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One of the little known stories of 19th century missions is that of Francis Thomas McDougall. It is the story of a forceful man. Francis was born in England but spent much of his childhood and youth overseas with his military father. Growing up, Francis became interested in medicine and enrolled in the University of Malta. Later he transferred to King's College, London, and took his medical degree at London University, becoming a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1839. Continuing his education he entered Oxford. While there, he rowed on the university's winning team of eight. His physical prowess and medical training would prove valuable in his later career. He did not at first employ his medical degree but helped supervise an ironworks. He married the daughter of one of the men connected with the firm. When the works failed, he decided to take holy orders, a thing he had long contemplated. He was ordained in 1845. He was then 28 years old. For two years he held curaci...

The famous Russian novelist and Christian, Fyodor Dostoyevsky was born on this day, November 11, 1821. From earliest childhood Dostoyevsky knew the gospels and learned Bible stories from the deacon at the hospital where his father was a doctor. As he looked back in later years, he rejoiced that as a child he was brought up in a home that knew Christ, and that his mother and father had given him something holy and precious to carry him through the rest of his life. As a young man, Dostoyevsky was an activist promoting the social ideals of his day. In 1849, at age 26, he was charged with conspiracy against Tsar Nicholas' government and sentenced to death. Standing before a firing squad, he was reprieved at the last moment (the dramatic moment turned out to be an act staged as a terrifying warning), and sent to prison in Siberia for four years. On his way, a group of women gave him a New Testament which he treasured the rest of his life. The underlining in his New Testament shows that...

When the apostle Paul escaped Damascus by being lowered over the wall in a basket it was not the last time a Christian evangelist would dramatically flee from persecution. On this day, November 2, in 1533, John Calvin made a similar thrilling escape from Paris. A devout Catholic, Calvin studied law at the Universities of Orleans and Paris. He was a brilliant student, and with the Protestant Reformation in the air, he began reading Martin Luther and became a leader of the Reformation in France, at the risk of arrest, imprisonment, or even death. In 1532 Calvin wrote that "Only one ...salvation is left open for our souls, and that is the mercy of God in Christ. We are saved by grace... not by our works." Calvin became a leader of the evangelical party in Paris, often encouraging his followers with the words of Paul: "If God is for us, who can be against us?" In 1533 the newly elected head of Paris University, Nicholas Cop apparently asked Calvin to collaborate on an i...

Never mind that father had forbidden it. Father was far away. Nine year old Titus was going sledding with a friend on a frozen pond. Out onto the ice he whizzed. It broke. Titus could not find the bottom and rose to the surface, screaming for help. His friend was too frightened to attempt a rescue. Every time Titus grabbed the edge of ice, another piece broke under his weight. It seemed he must die. But at last he found a sturdy patch and his partner crept close enough to give him a hand. Thousands, including Titus himself, would have perished eternally if he had drowned that day. Eighteen years after his ice accident, Titus was converted in the religious movement known as the Second Great Awakening. A few years later, he sailed to Hawaii as a missionary, carrying the revival spirit with him. As soon as his tongue commanded the language, he declared his intention to visit every one of the 16,000 people on Hilo Island. Determined to conduct sound follow-up work and to pray intelligently...

Dwight L. Moody didn't attend school beyond the fifth grade; he couldn't spell, and his grammar was awful. His manners were often brash and crude, and he never became an ordained minister. Once, before his conversion, he so outraged an Italian shoe salesmen with a prank, that the man chased him with a sharp knife, clearly intending to kill him. Yet, Dwight L. Moody was used by God to lead thousands of people to Christ. Moody's life of Christian service began with his conversion on this day, April 21, 1855. Dwight came to Boston as a teenager from Northfield, Massachusetts, and he felt all alone in the big city. The boy was desperate for work. An uncle took him on as a shoe salesman--on condition that he be obedient and that he attend Mt. Vernon Congregational Church. The young man had been raised in a Unitarian church which denied the full divinity of Christ and did not emphasize human need for salvation from sins. Now Dwight heard about those things. But he decided that he...

November 18, 1827 Henry Alford - Author of Thanksgiving Hymn "Come Ye Thankful People Come" Dan Graves, MSL Email thisPrint thisDiscuss thisShare on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on DeliciousShare on DiggmoreOn November 18, 1827, sixteen-year-old Henry Alford wrote in his Bible: "I do this day, as in the presence of God and my own soul, renew my covenant with God, and solemnly determine henceforth to become His, and to do His work as far as in me lies." The rest of his life, this serious and holy young man showed that he meant what he said. At college, he chummed with the noblest men of his day, among them Alfred Lord Tennyson. One of the deans said, "I really think he was morally the bravest man I ever knew. His perfect purity of mind and singleness of purpose, seemed to give him a confidence and unobtrusive self-respect which never failed him." Rejecting participation in the sins that were so common among young men at Cambridge, he became an outstanding ...

When Alexander Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1970, the Soviet government would not allow him to accept the prize. He was famed as the author of a realistic tale of prison existence, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, published in 1962. This was based upon his experiences in Stalin's prison camps. When One Day was accepted for publication, Solzhenitsyn offered up this prayer: How easy it is for me to live with you, Lord! How easy for me to believe in you, When my spirit is lost, perplexed and cast down, When the sharpest can see no further than the night, And know not what on the morrow they must do You give me a sure certainty That you exist, that you are watching over me And will not permit the ways of righteousness to be closed to me. Here on the summit of earthly glory I look back astonished On the road which through depths of despair has led me here. To this point from which I can also reflect to men your radiance And all that I can still refle...

Email thisPrint thisDiscuss thisShare on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on DeliciousShare on DiggmoreThis is the date that is remembered around the world and annually recalled on the evening news as the date President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas in 1963. Far less noticed is the fact that another famous twentieth century figure also died on this date. On this day, November 22, l963 C.S. Lewis (who preferred to be called "Jack") went to be with the Lion named Aslan. To understand what that means, we must recall that Jack was one of the world's outstanding writers and a professor of English Literature at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. He succeeded in capturing the imagination of young and old with his Chronicles of Narnia. These seven books tell the story of boys and girls magically stepping through their wardrobe closet to venture into a fictional land protected by Aslan, a magnificent lion who symbolizes Christ. The stories have proved to be more than cap...

December 30, 1384 John Wycliffe on His Death Bed Diana Severance, Ph.D. edited by Dan Graves, MSL Email thisPrint thisDiscuss thisShare on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on DeliciousShare on DiggmoreWord that John Wycliffe was dying whipped like storm winds across England. Now on this day, December 30, 1384, clerics--many of them his enemies--crowded into his room at Lutterworth. If they hoped to hear some last word or a recantation from him, they were disappointed. John could not speak. Two days earlier, he had grown numb and collapsed while saying mass. When he came to from this, his second stroke, he was paralyzed and unable to speak. John was the most famous priest of his day. His learning was immense. He had been a leading scholar at Oxford and a chaplain to the King of England. More to the point, he spoke out boldly against the errors of the popes, the organizational hierarchy of the Roman Church, and the corruption of the clergy in his day. He criticized not only the organization...

Have you ever attended a frustrating meeting where nothing much seems to get done? The Hampton Court conference, held in 1604, was like that. When James VI of Scotland rode south to London on the way to the coronation that would make him James I of England, Puritans presented him with a petition, pleading for freedom from man-made rites and ceremonies in worship. Since over 1,000 leaders of these reform-minded Christians signed the petition, James could not ignore it. He called for a conference of churchmen and theologians to be held at Hampton Court, one of the royal palaces. But his attitude toward the event was signalled by the wording of the summons, "for the hearing, and for the determining, things pretended to be amiss in the Church." [our italics] The Puritans thought that the Church of England had kept too many Catholic practices. They wanted church government put in the hands of the people, rather than a heirarchy of bishops and archbishops. But the Puritans weren’t ...

Months ago, I began a journey through the works of Francis Schaeffer beginning with the book True Spirituality. I've been writing about that over at Crosswalk the Devotional. There is still time to join the journey, and I hope you will. As C.S. Lewis once said: "First-hand knowledge [of great authors] is not only more worth acquiring than second-hand knowledge, but is usually much easier and more delightful to acquire." (Quoted from his introduction in Athanasius', On the Incarnation, St. Vladimir's Seminary Press: Crestwood, New York, 1993, p. 3). In other words, you'll probably enjoy Francis Schaeffer much more than reading my devotionals on Francis Schaeffer. But it is not just your delight in reading a great man that is at stake. No. Schaeffer's message is a much-needed remedy for the low condition of joy and genuine faith that seems to plague this generation. And Schaeffer knows something about that. He once went through a long period of being a joyl...

“I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers" (Deuteronomy 18:18). In Deuteronomy 18 God promises through Moses to raise a line of godly prophets in Israel. That line would culminate in one person who would be the “prophet like me” of verse 15: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.” Verse 18 gives us the same promise in the Lord’s own words: “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.” This “prophet like you” will have four characteristics: 1. He is raised up by God (meaning that he has a divine calling). 2. He will be like Moses (thus having intimate knowledge of God). 3. He will be from among the people (an Israelite). 4. He will speak with divine authority (as a result of the preceding factors). Who could this prophet be? In Acts 3 Peter heals a crippled man in the name ...

The life of Martin Luther is one of the most fascinating stories in the history of Christianity. It has all the stuff of a good novel: parental conflict, spiritual agony, life-changing moments, near-misses, princes, popes, emperors, castles, kidnapping, mobs, revolution, massacres, politics, courage, controversy, disguises, daring escapes, humor and romance. And not only is it a good story, it marks a major turning point in western history and in Christianity. Luther at the Diet of Worms. Youth Luther's story begins in Eisleben, a small town in the region of Saxony in modern Germany. As a part of the Holy Roman Empire, 15th-century Saxony was under the political control of the Holy Roman Emperor and the religious control of the Roman pope. The Roman Catholicism into which Luther was born focused on purgatory, hell, angels, demons, sin, judgment and the saints. Jesus was depicted as an unapproachable, terrifying judge, but believers knew they could call upon the Blessed Virgin and o...

The following timeline outlines the most important events in Martin Luther's life. For more information, see Biography of Luther. 1450 Gutenberg invents movable type 1483 Luther born in Eisleben (November 10) 1484 Luther family moves to Mansfeld 1497 Luther attends school in Magdeberg 1498 Luther attends parish school in Eisenach, staying with relatives 1501 Luther begins study at University of Erfurt 1502 Receives Baccalaureate in the Liberal Arts 1505 Receives Master of Arts; plans for law school 1505 Caught in a thunderstorm, pledges to become a monk (July 2) 1505 Enters Augustinian monastery at Erfurt 1506 Takes monastic vows 1507 Ordained priest 1507 Begins study of theology at University of Erfurt 1512 Luther receives doctorate in Theology 1512 Begins work as Professor of Theology at U of Wittenburg 1514 Becomes priest of Wittenberg's City Church 1514-15 Lectures on the Psalms 1515-16 Lectures on Romans 1516-17 Lectures on Galatians 1517 October 31- Posts 95 Theses on th...

name: Martin Luther also known as: Martin Luder born: November 10, 1483 in Eisleben, Germany died: February 18, 1546 in Eisleben, Germany buried: Eisleben, Germany language: German vocation(s): Monk, priest, professor, theologian, reformer title(s): Father of the Reformation turning points: Ordination as monk (1506) Doctor of Theology (1512) Religious awakening (c. 1515) 95 Theses (October 31, 1517) Diet of Augsburg (1518) Leipzig Disputation (1519) Excommunication (January 3, 1521) Diet of Worms (April 17-18, 1521) Wartburg Castle (April 1521 - March 1522) Peasants' War (Summer 1524) Marriage to ex-nun Katerina Von Bora (June 1525) Diet of Speyer (1526) Marburg Colloquy (October 1529) Augsburg Confession (1530) Religious Peace of Nuremburg (1532) Wittenberg Concord (1536) major works: 95 Theses (1517) Freedom of a Christian (1520) The Babylonian Captivity of the Church (1520) To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation (1520) German New Testament (1522) Bondage of the Will...

"Be a sinner and sin boldly, but more strongly have faith and rejoice in Christ." --Martin Luther Portrait of Martin Luther by Lucas Cranach, 1529.Martin Luther was born in 1483 into a strict German Catholic family. His parents intended him for a law career, but he became a monk and a theology professor instead. A sensitive soul, he struggled mightily with a guilty conscience and an intense fear of God and hell until he realized the doctrine of "justification by faith" while studying the book of Romans. This doctrine, with his conviction that the Bible should be the basis of religious life and available to all, became the theological foundation of Protestantism. Luther was not the first or the only churchman to come to these conclusions, but arrived in a time of rising nationalism and, thanks to the recently-invented printing press, unprecedented written communication. With his 95 Theses against the abuses of indulgences, Luther unwittingly sparked religious and pol...

Pope John Paul II, the late bishop of Rome and head of the Roman Catholic Church, was born Karol Józef Wojtyla (voh-TEE-wah) May 18, 1920, in Wadowice, Poland. When Wojtyla ascended the papal throne in 1978, he became the first pope from a Slavic country and the first non-Italian pope in 455 years. During his pontificate, Pope John Paul II has traveled extensively, covering well over the distance traveled by all other popes combined. Pope John Paul II is best known for his outreach to those of other faiths, especially Jews and Muslims, his strong personal devotion to the Virgin Mary, and his controversially conservative teachings on personal and sexual morality. Early Life Wojtyla's mother, Emilia Kaczorowska, was convent-educated and religiously observant. She died when he was only eight years old. His father, Karol Senior, was a lieutenant in the Polish army and described as intelligent and moral. From 1920 to 1939, between the defeat of the Soviet Red Army and the German invasio...

christianity / people / pope benedict xvi Pope Benedict XVI (1927- ) His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI (officially Benedictus XVI), born Joseph Alois Ratzinger (Latin: Iosephus Ratzinger) April 16, 1927, was elected Pope of the Roman Catholic Church on April 19, 2005. As such, he is Bishop of Rome, Sovereign of the Vatican City State and head of the Roman Catholic Church. Benedict will be formally installed as pontiff during the Mass of Papal Installation on April 24, 2005. At 78 years old, he is the oldest pope elected since Pope Clement XII in 1730. He is the first German pope since Adrian VI (1522–1523), who lived in what is now the Netherlands, a conglomerate of German provinces at the time of his papacy. Benedict is the eighth German pope in history; the first was Gregory V. The last Benedict, Benedict XV, served as pontiff from 1914 to 1922, reigning during World War I. Pope Benedict XVI was appointed prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith by Pope John Paul II i...