There was a time when the earth was dark.
It was an age of grinding poverty, disease, and death.
The common people were illiterate.
They lived in fear of the judgment and hell.
The state church controlled all aspects of life from birth until death.
And for a price, the priest assured a better afterlife.
But this all changed with a new dawn in England.
Minds were awakened.
And once the flame of the reformation was lit, it was never to be put out again.
This is a story of courage and fortitude against all odds.
The burning of heretics and those who risked their lives to follow the light.
It is a struggle of ideas about men's souls, their dreams, and the purpose in
life.
The state church responded by hunting down anyone who supported these radical new
beliefs to put them to death.
Join us as we uncover the heroic lives of those who led out in this movement and
changed the world forever.
This is the story of Light Unshackled.
In the first century AD, a new religion swept across the Roman Empire.
One man with a simple life and profound teachings transformed the world of his
day.
His name was Jesus Christ.
He claimed to be the Son of God and shared a message that changed lives and gave hope
to many.
Paul, who at first bitterly persecuted this new religion, was brought face to
face with Christ during a miraculous encounter.
Shocked to think that he might be fighting on the wrong side, he re-studied the
scriptures.
As the word illuminated his mind, he became convinced that this was truth.
He dedicated the rest of his life to spreading this message.
He traveled 10,000 miles on foot and thousands more by ship as he carried the
message of Christ across the Roman Empire.
In Rome, these new teachings were not popular.
Christianity, by its very nature, demanded exclusive worship of the God of
Heaven.
Pagan deities from the surrounding tribes in Asia Minor fit well alongside the Roman
gods of Juno, Neptune, and Mars.
Even some of the emperors were considered gods.
Christians called these pagan deities false gods.
It's not hard to imagine why Christianity became very unpopular within pagan Rome.
Thus begin generations of persecution.
A battle raged between culture and scripture, paganism and truth.
Such philosophies cannot coexist any more than can darkness and light.
So Paul was arrested, carried down this road to await trial in Rome.
Paul was kept under house arrest for two years till his trial.
Once condemned, he was transferred to the Mamertine prison to await his execution.
We're standing in the Mamertine prison.
It's incredible to think that right here was where Paul sat awaiting his execution.
It's dark, it's damp.
This was not a place where you wanted to be for any period of time.
Paul, being taken from this prison, was beheaded outside the city wall of
Rome.
Two years after Paul's execution, on a hot summer night, a fire broke out in
Rome.
It started among the shops near the Circus Maximus and burned uncontrollably for six
days.
When the smoke had cleared, a large part of Rome lay in the ashes.
Rumors swirled that Nero had caused the fire.
For some time, Nero had wanted to tear down a third of the city of Rome to build
a series of palaces called the Neuropolis, but the Senate had opposed him.
Now, with the city in ashes, he could pursue his ambitions.
As the rumors spread that he had caused the fire, he began looking for a scapegoat
and his gaze fixed on the Christians.
Persecution spread across the empire.
Pleasure-seeking crowds, craving excitement and entertainment, flocked to
amphitheaters and coliseums where gladiators fought to the death and
starving wild beasts attacked armed men.
It's hard to imagine that this weed-infested field used to be the Circus
Maximus Grove.
Around the outside of this field, over 250,000 people would gather.
But it's what happened in between the races that I find most fascinating.
An altar would be set up and Christians would be dragged before this altar and
forced to make the ultimate choice.
Who were they going to follow?
God or the emperor?
With just a pinch of incense, they could save their lives.
But these Christians would not compromise.
Instead, they chose to die one of the most horrible deaths that could be imagined.
One elderly man, Polycarp, a leader in the early Christian church, was dragged into
an amphitheater filled with thousands of bloodthirsty people.
The atmosphere changed as they watched this aged man brought before the pagan
altar in the center.
The pro-council, wishing to save his life, offered him his freedom if he would just
put a pinch of incense on the altar.
But Polycarp refused.
Eighty and six years I have served him and he has done me no wrong.
How can I deny my Lord now?
He chose to die.
The fire was lit, but the wind blew the flames away from him.
As the crowd began to express their sympathy, a soldier stepped forward and
thrust a spear into his side.
The impact on the onlookers as they watched these early Christians die was
evident.
It is said that the blood of martyrs is seed, and when one died, many more would
spring up to take their place.
Over the next 200 years, persecution of Christians continued in various parts of
the Roman Empire.
But in 284 AD, as Diocletian came to power, Christians were to face the worst
persecution they had endured yet.
The Roman Empire was on the verge of collapse.
Diocletian tried to strengthen the empire by reviving practices of the ancient Roman
religion, paganism.
Christianity was outlawed.
Intense persecution across the empire took place from 303 to 313 AD.
As the terrible persecution raged on, a new emperor came to power who would
change the Roman Empire forever.
Christianity was about to face its greatest change and its most dangerous
enemy.
Blight was about to become shackled.
The turning point came as Constantine prepared to battle with Maxentius,
a rival for the throne.
The day before the battle, he claimed to have had a vision of the Christ and have
heard the words, in this sign thou shalt conquer.
Being a man of action, he went back to his troops and had them put the sign of the
cross on their shields and also make it one of their standards to be carried into
battle.
The next day, as Constantine's armies marched towards Maxentius, the enemy broke
ranks and fled, and Maxentius himself drowned in the river here below.
This convinced Constantine that Christianity was the true religion.
He had his soldiers march through the river and told all of them that they were
now baptized Christians, and he himself claimed to become a follower of Christ.
As the sun set on that momentous day, few realized what had just happened.
Constantine and Rome were embracing Christianity.
The world would never be the same again.
In 330 AD, Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire to a strategic
location in the east.
He named the city after himself, calling it Constantinople.
Today, it is known as Istanbul, Turkey.
For nearly eight centuries, Constantinople was the wealthiest and largest city in
Europe.
It was credited with having the most advanced defenses of any city in the
empire.
Constantine also issued the Edict of Milan, which legalized Christianity and
supported those who practiced it.
He also mandated that Sunday should become a universal day for rest and worship
across the empire rather than Saturday kept by the Jews and the apostles.
As controversies developed in Christianity, a shift began to take place.
Rather than searching the scriptures for the truth, the church councils or the
emperor himself decided the beliefs and doctrines for the church.
These teachings often conflicted with the Bible.
Over the following centuries, a major rift began to form.
Those who refused to allow others to determine their biblical beliefs continued
to be persecuted and the church split into the state indoors church and an
underground movement of believers scattered across Europe.
The Roman Empire had stood for centuries but was deteriorating from within and
being attacked by barbarian invaders from without.
Rome could no longer withstand the pressure and it finally collapsed.
As the empire declined, the church in Rome rose to prominence and power in its place.
As the 5th century came to a close, a fundamental shift was taking place
within Rome.
Once the pagan political superpower, it was now becoming the center of
Christianity within Europe.
Recall the period of time following this collapse, the dark ages.
Roaming tribes of bandits and barbarians pillaged the countryside.
Roads became overgrown with weeds.
Without proper maintenance, the aqueducts ceased to carry water into the cities and
the streets overflowed with sewer.
As raw material became scarce, people pillaged the coliseums,
temples, and theaters for stones to build their houses.
Smallpox, dysentery, and the plague ravaged the land in waves, sometimes
wiping out up to half of the population.
As barbarian tribes were settling in Western Europe, Clovis, a powerful king of
the Franks, adopted the Christian faith.
This was significant, as barbarians were pagan, not Christian.
Thousands of his subjects followed his example and were baptized as Christians.
He even allowed his army to fight for the Bishop of Rome.
Christianity appeared to be gaining ground rapidly.
While Christianity was rising in the West, dramatic changes were taking place in the
eastern city of Constantinople.
The night of July 31st, 528, Justinian the Great was on the verge of taking the
throne after the death of his father, Justin.
That night, he had a dream of a universal empire with one state, one law,
and one church, which ruled them all.
Justinian determined to make this dream a reality while he was emperor.
Five years later, Justinian passed the Corpus Juris Civilis, overhauling the
Roman legal code.
For the first time in history, Christianity was the mandated law of the
land, and all dissenting views were to be persecuted.
The Codice Justinianus mandated the following, that reading the Bible for
anyone but the clergy was forbidden, that only the state church could conduct
baptisms, that heretics were forbidden to gather for worship, and that the property
of heretics could be confiscated by the church, and finally, that all magistrates
and soldiers must swear that they are members of the church.
It's hard to imagine that those who had endured such horrific persecution for
hundreds of years were now the persecutors.
A light was being shackled away from the people by the edicts of men.
Meanwhile, back in the Western Empire, the city of Rome had fallen to the
barbarian tribe of the Ostrogoths.
They did not recognize Justinian's laws, and also refused many of the tenets of the
Roman state church.
In the winter of 537, Justinian with his general Bullicerius arrived to liberate
Rome.
By the end of 538, Rome was freed from the Ostrogoths, and the Codice Justinianus
became the law of the entire Roman Empire.
But the religious freedoms once enjoyed under the Ostrogoths were now lost,
and persecution began to rise for the first time from inside the Christian
church.
For the next 1260 years, from the years 538 to 1798, the state church became both
a political and religious authority within Christendom.
Ornate cathedrals were built, convents and monasteries multiplied, and became the
center of education within Europe.
While the Bible was copied and transcribed by monks and religious scholars,
it was locked away from the common person.
Scriptures were translated into Latin, the language of the highly educated.
Only the priests, monks, and scholars were believed to be holy enough to read and
interpret the scriptures.
Tradition and edicts of councils became the basis of authority.
In the 8th century, Charlemagne became king of the Franks.
Through military conquests and an alliance with the state church, he consolidated his
power.
In 782 AD, he issued an edict condemning to death any pagan who did not convert to
Christianity.
On December 25, in the year 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor
of the Western Roman Empire.
In doing this, the pope demonstrated the church had superior authority.
The church was not only cooperating with the state, it was superseding state power.
Another example of the church's power over the state is seen in the story of Henry IV
in the 11th century.
A church council further limited imperial authority, and when Henry objected,
the pope threatened him with excommunication.
Under this threat, his nobles were unwilling to support his rule.
In the middle of the winter of 1077, Henry traveled over the Alps toward the
castle of Canossa, where Pope Gregory VII was staying.
Standing outside the castle gate, barefoot in the snow, King Henry waited
for three days as penance before being admitted to beg pardon from the pope.
The church was the most powerful institution in Europe, and it was willing
to demonstrate this authority to advance its purposes.
But the light was not wholly extinguished.
Small groups of believers hidden in the Italian Alps kept the Bible alive in their
language.
They carried the Bible through centuries of bitter persecution and spread its light
across Europe.
These were the people who kept the flickering flame of truth shining in the
darkness of their age.
These were the Waldensians.
The Waldensians were a small band of believers living here in the shadow of the
Italian Alps.
Having been evangelized in the time of the apostles, they carefully preserved
precious truths that had been taught to them from the Bible.
As much of Europe fell into the shadow of the state church, the Waldensians became
the focus of intense indoctrination.
The state church assumed the authority to mandate the beliefs and practices of all
believers.
She was to be the conscience of society.
As a result, most of Europe, without the ability to compare church teachings with
scripture, succumbed to superstition.
They lived in fear of a stern God, supernatural activity, and also fear of
the judgment.
But the Waldensians had none of these fears, as they had discovered the loving
God of the Bible.
Industrious and generous, the Waldensians were farmers, shepherds, and craftsmen.
They spent many hours transforming these rocky mountains into fertile lands
bursting with flowers and vegetation.
Often, after a hard day's work, they would gather together to read the
Bible, sing songs, or memorize large passages of the scriptures.
The Waldensians were strong believers in biblical education.
They built this school, the College of the Barbs, to train their young men in the
scriptures.
Here, they would memorize and transcribe large portions of the Bible.
Not content to keep their knowledge of the Bible to themselves, they felt compelled
to lead others out of darkness into the light of God's word.
Each school would be composed of 10 to 12 young people who were carefully educated
to prepare them for missionary service.
Here in this school, elders instructed them in the teachings of scripture and the
art of sharing it with others.
Upon completion, they would travel across Europe as craftsmen and merchants,
carrying the precious truth of the Bible with them.
Some went as students to prestigious university towns such as Oxford,
Prague, or Paris as secret missionaries to share the Bible with those interested.
Because Bibles were outlawed, they carefully sewed pages of scripture in
their clothes and between layers of their coats and looked for individuals that
might be receptive to the gospel.
But this was dangerous work.
It was hard to know who you could trust.
Was the person you were talking to genuinely interested?
Or was it a priest trying to catch you?
One mistake or misspoken word in the presence of the wrong person could lead to
your imprisonment, torture, or death.
Being a member of the underground church was risky.
The relations between the state church and the Waldenses were tense.
The Waldenses rejected the mysticism of the communion service, refused to confess
sins to a priest, as the Bible taught that only God could forgive sins.
They practiced baptism of adults instead of infants, and perhaps most surprisingly,
worshiped on the seventh-day Sabbath of the Bible, just as the apostles who
evangelized their valleys in the first centuries had done.
By the year 1160, the state church condemned the Waldenses as heretics and
demanded that they either recant their beliefs and come in line with the
teachings of the church, or face its wrath.
The Waldenses refused to compromise.
The response was a call for the extermination of these peaceful mountain
people.
Instead of pointing people back to the Bible as a source of truth, the church
pointed the sword.
In 1209, Pope Innocent III called for a crusade against the Waldenses and a
related group of in the south of France, the Albigenses.
What followed was a horrific slaughter.
When asked by the soldiers what should be done with the refugees streaming from the
besieged city of Bazaar, the papal legate responded, kill them all, God will sort
his own.
The entire population, up to 30,000 people, were massacred.
Centuries of relentless persecution nearly wiped them out.
Armies spurred on by priests marched through these valleys, raiding and
plundering homes.
Bibles were burned, farmland destroyed, and bodies lay strewn across the ground.
At a moment's notice, the Waldenses had to be ready to flee up these mountain paths
deep into the Alps.
As the enemy approached, they hid their families in caves or behind massive
mountain bulwarks.
The landscape was a natural defense against the soldiers, but the Waldenses
were not always able to escape their enemies.
In one raid, over a thousand Waldensians were marched to the top of this mountain.
Men, women, and children were then thrown over the Castelluzo to their deaths below.
Often, small bands of believers would gather in secluded forests or hidden caves
for worship.
Many times, they would be discovered and brutally murdered.
In the year 1655, the Ducas of Huy determined to put an end to these
heretics.
In the dead of winter, he ordered the Waldensians to attend a mass or move to
the upper valleys of their homeland.
He expected that they would give in to the order rather than face the freezing snow
and cold.
Over 12,000 people abandoned their homes and fled to the upper valleys.
Men, women, children, and even the sick waded across the icy streams, ascended the
frozen peaks, before arriving in the upper valleys where they were warmly received.
Thwarted in his purpose, the Duke then chose to use trickery.
On April 24, 1655, he asked the Waldensians to temporarily house his
soldiers.
Being loyal citizens, they consented and garrisoned thousands of soldiers in their
homes all through the valley.
After a few days, at 4 a.m.
on Easter morning, the soldiers turned against their host, slaughtering,
imprisoning, and torturing them mercilessly.
Over 1,700 Waldensians were killed.
Thousands more were imprisoned and many starved to death.
The survivors were given two options, either convert or leave the country
immediately.
Unwilling to compromise, they climbed over the frozen Alps to find refuge in
Switzerland.
As news of the massacre spread, people responded with horror and
indignation.
Protestant countries opened their borders and offered asylum to the remaining
Waldensians.
Oliver Cromwell, who was Lord Protector in London, began petitioning on their behalf,
began writing letters, raising funds, calling a day of fasting and prayer,
and even threatening military force to come and rescue them.
I have to wonder, which of their beliefs brought so much persecution?
Was it because they believed in a personal God?
Or perhaps because they refused to confess their sins to a man?
Or maybe it was because they had the Bible in their own language.
Whatever it was, the Waldensians were mercilessly slaughtered.
There was a widening gap between the wealthy and the poor.
The rich made their fortunes off the sweat of the working class, offering minimal
protection in return for their labors.
For the poor, the struggle to survive was nearly all-consuming.
Books were rare, as they had to be copied by hand, and most of the common people
were illiterate.
Stained glass windows and ornate statues in the churches were the only instructions
many had in the stories of the Bible.
Services in Latin held little practical meaning for the worshippers, who could not
even read in their own language.
The state church rose to the zenith of power.
No other authority held her accountable.
She claimed power over kings and rulers, and even above the requirements and laws
of scripture.
Money became the lifeblood of the church.
Multi-century construction projects, valued in the millions, were undertaken to
build great cathedrals.
Positions of spiritual leadership and influence were at times given to the
highest bidder.
Europe was in desperate need of change.
People wondered if anything could stop the tide of corruption.
The darkness was so deep, few thought there was a way out.
It was time for change.
It was time for the morning star of the Reformation.
It was during this dark hour that a man stepped onto the stage who would herald
the coming morning.
He arose from the edges of the Holy Roman Empire in the country of England.
His name was John Wycliffe.
As a young man, Wycliffe arrived at Oxford University to study theology.
He quickly was recognized as a diligent scholar and deep thinker.
While he was at Oxford, in the summer of 1348, the Black Death arrived in England.
Hundreds of thousands of people died from this ravishing disease.
Carts would rumble down the streets in the morning to pick up those who had died
during the night.
As church cemeteries filled up, many were thrown into mass graves and
hastily buried.
There was hardly a family to be found who had not lost a loved one to the plague.
Wycliffe was deeply impacted by what he saw, as he contemplated the dead and the
dying.
He, along with much of Europe, began to question the traditions of the
church.
As a professor at Oxford, he had access to the scriptures.
He began spending more and more time reading them.
Within its pages he found answers and hope to the deep and painful questions surging
through his mind.
As England's social conditions were deteriorating, friars and monks swarmed
through the English countryside begging for money and food.
Though the monks had vows of poverty, the monasteries did not, and they became
very, very wealthy.
The gulf between the church and the people was growing.
This infuriated Wycliffe.
Having deeply studied the Bible and the teachings of the church, he found major
discrepancies.
He boldly began to preach and write against any unscriptural practice.
He saw penance and indulgences as ways to manipulate people to donate money.
He rejected the idea of confessing one's sins to a priest, and that a man could
forgive sins.
Based on the Bible, he denounced many of the religious practices of the state
church, including celibacy, the authority of the priest over God and the mass,
idol worship, pilgrimages, the veneration of the saints, and prayers to and for the
dead.
When the church told the English monarch that he must pay a church tax,
Wycliffe spoke to Parliament, arguing eloquently that such demand was not in
harmony with the Bible.
Wycliffe's influence convinced the king to refuse the financial demands of the pope.
In this, he had touched the church's source of money.
Enraged that his influence was greater than their own, the church stirred up
controversy against him and forced him out of Oxford.
He withdrew to Lutterworth and pastored this rural congregation behind me.
The church thought that this would decrease his influence, but he was about
to release the greatest ally to the Reformation.
Wycliffe translated the Bible from Latin into English.
This was in direct opposition to Rome.
The state church had a long history of suppressing the Bible.
In 1199, Pope Innocent III stated that the Bible should not be in the language of the
common person, for the unlearned would be unable to interpret it properly.
The Council of Toulouse in 1229 condemned anyone who translated or owned a Bible.
And just a few years later, in 1234, the Council of Tarragona decreed the
following, no one may possess the books of the Old and New Testament in the common
language.
And if anyone possesses them, he must turn them over to the local bishop within eight
days of this decree, so that they may be burned.
Not only did Wycliffe translate the Bible into English, but he trained a group of
lay pastors called Lawlords.
Fanning out across Europe, these men distributed thousands of handwritten
copies of the Bible, as well as writings.
The church opposed his teachings and writings.
Over his lifetime, Wycliffe was put on trial three separate times.
But each time, he was able to escape.
During one trial, he gave a thundering response for his belief in God and the
Bible as God's word, and then simply walked out.
His accusers sat stunned.
It was as if God's hand was over this brilliant scholar, protecting him from a
martyr's grave.
It was during this time that the Roman church was rocked by a major scandal that
distracted its attention and protected Wycliffe.
Three separate men claimed to be the sole pope of the church, and proceeded to
excommunicate the others in what is now called the Western Schism.
They strongly denounced their opponents as being the Antichrist.
Speaking of the Pope of Rome and the Pope of Avignon, France, Wycliffe said that
they were two halves of Antichrist, making up the perfect man of sin between
them.
He encouraged people to look away from the men to the word of God.
He said even though there were a hundred popes, and though every mendicant monk was
a cardinal, they would be entitled to confidence only insofar as they agree with
the Bible.
The Western Schism lasted almost 40 years, and was finally resolved at the Council of
Constance.
The three popes were removed, and another pope was elected to take their place.
While the church was fighting, the truth of God was able to spread.
As the dust settled, the state church began to focus on rooting out the
Reformation movement.
They found many in England had accepted Wycliffe's teachings.
In fact, one papal delegate complained, you could not meet two persons on the
street, but one of them was a lawlord.
The Queen of England was herself a convert to Wycliffe's teachings, and worked to
protect him.
During one of his trials, she set word to the council forbidding them to pass
sentence against him.
She was a princess from Bohemia, and through her influence, the reformer's
writings were widely circulated in her native country.
Wycliffe has been called the morning star of the Reformation.
Just before the sunrise, he was like a bright light in the darkened sky.
Morning was dawning, and light was beginning to spread.
As the lawlords carried the scriptures far and wide across Europe, concepts from the
Bible were being embraced by the people.
The Bible had been translated into the Bohemian language, but over time,
it was outlawed.
In its place, ignorance and superstition took hold.
But the rumblings of change could be heard in the distance.
Jerome, a fiery preacher and professor from Bohemia, came to Oxford University in
England to continue his studying.
While there, he came across some pamphlets by Wycliffe.
While he read them, he became convinced that these were truth.
Copying them down, he took them back with him to Bohemia and shared them with a
professor by the name of Jan Hus.
Hus was named after the town he was from, Hassinic, or Goosetown.
His gentle and winning deportment earned him admiration from classmates and
professors alike.
He graduated in 1396 and was asked to become a faculty member of the university
in Prague.
Over the following years, Hus and Jerome became close friends.
Their personalities complemented each other.
Hus was thoughtful, wise, and discerning, while Jerome was passionate, charismatic,
and a powerful speaker.
Jerome encouraged Hus to study the writings of Wycliffe that he had brought
back from England.
Hus was intrigued and agreed with what he was reading.
He found Wycliffe's teachings to be supported in scripture and believed the
church would benefit from these rediscovered beliefs found in the Bible.
In 1402, Hus was appointed rector of the Bethlehem Chapel in Prague.
It was in this church that week after week, Hus preached, not in Latin,
but in the language of his members.
Thousands came out to hear about a savior that loved them and cared about them
personally.
From his pulpit and from his classroom, light was shining and reaching much of
Prague and Bohemia and converting them to the The trouble was brewing at the
University of Prague.
Johann Hübner, a fellow professor, strongly challenged 45 points of
Wycliffe's teachings, including that the Bible was the only basis of authority for
Christian doctrine.
He was determined to have Wycliffe's writings declared heretical by the state
church.
Three years later, Pope Innocent VII ordered the Archbishop of Prague to
suppress the reading, teaching, and studying of Wycliffe's writings.
But Hus had seen the light of the Bible shining through the writings of Wycliffe
and felt compelled to continue sharing them.
By the time Hus was preaching the Reformed doctrines, just under 20 years had passed
since Wycliffe's death.
The church authorities in Bohemia appealed to the new pope, Alexander V.
They were upset at Hus for criticizing the selling of indulgences to raise funds.
He accused the church of acting out of selfish interest.
It wasn't long before Rome responded.
In 1412, Hus received a letter demanding that he travel to Rome to stand trial for
his faith.
He knew that if he went to Rome, it was certain torture and death.
Not surprisingly, he refused to go.
Enraged at his disobedience, the pope issued the ultimate punishment.
Hus was excommunicated.
In the eyes of the church, he was now condemned to burn in hell for all
eternity.
To the medieval mind, this was to be dreaded more than anything else.
But Hus's mind had been lit by the word of God.
How could a human authority condemn someone to burn in hell for obeying divine
commands?
The Bible was his only authority.
To it, he would bow.
Unafraid of a piece of paper, he continued to preach every single week.
Thousands in the city of Prague followed his example and packed the chapel to hear
the word of God for themselves.
As the Bohemian people accepted and spread the newfound light, there was an awakening
to the principles of grace and hope.
The Waldenses continued pouring young missionaries from their valleys into
Central Europe.
The Lawlerts from England joined them in spreading the light.
Rome was rapidly losing ground to the Reformation.
In a desperate attempt to stop its advancement, it put the city of Prague
under interdict.
No one could marry, receive communion, or even be buried in the church cemetery
until Jan Hus was removed as pastor in Prague.
To protect the people, Hus left the city to continue preaching and writing from the
countryside.
As he was leaving, he clearly stated that he no longer trusted indecisive kings,
hostile popes, or ineffective councils.
He appealed directly to Jesus Christ as his judge, and the scriptures as the
foundation of his faith.
Bypassing the structure and traditions of the medieval church, he argued that Christ
alone is the head of the church, and that a pope, through ignorance and
love of money, can make many mistakes, and that to follow the Bible, even if a
pope demands otherwise, is to obey Christ.
For the Bohemian Reformation, this step was monumental.
Bohemia as a nation was accepting a new authority, the Bible.
The state church realized that any attempt to force Hus to come to Rome would be
futile.
So they pressured the emperor of Bohemia to deal with the heresy.
Hus was summoned to Constance, Germany to answer the charges that had
been leveled against him.
Emperor Sigismund promised him the protection of a safe conduct, and his
appearance was presented as an opportunity to dialogue and to share new light with
the emperor and his courts.
But the dialogue was not to be.
For the first few weeks in Constance, Hus was allowed his freedom, but on
November 28, 1414, he was arrested and eventually thrown into the dungeon beneath
the tower behind me.
He was left to rot for months in this awful place.
Emperor Sigismund thought to release him, but the pope's representatives argued that
the agreements with heretics were not binding and that Hus should be punished
immediately for his apostasy.
Sigismund wavered, and Hus stayed in prison.
When Jerome heard that Hus had been captured, he rushed to Constance without
any guarantee of a safe conduct.
He arrived in April of 1415 to the surprise of many, but he quickly realized
there was nothing he could do to help his friend.
He tried to escape back to Bohemia, but was captured along the route,
brought back to Constance, and thrown into jail.
The enemies of Hus wanted to have him executed without a trial, but powerful
Bohemian princes pled for Hus to be given a hearing, and to this, Sigismund finally
relented.
On June 8, 1415, Hus was summoned to appear before the court.
As he stepped before the court here in the church, he was barely recognizable.
After months in a dark, filthy dungeon, he was sick, gaunt, and physically and
emotionally exhausted.
One man, standing against the most powerful authorities in the kingdom,
but this man stood on the authority of the Bible.
The trial was a sham.
Thirty articles were read against him.
When he attempted to respond or correct different areas, he was told to be quiet.
In the end, his options were to renounce his teachings and beliefs, or die at the
stake.
Hus protested his innocence, and to refuse to renounce anything until he was clearly
shown from scripture where he was wrong.
As he attempted to speak, loud shouts echoed through the hall in an attempt to
silence him.
At this, Hus turned and looked directly at Sigismund.
It was on his promise of a safe conduct that Hus had come.
Sigismund's face turned a crimson red, and he turned away in shame.
And so, Hus was condemned by the church authorities on July 6, 1415, and handed
over to secular authorities to be burned.
Realizing that he was about to die, Hus fell to his knees and prayed aloud,
Lord Jesus Christ, I implore thee, forgive all mine enemies for thy great
mercy's sake.
This used to be an open field.
Where this rock is, is where the stake was set up.
The emperor's marshal asked Hus one last time to recant.
Hus refused.
God is my witness, he responded, that the evidence against me is false.
I have never thought nor preached except with the intention of winning men,
if possible, from their sins.
Today, I will gladly die.
His fate was sealed.
Straw, wood, and kindling were piled up around his body, and pages from Wycliffe's
handwritten Bible were torn out and used to start the flames.
As the blistering fire licked at his body, he sang, Lord, be merciful to me,
a sinner.
He could be heard reciting the Psalms until the flames silenced his voice.
Finally, a godly man, whose only desire was to save souls, was gone.
But Hus' enemies were not satisfied.
They wanted his doctrines, his teachings, and his memory destroyed.
The executioners scooped up his ashes and threw them into the Rhine River to prevent
a burial site that could promote the fame of the reformer.
But his ashes were carried to Switzerland, France, Germany, the Netherlands,
and into the expanse of the North Sea.
Little did Hus' enemies know that just as his ashes were carried to distant shores,
so the truth he uncovered would spread throughout the world.
The death of Hus deeply impacted Jerome, who was still rotting in prison.
He had already suffered immensely, and the thought of burning alive terrified
him.
In fear, he renounced his beliefs and pledged to follow the doctrines of the
state church.
But his sufferings were far from over, and he was thrown back into prison.
As he lay in his cell, his guilty conscience tortured him.
How could he have denied his Lord?
How could he have gone against the teachings he believed in?
He was again brought before the council and urged to even more clearly renounce
his beliefs.
But Jerome had changed.
Gone was his former cowardice.
He said, you condemned Wycliffe and Jan Hus, not for having shaken the doctrines
of the church, but simply because they exposed the scandals proceeding from the
clergy, their pomp, their pride, and all the vices of the prelates and the
priests.
The things which they have affirmed, and which are irrefutable, I also affirm.
The council was furious and condemned him to die.
A year after the execution of Jan Hus, on May 30, 1416, Jerome was burned.
As he stood there with his hands tied to the stake and kindling piled up around his
legs, he was unflinching.
Gone was his former cowardice.
As the executioner came up behind him to light the fire, Jerome said, come and
kindle it before my eyes.
If I was afraid of it, I would not have come to this place.
As the flames flicked up around him, his last words were, this soul,
in flames, I offer.
The enemies of the Reformation were gearing up to wipe the Bible and its
followers off the map.
Those in Bohemia received the news of Hus and Jerome's death with fear and
consternation.
Rumors swirled that Emperor Sigismund was amassing a vast army to once and for all
deal with those in the state church called heretics.
In 1420, Pope Martin V issued a papal bull calling for a crusade against the
Wyclifites, the Hussites, and all other heretics.
In Bohemia, the church promised wealth, adventure, and a guaranteed entrance to
heaven for all those who fought alongside her.
Fear gripped the heart of the people, and they looked to God to raise up a
deliverer.
It did not have long to wait.
God was already moving on a man.
His name was Jan Žižka.
As a military leader, there are few equals to Žižka.
Brilliant, courageous, and humble.
He is in a rare group of generals who never lost a battle.
As he heard of a personal God who would forgive sins through faith in Jesus
Christ, he was determined to give his life to him.
When the forces gathered to eradicate the reformation from Prague, Žižka stood ready
to lead the small armies of Bohemia against the invaders.
On June 30, 1420, Emperor Sigismund, with over 80,000 crusaders, arrived
outside the walls of Prague.
The sea of soldiers, like the fog of impending doom, spread out around the
city.
The citizens of Prague were terrified.
They were greatly outnumbered, were not trained in war, and had few
weapons.
It appeared that the reformation was about to be snuffed out.
With intense earnestness, the town turned to the Lord for help.
What happened next is incredible.
Sigismund ordered his elite cavalry to take an outpost not far from the city of
Prague.
3,000 of his cavalry marched across the river and made their way towards the
outpost, which was guarded by 26 men, 2 women, and 1 small child.
They were reduced to throwing stones and using sticks to keep the enemy at bay.
It appeared that they were about to lose, when one of the women, whose name has been
lost to history, charged towards the enemy, shouting, No true Christian will
retreat from Antichrist.
This inspired the others, and this handful of people were able to hold the thousands
at bay until Žižka could mobilize his reinforcements and come to their aid.
But his reinforcements were badly outnumbered and ill-prepared to fight the
elite cavalry.
But they came, singing hymns, praying, and trusting in the power of God to
deliver them.
As they approached, the elite cavalry felt a supernatural terror come over them,
and they fled from a choir.
Throwing themselves off the cliff and drowning in the river before, they were
completely routed by a choir singing hymns and praising God.
Over the next 15 years of the Hussite wars, General Žižka led his army from
victory to victory.
Even after he lost sight in both of his eyes, he was able to envision the
battlefield and guide his soldiers accordingly.
His leadership protected the Reformation in its infancy.
Žižka and his generation eventually died, and the old guard was replaced with
moderate leadership who were willing to compromise for the sake of peace and
safety.
The call for unity within the Church was promoted as more important than following
the teachings of Scripture.
Eventually, the state church regained control, and light was shackled away from
the people.
Wycliffe, Huss, and Jerome passed, but their work of sharing the Bible with
the common person had planted seeds of light.
They had not formulated the principles of the Reformation.
Rather, they discovered these principles by simply reading the Bible.
As people followed the light, God blessed with even more light.
Contained within the Scriptures is the path to forgiveness and peace with God.
It teaches that salvation is through Jesus Christ, not a church, and that it's free
and personal without the need of a priest.
This cut at the very foundation of the religious hierarchy.
The Church taught that for a short life of sin, God would condemn a person to burn in
hell for all eternity.
This put an emphasis on the need to purchase forgiveness, but created a vast
chasm between God and man.
As Huss stood before the council that condemned him to die, he said,
today you are going to burn a goose, but in a century you will have a swan
which you can neither roast nor boil.
This he said referring to himself as the goose from goose town, but he also
referred to the coming of a reformer who the church would be unable to silence,
whose hammer thundering against the door of a church would advance the Reformation
with explosive power.
On November 10, 1483, Martin Luther was born here in Eisleben, Germany.
His parents were poor German peasants who desired a better life for their son.
Through great sacrifice, they sent him to the university to become a lawyer.
Luther was a natural student and excelled in his studies.
He would have walked through this arch to enter the university library.
One day, while Luther was examining the books, he came across an entire Latin
Bible.
Up to this point, he didn't even know that a whole Bible existed.
He had only heard portions of the Gospels and Psalms recited by the priests.
He stood in awe, holding not just a few passages, but the entire Bible.
His soul stirred within him and he thought, oh that God would give me such a
book for myself.
This was quite possibly the beginning of his desire to make the Bible available to
the common person in their own language.
In 1505, Luther was traveling back to Erfurt, where he was attending school,
when a massive thunderstorm blew in.
He fought to press on, but fear gripped him as he remembered that a friend had
been killed by lightning.
In terror, he cried out, save me St. Anne, and I'll become a monk.
The storm abated, and Luther did indeed survive.
He kept his promise, and much to his father's dismay, left law school to join a
monastery.
Luther's entire life had been filled with fear.
Like many living in the Dark Ages, he was terrified of demons and of
supernatural activity.
In a desperate attempt to find peace, he entered a monastery.
Perhaps there he could find genuine rest for his soul.
In the monastery, Luther spent hours in confession, and when he was finished,
he would start all over again.
Finally, his confessor, Father Staupitz, had had enough.
Look, he said, if you want Christ to forgive you, come with something to
forgive.
He assured Luther that his sins had been forgiven, that he had peace in Jesus
Christ.
But Luther's mind still troubled him.
One day, while walking through the library, Luther came across a book
containing Jan Hus sermons.
Intrigued, he said, I could not understand for what cause they had burnt so great a
man, who explained the Bible with so much gravity and skill.
Several years after joining the monastery, Luther was sent to Rome on official
business.
He and another monk made the 800-mile journey on foot, staying at monasteries
along the way.
Rome was a culture shock.
Here was immeasurable wealth, luxury, and levity.
Everywhere he turned, he found profanity in the place of sanctity.
Well, in Rome, Luther visited many of the holy sites, including Pilate's staircase.
The church taught that anyone who ascended these stairs on their knees would receive
a full pardon for any sins that had been committed.
As Luther ascended each stair, about halfway up, the verse came vividly
to his mind from Romans chapter 1 and verse 17, the just shall live by faith.
As the light illuminated his mind, Luther understood for the first time that
it wasn't his works that would save him, but Jesus Christ alone.
Around this time, St. Peter's Basilica was under construction in Rome.
The Pope's extravagant lifestyle had emptied the treasury, and church leaders
decided to use a creative and effective fundraising tool.
They would print paper indulgences for sale.
Half of the income would go to the local bishop in Germany, and the other half of
the proceeds would go to Rome.
To sell these indulgences, the church would send emissaries of the Pope to
encourage people to buy.
Johann Tetzel was sent to Saxony, Germany near Wittenberg.
Johann Tetzel was a master salesman.
He traveled to various parts of Germany and preached on the horrors of purgatory,
and also on the graciousness of the church to offer pardon and forgiveness for so
little money.
Why, he would say, as soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory
springs.
And then he would ask, how could anyone be so selfish that they would not relieve
their deceased relatives from the terrible suffering in purgatory?
The ignorant and superstitious, plagued by fears of death and torment,
eagerly accepted this offer.
Money poured into the treasury as people paid to have their sins forgiven,
and their relatives freed from purgatory.
To Luther, this was simply religious manipulation.
And here was the problem with indulgences.
It didn't bring about any heart change.
While in theory, a person was supposed to demonstrate signs of repentance,
the system was poised for corruption.
Tetzel was to discover this firsthand in Leipzig, Germany.
A man asked if it was possible to buy an indulgence for a future sin.
Tetzel assured him this was not a problem with the payment of a large sum of money.
The man paid and left with the indulgence and the official seal of the Pope.
As Tetzel left the town, he was attacked and beaten, and the large chest of money
was stolen.
Tetzel was enraged and demanded the thief be brought to justice.
However, when brought before the magistrate, the man proved to be the same
one who had purchased an indulgence earlier for a future sin.
He assured the magistrate that this was the sin he had intended when he purchased
it.
Much to the chagrin of Tetzel, the man was allowed to go free.
The idea of purchasing the forgiveness of sins, past or future, was in Luther's mind
something of pagan origin and not to be found anywhere in the Bible.
He preached to his congregations with increasing conviction that all their
beliefs must be based upon the Bible.
Large crowds came to hear him preach, but preaching was not enough.
Christianity and the church were about to be shaken to their core.
In 1517, Duke Frederick, Elector of Saxony, had an incredible dream.
He saw a monk nailing something to a church door with letters so large you
could read it from a great distance.
The monk used a goose quill to write, and the quill became a beam that grew
large and reached to Rome, knocking the men tried to break the pen, but it was
like steel and could not be broken.
Then he saw other pens writing all around.
The duke had this continuing dream three times that fretful night and finally awoke
to the morning of October 31st, 1517.
Luther made his way to the castle church door here in Wittenberg, Germany,
a piece of paper in his hand.
On it he outlaid 95 points or theses arguing that indulgences were not to be
found in the teachings of Jesus or even within the Bible.
His intent was to generate discussion within Wittenberg.
Little did he realize what an impact this paper would have, not just on Wittenberg,
but all of Christianity.
In a few days it had spread throughout Germany, and in a few weeks it had spread
across all of Europe.
One new machine made it all possible, the printing press.
Thousands of copies of the 95 theses were quickly printed and distributed among the
people.
The points became the talk of all Germany.
What was so startling about this document?
Why was it so revolutionary?
Over the last 1500 years the church had become the final authority on religion and
doctrine.
Luther was striking at the very foundation of state church structure.
In July of 1519, Johann Eck debated Luther in order to challenge his teachings.
Eck was considered to be the master debater in Germany.
In the debate, Luther stated that the scripture alone was the basis of Christian
belief.
He condemned the sale of indulgences as a means of reducing time in purgatory,
as there was no mention of purgatory in the Bible.
When the theologians saw that they could make no progress with Luther, the Pope
sent out an order excommunicating him and commanding that his books and pamphlets be
burned.
Upon receiving the condemning document, Luther, along with fellow professors and
students, gathered underneath this tree and burned the papal excommunication
letter.
The battle was on.
The Emperor, a supporter of the Pope, summoned Luther to appear before his court
in Worms, Germany.
The building has since been destroyed, but this is the place where Martin Luther
would have stood before the court.
The table in front of him contained all his writings.
The court demanded that he recant.
He trembled, and in a subdued voice asked for more time to be able to give a
response.
He was given till the next day.
He spent hours that night in prayer.
It felt like the world was standing against him.
Finally, the morning came.
He was ushered into the chamber, and a response was demanded.
All was hushed as Luther spoke.
Unless I am convinced by the testimony of Holy Scripture, or by evident reason,
for I can believe neither Pope nor councils alone, as it is clear that they
have erred repeatedly and contradict themselves.
I consider myself convicted by the testimony of Holy Scripture, which is my
basis.
My conscience is captive to the word of God.
Thus I cannot, and I will not, recant, because acting against one's
conscience is neither safe nor sound.
God help me.
I can imagine the silence in the room, one man bravely standing on the authority
of the Bible against the most powerful men on earth.
His courageous manner impressed many that were present, but his reasoning fell on
the deaf ears of church leadership.
Luther was declared to be an outlaw.
His accusers urged the emperor to arrest Luther on the spot.
After all, they said, faith need not be kept with heretics.
But Emperor Charles remembered when Emperor Sigismund had violated the safe
conduct for husks and replied, I should not like to have to blush like
Sigismund.
As Luther traveled home, he was secretly kidnapped and secluded in a mountain
fortress, the Warper Castle.
Frederick, the Elector of Saxony, who had had the miraculous dream of a monk
nailing something to the door of a church, had determined to save his friend.
It was here, in this room, that Luther translated the entire New Testament into
German.
In just 11 weeks, he accomplished one of his greatest life goals, to give his
people the scriptures in their language.
Luther's disappearance caused quite a stir.
Rumors wildly circulated.
Some thought he was dead.
His enemies rejoice.
But as his new publishings came off the press, it became clear that he was not
dead, but alive.
However, with Luther physically hidden away, a dark and sinister shadow began to
fall across the Reformation movement.
A peasant revolt swept through the countryside, and the enemies of the
Reformation were quick to blame it on the teachings of Martin Luther.
The Reformation was on the verge of falling apart.
Torn from within and opposed from without, Luther could no longer stay hidden.
He left the castle without protection and entered the pulpit, preaching,
rebuking, and encouraging his followers.
The Reformation was safe, but opposition from the state church was far from over.
The next movements would determine the future of Europe and the world.
In 1526, the Imperial Diet met for the first time in Speyer, Germany.
The leaders from across the country met here in the Speyer Cathedral to discuss
important decisions, one of which was the spread of the Reformation.
Emperor Charles V knew that he would have to walk a very delicate line.
He, along with the state church, was desirous to snuff out the Reformed
heresy.
But he also knew that some of the princes were pushing for freedom to practice
religion as their conscience dictated.
The fledgling Reformation hung in the balance.
To protect the Reformation, God raised up an unlikely ally from the east.
The Ottoman Turks were advancing towards Europe.
Every kingdom had fallen before them.
Seventy-five years before the Imperial Diet, Constantinople had fallen to the
Turks.
This was significant in the European mind as Constantinople was considered the queen
of cities because of its advanced fortifications.
For over a thousand years, these walls had stood unbreached.
A massive chain would be hauled across the harbor to prevent any ships from being
able to attack from the sea.
No matter how the city was approached, it was considered to be impregnable.
That is until the Ottoman Turks attacked.
One of the original cannons used to destroy Constantinople still exists today.
I've traveled to Fort Nelson in England to see it.
The Turks advanced on Constantinople.
They came with the largest cannon that had ever existed up to that point.
17 feet long.
It could shoot projectiles that weighed up to 670 pounds over a mile in distance.
As they arrived, I can imagine the terror that the inhabitants must have felt as
they looked over the wall and saw the massive army of the Turks who gathered
around with these huge cannons beginning to shake and destroy their wall.
Even now, as the Diet was taking place, the Ottoman Turks were sweeping north and
nearing the borders of Charles V's empire.
At the Battle of Mohacs, the Hungarian army had been destroyed.
There was no longer a buffer between the fierce Ottoman Empire and the rest of
Europe.
The emperor had made up his mind.
Luther had already been outlawed.
The Reformation must be stopped.
But as long as the Turks were advancing, Charles V needed the cooperation and
military support of the Protestant princes, and he was forced to tolerate
their reforms to save his The Diet met again, and a law was proposed that would
allow the Reformed areas to remain reformed.
However, the spread of biblical doctrines to other areas would be prohibited.
While on the surface, this appeared to be a concession, the Reformed leaders
realized that if truth could not spread, it would die.
Many Germans, even under Catholic princes, had accepted the Reformed doctrine.
If these restrictions were implemented, civil war was imminent.
The Reformed German princes put their life and lands on the line as they
respectfully, but forcefully, lodged a formal protest against the edict.
They said, let us reject this decree.
In matters of conscience, the majority has no power.
The proposed laws failed.
Charles saw that his plans had been thwarted again.
He needed these princes and their men to fight against the Turks.
The term Protestant was coined in honor of these princes who protested against the
unfair laws.
Through an unexpected source, the Reformation had been protected once again.
If the Ottoman Turks had not been pressing from the east, the Reformation could have
been crushed.
While the advancement of the Turks was checked during the siege of Vienna in
1529, their continued presence distracted the armies and allowed the flickering
flame of the Reformation to become a steady blaze.
In England, another giant of faith was rising during the early 1500s.
This man would significantly shape the English language and religion perhaps more
than any other.
His name was William Tyndale.
In 1494, Tyndale was born here in Gloucestershire, England, an area
dominated by the wool industry.
He grew up among farmers and textile workers.
It was this humble beginning that laid the foundation for his future success.
He attended Oxford University where he received one of the finest educations
available in his day.
Tyndale moved back to Gloucestershire, England and became a tutor for the Welsh
family.
His hosts would often have the leading men of the city over and Tyndale loved to sit
down with them and discuss the new ideas which were sweeping through Europe.
One evening, he was discussing with a group of monks when one of them said that
he would rather have the laws of the Pope than the Bible.
Tyndale was appalled and heatedly responded, I defy the Pope and all his
laws.
If God spares my life, ere these many years, I will translate a Bible into
English so that the plow boy may know more scripture than you.
Little did they realize how Tyndale, the lowly son of a farmer, was destined to
shape the English language, perhaps more than any other.
After the fall of Constantinople, documents began to flow west as people
fled from the Turks.
As these manuscripts arrived in western Europe, there was a renewed interest in
Greek and Hebrew.
Scholars wanted to study the Bible in its original language.
One of them, Erasmus, compiled the many Greek New Testament versions into one
compilation.
He published this as a single New Testament with Greek and Latin side by
side.
This was invaluable to Tyndale as he translated the Bible into English.
As Tyndale continued his study in translation of the Bible, tension with
local religious authorities rose.
And in order to avoid the charge of heresy, Tyndale fled to London where he
hoped to get permission to publish a Bible in English.
In London, he asked Tunstall, who was Bishop of Durham, for permission to
publish his Bible.
But Tunstall was a strong believer that the Bible should not be in the language of
the people.
He let Tyndale know in no uncertain terms that his Bible was not welcome in London
and made sure to shut every other door for publishing as well.
With legal permission denied, Tyndale decided to go underground.
Within a short time, he had boarded a ferry and left England, never to return.
He must have known this would make him a hunted man for the rest of his life.
Once in Europe, Tyndale was constantly moving, translating long hours each day
and in continual danger of capture.
In 1525, he completed the New Testament and started printing 3,000 copies in
Cologne.
Unfortunately, the printer shop was raided and Tyndale barely escaped with his life.
Managing to save some of the pages of the translated work, he traveled to the city
of Worms to finish.
Finally, he was able to print it.
His Bible, though it was expensive, was an instant bestseller.
Because of the invention of the printing press, it no longer took 11 months to copy
the Bible by hand.
Now, a Bible could be produced in a matter of days.
Soon, much to the distress of the authorities, Tyndale's New Testament
started showing up in England.
Merchants were smuggling them in containers filled with food and wool.
Even though they were expensive, people bought them as soon as they became
available.
They were small and easily fit inside your pocket.
This was important, as owning one always came at the risk of losing your life.
The state church, in a desperate attempt to keep Tyndale's Bible away from the
people, bought up hundreds of copies and brought them here to St. Paul's Cathedral
in London to be burned.
But the proceeds from these sales were sent back to Tyndale, who used them to
print even more Bibles.
In 1535, Tyndale was betrayed by a man he trusted.
He was captured near his residence by officers of Charles V.
In Vilvoorde, Tyndale was imprisoned under deplorable conditions.
We still have a letter that he wrote to the prison warden asking for warmer
clothes, oil for his lamp, and his books so that he could continue translating the
Old Testament.
Finally, after 15 months of imprisonment, he was led from his cell to be burned.
He was led to the stake.
The wood was piled around him and the fire was lit.
His final words were, Lord, open the king of England's eyes.
When he'd finished burning, they scooped up his ashes and threw them into the river
behind me.
And why did they burn him?
For translating the Bible.
Within four years, Tyndale's dying prayer was answered.
In England, Miles Coverdale was able to publish the Coverdale Bible, based almost
entirely on Tyndale's work.
In 1539, King Henry VIII authorized the publishing of the Great Bible,
the first authorized Bible in English history.
In 1611, King James Version, the most famous Bible of all times, was published.
Over 84% of the King James New Testament is Tyndale's work.
75% of the Old Testament books that Tyndale was able to translate found its
way directly into the King James Version.
In it was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shineth in darkness,
and the darkness comprehended it not.
The reformers, such as Martin Luther and William Tyndale, shared one great desire.
That the Bible be made available, not just to the priests and the monarchs,
but also to the common plowboy.
The shadows of the dark ages were lifting, as people were able to read the Bible for
themselves.
Around the time that Martin Luther was preparing his 95 Theses, and Tyndale was
translating the Bible into English, the light of truth lit in the country of
Switzerland through a man by the name of Ulrich Zwingli.
On a cold January morning, 1484, Zwingli was born.
In a farmhouse out of the country.
His parents must have early recognized that Zwingli had a sharp and inquisitive
mind, as they sent him to Basel to pursue his secondary education at the tender age
of 10 years old.
He became a highly educated scholar and priest at a time when the majority of the
priests could not even read.
Many monasteries had become more like party houses than places of reverence and
worship.
Positions in the church were bought and sold for large sums of money.
A year after Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the castle church door,
Zwingli was transferred to the large church here in Zurich, Switzerland.
It was here that he began to uncover the light of truth and boldly proclaimed it
from the pulpit.
Zurich was a destination town for many pilgrims who hoped to decrease their time
in purgatory by visiting the different relics.
Zwingli noticed that many of these pilgrims thought that their salvation was
dependent upon this journey.
But this contradicted what he was uncovering in the Bible.
As he read verses like Galatians 2 and verse 16, that we might be justified by
faith in Christ and not by the works of the law.
For by the works of the law, no flesh shall be justified.
He became convinced that faith in Christ alone could save people.
From the pulpit, he thundered against the abuses that he believed were in the
church.
He led his congregation chapter by chapter through the Bible.
As they opened the Word of God, the superstitions that had held their
minds in darkness began to break.
Shortly after he arrived in Zurich, the dreaded Black Plague broke out.
Highly contagious, it rapidly spread across the city.
Thousands began to die.
The disease was spread by rats and mice with infected fleas that were being
transported in shipping containers from port to port.
From the coast, it quickly swept inland, devastating the population.
In places, over half of the people died from the Black Plague.
Zwingli's friends urged him to flee, but he believed that Christ had called him
to tend for his flock, and that included when they were sick and dying.
Faithfully, he attended to those afflicted, even at the extreme risk to
himself.
Ultimately, Zwingli caught the disease and nearly died.
His selfless acts moved the town of Zurich deeply.
They saw that his was a faith deeper than talk.
He was a pastor, in the truest sense of the word.
As the devastation of the epidemic began to subside, a Dominican friar came to
Zurich to sell indulgences.
The timing could not have been worse.
Over one-third of the town had died.
Families were fragmented.
The grief and pain of loss was deep.
And now the survivors, who were barely scraping by, were asked to pay money to
release their loved ones from purgatory.
The grieving people were deeply offended by the perceived callousness of the
church.
Zwingli strongly denounced this with clear biblical reasoning.
And the city supported their beloved pastor and refused to allow the friar to
stay.
But the sale of indulgences was not the only thing that Zwingli felt needed to be
reformed within the church.
There were other practices and teachings that were also false.
The state church taught that in the mass, the priest had the power to miraculously
transform the bread and wine into the actual body and blood of Jesus,
placing the priest above God.
As Zwingli compared scripture with scripture, he saw that the bread and wine
could not be the physical body and blood of Jesus.
When Christ said, this is my body which was broken for you, he was still
physically there in the room.
It wasn't until the next day that he would die on the cross.
After the cross, Hebrews 12 and verse 2 tells us that Christ ascended into the
heavenly sanctuary to stand at the right hand of the Father.
Looking more closely, Zwingli discovered a deeper spiritual meaning.
Just as when Christ said, I am the door, I am the vine, he wasn't saying that he
was a physical door or a literal vine.
So the bread and wine illustrated important spiritual lessons.
As the believer partakes of the word of God, he is sustained spiritually.
However, these teachings did not settle well with the state church.
The bishop overseeing Zwingli's district demanded that the city of Zurich deal with
the reformer.
In response, the city demanded that there be a debate between both sides so that
they could choose which one was truth.
At the appointed time, the bishop sent a representative to debate Zwingli and show
him the errors of his teachings.
Zwingli wrote up a treatise with all of his arguments and scriptural support
neatly outlined.
The representative was not prepared for such a logical explanation.
He said, we don't have to answer.
I'm not allowed to talk higher theology in front of common people.
The state church desired to put an end to Zwingli and his followers.
But Zurich had firmly grasped Protestantism and faithfully protected
their leader.
On October 11, 1531, Zurich was attacked by neighboring cities upset with the
reforms that Zwingli had initiated.
Zwingli joined his forces as a chaplain.
During the battle, he was injured.
The papists discovered him underneath this tree.
They ordered him to recant.
Zwingli refused.
So they killed him.
Thus ended the life of a man who had uncovered great light.
Among the reformed movement in Zurich, a group of believers called the
Anabaptists believed the Bible should be taken just as it reads.
As they studied, they realized that nowhere does a Bible talk about baptizing
babies, but rather adults who can make a conscious decision.
They were a peace-loving people and believed that individuals should have the
freedom to follow their own consciences.
As they shared these truths with others, the concept of adult baptism was still new
and not readily welcomed by either party.
And religious persecution broke out against them.
Many Anabaptists were imprisoned, tortured, or drowned.
Dirk Willems, a native of the Netherlands, accepted the Anabaptist message and was
baptized as an adult.
He began to share this message with others and started a small church.
As people learned of his new doctrines, there was strong opposition.
In the winter of 1569, Dirk Willems was captured by local authorities and thrown
into the castle tower that used to stand here behind me.
Sitting in his cell, he devised a means of escape.
He tied the bedsheets together, threw them out the window, and climbed
down to the frozen ice pool.
The ice was thin.
Dirk was light and had no trouble making his way across the ice towards the woods
beyond.
As he crossed, he was spotted by a guard who quickly gave chase.
But the guard was heavier than Dirk and fell through the ice.
In terror, he screamed for help.
Other guards came around, but none of them dared step on the ice.
Dirk slowed.
He knew he was the only one who could help the guard, but he also knew that to go
back meant to face capture and certain death.
As he hesitated, the words of Christ flashed into his mind.
Love your enemies.
Do good for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.
His decision was made.
He carefully traversed the ice, grabbed the guard's hand, and pulled him
out of the icy waters.
Slowly, they made their way back to the other side.
Grateful for Dirk saving his life, the guard pled for him to be released.
But to no avail.
Dirk Willems was seized again and hauled to the top of the church tower.
His feet were put in the stocks and he was held for over a month in the freezing
cold.
Finally, he was taken outside and burned at the stake.
Dirk had paid the ultimate price for his faith.
He didn't have to turn back to help the guard.
He could have gone free.
But he decided to put more value in the life of his enemy than in his own.
Dirk made the decision to be faithful to what he knew was right.
And it was this decision that sealed his fate.
As thousands joined the Reformation, the state church struggled to regain
control.
It became more and more extreme in its opposition to the Reformation.
The Order of the Jesuits was created to counteract the Reform movement.
The church was unrelenting in its persecution.
The Inquisition, an institution of secretive trials that ended in torture and
death, spread its pallor over the land.
Anyone who did not accept the church's authority was suspect by the Inquisitors.
In 1509, in the little town of Bacardi, France, a child by the name of John Calvin
was born.
Calvin early showed signs of brilliance as parents enrolled him in the best school
they could afford.
By the age of 12, he was appointed chaplain of a small church in their town.
When Calvin was 14 years old, the Black Death swept through his hometown.
In terror, many of the citizens fled the city, hoping to save their lives.
Calvin's parents were also concerned.
So in 1523, they sent him to the safety of Paris to pursue his education.
The rectors of his new school realized that Calvin was a sharp and inquisitive
student.
He often studied late into the night, poring over his books and eagerly soaking
up knowledge.
As a dedicated follower of the state church, Calvin reverently obeyed all the
required rites and ceremonies.
He not only read, but mastered the writings of the church fathers.
As his professors saw his genius, they cherished the idea that he would be a
future leader and defender of the faith.
However, his cousin Olivetan also moved to Paris.
Living in the same city, Calvin and Olivetan spent many hours together in
heated discussion.
Their debates often centered on the new Reformation ideas sweeping through France.
Calvin was torn between believing in the traditions he'd always known and the new
ideas Olivetan was sharing.
One day, while these thoughts were troubling his mind, Calvin walked through
the Place de Grave in Paris, France.
He saw a crowd gathering to watch a Protestant be burned.
Calvin watched as the dreadful flames did their work and the man peaceably gave his
life for his faith.
Deeply impacted, he left.
This man, he thought, has a peace which I do not possess.
Maybe my cousin's right.
Finally, Calvin picked up the Bible and began to read.
At first, the Bible caused his guilt to increase, but as he continued reading,
he began to see the faint outline of the cross.
Light was breaking through the dark superstitions which had caused such
torment.
Calvin came to understand that it was not saints, confession to priests,
pilgrimages, or penance that could save him.
Salvation was only found in Christ.
And in him, he finally found peace.
With his new understanding of the gospel, Calvin could no longer, in good
conscience, lead people to worship before the deceased saints and meaningless
relics.
He left the study of the priesthood and studied law for a short time before
fueling the call back into ministry.
He began sharing his newfound faith in the quietness of people's homes across Paris.
In 1536, while traveling in southern Europe, Calvin's route was blocked by the
armies of Charles V.
He was forced to take a detour that brought him to the gates of Geneva,
Switzerland.
Calvin intended to stay briefly, but his plans were interrupted.
William Ferrell, an ardent believer in the Reformation and a leader in Geneva,
heard that Calvin had arrived.
Geneva was at a critical point.
The Reformation had swept through the city, and many of its citizens had
wholeheartedly embraced these new teachings.
But as the light of God's word caused them to question their spiritual authorities,
there was a danger that they would throw off all authority.
Lawlessness and revolt could follow and destroy the Reformation.
A brilliant godly man was needed to help establish the people in the Protestant
faith and protect the city from extremism.
But Calvin would not be persuaded.
Shy by nature, he was determined to go on to Basel where he could study and write in
peace.
Finally, in exasperation, William Ferrell pounded the table and called down the
curse of God on him if he would put his desire for study ahead of God's calling in
his life.
Calvin realized the voice of God was speaking through this man, and he chose to
stay and help establish the Reformation in Geneva.
Calvin threw himself into the work, together with Ferrell labored to establish
Protestantism here.
He started a school where young people from all over Europe studied and learned
the doctrines he taught.
They took these back to their homes and so his teachings became widely known.
Calvin saw the Bible as the basis for all doctrine and practice.
As a leader in the Reformation, he helped establish the Protestant faith
in Switzerland and across all of Europe.
From the time of Calvin onward, Geneva was a city of refuge for all
Christians persecuted across Europe.
In a letter to a friend, John Knox wrote, Geneva is the most perfect school of
Christ that ever was in the earth since the days of the apostles.
The Waldenses fled here after intense persecution and expulsion from Italy in
1687.
They were forced to cross the Elbe River and January, some not surviving the
journey.
They stumbled, half frozen into Geneva, and it was in this city of Christian grace
and mercy that they found refuge.
Through Calvin's influence, many in northern France accepted the Protestant
message and became known as Huguenots.
Persecution increased following the St Bartholomew's Massacre of 1572 where many
of the Huguenots were killed.
Over two million Protestants fled France.
Instead of strengthening France as the church promised, the persecution drove out
the brightest and the most talented.
While the Reformation championed the freedom to follow the Bible as one's
conscience dictated, there arose in France a different revolution, one which threw
off all religious restraint.
As they rejected the church, they also rejected the God whom the church had
misrepresented.
Atheism and the goddess of reason became their religion.
The godless reason has no moral compass.
Survival of the fittest, when empowered by the state, can lead to carnage of
unimaginable magnitude.
What followed was a horrific reign of terror in which tens of thousands of
people were murdered in what became known as the French Revolution.
With the new state church religion being atheism, France's relationship with the
state church was tense.
In 1798, Bullion's general Berthier overthrew the pope, took him captive,
and exiled him from Rome.
This ended the power of the state church to use universal secular authority to
persecute those that disagreed with her teachings.
1260 years after it began, the absolute authority of the state church over Western
Europe was finally broken.
In spite of persecution, the Reformation was advancing in England.
In the early 1600s, a group of Christians called the Puritan Separatists studied the
Bible and applied the light they uncovered to their lives.
They were willing to follow its principles even if it led them to separate from the
Church of England.
Not surprisingly, they were persecuted for their beliefs.
They fled to Holland to escape the strong opposition and they found more religious
freedom.
But as they learned about the new country of America, they decided to seek out a
place where they could truly worship God according to their conscience.
Just before loading the Mayflower, the pilgrims gathered for one final
worship service.
Their pastor, John Robinson, who was staying behind, addressed them with one
final, moving appeal.
I charge you before God and his blessed angels to follow me no further than I have
followed Christ.
If God should reveal anything to you by any other instrument of his, be as ready
to receive it as ever you were to receive any truth of my ministry.
For I am very confident that the Lord hath more truth and light yet to break forth
out of his holy word.
Though the reformers were burning and shining lights in their time, yet they
penetrated not into the whole counsel of God.
But were they now living, would be as willing to embrace further light as that
which they first received.
It was with mixed feelings that the pilgrims loaded the Mayflower from these
steps.
Behind them were family and friends they would never see again.
Ahead of them were unknown challenges and difficulties.
On September 6, 1620, they sailed towards America.
The harrowing trip lasted 66 days.
They endured cramped, wet, and cold conditions.
Many of them got sick.
The Mayflower was nearly torn apart by the rough seas.
As the pilgrims set foot on the soil of the new land, they knelt and prayed,
thanking God for his protection over the perilous ocean journey.
He had brought them to a new land where they could worship him according to the
dictates of their conscience.
But that first year was to be extremely hard.
Inadequate shelter, ravishing disease, and extreme hunger exacted a heavy toll.
45 of the 102 immigrants died that first winter and are buried here in this
cemetery.
But the survivors carried on.
They were establishing a new country without a king, and a new church without a
pope.
Wiping their eyes, they bravely carried the light of truth forward.
That spring, as the Mayflower left for England, not one pilgrim was on board.
The freedom to worship God was more valuable to them than life itself.
These early pilgrims were the first of millions who would find safety and
protection on these shores.
Back in England, a child by the name of Roger Williams was born.
Growing up near the Smithfield Plaza, he witnessed the death of faithful
martyrs.
As he watched these men and women die, he longed for a country where people could
worship however they chose.
So in 1631, he boarded a ship and set sail for the New World.
As he settled in the city of Boston, he was disappointed at the narrow view of
the colonists.
They were just as intolerant of differing religious views as the leaders back in
England.
He began to express the need for a clear separation between church and state.
But this was considered heretical.
On a cold January night in 1636, Williams was warned that he was about to
be arrested and shipped back to England.
Hastily, he packed his bags and said goodbye to his wife and small children and
fled to the safety of the wilderness.
There he hid in logs until finally being taken in by friendly Indians.
Eventually, Roger Williams bought this plot of land from his Indian friends.
He called it Providence and wrote the king of England asking for permission to start
a colony in Rhode Island.
Providence, Rhode Island became the only colony in the Americas to mandate the
separation of church and state.
The ideas of religious liberty began to spread until they were incorporated into
the Bill of Rights of the United States of America.
Over
the years, the issues of the Reformation have been nearly forgotten.
Some have asked, is the Reformation over?
Was it simply a misunderstanding or even worse, a dreadful mistake?
So what was the impact of the Reformation?
Put simply, it transformed society.
More than any other force, it unlocked the Word of God.
No longer was it hidden in another language or chained to a monastery wall,
but it was available to all.
It released language and literacy, science and medicine improved.
People learned to think for themselves.
And the freedoms we enjoy today found their foundation in the Protestant
Reformation.
But the Reformers were not perfect.
As they came out of centuries of intense darkness, they were not ready to
comprehend all of the light that the Bible contained.
Gradually, as they were ready, God revealed more truth.
New denominations reformed as old denominations stopped searching the Bible
for more truth.
Anticipating this continual unshackling of light, Pastor John Robinson told the
departing pilgrims, expect more light to be uncovered.
Continue to search the Bible for more truth.
He was just repeating the words of Scripture.
Proverbs chapter 4 and verse 18 says, the path of the just is as a shining light
and shineth more and more unto the perfect bill.
It was not for abstract facts or dusty doctrines that these Reformers were
willing to die.
The Bible illuminates a path to a personal relationship with Christ.
Talks of a coming climax to human history.
In the Word of God, they found Jesus illuminated.
To follow Him, they were willing to give possessions, lose their reputation,
even their own lives.
Today, we stand on the shoulders of giants of faith, men and women who are willing to
give everything to preserve the Bible.
The torch has been passed.
It now rests on us to continue studying the Bible.
When we discover new truth there, to follow it, hold on to it, and proclaim
it.
If we do this, light will remain unshackled.