Forgotten

Episode #51: Wretched John: Prone to Wander

Escaping the horrendous North Atlantic storm that nearly took his life, John emerged with a newfound faith in Christ. But the days ahead were far from smooth sailing. As with many new believers, those early first steps of following Christ are filled with faltering stumbles of spiritual immaturity and well laid snares by an unseen enemy. But through them all, God recovered John again and again and brought him to a place of obtaining the love of his life.

Episode #50: Wretched John: Rescued

Emerging from captivity, John soon ventured upon a life in Africa of growing wealth and boundless exploration of his depraved desires. That is until he was lured by prospects of inheritance onto a ship bound for England, a ship whose near floundering changed John’s life forever.

Episode #49: Wretched John: Held Captive

Press ganged into the Royal Navy, John’s haughty personality and infatuation turn what might have been a prestigious opportunity into a disgraceful ruin. And, the chance encounter with a slave ship which he thought to be his rescue proved to be a nightmare.

Episode #48: Wretched John: Out to Sea

Over 250 years ago, wooden boats powered by canvas sails tried the seas with no assurances that they would ever set foot on solid ground again. On the high seas, sailors at the mercy of rolling waves and raging storms do what they have done since the days of Jonah, they cry out to God. Such was the case with a blasphemous deckhand named John. At first, he hesitated, considering how he had forsaken God so long ago for a life abandoned to wickedness. But cry John did. And the Lord heard that cry, reaching down with a tender hand of love and grace and not only saved John from the storm, but rescued his life from the depths of sin. This act of God would eventually impact much of the world for centuries to come.

Episode #47: Rasalama of Madagascar

The Mad Queen of Madagascar’s first draught of martyr’s blood, which brought her a continuous thirst for more, was from of a young woman named Rasalama; a peasant girl in the poor village of Manjakaray in Madagascar. The queen’s intent was to either cause the girl to beg for her life, casting aside her Christian faith, or to use her gruesome execution to send a chill of fear upon all that might be persuaded to heed the words of this Jesus. In the end, it did neither.

Episode #46: Dutton Lane

Burrage Lane made sure his hunting rifle was loaded with dry shot, then he slid the weapon into his saddle. Anger boiled within him, as he looked at the gun. The man he was there to find had to be stopped at all costs because what he was spouting from behind that pulpit was poison, as far as he was concerned. But he did promise his wife that he would go and hear what the preacher had to say one time.

Episode #45: Elizabeth Payson Prentiss

The series of personal tragedy and suffering that Elizabeth Payson Prentiss encountered is hard to fathom. Stories of lesser personal loss have caused many individuals to completely shut out the idea of a loving, personal almighty God. So what would become of Elizabeth, this heart-broken mother, wife of a respected Presbyterian pastor, and daughter of arguably the most beloved and powerful pastor’s of 19th century New England? More. She would plead to God for more.

Episode #44: John Harper

John quickly kissed the forehead of his daughter and handed her to the crewman, who then handed her to Jesse. When Nana saw that her daddy was not following, she began to cry and scream, “Daddy! Daddy! No! Don’t leave me!” Through the tears in her eyes, she saw her daddy turn and disappear into the crowd. As the lifeboat lurched down toward the cold waters of the North Atlantic, Nana could hear her father’s booming voice over chaotic crowd, “Women and children and the unsaved into the lifeboats! Women and children and the unsaved into the lifeboats!”

Episode #43: Jim Elliot's Last Christmas

With his heart filled by the joy of the Christmas story, and the gift of a Savior, Jim Elliot (as well as his four friends) had no idea that a few days hence they would pay the ultimate price for their desperate attempt to make the good news known to all people.

The music for this episode is listed below and was adapted for length under a Creative Commons License.
The Owl – Moon Saturday
The Owl – Rainy Sun
The Owl – Winter Smoke

Episode #42: The Deaths of D. L. Moody

There are some for whom the Christmas season magnifies their sorrow more than their joy. The stringing of lights, the gifts under the tree, and the arrangement of the Christmas dinner table are only stinging reminders that someone who was once there is gone. The great evangelist D.L. Moody was no stranger to such heartache. But in his last moments, God gave him the most astounding gift that anyone could ever receive: The Gift of Hope.

Episode #41: John Craig and the Black Dog

The LORD ruleth over all. He is able to control the seas, the storms, and the sparrows of life--its rains, its rivers, and its routes. He is even able to guide the steps of a condemned servant running for his life and the paws a wilderness dog to intersect at an encounter of providential supply.

Episode #40: David Marks

Even though David Marks was not much more than a child, he knew that what was to be prized above all was not to be found in this life, but in the life to come. So on January 1, 1821, with a single one dollar bill in his pocket and the promise of God to meet all of his needs, 15 year-old David left his father and mother behind to preach the good news of Jesus Christ to all who would hear.

Episode #39: Charlotte Elliott

Sickness and suffering, pain and plague often stir up this question: If there is a God, then why is there so much suffering in the world? But we can be assured that our wounds are not wasted, that our suffering is never senseless. And as in the case of hymn writer Charlotte Elliott, we can take all the questions and the resentments that our pain may distill from deep within the heart and bring them to God. Despite my inner conflict and doubt, I can come to Jesus, just as I am.

Episode #38: James Abbes

Not much is known about James Abbes. He is described as young man, with a zeal to share the story that the monarchy desperately longed to stamp out: the plain teaching of salvation by grace through faith alone. This teaching was considered heresy and punishable by death. In 1555, the list was long of those who were paying the ultimate price for their faith in Jesus alone.

Episode #37: Genesius of Rome

In AD 303, God confronted a most vile and blasphemous young man who had strayed far from the instruction of his family, and He did so at a most inconvenient time.

The music for this episode is listed below and was adapted for length under a Creative Commons License
Liam Higgo – Forgotten
Liam Higgo – Journey

Episode #36: Stuart Hamblen

Stuart had been up all night. He had tossed and turned unable to sleep. All he could hear in the back of his mind were the words of that country preacher about standing before God and giving an account for his life. And his life was a mess. His drinking had taken over. If he landed in jail one more time, he could lose everything. But all of his popularity and fame, all his money wouldn’t change the fact that he was unprepared to meet God.

The music for this episode is listed below and was adapted for length under a Creative Commons License
myuu – Edge of Life
myuu – Lament

Episode #35: Phillips Brooks' Christmas Memory

It was a Christmas memory, of all things, that first breathed life into “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” This memory has since become a treasured part of countless Christmas celebrations, including ours in that little mountain church on the side of the road so many years ago.

The music for this episode is “O Little Town of Bethlehem” by Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and was adapted for length under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-SA 3.0 DEED).

Episode #34: Christmas Evans - Part 2

Around 1797, a dark cloud overshadowed the ministry of Christmas Evans.

Episode #33: Christmas Evans - Part 1

Samuel and Joanna Evans held in their arms the child that would bear the name of the day of his birth. They did not know it, but through heartache, pain, poverty, and suffering, Christmas Evans would leave in the wake of his life a myriad of changed lives and a lasting mark on the country of his birth.

Episode #32: The Death of William Tyndale

The thing that got me was that they scraped his hands. They took a piece of glass or a knife and with the edge, scraped the heel and palm of his hand down to his finger tips. They were trying to remove something. But scrape all they might, but they would never undo what those anointed hands had already done.

The music for this episode is listed below and was adapted for length under a Creative Commons License
Liam Higgo – Dawn
Liam Higgo – Mostly Good Memories

Episode #31: Maeyken Wens

The famed pastor RG Lee said, "Some of the most beautiful and spiritually fragrant flowers that blossom in God’s Kingdom gardens, some of the most luscious spiritual fruit that ripens in God’s Kingdom orchards, and some of the most potent streams that flow out to make gardens out of desert spots of the world are realities because of woman’s chastity, faith, service, sacrifice, and devotion.” This is true of the life and testimony of Maeyken Wens.

The music for this episode is listed below and was adapted for length under a Creative Commons License
Chris Zabriskie – NirvanaVEVO
Chris Zabriskie – There’s Probably No Time

Episode #30: The King of Chattanooga

In 1932, crime bosses that had a stranglehold on power through criminal activity were in cities all over America. Chattanooga, Tennessee, was no exception. It had its own crime boss that kept his finger on the pulse of a dark underworld in this sleepy southern town. Chattanooga had its king of crime, until one summer night when the King of Chattanooga was over thrown by the King of kings.

The music for this episode is listed below and was adapted for length under a Creative Commons License
Chris Zabriskie – John Stockton Slow Drag
Chris Zabriskie – That Kid in Fourth Grade Who Really Liked the Denver Broncos

Episode #29: Andy Meakins and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961

As Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 was falling from the sky about to crash into the Indian Ocean in the worst terrorist strike before 9/11, Andy Meakins risked his own temporal safety so that others might have eternal safety.

Episode #28: Andres of the Muinane Tribe

Is God big enough to bring the name of Jesus to the heart of a man seeking him, even if he lives in the secluded isolation of a South American rain forest? The answer to this question is a resounding, “Yes!”

The music for this episode is listed below and was adapted for length under a Creative Commons License
Kai Engel – Realness
Kai Engel – Take a Look Around You
Kai Engel – Better Way
Kai Engel – Oecumene Sleeps

Episode #27: The Godly Woman of Chipping Sodbury

"Poetic justice" is a literary term defined as the moment in the plot where virtue is ultimately rewarded and vice is punished. Although we rarely see such scenes of poetic justice in life, we know that in the end God will make every wrong right in the day of judgment. Yet there are a few instances, where poetic justice is not reserved for the far off day before the throne of God, but is played out right before our eyes on earth. Such was the case with the godly woman of Chipping Sodbury, England.

The music for this episode is listed below and was adapted for length under a Creative Commons License
Marcel Pequel – Two
Marcel Pequel – Eight

Episode #26: John Brown of Priesthill

The pastor had just performed a wedding when he told the bride that she had married a great man. But the pastor next said "Be sure to keep a death shroud close by because, when you least expect it, you husband is going to be killed.” The bride looked at her bridegroom and knew it to be true.

The music for this episode is listed below and was adapted for length under a Creative Commons License
Liam Higgo – Unlikely Inspiration
Liam Higgo – Streets

Episode #25: Marinus of Caesarea

Through the centuries, many people have made the difficult choice to forsake all and follow Jesus. Few lives so brilliantly reveal the cost of that sacrifice than that of a young Roman soldier named Marinus of Caesarea.

The music for this episode is listed below and was adapted for length under a Creative Commons License
So I’m An Islander – Bræuw fra æ Bjæuw (Letters From the Mountains)
So I’m An Islander – Ve’ Bånsøj (At Bottom Lake)

Episode #24: Dudley Tyng

The words of Jesus were clear: to be his disciple, one must take up their cross and follow him. He calls us to take up our own personal death, death to ourselves, our will, our desires, and to be identified with Christ. He calls us to endure shame and ridicule as one of his own, to be counted as Christ’s. The call of a disciple is a call to stand up for Jesus.

The music for this episode is listed below and was adapted for length under a Creative Commons License
Marcel Pequel – December
Marcel Pequel – November

Episode #23: Mel Trotter

In the dim light of the room, Mel reached a trembling hand down, down into the coffin, and slipped the tiny shoes from the body of his two-year old son. With shoes in hand, he quickly made his way out of the parlor, down to the nearest saloon, and slapped the little shoes down on the counter and said, “Give me a drink! I’m dying for a drink!”

The music for this episode is listed below and was adapted for length under a Creative Commons License
myuu – Collapse
myuu – Disintegrating

Episode #22: The Bible on the Bounty

Jack desperately rummaged through all that was taken off of the ship. It seemed like he had done this a thousand times; and each time he did, in his mind he could see the flames of the ship rising higher and higher. It seemed like such a good idea at the time. He along with all the others, thought that they had found paradise. But the island that they all thought they wanted to spend the rest of their lives on was becoming a nightmare. Something had to change!

Episode #21: Lott Carey

Though his name is rarely remembered today, his story is one of strength, that kind of strength that is given by God. The story of Lott Carey is the story of a man enslaved in Virginia who met the One known to set captives free.

Episode #20: Uncle John Vassar

Although his name is largely forgotten more than 200 years after his birth, if your had lived in rural America in the mid to late 1800’s, chances are you would have recognized his name. John Ellison Vassar was one of the most widely known evangelists in the United States. As we encounter him on the dusty pages of history, we see a man who walked in the way of the One who came to seek and save the lost.

Episode #19: Johann Leonhard Dober

As the sails filled with the ocean breeze, and the boards creaked from the waters below him, it was time to go. Whatever lay ahead, whatever the cost, whatever indignities and want that he may experience in trying to reach the impoverished and oppressed African slaves on St. Thomas, Johann Leonhard Dober was willing to endure it all for the sake of the Gospel.

The music for this episode is listed below and was adapted for length under a Creative Commons License
Liam Higgo – Epic Rise
Liam Higgo – Cascading

Episode #18: Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury

It is impossible to overestimate the impact that one godly Christian can have on another individual’s life. In many respects, the world as we know it today would be very different if one godly housekeeper had not influenced a young son of an English Lord.

Episode #17: Joseph Mohr

Joseph Mohr didn’t know that the lyrics to the little poem he had penned would forever become part of Christmas celebrations, not only in his small Austrian alpine village, but around the world. This gentle song would become the centerpiece of reflection and worship of the Saviour-King, born in a Bethlehem stable.

The music for this episode is listed below and was adapted for length under a Creative Commons License
Kevin MacLeod - Silent Night

Episode #16: Ira Sankey and the Confederate Soldier

Most people never realize how near they come to the experience of death. But on a clear moonlit night, the life of a relatively unknown Union soldier was spared, only to find out a decade and a half later that the Great Shepherd had rescued his lamb from the jaws of certain death.

Episode #15: Jerry McAuley

While Jerry was living in the back alley, the shop owners and townspeople wished he would just disappear. He was a misfit, a thief, and all around menace to society. He thought that somehow he had outstretched the bounds of the love of God.

Episode #14: Sampson Occom

Samson Occom, a prolific pastor, educator, and author, was betrayed, maligned, and exploited most of his life, largely by people who claimed to worship the same God as him. They were supposed to be his brethren, men of the same family of God. Yet in their eyes, he was always seen as something less.

Episode #13: The Old Epworth Rectory

Satan knows the curiosity of man and uses it to distract the human mind from occupying itself with the truth of God, leading it down a path of lies and deceptions. That could have easily been the case with the Wesley family while living at the Epworth Rectory. The unusual events that took place there could have led the them into all kinds of speculations about ghosts, hauntings, and supernatural occurrences. But it didn’t.

The music for this episode is listed below and was adapted for length under a Creative Commons License
Myuu – Deadly Sorrow
Myuu – Lost World

Episode #12: Kiyoshi "Uncle John" Watanabe

He was scared, scared sick. But he could not show it. That’s the hardest thing in the world to do: to be terrified and not show it.

Episode #11: AJ

AJ stood firmly planted in rational thinking. If there was a God, he wound up the universe eons ago, and simply walked away. No personal God, no life after death, no final judgment, no heaven, and no hell. To believe any other way was foolish superstition. That was until one fateful sleepless night, when the haunting voice of a dying man pushed him from a calloused skeptic to a convinced servant.

Episode #10: Margaret Wilson

The 18 year old Scottish girl by the name of Margaret Wilson had taken a lonely road for most of her formative years. Living in wilderness caves, she was simply trying to survive during her teen age years. And all that time, she never lost sight of to whom she belonged. Even in the final moments of her life, when it seemed that all the world was against her, she spent the last breaths of her body boldly affirming that she belonged to only One.

Episode #9: Eric Liddell

Eric Liddell was an Olympic sprinter that gave his all in every race. But this characteristic not only followed him on to the fields of competition, but on the fields of commission. Although the fleeting spark of fame would show the world an Olympic champion, what very few realize is that his ultimate surrender was as a missionary, telling others of the God he loved so much.

Episode #8: Robert Jermain Thomas

Success is defined as a person or thing that achieves desired aims. One way or another we all want to be successful. But what if we have it all wrong when it comes to the measure of success? What if success or failure as a child of God is not left in our hands or cannot be measured or equated from our finite vantage point? To all outward indication, the death of a 27 year old missionary before he even ever spoke to the people he was set to reach, is a failure. But in the hands of God, the sacrificial death of just such a young man can be turned into an astounding success.

Episode #7: Dr. Rowland Taylor

History has given us many examples of what it means to be a servant of God. Great men have led well, spoken to large crowds, written great books, and took memorable stands. But there are a select few that have paid for the privilege of leading their flock with their life’s blood. A few shepherds have literally laid down their lives for their sheep. Dr. Rowland Taylor exhorted and encouraged his fold to be true to the word of God no matter what. He then sealed that testimony with his own blood.

Episode #6: Daniel Nash

His prayer ministry was so isolated and so discreet, that he is all but forgotten in Christian history. Accordinging to the evangelist that he worked with, he was the indispensable element of an effective crusade to reach lost souls. As his small grave stone reads, in understated words: Daniel Nash, Mighty in Prayer.

Episode #5: Watchman Nee

There are those times when we as believers long for God to come and show His power for all to see. We want the equivalent of a high noon, center of town, in the middle of the street showdown. There are moments when we want the great God of heaven to enter the scene of our world, and like a flash stretch forth His mighty power to put to naught the evil that threatens us. And all this right in front of the eyes of a gawking world. We want moments like the account from the life of Chinese evangelist Watchman Nee in the early 1920’s. God worked in such a mighty fashion that an entire pagan society was shaken to its core.

Episode #4: The Red River Meeting House

An event took place at this log cabin out in the middle of nowhere, on the far edge of fledgling nation, in a region of the country filled with criminals and fugitives that defies the imagination. The event that not only had a profound effect on the local area of Logan County Kentucky, or the frontier state as a whole, but left its mark on succeeding generations in the states of Tennessee, Georgia, Ohio, Virginia, and the Carolinas. And to some extent, it altered the heart and conscience of America while it was still in the cradle of its infancy.

Episode #3: Frowning Providence

There is Someone behind the scenes working circumstance to His infinite wisdom. God is doing this in your life, right now. Every detail, every instance, every crossed path, and every dead end. But that is not so easy to see. One must look from the distance of history in order to see the finger-print of divine design. Here are just two. Two that shine brightly and vividly to reveal a God who works in us to reveal His good pleasure.

Episode #2: William Hunter

When the curtain of time lifted on 19 year old William Hunter’s path in the spring of 1555, his parents were watching. They watched as their son was walked to the center of Brentwood England, they watched as he was chained to a wooden post, and they watched as he was set ablaze. They watched helplessly as their teenage burned at the stake for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Episode #1: Gladys Aylward

Sometimes we don’t attempt things for God. We don’t boldly stand for God because we are just not sure that His hand will be there to protect us. Sure, God did that in the Bible, but would he protect me? Would he protect me in a car driving down the high way? Would he protect me on the streets of a foreign land? Or would he protect me, as in the case of Gladys Aylward, hiking through the jungles of China with nearly 100 orphan children, surrounded by Japanese soldiers with orders to shoot on sight? I’m glad to say, “Yes! He can.”