him that I wrestled in prayer for him last night as I never prayed for myself.”

Jackson’s injuries resulted in him contracting pneumonia. Growing weaker, Jackson said, May 10, 1863: “It is the Lord’s Day; my wish is fulfilled. I have always desired to die on Sunday.”

A few moments before he died, as he was losing consciousness, Jackson said: “Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees.”

Jackson had previously told General John D. Imboden (“Stonewall Jackson at the Battle of Bull’s Run,” New York Times, May 3, 1885): “My religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in bed. God has fixed the time for my death. I do not concern myself about that, but to be always ready, no matter when it may overtake me. That is the way all men should live, and then all would be equally brave.”

Many Civil War historians speculate what would have happened if Stonewall Jackson had not been shot. He most certainly would have been at the Battle of Gettysburg two months later, which conceivably would have resulted in a Confederate victory, changing the entire outcome of the war.

Jackson’s death was difficult to reconcile, as he was exemplary in faith and virtue. He did not fight to defend slavery, but rather he fought to defend his home state of Virginia from the war of Northern Federal aggression. Jackson was personally against slavery, having arranged to free the slaves he inherited from his wife’s estate. Beginning in 1855, Jackson participated in civil disobedience every Sunday by teaching a Colored Sunday School class at the Lexington Presbyterian Church. This was against the law, as a Virginia statue forbade teaching slaves to read, especially after Nat Turner’s rebellion. Nevertheless, Jackson regularly taught both slaves and free blacks, adults and children, to read the Bible.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt stated, September 17, 1937: “I came into the world 17 years after the close of the war between the states. Today there are still many among us who can remember it. It serves us little to discuss again the rights and the wrongs of the long 4-years’ war. We can but wish that the war had never been. We can and we do revere the memory of the brave men who fought on both sides.  

But we know today that it was best for the generations of Americans who have come after them, that the conflict did not end in a division of our land into two nations.

I like to think that it was the will of God that we remain one people.”

Ron

It says in the Bible:  Psalm 37:5 NIV 

“Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and he shall bring it to pass.”

When a difficult decision arises, the natural response is to examine the consequences you can anticipate. You weigh how challenging the choice will prove, your ability to manage it, and whether it is worth the trouble.

This is all fine until the Lord directs you to step out in absolute faith. When He does, you can expect that the obstacles will appear greater than you can handle and that defeat is sure unless He intervenes. That is the very nature of faith—you must trust Him rather than yourself or your resources.

Is such a decision before you today? Do you sense the Father calling you to take a difficult path? Remember that God has the very best plan for you and there are astounding rewards you cannot possibly anticipate when you submit to Him.

So, don’t miss His best because of what you can or cannot see concerning your choice. Rather, obey God, leave the consequences to Him, and expect Him to work powerfully on your behalf.

Ron

This Duel was fought between Alexander Hamilton and Aron Burr. Following is a brief history of both participants:

Alexander Hamilton:

Alexander Hamilton was born in the British West Indies on the Island of Nevis, either in the year 1755 or 1757, and grew up on the Island of St. Croix.

Since Alexander Hamilton’s parents were not legally married, he was not permitted to attend the Anglican academy, resulting in him being tutored at a private school by a Jewish headmistress.

Hamilton worked for merchants till, at the age of 17, he sailed to Massachusetts in 1772 to attend Elizabethtown Academy. He was studying at Columbia College in New York when the Revolutionary War started.

Alexander Hamilton fought in the Battle of White Plains and the Battle of Trenton. He served four years as aide-de-camp to General George Washington. Promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, Alexander Hamilton led a bayonet attack at night capturing Redoubt No. 10 which helped the Continental Army win the Battle of Yorktown, October 19, 1781.

During the Revolution, Alexander Hamilton wrote “The Farmer Refuted,” February 23, 1775, stating: “The Supreme Being gave existence to man, together with the means of preserving and beautifying that existence, and invested him with an inviolable right to personal liberty and personal safety. The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the Hand of the Divinity itself, and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power.”

Hamilton concluded: “Good and wise men, in all ages have supposed that the Deity, from the relations we stand in to Himself, and to each other, has constituted an eternal and immutable law, which is indispensably obligatory upon all mankind. This is what is called the law of nature dictated by God himself.”

In 1781, Hamilton helped U.S. Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris start the Bank of North America, the first private commercial bank in the United States. It served as the nation’s first de facto central bank, bringing stability to the fledgling nation’s finances after the fiat Continental currency became worthless, as the saying went, “not worth a continental.” This was vital to allow the United States to carry on international trade, as well as to project strength which discouraged other countries from restarting hostilities. Franklin and Jefferson were among the Bank’s founding shareholders. The Bank later merged to form the First Bank of the United States.

In June of 1784, Hamilton also founded The Bank of New York (Mellon) to provide money for the city’s shipping industry. The Bank also loaned money to the Federal government to pay salaries of the U.S. Congress. In 1792, the Bank of New York, the Bank of North America, and the First Bank of the United States were the first shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, which moved in 1796 to Wall Street.

Alexander Hamilton helped write the U.S. Constitution, stating at the Constitutional Convention, June 22, 1787: “Take mankind as they are, and what are they governed by? Their passions. There may be in every government a few choice spirits, who may act from more worthy motives. One great error is that we suppose mankind is more honest that they are.”

After the Constitution was written, Hamilton helped convinced the States to ratify it by writing The Federalist Papers with James Madison and John Jay. Of the 85 Federalist Papers, Hamilton wrote 51.

Alexander Hamilton wrote of the Constitution in his Letters of Caesar, 1787: “Whether the New Constitution, if adopted, will prove adequate to such desirable ends, time, the mother of events, will show. For my own part, I sincerely esteem it a system, which, without the finger of God, never could have been suggested and agreed upon by such a diversity of interests.”

In 1789, Alexander Hamilton became the first Secretary of the U.S. Treasury — his statue is at the south entrance of the Treasury building in Washington, DC.

In 1790, Hamilton proposed The First Bank of the United States assume the role as the nation’s central bank. It covered the Revolutionary War debt of the states, established a mint, and imposed a federal excise tax.

In 1790, Hamilton pushed Congress to have ships, called Revenue Cutters, to collect revenue, confiscate contraband, and guard the coasts from piracy. This was the beginning of the U.S. Coast Guard, which freed almost 500 Africans from slavery. Being opposed to slavery, Hamilton and John Jay founded the New York Manumission Society which successfully helped pass legislation in 1799 to end New York’s involvement in the slave trade.

Alexander Hamilton served as Senior Officer of the United States Army during a threatened war with France in 1799. Hamilton condemned the French Revolution’s attempt to overthrow Christianity, as it was: “(depriving) mankind of its best consolations and most animating hopes, and to make a gloomy desert of the universe. The praise of a civilized world is justly due to Christianity; war, by the influence of the humane principles of that religion, has been stripped of half its horrors. The French renounce Christianity, and they relapse into barbarism; war resumes the same hideous and savage form which it wore in the ages of Gothic and Roman violence.”

In 1780, Alexander Hamilton married Elizabeth Schuyler, the daughter of Revolutionary War General Philip Schuyler who had served in the Continental Congress. Elizabeth Hamilton co-founded New York City’s first private orphanage.

Aaron Burr:

Burr had fought in the Revolution, was elected to the New York State Assembly, 1784-1785, and was appointed New York State Attorney General. In 1791, Burr ran a campaign to unseat Senator General Philip Schuyler, Hamilton’s father-in-law.

When Burr won, it created a political rift with Hamilton. In 1796, Burr lost in his bid to become the President of the United States, running against both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.

Witnessing the beginning stages of the formation of political parties, George Washington warned in his Farewell Address, 1796, of the divisive “danger of Parties”: “And of fatal tendency to put, in the place of the delegated will of the Nation, the will of a party; often a small but artful and enterprising minority by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the Power of the People and to usurp for the themselves the reins of Government; destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion. I have already intimated to you the danger of Parties in the State. Let me now warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of Party, generally. This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its roots in the strongest passions of the human mind. Domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension … has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.”

New York badly needed a clean water supply to prevent malaria outbreaks. Under the pretense of establishing a water company, Aaron Burr solicited investors, but secretly he changed the company’s charter in 1799 to found the Bank of the Manhattan Company (JP Morgan Chase). This allowed him to compete with Hamilton’s Bank of New York.

In September 1799, John Church, whose wife was the sister of Hamilton’s wife, accused Burr of taking a political bribe from the Holland Company to influence state legislators to allow aliens to own land in New York. Burr challenged John Church to a duel where both fired and missed.

In the Presidential election of 1800, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr received the same number of electoral votes – 73. Originally, in Presidential elections, the candidate receiving the most electoral votes was elected President, and the candidate receiving the second most votes was elected Vice-President. Alexander Hamilton used his influence to cause a vote to switch in favor of Jefferson, thus dashing Burr’s ambitions to be President. Burr instead became Vice-President.

In 1801, a supporter of Burr named George Eacker spoke at Columbia University, denigrating Hamilton. Alexander Hamilton’s 19-year-old son, Philip Hamilton, ran into George Eacker outside a play at New York’s Park Theater. Defending his father’s honor, their encounter became a screaming, hostile confrontation, ending with the challenge of a duel. They met on November 22, 1801, and, using John Church’s pistols, they fired at each other, resulting in George Eacker killing Philip Hamilton.

Burr was responsible for using the New York social club Tammany Hall, named for the Lanape Indian Chief Tamanend, for political purposes. It became a notorious Democrat political machine known for graft and corruption. The election of 1800 was also the beginning of the “winner-take-all” policy, where whoever was the winner of the state’s popular vote would get all of the states electoral votes, thus effectively usurping the votes of each individual Congressional district.

When Jefferson was running for reelection in 1804, Hamilton threatened to withdraw from the Federalist Party if it considered any support of Burr. When it became clear that Jefferson was not going to have Burr as his running-mate for a second term, Burr decided to run for Governor of New York. Alexander Hamilton again used his influence to have Burr defeated. Hamilton considered Burr a political opportunist, declaring: “I feel it is a religious duty to oppose his career.”

Aaron Burr took offense, and as both had been involved in duels before, he challenged Hamilton to a duel.

Considered the most infamous duel in American history, they met on the morning of July 11, 1804, at the dueling grounds near Weehawken, New Jersey, the same location where Hamilton’s son, Philip was killed in a duel 3 years earlier.

Using John Church’s pistols, Hamilton (being a gentleman) intentionally fired into the air. Burr took deadly aim, then shot and mortally wounding Hamilton in the stomach.

Hamilton requested Episcopal minister Dr. John Mason give him the Lord’s Supper, but Dr. Mason refused as his church principle was to “never to administer the Lord’s Supper privately to any person under any circumstances.” Dr. Mason did, though, affirm that the Lord’s Supper was not a requirement for salvation, to which Hamilton replied that his request was just a testimony of his faith: “I have a tender reliance on the mercy of the Almighty, through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

The duel ended Hamilton’s life.

It also ended Burr’s career, as he was immediately ostracized from American politics. Burr, now out of politics, contrived of a plan to take control over part of the Louisiana Territory and Mexico. When his plan came to light, Burr was indicted on charges of conspiracy and treason in 1807. He fled the United States in 1808 and lived in Europe for many years.

In 1798, Hamilton had written (The Works of Alexander Hamilton, NY, 1851, pg 676): “Americans rouse; be unanimous, be virtuous, be firm, exert your courage, trust in Heaven, and nobly defy the enemies both of God and man!”

Ron

Uncommon Sense

It says in the Bible:  Proverbs 9:10 NIV   

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

Common sense will not suffice in your situation.  So, no matter how tempted you are to draw a conclusion about your circumstances before seeking God, don’t do it.  Without the Lord’s point of view, you can only make a faulty assessment of what is happening to you.

A good example of this was when the king of Aram sent his massive army to capture the prophet Elisha (2 Kings 6:8-19).  Filled with fear because of the horses and chariots arrayed against them, Elisha’s servant Gehazi asked, “Master!  What shall we do?  Elisha responded by calmly praying that God would open Gehazi’s eyes.  Immediately, Gehazi perceived the spiritual reality—the Lord’s heavenly battalions were standing ready to defend Elisha.  The victory was already won. 

Likewise, there are influences in your situation that you cannot see—spiritual forces that almighty God has set in motion on your behalf.

So don’t rely on your natural eyes or pass judgment on your situation.  You will draw the wrong conclusion.  Rather, look to Him and for understanding and allow Him to lead you to triumph.

Ron 

Since Harvard is all in the news these days, I thought the following would be very pertinent: You may find it hard to believe, but Harvard’s declared purpose was: “To train a literate clergy.” This was consistent with 106 of the first 108 schools in America, which were all founded on Christianity.

Ten of the twelve presidents of Harvard prior to the Revolutionary War were ministers. Fifty percent of the 17th-century Harvard graduates became ministers. Harvard College was founded in “In Christi Gloriam” as its founders believed: “All knowledge without Christ was vain.” In 1692, the motto of Harvard was: “Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae” — “Truth for Christ and the Church”. Just look at the history of its founding as I have set out below:

The Founding of Harvard

John Harvard’s grandfather lived in Stratford-upon-Avon and was an associate of Shakespeare’s father. His father was a butcher and owner of Queen’s Head Inn and Tavern. John Harvard was born in London and baptized on November 29, 1607, in the old St. Savior’s Parish near the London Bridge, present-day Southwark Cathedral. Most of his family died when a plague swept England in 1625.

The same year, Muslim Corsair pirates sailed up the Thames River and raided England. Giles Milton wrote White Gold: The Extraordinary Story of Thomas Pellow and North Africa’s One Million European Slaves 2004:

In the book he recorded that the Islamist pirates attacked the coast of Cornwall, captured 60 villagers at Mount’s Bay and 80 at Looe. They attacked Lundy Island in Bristol Channel and raised the standard of Islam. By the end of 1625, over 1,000 English subjects were sent to the slave markets of Sale, Morocco.

Pilgrim Governor William Bradford wrote that in 1625, the Pilgrims sent back to London two ships of filled with dried fish and beaver skins to trade, and one was captured by the Turks: “Two fishing ships with codfish and 800 lbs. of beaver, as well as other furs, to a good value from the Pilgrims’ plantation went joyfully home till they were well within the England channel. But even there she was unhapply taken by a Turkish man-of-war and carried off to Saller Morocco where the captain and crew were made slaves.

Thus all their hopes were dashed and the joyful news they meant to carry home was turned to heavy tidings. In the other big ship Captain Myles Standish arrived at a very bad time. A plague very deadly in London. And now with their first ship taken by the Turks, It turned out that all trade was dead.”

John Harvard’s mother and surviving brother died not long after from the plague, leaving John the entire family estate. John is believed to have attended the grammar school at St. Savior’s, where the rector, Nicholas Morton, diligently prepared him for acceptance into Cambridge, an amazing achievement for someone of the commoner class.

John Harvard entered Cambridge’s Emmanuel College, known for its Puritan views, the same school where Connecticut founder Rev. Thomas Hooker attended. John Harvard received his bachelor’s degree in 1632 and his master’s degree in 1635. He was later memorialized by a stained glass window in Emmanuel College chapel there.

A classmate of John Harvard at Emmanuel College was John Sadler. Sadler became London’s town clerk, a Member of Parliament, and private secretary to Oliver Cromwell. John Sadler’s sister was Ann, with whom John Harvard fell in love. Harvard married Ann Sadler at St. Michael the Archangel Church in 1636, the same year that Harvard College at Cambridge was founded in Massachusetts.

During this time after the Renaissance and Reformation, there was a “Hebrew Revival” among Protestant and Catholic scholars. They studied the history of ancient Israel, especially the first 400 year period in the Promised Land before Israel got its first king, Saul. I have written about this amazing 400 hear period before. It was the first republican form of government in world history. The scholars in Europe and America studied it closely. It was from its history that “self government” on both sides of the Atlantic were eventually instituted.

The scholars of that day studied the self-governing ancient Hebrew republic; the Hebrew language; Jewish historian Josephus; the Jerusalem Talmud 2nd century A.D.; the Babylonian Talmud 4th century A.D.; Jewish philosopher Maimonides; and Rabbinic literature; all to learn about that amazing 400 year period of the Jewish government.

Claude Fleury wrote in The Manners of the Ancient Israelites, 1681: “The Israelites were perfectly free. They enjoyed the liberty cherished by Greece and Rome. Such was the purpose of God.”

E.C. Wines wrote in Commentaries on the Laws of the Ancient Hebrews, 1853 (NY: Geo. P. Putnam & Co., 1853): “Of those great ideas, which constituted the basis of the Hebrew state, the most important was liberty. The Hebrew people enjoyed as great a degree of personal liberty, as can ever be combined with an efficient and stable government.”

In England, the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge taught Hebrew. In America, Harvard students were required to study Hebrew. In 1685, Harvard had a commencement address delivered in the Hebrew language.

Yale, Dartmouth, Columbia, and other early American colleges had requirements for students to learn Hebrew. Yale has Hebrew letters on its Coat-of-Arms.

In 1722, Harvard hired Judah Monis, its first full-time Hebrew instructor, who published A Grammar of the Hebrew Tongue, 1735 – the first Hebrew textbook published in North America.

President Thomas Jefferson stated in his Second Inaugural, March 4, 1805: “I shall need, too, the favor of that Being in whose hands we are, who led our forefathers, as ISRAEL of old.”

Harvard President Samuel Langdon stated June 5, 1788: “The ISRAELITES may be considered as a pattern to the world in all ages of government on republican principles.”

In 1637, John and Ann Harvard sailed for Massachusetts where he took “the freeman’s oath.” And he served as a teaching elder. At age 31, Reverend John Harvard contracted tuberculosis and died on September 14, 1638.  Having no male heir, John left half of his 1,600 pound estate to Harvard at Cambridge, along with a library of over 400 volumes. John Harvard’s library included books by Homer, Plutarch, Aquinas, Bacon, Calvin, and Luther, Bible commentaries, volumes in Hebrew and Greek.

The General Court of Massachusetts Bay voted in 1639 to rename the College at Cambridge after John Harvard. It is the oldest institution of higher learning in America. On the wall by the old iron gate at Harvard University’s main campus entrance, and also noted in Harvard Divinity School’s catalog, is the statement of Harvard’s founders:

“After God had carried us safe to New England, and we had builded our houses, provided necessaries for our livelihood, rear’d convenient places for God’s worship, and settled the Civil Government: One of the next things we longed for, and looked after was to advance Learning and to perpetuate it to Posterity; dreading to leave an illiterate Ministry to the Churches, when our present Ministers shall lie in the Dust. And as we were thinking and consulting how to effect this great work, it pleased God to stir up the heart of one Mr. Harvard, a godly gentleman and a lover of learning there living amongst us, to give the one half of his estate towards the erecting of a college and all his Library.”

Harvard’s declared purpose was: “To train a literate clergy.” This was consistent with 106 of the first 108 schools in America, which were founded on Christianity.

Ten of the twelve presidents of Harvard prior to the Revolutionary War were ministers. Fifty percent of the 17th-century Harvard graduates became ministers. Harvard College was founded in “In Christi Gloriam” as its founders believed: “All knowledge without Christ was vain.” In 1692, the motto of Harvard was: “Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae” — “Truth for Christ and the Church”.

The word “Veritas” on the college seal referenced divine truth, and was embedded on a shield, which can be found on Memorial Church, Widener Library, and numerous Harvard Yard dorms. The shield has on top two books facing up and on the bottom a book facing down, symbolizing the limits of reason and the need for God’s revelation.

Ron

Please read below how California has been closing Christian Churches and Church Services:

George Orwell wrote in his dystopian novel 1984: “Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. Nothing exists except an endless present in which The Party is always right”

Called “deconstruction” or “cancel culture,” George Orwell had his novel’s main character, Winston, working at the Ministry of Truth where his job was to falsify the nation’s past, thus allowing the government to alter the trajectory of the nation’s future. After altering historical records, the truth was put down a “memory hole” which took it to an incinerator in the basement: “I know, of course, that the past is falsified, but it would never be possible for me to prove it, even when I did the falsification myself.

After the thing is done, no evidence ever remains. The only evidence is inside my own mind, and I don’t know that any other human being shares my memories. Everything faded into mist. The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth.”

Orwell added: “Those who control the past control the future, and those who control the present control the past.”

Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall described this: “Along with our higher education came a debunking a sort of national sport. It was smarter to revile than to revere, more fashionable to depreciate than to appreciate. Debunking is a sign of decaying foundations.”

Deconstruction, is a type of gene-replacement therapy for a culture, selectively re-editing or ridiculing past individuals or events in order to advance a future political agenda. Karl Marx is attributed with stating: “The first battlefield is history rewriting” and “Take away the heritage of a people and they are easily persuaded.”

Zhou Enlai was the first Premier of the communist People’s Republic of China, who orchestrated Mao Zedong’s killing an estimated 20 million Chinese people. Zhou Enlai stated: “One of the delightful things about Americans is that they have absolutely no historical memory.”

President Donald J. Trump stated, July 3, 2020: “Our nation is witnessing a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values, and indoctrinate our children. Angry mobs are trying to tear down statues of our founders, deface our most sacred memorials. One of their political weapons is ‘Cancel Culture’ — driving people from their jobs, shaming dissenters, and demanding total submission from anyone who disagrees. This is the very definition of totalitarianism, and it is completely alien to our culture and our values, and it has absolutely no place in the United States of America.”

Karl Marx is attributed with the narcissist statement: “Accuse others of what you do.” It is called “psychological projection,” where hateful people accuse their opponents of being hateful. It is like an autoimmune disease injected into the body politic. Socialists have used this gaslighting tactic in overthrowing nations, as President Trump explained: “Our children are taught in school to hate their own country, and to believe that the men and women who built it were not heroes, but that they were villains. The radical view of American history is a web of lies — all perspective is removed, every virtue is obscured, every motive is twisted, every fact is distorted, and every flaw is magnified until the history is purged and the record is disfigured beyond all recognition. No person who remains quiet at the destruction of this resplendent heritage can possibly lead us to a better future.”

Islamic leaders have used a similar practice in their conquest of infidel lands: “Abu’l-Hayyaj al-Asadi told that ‘Ali’ (b. Abu Talib) said to him: Do not leave an image without obliterating it, or a high grave without leveling it.” (Hadith Bk 4, No. 2115)

• Caliph Umar, according to various accounts, ordered the destruction of ancient libraries, including the oldest in the world in Alexandria, Epypt, 641 AD;
• Caliph Al-Ma’mun ordered raiders to plunder Pharaohs’ tombs, 832 AD;

• Sufi Muhammad Sa’im al-Dahr reportedly destroyed the nose of the Great Sphinx, 1378 AD
• Sultan Mehmet II conquered Constantinople and turned the largest Christian church in the world into a mosque;
• Taliban destroyed the ancient 6th century Buddha statues in the Valley of Bamiyan in 2001.

Socialist have used the tactic also:

• The French Revolution turned cathedrals in to “temples of reason,” and tore down the statue of Good King Henry IV, 1792, and publicly burned the remains of Ste. Genevieve, the Patron Saint of Paris, 1793;
• Stalin changed the name of St. Petersburg to Leningrad, 1924;

• Mao Zedung destroyed Beijing’s Gate of China, 1954, and thousands of ancient artifacts during the Cultural Revolution, 1966-1976, including the White Horse Temple in Luoyang, the oldest Buddhist temple in China;
• Pol Pot’s Khmer’s Rouge killed anyone in Cambodia who wore eye-glasses as he figured if they could read they knew history, and he wanted to erase history, 1975.

California is deconstructing its history, with socialist-leaning government officials allowing violent Antifa-type groups to pull down statues of its founders, including missionary Junípero Serra.

California was founded with churches, and went on to become one of the most prosperous places on Earth.

Now, California is closing down churches, restricting businesses, experiencing record numbers of people leaving, and has become the most in debt state in America.

What is the real history? In 1535, Hernán Cortés explored the Baja California Peninsula, sailing the Sea of Cortés and founding the city of La Paz.

In 1539, Francisco de Ulloa sailed around the Cedros Islands off the coast of Baja California. He was the first to call it “California,” a name taken from a heroic romance novel, Amadis de Gallia, published by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo around 1510.

In 1542, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo is believed to be the first European to actually explore the California coast. Landing at San Diego Bay, then sailing around the channel islands, he claimed “the Island of California” for Spain. He came ashore at San Pedro bay, which became the port of Los Angeles.

In 1579, Sir Francis Drake, sailing for England’s Virgin Queen Elizabeth I, explored up the coast of California on his voyage to circumnavigate the globe. Drake anchored north of San Francisco at Drake’s Bay.

In 1595, Spanish explorer Sebastian Rodriguez Cermeno, on his galleon San Agustin, sailed from the Philippines, named for King Philip II of Spain, to map the coasts of Oregon and California, down to Acapulco, Mexico.

In 1769, the first Spanish missions were founded in California by Franciscan missionary Junipero Serra, whose statue is in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall.

Most of the original cities in California were founded as Spanish Christian missions.

Prior to the Spanish Christian Missions, the Indian culture regarded manual labor as the role of women. Indian braves considered manual labor as degrading for men. Spanish Christian Missionaries taught men to work in industry and introduced into California irrigation and oranges, grapes, apples, peaches, pears, and figs.

Spanish Christian Missions introduced the Indians to the wheeled cart, which had been in existence in Mesopotamia since the 4th millennium BC, and the wheelbarrow, which was invented in China in the 2nd century BC. Technologically, native inhabitants had a “hunter-gatherer” existence somewhere between the stone age and the bronze age. Spanish Missionaries introduced cattle, oxen, sheep, horses, mules, burros, goats and swine. Missionaries built foundries, introducing Indians to the Iron Age with blacksmith furnaces smelting and fashioning iron into nails, crosses, gates, hinges, and cannons.

Spain lost California to Mexico in 1821, but instead of giving people rights and freedoms, Mexico set up a monarchy with Augustin Iturbide as Emperor. Iturbide was executed, and Mexico adopted a Federal Constitution in 1824.

In 1833, General Santa Anna became President and, together with his Vice-President Gomez Farias, instituted anti-clerical Mexican Secularization Acts. He took all Christian Mission property away from the Catholic Church and sold it to political insiders who supported his government. In 1834, General Santa Anna suspended Mexico’s Constitution and declared himself dictator, stating to U.S. minister to Mexico, Joel R. Poinsett: “A hundred years to come my people will not be fit for liberty a despotism is the proper government for them.”

When several Mexican States opposed Santa Anna, he sent his army and crushed the resistance. Santa Anna’s ruthless actions precipitated the Texas War of Independence, 1836, and the Mexican-American War, 1846.

After the wars, California was purchased from Mexico by the United States with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848.

In 1849, workers in California building a sawmill for John Sutter on the south fork of the American River, discovered gold. Soon prospectors, called “Forty-Niners,” arrived.

California became the 31st State on September 9, 1850. California’s Constitution, which prohibited slavery, stated: “We, the People of the State of California, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom do establish this Constitution.”

Regarding California’s Catholic Missions, the U.S. Board of Land Commissioners wrote, as recorded in W.W. Robinson’s book, Land in California (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1948, p. 28): “The Missions were intended to be temporary. It was supposed that within that period of time the Indians would be sufficiently instructed in Christianity and the arts of civilized life.” So, they were confiscated and closed.

On May 23, 1862, President Lincoln restored all 21 California Missions taken by anti-clerical Mexican Secularization Acts back to the Catholic Church: “I grant unto the Bishop of Monterrey in trust for the religious purposes the tracts of land described in the foregoing survey.”

Spanish Missions were an integral part of California’s history.

In 2004, the ACLU, similar to Santa Anna’s Secularization Acts, pressured Los Angeles County to remove a tiny cross from its county seal.

Governor Newsom encouraged protestors to express their First Amendments rights by gathering and demonstrating without social distancing, allowed abortion clinics, marijuana dispensaries, and big box stores to stay open, but closed churches. Canyon News reported July 18, 2020: “Governor Newsom Ends Indoor Church Services Indefinitely.”

LifeNews.com reported June 14, 2020: “California Governor Gavin Newsom Closes Churches, but abortion Clinics Can Keep Killing Babies. Newsom is forcing churches to close, canceling worship services, but abortion businesses are exempted and can continue killing babies with abortion.  One pro-life leader was not happy with the decision to target churches again while letting abortion centers continue their grisly trade. He wrote: ‘Today’s decision shows Governor Newsom trusts big box stores like Costco and Target more than churches and synagogues,’ said Jonathan Keller, President of California Family Council. ‘Coupled with last week’s ban on singing during worship services, people of faith are increasingly alarmed by Sacramento’s disregard of their constitutional rights. We have to ask ourselves: where do we draw the line?'”

Many citizens are concerned that California may be acting out what Massachusetts colonial leader Cotton Mather wrote in Magnalia Christi Americana, 1702: “Religion begat prosperity, and the daughter devoured the mother.”

Methodist founder John Wesley left a sober warning July 2, 1789: “Christianity, true Scriptural Christianity, has a tendency in the process of time to destroy itself. For wherever true Christianity spreads, it must cause diligence and frugality, which, in the natural course of things, must beget riches! And riches naturally beget pride, love of the world, and every temper that is destructive to Christianity. Wherever it generally prevails, it ultimately saps its own foundation.”

Deuteronomy 6:10-12: “When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities, houses filled with all kinds of good things, like olive groves, then when you eat and are satisfied, as the Bible says in Deuteronomy 6:10-12:

“When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities houses filled with all kinds of good things, then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the Lord.”

Ron

(How we measure time has an interesting history. Here I have recorded for you the history of how we now measure time across the world. Do study it so that you will always know how we got here:)

Prior to the invention of clocks, watches and digital devices, people all over the world looked to the position of the sun, moon and stars as a kind of clock in the sky. Ancient peoples, for millennia, based their calendars on the position of the moon, whose lunar cycles incrementally shifted throughout the seasons, serving as an enormous generational calendar.

Remnants of March being the first month of the year can be seen in the old Roman Latin names of months: September, October, November, and December: “Sept” is Latin for seven; “Oct” is Latin for eight (ie. octagon=eight sided); “Nov” is Latin for nine; and “Dec” is Latin for ten (ie. decimal=divisible by ten).

As the Roman Empire expanded and conquered more nations, these lunar calendars were difficult to reconcile with each other. In 45 BC, Roman Emperor Julius Caesar became, in a sense, the first globalist. He wanted a unified calendar for the entire Roman Empire.

Caesar made January 1st the beginning of the year, leading some Christian leaders to consider it a pagan date. Julius Caesar introduced the solar-based “Julian Calendar,” with 365 days, and an extra “leap day” at the end of February every 4th year. Rome’s old fifth month, Quintilis, was renamed after Julius Caesar, being called “July.” As it only had 30 days, Caesar took a day from the old end of the year, February, and added it to July, giving the month 31 days.

The next emperor, Augustus Caesar, renamed the old sixth month, Sextilis, after himself, calling it “August.” He also took a day from the old end of the year, February, and added it to August, giving that month 31 days, and leaving February with only 28 days.

Augustus Caesar also wanted a world-wide tracking system to monitor and tax everyone under his control — an empire-wide census. Luke 21:1-3 “And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, everyone into his own city.”

For the first three centuries of Christianity, followers of Christ were persecuted throughout the Roman Empire in ten major persecutions.

Finally, Emperor Constantine ended the persecutions in 313 AD, and effectively made Christianity the recognized religion of the Empire.

Just as Julius Caesar unified the Roman Empire with the Julian Calendar, Constantine proposed at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD to to use the calendar to help unify the “Christian” Roman Empire.

The most important events in the Christian calendar were Christ’s Death, Burial and Resurrection. Christ’s crucifixion as the Passover Lamb occurred on the Jewish Feast of Passover; His being in the grave occurred on the Feast of Unleavened Bread; and His Resurrection occurred on the Feast of First Fruits, or as it was later called, Easter.

The Apostle Paul wrote in First Corinthians 5:7-8 “For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

First Corinthians 15:20 “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept.”

Constantine wanted a common date to celebrate Easter, and insisted the date be on a Sunday in the Roman solar calendar. This effectively ended the original method of determining the date, which was by asking Jewish rabbis each year when the Passover Feast was to be observed based on the Hebrew lunar calendar – traditionally beginning the evening of 14th day of Nissan. Constantine’s act was a defining moment in the split between what had been a predominately Jewish Christian Church — as Jesus and his disciples were Jewish — and the emerging Gentile Christian Church.

The new method of determining the date of Easter was the first Sunday after the first paschal full moon falling on or after the Spring Equinox. Tables were compiled with the future dates of Easter, but over time a slight discrepancy became evident. “Equinox” is a solar calendar term: “equi” = “equal” and “nox” = “night.” Thus “equinox” is when the daytime and nighttime are of equal duration. It occurs once in the Spring around March 20 and once in the Autumn around September 22. In the year 325 AD, Easter was on March 21.

During the Middle Ages, France celebrated its New Year Day on Easter. Other countries began their New Year on Christmas, December 25, and still others on Annunciation Day, March 25.

By 1582, it became clear that the Julian Calendar was slightly inaccurate, by about 11 minutes per year, resulting in the compiled tables having the date of Easter ten days ahead of the Spring Equinox, and even further from its origins in the Jewish Passover.

In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII decided to revise the calendar by eliminating ten days. He set a leap year every 4th year with a minor adjustment. There is NO leap year in years divisible by 100, but not by 400. Thus, there is NO leap days in 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100. Yet there ARE leap days in the years 1600, 2000, 2400. It sounds complicated, but it is so accurate that the Gregorian Calendar is the most internationally used calendar today.

Pope Gregory’s “Gregorian Calendar” also returned the beginning of the new year BACK to Julius Caesar’s January 1st date. As England was an Anglican Protestant country, it reluctantly postponed adopting the more accurate Catholic Gregorian Calendar. Most of Protestant Europe did not adopt the Gregorian Calendar for nearly two centuries. This gave rise to some interesting record keeping. For example: ships would leave Protestant England on one date according to the Julian Calendar, called “Old Style” and arrive in Catholic Europe at an earlier date, as much of Europe was using the Gregorian Calendar, called “New Style.”

Another example is that England’s William Shakespeare and Spain’s Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote of La Mancha. They died on the same date, April 23, 1616, but when the differences between England’s Julian Calendar and Spain’s Gregorian Calendar are removed, Cervantes actually died ten days before Shakespeare.

In 1752, England and its colonies finally adopted the Gregorian Calendar, but by that time there was an 11 day discrepancy between the “Old Style” (OS) and the “New Style” (NS). When America finally adjusted its calendar, the day after September 2, 1752 (Old Style), became September 14, 1752 (New Style). There were reportedly accounts of confusion and rioting. As countries of Western Europe, particularly Portuguese, Spanish, French, Dutch and English, began to trade and establish colonies around the world, the Gregorian Calendar came into international use around the globe.

All dates in the world are either BC “Before Christ” or AD “Anno Domini” — meaning in the Year of the Lord’s Reign.

(So as confusing as all that appears, it is how we got to today’s calendar.)

Ron
 

May 25, 2025 is Memorial Day in America.  It is the national holiday to honor those who have died in the U.S Military. Below, I have chronicled its history for you to aid you in celebrating it.

The actual founding of Memorial Day in America started with the ending of World War One.

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, World War One ended. Though the “cease-fire,” called “Armistice,” was signed at 5:00am in the morning, it specified that 11:00am would be the time the actual fighting would cease. Tragically, in the intervening six hours of fighting, an additional 11,000 more were killed.

Following World War One — “the war to end all wars” — President Warren Harding, in 1921, had the remains of an unknown soldier killed in France brought to Arlington Cemetery to be buried in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Inscribed on the Tomb are the words: “Here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to God.”

On October 4, 1924, President Calvin Coolidge stated at the dedication of the Monument to the American Expeditionary Forces: “They did not regard it as a national or personal opportunity for gain or fame or glory, but as a call to sacrifice for the support of humane principles and spiritual ideals. If anyone doubts the sacrifices which they have been willing to make in behalf of what they believe to be the welfare of other nations, let them gaze upon this monument and other like memorials that have been reared in every quarter of our broad land. Let them look upon the representative gatherings of our VETERANS, and let them remember that America has dedicated itself to the service of God and man.”

American Soldiers Killed by German Machine Guns in World War One

In 1926, President Coolidge began issuing proclamations honoring veterans every year, and in 1938 the day became a legal holiday.

In 1954, the name “Armistice Day” was changed to “Veterans Day” to honor all soldiers of all American wars. Four million Americans served in World War One. Sixteen million served in World War Two. Nearly seven million served in the Korean War. Nearly nine million served in the Vietnam War. From the First Gulf War till the present, 7.4 million men and women served.

While Veterans Day honors the living soldiers, Memorial Day honors those who died while serving.

General 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.”

General McArthur

In 1984, President Ronald Reagan placed a soldier from the Vietnam War in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. DNA tests later identified the body as that of pilot Michael Blassie, who was flying an A-37B Dragonfly when he was shot down near An Loc, South Vietnam. In 1998, the body of Michael Blassie was reburied at Jefferson Memorial Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri. Michael Blassie was a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1970, and before that, a graduate of St. Louis University High School in 1966.

A-37B Dragonfly

On Veterans Day, November 11, 1921, President Warren G. Harding stated: “On the threshold of eternity, many a soldier, I can well believe, wondered how his ebbing blood would color the stream of human life, flowing on after his sacrifice. Standing today on hallowed ground, it is fitting to say that his sacrifice, and that of the millions dead, shall not be in vain. I can sense the prayers of our people, of all peoples, that this Armistice Day shall mark the beginning of a new and lasting era of peace on earth, good will among men.

President Warren Harding

In 1954, The American Legion sponsored a Back-to-God program. President Dwight Eisenhower addressed them in a broadcast from the White House, 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. Out of faith in God, and through faith in themselves as His children, our forefathers designed and built this Republic.”

President Eisenhower

Eisenhower continued: “We remember the picture of the Father of our Country, on his knees at Valley Forge seeking divine guidance in the cold gloom of a bitter winter. Thus Washington gained strength to lead to independence a nation dedicated to the belief that each of us is divinely endowed with indestructible rights. We remember, too, that three-fourths of a century later, on the battle-torn field of Gettysburg, and in the silence of many a wartime night, Abraham Lincoln recognized that only under God could this Nation win a new birth of freedom.”

On February 20, 1955, President Dwight Eisenhower again addressed the Nation:  “The Founding Fathers recognizing God as the author of individual rights, declared that the purpose of Government is to secure those rights.  In many lands the State claims to be the author of human rights. If the State gives rights, it can – and inevitably will – take away those rights. Without God, there could be no American form of Government, nor an American way of life. Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first-the most basic-expression of Americanism.”

Ron