The Korean War

 

The Korean War started June 25, 1950

American Minute with Bill Federer

 

“FREEDOM IS NOT FREE” is the inscription on the Korean War Memorial in Washington, D.C.

 

The Korean War started JUNE 25, 1950.

 

Communist North Korea invaded South Korea, killing thousands.

 

Outnumbered South Korean and American troops, as part of a UN “police” action, fought courageously against the Communist Chinese and North Korean troops, who were supplied with arms and MIG fighters from the Soviet Union.

 

General Douglas MacArthur, who led the United Nations Command from 1950 to 1951, made a daring landing of troops at Inchon, deep behind North Korean lines, and recaptured the city of Seoul.

 

General Douglas MacArthur warned in a speech to the Salvation Army, December 12, 1951, stating:

 

“History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline.

 

There has been either a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral lapse, or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster.”

 

With temperatures sometimes forty degrees below zero, and Washington politicians limiting the use of air power against the Communists, there were nearly 140,000 American casualties in:

 

the defense of the Pusan Perimeter and Taego;

 

the landing at Inchon and the freeing of Seoul;

 

the capture of Pyongyang;

 

the Yalu River where nearly a million Communist Chinese soldiers invaded;

 

the Battles of Changjin Reservoir, Old Baldy, White Horse Mountain, Heartbreak Ridge, Pork Chop Hill, T-Bone Hill, and Siberia Hill.

 

President Harry S Truman stated while lighting the National Christmas Tree, December 24, 1952:

 

“Tonight, our hearts turn first of all to our brave men and women in Korea. They are fighting and suffering and even dying that we may preserve the chance of peace in the world…

 

And as we go about our business of trying to achieve peace in the world, let us remember always to try to act and live in the spirit of the Prince of Peace. He bore in His heart no hate and no malice – nothing but love for all mankind.

 

We should try as nearly as we can to follow His example. We believe that all men are truly the children of God…

 

As we pray for our loved ones far from home – as we pray for our men and women in Korea, and all our service men and women wherever they are – let us also pray for our enemies.

 

Let us pray that the spirit of God shall enter their lives and prevail in their lands…Through Jesus Christ the world will yet be a better and a fairer place.”

 

President Dwight Eisenhower’s son, John Sheldon Doud Eisenhower, served in Korea during the war. First Lady Mamie Geneva Doud Eisenhower stated in a conversation at the Doud home regarding him:

 

“He has a mission to fulfill and God will see to it that nothing will happen to him till he fulfills it.”

 

Fighting in Korea was halted July 27, 1953, with the signing of an armistice at Panmunjom.

 

At the College of William and Mary, May 15, 1953, Dwight Eisenhower stated:

 

“It is necessary that we earnestly seek out and uproot any traces of communism.”

 

Dwight Eisenhower stated December 24, 1953, lighting the National Christmas Tree:

 

“The world still stands divided in two antagonistic parts. Prayer places freedom and communism in opposition one to the other.

 

The Communist can find no reserve of strength in prayer because his doctrine of materialism and statism denies the dignity of man and consequently the existence of God.

 

But in America…religious faith is the foundation of free government, so is prayer an indispensable part of that faith…The founders of this, our country, came first to these shores in search of freedom…to live…beyond the yoke of tyranny.”

 

Bill FedererThe Moral Liberal contributing editor, William J. Federer, is the bestselling author of “Backfired: A Nation Born for Religious Tolerance no Longer Tolerates Religion,” and numerous other books. A frequent radio and television guest, his daily American Minute is broadcast nationally via radio, television, and Internet. Check out all of Bill’s books here.

 

13 – Jan. 13 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

[they] had to meet outdoors in a city park.
 n Jan. 13, 2004, a church building of an independent Baptist church, in Tula, Russia was blown up.  Authorities said that it was due to faulty equipment within the building.   But in a January report by the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews, witnesses testified to having seen a group of men around the building and the sound of breaking glass just before the explosion.  The Baptists also established that the gas pipes were not damaged.  The pastor had also received anonymous threats.  City inspectors have ruled that the building is beyond repair.  After the iron curtain came down in 1991, the Russian Orthodox Church took over from the Communist Party and reestablished their influence in religious affairs in Russia.  Even though they are not as brutal in their persecution as the communists had been, they still do not hesitate in their persecution of Baptists and other non-conformists.  With the crumbling of the USSR, Russia adopted a constitution allowing religious toleration but not real religious liberty.  In 1997 a more strict law was passed that required churches to have existed for fifteen years before being permitted to register.  The Sept. 2003 Moscow Times reported that one non-registered Baptist church was refused permission to rent any public buildings and had to meet outdoors in a city park.  This requirement for registration was amended to allow for a re-registration for groups who were registered prior to the implementation of the 1997 law, but this, of course, gave no relief to independent Baptist congregations.  Christian leaders have noticed an increasing intolerance  toward non-Orthodox believers.  New visas and visa renewals have been regularly denied for foreign religious workers.  Much prayer for Russia needs to be added to our prayer lists.
Dr. Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. IIII: Cummins, pp. 26-28.