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Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a

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moment of truth, where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith.

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And today we want to continue our series on the Crusades, a monument to myth. Last time we looked

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over the three giant myths concerning the Crusades, three out of five concerning the Crusades,

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and we want to cover those last two and expand on the last one a little bit more, too, because it's

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going to deal with the just war theory. But just to refresh your memories, the Crusades, a monument

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to myth, our first three myths that we covered. Number one, the Crusades, a monument to myth.

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We shot down the myth that warmongering Christians launched the Crusades against a peaceful Muslim

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people. It was so far from the truth. The Muslims were not peaceful. They had been assaulting

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Christians, pilgrims and locals. There was a fresh round of persecution going on, and there was an

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appeal from the East to the West to come to their aid. And we filled that out for you last time,

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and we'll touch on it perhaps a little bit more yet today, too, because it's so important. But the

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second myth that we busted, when the myth busters, perhaps you see them on TV, well, we are the

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the Crusade myth busters, because there's so many myths surrounding the Crusade. The second myth that

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we busted was the Crusades, a monument to myth. The Christian Crusaders were really motivated by lust

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and greed for conquesting colonies. We saw this is an old myth that's been around a long time, but we

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discovered through some very creative scholars who have done some original work here, that in fact,

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it was far more expensive and sacrificial for the families of Europe to send a Crusader than

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anything that they ever got back. So this is a myth that we shot down very effectively than last time.

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And of course, the third myth that we shot down was the Crusades, a monument to myth, Christians and

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Jews were better off under Muslim rule than that of Christian princes. Yes, that's a myth that's often

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propagated because many of the writings of the time did at least initially long for deliverance from

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the Byzantine oppressors under which they suffered, those in Muslim lands. But what they found is they

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had the grasses greener and the other side of the fence complex. And what really happened then,

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once the Muslims did come and so-called deliver them, is that they were worse off than they were before.

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Even as we see Iraq is worse off now under the Muslims than they were under Saddam Hussein. Oh,

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so that was a myth that we effectively busted. So we want to take up then the remaining two myths,

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because they are huge myths in the West and in the Christian church and in Muslim lands for that

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matter. Well, the fourth myth that we want to bust today is the Crusades, a monument to myth.

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Christian Crusaders were guilty of terrible atrocities against a moderate Muslim people.

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Well, it's a favorite of modern scholars, especially those embittered towards Christianity. And we have

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already mentioned the so-called scholar Karen Armstrong, an ex-nun who is disillusioned with

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the Christian faith and does everything she can in her writings to hammer it. Well, it's also a

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favorite myth of presidents. Do you remember when President Obama said this? Humanity has been

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grappling with these questions throughout human history. That is, and what he's referring to,

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of course, is the demonic barbarity of the Islamic State in the Levant, ISIL, or ISIS as it's sometimes

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called, and he's making excuses for it. He says, humanity has been grappling with these questions

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throughout human history. And lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other

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place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, President Obama said, people committed

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terrible deeds in the name of Christ, unquote. Now, while there is a kernel of truth in this,

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the net effect, and this is intentional on President Obama's part and the progressives' part,

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the net effect is to paint the whole endeavor of the Crusades with a broad brush of atrocity.

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Even as progressives are now trying to paint our founding fathers as evil men that we can easily

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dismiss and no longer listen to because they were slave owners. Well, we must say, au contraire,

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our founding fathers had so much more going for them. They wrestled with the issue of slavery,

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and they had so much more going for them. For example, creating a Christian republic and a

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constitutional republic for that matter, a constitution that still stands as a shining

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beacon for oppressed peoples all over the world. Well, we can say the same about the Crusades. The

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Crusades did so much more, even though there were atrocities committed. While there is a kernel of truth

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then to this, all of Christianity, we must say this right up front, all of Christianity admits up

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front the wrongs that were committed. They were committed by a minority, but they were nevertheless wrongs,

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and they were labeled as such. And we're going to look at the just war theory, which acted as a kind of

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red line on the tachometer of war for the West, so that they knew when they were transgressing

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the principles of a just war. And they called people out on this in the course of the Crusades

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as well. But there were atrocities committed, and we are up front in admitting it, admitting that they

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were wrong, admitting that they were sins, which the Muslim world is not prepared to do with their

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atrocities, I submit to you. They herald them, they trumpet them, they're proud of them, whereas

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Christians are ashamed of them and say they were wrong and they were sinful. For example, during the

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siege of Jerusalem by the crusaders in 1099, when they finally reached the walls of Jerusalem, the

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pilgrims, as they were known, they did kill thousands of Muslims throughout the streets of Jerusalem,

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perhaps as many as 20,000, some say, though this number is exaggerated by Arab scholars and Western

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scholars, for that matter, who are antagonistic to Christianity. But what is little realized by

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people today is that according to the rules of warfare at this time, once again, we must see

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their decisions, see their actions, not only in the light of our own judgments and our own moral

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framework, but we also must see them in the moral framework and the rules of warfare at that time.

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That is the 11th century, 12th century of Christendom. So don't be provincial and understand

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that according to the rules of warfare at this time, if an army besieging a city offered,

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excuse me, terms of surrender and the city accepted those terms, well then, the besiegers were obliged to

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keep those terms, spare the people and the property of that city. But the rules of warfare at this time,

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the rules of siege warfare dictated that if the city refused the terms of surrender and opted then to

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resist those who were besieging them, well then, if the besiegers were successful and they did flood

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into the city, it was expected that they would kill, rape, pillage, and enslave the inhabitants of that

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city. It may be shocking and barbaric to us, to those of us in the 21st century who consider ourselves

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morally superior. And any soldier or citizen of that day, however, would merely look at you with a

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blank stare and say, what's the problem? Because that was the expected behavior of those of those days.

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So both sides observed these same rules, we must say, although this is not brought out by modern

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historians like Karen Armstrong. For example, the Muslim commander Nur-ed-Din killed every Christian

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he could find in his own siege of the Christian city of Aleppo in the Levant in AD 1148. He offered

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terms of surrender which were unacceptable to the inhabitants of Aleppo, who also thought that they

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would be relieved, parenthetically, by a crusader who turned out to be a coward and didn't show up.

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Well, so then Nur-ed-Din had to proceed with the time and the expense and the loss of life on his

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side, consequent to winning the siege, but he did. And there's not a contemporary of Nur-ed-Din who would

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not have understood, though shuddering at the thought, of his actions. But not so contemporary

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progressives, of course, who are very provincial, impossible of placing themselves in the shoes of

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the people of that day. They only see one side that fits their world view. They are true provincials.

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Well, the crusaders did commit other atrocities along the way. For example, during the First and Second

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Crusades, in particular, Jews were the special target of the rabble, that is the non-knightly class of nobles.

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Massacres occurred in cities like Verdun and Manz and Sper and the Rhineland. They were killing and

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plundering Jews. Now, they met their end when Jews in Hungary heard of their approach and they

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aligned with local Muslims to defeat them in battle. Behavior like this was repeated in the Second

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Crusade as well. When the mobs followed Peter the Hermit, following Peter the Hermit, we mentioned

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him briefly. He was an unauthorized representative of the Crusades, by the way. When Peter the Hermit

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reached Hungary, well, then the mobs engaged in a frenzied massacre of the peasants when they resisted

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the seizure of their crops. And then finally, in the capture of Jerusalem, as we mentioned,

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some of the Saracens there were promised their lives for surrender, but they were slaughtered

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nevertheless. The thing to note about the atrocities that we frankly admit are atrocities,

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they were condemned by the Crusader commanders too, by the priests and the bishops who accompanied

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them, and especially by the popes. Not so for the greater Muslim atrocities. Once again, Christians,

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they have a red line on the tachometer of their sense of warfare, dear listener. Not so the Muslim,

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not so the Muslim leaders. They have no such red line. In fact, Muhammad and the Quran give license

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to jihad. There is no red line. There is no point of departure or stop for jihad. Slaughter and rape and

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pillage and enslavement all come as part of the package with jihad and Islam. Well, we must note,

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once again, in just our brief treatment here of the Crusades, that the Turks, who were themselves

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conquered converts to Islam, they were now dominating the Islamic world that conquered Jerusalem from the

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Arabic Muslims, the Saracen dynasty, that is, in 1076, and they began then a vicious persecution of

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Christians in all of Palestine. This is what Pope Urban II and those in the West were reacting to

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when they launched the Crusades. History does not happen in a vacuum. There are always precedent causes

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to what happens now, here and now, isn't there? And the Greek emperor, Michael VII, or Michael VIII,

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excuse me, made a direct and poignant appeal in the West for assistance against these Turks.

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They were moving on Constantinople, threatening the Eastern Orthodox Church. There was a sincere desire

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in both the Eastern and the Western Church to heal the breach that had been developing over the centuries,

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had manifested itself in an open split in A.D. 1054. Those of you that know your church history

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know that the one church split into two in that year, A.D. 1054. Well, the nations of Europe then

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knew that it was also only a matter of time before the Turks threatened them, which of course they did.

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How right they were. It would take almost 600 years, but they would eventually, the Muslims,

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the Turks would eventually, the Ottoman Empire would eventually push their way to the very gates of

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Vienna. Well, there were four major Crusades. In 1095, the first one was called by Pope Urban II.

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Then in 1146, St. Bernard preached the Second Crusade. In 1187, Pope Clement III called for

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another one to free Jerusalem. And then finally, the last gasp was in 1202 when Pope Innocent III called

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for that fourth and final Crusade. It doesn't excuse the excesses of the Crusades. Many joined the Crusades

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for ulterior motives. And the Crusaders were guilty of savage sub-Christian behavior. They slaughtered

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innocents. They slaughtered non-combatant civilians, both Jew and Muslim. These are the first things,

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however, brought out by everybody else. You find them anywhere, but you will not find out of these

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three or four consistent reasons I mentioned for you, for the West having gone to war against a foe,

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which will not stop, which will not give quarter. And a foe who neatly divides the world into two camps,

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the House of Islam and the House of War. That is everybody else, including you and me.

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So, the upshot is, Muslims were not victims of the Crusades. They brutally acquired the Middle East,

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the Muslims did, and Constantinople, and they brutally held on to it. For example,

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one example of atrocities that were committed by Muslims as well, and to which the Crusaders were

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reacting, would be the Muslim Sultan Babars with his Turkish troops, which were called Mamaluks. And they

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were in the habit of slaughtering whole villages, men, women, and children. According to one

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contemporary source, I quote it now, in general, the Crusades reek with a stench of brutality and death,

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but the fall of Antioch to the Turks was laden with such horrors that even the Mamaluks themselves

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were sickened by the carnage which they caused or witnessed there." Unquote. So make no mistake about

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this. Dear listener, in the eyes of radical militant Islam, you are the House of War. Eventually, you will

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either be converted, killed, or controlled. Well, so much for the fourth myth that the Crusaders were

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guilty of atrocities more so than the Muslims. We see that that's just not the case. Our final myth,

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a myth we want to shatter, is the Crusades. A monument to myth, the Crusades violated every

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principle of the Gospel Jesus promulgated in his life. Yes, according to critics of the Crusades,

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the meek and mild Jesus, full of peace and full of love for everybody, would not have countenanced

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the Crusades. In fact, the Crusades, according to modern critics, and even many Christians have this

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false notion of the Crusades, that they violated every principle of the Gospel, the peaceful proclamation of

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the Gospel, for that matter. We have seen, for example, how Christianity was propagated throughout

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the Middle East, throughout North Africa, throughout the Mediterranean Basin. It was done by word and

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sacrament. In fact, that is always how Christianity is successfully promulgated. That is by the preaching

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of the word, by ministers and by evangelists, and the teaching of the word by patient teachers and

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elders and preachers. So the word and sacrament, that is also by the practice of baptism and the

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Lord's Supper. These sacraments indeed transmit grace, the grace of God to his people. The people

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of God are blessed when they practice baptism and practice regularly the Lord's Supper. And people see

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this, are edified by it, and are converted. So we see the Mediterranean Basin in the early centuries of the

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the church converted by word and sacrament. Whereas Islam was promulgated and imposed itself upon those

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same regions by the sword, did they not? By violence, by subjugation, by tyranny, by enslavement and murder

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and rape. This is how Islam is propagated. It is being propagated this way. Now we see these are the two

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Muslims. The two Muslims are those in Iraq and Syria who are promulgating Islam in this way. It's been

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promulgated this way in the past, and it's being promulgated this way today, and it will be promulgated

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that way in the future too, if we do not stop it. In fact, there are principles that are established for

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warfare in the West. In fact, the church has honed over the centuries, premiered, if you will, by

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St. Augustine in the late 4th, early 5th centuries promulgated the principles of the just war.

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What we have come to know is the just war theory. In fact, Pope Urban II and all the princes of Europe

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who went on crusade had these at their elbow, if you will. That is, they had and checked with

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their actions whether they were indeed practicing a just war. And they called to account those who did

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not. We have seen some of the atrocities committed by the crusaders, and these were called to account

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because there was the template of the principles of the just war laid over the crusades as well.

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Those templates, if you will, let me review them with you just briefly because there are seven of them,

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and let's check and see if they match the actions of the crusaders and the deeds of the crusade.

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First of all, what is a just war? A war that is waged according to God's will is basically the idea

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of a just war, and that's not an oxymoron. Government has the legitimate function of bearing

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the sword, that is, of defending its people and of executing justice. This is why, as the Apostle Paul says,

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the magistrate does not bear the sword in vain. That is, he has the power of life and death not

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only over the unrighteous and the criminal, but he bears the sword also in defense of his people.

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And this is precisely what the crusaders were doing. They were bearing the sword in defense

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not only of their own lands, but for the lives of those in the Middle East, for the lives of those

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under the authority of the Eastern Church and the Eastern kings. So let's review these principles of

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the just war that Pope Urban II, all the princes of Europe, and Michael Cellularius VIII had at his

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elbow as well. For example, number one, a just war can be waged only after non-violent options have

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been exhausted. Over the years, beginning with St. Augustine, it was postulated that God would not

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sanction a war that had been begun or started when every other avenue of peaceful resolution

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had been pursued. As the Bible says, if possible, insofar as it depends on you, live at peace with

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all men. That's an excellent principle articulated by the Apostle Paul in the book of Romans. If

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possible, insofar as it depends upon you, live at peace with all men. Christians are above all

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peacemakers and reconcilers. And we reflect Christ when we do this. And so we should exhort our leaders

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and our governments to do the same. When this principle has been practiced, it has accomplished

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several things, two things in particular. Number one, it has dampened passion and haste. Proverbs

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says wrath is cruel and anger is overwhelming. And indeed, Christianity has always moderated these

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things. And the idea of exhausting all peaceful means first does this. It dampens the passion and

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haste that comes when war is on the horizon. And secondly, this first principle, exhaust all

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peaceful means first. It has also accomplished the stifling of the darker ambitions of men.

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This was true not only in the Middle Ages, but it's true today, too. Some wicked men pursue war for

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all the wrong reasons. And Augustine said, war should not be undertaken with a lust for battle,

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implacable hatred, for personal glory, or for sheer bloodlust, unquote. Oh, and this principle,

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when maintained, that is, exhaust all peaceful means of resolution first, has helped to stifle the darker

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ambitions of men. But then when peaceful attempts fail, and it's apparent that your enemy only

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scarce at your peaceful means, then there's no doubt that war must be undertaken. So, and this was

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the case with the Crusaders, too, because there was no negotiating with the Muslims at this period.

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They were bent on war. They were bent on jihad. It was part of their religion. And so there was no

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negotiating. All peaceful means were exhausted in the Crusades. Well, secondly, what's the second

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principle of a just war? The second principle of a just war is a war is just only if it is waged by a

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legitimate authority. Justice is not served by actions taken by individuals or groups.

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Governments duly constituted are deemed legitimate. So we see that Peter the Hermit, for example,

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who had no sanction from any prince or any pope, nevertheless, Peter the Hermit took off on the

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Crusades with his host of rabble, and they committed atrocities. And they were frankly sanctioned as well.

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But there are also illegitimate groups who have no legitimate authority operating under Islam.

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And these are precisely some of the ones that we are at war with and at battle with. A war is just

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only if it's waged by a legitimate authority. And the terrorist groups representing Islam

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these days are not legitimate authorities. I submit to you. Well, a third principle of the just war is that

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a just war must redress wrongs that are suffered. And this is precisely what the Crusades were doing.

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They were redressing wrongs that were suffered. That is, the Christian communities of the Mediterranean

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basin had been abused. They had been overrun. They had been tyrannized. They had been conquered

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against their will. So that, indeed, the wrongs suffered in Jerusalem and in Alexandria, in Antioch,

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and were being visited about Constantinople, for example. All these were wrongs that were being

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redressed by the Crusaders, attempted to be redressed by the Crusaders. So understand,

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dear listener, a just war must redress wrongs that have been suffered. And this is precisely then

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what the Crusades intended to do, to redress the wrongs that were suffered by the Christian

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communities there still being suffered by and threatened to be suffered by the Eastern Orthodox

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Church in Constantinople. Well, a fourth principle out of seven, the fourth principle of the just war

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theory, when we apply it to the Crusades, we see that it is vindicated too. That fourth principle,

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a just war must be undertaken with a reasonable chance of success. Casualties incurred in a hopeless

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cause are not morally justifiable. And indeed, there was reasonable chance of success in the Crusades.

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In fact, the first Crusade was relatively successful. It did liberate Jerusalem. They did establish

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Christian communities all throughout the Middle East that helped the pilgrims, that helped and

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defended and encouraged the Christian communities all through the Levant. So the Crusades, once again,

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are vindicated by this principle that as a just war must be undertaken with a reasonable chance

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consequence of success. Because the Bible nowhere countenances the fruitless expenditure of blood

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and treasure. Yet, all over the Muslim world, we see this principle violated, don't we?

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Palestinian suicide bombers, for example, are a prime example. As one observer says,

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they are just expressing the hopelessness and frustration they feel with Israel. Oh, no,

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dear listener, the Palestinian suicide bombers, especially the leadership of the

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that indoctrinates the hatred and violence amongst its people in Palestine. They are sinful. They

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are evil perpetrators of a gross injustice. They violate this principle of a just war. There's no

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reasonable hope of success of achieving their ends of freedom and a state by these means. They

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only further alienate Israel and the entire civilized world. So this fourth principle of a just war

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was kept by the Crusaders, violated by the terrorists today. Well, fifthly then,

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a just war must have as its goal, the increase of peace. The peace established after the war must be

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preferable to the peace that would have prevailed had the war not been fought. Oh, dear listener,

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the Crusades indeed aspired to this principle. And indeed, for the centuries that they were there,

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peace did reign in the Christian communities where the Crusaders ruled. Sixthly then, the sixth

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principle of a just war is the violence used must be proportional to the injury suffered.

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It's a guard against retribution and vengeance for its own sake. And once again, overall, the Crusaders

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did observe this. There were times when they violated it. There were atrocities committed. But once

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again, we labeled it as wrong, whereas Islam does not. Seventhly, then the final principle of a just

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war is a just war must discriminate between combatants and non-combatants insofar as it is possible

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to avoid them in attacks on military targets. Once again, the Crusaders as a whole did observe

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this principle, although there were points and periods of transgression, which we noted for you

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already, but they were labeled as wrong again by the popes and the princes of the West. So these then

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are the seven principles of a just war and they were observed by the Crusaders. This has been Pastor

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David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. We encourage you to visit us. We meet for

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holy worship on Sundays at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. Many of you have

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been listening for years and I just encourage you, you want to talk about these things or anything else

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under the sun, we encourage you to visit us for our holy worship service. Once again, we meet for holy

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worship on Sundays at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. And you can call us for

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further information at 523-0196.