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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. And we

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

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

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

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myth that warmongering Christians launched the Crusades against a peaceful Muslim people. That

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was so far from it. The Muslims were not peaceful. They had been assaulting Christians, pilgrims and

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locals. There was a fresh round of persecution going on. And there was an appeal from the East to the West

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to come to their aid. And we filled that out for you last time. And we'll touch on it perhaps a little

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bit more yet today too, because it's so important. But the second myth that we busted, when the myth

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busters, perhaps you see them on TV, well, we are the, are the crusade myth busters, because there's so

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many myths surrounding the crusade. The second myth that we busted was the Crusades, a monument to myth.

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The Christian crusaders were really motivated by lust and greed for conquests and colonies. We saw this is

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an old myth that's been around a long time. But we, we discovered through some very creative scholars who

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have done some original work here, that in fact, it was far more expensive and sacrificial for the families

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of Europe to send a crusader than anything that they ever got back. So this is a myth that we shot down very

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effectively than last time. And of course, the third myth that we shot down was the Crusades, a monument to myth,

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

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often 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 once the

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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.

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Oh, 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 matter.

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

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crusaders were guilty of terrible atrocities against a moderate Muslim people. Well,

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

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

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with the Christian faith and does everything she can in her writings to hammer it. Well,

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it's also a favorite myth of presidents. Do you remember when president Obama said this

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humanity has been grappling with these questions throughout human history?

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That is. And what he's referring to, of course, is the demonic barbarity of the Islamic state in the,

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in the Levant ISIL or ISIS, as it's sometimes called in these making excuses for it. He says,

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humanity has been grappling with these questions throughout human history. And lest we get on

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our high horse and think this is unique to some other place. Remember that during the Crusades

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and the Inquisition, President Obama said, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ,

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unquote. Oh, now, while there is a kernel of truth in this, the net effect, and this is intentional on

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President Obama's part and the progressives part, the net effect is to paint the whole endeavor of

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the Crusades with a broad brush of atrocity. Even as progressives are now trying to paint our founding

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fathers as evil men that we can easily dismiss and no longer listen to because they were slave owners.

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Well, we must say au contraire. Our founding fathers had so much more going for them. They

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had wrestled with the issue of slavery and they had so much more going for them. And for,

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for example, creating a Christian Republic and a constitutional Republic for that matter,

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a constitution that still stands as a shining beacon for oppressed peoples all over the world. Well,

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we can say the same about the Crusades. The Crusades did so much more, even though there were

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atrocities committed. While there is a kernel of truth then to this,

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

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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

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of 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, in the course of the

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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and Western scholars for that matter, who are antagonistic to Christianity. But what is little

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

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see 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, excuse me,

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

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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

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to 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

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consider ourselves morally superior. And any soldier or citizen of that day, however,

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would merely look at you with a blank stare and say, what's the problem? Because that was the expected

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behavior of those days. So both sides observed these same rules, we must say, although this is not brought

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out by modern historians like Karen Armstrong, for example, the Muslim commander Nur-ed-Din killed every

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Christian he could find in his own siege of the Christian city of Aleppo in the Levant in A.D. 1148.

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He offered terms of surrender which were unacceptable to the inhabitants of Aleppo,

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who also thought that they would be relieved, parenthetically, by a crusader who turned

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out to be a coward and didn't show up. Well, so then, Nur-ed-Din had to proceed with the time and

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the expense and the loss of life on his side, consequent to winning the siege. But he did. And

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there's not a contemporary of Nur-ed-Din who would not have understood, though shuddering at the

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thought, of his actions. But not so contemporary progressives, of course, who are very provincial,

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impossible of placing themselves in the shoes of the people of that day. They only see one side

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that fits their worldview. They are true provincials. Well, the crusaders did commit other atrocities along

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the way. For example, during the First and Second Crusades, in particular,

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

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occurred in cities like Verdun and Manz and Speer and the Rhineland. They were killing and plundering Jews.

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Now, they met their end when Jews in Hungary heard of their approach and they aligned with

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local Muslims to defeat them in battle. Behavior like this was repeated in the Second Crusade as

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

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briefly when 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. They were

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

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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 know

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

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

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

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would eventually, the Ottoman Empire would eventually push their way to the very gates of Vienna. Well,

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there were four major Crusades. In 1095, the first one was called by Pope Urban II. Then in 1146,

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St. Bernard preached the Second Crusade. In 1187, Pope Clement III called for another one to free

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Jerusalem. And then finally, the last gasp was in 1202 when Pope Innocent III called for that fourth

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

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motives. And the Crusaders were guilty of savage sub-Christian behavior. They slaughtered innocents,

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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 Baybars 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,

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

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

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myth, 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

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this false notion of the Crusades that they violated every principle of the gospel, the peaceful

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proclamation of the gospel for that matter. We have seen, for example, how Christianity was propagated

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

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word and sacrament. In fact, that is always how Christianity is successfully promulgated. That

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is by the preaching of the word, by ministers and by evangelists, and the teaching of the word by

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

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

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

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And people see this, are edified by it, and are converted. So we see the Mediterranean Basin in the

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early centuries of the church converted by word and sacrament, whereas Islam was promulgated and imposed

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itself upon those same regions by the sword, did they not? By violence, by subjugation,

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by tyranny, by enslavement and murder and rape. This is how Islam is propagated. It is being propagated

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this way. Now we see these are the true Muslims. The true Muslims are those in Iraq and Syria who are

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promulgating Islam in this way. It's been promulgated this way in the past, and it's being promulgated this

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way today, and it will be promulgated that way in the future too, if we do not stop it. In fact, there are

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principles that are established for warfare in the West. In fact, the church has honed over the

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centuries, premiered, if you will, by St. Augustine in the late 4th, early 5th centuries, promulgated

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the principles of the just war. What we have come to know is the just war theory. In fact, Pope Urban II

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and all the princes of Europe who went on crusade had these at their elbow, if you will. That is, they

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had and checked with their actions whether they were indeed practicing a just war, and they called

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to account those who did not. We have seen some of the atrocities committed by the crusaders, and these

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were called to account because there was the template of the principles of the just war laid over the crusades

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

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of them, 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. It's basically the

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idea 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

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

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not 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

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of 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 had been

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pursued. The Bible says, if possible, insofar as it depends on you, live at peace with all men. That's

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an excellent principle articulated by the Apostle Paul in the book of Romans. If possible, insofar as

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it depends upon you, live at peace with all men. Christians are, above all, peacemakers and

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

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

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

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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 peaceful

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means first. It has also accomplished the stifling of the darker ambitions of men. This was true not

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only in the Middle Ages, but it's true today, too. Some wicked men pursue war for all the wrong reasons.

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And Augustine said, war should not be undertaken with a lust for battle, implacable hatred,

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for personal glory, or for sheer bloodlust, unquote. And this principle, when maintained,

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

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

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peaceful means, then there's no doubt that war must be undertaken. So, and this was the case with the

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crusaders, too, because there was no negotiating with the Muslims at this period. They were bent on war.

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

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All peaceful means were exhausted in the crusades. Well, secondly, what's the second principle of a

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

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authority. Justice is not served by actions taken by individuals or groups. Governments duly constituted

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are deemed legitimate. So, we see that Peter the Hermit, for example, who had no sanction from any

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prince or any pope. Nevertheless, Peter the Hermit took off on the crusades with his host of rabble,

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and they committed atrocities, and they were frankly sanctioned as well. But there are also

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illegitimate groups who have no legitimate authority operating under Islam. And these are precisely some

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of the ones that we are at war with and at battle with. A war is just only if it's waged by a legitimate

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authority. And the terrorist groups representing Islam these days are not legitimate authorities. I submit to

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you, well, a third principle of the just war is that a just war must redress wrongs that are

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suffered. And this is precisely what the crusades were doing. They were redressing wrongs that were

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suffered. That is, the Christian communities of the Mediterranean basin had been abused. They had been

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overrun. They had been tyrannized. They had been conquered against their will. So, that's indeed the wrongs

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being suffered in Jerusalem and in Alexandria, in Antioch, and were being visited by Constantinople,

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for example. All these were wrongs that were being redressed by the crusaders, attempted to be

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redressed by the crusaders. So understand, dear listener, a just war must redress wrongs that have

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been suffered. And this is precisely then what the crusades intended to do, to redress the wrongs that

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were suffered by the Christian communities there, still being suffered by and threatened to be

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suffered by the Eastern Orthodox Church in Constantinople. Well, a fourth principle out of

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seven, the fourth principle of the just war theory, when we apply it to the crusades, we see that it is

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vindicated too. That fourth principle, a just war must be undertaken with a reasonable chance of

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success. Casualties incurred in a hopeless cause are not morally justifiable. And indeed, there was

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reasonable chance of success in the crusades. In fact, the first crusade was relatively successful.

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It did liberate Jerusalem. They did establish Christian communities all throughout the Middle East

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that helped the pilgrims, that helped and defended and encouraged the Christian communities all through

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the Levant. So, the crusades, once again, are vindicated by this principle that as a just war must

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be undertaken with a reasonable chance of success. Because the Bible nowhere countenances the fruitless

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expenditure of blood and treasure. Yet, all over the Muslim world, we see this principle violated,

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don't we? 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 that indoctrinates the

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hatred and violence amongst its people in Palestine, they are sinful. They are evil perpetrators of a

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gross injustice. They violate this principle of a just war. There's no reasonable hope of success,

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of achieving their ends of freedom and a state by these means. They only further alienate Israel

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and the entire civilized world. So, this fourth principle of a just war was kept by the crusaders,

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violated by the terrorists today. Well, fifthly then, a just war must have as its goal the increase

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of peace. The peace established after the war must be preferable to the peace that would have prevailed

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had the war not been fought. Oh, dear listener, the crusades indeed aspired to this principle. And indeed for

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the centuries that they were there, peace did reign in the Christian communities where the crusaders ruled.

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Sixthly then, the sixth principle of a just war is the violence used must be proportional to the injury

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

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the crusaders did observe this. There were times when they violated it. There were atrocities

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committed. But once again, we labeled it as wrong, whereas Islam does not. Seventhly then, the final

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principle of a just war is a just war must discriminate between combatants and non-combatants

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insofar as it is possible to avoid them in attacks on military targets. Once again, the crusaders as a

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whole did observe this principle, although there were points and periods of transgression, which we

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noted for you already, but they were labeled as wrong again by the potes and the princes of the West.

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So these then are the seven principles of a just war, and they were observed by the crusaders.

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This has been Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. We encourage you to visit us. We

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

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

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

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we meet for holy worship on Sundays at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard.

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And you can call us for further information.