The Top Ten List
By Jay Rogers
Published April 10, 2008
Christian Leaders of Massachusetts
On the following pages are listed the top ten Christian leaders in Massachusetts history. Literally hundreds of names could have been included. No doubt, there are more than a few glaring omissions. Ever since the first English Pilgrims and Puritans settled here in the 1620s and ’30s, Massachusetts has led the nation in producing Christian leaders from all walks of life. Ministers, authors, statesmen, sports heroes and business people have professed their faith in Jesus Christ, sometimes in the face of ridicule, but often as a testimony to their success.
As Oliver Wendell Holmes said, Boston is “the hub of the solar system.” The Puritans believed that Massachusetts was literally the “New Jerusalem.” The names New Hampshire, New Haven, New England speak of the mandate of the New Testament to build the city of God on earth. The names of towns, rivers and places echo biblical names and doctrines. Even the city of Boston, originally named Tremont for the three hills the city was built upon, alludes to the Trinity. It was a city built upon the foundation of God.
While few today would think of New England’s citizens as being God’s chosen people, when we look at our great achievement and culture, it is obvious that there is a special calling for the region. Here is only a brief representation of the Christian leaders of four centuries. As the growing number of Christian students and local churches attest, it may not be long before we will see a new generation of Christian leaders who will build “the city of God” on the foundation laid by its founders.
- 1. William Bradford: Governor of Plymouth Colony (1590-1657)
- 2. John Winthrop: Governor of Massachusetts (1587-1649)
- 3. Anne Bradstreet: America's first poet (1612-1672)
- 4. Jonathan Edwards: The First Great Awakening (1703-1758)
- 5. George Whitefield: The First Transatlantic Evangelist (1714-1770)
- 6. Phillis Wheatley: Forerunner of American Abolitionism (1753-1784)
- 7. Samuel Adams: Father of the American Revolution (1722-1803)
- 8. John Quincy Adams: America's Evangelist President (1767-1848)
- 9. Dwight Lyman Moody: America's Greatest Evangelist (April 21, 1855)
- 10. Billy Sunday Draws 70,000 to Boston Revival (November 12, 1916)
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Amazing Grace: The History and Theology of Calvinism (DVD)
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Just what is Calvinism?
Does this teaching make man a deterministic robot and God the author of sin? What about free will? If the church accepts Calvinism, won’t evangelism be stifled, perhaps even extinguished? How can we balance God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility? What are the differences between historic Calvinism and hyper-Calvinism? Why did men like Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Spurgeon, Whitefield, Edwards and a host of renowned Protestant evangelists embrace the teaching of predestination and election and deny free will theology?
This is the first video documentary that answers these and other related questions. Hosted by Eric Holmberg, this fascinating three-part, four-hour presentation is detailed enough so as to not gloss over the controversy. At the same time, it is broken up into ten “Sunday-school-sized” sections to make the rich content manageable and accessible for the average viewer.
Running Time: 257 minutes
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Dr. Francis Schaeffer - A Christian Manifesto (DVD)
That Swiss Hermit Strikes Again!
Dr. Schaeffer, who was one of the most influential Christian thinkers in the twentieth century, shows that secular humanism has displaced the Judeo-Christian consensus that once defined our nation’s moral boundaries. Law, education, and medicine have all been reshaped for the worse as a consequence. America’s dominant worldview changed, Schaeffer charges, when Christians weren’t looking.
Schaeffer lists two reasons for evangelical indifference: a false concept of spirituality and fear. He calls on believers to stand against the tyranny and moral chaos that come when humanism reigns-and warns that believers may, at some point, be forced to make the hard choice between obeying God or Caesar. A Christian Manifesto is a thought-provoking and bracing Christian analysis of American culture and the obligation Christians have to engage the culture with the claims of Christ.
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The Silent Scream (DVD) Eight Languages
“When the lives of the unborn are snuffed out, they often feel pain, pain that is long and agonizing.” – President Ronald Reagan to National Religious Broadcasters Convention, January 1981
Ronald Reagan became convinced of this as a result of watching The Silent Scream – a movie he considered so powerful and convicting that he screened it at the White House.
The modern technology of real-time ultrasound now reveals the actual responses of a 12-week old fetus to being aborted. As the unborn child attempts to escape the abortionist’s suction curette, her motions can be seen to become desperately agitated and her heart rate doubles. Her mouth opens – as if to scream – but no sound can come out. Her scream doesn’t have to remain silent, however … not if you will become her voice. This newly re-mastered version features eight language tracks and two bonus videos.
“… a high technology “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” arousing public opinion just as Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 antislavery novel ignited the abolitionist movement.” – Sen. Gordon Humphrey, Time Magazine
Languages: English, Spanish, French, South Korean, Chinese, Russian, Portuguese, Japanese
Running Time: 28 minutes
$17.95 — ORDER NOW!
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Freedom: The Model of Christian Liberty (DVD)
“Give me liberty or give me death!”
Patrick Henry’s famous declaration not only helped launch the War for Independence, it also perfectly summarized the mindset that gave birth to, and sustained, the unprecedented experiment in Christian liberty that was America.
The freedom our Founders envisioned was not freedom from suffering, want, or hard work. Nor was it freedom to indulge every appetite or whim without restraint—that would merely be servitude to a different master. No, the Founders’ passion was to live free before God, unfettered by the chains of autocracy, shackles that slowly but inexorably bind men when the governments they fashion fail to recognize and uphold freedom’s singular, foundational truth: that all men are created in the image of God, and are thereby co-equally endowed with the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
This presentation is a similar call, not to one but many. By reintroducing the principles of freedom that gave birth to America, it is our prayer that Jesus, the true and only ruler over the nations, will once again be our acknowledged Sovereign, that we may again know and exult in the great truth that “where the Spirit of the LORD is, there is liberty” (2 Cor. 3:17).
Welcome to the Second American Revolution!
This DVD features “Liberty: The Model of Christian Liberty” along with “Dawn’s Early Light: A Brief History of America’s Christian Foundations.” Bonus features include a humorous but instructive collection of campaign ads and Eric Holmberg’s controversial YouTube challenge concerning Mitt Romney’s campaign for president.
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Martin Luther: Digitally Remastered 1953 Classic (DVD)
“Here I stand … I can do no other!”
With these immortal words, an unknown German monk sparked a spiritual revolution that changed the world.
The dramatic classic film of Martin Luther’s life was released in theaters worldwide in the 1950s and was nominated for two Oscars. A magnificent depiction of Luther and the forces at work in the surrounding society that resulted in his historic reform efforts, this film traces Luther’s life from a guilt-burdened monk to his eventual break with the Roman Catholic Church.
Running time: 105 minutes
Special offer: Order 5 or more for $5 each.
Watch a clip from Martin Luther.
$9.95 — ORDER NOW!
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