history

3414) A Disappointed Monk (3/3)

      (…continued)  Martin Luther worked through his disappointment with the church by simply continuing to focus on God’s Word.  He looked past all the abuses of the church, going deeper to find what was central to the Christian faith.  He did not accept the church’s claim to have authority over God’s Word, and […]

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3413) A Disappointed Monk (2/3)

Above:  Martin Luther monument, Dresden, Germany ————-       (…continued)  Did Martin Luther find peace with God by becoming a monk?  Not at all.  Luther was an intense man, giving himself completely to his studies.  What he saw in the church’s teaching and in his own reading of the Bible was an angry and

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3412) A Disappointed Monk (1/3)

John 3:16-17–  (Jesus said), “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” ***************************************      On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther

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3365) What Hath God Wrought?

     Have you checked your cell phone lately?  Do you have a computer in your home?  Do you ever look up anything on the internet, watch television, or listen to the radio?  If so, you can thank Samuel Morse (1791-1872; pictured above), the “Father of American Telecommunications,” a Christian man who wanted to make

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3337) Ben, George, and an Interesting Speech

     Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) and George Whitefield (1714-1770) were close friends for thirty years.  It was an unlikely friendship.  Whitefield was an Englishman and Franklin was an American; and, in the later years of their friendship, America was moving toward independence, much to the dismay of England.  Whitefield was an eloquent and fiery evangelical

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3316) “Viva Cristo Rey!” (2/2)

     (…continued)  Armando Valladares, and many other prisoners in the Cuban prison on the Isle of Pines, were inspired and strengthened in their faith by another prisoner they knew only as “The Brother of Faith.”  ‘The Brother’ was a Protestant minister who, in that ‘hell on earth,’ created a community of living faith in Jesus

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3315) “Viva Cristo Rey!” (1/2)

     Thirty miles off the southwest coast of Cuba is the Isla de Pinos (Island of the Pines).  On this island is the notorious ‘Presidio Modelo’ (Model Prison, pictured above) built in the 1920’s by the president, turned dictator, Gerado Machado.  When someone asked the dictator why he had built it so big, he replied,

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3314) “I Can Plod”

     Willie was a stuttering plodder.  The only job he could get was as a shoemaker’s apprentice.  The only girl who would marry him was Dorothy, who suffered from mental illness.  But everything changed for Willie when he read a runaway bestseller.  Most who read Captain Cook’s journal were captivated by the exploits of a

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3309) Understanding Caiaphas

Caiaphas, James Tissot  (1836-1902) ——————— John 11:47-50  — The chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.  “What are we accomplishing?” they asked.  “Here is this man performing many signs.  If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away

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3301) Sin Boldly

     The Presidential Emancipation Proclamation was very important in 1863, but it had limited Constitutional authority.  It did not permanently or legally abolish slavery across the entire country.  An amendment to the Constitution was needed for that.       The Civil War was nearing an end.  The amendment had to get through Congress before the Southern

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