Today in History - April 30

Today is Wednesday, April 30, the 121st day of 2008. There are 245 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On April 30, 1945, as Russian troops approached his Berlin bunker, Adolf Hitler committed suicide along with his wife of one day, Eva Braun.

On this date:

In 1789, George Washington took office in New York as the first president of the United States.

In 1803, the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France for 60 million francs, the equivalent of about $15 million.

In 1812, Louisiana became the 18th state of the Union.

In 1948, the charter of the Organization of American States was signed in Bogota, Colombia.

In 1958, the American Association of Retired Persons (later simply AARP) was founded in Washington, D.C., by Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus.

In 1958, Britain's Life Peerages Act 1958 allowed women to become members of the House of Lords.

In 1968, New York City police forcibly removed student demonstrators occupying five buildings at Columbia University.

In 1970, President Nixon announced the U.S. was sending troops into Cambodia, an action that sparked widespread protest.

In 1973, President Nixon announced the resignations of top aides H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, along with Attorney General Richard G. Kleindienst and White House counsel John Dean.

In 1988, Gen. Manuel Noriega, waving a machete, vowed at a rally to keep fighting U.S. efforts to oust him as Panama's military ruler.

Ten years ago: President Clinton questioned the conduct of Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr and dismissed Republican challenges to his own character as "high level static." United and Delta airlines formed an alliance that would control one-third of all U.S. passenger seats. A man set himself on fire and shot himself to death on a Los Angeles area freeway in a scene captured on live television.

Five years ago: International mediators presented Israeli and Palestinian leaders with a new Middle East "road map," a U.S.-backed blueprint for ending 31 months of violence and establishing a Palestinian state. Mahmoud Abbas took office as Palestinian prime minister. The U.S. Navy withdrew from its disputed Vieques bombing range in Puerto Rico, prompting celebrations by islanders.

One year ago: A British judge sentenced five al-Qaida-linked men, all British citizens, to life in prison for plotting to attack London targets, including a nightclub, power plants and shopping mall, with bombs. An Israeli government probe faulted Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for what it called "very severe failures" in Israel's war with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. Actor Tom Poston died in Los Angeles at age 85.

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Trust in the Lord

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A Time for Everything

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die;

A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal;

A time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;

A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose;

A time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew;

A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate;

A time of war, and a time of peace.

What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.
He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.
I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.
And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.
I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.
That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-15

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John and Elizabeth Freeman - Executed in India, 1857

The "Mutiny of India" in 1857 was an uprising of Muslims and Brahmins (high caste Hindus) against the British government and particularly Christianity. It took the lives of all eight American missionaries of the Mission at Futtehgurh, including John Edgar Freeman and his wife, Elizabeth.

The Mission at Futtehgurh began 20 years earlier and included an orphanage and a Christian school. As more and more Indians came to Christ over the years, the area around the mission became a Christian village.

John Freeman manage the tent-making ministry of the mission. During his first years in India, he suffered the personal loss of two daughters and soon afterwards, his first wife. A colleague writes that John's "ministering consolation and calmness" during the dark time, was to "show the excellency and power of an inner life, fed and sustained from above."

John Freeman met his second wife, Elizabeth, while on furlough in America. Her letters from India reveal a sense of humor and an exceptional ability to evangelize and teach. Elizabeth was encouraged that the orphans to whom she taught Scripture would grow up to marry and settle in the Christian village of the mission.

In the last months before their martyrdom, the Freemans heard various reports about the "Mutiny" in other parts of India; entire congregations were being massacred. They feared for their own native Christians, but constantly renewed their hopes in the Lord. At the last possible moment, the group of eight Futtehguhr missionaries fled by boat down the Ganges River, encountering hostile villagers and military on both banks. Finally, low water prevented them from travelling further, and they slid into an island at Cawnpore.

For four days, they survived on the island until they were captured by Muslims. They were then bound and marched past exhaustion to a nearby village. June 13, 1857, they were shot at 7 a.m., execution style.

Clearly, these Christians were prepared to "part with life for Christ and His cause" if necessary, and had already counted the cost. In her last letter, Elizabeth Freeman wrote, "I sometimes think our deaths would do more good than we would do in all our lives; if so, 'His will be done.' Should I be called to lay down my life, do not grieve, dear sister, that I came here, for most joyfully will I die for Him who laid down His life for me."

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Persecuted for Christ

Note: To watch the video, please click the "pause" button on the upper right hand corner of the music box first.



This is the story of Hani, a young man who was born in a Christian family in Upper Egypt. He was proud of his Christian heritage. He was also proud of his name, which means "joyful" in Arabic. He treated people kindly; they could see joy and the love of Christ in his sparkling eyes. His Christian lamp was filled with oil and shone brightly for all to see.

During Hani's time of required military service, his commanding officer began to pressure him to convert to Islam. Though the officer and other Islamists attempted to lure him with promises of material wealth, Hani refused.

"I'll never leave the Lord, "he insisted. "I love Him. I was born a Christian, will remain a Christian and will die a Christian."

Hani was brutally murdered. His assailants may have killed him, but they didn't kill his soul...and they could not remove Jesus from his heart.

Jesus said all men would hate his followers because of Him (Matthew 10:22), but we rejoice in knowing Hani "stood firm until the end." His body was broken, he was brutally tortured, but Hani's lamp was not extinguished. His life and witness is the oil that keeps his lamp glowing now through others-- through those who hear his testimony.

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Martyrdom

"A martyr is, he who has become the instrument of God, who has lost his will in the will of God, not lost it but found it, for he has found freedom in submission to God. The martyr no longer desires anything for himself, not even the glory of martyrdom."

T.S. ELLIOT—MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL

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Today in History - April 26

Today is Saturday, April 26, the 117th day of 2008. There are 249 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On April 26, 1607, English colonists went ashore at present-day Cape Henry, Va., on an expedition to establish the first permanent English settlement in the Western Hemisphere. (They later settled at Jamestown.)

On this date:

In 1785, American naturalist and artist John James Audubon was born in present-day Haiti.

In 1865, John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Lincoln, was surrounded by federal troops near Bowling Green, Va., and killed.

In 1937, planes from Nazi Germany raided the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War.

In 1945, Marshal Henri Philippe Petain, the head of France's Vichy government during World War II, was arrested.

In 1964, the African nations of Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged to form Tanzania.

In 1968, the United States exploded beneath the Nevada desert a 1.3 megaton nuclear device called "Boxcar."

In 1970, the Stephen Sondheim musical "Company" opened at the Alvin Theatre in New York.

In 1986, the world's worst nuclear accident occurred at the Chernobyl plant in the Soviet Union.

In 1993, Conan O'Brien was named to succeed David Letterman as host of NBC's "Late Night" program.

In 2000, Vermont Gov. Howard Dean signed the nation's first bill allowing same-sex couples to form civil unions.

Ten years ago: Auxiliary Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera, a leading human rights activist in Guatemala, was bludgeoned to death two days after the public release of a report he had compiled on atrocities during Guatemala's 36-year civil war.

Five years ago: A Soyuz rocket carrying American astronaut Edward Lu and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko blasted off for the international space station. Actor Charlton Heston, diagnosed with symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, made his last appearance as president of the National Rifle Association during a convention in Orlando, Fla., where he briefly thanked the membership.

One year ago: The Senate joined the House in clearing legislation calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq to begin by Oct. 1, 2007, with a goal of a complete pullout six months later. (President Bush vetoed the measure.) Eight Democratic presidential hopefuls gathered in Orangeburg, S.C., for their first debate of the 2008 campaign, during which they heaped criticism on President Bush's Iraq policy. Former White House aide and movie industry lobbyist Jack Valenti died in Washington at age 85.


Source: AP

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