Recalling August 2 – 4
August 4, 1792: By order of revolutionaries, all houses of worship close in France.
August 4, 1892: English medical missionary Sir Wilfred T. Grenfell arrives in Labrador, Newfoundland. He laboured as a physician and missionary for 42 years and was instrumental in building orphanages, hospitals, cooperative stores, and other community organisations.
August 3, 1492: Christopher Columbus sets sail from Spain for the “Indies.” Though the explorer was in part driven by a quest for gold and glory, he also saw himself as a missionary. He thought, if there were a shortcut to the East by sea, missionaries could be sent there faster, thus enabling Christians to meet the provision for world evangelisation before the Lord could return.
August 2, 1100: William the Conqueror’s son and successor Rufus, a wicked king who delighted in torture, seizing church property, and blasphemy, is mysteriously killed while hunting by an arrow that flew out of nowhere. No one mourned, and England took his eternal damnation for granted.