Since first hearing him speak years ago, I have admired Luis Palau. Sadly, he passed this morning after a long fight with cancer.
Is there an afterlife? He and I both think so.
ajh
Tag Archives: Christianity
Merry Christmas!
TO ONE AND ALL
ajh
“His preaching was legendary.”
MORE THAN FIFTY YEARS AT ONE CHURCH!
A long-time pastor in South Dakota and the voice of a long-running Christian television program, Rev. Harold Salem, has died. He had celebrated his 99ᵗʰ birthday this past summer. He started his career as a pastor at the age of 23.
“His first job in June 1944 was at First Baptist Church in his hometown of Belle Fourche. He stayed there for a little over 13 years before he moved to Aberdeen where he spent the next 52 years and eight months as pastor at Aberdeen’s First Baptist Church. Salem started broadcasting his sermons on the Christian Worship Hour in 1979.”
Though he retired in 2010, he continued working on the television show, which was broadcast around the world.
“He loved what he did and was totally absorbed in his work. His preaching was legendary.”
ajh
“It is commonplace to observe that Christmas is increasingly a pagan festival.” Sad but true.
“It is commonplace to observe that Christmas is increasingly a pagan festival,” wrote Matt Ridley for the Times of London. Ridley explained the pagan foundations of this major holiday, as well as other traditional Christian holidays like Easter and Halloween. He concluded, however, that the pagan origins do not make the spirit of the holidays “less worthwhile.”
ajh
December 9th, 1843: The first Christmas cards, basically postcards, are created & sold for a shilling in London.
Merry Christmas to one and all!
ajh
Gotthilf!
His complete name is Gotthilf David Siegfried Lentz.
Recently I visited a friend, a retired Methodist minister, who has been visiting her daughter in Seattle.
For years she lived and worked in Seattle. The family is from Vermont, and she spent much of her youth in Switzerland, where her father was stationed with the State Department, I think.
While we talking one evening, she mentioned my tweet. She was curious about the name. We figured out the God part, but didn’t get farther than that. So later I decided to use the Google, specifically Google Translate, and after learning the meaning of his name, I sent off a note to her.
“Just learned that Gotthilf is ‘God’s help’ in English.”
And she promptly replied, after her return home to Portland via the Bolt Bus.
“That is fantastic…nice name.”
Get thyself on Twitter, Hager-Smith! And then ye may tweet me directly.¹
ajh
1. She is, or was, on Twitter, but hasn’t updated her account since 2014.
Bluetooth technology is named after Harald Bluetooth, whose initials in runic script — ᚼᛒ — make up the logo.
FIRST KING OF THE DANES
The Bluetooth name is an Anglicized version of the Scandinavian word Blåtand, sometimes spelled Blåtann. In Old Norse it’s Blátǫnn. The word is the epithet of the tenth-century king Harald Bluetooth who united dissonant Danish tribes into a single kingdom and, according to legend, introduced Christianity. The Bluetooth logo is a combination of Harald’s initials, using what are called the Hagall (ᚼ) and Bjarkan (ᛒ) characters.
ajh
Albrecht Alt? Never heard of him. He was a German Lutheran scholar of the Old Testament.
Albrecht was born on September 20, 1883, so he was roughly the generation of my grandfather or great grandfather, whose name was also Albert.
As a German Lutheran scholar of the Old Testament, Albrecht authored a book, Biblia Hebraica, with a fella named R. Kittel which “became the standard critical text of the Old Testament for Bible students.”
ajh
In 1635, Richard Mather, father of Cotton & grandfather of Increase, arrives in Boston.
American Puritans
August 17, 1635: Richard Mather arrives in Boston, beginning the “Mather Dynasty” in New England Puritanism that also included his son, Cotton, and grandson, Increase.
I am fascinated by Columba, Irish missionary to Scotland & founder of the monastery at Iona.
Columba, Irish missionary to Scotland and founder of a monastery on the island of Iona, died on June 9, 597 at the age of 76.
“Though more monk than missionary, he established churches that went on, in time, to evangelize the Picts and the English.”
ajh
AARON HILL’S NOTEBOOK 