Good Morning & God Bless To Every One !
Today is February 16, the 47th day of 2014 and there are 318 days left this year where it is another Blessed Day in the pleasure of our service for our Lord here at:
For God’s Glory Alone Ministries !!!
I ask for a special prayer today for all our Pastor’s and Clergy in asking for God’s help in warding off the relentless attack on them. Their work is every so valuable to us all and we must provide every ounce of support we can for them, and what better way than with a special prayer for them! A special prayer for our Pastor Dewey here at FGGAM as he is on the road this morning to provide services as a ‘relief Pastor’ in Reserve, New Mexico. It’s a long trip and ask for HIS protection for our Pastor in his travels today and that he may lift the hearts of those attending his service this morning.
So, What Happened Today In 1804 ?
U.S. Lieutenant Stephen Decatur performs “The most daring act of the age”
During the First Barbary War, U.S. Lieutenant Stephen Decatur leads a military mission that famed British Admiral Horatio Nelson calls the “most daring act of the age.”
In June 1801, President Thomas Jefferson ordered U.S. Navy vessels to the Mediterranean Sea in protest of continuing raids against U.S. ships by pirates from the Barbary states–Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, and Tripolitania. American sailors were often abducted along with the captured booty and ransomed back to the United States at an exorbitant price. After two years of minor confrontations, sustained action began in June 1803 when a small U.S. expeditionary force attacked Tripoli harbor in present-day Libya.
In October 1803, the U.S. frigate Philadelphia ran aground near Tripoli and was captured by Tripolitan gunboats. The Americans feared that the well-constructed warship would be both a formidable addition to the Tripolitan navy and an innovative model for building future Tripolitan frigates. Hoping to prevent the Barbary pirates from gaining this military advantage, Lieutenant Stephen Decatur led a daring expedition into Tripoli harbor to destroy the captured American vessel on February 16, 1804.
After disguising himself and his men as Maltese sailors, Decatur’s force of 74 men, which included nine U.S. Marines, sailed into Tripoli harbor on a small two-mast ship. The Americans approached the USS Philadelphia without drawing fire from the Tripoli shore guns, boarded the ship, and attacked its Tripolitan crew, capturing or killing all but two. After setting fire to the frigate, Decatur and his men escaped without the loss of a single American. The Philadelphia subsequently exploded when its gunpowder reserve was lit by the spreading fire.
Six months later, Decatur returned to Tripoli Harbor as part of a larger American offensive and emerged as a hero again during the so-called “Battle of the Gunboats,” a naval battle that saw hand-to-hand combat between the Americans and the Tripolitans.
Other Memorable Or Interesting Events Occurring On February 16 In History:
600 – Pope Gregory the Great decrees saying “God Bless You” is the correct response to a sneeze;
1760 – Cherokee Indians held hostage at Fort St. George are killed in revenge for Indian attacks on frontier settlements;
1778 – During the American Revolution, two future presidents of the United States, John Adams and his son, 10-year-old John Quincy Adams, sit in Marblehead Harbor, off the coast of Massachusetts, on board the frigate, Boston, which is to take them to France, where John Adams will replace Silas Deane in Congress’ commission to negotiate a treaty of allia;
1786 – Future President James Monroe weds a 17-year-old New York beauty named Elizabeth Kortright. The 26-year-old Monroe, already a famous revolutionary and practicing lawyer, married not for money, but for love. Elizabeth’s father, once a wealthy privateer, had lost most of his fortune during the Revolutionary War. Elizabeth died in 1830, only five years after Monroe left the presidency. According to family lore, Monroe, in his grief, burned 40 years’ worth of their intimate correspondence;
1862 – General Ulysses S. Grant finishes a spectacular campaign by capturing Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River in Tennessee. This battle came 10 days after Grant’s capture of Fort Henry, just 10 miles to the west on the Tennessee River, and opened the way for Union occupation of central Tennessee. After some 12,000 Confederate soldiers surrendered; Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s victory earned him the nickname “Unconditional Surrender Grant”;
1878 – Strongly supported by western mining interests and farmers, the Bland-Allison Act—which provided for a return to the minting of silver coins—becomes the law of the land;
1894 – Infamous gunslinger John Wesley Hardin is pardoned after spending 15 years in a Texas prison for murder. Hardin, who was reputed to have shot and killed a man just for snoring, was 41 years old at the time of his release;
1923 – In Thebes, Egypt, English archaeologist Howard Carter enters the sealed burial chamber of the ancient Egyptian ruler King Tutankhamen;
1934 – Thousands of Socialists battle Communists at a rally in New York’s Madison Square Garden;
1937 – Dupont patents a new thread, nylon, which will replace silk in a number of products and reduce costs;
1940 – In World War II, the British destroyer HMS Cossack rescues British seamen from a German prison ship, the Altmark, in a Norwegian fjord;
1945 – During World War II, the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines is occupied by American troops, almost three years after the devastating and infamous Bataan Death March;
1946 – 1st commercially designed helicopter tested, Bridgeport Connecticut;
1951 – During the Cold War, in a statement focusing on the situation in Korea, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin charges that the United Nations has become “a weapon of aggressive war.” He also suggested that although a world war was not inevitable “at the present time,” “warmongers” in the West might trigger such a conflict. Stalin’s comments, and the intense scrutiny they were subjected to in the West, were more evidence that in the Cold War, the “war of words” was almost as significant as any actual fighting;
1959 – Fidel Castro is sworn in as prime minister of Cuba after leading a guerrilla campaign that forced right-wing dictator Fulgencio Batista into exile. Castro, who became commander-in-chief of Cuba’s armed forces after Batista was ousted on January 1, replaced the more moderate Miro Cardona as head of the country’s new provisional government;
1968 – In the Vietnam War, U.S. officials report that, in addition to the 800,000 people listed as refugees prior to January 30, the fighting during the Tet Offensive has created 350,000 new refugees;
1968 – The country’s first ‘911’ phone system goes into service in Haleyville, Alabama;
1983 – Brush fires rage across South Australia burning thousands of acres, killing 75 people and injuring another 800. There were 24 major fires in total across the region, in addition to scores of smaller ones. Hundreds of homes burned and critical electric power lines were brought down all over South Australia. About 12 hours after most of the large fires began, the wind shifted and virtually halted the spread of the flames. This allowed firefighters to contain the blazes, and most were put out by the end of the following day;
1998 – A China Airlines Airbus A300-600R trying to land in fog near Taipei, Taiwan, crashed, killing all 196 people on board, plus six on the ground;
2004 – The Walt Disney Co. rejected a takeover bid by Comcast Corp.;
2006 – The last Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) is decommissioned by the United States Army;
2009 – Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, South Korea’s first Roman Catholic cardinal and advocate for democracy, died at age 86;
2013 – It was one year ago TODAY !
Now, Off To The Fun Stuff !
Today’s AWE of GOD Picture:
Gasadalur Village in the Faroe Islands
Today’s AWE of GOD Video:
Birds Of Prey In America – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN-pwblNxU4&feature=player_embedded
Today’s ‘It’s Just An Observation’:
On March 31, 2008, Barack Obama warned, “The biggest problems that we’re facing right now have to do with George Bush trying to bring more and more power into the executive branch and not go through Congress at all. And that’s what I intend to reverse when I’m president of the United States of America.” What a difference six years and “a pen and a phone” can make.
Today’s ‘The Founder’s Foundation’:
“If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no recourse left but in the exertion of that original right of self-defense which is paramount to all positive forms of government.” –Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 28, 1787
Today’s ‘Try Not To Smile Too Hard’ Picture:
Today’s Funny Animal Video:
A Cat’s Guide On How To Walk Your Human – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5rXLZfsJT0&feature=player_embedded
Today’s Funny Video:
Children Discovering Their Shadows – https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=G4aTw-zEJZ8
Today’s ‘I Fixed It For Your Honey’:
Today’s ‘Fact Of The Day’:
Austin, Texas is home to the largest bat colony in North America. Over 1.5 million bats roost beneath the Congress Avenue Bridge over Lady Bird Lake and eat between 10,000- 30,000 lbs. of insects a night. – Provided by RandomHistory.com
Today’s Thought For The Day:
“Consensus is the absence of leadership.”
– Margaret Thatcher
Today’s Picture Taken With Impeccable Timing:
Today’s Joke Of The Day:
A little silver-haried lady lady calls her neighbor and says, “Please come over and help me. I have a killer jigsaw puzzle and I can’t figure out how to get started.”
Her neighbor asks, “What is it supposed to be when it’s finished?”
She responds, “According to the picture on the box, it’s a rooster.”
Her neighbor decides to go over and help with the puzzle.
She lets him in and shows him the puzzle spread all over the table.
He studies the pieces for a moment, then looks at the box, then turns to her and says, “First of all, no matter what we do, we’re not going to be able to assemble these pieces into anything resembling a rooster.”
He takes her hand and says, “Secondly, I want you to relax. Let’s have a nice cup of tea, and then,” he said with a deep sigh;
– – – Ready? – – –
“Let’s put all the Corn Flakes back in the box!”
Today’s ‘Don’t Worry’ Picture:
Today’s ‘Clever Words For Clever People’:
COUNTERFEITERS: Workers who put together kitchen cabinets.
Today’s ‘Advice From Phyllis’:
Housework can’t kill you, but why take a chance?
– Phyllis Diller
Today’s Funny Photo:
Today’s ‘Life’s Lessons’:
Today’s Internet Proverb:
Don’t byte off more than you can view.
Today’s Crazy Warning Label:
On a kitchen knife – Warning: Keep out of children.
Today’s ‘This Is What Cameras Were Made For’ Picture:
Today’s Inspirational Music Video:
Somebody’s Angel – https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IguLJPlb7AU
Today’s Verse & Prayer:
This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.
– 1 John 3:11
My Loving Father God, I commit to you that I will intentionally show my love for your children in what I do and say. I do this trusting your grace to empower me to do more than I would do on my own. Through Jesus my Savior I pray. Amen.
Today’s Funny Church Sign:
Today’s Inspirational ‘Spirited Debate’ Video:
An interview with Lauren Greene, FoxNews Chief Religious Correspondent and Pastor John Hagee discussing ‘The Four Blood Moons’ – https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=aN-XFB8d_zs
Today’s Inspirational Quote:
“God doesn’t owe us anything- yet in His grace, He still gives us good things.”
– Billy Graham
It’s been a long night, so I’m off for my nap:
So, Until Tomorrow – America, Bless God !!!