Providence

PROVIDENCE

It was on a Wednesday they moved my Mom from UPMC Medical Center where she was

being treated for the stroke she had suffered two weeks earlier. Complications had set in and diabetes

became a problem. She would be going to Providence Nursing Center in Beaver Falls. There she would receive physical therapy and soon return home. It used to be Providence Hospital. I was born there. On visiting my mom the next day, I was inundated with feelings I could not put into words. Just feelings, senses, more wonder than anything else. The turn into the parking lot, the half-moon drive curving in and back out back out onto Third Avenue evoked a feeling of déjà vu. I looked at the old Providence Hospital sign carved into the stone above the entrance. The place felt so familiar. The wide steps lead into the main entrance, the foyer. Hauntingly, it was the unevenness of the floor that I remembered. I went directly to her room and visited for a while.

            I mentioned I had not been here since the day I was born. Mom said, “I don’t suppose I’ve been here since then either, “Maybe because I was her last child, or maybe like me, she had forgotten her history with the building. On leaving the day, I tried to figure out what it was that haunted me about this place. Nothing really came to me until I reached the entrance: before going out, I noticed the way the hallway curved to the right. It sloped downward about three hundred feet to a door with an exit sign above it. As a young man in junior high school, Id volunteered as a Candy Striper. That is what they called the volunteers. It was a Catholic Hospital run by nuns.

            I remember caring for patients, helping any way I could. I would escort patients around to different places. I was pleased with this memory probably because I had almost forgotten. I thought, that must be it. That’s why I have these strange feelings. The Emergency Room was at the end of that hall to the right. The lab too, I remembered. I was trained to wheel the patients out into the hall, turn around and go down the grade backwards. I must not have understand the importance of that instruction because I did not listen. I took my first patient out and turned down the hall with the patient in front of me. It was then that I realized the merit of going backwards. The rubber grip handles on the wheelchair slipped off and the chair took off on its own, patient and all. I caught up quickly and regained control, but it was a scary moment. We had a good laugh, and I did not make that mistake again.

            I thought of these things as I walked outside. I was drawn to the far left of the building. I walked around and was struck again by more feelings, more curiosity. This was the old emergency entrance. This felt very familiar, but why?

            It came to me as I showered that evening. It came to me and was shockingly visual. My Dad died there! I had forgotten but now it all came flooding back. It happened in just two days some thirty-four years earlier in nineteen sixty-eight. I was sixteen years old. Dad and I were going to load the H-D9 Caterpillar hi-lift onto the lowboy and move it to a job site in South Beaver. I was to follow him and bring him back as he intended to leave the truck and trailer there and do the actual work at a later time. He was not well; he rubbed his arms and told me they hurt. He did not like to waste time. He always pushed himself. Not that day. He was concerned I could tell. Being sixteen and because it was early in the morning, I did not realize how bad the situation was. He said, “lets go”, those words were all it took for me to get moving. He did not like to repeat himself. After loading the machine, we began our trek. He drove the tractor and trailer; I followed closely in his maroon colored nineteen sixty two-ford fairlane. I was to follow closely so that any police would not notice that the license plates on the back of the trailer were not legal. We made it about half way to our destination when he pulled over. The day before he had put a new emergency brake cable on the tractor. It was too tight and caught fire. He pulled the truck off the road in front of Whimpy’s Bar and into the parking lot, It had rained the night before and the potholes were filled with water. My dad jumped out of the truck and, with a rag in hand, used the puddles to wet the rag and vigorously beat the fire out under the truck. It all happened so fast that I was unable to help. The fire out, we finished moving the machine and I drove him back home. All the time I could tell that he was not himself.

            Back at the house, he waited a while and then called my Mother who had opened her beauty parlor in downtown Beaver Falls, the “Klip & Kurl”.

            My mom immediately called an ambulance and came home. She got there just in time to see him being loaded into the ambulance. She climbed in with him. I followed them to the hospital, parked and walked inside the emergency entrance. They had my Dad on a gurney. Someone was taking everything out of his pockets. They handed some to Mom, and handed me the ten-dollar watch and watch fob he had purchased at the 5&10. He would often tell people about his ten-dollar watch and how it kept better time than any of the expensive watches he had ever bought. I put it in my pocket. They said they would take him and we should wait.

            I did not get to see him until that evening and ether he was in an oxygen tent that covered his head completely. There were no smoking signs everywhere. He spoke to me, but I do not remember his words. I was sixteen and had never seen anyone in an oxygen tent before. I felt the seriousness of it. Dad looked scared, I had never seen fear on his face before. He looked helpless too, and I had never seen him not in total control. He looked at me as if to say, I love you. Though I had never heard those words from his mouth, I had often seen them in his eyes. All those feelings were with me, but I still thought him to be invincible, and I was certain he would be okay. The next morning I awakened to the sound of crying and my brother Stanley saying Dad had died. He died at eight am. I turned in my bed to my nightstand. There was Dad’s good ten-dollar watch that had never let him down and always worked better than any good watch he had bought. I took it into my hand and began to cry.  Dad’s watch had stopped exactly at eight am.

            It never ran again.

Written for WXED 107.3 FM

“A Christian Nation”

A 2016 - 4^th of July Special

by Jerry Corbin

[Want to know how knowing your history, can make you millions of dollars?]

            A man at a flea market bought an old picture for $4.00. On closer examination he found an old copy of the Declaration of Independence, tucked neatly between the canvas and the frame.

There were only 200 copies of the Declaration of Independence made at the first printing. The one he found was one of only 25 copies known to still exist.

He was able to sell that copy at auction for over 8 million dollars.

Now that man knew his history, and he sure knew a bargain.

Hi Folks, this is your host, Jerry Corbin, with WXED 107.3 FM.

Soon we will be celebrating the 4^th of July. The Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution. We’ll remember the founding fathers. The kind of men they were, and the  vision they had for America. Where they Christians? Did they base our countries laws on the principals of Christianity? It has been 240 years since the founders gave us our liberty and forever changed the world.

Some, after all these years would tell us, that they were deists and agnostics.

Lets go back in time now and examine the facts. Because the truth is a little more illusive, but well worth the hunt.

Was America founded on Christian Principals?

            Well, we know that America was founded on three documents:

The Declaration of Independence.

The Paris Peace Treaty of 1783,

and the Constitution.

The declaration was foundation, on which the Constitution was built.

These documents give conclusive proof that America is a Christian nation. You do not need a law degree or a degree in history to understand this truth. It is obvious to anyone, who does not have an agenda. Let’s review the documents and show the proof.


            The Declaration of Independence:

The Declaration has many references to God throughout the document. The most famous one, and I quote, ‘that men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights’.

“We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”

            Here are more references to God found in that document:

Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God”

Appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World”

With a firm Reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence” Look up those two words, ‘Divine’ and ‘Providence’. You will find, ‘Heavenly Wisdom’

The Declaration of Independence does not identify the God whom they are addressing. This could be left open to interpretation and opinion.


            The Constitution: Click to read

Now the body of the Constitution makes no reference to God, BUT the Constitution honors the Christian Sabbath. It reads, the President was given 10 days to sign a bill into law. But the counting of the 10 days does not include the Sabbath. This is found in Article 1, Section 7, and Clause 2, which in part says:

“If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same, shall be Law,”

            Now a lot of people can’t understand this line but it’s pretty simple. The President has ten days to sign a bill. That is ten business days. They are called business days because the Sabbath is not a business day, it is a day of worship. And whom do we worship? Well, up until around fifty years ago, it was God. Since that time, all manner of things have been suggested for us to worship. Most Americans have regurgitated those ideas.  

For many-many years we had what was knows as blue laws in the United States. Those were laws stating that no work or business would be conducted on Sundays unless they were important. Those laws came to us from the Constitution. A Constitution that honors the Christian Sabbath. Only Christian Founders could give you Christian laws. Blue Laws were taken away from us by men who knew better. Or at least they thought they did. There will always be PhD’s out there over thinking that which is simple and logical.

When the Constitution was completed on September 17, 1787, it was signed by the delegates then to be ratified by the states. The delegates signed the Constitution in the “Year of our Lord.” This is a direct reference to Christianity. This is found in Article 7, which in part follows:

“Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present, the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord One-Thousand Seven -Hundred and Eighty-Seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the Twelfth In witness where-of We have here-un-to subscribed our Names, George WASHINGTON–President.”

            Now, read anything about George Washington and you will come away knowing that he was extremely carful to avoid any improprieties. And there is no way he would have signed a document that stated in the “Year of our Lord”, if he did not believe in Christianity.

            Remember too, there were 56 independent minded, intelligent men pouring over the Constitution before signing it. They looked for any problem they could find, and they found none in THE YEAR OF OUR LORD.

The Paris Peace Treaty of 1783: Click to read

The Paris Peace Treaty was the document, which formally ended the Revolution and granted the United States independence from Great Britain. In a real sense, the United States formally became a nation on September 3, 1783 when it was signed.

When the United States became a nation, it was done in the “name of the most holy and undivided Trinity.” The preamble to this Treaty states, it is based upon the “Holy and undivided Trinity.” The concept of the holy Trinity is unique to Christianity. This statement means the United States was founded on the Christian faith. The complete Preamble follows:

“In the name of the most holy and undivided Trinity”

The Treaty then ends just like the Constitution, stating once again, signed in the “Year of our Lord.” The witnesses representing the United States were John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay and D. Hartley. The section in part follows:

“In witness whereof we the undersigned, signed with our hands, the present definitive treaty and caused the seals of our arms to be affixed there to. Done at Paris, this third day of September in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three”

D. HARTLEY

JOHN ADAMS

B. FRANKLIN

JOHN JAY

When this concept is applied to the Declaration of Independence, it is clear the reference to “All men are created equal,” was about the holy Trinity. The people of the United States are endowed by their Creator, the holy Trinity, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

The God of the Bible is whom the United States is based upon. The unalienable rights of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness come from the Judeo/Christian God and no one else. He is the Rock of our Republic. Christianity, The Declaration and the Constitution are the three pillars, the foundation of our great nation. Without which, it cannot stand.

And why do they call it, Judio Christian America

The first session of the very first Congress met  Sept. 6^th  1774. The records tell us that it opened with prayer. And not a little prayer, it lasted 3 hours. They not only had a prayer session but also a bible study in which 4 chapters of bible were covered. That was the very first session of congress. What’s this about separation of church and state? These were our founders, and these men were Christian.

One of the prayers that day moved John Adams so much that he wrote his wife Abigail and said.

“I must beg you to read that Psalm… Read the thirty-fifth Psalm to your friends. Read it to your Father.”

He wanted everyone to know what the Untied States Congress studied that day. That Psalm moved all of the members that day.  God so moved them, that it gave them faith. Faith, that they could defeat the British. 

Adams said to Abigail, “We [Congress], have appointed a continental fast. We have 3 million people in America and we are calling them all to fast and pray for America.  He said

“Millions will be upon their knees at once before their great creator, imploring his forgiveness and blessings; His smiles on American councils and arms.” John Adams. 

Not only did they have prayer and bible study but they called for a day of national prayer, and were all moved by a specific Psalm

            After having many of their prayers answered Congress decided to have a day of prayer and thanksgiving, to thank God for all their successes. 16 times throughout the American Revolution, they called the ENTIRE NATION to a continental fast and prayer. There was no separation of Church and State.

They had seen God’s works weigh in, in such miraculous ways. It was clear to all of them that God’s hand was at work.

George Washington 1776 said “The hand of providence has been so conspicuous in all this that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked, that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations.”

British law at the time, prohibited the Colonies from printing bibles in English. But at the first opportunity, one month after the battle of Yorktown, Congress authorized the printing of 20,000 bibles to be printed in the English language. According to our founders, they wanted bibles, for the use of our schools. The first public school law was for the bible to be used for study. Separation of church and what?  

Congress printed the first English bible. They called it, “a neat addition of the holy scriptures for the use of our schools.” The bible Congress printed had an endorsement in it that read.

“That the United States in Congress Assembled, recommend this edition of the Bible to the inhabitants of the United States.”

It was not a secular revolution. John Adams said it as clearly as it can be said. And I quote, “The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the …. General principles of   Christianity.” John Adams

200 years later there are those who claim John Adams didn’t know what he was talking about. Should we believe them, rather than the men who were there? Why, because they went to Harvard and have a PhD? I don’t think so!

Atheists don’t normally have seminary degrees.

What about the Lives of the signers of the declaration

Most people can only point to and remember three signers of the Declaration of Independence. Thomason Jefferson, Ben Franklin, and John Adams. These are probably the least religious of all the signers. And the ones accused of being deists most often. But there were 56 signers, not three.

29 signers had seminary degrees.

Almost all were protestant.

One was a Roman Catholic.

John Witherspoon was a gospel evangelist. He was responsible for writing the very first family bible.

Charles Thompson was a theologian. He wrote Thomson’s bible.

Dr. Benjamin Rush, was the leader of the civil rights movement. He also started the Sunday school movement in America.

Francis Hopkins, designed American flag. He was also a music director and wrote first American hymnbook.

 Sam Adams stated “ I rely upon the merits of Jesus Christ for a pardon of all my sins.” Sounds like a Christian to me.

Roger Sherman, was the framer of the bill or rights. He was a theologian.

John Adams, said, “the Holy Ghost carries on the whole Christian system in his truth. Not a baptism, not a marriage, not a sacrament can be administered but by the Holy Ghost.” John Adams.

Charles Carrol, Framer of the Bill of Rights. He said “I am grateful to Almighty God for the Blessings which through Jesus Christ our Lord, He has conferred on my beloved country.” That is not the talk of a deist.

Some will say we are not a Christian Nation. But history says we were. The founders say we were. They were proud of the fact that we were.

They tell us a Christian Nation would have to be exclusive only to Christians, but that’s not true. We had Jews in America in 1654.  We had Muslims in 1619. We had Buddhist temples.

We believe as Christians that if you share the truth, the truth will win out. We are not scared of other religions. In a true Christian nation everyone is welcome.

Its revisionism, and that is how it works. They make claims, but they don’t document them. When you know your history, you can’t be fooled.

George Washington’s farewell address. And I quote, “Of all the habits and dispositions which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.”

If you want your politics and government to work well, don’t separate religion and morality from political life. Anyone who tries to separate religion and morality from public life, I do not call a patriot. Because they are trying to destroy this country.” It was true then, and it is true now.

It’s the 4^th of July folks.  I know, and it’s nice to celebrate, but like the Rev. Mathias Burnet of Con. said. We have responsibilities too.

“To God and posterity, too preserve it. You are accountable for your rights and your rulers.” We are accountable. Your accountable, I’m accountable! We have a responsibility for the government, and we have a responsibility to our grandchildren. 

As long as we remain a Christian Nation, others will always be welcome. You have religious freedom. Religious tolerance. Many secular nations don’t have that.

George Washington said in his farewell address,

“Of all the habits and dispositions which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.” And, he said.

“In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars.”

Yes we will celebrate, but we also have a responsibility to preserve the foundations, and those are religion and morality.

27 reasons listed as to why the colonies separated from Great Britian. The only one we remember is taxation without representation.

It’s the same with our Christian founding, it’s been hidden.

40 years after the American Revolution, John Adams said looking back. The men he credited with doing the most for the revolution, were the Rev. Dr. Mayhew, Rev. Samuel Cooper, Rev. George Whitefield and Rev. Charles Chauncy. Names you may not hear much about, but all founders.  

Historians have documented that every right set forth in the Declaration of Independence had been preached from the American pulpits prior to 1763. That means that the Declaration was nothing more than a list of sermons -  they had been listening to in their churches for last couple decades leading up to the American Revolution.

Where the Founding Fathers a bunch of deists? Did the men who gave us unalienable rights, anti Christian. Was there ever anything called ‘Separation of Church and State?’ You know now that the answer to each, is NO!

And you know that, because now you know the history you never knew.

Thank you for listening! This has been your host, Jerry Corbin.

For myself, and all of us here at WXED, thanks for inviting us into your home.

God bless you all, and have a day full of memories.

Written and produced by Jerry D. Corbin with portions taken from David Barton and Wallbuilders.com

All rights reserved

General John A. Logan’s

“General Order No. 11”

Headquarters, Grand Army of the Republic

Washington, D.C., May 5, 1868

By Jerry D. Corbin

General John A. Logan

A Brief Biography of John A. Logan

John A. Logan, the man after whom John A. Logan College is named, was born February 9, 1826 in Murphysboro, Illinois. He loved politics from an early age. His father sent him to Shiloh Academe at Shiloh Hill, Illinois in 1840, where he excelled in oratory.

Logan volunteered for the Mexican War in 1846. He served as quartermaster in Santa Fe, where he learned Spanish.

Afterwards he attended law school at Louisville University; Married Mary S. Cunningham and moved to Benton Ill..

He began his political career running for county clerk and eventually U.S. Congressman in Southern Illinois. The area is popularly known as Egypt. And he was “Egypt’s Spokesman.”

            At the beginning of the Civil War, Logan was Pro-Southern but soon changed his mind saying, “The Union must prevail!”

As a civilian, he fought at Bull Run. After Bull Run, he returned home. There he gave a speech at Marion that ended Egypt's talk of secession. And effectively put Southern Illinois on the Union side during the Civil War.

Logan volunteered for the Union Army. He rose from colonel to major general. He fought in eight major campaigns, and distinguished himself at Vicksburg. He commanded the entire Union forces at the Battle of Atlanta.

At the war's end, he saved Raleigh, North Carolina from being burned by angry Union troops. Many historians think him the foremost volunteer general of the Civil War.

After the war, Logan returned to Congress.

In 1871 and again in 1874, Logan was elected to the U.S. Senate.

In 1884, he was James G. Blaine’s' vice-presidential running mate.

John A. Logan died December 26, 1886 in Washington D.C. Here he lies buried at Soldier Cemetery.

Now that you know a little bit about this amazing soldier - statesman.

I want to tell you what he is really famous for. And that is

General Order No. 11

What he is best known for is his creation of a special holiday that most every man women and child in America, observes and celebrates. It is marked with back yard picnics, BBQ’s, and relaxing with friends and family. Children mark it on their calendars so they’ll know when the public swimming pools open. It is also viewed as the official beginning of summer. 

General Order No. 11 created, “Memorial Day.”

It was referred to as, General John A. Logan's Memorial Day Order, and began like this.

General Order No. 11

Headquarters, Grand Army of the Republic

Washington, D.C., May 5, 1868

The celebration originally commemorated the sacrifices of the Civil War. Following the proclamation, participants decorated graves of more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers.

            After World War 1, it became a day to honor those who died in all of America’s wars, as well as those who are Veterans and current members of the US military.

            In 1971, the last Monday of May, or Memorial Day, was declared a national holiday by President, Richard Nixon.

But it was President Ronald Reagan who is credited with reviving the practice of honoring Memorial Day and it’s meaning.

On Memorial Day, 1986, he spoke at Arlington National Cemetery.

“Today is the day we put aside to remember fallen heroes and to pray that no heroes will ever have to die for us again. It's a day of thanks for the valor of others, a day to remember the splendor of America and those of her children who rest in this cemetery and others. It's a day to be with the family and remember.

“I was thinking this morning that across the country children and their parents will be going to the town parade and the young ones will sit on the sidewalks and wave their flags as the band goes by. Later, maybe, they'll have a cookout or a day at the beach. And that's good, because today is a day to be with the family and to remember.

“Arlington, this place of so many memories, is a fitting place for some remembering. So many wonderful men and women rest here, men and women who led colorful, vivid, and passionate lives. There are the greats of the military: Bull Halsey and the Admirals Leahy, father and son; Black Jack Pershing; and the GI's general, Omar Bradley. Great men all, military men. But there are others here known for other things.

“Here in Arlington rests a sharecropper's son who became a hero to a lonely people. Joe Louis came from nowhere, but he knew how to fight. And he galvanized a nation in the days after Pearl Harbor when he put on the uniform of his country and said, 'I know we'll win because we're on God's side.' Audie Murphy is here, Audie Murphy of the wild, wild courage. For what else would you call it when a man bounds to the top of a disabled tank, stops an enemy advance, saves lives, and rallies his men, and all of it single-handedly. When he radioed for artillery support and was asked how close the enemy was to his position, he said, 'Wait a minute and I'll let you speak to them.' [Laughter]

“Michael Smith is here, and Dick Scobee, both of the space shuttle Challenger. Their courage wasn't wild, but thoughtful, the mature and measured courage of career professionals who took prudent risks for great reward—in their case, to advance the sum total of knowledge in the world. They're only the latest to rest here; they join other great explorers with names like Grissom and Chaffee.

“Oliver Wendell Holmes is here, the great jurist and fighter for the right. A poet searching for an image of true majesty could not rest until he seized on 'Holmes dissenting in a sordid age.' Young Holmes served in the Civil War. He might have been thinking of the crosses and stars of Arlington when he wrote: 'At the grave of a hero we end, not with sorrow at the inevitable loss, but with the contagion of his courage; and with a kind of desperate joy we go back to the fight.'

“All of these men were different, but they shared this in common: They loved America very much. There was nothing they wouldn't do for her. And they loved with the sureness of the young. It's hard not to think of the young in a place like this, for it's the young who do the fighting and dying when a peace fails and a war begins. Not far from here is the statue of the three servicemen—the three fighting boys of Vietnam. It, too, has majesty and more. Perhaps you've seen it—three rough boys walking together, looking ahead with a steady gaze. There's something wounded about them, a kind of resigned toughness. But there's an unexpected tenderness, too. At first you don't really notice, but then you see it. The three are touching each other, as if they're supporting each other, helping each other on.

“I know that many veterans of Vietnam will gather today, some of them perhaps by the wall. And they're still helping each other on. They were quite a group, the boys of Vietnam—boys who fought a terrible and vicious war without enough support from home, boys who were dodging bullets while we debated the efficacy of the battle. It was often our poor who fought in that war; it was the unpampered boys of the working class who picked up the rifles and went on the march. They learned not to rely on us; they learned to rely on each other. And they were special in another way: They chose to be faithful. They chose to reject the fashionable skepticism of their time. They chose to believe and answer the call of duty. They had the wild, wild courage of youth. They seized certainty from the heart of an ambivalent age; they stood for something.

“And we owe them something, those boys. We owe them first a promise: That just as they did not forget their missing comrades, neither, ever, will we. And there are other promises. We must always remember that peace is a fragile thing that needs constant vigilance. We owe them a promise to look at the world with a steady gaze and, perhaps, a resigned toughness, knowing that we have adversaries in the world and challenges and the only way to meet them and maintain the peace is by staying strong.

“That, of course, is the lesson of this century, a lesson learned in the Sudetenland, in Poland, in Hungary, in Czechoslovakia, in Cambodia. If we really care about peace, we must stay strong. If we really care about peace, we must, through our strength, demonstrate our unwillingness to accept an ending of the peace. We must be strong enough to create peace where it does not exist and strong enough to protect it where it does. That's the lesson of this century and, I think, of this day. And that's all I wanted to say. The rest of my contribution is to leave this great place to its peace, a peace it has earned.

“Thank all of you, and God bless you, and have a day full of memories.”

Memorial Day Meaning – Is A Day of Honor

Here are some ideas on how to celebrate this important American holiday:

•    Send a note of thanks to a Veteran you know.

•    If you know someone who has lost a loved one in battle, offer to help with a project or help them with a special need.

•    Visit a local cemetery and place flags or flowers on the graves of fallen soldiers.

•    Fly the American flag at half-staff until noon.

•    Participate in the National Moment of Remembrance at 3:00 pm. Pause and think upon the meaning of Memorial Day.

. Pray for God’s blessing on America. Ask for God’s protection over all branches of our military.

Written and produced by Jerry Corbin for his listening audience.   

From all of us here at WXED, I want to say, thank you, for inviting us into your home.

And on this very special day, I want to say, THANK YOU! to our veterans.

“God bless you all, and have a day full of memories.”