Latest / Voices Of Life / Did You Know? — September 20: Presidents, Persecution, Hurricanes & History That Still Speaks

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Did You Know? — September 20: Presidents, Persecution, Hurricanes & History That Still Speaks · Voices Of Life

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Welcome to the Did You Know series of the Voices
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of Life podcast, a ministry of the Church for
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Life. A place where faith speaks, where history
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breathes, and where hope finds its voice again.
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Each episode is crafted to inspire, to strengthen,
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and to guide you on your walk with God. And now,
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to lead us through today's journey. Here. is
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your host pastor david welcome to the voices
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of life a ministry of the church for life i'm
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pastor david today we're going to do something
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just a little differently typically we present
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the happenings today on a on a did you know on
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the date that it actually occurred however today
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being september 19th there was not a lot of things
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in history but there were quite a few things
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on september 20th and we have a regular service
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on september 20th so i decided we were going
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to do september 20th today i hope you all don't
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mind so let's go on and begin that so on september
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20th this date carries some of the most fascinating
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intersections of american history christian history
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florida history and moments that shape the world
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we live in. Let's walk through the stories one
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by one and discover what God can teach us through
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the people, the conflicts, and the courage found
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in the events. Did you know that on September
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20, 1850, Congress abolished the slave trade
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in Washington, D .C.? Not slavery itself, just
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buying and selling of enslaved people within
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the district. This was part of the Compromise
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of 1850, a political attempt to hold the nation
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together as tensions rose between free and slave
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states. The key distinctions here were slaves
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already held in Washington, D .C. remained slaves
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until April 16, 1862, when President Lincoln
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signed the dc emancipation act we only talk about
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that they always hear about the emancipation
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proclamation but we never hear about the dc emancipation
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act why because it's embarrassing it was embarrassing
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for him to be president already two years and
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he allowed slavery to go on in the district of
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columbia that's just uh just a little point of
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history there Now our Christian reflection is
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this moment forces us to confront a painful truth.
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Many Christians in America were deeply divided
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over slavery. Some defended it. Others fought
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it with everything they had. It raises a timeless
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question. What do we do when civil law conflicts
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with God's moral law? Always something to think
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about. You know, we have to go back to history.
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think about enslaved people going back to the
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otto empire uh the jews in uh egypt i mean we
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can go on and on with examples of slavery over
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the years slavery was never right but it was
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part of our history can't erase history can't
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change history we just learn from history and
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and it's important that we don't erase history
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you know and i'm going to just say this the taking
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down of statues and different types of memorials
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it makes no sense because future generations
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need to learn from it otherwise guess what happens
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things repeat themselves in history when you
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don't learn from them you know some people say
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well it it hurts well How could it hurt? You
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weren't alive then. You could say, oh, my ancestor.
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Well, you know what? I could say my ancestors,
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too, because Jesus Christ was a Jew, and the
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Jews were enslaved in Egypt. So should I say,
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oh, the Egyptians harmed me, and I feel bad about
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it, and I feel deeply hurt by it? I'm sorry.
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That happened a long time ago. I respect it.
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I understand it. but I'm not going to go ahead
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and relive it. I'm going to move on because that's
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not what's going on today. And today and tomorrow,
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and a better tomorrow, is what counts. Okay,
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so moving on to 1881 and President Chester A.
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Arthur. So on September 19th, 1881, you know,
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1881 until today, President James A. Garfield
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died from an assassination bullet. Just hours
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after, at 2 .15 a .m. on September 20th, Vice
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President Chester A. Arthur took the presidential
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oath in his home in New York City. Imagine that.
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No grand ceremony, no capital steps, just quiet,
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front parlor in the middle of the night, and
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we had a podcast on. Another president having
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something similar to that as well. Two days later,
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Arthur repeated the oath in Washington to remove
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any doubt of legitimacy. Why does President Arthur's
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story matter? Well, Arthur had been seen as a
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political insider, part of the stalwart Republican
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machine. No one expected much from him. Some
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feared he would be a puppet of the party bosses,
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because there was some corruption going on back
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during that time, during President Garfield's
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time. But guess what? Something changed. The
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assassination of Garfield, committed by a disgruntled
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office seeker, shocked the nation, and an Arthur
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now thrust into the leadership, he rose above
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the politics that had shaped him. He championed
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civil service reform. leading to the Pendulum
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Act of 1883, which created a merit -based federal
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hiring system. Now, a Christian character lends
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here as Arthur's presidency asks a powerful question.
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Can a person rise above the environment that
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produced them? Of course it can. You know, when
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you grow up and you see things that you don't
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necessarily agree with, maybe you don't even
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understand. But you can say to yourself, I'm
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not going to do that. I'm going to do things
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better. And why do you do that? Well, because
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God expects more from you. So the point here
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is, can God use that moment of crisis to transform
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a leader's character? Can they use that to point
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you in the right direction? Well, Arthur did
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exactly that. He surprised his critics, he served
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with dignity, and he left behind reforms that
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still shape our government today. If you ever
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feel underestimated, remember Chester A. Arthur.
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Now, around September 20, 1224, St. Francis of
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Assisi and the Stigmata. That was an interesting
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event. So, traditionally dated September 17th,
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but often commemorated around this time, St.
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Francis of Assisi reportedly received the stigmata
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wounds resembling those of Christ while praying
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at Mount Laverna. Francis devoted his life to
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poverty, humility, and service. The stigmata
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became a symbol of his deep identification with
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Christ's suffering. Christian reflection here
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is what does it mean to follow Jesus so closely
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that his wounds becomes your witness. Moving
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on to 1565 here in the state of Florida. The
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fall of Fort Caroline and the Manzanus Massacre.
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Florida's most overlooked Christian history story.
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Now for the strongest Florida story of the day.
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On September 20, 1565, Spanish forces under Pedro
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Menendez de Aviles attacked Fort Caroline, a
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French Huguenot settlement near present -day
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Jacksonville. The French were Protestants, Spain
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was fiercely Catholic, and both nations were
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fighting for control of Florida. A hurricane
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had scattered the French fleet, leaving Fort
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Caroline vulnerable. Menendez seized the moment,
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captured the fort, and killed many of the defenders.
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Soon after, at Madsens River, Spanish soldiers
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executed shipwrecked French survivors. The name
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Madsens literally means slaughters. Why this
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matters for Christian history? Well, this wasn't
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simply France versus Spain. It was an empire
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versus an empire. Catholic versus Protestant.
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Ambition versus survival, and faith mixed with
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politics and power. It raises a sobering question
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what happens when people who claim Christianity
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use their faith to justify violence against one
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another. This story is foundational to Florida's
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earliest Christian history, linking Fort Caroline,
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St. Augustine, and the complex beginnings of
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the European settlements in America. In that
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time period, whether it was British, France,
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Dutch, French, everybody was trying to claim
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land. Everyone was trying to expand. Everyone
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was trying to put more colonies out around the
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world. And that's why you have these various
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colonies all over the place. And a lot, I mean,
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the British Empire was one of the biggest ones.
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So was the Spanish. The two biggest ones. But
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a lot of these things have since been given up.
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The Britons. for the most part gave up most of
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their colonies and allowed self -rule or autonomy
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or a partial autonomy there was there was different
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different levels depending on where you go but
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not all did that spain for example you know after
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world war ii they were supposed to give up all
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their enclaves well they didn't they have three
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or four enclaves on the tip of northern tip of
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africa that they still maintain today there's
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one that's just a little stone fort i mean literally
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maybe a couple acres and yet they post guards
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there or soldiers year round and there's nothing
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to do because otherwise you're right there in
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morocco so um and there's a couple other places
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like that so they didn't give theirs up for whatever
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reason Most of the other empires did. And that's
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where we have the modern day worlds that we live
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in. Moving on to 1973. Billie Jean King wins
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the Battle of the Sexes. On September 20, 1973,
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Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs in straight
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sets at Houston Astrodome. This was not just
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a tennis match, it became a cultural symbol and
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a national conversion of women's equality, athletics
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and opportunity. King's victory remains one of
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the most iconic sports moments in the 20th century.
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Let's be clear about this. This was a decisive
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thing that they decided to do together. This
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has nothing to do with what's going on today
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with transgender men trying to be in women's
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sport or transgender women trying to be in men's
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sport. That's not what this was about. This was
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an agreed to. This was matched the way they wanted
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to do a match. And for this particular sport,
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it showed that a woman could do very well, even
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better than a man. Moving up to 2017, Hurricane
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Maria devastates Puerto Rico. At 6 .15 a .m.
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on September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria made landfall
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in Puerto Rico as Category 4 storm with winds
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near 150 mph. This storm caused catastrophic
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destruction. The power grid, which had been in
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terrible condition to begin with well it was
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a total collapse communication failures flooding
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and landslides long -term humanitarian crisis
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you know puerto rico unfortunately has been a
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very poor territory and part of that is when
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it was made a territory and we can do a podcast
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one day on puerto rico and why it is the way
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it is it was made an associate state and and
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I didn't really understand this growing up. And
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actually, one of my very good friends who's from
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Puerto Rico, still lives in Puerto Rico, he explained
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to me what an associate state meant. And then
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I went deeper into it and I said, oh, wow, you
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know, you look at it. And there's things that
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an associate state can do. There's things an
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associate state cannot do. For example, when
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they had a big, it was a big rush of pharmaceutical
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companies. for a while manufacturing in puerto
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rico and that was great for their economy for
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jobs things like that but they were not allowed
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to export directly they had to first bring it
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into the mainland and then it could be exported
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i think in most every other territory that the
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united states has they can just export directly
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virgin islands whatever and they charge duties
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and things like that puerto rico can't do that
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and and that that parts of shaman the government
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itself I hate to use the word corrupt. It's not
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a good word, but there has been a lot of corruption
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over the years. A lot of misspent dollars. They
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always seem to be in a financial crisis. So things
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like their infrastructure, whether it be their
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water treatment, their power grids, whatever
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it was, it's not been taken care of very well.
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And so one hurricane that comes by, especially
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a Category 4, and it's done. I mean, it really
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devastated. It took a long time to get it back
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to where it needed to. A lot of new investments
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into bridges, power infrastructure, just a lot
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of things. And it's still not done even today
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here in 2026. So enough said about that. I just
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wanted to make sure that you got the complete
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picture on this. The Christian reflection here
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is moments like this remind us that the calling
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to serve, to respond, and to care for the vulnerable,
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because compassion is always part of the gospel.
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So September 20th is a day filled with stories
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of conflict, courage, transformation, and faith.
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From the halls of Congress, to the parlor of
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a future president, to the mountains of Italy,
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to the shores of Florida, to the suffering of
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Puerto Rico. Each story reminds us that history
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is not just dates and events. It's people, real
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people facing real challenges. And God is always
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teaching us through their lives. Stay encouraged,
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stay curious, and stay rooted in Christ. This
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has been Voices of Life. Did you know? I'm Pastor
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David. Thank you for joining us today. Thank
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you for joining us today. on the Voices of Life
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podcast, a ministry of the Church for Life. As
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we close, may the stories we share strengthen
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your faith, steady your heart, and remind you
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that God is present in every chapter of your
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journey. If this episode encouraged you, share
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it with someone who needs hope. And until we
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meet again, walk in truth, stand in courage.
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And keep listening for the voice that leads you
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forward. This has been Voices of Life. Peace
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be with you.