Dr Paul Allen

Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia The efforts of the London Missionary Society to introduce Christianity into Madagascar began in 1818 and were met with a decade of modest success followed by a violent reaction. Queen Ranavalona I took the throne in 1828. She loathed and feared foreigners. As the mission society gained converts, she lashed back with edicts that forbade baptism, communion, Christian marriage rites and public worship. From her throne she poured persecution upon the heads of Christian converts. In 1835, the missionaries threw in the towel. Thwarted at every turn, they buried their Bibles, books, and tracts and left Madagascar. Two years later, Ranavalona I expelled all remaining foreigners. Turning on her own subjects, she was merciless in her measures and much blood flowed. The return of the London Missionary Society to Madagascar was largely through the efforts of Rev. William Ellis . Having witnessed how greatly printing impressed the Polynesians he thoug

Image via Wikipedia What may be most interesting about Eric Liddell is that he is remembered for something he  didn’t do  far more than than something he did. And he did some great things! He was one of the best rugby players in the world, one of the fastest men in the world, a two-time Olympic medalist.  He was a profoundly godly guy, a pastor, a missionary. And yet he is known for what he did not do. His story begins in China in 1902 and ends in China in 1945, so he lived from the turn of the century, right near the end of the Victorian era , to almost the end of World War 2. He was born in January of that year in Tianjin, the second son of James and Mary Liddell.  His father was a missionary with the London Missionary Society , that great organization that sent so many missionaries around the world (perhaps the best known of them being David Livingstone who is best remembered for what someone else said to him!). His parents were Scottish Presbyterians and were noted for th