(see below for details)
Adapted, adopted, and used by permission from the Christian History Institute. You can enjoy their other writings at https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/subscribe and https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/today.
1550
Death in Grenada of John of God on his fifty-fifth birthday, having contracted pneumonia through plunging into an icy stream to rescue a youth. Impulsive and tenderhearted he had operated a hospital for the homeless and insane which he supported through hard work and begging.
Authority for the date: Standard encyclopedias.
1551
Genevan authorities admonish Hierosme Hermes Bolsec for meddling in theology, but Bolsec now and later argues that men are not saved because they are elected but are elected because they have faith. Eventually he is expelled from Geneva and writes unflattering biographies of Reformation leaders Calvin and Beza.
Authority for the date: Schaff, Philip. History of the Christian Church.
1740
In Nottingham, Pennsylvania, colonial evangelist Gilbert Tennent preaches his famous sermon, “The Danger of An Unconverted Ministry.” His message deplores placing men in pulpits who are not themselves converted to new life in Christ. “Is a dead man fit to bring others to life?”
Authority for the date: Printed sermon’s title page.
1782
Over a period of two days a group of Pennsylvania militiamen under the command of Captain David Williamson attack peaceable Indians of the Moravian mission at Gnadenhütten in retaliation for the deaths and kidnappings of several Pennsylvanians by other Indians, murdering twenty-eight men, twenty-nine women, and thirty-nine children.
Authority for the date: Standard encyclopedias.
1839
Overcoming difficulties, such as two stout Hindu bodyguards set to prevent him from visiting Christians, Mahendra Lal Basak leaves his father’s home in Calcutta determined to forsake idolatry and pursue Christ. He is baptized this day and will become a Christian minister and educator, but will die of cholera within six years.
Authority for the date: Oriental Christian Biography.
1892
Death in England of Methodist missionary James Calvert, a pioneer in the Fiji mission.
Authority for the date: Australian Dictionary of Biography.
1921
The Evangelical Lutheran Immanuel Synod and the German-Scandinavian Synod of Queensland, Australia, merge with the General Synod at Ebenezer, South Australia, forming the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Australia.
Authority for the date: www.lutheranhistory.org.
1948
In McCollum v. Board of Education, Justice Hugo Black hands down a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that religious education in public schools is a violatation of the First Amendment of the Constitution. The court rules that allowing children “release time,” even with parental consent, to receive religious instruction during school hours on school property is a violation of the separation of church and state.
Authority for the date: McCollum v. Board of Education, 333 U.S. 203 (1948).
1960
Death of the Orthodox archbishop Vitaly Maximenko of the North American diocese. Born in Russia he had endured many hard knocks as a young orphan and obtained a reputation as a rebel. However, he so proved himself on every job he undertook that he was delegated tasks of great responsibility and built up two major religious printing houses as well as laboring with minimal rest to evangelize and build up his church. In America he strove to reunify expatriated Orthodox groups.
Authority for the date: http://www.roca.org/OA/98-99/98f.htm
2009
Angered at Christian conversions of Hindus, Rajesh Singh tosses a bomb into a House of Prayer church in Buhar state, India, and then shoots pastor Vinod Kumar, who will survive.
Authority for the date: Persecuted: the global assault on Christians.
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