225 – August, 13 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

 

The First Swedish Baptist Church in America

Rev. Gustaf Palmquist became the first pastor at the founding of the first Swedish Baptist church in America at Rock Island, Illinois on August 13, 1852.  It consisted of only three members, two men and one woman. It had been commissioned by the Baptist church at Galesburg, IL where Palmquist, formerly a Lutheran, had been baptized in 1852 and ordained. The true honor however must go to Palmquist’s dear mother. Gustaf was born on May 26, 1812, into a family of seven children during a time of great spiritual dearth in Sweden. His mother came under deep conviction and turned to the parish priest who told her that her piety was sufficient. Having no peace she turned to an old widow who was considered spiritually odd who pointed her to Christ. Mrs. Palmquist began earnestly praying for the salvation of her children, though Gustaf and his brother Per did not come to full assurance until eight years after their mothers death. By now, at 32, Gustaf was a professor in a teachers’ college in Stockholm, and his vocal witness brought him into contact with F.G. Hedberg of Finland and Rev. F.O. Nilsson, the exiled Baptist preacher. In Helsingland in northern Sweden, there was a group of believers who, in an attempt to escape persecution, determined to imigrate to America. They asked Gustaf to go with them as their pastor which he did and they landed in N.Y. in August of 1851. He was soon disheartened to learn that his flock was scattered over three states so he went westward and settled in Rock Island, Illinois. He heard of a wonderful moving of the Spirit of God in the Baptist church in Galesburg and went to examine it for himself. This is where he was baptized and ordained into the ministry.

Dr. Greg J. Dixon: From: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins/Thompson, pp. 332-34.

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185 – July 03 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

 

Clough-John

 

Great outpouring of God’s Spirit

 

Rev. John E. Clough was born July 16, 1836, in New York. Soon afterwards they moved to Illinois and finally to Iowa. While training as a lawyer in Burlington in 1857 he was brought under conviction and was gloriously saved. Believing that he was called to proclaim the gospel to those who had never heard, he trained at Upper Iowa University and graduated in 1862. His appointment as a Baptist missionary to India took place in August of 1864, and he arrived in that country in March of 1865. Others had pioneered the work before him beginning in 1836. Lyman Jewett joined the mission in 1849. In 1852 he and his wife visited Ongole. They climbed a slope that overlooked the city and prayed that God would send a missionary to Ongole. Clough responded to that prayer and relocated to that city, and a modern miracle began. On Jan. 1, 1867 they organized a church with 8 members, and by the end of 1879, that church had grown to 13,106 members, with 46 national preachers and thirty assistants. His methods were biblical, tent meetings of evangelism, nationals were trained, and a circuit of more than eighty villages forty miles around ongole. As the work grew other missionaries came to join in the work. During a 3 year famine and pestilence they didn’t baptize but when it was over they baptized on July 3, 1878, 2,222 in one day. From June 16 to July 31, 1878, 8,691 had been immersed upon their profession of faith. This was one of the greatest outpourings of God’s spirit since Pentecost.

 

Dr. Greg J. Dixon From: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins/Thompson, pp. 272-73.

 

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08 – January 08 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

 

First Baptist church in Illinois

 

1823 – James Lemen passed from this earth. Even though he was fifty years old when he was licensed by his church to preach, he was an active and zealous minister of the gospel. Lemen, along with his wife Catherine, and two others, had been baptized when they had to break the ice in Fountain Creek, to administer the ordinance in Monroe County, Illinois. James had been converted to Christ, when the first evangelical minister came into the state in 1787. However he did not receive baptism until Josiah Dodge from Kentucky came to preach in the area. John Gibbons and Isaac Enochs were the other two that Dodge baptized. On the appointed day a great multitude gathered from all parts to witness the first baptismal service in the State of Illinois. At the waters edge a hymn was sung, scriptural authority for baptism given and prayer offered.   Two years later the Lemens, along with a few others, united in forming the first Baptist church in Illinois. There pastor was Rev. David Badgley.
Dr. Greg J. Dixon; adapted from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins Thompson /, pp. 10-12.

 

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362 – Dec. 28 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

 

The isolation of love

 

 1871 – Issachar Jacob Roberts, but known by his first two initials I.J., died in Upper Alton, Illinois. No one should be surprised that it was of leprosy, having ministered to the lepers in China for many years. I.J. was born in Tennessee on Feb. 17, 1802, and at the age of nineteen was converted and baptized. He then entered into studies at Furman institute in S.C. to prepare for the work of the ministry and was ordained in Shelbyville, TN, on April 27, 1827. He then settled in Mississippi, where he owned property worth thirty thousand dollars. Being burdened for the mission field of China, in 1836, he sold his property and formed a missions’ agency called the Kentucky China Mission Society, but not having enough funds he applied for and was accepted by the Triennial Convention on Sept. 6, 1841. Still it wasn’t enough, so he made saddles in China. Fearing that leprosy was contagious, Roberts found himself isolated from his fellow missionaries, in fact he wrote in his diary, “I feel very lonely, the missionaries seldom come to see me; and Brother Pearcy, to whom I applied for board, thinks we can love each other better apart.” The next seven years he spent ministering between Macao and Hong Kong. In 1844 he established a church in Canton. Leasing a lot, he built a chapel and mission house. He also purchased a floating chapel and maintained worship there. One of his journal entries read, “Preached before breakfast to eighteen lepers.” A Chinese mob assaulted his house, and sank his “floating chapel.” He left the TC in 1846 and the Southern Baptists started supporting him. He left them in 1852. [This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: 2000 A.D. pp. 711-12. G. Winfred Hervey, The Story of Baptist Missions in Foreign Lands (St. Louis: C.R. Barns Publishing Co., 1892), p. 523.]   Prepared by Dr. Greg J. Dixon

 

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185 – July, 03 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

Great outpouring of God’s Spirit

Rev. John E. Clough was born July 16, 1836, in New York. Soon afterwards they moved to Illinois and finally to Iowa. While training as a lawyer in Burlington in 1857 he was brought under conviction and was gloriously saved. Believing that he was called to proclaim the gospel to those who had never heard, he trained at Upper Iowa University and graduated in 1862. His appointment as a Baptist missionary to India took place in August of 1864, and he arrived in that country in March of 1865. Others had pioneered the work before him beginning in 1836. Lyman Jewett joined the mission in 1849. In 1852 he and his wife visited Ongole. They climbed a slope that overlooked the city and prayed that God would send a missionary to Ongole. Clough responded to that prayer and relocated to that city, and a modern miracle began. On Jan. 1, 1867 they organized a church with 8 members, and by the end of 1879, that church had grown to 13,106 members with 46 national preachers and thirty assistants. His methods were biblical, tent meetings of evangelism, nationals were trained, and a circuit of more than eighty villages forty miles around Ongole. As the work grew other missionaries came to join in the work. During a 3 year famine and pestilence they didn’t baptize but when it was over they baptized on July 3, 1878, 2,222 in one day.  From June 16 to July 31, 1878, 8,691 had been immersed upon their profession of faith. This was one of the greatest outpourings of God’s spirit since Pentecost.

Dr. Greg J. Dixon: adapted From: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins/Thompson, pp. 272-73.

66 – March 07 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

He Had a Baptist Bible

Oliver Willis Van Osdel was born to godly Methodist parents on October 30, 1846, in the village of Middlebush, near Poughkeepsie, New York. His father was a blacksmith and served the Lord until his death. The family moved to Illinois in 1854. Oliver intended to prepare for a career in law but sensed God’s call to the ministry. This led him to an examination of his own beliefs. Though Methodist by heritage, he had come to the conclusion that New Testament truth was most accurately taught by the Baptist people. Thus on March 7, 1869 Oliver was baptized by immersion and joined the Baptist church of Yorkville, Illinois. That night he preached his first sermon. When Oliver’s family pressed him about his decision to become a Baptist, he replied flatly that: “he had a Baptist Bible.” Oliver attended the old Chicago Baptist Theological Seminary, and in 1874 he assumed the pastorate of the Community Baptist Church in Warrenville, Illinois, and was ordained to the ministry on April 30, 1874. The next thirty-five years were eventful as Oliver held a number of pastorates during this period.

Van Osdel developed some strong convictions and the courage to stand by them during his years of ministry.  He faced opposition from several fronts throughout these years and stood firmly for the Gospel, for the truth of God’s Word, and against unbelief. In 1909 something unusual happened to Oliver.  He was called to return to Grand Rapids to pastor the church he had formerly led, the Wealthy Street Baptist Church. At age sixty-two, he began a ministry that would span twenty-five years!

Dr. Dale R. Hart, adapted from: “This Day in Baptist History III” David L. Cummins. pp. 137 – 138.

351 – Dec. 17 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

In Feb. of 1812 Jacob found the peace of Salvation
December 17, 1811 – Jacob Bower of Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, we shall all be sunk and lost, and I am not prepared. O God, have mercy upon us all.” America’s greatest earthquake had just struck. Centered in the Mississippi River, it sent shock waves into Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Georgia, S.C., Virginia, and Indiana. Mild tremors were felt as far as Boston! Bower was born into a Christian family on Sept. 26, 1786. His father led the family in morning and evening devotions and instructed the children to live moral and upright lives, but he failed to lead them into a personal relationship with Christ. Therefore young Bower matured trusting in his own righteousness for salvation. Upon leaving home for employment, he was soon influenced by a Universalist, and for five years, Bower embraced that heresy and began drinking and fell into many vices and sins. When conviction came he would assure himself of salvation, for Universalism taught that men would be saved, regardless of their lifestyle. He married in 1807 at the age of 21, and the Lord again began to stir his heart with conviction. In 1811 during a visit to his home, and a witness of a Baptist preacher, his heart was stirred again to consider death and eternity. Conviction continued to grow and then came the earthquake. A tremendous struggle ensued and then in Feb. of 1812 Jacob found the peace of Salvation. He made a public profession and was baptized into the membership of Hazel Creek Baptist Church. After serving three Kentucky churches for ten years he moved his family to Illinois and within two years he organized two churches. And then in Illinois and Missouri he organized fourteen churches and ordained twelve ministers to the gospel ministry.
Dr. Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins Thompson /, pp. 526-28.

Higgins Responds to Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s “Priorities” Written By Laurie Higgins

A very good article based on reason and logic and not emotional “gut” feelings.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel, with his finger ever on the pulse of “progressives”—I mean, Chicagoans—has discerned that two of the top three problems facing the city are the absence of casinos and legalized “same-sex marriage.”

The city’s failing schools, gang activity, murder rate, debt, unemployment, poverty, family breakdown, child abuse, and drug use pale in significance when compared to the absence of casinos. Perhaps Mayor Emanuel sees casinos as the solution to all those problems.

One of his top priorities is bringing casinos to the city, casinos that will disproportionately harm those of lesser incomes because they have less financial padding to sustain the ineluctable losses on which predatory casinos rely.

Judging from his letter to the Chicago Sun Times, his de facto top priority is same-sex marriage, which will further erode the institution of marriage, the erosion of which has already disproportionately harmed the black community.

But why should these inconvenient truths bother Emanuel when he’s got fat cat casino-backers and wealthy homosexuals in his corner.

Emanuel in a display of “progressive” ignorance and uncharacteristic mushiness claimed that “gays and lesbians are still denied one essential freedom: the right to make a lifelong commitment to the person they love.” Say what?

Every unmarried person of major age is free to marry as long as he or she is seeking to marry one person of the opposite sex who is not closely related by blood. Homosexuals are not denied the right to marry. They choose not to participate in this sexually complementary institution.

Homosexuals are simply not permitted to unilaterally jettison the central defining feature of legally sanctioned marriage: sexual complementarity.

Similarly, polyamorists may not unilaterally jettison the requirement regarding numbers of partners, and those in love with their siblings or parents may not unilaterally jettison the requirement pertaining to close blood kinship.

Moreover, homosexuals are not denied the right to make a lifelong commitment. Homosexuals may, indeed, love, have sex with, set up households with, and commit for life to any person they wish.

Mayor Emanuel seems to have adopted the view that marriage is an institution centrally or solely concerned with the loving feelings of those involved. But if that’s the case, if marriage is solely about love and has no intrinsic connection to procreation, then why does the government limit it to two people? And if marriage is solely about love, why not permit two loving brothers to marry?

If marriage were centrally or solely about the recognition of love, there would be absolutely no reason for the government to be involved. The government has no vested interest in “recognizing” subjective feelings. The government has a vested interest in the objective connection of sexually complementary coupling to procreating.

The government is in the marriage business because a two-person, sexually complementary union is how children are produced, and the government has a vested interest in recognizing, regulating, and promoting the type of relationship that can produce children—whether or not any particular couple has children.

In describing Chicago’s diversity, Mayor Emanuel paired race and “sexual orientation” revealing that he’s also bought into the intellectually vacuous comparison of race to homosexuality, which is the flawed analogy upon which the entire homosexuality-affirming house of cards is built. Whereas race is 100 percent heritable, in all cases immutable, and has no behavioral implications whatsoever, homosexuality is constituted by subjective feelings, volitional sexual acts that are legitimate objects of moral assessment, and is not 100 percent heritable.

Despite exploiting the language of the civil rights movement by trumpeting his defense of “equality,” Emanuel is not advocating for equality. He’s advocating for the unilateral redefinition of marriage by homosexuals to serve their desires.

Emanuel, envisioning himself as the Martin Luther King Jr. of the homosexual movement, proclaims “Marriage equality is the next step in our nation’s march forward. Illinois must lead the way.” Emanuel would do well to remember these words of Martin Luther King Jr.:

“How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law….An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law.”

Illinois has certainly proved itself capable of leading the way, leading the way to fiscal insolvency, educational malpractice, and incomprehensible murder rates. Why not lead the way to the destruction of real marriage by pretend marriage.