November 20, 303
Because his prisons are full, Diocletian offers amnesty to all Christians who will sacrifice to the Roman gods.
November 20, 870
(traditional date) Martyrdom of Edmund, King of the East Angles. Danish invaders had offered him peace at the cost of renouncing Christ but he refused, fighting to preserve his throne and his faith. Captured, he was tortured and murdered.
November 20, 1542
At the urging of Bartolomeo de las Casas, Spain passes new laws to protect American Indians.
November 20, 1583
Ecumenical Patriarch Jeremias II issues a Tomus on the question of the Gregorian calendar, which the Orthodox Church rejects, sticking with the traditional Julian calendar.
November 20, 1652
The King of Warri, Nigeria, wrote to the pope, pleading that missionaries be sent to his country. In response, the pope dispatched Capuchin friars who criss-crossed the country for four years.
November 20, 1806
Death of Isaac Backus, an influential Massachusetts Baptist leader, soul winner, and advocate of religious freedom.
November 20, 1847
Death of Francis Lyte, Scottish clergyman and hymn writer, who wrote “Jesus I My Cross Have Taken.” He also penned the hymn, “Abide with Me, Fast Falls the Eventide.” His last words are “Joy! Peace!”
November 20, 1850
Francis “Fanny” J. Crosby becomes a Christian following a disconcerting dream in which a dying friend makes her promise to meet him in heaven. Attending a Methodist revival service, she seeks assurance at the altar and she is flooded with joy, and leaps up, shouting “Hallelujah.” She will go on to write hundreds of beloved hymns such as “Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine.”
November 20, 1870
Amanda Smith, feeling dull, sees a vision saying “Go Preach.” She becomes a well-known African-American evangelist who travels world-wide.
November 20, 1904
George Jeffreys is converted in a revival at Shiloh Independent Chapel in Nantyfyllon, Wales. He is healed of a speech impediment and will go on to become a leading Pentecostal evangelist.
November 20, 1938
Father Charles Coughlin, a Canadian-born Catholic priest, populist radio broadcaster, and (until c. 1934) an ardent supporter of Franklin Roosevelt, defends Kristallnacht, a Nazi attack on Jewish property, as a necessary retaliation for Jewish atheists in the communist government of Russia which had killed millions of Christians and confiscated Christian property. He would consistently blame Jews and Communists for the Second World War rather than the Nazis who launched it. His magazine was called Social Justice.
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