164 – June 13 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

 

Beheaded for Christ

 

On June 13th 1560, Hans Mandemaker, Pastor: together with, Deacon: and Eustachius Kuter. were condemned to death. At the passing of the sentence, a great number of people were present as they addressed the judges of the court and the jury, proving to them that the sentence, in the presence of God, passed upon innocent men, would rise up in judgment against them to their condemnation for having condemned innocent blood. When they replied that they were obliged to judge according to the emperor’s command and proclamation, Hans Mandemaker said, “O ye blind judges! You are to judge according to your own heart and conscience, as you will have to answer for it in the presence of God. If then you judge and pass sentence, according to the emperor’s proclamation, how will you answer before God?”

 

They all spake with boldness and exhorted the people to repent, to forsake their sins, and to tread the path of truth; it was the truth for which this day they would suffer. Their crime: they did not believe that the holy body of Jesus Christ was in the sacrament but they observed the Lord’s Supper in the same manner that Christ kept it with His disciples, and that they did not approve of infant baptism.

 

Kuter was first beheaded, after which Juriaen Raek stepped cheerfully forward to the executioner and said, “Here I leave wife and child, house and goods, body and life, for the sake and truth of God.”

 

Dr. Dale R. Hart: From: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I. (Thompson/Cummins) p. 243.

 

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87 – March – 28 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

John Jasper
A Slave who was free
1901 – On this day, the “Onesimus of Colonial America”, John Jasper, went to be with the Lord Jesus, whom he loved with all of his heart.  John was a black man, born into slavery on July 4, 1812, and though never able to attend school, used his God given gift of oratory to see multitudes, both black and white, brought to eternal salvation.  His father, a slave Baptist preacher, died before John was born, but his Mother, Tina, dedicated him to the Lord with this prayer, “Lord, if dis chile you’s sendin’ me is a boy, doan’ let him do nuthin’ else but sing de praises of Jesus!”  His mother’s prayers brought him to conviction and his testimony was, “I was seekin’ God six weeks – jes’ cause I was sich a fool I couldn’t see de way.”  On July 25, 1839, John was gloriously saved at the tobacco stemmery where he worked for “Mars’ Sam – Mr. Sam Hardgrove, the owner of the stemmery and a deacon at the First Baptist Church of Richmond, Virginia.  He had belonged to the Widow Mary Belle Peachy, but upon her death, her son John sold him to Mr. Hardgrove.  Jasper’s love for Mars’ Sam and Dr. William Hatcher, a local Baptist pastor was beyond question and Mr. Hardgrove allowed John time off to preach whenever he wished.  Almost immediately after his conversion he began to preach the funeral of slaves, and God’s power was evident upon him.  It wasn’t long until both whites and blacks were flocking to his orations.  He became used in pulpits and open air meetings all over.  After Praying to learn to read, another slave, William Johnson, labored for seven months with a tattered copy of the New York Speller and John became an avid Bible reader.  John Jasper founded the 6th Mount Zion Baptist Church which had two-thousand members when he died.
Dr. Greg J. Dixon, from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins/Thompson /, pp. 126.
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75 – March – 16 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

First white woman to see Japan
1907 – Lucy Ann (St. John) Knowlton, the first white woman to see Japan died on this day.  Few in the little white frame building that housed the First Baptist Church of Napoleon, Michigan would have ever though that one of theirs would have such honor.  Lucy was the daughter of a deacon who married Miles J. Knowlton, a missionary to China, and saw the land of the “Rising Sun” as they were bound for that land, having sailed for Ningpo, China on Dec. 10, 1853.  The Knowlton’s arrived in China as the civil war was raging in that country and it lasted for many years.  Knowlton’s efforts in evangelism met with great success over the twenty-one years that they spent in Ningpo.  However, as the war swept into their area, Mrs. Knowlton saw things that literally shocked her to the point that her health collapsed and they had to return to America for restoration.  In two years her health was improved and they were able to return and they enjoyed a blessed spiritual harvest.  At the conclusion of fifteen years, and Lucy’s health deteriorating again they took another two year furlough in the States.  It was his only furlough and during this time he lectured in several colleges and seminaries where he also received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree.  He was also able to preach in his home church in Vermont where he saw the joy of seeing converts baptized.  In 1872 the Knowlton’s sailed again for Ningpo from San Francisco and this time it was only a trip of four weeks since they didn’t have to sail around the Cape Horn.  However, after two years Dr. Knowlton died of exhaustion.    Lucy lived on for twenty more years and was invited often to speak to ladies groups concerning the challenges of China.  She went to be with her Lord from their daughter’s home in Chicago.
Dr. Greg J. Dixon, from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins/Thompson /, pp. 107.
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337 – Dec. 03 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

Baptists preceded the Reformation

 

1847 – Thomas Rees Davies, the Welsh Baptist pastor, known as “Old Black Cap”, because he wore a velvet cap in the pulpit, provided a great verbal description of himself in a letter he wrote to a deacon in London, who was to meet him at the train. He wrote, “At Euston Station…about nine in the evening, expect the arrival of a gray-haired old man; very tall, like the ancient Britons, and without an outward blemish, but a Jewish high-priest. Like Elijah, he will wear a mantle, not shaggy, but superfine, and like Jacob, he will have a staff in his hand, but will not be lame, it is hoped. But most especially, he will have a white string in his hat, fastened to his coat button. There will be many there with black strings, but his will be white. Let the friend ask, ‘Are you Davies?’ and his answer will be, ‘Yes.’” Baptists in Wales preceded the Reformation. The Venerable Bede (673-735) wrote, in his work, that Welshmen followed the Bible only and opposed the superstitions of Rome. It is clear that there were those who held Baptist convictions in Wales at the beginning of the seventeenth century. The first Baptist church in Wales after the Reformation was formed at Ilston, near Swansea, in Glamorganshire, in 1649. Wales has also had a great influence in America by sending entire congregations to our shores. Christmas Evans was one of the greatest of their preachers, so named, because he was born on Christmas day. When Davies started his last preaching tour and sensed that his days were few he said that he wanted to be buried in the same grave with Evans. He preached on July 22, 1859, died on Sunday the 24th, and was buried in Evans tomb.
[This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: Greenville, S.C. 2000 A.D. pp. 661-62. Thomas Armitage, A History of the Baptists (New York: Bryan, Taylor, and Co., 1887), pp. 599-600.]
Prepared by Dr. Greg J. Dixon

 

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255 – Sept. 12 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

Shanghai – 1850

 

Forty-two Fruitful years in China

 

1847 – Matthew T. Yates and his wife Eliza, his childhood sweetheart who he had married on Sept. 27, 1846, arrived in the Shanghai harbor for a most fruitful forty-two year ministry in China. Matthew’s father and mother were active in a Baptist church in N.C. where his father William was a deacon. The Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church had sponsored a tent meeting where Matthew attended and fell under great conviction for his sin. The young man went into the woods to pray and was soundly converted and then was baptized and became a member of the
Mt. Pisgah Church. Matthew soon discovered a great desire for prayer, and established a place of solitude in the woods where he sought the presence of the Lord regularly for prayer. The love of Matthew and Eliza sustained them as they served their Lord through the Taiping Rebellion, the Civil War in America, typhoons, the cholera epidemics, and their own many illnesses. [Wm. R. Estep, Whole Gospel-Whole World (Nashville: Broadman & Holmn Publishers, 1995), p. 103.This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: Greenville, S.C. 2000 A.D. pp. 499-501.]                             Prepared by Dr. Greg J. Dixon

 

 

214 – August 02 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

Bunhill Fields Burial Grounds

 

1821 – William Dutton died and was buried in Bunhill Fields, the burial ground of the dissenters in London, England.  He grew up under the ministry of Dr. John Gill where his father was a deacon.  He was ordained on July 7, 1775 and became the pastor of the Baptist chapel in Dean Street where his ministry was greatly blessed of the Lord. (Alfred W. Light, Bunhill Fields (London: C.J. Farncombe and Sons, Ltd. 1913, pp. 92-93.}  Prepared by Dr. Greg Dixon

 

 

36 – Feb. 05 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

A Diligent Soul-Winner
From the day he came to know Christ as Savior, Bernard H. Frey, Bernie, as he was affectionately called, felt compelled to share the Gospel with an intense love of witnessing.
Following his conversion, Bernie and two other men organized the Calvary Baptist Church in his hometown of Rushmore, Minnesota.   He taught the men’s Sunday school class, ministered as Sunday school superintendent, served as a deacon, and led the way as a soul-Winner.   More than twenty men went into the ministry from the church, primarily from Bernie’s influence.  Bernard was not a young man when he answered the call to preach, but he entered Northwestern College in Minneapolis, Minnesota along with his oldest daughter.  Both transferred to Pillsbury Baptist Bible College in Owatonna, Minnesota, upon its opening in 1957.  Bernard was among Pillsbury’s first students, and the first grandfather to graduate from the institution.  He was greatly influenced by Dr. Monroe Parker who became President of Pillsbury on February 5, 1958.  While still in College, Bernard pastored a Baptist church in Canon City, Minnesota.
In the spring of 1972, Bernie was chosen coordinator of the New Testament Association of Independent Baptist Churches.  April 17, 1974 is a date indelibly stamped on the minds of his children as a day they said good bye to their father.  Three of Bernards’ children are serving the Lord in full-time service as a direct result of their father’s example of godliness.
Dr. Dale R. Hart, adapted from:  This Day in Baptist History III (David L. Cummins), pp. 73-75.

WHAT THE BIBLE TEACHES ABOUT THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH

“We believe that a visible church of Christ is a congregation of baptized believers; associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the Gospel of Christ; observing the ordinances of Christ; governed by His laws; and exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word; that its only scriptural officers (only 2 offices) are pastors and deacons; and 2 ordinances, baptism and the Lords Supper.

One will find that I place great emphasis upon the church that Jesus built. The church is the bride of Christ and He has given us a great responsibility if we are members of His Church. Much of the New Testament is written to different churches in different locations. Ephesians 5:25 makes a bold statement “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it. If the church is this important to Christ, we should also respect this bride that Christ is one day going to receive as his own. We must get her history correct. We must be able to correctly identify her. We must know her purpose. The Bible reveals these things to us. We simply have to be diligent in our pursuit of the truth. Notice, when the Lord instituted the Lord’s Supper, Luke records this in Luke 22:20. – “Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.” He did not have all the saved gathered in that room, but he had his church and made the statement that his blood had been shed for them. Shed individually (for each person) for salvation and shed collectively for his church. The next post will use the bible to determine when the church began.Technorati Tags: Jesus, church, covenant blood, bride, faith, gospel, Christ