The Day God Saved America
The Day God Saved America
By Jack Kinsella
On August 19, 1814 British warships sailed into Chesapeake Bay and up the Patuxent River headed toward Washington. The British mission was to capture Washington DC and take revenge for the burning of the British capital of Upper Canada at Newark, (now Niagara-on-the-Lake.)
Forty-five hundred British soldiers landed at Benedict, Maryland and headed towards Washington, where a force of 7,000 colonial troops waited nervously. The two armies met on August 24 along the banks of the Potomac during 100 degree heat.
The British Army quickly routed the less disciplined American volunteers, mostly due to a series of American blunders and a new British rocket that did little damage, but unnerved the raw American troops with a very loud, shrill noise.
President Madison and Secretary of State Monroe, who had led a group of officials to watch the battle, were almost captured in the confusion. After the battle, the British Army marched quickly into Washington while American soldiers, United States government officials, and residents fled the city.
The only reason the war didn’t end right then and there in favor of the British was because there were no officials left in Washington from whom the British could seek terms of surrender. The British admiral ate dinner in the White House and then gave the order to set fire to Washington.
George Gleig was part of the British force that invaded Washington in the summer of 1814 and later penned this eyewitness account:
“In this general devastation were included the Senate House, the President’s palace, an extensive dockyard and arsenal, barracks for two or three thousand men, several large storehouses filled with naval and military stores, some hundreds of cannon of different descriptions, and nearly twenty thousand stand of small arms. There were also two or three public rope works which shared the same fate, a fine frigate pierced for sixty guns and just ready to be launched, several gun brigs and armed schooners, with a variety of gunboats and small craft. The powder magazines were, of course, set on fire, and exploded with a tremendous crash, throwing down many houses in their vicinity, partly by pieces of the wall striking them, and partly by the concussion of the air whilst quantities of shot, shell, and hand grenades, which could not otherwise be rendered useless, were thrown into the river…”
“…When the detachment sent out to destroy Mr. Madison’s house entered his dining parlor, they found a dinner table spread and covers laid for forty guests. Several kinds of wine, in handsome cut glass decanters, were cooling on the sideboard; plate holders stood by the fireplace, filled with dishes and plates; knives, forks, and spoons were arranged for immediate use; in short, everything was ready for the entertainment of a ceremonious party. Such were the arrangements in the dining room, whilst in the kitchen were others answerable to them in every respect…”
“…having satisfied their appetites with fewer complaints than would have probably escaped their rival gourmands, and partaken pretty freely of the wines, they finished by setting fire to the house which had so liberally entertained them.”
Within hours, the White House, the Capitol, and many other public buildings and residences were burning. On the morning of August 25, Washington was still burning.
Throughout the morning and early afternoon, the British soldiers continued to set fires and destroy ammunition supplies and defenses around the city.
As the soldiers spread fire and destruction throughout the city, the early afternoon sky began to darken and lightning and thunder signaled the approach of a thunderstorm. As the storm entered the city, a funnel dropped out of the clouds and right into the center of the British occupation.
Buildings were lifted off of their foundations and dashed to bits. Other buildings were blown down or lost their roofs. Feather beds were sucked out of homes and scattered about.
Trees were uprooted, fences were blown down, and the heavy chain bridge across the Potomac River was buckled and rendered useless.
A few British cannons were picked up by the winds and thrown through the air. The collapsing buildings and flying debris killed several British soldiers.
Many of the soldiers did not have time to take cover from the winds and they laid face down in the streets. One account describes how a British officer on horseback did not dismount and the winds slammed both horse and rider violently to the ground.
It was followed by a soaking rain that lasted more than two hours. The heavy rains quenched most of the fires in the city, preventing the British from burning the city completely to the ground.
As the British were preparing to leave the city, the following conversation was noted between one of Washington’s fine ladies and a British admiral:
“Great God, Madam! Is this the kind of storm to which you are accustomed in this infernal country?” The lady answered, “No, Sir, this is a special interposition of Providence to drive our enemies from our city.”
Whether the admiral believed that Providence was against him or not, the British were soon forced into a difficult withdrawal. Many of the roads out of town were blocked by fallen trees and other debris.
Many of the waiting British warships were damaged; two had broken free of their moorings and run aground.
The tornado saved the city of Washington from certain and deliberate destruction. It prevented the fall of the American capital. The British were forced to withdraw by the storm, not by an American counter-attack.
President Madison and his Cabinet returned to Washington several days later to begin the city’s reconstruction. Never again would Washington be occupied by foreign troops and to this day, tornados are an extreme rarity in Washington DC.
Since 1814, only seven tornadoes have hit the DC metro area, the most recent being in 1995. Damage in that storm was limited to a few uprooted trees.
Assessment
That Washington DC was saved by an act of Divine intervention is questioned only by contemporary historians – nobody alive at the time had any doubts.
It astonishes me that there is anybody alive today that has doubts, but even more astonishing is the number of Americans who have been convinced by secular writers that the Founding Fathers were not Christians, but Deists.
Deism is defined by Mirriam-Webster as:
“a movement or system of thought advocating natural religion, emphasizing morality, and in the 18th century, denying the interference of the Creator with the laws of the Universe.”
Of the fifty-six men that signed the Declaration of Independence, twenty-four were ordained Christian ministers or held seminary degrees.
George Washington is cited as an example of a Deist, based on selected comments taken out of context and repeated over and over. If Washington was a Deist, then he was also a liar:
“While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian.” – The Writings of Washington, pp. 342-343.
John Adams was both a signer of the Declaration of Independence and America’s second President. His Christian worldview was expressed as follows:
“Suppose a nation in some distant Region should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God … What a Eutopia, what a Paradise would this region be.” – John Adams
Of all the supposed Deists among the Founders, the two most often cited are Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson didn’t think he was a Deist. Jefferson thought he was a Christian. Or else Thomas Jefferson was also a liar.
“I am a real Christian – that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus Christ.” –The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, p. 385.
James Madison, whose administration witnessed the firing of the Capitol and its subsequent salvation, had this to say:
“Cursed be all that learning that is contrary to the cross of Christ.” – America’s Providential History, p. 93.
Finally, we have Patrick Henry, ratifier of the Constitution whose stirring words, “Give me liberty or give me death” still reverberate across the ages. Patrick Henry is often accused of Deism, if not outright atheism.
“It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.”
“The Bible…is a book worth more than all the other books that were ever printed.”
Every year the attacks on the Christian nature of America’s founding grow louder and more boisterous, but somebody is lying. It is either those that deny the Christianity of the Founders or it is the Founders themselves.
Personally, I think the truth here is self-evident. That is why America is called the “Great Satan” and Israel only the “Little Satan.”
The Enemy has no idea when the Rapture will happen or when the end will come, anymore than we do.
But he knows numbers and he knows from the Bible that there are a finite number of believers that will come to Christ before the Rapture takes place. After that, Scripture says, he knows he has but a short time.
His goal is to forestall that full company of believers from being completed and thereby end his dominion over the earth.
Eventually, he knows, as we do, that the Lord will return for His Church and from there, his days are numbered.
The only thing he can do to stall his fate is to separate America as much as possible from its Christian roots and convince America that Christianity is a myth. It is a losing tactic, but it is the only one left to him.
“For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know Whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.
“That day” is fast approaching. You can tell by how desperate he is getting…“America wasn’t founded as a Christian nation” — are you kidding?
Desperate times call for desperate lies.
This Letter was written by Jack Kinsella on July 4, 2012.