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

 

 

 

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.

Bio of Francis Asbury - This Week in Christian History for the week of August 18-24

On August 20 or 21 1745 Francis Asbury was born in Hamstead Bridge England. His mother read the Bible to him for an hour every day as he was growing up. When he was 12 he dropped out of school to become a blacksmith’s apprentice. At age 16 he converted to Methodism and started to preach at 18. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, appointed him to be a travelling preacher. He volunteered to go to America in 1771. When the war broke out he had to hide for a while, otherwise he would have been forced to enter the war, but he remained neutral. He was the only English born preacher to remain until the end of the war.  

Asbury quickly became the American head of the Methodist Church, eventually getting the title of Bishop, although John Wesley was against this title. He travelled tirelessly through the new nation, preaching with great zeal. He organized districts to pastor to people in small town which were tended by riding circuit preachers. He pushed to spread the circuits to towns farther to the west, although they faced illness and Native American attacks.

He rose every morning at five to read the Bible. Asbury opened five schools and promoted Sunday school. He preached wherever he could, even if it was in the opened air. When he had started to preach in America there had been about 600 Methodists, but when he was done they numbered 200,000. While this was certainly not all his own doing, John Wesley himself preached along with about 4,000 other ministers. Asbury traveled about 6,000 miles a year on horseback.

He was also responsible for ordaining the first black minister in the United States. He was strongly opposed to slavery and petitioned George Washington to end it. He was saddened by the fact that some Methodist sold slaves and publicly stated so despite this not being popular at the time.

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.

Bio of John Wesley - This Week in Christian History for the week of June 16-22

On June 17 1703 John Wesley was born. While he always considered himself a loyal member of the Church of England, he and his brother Charles founded the Methodist Church. The name Methodist came from their original legalistic viewpoint and tireless generosity and was given to “The Holy Club” by other students at Oxford University.

When John was about five he was rescued from a fire, the fire devastated his family financially. His mother, Suzanna, always told John he was “A Brand Plucked out of the Fire.” His mother taught him and the rest of the siblings, 24 were born but only 10 lived. John’s father was the rector of Epworth.

John decided to go to America to try and convert American Indians, and on the way a terrible storm struck and the mast of the ship collapsed. While John was terrified for his soul, he discovered Moravians, German Protestants who were also travelling to America, were not afraid to die, and were calm during the calamity. This was even true of their children. He was deeply affected by the contrast and began to listen to their theology.

John found himself entangled in a romantic affair, which ended with the target of his romantic attention being married to another man. He left for England soon after. Charles and John also had trouble because of their strict, legalistic ways. As time passed John doubted his own salvation, but kept on seeing how what the Moravians taught seemed to be what the Bible said. John was saved; he felt a warming of his heart when he heard Martin Luther’s Preface to Romans.

This was just the beginning; he kept his vigorous schedule and travelled throughout England, Ireland, and America spreading the Word of God. He read the Bible or other books while he was riding, he wasn’t the type of man to rest. Stephen Tomkins wrote that he "rode 250,000 miles, gave away 30,000 pounds ... and preached more than 40,000 sermons.”

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.

Big Week for Presbyterian Churches -This Week in Christian History June 9-15

There were several important developments in the Presbyterian Church this week in history. As a background, here is a brief history of the Presbyterian Church. The Presbyterian Church formed in large part due to John Knox’s visiting John Calvin’s Geneva. He was impressed with it and based his theology on it. The National Church of Scotland was formed in 1560 which was basically the first Presbyterian Church. The theology spread to England and was no longer illegal in 1647 (we live in great times where we can decide for ourselves what religion to follow).

The Presbyterian Church of Wales was made of Calvinistic Methodists ministers, who were originally known as the Calvinist Methodist connexion. Scottish immigrants to Ireland helped spread the Presbyterian Church there. The name Presbyterian is not used in France, but is known as Calvinist or the Church of Scotland. There are also Presbyterians throughout the world.

This relates to this week because of the following events:

6-13-1876

The Presbyterian Church in England merged with the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland to form the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland.

06-10-1925

The United Church of Canada was formed from Methodist, Presbyterian, and 3,000 independent churches. Currently there are about 200,000 people who attend services.

06-11-1936

The Presbyterian Church of America (PCA) was organized in Philadelphia, now called the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. The church was formed from objections to modern and liberal changes to the church. Modernism here means to study scriptures as you would other writings, not as the literal word of God.

6-10-1983

The United Presbyterian Church (UPCUSA) and the Southern Presbyterian Church (PCUS) reunited to form The Presbyterian Church (USA). This denomination has almost 2,000,000 members today and is the largest Presbyterian denomination.

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.