John Moore was born to humble parents on September 1, 1925 in Scotland. At the age of 16, and due to the consistent teaching of his mother and father, he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour and Friend. He then joined the local Baptist Church and became involved in Sunday School, open air meetings and tract distribution. He studied to become an evangelistic Baptist minister serving in the famous Tent Hall in Glasgow and several other congregations in Scotland. He was called to ministry in Canada at Central Baptist Church, Victoria, British Columbia and Willowdale Baptist Church in Toronto, Ontario.
In 1952, when he was 27, while serving at the Seamen’s Chapel in Scotland, Rev. Moore received a call from the Secretary of a large Shipping firm to request that he visit with a young seaman who was critically ill. During the visit, John reached for a tract. The pamphlet happened to tell the story of Pilgrim’s Progress and told of when Pilgrim came to the Cross of Christ with a heavy burden on his back. After praying for salvation, the young seaman expressed how his heavy spiritual burden of sin had been lifted from his back too. Later that evening, with those words fresh in his mind, John wrote the hymn that has encouraged many towards faith in Jesus Christ all around the world.
John Moore, passed away on November 2, 2017 in Stouffville, Ontario. In John’s own words, “All my iniquities on Him were laid, He nailed them all to the tree; Jesus, the debt of my sin fully paid, He paid the ransom for me” His hymn is entitled, BURDENS ARE LIFTED AT CALVARY.