1 00:00:07,150 --> 00:00:12,169 Greetings, this is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a moment 2 00:00:12,169 --> 00:00:17,410 of truth, where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. Today, 3 00:00:17,489 --> 00:00:24,769 the issue I want to treat with you, continuing with our study of comparing Islam and Christianity, 4 00:00:25,350 --> 00:00:33,850 the Crusades, a monument to myth. The Crusades, a monument to myth, because there are so many 5 00:00:33,850 --> 00:00:40,549 myths surrounding the nature of the Crusades that are still rampant today. Our own president 6 00:00:40,549 --> 00:00:46,630 tried to remind us that indeed all the atrocities that Islam is committing in the Middle East now 7 00:00:46,630 --> 00:00:54,009 and Syria and Iraq, especially ISIS, that is the Islamic state in the Levant, they are butchering 8 00:00:54,009 --> 00:00:58,570 Christians right and left. They're slaughtering fellow Muslims. They're slaughtering communities 9 00:00:58,570 --> 00:01:05,250 that have been in the region for centuries, millennia even. And our president tried to 10 00:01:05,250 --> 00:01:10,989 compare what's going on there with what happened in the Crusades with ostensibly Christians in the 11 00:01:10,989 --> 00:01:16,549 name of Christ committing atrocities. Well, let's treat of this subject today, the Crusades, a monument 12 00:01:16,549 --> 00:01:25,450 to myth, because there are so many myths surrounding the Crusades. In 1999, which was the 900th anniversary 13 00:01:25,450 --> 00:01:32,250 of the First Crusade, a band of Protestants from all the major liberal denominations set out from Germany 14 00:01:32,250 --> 00:01:39,629 on what can only be described as an apology tour for the Crusades. They called it a reconciliation walk, 15 00:01:40,129 --> 00:01:45,790 taking one of the routes followed by the Crusaders, which culminated in their arrival in the Holy Land. 16 00:01:46,409 --> 00:01:52,609 These marchers were issued t-shirts with the message, We Apologize, emblazoned across the front 17 00:01:52,609 --> 00:01:56,989 in Arabic. Their official statement read, in part, and I quote from it, 18 00:01:57,430 --> 00:02:03,329 900 years ago, our forefathers carried the name of Jesus Christ in battle all across the Middle East. 19 00:02:03,930 --> 00:02:09,490 Fueled by fear, greed, and hatred, the Crusaders lifted the banner of the cross above your people. 20 00:02:10,110 --> 00:02:15,289 On the anniversary of the First Crusade, we wished to retrace the footsteps of the Crusaders in 21 00:02:15,289 --> 00:02:21,689 apology for their deeds. We deeply regret the atrocities committed in the name of Christ by our 22 00:02:21,689 --> 00:02:29,370 predecessors. We renounce greed, hatred, and fear, and condemn all violence done in the name of Jesus 23 00:02:29,370 --> 00:02:36,150 Christ. Unquote. There was much breast-beating and weeping and self-loathing along the way by these 24 00:02:36,150 --> 00:02:41,090 people. If members of the party encountered Muslims, for example, they would hand out plastic 25 00:02:41,090 --> 00:02:46,770 olive branches along with copies of their apologetic statement. And finally then, at the culmination, 26 00:02:46,770 --> 00:02:52,229 at the service of repentance and reconciliation held in Jerusalem, they declared this, 27 00:02:52,629 --> 00:02:58,250 there is now no reason why Muslims and Christians cannot reconcile and move forward from grievances of 28 00:02:58,250 --> 00:03:05,310 the past to peaceful relations in the future. Unquote. Really? I must ask. I must ask. Is this 29 00:03:05,310 --> 00:03:12,610 really true? Islam is all about grievances of the past and hatred they never forget. See the Quran, 30 00:03:12,610 --> 00:03:19,490 dear listener, and the history of Islam. Perhaps they could inform Al-Qaeda, or ISIL, or any of the 31 00:03:19,490 --> 00:03:23,629 metastasizing cancers of Islam spreading all over the world of this so-called fact. 32 00:03:24,330 --> 00:03:30,330 Most Muslims look at pathetic creatures like these apologists, who understand neither history nor 33 00:03:30,330 --> 00:03:36,909 theology, and they hold them in contempt, not love and respect. It is precisely attitudes like this 34 00:03:36,909 --> 00:03:42,349 manifest in the West that give Muslims a green light to do what they're doing all across Syria, 35 00:03:42,349 --> 00:03:48,949 and Iraq today, and that's behead to burn and crucify Christians. All they see in behavior like 36 00:03:48,949 --> 00:03:55,110 reconciliation walks is weakness in the first instance and justification for the retribution 37 00:03:55,110 --> 00:04:01,169 that they visit upon Christians in the second instance. Yet, ironically, dear listener, you must 38 00:04:01,169 --> 00:04:07,169 understand this. It is this very behavior on the part of Muslims in the 11th century, which prompted 39 00:04:07,169 --> 00:04:14,090 the Crusades in the first place. True to form, as we have observed from our study of Muslim theology 40 00:04:14,090 --> 00:04:22,430 and history, the Quran and the life of Muhammad give license for Muslims to lie to, kill, and cheat 41 00:04:22,430 --> 00:04:28,610 non-Muslims. This was the rule followed by the generation following Muhammad. It was the rule at the 42 00:04:28,610 --> 00:04:33,850 time of the Crusades, and it is the rule of those who attacked us on 9-11. And I submit to you, 43 00:04:33,850 --> 00:04:39,149 it is the rule of those who now consider themselves at war with us in the religion of Islam, even though 44 00:04:39,149 --> 00:04:48,269 we in the West do not see us at war. Oh, Islam does. In fact, the Muslim East we see now raging all 45 00:04:48,269 --> 00:04:53,430 across the Muslim Middle East. They are definitely at war with us. They consider it to be so. 46 00:04:54,290 --> 00:05:00,449 Well, since the Crusades are so often a point of appeal, not only from Muslims to justify their 47 00:05:00,449 --> 00:05:06,649 actions today, but also the basis of appeal for those in the West who hate themselves and all for 48 00:05:06,649 --> 00:05:11,629 which we stand, well, it is worthwhile then to examine the myths that have grown up around the 49 00:05:11,629 --> 00:05:16,730 Crusades and look at the facts, dear listener. Five myths I want to treat with you today. The first 50 00:05:16,730 --> 00:05:24,110 myth of the Crusades. War-mongering Christians launched the Crusades against the peaceful Muslim 51 00:05:24,110 --> 00:05:31,910 people. That's the first myth we must dispel. And that is that somehow war-mongering Christians 52 00:05:31,910 --> 00:05:38,129 launched the Crusades against a peaceful Muslim people. The Crusades are often portrayed as having 53 00:05:38,129 --> 00:05:44,350 been precipitated in some kind of historical vacuum, right? Where nothing preceded them but the 54 00:05:44,350 --> 00:05:50,069 barbaric, benighted actions of a mob of dark ages white men who were probably also racist, homophobic, 55 00:05:50,069 --> 00:05:56,509 and sexist. Somehow the Muslims there had always been there and they were entitled to remain there 56 00:05:56,509 --> 00:06:02,029 despite the intrusions of these white barbarians from the West. Oh, Thomas Fuller, an English 57 00:06:02,029 --> 00:06:08,670 historian, typifies many of this. Thomas Fuller said, and I quote, the Crusades were all the popes 58 00:06:08,670 --> 00:06:13,790 doing. History will prove that they were the sewer of Christianity and that they were an attempt to 59 00:06:13,790 --> 00:06:20,769 deprive the Muslims of their lawful possession of Palestine. Unquote. The lawful possession of 60 00:06:20,769 --> 00:06:27,649 Palestine by the Muslims. This is an important expression that reveals a basic presupposition 61 00:06:27,649 --> 00:06:33,050 and that is that Muslims had a lawful possession of Palestine. I could have given you many quotes 62 00:06:33,050 --> 00:06:42,290 that try to breastbeat and apologize for the Crusades and that epitomize this myth somehow that 63 00:06:42,290 --> 00:06:46,329 war mongering Christians launched the Crusades against the peaceful Muslim people. But I gave you 64 00:06:46,329 --> 00:06:52,389 this one because of this important expression. That is that somehow the Muslims had a lawful possession 65 00:06:52,389 --> 00:06:58,370 of Palestine. It's the dominant presupposition underlying almost all of the myths of the Crusades 66 00:06:58,370 --> 00:07:04,810 that somehow mystically soon after the creation of the Garden of Eden, God gave the land of Palestine 67 00:07:04,810 --> 00:07:11,930 in perpetuity to Muslim Arabs. Oh, but on its face, of course, this is absurd. Every historical 68 00:07:11,930 --> 00:07:19,949 effect has a historical cause that is a precedent which motivates contemporary actions and the Crusades 69 00:07:19,949 --> 00:07:30,050 have their precedent which motivated contemporary action as well. So it is with the Muslims in Palestine 70 00:07:30,050 --> 00:07:36,569 and North Africa and Spain. So it is with the launching of the Crusades. The Crusades were launched 71 00:07:36,569 --> 00:07:43,769 in a historical context. What the manipulators of history today wish to hide is how Muslims came 72 00:07:43,769 --> 00:07:48,949 into possession of Palestine in the first place precisely because it puts into question the lawful 73 00:07:48,949 --> 00:07:54,550 nature of it from our quote. If Islam had come into possession of the lands and the people and the 74 00:07:54,550 --> 00:07:59,230 culture that the Crusaders sought to redeem in the way that Christianity originally conquered them, 75 00:07:59,389 --> 00:08:04,689 they might have an argument for lawful possession of Palestine. How did Christianity's founder, 76 00:08:04,689 --> 00:08:09,930 Jesus Christ, authorize the promulgation of his gospel? I quote for you now from the gospel of 77 00:08:09,930 --> 00:08:15,709 Matthew, Jesus Christ. And Jesus came and said to them, that is to his disciples, all authority in 78 00:08:15,709 --> 00:08:20,850 heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, 79 00:08:21,230 --> 00:08:26,310 forcing them to convert in the name of Allah and his prophet Muhammad. Is that what Jesus said? No. 80 00:08:26,310 --> 00:08:32,950 Jesus said baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. That's a 81 00:08:32,950 --> 00:08:40,230 sacrament. Baptizing is a sacrament as well as the Lord's Supper is sacrament. And then teaching them 82 00:08:40,230 --> 00:08:46,129 to observe all that I have commanded you. Teaching them the preaching and teaching of the word is what 83 00:08:46,129 --> 00:08:53,070 Christ inculcated in his disciples. In short, dear listener, word and sacrament is how Christ conquered 84 00:08:53,070 --> 00:09:01,029 the lands that the Muslims overran in North Africa and Europe and Palestine and Spain, for that matter 85 00:09:01,029 --> 00:09:07,269 as well. Word and sacrament is how Christ conquered still today. Not even then, but still today. 86 00:09:08,009 --> 00:09:13,950 Christianity spread by word and sacrament. That is baptism and the Lord's Supper, teaching and 87 00:09:13,950 --> 00:09:20,110 preaching, while Islam spreads by wounds and sacrilege, if I can put it that way. Word and sacrament for 88 00:09:20,110 --> 00:09:26,009 Christians, wounds and sacrilege, for Muslims, what few people realize, progressives refuse to 89 00:09:26,009 --> 00:09:30,549 acknowledge, is that the lands to which the Crusaders went had been previously conquered by 90 00:09:30,549 --> 00:09:36,889 Muslims via wounds and sacrilege, not word and sacrament, whose presence had previously been 91 00:09:36,889 --> 00:09:42,490 occupied primarily by Christians who had conquered by peaceful, persuasive means, that is, word and 92 00:09:42,490 --> 00:09:47,990 sacrament. Perhaps history will judge fairly eventually which religion has legitimate claim to 93 00:09:47,990 --> 00:09:54,350 lawful possession of Palestine. Soon after the ascension of Christ, the faith spread throughout 94 00:09:54,350 --> 00:10:00,029 the known world, that is, the Roman Empire, the Mediterranean basin. It was done not by violence 95 00:10:00,029 --> 00:10:05,789 by the religion, but rather in the face of violence done to the religion as it spread by word and 96 00:10:05,789 --> 00:10:10,190 sacrament. The Roman Empire mercilessly persecuted Christianity, but it continued to spread, 97 00:10:10,769 --> 00:10:17,110 and it was done by the relatively obscure preaching of the church from the 1st to the 6th century. 98 00:10:17,110 --> 00:10:22,769 And then soon after the death of Muhammad, however, Islam spread throughout the known world, that is, 99 00:10:23,049 --> 00:10:29,090 the Christian world in the Mediterranean basin. And it spread not by violence to the religion, 100 00:10:29,269 --> 00:10:35,350 but rather by violence done by the religion as it spread by wounds and sacrilege, not word and 101 00:10:35,350 --> 00:10:43,350 sacrament. Muhammad died in 632 AD. His father-in-law, Abu Bakir, established an early caliphate then, 102 00:10:43,350 --> 00:10:50,929 and Muhammad conquered the Arabian Peninsula in his lifetime. But then in 633, the Muslims came sweeping 103 00:10:50,929 --> 00:10:57,690 out of the Arabian Peninsula, led by Abu Bakir, and they conquered Syria and Iraq. By what? By what 104 00:10:57,690 --> 00:11:03,330 means? By word and sacrament as Christians had done peacefully? No, they conquered by wounds and 105 00:11:03,330 --> 00:11:09,350 sacrilege. That is, by the sword, the edge of the sword. They conquered Palestine over a 10-year 106 00:11:09,350 --> 00:11:16,549 period, defeating large Byzantine armies. And then they finally conquered Jerusalem in AD 638 under 107 00:11:16,549 --> 00:11:25,889 Omar, the third caliph from in the caliphate of Islam. And then between 644 and 680, Muslims conquered 108 00:11:25,889 --> 00:11:32,350 Egypt, all of North Africa, Sicily, Rhodes, Sardinia, and then finally their furthest reach way into 109 00:11:32,350 --> 00:11:38,809 Spain. And along the way, they followed the example of Muhammad, as we have seen. They burned infidels. 110 00:11:39,169 --> 00:11:45,269 Muhammad burned a synagogue of Jews who had insulted him. They beheaded infidels, even as Muhammad did this 111 00:11:45,269 --> 00:11:52,029 regularly after his return from Medina. And they crucified infidels, too. This was done to Christians 112 00:11:52,029 --> 00:11:58,769 as Muhammad denied that Christ was crucified. Muhammad taught that this blasphemous error must be visited 113 00:11:58,769 --> 00:12:03,769 upon those kafir, that is, those unbelievers who believed that Christ was crucified. And so he went 114 00:12:03,769 --> 00:12:09,590 about crucifying Christians, even as faithful Muslims are doing all over the world today. Two Christians 115 00:12:09,590 --> 00:12:14,929 at the time of the First Crusade then. This is background for you. This is context for you. 116 00:12:15,330 --> 00:12:21,990 Context for the Crusades. At the time of the First Crusade, Pope Urban II had called upon the Christian 117 00:12:21,990 --> 00:12:28,029 princes of Europe to come to the aid of their brothers in the East, who were experiencing then a fresh 118 00:12:28,029 --> 00:12:35,850 round of this kind of violence under a new convert and conqueror to Islam, that is, the Seljuk Turks. 119 00:12:36,169 --> 00:12:41,909 They had been converted by the Arabs recently. The Seljuk Turks had been converted to Islam and then in 120 00:12:41,909 --> 00:12:49,610 turn turned around and conquered the Arab empire and established a Turkish caliphate. And I quote then 121 00:12:49,610 --> 00:12:58,009 from one historian, he quotes Rodney Stark, is who I quote here, in God's Battalions. 122 00:12:58,029 --> 00:13:03,830 Now, this is one book that you should buy, by the way, one book that really tells the truth about the 123 00:13:03,830 --> 00:13:09,929 Crusades. Rodney Stark's book, God's Battalions. And I quote now from Stark. He says, in his letter, 124 00:13:10,330 --> 00:13:17,649 Emperor Alexius Komnemnus, this was the emperor who appealed to Pope Urban II to have the Catholic West 125 00:13:17,649 --> 00:13:23,470 come and support the Orthodox East in their fight against Islam, against the Seljuk Turks who were 126 00:13:23,470 --> 00:13:29,769 overwhelming them at every point. Emperor Alexis Komnemnus detailed gruesome tortures of Christian 127 00:13:29,769 --> 00:13:34,450 pilgrims to the Holy Land and desecrations of churches and altars and baptismal fonts. 128 00:13:35,269 --> 00:13:41,230 Should Constantinople fall to the Turks, Stark goes on to say, not only would thousands more Christians 129 00:13:41,230 --> 00:13:47,049 be murdered and tortured and raped, but also the most holy relics of the Savior gathered over the 130 00:13:47,049 --> 00:13:53,509 centuries would be lost, Komnemnus said. Therefore, in the name of God, we implore you to bring this 131 00:13:53,509 --> 00:13:59,549 city all faithful soldiers of Christ. In your coming, you will find your reward in heaven. If you do not 132 00:13:59,549 --> 00:14:07,230 come, God will condemn you. Unquote. From a letter that Emperor Komnemnus wrote to Pope Urban II in the 133 00:14:07,230 --> 00:14:13,570 West, in the Catholic West. Wow. Therefore, the Crusades, they were launched for these reasons then, 134 00:14:13,750 --> 00:14:20,470 not to slaughter Muslims and conquer territory, but rather to come to the aid of Western pilgrims 135 00:14:20,470 --> 00:14:25,710 being slaughtered. Number two, to come to the aid of besieged Constantinople. And then thirdly, both 136 00:14:25,710 --> 00:14:32,470 Alexis Komnemnus and Pope Urban II hoped that it would reunite the churches of the East and the West, 137 00:14:32,470 --> 00:14:38,669 which had been divided in A.D. 1076. This, dear listener, is the context for the launching of the 138 00:14:38,669 --> 00:14:46,330 Crusades, not the myths that you hear that bloodthirsty Westerners were salivating at slaughtering 139 00:14:46,330 --> 00:14:54,529 Muslims and conquering territory. That is not the case. Well, another myth. Another myth of the Crusades. 140 00:14:55,210 --> 00:15:01,090 Myth number two, the Christian Crusaders were really motivated by lust and greed for conquesting 141 00:15:01,090 --> 00:15:08,330 colonies. Oh, another myth, dear listener. Since the advent of Marxism, you must understand the 142 00:15:08,330 --> 00:15:16,990 intellectual context for this myth. The advent of Marxism, with Karl Marx composing Das Kapital, 143 00:15:17,429 --> 00:15:24,049 it is fashionable now to attribute economic motives as the primary motives for all of history. 144 00:15:24,850 --> 00:15:31,029 It's no less true of the Crusades as of any other period of history. And one such Marxist economist 145 00:15:31,029 --> 00:15:38,350 a man named Hans-Eberhard Mayer postulates that the Crusades alleviated a severe financial squeeze 146 00:15:38,350 --> 00:15:43,649 on Europe's knightly class, who at this time had a pool of surplus sons, as he puts it, 147 00:15:44,029 --> 00:15:50,009 owing to the feudal practice of primogeniture. Primogeniture, of course, is that most all of 148 00:15:50,009 --> 00:15:55,429 the inheritance goes to the eldest son, and all the other sons get a smaller pittance and have to go 149 00:15:55,429 --> 00:16:01,169 and fend for themselves. Karen Armstrong, in fact, calls the Crusader kingdoms our first colonies. 150 00:16:01,169 --> 00:16:08,350 Karen Armstrong is another sympathetic author whose book on the Crusades has been very popular, 151 00:16:08,549 --> 00:16:15,570 especially among progressives and those sympathetic to this reading of the Crusades. 152 00:16:15,570 --> 00:16:23,629 But we must say, not so. The economic, the Marxist motive, economic motive for the launching of the 153 00:16:23,629 --> 00:16:30,629 Crusades is indeed a myth, been proven a myth by many, many. And I would once again urge you to pick 154 00:16:30,629 --> 00:16:36,889 up Rodney Stark's book, God's Battalions, because he helps to deflate that myth. One very creative 155 00:16:36,889 --> 00:16:43,129 historian, I love this guy, a guy named Jonathan Riley Smith, has analyzed the extensive financial 156 00:16:43,129 --> 00:16:49,269 records of the monasteries. Now, this was in a day before banks, understand. You must understand that 157 00:16:49,269 --> 00:16:55,769 finances and so forth were handled in those days, not by banks, but by monks and monasteries who were 158 00:16:55,769 --> 00:17:02,629 considered to be trustworthy. In fact, the Templars were the first large-scale bankers all across Europe, 159 00:17:02,690 --> 00:17:09,390 weren't they? They handled the funding of the Crusades, and they found that, in fact, sending a son, 160 00:17:09,390 --> 00:17:15,809 Riley Smith finds that in the Middle Ages, under the feudal system, sending a son on the crusade was 161 00:17:15,809 --> 00:17:26,589 rather a very expensive proposition. Not only did a son who was going perhaps as a knight not only need 162 00:17:26,589 --> 00:17:34,609 armor and arms and horses, two-thirds were the war horses, two-thirds plus support for them, and 163 00:17:34,609 --> 00:17:43,269 servants. In fact, Riley Smith documents that of the 15,000 knights that went on the first crusade 164 00:17:43,269 --> 00:17:52,170 equaled an entourage of 100,000. All the rest of those 85,000 persons were support for these 15,000 knights, 165 00:17:52,269 --> 00:17:58,470 a very expensive proposition. And then they also needed a treasure chest, out of which this knight, 166 00:17:58,470 --> 00:18:05,069 this son would pay things like wages, and forage, and food, and incidentals, as we would call them 167 00:18:05,069 --> 00:18:12,529 today. And as Stark says in God's Battalions, and I quote him, most crusaders also needed funds to 168 00:18:12,529 --> 00:18:18,170 sustain their families and estates while they were away in the east. The best estimate is that a typical 169 00:18:18,170 --> 00:18:24,690 crusader needed to raise at least four or five times his annual income before he could even set forth. 170 00:18:24,690 --> 00:18:32,690 This reveals the absurdity, says Stark. This reveals the absurdity of all claims that the crusaders were 171 00:18:32,690 --> 00:18:39,150 mostly landless younger sons, since it would have been cheaper for families to have kept such sons at 172 00:18:39,150 --> 00:18:46,670 home and provided them an adequate inheritance. Unquote. There goes the myth that the Marxist myth that the 173 00:18:46,670 --> 00:18:55,890 crusaders had a financial motive in going east and going to the holy land, to Palestine, to conquer it and to 174 00:18:55,890 --> 00:19:02,950 protect Christians there. Instead, we find that crusaders were motivated by genuine religious principle, take 175 00:19:02,950 --> 00:19:09,789 their own confessions on their face. They said they were going for Christ, they were going for the church, they were 176 00:19:09,789 --> 00:19:15,089 going to relieve their brothers and sisters in the east. This is what they said, and this is what we must take at face 177 00:19:15,089 --> 00:19:24,049 value. Secondly, crusaders were motivated by a desire to serve penance as well, that is, to in some measure 178 00:19:24,049 --> 00:19:29,930 atone for their sins. And thirdly, crusaders were motivated by a desire to serve the larger church. They too 179 00:19:29,930 --> 00:19:35,910 hoped that they could come to the aid of their brothers and sisters in the orthodox church in the east. 180 00:19:38,089 --> 00:19:43,349 Moderns today fail to understand the realities of the feudal period too, don't they? 181 00:19:43,349 --> 00:19:49,730 This is called provincialism. When you have such a narrow view of your own values, your own world, 182 00:19:50,029 --> 00:19:56,390 your own day and time that you cannot see beyond your own circumstances and at least project yourself 183 00:19:56,390 --> 00:20:02,250 under the thinking, adopt the values at least provisionally of those you're studying so that 184 00:20:02,250 --> 00:20:07,569 you can sympathize with their point of view. Provincialism rather, the Oxford English Dictionary 185 00:20:07,569 --> 00:20:14,609 defines provincialism as narrowness of view or thought, inability to see a thing from another's 186 00:20:14,609 --> 00:20:20,730 point of view, a tendency to judge others in history by one's own standards and values without 187 00:20:20,730 --> 00:20:27,970 considering those of the times, unquote. There were no standing armies in the Middle Ages, for example. 188 00:20:28,390 --> 00:20:34,250 Knights fought wars to protect property, and there were no nation states proper at the time with 189 00:20:34,250 --> 00:20:40,369 standing armies. How did you defend yourself? How did you go protect others in other regions? You sent 190 00:20:40,369 --> 00:20:47,670 knights, kings, and princes, and kingdoms, raised their own funds, trained their own men in the form 191 00:20:47,670 --> 00:20:55,910 of knights, perhaps with laymen then, who also had bow and arrow perhaps, or fought with swords, sometimes 192 00:20:55,910 --> 00:21:02,190 their own farm implements. But this is how wars were fought in the feudal period. The feudal system was one 193 00:21:02,190 --> 00:21:09,569 that would have to serve here at as well during the crusades. And oftentimes provincials in our own 194 00:21:09,569 --> 00:21:15,529 day and age cannot even for a moment step out of their own worldview to see the worldview of another. 195 00:21:16,089 --> 00:21:21,210 This is provincialism at its core. And I tell you that that progressives are provincials too. 196 00:21:21,589 --> 00:21:26,349 Progressives are provincials in that they cannot see, cannot project, adopt the mindset and the heart 197 00:21:26,349 --> 00:21:32,349 set of those during this period. Because these are the men that had to fight the battles to defend 198 00:21:32,349 --> 00:21:39,730 their, not only their own lands, but defend others. Well, the third myth that we must puncture about the 199 00:21:39,730 --> 00:21:46,190 crusades, the third myth, Christians and Jews were better off under Muslim rule than that of Christian 200 00:21:46,190 --> 00:21:53,009 princes. Another myth, brother and sister. It's a favorite myth of modern scholars in particular. 201 00:21:53,009 --> 00:21:57,789 Karen Armstrong, for example, says in her book on the crusades, 202 00:21:58,329 --> 00:22:03,069 all across the Mediterranean basin, the Muslim armies were looked upon as liberators, 203 00:22:03,329 --> 00:22:09,470 not enslavers. The Christian rulers of Byzantium were the real tyrants, unquote, from Karen Armstrong. 204 00:22:09,789 --> 00:22:17,349 And there is in some measure truth to this because the Christian communities, especially those who were 205 00:22:17,349 --> 00:22:27,369 not Orthodox Christians of the East, did in fact suffer a bit under the rule of Byzantium, which was 206 00:22:27,369 --> 00:22:34,069 located, of course, in Constantinople in Asia Minor at the time, which is now Turkey, modern-day Turkey, 207 00:22:34,430 --> 00:22:41,769 Islamic to the core. But as Stark would point out in his book, God's Battalions, and I quote him now, 208 00:22:41,769 --> 00:22:47,809 and he says, Tugrul Bey turned his forces north and attacked Armenia, a monophysite kingdom. Now, 209 00:22:47,869 --> 00:22:56,650 Tugrul Bey was, of course, one of those Turks who, under his caliphate, helped to conquer much of what 210 00:22:56,650 --> 00:23:03,789 was modern Persia and Armenia, as well in the north. And let me go on to quote then Stark in God's 211 00:23:03,789 --> 00:23:11,470 Battalions. Now, remember, he's reflecting on the attitude of the locals who were yearning for 212 00:23:11,470 --> 00:23:18,410 liberty and freedom from Byzantium because they felt themselves to be persecuted, but listen to what 213 00:23:18,410 --> 00:23:25,450 they find instead under Islam. Tugrul Bey turned his forces north and attacked Armenia, a monophysite 214 00:23:25,450 --> 00:23:31,769 kingdom. Monophysites were a sect of Christianity, considered to be heretical by many, that recently 215 00:23:31,769 --> 00:23:37,630 had fallen captive to Byzantium and was subject to fierce religious persecution led by Orthodox 216 00:23:37,630 --> 00:23:44,490 Byzantine bishops. So, these monophysites were groaning under the persecution of the Orthodox 217 00:23:44,490 --> 00:23:51,329 Byzantine bishops. And so, ostensibly, they saw the Tugrul Bey and his Turks, his Muslim Turks, 218 00:23:51,390 --> 00:23:57,190 as liberators. I go on to quote now Stark. Stark goes on to say, given the prevailing bitterness 219 00:23:57,190 --> 00:24:03,789 against Byzantium, the Armenian princes offered little resistance, although they surely would have 220 00:24:03,789 --> 00:24:09,230 done so had they known what was in store. They thought they were going to be liberated, but 221 00:24:09,230 --> 00:24:15,190 instead they came under worse oppression, worse persecution by the Muslims. I go on to quote Stark. 222 00:24:15,589 --> 00:24:22,970 Thus, in 1048, while Byzantines were distracted by a revolt at home, the Turks overran the city of 223 00:24:22,970 --> 00:24:29,509 Ardzin and massacred the men, raped the women, and took the children into slavery. Unquote. 224 00:24:29,509 --> 00:24:35,710 This is what they found. The grass is always greener in the field adjacent, isn't it? They thought they 225 00:24:35,710 --> 00:24:43,630 were going to be liberated, freed under the Turks, under the Muslim Turks, but instead they were massacred, 226 00:24:43,990 --> 00:24:50,109 raped, and bound into slavery. Far worse than the treatment under the Byzantines. This happens still 227 00:24:50,109 --> 00:24:56,490 today, doesn't it? Oh, how many people thought that they were going to be liberated from the rule of 228 00:24:56,490 --> 00:25:05,349 Saddam Hussein, for example. Dear listener, what has happened instead as ISIL has overrun Iraq? Iraq has 229 00:25:05,349 --> 00:25:11,970 found itself under worse rule. Yes, they have gone from the frying pan into the fire. How can we even 230 00:25:11,970 --> 00:25:18,690 say today, but we can say today, can we not, that Iraq was better off under Saddam Hussein than it is 231 00:25:18,690 --> 00:25:26,109 under ISIL or the Islamic State today? They're suffering far worse. Christian communities are being 232 00:25:26,109 --> 00:25:31,930 eradicated. Christian communities that have been there for millennia, slaughtered, butchered, crucified, 233 00:25:32,349 --> 00:25:37,450 burned. Far worse conditions than they had under Saddam Hussein, who actually protected them. 234 00:25:38,569 --> 00:25:46,190 Oh, dear listener, this is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. I urge you to 235 00:25:46,190 --> 00:25:54,089 come and visit us. We will continue this brief series on the Crusades and conclude with the remaining 236 00:25:54,089 --> 00:25:58,410 myths of the crusade, because there are two other important myths that I want to treat with you. 237 00:25:59,049 --> 00:26:06,049 But you have seen so far, and you have ammunition now to help treat of these things. And I would just 238 00:26:06,049 --> 00:26:12,849 urge you as well, some of my parishioners have urged me to urge you to come and visit us at one of our 239 00:26:12,849 --> 00:26:17,609 worship services at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Some of you have been listening to us for 240 00:26:17,609 --> 00:26:24,789 perhaps for years, and I just urge you to get that impetus to cross our threshold and come and visit us. 241 00:26:24,849 --> 00:26:31,109 You will find a friendly community, friendly Christian community, with solid worship and preaching and 242 00:26:31,109 --> 00:26:37,109 teaching and so forth. So come and visit us at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. We meet for 243 00:26:37,109 --> 00:26:42,650 holy worship on Sunday at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. And you can call us for 244 00:26:42,650 --> 00:26:49,009 further information at 523-0196. Once again, our worship service, 10 a.m. Sunday morning, 245 00:26:49,430 --> 00:26:51,930 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard.