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HISTORY: unwrapped – October 2007

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October 31, 2007– Deism and the Founding Fathers

The belief in a Creator-God who is not personal and does not react with his creation was quite fashionable around the time of the War for Independence—but not nearly so fashionable as we have been told.  Many historians claim that the Founding Fathers were not Christians, but Deists.  Deists believed in a “God” who created all things but does not intervene in the workings of His creation.  Most of the Founding Fathers who are said to have been Deists were really what would later be called Unitarians. Unitarians, like Christians, believed in a “God” who both created all things and rules all things by His divine providence.  Like Deists, however, Unitarians denied the Trinity: denied that Jesus is God, the second person of the Trinity, and denied that the Holy Spirit is God, the third person of the Trinity.

It is true that Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and George Washington did dabble in Deism to varying degrees.  Franklin and Jefferson were what would later be called Unitarians, and John Adams later became a Unitarian. (Jefferson, of course, had no part in the framing or ratification of the Constitution or the Bill of Rights.) But most of these men thought and acted fairly consistently within a Christian worldview. Their view of man’s sinfulness and of the proper God-ordained role of government generally followed the Bible. Moreover, as historian M.E. Bradford discovered (to his surprise), very few of the statesmen who gave us our independence, the Articles of Confederation, and Constitution were Deists or Unitarians.  At least fifty-one, and probably fifty-three of the framers of the Constitution, and a similar proportion of the leaders of the state ratification conventions, were Christians, not Deists or Unitarians.

October 30, 2007– 19th Century Terrorists

Terrorist foes are not new to the United States. Two centuries before 9/11, our country sought to protect its citizens from a foe who held allegiance to no country, the Barbary pirates of North Africa. Capturing ships and demanding a ransom for the crew provided a steady income for the pirates. Many seamen became slaves when the ransom couldn’t be paid. The newly elected president, Thomas Jefferson, was forced to confront the continued attacks. Many wished to avoid conflict at any cost. Jefferson believed that continued payment to the terrorist pirates would only encourage more demands, so he refused to pay. The U.S. Navy was formed during 4 years of war in the Mediterranean. Our naval victories in 1815 led to treaties which ended all tribute money paid by the United States.

October 29, 2007 – Meeting the Final Judge

Clarence Darrow is remembered as the lawyer who defended teaching evolution in the 1925 case that became known as the “Monkey” Trial. A year earlier, Darrow saved two wealthy students, accused of kidnapping and murder, from the death penalty by arguing that they were products of their environment. When asked how he would sum up his life, Darrow quoted the Bible, a book he had publicly ridiculed most of his life. He then said, “I have lived a life without purpose, without meaning, without direction. I don’t know where I came from. And I don’t know what I’m doing here. And worst of all, I don’t know what’s going to happen to me when I punch out of here.” Darrow’s accomplishments would give him no assurance and comfort when he stood before the Judge of the universe in the only courtroom that mattered.

October 26, 2007 – Kate to the Rescue

In July of 1881, heavy rains in Iowa had caused creeks and rivers to rise. From the house, 15-year-old Kate Shelley heard the timbers of the bridge crack and then the horrible crash as the train engine fell into the creek. Kate had to get help for the survivors and stop the passenger train that would soon be arriving. Crossing the Des Moines River Bridge to reach the depot would be difficult, as there was no walkway. With a lantern in one hand, Kate, who could not swim, crawled across while the flood waters raged below. She reached the depot, and a telegram was sent to the oncoming train, and the two surviving men were rescued. Kate received a gold medal, two barrels of flour, a carload of coal, and a lifetime railway pass for her lifesaving effort.

October 25, 2007 – The Pro-Life Feminist

Feminists embrace Susan B. Anthony for her role in the women’s rights movement during the 19th century. She published The Revolution, a journal that promoted women’s and African American’s right to suffrage. What is often not know is that Anthony wrote about abortion: “No matter what the motive, love of ease, or a desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent, the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed.” Another article called abortion “child murder.” She fought to overturn cruel custody decisions where a baby could be taken from the mother if the child’s father died before its birth. Miss Anthony’s writings are a testimony to her respect for the unborn. Today’s feminists do not want us to know that one of their beloved icons upheld the sanctity of life.

October 24, 2007–Bones that Started a Reformation

England had a head start on the Reformation because of the work of John Wycliffe (c. 1324–1384). It was Wycliffe who held that the Bible alone (sola Scriptura) set forth the definition of true Christianity. Wycliffe’s efforts to translate the Bible into the language of the people prepared the way for a reform movement that would take England and the New World by storm. His hand written translations were based on Jerome’s Latin Vulgate, the only source text available to Wycliffe. Like Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, and Tyndale, Wycliffe’s reform efforts did not go unopposed. Thirty-one years after his death, the Council of Constance condemned Wycliffe on 260 different counts, ordered his writings to be burned, and directed that his bones be exhumed and buried in unconsecrated ground. In 1428, on orders from the Pope, Wycliffe's remains were dug up and burned. His ashes were thrown in a nearby river. Wycliffe's followers, called Lollards,* carried on his work under severe persecution from Henry V (1413–1422). Because of continued opposition from the Crown and the outlawing of Bible reading in the English language, the Lollards worked in secret. But by the late fifteenth century, the activity of the Lollards began to grow more bold and effective. They brought the discussion of theological issues to the masses which in turn led some people to question certain aspects of Roman Catholic doctrine. In the end, Wycliffe’s views won out. His ashes became seed for a Reformation that transformed the world. “The sacred Scriptures,” Wycliffe wrote, “be the property of the people, and one which no party should be allowed to wrest from them.”

*The Lollards derived their name from the medieval Dutch word meaning “to mutter” (lollaerd), possibly a reference to their style of worship, which was based on reading the scriptures. The derivation may be of Latin origin, from lollen, “to sing softly” (cf. Eng. lull).

October 23, 2007 – The Detroit of the South

“In 1921, automotive tycoon Henry Ford, accompanied by Thomas Edison, came to Muscle Shoals with a vision of transforming this area into a metropolis. ‘I will employ one million workers at Muscle Shoals and I will build a city 75 miles long at Muscle Shoals,’ stated Mr. Ford.  The instant rumors of Ford’s plan hit the streets, real estate speculators began buying up land and parceling it out in 25 foot lots and putting in sidewalks and street lights. People from all over the United States bought lots, sight unseen, during this time. Mr. Ford’s offer to buy Wilson Dam for $5 million was turned down by Congress. (The initial cost of the construction of the dam was $46.5 million.)  Instead, Congress, under the influence of Senator George Norris of Nebraska, later formed the Tennessee Valley Authority to develop the dam as well as the entire river valley.  Senator Norris felt strongly that the public, rather than private companies, should receive the benefits from the government’s investments in Muscle Shoals. Although Ford’s plans did not turn Muscle Shoals into a huge city, it did lay the foundation for the city of Muscle Shoals.” Congress missed out on a great opportunity. While the quad-city area (Muscle Shoals-Sheffield-Florence-Tuscumbia) of northwest Alabama is picturesque and a great place to visit and live, it has (mostly) been bypassed by industry, as has much of Alabama, although this is beginning to change. Ford’s venture would have more than paid for the cost of Wilson Dam in jobs, production, and tax revenue. The enterprise would have transformed the South by bringing industrial diversity to a part of the country almost exclusively supported by agriculture.

Muscle Shoals is much more famous, although most people don’t know it, for being a music Mecca. The city was immortalized in song by Lynyrd Skynyrd in “Sweet Home Alabama” with the line “Now Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers.” It’s hard to believe, if you’ve ever driven through the city, that Little Richard, Wilson Pickett, Clarence Carter, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Leon Russell, Joe Cocker, Paul Simon, Traffic, Rod Stewart, Bob Seger, and others recorded there. Songs like “Take A Letter Maria,” “High Time We Went,” “When a Man Loves a Woman,” “Respect Yourself,” “Kodachrome,” “Loves Me Like A Rock,” “Land of a 1000 Dances,” “Old Time Rock And Roll,” and “Sailing” were recorded at the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio. It’s hard to imagine Mick Jagger and the rest of the Rolling Stones hanging out anywhere in the Quad-City area. The biggest tourist attraction is the home of Helen Keller down the road a piece in Tuscumbia, and it’s not much to see.

Detroit may be the automobile capital of the world with its distinctive “Motown (Motor Town) Sound,” but this tiny Alabama enclave that missed out on being the Detroit of the South set its mark in the music business as the “Hit Recording Capital of the World.”

October 22, 2007– The First American Bible

In 1777, Congress issued an official resolution instructing the Committee on Commerce to import 20,000 copies of the Bible. With the outbreak of war with England, the sea lanes had been cut off to the colonies. This meant that goods that were once common in the colonies were no longer being imported—including Bibles printed in England. Congress decided to act.

The legislation of Congress on the Bible is a suggestive Christian fact, and one which evinces the faith of the statesmen of that period in its divinity, as well as their purpose to place it as the corner-stone in our republican institutions. The breaking out of the Revolution cut off the supply of "books printed in London." The scarcity of Bibles also came soon to be felt. Dr. Patrick Allison, one of the chaplains to Congress, and other gentlemen, brought the subject before that body in a memorial, in which they urged the printing of an edition of the Scriptures.

The committee approved the importing of 20,000 copies of the Bible from Scotland, Holland, and elsewhere. Congressmen resolved to pass this proposal because they believed that "the use of the Bible is so universal, and its importance so great."2 Even though the resolution passed, action was never taken. Instead, Congress began to put emphasis on the printing of Bibles within the United States. In 1777 Robert Aitken of Philadelphia published a New Testament. Three additional editions were published in 1789, 1779, and 1781. The edition of 1779 was used in schools. Aitken's efforts proved so popular that he announced his desire to publish the whole Bible; he then petitioned Congress for support.

October 19, 2007– Making Hebrew Writers Speak German

Martin Luther's main goal in translating the Bible into German was to make God's Word available in words that men and women use in everyday speech. He recognized that "God is in every syllable. No iota [the smallest Greek letter] is in vain." Luther's translation had the effect of making Germany the first modern nation to adopt a single language over a cluster of regional dialects. Translating the New Testament was relatively easy for Luther. He only needed eleven weeks to complete his German version. The Old Testament, written in Hebrew and some Aramaic, was a different matter. With the help of friends, the task of translation took nine years! At one point he considered giving up the task. "How hard it is to make these Hebrew writers talk German," he complained. For example, sixteenth-century Germans had no knowledge of the chameleon. The closest Luther could come was the weasel. His complete German Bible, with a thoroughly revised New Testament translation, was completed in 1534. Before Luther's death in 1546 more than 750,000 copies of his various Bible translations were on the market.

October 18, 2007– What Hath God Wrought?

Where would we be without the telephone? Who could have imagined more than 150 years ago that one day people would be able to speak to people thousands of miles away without the aid of wires? The invention of the telephone followed the invention of the telegraph and the invention of a special series of short and long symbols called the “Morse Code,” named after its inventor Samuel F. B. Morse (1791–1872). Morse was the son of Jedediah Morse (1761–1826), a pastor who is best known for his textbook Geography Made Easy and his warnings about a world-wide Illuminati conspiracy. At Yale College, the younger Morse was an indifferent student until he heard a series of lectures on the newly-developing subject of electricity. He was also an accomplished painter and the founder of the National Academy of Design. With his inquisitive nature and an artist’s hand, Morse conceived the basic idea of an instrument to send and receive an electrical current over wires that would open and close a circuit to generate short (dots) and long (dashes) sounds. While Morse’s idea was not new, he was the first to develop the theory into a working model with the aid of his two partners, Leonard Gale and Alfred Vail. In 1838, with his new telegraph and simplified code in hand, Morse transmitted ten words per minute at an exhibition in New York. Even with this demonstration there was still skepticism that any message could really be sent from city to city over wires. In 1843, Morse secured funds from Congress to construct the first telegraph line in the United States from Baltimore to Washington D.C. In May of the next year, from the nation’s capital Morse sent a biblical quotation over the newly strung wires, a message that revealed his own sense of wonder that God had chosen him to reveal the use of electricity to man: “What Hath God Wrought” (Num. 23:23). While a great deal of credit is owed to Morse for the telegraph, the code was equally ingenious. Morse believed that God has put us here for a purpose. God’s good creation is designed to be studied and developed to the glory of God and the benefit of man.

October 17, 2007– The Admiral of the Ocean Sea

Columbus might have remained a footnote in history if Washington Irving, the author of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle,” had not published a three-volume biography about him. Although Irving established Columbus’ rightful place in history, he also told a few fibs, the most egregious being that Columbus wanted to prove the Earth was round. Actually, all the scientists and cartographers in the fifteenth century believed the Earth was round. The dispute was how big around the Earth was. On this point, Columbus was wrong and his critics were right. Columbus charted his way to the Indies partly using an ancient map of the world drawn by a Greek astronomer, Claudius Ptolemy from the second century. Although Ptolemy accounted for the world being round, he made the major mistake of leaving out a huge landmass that he did not know was there: North and South America.

October 16, 2007– The First Modern World Series

In an attempt to end a bitter rivalry, the National League and the American League came together in a post-season championship. In 1903, the Boston Americans and the Pittsburgh Pirates competed in the first official World Series. The Pirates of the veteran National League and Boston, representing the American League, met in a best-of-nine series. The Pirates had just won their third consecutive pennant. The Americans were still trying to establish themselves as a worthy competitor. After 4 games, Pittsburgh led the series 3 games to 1. Boston’s veteran Cy Young took the mound in game 5, and Pittsburgh never knew what hit them. Even with the help of National Batting League champion Honus Wagner, Pittsburgh never regained dominance. The Boston Americans, now called the Boston Red Sox, became the first champion of the First American League vs. National League World Series.

October 15, 2007– King of the Wild Frontier

A number of celebrities and lesser knowns threatened (promised?) to leave the United States if George W. Bush was reelected president in 2004. But before Bush, there was Martin Van Buren, and before today’s political malcontents, there was Davy Crockett (1786–1836), “king of the wild frontier” as the popular 1955 politically incorrect “Ballad of Davy Crockett” described him. In a letter written to Charles Shultz dated December 25, 1834, Crockett complains about Andrew Jackson’s influence over American voters. He describes them as “Volunteer Slaves” and declares his plan to leave the United States and move to Texas if Martin Van Buren, Jackson’s vice-president, is elected to office.

The western and southern men dare not to sustain Jackson in his mad Caesar [like rages], and when they refuse all the blood in the nation will be let loose on them.

The time has come that virtue is expected to be transferable and as negotiable and a promissory note of hand in these days of glory and Jackson and reform &c. Little Van [Martin van Buren] sits in his chair and looks as sly as a red fox, and I have no doubt but that he thinks Andrew Jackson has full power to transfer the people of these United States at his will and I am afraid that a majority of free Citizens will submit to it and Say amen. Jackson done it, it is right. If we judge by the past, we can reach no other calculations.

I have almost given up the ship as lost. I have gone so far as to declare that if Martin Van Buren is elected that I will leave the United States, for I never will live under his Kingdom. Before I will submit to his government, I will go to the Wilds of Texas. I will consider that government a Paradise to what this government will be. I never will submit to his government. In fact, at this time our Republican Government has dwindled almost into insignificance. Our boasted land of liberty has almost bowed to the yoke of bondage. Our happy days of Republican principles are near at an end when a few is to transfer the many. These are Van Buren principles. There are more slaves in New York and Pennsylvania than there are in Virginia and South Carolina and they are the meanest kind of slaves there are—Volunteer Slaves. [At least] our Southern slaves are of some use to their owner.

Van Buren won, and Davy Crockett moved to Texas and fought and died at the Alamo on March 6, 1836. His tombstone reads: “Davy Crockett, Pioneer, Patriot, Soldier, Trapper, Explorer, State Legislator, Congressman, Martyred at The Alamo. 1786–1836.” Unlike today’s political malcontents, Crockett did what he said he would do. He followed the dictates of his own motto: “Be Sure You’re Right, and Then Go Ahead.”

October 12, 2007 – The Poisonous Sock

When President Warren G. Harding died unexpectedly of heart disease on August 2, 1923, Vice-President Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as President of the United States. Before long, rumors began to spread that Harding had been poisoned, either by his own hand or by that of his vindictive wife. Within a year, a less sinister but equally bizarre poisoning rumor would attach itself to a tragic death in the Coolidge family as well.

Coolidge's two sons set out to play tennis on the White House tennis court. 16-year-old Calvin Jr. wore tennis shoes but no socks. Young Calvin's sockless exertions raised a blister on one of his toes, which soon became infected. The modern antibiotics that would quickly clear up such an infection today did not exist in 1924. By the time White House physicians were summoned to treat Calvin Jr., it was too late — he died of pathogenic blood poisoning a week later. Before long, a rumor began circulating that Calvin Jr.'s death was caused by the dye from his black socks entering his bloodstream through a cut and poisoning him. The public knew that whatever killed Calvin had something to do with a wound on his foot and blood poisoning, so perhaps the sock rumor got started because it seemed like a logical explanation to those who were not privy to the details of his injury. The rumor certainly seemed plausible because some of the coloring agents commonly used back then to give socks their color did often cause serious inflammations when the unabsorbed chemicals came into contact with a wearer’s skin.

October 11, 2007– Not a Ghost of a Chance

Harry Houdini's real name was Ehrich Weiss (1874–1926). He changed it to Houdini as a tribute to French illusionist Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin, adding an “I” to the name to make it his own. While Houdini is best known as a physical magician for escapes from straight jackets while suspended in midair and an illusionist, he is also famous for exposing fake mediums and spiritualists. When his beloved mother died, Houdini became interested in the possibility of being able to contact her in the spirit world. Because of his knowledge as an illusionist, he recognized the techniques that mediums used to fool people into believing that they had special powers to contact the dearly departed. Houdini became a one-man crusader against these charlatans who used grief to bilk family members out of their money. Houdini was such a well known public figure that he had to attend seances in disguise so as not to be discovered. Houdini was a good friend of Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930), creator of the famous fictional character Sherlock Holmes. Doyle believed that Houdini had magical powers, that his escapes were accomplished supernaturally. Doyle devoted a chapter of his book The Edge of the Unknown to a detailed argument that Houdini had genuine psychic power.In fact, Doyle believed almost any story that claimed that supernatural powers were at work. He insisted that fairies actually existed. He wrote a book called The Coming of the Fairies (1921) that supposedly chronicled their existence, and even included photographs to prove it! In reality, he had been duped by two teenage girls who staged the whole thing. Even so, Doyle went to his grave believing that fairies were real. Ironically, Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes character was the epitome of rationality and would have dismissed the obviously staged evidence as fraudulent. But Doyle wanted to believe so much that he put his usually rational mind in neutral.

October 10, 2007– The Mysterious Penman of the Constitution

Thirty-seven-year-old Jacob Shallus had been assistant clerk for the Pennsylvania legislature and recorded minutes for the state’s general assembly. Shallus participated in the War for  Independence, was a skilled calligrapher and a father struggling to support a family of ten. Though Shallus’ fine hand penned the original parchment of the U.S. Constitution, he rates only a one-line credit on its display case. He is so obscure a figure in history that there is no known portrait of him, and historians have difficulty naming him. On Saturday evening, September 15, 1787, the delegates, according to George Washington’s journal, “adjourned until Monday that the Constitution which it was proposed to offer to the people might be engrossed, and a number of copies struck off.” Stopping only to eat and sleep, Shallus “engrossed” (penned) the document with goose quill and iron-gall ink to meet the deadline on Monday. The Constitutional Convention paid Shallus thirty dollars for his efforts. He was arrested only five months later for a debt of twelve pounds and a few shillings. Shallus died in 1793 and probably never realized the importance of his contribution on that September weekend in Philadelphia.

October 9, 2007– The Moon-Landing Hoax

The Central and Union Pacific Railroads joined their construction efforts on May 10, 1869 in Promontory, Utah, with the ceremonial driving of the Golden Spike into the track that joined East and West. One hundred years later, on July 20, 1969, two Americans landed on the moon. While railroads transformed commerce, communication, and travel in the United States, Moon landings abruptly stopped with no commercial benefits after six missions. Bill Kaysing thinks he knows why.

Kaysing claims in his book We Never Went to the Moon that the missions were a scam. After a number of technological mishaps, NASA realized it did not have the expertise to make President Kennedy’s dream of putting a man on the Moon before the close of the decade a reality. To avoid shutting down NASA, losing funding, and giving the Soviet Union a reason to believe that America was behind them in missile design, an elaborate hoax was supposedly concocted to fool the world. Taking a page from Hollywood, Kaysing claims that an elaborate Moon-set was constructed somewhere in the Southwest region of the United States. What we saw on television during those eventful days was special effects, “a near seamless piece of performance art.” The only real things the public saw were an empty Saturn V rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral and the return of the astronauts in a sealed “dummy space capsule that was dropped from a C5-A transport plane.”

Nearly everyone was in on the hoax, even Walter Cronkite! Anyone who tried to blow the lid off the planned ruse would pay the ultimate price. As a warning, so Kaysing theorizes, three astronauts were killed in a launchpad “accident” on January 27, 1967, mostly to keep Gus Grissom quiet. Grissom had been complaining about safety issues and threatened to go public. Again, this is according to Kaysing. If any of this story sounds familiar, you might remember the 1978 movie Capricorn One, starring O.J. Simpson, Telly Savalas, Elliott Gould, and James Brolin. The movie was about a faked mission to Mars. The only difference is that these astronauts had a conscience and wanted to get the true story out to the world.

There are millions of people who believe Kaysing is on to something. Mistrust of the government runs deep. But if it’s all true, why have so many people been able to keep the secret for so long? This is where all conspiracy theories break down. Too many people have to keep too many secrets for too long.

October 8, 2007– Will The Real Columbus Please Stand Up?

Theories of the national heritage of Columbus abound. Columbus has been called an Islamic merchant from North Africa, a Jewish convert to Christianity, an Englishman, Portuguese, Corsican, a Spaniard, a French pirate named Coullon, a black from Africa, and even an American Indian who had stumbled across the ocean and wanted to return home. The best supported theory is that he was Italian, from the city of Genoa. As famous as Columbus is today, no one painted his portrait during his lifetime. Although we do not know exactly what Columbus looked like, some of his contemporaries described him as “A man of good size and appearance, taller than most . . . eyes lively and other features of the face in good proportion, the hair chestnut brown, and the face somewhat ruddy.” Columbus might have remained a footnote in history if Washington Irving, the author of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle,” had not published a three-volume biography (1828–1831) of the “Admiral of the Ocean Sea” as a later biographer described him. Although Irving established Columbus’ rightful place in history, he also told a few fibs about the explorer, the most egregious being the claim that Columbus wanted to prove the Earth was round when everyone believed it was flat. The truth is, all the scientists and cartographers in the fifteenth century believed the Earth was round. The dispute was how big around the Earth was. On this point, Columbus was wrong and his critics right. Columbus charted his way to the Indies partly using an ancient map of the world drawn by a Greek astronomer, Claudius Ptolemy. Ptolemy had drawn his map in the second century, and although he accounted for the world being round, he made the major mistake of leaving out a huge land mass that he did not know was there: today’s North and South America.

October 5, 2007– The Successful Storyteller

The man, who co-founded Walt Disney Productions, arrived in California with $40 in his pocket and an unfinished cartoon in his suitcase. Walt Disney developed his love for drawing as a child while living on a farm. When his family moved to Chicago, he took art courses at night. At 16, Disney joined the Red Cross during World War II and drove an ambulance covered with his imaginative characters. While working for art studios, Disney learned animation and film techniques and read books on anatomy and mechanics. After arriving in Los Angeles, Disney started his own art studio, and his brother Roy oversaw the finances. The company that would become known for Mickey Mouse and animated hits like Pinnochio and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was on the way to making its mark in the entertainment industry.

October 4, 2007– Lewis and Clark’s MVP

The Shoshone woman Sacajawea had been kidnapped and sold to a French-Canadian fur trader. The fur trader was hired as interpreter for the Lewis and Clark expedition, and Sacajawea and her newborn son also joined the party. She collected plants, nuts, and berries which were used for food and medicine. When a boat nearly capsized, she retrieved important books and instruments before they floated away. Clark wrote that the Indians believed they were friendly when they saw the Indian woman and her baby. During meetings with Indian chiefs, Sacajawea was the interpreter. Her vote counted when it was determined where the party would spend the winter. Lewis and Clark honored Sacajawea for her efforts in making the expedition a success by naming a river in her honor.

October 3, 2007– A Life Redeemed

John Newton went to sea at the age of 11 and was forced to enlist on a British man-of-war seven years later. He was captured after deserting the intolerable conditions and exchanged to the crew of a slave ship. He began reading a book he found on board— Imitation of Christ—which began to sow the seeds of conversion. Newton eventually gave his life to Christ during a storm which threatened the ship. For the rest of his life he observed May 10, 1748, as the day of his conversion. He was promoted to captain of a slave ship traveling between North Africa and England. Slave ships left England empty and anchored off the African coast. Tribal chiefs would deliver men and women captured in raids and wars to the buyers, who would select the finest specimens. Then the captives would be loaded aboard ship, packed in like sardines below deck and chained to prevent suicides. Those that survived the voyage to the New World were traded for molasses and sugar to make rum, which the ships would take back to England. Then the ships were off to Africa to begin their miserable trade all over again. It took six years for the inhuman aspects of the business to force Newton to leave the sea for good.

Newton studied for the ministry and used the last 43 years of his life to preach the gospel. He wrote over 200 hymns, with “Amazing Grace,” “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken,” and “How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds,” being several of his most loved and sung works.  At 82, Newton said, "My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things, that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior.” Newton truly understood God’s amazing grace, for he had experienced it first hand.

October 2, 2007 – It's Never Too Late

Harland Sanders was born September 9, 1890. He began franchising his chicken business in the early 1950s—at the age of 65—using money that he received from Social Security! When he was 40, Sanders began cooking for hungry travelers who stopped at his service station in Corbin, Kentucky. He didn’t own a restaurant then, but he served people on his own dining table in the living quarters of his service station. As more people started coming just for food, he moved across the street to a motel and restaurant that seated 142 people. Over the next nine years, he perfected his “secret blend of 11 herbs and spices” and the basic cooking technique that is still used today. He was made a “Colonel” by Governor Ruby Laffoon in 1935 in recognition of his contributions to the state’s cuisine. In the early 1950s a new interstate highway was planned to bypass the town of Corbin. Seeing an end to his business, Sanders auctioned off his operations. After paying his bills, he was reduced to living on his $105 monthly Social Security checks. He was so convinced that his fried chicken was superior to anything on the market that he devoted himself to the chicken franchising business.

He traveled across the country by car going to restaurants, cooking batches of chicken for restaurant owners and their employees. If the owners liked what they saw and tasted, he entered into a handshake agreement on a deal that would pay him a nickel for each chicken the restaurant sold. By 1964, Colonel Sanders had more than 600 franchised outlets for his chicken in the United States and Canada. That year, he sold his interest in the United States company for $2 million to a group of investors. In 1971, the franchise was sold for $285 million. KFC was acquired in October 1986 from RJR Nabisco, Inc. by PepsiCo, Inc., for approximately $840 million. KFC is now part of the world's largest restaurant company—Yum! Brands—with nearly 32,500 units in more than 100 countries and territories around the world. And to think that it all started with some chicken, “11 herbs and spices,” a cooker, a $105 Social Security check, and a man who did not know the word “retire.”

October 1, 2007–The Mailman's Daughter

Gladys Aylward was born near London to a mailman and his wife. After her conversion at 18, she wished to be a missionary to China. Rejected by the mission board, Gladys began saving money, determined to go to China on her own. She eventually traveled to China to work as a missionary’s assistant. Gaining the trust of the Chinese, she was appointed to be foot inspector enforcing the law against binding the feet of young girls. As she made her inspections, Gladys shared the gospel. She began taking in orphans and unwanted children and caring for them at her inn. During World War II, she and nearly 100 children lived in a large cave near a remote village. Her heroism and sacrifice won the hearts of the English people, and the movie The Inn of the Sixth Happiness was made about her work.