I want an ultramodern home
And in each room a telephone.
Soft carpets, too, upon the floors,
And pretty drapes to grace the doors.

I want my wardrobe, too, to be
Of neatest, finest quality,
With latest style in suit and vent:
Why should not Christians have the best?

But then the Master I can hear
In no uncertain voice, so clear:
"I bid you come and follow Me,
The lowly Man of Galilee."

If he be God, and died for me,
No sacrifice too great can be
For me, a mortal man to make;
I'll do it all for Jesus' sake.

Yes, I will tread the path he trod,
No other way to please my God;
So henceforth, this my choice shall be,
My choice for all eternity.

1976 -. The Baptist church in Plains, Georgia where Presidential candidate Jimmy Carter was a member voted to drop the ban on church attendance by blacks.

1630 - Death of Johann Kepler - considered by some to be the founder of physical astronomy. Utilizing the telescope that had been designed by Galileo, he discovered the laws of planetary motion. He is credited with saying that his research was merely "thinking God's thoughts after Him".

1731 - Birth of William Cowper in England. He was a gifted poet who wrote words for hymns including GOD MOVES IN A MYSTERIOUS WAY and THERE IS A FOUNTAIN FILLED WITH BLOOD DRAWN FROM IMMANEUL'S VEINS.

1738 - birth of William Hershel, credited with the discovery of the planet, Uranus. He built the greatest reflecting telescope of his day and considered the heavens to reflect the Glory of God.

1917 - Death of Oswald Chambers, a Christian minister best known to our generation for his book MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST.

1912 - Birth of Jacob Deshazzer in Salem, Oregon to devout Christian parents. When WWII broke out he received training as a mechanic and bombardier. He flew with James Doolittle in the famous bombing raid on Tokyo in April, l942. He was shot down and captured and spent the next three years as a POW of the Japanese - starved and mistreated - yet in reading the Bible in solitary confinement, Deshazzer came to faith in Christ. After the war, he returned to Japan as a missionary.

1538 - John Lambert, a Protestant, was tried and condemned to death by English King Henry the 8th over Lambert's denial of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Lambert was burned at Smithfield, England.

1803 - Birth of Heinrich G. A. Ewald, a theologian trained in languages. His Hebrew grammar marked new progress in Biblical philology.

1887 - Birth of Philip Frohman in New York City - architect of the National Cathedral in Washington, D. C.

1886 - A significant conference of leaders of several denominations met in Chicago for seven days to discuss and present important prophetic viewpoints. The secretary was Evangelist George C. Needham of Clarendon Street Baptist Church in Boston. Among the resolutions affirmed on the last day of the conference was - absolute authority of the Word of God, the literal fulfillment of prophetic declarations about Christ's 2nd coming. The world will not be converted before Christ's coming but the rule of worldwide peace will result from His return and the doctrine of the return of Christ should be a motivator to service and sacrifice.

680 - Death of Hilda, founder and abbess of Whitgny, England. She was daughter of the King of Northumbria and was converted in 627 through the preaching of a man named Paulinus.

1558 - Death of Mary Tudor, daughter of King Henry 8th that broke England off from the Papacy. She assumed the throne at the death of Edward 6th and as a devout Catholic became known as "Bloody Mary" due to the may who died for their non-catholic faith during her reign.

1558 - Death of Reginald Pole, who served under Mary Tudor and attempted to deliver England back to Papal control. He was a cardinal and in Will Durant's THE STORY OF CIVILIZATON - THE REFORMATION he states that "nowhere in contemporary Christendom - not even Spain - were so many men and women burned for their opinions as during Reginald Pole's primacy of the Eng. Church.

1558 - The accession of Elizabeth 1st as Queen of England following Mary Tudor's death. Elizabeth was a remarkable woman of fortitude, courage and leadership - we get the words "Elizabethan English" from her reign. Under her reign would be the destruction of the famed Spanish Armada and the rise of British power. She was nominally Protestant and did exercise some persecution of non-conformist in England.

1845 - Date Frederick W. Faber was received into the Catholic Church. He had been raised a Calvinist but was influenced by John Newman. He became a hymn writer giving us hymns such as FAITH OF OUR FATHERS.

1847 - Birth of Burnett H. Streeter in Croydon, England. He was a theologian and biblical scholar who made contributions to the knowledge of the origins of the gospels as well as to manuscript evidence.

1095 - The Council of Claremont in France was convened by order of Pope Urban 2nd to plan the First Crusade to recover Jerusalem and Antioch from the Moslems. To assure this action by European Catholics, a full indulgence (remission of all penance for sin) was promised to all who participated in this mission. Further it ordered that no meat be eaten from Ash Wednesday to Easter.

1302 - Pope Boniface 8th issued the papal bull, called UNUM SANCTAM declaring there was "one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church" outside of which there was no salvation nor remission of sin. It claimed that civil power must be subjected to spiritual power. This is one of the most audacious claims made in history and has no basis in scripture. Christ and the church are synonymous - which is a rash and irresponsible grasp of power by the Roman papal system. Acts 4:12 says that neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. But that is speaking of Christ, not the church!

1647 - Birth of Pierre Bayle a Protestant critic and philosopher. He called for universal toleration of religions. His writings were popular among the 18th century age of Enlightenment.

1800 - Birth of John N. Darby in London. He was a remarkable man of talents related to teaching scripture. He was the first strong voice for what has been called "dispensationalism" where he carefully distinguished between the promises and warnings to Israel and doctrines of the New Testament church. He was a tireless evangelist and expositor in British Isles and North America. He would influence those who would produce the Schofield Reference Study Bible that has taught so many dispensationalist.

1672 - Richard Baxter, the gifted Puritan preacher, recorded in his diary that he preached legally for the first time in ten years. He was one of 2,000 other non-conformist ministers that had been evicted from their ministries after the restoration of King Charles 2nd to British throne. Baxter would die in 1691 at the age of 76.

1862 - Birth of William A. Sunday in Ames, Iowa. Known as Billy Sunday as a professional baseball player (1883-1890). He began ministry with J. Wilbur Chapman and on his own as an evangelist. It is said that his New York City campaign drew 1.4 million people in attendance during 10 weeks.

1863 - The date of the actual Gettysburg Address by President Abraham Lincoln. It was part of the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery for the casualties of the Civil War. Initially, Lincoln's speech was not received well, even criticized.

1921 - Birth of Peter S. Ruckman in Kansas. He would become an evangelist, author, professor, pastor and artist. Converted from Catholicism in 1949 in Pensacola while a radio announcer, he would become a bold messenger of God's grace found in Christ. Known as a leader in the "King James Only" advocates, he has preached thousands of sermons in jails, prisons, street corners, hospitals, rest homes and many other public places often using chalk artistry to illustrate his message. He is founder and president of the Pensacola Bible Institute. At age 81, he tirelessly continues to proclaim God's Word.

1657 - Death of Manassah Ben Israel, a Jewish theologian from Holland. He went to England in 1655 to petition the Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell and the English Parliament to abolish legislation that forbid Jews from coming to England.

1660 - Birth of Daniel E. Jablonski, a German reformer born near Danzig. Served as a bishop in the Moravian church from 1699-1741.

1741 - Birth of Samuel Kirkland in Norwich, Connecticut and became a missionary to the Oneida Indians. He was influential in keeping the 6 Nations neutral in the American Revolution. Founded what would become Hamilton College.

1759 - Date that the slave ship. THE SWIFT was boarded by the sailors on the ship, THE ARUNDEL whose captain was a Christian, named Charles Middleton. Middleton sent a young Christian doctor named, James Ramsey with the boarding crew. He discovered indescribable filth that the slaves were being held in below deck. Ramsey would begin pasturing on a West Indies Island and an outspoken voice against slavery. Many years later Ramsey & Middleton would work together again in England to abolish slavery. They found a skilled supporter in William Wilberforce.

1871 - Birth of Charles Weigle, a vocalist and evangelist who wrote the song, NO ONE EVER CARED FOR ME LIKE JUSUS.

1840 - Date of the ordination of David Livingstone, one of England's most famous missionary explorers. His ordination took place at Albion Chapel in Finsbury, England with a non-conformist group of Congregationalists. He went on to serve with the London Missionary Society in Africa sailing from London in December of 1840. Later, his fame as an explorer may only be compared with that afforded the first man to walk on the moon according to his biographer, Tim Jeal.

1495 - Birth in Cove, England of John Bale, a religious playwright and clergyman. Best-known play is 'KING JOHN'.

1620 - The Puritans, seeking religious freedom in the new colonies, signed the MAYFLOWER COMPACT. This group would later be called the PILGRIMS. Quote from "A Place for Habitation" page 225. "By the Mayflower Pact they formed themselves by voluntary agreement into a 'civil body politic', a sufficiently remarkable achievement. They firmly established the rule of law and in 1636 they drew up what amounted to a Bill of Rights in a code of law; they instituted civil marriage and land records; they ruled that land should descend to all children of a marriage and not wholly to the eldest son; they separated Church and State and they extended open discussion at their church meetings to their town meetings. All these were seeds which others ripened in their own good time."

1768 - Birth of Freidrich Schleiermacher in Breslau, Germany. His influence over 19th & 20th century Protestants has been significant. He was a religious liberal who rejected the accuracy and authority of scripture, instead emphasizing feelings and emotion. Referred to Jesus as the Ideal Man.

1963 - The Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church approved the use of vernacular languages in administering sacraments. Many older Roman Catholics considered this confusing, as they were accustomed to the Latin Rite of the Mass.

1964 - Pope Paul 6th closed the 3rd session of the Ecumenical Council conferring upon Mary the title, MOTHER OF THE CHURCH.

1873 - The ship VILLE DU HAVRE and the LOCHERN collided with each other far out in the Atlantic Ocean. On board were the wife and four daughters of a Chicago Christian lawyer named Horatio Spafford. They had survived the great Chicago fire earlier and the girls were going to England to attend a boarding school. 226 drowned that night, including the four girls. Mrs. Spafford barely survived. When she landed in Wales, she cabled her husband, SAVED ALONE. He immediately booked passage on another ship and during the voyage wrote the words to the hymn IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL.

1963 - Death of President John Kennedy, assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Kennedy was a photogenic President with a fairy-tale marriage and position. History has represented him also as a womanizer and expensive politician. Eclipsed by Kennedy's death was that of C. S. Lewis, the talented British Christian writer of such as THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS and the CHRONICLES OF NARNIA. The first tale of the CHRONICLES is that of THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE.

1936 - Birth of Robert C. Gray, one time pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida and influential leader in the independent Baptist of the south. Gray is now doing evangelist work with the International Board of Jewish Missions.

615 - Death of Columbanus, Irish missionary and founder of a monastic order. Sent monks outside of the cloister to do pastoral work.

1585 - Death of Thomas Tallis, English composer and organist. Sometimes called the father of English Church music due to him being one of the first to compose settings for Anglican Services.

1654 - Date of the conversion of Blaise Pascal, a French scientist, mathematician and philosopher. His conversion was through the reading of John 17.

1873 - Evangelist D. L. Moody, joined by vocalist Ira Sankey, began an evangelistic outreach in Edinburgh, Scotland. Moody had seen great success in America and would see the same in the British Isles. Once when a reporter criticized Moody for his poor English and unpolished messages from the scripture, Moody pointed to his tongue and said, "The Lord would rather us to do the right thing wrongly than to do the wrong thing rightly."

1531 - Death of Johannes Oecolampadius, a German theological leader at the age of 49. In the dispute between Zwingli and Luther on the Lord's Supper, Oecolampadius took Zwingli's position that Christ is not present in the Lord's Supper. He also helped Erasmus edit the Greek New Testament.

1572 - Death of John Knox, famous leader of the Scottish Reformation. He fled Scotland after Mary Tudor came to the British throne, but returned in 1559. He was known as a bold preacher who called for the scriptures to be honored and obeyed by both great and small.

1713 - Birth of Junipero Serra, who would become a Franciscan missionary and set up the mission at San Diego in 1769, referred to by some as the "apostle to California".

1771 - Francis Asbury began his preaching career as an English Wesleyan missionary traveling through Westchester Co. (New York) by horseback.

1848 - Birth of James McClure in Albany, New York. Became a Presbyterian Theologian and President of the Presbyterian Theological Seminary from 1905-1928.

1277 - Giovanni Orsini became Pope Nicholas 3rd. In VICARS OF CHRIST, THE DARK SIDE OF THE PAPACY, Peter DeRose says that Nicholas 3rd amassed a fortune from the money paid due to confiscation of the property of so-called heretics during a period of the inquisition.

1697 - Birth of Garhard Torsteegan, German mystic and hymn writer; considered to be on the most important of several hymn writers in the German Reformed Church.

1742 - The Scottish Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge approved David Brainerd as a missionary to American Indians. His labor would take him to eastern Pennsylvania where by 1746 he had 130 adult converts. Sick and incapacitated at the home of Jonathan Edwards, Brainerd died less than 30 years old. His 'JOURNALS' would prove to challenge many generations after him to sacrificial service for Christ.

1778 - Birth of William Jenks in Newton, Massachusetts. He did pioneer missionary work among seamen and founded several chapels and churches.

1787 - Birth of Franz Gruber, German organist and composer - wrote music for SILENT NIGHT.

1880 - Birth of John Flynn in Australia. He would serve as a Presbyterian missionary to inland Australia.

1881 - Birth of Angelo Roncalli, he would be named POPE JOHN 23rd in 1958. In March 1963 he set up the commission of cardinals to revise Canon Law as well as summoning an ecumenical council. He was not the first Pope John 23rd as there was a schismatic pope serving from 1410 until 1415.

1862 - date that President Abraham Lincoln met Harriet B. Stowe, author of UNCLE TOM'S CABIN, the story of the Underground Railroad for escaping slaves before the Civil War. Lincoln is said to have remarked, "So you're the little woman who wrote the book that made this Great War."

1879 - Day of the first national Thanksgiving by Canada. This original thanksgiving came in 1621 by order of Wm. Bradford and the Pilgrims at Massachusetts Bay Colony. This was followed by President Lincoln's order in 1863.

1827 - Birth of Ellen G. White in Gorham, Maine. The most influential of leaders in the 7th Day Adventist Church. She made claim to numerous "open" visions, including that on April 7, 1847 she was taken into the Holy of Holies in heaven by Jesus himself. Adventist attributes to her the gift of prophecy - she taught part of what Adventists refer to as "the investigative judgment".

1858 - Birth of Katherine Drexel in Philadelphia. As a philanthropist, she established the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People and founded Xavier University here in New Orleans.

1936 - Death of Leon Levison, who had been born in Safed, near Lake Tiberias in Palestine. As a youth his studies brought him in contact with missionaries of the Free Church of Scotland who operated a school. They taught him English and about Jesus Christ. But due to persecution, Leon kept his studies of the Christian faith secret. He traveled to Scotland and there was converted and baptized. He rose to leadership and worked hard to assist Jews in Russia and was knighted in England in 1919. He authored several books including one called THE LIFE OF PAUL and labored to evangelize his Jewish kinsmen. He was 54 years old at death.

1787 - Birth of Andrew Reed, Congregational hymn writer, born in London. Wrote SPIRIT DIVINE, ATTEND OUR PRAYERS.

1803 - Birth of Christian Andreas Herman Kalkar, born in Stockholm, Sweden. As a Jew, his father was a rabbi and his uncle a well-known and respected Talmudist and poet. At 9 years old, Kalkar's father died and he was sent to Copenhagen to live and received education. This move placed him in contact with numerous Christians giving him cause to consider the Christian faith. At 20 years of age he was converted and baptized. He authored several books and labored to carry the gospel. In 1871 he was elected president of the Danish Missionary Society. His attempts to resolve conflicts between Protestant groups in Sweden brought him to become friends with the Queen of Sweden.

1862 - Birth of Adelaide Pollard, author of the hymn, HAVE THINE OWN WAY, LORD.

1874 - Birth in Motol, Russia - Chaim Weizmann a leader in the Zionist movement in Europe. His skills as a chemist led him to discover a way to produce acetone, desperately needed by Britain. With this success, Weizmann was able to influence Britain to support the Balfour Declaration supporting a homeland in Palestine for the Jewish people. Weizmann was the first president of Israel '48'-52.

1945 - Date of the return of missionary Ernest Prestwood to Borneo where he had labored with the gospel since 1930 except for 5 years from 1940 due to WW2. His ministry took him up and down the hills and woods of the rain forest often ill with disease and ulcerations on his legs. He would die in a rafting accident only 3 months after his return.

1628 - Birth of John Bunyan, near Bedford in England. He served in the army and was converted and soon was imprisoned by illegal preaching. He is best known for his books, PILGRIM'S PROGRESS, THE HOLY WAR and GRACE ABOUNDING TO THE CHIEF OF SINNERS. He proved to be a master of allegory. Theologically, he was a Puritan who held a Calvinist view of Grace, but was a separatist in his views of baptism and the church.

1666 - Date of the arrest of Hugh McKail, a Scotsman's who proclaimed the truth of the Reformation. He was tortured by crushing one of his legs in a vain attempt to get him to recant his theology. Following the torture, he was placed in a dismal dungeon but his faith encouraged him. Shortly afterward he was sentenced to be hung. The day of his execution, he dragged himself up the scaffold and read from his small New Testament he kept in his pocket. The scripture was from the last Chapter of Revelation. Soon afterward he was hung.

1757 - Birth of William Blake, an English poet and sculptor. He is best known for his SONGS OF INNOCENCE of 1789. He wrote as a Romantic idealist and therefore was not orthodox in doctrine. His beliefs about Christ are not scriptural and he connected forgiveness of sin with an act of love.

1845 - Death of Michael Solomon Alexander, Bishop of Jerusalem in the Episcopal Church. He was converted from Judaism after his birth in Poland. He worked tirelessly to reach his people, the Jews of the Middle East.

1863 - Date of the first annual Thanksgiving Day by order of President Abraham Lincoln.

1530 - Death of Thomas Wolsey, one-time chancellor of England. He fell from favor when he failed to get papal approval of the divorce of Henry 8th from Catherine of Aragon. He was a pompous man and extravagant.

1661 - Death of Brian Walton, a Bible scholar who produced the Polyglot Bible translation.

1727 - Birth in North Haven, Connecticut of Ezra Stiles, a Congregational minister and educator. Once President of Yale College and considered by many to be the most leaned man of his era.

1812 - Death of Horace Greely, famous newspaperman, founder of the New York Tribune paper. He is known for allegedly saying 'GO WEST YOUNG MAN' - which was actually said by L.B. Soule and disclaimed by Greely. But Greely did say, "IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO MENTALLY AND SOCIALLY ENSLAVE A BIBLE-READING PEOPLE."

1847 - Death of Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, missionaries to Indians in Oregon. Killed by Cayuse Indians along with 10 others.

1898 - Birth of Clives Staples Lewis or C. S. Lewis - noted British author whose fictional work has touched many.

1915 - Birth of Clyde Dennis, founder of the GOOD NEWS PUBLISHER-producer of Gospel tracts and films.

1406 - Date that Angelo Carrario was elected Pope Gregory the 12th. He had been elected by the Cardinals in opposition to Benedict 13 the anti-pope in Avignon, France. The Council of Pisa deposed both men in 1409, but Gregory would not abdicate the office until the Council of Constance.

1594 - Birth of John Cosin in Norwich, England. Revised the English Book of Common Prayer in 1661. Used the Militia to suppress the non-conformists into attending Anglican services.

1628 - Date of the christening of John Bunyan, noted English preacher and author. Noted for his book, THE PILGIM'S PROGRESS that had great impact on English Life.

1864 - Date that John Clough and his wife sailed from Boston under the Baptist Foreign Mission Board to serve as missionaries in Telugu, India where previous investment of 17 years of Christian work had yielded no visible converts. He went on to see many come to Christ.

1884 - Birth of Daniel Poling in Portland, Oregon. He conducted a nation wide weekly radio program in the 1920's and was editor of the CHRISTIAN HERALD magazine for 40 years.

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