Month: March 2009
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Today Sam Jones Confronted Sam Jones (1899)
Christian History magazine reports an unusual event in American religious history on this date: Evangelist Sam Jones took his crusade to Toledo, Ohio, with the permission of the Mayor of Toledo: another Sam Jones. How odd. Sam (evangelist) Jones scolded Toledo by saying that if the Devil were mayor of the town, he wouldn’t change…
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Today Bernard Gilpin Died (1583)
Bernard Gilpin (1517-1583) was a English priest and theologian all through those years when it was hard to keep from being burned at the stake no matter what your theological views were. A man of peace born into a time of war, he had to engage in controversy and put his life on the line,…
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Rush Limbaugh, Conservative Leader?
Rush Limbaugh has taken center stage as America’s conservative thought leader and figurehead. Many conservatives are happy with Rush as their thought leader, but is Rush’s current role as the figurehead and thought leader of the conservative movement the one he is best at and the one he ought to play? Is Rush’s prominence as…
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Tobacco and Heaven and Hell
Q. Can a man be an out and out Christian and use tobacco? A. There are laymen and ministers who purpose to be out and out for God and to make their lives count to the uttermost for Him who do use tobacco, but their lives do not count for God as they would if…
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Today is Lettie Cowman’s Birthday (1870)
A lot of people who use the perennially popular devotional book Streams in the Desert think it is by somebody named Charles, because the title page is signed “Mrs. Charles Cowman.” As an author, she successfully concealed herself under her married name, her late husband’s name. Her full name was Lettie Burd Cowman (1870-1960). And…
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Today John Wesley Died (1791)
This is the day John Wesley died. Wesley’s influence was vast: Some historians have ventured the idea that he was instrumental in a revival movement that did so much good in England that it preserved the nation from suffering its own version of the French Revolution. That would be hard to demonstrate, but he really…
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Today George Herbert Died (1633)
March 1, 1633, George Herbert died of tuberculosis. He left as his major literary accomplishment a set of poems called The Temple, a nearly inexhaustible source of spiritual insight and guidance. Here is my favorite, The Bunch of Grapes. Joy, I did lock thee up: but some bad man Hath let thee out again: And…