Samuel Porter Jones: Revivalist

Samuel Porter Jones is one of my brothers favorites so today I thought I would cover  a little bit about his life.  Sam Jones was a great preacher and revivalist of the 19th century. He is well known and has several books out either by himself or about him. They would be great to add to any collection or just have to read about a man that greatly influenced America.

Sam Jones was born on October 16, 1847 in Oak Bowery, Alabama, the son of lawyer and real estate entrepreneur John Jones and homemaker Queenie Jones, the grandson of Methodist preacher Samuel Gamble Jones, and nephew of four additional Methodist ministers. In 1857, when Sam was ten years old, the family moved to Cartersville, Georgia, where John's parents had made their home. Jones ended up living there for most of his life. Sam had hoped to attend college, but he purportedly suffered from an unspecified medical condition (his eyes or his stomach, depending on circumstance) and began drinking heavily. Eventually, despite his Methodist heritage which included seven Methodist ministers, Jones decided to become a lawyer. He was admitted to the Georgia bar in 1868. At the age of twenty-one, Sam trekked to Kentucky to claim his bride to be, Laura McElwain (whom he had befriended during the Civil War). Though his reputation as a drunkard had preceded him to Kentucky, and Laura’s father refused to attend the wedding, Laura’s mother convinced her to keep her promise to Sam Jones—the two were wed and became lifetime companions.
Sam Jones did not stay a lawyer for long and, in spite of his hopes that marriage would save him from himself, he continued to drink heavily and destroyed his career. By 1872 Jones was stoking furnaces and driving freight wagons for a living. The death of his infant daughter sobered him for a time, before he fell off the wagon yet again. Then, in 1872, Jones was called to his father's deathbed where his father pleaded with him to quit drinking—Sam promised he would. A week later Samuel P. Jones walked down the aisle of his grandfather’s church, made his confession to God, and became a Christian.
Jones was accepted by the North Georgia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and began his ministry with the Van Wert circuit, a group of five churches spread over four counties. Before long his talent for preaching had him doing revivals in large cities before thousands of attendees. He was asked to speak not only for religious organizations but for the likes of state legislatures and President Theodore Roosevelt^.
Sam Jones was known for preaching hard against sin and hypocrisy. He preached once at a Church dedication in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and in the middle of the service he stopped his message and asked the congregation how much they paid the Pastor. They were unwilling to tell him, but when the appallingly low sum was finally revealed, the congregation was so embarrassed that the next day he was given a substantial raise.
On October 15, 1906, Jones was returning home from a revival in Oklahoma City on the Rock Island Train. While the train was stopped in Perry, Arkansas, Sam suddenly collapsed and died. It is estimated that over 30,000 people came to view him as he lay in state in the rotunda of the Capital in Atlanta. Rev. Samuel P. Jones is now buried at Oak Hill cemetery in Cartersville, Georgia, where a stone monument marks the grave of Sam and his wife Laura.
At the time of Jones’ death, the sanctuary of what was then named Cartersville Methodist Episcopal Church was in the process of being completed. After a unanimous vote, the congregation officially changed the name of the church to Sam Jones Memorial Methodist Church (now known as Sam Jones Memorial United Methodist Church), which is still in existence today.

Here are some quotes by Jones.
"Quit your meanness."
"I always did despise theology and botany, but I do love religion and flowers."
"The curse of this age is that we have put gold above God, chattels above character, and mammon above manhood. We have inverted God's order of things"
"The tune of America is pitched to the dollar"

Here are some on alcohol.

emperance is a great regulation force of man's life.  No man can drink whisky and be a Christian.  Bob Ingersoll, the worst in the country, says whisky is God;s worst enemy and the devil's best friend.  I never got so low down as to discuss a man who drinks vile lager beer.  There ain't a four-legged hog in the country that'll drink beer.  But lots of two-legged hogs will.  And the ladies are absolutely drinking beer for their health.  Shame on them!  The only hope of America is in her sober mothers, for when they debauch themselves their children will be born full-fledged drunkards.The spirit of gentleness and the spirit of temperance.  Be not only temperate in regard to liquor, but be a total prohibitionist on that subject.
--
I want to tell you, brethren, that it takes more money to run one old red-nosed drunkard than it does to run any member of the church in this city.
--
The girl that will marry a boy whose breath smells with whisky is the biggest fool angels ever looked at.
--
I don't want to be a gentleman if I have to get drunk.  Do you?
--
What do you think of an elder who has to think of the question about the barrooms before he can answer?  When you ask a preacher he says:  "Why, I consult my board, and if they are, why I are too."
--
How did I become a drunkard?  By drinking wine like some of you do.  If any man had tasted what I have and been where I have been, he'd be recreant if he did not preach as I do.  You get some letters as I do and it would go to your heart.  I'm not only not going to drink but I'll fight it to perdition, and when perdition freezes, then I'll fight it on the ice.  If you can make it any stronger than that, put my name to it.
--
Nobody but an infernal scoundrel will sell whisky, and nobody but an infernal fool will drink it.

And some on the theater.

 

And there are women in St. Louis that will go and hear things in the theater whose tendencies are the most vulgar of the vulgar, and she will be tickled all over, and she will come to the church and she will have her poor nerves all shocked to pieces at something Sam Jones says, and she will turn up her nose at me, and I can always tell when the devil has got a mortgage on a woman's nose.  It is always turning up. And he is going to foreclose it some of these days, too, sister, and he will get the gal when he gets the nose.
--
You take society about this town.  If I had the money that the Christian women, so-called, pay at the theater during the year, I could run every charitable institution in this town grandly. That is a fact. You can't walk to church -- it is too far; but you will walk the next night a third farther to the theater, and your husband does not really want to go. Let us try and reform ourselves on this line.
--
A man once asked me how long it had been since I had been at a theater.
I told him I had not been at the theater since I had quit being a vagabond.

Peter Cartwright Circuit Riding Preacher

Peter Cartwright is one of my favorite old time preachers. Although he was a Methodist he was greatly used by God. Here is a little bit about his life.  

Peter Cartwright (September 1, 1785 – September 25, 1872) was an American Methodist revivalist and politician in Illinois. Born in Amherst County, Virginia, Cartwright was a missionary who helped start the Second Great Awakening and personally baptized twelve thousand converts. He settled in Illinois. He lost against Abraham Lincoln for a United States Congress seat in 1846. As a Methodist circuit rider, Cartwright rode circuits in Tennessee and Kentucky. His Autobiography from (1856) made him nationally prominent.

His Career- 
Soon after his birth his family moved to Logan County, Kentucky. At the age of 16 Peter was converted at a camp meeting and joined the Methodist Episcopal Church. He became a preacher in 1802 and was later ordained by Francis Asbury and William McKendree. In 1812 he was appointed a presiding elder (now District Superintendent), and he served in that office for the next fifty years.
In 1808, Cartwright married Frances Gaines. Together they had two sons and seven daughters, one of whom, Cynthia, died on the journey to Illinois.
Cartwright was a veteran of the War of 1812. His hatred of slavery in Kentucky and his failure to convince the slaveholders to free their slaves, led him to transfer to Illinois in 1824, where slavery was illegal. In his Autobiography he said that in Illinois he "would get entirely clear of the evil of slavery, that he could improve his financial situation and procure lands for my children as they grew up. And... I could carry the Gospel to destitute souls that had, by their removal into some new country, been deprived of the means of grace."

His Ministry-
He called himself "God's Plowman." As a circuit rider Cartwright explained in his Autobiography, "My district was four hundred miles long, and covered all the west side of the Grand Prairie, fully two-thirds of the geographical boundaries of the state."
Cartwright was a founding member of the Illinois Annual Conference in 1824, and remained in Illinois for the rest of his life. He was a towering figure of frontier Methodism and one of the most colorful and energetic preachers the church has produced. He was elected to 13 General Conferences (1816 through 1856, missing only 1832).
Cartwright was charismatic; he pursued a divine calling, not a profession. His conversion of others to Methodism, rather than his own education, gained him admission to the ministry and verified his methods. His sermons were always extemporaneous, anecdotal, and participatory. He was a master of charismatic domination and used it effectively to create the ecstatic conversion required to be reborn. He opposed the routinization and institutionalization of religion and favored the more democratic, egalitarian, and associational form of the frontier circuits. Theologically he was an Arminian, and was convinced that all people could be saved, especially through the camp meeting revival.
In the Methodist church, the presiding elder oversaw the works of preachers and churches to which he was assigned, and was below the bishop in the denomination's chain of command. In the 19th-century presiding elders were the most important officers in the Methodist "army" that sought to "conquer the land for Christ." Cartwright who served as a presiding elder for 50 years, demonstrating that the office was that of a sub-bishop who was not always popular with his subordinates. Cartwright was strong-willed in his office and was often accused as being dictatorial, but he eventually earned notoriety as the father of Illinois Methodism."

Peter Cartwright ran for office twice both times as a Democrat but was defeated by Abraham Lincoln.


Here is the way Cartwright described his own conversion if his autobiography- 
In 1801, when I was in my sixteenth year, my father, my eldest half brother, and myself, attended a wedding about five miles from home, where there was great deal of drinking and dancing, which was very common at marriages those days. I drank little or nothing; my delight was in dancing. After a late hour in the night, we mounted our horses and started for home. I was riding my race-horse.
A few minutes after we had put up the horses, and were sitting by the fire, I began to reflect on the manner in which I had spent the day and evening felt guilty and condemned. I rose and walked the floor. My mother was in bed. It seemed to me, all of a sudden, my blood rushed to my head, my heart palpitated, in a few minutes I turned blind; an awful impression rested on my mind that death had come and I was unprepared to die. I fell on my knees and began to ask God to have mercy on me.
My mother sprang from her bed, and was soon on her knees by my side, praying for me, and exhorting me to look to Christ for mercy, and then and there I promised the Lord that if he would spare me, I would seek and serve him; and I never fully broke that promise. My mother prayed for me a long time. At length we lay down, but there was little sleep for me. Next morning I rose, feeling wretched beyond expression. I tried to read in the Testament, and retired many times to secret prayer through the day, but found no relief. I gave up my racehorse to my father, and requested him to sell him. I went and brought my pack of cards, and gave them to mother, who threw them into the fire, and they were consumed. I fasted, watched, and prayed, and engaged in regular reading of the Testament. I was so distressed and miserable, that I was incapable of any regular business.
My father was greatly distressed on my account, thinking I must die, and he would lose his only son. He bade me retire altogether from business, and take care of myself. Soon it was noised abroad that I was distracted, and many of my associates in wickedness came to see me, to try and divert my mind from those gloomy thoughts of my wretchedness; but all in vain. I exhorted them to desist from the course of wickedness which we had been guilty of together. The class-leader and local preacher were sent for. They tried to point me to the bleeding Lamb, they prayed for me most fervently. Still I found no comfort, and although I had never believed in the doctrine of unconditional election and reprobation, I was sorely tempted to believe I was a reprobate, and doomed, and lost eternally, without any chance of salvation.
At length one day I retired to the horse-lot, and was walking and wringing my hands in great anguish, trying to pray, on the borders of utter despair. It appeared to me that I heard a voice from heaven, saying, "Peter, look at me." A feeling of relief flashed over me as quick as an electric shock. It gave me hopeful feelings, and some encouragement to seek mercy, but still my load of guilt remained. I repaired to the house, and told my mother what had happened to me in the horse-lot. Instantly she seemed to understand it, and told me the Lord had done this to encourage me to hope for mercy, and exhorted me to take encouragement, and seek on, and God would bless me with the pardon of my sins at another time.
Some days after this, I retired to a cave on my father's farm to pray in secret. My soul was in an agony; I wept, I prayed, and said, "Now, Lord, if there is mercy for me, let me find it," and it really seemed to me that I could almost lay hold of the Saviour, and realize a reconciled God, All of a sudden, such a fear of the devil fell upon me that it really appeared to me that he was surely personally there, to seize and drag me down to hell, soul and body, and such a horror fell on me that I sprang to my feet and ran to my mother at the house. My mother told me this was a device of Satan to prevent me from finding the blessing then. Three months rolled away, and still I did not find the blessing of the pardon of my sins.
This year, 1801, the Western Conference existed, and I think there was but one presiding elder's district in it, called the Kentucky District. William M'Kendree (afterward bishop) was appointed to the Kentucky District. Cumberland Circuit, which, perhaps, was six hundred miles round, and lying partly in Kentucky and partly in Tennessee, was one of the circuits of this district. John Page and Thomas Wilkerson were appointed to this circuit.
In the spring of this year, Mr. M'Grady, a minister of the Presbyterian Church, who had a congregation and meeting-house, as we then called them, about three miles north of my father's house, appointed a sacramental meeting in this congregation, and invited the Methodist preachers to attend with them, and especially John Page, who was a powerful Gospel minister, and was very popular among the Presbyterians. Accordingly he came, and preached with great power and success.
There were no camp-meetings in regular form at this time, but as there was a great waking up among the Churches, from the revival that had broken out at Cane Ridge, before mentioned, many flocked to those sacramental meetings. The church would not hold the tenth part of the congregation. Accordingly, the officers of the Church erected a stand in a contiguous shady grove, and prepared seats for a large congregation.
The people crowded to this meeting from far and near. They came in their large wagons, with victuals mostly prepared. The women slept in the wagons, and the men under them. Many stayed on the ground night and day for a number of nights and days together. Others were provided for among the neighbors around. The power of God was wonderfully displayed; scores of sinners fell under the preaching, like men slain in mighty battle; Christians shouted aloud for joy.
To this meeting I repaired, a guilty, wretched sinner. On the Saturday evening of said meeting, I went, with weeping multitudes, and bowed before the stand, and earnestly prayed for mercy. In the midst of a solemn struggle of soul, an impression was made on my mind, as though a voice said to me, "Thy sins are all forgiven thee." Divine light flashed all round me, unspeakable joy sprung up in my soul. I rose to my feet, opened my eyes, and it really seemed as if I was in heaven; the trees, the leaves on them, and everything seemed, and I really thought were, praising God. My mother raised the shout, my Christian friends crowded around me and joined me in praising God; and though I have been since then, in many instances, unfaithful, yet I have never, for one moment, doubted that the Lord did, then and there, forgive my sins and give me religion."

Peter Cartwright was a man used by God to help change this nation. If he had gotten into office there would have been a big difference between him and Abraham Lincoln. Although Lincoln may have been saved Cartwright was definitely more outspoken about his Christianity than Lincoln.

John Wycliffe

John Wycliffe also spelled Wyclif, Wycliff, Wiclef, Wicliffe, or Wickliffe) (c. 1328 – December 31, 1384) was an English Scholastic philosopher, theologian, lay preacher, translator, reformer and university teacher who was known as an early dissident in the Roman Catholic Church during the 14th century. His followers were known as Lollards, a somewhat rebellious movement, which preached anticlerical and biblically-centred reforms. The Lollard movement, was a precursor to the Protestant Reformation (for this reason, Wycliffe is sometimes called "The Morning Star of the Reformation"). He was one of the earliest opponents of papal authority influencing secular power. Wycliffe was also an early advocate for translation of the Bible into the common language. He completed his translation directly from the Vulgate into vernacular English in the year 1382, now known as Wycliffe's Bible. It is probable that he personally translated the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; and it is possible he translated the entire New Testament, while his associates translated the Old Testament. Wycliffe's Bible appears to have been completed by 1384, with additional updated versions being done by Wycliffe's assistant John Purvey and others in 1388 and 1395.
Wycliffe's Early Life Wycliffe was born in the factory village of modern-day Hipswell in the North Riding of Yorkshire, England in the mid-1320s. His family was long settled in Yorkshire. The family was quite large, covering considerable territory, principally centred around Wycliffe-on-Tees, about ten miles to the north of Hipswell.

Wycliffe received his early education close to his home. It is not known when he first came to Oxford, with which he was so closely connected until the end of his life, but he is known to have been at Oxford around 1345. He was influenced by Roger Bacon, Robert Grosseteste, Thomas Bradwardine, William of Occam, and Richard Fitzralph.

Wycliffe owed much to William of Occam's work and thought. He showed interest in natural science and mathematics, but applied himself to studying theology, ecclesiastical law, and philosophy. His opponents acknowledged the keenness of his dialectic, and his writings prove he was well grounded in Roman and English law, as well as in native history.^{[citation needed]}

During this time there was conflict between the northern (Boreales) and southern (Australes) "nations" at Oxford. Wycliffe belonged to Boreales, in which the prevailing tendency was anticurial, while the other was curial. Not less sharp was the separation over Nominalism and Realism. He mastered most of the techniques.

Wycliffe became deeply disillusioned both with Scholastic theology of his day and also with the state of the church, at least as represented by the clergy. In the final phase of his life in the years before his death in 1384 he increasingly argued for Scriptures as the authoritative centre of Christianity, that the claims of the papacy were unhistorical, that monasticism was irredeemably corrupt, and like the Donatist heresy one thousand years earlier, that the moral unworthiness of priests invalidated their office and sacraments.

Wycliffe and the Bible-Some members of the nobility possessed the Bible in French, and some portions of the Bible had been translated into English as early as the seventh century under the auspices of the Catholic Church. While Wycliffe is credited, it is not possible exactly to define his part in the translation, which was based on the Vulgate. There is no doubt that it was his initiative, and that the success of the project was due to his leadership. From him comes the translation of the New Testament, which was smoother, clearer, and more readable than the rendering of the Old Testament by his friend Nicholas of Hereford. The whole was revised by Wycliffe's younger contemporary John Purvey in 1388. Thus the cry of his opponents may be heard: "The jewel of the clergy has become the toy of the laity."

In spite of the zeal with which the hierarchy sought to destroy it due to mistranslations and erroneous commentary, there still exist about 150 manuscripts, complete or partial, containing the translation in its revised form. From this, one may easily infer how widely diffused it was in the fifteenth century. For this reason the Wycliffites in England were often designated by their opponents as "Bible men." Just as Luther's version had great influence upon the German language, so Wycliffe's, by reason of its clarity, beauty, and strength, influenced the English language as the King James Version (which borrowed heavily from Wycliffe's New Testament translation) was later to do.

Wycliffe as a Preacher-Wycliffe aimed to do away with the existing hierarchy and replace it with the "poor priests" who lived in poverty, were bound by no vows, had received no formal consecration, and preached the Gospel to the people. These itinerant preachers spread the teachings of Wycliffe. Two by two they went, barefoot, wearing long dark-red robes and carrying a staff in the hand, the latter having symbolic reference to their pastoral calling, and passed from place to place preaching the sovereignty of God. The bull of Gregory XI impressed upon them the name of Lollards, intended as an opprobrious epithet, but it became, to them, a name of honour. Even in Wycliffe's time the "Lollards" had reached wide circles in England and preached "God's law, without which no one could be justified."

Do You Act As Christ Would?

If Christ was to return would you want to be caught doing some things that you do?

1. What you read. Psalms 101:3 Does it honor Christ? Would you want your pastor or friends to see it, or would you hide it?
Here is a list of some popular books that a Christian should not read.
#1. Harry Potter. This series is full of witchcraft and is very occultic, and occultism is WRONG! 1 Samuel 15:23, and in Galatians 5:20 it is listed as a work of the flesh.
#2. Lord of the Rings. This is also full of witchcraft and is wrong for the same reasons.

2. What you watch? Psalms 101:3 Would you allow your children to view it? Is it filled with trash, profanity, drunkenness etc.
A list of movies a Christian shouldn't watch.
#1. Star Wars. These films all have occultism in them, which alone should be enough for a Christian not to watch them. Not to mention the profanity, women etc.

3. Where you go? 1 Thess. 5:22. Would your children be allowed to go in with you? If your friends saw it, would it be possible for them to gossip about it?
Would you go into a bar with your kids? Would you want them going into a movie store?

4. The way you talk? Eph. 4:29 Is it vulgar, crude? Would it be alright if you were in mixed company?
Do you want your children to grow up and talk as you do?

5. How you act? 1 Peter 5:8 Are you sober or foolish? 1 Timothy 3:2-7 I know this is aimed at men, but it would be good for everyone. Are you know as a Christian, of one that has good behaviour? Does the world look at you and say "He/she claims to be a Christian?"

6. The music you listen to? Eph. 5:19 says to sing to "...Hymns, songs and spiritual songs."
There is no such thing as "Christian" rock, they don't go together. Most rock stars Christian or otherwise, are filthy, and vile.
#1. Jars of Clay. When asked by Christianity today magazine to list their musical influences none of them listed a Christian singer. They listed Ozzie Osborne, The Beatles, etc. Right before Billy Graham (another compromiser) had them sing at one of his crusades, Jars of Clay recorded an R-rated film full of trash and profanity. The lead vocalist from the group said "We don't want to be called a 'Christian Band', because it is a turnoff." No one who is a Christian should be ashamed of being know as one, Paul said in Rom. 1 he was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.
#2. DC Talk. Some of their role models include The Beatles, David Bowie, and the Police, all of which are secular wicked rock stars. DC Talk performs Jimmy Hendrix's song Purple Haze, and opened their 'Jesus Freak' concert with an old Beatles song. No Christian would do this.
THESE PEOPLE ARE HEADED TO HELL!

Street Preaching At The Rock Concerts And Hill Cumorah

Recently we have been very busy street preaching and preaching in the churches.
This past Thursday night we went out to the Buffalo in the Square Rock Concert to preach. We normally go there whenever we are here as it is a really good time. There are hundreds of people who don't even go into the concert but stay outside and talk to us. It got violent a couple of times, as they do not like what we are saying because it condemns their sin. We had one kid come up and start rubbing lotion all over the preacher, and made himself a hero to all the wicked. Another time what looked like a lesbian came up and started kicking and punching at the preachers, her friends ended up pulling her off. The police were around there but they wouldn't do their job. And when police protection was requested (as it is their job if we are in danger) denied it saying we knew the risk. Later on though a group of officers came up and protected us after we called 911. I had a good conversation with a kid who was raised in the Catholic church and still claimed to be one but didn't practice it. He said that as a child some of the things confused him, he was just lacking the courage to question the priest and his parents. He said he would think on what I had given him. The church doctrines that they worship Mary, believe in Mary for their salvation, in works for salvation etc.
Then Friday night we had the Rochester East End Rock Fest. We had a really good time there. At the start we had a so called Christian get mad and spit on dad, who then went to the police and complained. we also went to the officer because of assault and was told to get out of the road. Another man came out of the coffee shop behind us and tried to grab the sign from dad. The officer saw it and we decided to press charges. The officer at first said it was only assault if you were injured and wouldn't arrest the man. Dad told him it was and he was pressing charges, he wanted the man arrested now. The officer went to get the guy but he had taken off and tried to get away. They caught him and brought him back to us. The man apologized and tried to get out of being arrested, but dad pressed charges anyway. Overall we had a good night. At one point we walked across the street near the actual concert and one of the band members read our sign oer the loud speaker "Women are to be keepers at home." It was great.
Then Saturday night we went to the Mormon Hill Cumorah Pageant. Dad had a couple good conversations. I held a banner most of the night and didn't get to talk to anyone.
Please pray for us as we are going to the pageant tonight, possibly tomorrow night, Friday night, and Saturday night. We also have the the Buffalo rock concert Thursday night, the J.W. convention Friday and Saturday morning and the Gay parade Saturday afternoon.

J R Tolkien A Lost Sinner In Hell

I would just like to deal a little bit about the life of J R Tolkien, author of Lord of the Rings. Alot of people say Tolkien was saved and the Lord of the Rings was a good Christian book.

I am going to just give a little bit of his life and show how he was a lost man, who ended up in hell.

Born John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, on January 3rd 1892. He was raised Catholic by his mother, after his father died. His grandparents were Protestant and against them being Catholic. His mother died when he was 12 years old. He continued in the Catholic faith till his dying day. Some of his favorite readings were fantasies by George Macdonald, an Irish man from the late 1800's. He went to college at Oxford, and studied classics and English language.

He was close friends with C. S. Lewis another lost man in hell. And some of their favorite times together were sitting in a pub discussing literature over a glass of beer, and smoking cigars.

The book Lord of the Rings is an epic fantasy novel. Here is an overview of the book Lord of the Rings. The title of the book refers to the story's main antagonist, the Dark Lord Sauron, who had in an earlier age created the One Ring to rule the other Rings of Power, as the ultimate weapon in his campaign to conquer and rule all of Middle-earth. From quiet beginnings in the Shire, a hobbit land not unlike the English countryside, the story ranges across Middle-earth following the course of the War of the Ring through the eyes of its characters, most notably the hobbits, Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee (Sam), Meriadoc Brandybuck (Merry) and Peregrin Took (Pippin), but also the hobbits' chief helpers: Aragorn, a ranger, and Gandalf, a wizard. As you can tell he has a wizard who is on the good side throughout the whole book.

Tolkien's devout faith was a significant factor in the conversion of C. S. Lewis from atheism to Christianity, although Tolkien was dismayed that Lewis chose to join the Church of England.^[90]

In the last years of his life, Tolkien became greatly disappointed by the reforms and changes implemented after the Second Vatican Council,^[91] as his grandson Simon Tolkien recalls:

I vividly remember going to church with him in Bournemouth. He was a devout Roman Catholic and it was soon after the Church had changed the liturgy from Latin to English. My grandfather obviously didn't agree with this and made all the responses very loudly in Latin while the rest of the congregation answered in English. I found the whole experience quite excruciating, but my grandfather was oblivious. He simply had to do what he believed to be right.

Here are some quotes by and about Tolkien.

The inspiration for the great fantasy novels of J.R.R. Tolkien cannot be separated from his profoundly Catholic approach to life:

Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament ... There you will find romance, glory, honour, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves upon earth ... which every man's heart desire

Although it is not my joy to say this. He was a devout Roman Catholic, who died and went to hell, at the age of 81 on September 2 1973.
Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it.

Street Preaching At The Indy 500.

I am sorry I have not kept up on my blog but I have been very busy. I would just like to give some of the facts of our past week street preaching. On Friday myself, my dad, sister and two friends went preaching at a Z Z Top concert at the speedway. We had some good conversations and overall it went nice. We had a lesbian come up (who of course was a christian) and started to tell us that we were doing it all wrong and she was a Christian homo. We started talking to her about 1 Cor. 6:9-11, and Romans 1. Where it states that NO HOMO will make it in to HEAVEN, and that they are reprobate. She proceeded to get mad and tried to swipe the sign from my dad. She then walked back across the street but on the way almost got run over by a motorcycle.
On Saturday we went out to the Parade, a very good time of street preaching. We had a J.W who said he was saved and either going to heaven or the ground, because there was no hell (J.W doctrine). We told him that there was a hell and showed him Luke 16:23, Rev. 20:10-15. He still said there was no hell but got off onto another subject. We brought up that Jesus was God. He denied it even after we took him to Zechariah 12:10 and John 19:37. He finally got mad and walked off. I was able to talk to one of the Clowns For Christ (No Greater Love Ministries) about salvation, God hating people, and them looking foolish in their costumes. He told me he ho[ed he would get to heaven, God did not hate anyone even after being showed Psalms 5:5.
That night myself,my brother, my dad and 9 other friends went street preaching at Georgetown. This the night before the Indy where everyone is getting drunk or doing some other form of wickedness. This is so vile and wicked no women or children are allowed, and all officers walk around in sets of 5. We were out from 7:00-11:00. While there we had several drunks try and attack us at several different times. Once a drunk Catholic kid started physically attacking us saying he had been raised in a christian home was spanked as a child and so on. We proceeded to keep him off and he went on down the road. We also had a police officer pull up in his car and tell us we needed a permit. My father dealt with him and told him we did not need one, he then continued to read off the statutes to the officer. The officer kept walking towards him and when he got real close to him told him to back up which my father did. The officer did not like how far he had stepped back and pulled out his cuffs and cuffed him. He then told all of us to back off, which we did about two-three feet. He then walked up to my brother and myself who had backed up and put his hand on our shoulder and pushed us over more stating that we had not backed off enough. After that a better trained officer pulled up got out and started talking to the other officer when he realized he had done wrong, he told my dad if he would calm down and cool off he would take the cuffs off. Which he did, and then left. Later that night we had an older drunken Catholic attack us again getting very violent shoving and spitting on all of us. When we called the police he took off and we didn't see him he rest of the evening.
Sunday we went out to the actual race. There were several good conversations. We had quite a few people get mad and some tried getting violent but nothing serious happened.
We hope God worked in peoples lives and that some will get converted before they die.
That is all for now, thanks for reading. Next time I will try and get a post up sooner than last time.