Thursday, November 28, 2013

Would You Do What They Did? Great Christian Leaders From Our Past Book T...


Sunday, November 24, 2013

The Franciscan Order was officially authorized On November the 29th 1223 - This Week in Christian History for the week of November the 24th through the 30th 2013

Francis of Assisi, who is recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church, was born in either 1181 or1182, the son of a wealthy cloth merchant. When he was young he dreamed of becoming a knight and winning battles, or perhaps of becoming a poet. During a foray as a squire he had a mysterious dream and left to go back home. This helped to distance him from his father, who had invested a lot in his equipment.

He would eventually leave his rich lifestyle and try and help those in need and restore old churches that were in disrepair. He was inspired by the scriptures that speak of Jesus sending out the disciples without any money to preach the Gospel. He began to get followers, although he was only trying to be a better Christian.

Eventually the new order of monks became officially recognized through publication of Regula Bullata by Pope Honorius III. This formally authorized the Regula Prima, as the rule for the organization and administration of the Franciscan order.

Francis didn’t believe in property as all of our possessions are ultimately God’s. While other order’s practiced individual poverty, the Franciscan order was the first that also didn’t have community property. Francis was also instrumental in starting a sister organization of woman called the Poor Clares.

After Francis’ death disputes arose about what direction the order should take, especially about the lack of community property. Eventually the order split into three main groups, although there are other groups, some even outside the Catholic Church. Some have even tried to follow Francis’ ideals outside of a religious institution, and these people are known as the Third Order of Francis. The Franciscan order grew in popularity and is still an important order today.

The life of Francis of Assisi is detailed in my new book Would You Do What They Did? - Great Christian Leaders From Our Past
It is also currently available at Barnes and nobles and should be available to order now or shortly from anywhere that sells books. The book is about Thomas Becket, Martin Luther, John Wesley and Francis of Assisi and is written in creative nonfiction style, I have excepts of the book here on my website williamdeanhamilton.net
Thank you for reading.

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Dawn on Lake Tiberias And Other Stories


Free ebook from the author of this blog Dawn on Lake Tiberias And Other Stories. Biographies and stories about historical Christian in creative nonfiction style.



https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/378705

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Bio of C.S. Lewis who died on November the 22th 1963. - This Week in Christian History for the week of November the 17th through the 23th


 
Clive Stapes Lewis was born in Belfast Ireland on the 29th of November 1898. His childhood was filled with books; he especially liked the ones with talking animals. His mother died of cancer when he was young and he suffered from health problems. He eventually had to go away to a health resort and attended school there.
While he was a Christian when he was younger, he became an atheist and became interested in the occult and nature. He read about old Icelandic myths and he experimented with different forms of writing like epic poetry. C. S.was accepted into University College at Oxford and underwent a mild culture shock. He met Yeats while there, and was astounded that his English companions didn’t appreciate his work.
C. S. served in the English army during WWI. He had made a pact with one of his fellow servicemen that if either one died the other would take care of their family, which C.S. did after the man died. C. S. was wounded and returned to his studies after he was discharged. He began to embrace Christianity, partially from the influence of his friend J. R. R. Tolkien, and partially from the works of George MacDonald. He adopted the Church of England, which disappointed Tolkien who wanted him to become Catholic.  
He met Joy Davidman and married her in a civil ceremony, which was probably a ploy to keep her from being deported. He eventually fell in love with her and they got married in the Church of England. She died and C. S. took care of her two sons.
After he converted to Christianity his books became more popular than the ones before and most of his books were overtly Christian. The Legend of Narnia series, The Screwtape letters, The Abolition of Man, and Mere Christianity are still popular among readers.
C. S. became ill with kidney failure in June of 1961. He recovered by 1963, but then suffered a heart attack. After he was discharged his health never fully recovered and on November 22, 1963 C. S. died. He was buried in the churchyard of Holy Trinity Church, and his brother was later buried alongside him.
My new book, would you do what they did great Christian leaders from our past is now available to order from Amazon.com here is the link: Would You Do What They Did? - Great Christian Leaders From Our Past      

It is also available to order now or shortly from anywhere that sells books. It is a collection of biographies of Martin Luther, Francis of Assisi, John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, and Thomas Becket.

Come, tame a wolf, flee from the wrath of the king, feel the horror of impending doom on a ship, and the uncertainty of one’s own salvation with these great heroes of the faith.

I have excepts of the book on my website williamdeanhamilton.net,

 Thank you for reading.

 

Sunday, November 10, 2013

The Mayflower Compact was signed on November the 11th 1620 - This Week in Christian History for the week of November the 10th through the 16th


In England the only official religion was the Church of England. Puritans wanted to leave England to have religious freedom and were granted the right to settle in the colony of Virginia. The Mayflower left England but had to turn back two times since the ship which it was sailing with leaked. A violent storm broke one of the beams that supported the ship, but it was repaired with a great iron screw.
Partially because of their difficulties they landed well north of their original destination. Since this was outside of any English colony, some of the settlers felt as if they would not be bound by the laws of England, but would be free to pursue their own liberty. William Bradford, the head of the Separatists, drew up the Mayflower Compact and it was signed by most of the adult males on board.
The compact didn’t establish rules or ordinances, but it stated that all would abide by whatever rules were established for the colony. This was also important since not all of the Pilgrims were Separatists; some still belonged to the Church of England. The colonist headed up the coast from where they had landed and established a town where some Native Americans had lived. The Native Americans had almost all died from sickness. The colonists built their houses while living on the ship. They didn’t finish until the next spring, at which time the Mayflower left for England.
 The Mayflower Compact has been seen as an important document in defining the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. While many presidents have declared days of thanksgiving to commemorate the Pilgrims and our heritage, It was Abraham Lincoln who declared an official date for the celebration of Thanksgiving. Some have speculated that he did it to help promote the idea of America as a unified nation.

My new book, would you do what they did great Christian leaders from our past is now available to order from Amazon.com here is the link: Would You Do What They Did? - Great Christian Leaders From Our Past      


It is also available to order now or shortly from anywhere that sells books. It is a collection of biographies of Martin Luther, Francis of Assisi, John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, and Thomas Becket.

Come, tame a wolf, flee from the wrath of the king, feel the horror of impending doom on a ship, and the uncertainty of one’s own salvation with these great heroes of the faith.

I have excepts of the book on my website williamdeanhamilton.net,

 Thank you for reading.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Short bio of Elijah Parish Lovejoy, who was killed on November the 7th 1837 - This week in Christian History November 3rd through the 9th 2013

Lovejoy was born on November the 9th 1802 in Maine. He graduated from Waterville College at the top of his class and taught at China Academy. He felt called to move to the South or West and was advised that he would be able to serve God better in the West. He moved to Boston and New York trying to get a position to be able to afford the journey to Illinois, where he decided he should go. He sold newspaper subscriptions, but was unable to save the money he would need for the journey and received assistance from his former college. He changed his destination to Saint Louis and was able to find a position there editing the St. Louis Observer and heading a private school. He became a minister and was strongly abolitionist. Missouri was a slave state surrounded by three free states, and this made it a center of the free verses slave debate. He continued to be an editor and his printing press was destroyed three times by slavery supporters. He moved across the river to Alton Illinois and continued to print abolitionist literature. Since Illinois was a free state he thought it would less risky to print there, but on November the 7th 1837 a pro slavery mob surrounded the warehouse where his printing press was and fired shots at Lovejoy and Weller, one of his supporters. Lovejoy returned fire and killed one of the mob. They sent a boy up a ladder to set fire to the warehouse and Lovejoy threw the ladder down. When trying to fend off the second attempt Lovejoy was shot five times and died, and Weller was wounded. The mob threw the printing press out of the window and destroyed it. No one was convicted of the murder.

My new book, would you do what they did great Christian leaders from our past is now available to order from Amazon.com here is the link: Would You Do What They Did? - Great Christian Leaders From Our Past
It is also currently available at Barnes and nobles and should be available to order now or shortly from anywhere that sells books. The book is about Thomas Becket, Martin Luther, John Wesley and Francis of Assisi and is written in creative nonfiction style, I have excepts of the book here on my website williamdeanhamilton.net
Thank you for reading.