Charles Darwin – died

ON THIS DATE  

Charles Darwin died 4/19/1882, at Down House (is this a prophetic-related name for the end of this wicked man?) London. He was born the 5^th child (of 6) to wealthy D R Darwin, MD, in a village called Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England.  Charles Robert got his middle name from his father Robert & his dad wished also that he would follow him into medicine.  When that seemed out of the question Robert wanted his son to be a minister. But Charles chose to study “nature” rather than to be associated with nature’s Great Creator.  

On 12/27/1832 Charles was on board the HMS Beagle (was this also a bit prophetic – he was ‘”going to the dogs” J) when it lauched on its 5 year round the world voyage.  His visit to the Galapagos Archipelago made the world aware of its existence & his collection of specimens gave him “evidence” for his distorted plan.  As is too often the case, we “find” that for which we were looking.

Some good people have put hope for his soul in a rumor of a death-bed conversion (I surely do not hope he is in the bad place) but the following quote is worth noting, “Often a cold shudder has run through me, and I have asked myself whether I may have not devoted myself to a phantasy.”  – Charles Darwin, Life and Letters, 1887, Vol. 2, p. 229 (endnote as quoted on Animals that Defy Evolution Part III).  

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Titanic minister – died

ON THIS DATE

John Harper died 4/14/1912, in the icy waters near the Titanic.  He was a Baptist preacher from Glasgow, Scotland who was returning to preach again at Moody Church where he had previously ministered a three month period. He & his daughter, Nana were aboard when she “struck an iceberg” about 11:40 PM.  John wrapped Nana in a blanket & handed her over to go into a lifeboat.  He handed his own life-jacket to another passenger.

A survivor clearly remembered that John shouted “Women, children & the unsaved into the lifeboats.” It was John, according to book, The Titanic’s Last Hero, who called upon the band to play “Nearer, My God, to Thee.”  He prayed on deck “with holy joy on his face.”  When the ship started lurching he jumped into the water swimming from one to another urging them to call on Jesus & be saved.

One, Aquilla Webb, told four years later how John had come near him (both floating on wreckage) asking if he was saved.  Webb said he was not to which John said “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ & thou shalt be saved.” A wave pushed John away but God allowed him be swept by Webb again & John asked “Are you saved now?” When Webb answered in the negative John repeated the verse & shortly after was claimed by hypothermia & slipped under the cold water. Webb said, “I am John Harper’s last convert.” 

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Irenaeus – died

ON THIS DATE

Irenaeus (it is thought) died 4/6/202 AD, probably at Lugdunum, Gaul (now Lyon, France).  Historians estimate his birth as 125-130.  He appears connected to Smyrna, a town near Ephesus ,located in what is now Turkey.  One of the things that rivets attention on Irenaeus is that he heard (was a student of?) Polycarp and – – – Polycarp heard (was a student of?) the Apostle John.   In a sense we might call Polycarp a “spiritual son” of John & Irenaeus a “spiritual grandson” of John.  What a linage.   

Irenaeus went west to what today is southern France (perhaps while a young man).  He seems to have been sent on a trip to Rome in 177.   Before he could return persecution took the lives of several believers including the man who had been bishop there, Pothinus.  Irenaeus became bishop in his place.  He penned the Refutation of Heresies, and Proof of the Apostolic Preaching. (As an aside, he seems to have seen the earth as a sphere.)

Irenaeus Quotes:

“Error never shows itself in its naked reality, in order not to be discovered. On the contrary, it dresses elegantly, so that the unwary may be led to believe that it is more truthful than truth itself.”

“The business of the Christian is nothing else but to be ever preparing for death.”

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Albert Pike – died

ON THIS DATE – Warning – not a positive post – we need sometimes to know about evil around us.

4/2/1891 is the death date of Albert Pike. He was born 12/15/1809, Boston, son of Benjamin & Sarah Pike. He attended Harvard, married Mary Hamilton 1834(?), & became a lawyer. In 1840 he had joined the international Order of Odd Fellows & soon became a Mason; by 1859 he was Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rites Southern Jurisdiction. The same year Harvard gave him an honorary MA.

When the war came Pike chose the rebel side & became a Brigadier-General. Some evil was done & he hid in the hills of Arkansas. After the uncivil war he was found guilty of treason & incarcerated but was pardoned by another Mason, President Andrew Johnson. Johnson became a Mason 5/5/1851 but after pardoning Pike he was soon a 33^rd degree Mason. (Sadly some 15+ presidents have been Masons.)

Pike was a member of the KKK & is said to have had direct communication with satan. Pike belonged to another devious group – the Illuminati. It was started in 5/1/1776 (think “May Day”).  By 1834 it selected the rebel Giusseppe Mazzini, a 33^rd degree Mason, to head worldwide operations & Mazzini asked Pike to head the Illuminati’s American division.

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William R Newell – died

ON THIS DATE

William Reed Newell died 4/1/1956, at Deland, FL. He was born 5/22/1868, at Savannah, OH, a town northwest of Ashland. He attended Moody Bible Institute where his young, undisciplined life began to take shape.  He returned to OH, attended & graduated from Wooster College (southeast of Ashland) in 1891.  Neither parent’s name came to light & as no wife or children are mentioned he may (?) have not married.

Following studies at both Princeton & Oberlin he took a pastorate in Chicago (Bethesda Congregational Church).  In 1895 MBI invited Newell to be their assistant superintendent under R.A. Torrey.  While here he held Bible classes & from these came his works Romans Verse-by-Verse, Hebrews Verse-by-Verse, & The Book of Revelation.  It was also at Moody that he wrote his well-known song “At Calvary.” 

“Years I spent in vanity and pride, Caring not my Lord was crucified,

Knowing not it was for me He died on Calvary.

Refrain

Mercy there was great, and grace was free; Pardon there was multiplied to me;

There my burdened soul found liberty at Calvary.”

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Asbury – died

ON THIS DATE 

Francis Asbury died 3/31/1816 at Spottsylvania, VA (south & west of Fredericksburg, VA).  He was born to Methodist parents at Hamstead Bridge, Staffordshire (suburb of Birmingham) England, 8/20/1745.  He began preaching at 16 (18?)  It seems it was his idea to which John Wesley concurred, for Asbury to be a missionary to America.  He arrived at Philadelphia 10/27/1771.  America was not to be the same.

He was appointed Wesley’s “general assistant in America” (1772).  Soon the position went to Thomas Rankin but when America revolted against England (“Revolutionary War”) Rankin left for England & Asbury stayed.  He with some help from Thomas Coke established Methodistism & it is said to have grown from 1200 to 214,000 members & 695 ordained preachers. He is with little doubt correctly called “Father of American Methodism.”  As is known, the Methodist church is the mother of the Holiness movement.

Asbury established Bethel Academy (1790) a Methodist school (first west of Alleghenies) about 3.5 from Wilmore, Kentucky. It was renamed Asbury College in 1891. John Wigger (American Saint) affirms that Asbury was “more recognized face-to-face than any other American of his day, including Thomas Jefferson & George Washington.”  He is believed to have preached more than16,000 sermons & traveled more than 270,000 miles for Christ.  He never married & (perhaps connected 🙂 ) his salary was $64 a year.

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Ray Palmer – died

ON THIS DATE

Ray Palmer died 3/29/1887, Newark, NJ.  He was born 11/12/1808, Little Compton, RI, son of Judge Thomas Palmer but grew up in Boston.  He attended Phillips Academy (Oliver Wendell Holmes was a classmate) & graduated from Yale.  After that he taught at woman’s schools & studied theology privately.

In 1834 he entered the ministry pastoring the Congregational Church, Bath, ME (1835-1850) & the First Congregational Church, Albany, NY (1850-1865).  Finally he served as Corresponding Secretary of the American Congregational Union until retirement (1878).

He published 11 books among them are Closet Hours, Hymns & Sacred Pieces, Hymns of My Holy Hours & Other Pieces, Complete Poetical Works, & he penned 38 hymns. Dr. Duffield (wrote English Hymns) expressed his regard this way, “He has written more & better hymns than any other American.” Palmer met Lowell Mason on a Boston street who asked him to write something for a new hymnal. Palmer located what is below in his old notes. Mason composed the tune & days later told Palmer, “You may live many years & do many good things but I think you will be best known to posterity as the author of “My Faith Looks Up to Thee.” Mason was right – this hymn has been translated into over 20 languages.

“My faith looks up to Thee, Thou Lamb of Calvary, Savior divine!

Now hear me while I pray, take all my guilt away, O let me from this day be wholly Thine!”

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Duncan Campbell – died

ON THIS DATE

Duncan Campbell died 3/28/1972. He was born 1898 in the Scottish Highlands, 5^th of 10 children of a stonemason & wife, genuine Christians. As a youth playing his pipes at a dance he left under Holy Ghost conviction. He quickly associated himself with Faith Mission (1913). Later he trained with & worked for them in the Highlands & Islands among his native Gaelic speakers. In ’25 he married Shona Gray.

He served with the United Free Church but disagreed with their union to the Church of Scotland & resigned. He served a church at Balintore & at Falkirk. 1949 saw him returning to Faith Mission & ministering again at Skye. In God’s timing he went to the Island of Lewis (Outer Hebrides) where two sisters in their 80’s had prayed for revival & their vision was caught by pastor & deacons who prayed in a barn for months.

Though he later headed-up The Training School for Faith Mission Campbell is remembered today for how God was able to use him in the Hebrides. He was a strong advocate of the second work of the Holy Spirit following being clearly converted.  He did not pull toward an altar but used a separate room for seekers.  After unreliable reports of events on Lewis, he published, The Lewis Awakening, an official account.

In his later years he traveled sharing the wonderful news of God’s moving.  Those travels included the US.  In the fall of ’71 Larry Grile & I took my 68 VW to an Ohio River town  & heard him speak. I strongly encourage reading: When the Mountains Flowed Down – Duncan Campbell  www.revival-library.org/catalogues/20thcentury/campbell.html  learning more about a man of prayer & modern revival.

Campbell Quotes: “Revival is a community saturated with God.”

“75% were gloriously saved before they came near a meeting…the power of God was moving.”

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Queen Elizabeth I – died

ON THIS DATE

Queen Elizabeth I of England died 3/24/1603.  This daughter of Henry VIII (& second wife, Anne Boleyn) was born 9/7/1533 at Greenwich.  She became queen (after her half-sister’s death) November 1558.  She was well educated (commanded 6 languages) & as known, never married, being called the “Virgin Queen.”

She did England the favor of making the Anglican Church the “state church” but held a short (plain) theology. She is said to have said she would not put “windows into men’s souls…there is only one Jesus Christ & all the rest is a dispute over trifles.”  This final break with Rome brought 25 attempts on her life & brought the catholic Spanish Armada.  God helped (via storm) defeat it & preserved Christian England.  

This date’s second British event is naturally the next ascension – 3/24/1603, King James VI of Scotland (1566-1625) became also James I of England.  He was next in line being a descendent of Henry VIII.  James I became the most published monarch; had he not be of royal blood he would’ve been a compliment to any university of his day.  Some vehement anti-KJV men have dropped low enough to attack the CLASSIC of all Classics by attacking James I.  Though human, his monarchy, his morals, & his marriage (1 wife – 8 children) show God allowed a descent man to preserve His Word in TODAY’S lingua franca.

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Ussher – died

ON THIS DATE 

James Ussher died 3/21/1656 at Reigate, Surrey, England.  He was born 1/4/1581, Dublin, Ireland one of two sons of Arland & Margaret (Stanihurst) Ussher.  James (13) entered Trinity College (Dublin); after receiving his BA & being ordained by Henry Ussher (an uncle) & getting his MA, James became a  professor & twice vice-chancellor of the same university.  He married Phoebe (1614) daughter of Luke Challoner; they were blessed with one child, Elizabeth – later wife of Sir Timothy Tyrrell.

Ussher became primate (1^st ranking bishop) of Ireland. However he was in England (1641) when the Civil War broke (never returned to Ireland) & held various teaching/preaching positions there. Politically, he was royallist, able to counsel Charles I, yet his genuineness showned so that Cromwell accepted him, ordered his burial to be in Westminster Abbey, & paid the funeral expenses (thought to be the only Anglican funeral service read in the Abbey during the Commonwealth period). The Puritans also respected Ussher.

Some shallow men & evolutionary men reject Ussher’s dates, perhaps ignorant of Ussher’s grasp of Semitic languages, or who haven’t read his Annals of the World or are men influenced by the Roman Catholic system he opposed. “The religion of the papists is superstitious & idolatrous; their faith & doctrine erroneous & heretical…to give them therefore a toleration, or to consent that they may freely exercise their religion, & profess their faith & doctrine, is a grievous sin.”

A stone erected in his memory at Trinity U. (1904) claims him to be,

“…most learned among the holy, most holy among the learned…” 

What a compliment from those who knew him better than modern critics!

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