Biographical Sketch

The Icelandic waters look icy and lifeless, but those freezing waters teem with krill, which is the main food for the great whales that find their food in these polar oceans near the ice caps. Iceland is cold! But also the land is hot and desolate, harsh, yet fruitful. The country welcomes the seaman who takes refuge there. These contrasts are seen not only in the landscape of Iceland but also in its interesting history.

Samuel Davies lived the life of a typical farm boy. He helped his father in the fields. He learned to hunt deer and squirrels in the woods. Samuel also enjoyed crabbing and fishing in the nearby Atlantic Ocean. His mother ensured that her son learned to read in his youth; she accomplished her goal as young Samuel sometimes was found reading his books or teaching other boys how to read!

Phillip Keller grew up among the Africans. The boy learned their language. He learned to stalk gazelles on the savanna. He knew the ways of the elephant, the rhinoceros, and the lion. He loved the sun-drenched plains of his native land. Young Keller was educated at a boarding school in the highlands of Kenya.

As the massacre intensified, the youthful king of France thought of one man whom he must and could save—his private doctor, a good and faithful man. This skilled French physician was a committed Huguenot and a pious, humble Christian. Charles IX, young but of frail health, loved his doctor and could not bear the thought of his doctor being murdered simply because he was a Huguenot! Not wanting his dear physician to share Admiral de Coligny’s fate, Charles IX hurried to where his physician slept and ushered him into his own royal bedchamber for safekeeping.

William Tyndale was an outcast, a fugitive and stranger from his native land; he was truly a man without a country. He could not return to England on pain of death. For many years now, he had wandered in foreign lands. Germany and the Low Countries (the Dutch Netherlands) had proved a haven for him, and he quickly had learned the foreign languages. In fact, Tyndale possessed a gift for learning languages. He could speak more than seven tongues fluently!

Upon seeing Dr. Palmer, Commodore Matthew Maury, a decorated naval commander, remarked to the man sitting in the audience beside him, “He is the ugliest man I ever saw.” Ten minutes into the sermon, the commodore leaned over again and said, “He is getting better looking.”

Some great occasion, some notable event, had occurred! He waded through the water to get to the window and look out. The lurid glare of fiery flames reflected on the floodwaters of the Tiber, giving the scene an eerie glow. In the distance, he could hear shouts. The imprisoned Reformer heard the shouts getting nearer and nearer, not knowing what all the noise and clamor was about.

Even at the age of seventy, Spalding worked as hard as ever. That year, he traveled more than 1,500 miles on horseback. He lived with the Indians, slept on the hard ground, ate their food, and taught them from the Book of God. He gave the Nez Perce a written language and translated large portions of Scripture for his beloved people. He also taught them to sing, and Spalding loved nothing better than to sit in the white frame church and hear the sweet songs of Zion being sung by his converts.

Several days went by. Thomas had prayed, committing his case to God, so he faithfully continued with his duty. Then, suddenly and unexpectedly, Thomas received a very rare cablegram. He knew that sending a message across the ocean by cable was very expensive, as a customer was required to pay by each character in the post. Quickly he scanned the cablegram. The message from his father was brief, but it flooded his heart with joy and relief: “Disregard my letter; was misinformed.”

Occasionally, new innovations, such as smoke signals, flashing mirrors, and signal flags, were used to convey messages from point to point in a faster way. But on this day in 1844, a new method of instantaneous communication would change the world forever. Samuel Morse sat down at the desk and his hand went to the button of the electrical switch.

At the time that Lindley offered his services to the American Board of Foreign Missions, the famous David Livingstone had not yet set foot on the African continent, and the vast interior of Africa was still a blank spot on the map. But if God was truly the omnipresent Lord of the universe, He was Lord over the vast, uncharted African continent too.

As a young boy, Isaac Watts also had a striking ability to speak in rhyme, even when those talking to him were using ordinary speech. The story is often told how one evening, while his father was leading in family Bible reading and prayer, a mouse climbed up a rope along the fireplace. The boy held his peace until the prayer was ended, then he burst out in merriment, saying, “A mouse, for want of better stairs, ran up a rope to say his prayers.”

Traveling chess players from Germany and France would call upon Ridley in London to test their skills against his sharp, active mind. After reading and studying the Scriptures, Ridley usually spent an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening conversing with guests and playing chess. His mastery of chess matched his mastery of the Word of God, and his skill was attested by his opponents.

Finally, the time for the sermon came. Henderson leaned forward in his pew. Bruce ascended the pulpit, opened his Bible, and announced his text. He read aloud the first verse of John 10. The words of the text pierced Alexander Henderson’s heart! Did the preacher know that he, the pastor of Leuchars, was there? More importantly, did God know Henderson’s thoughts, his ambitions, his motives, and his very heart?

The young missionary and his wife settled down into a long dugout canoe. The canoe, skillfully oared by area tribesmen, would transport them to their new home deep in the swampy jungles of Indonesia. The young couple, Don and Carol Richardson, had no idea of the unknown dangers that lurked in the dark recesses of the swamps. But they knew that their omniscient Lord was fully aware of all that lay ahead.

When he was just 11 years old, he not only killed his first lion, but he also took part in the bloody Battle of Vegkop. The political history of the South African Republic is a complicated one, but one fact is clear: Paul Kruger became the dominant figure of Boer history for half a century.

He was well aware that the authorities at Cambridge forbade any Greek and Hebrew Bibles, calling them “the sources of all heresies.” But Bilney’s curiosity overcame his fear. He purchased the volume of the Greek New Testament and tucked it under his scholastic gown.

When news came in 1866 that the Korean government had killed 8,000 Catholic converts, Thomas resolved to go to Korea and give the pure Gospel to the people there. Despite the dangers, he boldly sailed to the Korean peninsula to shine the Light of the World into a kingdom of darkness.

In the year 1655, the savage dukes of Savoy waged a massive crusade to crush the simple believers of the Italian Piedmont. But God raised up a remarkable individual to show His power.

Two circuit preachers knew that a particular distillery had wrecked the lives of several families in the area. Lives were destroyed as Christians backslid into drunkenness and rage. Men struck their wives in fits of drunken anger, and children cowered in fear of their enraged, intoxicated fathers.