Happy or Not So Happy Holidays, Anniversaries and Birthdays (Weekend Edition)

Friday, January 15, 2010

Holidays

North Korea – Korean Alphabet Day.

Japan : Adults Day/Seijin-No-Hi
Jordan : Arbor Day
Venezuala : Teachers' Day/Dia Del Maestro
 

Church Calendar

588 BC – Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem under Zedekiah's reign. The siege lasts until July 23, 586 BC.

1697 The citizens of Massachusetts spent a day of fasting and repentance for their roles in the 1692 Salem Witch Trials. Judge Samuel Sewall, who had presided over many of those 20 capital judgments, published a written confession acknowledging his own "blame and shame."
1873 Lutheran founder of the Missouri Synod, C.F.W. Walther warned in a letter: 'Inactivity is the beginning of all vice.'
1970 Israeli archaeologists reported uncovering the first evidence supporting the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. by military forces of the ancient Roman Empire.

Saturay, January 16, 2010

Holidays

Teacher's Day in Thailand
 

Church Calendar

National Religious Freedom Day in the United States, to commemorate the adoption of Thomas Jefferson's landmark Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom in 1786


1545 Death of Georg Spalatin, 61, German reformer and friend of Martin Luther. Spalatin's court life allowed him to give secular government a better understanding of Luther's ideas.


1581– The EnglishParliament outlaws Roman Catholicism.
 
1604 At the Hampton Court Conference in England, John Rainolds presented to King James I the motion '...that there might bee a newe translation of the Bible.' Approved the next day, Rainolds' motion led to the 1611 publication of the Authorized (King James) version of the Bible.
 
1740 English revivalist George Whitefield wrote in a letter: 'If I see a man who loves the Lord Jesus in sincerity, I am not very solicitous to what...communion he belongs. The Kingdom of God, I think, does not consist in any such thing.'
 
1786 The Virginia Legislature adopted the Ordinance of Religious Freedom, which guaranteed that no man would be forced to attend or support any church. This mandate later became the model for the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  

1982 Great Britain established full diplomatic relations with the Vatican.



    Birthdays

1902 – Eric Liddell, Scottish runner (d. 1945)



Sunday, January 17, 2010

Church Calendar

395 With the death of Emperor Theodosius I (the Great), this became the last day the (Christian) Roman Empire was controlled by a single leader. In his wisdom, Theodosius had divided the empire into western and eastern portions.


1377 The Papal See was moved back to Rome by Gregory XI. Located in France for 72 years, it had been moved to Avignon by French pope Clement V in 1305, originally to escape the political turmoil rampant within Italy at the time.


1562 The Edict of St. Germain officially recognized French Protestantism.


1745 Colonial missionary to the American Indians David Brainerd wrote in his journal: 'Oh, how comfortable and sweet it is, to feel the assistance of divine grace in the performance of the duties which God has enjoined on us!'


1963 The Baptist World Mission was incorporated in Chicago. This independent organization of Baptist tradition is engaged primarily in evangelism, church planting and education in 17 overseas countries.

Birthdays

1484 – George Spalatin, German reformer (d. 1545)