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William Kiffin, merchant-pastor

William Kiffin died. The pastor-merchant had been raised up by God’s providence so that his talents, influence, and wealth might be used to assist the persecuted brethren in the distressing period of Baptist suffering in England. For half a century, William Kiffin was the “Father of the English Baptists.” When the plague swept London in 1625, killing an estimated one third of the population, little William was but 9 years old. He experienced 6 plague sores yet miraculously recovered, though he was left an orphan as his mother and father passed. Surely God’s Almighty hand was upon the boy, for he was to grow up to be “the most beloved Baptist of his time.” William Kiffin was regenerated in his teen years through the ministry of Puritan preachers. Around age 22, he joined an independent church in London. Later he came to Baptist convictions and united with the Baptist church that John Spilsbury was pastoring. In 1640 Spilsbury’s church supervised the establishment of a “sister church” in Devonshire Square, and William became pastor, serving that capacity for the remaining 61 years of his life. He also became one of the most successful businessmen in England as he carried on trade with foreign countries as he used an assistant in the work at Devonshire Square. According to the historian Macaulay, “Kiffin was for a half century the first man in the Baptist denomination.” He was arrested many times, His first son died at age 20, his second son was poisoned by a priest that he witnessed to, and his daughter died young. His two grandsons, Benjamin and William Hewling, were martyred for their faith.
Condensed by Dr. Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History I: Cummins/Thompson, pp. 402-04.

The Whipping of Obadiah Holmes

September 05, 1651 – Obadiah Holmes was publicly flogged in the Colony of Massachusetts when the prosecutor, John Cotton said that he, along with Dr. John Clarke, and John Crandall deserved to be put to death for visiting William Witter, a sick friend in the town of Lynn and conducted Baptist worship services in his home. Governor John Endecott said that they deserved to “be hanged.” However, Cotton said that he would let them off with a fine, but if they did not pay the fine and leave the territory they would be well whipped. While the three men were confined to jail, friends in Newport, Rhode Island, raised money for the fines for all of the men. Crandall was released from the fine. Dr. Clarke and Holmes refused permission for their fines to be paid, believing that it would be an admission of guilt. As Clarke was led to the whipping post, a friend pressed money into the hands of the Puritan official, and Clarke was released. “Agreeing to the payment of my fine would constitute admission of wrong-doing,” Holmes continued to maintain. As he was stripped to the waist, Holmes preached a brief sermon to the dense crowd of men, women, and children that formed a circle about the whipping post, exhorting them to remain faithful to their beliefs. According to Holmes’s own testimony, the flogger used a whip with three hard leather lashes, stopped three times to spit on his hands, and applied the whip with all his might. Each of the thirty strokes cut three gashes through the skin. Holmes said later about the whipping: “…having joyfulness in my heart, and cheerfulness…I told the magistrates, ‘You have struck me as with roses.’”
Condensed by Dr. Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History I: Cummins/Thompson, pp. 366-67.

The First Baptist Church in America

"The Baptist Blogger," Pastor Josh Davenport has done an excellent job of addressing the controversy over which church is the first Baptist church in America. This may seem like a non-issue to many people. It may even seem to be petty hair-splitting to others. Far from it. This controversy strikes at the heart of Baptist identity and Baptist distinctives.

If Baptists are to maintain our distinct identity, we must come to terms with "landmark-ism." Baptists must deal with our doctrinal and historical identity or lose that identity; probably within the next generation. The ancient Waldenses allowed it to happen to them. We've seen it happen to the Southern Baptists over the past 100 years. Today, the SBC identifies itself as "evangelical, Protestant." Increasing numbers of independent Baptists are following the pied "Pipers" of Calvinism, new evangelicalism, "purpose-driven," and "emerging" philosophies.

At issue is really whether Roger Williams and the "church" he started were Baptist at all. Bro. Davenport hits this head on. The facts are: Roger Williams was baptized by Ezekiel Holliman, then Williams in turn baptized Holliman and ten others. It really doesn't matter if Williams' group did precede the church gathered by Dr. John Clarke. It never was a biblical, New Testament church! If we are to accept Williams'and Holliman's self-baptism and the church they started as valid then millions of Baptist martyrs died in vain as "re-baptizers." If Williams' and Holliman's defective baptism were valid then Baptists today have no biblical or logical basis for requiring that candidates for membership from other denominations be "re-baptized."

Study the issue brethren! It's far more important than you might think!

Seventh Day Adventists and Harold Camping

Whether they would like to admit it or not, Seventh Day Adventists have a few things in common with false prophet Harold Camping. Mr. Camping is infamous for his recent false prophecy that the rapture and the judgment of God would occur on May 21st, 2011. His predictions were based on his own convoluted mathematical computations of prophetic dates and numbers found in the Bible. Mr. Camping deceived many people into believing his wild speculations, and I am genuinely sorry for those people. Many of them sold their homes, left their families,sold their possessions and took to the road spreading Camping's message. They should have known better. Camping has been making wild-eyed predictions since the 1980's, and falsely predicted the end of the world in 1994. It has been well said that time is the enemy of false prophets.

When his 6:00 p.m. May 21st, 2011 prediction failed, Camping went into damage control mode and did what other date setters have been forced to do: claim that the event was spiritual or heavenly and that the real date is in the future. In Camping's case, according to this Fox News report May 21st was a spiritual judgment day in which "God's judgment and salvation were completed," and the actual end will come five months from now on October 21st, 2011.

There is the striking similarity to the Seventh Day Adventist cult. The Adventists began with the convoluted mathematical computations of prophetic dates and numbers of a Baptist preacher by the name of William Miller. His followers, like many of Camping's sold their possessions and waited anxiously for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

"Adventism originated with the disappointed Second Coming movement of the 1800’s. William Miller, a Baptist layman, concluded in 1818 that Christ would return to earth in 1843. When that was proven wrong, he changed the date to October 22, 1844. This belief was based largely on an interpretation of Daniel chapters nine and twelve using the erroneous day/year equation (one prophetic day equals one historical year). Tens of thousands followed Miller’s conclusions, and many
diverse, unscriptural adventist (advent refers to Christ’s coming) groups sprang up within this excited religious atmosphere.

Until the end of 1844, Miller held resolutely to his conviction that Christ would return to “cleanse the sanctuary,” which he interpreted to mean the earth. After
the set dates passed, Miller wisely left off with date setting, admitted his mistake, and no longer participated in the adventist movement. He did not become a Seventh-day Adventist. From the shambles of the confused and unscriptural date-setting movement, there emerged various groups with various doctrinal peculiarities. Some of these groups were gradually formed into Seventh-day Adventism." (Way of Life Encyclopedia)

Unlike Mr. Camping, William Miller gave up prophetic speculation with his spectacular failure. Unfortunately Satan was able to use Miller's speculations and the un-biblical visions of false prophetess Ellen Harmon (who later married James White) to deceive multitudes of people since 1844.

In the visions of Ellen G. White, the 1844 date was a spiritual judgment in which Christ entered into the heavenly holy of holies to begin investigating the records of human works in order to figure out who is to be saved. The Adventists teach this false doctrine of "Investigative Judgment" to this day.

Beware of date-setters, and beware of those who claim to have extra-biblical visions and prophetic "knowledge!"

But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. Matthew 24:36

Silas Noel: Stalwart Against Campbellism

May 05, 1839 – Silas Mercer Noel in the fifty-sixth year of his earthly journey was called home to glory. His remains were taken to Frankfort, Kentucky and buried in the family burying ground. On Aug. 12, 1783 Silas was born into the family of Rev. and Mrs. Theodoric Noel in Essex County, Virginia. At an early age he was placed under the instruction of Robert B. Semple, the famed Baptist historian who had been baptized by Rev. Noel in 1789. Later he studied medicine and law and was admitted to the bar before his twentieth birthday. When he was 21 he married Miss Maria Warring, and they parented 13 children. Silas prospered in the law profession until he came under the conviction of sin, when a great revival swept through Kentucky at the turn of the century. In 1811 he received full assurance of his salvation, and received believers baptism by Rev. William Hickman, an early Baptist preacher in Ky. Silas showed a great zeal for the Lord’s work, and was licensed to preach, and then ordained as pastor of the Church at Big Spring in Woodford County in 1813, and the work of God grew. Then he was called to pastor the Baptist church at Frankfort, and the church grew into a large, prosperous congregation. Also five other Baptist churches were started in adjacent communities. At this time Noel was appointed circuit judge of the Fourth Judicial District, but he gave it up to devote full time to the church, looking to the church to supply his needs. As pastor of the Great Crossing Baptist Church of Scott Co. he baptized 359 converts the first year of his ministry. He also founded the Baptist Education Society of Kentucky.

Condensed by Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: pp. 246-48. [CF: William B. Sprague, Annals of the American Pulpit (New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1865), p. 628.]

Noel was also a great opponent of the innovations of Alexander Campbell. He was the author of a circular letter to the Franklin Baptist Association of Kentucky in 1830 detailing Thirty-nine Articles on the errors of Campbellism taken directly from Mr. Campbell's publications "The Christian Baptist" and "The Millennial Harbinger." Dr. Noel was a stalwart in the struggle against Campbellism, which at that time was causing great schism in the churches of Kentucky. Campbell was a dissembler who subverted churches and over-threw the faith of some. Silas Noel rose to the challenge of his day and nobly defended the faith once delivered to the saints.

MT

This Day in Baptist History

April 19, 1836 – Adoniram Judson Gordon (AJ) was born. His grandfather, deacon John Calvin Gordon had gone with the Hyper Calvinist split in the Baptist church which he had been a member, but his son was caught up in the new wave of missionary spirit that was sweeping across the land with the ministry of the Judson’s and others that were moving out across the mission fields of the world. So as the father had been loyal to the name of the reformer, the son was now faithful to his vision in the naming of his son. A.J. Gordon was saved when he was fifteen years old, and received his theological training at Brown University (1857-60) and Newton Theological Seminary (1860-63) after which he was ordained and became a pastor in Jamaica Plain, Mass. Soon thereafter he married Miss Maria Hale. In late 1869 he accepted a call to the prestigious Clarendon Street (Baptist) Church in Boston. For over 25 years he was one of the best known pastors in America. He was a defender of the faith and unafraid to battle agnosticism, Unitarianism, religious liberalism, and doctrinal error such as evolution and baptismal regeneration. The cults feared his pulpit and pen. Dr. Gordon was a Fundamentalist, and he said, “The world’s motto is, ‘In union there is strength;’ the church’s motto is, ‘In separation there is strength.” He edited a religious weekly, authored at least eleven outstanding volumes, and was a persistent soul-winner and evangelistic preacher. A.J. Gordon was a favorite in college and university chapels, where he was totally at home with college students. He also founded a Bible institute that was directed to train young people for missions. Condensed by Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: pp. 215-16. [CF: Ernest B. Gordon, Adoniram Judson Gordon (New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1896), pp. 15-17.]

The IFB Cult

Well, I found out via "Shattered Faith" which aired on ABC's 20/20 that I belong to a cult. Bummer.

This hatchet piece demonized an entire group of people because of their religious affiliation. I can't imagine the hue and cry that would have been raised had the target group been anybody other that conservative (dare I say "fundamental") Christians! That's what the "F" in IFB stands for: fundamental. The term was used in the 20/20 piece like it was some sort of new disease: "Independenetfundamentalbapsist."

It has long been a tactic of those who hate the God of the Bible to use smear tactics and to insinuate monstrous evil against God's people. Assuming that all of the allegations were true, it is yellow journalism at its worst to take 2 or 3 examples of unbiblical weirdness in the extreme and impute that unbiblical weirdness to the entire population.

The key here is the term "independent." Our churches are bound together by nothing more than name in many cases. Many of us share the same biblical principles, but then again many of us don't. We are independent of one another. I hope to blog some on the doctrinal positions that make Baptists distinct from other denominations. In the mean time, read Bro. David Cloud's excellent rebuttal to the 20/20 piece.

Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 18:1-4

April 15, 1916 – Joanna Patterson Moore died in Selma, Alabama. The doctor who ministered to her reported that she repeated continually, “God’s blessed book, the Bible,” and then entered the land of that book – heaven. Thousands, both black and white, attended her funeral that was held in the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Joanna was born on Sept. 26, 1832, the sixth of 13 children in Clairton County, Pa. Her father was an Episcopalian and her mother a Presbyterian. Joanna was thankful that she was taught the basics of the Christian faith but about the age of nine while reading a children’s book, she came under conviction and called upon the Lord Jesus Christ to save her. However, she did not share her experience until the age of twenty when she attended a Baptist revival meeting and made a profession of faith, but because her father objected she delayed her baptism for a year. At her church she heard a missionary challenge from Sewell Osgood who was on furlough from Burma. After moving to Illinois in 1858, the death of her father, and attending the Rockford Girls’ Seminary, she believed that God was calling her to assist the liberated slaves in the south. The American Baptist Home Mission Society gave her a commission but no salary. The Sunday school class of a Baptist church pledged $4 per month and the government offered her transportation and provided her with a soldier’s rations, and the thirty-one-year old “missionary” went. In Nov. 1863 she landed on Island # 10 in the Mississippi River. Miss Moore established a network of churches, schools, and families that reached to every corner of the American South. Condensed by Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: pp. 206-08. [CF: Walter Sinclair Stewart, Later Baptist Missionaries and Pioneers (Philadelphia: Judson Press, 1928), 1:119.]

A man’s foes shall be they of his own household.

Luke 14:25-26

April 14, 1660 – Charles II, King of England, issued a declaration at Breda which declared “a liberty to tender consciences, and that no man shall be disquieted or called in question, for differences of opinion on matters of religion.” Baptists still continued to suffer to some degree. Dorothy Kelly will ever live in remembrance as the one who initiated Baptist existence in Bristol. Dorothy was a Puritan and as such belonged to the Church of England. But the Puritans were reformers who attended the services of their church, but gathered in private homes for prayer and Bible study. Dorothy was widowed and in the same Puritan group was an Anglican minister, a Rev. Hazzard, who proposed marriage and was accepted. Now Dorothy was a Puritan and the wife of an Anglican Preacher, but their home became a meeting house for the Puritans. Their home also became a haven for Pilgrims who sailed from Bristol to America in search of religious freedom and a refuge for those who were escaping religious laws such as not attending communion, less they be fined. Finally Dorothy began attending for the sermon only, leaving before communion. A John Cannes came to Bristol and encouraged the group to leave the Church even if they had to meet in a barn which they did. In 1651 Thomas Ewins, from London was invited to become pastor of the group that had grown to around 160 persons. In 1654 Ewins and others went to London and were immersed with believers Baptism by Rev. Henry Jessy. In turn the others were baptized and the church became the 1st Baptist church of Bristol. Rev. Hazzard never left the Anglican Church. Condensed by Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: pp. 204-06. [ C.F: Margaret McLaren Cook, Great Baptist Women (London: Carey Kingsgate Press Limited, 1955), p. 15.]

This Day in Baptist History

April 12, 1849 – James Whitsett died in perfect peace at 79 years of age. He had been saved under the powerful preaching of Joseph Anderson in his latter years who had come to Christ as a result of the evangelistic zeal of Separatist Baptist preachers Samuel Harris and James Read, who in turn were converts of Shubal Stearns, Pastor of the Sandy Creek Baptist Church of Sandy Creek, N.C. Whitsett, a 17 year old young man had been reared in the Episcopal Church and knew nothing of the saving grace of Christ. Upon his profession of faith he was baptized by Elder Anthony. It wasn’t long until he followed his family to the Cumberland area of middle Tennessee and met his wife Miss Jane Maneese who bore him eleven children. It was there that he united with the Mill Creek Baptist Church and was ordained into the gospel ministry. “From then until the end of his life was the history of the Baptist denomination in the Cumberland.” He was active in the formation of several associations of churches. The Concorn Assoc., composed of 21 churches east of Nashville in 1812 reported 866 baptisms, 350 of which were performed by Elder Whitsett. For forty years Whitsett had the care of four churches himself, until his health would no longer permit him to carry the load. He was a man of striking personal appearance and manners. His entire demeanor was one of dignity, which repelled every light reproach, and a self-possession that never forsook him. On the 2nd Lord’s Day in Oct. 1848, he was with his church in Nashville, at communion. He said, ‘And now brethren and sisters, farewell. We shall meet no more upon this earth.’

Condensed by Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: pp. 200-02. [C.F: J.J. Burnette, D.D. Sketches of Tennessee’s’ Pioneer Baptist Preachers (Nasvhille : Press of Marshall and Bruce Company, 1919), pp. 528-29.]

Trials of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment.

April, 10 1606 – Was the first charter of Virginia. That charter was clear, anyone who was not totally loyal to the Anglican Church was subject to the following penalties. They were to be arrested, and unless reformed, deported to England to receive punishment. In 1611 a further order was given to come before the minister and be questioned as to his religious beliefs. The penalty for the first refusal was whipping; the second, a double flogging, for the third, a daily whipping until the law was complied with. In 1643 a law was passed forbidding anyone to teach, or preach publicly or privately who was not a minister of the Church. In 1673 a law was passed that a Church was to be erected on every plantation and a heavy fine imposed on non-attenders. Also a heavy fine was placed on tobacco for the support of the minister. In memoriam are forty-five Baptist preachers who did not bow. John Alderson, Thomas Ammon, Joseph Anthony, Elijah Baker, Adam Banks, John Burrus, Thomas Chambers, James Chiles, Bartholomew Choning, John Clay, John Corbley, Elijah Craig, Lewis Craig, John Delaney, Augustin Eastin, James Goodrich, James Greenwood, Thomas Hargate, Samuel Harris, Edward Herndon, James Ireland, Ivison Lewis, William Lovall, William McClannahan, William Mash, Thomas Maxwell, Anderson Moffett, Jeremiah Moore, John Picket, James Pitman, James Reed, Nathaniel Saunders, John Shackelford, Joseph Spencer, Philip Spiller, John Tanner, David Tinsley, Jeremiah Walker, John Waller, James Ware, Robert Ware, John Weatherford, William Webber, Allen Wyley, and John Young. May we follow them.

Condensed by Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: pp. 196-97. [CF: Lewis Peyton Little, Imprisoned Preachers and Religious Liberty in Virginia (Lynchburg, Va.: J.P. Bell Co., Inc., 1938) pp. 1-2.]

Liberty or Death

I want to call your attention to an historic speech given by Patrick Henry. Most are familiar with the words “give me liberty, or give me death.” This phrase is the dramatic climax of this speech, but I suspect that most have never read the entire speech. Mr. Henry’s fiery abilities of oration were indispensable to the struggle for American liberty. This speech was credited with convincing the Virginia House to support the War for Independence.

Notice as you read the direct references to God as well as Biblical allusions. If I am correct, there are twelve. In fact, the meeting of the Virginia House of Burgesses to which this speech was given was held at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Richmond, Virginia on March 23, 1775. That would be next to impossible in today’s political climate. There were those in the crowd who shouted “Treason!” as Henry spoke, but far from treason; it was true patriotism that caused the passion in Henry’s words. I fear that true patriotism has descended into nationalism. Christians in America have adopted the “My country, right or wrong” attitude, and the “America, love it or leave it” philosophy. These ideas are dangerous, and only serve to squelch intelligent discussion and debate on vital matters that deserve the utmost of national scrutiny. Henry beautifully exposes this fallacy in the opening lines of his speech.

As Christians, our first allegiance is to Christ and His word; not blind allegiance to political parties or national policies. Bible-believers really can’t expect much from the Democrats or the Republicans except a raw deal--MT

MR. PRESIDENT: No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the House. But different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen if, entertaining as I do, opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely, and without reserve. This is no time for ceremony. The question before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfil the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offence, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the majesty of heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.

Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided; and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years, to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves, and the House? Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with these war-like preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled, that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask, gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us; they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves. Sir, we have done everything that could be done, to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne. In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained, we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts is all that is left us!
They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance, by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations; and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.
It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!


Source: Wirt, William. Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry . (Philadelphia) 1836, as reproduced in The World’s Great Speeches, Lewis Copeland and Lawrence W. Lamm, eds., (New York) 1973.

The Hercules of the Anabaptists

April 09, 1525 – Conrad Grebel an Anabaptist leader, baptized by immersion, a large number in the Sitter River (Switzerland) according to historian Henry S. Burrage. Another considered the “Hercules of the Anabaptists”, George Blaurock who was martyred for his faith, wrote a thirteen stanza hymn while, it is believed, he was waiting to drink of his cup of suffering entitled “Forget Me Not, O Lord” as a farewell to his brethren. The hymn begins with praise to God for His truth made known and for giving Himself in grace, as Father and Savior, at a time when he was a younger man in despair with a heavy load of sin. He rejoiced in the grace of God that had given him deliverance from sin and the hope of eternity. The last three stanzas sound a note of victory as he finishes his life’s course. “In the hours of the last day, as out turn must come, help us, Lord, to bear the cross out onto the battlefield. Attend to us with all grace, that we may be able to commend out spirit into your hands. “With all my heart I pray to you for all our enemies, no matter how many of them there be, that You, O Lord, as is Your wont, lay not their deeds to their charge. I pray You, may it come to pass according to your will, O God. “And so I take my leave, together with my companions, May God lead us by His grace into His kingdom, that we may be in the faith, undoubting, His holy work completing, and may He give us strength to the end.” May God grant us the strength of our convictions to be able and willing to face persecution and even death itself for the sake of truth. What a heritage is ours in the faith! “Of whom the world was not worthy.”

Condensed by Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: pp. 194-96. [CF: William R. Estep, The Anabaptist Story (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1963), p. 1.]

The Sin of Gambling

Note: This is an article that I wrote back in 2009 for The Conservative Standard, published by Brent Madaris. It is available in tract form and an audio sermon is available as well.



Exodus 20:17 says: Thou shalt not covet…any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

Each and every year, Americans spend more on gambling than they spend on every other form of entertainment combined!

We live in a society that is absolutely permeated by gambling, from state lotteries to riverboat casinos, to internet gaming, to dog and horse track betting, to entire cities such as Atlantic City and Las Vegas that are given over to gambling. What does the Bible have to say about gambling? The gambling ads scream loudly about the winners, but what about the losers?
Gambling is built on losers!

Gambling researcher Chad Hills defines gambling as: “…three components. A consideration or something of value that serves as a deposit; chance, skill or the opportunity to win regardless of the odds; and a prize or reward, which usually consists of the sum total of the other participants' losses.”

There is no direct command that says “thou shalt not gamble,” however there are plenty of Bible principles that apply. Gambling is rooted in covetousness, breeds discontent, and ruins multitudes of lives! Sleaze, corruption, and vice ooze out of gambling like a disease! Gambling attracts organized crime like garbage attracts flies and rats! The Bible declares the love of money to be the root of all evil! 1 Timothy 6:6-10 says:

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

The Lottery

He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house; but he that hateth gifts shall live. Proverbs 15:27

The first state run lottery came into being in 1964 in New Hampshire, followed by New York in ’67, New Jersey in ’69, and the lottery was off and running. Lottery revenue was over $500 million in 1973, and had passed the $1 billion mark by 1976, and multi-state lotteries were legalized in 1985. Lotteries are promoted as a boon to education, but in reality state spending on education actually decreases once the lottery is in place! The lottery is used for the education spending, and the money that was otherwise budgeted for education gets diverted to other projects. Greedy politicians buy votes from greedy voters with promises of big winnings and free education! Where does the money really go?

In Tennessee, for every dollar spent on lottery tickets, 50 cents will go toward prizes, 30-35 cents will go toward scholarships, 6.5 cents will go to the retailer, and the remaining 8.5 to 13.5 cents will go to operational costs. Lottery chief Rebecca Paul receives a $350K per year salary, along with bonuses for a total of 750,000 per year! Sounds like Rebecca hit the lottery!

Who really goes to college with lottery scholarships? According to the Chattanooga Times Free-Press on 2-12-06, nearly 21% of scholarship recipients are from households that make more than $100,000 per year! The average recipient is a white female from a household making $60,000 per year.

The lottery is a fools tax, taking money from the poor to pay for the college education of those who could well afford to pay for it themselves! A study by professors from Duke University found that those who earn less than $10k per year spend more on lottery tickets than any other group. Lottery advertising targets the poor with ads that promise quick riches and an easy life. Often lottery promotional drives are timed to run during the time of the month that welfare checks are received. There truly is a “sucker born every minute!”

1. The first Bible principle violated by gambling is the principle of work!

Remember that gambling is the act of trying to get what belongs to someone else without working for it. Exodus 20:9 says “Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work.” When God created Adam, He placed Adam in the Garden and commanded him to dress and keep it; Adam had work to do before sin. An honest day’s work is very rewarding. The Bible promotes work and business. If you and I gamble money changes hands, but no new wealth is created. Business produces goods and services that people wish to buy. The consumer gets a desired product, and the businessman earns a profit. This involves the investment of time, money, work, and some amount of risk, without which you can’t operate a business or run a farm. See Ecclesiastes 11:4. There is nothing wrong with taking a risk in business, and there is nothing wrong with making a profit. The Bible commands work and commends profit through hard work and diligence. See the following scriptures: Proverbs 10:4, 13:4, 21:5, 22:29, 27:23, and 28:19.

The lottery however scorns work.

In a Massachusetts Lottery ad work is ridiculed as heart-attack producing drudgery. The first thing most people say they would do if they won the lottery is quit work. Young people are duped into believing that the ticket to success is not hard work and diligence, but a lottery ticket and a little luck. Young people also come to believe that the State owes them a college education. Nobody owes you and education!

Scripture is very plain that laziness is not to be rewarded. Christians ought to help relieve the poor, but we ought never to reward laziness. In fact, scripture supports the idea that a man who will not work should be allowed to bear the consequences of his inactivity. See the following scriptures: Proverbs 20:4, 6:4-11, 2 Thessalonians 3:10

Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.


2. The second Bible principle violated by gambling is the principle of honesty!

Gambling is dishonest by its very nature. Gambling is a form of thievery.
The eighth commandment is “Thou shalt not steal.” When you try to get what belongs to someone else without paying them for it or working for it, you are in effect stealing from them. Two men who gamble are two thieves at heart.

Dueling is murder by mutual consent. Gambling is theft by mutual consent!

At the very heart of gambling is covetousness. The tenth commandment is “Thou shalt not covet.” Gambling is built upon greed. Our text in 1 Timothy 6:6-8 exposes the greedy heart. The lottery breeds discontentment which is contrary to scripture.

Advertisements constantly tell you that you need more, and the only reason that you don’t have more is because you haven’t won the lottery yet. The lottery targets the poor in this area, and instead of encouraging them to work and try to get ahead, they are encouraged to spend money that they can’t afford to lose on a false hope of big bucks. It is a documented fact that some state lotteries run advertising promotions during the time of the month that the welfare checks, Social Security checks, and other payments are received. The biggest thing that the lottery consistently produces is losers, playing on the discontentment of the poor.

3. The third Bible principle violated by gambling is the need to depend upon God!

See Matthew 6:25-34

Gambling depends on luck. We are to depend on God. For the child of God, we have the promise that He will supply all of our need according to His riches in glory. We are to place our faith in the Providence of God, not games of luck and chance. If God is able to clothe the grass of the field, surely He is able to clothe you and me. The birds and animals out in the woods give no thought for what they will eat, and God provides for them and cares for them so that not one little sparrow will fall to the ground without the watchful eye of Almighty God seeing.

Paul reminded Timothy that godliness with contentment is great gain, and that no one will take anything of material value from this life to the next, and he admonished Timothy to be content with what he had.

Could less be expected of Christians in our day? Dear Christian friend, if you are guilty of the sin of gambling repent today!

If you are one who has not trusted Christ for your salvation, today is the day of salvation! Seek out the counsel of a godly Christian or a godly pastor, or else open the Bible for yourself and see what Christ has done for you!

Matthew 6:19-21, & 24 says:

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also…No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Cuban Missions Under Castro

April 08, 1965 – Rev. Herbert Caudill was arrested by the Castro regime in Cuba as being the chief leader of a band of conspirators against the Cuban government. Even though the charges were trumped up, the tribunal found him guilty. Sentenced for ten years, Caudill was released from the Cabana prison on Nov. 25, 1966. The authorities said that it was because of medical treatment that could not be obtained in Cuba. Caudill was born in Georgia in 1903. At 15 he came to a personal faith in Jesus Christ, and soon after, he testified to his faith in the waters of immersion. During that first summer he read the Bible through. After graduation from high school in 1922, he enrolled at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. In 1926 he was ordained by the Tattnall Baptist Church in Macon, and then enrolled in seminary in Texas. While at Mercer he met Marjorie Jacob and they were married in Oct. 1930 after he had served in Cuba for a year as a missionary. Before that he pastored four different churches in Georgia and Marjorie continued her training in the piano and seminary. After mastering Spanish, their ministry began with the Spanish-speaking church in Calabazar. In 1933, the Caudills returned to Georgia so Marjorie could give birth to their first child. While away, Revolution broke out, but they returned and continued to minister in Regla, across the bay from Havana. He assisted the young Cuban preachers in church planting. When the government of Fidel Castro took power, the Caudills determined to remain at their post but they did send their son back to the U.S. He paid the price for his leadership position, but he won the crown.

Condensed by Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: pp. 192-94. [CF: Tom McMinn, The Caudills: Courageous Missionaries (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1982), p 59.]

Congregational Hymn Singing

April 07, 1773 – John Rippon became the fourth pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, following John Gill, and for the next 63 years he labored as a faithful shepherd to his flock. Rippon had been born in Devonshire in 1751, and at the age of 16 he was saved and baptized by his preacher father; and the following year entered Bristol Baptist College. His preaching at the Tabernacle was “lively, affectionate, and impressive,” and it was soon necessary to expand the facility. Dr. Rippon was a great friend to the missions cause both home and foreign. He was also a friend to America during the Revolutionary War, as most Baptist pastors were. Congregational singing had been introduced by Benjamin Keach, one of the first pastors of the Tabernacle right after the conventicle when they could have no singing for fear of the authorities. An innovation had become popular with “precentors” (song leaders) to direct the congregation audibly in hymn singing. Dr. Rippon was an ardent admirer of the hymns of Isaac Watts but he also liked to introduce new ones. One of the great hymns that has continued to resound in Baptist churches to this day was written by Rippon’s “precentor,” Robert Keene, “How Firm a Foundation.” On Christmas Eve of 1898 – on a beautiful tropical night in Havana, Cuba a sentinel from the 49th Iowa began singing: “The Soul that on Jesus hath lean’d for Repose,” Then the 6th Missouri, “I will not, I will not desert to His Foes; then the 4th Virginia, “That Soul, tho’ all Hell Should endeavor to Shake,”, and then the whole American Army Corp – “ I’ll never-no never-no never forsake.”

Condensed by Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: pp. 190-92. [C.F: Amos R. Wells, A Treasury of Hymns (Boston: W.A. Wilde Company, 1945). P. 38.]

Christ the End of the Law for Righteousness!

This Day in Baptist History Past



April 06, 1769 – Thomas Ansley was born to Mrs. Ozias Ansley, wife of a British officer in NY, and they had him sprinkled and reared in the Anglican Church. Following the Revolutionary War, the family moved to New Brunswick, Canada. On Feb. 13, 1792, Thomas married Miss Mary Scott, and that union was blessed with eight children of which Thomas supported his family as a respected farmer. At this point he became concerned over his eternal welfare and even became concerned that he had partaken of communion unworthily and had increased the wrath of God upon his soul. This drove him to the scriptures until he found Christ as the “end of the law for righteousness and trusted him as “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” He began a desire to warn sinners of this truth and also became concerned over the issue of the mode of baptism and sought out Rev. T.S. Harding in New Brunswick and requested believer’s immersion. He was then ordained as a Baptist evangelist while in America, and pastored a Baptist church in Bridgetown, Nova Scotia, but traveled extensively in the field of evangelism in Canada and the US. He met a young Scot Presbyterian who was afraid to read the Bible lest he become a Baptist. Ansley was quite bold as he said, “Does it say, John the Catholic? - Episcopalian? - Presbyterian? – Methodist? – Quaker? – John the Baptist – Yes, that’s it!” Ansley reached another Presbyterian lay preacher in March of 1829 and led him to accept believer’s immersion and baptized him before a large crowd. Within three weeks, 29 had followed him in baptism, and a church was formed. Ansley died on Dec. 7, 1831. Condensed by Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: pp. 188-90. [C.F: I.E. Bill, Fifty Years with the Baptist Ministers and Churches (Saint John, New Brunswick: Barnes and Company, 1880). P. 169.]

Don Pablo--Presbyterian Pastor to Persecuted Baptist

This Day in Baptist History Past



April 04, 1848 – Pablo Beeson was born in the village of Nods, Switzerland. His father was the local evangelical pastor, and his mother came from Waldensian stock. Preparing for the Presbyterian ministry he studied in the Latin College, in the University at Stuttgart, and at the University of Leipzig. Upon graduation Pablo assumed a Presbyterian pastorate. He fought with Dr. Frederic Godet, his former instructor, to disestablish the state church in Switzerland. When their efforts failed, Beeson was one of 25 pastors who separated from the Presbyterian Denomination to found the Free Church of Neuchậtel, however his fidelity to the New Testament surpassed the others and he found himself alone. Pablo traveled to France and ministered to a small church there for several years but his evangelism was too aggressive and he found himself in a narrow dungeon and fined 100 francs for distributing tracts and preaching in public. Persecution drove him to search for truth and in Lyons, France he met a Baptist missionary, and came to adopt Baptist convictions and was immersed by Rev. I.B. Cretin, a French Baptist pastor. This cost him his pastorate as well as his friends, and his father disinherited him. His dear mother wrote, “You will be a wanderer in the world without friends, and will be called a Baptist!” For the next six years he preached in France and started a church. Some of his members migrated to Argentina, South America. Pablo got steerage on a ship and joined them, now known as Don Pablo, he became pastor of the little flock. He fought the Papists to be able to marry and bury his people, and founded a church in Buenos Aires. Condensed by Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: pp. 184-86. [C.F: J.N. Prestridge, Modern Baptist Heroes and Martyrs (Louisville, Ky.: World Press, 1911), p. 281.

Faithful Unto Death

This Day in Baptist History Past



April 02, 1881 – Mrs. Martha Craig, the wife of Rev. John Craig, missionary to India, passed away at the young age of twenty-eight years. They had only been in India since Jan. of 1878 and at their station at Akidu since Nov. of 1881. He has been depicted as a persevering and conscientious missionary. Martha Craig has been described as “A quiet…Christian woman, who did what she could in the sphere to which God called her. “…Her sweet face and affectionate heart endeared her to all who knew her.” The couple had first resided in Cocanada, where they had studied the language before being assigned to Akidu. After about five weeks after the birth of their first child, a daughter, the Craig’s left to return to Akidu by boat, on a Friday from Cocanada. They had gone there for medical assistance for Martha. They arrived back at their home on Monday. It became apparent that Martha had problems so John sent a messenger for the services of a doctor. It was Saturday morning before he arrived, his trip was in vain; Martha went home to be with Jesus that afternoon. A saddened group of believers gathered on the Lord’s Day, and a service was conducted by a native believer. There was no cemetery at Akidu, so it was a sad procession that moved on various conveyances the thirty miles to Narapur, where Martha’s body was lovingly laid to rest in the local cemetery near the Godavari River. John Craig, though grief stricken, stayed at his post for Christ until a furlough in 1885 when the Lord gave him a second wife to help bear his burdens. Little Mary Alice was well cared for by other missionaries and relatives until the time they could be together. Condensed by Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: pp. 180-82. [C.F: Thomas S. Shenston Teloogoo Mission Scrap Book (Brantford, Canada: expositor Book and Job Office, 1888), p. 179.]

Separate Baptists of Virginia

This Day in Baptist History Past



April 01, 1734 – Joseph Murphy was born, the twin brother of William, who would become known sneeringly as “the Murphy boys.” Both were raised in an Anglican background, and both soundly converted to Christ in the Separate Baptist movement in the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1757 and baptized by Rev. Shubal Stearns the founder of the famed Sandy Creek Baptist Church of N.C. There is a reference to Joseph in a book called A History of the Sandy Creek Association that says that he, “possessed a strong mind, a ready wit, a bold and fearless spirit…a heart filled with the love of God and man…he became a respected preacher throughout an extensive circle of churches.” He was once taken up in Virginia for preaching and carried before the magistrate, where he defended himself so expertly that his accusers retired in shame, and the magistrate bade him go about his business. After a successful ministry in Virginia he took charge of the Baptist church in Deep Creek, Currey County, N.C. where he became the leading minister in the Yadkin Association. At one point while pastoring in N.C. the vile Col. Fanning accused him of aiding the “Regulators”, a group of citizens who were trying to defend those who were being accused falsely by the authorities, although there was no evidence of such activity on his part. A detachment of dragoons entered his house, stole his papers, and a new pair of stockings which were the most valuable thing they saw. If they had found him no doubt he would have met the same fate as Benjamin Merrill which we will reveal on May 27. These Baptists were the enemies of “Mother Church.”

Condensed by Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: pp. 179-80. [George W. Purefoy, A History of the Sandy Creek Baptist Association (New York: Sheldon and Co., Publishers, 18590. p.84.]

Always Abounding in the Work of the Lord

This Day in Baptist History Past



March 31, 1939 – Helene Metzler, the daughter of Paul and Etiennette Metzler, wrote the following in her journal as she and her father took the long journey to Ft. Lamy, where she was to take the bus across the Sahara Desert to Algiers. “Well, it was no use hoping, for the bus has not arrived…” The March 30 entry read: “This afternoon, we received very sad news, telling us that our dear little Etienne went to the ‘Home for little children, up above the bright blue sky.’…but could say only ‘Have Thine own way Lord.’” Helene became a medical missionary, returned to Chad and in Nov. 1967 succumbed to cancer, the fourth child of the Metzlers to precede them in death. Paul and Etiennette Metzler had ministered for 47 years on three continents and several islands. In summary: In Africa: Chadian Churches, to French and British soldiers, a school, a dispensary and Bible translation; Bordeaux, France, Europe: civilians and soldiers from all over Europe and the USA and the Bible Institute; the U.S.: Baptist Mid-Mission reps, scores of young people volunteering for missionary service, and a burden for missions instilled in hundreds. ” In Nov. 1923, Etiennette left Bordeaux, for Africa. After a long journey in sweltering heat, she joined Paul in marriage and together they experienced perils of war, wild beasts, exhausting journeys, accidents and disease. In 1968 they attended a banquet at the White House at the invitation of Pres. and Mrs. Johnson for Chadian President Francois Tombalbaye who told Mrs.Johnson that he had been a student in their school and had awarded Paul a medal of honor for distinguished service. Condensed by Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: pp. 176-78. [Joyce Metzler Baker, Not by Might nor by Power (Scahumburg, Ill. Regular Baptist Press, 1990), p. 215.

Mass Murderer, Saved by the Grace of God!

This Day in Baptist History Past





March 29, 1828 – Ko Tha Byu was chosen to accompany Missionaries George and Dana Boardman to a new field of operation. Finally on May 16, Ko Tha Byu, the former murderer and slave, was baptized; immediately, he entered into a ministry of reaching his people for the Lord. He had been described as “one of the most effective pioneers in the Karen mission.” With great enthusiasm Ko started off for the nearby villages. His witnessing was rather limited, but his excitement in his newly found faith gave him entry. Two men followed him home to learn more in the first village. One was the brother of the chief. On the 2nd visit, ten men followed him home, including the chief himself, and on the 3rd visit there were 40 new believers who followed him home. In the days that Adoniram Judson took the gospel to Burma, The Karens were the lowest class. However, the Karen’s had an ancient legend that someday, people from across the sea would bring a long lost book written by the great Creator God. Ko was born into the Karen tribe in 1778 and from a young age he was incorrigible and ran away from home when he was 15. By his own confession he murdered or assisted in the murder of at least 30 people. At 50 years of age he decided to settle down and went to work in a print shop run by a Baptist missionary, but he plunged into a life of crime again until he found himself on the slave block because he owed 12 rupees. A Baptist believer saw him & redeemed him, took him home and contacted Judson who in turn paid the believer his rupees and took Ko to his home. In time he accepted the truth and received Christ as his savior and Lord. Condensed by Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: pp. 172-73. [Maung Shwe Wa, Burma Baptist Chronicle (Rangoon, Burma: University Press, 1963), pp.

Persecution of Massachusetts Baptists

This Day in Baptist History Past



March 28, 1665 – The First Baptist Church of Boston was founded which was the 4th Baptist church established in America. The first was by Roger Williams in 1639 in Providence, R.I., the 2nd by Dr. John Clarke in Newport, R.I. in 1639, the 3rd was the First Baptist Church of Swansea, Mass. est.1663. Two names were prominent in the founding of the Boston church, Henry Dunster and Thomas Goold. Dunster was the first President of Harvard College and one of the most eminent men in New England, and he united with the First Congregational Church in Cambridge in 1640. The terrible whipping of Obadiah Holmes brought the matter of baptism to the attention of many colonists including Dunster. He faced the matter of having his newborn son sprinkled, and after careful study came to the conclusion of believer’s immersion only. In 1654 he held a public disputation with nine leading ministers. He died before the church was founded but he laid the ground work. Thomas Goold was one of the leading men in Charlestown and of good standing in character in town and church. As a successful wagon maker, he was one of the leading property owners in the town. In 1655 a child was born to he and Hannah, and they refused to have the child christened. On July 30, 1665, he was excluded from the Congregational church for his Anabaptist leanings. He assumed the leadership of the group which formed the First Baptist Church of Boston and led them for ten years. He endured the pillaging of his home and property. He continued services in and out of prison until his health failed, but the church grew. They could not crush them. Condensed by Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: pp. 170-71. [Nathan E. Wood, The History of the First Baptist Church of Boston (Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1899), p. 26.]

Revival in the Camp!

This Day in Baptist History Past



March 26, 1803 – Littleburg W. Allen was born in Henrico County, Virginia, and was raised in County of Caroline. He was a seasoned ‘soldier of the cross’ when he became an officer in the Confederate army. Even though he was daring in battle he was also zealous to recruit souls for the glory of his Commander in Chief, Jesus Christ. He was one of those used of God to bring great revival to the Southern army. While he was a prisoner of war on Johnson’s Island, he led many men to the Savior. Elder Allen’s ministry began in 1835, and his first pastorate was in Matthews County, Va., where he preached for a season at the Walnut St. Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky. His most influential ministry was within the Goshen Baptist Assoc. of Va., as an evangelist. Two churches in particular that he pastored, being the County Line and Bethany churches in Caroline County. In that period it was almost an unwritten law that every preacher would have at least four churches, ministering one Sunday per month each. Allen’s evangelical spirit set fires of revival in the churches as he preached the gospel simply and clearly to counter Unitarianism and other heretical views that threatened the churches, and had brought Satanic onslaughts of spiritual lethargy upon many of them. He told men plainly what they must do to be saved, and he told them that they would be damned if they didn’t do it. He was about six feet tall, solid in frame, and brisk in his movement. He took one young man into the woods and told him that he was not there to fight, but that he would get a “drubbing” if he attacked him. The old soldier died at Applewood, Va. in 1872. Condensed by Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: pp. 166-67. [CF: George Braxton Taylor, Virginia Baptist Ministers, Third Series (Lynchburg, Va.: J.P. Bell Company, Inc., 1912), p. 172.]

Did Jesus Christ Address "Homosexuality?"

This is a post that I brought over from my other blog:

Some brother preachers and I got the opportunity to do some street preaching at Chattanooga’s 2nd annual “pride” event. We got the usual flak from the sodomites (well, we really didn’t expect them to roll out the red carpet), and the usual dressing down from pseudo-“Christian” passers-by; nothing unusual. What I really wanted to address is this notion that a) Jesus Christ never said anything about “homosexuality;” and b) that the New Testament doesn’t condemn “homosexuality,” (have you ever been told, by a 6’3” drag queen that the New Testament doesn’t mention “homosexuality?” It’s not a pretty sight!)

So, did the Lord Jesus Christ address the issue of sodomite relations? The short answer is "no." He did not directly address the issue, however the assertion that He never said anything pertaining to the subject belies a fundamental misunderstanding or an outright rejection of the authority of the scriptures. This "red-letter" sort of bible interpretation that puts more weight on the words that Jesus spoke while upon earth is invalid. All scripture is inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16-17) and therefore carries more authority than a voice out of heaven (2 Peter 1:16-21). In other words "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination," Leviticus 18:22 is as inspired by God as John 3:16. Furthermore, the Old Testament was written for our learning, admonition and ensample. While New Testament Christians are not under the Mosaic law, any law or command from the Old Testament that is repeated or upheld in principle in the New Testament is just as binding. So when you couple Old Testament passages such as the ones from Leviticus and Deuteronomy with a passage out of Romans or 1 Corinthians, what you have is a clear witness from God that this doctrine is binding upon all people for all time.

So while Jesus never said "Thou shalt not commit sodomy," He did define marriage, as well as condemn lust (Matthew 5:27-28), adultery and fornication (Matthew 15:18-20).

Jesus Christ is God (1 Timothy 3:16, 1 John 5:7). When God defines something, that definition is absolute and authoritative. Even in the natural realm you can't legitimately re-define something without destroying the original definition. For example: My big white van will never be a little red Corvette no matter who defines it as such.

When the Pharisees came to Jesus with a question on divorce Jesus upheld, not only the Genesis account of creation, but also the Genesis definition of marriage.

"The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." Matthew 19:3-6

So to say that Jesus had nothing to say about sodomy is to play fast and loose with the New Testament text! The bible definition is: marriage = one man + one woman + one time! Let God be true and every man a liar.(Romans 3:4)

"I See Glory!"

This Day in Baptist History Past



March 25, 1768 – William Batchelder was born into the wealthy family of Ebenezer and Susanna Batchelder in Boston, Mass. His father was a deacon in the Congregational church, but in 1781 when William was 13, both parents died within a week of each other. The estate was left to be administered by a dear friend but soon after he died and William chose to live with a relative in New Hampshire; but being appalled with their lifestyle he left to live with his wealthy grandfather who owned an ironworks. William offended some other workers when he talked to a dying man about death and eternity and left so as not to cause trouble to become a cabin boy at 15, on a salt ship to Puerto Rico. The ship was attacked by a Bermuda privateer and William showed great bravery as the crew fought them off. Then the ship was driven by a storm into the Gulf of Mexico before finally arriving at Cape Francois. William and some others looking for salt overturned a small boat, had to swim a mile and he ended up separated from the others. He found a sailor, in a hut, who he had helped years before who had been shipwrecked in Boston who helped him find his ship. The captain then got sick and just before he died turned it over to the 16 year old boy. The owners rewarded him. He studied the Bible, became an ordained Baptist preacher, married Huldah Sanborn and pastored the Baptist church in Berwick, Maine and then a much larger one in Haverhill, Mass. on Dec. 4, 1805. He did not support the Judson’s when they left as Congregationalists, but was one of their strongest when they became Baptists. He died on April 8, 1818 saying, I see Glory!

Condensed by Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: pp. 164-65. [William B. Sprague, Annals of the American Pulpit (New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1865), 6:320.]

Baptist Hymn Writers

Baptist Hymn Writers
Taken from “Tales of Baptist Daring,” 1961

When you hold our hymnbook in church and join with others in singing, you ought to know that the idea of singing hymns rather than singing only psalms first took shape in the musical soul and mind of a Baptist pastor in England.
It was Benjamin Keach who started the practice of congregational hymn-singing in English-speaking churches. Before his day, congregations droned out “The Psalms of David” in unexciting tunes sung in a slow tempo. Keach, a prolific writer, decided to do something about this. Accordingly he produced popular gospel hymns for his church congregation to sing. In 1691, he published a book of over three hundred hymns, called Spiritual Melody.

You see, when Baptists were under persecution, printed words could be dangerous to them, so they developed a technique of using verses as an aid to memory. They discovered that rhymed instruction was easy for the illiterate people in their churches to remember. Rather naturally, this practice grew into the plan of fitting their verses of rhymed doctrines to musical accompaniments. Thomas Smith, for example, wrote for his church a total of one thousand, one hundred hymns which contained a complete system of doctrine, experience, and practice. But it was Benjamin Keach who really started the plan of congregational singing. He was attacked for this supposedly heretical innovation, “carnal formalities,” they called it, and many members left his church because he insisted on encouraging the singing of hymns by the whole congregation. His idea caught fire, however, and though there was fierce doctrinal controversy, eventually all over the land people sang hymns in the churches with joy and thanksgiving.Not only did Keach’s writing get him into trouble with other church people, but also the government wanted to stop him from writing Baptist doctrine for children. He wrote a primer for children in which he taught Baptist beliefs. For this, the constables came one day to his home and arrested him.

Standing as a prisoner in the court at Aylesbury, on October 9, 1664, he held himself with dignity while Chief Justice Hyde roared at him: “Benjamin Keach, you are here convicted of writing and publishing a seditious and scandalous book; you shall go to prison for a fortnight and the next Saturday stand in a pillory for two hours from eleven o'clock until one with a paper upon your head with this inscription: ‘for writing and printing and publishing a schismatical book entitled, The Child Instructor or A New and Easy Primer,’ and the next Thursday to stand in the same manner and for that same time in the market of Winslow, and there your book shall openly be burnt before your face by the common hangman in disgrace of you and your doctrine, and you shall forfeit to the king’s majesty the sum of twenty pounds.”

However, in spite of the fact that Keach saw his books burned and that he suffered imprisonment, he continued to write the happy songs of Zion and to print his books for the children whom he loved. Through all the years since, Baptists have continued to write hymns, and some of the best-loved hymns were written by our Baptist fathers.

When at the close of the Lord’s Supper many congregations sing, “Blest Be the Tie that Binds Our Hearts in Christian Love,” they are singing a hymn written by John Fawcett, pastor of the Baptist Church at Wainsgate, England. He was a good and true pastor whom his people came to love very dearly.

In 1772, Fawcett received a call to go to a famous church in London and felt led to accept the call. After his goods were packed and he was ready to move to the big city, his people came around him with their farewells. So great was their weeping that his heart melted as he realized their great affection for him. Neither he nor his wife could endure the sadness expressed by these people as they thought of losing their pastor. Finally, under tense emotion, he said: “Well, I shall stay here. You may help me unpack my things, and we shall live for the Lord lovingly together.”

After this moving experience he wrote the beautiful lines:

Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love:
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above.
When we are called to part,
It gives us inward pain;
But we shall still be joined in heart,
And hope to meet again.

One of the great hymns which Americans have loved and which at one time was considered to be our national anthem, “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee,” was written by a Baptist pastor, Samuel Francis Smith, whose home still stands in one of the suburbs of Boston. Smith was a student in what is now Andover Newtown Theological School, where his ability to translate languages was well known. In fact, before his death at eighty-six years of age, he had mastered fifteen different languages and was about to begin the study of Russian. A traveler returning from Germany brought home many German song books and gave them to the young Smith to see whether or not some of the songs might be suitable for translation into English. In going over them Smith’s eye fell upon the tune now known as “America,” but which really was first chosen by the English for use with the words, “God Save the King.” Under sudden inspiration, Smith reached down into the wastebasket in his seminary room, pulled out a scrap of paper, and within a half-hour’s time had written the words:

My country ‘tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing:
Land where my fathers died!
Land of the pilgrims’ pride!
From every mountain side
Let freedom ring!

This hymn was first sung on the Fourth of July, 1832, in the city of Boston in the Park Street Church, located opposite Boston Common on the site which came to be known as “Brimstone Corner.” It was this same Samuel Francis Smith who wrote the hymn which moved the foreign mission society to save the Lone Star Mission in India.
Many Baptists fervently sing the hymn written by John Henry Gilmore, entitled “He Leadeth Me”:

He leadeth me: 0 blessed thought!
0 words with heavenly comfort fraught!
Whate’er I do, where’er I be,
Still ‘tis God’s hand that leadeth me.

Dr. Gilmore had just finished conducting a prayer meeting in the First Baptist Church in Philadelphia where he had spoken on the Twenty-third Psalm. When he returned to the house where he was a guest, the discussion of God’s guidance continued. Subsequently he wrote: “During the conversation the blessedness of God’s leadership so settled upon me that I took up my pencil and wrote the hymn just as it stands today, handed it to my wife and thought no more about it. She sent it without my knowledge to the Watchman and Reflector.” The hymn has remained a very popular one and has brought blessing to many thousands. Dr. Gilmore was the son of the governor of New Hampshire. He was a graduate of Brown University and of Newton Theological Institution. He wrote this hymn in 1862.

John Bunyan also was a hymn writer, but only one of his hymns has been given a place in our Baptist hymnbook. Strangely enough, the Anglican (Episcopal) Church which persecuted John Bunyan has now placed this hymn in its official hymnbook.
Bunyan’s love of singing is reflected in what he wrote in The Pilgrim’s Progress. “The pilgrim they laid in a large upper chamber, whose windows opened towards the rising sun. The name of the chamber was Peace, where he slept ‘til break of day, and then he awoke and sang.” The lines of the hymn are as follows:

He who would valiant be
‘Gainst all disaster,
Let him in constancy
Follow the Master.
There’s no discouragement
Shall make him once relent
His first avow’d intent
To be a pilgrim.

Who so beset him round
With dismal stories,
Do but themselves confound,
His strength the more is.
No foes shall stay his might,
Tho’ he with giants fight;
He will make good his right
To be a pilgrim.
Since, Lord, thou dost defend
Us with thy Spirit,
Know we at the end
Shall life inherit.
Then fancies, flee away!
I’ll fear not what men say,
I’ll labor night and day
To be a pilgrim.

Bunyan wrote his hymn originally for Valiant-for-truth in his The Pilgrim’s Progress. Before it was revised by the hymnbook editors, the first stanza read:

Who would true valour see,
Let him come hither;
One here will constant be,
Come wind, come weather;
There’s no discouragement
Shall make him once relent
His first avow’d intent
To be a pilgrim.

Baptists have not only contributed writers for the words of hymns, but also composers who have created the melodies. One of the best-known Baptist American hymn composers was William H. Doane, who as a young man joined the Baptist Church in Norwich, Conn. His love of music developed at an early age, and when he was only six years old he was often called upon to sing in public. He joined the church choir at the age of ten. He played the contrabass when he was thirteen and became an organist when he was sixteen. He composed the music for such hymns as, “Rescue the Perishing,” “Safe in the Arms of Jesus,” “Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross,” “Pass Me Not, 0 Gentle Savior,” “More Love to Thee, 0 Christ,” “Take the Name of Jesus With You,” and scores of others.

A Baptist hymn in which both the author of the words and the composer of the music were Baptists is the well-known “Saviour, Thy Dying Love Thou Gavest Me.” The author was Sylvanus D. Phelps and the composer was Robert Lowry.

Dr. Phelps was born at Suffield, Conn., and after graduation from Brown University and Yale Divinity School, he served for twenty-eight years as pastor of the First Baptist Church in New Haven. He began writing hymns during his college years and was the author of a great many poems. The hymn, “Saviour, Thy Dying Love Thou Gavest Me,” is a great favorite among Baptists, for it portrays the sacrifice of Christ as the atonement for sinners and suggests a grateful return to love and loyalty to Christ on the part of the redeemed. The closing verse is a prayer for undying devotion and a life of humble service to this crucified Lord.
But there also have been women among the Baptists who have been able writers of hymns. Many a person caught in temptation must be thankful to Mrs. Annie Sherwood Hawks who wrote the beautiful hymn, “I Need Thee Every Hour.”

I need thee every hour,
Stay thou near by;
Temptations lose their power
When thou art nigh.

Her interest in hymn writing started when she became a member of the Hanson Place Baptist Church in Brooklyn, N. Y., where Dr. Robert Lowry, the hymn composer, was then pastor. He encouraged Mrs. Hawks in her hymn writing and he wrote the music to the words of this hymn. This hymn spontaneously sprang out of her heart while she was doing her daily housework. As she moved about in the kitchen, the dining room, and the living room, she was conscious of needing Christ’s presence with her even as she engaged in routine domestic duties. The hymn promptly found wide use and has made for itself a secure place in Christian worship.

A voluminous writer of hymns and poems was Miss Anne Steele, out of whose tragic life was born the beautiful hymn:

Father, whate’er of earthly bliss
Thy sovereign will denies,
Accepted at thy throne of grace,
Let this petition rise:
Give me a calm, a thankful heart,
From every murmur free;
The blessings of thy grace impart,
And make me live to thee.
Let the sweet hope that thou art mine
My life and death attend;
Thy presence through my journey shine,
And crown my journey’s end.

She was an invalid from her childhood and at times a great sufferer. “When she was twenty-one years of age, the young man to whom she was engaged to be married was drowned while in bathing, the day before the wedding was to take place. Yet, heartbroken, she did not yield to despair but made herself a ministering spirit devoting her life to deeds of love and mercy. Many of her hymns, written to lighten her own burdens, give beautiful expressions to the sweetness of her Christian character and the depth of her Christian experience.”

Her journey’s end was crowned as she had desired. Weeping friends gathered around her deathbed and at “the happy moment of her dismission, she closed her eyes and said with dying lips, ‘I know that my Redeemer liveth.’ She gently fell asleep in Jesus.”

There are few Christians who have not been melted into a fresh sense of devotion by singing the beautiful hymn:

My Jesus, I love thee, I know thou art mine;
For thee all the follies of sin I resign;
My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art thou;
If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, ‘tis now.
This song was written by a Baptist preacher, Dr. Adoniram Judson Gordon, who was pastor of the Clarendon Street Baptist Church, Boston.

Copied from http://www.baptistpillar.com/bd0633.htm

The Laodicean Church

This Day in Baptist History Past



March 18, 2011 – The Laodicean church – a composite. It was a sad day, but few seemed to care. There would have been many tears if the deceased had suffered as a martyr, but she had died gradually from a multitude of maladies. Primarily the diseases were atrophy, apathy, and unconcern. Few were there to mourn her passing. Though martyrdom has claimed its thousands as Satan appeared as a “roaring lion,” his modern approach as an “angel of light” has destroyed its tens of thousands. The obituary read as follows: “First Community Center – alias, First Baptist Church. The formerly well-known deceased was born in revival. Her parents, Gospel Truth and Prayer, rejoiced at her birth. She grew into maturity as sons and daughters were born again and went into surrounding states and around the world as missionaries. Her grand-children in foreign lands benefited by her assistance as well. Her demise had been gradual and it took an autopsy to reveal the causes of death. The coroner discovered the following maladies. The artery that called for a proper diet of spiritual milk and meat had been clogged with entertainment. The obstruction of her prayer artery had choked the blessings of the power of God. The artery of evangelism had been clogged with disinterest. When Dr. Evangelist was called he was mocked. It was thought that a new name was needed so the name “Baptist” was dropped and a Community name adopted. It was suggested that the hymns of Zion be replaced with a modern sound, and three square meals a week have been replaced, in some instance with only one. And now they even have a Sat. eve. snack. Condensed by Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: pp. 150-52. [C.F: Vance Havner, It is Time (New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1953), p. 70.]

Robert Lowery-Baptist Pastor and Hymn Writer

This Day in Baptist History Past



March 12, 1826 – Robert Lowry was born in Philadelphia. Even though his parents were faithful Presbyterians and at 17 Robert came under conviction and was converted to Christ, his study of God’s Word caused him to be convinced of believer’s immersion. Thus, he was baptized on April 23, 1843, by Dr. George B. Ide, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia. Dr. Ide began discipling young Robert and he began helping in a Sunday school in a destitute part of the city. Believing that God had called him to preach he entered the newly formed college at Lewisburg, Penn. (now Bucknell University), and graduated in 1854, as valedictory. Following graduation he was ordained and called to pastor the First Baptist Church of West Chester, Penn. In 1861 he was called to the Bloomingdale Baptist church of New York City. The same year he went to the Hanson Place Baptist Church of Brooklyn. In time he was induced to return to Lewisburg where he accepted a professorship at the college and the pastorate of the Baptist church. After six years he retired to Plainfield, N.J. but he ended up organizing a church there. At each of these churches Dr. Lowry erected new buildings, but his greatest gift was hymn writing. He wrote “We’re Marching to Zion”, “Christ Arose”, “What Can Wash Away My Sin?” and “All the Way My Savior Leads me.” While in Brooklyn he composed his celebrated hymn “Shall We Gather at the River?” It was a hot July in 1864, a very severe epidemic was raging, many were passing over the river of death. The pastor wrote: “Yes, we’ll gather at the river, Gather at the river, That flows by the throne of God” Condensed by Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: pp. 139-40. [C.F: Lewis Edwin Theiss, Centennial History of Bucknell University 1846-1946 (Williamsport, Pa.: Grit Publish Co. Press, 19460, p. 151.]

Mexican Baptists

This Day in Baptist History Past



March 23, 1894 – Ramon A. Tolosa was born to a Roman Catholic family in El Salvador. However he was plagued with a fear concerning eternity and would often cry out to God in his distress. The Lord answered Ramon’s cries through the witness of a friend, questions were answered from the Bible until early in the morning on Feb. 5, 1916 when Ramon received Christ as Savior. On March 6 he was baptized and became a member of the First Baptist Church of Santa Ana, El Salvador. His growth in grace was rapid and the church sent him to the Baptist Theological Seminary in Saltillo, Mexico. After graduation he served as an assistant pastor in San Salvador and in Tampico. In June of 1923, he married Miss Lula Jackson and the two labored in organizing the First Baptist Church of Madero City where he was ordained on Oct. 7, 1924. In 1925 they moved to La Junta, Colorado where Ramon pastored the First Mexican Baptist Church until August of 1929. From there the Tolosas went to Michigan to work with the Mexican people in several cities which resulted in their organizing the First Mexican Baptist Church in Saginaw with forty-five charter members. By 1937 the congregation had saved $3000, the Northern Baptist Home Mission Society loaned them $3000 more and a new facility was dedicated on Dec. 12 the same year. Because of liberalism Ramon withdrew from the Convention. But due to the reversionary clause which had been written into the deed which allowed the property to revert to the denomination if sold, it was seized by the denomination. It mattered not that the loan had been repaid. Ramon died on Nov. 3, 1978.

Condensed by Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: pp. 160-61. [C.F: This Day in Baptist History II by David L. Cummins and E. Wayne Thompson 2000 Bob Jones University Press, Greenville, S.C.]

Baptist Stalwarts

This Day in Baptist History Past



March 22, 1720 – John Gill, one of the long line of pastors of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, was ordained to the gospel ministry. He was born in Nov. 1897 and died on Oct. 14, 1697, sixty-three years before Charles Haddon Spurgeon’s birth. Spurgeon was a very young man when he became pastor of this church, that under his ministry, became the largest and most renowned church in the world at that time. Others that preceded him were Benjamin Keach and Benjamin Stinton, before Gill, and John Rippon, Joseph Angus, and James Smith prior to Spurgeon. Every preacher is different, but all have stories ascribed to them that in reality happened to those that went before them. Who hasn’t heard the one about the woman who Spurgeon allowed to cut off a portion of his tie because she didn’t like it, and then suggested that he allow her to let him cut off a portion of her tongue because he had something against her? However an 1849 periodical called The Baptist Memorial relates that the exact anecdote had taken place in 1769, and Rev. John Gill was the pastor. Gill was not known for his humor, but apparently even he could enjoy a good laugh. Spurgeon had a keen sense of humor. One wrote of him, “What a bubbling fountain of humor…I have laughed more…when in his company…than during all the rest of my life…He had the most fascinating gift of laughter I ever knew in any man, and he had also the greatest ability for making all who heard him laugh with him. He was a good example of the words of Solomon: A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones [Pr 17:22].

Condensed by Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: pp. 157-59. [C.F: Enoch Hutchinson and Stephen Remington, The Baptist Memorial (New York: Z.P. Hatch, 1849, p. 30.]

This Day in Baptist History

March 21, 1820 – Adiel Sherwood was ordained to the gospel ministry, by the Bethesda Baptist Church, in Greene County, Georgia, Jesse Mercer, pastor. Adiel was born in Ft. Edward, N.Y., on Oct. 3, 1791, to Col. and Mrs. Adiel Sherwood. His father served under Gen. Geo. Washington in the Rev. War and had amassed much wealth, but his fortune was lost, and young Adiel had to work to earn his way through school, which included Union College in Schenectady, N.Y. He spent a year at Andover Theological Seminary where he met Luther Rice, the returned missionary partner of the Judson’s. Under his influence he became a part-time city missionary and field rep. for the Mass. Baptist Missions Society. In 1818, at age 27, suffering with TB, he traveled to Georgia. He became effective as an educator, itinerant preacher, revivalist/evangelist, church planter and pastor of Baptist churches. He had great ability in organization. He served as professor of Columbian College in Wash. D.C., helped found Mercer Institute, and was President of Shurtleff College in Alton, IL. But he was most outstanding in the pulpit. In 1827 in Eatonton, Georgia, revival fell and continued in the Ocmulgee Assoc. in the fall of that year, under his powerful preaching, 4,000 responded to prayer. In a year there were not less than 15,000 additions to the churches by baptism. He traveled through forty counties in GA, preaching 333 sermons while maintaining his pastoral duties. In 1865 Dr. Sherwood moved to Missouri to live out the rest of his days. He died on Aug. 19, 1879, in his eighty-eighth year. He had been preaching for almost three score and ten years. Condensed by Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: pp. 156-57. [C.F: Julia L. Sherwood, Memoir of Adiel Sherwood, D.D. (Philadelphia: Grand and Faires, 1884), p. 170.]

This Day in Baptist History

March 20, 1824 – Was the date on the letter from James Thomson stating that he expected that the entire New Testament would be translated into the Peruvian language within the course of a week. On March 1, he had written to the British and Foreign Bible Society that had sent him to Latin America, and told them that he thought it should be finished in three months. By 1826, after visiting and ministering in Ecuador and Colombia, Thomson returned to Britain to make a report of the accomplishment of those eight years. Sadly, he was never able to return to the field. Following his departure from Latin America, the Roman Catholic priesthood and the apathy of the people brought almost to naught the good work that the man of God had accomplished. Little information is known of the early years of Thomson. It is known that he was the first evangelical missionary to introduce the Bible in Latin America. He was sent by the Society that had been formed in England, by Joseph Lancaster, to establish popular schools that would use the Bible as the main textbook. Using the Bible as his basic unit of instruction, Thomson established a hundred Lancastrian schools in Buenos Aires with five thousand students before moving to Chile in 1821. Having seen this success, Argentina honored Thomson by granting him honorary citizenship, and Chile followed suit. As great as Thomson was, there was little lasting fruit of his labors because he did not leave local churches behind, in the N.T. pattern, given in the Great Commission at Mt. 28: 18-20. We must remember that the church “is the pillar and ground of the truth.”

Condensed by Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: pp. 154-56. [C.F: William Mitchell, “James Thompson and Bible Translation in the Andean Languages,” Bible Translator, July 1990, p. 341.]

Baptist Principles Promote Liberty

This Day in Baptist History

March 19, 1809 – The Buck Mountain Church; sent this greeting to Thomas Jefferson when his presidency was over. “Dear Sir, We congratulate you in your return home from your labours and painful service of eight years, now to take some hours of retirement and rest, enjoying at pleasure the company of your loving friends and neighbors…May your days be many and comfortable. In a word (may we say) we wish you health, wealth and prosperity through life, and in the world to come life everlasting.” Jefferson was the statesman of the Revolution, George Washington was the general, and Benjamin Franklin was the sage. But there is much evidence that Jefferson was greatly influenced in his ideas of a democratic form of government, by a little Baptist church, near his home in Virginia. Several sources claim that Jefferson often attended the services and saw them conduct their business in the presence of the entire congregation. Jefferson was heard to remark that in his opinion it was the only form of true democracy any place in the world. To what degree this influenced Jefferson we cannot say but undoubtedly it was not inconsiderable. In fact Dolly Madison attested later that Mr. Jefferson remarked to her that a Baptist church influenced his views on this subject. The church was the Albemarle Baptist Church, which became known as the Lewis Meeting House which was located about 11/2 miles west of the city of Charlottesville, Virginia. It was later called Buck Mountain, and finally took the name of Chestnut Grove Baptist and is the oldest church in the Albermarle Baptist Association. Republicanism is a Baptist principal.

Condensed by Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: pp. 152-54. [C.F: Edgar Woods, History of Albermarle County (Charlottesville, Va.: Michie Printing Co., 1901), p. 132.

"Saint" Patrick Was a Baptist!

Read the famous sermon "delivered to a thronged congregation at the Calvary Baptist Church of New York City by the pastor, Dr. John Summerfield Wimbish, on March 12, 1952, just a few days before the phenomenal St. Patrick's Day parade."

Listen to the not so famous sermon "The Kidnapping of Saint Patrick" delivered to a handful of people at Peaceful Valley Baptist Church on March 2nd, 2009.