Josephus concluded:"And so Judah and his fellow citizens celebrated the festival of the restoration of the sacrifices of the Temple for eight days ... They honored God, and delighted themselves with psalms of praise and the playing of harps. Indeed, they were so very glad at the revival of their customs and, after so long a time, having unexpectedly regained their right to worship, that they made it a law for their posterity that they should keep a festival celebrating the restoration of their Temple worship for eight days."
Greek Orthodox tradition tells of Saint Nicholas being born around AD 280, the only child of a wealthy, elderly couple who lived in Patara, Asia Minor (present-day Turkey) ... Hegenerously gave to the poor, but he did so anonymously, as he wanted the glory to go to God. About this time, in the 3rd century, the pietist-monastic movement spread, where sincere converts to Christianity would give away all their money and possessions, then withdraw from the world to live in a cave as a hermit or join a monastery ...
All those blaming Columbus for sailing west must turn one chapter back in the history books to find that it was actually Islamic jihad disrupting the land routes from Europe to India and China that resulted in Columbus looking for a sea route.
In 17th century England, John Bunyan was in a farm house near Bedford, England, when it was raided by the police.He was bound, arrested, and dragged away, all because he was having an unauthorized religious meeting and for preaching without the permission of the government.
