bti (part 1) - Bring Them In!

 
cover by DAVIS Creative

Bring Them In!

This 19th century hymn was written by Alexcenah Thomas with music by William Augustine Ogden.

Check out: Bring Them In

And this old timey hymn is sung in the video below:

https://youtu.be/yKhrtuviWBY?si=o0UMMRZBS07riFUV

Also, this old timey hymn is the theme song of the fictional New Testament Fundamentalist Temple in my latest historical novel in The Sam Matijevic Series.

Bring Them In! : College, Churches, Cults

It’s the 1970s: Vietnam. Watergate. Energy crisis. War in the Middle East. Comet Kohoutek—the Comet of the Century. Doomsday prophets. 

During these times, Pastor Bill Renfrew returns to his hometown of Colter, Montana. Fresh from Bible college, he’s confident that he knows more than anyone else, he’s smarter than anyone else, and he’s better than anyone else. And this college town is a target rich recruiting ground to build his Bible believing, Bible preaching, Bible teaching, fundamental, evangelical, pre-millennial, New Testament church. 

Bring Them In!

After Samantha Matijevic enters Colter College, Pastor Renfrew snares this disoriented girl from a small town as well as vulnerable and naïve souls. Will Sam wise up and extract herself from this cult of pastor without destroying her faith?

The novel is available at amazon.com as paperback, Kindle, Kindle Unlimited:

Bring Them In! by S. K. Smith

Your readership is most appreciated.

Cheers.

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For more in the Sam Matijevic series, search blog:

bti

STC - for S*T*C

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Photo: DAVIS Creative 

Faith (part 3) - Halloween 500 years ago

LutherWindow/wikipedia.com

Halloween, 500 years ago...

Legend has it that on the Eve of All Saint's Day in 1517 AD, a German theologian, friar, professor, priest came knocking at the door.

Trick or Treat?

More like nailing his 95 theses at the Castle Church in Wittenberg.

That legendary figure? Martin Luther, of course.

And that story is shown in the clip below.

 (reference: https://youtu.be/ijjbtcAEOnY )

That Halloween is considered the start of the Protestant Reformation. And today, some choose to celebrate Reformation Day. (Instead of, or in addition to, the traditional "Trick or Treat")

Yet in the 16th century, Martin Luther stood on the shoulders of many reformers before him. Such as,  John Wycliffe in the 14th century.  John Huss in the 15th century.

But one my favorites is Peter Waldo of the 12th century. And his story is told below.

(reference: https://youtu.be/DBVwKYn8AnY )

The Waldensians, a movement that took its name from Peter Waldo, were largely absorbed by Protestants when they came along. But the Waldensians still exist as a denomination to this day - e.g. the American Waldensian Society. As I so witnessed in a recent trip back East, I saw a sign for the Waldensian Church in Pennsylvania.

And as the video above said, Peter Waldo had Martin Luther's shtick down three centuries before Martin Luther.

Regardless of denomination or religious affiliation, St. Paul gave this warning 20 centuries ago...

Take a good look at yourselves
to see if you are really believers.

Test yourselves.

Don’t you realize that
Christ Jesus is in you?

Unless, of course, you fail the test!

II Corinthians 13:5 (NIV)

Reformation is an ongoing process, a never ending test.

So if a monk comes knocking at your door this October 31st, wish them a ...

 Blessed Reformation Day!

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Other posts in the series:

Faith (part 1) - Star Trek and Christianity (2016)

Faith (part 2) - Founding Fathers' Faith and the Fourth of July (2017)

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Photo: LutherWindow/wikipedia.com

Roger Bacon - a scientist ahead of his time

Continuing from the past 2 blogs ....

This summer, I had read the Dan Brown's novel Angels & Demons and was fascinated by the renewed Science vs. Religion debate. Science and the Bible are some of my favorite topics.

During research of life in the Middle Ages, I discovered that the Church did not see Science and Religion as poles apart as we may view them today. In the Medieval Church, pursuing Science was encouraged as a means to better understand God. One of the most remarkable Churchmen and Philosophers of those times was Roger Bacon.

Roger Bacon (c. 1214–1294) was a Franciscan Friar who wrote his Opus Magnus for Pope Clement IV. In the area of science, he was hundreds of years ahead of his time.

The Earth is Round:
Two centuries before Christopher Columbus sailed for America, Roger Bacon wrote that the curvature of the earth explained why we can see farther from higher elevations.

Splitting White Light into a Rainbow:
Four hundred years before Sir Isaac Newton's experiment (in the 1660s) that split white light with a prism into the spectrum of the rainbow, Roger Bacon in the 13th century passed light through a glass bead to produce the rainbow.

Father of Modern Science:
"Isaac Newton's discoveries were so numerous and varied that many consider him to be the father of modern science." Yet, a few scholars credit Roger Bacon as a pioneer in the advancement of natural science, who emphasised the importance of mathematics and "experimental science." In his works, Bacon mentions gunpowder and lenses and proposals for horseless carriages and flying machines.

The telescope:
In the "The Starry Messenger," Galileo had improved the telescope (invented by Flemish spectacle-maker Hans Lipperhey in 1608) and turned it to the heavens to observe such things as the craters on the Moon and the four satellites about Jupiter. In the Cipher of Roger Bacon, the manuscript suggests Roger Bacon was in possession of a reflecting telescope, which he observed and drew a spiral nebula.

To sum up the Medieval philosophy of the Church concerning Science: If the Bible contained the truth, how could the Church be threatened by understanding the truth better? Only later, during the time of Galileo, the Church became frightened of Science. (That could be the subject of another blog. )

A great find on the Science vs. Religion debate was the Terry Jones' (of Monty Python fame) series - Medieval Lives. Medieval Philosophers were the scientists of the "Dark Ages" which were not as dark as they seemed.

For a humorous history lesson of Medieval Science, check out youtube video on episodes of Medieval Philosophers:
Medieval Lives: The Philosopher

Related link:
Roger Bacon photo from Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Roger-bacon-statue.jpg