Ann Judson: The First American Female Missionary
In 1810 Adoniram Judson wrote this amazing letter to the father of Ann Hasseltine
“I have now to ask, whether you can consent to part with your daugh... View MoreAnn Judson: The First American Female Missionary
In 1810 Adoniram Judson wrote this amazing letter to the father of Ann Hasseltine
“I have now to ask, whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring, to see her no more in this world; whether you can consent to her departure for a heathen land, and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of a missionary life; whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean; to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India; to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death. Can you consent to all this, for the sake of him who left his heavenly home and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing immortal souls; for the sake of Zion, and the glory of God?”
Her parents let Ann choose, and she chose to leave all behind and follow with her husband to India, ultimately to Burma. She was confident in God’s protection, “I rejoice, that I am in his hands – that he is everywhere present, and can protect me in one place as well as in another,” she said. “He has my heart in his hands, and when I am called to face danger, to pass through scenes of terror and distress, he can inspire me with fortitude, and enable me to trust in him. Jesus is faithful; his promises are precious.”
In Burma, Ann created a catechism in Burmese while Adoniram translated the New Testament. She later also started a Burmese school for girls. <span style="background-color: transparent;">They had difficulties reaching the Burmese with the gospel until they came up with an idea to build a shelter on the side of the road that would be a place of rest and hear and discuss the gospel. Eventually, after six years, there were ten converts, and a church was established.</span>
Hardships hit as they had a baby boy, but he died of disease before reaching his first year. They were alone in this new environment without any support. Ann was devastated. “Our hearts were bound up in this child; we felt he was an earthly all, our only source of innocent recreation in this heathen land,” she wrote.
The climate also was hitting Ann hard. She was so ill that she had to return to America for treatment. She was gone for two years. After she returned Adoniram was arrested because the English were at war with Burma—so all Westerners were suspected to be spies. She feared the worst, but her faith, she wrote, “taught me to look beyond this world, to that rest, that peaceful happy rest, where Jesus reigns, and oppression never enters.”
Adoniram was released after many months. They had a brief reunion before he had to leave to help translate negotiations between the British and Burmese. Ann, whose body was worn out, had succumbed to cerebral meningitis while he was gone. She was 37.
In addition to her translation work and her ministry to Burmese girls and women, Ann’s writings have inspired many to this day. She wrote a book on their Burmese mission, and after she died, her memoir was published. Her wrtitings and faithful service helped influence missions for generations.
“A little while, we are in eternity; before we find ourselves there, let us do much for Christ.” ~Ann Judson.
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Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition
In honor of all the military men who gave their lives for our country, today is a day of reflection in America, called “Memorial Day.” We salute those who died... View MorePraise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition
In honor of all the military men who gave their lives for our country, today is a day of reflection in America, called “Memorial Day.” We salute those who died in battle by telling the true story of one of the greatest quotes in American history-- by a chaplain in the US Navy.
In December, 1941, U.S. Navy Chaplain (REV) Howell Maurice “How” Forgy was aboard the USS New Orleans as its sailors came under a vicious attack by Japanese war planes at Pearl Harbor. The sailors were having to carry hundred-pound shells via a human chain because the electrical hoists were not working, and the men were tiring out. Lieutenant Forgy, an ordained Presbyterian minister, uttered one of the most famous lines in American history, encouraging the worn out men, saying “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.”
The officer in charge of the ammunition said it had a great effect on the sailors. He said Chaplain Forgy went “through the line of scared man, patting them on the back and saying the famous sentence: ‘Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition.’" The officer said both he and the men were inspired by the reverend's words and actions.
The expression took off and a popular song was recorded in 1942 with the phrase as the title. It was number two on the charts—right behind Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas.” Fictional stories began to be circulated about the phrase and who uttered it. The sailors wanted the chaplain to set the record straight, but Chaplain Forgy said that “the episode should remain a legend rather than be associated with a particular person.” However, his superiors called a press conference and the reverend's story was printed in Time magazine in 1943. In the article Chaplain Forgy said, "I learned more basic religion in my first five minutes under fire than I did in my seven years in the seminary and in preaching."
Years later Reverend Forgy recalled:
“The boys were getting dog-tired. All I did was slap them on the backs and smilingly say, ‘Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.’ I guess I used un-chaplain-like language because afterward, on the well deck of our cruiser, I overheard a couple of boys say, ‘Chaplains can cuss like a bo’sun mate when they have to.'”
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Decian Libellus
Emperor Decius (Roman Emperor from 249-251 AD) required inhabitants throughout the empire to offer a sacrifice to the gods. Those who did were given the "Decian Libellus" --a piece ... View MoreDecian Libellus
Emperor Decius (Roman Emperor from 249-251 AD) required inhabitants throughout the empire to offer a sacrifice to the gods. Those who did were given the "Decian Libellus" --a piece of paper that was given to those who obeyed the edict and made a sacrifice. The Libellus was a signed document from government authorities proving the person did the required sacrifice. Many Christians refused and were martyred.
One man named Peter refused to sacrifice to the goddess Venus, saying "I am astonished you should sacrifice to an infamous woman, whose debaucheries even your own historians record, and whose life consisted of such actions as your laws would punish. No, I shall offer the true God the acceptable sacrifice of praises and prayers." He was tortured and then beheaded.
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The Veil is Torn
When Jesus died the veil was torn in two, “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and gave up His spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.”... View MoreThe Veil is Torn
When Jesus died the veil was torn in two, “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and gave up His spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” (Matt 27:50-51).
Matthew doesn’t explain “the veil of the temple” and assumes everyone knows what he is talking about. He is referring to the inner veil before the Holy of Holies, the innermost and most sacred area in the temple of Jerusalem. It was, says seminary professor Daniel M. Gurtner, “a physical, visible barrier indicating that access to God was strictly prohibited because of his holiness.”
The veil was huge, it was 60 feet long, 30 feet wide and 4 inches thick, according to rabbinic sources. “Eighty-two myriads of damsels (young women) worked at it, and two such veils were made every year. When it became soiled, it took three hundred priests to immerse and cleanse it”
First-century Jewish priest and historian Josephus said it was beautiful: “It was a Babylonian curtain, embroidered with blue, and fine linen, and scarlet, and purple, and of a contexture that was truly wonderful. Nor was this mixture of colors without its mystical interpretation, but was a kind of image of the universe; for by the scarlet there seemed to be enigmatically signified fire, by the fine flax the earth, by the blue the air, and by the purple the sea; two of them having their colors the foundation of this resemblance; but the fine flax and the purple have their own origin for that foundation, the earth producing the one, and the sea the other. This curtain had also embroidered upon it all that was mystical in the heavens, excepting that of the [twelve] signs, representing living creatures.”
This special place in the temple was so holy that only one person could enter it, and it could only be entered by that person once a year, during the Day of Atonement. Any other person or any other time would mean death to that person. “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Speak to Aaron your brother, so that he does not come anytime into the holy place within the veil before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he does not die.’”(Leviticus 16:2).
God was distant to His people, evidenced by His fearsome presence at Mount Sinai with smoke and fire, even Moses approached with fear. “All this is ended,” Charles Spurgeon says. “The precept to keep back is (abolished), and the invitation is, ’Come to me, all you who labour and are heavy laden.’ ‘Let us draw near’ is now the…spirit of the gospel. How thankful I am for this! What a joy it is to my soul!... Draw near with full assurance of faith. The veil is torn: access is free. Come boldly to the throne of grace. Jesus has made you near, as near to God as even he himself is.”
“It is imperative to remember that the holiness of God remains unchanged from all eternity — even after the veil is torn,” Gurtner says. “What has changed, then, is that the atoning death of Jesus on the cross has provided the appropriate wrath-bearing sacrifice, one which the bulls and goats of the old covenant could not provide (Hebrews 10:4).”
The Jewish high priest Caiaphas tore his clothes symbolizing his (feigned) righteous indignation at the true, eternal High Priest, Jesus, for claiming equality with God. God has torn the veil between Himself and the religious system of Caiaphas, symbolizing God’s righteous judgement, and His deep love for His elect. As a result, all believers are now His priests and are temples of the Holy Spirit.
Commentator Alexander Maclaren says, “At the moment when the loud cry of the dying Christ rung over the heads of the awestruck multitude, that veil was, as it were, laid hold of by a pair of giant hands and torn asunder, as the Evangelist says, ‘from the top to the bottom.’ The incident was a symbol. In one aspect it proclaimed the end of the long years of Israel’s prerogative. In another it ushered in an epoch of new relations between man and God.”
“Whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away” (2 Corinthians 3:16).
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J. Edwin Orr, Revival Man
*by Dan Graves
J. Edwin Orr died unexpectedly on this day, April 22, 1987 in Asheville, North Carolina. The 73-year-old historian was scheduled to speak at a Southern Bapti... View MoreJ. Edwin Orr, Revival Man
*by Dan Graves
J. Edwin Orr died unexpectedly on this day, April 22, 1987 in Asheville, North Carolina. The 73-year-old historian was scheduled to speak at a Southern Baptist convention in the city. Historians aren't always the speakers you expect to attract large audiences. But Orr's expertise was in high demand with churches. For many years an evangelist, he was also a historian of revival--the spiritual renewal of churches. He amassed fascinating anecdotes and worthwhile details about these spiritual movements and incorporated them into talks and books.
Born in 1912 in Belfast, Ireland, Orr became a Christian at nine. Some years later, his father died and then an older brother. Orr had to leave college to work as a clerk in a bakery to feed the rest of the family. He was about 19 when he and a friend began evangelistic work, preaching in the open air in Belfast.
One thing led to another, and Orr became convinced he must become a traveling evangelist. He made contacts in London and soon was preaching across Britain. By 1935, he was touring Scandinavia and much of Europe. Later that year and into 1936, he sailed to Canada for meetings, held more in the United States, New Zealand, Australia and Africa, concluding the flurry of services in Norway.
He hoped to rest, but local leaders appealed to him to lead services for them. He did. Meanwhile, he telegraphed a young woman he had met in South Africa and asked her to marry him. Muriel Carlson agreed. They held an evangelistic service at their reception!
Orr went on to form an evangelistic group and turned out numerous books--sometimes two a year--recounting his experiences and showing how to live the Christian life. In the United States he picked up a theology degree before enlisting as an Airforce chaplain. He saw service in the Pacific and wrote a book about that, too.
After hitchhiking home across Asia and Africa, Orr returned to England where he took his doctorate at Oxford University. His dissertation was on one of the great revivals of history: The Second Evangelical Awakening in Britain.
Researching revival, Orr found that every one began with prayer. For example, in the Cane Ridge revival, James McGready "was such a man of prayer that not only did he promote the concert of prayer every first Monday of the month, but he got his people to pray for him at sunset on Saturday evening and sunrise Sunday morning. Then in the summer of 1800 come the great Kentucky revival. Eleven thousand people came to a communion service. McGready hollered for help, regardless of denomination."
Orr also taught that Christians must repent if revival is to flower. "Little by little, the church loses its grip on essential things, becomes a social club, goes to sleep or flies off at a tangent. All over the world we find sleeping churches, and all round them are the gospel-starved masses. Instead of performing the first thing of importance, evangelizing the masses, they are engaged in a bewildering variety of pastimes--anything but the real thing."
Bibliography:
Appasamy, Bishop A. J. Write the Vision! a biography of J. Edwin Orr. Fort Washington, Pennsylvania: Christian Literature Crusade, 1964.
"Highlights in the Life of J. Edwin Orr." n.d. http://www.jedwinorr.com/ (Accessed Spring, 2001).
Orr, J. Edwin. "Prayer and Revival." n.d. http://www.jedwinorr.com/prayer_revival.htm (Accessed Spring, 2001).
---------------- "The Church Must First Repent." n.d. http://www.openheaven.com/library/articles/ firstrepent.htm (Accessed Spring, 2001).
----------------The Second Evangelical Awakening. London: Marshall, Morgan and Scott, 1949.
---------------- "Typical prayer Meetings." n.d. http://www.jedwinorr.com/typical.htm (Accessed Spring, 2001).
*by Dan Graves
Why Study Church History
(Excerpt from “Seven Reasons To Study the Church’s Past”
by Tim Challies https://www.challies.com/…/seven-reasons-to-study-the-chu…/0)
1) God Tells Us To: The Bible contin... View MoreWhy Study Church History
(Excerpt from “Seven Reasons To Study the Church’s Past”
by Tim Challies https://www.challies.com/…/seven-reasons-to-study-the-chu…/0)
1) God Tells Us To: The Bible continually exhorts believers to search out and remember the past. The Old Testament in particular is filled with references to God commanding the Israelites to remember His deeds of the past. He instituted ceremony after ceremony, festival after festival, that caused His people to look to what He had done in the past. Veiled in many of these ceremonies and festivals was a glimpse of what would happen in the future. And so, when we look to the past, we may also glimpse just a little bit of what God promises us in the future.
“For inquire, please, of bygone ages, and consider what the fathers have searched out. For we are but of yesterday and know nothing, for our days on earth are a shadow. Will they not teach you and tell you and utter words out of their understanding?” (Job 8:8-10)
The pillars and monuments of the past serve as constant reminders of God’s faithfulness. They serve to increase our faith and they reassure us that as God has acted in the past, He will act in the future.
2) To Understand Today: We should study the past to understand the present. The study of history, when done right, is always a humbling experience. It allows us to understand and sympathize with the plight of those who came before us. It helps us understand the blessings we enjoy today that were not always enjoyed by our brothers and sisters in days past. It also prevents us from developing a view of the faith that is too narrowly focused on our day and ignores the long, storied history of the church. It shows us that we are not too far different from so many of our brothers and sisters in days past and helps us avoid sins and mistakes they may have made.
3) To Understand Tomorrow: History is not just a study of the past in an attempt to understand the present, but is also an attempt to understand and even predict the future. When we see the patterns of days gone by, we can begin to formulate ideas about where current trends will lead. By understanding the past we begin to understand the future. When we understand where our current trends are taking us, we can react to avoid heading down paths that have been shown to be ruinous.
4) To Understand Providence: As Christians we are often guilty of dwelling in the present and looking eagerly to the future while forgetting all about the past. But to do this is to lose sight of the valuable teaching of the past. In past days God revealed Himself in mighty ways, continually providing for His people through trial and persecution. When we study the past, we can see many of the ways in which God’s providence has already been displayed. This can serve as a valuable teaching tool as we prepare to face trials or persecution in our day. It can and should spur us to greater love and appreciation of God and give us greater confidence in His promises. As He has been faithful to men and women of days gone by, He will be faithful to us and to our children. This assurance gives us great stability in our faith.
5) To Understand Error: In many ways the history of the church is a history of action and reaction. Much of Christian theology has been developed and strengthened in reaction to error and heresy. When we visit the past we can see how error has arisen in the church and we can see which errors have already arisen and have been decided by a consensus of the church. This can be valuable as we face the inevitable error in our own day. Many Christians engage anew in battles over doctrine for which they could receive a great deal of guidance from great theologians of days past. By studying what has happened, we can avoid future errors and even the patterns that precede error.
6) To Understand People: We all enjoy considering who we would choose to sit for a meal with, were we able to select from all the people who are living or have lived in the past. The reality, of course, is that we cannot speak with our heroes who have lived before us. Yet by studying history we can come to know and understand them. We can come to see the parts of their lives that brought glory to God and the parts that brought Him dishonor. We can see what led to their rise to prominence within the church and perhaps the character flaws that led to their downfall. We can learn much not just from history, but from specific people who lived in a period of history.
7) To Understand Endurance: Since Christ left the earth, Christians have lived in anticipation of His return. Those who lived in the first century expected that this event would be imminent. And yet, two millennia later, we continue to wait. As we look to history we arm ourselves with the knowledge that Christ’s return may still be far off. As we see how men and women have persevered throughout the history of the church, we are strengthened with endurance, knowing that we, too, shall be witnesses to Christ’s return when that great day finally arrives.
The High Priest Tears His Robes.
Caiaphas was the Jewish high priest on the night Jesus was betrayed. He and the other priests “schemed to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him.” They got their wish w... View MoreThe High Priest Tears His Robes.
Caiaphas was the Jewish high priest on the night Jesus was betrayed. He and the other priests “schemed to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him.” They got their wish when Judas betrayed Jesus and was sent to Caiaphas to be questioned. Matthew says they were “looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death.” When Jesus was faced by false accusers, He remained silent. However when Caiaphas said, “I place You under oath by the living God, to tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus said to him, ‘You have said it yourself. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.’” Then the high priest tore his robes.
“This Man,” writes Messianic Jewish Bible scholar Alfred Edersheim, “alone so calm and majestic among those impassioned false judges and false witnesses; majestic in His silence, majestic in His speech; unmoved by threats to speak, undaunted by threats when He spoke; Who saw it all - the end from the beginning; the Judge among His judges, the Witness before His witnesses: which was He - the Christ or a blaspheming impostor? Let history decide; let the heart and conscience of mankind give answer. If He had been what Israel said, He deserved the death of the Cross; if He is what the Christmas-bells of the Church, and the chimes of the Resurrection-morning ring out, then do we rightly worship Him as the Son of the Living God, the Christ, the Saviour of men.”
When Caiaphas tore his robes, he did what the Jewish custom prescribed him to do for what he perceived as blasphemy—by calling Himself “the Son of God,” Jesus was making Himself equal to God. “As the Law directed when blasphemy was spoken, the High Priest rent both his outer and inner garment, with a rent that might never be repaired,” says Edersheim. According to Rabbinical writings all the undergarments were to be rent, “even if there were ten of them.”
“These rejectors, when they said, ‘He speaketh blasphemies,’ were sealing their own doom, and the ruined Temple and nineteen centuries of wandering misery show what comes to men who hear Christ declaring that He is the Son of the living God and the Judge of the world, and who find nothing in the words but blasphemy, “ says 19th century theologian Alexander McCleren. “On the other hand, if we will answer His question, ‘Whom say ye that I am?’ as the apostle answered it, we shall, like the apostle, receive a benediction from His lips, and be set on that faith as on a rock against which the ‘gates of hell’ shall not prevail.”
The tearing of the robes by Caiaphas was a dramatic but false judgment by a vindictive man who was not interested in the truth. Another tearing of fabric will be the true judgment of God to be looked at next time.
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The Quartodeciman Controversy
Fixing the date of the celebraton of the resurrection became a major controversy in the early church. The church in the East celebrated it the same day the Jews celebrat... View MoreThe Quartodeciman Controversy
Fixing the date of the celebraton of the resurrection became a major controversy in the early church. The church in the East celebrated it the same day the Jews celebrated Passover, on the 14th day of the first full moon of the Jewish month of Nisan no matter what day of the week it fell on. They were called Quartodecimans. The church in the West would celebrate the resurrection on the first Sunday after the fourteenth. For Rome and Europe—the celebration is on a Sunday.
The church historian Eusebius in the fourth century writes that a peaceful compromise was made between the follower of the apostle John, Polycarp, and the bishop of Rome, Anicetus in 155 AD: “At this time, while Anicetus was at the head of the church of Rome, Irenaeus relates that Polycarp, who was still alive, was at Rome, and that he had a conference with Anicetus on a question concerning the day of the paschal feast…”
“And when the blessed Polycarp was at Rome in the time of Anicetus, and they disagreed a little about certain other things, they immediately made peace with one another, not caring to quarrel over the matter. For neither could Anicetus persuade Polycarp not to observe what he had always observed with John the disciple of our Lord, and the other apostles with whom he had associated; neither could Polycarp persuade Anicetus to observe it, as he said that he ought to follow the customs of the presbyters that had preceded him. But though matters were in this shape, they communed together, and Anicetus conceded the administration of the eucharist in the church to Polycarp, manifestly as a mark of respect. And they parted from each other in peace, both those who observed, and those who did not, maintaining the peace of the whole church.”
Note that Polycarp was arguing that they were following the tradition of the apostles, particularly the apostle John, who Polycarp had been a disciple of. Their conclusion was to let each side celebrate Easter on whatever day they wished. However, forty years later the controversy came up again and the bishop of Rome, Victor, tried to excommunicate the Eastern churches.
Eusebeius writes, “Thereupon Victor, who presided over the church at Rome, immediately attempted to cut off from the common unity the parishes of all Asia, with the churches that agreed with them, as heterodox; and he wrote letters and declared all the brethren there wholly excommunicate.”
The early Church Father Irenaeus, a follower of Polycarp, sharply criticized Victor for this over-the-top response.
This issue continued until the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. The council ruled that Christians should honor the resurrection on Sunday. Still many in the East continued to honor the 14th day of Nisan as the day of celebration.
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Church History
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The Important Role of the Synagogue in Church History
Starting with the Babylonian captivity in the seventh century BC, the Hebrew people had been scattered over all the world-- the Jewish diaspora. ... View MoreThe Important Role of the Synagogue in Church History
Starting with the Babylonian captivity in the seventh century BC, the Hebrew people had been scattered over all the world-- the Jewish diaspora. It is estimated that 10% or over five million of the 54 million in Roman world at the time of Christ were Jewish. According to the historian Josephus, there was no country where they did not make up a part of the population. First-century Jewish historian Philo said, “There is not a single Greek or barbarian city, not a single people, to which the custom of the lights, and many of our prohibitions about food are not heeded." Historian Philip Schaff said, “By this dispersion of the Jews the seeds of the knowledge of the true God and the Messianic hope were sown in the field of the idolatrous world.” The Jews, no longer able to use their Temple, created the synagogue.
The Jewish synagogue is important to church history. Historian
Kenneth Scott Latourette said the synagogue had “a profound effect upon the nascent Christian Church.” During the Babylonian captivity the center of Jewish worship, the Temple, was destroyed. After the destruction of the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC, the Jewish people were dispersed all over western Asia and around the Mediterranean Sea. The synagogue became the center of worship for these displaced Jews. Synagogues were a weekly meeting place to study the Scriptures, to pray, and to worship. It was the model in which the early believers used for its church services.
Church Historian Philip Schaff said, “Every synagogue was a mission-station of monotheism." The synagogues were open to Gentiles and many were attracted to Judaism, some converting fully, others called God-fearers, partly adopted Judaism. The Jewish religion was attractive to the Greek world, and Jews were admired for their ethics, their stable family life, their chastity, for the value they attached to human life and for their business integrity. These things were contrary to the polytheistic Greek and Roman religion, whose gods were often far from chaste or ethical. Later the Gentile God-fearers were very receptive to the message of Jesus.
Synagogues were the first place Jesus and later the apostles looked to preach. Christianity spread early among the Jews because they were the first target – Jesus told His followers and apostles before he ascended to go to the people of Israel first.
Historians are amazed at the speed and vastness in which Christianity grew. Part of the reason for the growth was the synagogue. In the sovereignty of God, the Hebrew synagogue became an early source of evangelism and was a model for the Christian church.
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