WEBVTT

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A woman, a child, and a dragon.

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At first glance, this might sound like the
ingredients for a frightening fairy tale.

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In fact, the troubling scenes that you
just witnessed are part of a true and

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powerful prophecy given to the Apostle
John nearly 2,000 years ago.

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What does this prophecy found in
Revelation 12 tell us?

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Does it point to some event that happened
thousands of years ago?

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Or does it describe things that are going
to take place in the near future?

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And who do the woman, the dragon,
and the child represent?

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Join us now as we journey deep into a
world that few have ever seen,

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but all are a part of.

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Revelation, the Bride, the Beast,
and Babylon.

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In the last book of the Bible,
Revelation, the Apostle John was shown a

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vision of a great struggle between good
and evil, a prophecy of a battle that has

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been raging behind the scenes since the
dawn of time.

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The secrets behind this prophecy have been
shrouded in mystery for centuries,

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until now.

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From the kingdoms and the rulers that have
fallen around the world, to the men and

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women that stood up to fight for what they
believed in, this is the story of

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Christianity, the search for truth and the
foundation for the faith of billions.

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Now a great sign appeared in heaven,
a woman clothed with the sun, with the

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moon under her feet, and on her head a
garland of twelve stars.

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Then being with child, she cried out in
labor and in pain to give birth.

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And the dragon stood before the woman who
was ready to give birth, to devour her

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child as soon as it was born.

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Many Bible scholars and historians have
studied this prophecy over the years and

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agree that the prophecy of Revelation 12
points to an event known as the Massacre

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of the Innocents, which occurred in first
century Judea.

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In the decades leading up to the birth of
Christ, the Roman Empire had conquered the

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whole Mediterranean world, including
Judea.

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And at various points in that history,
they had different people ruling over it.

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Twenty years before Jesus was born,
you have King Herod, a client king for

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Rome.

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You know, we have documents about him
outside the Bible that tell us that he was

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very cruel, he was capable of killing his
own sons, he was ruthless and you wouldn't

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want to get on his bad side.

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Herod was very anxious when a small
delegation of wise men from the East came

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to Jerusalem announcing their search for
the newborn King of the Jews.

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Why would Herod be upset about that?

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Because that was Herod's title,
as bestowed upon him by the Roman Empire,

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King of the Jews.

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And he asks his astrologers, how long is
it possible this child could have been

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born ago?

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And they determine it's probably been
maybe two years at most since this child

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was born, maybe less.

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He finds out from the Pharisees and the
Sadducees exactly where this child is to

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be born.

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And he finds out it's Bethlehem.

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And he worried about losing his throne.

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And so he has such anger against this
child, he sends in the soldiers to try and

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kill Jesus.

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The Bible tells us this barbaric act was
inspired by more than just the tyrannical

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jealousy of an old king.

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Many Bible scholars believe that it's part
of a much bigger struggle that has spanned

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the ages and is still happening today.

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To uncover the secrets of this prophecy,
we're going to first need to identify the

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main characters, the woman, the child,
and the dragon.

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He says, then I saw another sign,
a woman clothed with the sun, with the

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moon under her feet, and on her head a
crown of twelve stars.

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Let's take a closer look at the woman.

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We know that she's a symbol of someone or
something.

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Does the Bible tell us what this woman
represents?

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We gather from this that the church is the
bride of Christ.

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Not only is she the bride of Christ,
but in a certain sense, since no man hates

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his own flesh, the church is Jesus' body.

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Very clearly, a woman in Scripture
represents the church.

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You have a woman as representative of
God's people.

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We see this in the Old Testament,
we see it in the New Testament.

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Jesus comes from the people of Israel,
and then the church grows up as something

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that Jesus develops.

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Most importantly, this woman is about to
give birth to a special male child.

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Who is the child?

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We have a couple of indications.

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One, he rules with a rod of iron over the
nations.

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That's a reference to the Old Testament,
where clearly God is the one ruling over

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the nations with a rod of iron.

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And then he says he's caught up into
heaven.

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And who is caught up into heaven?

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Jesus Christ, right?

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He's been a king of kings and lord of
lords.

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So these two indications pretty
definitively tell us that this is Jesus.

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Now let's consider the arch-villain in
this important prophecy, the dragon.

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And another sign appeared in heaven.

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Behold, a great fiery red dragon.

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You know, I wish I could just give you a
fanciful theory here, but the Bible tells

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us who the dragon is.

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The dragon is the devil.

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Both in the Old Testament and the New
Testament, who tries to destroy it.

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That is Satan, you know, the angel,
the devil.

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And so he attacks as soon as Christ comes
upon the face of the earth.

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The attack is there.

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So the great dragon was cast out,
that serpent of old called the devil and

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Satan, who deceives the whole world.

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He was cast to the earth and his angels
were cast out with him.

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What we see here in the first part of
Revelation 12 is a symbolic portrayal of

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the age-old conflict between Christ and
Satan.

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And we find this description going all the
way back to the Garden of Eden where you

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have a snake with wings.

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Well, what's a snake with wings?

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It's a form of a dragon.

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And we have this serpent, this dragon
coming all the way down through

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scriptures.

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All through the life and ministry of
Christ, Satan tried to disrupt Jesus'

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plans to provide salvation for humanity.

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But he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities.

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The chastisement for our peace was upon
him, and by his stripes we are healed.

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At various points they kicked him out of
synagogues and wanted to push him off a

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cliff.

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They tried to silence him, they tortured
him to death publicly.

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But Satan's scheme to derail the plan of
salvation was utterly shattered when Jesus

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rose from the dead.

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And her child was caught up to God and his
throne.

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With the Son of God now physically beyond
his reach, the devil directed all of his

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fury at the followers of Jesus,
the new Christians.

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He did much of this through the cruel
power of imperial Rome.

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Now when the dragon saw that he had been
cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman

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who gave birth to the male child.

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Christianity was a struggling,
small, persecuted minority that didn't

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have official status in the Roman Empire.

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And there were a series of persecutions,
some of which were quite severe.

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One of the roles of religion in the Roman
Empire was to ensure the well-being of the

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state.

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The idea was if the gods were worshipped
properly, then they would favour the

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empire.

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And if they were worshipped improperly,
then they would, you know, bad things

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would happen to the empire as a result of
divine wrath.

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They do not want to sacrifice to the gods,
and the gods at that point include the

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emperor.

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So it's easy to consider these people
religious scapegoats, basically.

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If something's going wrong, probably it's
because there are Christians around who

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are refusing to give the gods their proper
due.

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Well, of course, you have to punish them.

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And punishment meant, you know,
most of the time death.

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What people thought was that Christians
gathered together also seemed to make love

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with their brothers and sisters.

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Because there were rumours about them that
they commit incest.

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The Christians used to call themselves
brother and sister.

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And they used to eat the flesh of Christ.

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People heard, apparently, that Christians
were eating children.

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So when pagans heard about this,
they thought the worst, right?

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They assumed the worst.

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Christians are progressively stripped of
their civil offices, their military

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offices, their books are confiscated,
their churches are destroyed, they're

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forbidden to meet, and so on, all because
there's an anxiety that this is really

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undermining the welfare of the empire.

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As the early church suffered under this
withering persecution of Rome,

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their lives became a powerful testimony
for truth.

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While the pagans lived in constant
superstitious fear, these Christians faced

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torture and death with a supernatural
peace.

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Basically what Nero did was he fed them to
the lions, he had them tied to pillars,

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he put pitch on them, and then he set them
on fire as human torches so they could

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have the festivities continue on into the
night.

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You know, being stretched, pulled into
two, being killed by gladiators.

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Just about every creative way that you can
dispose of Christians.

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When facing the painful end of their
lives, they often sang and rejoiced.

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As thousands of Christians paid the
ultimate price for their faith,

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their dying prayers and blood essentially
became seed for the new church.

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People are so enthralled by how these
Christians are dying that immediately,

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you know, the reaction is, sign me up.

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And so the Christians spread like
wildfire.

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The more you killed them, the more they
stood for their faith.

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Now it is true, and I think it has to be
emphasized, that the early church spreads

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despite the very concerted attempts at
repression of extremely autocratic and

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powerful emperors who set themselves very
firmly against the Christians,

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and yet the early church survives.

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Tertullian argues, whenever something goes
wrong, whenever there is a famine or

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whenever there is an illness, a pestilence
that sweeps through, everybody says,

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the Christians to the lion.

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And then he says snidely, as if so many
could be fed to so few.

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And his point is that you can't destroy us
all.

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During this time of exponential growth,
Christians all across the Roman Empire,

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quite literally, went underground.

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This labyrinth of tunnels and chambers
beneath the Roman cities became known as

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the catacombs.

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Now, the catacombs are important to
understand.

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First, many people imagine that there are
caves naturally under Rome, and the

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Christians simply went into them.

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The catacombs, almost without exception,
are not natural caves.

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They were excavated by the Christians.

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And so the Christians made a whole
labyrinth underground.

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Sometimes services would be held there,
in the very tombs of the martyrs.

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The second point is, the very act of
burying your dead is hugely significant.

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Christians believe in a resurrection of
the body.

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Now, of course, that belief has shifted
and changed over the centuries,

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but from all we understand, early
Christians believed that they would be

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resurrected in that actual bodily form,
and therefore they chose to bury their

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dead, not to cremate them.

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Therefore, if you are seen to be burying
your dead, especially at times when there

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are intense waves of persecution,
you're more or less saying to the police,

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come and investigate me.

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I may well be a Christian.

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In A.D.

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306, a new Roman emperor came into power,
and things began to rapidly change.

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Constantine the Great was a capable
military leader and a shrewd politician.

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So Constantine had to fight a series of
civil wars in order to achieve his

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political aim of becoming emperor,
and that's his own personal and political

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aim.

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It's got nothing to do with Christianity.

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He goes down from Gaul, modern-day France,
where his power base was to confront his

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rival Maxentius in Italy.

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Constantine moves down from the north,
and you think of Italy, there's this long

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stretch, and he wins one battle after
another.

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As he was marching with his army,
he had a dream one night where God came to

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him and told him, you will become a
Christian and put this sign on your

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shield, and you will conquer.

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Shortly after that, he actually had a
vision, which history tells us was seen by

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his army as well as by Constantine
himself.

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He looked up to the sun, and he saw a
cross of light above it, and the Greek

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words, Entutu Nikea, by this, conquer.

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The story that he had this dream does
appear at a relatively early stage.

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It's described by Eusebius.

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There are different sources, there are
different versions, but it does seem that

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Constantine does say, I've had this divine
encounter, and an angel has told me that

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in the sign of the cross I will conquer.

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Constantine commanded his troops to adorn
their shields with the Christian symbol.

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His opponent then moves out of the city to
face the oncoming Constantine with his

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army, which has now been trained quite a
bit because they've already won several

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victories on the way down from the north,
from Milan down.

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His opponent moves across the river at the
Milian Bridge, has Constantine and his

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army in front of him, the river and the
city behind him.

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Not a great situation to be in.

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So if you do not beat the oncoming army,
you have nowhere to retreat, so he loses.

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So for Constantine, who is certainly not
yet a Christian, this is a powerful thing

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because he himself believes, the Christian
God has given me victory.

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The Christian God is more powerful than
these other deities.

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I mean it is clear that Constantine made
the symbol of Christianity part of the

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imperial standards and that he fought
under that symbol and he won.

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And so being a good Roman emperor,
he would then think, yeah, I got the sign.

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I'm on the right path.

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So if you're a pagan, or just somebody
who's confused about religion,

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you've had here this clash of deities.

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And who's emerged on top?

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The Christian God.

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You can draw your own conclusions.

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Gradually, the national sentiment against
Christianity began reversing.

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During Constantine's reign, Christians
went from being a persecuted sect to

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openly holding positions of influence in
the courts and palaces of kings and

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governors.

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So a large part of the elites used to
running the show automatically.

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Then become also the local bishops,
etc.

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You know, become Christian.

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It wasn't such a big leap because most of
them anyway believed in one supreme divine

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being which had different representations.

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If you want to advance in the army or in
the imperial civil service, there's every

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incentive to become a Christian because
all the people at the top are Christians.

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So, you know, if you want to advance in
the hierarchy, whether it's military,

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civil service, or just at court,
people become Christians.

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It becomes very attractive because
Constantine's edict of toleration makes it

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so.

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Constantine can rightfully claim the title
of great, for he turned the history of the

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world into a new course and made
Christianity, which until then had

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suffered bloody persecution, the religion
of the state.

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And so, as people from around the Roman
Empire entered the Christian church,

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they brought with them many of their
former pagan beliefs and practices.

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Now that Christianity has been given the
status as a full legal religion,

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then it becomes attractive subsequently in
the next generations for a broad number of

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members of this upper elite.

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Now the percentage of Christians in this
top 10, 15, 25 percent increases,

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and it increases dramatically in the top
1-2 percent.

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That's the real change.

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That is when Christianity really becomes
the Christianity that it is today.

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Because now the people who've been running
the show, they are now Christian.

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Over time, church leaders began to embrace
the regal robes and flamboyant ceremony

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that was part of the pagan religions.

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And in place of the simple commands of
God, they began to teach superstitions and

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man-made traditions.

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Now, instead of the Christian church
converting the heathen world, the pagans

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were converting the church.

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There's a train coming out of the first
century represented by the documents we

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have in the New Testament that demonstrate
kind of the shape of the church there

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going into this long, dark tunnel of the
2nd through 4th centuries.

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And then coming out in the 4th century of
this long, dark tunnel.

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And the train of the church that comes out
is so different than the train of the

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church that goes in.

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You say, what happened?

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In AD 391, by the order of Emperor
Theodosius I, Christianity became the

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official state religion of Rome.

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Worship at pagan temples was outlawed and
all other religious practices ceased.

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You're trying to Christianize an empire.

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You're trying to Christianize a pagan
culture.

24:35.790 --> 24:40.730
The old basilicas were basically pagan
temples.

24:41.330 --> 24:42.330
Put a cross over it.

24:42.650 --> 24:49.290
Put in paintings of biblical scenes,
biblical heroes and saints and martyrs.

24:49.670 --> 24:54.210
Christians are very purposeful and
intentional about taking over pagan

24:54.210 --> 24:54.590
temples.

24:55.410 --> 25:00.590
And there's a notable church leader who
actually writes this in a treatise that

25:00.590 --> 25:01.190
survives.

25:01.550 --> 25:04.770
He writes a rebuttal of pagan attacks on
Christianity.

25:04.770 --> 25:09.070
And part of his evidence is he says,
your very own places of worship are now

25:09.070 --> 25:10.230
Christian places of worship.

25:10.550 --> 25:14.150
We have taken them over, we have cleansed
out the idolatry, we have sanctified them

25:14.150 --> 25:17.550
and we have made them places where the one
true God is worshipped.

25:17.910 --> 25:21.590
What clearer evidence could you wish that
your whole system of belief is false?

25:21.870 --> 25:24.410
Where are your gods if they're allowing
this to happen?

25:25.130 --> 25:30.790
So Christians actually deliberately at
times and purposefully as a strategy take

25:30.790 --> 25:38.210
pagan not only places but rituals or ideas
and as they think subvert them to advance

25:38.210 --> 25:41.010
the cause of spreading Christianity.

25:41.450 --> 25:44.670
What we don't know is the extent to which
they think this through and say,

25:44.890 --> 25:48.870
well at what point is it legitimate to do
this and at what point do we perhaps begin

25:48.870 --> 25:50.530
to be taking on other ideas.

25:51.830 --> 25:56.690
The speed with which the early church
tobogganed into apostasy will take your

25:56.690 --> 25:57.150
breath away.

25:59.990 --> 26:05.410
As millions of pagans hastily joined the
church, they were naturally reluctant to

26:05.410 --> 26:06.790
dispose of their idol treasures.

26:07.610 --> 26:11.290
The Romans and the Greeks were so used to
being surrounded by symbols of their

26:11.290 --> 26:14.930
deities, they began doing the same thing
with Christianity.

26:15.730 --> 26:20.110
So many of these new converts just
relabeled their idols with Christian

26:20.110 --> 26:22.890
names, like Paul, Mary and Peter.

26:23.590 --> 26:26.330
A statue of Jupiter became a statue of
Peter.

26:26.330 --> 26:30.930
And we know that because it has a sun disk
right over its head that indicates that

26:30.930 --> 26:34.290
this is not Peter, but it's a pagan statue
that's been renamed.

26:34.550 --> 26:40.070
Instead of Romulus and Remus, hey,
why not the martyrs, the great martyrs

26:40.070 --> 26:41.710
Cosmas and Damien, right?

26:41.990 --> 26:46.210
The representations of Isis, which is
originally an Egyptian goddess but has

26:46.210 --> 26:50.670
become very Greek already, becomes
essentially the representation of Mary

26:50.670 --> 26:51.690
carrying her child.

26:51.870 --> 26:56.010
You have a mother and child tradition all
the way down through history.

26:56.010 --> 27:01.570
You have it in Mithraism, you have it in
Babylon, you have it all the way back in

27:01.570 --> 27:02.110
Persia.

27:02.350 --> 27:06.110
It appears that Mary acquired some of the
characteristics that were associated with

27:06.110 --> 27:08.010
some of these other goddesses.

27:08.110 --> 27:13.270
She wears a dark blue coat and she stands
on the half moon.

27:13.690 --> 27:15.810
She is the mother of all gods.

27:16.310 --> 27:17.970
Isis carrying her son Horus.

27:18.450 --> 27:23.430
That is the image that gets a new name and
now the name is Mary carrying the child

27:23.430 --> 27:23.810
Jesus.

27:23.810 --> 27:29.310
Or a depiction of the god Hermes is shown
as Christ the Good Shepherd.

27:30.410 --> 27:34.350
Asclepius is the iconographic model for a
lot of the depictions of Jesus,

27:34.530 --> 27:34.790
yes.

27:35.610 --> 27:41.730
A young, vibrant god with curly hair down
to about here and a little beard.

27:42.570 --> 27:47.070
Soon the statues of the saints and even
Jesus began adorning the churches.

27:48.250 --> 27:51.990
Even though God clearly forbids this
practice in the Ten Commandments,

27:51.990 --> 27:56.270
people continue to revere and to pray to
these relabeled idols.

28:16.930 --> 28:21.410
Related to the last point is the
veneration of Mary, the mother of Jesus.

28:22.050 --> 28:26.790
While it is true Mary was a faithful woman
and greatly honoured to be his mother,

28:27.610 --> 28:31.310
the scriptures teach nowhere that she is
to be deified or worshipped.

28:31.890 --> 28:35.250
Mary had always been important in ancient
Christian history, but over the Middle

28:35.250 --> 28:40.390
Ages she becomes elevated almost to a,
looking at it detachedly, almost to the

28:40.390 --> 28:41.990
rank of a semi-deity.

28:42.670 --> 28:48.450
The Virgin Mary was believed to be the one
who would speak up for guilty human beings

28:48.450 --> 28:54.610
to her supremely virtuous and judgmental
and rather censorious son.

28:55.270 --> 28:59.190
It's a very strange image, but that's how
the religious art of the period shows it.

28:59.770 --> 29:04.250
The Bible does not venerate Mary as a
special saint.

29:04.610 --> 29:11.110
It lifts her up as a pure, wonderful woman
used by God to give birth to the Messiah.

29:11.840 --> 29:18.570
Yet, at the Council of Nicaea in 325,
the Church elevated Mary to the stature of

29:18.570 --> 29:20.990
a goddess and co-mediator with Christ.

29:21.910 --> 29:26.850
Even as early as the late 4th century,
churches were being dedicated to the

29:26.850 --> 29:27.410
Virgin Mary.

29:28.230 --> 29:32.510
But sadly, these were not the only heirs
that slipped in during this time.

29:33.990 --> 29:40.410
During the Apostolic Age, baptism was a
sacred ceremony reserved only for those

29:40.410 --> 29:43.230
old enough to make a rational decision for
Christ.

29:43.730 --> 29:47.730
It was a public testimony of accepting
Christ and His forgiveness.

29:49.070 --> 29:54.470
Baptism literally represents being dead
and buried to our old life and being

29:54.470 --> 29:57.670
resurrected or born again to a new life in
Christ.

29:57.670 --> 30:03.290
It comes to be, in the course of the
centuries, seen more as a rite of

30:03.290 --> 30:04.790
initiation into Christianity.

30:05.450 --> 30:09.690
And it begins happening at earlier stages
of life, when you're sort of in late

30:09.690 --> 30:15.290
childhood or early adolescence and deemed
ready to make that commitment to your

30:15.290 --> 30:15.570
faith.

30:16.170 --> 30:21.490
The baptism ceremony was also performed in
a lake or a river where a person could be

30:21.490 --> 30:25.790
fully submerged, signifying they were
fully washed from their sins.

30:26.690 --> 30:30.970
The practice of baptism was gradually
altered by the Church.

30:31.950 --> 30:37.030
Hundreds of years after Christ,
sprinkling and pouring was introduced as a

30:37.030 --> 30:38.510
more convenient mode of baptism.

30:39.590 --> 30:44.810
This actually undermined the powerful
symbolism of the service and it

30:44.810 --> 30:48.270
contradicts the example of Jesus,
who is baptized by immersion.

30:49.410 --> 30:53.230
And that continues to be the case up until
about the 12th century actually because

30:53.230 --> 30:57.290
the 12th century is a time when
theologians are really re-examining

30:57.290 --> 31:03.350
Christian doctrine and they come to
conclude that original sin, the sin that

31:03.350 --> 31:07.950
all of humanity has as a result of the
fall in the Garden of Eden, exists in the

31:07.950 --> 31:09.050
soul from the moment of birth.

31:09.450 --> 31:14.970
There was this unbiblical concept that a
child could sin right away and so

31:14.970 --> 31:19.070
therefore if he sinned, he was in danger
of going to hell and burning forever in

31:19.070 --> 31:19.310
hell.

31:19.310 --> 31:22.830
So the only way to take care of him was to
baptize him.

31:23.110 --> 31:25.090
And he had to be baptized into the Church.

31:25.190 --> 31:28.530
If you weren't a member of the Church,
it was tickets for you.

31:29.450 --> 31:32.250
So theologians say, you know what,
we need to start baptizing babies

31:32.250 --> 31:36.990
immediately, as soon as possible after
they're born so that in case they die,

31:37.050 --> 31:40.170
and of course this is a period when
mortality is high and a lot of babies do

31:40.170 --> 31:42.190
die, they can get into heaven.

31:43.130 --> 31:47.610
Another Christian truth that was altered
by pagan influence was the Lord's Supper.

31:48.510 --> 31:53.350
Jesus instituted the communion service,
also known by some as the Eucharist,

31:53.830 --> 31:57.770
to be a beautiful yet simple ceremony
where his followers would drink

31:57.770 --> 32:00.070
unfermented wine and eat unleavened bread.

32:00.870 --> 32:06.090
These symbols of Jesus' sinless body and
blood are designed to help believers

32:06.090 --> 32:09.110
remember the sacrifice and the teachings
of Christ.

32:09.870 --> 32:16.070
By far the most important rite for late
medieval Christians was the Eucharist or

32:16.070 --> 32:19.210
communion, or as they most commonly called
it, the Mass.

32:19.590 --> 32:24.170
Men and women all come together and take
the sacrament.

32:24.530 --> 32:28.190
They celebrate what we would call
communion, taking the body and blood of

32:28.190 --> 32:28.810
Jesus Christ.

32:29.470 --> 32:34.930
But again, under the influence of heathen
rituals, the holy communion service was

32:34.930 --> 32:38.750
gradually changed by church leaders into a
mystical ceremony.

32:39.490 --> 32:44.170
In this new ritual, fermented wine was
used and the priest, allegedly,

32:44.630 --> 32:49.810
had the power to transform the bread and
the wine into the actual body and blood of

32:49.810 --> 32:50.190
Christ.

32:51.110 --> 32:59.070
This is transubstantiation, the notion
that a priest transforms the Eucharist

32:59.070 --> 33:03.810
into the body and blood of Christ through
the pronunciation and the formula,

33:04.050 --> 33:07.730
Hoc esanum corpus meum, this is my body.

33:08.050 --> 33:12.750
They were powerful words believed to have
the property that when they were uttered,

33:12.990 --> 33:19.230
God transformed the nature of the bread
and the wine into the body and blood of

33:19.230 --> 33:20.510
the risen Jesus Christ.

33:21.350 --> 33:28.150
Even to the point where later on they say,
we are creating God by speaking the words

33:28.150 --> 33:29.330
of Mysticogy.

33:29.330 --> 33:36.490
Essentially, what happened on the altar
was that bread became body, wine became

33:36.490 --> 33:40.650
blood, but they just still looked like
bread and wine.

33:41.030 --> 33:45.710
This offering of the sacrifice in the
Eucharist, this sacrifice of praise,

33:45.810 --> 33:49.950
this communal meal, now becomes not a
remembrance of the sacrifice, but a

33:49.950 --> 33:54.390
sacrifice in of itself and is giving
salvation.

33:54.390 --> 34:02.290
They believed and they taught that in the
Mass, Jesus Christ, in the person of the

34:02.290 --> 34:12.510
priest, sacrifices Christ to God the
Father and thereby wins good, wins a

34:12.510 --> 34:17.670
quantum of holiness, which the church can
then assign to the beneficiaries of that

34:17.670 --> 34:18.070
Mass.

34:18.830 --> 34:23.270
Because people believed that by
celebrating a Mass, you were doing

34:23.270 --> 34:29.430
something good, which was offered up to
God, there was a theological rationale for

34:29.430 --> 34:31.210
doing it lots and lots of times.

34:31.870 --> 34:38.570
By 1415 AD, at the Council of Constance,
church leaders further decreed that only

34:38.570 --> 34:42.310
the priest could drink the wine and the
laity would only receive the bread.

34:43.010 --> 34:47.490
Yet the Bible clearly says that when Jesus
established the communion service,

34:47.730 --> 34:49.010
they all drank from it.

34:51.310 --> 34:56.970
About 300 years after Christ, the church
began to deviate from another of the Ten

34:56.970 --> 35:02.090
Commandments, specifically the fourth
commandment that requires believers to

35:02.090 --> 35:04.270
remember the seventh day as the Sabbath.

35:06.410 --> 35:09.490
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

35:10.230 --> 35:14.930
Six days you shall labor and do all your
work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath

35:14.930 --> 35:16.370
of the Lord your God.

35:17.730 --> 35:22.770
In the Roman Empire, Jews are an old
religion and old religions are respected.

35:23.310 --> 35:28.810
When the Jews kept fighting against Rome,
what had been kind of an umbrella of

35:28.810 --> 35:33.450
safety under Judaism becomes a lightning
rod to Christianity.

35:33.450 --> 35:36.730
The Christians become alienated from the
Jews.

35:36.970 --> 35:41.330
Jews persecuted them and so they're trying
to distance themselves from the Jews.

35:41.930 --> 35:45.610
Church leaders began to devalue the
seventh day Sabbath of the Ten

35:45.610 --> 35:49.730
Commandments, in preference for the more
popular Roman Sunday.

35:50.350 --> 35:54.750
Some Christians mistakenly thought that
you should fast on the Sabbath,

35:55.190 --> 35:56.610
but you could feast on Sunday.

35:56.830 --> 35:57.810
That's what the pagans did.

35:57.890 --> 36:00.250
They feasted on Sunday, fasted on
Saturday.

36:00.250 --> 36:02.670
Not a Jewish concept.

36:03.050 --> 36:05.210
The Jews fasted Friday and feasted
Sabbath.

36:06.030 --> 36:07.810
But that's how some Christians thought of
it.

36:08.270 --> 36:12.490
So if you're fasting on one day and you're
feasting on the next, you can guess which

36:12.490 --> 36:14.270
day becomes the more popular day.

36:14.610 --> 36:18.510
And Christ is resurrected on a Sunday and
there's a very natural tendency therefore

36:18.510 --> 36:20.230
to mark that and celebrate that.

36:20.590 --> 36:25.170
There's a third reason and that is the
influence of sun worship that creeps into

36:25.170 --> 36:25.730
the church.

36:25.730 --> 36:30.870
And when sun worship begins to creep into
the church, Constantine can make use of

36:30.870 --> 36:37.270
that to lead to the exaltation of Sunday,
the day of the sun, as being the day that

36:37.270 --> 36:38.370
people should worship on.

36:39.090 --> 36:43.850
This gradual departure from God's law over
the centuries has become so widely

36:43.850 --> 36:49.410
accepted that most are shocked to learn
that Sunday keeping has no foundation in

36:49.410 --> 36:49.750
the Bible.

36:50.730 --> 36:51.570
In A.D.

36:51.770 --> 36:57.410
313, Constantine published the Edict of
Milan, establishing Sunday as a day of

36:57.410 --> 36:57.770
rest.

36:58.450 --> 37:01.330
The Emperor's Sunday law had nothing to do
with Christianity.

37:01.930 --> 37:07.070
It was actually to honor the main
Greco-Roman sun god called Helios or

37:07.070 --> 37:07.430
Apollo.

37:08.150 --> 37:13.090
The Emperor Constantine became a convert
to Christianity and also because he

37:13.090 --> 37:19.070
remained partial to the sun god,
the Emperor Constantine moved the day of

37:19.070 --> 37:25.190
worship from Saturday, the Sabbath,
as had been traditional in Judaism,

37:25.430 --> 37:28.970
obviously, to Sunday, the day of the sun
god.

37:29.210 --> 37:33.710
And ever since, Christian folks,
at least for the most part,

37:33.830 --> 37:37.670
overwhelmingly, have held their day of
worship on Sunday rather than Saturday.

37:38.370 --> 37:42.630
This is clear from another Edict of
Constantine given in A.D.

37:42.770 --> 37:48.210
321 when the Emperor ordered On the
venerable day of the sun, let the

37:48.210 --> 37:53.750
magistrates and people residing in cities
rest, and let all workshops be closed.

37:54.290 --> 37:58.410
Notice, the Edict uses the word sun,
S-U-N.

37:59.090 --> 38:04.430
It's also recorded that Constantine the
Great made a law for the whole empire that

38:04.430 --> 38:07.190
Sunday should be kept as a day of rest.

38:08.470 --> 38:12.550
Obviously, this change did not infiltrate
the Church overnight.

38:13.290 --> 38:18.350
History tells us that for decades,
the seventh day Sabbath, together with

38:18.350 --> 38:21.170
Sunday, were both observed as holy days.

38:21.590 --> 38:25.910
The very, very early Church clearly is
still worshipping on the Jewish Saturday

38:25.910 --> 38:27.190
in the times of the Apostles.

38:27.850 --> 38:34.490
But by the mid to late third century,
that has largely been abandoned or is in

38:34.490 --> 38:35.770
the process of being abandoned.

38:36.250 --> 38:41.710
By the early fourth century, in many parts
of the Roman world, Christians are

38:41.710 --> 38:43.110
generally worshipping on Sunday.

38:43.230 --> 38:47.050
A lot of Christians during this period of
time would observe the Sabbath,

38:47.550 --> 38:52.510
and then on Sunday they would have a
service remembering the resurrection,

38:52.790 --> 38:54.370
and then they'd go about their regular
work.

38:55.330 --> 39:00.870
It's during the time of Constantine in
which the idea of transferring the

39:00.870 --> 39:05.510
solemnity of the Sabbath to Sunday is
first expressed.

39:05.510 --> 39:11.110
Centuries earlier, the prophet Daniel had
foretold, a religious power would arise

39:11.110 --> 39:14.310
that would think to change times and laws.

39:15.170 --> 39:21.470
Within the Ten Commandments, there is only
one law that is also a time, the Sabbath.

39:23.190 --> 39:27.730
The doctrine of hellfire was also
distorted by pagan mythology.

39:27.730 --> 39:32.930
In the book of Revelation, the Bible
teaches that following the great judgment

39:32.930 --> 39:36.030
day, the lost will be cast into a lake of
fire.

39:36.590 --> 39:40.370
At that time, each person is punished
according to what they deserve,

39:41.030 --> 39:43.990
and then they're totally consumed and
eternally perish.

39:44.910 --> 39:50.710
And do not fear those who kill the body
but cannot kill the soul, but rather fear

39:50.710 --> 39:54.590
Him who is able to destroy both soul and
body in hell.

39:54.590 --> 40:00.450
For the living know that they will die,
but the dead know nothing.

40:02.870 --> 40:08.170
The priests began to teach that hell was a
place of eternal torment, ruled by the

40:08.170 --> 40:10.430
devil, and it began at the moment of
death.

40:11.290 --> 40:16.250
The fallen church was able to use this
frightful concept of never-ending torture

40:16.250 --> 40:20.250
to terrorize and manipulate both the king
and the commoner.

40:21.070 --> 40:27.710
Most tragic of all, this false teaching
portrays Jesus as some sort of sadistic

40:27.710 --> 40:28.230
fiend.

40:29.230 --> 40:34.030
It's encouraged some atheists and
agnostics to challenge Christianity and

40:34.030 --> 40:39.110
Christianity's idea of a loving God if he
does something that is worse than even

40:39.110 --> 40:39.950
what Hitler did.

40:40.690 --> 40:45.810
No matter what somebody has done,
it's billions of years of torture fitting

40:45.810 --> 40:46.490
the crime.

40:47.430 --> 40:52.570
So there have been people who have hated
God and have learned to hate God because

40:52.570 --> 40:53.270
of this.

40:55.350 --> 41:00.430
Another pagan concept that infiltrated
Christian thinking was regarding the

41:00.430 --> 41:01.150
afterlife.

41:02.030 --> 41:07.270
Purgatory is the idea that teaches that,
at death, some people will enter a

41:07.270 --> 41:10.330
temporary hellfire where they're purified
for heaven.

41:11.590 --> 41:13.510
Purgatory is a halfway house.

41:14.130 --> 41:16.370
Halfway kind of between heaven and hell.

41:17.030 --> 41:19.550
And the thing with purgatory is you can
escape from it.

41:19.910 --> 41:23.150
As the mass says, consigned to flames of
woe.

41:23.590 --> 41:25.610
It's filled with vermin.

41:25.990 --> 41:27.970
It's filled with sulfuric smells.

41:28.430 --> 41:32.710
It may be quite a bit better than hell,
but it's no picnic either.

41:33.490 --> 41:39.510
The church develops gradually and again it
grows on the church by slow degrees.

41:40.410 --> 41:50.270
The idea that anyone who dies with their
works of satisfaction incomplete will

41:50.270 --> 41:55.550
probably have to pay them off in some
place of post-mortem suffering.

41:55.550 --> 42:02.990
They are suffering in order to be
purified, purged from their sins and

42:02.990 --> 42:04.970
offenses which they've committed in life.

42:05.730 --> 42:12.850
Medieval people believe almost everyone
will be saved and redeemed who is a

42:12.850 --> 42:14.630
baptized member of the church.

42:15.630 --> 42:24.230
But almost everyone will also have to make
satisfaction for the sins that they've

42:24.230 --> 42:29.890
committed and that they haven't confessed
by spending some time in purgatory.

42:30.490 --> 42:36.250
So the real task then is to reduce the
time in purgatory.

42:36.930 --> 42:38.970
Many people misunderstand purgatory and
hell.

42:39.050 --> 42:40.270
There's an idea you can get out of hell.

42:40.470 --> 42:40.890
You can't.

42:40.950 --> 42:42.510
If you go to hell, that's it.

42:42.790 --> 42:43.710
There's no release.

42:43.930 --> 42:46.070
You're very, very wicked and you're just
doomed.

42:46.710 --> 42:50.830
But most people have a lot of bad things
in us.

42:51.050 --> 42:52.790
So how can we be made good for heaven?

42:53.150 --> 42:57.050
We have to have it purged out of us and
thus you get the word purgatory.

42:57.050 --> 43:01.510
Therefore, most Christians believe that
their relatives are suffering in

43:01.510 --> 43:01.890
purgatory.

43:02.650 --> 43:06.890
And purgatory is not a nice place,
but you're there for thousands of years.

43:08.050 --> 43:12.130
The idea of purgatory dates back centuries
before Jesus' time.

43:12.830 --> 43:18.410
Writings from Plato as early as 400 BC
helped shed light on where this concept of

43:18.410 --> 43:20.370
purification and punishment came from.

43:21.050 --> 43:26.330
However, purgatory didn't become regarded
as an actual place until centuries later.

43:26.330 --> 43:32.970
Between 1160 and 1180 AD, theologians
developed the doctrine of purgatory,

43:33.370 --> 43:38.710
leading to the formal acceptance of it at
the Second Council of Lyon in 1274.

43:39.730 --> 43:49.890
The Church then offers to support the dead
in purgatory by its prayers and by

43:49.890 --> 43:54.930
attributing to people the benefits of the
sacraments, especially the communion.

43:54.930 --> 43:57.550
This is all perfectly orthodox.

43:57.690 --> 44:02.130
The Church believes that this is doing
good and lay people seem to be willing to

44:02.130 --> 44:04.150
put large amounts of money into it.

44:04.630 --> 44:10.310
And you have an extraordinary
proliferation of institutions founded

44:10.310 --> 44:15.970
principally for priests to say Masses for
the souls of the departed, particularly in

44:15.970 --> 44:17.590
the 14th and 15th centuries.

44:18.250 --> 44:22.830
This doctrine was fabricated to manipulate
the Masses for financial gain.

44:22.830 --> 44:27.790
People were willing to pay huge amounts of
money to release a loved one from the

44:27.790 --> 44:28.810
tortures of purgatory.

44:29.410 --> 44:33.150
Of course, believers could never really be
sure when someone left purgatory,

44:33.630 --> 44:37.210
so the money kept flowing into the pockets
of corrupt priests.

44:38.090 --> 44:42.690
The head of the Church would have people
going out to raise money and encourage

44:42.690 --> 44:46.170
people to give their money to the Church,
buy people out of purgatory, so they could

44:46.170 --> 44:48.110
fund these elaborate buildings.

44:48.970 --> 44:54.330
This belief in purgatory is also built on
the dangerous concept that the works and

44:54.330 --> 44:58.470
the prayers of the living can somehow
alter the destiny of the dead.

44:59.470 --> 45:04.030
Yet Jesus made it very clear there is no
limbo or purgatory.

45:04.690 --> 45:09.710
After death, a person's next conscious
thought was the resurrection and their

45:09.710 --> 45:10.690
eternal reward.

45:20.090 --> 45:25.310
Those who have done good to the
resurrection of life and those who have

45:25.310 --> 45:28.450
done evil to the resurrection of
condemnation.

45:30.810 --> 45:35.530
Central in the Gospel message is the
teaching of how we obtain forgiveness.

45:36.510 --> 45:40.950
This was another major Bible truth that
suffered during this age of compromise.

45:41.770 --> 45:47.530
It was taught that if a person wished to
be forgiven, he or she must first confess

45:47.530 --> 45:51.410
their sins through a priest, through a
rite called the sacrament of penance,

45:51.910 --> 45:54.010
more commonly known as confession.

45:54.850 --> 46:01.070
So in order to make up for our
insufficient goodness and our actual wrong

46:01.070 --> 46:09.370
actions, we must all, lay people as well
as clergy, we must all confess our sins at

46:09.370 --> 46:13.950
least once a year and preferably more
often than that to a priest.

46:14.650 --> 46:17.670
This was a negative development on several
counts.

46:18.350 --> 46:20.870
First of all, it's taught nowhere in the
Bible.

46:21.670 --> 46:26.890
Secondly, it puts a mortal man in the
place of Christ and it made God seem

46:26.890 --> 46:28.470
detached from the average person.

46:29.300 --> 46:34.150
Of course, at the time, it also placed the
priest in an awkward position to hear

46:34.150 --> 46:36.410
about all the wicked deeds of his
parishioners.

46:37.330 --> 46:43.990
When one goes to a priest in the Middle
Ages, there are really three things that

46:43.990 --> 46:48.970
are accomplished through confessing one's
sin.

46:49.390 --> 46:51.350
First of all, you make the confession.

46:52.530 --> 46:58.090
The priest grants the words of assurance
that the sin is absolved.

46:58.190 --> 46:58.930
It's gone.

46:59.650 --> 47:05.290
But a person, because they have violated
the laws of the church and the teachings

47:05.290 --> 47:12.390
of Christ, has to perform a work of
satisfaction in order to make up for the

47:12.390 --> 47:13.970
fact that they have sinned.

47:14.230 --> 47:18.430
The Bible teaches that mankind is helpless
to save himself.

47:18.430 --> 47:21.530
This is why Jesus came to this world.

47:22.690 --> 47:27.650
The scriptures teach that salvation
depends entirely upon our trusting God for

47:27.650 --> 47:29.890
mercy and grace, that we don't deserve it.

47:30.730 --> 47:34.910
It's a magnificent gift that can never be
earned by our efforts or good works.

47:35.750 --> 47:38.490
Even obedience comes through a gift of
grace.

47:39.470 --> 47:43.690
The New Testament doctrine of salvation by
faith is widely taught and understood

47:43.690 --> 47:44.130
today.

47:45.010 --> 47:49.930
But during the darkness of the Middle
Ages, it was easier to convince the

47:49.930 --> 47:54.930
illiterate masses that they needed to
perform good deeds in order to earn God's

47:54.930 --> 47:55.250
favor.

47:56.010 --> 48:00.090
The people were taught that if a sinner
was to have any hope of appeasing God,

48:00.510 --> 48:05.510
he or she would need to pay huge sums of
money, perform painful acts of penance,

48:05.890 --> 48:07.410
or make some weary pilgrimage.

48:08.410 --> 48:14.030
This would often include an assignment to
recite certain prayers over and over as a

48:14.030 --> 48:15.750
requirement to obtain forgiveness.

48:15.970 --> 48:23.570
Forty Hail Marys and ten Our Fathers and
putting a coin in the collection box.

48:23.830 --> 48:28.690
In the heathen religions of the world,
the idea of repetitive prayers or chants

48:28.690 --> 48:29.750
was nothing new.

48:30.420 --> 48:35.810
It was believed that you could appease or
influence the gods by constant echoing of

48:35.810 --> 48:38.550
prayers or by using special magical words.

48:39.910 --> 48:42.450
Jesus clearly warned against this form of
prayer.

48:45.970 --> 48:50.430
And when you pray, do not use vain
repetitions as the heathen do,

48:51.070 --> 48:53.930
for they think that they will be heard for
their many words.

48:54.970 --> 48:59.950
Corrupt church leaders knew in order to
maintain any lasting power over God's

48:59.950 --> 49:04.790
people, they would need to separate them
from the one thing that they knew could

49:04.790 --> 49:08.050
expose these deceptions, the Holy
Scriptures.

49:09.510 --> 49:12.310
The Bible was not initially withheld from
the people.

49:12.810 --> 49:13.670
It was accessible.

49:14.710 --> 49:19.990
But in time, when people saw differences,
they challenged the clergy.

49:20.950 --> 49:27.550
And so it was in their interest over time
not to make available the Bible to the

49:27.550 --> 49:27.850
people.

49:28.910 --> 49:35.130
Only the priests can interpret Scripture
because they combined Scripture with

49:35.130 --> 49:35.530
tradition.

49:36.410 --> 49:38.490
And so tradition interpreted Scripture.

49:38.870 --> 49:42.430
And the only ones who understood this long
tradition were the priests.

49:43.090 --> 49:44.750
And they could read the Scriptures.

49:45.090 --> 49:47.290
Many of the common people couldn't even
read the Scriptures.

49:47.870 --> 49:51.330
And they wanted to make sure that they
interpreted Scripture in a way that would

49:51.330 --> 49:52.610
harmonize with tradition.

49:53.330 --> 49:58.710
So from the 5th century to the 15th
century, a thousand years of history,

49:59.130 --> 50:04.330
it was taught and accepted that only
religious leaders were qualified enough to

50:04.330 --> 50:05.650
explain the sacred texts.

50:06.290 --> 50:10.790
The common man was told he could never
hope to understand the Scriptures without

50:10.790 --> 50:12.250
the assistance of a priest.

50:13.090 --> 50:17.290
With this lethal deception, the church
laity was kept in darkness.

50:17.290 --> 50:22.570
Meanwhile, the visible church,
once a biblical bastion of truth,

50:23.030 --> 50:27.570
had degraded into a corrupt political
organization trimmed with spiritualistic

50:27.570 --> 50:28.090
ceremonies.

50:29.330 --> 50:33.930
It's no wonder that this time period of
cultural, economic, and spiritual

50:33.930 --> 50:37.730
deterioration is known as the Dark Ages.

50:40.010 --> 50:45.570
It's tragic how in just a few short
centuries, the wonderful light that had

50:45.570 --> 50:50.770
been blazing from the luminous bright of
Christ had been eclipsed by pagan

50:50.770 --> 50:51.430
traditions.

50:53.030 --> 50:57.710
Now, a very different kind of woman
emerged to take her place.

50:58.970 --> 51:03.810
And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet
beast, which was full of names of

51:03.810 --> 51:07.050
blasphemy, having seven heads and ten
horns.

51:07.830 --> 51:11.930
The woman was arrayed in purple and
scarlet, and adorned with gold and

51:11.930 --> 51:17.770
precious stones and pearls, having in her
hand a golden cup full of abominations and

51:17.770 --> 51:19.570
the filthiness of her fornication.

51:20.340 --> 51:25.890
And on her forehead a name was written,
Mystery Babylon the Great, the mother of

51:25.890 --> 51:28.390
harlots and the abominations of the earth.

51:29.090 --> 51:33.150
I saw the woman drunk with the blood of
the saints and with the blood of the

51:33.150 --> 51:34.130
martyrs of Jesus.

51:34.710 --> 51:37.930
And when I saw her, I marveled with great
amazement.

51:41.250 --> 51:47.750
In Revelation chapter 17, John sees a
woman who he describes as strikingly

51:47.750 --> 51:50.430
different from the pure woman of
Revelation 12.

51:51.030 --> 51:56.050
Who is this new bloodthirsty harlot,
and what about the bizarre beast that

51:56.050 --> 51:56.550
she's riding?

51:57.430 --> 52:00.670
If you're not sitting down, this might be
the time to do so.

52:01.210 --> 52:04.330
You may find what you're about to hear a
bit shocking.

52:05.470 --> 52:11.830
There is only one empire, one church,
one institution that matches the criteria

52:11.830 --> 52:15.230
in this prophecy, the Roman Catholic
Church.

52:16.330 --> 52:20.830
This does not mean that all the people
within this faith are bad, insincere,

52:20.930 --> 52:21.470
or lost.

52:22.130 --> 52:26.470
The Catholic people are among the most
kind and have accomplished a phenomenal

52:26.470 --> 52:28.270
amount of good throughout history.

52:29.210 --> 52:34.230
This is really about a bigger struggle
between spiritual powers and institutions

52:34.230 --> 52:36.650
battling over the truth of scripture.

52:37.410 --> 52:42.670
But now we need to pull back the veil and
really take a hard look at the facts.

52:43.870 --> 52:50.590
In Revelation 17-1, we observe this harlot
woman sits on many waters.

52:51.550 --> 52:56.190
Fortunately, the angel explains the
meaning of this symbol for us in verse 15.

52:58.430 --> 53:04.130
Then he said to me, the waters which you
saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples,

53:04.510 --> 53:06.770
multitudes, nations, and tongues.

53:08.990 --> 53:12.850
So the woman reigns over a densely
populated civilization.

53:14.230 --> 53:17.470
You've probably heard the expression,
all roads lead to Rome.

53:18.270 --> 53:23.130
During the zenith of their rule,
the Romans had built a network with 50,000

53:23.130 --> 53:26.610
miles of roads circulating throughout the
entire empire.

53:27.390 --> 53:33.470
Just as imperial Rome began to unravel,
the church in Rome was gaining in

53:33.470 --> 53:33.910
strength.

53:34.510 --> 53:41.290
In effect, the Catholic church kind of
rushes in to fill the power vacuum that is

53:41.290 --> 53:43.690
left by the fall of the Roman Empire.

53:44.170 --> 53:47.470
And you get into situations where,
for example, in the middle of the 5th

53:47.470 --> 53:50.870
century when Attila the Hun is advancing
on the city of Rome with his army,

53:51.150 --> 53:54.610
the emperor is not the one who goes out to
stop him, the pope is, the bishop of Rome.

53:54.610 --> 53:58.990
This kind of prominence, political
prominence as well as religious

53:58.990 --> 54:01.510
prominence, comes to really define the
pope's role.

54:02.790 --> 54:08.890
The prophecy also indicates that the woman
is riding a beast with 7 heads and 10

54:08.890 --> 54:09.250
horns.

54:10.370 --> 54:12.370
Obviously these things are symbols.

54:13.230 --> 54:18.610
This creature here clearly represents the
same monster with 7 heads and 10 horns

54:18.610 --> 54:22.750
that we just saw warring with the bride of
Christ in chapter 12.

54:22.750 --> 54:27.310
And it's the same beast that the world is
compelled to worship in chapter 13.

54:27.870 --> 54:31.130
So what do these 7 heads and 10 horns
represent?

54:33.670 --> 54:37.670
The 7 heads are 7 mountains on which the
woman sits.

54:39.670 --> 54:43.090
The 10 horns which you saw are 10 kings.

54:44.630 --> 54:49.810
There is only one city in the world that
sits on 7 hills like this, one major city,

54:50.270 --> 54:51.230
and that's the city of Rome.

54:51.230 --> 54:56.130
So there is no doubt in most expositors'
minds that when John is talking about this

54:56.130 --> 54:58.050
woman, he is talking about Rome.

54:58.470 --> 54:59.770
So you see the connection here.

55:00.690 --> 55:03.710
7 heads, 7 mountains.

55:04.670 --> 55:07.190
You go to Revelation 12, 7 heads.

55:07.770 --> 55:09.810
Revelation 13 deals with 7 heads.

55:10.330 --> 55:11.470
There is a continuity here.

55:12.470 --> 55:16.610
It is within the city of Rome,
called the City of Seven Hills,

55:16.930 --> 55:21.010
that the entire area of Vatican State
proper is now confined.

55:22.790 --> 55:29.170
There is only one church that is also an
independent country and has political

55:29.170 --> 55:31.270
world power, the Vatican.

55:32.010 --> 55:36.850
This country with the world's smallest
population was established as an

55:36.850 --> 55:40.350
independent state with 109 acres within
Rome.

55:41.130 --> 55:46.270
Behind the walls of Vatican City,
there are less than 1,000 people living

55:46.270 --> 55:51.610
within this small country that is governed
by the Pope, who has absolute executive,

55:51.930 --> 55:53.930
legislative, and judicial powers.

55:55.150 --> 55:59.150
Ambassadors from around the world meet
with the Pope and his representatives,

55:59.990 --> 56:04.010
seeking the influence and guidance of this
international religious power.

56:05.230 --> 56:09.030
Even the United Nations will assemble to
be addressed by the Pope.

56:11.190 --> 56:16.810
When the Western Roman Empire fell,
their territory fragmented into 10 primary

56:16.810 --> 56:17.290
divisions.

56:18.250 --> 56:23.550
The 10 horns represent the 10 kings or
kingdoms into which Imperial Rome was

56:23.550 --> 56:24.390
eventually split.

56:25.070 --> 56:31.390
The 10 horns are a description of Rome,
which breaks up into 10 smaller kingdoms.

56:31.990 --> 56:36.070
Throughout history, Catholicism has been
dominating many kingdoms.

56:36.070 --> 56:40.850
So you have the church riding on a
political power.

56:41.110 --> 56:45.890
See, because the woman raised the beast,
and so for many centuries she was in

56:45.890 --> 56:46.230
control.

56:46.670 --> 56:49.450
You have a union of church and state.

56:50.190 --> 56:55.170
The names of blasphemy is another key
element to this prophecy that points

56:55.170 --> 56:57.370
directly at the Roman Catholic Church.

56:58.230 --> 57:01.870
We hold upon this earth the place of God
Almighty.

57:01.870 --> 57:07.710
This puts a mortal man in a position of
God and is ultimately the very definition

57:07.710 --> 57:08.550
of blasphemy.

57:09.850 --> 57:13.410
This is not meant to question the
sincerity of any specific Pope.

57:13.930 --> 57:18.690
But the prophecy is addressing the office
that he holds and the institution he

57:18.690 --> 57:19.330
represents.

57:20.290 --> 57:24.130
The woman is also clothed in unique
colors.

57:24.570 --> 57:30.130
She has specific colors that are mentioned
here, not the color of white anymore.

57:30.130 --> 57:34.450
But now we have colors that represent,
strangely enough, two things.

57:35.130 --> 57:36.690
Royalty and prostitution.

57:37.330 --> 57:41.550
And specific colors that we happen to see
coming out in the historic Christian

57:41.550 --> 57:45.390
church later on, in the colors of the
priests of the historic Christian church.

57:45.910 --> 57:50.910
Not only were these the principal colors
of the Roman Caesars, but according to the

57:50.910 --> 57:56.750
Catholic Encyclopedia, purple is the
official color of bishops and scarlet for

57:56.750 --> 57:57.270
cardinals.

57:58.010 --> 58:03.410
In addition to the scarlet and the purple,
we see that this harlot or corrupt church

58:03.410 --> 58:05.930
possesses vast mineral riches.

58:06.830 --> 58:12.050
When one considers its countless artistic
treasures of gold, silver, and pearls,

58:12.850 --> 58:18.490
the Roman Catholic Church is by far the
wealthiest religious institution on earth.

58:19.370 --> 58:24.630
Every year, tourists come from around the
world to view the glittering opulence of

58:24.630 --> 58:25.390
the Roman church.

58:29.410 --> 58:33.270
Another disturbing mark of this woman is
found in verse 6.

58:41.350 --> 58:46.810
History reveals that the Roman church was
the worst oppressor of Christians and Jews

58:46.810 --> 58:47.670
over the centuries.

58:48.530 --> 58:53.810
In fact, historians tell us, over 50
million martyrs fell victim to the

58:53.810 --> 58:57.550
terrible inquisitions and persecutions of
the Church of Rome.

58:58.530 --> 59:04.270
So what we have here is a prophecy saying
that the church would engage in incredible

59:04.270 --> 59:07.350
persecution, and that's exactly what took
place.

59:07.570 --> 59:12.650
And the church started a legal process,
a legal system, known as inquisition,

59:14.270 --> 59:19.730
to interrogate these people, to force as
many as possible to recant and retract

59:19.730 --> 59:26.170
their ideas, and to grab hold of the
leaders of the movement and to stop them

59:26.170 --> 59:27.170
spreading any further.

59:27.170 --> 59:34.170
The highest number of deaths ever recorded
occurred when the church persecuted those

59:34.170 --> 59:35.130
who disagreed with it.

59:35.530 --> 59:40.770
And that level of repression continues
through the Middle Ages.

59:41.810 --> 59:47.410
So this woman, or church, is a persecuting
power that oppresses Christ's true

59:47.410 --> 59:47.950
followers.

59:48.750 --> 59:53.810
We'll be looking at several brave souls
that risked their lives to speak up

59:53.810 --> 59:59.090
against the corrosive pagan influences and
to share God's Word during this time of

59:59.090 --> 01:00:00.070
spiritual darkness.

01:00:03.130 --> 01:00:06.930
The people who walked in darkness have
seen a great light.

01:00:07.490 --> 01:00:12.410
Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow
of death, upon them a light has shined.

01:00:16.110 --> 01:00:21.250
Living in Lyon, France, there was one
young man who would alter the course of

01:00:21.250 --> 01:00:22.030
Christian history.

01:00:22.730 --> 01:00:27.670
Peter Waldo, also known as Valdez,
a very wealthy and educated young

01:00:27.670 --> 01:00:30.330
merchant, had a life-changing experience.

01:00:31.130 --> 01:00:33.430
A young friend of Waldo's died suddenly.

01:00:34.210 --> 01:00:39.370
Realizing the brevity of life and the
vanity of worldly treasure, Waldo made a

01:00:39.370 --> 01:00:41.690
firm decision to forsake all for Christ.

01:00:42.510 --> 01:00:45.910
He gave his wealth to the poor and became
an itinerant preacher.

01:00:46.970 --> 01:00:51.930
Waldo taught that the Bible should be
understood literally and freely proclaimed

01:00:51.930 --> 01:00:53.710
to the people in their own language.

01:00:54.490 --> 01:00:57.850
He encouraged believers to live lives of
simplicity and poverty.

01:00:58.610 --> 01:01:02.790
And at the same time, he boldly denounced
the excesses of the priests.

01:01:03.710 --> 01:01:04.350
By A.D.

01:01:04.470 --> 01:01:09.930
1170, Peter Waldo had gathered a large
number of followers who were referred to

01:01:09.930 --> 01:01:12.910
as the poor of Lyon, or Waldensians.

01:01:12.910 --> 01:01:18.010
Peter Waldo, by conventional scholarship,
is the founder of the Waldensies,

01:01:18.510 --> 01:01:22.690
a group of Bible-believing individuals
living in France and Italy.

01:01:23.230 --> 01:01:29.630
He was a Catholic layman who became
inspired by the preaching regarding the

01:01:29.630 --> 01:01:30.290
early church.

01:01:30.570 --> 01:01:34.850
And he started a group of traveling
preachers who would teach the gospel.

01:01:34.850 --> 01:01:39.450
He spoke against transubstantiation in the
mass, although there are some Waldensies

01:01:39.450 --> 01:01:43.290
who seem to go to mass and then do their
own worships as well.

01:01:43.890 --> 01:01:50.870
Once officially trained inquisitors are
out in Europe, they start finding people

01:01:50.870 --> 01:01:56.370
whom they start calling Waldensies,
or followers of Valdez, all over the

01:01:56.370 --> 01:01:56.710
place.

01:01:56.710 --> 01:02:02.190
So, sprinkled across Europe, you get these
little cells of communities of people

01:02:02.190 --> 01:02:07.630
where lay people are mostly, let's be
honest, they're mostly going to Catholic

01:02:07.630 --> 01:02:09.170
churches most of the year.

01:02:09.970 --> 01:02:16.490
But once or twice a year, maybe every year
or two, they will have a traveling team of

01:02:16.490 --> 01:02:19.810
Waldensian pastors who will arrive and
talk to them.

01:02:20.530 --> 01:02:24.790
Everywhere he went, Peter Waldo saw people
hungering for truth.

01:02:24.790 --> 01:02:30.350
He believed that there was a famine in the
land for the word of God, so Waldo paid a

01:02:30.350 --> 01:02:35.970
cleric to assist him in translating the
New Testament into the Franco vernacular.

01:02:36.550 --> 01:02:44.590
The story is that Valdez commissioned two
learned religious people in Lyon to

01:02:44.590 --> 01:02:51.510
prepare a translation of part of the Bible
and some sayings of the fathers into the

01:02:51.510 --> 01:02:52.630
vernacular language.

01:02:52.630 --> 01:02:56.930
Something between French and Provençal,
it's really kind of hard to describe.

01:02:57.590 --> 01:03:03.950
But it seems to have established a
tradition that the Waldensian communities

01:03:03.950 --> 01:03:10.310
would try to acquire copies of scripture
in the common language of the people.

01:03:10.850 --> 01:03:15.010
And they would carry scriptures around
with them, they would act as merchants and

01:03:15.010 --> 01:03:17.970
traders, share the scriptures with the
people where they went.

01:03:17.970 --> 01:03:22.130
There's even references to them sending
their young people to the great

01:03:22.130 --> 01:03:27.290
universities and colleges of the land so
they could share their faith there and

01:03:27.290 --> 01:03:33.030
also gain an understanding of contemporary
theology and use it to reach out to the

01:03:33.030 --> 01:03:33.910
larger community.

01:03:34.670 --> 01:03:38.930
But the Roman church could not long
tolerate this free preaching of the gospel

01:03:38.930 --> 01:03:39.690
by peasants.

01:03:40.370 --> 01:03:46.430
During the Third Lateran Council in 1179,
Waldo's ideas were officially condemned as

01:03:46.430 --> 01:03:46.890
heresy.

01:03:46.890 --> 01:03:50.950
And soon after, he and his followers were
excommunicated.

01:03:52.150 --> 01:03:56.950
Driven away from Lyon, the Waldensians
settled in the high valleys of Piedmont

01:03:56.950 --> 01:03:58.110
and the French Alps.

01:03:58.810 --> 01:04:03.150
Here, among their families, the Bible was
made the chief study.

01:04:03.810 --> 01:04:08.410
The gospels of Matthew and John were
committed to memory along with many of the

01:04:08.410 --> 01:04:08.810
epistles.

01:04:09.770 --> 01:04:15.090
With no printing press, the Waldensians
were frequently employed in hand-copying

01:04:15.090 --> 01:04:15.630
the scriptures.

01:04:16.590 --> 01:04:21.130
Known for their strict adherence to the
Bible, these lay preachers spread their

01:04:21.130 --> 01:04:23.830
teachings abroad while traveling as
peddlers.

01:04:24.570 --> 01:04:29.630
To avoid arrest, they'd sometimes sew
hand-copied passages of the Bible into the

01:04:29.630 --> 01:04:30.570
lining of their garments.

01:04:31.150 --> 01:04:34.030
And then they'd carefully share them when
they detected an open heart.

01:04:34.990 --> 01:04:40.690
Even following the death of Peter Waldo in
1218, the Roman church continued to

01:04:40.690 --> 01:04:42.570
fiercely persecute the Waldensians.

01:04:49.490 --> 01:04:53.690
For centuries, many were tried and
sentenced to death in various European

01:04:53.690 --> 01:04:54.250
countries.

01:05:03.010 --> 01:05:08.810
The Holy Spirit stirred upon many within
the church who courageously stood up and

01:05:08.810 --> 01:05:09.750
called for reform.

01:05:10.350 --> 01:05:15.110
One such man was John Wycliffe,
an English theologian and lay preacher,

01:05:15.430 --> 01:05:17.310
translator, and teacher at Oxford.

01:05:17.310 --> 01:05:22.770
His education proved to be a great asset
to him as he began to address the

01:05:22.770 --> 01:05:25.510
cancerous errors that were spreading among
God's people.

01:05:26.570 --> 01:05:29.530
Wycliffe never wanted to set himself up
against the church's leaders.

01:05:30.310 --> 01:05:35.090
But as he saw the glaring contradictions
between what the Bible said and what the

01:05:35.090 --> 01:05:37.730
church was doing, he could not keep
silent.

01:05:38.620 --> 01:05:45.310
Well, Wycliffe is really a rather unusual
person to have become a heretic because he

01:05:45.310 --> 01:05:51.590
was an Oxford Don, he was very much
brought up within the power structure of

01:05:51.590 --> 01:05:56.970
the church, and yet he was distressed by
what he saw around him.

01:05:57.510 --> 01:06:03.070
As he saw Rome substituting tradition for
the Holy Scripture, he accused the

01:06:03.070 --> 01:06:06.630
priesthood of withholding the bread of
life from the spiritually starving people.

01:06:07.530 --> 01:06:14.890
He believed that the Bible was a supreme
authority, and he commissioned the

01:06:14.890 --> 01:06:15.970
translation of the Bible.

01:06:16.710 --> 01:06:21.810
He had some followers called Lollards that
went around distributing Scripture and

01:06:21.810 --> 01:06:22.190
preaching.

01:06:23.030 --> 01:06:28.250
They did believe in Bible reading,
they did read Wycliffe's Bible,

01:06:28.250 --> 01:06:35.990
and they did believe in the same kind of
simpler piety that the Waldensians and

01:06:35.990 --> 01:06:39.770
others had advocated as early as the 12th
century.

01:06:40.510 --> 01:06:44.210
This was the greatest gift he could give
the common people.

01:06:44.970 --> 01:06:50.030
No document has altered the course of
history more than the English translation

01:06:50.030 --> 01:06:50.690
of the Bible.

01:06:51.230 --> 01:06:56.410
He brought forward some of the truths that
Protestantism would later bring forward.

01:06:56.410 --> 01:07:00.530
And as I just suggested, his teachings,
even though it's centuries before,

01:07:01.350 --> 01:07:07.290
is preparing the way for many people in
England to accept the Reformation when it

01:07:07.290 --> 01:07:07.770
comes.

01:07:08.970 --> 01:07:13.790
Wycliffe had the audacity to declare that
the universal authority of the Pope was

01:07:13.790 --> 01:07:14.290
unbiblical.

01:07:15.130 --> 01:07:22.370
It was under these conditions that on May
22nd, 1377, Pope Gregory XI condemned the

01:07:22.370 --> 01:07:27.110
writings of John Wycliffe, stating that
his teachings were dangerous to the church

01:07:27.110 --> 01:07:27.830
and the state.

01:07:28.630 --> 01:07:32.590
Wycliffe continued to teach salvation
through Christ alone, and that the

01:07:32.590 --> 01:07:35.710
scriptures were infallible, rather than
the Roman church.

01:07:36.710 --> 01:07:42.090
Over time, his writings and work of reform
spread out like seismic waves,

01:07:42.410 --> 01:07:44.390
influencing millions of God's people.

01:07:45.170 --> 01:07:50.270
They can be read anywhere where there are
schoolmen, where there are scholastic

01:07:50.270 --> 01:07:52.990
theologians who can pick them up.

01:07:52.990 --> 01:07:58.770
They do travel, and they travel to
Bohemia, and they inspire John Hus as

01:07:58.770 --> 01:07:59.050
well.

01:07:59.890 --> 01:08:06.550
And Hus shares the attack on
transubstantiation, on clerical power,

01:08:06.670 --> 01:08:10.670
and on, as with Wycliffe, on the wealth of
the church.

01:08:11.490 --> 01:08:16.990
Hus was only a young boy when Wycliffe
passed away, but Wycliffe's works had a

01:08:16.990 --> 01:08:19.930
powerful influence on his life and his
future mission.

01:08:19.930 --> 01:08:25.630
John Hus was a Bohemian preacher,
also a university professor, and also

01:08:25.630 --> 01:08:27.210
king's chaplain for a while.

01:08:27.570 --> 01:08:35.290
He's entrusted with, eventually,
with the office of preaching at a little

01:08:35.290 --> 01:08:40.170
chapel that has just been founded,
the Bethlehem Chapel.

01:08:40.170 --> 01:08:45.190
Like Wycliffe, John Hus preached the
scriptures in the language of the people,

01:08:45.590 --> 01:08:49.270
a practice that the church had now
forbidden, in favor of the lost language

01:08:49.270 --> 01:08:49.750
of Latin.

01:08:50.370 --> 01:08:56.870
He did preach in the vernacular language,
and the Bohemians had had a scripture in

01:08:56.870 --> 01:08:59.190
their language, despite church councils.

01:08:59.190 --> 01:09:04.690
And it's from that he comes into contact
with the teachings of Wycliffe,

01:09:05.050 --> 01:09:13.150
and he especially is drawn to the attack
on transubstantiation, the attack on the

01:09:13.150 --> 01:09:15.730
wealth and influence of the church.

01:09:16.230 --> 01:09:20.790
Walking through town one day, Hus noticed
a couple of paintings that two men had

01:09:20.790 --> 01:09:22.990
displayed as a silent protest.

01:09:23.910 --> 01:09:26.930
Each of the canvases portrayed a different
scene.

01:09:27.890 --> 01:09:33.250
On one was the image of the lowly Jesus,
humbly entering Jerusalem with his

01:09:33.250 --> 01:09:34.430
travel-worn disciples.

01:09:35.150 --> 01:09:40.190
On the other canvas was an image of the
Pope, dressed in rich and luxurious

01:09:40.190 --> 01:09:44.330
clothing, carrying on a leader and
followed by a regal procession.

01:09:44.330 --> 01:09:50.010
The paintings certainly presented a
contrast between Jesus, who said that

01:09:50.010 --> 01:09:55.030
foxes have holes, and the birds of the air
have nests, and the Son of Man has nowhere

01:09:55.030 --> 01:10:01.430
to lay his head, with the magnificent
splendor of the papal palace and the papal

01:10:01.430 --> 01:10:02.150
entourage.

01:10:03.470 --> 01:10:07.870
Moved by this knowledge, he began to
publicly denounce the pride, ambition,

01:10:08.030 --> 01:10:12.050
and corruption of the clergy, and he
fearlessly called for the church to

01:10:12.050 --> 01:10:12.450
reform.

01:10:12.450 --> 01:10:17.870
If you must interpret scripture according
to the truth, truth is defined by what the

01:10:17.870 --> 01:10:22.270
church believes, how do you correct an
error in the church?

01:10:22.950 --> 01:10:25.410
You don't have a check on mistakes.

01:10:25.890 --> 01:10:27.810
There is no correcting the church.

01:10:28.410 --> 01:10:35.530
And that, I think, is the fundamental flaw
of what allowed the church to start going

01:10:35.530 --> 01:10:38.170
wrong and keep going wrong.

01:10:39.110 --> 01:10:44.230
John Hus was invited to come to Constance,
Germany to defend his criticism of the

01:10:44.230 --> 01:10:44.930
Church of Rome.

01:10:45.610 --> 01:10:51.070
Sigismund, king of Hungary and later the
Holy Roman Empire, guaranteed him a safe

01:10:51.070 --> 01:10:51.610
passage.

01:10:51.610 --> 01:10:57.370
But immediately upon Hus' arrival in the
city, he was arrested and placed in the

01:10:57.370 --> 01:10:59.090
dungeon at Gadelben Castle.

01:10:59.830 --> 01:11:04.250
King Sigismund was greatly angered at the
imprisonment of Hus, and he threatened the

01:11:04.250 --> 01:11:04.870
church council.

01:11:05.430 --> 01:11:10.230
But the council convinced Sigismund that
promises made to a heretic were not

01:11:10.230 --> 01:11:10.570
binding.

01:11:11.490 --> 01:11:17.630
On July 6, 1415, the council gathered into
the cathedral after mass and liturgy,

01:11:18.490 --> 01:11:21.150
and John Hus was then led in for his
trial.

01:11:22.110 --> 01:11:25.550
He was asked to defend his positions.

01:11:26.110 --> 01:11:32.870
In the act of defending them, he was found
to have voiced a heresy, and so he was

01:11:32.870 --> 01:11:35.630
seized and tried for heresy.

01:11:36.750 --> 01:11:39.610
Guards then led Hus away to be executed.

01:11:40.750 --> 01:11:43.850
At the place of his execution,
Hus stood firm.

01:11:44.790 --> 01:11:49.910
As the flames rose about him, he was
actually able to lift his voice in song.

01:11:51.370 --> 01:11:56.810
Among his dying words, Hus predicted,
In a hundred years, God will raise up a

01:11:56.810 --> 01:12:00.110
man whose calls for reform cannot be
suppressed.

01:12:02.130 --> 01:12:06.930
Raised in a humble home in Mansfield,
Germany, Martin Luther, theologian,

01:12:07.190 --> 01:12:12.570
author, composer, and priest, was arguably
the best-known religious reformer of the

01:12:12.570 --> 01:12:13.410
16th century.

01:12:14.890 --> 01:12:21.370
Luther was born on November 10,
1483, nearly 70 years after the martyrdom

01:12:21.370 --> 01:12:22.130
of John Hus.

01:12:22.130 --> 01:12:27.030
Born into a hard-working middle-class
family with several brothers and sisters,

01:12:27.790 --> 01:12:30.350
Luther developed a firm character and
personality.

01:12:31.130 --> 01:12:36.270
The Luther family seems to have been,
to some extent, a family of overachievers.

01:12:36.990 --> 01:12:40.910
They were very strict, according to
Luther's later stories, they were very

01:12:40.910 --> 01:12:45.530
strict on the young Martin, and they
certainly saw that the way forward for

01:12:45.530 --> 01:12:47.330
their son was through education.

01:12:48.110 --> 01:12:52.230
But when he was young, he was intended to
become a lawyer.

01:12:53.330 --> 01:12:57.810
However, a dramatic experience forever
altered the course of his life.

01:12:58.770 --> 01:13:03.590
Luther is caught in a thunderstorm and
fears for his life.

01:13:03.810 --> 01:13:06.310
He's outside and he fears he'll be struck
by lightning.

01:13:06.810 --> 01:13:10.210
The lightning was striking in front of him
and behind him and on both sides of him.

01:13:10.210 --> 01:13:15.550
And so in terror, he cries out and
promises that if a saint will save him,

01:13:15.810 --> 01:13:17.150
he will become a monk.

01:13:17.730 --> 01:13:26.270
He called out to St. Anne, the saint of
hopeless causes, St. Anne, deliver me and

01:13:26.270 --> 01:13:27.050
I'll become a monk.

01:13:28.670 --> 01:13:29.670
And he kept his word.

01:13:30.570 --> 01:13:34.950
In spite of his father's angry protests,
Luther dropped his law studies,

01:13:35.230 --> 01:13:40.390
sold his books, and entered a closed
Augustinian monastery at Erfurt and fully

01:13:40.390 --> 01:13:42.730
dedicated his time to the monastic life.

01:13:43.790 --> 01:13:48.530
Following his desperate longing for
salvation, he practiced frequent fastings,

01:13:48.830 --> 01:13:52.930
long hours of prayer, austere living,
and endless confession.

01:13:55.090 --> 01:14:00.810
If anyone could have gained heaven as a
monk, then I would indeed have been among

01:14:00.810 --> 01:14:01.090
them.

01:14:01.870 --> 01:14:07.490
He found an elder confessor there who
realized that Luther had a particularly

01:14:07.490 --> 01:14:09.270
sensitive soul.

01:14:09.550 --> 01:14:13.990
And this confessor realized that Luther
needed to teach the Bible.

01:14:13.990 --> 01:14:20.990
So he becomes, simultaneously,
professor of theology, preacher in the

01:14:20.990 --> 01:14:25.990
town church, and a member of the religious
community in the Augustinian house.

01:14:26.790 --> 01:14:28.610
He's basically doing three jobs.

01:14:29.950 --> 01:14:34.290
At Wittenberg, he learned to study the
Bible in its original tongues.

01:14:34.950 --> 01:14:39.570
Soon, he began to freely share the truths
that he was learning in his lectures,

01:14:39.990 --> 01:14:41.470
and his listeners were delighted.

01:14:41.470 --> 01:14:47.470
In 1510, Luther made a pilgrimage to visit
the headquarters of the church in the holy

01:14:47.470 --> 01:14:48.210
city of Rome.

01:14:49.510 --> 01:14:54.210
He was sickened to witness the terrible
greed and wickedness that he saw among all

01:14:54.210 --> 01:14:55.330
classes of the clergy.

01:14:56.030 --> 01:15:01.150
His great expectation of the holy city was
crushed as he beheld the decadent

01:15:01.150 --> 01:15:03.170
lifestyles of the monks and the priests.

01:15:03.990 --> 01:15:07.610
This was in stark contrast to his very
frugal life in Germany.

01:15:08.130 --> 01:15:11.930
But Luther's most unsettling revelation
was yet to come.

01:15:13.330 --> 01:15:17.370
He went to Rome and he was climbing up the
stairs there and hears a voice,

01:15:17.830 --> 01:15:22.470
not necessarily a verbal one, but one in
his head, the just shall live by faith,

01:15:22.650 --> 01:15:27.430
and so climbing up these pilot stairs on
his knees, which was supposed to earn you

01:15:27.430 --> 01:15:34.290
some kind of assurance of not burning in
purgatory for too long, and it just dawned

01:15:34.290 --> 01:15:36.590
on him as he looked around, what are we
doing?

01:15:36.590 --> 01:15:42.590
The Bible says this comes by faith and he
got up off his knees and this seemed to be

01:15:42.590 --> 01:15:43.450
a turning point.

01:15:44.350 --> 01:15:48.990
Luther finally understood the importance
of trusting in the merits of Christ for

01:15:48.990 --> 01:15:49.430
forgiveness.

01:15:50.810 --> 01:15:55.770
After returning from Rome in 1512,
Luther was awarded the Doctorate of

01:15:55.770 --> 01:16:00.530
Divinity at the University of Wittenberg
and he began to boldly preach to the

01:16:00.530 --> 01:16:05.650
people that Christians should not accept
any doctrine unless it came from the

01:16:05.650 --> 01:16:05.970
Bible.

01:16:06.990 --> 01:16:11.810
And it was this principle of sola
scriptura that would become the battle cry

01:16:11.810 --> 01:16:12.770
of the Reformation.

01:16:13.370 --> 01:16:22.110
It's in a series of three treatises in
1520 that he presents the notion that now,

01:16:22.110 --> 01:16:28.130
since the tradition of the church has
become so corrupted by human innovation,

01:16:28.570 --> 01:16:33.150
that the church should only follow the
testimony of the scriptures.

01:16:33.670 --> 01:16:40.890
This is the common thread in the story
that describes the decline of the church.

01:16:41.370 --> 01:16:45.470
It's when people lost scripture and the
ability to read scripture for themselves

01:16:45.470 --> 01:16:48.270
and there was a barrier between them and
scripture and them and Christ.

01:16:48.270 --> 01:16:54.710
And then it began to recover when Martin
Luther and his colleagues decided that

01:16:54.710 --> 01:16:56.150
scripture really was the authority.

01:16:56.530 --> 01:16:59.690
Sola scriptura, tota scriptura,
prima scriptura.

01:17:00.170 --> 01:17:02.790
And they began to climb back out.

01:17:03.770 --> 01:17:08.790
About this same time, Rome was breaking
ground for the construction of the

01:17:08.790 --> 01:17:11.170
magnificent new St. Peter's Basilica.

01:17:11.170 --> 01:17:18.050
The church sent John Tetzel, a Dominican
friar, to Germany to sell indulgences in

01:17:18.050 --> 01:17:20.550
order to raise the funds necessary for the
cathedral.

01:17:21.550 --> 01:17:26.570
The church believes not only that its
services and offerings can help the dead,

01:17:26.990 --> 01:17:33.350
but also that the head of the church,
in the West, the Pope, can, out of the

01:17:33.350 --> 01:17:39.330
superabundant saved up grace which is in
the possession of the church, the church

01:17:39.330 --> 01:17:46.530
can simply declare that someone's
penalties owed after they died are just

01:17:46.530 --> 01:17:47.110
wiped out.

01:17:47.630 --> 01:17:50.070
That's what's called an indulgence.

01:17:50.690 --> 01:17:56.110
The full plenary indulgence absolved a
person of all the sins that they had

01:17:56.110 --> 01:18:02.890
committed up to that time and thus speeded
you, according to church teaching,

01:18:03.730 --> 01:18:07.630
through a purgatory directly into heaven.

01:18:08.050 --> 01:18:14.190
By very late in the Middle Ages,
the church has got into its head that it

01:18:14.190 --> 01:18:21.410
can say to people, if you are willing to
make an offering to the church,

01:18:22.470 --> 01:18:28.350
the church will give an indulgence in the
manner of an offering for your departed

01:18:28.350 --> 01:18:31.930
family friend, relative, loved one.

01:18:32.550 --> 01:18:37.690
And that loved one will escape the pains
of purgatory, supposedly immediately.

01:18:38.370 --> 01:18:45.530
This became, by the 14th and 15th century,
a very popular belief and people clamored

01:18:45.530 --> 01:18:46.770
for indulgences.

01:18:47.170 --> 01:18:52.050
When Luther learned that his members were
purchasing indulgences, he was outraged.

01:18:52.730 --> 01:18:57.590
As the people came to him to cash in their
indulgences, he flatly refused to honor

01:18:57.590 --> 01:18:57.810
them.

01:18:58.770 --> 01:19:03.510
Luther declared that what they really
needed to do was to sincerely repent and

01:19:03.510 --> 01:19:04.730
turn from their sins.

01:19:05.510 --> 01:19:10.170
This was the first issue that forced
Luther into battle with his own beloved

01:19:10.170 --> 01:19:10.570
church.

01:19:11.570 --> 01:19:18.450
On October 31st, 1517, Luther nailed his
famous protest to the doors of the All

01:19:18.450 --> 01:19:19.730
Saints Church in Wittenberg.

01:19:20.370 --> 01:19:24.910
What are the 95 theses that he famously
nails to the door of Wittenberg Castle

01:19:24.910 --> 01:19:25.350
Church?

01:19:25.810 --> 01:19:28.750
It's an academic invitation to a debate.

01:19:28.750 --> 01:19:34.210
You write down 95 thesis statements and
you're basically saying, here are my

01:19:34.210 --> 01:19:34.710
proposals.

01:19:34.970 --> 01:19:39.110
And they're always more strongly worded
than you may think because it's a debating

01:19:39.110 --> 01:19:39.450
point.

01:19:39.570 --> 01:19:42.030
It's what's called a disputation.

01:19:42.650 --> 01:19:51.010
The 95 theses is just a series of 95
propositions that he intends to spark a

01:19:51.010 --> 01:19:52.470
university debate on.

01:19:52.470 --> 01:20:00.350
And this is standard issue, late medieval
academic practice.

01:20:00.910 --> 01:20:05.370
So Luther is engaging in a very narrowly
academic exercise.

01:20:05.590 --> 01:20:08.490
It's like publishing a paper in a
scholarly journal today.

01:20:08.870 --> 01:20:12.230
As a historian myself at times,
you're not actually expecting very many

01:20:12.230 --> 01:20:13.070
people to read this.

01:20:13.150 --> 01:20:15.710
You're just going into a very narrow
circle.

01:20:15.710 --> 01:20:20.510
And so he takes it and he nails it to the
door of Wittenberg Castle Church because

01:20:20.510 --> 01:20:24.050
that's the traditional place you post
invitations for a disputation.

01:20:24.390 --> 01:20:27.210
So he's not expecting anything necessarily
to come of this.

01:20:27.450 --> 01:20:30.650
And this got a lot of people's attention,
including the Pope's.

01:20:30.990 --> 01:20:34.650
As far as Luther's concerned, he's not
promoting something that the church would

01:20:34.650 --> 01:20:35.630
be hostile to.

01:20:36.030 --> 01:20:38.310
He believes he's promoting things that the
church will welcome.

01:20:38.470 --> 01:20:42.850
And indeed, if you go back to the early
church fathers, including Augustine,

01:20:42.850 --> 01:20:46.070
you can find many things in their writings
that accord with Luther's ideas.

01:20:46.510 --> 01:20:49.230
So Luther doesn't feel, you know,
he actually expects people to sort of say,

01:20:49.470 --> 01:20:54.150
oh, great, thanks for pointing that out,
which was perhaps a trifle naive and

01:20:54.150 --> 01:20:56.230
perhaps that's what comes from him being
an academic.

01:20:58.190 --> 01:21:01.610
But Luther isn't expecting, he's not
trying to set up another movement.

01:21:02.350 --> 01:21:03.310
Just the opposite.

01:21:03.970 --> 01:21:07.790
But the reality, of course, is that the
church does not welcome much of what

01:21:07.790 --> 01:21:08.810
Luther has to say.

01:21:08.810 --> 01:21:13.770
And a bull went out, a papal bull,
meaning a kind of declaration,

01:21:14.570 --> 01:21:19.350
condemning Luther and his writings and
saying they should be consigned to the

01:21:19.350 --> 01:21:19.810
flames.

01:21:20.750 --> 01:21:27.290
The bull was delivered at Wittenberg and
instead of consigning the writings to the

01:21:27.290 --> 01:21:32.450
flames, Luther had a big gathering in
Wittenberg and consigned the bull to the

01:21:32.450 --> 01:21:32.850
flames.

01:21:33.330 --> 01:21:35.210
And there was a burning of this papal
bull.

01:21:36.190 --> 01:21:40.190
And this, of course, was a throwdown now,
right?

01:21:40.370 --> 01:21:43.930
The challenge had been sent out and the
challenge had been responded to.

01:21:44.550 --> 01:21:48.110
And that's when Luther says, right,
if you condemn me, I will condemn you,

01:21:48.190 --> 01:21:50.910
because he believes this is a matter of
truth.

01:21:51.450 --> 01:21:54.810
And so if the church is condemning
biblical truth, then the church must

01:21:54.810 --> 01:21:56.170
actually be antichrist.

01:21:56.750 --> 01:21:58.070
And he calls it that.

01:21:58.150 --> 01:22:02.010
And, of course, once you call somebody
antichrist, it's rather hard to reach

01:22:02.010 --> 01:22:03.450
consensus and compromise.

01:22:04.110 --> 01:22:08.990
So the German emperor organized a hearing
and all the important princes and priests

01:22:08.990 --> 01:22:13.390
were assembled for a historic meeting at a
place called Worms.

01:22:13.550 --> 01:22:17.350
So there are representatives here of all
the different princes, nobles,

01:22:17.570 --> 01:22:19.630
and free cities of the empire.

01:22:20.110 --> 01:22:22.730
And Luther goes believing he'll have a
chance to debate.

01:22:23.670 --> 01:22:26.590
And the church knows that Luther's a
brilliant debater and they're not going to

01:22:26.590 --> 01:22:27.350
give him any chance.

01:22:27.610 --> 01:22:29.130
He was pulled up before the group.

01:22:29.390 --> 01:22:31.790
He was shown a pile of his books.

01:22:31.790 --> 01:22:34.330
He was asked two questions.

01:22:35.390 --> 01:22:36.490
Are these books yours?

01:22:37.470 --> 01:22:39.950
And will you recant?

01:22:40.430 --> 01:22:43.130
Will you withdraw the teachings you've
made in them?

01:22:43.790 --> 01:22:45.890
And he didn't immediately reply.

01:22:46.370 --> 01:22:51.010
He said, well, yes, they are my books,
but there's many things written there.

01:22:51.470 --> 01:22:54.790
And I need some time to think about it.

01:22:55.250 --> 01:22:58.250
He almost loses his nerve, but ultimately
he doesn't.

01:22:58.250 --> 01:23:01.890
And the next day he comes in and he starts
to play with words.

01:23:02.010 --> 01:23:05.070
And they say, you know, are all these your
works and do you recant them?

01:23:05.090 --> 01:23:08.470
And he says, well, do you ask me to recant
all my works?

01:23:08.530 --> 01:23:11.130
Because some of my works everyone in the
church would agree with.

01:23:11.190 --> 01:23:14.450
I've written against certain evils that
the church generally agrees are wrong.

01:23:14.690 --> 01:23:16.550
And he starts, he's trying to get into a
debate.

01:23:17.050 --> 01:23:18.750
And the authorities aren't having any of
this.

01:23:18.810 --> 01:23:19.510
And they say, no, no, no.

01:23:20.110 --> 01:23:21.990
You just have to say, are you going to
retract these?

01:23:22.090 --> 01:23:23.150
Are you going to recant?

01:23:23.930 --> 01:23:27.850
It's a heroic moment, especially because
as far as Luther is concerned,

01:23:28.230 --> 01:23:30.190
he believes it's going to lead to his
death.

01:23:30.870 --> 01:23:38.830
Unless I am convinced by the testimony of
the Scriptures or by clear reason,

01:23:39.350 --> 01:23:43.710
for I do not trust either in the Pope or
in councils alone, since it is well known

01:23:43.710 --> 01:23:48.090
that they have often erred and
contradicted themselves, I am bound by the

01:23:48.090 --> 01:23:52.910
Scriptures I have quoted, and my
conscience is captive to the Word of God.

01:23:53.570 --> 01:23:59.510
I cannot and will not recant anything,
since it is neither safe nor right to go

01:23:59.510 --> 01:24:00.270
against conscience.

01:24:00.910 --> 01:24:01.910
Here I stand.

01:24:02.350 --> 01:24:03.550
I can do no other.

01:24:04.310 --> 01:24:05.190
May God help me.

01:24:05.710 --> 01:24:06.150
Amen.

01:24:06.890 --> 01:24:09.950
The council did not have much it could say
in reply.

01:24:10.570 --> 01:24:12.790
Luther was declared an outlaw.

01:24:13.230 --> 01:24:16.090
His literature was banned and his arrest
ordered.

01:24:16.910 --> 01:24:21.750
The documents said, we want him to be
apprehended and to be punished as a

01:24:21.750 --> 01:24:22.830
notorious heretic.

01:24:23.770 --> 01:24:28.670
Now Luther had been given a safe conduct
to the Diet of Worms, just as Huss had

01:24:28.670 --> 01:24:32.490
been given to the Council of Constance
just over a hundred years earlier.

01:24:33.390 --> 01:24:37.670
And there were those authorities who urged
the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V to ignore

01:24:37.670 --> 01:24:42.610
the safe conduct, just as the Emperor
Sigismund had with Huss's safe conduct.

01:24:42.850 --> 01:24:47.970
Charles V didn't want to be known as the
second emperor that had reneged on a good

01:24:47.970 --> 01:24:50.550
faith conduct passage.

01:24:51.130 --> 01:24:55.750
And so for whatever reason, this reason
and maybe some others, he allowed Luther

01:24:55.750 --> 01:24:58.910
to leave town and start home.

01:24:59.930 --> 01:25:03.070
The thought was he would probably be
killed by someone on the way because there

01:25:03.070 --> 01:25:05.230
was an open price on his head.

01:25:05.230 --> 01:25:12.010
Instead, of course, Luther is kidnapped by
an armed group of men who are actually

01:25:12.010 --> 01:25:15.490
working for Frederick the Wise,
who decides he needs to take Luther out of

01:25:15.490 --> 01:25:16.810
circulation for a little while.

01:25:16.910 --> 01:25:20.870
To Wartburg Castle, which the Elector
Frederick knew about, but nobody knew what

01:25:20.870 --> 01:25:21.590
had happened to Luther.

01:25:21.730 --> 01:25:23.270
Many people thought that he was dead.

01:25:24.070 --> 01:25:28.950
For the next year, from this lonely exile,
which Luther referred to as my Patmos,

01:25:29.590 --> 01:25:33.050
the former priest continued his work of
prolific writing.

01:25:33.050 --> 01:25:38.550
He even managed to translate the New
Testament from Greek into the German

01:25:38.550 --> 01:25:39.130
language.

01:25:39.930 --> 01:25:44.350
Now, about 72 years before Luther
completed his New Testament translation,

01:25:45.390 --> 01:25:49.290
Gutenberg changed history with the
invention of the printing press.

01:25:49.950 --> 01:25:54.470
With this wonderful new technology,
the truth of God's Word began to spread

01:25:54.470 --> 01:25:57.030
like the leaves of autumn all through
Europe.

01:25:57.030 --> 01:26:01.890
And so, in the midst of this great
reformation, the Lord armed his people

01:26:01.890 --> 01:26:03.250
with the sword of his Word.

01:26:04.210 --> 01:26:09.650
Around this same time, several other
powerful champions of truth rose up from

01:26:09.650 --> 01:26:10.770
within the Church of Rome.

01:26:11.670 --> 01:26:16.550
Among these brave men calling for a return
to the scriptures were Philip Melanchthon,

01:26:17.070 --> 01:26:21.630
William Tyndale, John Calvin, and John
Knox, just to name a few.

01:26:22.590 --> 01:26:27.110
As the Reformers preached and the printing
press clattered, the teeming masses

01:26:27.110 --> 01:26:28.390
studied the Word of God.

01:26:29.190 --> 01:26:33.970
Gradually, the light of truth began to
dissolve the shackles of error and

01:26:33.970 --> 01:26:36.690
superstition that had bound the people for
ages.

01:26:37.630 --> 01:26:42.250
Like a breath of fresh spring air,
Europe experienced a religious

01:26:42.250 --> 01:26:43.150
renaissance.

01:26:44.890 --> 01:26:49.710
And you shall know the truth, and the
truth shall make you free.

01:26:52.630 --> 01:26:57.890
The book of Revelation also foretells that
in the final days, the dragon,

01:26:58.190 --> 01:27:03.390
Satan, will once again intensify his
efforts to persecute the Church of God.

01:27:04.170 --> 01:27:08.610
They are identified as the ones who keep
the commandments of God and have the

01:27:08.610 --> 01:27:09.950
testimony of Jesus.

01:27:11.850 --> 01:27:16.610
Revelation warns that in the last days,
there will be a very convincing

01:27:16.610 --> 01:27:21.290
counterfeit of God's real Church that
compromises the truth of scripture.

01:27:21.910 --> 01:27:25.630
Jesus warns it will nearly deceive the
whole world.

01:27:29.550 --> 01:27:34.870
For false Christs and false prophets will
rise and show signs and wonders to

01:27:34.870 --> 01:27:37.510
deceive, if possible, even the elect.

01:27:39.090 --> 01:27:43.090
Shortly after this final deception,
Christ will return.

01:27:43.830 --> 01:27:47.670
And He will come for a Church that has
been purified from all the false

01:27:47.670 --> 01:27:48.990
traditions and paganism.

01:27:49.770 --> 01:27:54.650
It will be a Church that requires a thus
saith the Lord for every doctrine that it

01:27:54.650 --> 01:27:55.070
holds.

01:27:56.190 --> 01:28:01.370
Jesus also said that when He returns,
the world will be absorbed in selfishness,

01:28:01.490 --> 01:28:02.230
violence, and evil.

01:28:03.390 --> 01:28:09.350
And you will hear of wars and rumors of
wars, for nation will rise against nation,

01:28:09.730 --> 01:28:13.050
and there will be famines, pestilences,
and earthquakes.

01:28:13.690 --> 01:28:17.890
The love of many will grow cold,
and then the end will come.

01:28:18.770 --> 01:28:24.170
This spiritual war has been raging down
through the ages, and it's clear that this

01:28:24.170 --> 01:28:25.950
prophecy is fast fulfilling.

01:28:26.770 --> 01:28:30.870
As the battle intensifies, we are all
faced with a choice.

01:28:32.450 --> 01:28:36.310
Choose for yourselves this day whom you
will serve.

01:28:38.290 --> 01:28:44.390
Friends, we've just seen how the glorious
light of God's Church was overshadowed and

01:28:44.390 --> 01:28:46.670
distorted through the influence of
mythology.

01:28:47.610 --> 01:28:53.110
We've also seen how early Christians were
gradually enticed to adopt pagan rituals

01:28:53.110 --> 01:28:55.830
and traditions in place of biblical truth.

01:28:56.650 --> 01:29:01.730
But then God rose up faithful men and
women to resist the errors of an entire

01:29:01.730 --> 01:29:02.350
empire.

01:29:03.710 --> 01:29:05.490
History is now repeating itself.

01:29:06.470 --> 01:29:11.590
Soon, all will either join the Bride of
Christ or follow the Beast of Babylon.

01:29:12.390 --> 01:29:13.450
Where will you stand?

01:29:13.990 --> 01:29:15.470
The Bible is clear.

01:29:16.210 --> 01:29:17.690
The evidence is irrefutable.

01:29:18.570 --> 01:29:20.950
The decision is ultimately yours.

01:29:44.220 --> 01:29:47.020
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