Blogging the Reformers: John Elector of Saxony

John was born June 30th, 1468 to the Elector of Saxony. His brother was Fredrick the Wise, who ruled Saxony for 39 years. Fredrick was Protestant, and supported Martin Luther and the Reformation. After Fredrick died in 1525, John succeeded him as the Elector. He was Protestant as well and was one of the political leaders of the Reformation in Germany. At the Diet of Augsburg in 1530 he stood up the the Emperor and refused to abolish the preaching of the word of God in Saxony. He was called John the Steadfast, and God used him to defend the Reformation in Germany. He died on August 16th, 1532, and was buried in the Castle Church in Wittenberg.

Civil War 150 Blog

I am starting a new blog on the Civil War for the sesquicentennial (150th anniversary.) Throughout the years of the war I will write posts about what happened at that time 150 years ago. You can visit it here. You can also sign up for email updates:

Blogging the Reformers: John Wickliffe

Wickliffe at work

John Wickliffe was born in 1324 in Yorkshire, England. He was saved after reading the Bible when he was frightened at the thought of death when the Black Death, which killed half the human race, arrived in London. He began to proclaim his faith to others, and he was an eloquent preacher and teacher. He became popular when he was preaching against the pope who claimed to rule England. In 1379 he became sick and four priests came to attempt to make him recant. He told them, “I shall not die, but live; and again declare the evil deeds of the friars.”¹ His ministry began with attacking the pope and turned to preaching the gospel to everyone and then he permanently gave the people the word of God with his translation of the Bible. He translated it from Latin because he did not know Hebrew or Greek. It had a great effect even though it had to be copied by hand because the printing press had not yet been invented.

After translating the Bible he continued to teach the people. The church was angered because he disagreed with the doctrine transubstantiation - that Christ was killed whenever they did the mass. He was not punished because there were two people who claimed to be pope and they were too busy fighting each other. In 1384 he was paralyzed as he was administering the Lord’s Supper and he died two days later on December 31st, 1384. He was the first Reformer and a great leader of the English Reformation. D’Aubigne said, “If Luther and Calvin are the fathers of the Reformation, Wickliffe is its grandfather.”²

Wickliffe preaching

1. J. H. Merle D’Aubigne, History of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century, (Harrisonburg, Virginia: Sprinkle Publications, 2003) vol 5, p 93
2. Ibid, p. 104

NCFIC Love the Church Conference Day 2

Friday, the second day of the conference, was the most intense. There was one breakout session before lunch, and two following lunch. I would have like to go to some of the breakouts, but I was assigned to manage the sound in the Hispanic breakout room. Also, the Kendall family sang all three days of the conference. Rachel and some of here friends were working at the Reforming to Scripture book table through the whole conference, but none of us thought about taking any pictures of it.

Mr Pollard preaching

Mr. Pollard reading from the Bible

Josue Raimundo preaching in Spanish

Listening to Paul Washer preach in Spanish

The Kendall children singing

Joel Beeke preaching

 

Snow in North Carolina

Last night it snowed for the second time where we live! We were going to post some pictures the first time it snowed, but we were too busy getting ready for the Love the Church Conference, so I will post them now.

The snow falling

The snow still falling

A view from our attic

Snow on trees the next morning

Our backyard covered in snow

NCFIC Love the Church Conference: Day 1

Last Thursday, we left at 6:30 am to drive to the Love the Church conference put on by NCFIC. We had to get there a few hours before the conference started so that Rachel could set up the Reforming to Scripture Book table, and also Joshua and I had to go to a volunteers meeting. The first message was around 5:00 pm. Mr. Brown had each of the keynote speakers come up on stage and give a summary of the messages they were going to preach. There were only a few keynotes the first night. I liked Mr. Phillips's message the first night, which was about the gates of Hades not prevailing against the church of God. Below are a few of the pictures from the conference.

The crowd during one of the breaks between messages

Jacob Burnhardt, one of the NCFIC interns, playing the piano

Mr. Phillips preaching


Two of the recording and duplicating volunteers


Joel Beeke preaching

Blogging the Reformers: John Leclerc

The Cathedral in Metz. Source.

In the 16^th century, one of the cities which the French Reformation began in was Meaux. John Lecelrc, a wool-carder, became the pastor there. He had learned theology through the lectures of the doctors, reading the Bible and some other books. Eventually he made some placards denouncing the pope as an Antichrist, and posted them on the cathedral. The townspeople were very angry and he was thrown into prison. He was condemned and was led through the streets to be beaten by the people. After this punishment he was released, and then he moved to Metz.

While he was in Metz he again did a brave, perhaps rash, act against the Catholics. On the night before one of the large festivals where the citizens would worship their idols, John Lecelrc when to the chapel and smashed all of the images. The next day when the worshipers arrived at the church, they found their idols broken in pieces. They ran out and found Lecelrc in the town. He admitted to breaking the idols, and told them they must worship God alone. They decided to burn him to death. They brought him to the scaffold and took heated pincers and lacerated him and pulled his nose off. As they were doing it he recited the passage that says, “Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not...”¹ After torturing him he was burnt with a slow fire. He was one of the first martyrs of France.

1. Psalm 115

Beach

Two weeks ago we went to Duck, NC, which is near Kitty Hawk on the Outer Banks. We arrived Thursday afternoon. Friday morning we went to the Wright Brothers Memorial. It is on the hill from which they conducted glider tests, which was next to where they lived while they were down there and where they first flew. There was also a museum about the history of the Wright Brothers before and after they invented and flew the first airplane. After that we went to Jockey's Ridge, which is a bunch of sand dunes. It was fun to walk on and climb and roll down the dunes. Jockey's Ridge is also where people fly hang-gliders, but we did not do that. After that, we went to where the first colony, Roanoke, was located. There we saw a recreation of the earthworks which they had there. Finally, we went to a used book store. We could not stay very long because it was closing time.

On Saturday, Mommy and Rachel went shopping while Joshua and I played Axis & Allies and Daddy started writing Communion of Christ's Body. After lunch we went down to the beach. Even though the water was cold, Joshua and I swam in it while Mommy, Daddy, and Rachel took a walk on the beach. After that we packed up and came home.

A model of the Wright brother's plane while they were preparing it for take-off

Joshua and I at the Wright Memorial

The stone marking where the first flight was made from

In this photo you can see the markers for the distance of each flight. If you zoom in you can see how far the fourth marker is

Daddy, Mommy, and Rachel climbing a dune at Jockey's Ridge

Joshua and I racing down one of the dunes

A sand dune

A recreation of the earthworks at Roanoke

Sunset at our Condo

A Model of one of the Wright Flyers

Blogging the Reformers - Fredrick Elector of Saxony

Fredrick was born January 17th 1463 to the Elector of Saxony. At that time Germany was ruled by an emporer, but was composed of many different states which were very independent. Saxony was one of the major provinces of Germany. Fredrick suceeded his father in 1486, at the age of 23, and he continued in that position for 39 years. He was known as Fredrick the Wise, and was a good ruler.

However, his most important role began near the end of his life as he protected the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther began the Reformation while he was a teacher at Wittenburg University, which Fredrick had founded. It became a place which was very influential through the teaching of Luther and others. When the Pope and the Emporer ordered Luther to be arrested and executed, Fredrick saved his life by hiding him in Wartburg Castle for several years. He refused to obey the Pope's orders to kill Luther and prevented others from doing so. Though he did not abandon all of the false doctrines of the Catholic church, he inclined toward the Reformation and God used him to protect Luther and the other leaders of the movement in Germany. He died May 5th, 1525. D'Aubigne said this of his death:

Meanwhile the cause of the Reformation itself appeared as if it would perish in the gulf that had swalled up the liberties of the people. ... [T]he aged elector of Saxony, that man whom God had raised up to defend the Reformation against all dangers from without, descended to the tomb. ... The doctrine of the Gospel was no longer to him that sword which attacks error, following it up wherever it may be found, and after a vigorous contest tripumphing over it at last; it fell upon his heart like the dew, or the gentle rain, filling it with hope and joy. Fredrick had forgotten the present world: he saw nothing but God and eternity.¹

1. J. H. Merle D'Aubigne. History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century. (Harrisonburg, Virginia: Sprinkle Publications, 2003) volume 3, book 10, p. 199-200

Hope vs. Heritage Softball Tournament

Last Saturday Hope Baptist Church of Wake Forest and Heritage Bible Fellowship of Fayeteville met for a softball game and picnic. First there was a game for anyone who wanted to play. After lunch two teams of the men played - Hope Baptist Reformers and Heritage Churchmen. Both teams had hats and shirts made. Stephen Sides, a former NCFIC intern and younger brother of a Hope Baptist Reformer, did a good job as the announcer. The game was very good, at least for the Reformers. At around the 3rd or 4th inning the game was tied at around 4 to 4, but then in one inning Hope made about 10 runs. Heritage was not able to make a comeback, but they did make a few more runs in the last inning. It was also a good time of fellowship. Here are some pictures:

Reformer Michael Arnette comes into first (Jonathan Sides is the first base coach)

Michael Arnette appears to get hit in the head, but it is actually just the camera angle

David Brown at bat

Heritage right fielder catching a grounder

Heritage at bat (David Brown catching)

Mr. Tsantles batting (no homerun for Mrs. Tsantles)

Mr. Merrill, pitcher for the Reformers, at bat

Mr. Merril on the pitcher's mound

Mr. Hernandez going for the ball

Mr. Metarko batting

David Brown comes home

Luke Dellinger at bat

You can see more here.

Washington Tour - Day 4 Valley Forge

Washington Tour - Charge at Yorktown

Here the boys charge the men at Redoubt No. 9 on Yorktown battlefield.

Washington Tour Treasure Hunt Video

On the Washington tour my brother, Stephen Breagy and myself made a treasure hunt for people on the tour. This video shows the very end and the prizes being given.

Note - If the video takes a long time to load, select 480p from the menu on the bottom right.

Sunset

These pictures were taken right before sunset with cloudy skies. These were not edited at all.

There is a rainbow if you look closely, starting between the two trees on the left.

Washington Tour - Yankee Doodle

This is another clip of Charlie Zahm from the tour. Here he sings Yankee Doodle.

View it on Vimeo in HD

Washington Tour - Day 6

The first thing we went to on Day 6 was Yorktown. We walked to Redoubts 9 and 10, and Joshua talked about the battle and the importance of capturing them. After that we drilled the boys into a company so that we could charge the "British" and capture the redoubt. The "British" were the fathers on the tour. After Yorktown we went to Surrender Field. We did not get any pictures of Surrender Field, because our camera's memory card was full. After that we had our closing lunch at Golden Corral, where Joshua talked about the rest of the War for American Independence after Yorktown.

Joshua speaking about the Battle of Yorktown

The boys marching towards the redoubt

The Charge

The battle re-enactment, where the Americans were victorious