When the devil takes over….. by Jim Curran

Baptist Church History Published by Jim Curran

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Post by Jim CurranWhile we realize that the church is not a place but rather a people- an assembly there is often a tangible link to place. We can see a place where God did something in the lives of men. Satan on the other hand makes a mock at the things of God. One of the ways that he does this is through what man can see- those tangible places. It is uncanny how many times Satan takes a place that was once used for God and mocks it. I have came across quite a few places like that both in research and travel. I was reminded of this in answering a question today in another group as to the location to where Obadiah Holmes was beaten. No plaque marks the spot but a liquor store does. On part of the site where Isaac McCoy built the Carey Mission to the Pottawatomie tribe is a Mormon stake. McCoy had opposed the Mormons in Missouri and wound up enshrined in so called Mormon “history” as the sectarian preacher that opposed them. There is no doubt that Satan had that built there out of spite. In doing some research on William Carey I found the site of the famous “deathless sermon” on Google earth. The two points from this sermon “Expect great things from God; Attempt great things for God!” resonated to the beginning of the modern mission movement. Carey of course would go on to be a missionary to India. This sermon was given at the Friar Lane Baptist Chapel in Nottingham. The building is long gone but what sits on that location today is uncanny-a restaurant Tuk-Tuk Indian Street food! Today the mission field is in and indeed is England. I have seen quite a few church buildings put to other uses such as a pizza place or funeral home but more strikingly Mosques and Buddhist temples! Then there are the indescribable things- the First Baptist Church of Columbus Ohio sold their old building which became an event center and bar!! They sold it knowing it would be put to this use! Today it hosts rock and country concerts and all forms of debauchery. Another couple of examples are found in Salem Massachusetts with connections to Rice and Judson- the first Baptist Church was where the Salem Baptist Missionary Society was formed and where Lucius Bolles pastored. The city wanted the land and bought the church building and wound up turning it into a law library. Far darker is the fact that the Salem Witch Museum is housed in a former congregational church building that had been formed out of the church that had sent out Judson and Rice before they came to Baptist principles on the way. To close on a more positive note- I was in a church planter’s meeting several years ago where a church plant had been started in a building that had once been a bar. So significant was the event to the town it made the front page of the local newspaper- As he held up the headline of “FROM BOOZE TO PEWS” a whole huge room of preachers erupted in amens and praise to God. Perhaps as Satan mocks we can take back ground after all.