American Minute

[Soldier4Christ]

JUNE 5, 1967, the Six-Day War began. Egypt had 80,000 troops and 900 tanks advancing on Israel. Jordan and Syria, with Soviet weapons, violently shelled Jerusalem and Israeli villages. Cairo radio announced: “The hour has come in which we shall destroy Israel.” The hot line between Washington and Moscow was used for the first time. In a surprise move, Israeli air force destroyed 400 Egyptian planes, courageously drove Syria from the Golan Heights and captured all of Jerusalem. In a CBS-TV interview, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion stated: “In Israel, in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles.” Seven months later, at a dinner at the LBJ Ranch in Texas, President Lyndon B. Johnson toasted Israeli Prime Minister Eshkol, saying: “That is our intention in the Middle East and throughout our world. To pursue peace. To find peace. To keep peace forever among men. If we are wise, if we are fortunate, if we work together-perhaps our Nation and all nations may know the joys of that promise God once made about the children of Israel: ‘I will make a covenant of peace with them...it shall be an everlasting covenant.’”

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“D-Day” was JUNE 6, 1944. 156,000 troops landed on the Normandy coast of France in the largest invasion force in history. Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight Eisenhower issued the order: “You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade...The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you...Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely...Let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.” President Roosevelt stated JUNE 6, 1944: “My fellow Americans: Last night, when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our allies were crossing the Channel in another and greater operation...I ask you to join with me in prayer: Almighty God, Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization...They will need Thy blessings...Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom...Help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith to Thee.”

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The island was captured from the Spanish in 1655 by Admiral William Penn, father of Pennsylvania’s founder, but it was too far from England to defend, so the city turned to pirates for protection. The likes of Blackbeard, Calico Jack, and Captain Henry Morgan, namesake of the rum, attacked Spanish and French ships and returned with their booty. Soon Port Royal, Jamaica, surpassed Boston as England’s most prosperous settlement. It was called “the Sodom of the New World” for its “pirates, cutthroats, whores,” drinking, gambling, slave trading and “wild, reckless, whoring,” until JUNE 7, 1692, when an earthquake sank it under the sea. Over 2,000 drowned, graves opened and bodies washed about. Eye-witness Rev. Emmanuel Heath, wrote: “Port Royal was terribly destroyed by an earthquake and breaking in of the sea upon it. The destruction was sudden...in four minutes multitudes were killed by the falling houses...I believe God I never in my life saw such a terror...the earth opened and swallowed up people before my face...The sea swallowed up the greatest part of that wretched sinful place...They are so wicked, I fear God...will utterly destroy all by this dreadful Judgement.”

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On JUNE 8, 1845, “Old Hickory” died. Wounded by a sword during the Revolutionary War, he later fought the Seminole Indians and in the War of 1812 defeated the British at New Orleans. He was governor of the Florida Territory, and is credited with proposing the name “Tennessee” at that State’s first convention. His wife Rachel died just three months before he took office as the 7th U.S. President. His name was Andrew Jackson. In his 2nd Inaugural, he said: “It is my fervent prayer to that Almighty Being before whom I now stand, and who has kept us in His hands from the infancy of our Republic to the present day...that He will...inspire the hearts of my fellow-citizens that we may be preserved from danger.” On December 30, 1836, to Mr. Donelson whose wife died, Andrew Jackson wrote: “We cannot recall her, we are commanded by our dear Saviour, not to mourn for the dead, but for the living...She has changed a world of woe for a world of eternal happiness, and we ought to prepare as we too must follow...’The Lord’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’” Of the Bible, President Jackson stated: “That book, Sir, is the Rock upon which our republic rests.”

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Withholding taxes from people's paychecks began JUNE 9, 1943. Congress passed it as an emergency measure to get money to fight Hitler. The idea came from Beardsley Ruml, treasurer of Macy's and chairman of New York's Federal Reserve Bank. He called it the "pay-as-you-go" tax. So much money came in with so few complaints that it continued after the war. President John F. Kennedy, April 20, 1961, stated to Congress: "Introduced during the war when the income tax was extended to millions of new taxpayers, the wage-withholding system has been one of the most important and successful advances in our tax system in recent times. Initial difficulties were quickly overcome, and the new system helped the taxpayer no less than the tax collector." But Americans weren't always taxed so much. In a Veto Message to Congress, May 27, 1830, President Andrew Jackson stated: "Through the favor of an overruling and indulgent Providence our country is blessed with general prosperity and our citizens exempted from the pressure of taxation, which other less favored portions of the human family are obliged to bear."

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The U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, graduated its first class JUNE 10, 1854. It was established under George Bancroft, Secretary of Navy for President James Polk. On June 16, 1845, Polk issued Order 27 to Secretary Bancroft: "The President...with heartfelt sorrow announces to the Army, the Navy, and the Marine Corps the death of Andrew Jackson...The 8th day of June, about 6 o'clock, he resigned his spirit to his Heavenly Father...He believed the liberties of his country imperishable...He departed from this life in a full hope of a blessed immortality through the merits and atonement of the Redeemer." George Bancroft, known as the "father of American history" for compiling the nation's first comprehensive record, wrote in Progress of Mankind: "The Divine Being should...be known, not as a distant Providence...but as God present in the flesh...The consciousness of an incarnate God carried peace into the bosom of humanity." George Bancroft continued: "The idea of GOD WITH US dwelt and dwells in every system of thought that can pretend to vitality; in every oppressed people, whose struggles to be free have the promise of success; in every soul that sighs for redemption."

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He sent Paul Revere on his midnight ride to warn Lexington the British were coming. A Harvard graduate, he was a successful doctor in Boston, but left his career when the British passed the hated Stamp Act. With Samuel Adams, he organized the Provincial Congress to protest. His name was Joseph Warren, born JUNE 11, 1741. Following the Boston Tea Party, King George III enacted the Intolerable Acts of 1774, blocking Boston harbor until citizens reimbursed the East India Tea Company, quartering British soldiers in private homes, allowing British officials to be unaccountable for their crimes and replacing Massachusetts' elected officials with royal appointees. In response, Dr. Joseph Warren wrote the Suffolk Resolves, urging Massachusetts to establish a free state, boycott British goods, form militias and no longer be loyal to a king who violates their rights. Fighting in the Battle of Bunker Hill, a monument marks where he died. Three years earlier Joseph Warren stated on the anniversary of the Boston Massacre: "If you perform your part, you must have the strongest confidence that the same Almighty Being who protected your pious and venerable forefathers...will still be mindful of you."

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He received the Distinguished Flying Cross for his WWII service in the Pacific. He studied at Yale, was a Congressman, Ambassador to the U.N., CIA director and Vice-President under Ronald Reagan before becoming the 41st U.S. President. His name was George H.W. Bush, born JUNE 12, 1924. In his Inaugural Address, January 20, 1989, President Bush said: "I have just repeated word for word the oath taken by George Washington 200 years ago, and the Bible on which I place my hand is the Bible on which he placed his...And my first act as President is a prayer. I ask you to bow your heads." In his Christmas Message, December 8, 1992, President George H.W. Bush stated: "As we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, whose life offers us a model of dignity, compassion, and justice, we renew our commitment to peace...Christ made clear the redemptive value of giving of oneself for others." President Bush continued: "The heroic actions of our veterans, the lifesaving work of our scientists and physicians, and generosity of countless individuals who voluntarily give of their time, talents, and energy to help others-all have enriched humankind and affirmed the importance of our Judeo-Christian heritage in shaping our government and values."

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19-year-old Marquis de Lafayette purchased a ship and sailed to America, arriving JUNE 13, 1777. Trained in the French Military, he was appointed a major general. Lafayette endured the freezing winter at Valley Forge, and fought at Brandywine, Barren Hill and Monmouth. He led troops against the traitor Benedict Arnold and commanded at Yorktown, pressuring Cornwallis to surrender. On May 10, 1786, George Washington wrote from Mount Vernon to Marquis de Lafayette: "Your late purchase of an estate in the colony of Cayenne, with a view of emancipating the slaves on it, is a generous and noble proof of your humanity. Would to God a like spirit would diffuse itself generally into the minds of the people of this country." On August 15, 1787, in a letter from Philadelphia to the Marquis de Lafayette, George Washington wrote: "I am not less ardent in my wish that you may succeed in your plan of toleration in religious matters. Being no bigot myself to any mode of worship, I am disposed to indulge the professors of Christianity in the church with that road to Heaven which to them shall seem the most direct, plainest and easiest, and the least liable to exception."

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Thirteen Stars and Thirteen Stripes. It was on JUNE 14, 1777, that the Second Continental Congress selected the Flag of the United States. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed a Proclamation making June 14th "National Flag Day." On JUNE 14, 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower signed the Joint Resolution of Congress (Public Law 396) which added the phrase "One Nation Under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance. Eisenhower stated: "From this day forward, the millions of our school children will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural school house, the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty. To anyone who truly loves America, nothing could be more inspiring than to contemplate this rededication of our youth, on each school morning, to our country's true meaning." President Eisenhower concluded: "In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America's heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country's most powerful resource, in peace or in war."

[Soldier4Christ]

The Legend of Robin Hood speaks of Richard the Lionheart. The real King Richard the Lionheart, so named for his courage in battle, joined the Third Crusade in 1190AD to win back Jerusalem from the Muslims, who had first taken it away from the Byzantine Christian and Jewish inhabitants in 638AD after a two year bloody siege led by Caliph Umar. Though Richard the Lionheart did not retake Jerusalem, he arranged a truce with Saladin for the protection of religious pilgrims. On his return trip to England, Richard was captured by a rival king in Austria and spent three years in prison. He was eventually found and purchased back with an enormous "king's ransom." Richard returned to England and took back the throne from his brother John. Just five years later Richard died in battle and John again ruled oppressively in England. The angry barons responded by capturing London and, on JUNE 15, 1215, surrounded King John on the plains of Runnymeade, forcing him to sign the Magna Carta. This was the first time in history that the arbitrary powers of a king were limited. The Magna Carta ends with the words: "for the salvation of our souls, and the souls of all our...heirs, and unto the honor of God."

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The father of the American space program died JUNE 16, 1977. He developed the famed V-2 rocket for Germany before emigrating to the US, where in 1958, he launched America's first satellite. He became the director of NASA, the U.S. guided missile program and founded the National Space Institute. His name was Wernher von Braun, and he stated: "The laws of nature that enable us to fly to the Moon also enable us to destroy our home planet with the atom bomb. Science itself does not address the question whether we should use the power at our disposal for good or for evil. The guidelines of what we ought to do are furnished in the moral law of God." Wernher von Braun continued: "It is no longer enough that we pray that God may be with us on our side. We must learn to pray that we may be on God's side." In the foreword to his Anthology on the Creation and Design exhibited in Nature, Wernher von Braun stated: "Viewing the awesome reaches of space...should only confirm our belief in the certainty of its Creator. I find it difficult to understand a scientist who does not acknowledge the presence of a superior rationality behind the existence of the universe."

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"Don't Shoot Until You See the Whites of Their Eyes!" was the order given JUNE 17, 1775, by Colonel William Prescott to troops on Breed's Hill, adjacent Bunker Hill, which guarded the north entrance to Boston Harbor. They were aiming at 2,300 British soldiers, under General Howe, marching up with bayonets fixed. Twice the Americans repelled them until they ran out of gunpowder. The British then burned the nearby town of Charlestown. This first action of the Continental Army saw over 1,000 British killed, and nearly 500 Americans. On this same day 300 miles away in Philadelphia the Continental Congress drafted George Washington's commission as commander-in-chief, for which he refused a salary. Washington wrote his wife: "Dearest...It has been determined in Congress, that the whole army raised for the defense of the American Cause shall be put under my care, and that it is necessary for me to proceed immediately to Boston to take...command...I shall rely therefore, confidently, on that Providence which has heretofore preserved, and been bountiful to me...I...got Colonel Pendleton to Draft a Will...the Provision made for you, in case of my death, will, I hope, be agreeable."

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The War of 1812 began on JUNE 18, 1812. The British had captured American ships and enslaved sailors. They incited Indians to capture Fort Mims, massacring 500 men, women and children. They captured the Capitol, burnt the White House, bombarded Fort McHenry and attacked New Orleans. Outraged, many volunteered for the Army, including Davy Crockett. In his Proclamation of War, President James Madison stated: "I do moreover exhort all the good people of the United States...as they feel the wrongs which have forced on them the last resort of injured nations...to consult the best means under the blessing of Divine Providence of abridging its calamities." In the three years of the War, President Madison, who had introduced the First Amendment in the First Session of Congress, issued two separate Proclamations of Public Humiliation and Prayer, followed by a Proclamation of Public Fasting, in which he stated: "in the present time of public calamity and war a day may be...observed by the people of the United States as a day of public humiliation and fasting and of prayer to Almighty God." After the War, Madison proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving to Almighty God.

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The first formal "Father's Day" was celebrated JUNE 19, 1910. It began in Spokane, Washington, when a woman named Sonora Louise Smart Dodd heard a Mother's Day sermon at church. She wanted to honor her father, who raised six children by himself after his wife died. Sonora drew up a petition that was supported by the Young Men's Christian Association and the ministers of Spokane. In 1972, President Nixon established Father's Day as a permanent national observance. On Father's Day, 1988, President Ronald Reagan stated: "Children, vulnerable and dependent, desperately need security, and it has ever been a duty and a joy of fatherhood to offer it. Being a father requires strength in many ways...and more than a little courage...to persevere, to fight discouragement, and to keep working for the family." Reagan continued: "In that strength, and with God's grace, fathers find the patience to teach, the fortitude to provide, the compassion to comfort, and the mercy to forgive. All of this is to say that they find the strength to love their wives and children selflessly." President Reagan concluded: "Let us each take this occasion to express our thanks and affection to our fathers, whether we can do so in person or in prayer."