Sept. 25 in Christian History

Sep 25, 2008 09:50 AM EDT

1555 - The Peace of Augsburg was signed, resolving bitter disputes between Protestants and Catholics in the German states. Its wider significance, however, meant that both the political unity of Germany and the medieval unity of Christendom was permanently dissolved.

1789 - The establishment of religion on a national level was expressly prohibited in the U.S. with the adoption of the First Amendment, the opening words of which read: 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.' Final ratification of the First Amendment came in 1791.

1872 - Death of Peter Cartwright, 87, early American Methodist circuit rider. Converted at age 29, Cartwright possessed a rough, uneducated and eccentric personality; but he spent over 50 of his 87 years spreading the Gospel through the Midwestern frontiers of Kentucky and Illinois.

1890 - Polygamy was officially banned by the Mormon Church. (This announcement followed on the heels of an 1890 Supreme Court ruling denying all privileges of U.S. citizenship to Mormons who practiced this outlawed form of marriage.)

1908 - Death of English Old Testament textual scholar Henry A. Redpath, 60. From 1892-1906, Redpath and Edwin Hatch compiled "A Concordance to the Septuagint and Other Greek Versions of the Old Testament"- still in print today!

Sept. 24 in Christian History

1956 - In Minneapolis-St. Paul, a congregation of worshipers was organized into the first Southern Baptist church to be established in Minnesota.
Sept. 23 in Christian History

1667 - In Williamsburg, Virginia, a law was passed, barring slaves from obtaining their freedom by converting to Christianity.
Christ's Promise to Come Again

Max Lucado tells how, in 1989, a terrible earthquake in Armenia killed 30,000 people. Among those uninjured were a man and his wife. Their son was in an elementary school that collapsed. The father rushed to the school. He had always told Armon that he would come for him if he was ever in trouble. He worked intensely removing debris trying to find Armon and after thirty-eight hours he heard his child's voice and with the help of other workers freed Armon and the other children.