John R. Houk
© January 1, 2018
Most of Christendom celebrates Christmas on December 25
according to the Gregorian calendar. Using Wikipedia as a stat source,
there are about 2.42 billion Christians globally.
Of those nearly 2.5 billion Christians, roughly 225–300 million are Eastern Orthodox
Christians. This makes the Eastern Orthodox Church the second
largest communion of Christians behind the number one Roman Catholic Church.
I mention this Orthodox Christians do not celebrate
Christmas according to the Gregorian calendar (named for Pope Gregory XIII), but rather according the Julian calendar (named for Julius Caesar). The Julian
calendar celebrates Christmas on December 25, but when compared to the
Gregorian calendar, that date falls on about January 7. Ergo, if you are an Eastern Orthodox Christian you have six
days until Christmas January 7, 2018.
How are you liking a bit of calendar history this New Years
Day 2018? I am a bit of an amateur historian and wanted to set up a Christmas
story about General George Patton of WWII fame.
In the 1970 movie about Patton I found quite amusing
pertaining to ordering the 3rd Army Chaplain to pray for fair
weather to kill Nazi Germans and rescue the army boys of Bastogne surrounded by
the Nazi army who demanded an American surrender. (The commander – General
McAulliffe - of the American troops famously replied, “NUTS!”)
VIDEO: The Good
Weather Prayer WW2
In the movie General Patton was so excited about answered
prayer penned by Chaplain O’Neill, he wanted to pin a medal on him. Patton’s adjutant, Colonel Harkins, later reminisced
about Patton’s jubilation that he recalls this memory:
…
General Patton again called me
to his office. He wore a smile from ear to ear. He said, “God damn! Look at the
weather. That O’Neill sure did some potent praying. Get him up here. I want to
pin a medal on him.”
The Chaplain came up the next
day. The weather was still clear when we walked into General Patton’s office.
The General rose, came from behind his desk with hand out-stretched and said,
“Chaplain, you’re the most popular man in this Headquarters. You sure stand in
good with the Lord and the soldiers.” The General then pinned a Bronze Star
Medal on Chaplain O’Neill.
…
(When
Patton Enlisted the Entire Third Army to Pray for Fair Weather;
Quote from book “Patton: Blood, Guts, and Prayer” by Michael Keane; HistoryOnTheNet.com; ©
2012)
The point of informing Believers of the Risen Savior that a huge
chunk of Christians has yet to observe Christmas is this. This Christmas story
about General Patton needing prayer to win a battle against evil-wicked Nazis
with racial-supremacist motives to conquer the Western world shows God Almighty
favors those more in line with His Will than those outside of His Will. KEEP IN
MIND Hitler had the genocidal aim to cleanse the Earth all of the Jewish faith.
(Pay attention Muslim Jew-haters and White Supremacist Jew-haters.)
Below is the article I discovered via a Tea Party USA email
pointing the way to Joe For America (of Joe the Plumber fame).
********************
‘Christmas Card’ Gen. Patton Gave US Troops May Be
Manliest Ever Created
By NANCY HAYES
DECEMBER 27, 2017
It’s amazing when you look
back in time over Christmas and our soldiers, what a vital role prayer has
played. Especially in 1944, when General Patton needed prayer for fair weather
he expressed it in his Christmas card that was circulated among the troops to
over 486 chaplains and the entire Third Army.
Patton looms large over
American political history, especially after George C. Scott’s masterful screen
performance as the World War II general.
Few scenes in American
cinematic history are as iconic as Scott, in character, pacing before the
American flag and delivering a speech to his men.
And yet, for all of
Hollywood’s hero-making, the real man was even more of a legend — and this
Christmas card of prayer proves just that.
During the holiday season of
1944, Patton’s Third Army was bogged down in its advance against the
Germans.
According to WND, Patton
was delayed as he was trying to reach Bastogne, a town in southern Belgium held
by 15,000 American troops but encircled by over 50,000 Nazi soldiers bearing down
on it.
Unfortunately, due to the
weather, Gen. Patton didn’t have the air cover he needed to relieve the 15,000
brave American troops holding off the Germans.
That’s when he decided to
rely on the power of prayer.
From History on the Net,
In early December 1944, the
headquarters of the Third Army was in the Caserne Molifor, an old French
military barracks in Nancy in the region of Lorraine, a ninety-minute train
ride from Paris. At eleven o’clock on the morning of December 8, Patton telephoned
the head chaplain, Monsignor James H. O’Neill: “This is General Patton; do you
have a good prayer for weather? We must do something about those rains if we
are to win the war.”
One account of what happened
after Patton’s telephone call to O’Neill is related by Colonel Paul Harkins,
Patton’s deputy chief of staff. It appears as a footnote in War As I Knew It, a
book based on Patton’s diaries and published in 1947, after his death.
On
or about the fourteenth of December, 1944, General Patton called Chaplain
O’Neill, Third Army Chaplain, and myself into his office in Third Headquarters
at Nancy. The conversation went something like this:
General
Patton: “Chaplain, I want you to publish a prayer for good weather. I’m tired
of these soldiers having to fight mud and floods as well as Germans. See if we
can’t get God to work on our side.”
Chaplain
O’Neill: “Sir, it’s going to take a pretty thick rug for that kind of praying.”
General
Patton: “I don’t care if it takes a flying carpet. I want the praying done.”
Chaplain
O’Neill: “Yes, sir. May I say, General, that it usually isn’t a customary thing
among men of my profession to pray for clear weather to kill fellow men.”
General
Patton: “Chaplain, are you trying to teach me theology or are you the Chaplain
of the Third Army? I want a prayer.”
Chaplain
O’Neill: “Yes, sir.”
Outside,
the Chaplain said, “Whew, that’s a tough one! What do you think he wants?” It
was perfectly clear to me. The General wanted a prayer—he wanted one right now—
and he wanted it published to the Command.
The
Army Engineer was called in, and we finally decided that our field
topographical company could print the prayer on a small-sized card, making
enough copies for distribution to the army. It being near Christmas, we also
asked General Patton to include a Christmas greeting to the troops on the same
card with the prayer. The General agreed, wrote a short greeting, and the card
was made up, published, and distributed to the troops on the twenty-second of
December.
It was distributed to each
one of the 250,000 troops under his command in the Third Army, and had all
of the men pray this simple prayer:
“Almighty and most merciful
Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate
rains with which we have had to contend,” it read.
“Grant us fair weather for
Battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call Thee that, armed with Thy
power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and
wickedness of our enemies, and establish Thy justice among men and nations.
Amen.”
On the reverse side, Patton
wrote, “To each officer and soldier in the Third United States Army, I
wish a Merry Christmas. I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to
duty, and skill in battle. We march in our might to complete victory. May God’s
blessings rest upon each of you on this Christmas Day. — G.S. Patton, Jr.,
Lieutenant General, Commanding, Third United States Army.”
And it worked.
The next day, the weather
cleared, Patton’s Third Army made its way into Bastogne to relieve the
101st Airborne, stymie the Nazis, and … well, you know the
rest.
Talk about a Christmas card
and the power of prayer! Even Patton knew the importance of prayer in war
during Christmas.
For all those who serve our
country and are away from your families – God Bless You! and THANK YOU for
serving our country!
Resource: Western
Journalism, History on the Net
___________________
Miracles Happen During Christmas
John R. Houk
© January 1, 2018
_________________
‘Christmas Card’ Gen. Patton Gave US Troops May Be Manliest Ever
Created
About Joe For America
I was born in Toledo in 1973, and graduated from Springfield High
School – right around the corner from where I live today.
Like many young men graduating from high school, I enlisted in the
Air Force looking for adventure, career, and a way to serve the country I love.
The Air Force taught me practical skills like plumbing, which is what I did
while stationed on bases in Alaska and North Dakota.
After being honorably discharged from the Air Force, I continued to
work as a plumber for several years. I was also employed by a communications
firm, working my way up from Data Entry Assistant to a Communications Engineer.
In 2008, my life changed when Barack Obama came into my front yard
on a campaign stop. I asked him why he wanted to raise taxes, and he said that
he wanted to “spread the wealth.” Since then … READ THE REST
No comments:
Post a Comment