1 00:00:07,179 --> 00:00:11,660 Greetings, this is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church 2 00:00:11,660 --> 00:00:16,199 with a moment of truth, where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and 3 00:00:16,199 --> 00:00:22,760 faith. Today, what are the 10 most important events in church history which have affected 4 00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:30,260 your life, your church, and your salvation, whether you realize it or not? For example, 5 00:00:30,260 --> 00:00:35,280 are you aware that this is not only the season of Halloween, but also of the Reformation? 6 00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:44,859 On October 31st, 1517, Martin Luther, most people have heard of him, Martin Luther posted 7 00:00:44,859 --> 00:00:51,899 95 theses for debate with the Roman Catholic Church. He posted them on the door of the 8 00:00:51,899 --> 00:00:59,479 Wittenberg Chapel, where he taught and lived in Wittenberg. And we can see that his world's 9 00:00:59,479 --> 00:01:04,239 reaction to those 95 theses precipitated what we now call the Reformation of the Church. 10 00:01:04,239 --> 00:01:12,420 Luther, in his study of the Bible, had come to the conclusion that salvation came by the grace of 11 00:01:12,420 --> 00:01:20,060 God, through faith in Jesus Christ, and not through one's own merit by being obedient to the law. 12 00:01:20,700 --> 00:01:26,799 Now, very few modern Christians understand the debt we owe to Luther and other reformers like Calvin and 13 00:01:26,799 --> 00:01:33,359 Knox for the rediscovery of this biblical truth. Sometimes we live and think about our world without 14 00:01:33,359 --> 00:01:38,560 even thinking about what shaped us, what has come before. History is to the church what your own 15 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:44,420 personal genealogy, if you will, is to who you are today. You may not be aware of your family tree all 16 00:01:44,420 --> 00:01:49,079 the way back, but that does not stop your inherited genes from determining your height, your hair, your 17 00:01:49,079 --> 00:01:54,140 eye color, your intelligence, other kinds of traits like this. Well, as with family history, 18 00:01:54,140 --> 00:01:59,500 so it is with church history. The church inherits traits in the present from what it was in the 19 00:01:59,500 --> 00:02:06,920 past, no matter how eager believers naively tried to deny that they do, and that they can just come 20 00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:12,719 with a pure, untouched approach to the Bible and how a church ought to be done. Oh, just because you do 21 00:02:12,719 --> 00:02:17,960 not know your church history does not mean you are not a product of that church history and of other 22 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:24,439 Christians who preceded you and shaped, for example, doctrine that you were taught or worship that you 23 00:02:24,439 --> 00:02:30,060 now experience, and opinions, too, that you hold about the world about you. My point is, know your 24 00:02:30,060 --> 00:02:35,300 church history that you might know yourself. As we have demonstrated to you over the last few weeks, 25 00:02:35,699 --> 00:02:41,719 no one comes to the Bible free from presuppositions, that is, assumptions about the world about them. 26 00:02:42,159 --> 00:02:47,240 No one comes to the Bible free of hubris. Oh, we need to be humble when we come to the Bible, 27 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:54,180 do we not? And no one comes to the Bible without a tendency to repeat the errors of the past if we do 28 00:02:54,180 --> 00:03:00,219 not understand the history of the past. Knowing church history helps you understand the extent to 29 00:03:00,219 --> 00:03:06,099 which presuppositions and hubris and cyclical error make you vulnerable. Church history also helps you 30 00:03:06,099 --> 00:03:10,960 understand the rich heritage that you have in believers from the past. Many of these believers, 31 00:03:11,159 --> 00:03:17,219 if we're honest and not arrogant, we're just as smart and spiritual as we are, if not more 32 00:03:17,219 --> 00:03:22,979 so, maybe many of them. I know that's a fact with me. So, to help in your understanding of church 33 00:03:22,979 --> 00:03:28,280 history, we at New Geneva are conducting a study of church history on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. We 34 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:34,659 invite you to it. We are holding this class in our fellowship hall at 101 4th Street on the corner of 35 00:03:34,659 --> 00:03:40,240 4th and Boulevard, and we're using Bruce Shelley's fine book, Church History in Plain Language, as our 36 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:48,159 text. We invite you to join us. This is open to all for this important study. Call us at 523-0196 for 37 00:03:48,159 --> 00:03:54,419 further information. Well, what are the 10 most important events in church history that affect me 38 00:03:54,419 --> 00:04:01,520 now, that affect you now? Well, let's us begin to go through them, shall we? Number one, if we're 39 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:08,319 working chronologically. Number one, the Emperor Nero's persecution of the church is the template 40 00:04:08,319 --> 00:04:14,360 for all other persecutions and the interpretation of the book of Revelation, too. Not many people 41 00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:19,639 realize this, but indeed, the book of Revelation was written in response to the persecution of Nero. 42 00:04:21,699 --> 00:04:28,620 In A.D. 64, most of the city of Rome burned to the ground with countless numbers of citizens burned 43 00:04:28,620 --> 00:04:35,279 to death and injured. Now, history attributes its cause to Nero, the Emperor Nero at the time, 44 00:04:35,620 --> 00:04:43,160 who himself had a personal aspiration to build a new Rome on her ashes. It was ancient urban renewal, 45 00:04:43,339 --> 00:04:49,139 if you will. Now, Nero did not expect the revulsion and the rage of the people in the fire's wake, so he 46 00:04:49,139 --> 00:04:55,180 turned and blamed that fire on Rome's favorite scapegoat, the Christians. They started it, he said, and they 47 00:04:55,180 --> 00:05:02,379 must be punished. Thus began the first empire-wide persecution of the Christian church. As one 48 00:05:02,379 --> 00:05:07,199 historian puts it, crucifixions were carried out by the score. Humans were wrapped in animal skins and 49 00:05:07,199 --> 00:05:12,420 torn apart by wild dogs. Women were tied to the horns of bulls to reenact a Roman myth. Christians were 50 00:05:12,420 --> 00:05:17,420 dipped in flammable materials such as wax or oil. They were tied to stakes and then used as torches. 51 00:05:17,819 --> 00:05:23,740 People were invited to see the spectacle. It was entertainment for them, unquote. So, while Nero 52 00:05:23,740 --> 00:05:32,459 or I'm sorry, with Nero, the church then began to see what it was up against exactly, a demonic 53 00:05:32,459 --> 00:05:38,720 hatred seemed to consume the world. And John wrote Revelation in response to it, with the beasts being 54 00:05:38,720 --> 00:05:44,600 symbols of the empire and the emperor and the false prophet was indeed emperor of worship at the time. 55 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:52,560 Even the number of the beast, 666, perfectly fit the number of Nero's name. So, this event, the fire 56 00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:59,040 that burned Rome started by Nero, this event shaped even what you know today about these things. Well, 57 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:03,660 number two, what is the second event that has helped shape who you are as a Christian in church history? 58 00:06:03,899 --> 00:06:09,779 Number two, with the conversion of the emperor Constantine, the sword of the state went from 59 00:06:09,779 --> 00:06:18,279 Christian's throats in persecution to a Christian's hand in power. For centuries, Christians had been 60 00:06:18,279 --> 00:06:25,000 the object of Rome's wrath. Just a decade earlier, the emperor Diocletian had visited upon her the 61 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:31,360 worst persecution in the church's history. Now, they were the object of the emperor's favor, Christians 62 00:06:31,360 --> 00:06:39,540 were. Constantine's edict of Milan in AD 313 made Christianity a legal religion, even a favored one, 63 00:06:39,540 --> 00:06:45,079 the one that this former pagan had adopted just a year earlier at the Battle of the Milvan Bridge. 64 00:06:45,620 --> 00:06:50,639 Here at this battle, in a vision before it, which gave him supremacy in the empire of this battle, 65 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:57,540 he saw a cross in the sky and he heard a voice say, in this sign, conquer. So, while it is a matter 66 00:06:57,540 --> 00:07:04,339 of debate how sincere Constantine's conversion was, because today there's a great deal of reading back 67 00:07:04,339 --> 00:07:09,360 our experience into his day rather than taking him at his word and understanding his own world 68 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:14,920 and culture. That is, you know, just because Constantine didn't know about the four spiritual 69 00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:18,480 laws, he didn't pray the sinners pray, he didn't sign the commitment page at the back of his Bible, 70 00:07:18,579 --> 00:07:23,680 well, then he can't be a Christian. No, dear listener, it is important to remember two things 71 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:28,779 that still affect us today about Constantine becoming a Christian. First, men in government 72 00:07:28,779 --> 00:07:35,560 now began to apply the Bible as they governed. Yes, this will determine so much of church history 73 00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:41,319 and civil government in the future, too. That is, men in government now began to apply the Bible as 74 00:07:41,319 --> 00:07:47,000 they governed. As imperfectly as he may have done it, Constantine ruled as a Christian prince. 75 00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:53,060 He consulted the Bible and his bishops to form Christian notions of justice and law. He did this 76 00:07:53,060 --> 00:07:58,259 for the first time in kingdoms outside of Israel, and it would take almost another 1,400 years, 77 00:07:58,259 --> 00:08:04,040 but this nascent trend would culminate, of course, in the American Constitution, the culmination of such 78 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:08,779 effort and thinking. Well, secondly, also a note about Constantine, the struggle between church and 79 00:08:08,779 --> 00:08:14,480 state began here and continues today. Who should be supreme over the other? Should the church approve 80 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:20,699 and appoint the prince, or should the prince choose the pope? This struggle back and forth would continue 81 00:08:20,699 --> 00:08:26,519 for centuries, with one gaining the upper hand over the other, until finally our founding fathers in 82 00:08:26,519 --> 00:08:31,860 America, with great insight, saw that the federal government should have no say in the conduct of 83 00:08:31,860 --> 00:08:37,340 the church, and no one church should be the official church of the state. But as we see yet today, this is 84 00:08:37,340 --> 00:08:43,700 greatly misunderstood by our rulers, and the struggle between church and state continues. Well, the third 85 00:08:43,700 --> 00:08:50,559 event in church history that has profoundly affected you, dear believer, this day, even in your own life, 86 00:08:50,559 --> 00:08:58,340 as we celebrate Reformation week, Reformation Sunday. The third event in church history that affects you is 87 00:08:58,340 --> 00:09:05,519 the Council of Nicaea in 325, because it settled the question of Christ's deity and set a pattern for 88 00:09:05,519 --> 00:09:14,210 doctrine as well. Percolating throughout Constantine's empire was a controversy over the deity of Christ. 89 00:09:14,210 --> 00:09:22,149 One party, led by a man named Arius, in fact, this heresy is still called Arianism today. One party, 90 00:09:22,149 --> 00:09:28,990 led by a man named Arius, asserted that Jesus was a glorious being, a creature who had become man, 91 00:09:29,169 --> 00:09:35,009 but was not equal with God the Father, but rather had been made by God the Father at some point in time. 92 00:09:35,350 --> 00:09:41,809 The other party in the controversy, led by a man named Athanasius, held that the Bible asserted Christ's 93 00:09:41,809 --> 00:09:48,950 full equality and deity with the Father. That is, he was equal in substance, but who was also another 94 00:09:48,950 --> 00:09:55,409 person of that same substance. Now, Athanasius went on to borrow a term from another Christian 95 00:09:55,409 --> 00:10:02,289 thinker, Tertullian, to describe the relationship between God the Father, God the Son, and God the 96 00:10:02,289 --> 00:10:08,570 Holy Spirit. And that term was Trinitas, or as it comes to us in English, the Trinity. In order to 97 00:10:08,570 --> 00:10:14,470 bring unity to the empire and peace to the church, Emperor Constantine called a council of the bishops 98 00:10:14,470 --> 00:10:20,509 of the Roman Empire to decide this question. Now, these men, many of whom bore the scars of persecution 99 00:10:20,509 --> 00:10:25,950 from only years before, some of them had missing eyes and limbs, others had burn or cut scars, 100 00:10:26,549 --> 00:10:31,350 these men set a pattern for the future of the church when other doctrines of the church were 101 00:10:31,350 --> 00:10:37,190 threatened by heresy. And this pattern would be that leaders of the church would gather from all over the 102 00:10:37,190 --> 00:10:43,509 known world and pray and think and debate what the Bible said and indicated about the question under 103 00:10:43,509 --> 00:10:50,129 consideration. And out of this promise, or I'm sorry, out of this process came what we now know as the 104 00:10:50,129 --> 00:10:57,230 seven great ecumenical councils from which we derive so much of what is orthodox doctrine in our churches 105 00:10:57,230 --> 00:11:02,610 even today. Doctrine that you believe and often take for granted, but was hammered out in these great 106 00:11:02,610 --> 00:11:09,429 seven ecumenical councils. Well, the third event that shaped who you are as a believer and shaped 107 00:11:09,429 --> 00:11:17,649 your church today is, number four, the Catholic church, the one universal church split in A.D. 1045. 108 00:11:18,049 --> 00:11:26,690 There was a huge church schism, as it is called, in A.D. 1045. Well, what do you think? When one brother 109 00:11:26,690 --> 00:11:32,750 says potato and the other says potato, when one says tomato and the other says tomato, why you split the 110 00:11:32,750 --> 00:11:38,529 family, right? This is how some people see the East-West schism. Other Christians are utterly unaware and 111 00:11:38,529 --> 00:11:45,690 ignorant that there was such a division in what was once the one universal church of Christ. Well, by the dawn of 112 00:11:45,690 --> 00:11:51,470 the second millennium, we're looking at A.D. 1045, after all. Just think of it. The Christian church had already been 113 00:11:51,470 --> 00:11:56,470 around for a thousand years by this time. Some pretty significant differences had cropped up within 114 00:11:56,470 --> 00:12:03,970 this one church. For example, Constantine had moved the capital of the empire to Constantinople, named 115 00:12:03,970 --> 00:12:09,950 after himself far to the east in Asia Minor. And this church had developed its own identity from Rome, along 116 00:12:09,950 --> 00:12:15,529 with the church that moved there. Rome used Latin, Constantinople used Greek. Rome taught purgatory, 117 00:12:15,889 --> 00:12:21,370 Constantinople did not. Rome practiced celibacy, Constantinople encouraged its clergy to marry. 118 00:12:21,909 --> 00:12:27,289 So, each church also used different calendars to determine the dates of Easter and Christmas. 119 00:12:28,129 --> 00:12:33,129 Tensions finally reached the breaking point over a doctrinal point. That is, does the Holy Spirit 120 00:12:33,129 --> 00:12:39,009 proceed from the Father only, as it was taught in the East? Or does the Holy Spirit proceed from both 121 00:12:39,009 --> 00:12:44,389 the Father and the Son, as it was taught in the West? Well, the leaders of both churches, that is, 122 00:12:44,470 --> 00:12:50,830 Patriarch Michael Cellularius in the East and Pope Leo IX in the West, they ended up excommunicating one 123 00:12:50,830 --> 00:12:55,809 another and all their followers, and the schism has never been healed since, though efforts have been 124 00:12:55,809 --> 00:13:03,610 made to do so. Well, the fifth event in church history that profoundly affects you, dear listener, 125 00:13:04,149 --> 00:13:11,970 and to which you must pay some attention, is number five, Pope Boniface VIII declares the church supreme 126 00:13:11,970 --> 00:13:18,470 over the state in 1302. In a very real sense, the age-old struggle between church and state, 127 00:13:18,549 --> 00:13:22,850 because that's what we're looking at here, this struggle between church and state reaches a crisis 128 00:13:22,850 --> 00:13:29,509 and climax in 1302, when Pope Boniface attempted an end run around the kings of England and France by 129 00:13:29,509 --> 00:13:35,830 simply asserting that outside of the church and the pope himself, there can be no salvation nor 130 00:13:35,830 --> 00:13:41,049 remission of sins. In other words, not just a greater Roman Catholic church and council, but 131 00:13:41,049 --> 00:13:47,090 he himself alone, the pope, had authority from God to excommunicate any individual or land if he chose 132 00:13:47,090 --> 00:13:53,309 to do so. This was bravado of the first order and is considered the most egregious power grab in the 133 00:13:53,309 --> 00:13:58,269 history of the church. Now, the reason that Pope Boniface did this was because two kings were giving him 134 00:13:58,269 --> 00:14:03,590 trouble, Edward I of England and Philip IV of France. They were at war with each other and they both 135 00:14:03,590 --> 00:14:09,230 needed money and so they hit the churches. They taxed the church and her lands and her bishops too. 136 00:14:09,649 --> 00:14:14,429 To Boniface, this was abhorrent. It was the last straw for him. In his mind, rather, these kings should 137 00:14:14,429 --> 00:14:20,629 be paying taxes to him and the church. So Boniface issued his famous decree, Unum Sanctum, in which he 138 00:14:20,629 --> 00:14:26,350 made church dogma that the Roman Catholic church is the supreme power in the world and that salvation 139 00:14:26,350 --> 00:14:32,190 is found in no other church and under no other power but that of the pope. Well, the sixth event in 140 00:14:32,190 --> 00:14:38,490 church history that profoundly affects you, dear listener, even to today, number six is Johann 141 00:14:38,490 --> 00:14:46,909 Gutenberg, prints the first book with his movable type press in 1456. Gutenberg, yes, prints the first 142 00:14:46,909 --> 00:14:54,129 book with his movable type press, 1456. Now, historians are unanimous that this is the single most important 143 00:14:54,129 --> 00:14:59,529 event in the history of the West. That's a pretty sweeping statement, isn't it? But as one historian puts 144 00:14:59,529 --> 00:15:07,110 it quite simply, he changed everything. At the time that Gutenberg arrived on the scene, it could 145 00:15:07,110 --> 00:15:13,129 easily take two years to produce a copy of the Bible by hand, for example, and it would cost the 146 00:15:13,129 --> 00:15:18,350 equivalent of three years of a worker's wages. Also, remember that most people couldn't read in 147 00:15:18,350 --> 00:15:24,110 this day. Books were largely restricted to a small number of clergy and scholars and nobility who could 148 00:15:24,110 --> 00:15:29,990 afford to teach themselves and their children. Out of this world came a very creative and inventive 149 00:15:29,990 --> 00:15:35,669 man in whom the skills of metallurgy as a goldsmith, inks as a chemist, and the genius of an inventor 150 00:15:35,669 --> 00:15:41,149 in connecting the usefulness of a screw press like that of a wine press, which was his model. All of 151 00:15:41,149 --> 00:15:47,690 these skills converged. Unlike anyone before him, Gutenberg found an efficient way to cast movable metal 152 00:15:47,690 --> 00:15:53,730 type that could be easily set in pages. He created oil-based inks that would adhere to the typeface 153 00:15:53,730 --> 00:15:59,149 long enough to be pressed on the paper, and then he created the press where the whole page could be 154 00:15:59,149 --> 00:16:06,309 pressed evenly onto paper. Well, Gutenberg was also an ardent Christian whose first book to print was, 155 00:16:06,450 --> 00:16:11,149 what do you think, the Bible. And of course, Gutenberg Bibles are now the most valuable books 156 00:16:11,149 --> 00:16:17,970 in the world. Gutenberg said about his invention, he says, God suffers in the multitude of souls whom 157 00:16:17,970 --> 00:16:23,610 his word cannot reach. Religious truth is imprisoned in a small number of manuscript books which can 158 00:16:23,610 --> 00:16:29,690 find instead of spread the public treasure. Let us break the seal which seals up holy things and give 159 00:16:29,690 --> 00:16:35,210 wings to truth in order that she may win every soul that comes into the world by her word, no longer 160 00:16:35,210 --> 00:16:40,850 written at great expense by hands easily palsied, but multiplied like the wind by an untiring machine. 161 00:16:41,269 --> 00:16:45,950 Unquote. Pretty eloquent, isn't it? The words of Gutenberg. The Bible that you hold in your lap 162 00:16:45,950 --> 00:16:51,950 on Sunday morning and that you can read is available to you as a direct inheritance of this one man, 163 00:16:52,250 --> 00:16:58,250 Johann Gutenberg. Well, the seventh event in church history that has a profound effect upon your life 164 00:16:58,250 --> 00:17:05,250 is indeed Martin Luther. Martin Luther posts some ideas for debate and inadvertently launches a new 165 00:17:05,250 --> 00:17:13,450 historical eon, the Reformation, 1517. These ideas for debate were in the form of theses, 95 of them, 166 00:17:13,569 --> 00:17:18,309 and they were submitted in the traditional manner of the day for debate by nailing them to the door 167 00:17:18,309 --> 00:17:23,289 of the local chapel in Wittenberg, Germany, where Luther lived and taught at the university. 168 00:17:24,289 --> 00:17:29,269 Now, Luther, in his study of the Bible, had rediscovered, as I mentioned, an old truth long 169 00:17:29,269 --> 00:17:34,150 forgotten by the Roman Catholic Church, and that is, as Paul says, we know that a man is justified by 170 00:17:34,150 --> 00:17:40,369 faith in Jesus Christ and not by works of the law. Unquote. Therefore, Luther wanted to debate the 171 00:17:40,369 --> 00:17:46,390 Roman Catholic Church, their practice of selling indulgences to buy grace for himself or his loved 172 00:17:46,390 --> 00:17:51,369 ones, maybe, the seeming idolatrous treatment of the Lord's Supper as well in transubstantiation, 173 00:17:51,769 --> 00:17:56,230 and then a host of other practices that seem to indicate that, unlike Paul's insistence on faith, 174 00:17:56,230 --> 00:18:02,750 the Church insisted on works of the law to justify a person. But rather than rational debate, Luther 175 00:18:02,750 --> 00:18:09,269 stirred a firestorm of hatred and invective, excuse me, and cries of heretic. Luther was 176 00:18:09,269 --> 00:18:15,250 excommunicated by the Pope and hunted down, yet undeterred, Luther and others who would follow him 177 00:18:15,250 --> 00:18:22,430 began to reform the worship and doctrine of the Church in the light of the Bible and salvation by 178 00:18:22,430 --> 00:18:29,650 grace through faith that the Bible taught. So, in these invaluable truths that we celebrate at this 179 00:18:29,650 --> 00:18:34,450 time of year are found on Reformation Sunday. Celebrate Reformation Sunday. It applies to you 180 00:18:34,450 --> 00:18:41,950 today, dear listener. Well, the eighth event in church history that still has a profound and reverberating 181 00:18:41,950 --> 00:18:48,470 impact upon your life, even today, dear listener, is number eight, the United States Constitution is 182 00:18:48,470 --> 00:18:54,849 written in a convention of the states and then submitted to those states for approval in 1787. 183 00:18:55,789 --> 00:19:01,990 Now, I say the world will look back upon this as one of the high points, one of the great achievements 184 00:19:01,990 --> 00:19:08,250 of mankind, and they will also see it as a religious event, a significant event of the larger church. 185 00:19:08,250 --> 00:19:15,029 Why? Well, as I have labored to establish over many years, our Constitution was not a product of men who 186 00:19:15,029 --> 00:19:21,589 sat down with a blank slate and said, what can we come up with? No, our Constitution is a product of 187 00:19:21,589 --> 00:19:28,490 centuries of preparation as Christian thinkers and statesmen and Christian patriots took the best of 188 00:19:28,490 --> 00:19:33,569 what men had produced in creating governments from the past, based them upon biblical principles of 189 00:19:33,569 --> 00:19:40,529 justice and mercy, and then crafted the Constitution that we have today. The American Constitution is a 190 00:19:40,529 --> 00:19:46,549 Christian document, not because it's allarded with Christian lingo and proof texts from the Bible. No. 191 00:19:46,990 --> 00:19:53,069 Our Constitution is a Christian document because centuries of hard-bought experience and hard-bought 192 00:19:53,069 --> 00:19:59,190 thought and suffering as well taught our founding fathers that limited government was the best government, 193 00:19:59,750 --> 00:20:07,029 that man's evil inclination was to tyranny if he is not severely curtailed and limited in exercising power 194 00:20:07,029 --> 00:20:13,589 over his fellow man. And centuries of experience and thought taught our founders that the individual, 195 00:20:14,049 --> 00:20:19,869 when he is personally self-disciplined by Christian principle and a love of God, that the individual, 196 00:20:20,009 --> 00:20:25,589 the Christian individual, could best govern himself and create prosperity for himself as well, 197 00:20:25,809 --> 00:20:31,069 and his family, and his community. This was done when he had the maximum amount of liberty, 198 00:20:31,529 --> 00:20:36,750 which was granted by God, by the way. This liberty, all of his liberties were granted by God and not the state. 199 00:20:37,029 --> 00:20:45,509 And he could create the maximum amount of liberty and prosperity when he had this maximum amount of liberty 200 00:20:45,509 --> 00:20:51,470 in which to live and prosper. Our Constitution is the finest document of this liberty to date, dear listener. 201 00:20:52,269 --> 00:20:58,730 Number nine, then, the ninth event of church history that has a profound effect upon you and your Christian life, 202 00:20:58,730 --> 00:21:07,569 even today. Number nine is William Carey. William Carey leaves for India in 1793 and, in effect, 203 00:21:07,710 --> 00:21:14,650 launches the great Anglo-American missionary movement. Missions have transformed the world. 204 00:21:15,170 --> 00:21:18,950 The Anglo-American missionary movement has transformed your world, dear listener. 205 00:21:19,730 --> 00:21:25,690 The modern worldwide missionary outreach has sent the gospel through missionaries to every continent, 206 00:21:25,690 --> 00:21:32,750 country, and almost every tribal corner of the earth. Much of this movement vision and motive and model 207 00:21:32,750 --> 00:21:38,549 can be traced to how Carey did it. His pamphlet, for example, the obligations of Christians to use means 208 00:21:38,549 --> 00:21:43,890 for the conversion of the heathen, and then Carey's sermon, great sermon, expect great things from God, 209 00:21:44,029 --> 00:21:49,990 attempt great things for God. These are still preached and reprinted today as inspirations for missionaries. 210 00:21:49,990 --> 00:21:54,930 Well, Carey also modeled the various things a missionary must do when he gets to the field. 211 00:21:55,750 --> 00:22:01,450 He translated the Bible into 36 languages, for example. He evangelized the lost, planted churches, 212 00:22:01,809 --> 00:22:06,630 opened schools for children, and established medical clinics to relieve the misery of poor Indians. 213 00:22:07,029 --> 00:22:13,230 He also pioneered the variety of means of support for missionaries. At one time or another in his career, 214 00:22:13,430 --> 00:22:16,650 Carey was supported by individuals, churches, missionary boards, 215 00:22:16,650 --> 00:22:23,109 established to aid in his support, and he was also supported eventually on his own as a university professor. 216 00:22:23,750 --> 00:22:29,549 Well, Christians in the West, primarily in England and America, used this early model of missions to reach 217 00:22:29,549 --> 00:22:34,390 practically the entire planet, almost the entire planet, but we're still working on it, dear listener. 218 00:22:34,910 --> 00:22:40,029 Most churches and denominations in Africa and China and India and South and Central America, 219 00:22:40,029 --> 00:22:44,190 and for that matter, every island and continent of the world can trace their origin 220 00:22:44,190 --> 00:22:47,529 to an early missionary effort from England or America. 221 00:22:48,049 --> 00:22:55,170 So, as revivals surge in South America and the gospel spreads under the radar in Muslim lands like Iran, 222 00:22:55,369 --> 00:22:59,509 we can thank God for his having used the Christians and churches of England and America 223 00:22:59,509 --> 00:23:02,750 for the conversion of the heathen, as Carey so aptly put it. 224 00:23:02,750 --> 00:23:11,329 Well, our 10th and final event that has shaped Christian life, your life, and the church of modern America, 225 00:23:11,470 --> 00:23:15,769 the final and 10th event is the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, 226 00:23:16,269 --> 00:23:21,690 sweeps communism into power in Russia and marks the beginning of the great persecution of the church. 227 00:23:21,690 --> 00:23:25,009 This is our 10th event, the great persecution of the church, 228 00:23:25,529 --> 00:23:28,690 and the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 starts this. 229 00:23:28,690 --> 00:23:33,630 Christian relief agencies around the world today are presently far overwhelmed 230 00:23:33,630 --> 00:23:38,230 by the extent of the persecution of our brothers and sisters in almost every nation of the world. 231 00:23:38,750 --> 00:23:42,910 For example, Kristen Wright, who is the director of advocacy for Open Doors USA, 232 00:23:43,509 --> 00:23:47,170 she says that Christian persecution has never been worse in the history of the world. 233 00:23:47,630 --> 00:23:49,670 And she says this is not an exaggeration. 234 00:23:50,269 --> 00:23:53,250 More Christians are being persecuted and martyred for Christ now, 235 00:23:53,549 --> 00:23:56,890 even as we speak, than ever before in the history of the world. 236 00:23:56,890 --> 00:23:59,349 And this is, of course, in part because of number nine. 237 00:23:59,470 --> 00:24:03,809 That is the incredible spread of the faith owing to the great Anglo-American missionary movement. 238 00:24:04,250 --> 00:24:07,690 And we can trace the inception of the great persecution, 239 00:24:08,029 --> 00:24:09,710 which you and I are now living through, 240 00:24:10,029 --> 00:24:13,890 to a man and a government that hated Christ and Christianity with a passion. 241 00:24:14,549 --> 00:24:18,009 That is V.I. Lenin and atheistic Marxism. 242 00:24:19,130 --> 00:24:22,650 Lenin quickly closed churches and turned them into museums. 243 00:24:22,650 --> 00:24:29,390 And his successor, Stalin, estimated he killed over 50 million of his own people, 244 00:24:29,509 --> 00:24:31,329 many of whom suffered because of their faith. 245 00:24:31,609 --> 00:24:34,309 And then in China, Chairman Mao was even worse. 246 00:24:34,509 --> 00:24:36,970 He killed over 70 million of his own people, 247 00:24:37,109 --> 00:24:41,069 25 million of whom, it is estimated, were slain because of their Christian faith, 248 00:24:41,390 --> 00:24:43,049 according to Open Doors USA. 249 00:24:43,849 --> 00:24:46,390 All of this took place behind the Iron Curtain in Russia 250 00:24:46,390 --> 00:24:49,230 and the Bamboo Curtain in China, unbeknownst to the world, 251 00:24:49,230 --> 00:24:52,269 but thankfully not unbeknownst to God, dear listener. 252 00:24:53,130 --> 00:24:56,049 All of this only intensified with the rise of Islam. 253 00:24:56,410 --> 00:24:58,289 For example, the Islamic State in Syria. 254 00:24:58,450 --> 00:25:02,630 ISIS recent released a video showing militants beheading a group of 21 men 255 00:25:02,630 --> 00:25:03,869 for being people of the cross. 256 00:25:04,569 --> 00:25:06,910 Oh, this kind of thing is happening all over the world, isn't it? 257 00:25:07,190 --> 00:25:10,390 Not only there, but in Iran and Iraq. 258 00:25:10,869 --> 00:25:13,430 The Christians in Iraq have shrunk from one and a half million 259 00:25:13,430 --> 00:25:16,509 to less than 300,000 in Syria. 260 00:25:16,509 --> 00:25:21,369 The stable Christian population under Assad has shrunk from nearly 2 million. 261 00:25:21,710 --> 00:25:24,569 They've lost nearly 500,000 of their brothers and sisters 262 00:25:24,569 --> 00:25:26,809 to either martyrdom or flight as refugees. 263 00:25:27,849 --> 00:25:33,529 So, while atheistic Marxism began this great persecution in the early 20th century, 264 00:25:33,650 --> 00:25:39,049 it continues now, not only in China, but also in North Korea, places like North Korea. 265 00:25:39,730 --> 00:25:42,710 Dear listener, I urge you to make a study of church history 266 00:25:42,710 --> 00:25:47,470 to discover not only where you have been, but also where you are and where you're headed. 267 00:25:48,470 --> 00:25:51,710 For example, do you think that you may hear about and pray about the persecution 268 00:25:51,710 --> 00:25:54,369 of your brothers and sisters and sit passively on the sidelines? 269 00:25:54,490 --> 00:25:54,829 No. 270 00:25:55,309 --> 00:25:56,990 Do you think that none of this will touch you? 271 00:25:57,150 --> 00:25:57,549 No. 272 00:25:57,990 --> 00:26:00,869 Dear listener, wake up, O sleeper, as Paul says, 273 00:26:00,910 --> 00:26:03,710 and arise from the dead and Christ will shine upon you. 274 00:26:03,710 --> 00:26:08,849 You have been profoundly affected by each of these 10 events that I have detailed for you today 275 00:26:08,849 --> 00:26:11,369 from church history, whether you realize it or not. 276 00:26:11,789 --> 00:26:16,529 To help you understand these things, we at New Geneva are conducting a study of church history 277 00:26:16,529 --> 00:26:21,369 Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in our church fellowship hall at 101 4th Street 278 00:26:21,369 --> 00:26:22,930 on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. 279 00:26:23,750 --> 00:26:27,190 Call us at 523-0196 for further information. 280 00:26:27,190 --> 00:26:31,970 And remember as well that New Geneva Meets for Holy Worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. 281 00:26:32,170 --> 00:26:35,250 at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. 282 00:26:35,609 --> 00:26:39,250 Call us at 523-0196 for further information.