1518 - Summoned before Cardinal Thomas Cajetan, German reformer Martin Luther, 35, refused to recant the 95 theses he had posted the previous October on the chapel door at Wittenberg Castle.
1812 - The Half Moon Bluff Baptist Church was organized near Clifton. It was the first Baptist congregation to be constituted in the American territory now comprising the state of Louisiana.
1883 - Birth of C. Harold Lowden, American sacred composer. His most enduring hymn tunes today are GENEVA ("God Who Touchest Earth with Beauty") and LIVING ("Living for Jesus a Life That is True").
1949 - American missionary and martyr Jim Elliot wrote in his journal: 'For my generation I must have the oracles of God in fresh terms.'
1971 - The rock musical "Jesus Christ, Superstar" debuted on Broadway. (Twenty years later, the actor who played the part of Jesus, Jeff Fenholt became a born-again Christian.)
© 1987-2009, William D. Blake. Used by permission of the author, from
Almanac of the Christian Church
