The Amazing History of Santa Claus

St. Nicholas is the most renowned saint in Greek Orthodox tradition.

He was the Bishop of Myra in 4th century in Asia Minor, imprisoned by Romans; preached against immorality and exposure of infants; defended the Trinity; confronted corrupt politicians; and was generous to the poor.  But how did Saint Nicholas turn into our Santa Clause? Please read the following and you will know. Ron

St. Nicholas died December 6, 343 AD.

In the 5th century a church was named for him in the city of Myra, modern-day Demre, Turkey.  When it was damaged in an earthquake in 529 A.D., Emperor Justinian rebuilt it.

In 988 AD, Vladimir the Great of Russia converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity and adopted Nicholas as the “patron saint” of Russia.

In the 11th century, Islamist Seljuks Turks, invaded Asia Minor, killing Christians. All seven churches mentioned in the Book of Revelation were destroyed. Graves were desecrated.

Islamic Hadith Sahih Muslim (Book 4, No. 2115) stated: “Do not leave an image without obliterating it, or a high grave without leveling it.”

There was concern that the grave of St. Nicholas would be desecrated, as years earlier, in 846 A.D., 10,000 Muslim Saracens sailed up the Tiber River and sacked Rome, desecrating the remains of St. Peter and St. Paul.

In a panic, Christians in Myra, Asia Minor, shipped the remains of St. Nicholas in 1087 to the south east coast of Italy, to the town of Bari.

Pope Urban the Second dedicated the church there, naming it after St. Nicholas — Basilica di San Nicola de Bari.

This officially introduced the Greek St. Nicholas to Western Europe.

Turks intensified their invasion, causing so many Greek Christians to flee that Pope Urban the Second went to the Council of Claremont in 1095 and begged European monarchs to send help. Europe sent help — it was called the First Crusade.

In a backwards sense, Western Europe might not have had St. Nicholas traditions if it had not been for Islamists invading Eastern Europe.

Once St. Nicholas’ remains were in Italy, western Europeans quickly embraced the gift-giving traditions associated with him. By 1223, so much attention was given to gift-giving during the Christmas season that pious St. Francis of Assisi, sort of in protest, created the first creche or nativity scene, with Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus.

He wanted to get back to the real reason for the season: Jesus, the Son of God, was born in a manager. John 1:14 declared: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Isaiah 7:14 foretold: “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel.” Emmanuel means God with us!

In 1517, Martin Luther began the Reformation.

Luther considered “saints days” a distraction from Christ, so he effectively ended them in Protestant countries, including the popular December 6th “St. Nicholas Day.” Since Germans like the gift-giving, Martin Luther moved the giving to December 25th to emphasize that all gifts come from the Christ Child.

The German pronunciation of Christ Child was “Christkindl,” which over the centuries became pronounced “Kris Kringle.”

Britain used to be a Roman colony since Julius Caesar first invaded in 55 B.C. Saturn was the Roman god of feasting, plenty, and merriment. If you remember the Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, the Ghost of Christmas Present is depicted as a big guy with robes, a wreath on his head, and a goblet of wine. Looking at him, you are asking yourself, who is this guy? He sort of looks like Santa, but he also looks like a Roman god. Well, that was Saturn, but they Christianized him and called him Father Christmas. They could not call him St. Nicholas because he was outlawed by England’s Reformation.

During Henry the Eighth’s reign, Christmas in England became a party time, like Mardi Gras. People forget that Mardi Gras originally was a religious day. It was the day before Lent, when people fasted 40 days before Easter to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus. But over time Mardi Gras became a lewd party in New Orleans.

Puritans viewed Christmas as having become too worldly. Puritan leader, Rev. Cotton Mather told his congregation, December 25, 1712: “Can you in your conscience think, that our Holy Savior is honored, by Mad Mirth, by long Eating, by hard Drinking, by lewd Gaming, by rude Reveling; by a Mass fit for none but a Saturn or a Bacchus, or the Night of a Mahometan Ramadan? You cannot possibly think so! A Multitude of the Heavenly Host was heard Praising of God. But shall it be said, That at the Birth of our Saviour for which we owe as high Praises to God as they can do, we take the Time to Please the Hellish Legions, and to do Actions that have much more of Hell than of Heaven in them?”

“Puritans took over England in 1642.

Puritans passed an ordinance, December 1643: “Sins of our forefathers have turned this feast of Christ, into an extreme forgetfulness of him, by giving liberty to carnal and sensual delights.

In 1647, Puritans in England outlawed Christmas.

When Pilgrims first disembarked the Mayflower, the ship master Christopher Jones wrote in his log, December 25, 1620:

“At anchor in Plymouth harbor, Christmas Day, but not observed by these colonists, they being opposed to all saints’ days.

A year later, at the end of 1621, Pilgrim Governor William Bradford recorded in Of Plymouth Plantation, of another boatload arriving with more settlers: “Herewith I shall end this year – except to recall one more incident, rather amusing than serious. On Christmas Day the Governor called the people out to work as usual; but most of the new company excused themselves, and said it went against their consciences to work on that day. So the Governor told them, if they made it a matter of conscience, he would spare them till they were better informed.”

Bradford continued: “So he went with the rest, and left them; but on returning from work at noon he found them at play in the street, some pitching the bar, some at stool-ball, and such like sports. So he went to them and took away their games, and told them that it was against his conscience that they should play and others work. If they made the keeping of the day a matter of devotion, let them remain in their houses; but there should be no gaming and reveling in the streets.”

Where Pilgrims, Puritans and most Presbyterians did not celebrate Christmas, other immigrants did celebrate Christmas, such as Germans, French, Swedes, English, Welsh, and especially the Dutch.  

When they read……Revelation 19:14, the saint will ride with Him dressed in ” fine linen, clean and white is the righteousness of the saints. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.”

The reasoning went, that since St. Nicholas was a saint, he would certainly be one of multitude riding white horses returning with Jesus.

But since St. Nicholas was such a special saint, the Dutch had him coming back once a year for a mini-judgement day, to check up on the children, to see if they are on the right track before the real Judgement Day.

Over the centuries the story evolved. The Books of Works and the Lamb’s Book of Life were turned into the Book of the Naughty and Nice. The angels turned into elves. Saints came from Heaven, the New Jerusalem, the Celestial City — which turned into the North Pole.

The North Pole is not far from Finnish Lapland near the Arctic Circle in the northern Scandinavian Peninsula. Since there were few horses there, St. Nicholas rode a reindeer, which then became riding in a sleigh.

The Dutch holiday tradition is that St. Nicholas comes once a year to give presents to good children. But the naughty children had something else to look forward to.

Beginning in 1624, Dutch immigrants brought St. Nicholas traditions to New Amsterdam, which became New York in 1664. Dutch called Saint Nicholas – “Sant Nikolaus” or “Sinter Klass,” which became pronounced “Santa Claus.” “Santa Claus” is simply the Dutch pronunciation of Saint Nicholas.

In New York, Washington Irving, considered the Father of American Literature, wrote Legend of Sleepy Hallow and Rip Van Winkle. He coined the name “Gotham” for New York City.” Irving was also a founding member of the St. Nicholas Society of the City of New York, 1835, to celebrate the city’s heritage. In it, he described St. Nicholas visiting once a year, but no longer wearing a bishop’s outfit, but a typical Dutch outfit of long-trunk hose, leather belt, boots, a hat, and a pipe: Washington Irving wrote further: “So we are told, in the sylvan days of New Amsterdam, the good St. Nicholas would often make his appearance in his beloved city, of a holiday afternoon, riding jollily among the treetops, or over the roofs of houses, now and then drawing forth magnificent presents from his breeches pockets, and dropping them down the chimneys of his favorites.

Irving wrote how Dutch settlers continued the tradition of hanging stockings by the fireplace: “At this early period was instituted that pious ceremony, still religiously observed in all our ancient families of the right breed, of hanging up a stocking in the chimney on St. Nicholas Eve;  which stocking is always found in the morning miraculously filled; for the good St. Nicholas has ever been a great giver of gifts, particularly to children. Nor was the day of St. Nicholas suffered to pass by without making presents, hanging the stocking in the chimney, and complying with all its other ceremonies.”

Clement Clarke Moore Park is located at the corner of 10th Avenue and 22nd Street.  Moore helped Trinity Church establish a new church on Hudson Street – St. Luke in the Fields.

In 1823, Clement Moore wrote a poem for his six children titled “A Visit From St. Nicholas”:

‘TWAS the night before Christmas, when all through the houseNot a creature was stirring,not even a mouse; The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that ST. NICHOLAS soon would be there.”

“When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer, With a little old driver, so lively and quick, I knew in a moment it must be ST. NICK.”

“So up to the house-top the coursers they flew, With the sleigh full of Toys, and ST. NICHOLAS too.”

“As I drew in my head, and was turning around, Down the chimney ST. NICHOLAS came with a bound.”

Clement Moore described St. Nicholas as smaller: “He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf, And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself.”

Though much has been added on to the story throughout the centuries, underneath it all, there really was a godly, courageous Christian Bishop who lived in 4th century Asia Minor, named Nicholas.

  • Nicholas was a Christian;
  • he loved Jesus enough go into the ministry;
  • he chose being imprisoned by the Romans rather than deny his Christian faith;
  • he stood for the doctrine of the Trinity;
  • he preached against sexually immoral pagan temples and the killing of innocent babies;
  • he confronted corrupt politicians; and
  • most notably of all, St. Nicholas was very generous, giving away all his money to help the poor in their time of need, and doing it anonymously, as he wanted the credit to go, not to himself, but to God alone!

The Great Battle of Christmas

On Christmas Eve Genaeral Washington’s little army was camped there in the snow by the Deleware river.  Congress had not provided them with any provisions, or clothing, or even shoes.  Many were barefoot in the snow and leaving blood upon it.  It was a desperate situation.  A big army of brutal, highly trained Hessians, employed by the British was camped across the river.  General Washington got on his knees and asked God what to do……..the answer was “attack or die”.  And that is what he told his men. Do read what happened then in the following narrative:

Catherine the Great of Russia, who reigned 1762-1796, rebuffed King George III’s requests and bribes to have Russia side with Britain during the Revolutionary War.

Instead, Russia continued trading with the American colonies, providing much needed supplies. Other countries that helped supply Americans with arms. supplies, and personnel, both overtly and covertly, were France, the Netherlands, and Spain. Courageous individuals, acting in their own private capacity, also came to help America from Ireland, Prussia, Bavaria, Poland-Lithuania, and Hungary.

Russia’s Catherine the Great even attempted to negotiate a peace with France and Britain to bring an early end to the war in America’s favor. Catherine had earlier deposed her husband, Tsar Peter III, in a coup. She then fought the Russo-Turkish War (1768-1774), against the Muslim Ottoman Turkish Empire.

Her General, Alexei Grigoryevich Orlov destroyed the Ottoman navy at the Battle of Chesma, July 5-7, 1770 — it was the worst defeat for Ottoman navy since the Battle of Lepanto in 1571.

The same time, 38,000 Russians defeated 80,000 Muslim Tatar cavalry and infantry at the Battle of Larga, July 7, 1770.

Two weeks later, Russia defeated another 175,000 Turks at the Battle of Kagul.

These defeats shocked the Ottoman Empire.

When Sultan Mustfa III (1717-1774), who had given himself the title Cihangir “World Conqueror,” heard the news he reportedly had a heart attack, from which he died.

Russian military leaders began talk of a campaign to emancipate oppressed Christians under Ottoman rule, and free Constantinople, which had been the capital of the Christian world for nearly a thousand years. Their plans, though, were interrupted by the French Revolution.

America’s first minister to the Russian Court of Catherine the Great was Francis Dana, a member of the Continental Congress, being assisted 1781-1783 by the young John Quincy Adams — the future 6th US President.

Back in America, during the Revolutionary War, British troops defeated the Continental Army at the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, August 27, 1776. Thus, General Washington was forced to retreat. The Continental Army was then driven out of New York, across New Jersey and into Pennsylvania.

In the following six months, despite Congress approving the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Army’s ranks dwindled from a high of 20,000 down to just 2,000 as of December of 1776. Most of the remaining soldiers were planning on leaving at the end of year, as they had only volunteered for a six-month enlistment, needing to get back home to care for their neglected farms, shops and families. General Washington rallied his troops to stay by having Thomas Paine’s “The American Crisis” read to them.

It began: “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country.”

Philadelphia fell into a panic as fear set in that British troops would invade and occupy the city, which they did later the next year.

Congress’ last instruction to General Washington, December 12, 1776, was: “Until Congress shall otherwise order, General Washington shall be possessed of full power to order and direct all things relative to the operations of the war.”

Washington proposed a daring military operation, but insisted his officers keep it under strictest secrecy, as the British were paying spies in gold for information.

Washington made the password for his operation “Victory or Death.”

This reflected Washington’s General Orders, which he had issued months before on July 2, 1776: “The time is now near at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their houses and farms are to be pillaged and destroyed, and themselves consigned to a state of wretchedness from which no human efforts will deliver them. The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us no choice but a brave resistance, or the most abject submission. We have, therefore to resolve to conquer or die.”

On Christmas Day evening,1776, Washington’s troops quietly crossed the dangerous, ice-filled Delaware River in a freezing blizzard.

In the iconic painting of the Delaware Crossing, the black soldier rowing next to George Washington is thought to be his bodyguard, freed slave Toby Gilmore. After the War, Toby Gilmore was given a cannon in recognition of his valuable service, which, according to tradition, he kept on his farm in Raynham, Massachusetts, and publicly fired every Fourth of July. Today it is in the Old Colony Historical Society Museum in Taunton, Massachusetts.

After crossing the Delaware, the army trudged through blinding snow in strict silence. Two soldiers froze to death on the march.

Washington’s army attacked the German Hessian troops stationed at Trenton, New Jersey, at daybreak, December 26, 1776.

Though King George III was unsuccessful in getting Russian troops, he arranged to hire the feared, brutal Hessian mercenaries.

One of Washington’s aides-de-camp, the Irish Catholic Colonel John Fitzgerald, made note of his opinion that Hessians might be vulnerable on Christmas Day, as: “They make a great deal of Christmas in Germany, and no doubt the Hessians will drink a great deal of beer and have a dance tonight.”

Hessians were skilled in European warfare where enemies faced off opposite of each other in an open field. They were not prepared for Americans firing from behind trees, walls, and fence posts.

American captain Alexander Hamilton maneuvered his six-pound cannons into position and fired them down King Street, tearing into the Hessian ranks.

Hessian colonel Johann Rall was shot. Without him, the Hessian troops soon surrendered. Americans captured nearly a thousand Hessians in just over an hour.

Of the Americans who were wounded were: William Washington, a cousin of General Washington; and the young Lieutenant James Monroe, the future 5th U.S. President, who was struck by a musket ball in the arm and bleeding badly. Doctor John Riker clamped the artery and saved his life.

Yale President Ezra Stiles stated in an Election Address to the Connecticut General Assembly, May 8, 1783: “In our lowest and most dangerous estate, in 1776 and 1777, we sustained ourselves against the British Army of 60,000 troops commanded by the ablest generals Britain could procure throughout Europe, with a naval force of 22,000 seamen in above 80 men-of-war.

Heaven inspired us with resolution to cut the Gordian knot in the glorious act of Independence sealed and confirmed by God Almighty in the victory of General Washington at Trenton. Who does not see the indubitable interposition and energetic influence of Divine Providence in these great and illustrious events?”

Ezra Stiles continued: “Who but a Washington, inspired by Heaven, could have struck out the great movement and maneuver of Princeton, that Christmas (Day) eve when Washington and his army crossed the Delaware? The United States are under peculiar obligations to become a holy people unto the Lord our God.”

Washington wrote August 20, 1778:  “The Hand of Providence has been so conspicuous in the course of the war that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more wicked that has not gratitude to acknowledge his obligations to God”

The Amazing History of Basketball

This is not only a history of the invention and development of Basketball, it shows why Basketball was invented, it shows how Alonso Staggs developed the game of football, and how James Naismith started the NCAA and many other things in the sports that we play today. Most people have no idea that they all came about to bring people to Jesus. Do read this so that you will be informed about the sports that we play today around the world:

Did you know BASKETBALL was invented by an instructor for the Young Men’s Christian Association.

The game was invented by James Naismith, who was born in 1861 in Ontario, Canada.

Both of his parents died of typhoid fever in 1870, when he was just nine years old.

He was taken in by his grandmother who died in 1872, leaving him with his Uncle Peter, who stressed self-reliance and reliability.

James worked farm chores, chopped trees, sawed logs, and drove horses. He walked five miles to and from a small school. Though he struggled academically, he learned honesty, initiative, independence, and ruggedness.

A poor student, he left school at age 15 and worked as a lumberjack. It was then that he had a life-changing encounter with Jesus.

Edwin Brit Wyckoff recorded in the book, The Man who Invented Basketball: James Naismith and His Amazing Game (Enslow Publishers, Inc, Berkeley Heights, NJ, 2008), that Naismith said:

“It was with a firm determination and a great sense of confidence that I was to enter the study for the ministry …”

He continued:

“For several years I had been wondering what I wanted to accomplish. Finally I decided that the only real satisfaction that I would ever derive from life was to help my fellow beings.”

Naismith added:

“I was lying on the bed on Sunday and thought, ‘What is this all about? What is life about? What are you going to do? What are you going to be? What motto will you hold up before you?’ I put up on the wall, not in writing, but in my mind this thought: ‘I want to leave the world a little bit better than I found it.’ This is the motto I had then and it is the motto I have today.”

With the goal of becoming a minister, he entered McGill University in 1883, located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. There he studied Philosophy and Hebrew.

McGill included athletics as part of the college life.

It was at McGill that students organized the very first hockey club in 1877, and wrote the first hockey rule book.

Naismith graduated in 1887, and enrolled to study theology at a McGill-affiliated school, Presbyterian College.

To pay his tuition, he worked at McGill as an instructor in physical education.

At Presbyterian College, he was involved in religious activities, the Missionary Society, the Literary and Philosophical Society, and was a staff member of the Presbyterian College Journal.

He was also an avid athlete.

In addition to gymnastics, he played baseball, field hockey, football, rugby and lacrosse – sometimes referred to as “legalized murder.”

Dr. Ed and Janice Hird wrote in “Dr. James Naismith: An Examination of the Global Impact of the Basketball Founder” (Engage Magazine, 7/2121, engage.lightmagazine.ca) how contact sports resulted in injuries, with Naismith getting a kick to the face, a concussion, temporary memory loss, and permanently swollen cauliflower ears.

As a result, he and his future wife, Maude Shermann, designed one of football’s earliest helmets.

He was counseled by some to leave the evils of the athletic life and only devote himself to studying and Christian duties.

A simple incident, though, gave James direction.

During a rugby game in his senior year in seminary, a teammate uttered profanity.

When he looked up and saw James, he embarrassingly apologized and said “I forgot you were there.”

James began to realize that by combining both athletics and religious ministry, he could use sports to help men build godly Christian character.

At the age of 29, he came to the United States to work as the physical education teacher at the Young Men’s Christian Association department of the School for Christian Workers in Springfield, Massachusetts, renamed the YMCA International Training School.

The YMCA pioneered integrating prayer and Bible study with athletics.

This was part of a 19th century movement known as “Muscular Christianity,” which led to the concept of “good sportsmanship.”

During the harsh New England winter of 1891, the class of young men were bored with calisthenics, sit-ups and marching, so Naismith was asked by Dr. Luther Gulick, Jr., to devise a game which could be played indoors.

Dr. Gulick, who designed the YMCA’s triangle logo—Spirit, Mind, & Body, also founded, with his wife, Charlotte “Lottie” Emily Vetter, the Camp Fire Girls.

Alluding to Book of Ecclesiastes, Dr. Gulick told Naismith: “There is nothing new under the sun. All so-called new things are simply re-combinations of the factors of things that are now in existence.”

James took the initiative, saying: “All that we have to do is to take the factors of our known games and then recombine them, and we will have the new game we are looking for.”

He also wanted a game that would result in fewer concussions and more sportsmanship.

On December 21, 1891, drawing upon a game he played as a boy called “Duck on a Rock,” he created a new game with the goal of lopping a soccer ball into peach basket.

Naismith described in a New York radio interview:

“Something had to be done. One day I had an idea. I called the boys to the gym and divided them into two teams of nine and gave them an old soccer ball.

I showed them two peach baskets I had nailed at each end of the gym, and I told them the idea was to throw the ball into the other team’s peach basket.”

Without rules, brawls would break out on the floor, so Naismith wrote the original 13 rules of basketball, which incorporated aspects of soccer, football and hockey.

With the players not running with the ball, there would be no injuring from tackling as in rugby or football. With the basket up high, there would be less harm near the goal as in hockey.

Michael Zogry, associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Kansas, stated:

“Naismith believed an umpire was essential in basketball. He said an umpire could enforce the rules and remind players how to behave.

Naismith’s hand-written original 13 rules of basketball sold for $4.3 million in 2010. A KU alumnus, David Booth and his wife, Suzanne, purchased the rules as a gift to KU.”

Yale divinity student Amos Alonzo Stagg further developed basketball with five players.

He worked alongside James Naismith at the YMCA’s training center in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Stagg later pioneered coaching and innovations for the game of football.

Naismith’s director, Dr. Gulick, explained his strict standards for players’ behavior in an 1897 article:

“The game must be kept clean. It is a perfect outrage for an institution that stands for Christian work in the community to tolerate not merely ungentlemanly treatment of guests, but slugging and that which violates the elementary principles of morals.

Excuse for the rest of the year any player who is not clean in his play.”

Naismith was an advocate of racial equality, opposing segregation in all its forms.

He believed that good coaching would produce: “initiative, agility, accuracy, alertness, co-operation, skill, reflex judgement, speed, self-confidence, self-sacrifice, self-control, and sportsmanship.”

U of K Professor Michael Zogry, further explained Naismith’s approach to sports and faith:

“His approach was to put Christianity out there in front of people and try to influence them through positive character development, but he reserved his formal preaching for when he was a guest minister at area churches.”

For Naismith, basketball was not simply a game, but an evangelization tool.

Basketball became so popular, that two years later, in 1893, the YMCA began promoting it internationally.

Zogry added:

“YMCAs began to integrate the game into their mission trips and it is recorded that many young people were brought to Christ through these missionaries and the game of basketball.”

YMCA missionaries first took the game to Canada, then overseas to Japan, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and around the globe.

Christian missionaries brought basketball to China through the YMCA, it has become one of the nation’s most popular sports.

YMCA missionary T.D. Patton took basketball to India.

In 1894, Naismith married Maude, and together they had five children.

The next year they moved to Colorado, where James took the position as Physical Education director at the Denver YMCA.

When his brother, Robbie, died suddenly from an infection, James decided to become a doctor.

In 1898, Naismith obtained a medical degree from Gross Medical College, which was merged in 1912 with the University of Colorado Medical School.

He earned four doctorate degrees before the age of 35.

As a minister, coach and medical doctor, was a holistic missionary caring for the whole person–spirit, mind, and body.

Moving to Lawrence, Kansas, he was the assistant gymnasium director, campus chaplain, and basketball coach of the Jayhawks at the University of Kansas.

Professor Michael Zogry stated:

“Naismith arrived at KU in 1898 after he had earned a medical degree while employed by the Denver YMCA.

KU hired him to be the chapel director (daily prayer services were compulsory for students then), campus physician, physical education program director and, yes, the basketball coach.

In addition to basketball and physical fitness, Naismith nurtured the study of religion at KU. In 1921, he was among those founding the Kansas School of Religion just a few steps off the university campus. The Kansas School of Religion was a forerunner of KU’s Department of Religious Studies.”

Professor Zogry wrote of a another famous KU coach:

“Forrest Clare (Phog) Allen was not only known as the father of basketball coaching but is thought to have been Naismith’s student at KU.”

Basketball continued to grow in popularity, being demonstrated at the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis, Missouri.

During the early 1900s, some viewed sports a distraction of the devil.

Dr. Ed and Janice Hird wrote in “Dr. James Naismith: An Examination of the Global Impact of the Basketball Founder” that his sister, Annie, was disappointed James chose sports ministry instead of being the pastor of a congregation.

However, Naismith wrote:

“A few years ago, on a visit to my only sister I asked her if she had ever forgiven me for leaving the ministry. She looked seriously at me, shook her head, and said, ‘No Jim, you put your hand to the plow and then turned back.’

As long as she lived, she never witnessed a basketball game, and I believe that she was a little ashamed to think that I had been the originator of the game.”

Naismith saw sports as a platform to build Christian character, instill good sportsmanship, to love your neighbor, to play by the Golden Rule.

He said he “could best serve God by influencing young men’s characters, being convinced that, “he could better exemplify the Christian life through sports than in the pulpit.”

Naismith wrote:

“Self-control, the subordination of one’s feelings for a purpose. The player who permits his feelings to interfere with his reflexes is not only a hindrance to his team, but he is also occupying a place that might better be filled by another.”

He believed sports provided an opportunity to develop strength to stand in faith to fight life’s battles, strength to live a fulfilled live in accordance with the Bible, and strength to serve others, developing:

“a willingness to place the good of the team above one’s personal ambitions

playing the game vigorously, observing the rules definitely, accepting defeat gracefully, and winning courteously.”

He added:

“I may say in conclusion: Let us all be able to lose gracefully and to win courteously; to accept criticism as well as praise; and last of all, to appreciate the attitude of the other fellow at all times.”

Naismith explained: “There is no place in basketball for the egotist.”

In 1911, Naismith published the book, A Modern College.

When World War I started in 1914, he volunteered at the age of 54.

Being a Canadian, he was able to get official ordination credentials from the Presbyterian Church and be appointed by the governor as an honorary captain and the chaplain of the nascent First Kansas Infantry.

In 1916, he was stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas, where two years later the Spanish Flu appeared of debated origins.

His unit was transferred to Eagle Pass, Texas, where soldiers served as guards during the Mexican Border War with Pancho Villa.

James Patton wrote in “Remembering a Veteran: Dr. James Naismith, YMCA” (Roads to the Great War, April 2, 2018):

“Naismith took his calling as the chaplain very seriously, approaching the task just like coaching a team of his young players, encouraging them to realize their potential.

He conducted church services, counseled soldiers, and advised his CO as to the spiritual needs of the unit. He was particularly concerned with efforts to keep the troops away from prostitutes, gambling, alcohol, and brawls with the locals.

To this end, and to keep them busy and physically fit, he organized basketball games, baseball games, and boxing matches involving the entire garrison at Eagle Pass.”

Patton explained Naismith’s emphasis on Biblical morality:

“In June 1917 Naismith was accepted as a lecturer on ‘moral conditions and sex education.’ His job was training counselors, inspiring troops and developing programs to improve morale and morality. His experience in this work formed a large part of the material for his book, Essence of a Healthy Life, 1918.

In the fall of 1918, he was sent to France as a YMCA Overseas Secretary, where his work continued as before but now in the shadow of the front. He wrote of this time, ‘I feel that I’m fitted for this work.’ With his breadth of experience, probably no one was a better choice.”

Naismith as a Chaplain in France

James Patton recorded a statement Naismith wrote in France:

“It is a pretty big job to go over and make the camps clean places for the boys to fight. And also get the right spirit into the men.

That involves two things. Educate the men and eliminate the evils from the camps and vicinity. Pershing is very anxious to have this done.

I go without instructions to find out the best thing to do and then get the machinery working. It is no child’s play, especially when it is among the old-fashioned type of soldier and in France where ideals are so different.

The responsibility is great but I am going into it determined. I do wish that you and the family would pray for me, for I have never felt so much in need of help as I do at this present minute.”

Of his 19 months with the YMCA in France, Naismith said he was thankful for “the knowledge that I have tried to help the people of the world to make it a little better, and that I have tried to love my neighbor as myself.”

Returning stateside as a 57-year-old war veteran, he resumed his position as director of physical education at the University of Kansas.

In 1925, he officially became an American citizen.

In 1936, three years before his death, he saw basketball recognized as an official event at the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin.

Though he shunned publicity, he accepted the invitation to throw the first jump ball at the opening ceremony.

Afterwards, he was chosen to hand out the medals: U.S won gold; Canada won silver; and Mexico won bronze.

In 1937, he helped form the National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball, renamed National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).

In 1939, just eight months after the birth of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Basketball Championship, Dr. James Naismith died at the age of 78.

He had challenged the NCAA to “use every means to put basketball (as) a factor in the molding of character.”

One of his players remembered: “With him, questions of physical development inevitably led to questions of moral development, and vice versa.”

The Journal of Health and Physical Education praised Naismith as “a physician who encouraged healthful living through participation and through vigorous activities” building “character in the hearts of young men.”

Basketball grew to be one of the biggest sports in North America, with 24 million participating in 2009 according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and played by over 450 million worldwide. Only soccer is more popular.

In 2015 “March Madness” attracted 80.7 million people worldwide who watched the tournament online.

Unlike athletes today, Naismith did not profit from inventing basketball. He even lost two houses to foreclosure.

Jayson Jenks wrote in “The Rules of the Game: Bill Self, Kansas, and basketball history” (March 22, 2012):

“Naismith never cashed in on his creation. He had offers to do commercials and advertisement campaigns, but except for lending his name as endorsement for a Rawlings basketball, he declined.”

Naismith stayed committed to his mission, which was “to win men for the Master (Jesus) through the gym.”

Tuskegee professor George W. Carver wrote to YMCA official Jack Boyd in Denver, March 1, 1927:

“Keep your hand in that of the Master, walk daily by His side, so that you may lead others into the realms of true happiness, where a religion of hate, – which poisons both body and soul – will be unknown, having in its place the ‘Golden Rule’ way, which is the ‘Jesus Way’ of life, will reign supreme.”

Naismith stated:

“I am sure that no man can derive more satisfaction from money or power than I do from seeing a pair of basketball goals in some out of the way place. Deep in the Wisconsin woods, High in the Colorado mountains, halfway across the desert, all are constant reminders that I have at least partially accomplished the objective that I set up.”

Basketball nets adorn garages, walls, barns, schools and YMCAs in communities across the globe. It was the first game requiring gymnasium’s to have high ceilings.

Naismith wrote:

“Whenever I witness games in a church league, I feel that my vision, almost half a century ago, of the time when the Christian people would recognize the true value of athletics, has become a reality.”

Two years after his death, Naismith’s book, Basketball—its Origins and Development, was published in 1941.

Jon Ackerman wrote in the article “Upward Sports is carrying out the vision of the late Dr. James Naismith” (Sports Spectrum Magazine, Winter 2017):

“Dr. James Naismith invented basketball as a way to reach young people for Jesus. That same vision is fueling Upward Sports, the world’s largest Christian youth sports organization.

James Pomeroy Naismith, now 81, is the last living grandson of Dr. Naismith. He was 3 when his famous grandfather passed away.

Speaking of his grandfather, ‘He could see a potential for an outreach, a Christian outreach to young people using competitive sports, and it is perfectly clear that he himself loved competitive sports. If you can take something you love and apply it not only to your life, but through outreach to give others a better life, now that’s a really good vision.”

Naismith is honored in eight Canadian and American Halls of Fame. He is featured on postage stamps in both Canada and the United States.

The U.S. Census Bureau statistics (2009) report that over 24 million Americans play BASKETBALL.

In 1892, William Morgan came to study at the International Young Men’s Christian Association Training School — Springfield College. There he met Naismith.

William Morgan then became physical education director at the YMCA in Holyoke, Massachusetts.

It was there that Morgan invented the game of VOLLEYBALL in 1895.

Morgan wrote the original rules for volleyball and had them printed in the first edition of the Official Handbook of the Athletic League of the Young Men’s Christian Associations of North America (1897).

He needed a ball that was lighter than a basketball, so he asked A.G. Spalding & Bros. of Chicopee, Massachusetts to design one.

Volleyball spread to other countries around the world.

In 1916, the rules of volleyball at the YMCA were shared with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

In 1922, the first official national tournament in the U.S. was held by the National YMCA Physical Education Committee in New York City.

The United States Volleyball Association (USVBA) formed in 1928.

Renamed USA Volleyball (USAV), it organizes major volleyball tournaments nationwide.

The U.S. Census Bureau statistics (2009) report that over 10 million Americans play VOLLEYBALL.

KU Professor Michael Zogry stated:

“Naismith’s goals in life, as he stated on his application to the International YMCA Training School, were to try to help ‘win men for the Master,’ to build character and to be an example for the men.”

Zogry added:

“The story of Naismith’s creation of the game is widely known … Less well-known is that his game also was meant to help build Christian character and to inculcate certain values of the muscular Christian movement.”

Edwin Brit Wyckoff described how Naismith, along with Theodore Roosevelt, was an admirer of British author Thomas Hughes’ popular book, Tom Brown’s Schooldays, 1857:

“Muscular Christianity is Christianity applied to the treatment and use of our bodies. It is an enforcement of the laws of health by the solemn sanctions of the New Testament.”

The Real History of The YMCA

The YMCA has grown to be the oldest and largest youth charity in the world, with a membership of millions in 124 countries. In many places like in Hong Kong it has its own hotel where I have stayed several times. It even spawned the invention of Basketball and Volleyball. If you would like to read about its founding and amazing growth, I have prepared the following for you:

The founder of the YMCA was George Williams, who was born in 1821 on an English farm in Dulverton, Someset.

Baptized into the Church of England, he described himself growing up to be “a careless, thoughtless, godless, swearing young fellow.”

As a result, his family sent him away to apprentice at a draper’s shop in Bridgwater.

In 1837, Williams converted to Congregationalism and became an active member of the Zion Congregational Church.

He moved to London in 1841, and worked his way up to be a draper shop department manager.

Attending Weigh House Congregational Church, he became active in evangelizing.

Williams was inspired by reading Revival Lectures, published in 1835 by American lawyer-turned preacher Charles Finney.

Finney’s Lectures on Revival also inspired William and Catherine Booth who founded an organization in London to fight child sex-trafficking, preaching the saving Gospel among the poor – The Salvation Army.

Williams was appalled at the immoral conditions surrounding young working men, so he gathered his fellow drapers in London and, on June 6, 1844, founded a place where young men could go and not be tempted into sin.

It was called the YMCA, and pioneered integrating prayer and bible study with athletics.

This was the beginning of the 19th century movement known as “Muscular Christianity,” which led to the concept of “good sportsmanship.”

Williams named this interdenominational Christian organization the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), to be a:  “refuge of Bible study and prayer for young men seeking escape from the hazards of life on the streets.”

One of George William’s earliest converts and contributors was his employer, George Hitchcock, whose daughter, Helen, Williams married in 1853. 

Concerned with keeping young men from temptation, especially sexual sin and immorality, Sir George Williams stated:  “My life-long experience as a business man, and as a Christian worker among young men, has taught me that the only power in this world that can effectually keep one from sin, in all its varied and often attractive forms is that which comes from an intimate knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ as a present Savior.”

Williams continued:

“And I can also heartily testify that the safe Guide-Book by which one may be led to Christ is the Bible, the Word of God, which is inspired by the Holy Ghost.”

After 50 years of bringing young men to Christ, Williams was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1894.

YMCA Founder Sir George Williams died November 6, 1905.

He was buried in the historic St. Paul’s Cathedral.

A stained-glass window in his honor was placed in Westminster Abbey.

In Montreal, Canada, the YMCA founded Sir George Williams University. Though later merged into Concordia University, it retained the campus name “Sir George Williams Campus.”

The early 1881 emblem for the YMCA had the names of the five parts of the world: Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa and America.

It has grown to be the oldest and largest youth charity in the world, with a membership of millions in 124 countries.

An early emblem of the YMCA had at the center an open Bible displaying John 17:21, referencing the verse: “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.”

Underneath the triangle were the letters XP, called the “Chi-Rho,” which were the first two Greek letters of the name of Christ — “Χριστοῦ.”

In 1885, the words “Spirit-Mind-Body” in a triangle were added by Dr. Luther Gulick, Jr., director of the YMCA International Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Dr. Gulick stated: “The triangle stands for the symmetrical man, each part developed with reference to the whole, and not merely with reference to itself. What authority have we for believing that this triangle idea is correct?  It is scriptural. Such statements as, “Thou shalt love the Lord Thy God with all they heart and soul and mind and strength,” indicate the scriptural view that the service of the Lord includes the whole man. The words, which in the Hebrew and Greek are translated “strength,” refer in both cases entirely to physical strength.”

In Switzerland, the Geneva chapter of the YMCA was founded by Henri Dunant in 1852.

Dunant wrote (Martin Gumpert, Dunant, The Story of the Red Cross, NY: Oxford University Press, 1938, p. 22): “A group of Christian young men has met together in Geneva to do reverence and worship to the Lord Jesus whom they wish to serve. They have heard that among you, too, there are brothers in Christ, young like themselves, who love their Redeemer and gather together that under His guidance, and through the reading of the Holy Scriptures, they may instruct themselves further. Being deeply edified thereby, they wish to unite with you in Christian friendship.”

Henri Dunant then founded the International Red Cross in 1863, for which he became the first recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

During the Civil War, D.L. Moody ministered to soldiers on the battle-lines with the YMCA’s United States Christian Commission. He went on to become an internationally renown evangelist.

When the 1871 Great Chicago Fire destroyed Chicago’s YMCA, D.L. Moody raised funds to rebuild it.

Chicago White Stocking baseball star Billy Sunday began attending YMCA meetings in 1886 before beginning his career as a revival preacher.

YMCA instructor James Naismith, at the behest of Dr. Gulick, invented the game of Basketball in 1891, at the YMCA International Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts.

YMCA missionaries took Basketball around the world.

In 1892, William Morgan came to study at the International Young Men’s Christian Association Training School — Springfield College. After meeting James Naismith, Morgan invented the game of Volleyball in 1895, at the YMCA in Holyoke, Massachusetts.

Theodore Roosevelt also championed muscular Christianity, addressing the Holy Name Society, August 16, 1903:

“I am not addressing weaklings, or I should not take the trouble to come here. I am addressing strong, vigorous men, who are engaged in the active hard work of life … men who will count for good or for evil who have strength to set a right example to others. You cannot retain your self-respect if you are loose and foul of tongue, that a man who is to lead a clean and honorable life must inevitably suffer if his speech likewise is not clean and honorable.”

“A man must be clean of mouth as well as clean of life — must show by his words as well as by his actions his fealty to the Almighty. We have good Scriptural authority for the statement that it is not what comes into a man’s mouth but what goes out of it that counts.”

He added:

“Every man here knows the temptations that beset all of us in this world. At times any man will slip. I do not expect perfection, but I do expect genuine and sincere effort toward being decent and cleanly in thought, in word, and in deed.  I expect you to be strong. I would not respect you if you were not.

I do not want to see Christianity professed only by weaklings; I want to see it a moving spirit among men of strength.”

Armenia – section two

In the first section on Armenia I related how that country was one of the most Christian in the world. In this section I cronicle how that caused them to become one of the most persecuted countries, ever, by the Musilms. What happened to them is one of the most stupendos atrocities in world history. You must read about it.

Ron

Armenia’s medieval capitol of Ani was called “the city of a 1,001 churches,” with a population of 200,000, rivaling the populations of the largest cities of the era, such as: Constantinople, Baghdad, Damascus, Florence, Rome, Paris, London, and Milan. And it was all Christian.

Islam emerged in the 7th century and quickly conquered throughout north Africa, Egypt and the Middle East.

In 704 AD, Caliph Walid tricked Armenian nobles to meet in St. Gregory’s Church in Naxcawan and Church of Xram on the Araxis River. Once they were all inside, he broke his promise, a practice called “taqiya,” and ordered his soldiers to surround the church, set it on fire, and burn to death everyone inside.

In 1064, Muslim Sultan Alp Arslan and his Seljuk Turkish army invaded Armenia and after a 25-day siege, destroyed the city of Ani.

Arab historian Sibt ibn al-Jawzi recorded:  “The city became filled from one end to the other with bodies of the slain. The army entered the city, massacred its inhabitants, pillaged and burned it, leaving it in ruins. Dead bodies were so many that they blocked the streets; one could not go anywhere without stepping over them. And the number of prisoners was not less than 50,000 souls. I was determined to enter city and see the destruction with my own eyes. I tried to find a street in which I would not have to walk over the corpses; but that was impossible.”

Ottoman Turks reduced conquered Christians, Jewish, and non-Muslim populations to a second-class status called “dhimmi,” and required them to annually ransom their lives by paying an exorbitant tax called “jizyah.”

Sultan Murat I (1359-1389) began the practice of “devshirme” — taking away boys from the conquered Armenian and Greek families. These innocentboys were systematically traumatized and indoctrinated into becoming ferocious Muslim warriors called “Janissaries,” similar to Egypt’s “Mamluk” slave soldiers. Janissaries were required to call the Sultan their “father” and were forbidden to marry, giving rise to depraved practices and abhorrent pederasty — “the sodomy of the Turks.”

For centuries Ottomans conquered throughout the Mediterranean, Middle East, Eastern Europe, Spain and North Africa, carrying tens of thousands into slavery.

Beginning in the early 1800s, the Ottoman Empire began to decline. Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania won their independence.

When Armenia’s sentiments leaned toward independence, Sultan Abdul Hamid II put an end to it by massacring 100,000 from 1894-1896.

President Grover Cleveland reported to Congress, December 2, 1895: “Occurrences in Turkey have continued to excite concern. Massacres of Christians in Armenia and the development of a spirit of fanatic hostility to Christian influences have lately shocked civilization.”

The next year, President Cleveland addressed Congress, December 7, 1896: “Disturbed condition in Asiatic Turkey, rage of mad bigotry and cruel fanaticism, wanton destruction of homes and the bloody butchery of men, women, and children, made martyrs to their profession of Christian faith. Outbreaks of blind fury which lead to murder and pillage in Turkey occur suddenly and without notice. It seems hardly possible that the earnest demand of good people throughout the Christian world for its corrective treatment will remain unanswered.”

President William McKinley told Congress, December 5, 1898: “The envoy of the United States to Turkey is charged to press for a just settlement of our claims of the destruction of the property of American missionaries resident in that country during the Armenian troubles of 1895.”

On December 6, 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt reported to Congress of: “systematic and long-extended cruelty and oppression of which the Armenians have been the victims, and which have won for them the indignant pity of the civilized world.”

Sultan Abdul Hamid II made a league with Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, trading guns for access to oil.

When Sultan Hamid was deposed in 1908, there was a brief euphoria among the citizens of Turkey, as they naively hoped the country would adopt a constitutional government guaranteeing individual rights and freedoms.

Instead, the government was taken over by the “Young Turks” — three leaders or “pashas”:

  • Mehmed Talaat Pasha,
  • Ismail Enver Pasha, and

Ahmed Djemal Pasha.

They acted as if they were planning democratic reforms while they clandestinely planned a genocidal scheme called “Ottomanization,” ridding the country of all who were not Muslims Turks.

In the first step unsuspecting Armenian young men were recruited into the military. Next they made them “non-combatant” soldiers and took away their weapons. Finally, they marched them into the woods and deserts where they were ambushed and massacred.

With the Armenian young men gone, Armenian cities and villages were defenseless. Nearly 2 million old men, women and children were marched into the desert, thrown off cliffs or burned alive.

Armenian cities of Kharpert, Van and Ani were leveled. Entire Armenian populations were deported to the deserts of Syria and Mesopotamia where hundreds of thousands were killed or starved to death.

Theodore Roosevelt recorded the fate of Armenians in his 1916 book Fear God and Take Your Own Part:

“Armenians, who for some centuries have sedulously avoided militarism and war are so suffering precisely and exactly because they have been pacifists whereas their neighbors, the Turks, have been militarists. During the last year and a half. Armenians have been subjected to wrongs far greater than any that have been committed since the close of the Napoleonic Wars. Fearful atrocities. Serbia is at this moment passing under the harrow of torture and mortal anguish.”

Roosevelt continued:

“Armenians have been butchered under circumstances of murder and torture and rape that would have appealed to an old-time Apache Indian. The slaughter of the Armenians must be shared by the neutral powers headed by the United States for their failure to protest when this initial wrong was committed. The crowning outrage has been committed by the Turks on the Armenians. They have suffered atrocities so hideous that it is difficult to name them, atrocities such as those inflicted upon conquered nations by the followers of Attila and of Genghis Khan. It is dreadful to think that these things can be done and that this nation nevertheless remarks ‘neutral not only in deed but in thought,’ between right and the most hideous wrong, neutral between despairing and hunted people — people whose little children are murdered and their women raped — by the victorious and evil wrong-doers. I trust that all Americans worthy of the name feel their deepest indignation and keenest sympathy aroused by the dreadful Armenian atrocities. I trust that they feel that a peace obtained without righting the wrongs of the Armenians would be worse than any war.”

Historian Arnold Toynbee wrote: “Turkish rule is slaughtering or driving from their homes, the Christian population. Only a third of the two million Armenians in Turkey have survived, and that at the price of apostatizing to Islam or else of leaving all they had and fleeing across the frontier.”

Attaturk was the founding father of the Republic of Turkey and served as President from 1924 to 1938, ushering in an era of moderation. He abolished sharia courts, and made Friday a workday, instituting the “weekend” of Saturday and Sunday. He outlawed polygamy and elevated the status of women, appointing the first female judges, and insisting on education of girls. He abolished women wearing of scarves, veils, chadors or burqas – the full-length body dress worn by Muslim women, and requiring women to wear skirts.

Ataturk stated:

“If henceforward the women do not share in the social life of the nation, we shall never attain to our full development. We shall remain irremediably backward, incapable of treating on equal terms with the civilizations of the West.”

Ataturk abolished the position of the Sultan and set up a secular government. He ended the religious Caliphate, thus preventing Muslim religious leaders from controlling government affairs.

In an effort to cut ties with the fundamentalist past, he introduced the western use of last names, replaced Arabic Islamic names with Turkish names, and encouraged the next generation not to take Arabic names but instead ethnic Turkish names. He abolished the use of Arabic and Persian script, and replaced it with the Latin alphabet.

In spite of all that Ataturk did, In some Islamist countries, Christian minorities continue to suffer persecution and even genocide:

  • Iraqi Chaldean Christians,
  • Assyrian Christians,
  • Syriac Christians,
  • Lebanese Maronite Christians,
  • Egyptian Coptic Christians,
  • Aramaic Christians,
  • Melkite Christians, and

Kurds.

Harvard Professor George Santayana wrote in Reason in Common Sense (Vol. I of The Life of Reason, 1905):

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Similarly, Will and Ariel Durant wrote in The Lessons of History (NY: Simon & Schuster, 1968): “Civilization is not inherited; it has to be learned and earned by each generation anew. If the transmission should be interrupted civilization would die, and we should be savages again.”

Armenia – section one

Most folks dont know about the very old civilization of the Armenians, and its very important part in world history. In fact, it is so important that I thought that you would want to know more about it. Its history is so colossal that I have needed to put it into two parts. Below is the first part that I hope you will read with interest. Ron

One of the oldest civilizations is that of the Armenians. According to ancient tradition, Noah’s Ark rested on Mount Ararat in the Armenian Mountain Range.

Noah’s Ark on Mount Ararat is featured on Armenia’s National Coat of Arms.

The ancient Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi (410-490 AD) recounted the tradition that Noah’s son Japheth had a descendant named Hayk.

He refused to submit to Bel (Nimrod), builder of the Tower of Babel in Babylon. Bel (Nimrod) was the first tyrant of the ancient world who centralized government power.

In this legend, Hayk reportedly led his people north to the land near Mount Ararat, but Bel (Nimrod) chased them. In a battle near Lake Van (c.2492 or 2107 BC), Hayk is said to have pulled his powerful long bow and made a nearly impossible shot with an arrow and killed Bel (Nimrod).

Hayk is the origin of “Hayastan,” the Armenian name for Armenia.

Armenia’s major city of Yerevan, founded in 782 BC in the shadow of Mount Ararat, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.

Armenia was mentioned in the Book of Isaiah when King Sennacherib of Assyria invaded Judah around 701 BC. In this national emergency, King Hezekiah and the Prophet Isaiah prayed and Judah was miraculously saved.

Sennacherib returned to Assyria, where he was killed by his sons who then escaped to Armenia: “And it came to pass, as Sennacherib was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia.” (Isaiah 37:38)

Armenia was first mentioned by name in secular records in 520 BC by Darius the Great of Persia in his Behistun inscription, as being one of the countries he sent troops into to put down a revolt.

In 331 BC, Alexander the Great conquered Persia, but never conquered Armenia.

In 67 BC, Roman General Pompey invaded the nearby Kingdom of Pontus on the Black Sea. Its king, Mithridates VI, fled to Armenia, which unfortunately implicated that country in the Mithridatic Wars with Rome.

Adding to the tension, King Tigranes’ son wanted to overthrow his father, so he foolishly invited Pompey to invade Armenia. Pompey let King Tigranes continue to rule in exchange for tribute, but arrested the son and sent him back to Rome as a prisoner.

Then Pompey received word that there was a terrible civil war going on in Judea between the Sadducees and the Pharisees. He decided it was an opportune time to invade Judia.

Though the history of Judea is somewhat complicated, it is nevertheless important. In 539 BC, Cyrus of Persia let Jews return to Israel and build the Second Temple. Ezra led the nation in returning to studying the Scriptures. This was the origin of the Pharisees.

Then 336-323 BC, Alexander the Great conquered from Greece, to Egypt, to Persia, spreading the Greek language and culture all over the world, a process called “Hellenization.”

Pharisees vigorously opposed “Hellenization” as they considered Greek culture sensuous, immoral and pagan. They emphasized a decentralized system where in each village the scriptures were taught by rabbis every Sabbath in a synagogue.

Sadducees were Jews who, in varying degrees, were “Hellenized” in order to have favor with their new Greek rulers.

As a result, they were politically connected, wealthy elites in charge of the centralized priestly system of Temple worship in Jerusalem. The difference between the views of the more liberal Sadducees and more conservative Pharisees is somewhat reflected in the modern differences between Reformed Judaism and Orthodox Judaism.

When Alexander the Great died in 323 BC, four of his generals divided up his empire, with Seleucus I Nicator taking Syria to Persia, founding the Seleucid Empire in 312 BC. This included the land of Israel.

A successor Seleucid king was Antiochus IV Epiphanes. He was so intent on Hellenizing Judea that he tried to completely erase the Jewish religion.

Jews were rallied by Judah Maccabee to rebel in the Maccabean Revolt, 167-160 BC. This is commemorated by the Feast of Hanukkah.

After Judah Maccabee’s death, his brother, Simon Thassi, founded the Hebrew Hasmonean Dynasty, which eventually gained independence for Judea.

Simon Thassi the Hasmonean was assassinated by his son-in-law at a banquet. Afterwards, Simon’s son, John Hyrcanus, served as both the political leader and the High Priest, though he still respected the decentralized authority of “The Assembly of the Jews.”

Hyrcanus was successful in establishing a relationship with the distant Roman Senate, getting it to recognize Judah’s independence.

When John Hyrcanus died, his son, Aristobulus I, seized control, threw his mother in prison, concentrated political power, and reestablished the monarchy. He was the first person in Jewish history to claim the actual titles of both King and High Priest.

Sadducees, who were Hellenized political insiders, had no problem with Aristobulus I having both titles. Pharisees, on the other hand, did have a problem, as they were religious students of the Law and believed that only a descendant of David could be king.

When Aristobulus I died in 103 BC, his widow, Alexandra-Salome, married his brother, Alexander Jannaeus, who also was King and High Priest.

Alexander Jannaeus, a Sadducee, ordered 800 Pharisees to be crucified. When he died, his wife, Alexandra-Salome, ruled Judea, but she switched to align with the Pharisees. She ruled as a monarch and appointed her son, Hyrcanus II, to be High Priest. Judea was noticeably blessed during the reign of Alexandra-Salome.

After her death in 67 BC, her two sons started a civil war which culminated in the end of Judea’s independence. Aristobulus II, was backed by the Sadducees. Hyrcanus II was backed by the Pharisees.

As civil war violence escalated, word of it reached Roman General Pompey who was located north of Judea in the area of Pontus and Armenia. Aristobulus II sent a large golden vine weighing over 1000 lbs. to Pompey requesting his help against his brother, Hyrcanus II. Pompey decided this was the ideal time to invade Judea.

In 63 BC, Pompey left the area of Armenia and marched south toward the city of Jerusalem, which was divided into warring sections due to the civil war. Hyrcanus II and the Pharisees allowed Pompey to enter their section of the city. The Sadducees, though, refused to let Pompey into the Temple complex.

Pompey laid siege, defeated the Sadduccees, and entered the Holy of Holies of the Temple. After seeing Ark of the Covenant, he exited the Temple and forbade his soldiers from desecrating it. The next day, he order the Temple area cleansed of defilement.

Historian Josephus wrote: “Of the Jews there fell twelve thousand and no small enormities were committed about the temple itself, which, in former ages, had been inaccessible, and seen by none; for Pompey went into it, and not a few of those that were with him also, and saw all that which was unlawful for any other men to see, but only for the High Priests. There were in that temple the golden table, the holy candlestick, and the pouring vessels, and a great quantity of spices; and besides these there were among the treasures two thousand talents of sacred money; yet did Pompey touch nothing of all this, on account of his regard to religion; and in this point also he acted in a manner that was worthy of his virtue. The next day he gave order to those that had the charge of the temple to cleanse it, and to bring what offerings the law required to God.” 

Pompey ended Judea’s independence by making it a Roman province. He recognized Hyrcanus II as High Priest, but arrested Aristobulus II and sent him back to Rome as a prisoner.

Hyrcanus II was a weak ruler. He had an official named Antipater the Idumaean, who was opportunistic and forceful. Idumaea was the land of Edom, a neighboring kingdom to Judea, where lived the descendants of Esau, Jacob’s brother.

In 49 BC, a civil war broke out in the Roman Empire between Pompey and Julius Caesar. In 47 BC, a key battle took place near Alexandria, Egypt. At a critical moment in the battle, when it looked like Caesar would be defeated, Antipater the Idumaean came to his rescue.

In gratitude for his timely assistance, Caesar appointed Antipater as epitropos (regent) over Judea with the right to collect taxes, and left Hyrcanus II as High Priest. Antipater was the father of Herod the Great.

Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, and Antipater was poisoned in 43 BC. Another Roman civil war began between Caesar’s general, Mark Anthony, and Caesar’s nephew, Octavian.

Then, in 40 BC, war broke out between the Romans and the Parthians over who would rule Armenia.

The conflict spilled over into Judea.

The son of Aristobulus II, Antigonus Mattathias, sided with the Parthians and with their support, was proclaimed King and High Priest in Judea. He seized his uncle, Hyrcanus II, and, according to Josephus, bit off his ear to disqualify him from being High Priest, and had him taken away captive by the Parthians into Babylonia. In 36 BC, Antigonus was defeated by Antipater’s son, Herod, with help from the Romans. Herod ransomed Hyrcanus II from the Parthians.

Herod then ruled in Judea. He married Mariamme, the granddaughter of both Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II, which provided Hasmonean legitimacy to Herod’s rule.

Mariamme pressured Herod to appoint her 17-year-old brother, Aristobulus III, as High Priest. Since Aristobulus III was the last male of the Hasmonean royal line, Herod feared him as a potential rival to the throne. Two years later, Herod ordered Aristobulus III to be assassinated by drowning while bathing in a pool at a party.

At the height of the Roman civil war, the naval Battle of Actium took place in 31 BC, between Octavian and Mark Anthony with Cleopatra VII of Egypt. It is considered one of the most consequential battles in history, as it effectively ended the Roman Republic and began the Roman Empire, with Octavian, the victor, becoming Emperor — the undisputed most powerful man in the world. Octavian changed his name to Augustus Caesar.

And as you have heard, Mark Anthony and Cleopatra committed suicide in Egypt.

Herod met with Augustus Caesar on the Island of Rhodes and pledged his allegiance. In return, Augustus confirmed Herod as King of Judea. Suspicious of plots against him, Herod had the 80-year-old former High Priest Hyrcanus II executed.

Herod the Great supported the Sadducees and funded the reconstruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. When Jesus’ disciples were admiring the Temple, He told them: “Do you see all these buildings? I tell you the truth, they will be completely demolished. Not one stone will be left on top of another!” (Matthew 24:2 NLT)

Herod had many wives and children. His sons by Mariamme were Aristobulus and Alexander. Alexander married a Cappadocian Princess Glapyre, and together they had a son, Tigranes V, who became the future King of Armenia.

Herod was paranoid of treason. He divorced, disowned, exiled or executed many of his family, including his wife, Mariamme, and her sons, Alexander and Aristobulus; as well as Antipater, a son by another wife.

His psychotic behavior was displayed when the magi visited from the east to see the new born “King of the Jews,” resulting in Herod massacring all the male children in Bethlehem who were two years old and younger.

Herod was so hated that he feared no one would mourn him when he died, so he ordered that upon his death all the distinguished leaders in Jerusalem would be immediately arrested and executed. Herod’s son, Herod Archelaus, did not carry out this order.

Herod’s young grandson Tigranes V, after Herod had killed his father, Alexander, departed with his Cappadocian mother Glaphyra to Armenia. Glaphyra later married Herod’s son, Herod Archelaus.

Tigranes V was sent to finish his education in Rome, and afterwards he was appointed by Augustus Caesar to be King of Armenia.

Tiberius, the future Emperor, accompanied Tigranes to Armenia’s capital of Artaxata, where he was crowned in 6 AD.

In 52 AD, the King of Parthia installed his brother, Tiridates I as King of Armenia, beginning the Arsacid Dynasty. For the next several centuries, Armenia was caught in the violent middle between Rome in the West and Parthia in the East during the Roman-Parthian Wars,

According to tradition, it was during this time in the 1st century AD, that the Apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus of Edessa went to the area of Armenia and healed Abgar V of Edessa of leprosy. They then founded the Armenian Apostolic Church, which is considered one of the oldest Christian institutions in the world.

Briefly, from 114 to 118 AD, Armenia was once again a Roman province under Emperor Trajan. In the 3rd century AD, Roman Emperor Diocletian betrayed Armenian King Tiridates III and captured large areas of Armenia.

Gregory preached to King Tiridates, and then baptized him in 301 AD.

St. Gregory the Illuminator is credited with turning Armenia from paganism to Christianity.

Armenia is considered the first nation to “officially” adopt Christianity as its state religion when King Tiridates III converted in 301 AD.

In 313 AD, Constantine the Great ended the persecution of Christians throughout the Roman Empire.

The Amazing Marco Polo

Marco Polo traveled with his father and uncle the thousands of miles of the Silk Road by land from Europe all the way to China where Marco stayed for many years.  The publication of his life experiences and travels there changed European history.  Two hundred years later, even Christopher Columbus used this publication as his inspiration to sail to find the “New World”.  Here, I have prepared for you an account of Marco Polo’s journey and adventures:

Between the 7th and 8th Crusades, Venetian traders Niccolo and Matteo Polo settled on the Black Sea in 1259, in an area conquered a few years earlier by Genghis Khan. This was over two centuries before Columbus sailed west.

The Polos traveled east, where, after 5,600 miles, they made it to China. There they were received by the new Mongol ruler, Kublai Khan, 1215–1294, grandson of Genghis Khan. He was Emperor of China, Korea, North India, Persia, Russia and Hungary.

Kublai Khan sent Nicole and Matteo Polo back to the Pope requesting 100 teachers of the Christian faith and a flask of oil from Christ’s empty tomb in Jerusalem.

Upon reaching Rome, they found out that the Pope, Clement the Fourth, had died. The new Pope, Gregory the Tenth, had just been elected and was preoccupied with the wars in Europe.

Due to the unsettled situation, only two preaching Dominican friars accompanied the Polo’s on their return to China in 1271. Niccolo also brought along his 17-year-old son, Marco Polo.

As they crossed a warring area of Turkey, the fearful friars turned back, leaving only speculation as to how history would have been different had they continued the journey and turned China all Christian.

They gave Kublai Khan the flask of oil from Jerusalem. He was so impressed with young Marco Polo that he employed him as an envoy for 17 years. Marco Polo learned several Asian languages.

He requested the Christian Bible be brought to him for Easter and Christmas, which he would kiss. Kublai Khan also honored Saracen-Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist feast days.

When asked why he did this, not understanding the incompatibility of differing beliefs, he responded: “I respect and honor all four great Prophets: Jesus Christ, Mohammed, Moses and Buddha, so that I can appeal to any one of them in heaven.”

Most folks don’t realize that a thriving Nestorian Christian community existed in China throughout Kublai Khan’s Yuan Dynasty, but declined during the subsequent Ming Dynasty when Mongolian and other “foreign influences” were forced out.

During the many years that Marco stayed in China, he occupied many high positions for Kublai Khan. He traveled extensively there and learned very much about the culture and customs of China and the Far East.

In 1291, the Polos accompanied the Mongol princess Kököchin to Persia for Kublai Khan. From there, they travelled to Constantinople and then to Venice, returning home after being gone for 24 years.

Marco was captured during the Battle of Curzola in 1298 and imprisoned in Genoa.

There he recited to his cellmate, Rustichello da Pisa his travels to Persia, China, Mongolia, and India. Upon being published, it became Medieval Europe’s best-seller, The Travels of Marco Polo.

It was nicknamed “Il Milione” or One Million Lies, as it described many things unbelievable to Europeans:

  • India’s worship of cattle;
  • homes smeared with cow dung;
  • naked holy men;
  • exotic herbs and spices;
  • indigo blue dye;
  • fields of cotton cloth being dyed;
  • China’s spaghetti noodles;
  • a Chinese compass;
  • gunpowder;
  • paper from tree pulp;
  • printed paper currency;
  • ice-cream;
  • eye glasses;
  • wheelbarrow;
  • thread from worms – silk;
  • porcelain dishes – “China”;
  • burning black stones – coal;
  • pinatas;
  • wine from rice;
  • asbestos from a mineral;
  • feet-binding of little girls so their feet remain tiny;
  • arrows shot from a recurve bow; and
  • an imperial “pony-express” style postal system.

Marco Polo surprised Europeans with the claims that the Magi, who brought gifts to baby Jesus, were buried in Saveh, a town in Persia south of Tehran, Iran.

After a year, Marco Polo was released. He returned to Venice, married, had three children and became a successful merchant. He died in 1324 and was buried in Venice’s San Lorenzo Church.

Marco Polo stated regarding his return to Europe from China:  “I believe it was God’s will that we should come back, so that men might know the things that are in the world, since, as we have said in the first chapter of this book, no other man, Christian or Saracen, Mongol or pagan, has explored so much of the world as Messer Marco, son of Messer Niccolo Polo, great and noble citizen of the city of Venice.”

The End

Veterans Day in America

On this Veterans Day, I have provided you below a brief history of this special Day. Do read it in honor of all those who have died defending our courntry. Ron

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 hour 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 and 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 the nation, 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.”

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 honored the living soldiers, Memorial Day honored 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.

In 1958, President Eisenhower placed a soldier in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War Two, and another soldier from the Korean War.

In 1984, President Ronald Reagan placed a soldier from the Vietnam War in the Tomb of the Unknown. 

DNA test 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.

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.

Let me join in that prayer.

‘Our Father who are in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.'”

U.S. Army veteran Charles Michael Province 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.”

Baptist Chaplain John Inzer spoke at the American Legion’s founding meeting in St. Louis in 1919: “Gentlemen if you can only think about this Legion as the jewel of the ages. I cannot say anything greater than this: I believe God raised up America for this great hour. I can say that the strong young man of the time is to be The American Legion in this country and in the world.”

The Preamble to the American Legion Constitution begins “For God and Country.”

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.”

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.” 

Eisenhower concluded:

“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. As we take part in it, I hope that we shall prize this thought:  Whatever our individual church, whatever our personal creed, our common faith in God is a common bond among us. In our fundamental faith, we are all one. Together we thank the Power that has made and preserved us as 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.'”

The next year, on February 20, 1955, President Dwight Eisenhower again addressed the American Legion Back-To-God Program: “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.”

Elections

So, we held an “election” in America yesterday where we elected a new president and numerous elected represenatives. However, you may not know that the very word “election” was coined by the first churches in America and and was taken directly from the Holy Bible. Do read the following narative so that you will know about the very first elections in our country and how they came about. Ron

Theodore Roosevelt stated October 24, 1903 “In no other place and at no other time has the experiment of government of the people, by the people, for the people, been tried on so vast a scale as here in our own country.”  

How did America’s experiment in self-government begin?

At a time when most of the world was ruled by kings, Americans held their first popularly elected legislative assembly.

Jamestown was initially a “company colony,” run by the 1606 Virginia Company Charter, which had by-laws and an appointed governor.

Unforeseen crises, such as famines, diseases, Indian attacks, labor shortages, and struggles to establish a cash crop necessitated the calling of the first meeting of the Virginia House of Burgesses, July 30, 1619.

A burgess was a citizen elected to represent a “borough” (neighborhood).

There were eleven Jamestown boroughs which elected twenty-two representatives.

They met in the church choir loft. Master John Pory was appointed as the assembly’s Speaker. He wrote “A Report of the Manner of Proceeding in the General Assembly Convented at James City, July 30, 1619: “But forasmuch as men’s affairs do little prosper where God’s service is neglected, all the Burgesses took their places in the Quire (choir) till a prayer was said by Mr. Bucke, the Minister, that it would please God to guide and sanctify all our proceedings to his own glory and the good of this Plantation. The Speaker delivered in brief to the whole assembly the occasions of their meeting. Which done he read unto them the commission for establishing the Council of Estate and the general Assembly, wherein their duties were described to life and forasmuch as our intent is to establish one equal and uniform kind of government over all Virginia.”

The House of Burgesses set the price of tobacco at three shillings per pound, and passed prohibitions against gambling, drunkenness, idleness, and made it mandatory to observe the Sabbath.

The freezing winters, epidemics, and the Indian attack of March 22, 1622, where some 400 colonists were massacred, led to the Virginia Company’s Charter being revoked and the king sending over a crown governor.

In 1624, Virginia went from being a “company colony” to a “crown colony” ruled directly by the king through his royal-appointed governor.

As the king did not pay the governor’s salary, the royal-appointed governor instructed the House of Burgesses to provide his funding. As long as they paid that, he did not mind them discussing other issues and otherwise functioning largely on their own.

England went through a Civil War, 1642-1651, and King Charles the First was beheaded.

During this time the House of Burgesses took an increased role in running the Colony.

In 1660, King Charles the Second was brought back from exile and restored to the throne of his father.

Soon, Virginia’s liberties returned to being restricted, leading to Nathaniel Bacon’s rebellion in 1674, which restored their liberties once again.

Virginia’s House of Burgesses served as a legislative model for other colonies.

In Massachusetts, Puritan delegates controlled the legislature, insisting that only Puritans be allowed to vote.

Various pastors thought that voting should be extended to anyone who was a Christian. These pastors led their congregations to leave and found other communities in New England.

It was in these New England communities that pastors had the freedom to apply biblical principles to voting.

  • Rev. Roger Williams founded Providence, Rhode Island, in 1636;
  • Rev. John Wheelwright founded Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1638;
  • Rev. John Lothropp founded Barnstable, Massachusetts, in 1639;

Rev. Thomas Hooker founded Hartford, Connecticut, in 1636.

  • After leading his church congregation through the wilderness they founded Hartford which greatly prospered.

(Then on May 31, 1638 one of the most important episodes in Americh history happened. It did not seem profound at the time, but for sure turned out to be.)

Rev. Thomas Hooker gave a sermon at Hartford which was now the colonies’ capitol city. In it he championed universal Christian suffrage (voting), stating: “The foundation of authority is laid firstly in the free consent of the people.”

This was a blueprint for other New England colonies and eventually the Declaration of Independence, which states: “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

Hooker’s sermon had the line: “The privilege of election belongs to the people according to the blessed will and law of God.”

One of the first elections in America was in church. In 1629, the Massachusetts Bay Colony needed to select a pastor for the Salem Church. Since they did not have a king-appointed minister, members of the church fasted and prayed, then wrote on pieces of paper the name of who they thought was God’s chosen person to be the next pastor, thus allowing God’s will to expressed through them. The belief was, that God had preordained someone to be their pastor and church members were simply to recognize the one God had chosen.

Being chosen by God was called being “the elect.”

First Peter 1:1-2 “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God’s elect.”

Paul wrote in Colossians 3:12 “As the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies.”

Second Timothy 2:10: “I endure all things for the elect’s sakes.”

Mark 13:20 described the last days: “And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect’s sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days.”

The process of putting down the name of God’s “elect” was called an “election.”

This election process was revolutionary, as most of the world at the time was ruled by kings, emperors, sultans, czars and chieftains who did not ask people for their consent.

New England was the beginning of a polarity change in the flow of power, instead of government being run top-down, it became bottom-up, a model that eventually turned into the U.S. Constitution, which states: “We the People in order to form a more perfect union and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity do ordain and establish this Constitution.” 

Instead of powerful political leaders forcing their will on the people through emergency mandates, it was the people’s will being carried out by their elected representatives.

Rev. Thomas Hooker’s sermon notes became known as the “Fundamental Orders of Connecticut,” 1639, which was used as the foundation of Connecticut’s government until 1818.

According to Connecticut historian John Fiske, the Fundamental Orders, inspired by Hooker’s sermon, comprised one of the first written constitutions in history that created a government.

Hartford’s Traveller’s Square has a bronze statue of Connecticut’s first settlers and a plaque which reads: “In June of 1635, about one hundred members of Thomas Hooker’s congregation arrived safely in this vicinity with one hundred and sixty cattle. They followed old Indian trails from Massachusetts Bay Colony to the Connecticut River to build a community. Here they established the form of government upon which the present Constitution of the United States is modeled.”

Rev. Thomas Hooker’s statue holding a Bible stands at the Old State House in Hartford, Connecticut.

The base of the statue reads: “Leading his people through the wilderness, he founded Hartford in June of 1636. On this site he preached the sermon which inspired The Fundamental Orders. It was the first written constitution that created a government.”

President Calvin Coolidge stated July 5, 1926: “The principles of our declaration had been under discussion in the Colonies for nearly two generations. In the assertion of the Rev. Thomas Hooker of Connecticut as early as 1638, when he said in a sermon before the General Court that: ‘The foundation of authority is laid in the free consent of the people. The choice of public magistrates belongs unto the people by God’s own allowance.’

This doctrine found wide acceptance among the nonconformist clergy who later made up the Congregational Church.”

Coolidge added:

“The principles which went into the Declaration of Independence are found in the texts, the sermons, and the writings of the early colonial clergy who were earnestly undertaking to instruct their congregations in the great mystery of how to live. They preached equality because they believed in the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. They justified freedom by the text that we are all created in the divine image, all partakers of the divine spirit. Placing every man on a plane where he acknowledged no superiors, where no one possessed any right to rule over him, he must inevitably choose his own rulers through a system of self-government.

In New England, instead of “separation of church and state,” it was churches and pastors who CREATED the State!

Coolidge concluded his address: “But even in that we come back to the theory of John Wise that ‘Democracy is Christ’s government.’ The ultimate sanction of law rests on the righteous authority of the Almighty. Ours is a government of the people. It represents their will. Its officers sometimes go astray, but that is not a reason for criticizing the principles of our institutions. The real heart of the American Government depends upon the heart of the people. It is from that source that we must look for all genuine reform.  It was in the contemplation of these truths that the fathers made their Declaration and adopted their Constitution.”

President Grover Cleveland stated, July 13, 1887: “The SOVEREIGNTY OF 60 MILLIONS OF FREE PEOPLE, is the working out of the divine right of man to govern himself and a manifestation of God’s plan concerning the human race.”

America’s founders set up a democratically-elected Constitutional Republic. The Pledge of Allegiance is “to the Flag and to the Republic for which it stands.” A “Republic” is where the people are king, ruling through their servants, called representatives. The word “citizen” is from the Greek and means “co-ruler” or “co-king.”

In 1832, Noah Webster wrote in his History of the United States: “When you become entitled to exercise the right of voting for public officers, let it be impressed on your mind that God commands you to choose for rulers ‘just men who will rule in the fear of God.’ The preservation of a republican government depends on the faithful discharge of this duty.”

He continued: “If the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted; laws will be made not for the public good so much as for the selfish or local purposes; corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the laws; the public revenues will be squandered on unworthy men; and the rights of the citizens will be violated or disregarded.

If a republican government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the divine commands, and elect bad men to make and administer the laws.”

Columbus – Amazing First Voyge

At the time of Columbus, most everyone thought that the earth was flat. No one had ever sailed as far as Columbus in the open ocean beyond the sight of land. So, after five weeks most of his sailors thougt that thy were for sure going to fall off of the earth. Following is the amazing history of those days.

Yes, others found the “New World” before Columbus, but were never made public, since few believed them. His discovery was made public to the whole world. We gave him great credit and honor for discovering America, though he always thought it was Asia. We even had a holiday to honor him……..”Columbus Day”. Do read the following exact histoy of those times:

Columbus was looking for a SEA route to India and China because nearly 40 years earlier Muslim Turks conquered Constantinople in 1453 cutting off the LAND routes.

A biography of Columbus was written by Washington Irving in 1828, titled A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus. In it, Irving created an imaginative dialogue of Europeans arguing over whether the Earth was round or flat. His book was so popular, that people actually thought such a debate took place when it had not.

Washington Irving was known for mixing entertainment with history and legend. He wrote Rip Van Winkle, The Legend of Sleepy Hallow, and Diedrich Knickerbocker’s A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, filled with tales of visits from St. Nick coming to New York City, which he nickname “Gotham.”

Some Europeans knew the Earth was round.

Pythagoras had speculated that the earth was a sphere in the 6th century BC, and Aristotle validated it in the 4th century BC.

In the 3rd century BC, Eratosthenes computed the circumference of the earth with amazing accuracy. He had heard that at Aswan, Egypt, the sun cast no shadow down a well at noon on the summer solstice, June 21, yet at the exact same moment in Alexandria, Egypt, a column cast a shadow with a 7.2 degree angle.

7.2 degrees is 1/50th of a 360 degree circle.

It was known that the distance between Alexandria and Aswan was 5,000 stadia, approximately 500 miles, or 800 kilometers.

All Eratosthenes had to do was multiply 500 miles times 50, which equals 25,000 miles, just 99 miles off from the Earth’s actual circumference of 24,901 miles (or 800 km x 50 to equal 40,000 kilometers, just 75 kilometers less than the actual 40,075 km circumference).

Eratosthenes also calculated distance to the sun and moon, the tilt of the earth, and created the first world map with parallel latitude and meridian longitude lines.

In the 1st century BC, Posidonius used stellar observations at Alexandria and Rhodes to confirm Eratosthenese’s measurements.

In the 2nd century AD, astronomer Ptolemy had written a Guide to Geography, in which he described a spherical earth with one ocean connecting Europe and Asia.

St. Isidore of Seville, Spain, wrote in the 7th century that the earth was round.

Around the year 723 AD, Saint Bede the Venerable wrote in his work Reckoning of Time that the Earth was spherical.

The Book of Isaiah 40:22 states: “It is He that sitteth upon the globe of the earth.” (Douay-Rheims Bible)

Columbus knew the Earth was round, but the question was, how far around. The confusion was over the length of a mile.

Columbus read Cardinal Pierre d’Ailly’s “Imago Mundi,” which gave Alfraganus’ estimate that a degree of latitude (at the equator) was around 56.7 miles.

What Columbus did not realize was that this was expressed in longer Arabic miles rather than in shorter Roman miles. Therefore Columbus incorrectly estimated the Earth to be smaller in circumference, about 19,000 miles, rather than the actual nearly 24,901 miles.

Columbus knew there was land to the west, as he may have read Ptolemy’s account, written in 150 AD, of the Greek sailor named Alexander, who visited the Far East port city of Kattigara, beyond the Malay Peninsula (Golden Chersonese).

He could have heard of the Roman traveler, during the reign of Roman Emperors Antoninus Pius or Marcus Aurelius, who made his way to the court of the Chinese Emperor of the Han Dynasty.

Indeed, Roman glassware and medallions dating from this period were found at Guangzhou along the South China Sea, and at Óc Eo in Vietnam, near the Chinese province of Jiaozhi.

Great amounts of Roman coins were found in India, indicating there was Roman sea trade.

Columbus most likely heard the story of Irish monk St. Brendan, who sailed west in 530 AD to “The Land of the Promised Saints which God will give us on the last day.”

Columbus would have known of the Christian Viking Leif Erickson’s voyage in the year 1000 to Vinland (Newfoundland), called Markland in the Nordic Grœnlendinga Saga.

A Dominican friar in Milan, Italy, named Galvaneus Flamma, wrote an essay titled Cronica universalis, c.1345, in which he referred to the Icelandic description of a wooded land far to the west called Marckalada.

Columbus owned a copy of Marco Polo’s travels to China and India in 1271.

Columbus may have possibly seen maps, rumored to have been in Portugal’s royal archives, from China’s treasure fleets which were sent out in 1421 by Ming Emperor Zhu Di, led by Admiral Zheng He.

Columbus corresponded with Florentine physician Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli, who suggested China was just 5,000 miles west of Portugal. Based on this, Columbus estimated that Japan, or as Marco Polo called it “Cipangu,” was only 3,000 Roman miles west of the Canary Islands, rather than the actual 12,200 miles.

As a young man, Columbus began sailing on a trip to a Genoese colony in the Aegean Sea named Chios. In 1476, he sailed on an armed convoy from Genoa to northern Europe, docking in Bristol, England, and Galway, Ireland, and even possibly Iceland in 1477.

When Muslim Turks conquered Constantinople in 1453 and hindered land trade routes from Europe to India and China, Portugal, which had been freed from Islamic occupation for two centuries, began to search for alternative sea routes.

The treasures of the East were long brought overland to Alexandria, or Constantinople, or the cities of the Levant, and thence distributed to Europe by the galleys of Genoa or of Venice. “But when the Turk placed himself astride the Bosporus, and made Egypt his feudatory, new routes had to be found.”

Historian Howard Zinn admitted in A People’s History of the United States (1980): “Now that the Turks had conquered Constantinople and the eastern Mediterranean, and controlled the land routes to Asia, a sea route was needed.

The Spanish Monarchs then joined the quest for a sea trade route to India and China. They backed Columbus’ plan. Though Columbus was wrong about the miles and degrees of longitude, he did understand trade winds across the Atlantic.

On August 3, 1492, Columbus set sail on the longest voyage to that date out of the sight of land.

Trade winds called “easterlies” pushed Columbus’ ships for five weeks to the Bahamas. On OCTOBER 12, 1492, Columbus sighted what he thought was India.

He imagined Haiti was Japan and Cuba was the tip of China.

He called the first island he saw “San Salvador” for the Holy Savior.

Thus, in his search for the riches of Cipangu (Japan), Columbus stumbled upon America.

The great Genoese lived and died under the illusion that he had reached the outmost verge of Asia; and though even in his lifetime men realized that what he had found was no less than a new world.”

In his journal, Columbus referred to the native inhabitants as “indians” as he was convinced he had successfully arrived in India: “So that they might be well-disposed towards us, for I knew that they were a people to be converted to our Holy Faith rather by love than by force, I gave to some red caps and to others glass beads.

They became so entirely our friends that I believe that they would easily become Christians.”

The End