Adoniram Judson: 2/19/1812

The groans of a dying man kept him awake in the little inn outside New York, but he was hardened to the cries because a college friend at Brown University had persuaded him to be an atheist. The next morning he learned the man who died in the night was none other than his college friend. This rude awakening led him to become America's first foreign missionary.

His name was Adoniram Judson, born in Massachusetts, August 9, 1788. At age 23, Adoniram Judson, and his wife, Ann, age 22, set sail from New England on FEBRUARY 19, 1812. Arriving in Calcutta, India, the British East India Tea Company did not want missionaries evangelizing Hindus as it might hurt their business, so the Judsons were ordered to Rangoon, Burma. They learned to speak Burmese, translated Scriptures and started schools.

Adoniram was imprisoned during the Burmese War, but eventually gained respect from Burmese and British officials for having translated an English-Burmese Dictionary and the Bible. By Adonirum's death, there were 63 churches, 123 ministers and over 7,000 baptized Christians in Burma.

Adoniram Judson wrote: "How do Christians discharge this trust committed to them? They let three fourths of the world sleep the sleep of death, ignorant of the simple truth that a Savior died for them."

American Minute with Bill Federer

U.S. is trying to force Honduras to violate its own constitution

What does it say about Mr. Obama's respect for the separation of powers that he would instruct Mrs. Clinton to punish an independent court because it did not issue the ruling he wanted?

How many of you, like me, are feeling this way:

Thousands of readers have written to me asking how all this can happen in the U.S., where democratic principles have been recognized since the nation's founding. Many readers have written that they are "ashamed" of the U.S. and have asked, in effect, "How can I help Honduras?" A more pertinent question may turn out to be, how can they help their own country?

In its actions toward Honduras, the Obama administration is demonstrating contempt for the fundamentals of democracy. Legal scholars are clear on this...

Hillary's Honduras Obsession

This anti-freedom behavior of the new administration in Washington is not an isolated incident:

President Obama promised he would win America friends where, under George W. Bush, it had antagonists. The reality is that the U.S. is working hard to create antagonists where it previously had friends...The U.S. decision [to scrap a missile-defense agreement the Bush Administration negotiated with Poland and the Czech Republic] also undermines the credibility of the U.S. nuclear defense umbrella. The Bush Administration sought to develop a global defense posture in part to reassure allies that they don't need their own nuclear deterrent, even as rogue regimes seek nuclear arms and the missiles to deliver them. America's Europe reversal tells other countries that they can't rely on the U.S. so it's best to follow the Israeli path and develop their own weapon and defenses. For that matter, this also makes the U.S. East Coast less safe; the ground-based system in Alaska and California covers the East, but barely. The Polish and Czech sites were to provide added protection.

The European switcheroo continues Mr. Obama's trend of courting adversaries while smacking allies. His Administration has sought warmer ties with Iran, Burma, North Korea, Russia and even Venezuela. But it has picked trade fights with Canada and Mexico, sat on trade treaties with Colombia and South Korea, battled Israel over West Bank settlements, ignored Japan in deciding to talk with North Korea, and sanctioned Honduras for its sin of resisting the encroachments of Venezuela's Hugo Chávez.

Obama's Missile Offense