1 00:00:07,059 --> 00:00:11,859 Greetings, this is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a 2 00:00:11,859 --> 00:00:16,980 moment of truth, where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. 3 00:00:17,059 --> 00:00:23,960 Today, the issue I want to treat with you, continuing with our study of comparing Islam 4 00:00:23,960 --> 00:00:32,179 and Christianity, the Crusades, a monument to myth. The Crusades, a monument to myth, 5 00:00:32,179 --> 00:00:39,579 because there are so many myths surrounding the nature of the Crusades that are still rampant today. 6 00:00:39,659 --> 00:00:46,039 Our own president tried to remind us that, indeed, all the atrocities that Islam is committing in the 7 00:00:46,039 --> 00:00:52,259 Middle East, now in Syria and Iraq, especially ISIS, that is the Islamic State in the Levant, 8 00:00:52,780 --> 00:00:56,920 they are butchering Christians right and left. They're slaughtering fellow Muslims. They're 9 00:00:56,920 --> 00:01:03,820 slaughtering communities that have been in the region for centuries, millennia even. And our 10 00:01:03,820 --> 00:01:09,780 president tried to compare what's going on there with what happened in the Crusades with ostensibly 11 00:01:09,780 --> 00:01:14,560 Christians in the name of Christ committing atrocities. Well, let's treat of this subject 12 00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:21,480 today, the Crusades, a monument to myth, because there are so many myths surrounding the Crusades. 13 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:29,079 In 1999, which was the 900th anniversary of the First Crusade, a band of Protestants from all the major 14 00:01:29,079 --> 00:01:36,040 liberal denominations set out from Germany on what can only be described as an apology tour for the 15 00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:43,060 Crusades. They called it a reconciliation walk, taking one of the routes followed by the Crusaders, which 16 00:01:43,060 --> 00:01:49,140 culminated in their arrival in the Holy Land. These marchers were issued t-shirts with the message, 17 00:01:49,140 --> 00:01:55,959 which we apologize, emblazoned across the front in Arabic. Their official statement read, in part, 18 00:01:56,060 --> 00:02:02,480 and I quote from it, 900 years ago, our forefathers carried the name of Jesus Christ in battle all across 19 00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:08,699 the Middle East. Fueled by fear, greed, and hatred, the Crusaders lifted the banner of the cross above 20 00:02:08,699 --> 00:02:14,900 your people. On the anniversary of the First Crusade, we wished to retrace the footsteps of the Crusaders 21 00:02:14,900 --> 00:02:21,580 in apology for their deeds. We deeply regret the atrocities committed in the name of Christ by our 22 00:02:21,580 --> 00:02:29,259 predecessors. We renounce greed, hatred, and fear, and condemn all violence done in the name of Jesus 23 00:02:29,259 --> 00:02:36,039 Christ." Unquote. There was much breast beating and weeping and self-loathing along the way by these 24 00:02:36,039 --> 00:02:41,699 people. If members of the party encountered Muslims, for example, they would hand out plastic olive branches 25 00:02:41,699 --> 00:02:47,400 along with copies of their apologetic statement. And finally, then, at the culmination, at the service 26 00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:52,120 of repentance and reconciliation held in Jerusalem, they declared this, 27 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:58,139 there is now no reason why Muslims and Christians cannot reconcile and move forward from grievances of 28 00:02:58,139 --> 00:03:06,039 the past to peaceful relations in the future. Unquote. Really? I must ask. I must ask. Is this really true? 29 00:03:06,039 --> 00:03:13,620 Islam is all about grievances of the past and hatred they never forget. See the Koran, dear listener, 30 00:03:13,759 --> 00:03:20,259 and the history of Islam. Perhaps they could inform Al-Qaeda or ISIL or any of the metastasizing 31 00:03:20,259 --> 00:03:26,039 cancers of Islam spreading all over the world of this so-called fact. Most Muslims look at pathetic 32 00:03:26,039 --> 00:03:32,539 creatures like these apologists who understand neither history nor theology, and they hold them in contempt, 33 00:03:32,539 --> 00:03:39,680 not love and respect. It is precisely attitudes like this manifest in the West that give Muslims a 34 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:44,500 green light to do what they're doing all across Syria and Iraq today, and that's behead to burn and 35 00:03:44,500 --> 00:03:52,379 crucify Christians. All they see in behavior like reconciliation walks is weakness in the first 36 00:03:52,379 --> 00:03:58,219 instances and justification for the retribution that they visit upon Christians in the second instance. 37 00:03:58,219 --> 00:04:04,139 Yet, ironically, dear listener, you must understand this. It is this very behavior on the part of 38 00:04:04,139 --> 00:04:11,659 Muslims in the 11th century which prompted the Crusades in the first place. True to form, as we have 39 00:04:11,659 --> 00:04:18,000 observed from our study of Muslim theology and history, the Koran and the life of Muhammad give 40 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:26,060 license for Muslims to lie, to kill, and cheat non-Muslims. This was the rule followed by the generation 41 00:04:26,060 --> 00:04:31,220 following Muhammad. It was the rule at the time of the Crusades, and it is the rule of those who 42 00:04:31,220 --> 00:04:36,720 attacked us on 9-11, and I submit to you, it is the rule of those who now consider themselves at war 43 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:43,660 with us in the religion of Islam, even though we in the West do not see us at war. Oh, Islam does. 44 00:04:44,300 --> 00:04:51,579 In fact, the Muslim East we see now raging all across the Muslim Middle East. They are definitely at war 45 00:04:51,579 --> 00:04:58,480 with us. They consider it to be so. Well, since the Crusades are so often a point of appeal, not only for 46 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:05,079 Muslims to justify their actions today, but also the basis of appeal for those in the West who hate 47 00:05:05,079 --> 00:05:10,959 themselves and all for which we stand, well, it is worthwhile then to examine the myths that have grown 48 00:05:10,959 --> 00:05:16,040 up around the Crusades and look at the facts. Dear listener, five myths I want to treat with you today. 49 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:22,939 If the first myth of the Crusades, warmongering Christians launch the Crusades against the 50 00:05:22,939 --> 00:05:31,259 peaceful Muslim people. That's the first myth we must dispel, and that is that somehow warmongering 51 00:05:31,259 --> 00:05:37,800 Christians launch the Crusades against a peaceful Muslim people. The Crusades are often portrayed as 52 00:05:37,800 --> 00:05:44,259 having been precipitated in some kind of historical vacuum, right, where nothing preceded them but the 53 00:05:44,259 --> 00:05:49,959 barbaric, benighted actions of a mob of dark ages white men who are probably also racist, homophobic, 54 00:05:50,019 --> 00:05:56,399 and sexist. Somehow the Muslims there had always been there, and they were entitled to remain there 55 00:05:56,399 --> 00:06:02,379 despite the intrusions of these white barbarians from the West. Oh, Thomas Fuller, an English historian, 56 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:08,819 typifies many of this. Thomas Fuller said, and I quote, the Crusades were all the popes doing. 57 00:06:09,019 --> 00:06:14,160 History will prove that they were the sewer of Christianity and that they were an attempt to deprive 58 00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:21,779 the Muslims of their lawful possession of Palestine, unquote. The lawful possession of Palestine by the 59 00:06:21,779 --> 00:06:29,259 Muslims. This is an important expression that reveals a basic presupposition, and that is that Muslims had 60 00:06:29,259 --> 00:06:36,939 a lawful possession of Palestine. I could have given you many quotes that try to breastbeat and apologize 61 00:06:36,939 --> 00:06:43,680 for the Crusades and that epitomize this myth somehow that warmongering Christians launched 62 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:47,680 the Crusades against the peaceful Muslim people. But I gave you this one because of this important 63 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:54,620 expression. That is that somehow the Muslims had a lawful possession of Palestine. It's the dominant 64 00:06:54,620 --> 00:07:01,839 presupposition underlying almost all of the myths of the Crusades that somehow mystically soon after the 65 00:07:01,839 --> 00:07:08,800 creation of the Garden of Eden. God gave the land of Palestine in perpetuity to Muslim Arabs. Oh, but on its 66 00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:16,660 face, of course, this is absurd. Every historical effect has a historical cause that is a precedent which 67 00:07:16,660 --> 00:07:26,459 motivates contemporary actions, and the Crusades have their precedent which motivated contemporary action 68 00:07:26,459 --> 00:07:33,959 as well. So it is with the Muslims in Palestine and North Africa and Spain. So it is with the launching of the 69 00:07:33,959 --> 00:07:42,319 Crusades. The Crusades were launched in a historical context. What the manipulators of history today wish to hide 70 00:07:42,319 --> 00:07:48,279 is how Muslims came into possession of Palestine in the first place, precisely because it puts into question the 71 00:07:48,279 --> 00:07:55,060 lawful nature of it, from our quote. If Islam had come into possession of the lands and the people and the culture that the 72 00:07:55,060 --> 00:08:00,480 Crusaders sought to redeem in the way that Christianity originally conquered them, they might have an argument 73 00:08:00,480 --> 00:08:06,199 for lawful possession of Palestine. How did Christianity's founder, Jesus Christ, authorize the 74 00:08:06,199 --> 00:08:13,160 promulgation of his gospel? I quote for you now from the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus Christ. And Jesus came and said 75 00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:18,920 to them, that is to his disciples, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make 76 00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:24,660 disciples of all nations, forcing them to convert in the name of Allah and his prophet Muhammad. 77 00:08:24,660 --> 00:08:31,240 Is that what Jesus said? No. Jesus said, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of 78 00:08:31,240 --> 00:08:36,860 the Holy Spirit. That's a sacrament. Baptizing is a sacrament as well as the Lord's Supper is sacrament. 79 00:08:38,059 --> 00:08:44,539 And then teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. Teaching them the preaching and 80 00:08:44,539 --> 00:08:51,080 teaching of the word is what Christ inculcated in his disciples. In short, dear listener, word and 81 00:08:51,080 --> 00:08:58,320 sacrament is how Christ conquered the lands that the Muslims overran in North Africa and Europe and 82 00:08:58,320 --> 00:09:04,899 Palestine and Spain for that matter as well. Word and sacrament is how Christ conquers still today. 83 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:11,259 Not even then, but still today. Christianity spread by word and sacrament. That is baptism 84 00:09:11,259 --> 00:09:17,360 and the Lord's Supper, teaching and preaching, while Islam spreads by wounds and sacrilege, 85 00:09:17,360 --> 00:09:22,320 if I can put it that way. Word and sacrament for Christians, wounds and sacrilege. For Muslims, 86 00:09:22,879 --> 00:09:28,159 what few people realize, progressives refuse to acknowledge, is that the lands to which the 87 00:09:28,159 --> 00:09:34,320 crusaders went had been previously conquered by Muslims via wounds and sacrilege, not word and 88 00:09:34,320 --> 00:09:39,279 sacrament, whose presence had previously been occupied primarily by Christians who had conquered 89 00:09:39,279 --> 00:09:42,740 by peaceful, persuasive means. That is, word and sacrament. 90 00:09:42,740 --> 00:09:48,679 Perhaps history will judge fairly, eventually, which religion has legitimate claim to lawful 91 00:09:48,679 --> 00:09:54,759 possession of Palestine. Soon after the ascension of Christ, the faith spread throughout the known 92 00:09:54,759 --> 00:10:00,919 world, that is, the Roman Empire, the Mediterranean Basin. It was done not by violence by the religion, 93 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:06,240 but rather in the face of violence done to the religion as it spread by word and sacrament. The 94 00:10:06,240 --> 00:10:10,080 Roman Empire mercilessly persecuted Christianity, but it continued to spread, 95 00:10:10,080 --> 00:10:17,019 and it was done by the relatively obscure preaching of the church from the 1st to the 6th century. 96 00:10:17,980 --> 00:10:22,259 And then soon after the death of Muhammad, however, Islam spread throughout the known world, 97 00:10:22,379 --> 00:10:28,980 that is, the Christian world in the Mediterranean Basin. And it spread not by violence to the religion, 98 00:10:29,159 --> 00:10:35,240 but rather by violence done by the religion as it spread by wounds and sacrilege, not word and 99 00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:43,259 sacrament. Muhammad died in 632 AD. His father-in-law, Abu Bakir, established an early caliphate then, 100 00:10:43,600 --> 00:10:50,340 and Muhammad conquered the Arabian Peninsula in his lifetime. But then in 633, the Muslims came 101 00:10:50,340 --> 00:10:57,039 sweeping out of the Arabian Peninsula, led by Abu Bakir, and they conquered Syria and Iraq by what? 102 00:10:57,139 --> 00:11:01,659 By what means? By word and sacrament as Christians had done peacefully? No, 103 00:11:01,659 --> 00:11:07,759 they conquered by wounds and sacrilege. That is, by the sword, the edge of the sword. They conquered 104 00:11:07,759 --> 00:11:13,840 Palestine over a 10-year period, defeating large Byzantine armies. And then they finally conquered 105 00:11:13,840 --> 00:11:24,779 Jerusalem in AD 638 under Omar, the third caliph in the caliphate of Islam. And then between 644 and 680, 106 00:11:24,879 --> 00:11:31,360 Muslims conquered Egypt, all of North Africa, Sicily, Rhodes, Sardinia, and then finally their furthest reach, 107 00:11:31,360 --> 00:11:38,080 way into Spain. And along the way, they followed the example of Muhammad, as we have seen. They burned 108 00:11:38,080 --> 00:11:44,120 infidels. Muhammad burned a synagogue of Jews who had insulted him. They beheaded infidels, even as 109 00:11:44,120 --> 00:11:50,919 Muhammad did this regularly after his return from Medina. And they crucified infidels, too. This was 110 00:11:50,919 --> 00:11:57,340 done to Christians as Muhammad denied that Christ was crucified. Muhammad taught that this blasphemous 111 00:11:57,340 --> 00:12:03,360 error must be visited upon those kafir, that is, those unbelievers who believed that Christ was crucified. And so 112 00:12:03,360 --> 00:12:09,480 he went about crucifying Christians, even as faithful Muslims are doing all over the world today. Two Christians 113 00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:16,019 at the time of the first crusade then. This is background for you. This is context for you. Context for the 114 00:12:16,019 --> 00:12:23,600 crusades. At the time of the first crusade, Pope Urban II had called upon the Christian princes of Europe to come to the 115 00:12:23,600 --> 00:12:31,860 aid of their brothers in the east who were experiencing then a fresh round of this kind of violence under a new 116 00:12:31,860 --> 00:12:39,340 convert and conqueror to Islam, that is the Seljuk Turks. They had been converted by the Arabs recently. The Seljuk Turks 117 00:12:39,340 --> 00:12:45,559 had been converted to Islam and then in turn turned around and conquered the Arab empire and established 118 00:12:45,559 --> 00:12:57,299 a Turkish caliphate. And I quote then from one historian, he quotes Rodney Stark is who I quote here in God's 119 00:12:57,299 --> 00:13:03,059 Battalions. This is one book that you should buy, by the way, one book that really tells the truth about 120 00:13:03,059 --> 00:13:09,840 the crusades. Rodney Stark's book, God's Battalions. And I quote now from Stark. He says in his letter, 121 00:13:09,840 --> 00:13:17,139 Emperor Alexius Komnemnus, this was the emperor who appealed to Pope Urban II to have the Catholic 122 00:13:17,139 --> 00:13:23,200 West come and support the Orthodox East in their fight against Islam, against the Seljuk Turks who 123 00:13:23,200 --> 00:13:29,340 were overwhelming them at every point. Emperor Alexius Komnemnus detailed gruesome tortures of 124 00:13:29,340 --> 00:13:34,340 Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land and desecrations of churches and altars and baptismal fonts. 125 00:13:34,340 --> 00:13:41,120 Should Constantinople fall to the Turks, Stark goes on to say, not only would thousands more Christians 126 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:46,940 be murdered and tortured and raped, but also the most holy relics of the Savior gathered over the 127 00:13:46,940 --> 00:13:53,600 centuries would be lost, Komnemnus said. Therefore, in the name of God, we implore you to bring this city 128 00:13:53,600 --> 00:13:59,720 all faithful soldiers of Christ. In your coming, you will find your reward in heaven. If you do not come, 129 00:13:59,720 --> 00:14:07,360 God will condemn you. Unquote. From a letter that Emperor Komnemnus wrote to Pope Urban II in the West, 130 00:14:07,460 --> 00:14:14,779 in the Catholic West. Wow. Therefore, the crusades, they were launched for these reasons then. Not to 131 00:14:14,779 --> 00:14:20,600 slaughter Muslims and conquer territory, but rather to come to the aid of Western pilgrims being 132 00:14:20,600 --> 00:14:25,639 slaughtered. Number two, to come to the aid of besieged Constantinople. And then thirdly, both 133 00:14:25,639 --> 00:14:32,139 Alexis Komnemnus and Pope Urban II hoped that it would reunite the churches of the East and the 134 00:14:32,139 --> 00:14:38,440 West, which had been divided in A.D. 1076. This, dear listener, is the context for the launching of 135 00:14:38,440 --> 00:14:46,240 the Crusades, not the myths that you hear that bloodthirsty Westerners were salivating at slaughtering 136 00:14:46,240 --> 00:14:53,899 Muslims and conquering territory. That is not the case. Well, another myth. Another myth of the 137 00:14:53,899 --> 00:15:00,919 Crusades. Myth number two, the Christian crusaders were really motivated by lust and greed for conquest 138 00:15:00,919 --> 00:15:08,220 and colonies. Oh, another myth, dear listener. Since the advent of Marxism, you must understand the 139 00:15:08,220 --> 00:15:16,919 intellectual context for this myth. The advent of Marxism, with Karl Marx composing Das Kapital, 140 00:15:17,340 --> 00:15:23,940 it is fashionable now to attribute economic motives as the primary motives for all of history. 141 00:15:24,659 --> 00:15:30,940 It's no less true of the Crusades as of any other period of history. And one such Marxist economist, 142 00:15:30,940 --> 00:15:38,240 a man named Hans-Eberhard Mayr, postulates that the Crusades alleviated a severe financial squeeze 143 00:15:38,240 --> 00:15:43,519 on Europe's knightly class, who at this time had a pool of surplus sons, as he puts it, 144 00:15:43,899 --> 00:15:50,019 owing to the feudal practice of primogeniture. Primogeniture, of course, is that most all of the 145 00:15:50,019 --> 00:15:55,320 inheritance goes to the eldest son, and all the other sons get a smaller pittance and have to go 146 00:15:55,320 --> 00:16:01,059 and fend for themselves. Karen Armstrong, in fact, calls the Crusader kingdoms our first colonies. 147 00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:08,240 Karen Armstrong is another sympathetic author whose book on the Crusades has been very popular, 148 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:16,720 especially among progressives and those sympathetic to this reading of the Crusades. But we must say, 149 00:16:16,720 --> 00:16:24,840 not so. The economic, the Marxist motive, economic motive for the launching of the Crusades is indeed 150 00:16:24,840 --> 00:16:31,679 a myth, been proven a myth by many, many. And I would once again urge you to pick up Rodney Stark's book, 151 00:16:31,840 --> 00:16:37,919 God's Battalions, because he helps to deflate that myth. One very creative historian, I love this 152 00:16:37,919 --> 00:16:44,860 guy, a guy named Jonathan Riley Smith, has analyzed the extensive financial records of the monasteries. 153 00:16:44,860 --> 00:16:50,940 Now, this was in a day before banks understand. You must understand that finances and so forth were 154 00:16:50,940 --> 00:16:56,759 handled in those days, not by banks, but by monks and monasteries who were considered to be trustworthy. 155 00:16:57,519 --> 00:17:03,860 In fact, the Templars were the first large-scale bankers all across Europe, weren't they? They 156 00:17:03,860 --> 00:17:11,359 handled the funding of the Crusades, and they found that, in fact, sending a son, Riley Smith finds that 157 00:17:11,359 --> 00:17:17,500 in the Middle Ages, under the feudal system, sending a son on a crusade was rather a very expensive 158 00:17:17,500 --> 00:17:27,980 proposition. Not only did a son who was going, perhaps, as a knight, not only need armor and arms 159 00:17:27,980 --> 00:17:35,839 and horses, two-thirds were the war horses, two-thirds plus support for them, and servants. In fact, 160 00:17:36,519 --> 00:17:45,339 Riley Smith documents that of the 15,000 knights that went on the first crusade equaled an entourage of 161 00:17:45,339 --> 00:17:53,000 100,000. All the rest of those 85,000 persons were support for these 15,000 knights, a very expensive 162 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:59,579 proposition. And then they also needed a treasure chest, out of which this knight, this son would pay 163 00:17:59,579 --> 00:18:07,920 things like wages and forage and food and incidentals, as we would call them today. And as Stark says in 164 00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:14,160 God's Battalions, and I quote him, most crusaders also needed funds to sustain their families and estates 165 00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:20,160 while they were away in the east. The best estimate is that a typical crusader needed to raise at least 166 00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:27,019 four or five times his annual income before he could even set forth. This reveals the absurdity, 167 00:18:27,559 --> 00:18:33,900 says Stark. This reveals the absurdity of all claims that the crusaders were mostly landless, 168 00:18:34,099 --> 00:18:39,319 younger sons, since it would have been cheaper for families to have kept such sons at home 169 00:18:39,319 --> 00:18:46,559 and provided them an adequate inheritance. Unquote. There goes the myth that the Marxist myth that the 170 00:18:46,559 --> 00:18:53,900 crusaders had a financial motive to in going east and going to the to the holy land land to Palestine 171 00:18:53,900 --> 00:19:00,740 to conquer it and to protect Christians there. Instead, we find that crusaders were motivated by 172 00:19:00,740 --> 00:19:07,660 genuine religious principle, take their own confessions on at on their face. They said they were going for 173 00:19:07,660 --> 00:19:11,819 Christ. They were going for the church. They were going to relieve their brothers and sisters in the 174 00:19:11,819 --> 00:19:17,220 east. This is what they said. And this is what we must take at face value. Secondly, crusaders were 175 00:19:17,220 --> 00:19:25,400 motivated by a desire to serve penance as well. That is, to in some measure atone for their sins. And 176 00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:30,779 thirdly, crusaders were motivated by desire to serve the larger church. They too hoped that they could 177 00:19:30,779 --> 00:19:38,900 come to the aid of their brothers and sisters in the orthodox church in the east. Oh, moderns today 178 00:19:38,900 --> 00:19:46,039 fail to understand the realities of the feudal period too, don't they? This is called provincialism. When 179 00:19:46,039 --> 00:19:52,220 you have such a narrow view of your own values, your own world, your own day and time that you cannot see 180 00:19:52,220 --> 00:19:59,339 beyond your own circumstances and at least project yourself under the thinking, adopt the values, 181 00:19:59,339 --> 00:20:04,400 at least provisionally of those you're studying so that you can sympathize with their point of view. 182 00:20:04,559 --> 00:20:11,079 Provincialism rather, the Oxford English Dictionary defines provincialism as narrowness of view or 183 00:20:11,079 --> 00:20:18,140 thought, inability to see a thing from another's point of view, a tendency to judge others in history 184 00:20:18,140 --> 00:20:22,960 by one's own standards and values without considering those of the times, unquote. 185 00:20:22,960 --> 00:20:30,160 These, there were no standing armies in the Middle Ages, for example. Knights fought wars to protect 186 00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:36,319 property and there were no nation states proper at the time with standing armies. How did you defend 187 00:20:36,319 --> 00:20:42,559 yourself? How did you go protect others in other regions? You sent knights, kings and princes and 188 00:20:42,559 --> 00:20:50,480 kingdoms, raised their own funds, trained their own men in the form of knights, perhaps with laymen then, 189 00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:57,279 who also had bow and arrow, perhaps, or fought with swords, sometimes their own farm implements. But 190 00:20:57,279 --> 00:21:03,759 this is how wars were fought in the feudal period. The feudal system was one that would have to serve 191 00:21:03,759 --> 00:21:11,200 here as well during the crusades. And oftentimes provincials in our own day and age cannot even 192 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:17,380 for a moment step out of their own worldview to see the worldview of another. This is provincialism at its 193 00:21:17,380 --> 00:21:23,059 core. And I tell you that progressives are provincials too. Progressives are provincials in that they 194 00:21:23,059 --> 00:21:29,220 cannot see, cannot project, adopt the mindset and the heart set of those during this period. Because 195 00:21:29,220 --> 00:21:34,259 these are the men that had to fight the battles to defend their, not only their own lands, but defend 196 00:21:34,259 --> 00:21:42,579 others. Well, the third myth that we must puncture about the crusades, the third myth, Christians and Jews 197 00:21:42,579 --> 00:21:48,579 were better off under Muslim rule than that of Christian princes. Another myth, brother and 198 00:21:48,579 --> 00:21:56,420 sister. It's a favorite myth of modern scholars in particular. Karen Armstrong, for example, says in 199 00:21:56,420 --> 00:22:02,259 her book on the crusades, all across the Mediterranean basin, the Muslim armies were looked upon as 200 00:22:02,259 --> 00:22:08,740 liberators, not enslavers. The Christian rulers of Byzantium were the real tyrants, unquote, from 201 00:22:08,740 --> 00:22:15,779 Cameron Armstrong. And there is in some measure truth to this, because the Christian communities, 202 00:22:15,779 --> 00:22:24,660 especially those who were not Orthodox Christians of the East, did in fact suffer a bit under the rule 203 00:22:24,660 --> 00:22:32,579 of Byzantium, which was located, of course, in Constantinople in Asia Minor at the time, which is now 204 00:22:32,579 --> 00:22:40,660 Turkey, modern-day Turkey, Islamic to the core. But as Stark would point out in his book, God's Battalions, 205 00:22:40,660 --> 00:22:46,180 and I quote him now, and he says, Tugrul Bey turned his forces north and attacked Armenia, 206 00:22:46,180 --> 00:22:54,500 a monophysite kingdom. Now, Tugrul Bey was, of course, one of those Turks who, under his caliphate, 207 00:22:54,500 --> 00:23:02,019 helped to conquer much of what was modern Persia and Armenia as well in the north. And let me go on 208 00:23:02,019 --> 00:23:08,500 to quote then Stark in God's Battalions. Now, remember, he's reflecting on the attitude of the 209 00:23:08,500 --> 00:23:16,339 locals who were yearning for liberty and freedom from Byzantium because they felt themselves to be 210 00:23:16,339 --> 00:23:23,220 persecuted. But listen to what they find instead under Islam. Tugrul Bey turned his forces north and 211 00:23:23,220 --> 00:23:29,380 attacked Armenia and monophysite kingdom. Monophysites were a sect of Christianity considered to be 212 00:23:29,380 --> 00:23:35,539 heretical by many that recently had fallen captive to Byzantium and was subject to fierce religious 213 00:23:35,539 --> 00:23:41,859 persecution led by Orthodox Byzantine bishops. So these monophysites were groaning under the 214 00:23:41,859 --> 00:23:49,940 persecution of the Orthodox Byzantine bishops. And so, ostensibly, they saw then Tugrul Bey and his Turks, 215 00:23:49,940 --> 00:23:55,140 his Muslim Turks, as liberators. I go on to quote now Stark. Stark goes on to say, 216 00:23:55,539 --> 00:24:01,700 given the prevailing bitterness against Byzantium, the Armenian princes offered little resistance, 217 00:24:02,099 --> 00:24:08,099 although they surely would have done so had they known what was in store. They thought they were going 218 00:24:08,099 --> 00:24:13,299 to be liberated, but instead they came under worse oppression, worse persecution by the Muslims. 219 00:24:13,299 --> 00:24:20,660 I go on to quote Stark. Thus, in 1048, while Byzantines were distracted by a revolt at home, 220 00:24:20,980 --> 00:24:27,779 the Turks overran the city of Ardzin and massacred the men, raped the women, and took the children 221 00:24:27,779 --> 00:24:34,099 into slavery. Unquote. This is what they found. The grass is always greener in the field adjacent, 222 00:24:34,099 --> 00:24:41,019 isn't it? They thought they were going to be liberated, freed under the Turks, under the Muslim Turks, 223 00:24:41,019 --> 00:24:48,140 but instead they were massacred, raped, and bound into slavery. Far worse than the treatment under the 224 00:24:48,140 --> 00:24:54,059 Byzantines. This happens still today, doesn't it? Oh, how many people thought that they were going to be 225 00:24:54,059 --> 00:25:00,700 liberated from the rule of Saddam Hussein, for example, dear listener? What has happened instead 226 00:25:00,700 --> 00:25:08,619 as ISIL has overrun Iraq? Iraq has found itself under worse rule. Yes, they have gone from the frying pan 227 00:25:08,619 --> 00:25:16,700 into the fire. How can we even say today, but we can say today, can we not, that Iraq was better off 228 00:25:16,700 --> 00:25:24,539 under Saddam Hussein than it is under ISIL or the Islamic State today? They're suffering far worse. 229 00:25:24,539 --> 00:25:28,779 Christian communities are being eradicated. Christian communities that have been there for 230 00:25:28,779 --> 00:25:35,980 millennia, slaughtered, butchered, crucified, burned. Far worse conditions than they had under Saddam Hussein, 231 00:25:35,980 --> 00:25:43,180 who actually protected them. Oh, dear listener, this is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox 232 00:25:43,180 --> 00:25:51,339 Presbyterian Church. I urge you to come and visit us. We will continue this brief series on the Crusades 233 00:25:52,059 --> 00:25:57,420 and conclude with the remaining myths of the Crusade, because there are two other important myths that I 234 00:25:57,420 --> 00:26:03,900 want to treat with you. But you have seen so far, and you have ammunition now to help treat of these 235 00:26:03,900 --> 00:26:10,700 things. And I would just urge you as well, some of my parishioners have urged me to urge you to come 236 00:26:10,700 --> 00:26:16,299 and visit us at one of our worship services at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Some of you have 237 00:26:16,299 --> 00:26:23,660 been listening to us perhaps for years, and I just urge you to get that impetus to cross our threshold 238 00:26:23,660 --> 00:26:29,019 and come and visit us. You will find a friendly community, friendly Christian community, with solid 239 00:26:29,019 --> 00:26:35,900 worship and preaching and teaching and so forth. So come and visit us at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian 240 00:26:35,900 --> 00:26:41,500 Church. We meet for Holy Worship on Sunday at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. 241 00:26:41,500 --> 00:26:46,700 And you can call us for further information at 523-0196. Once again, our worship service, 242 00:26:46,700 --> 00:26:50,940 10 a.m. Sunday morning, 101 4th Street on the corner.