WEBVTT 00:07.420 --> 00:09.460 Hello and welcome to Z3 News. 00:09.560 --> 00:13.780 I'm James Bailey and today is Tuesday, May 19, 2020. 00:14.460 --> 00:17.780 And today I'd like to pick up where I left off yesterday. 00:18.600 --> 00:24.020 And yesterday's program I presented evidence proving, in my opinion, 00:24.180 --> 00:27.600 that the Roman Empire never converted to Christianity. 00:28.100 --> 00:35.080 That claim is based on the conversion of Emperor Constantine in the fourth century. 00:35.900 --> 00:41.180 But there are many problems with his testimony, which I showed in yesterday's 00:41.180 --> 00:46.480 program, including the fact that late in his life he was still building monuments 00:46.480 --> 00:48.080 to pagan gods. 00:49.260 --> 00:55.180 And then I pointed out also that the emperors who followed after Constantine's 00:55.180 --> 01:01.400 reign continued persecuting Christians just as much, just as severely, 01:01.960 --> 01:05.500 as the emperors who had ruled prior to Constantine. 01:06.100 --> 01:09.220 And so there is this problem with their testimony. 01:09.740 --> 01:13.660 There's no evidence, they're lacking evidence of a genuine conversion. 01:14.660 --> 01:21.620 Yet in the year 380, they did declare through the Edict of Thessalonica by 01:21.620 --> 01:29.420 Emperor Theodosius I that Christianity became the official state religion of 01:29.420 --> 01:29.760 Rome. 01:30.440 --> 01:36.240 That was a very big deal, but as I shared in the previous program, they were forced 01:36.240 --> 01:41.660 to make changes because of the growing influence of Christians at every level of 01:41.660 --> 01:42.460 their society. 01:43.760 --> 01:50.020 And after many failed attempts to kill all the Christians, they were in a worse 01:50.020 --> 01:53.700 position because the Christian influence had only multiplied. 01:54.620 --> 02:01.180 And so they had no other choice but to effectively join the church and put 02:01.180 --> 02:07.080 themselves in charge of it as a means of trying to take control over it. 02:08.020 --> 02:13.800 Now I had hoped for today's program to get all the way up to this major event, 02:14.300 --> 02:20.200 this major shift in history that occurred in the early 19th century, right around 02:20.200 --> 02:22.260 1814-1815. 02:23.700 --> 02:30.480 But then I realized that jumping forward that far on the timeline would just leave 02:30.480 --> 02:31.440 too many gaps. 02:32.040 --> 02:36.260 There's too many important events that need to be covered. 02:37.220 --> 02:44.980 And so today I want to cover some of these major events that happened between 380 and 02:44.980 --> 02:48.920 the time of Martin Luther in 1517. 02:49.220 --> 02:54.340 That's about 1137 years to try to cover in today's program. 02:54.680 --> 02:59.600 We covered about a thousand years in yesterday's program, so it's not like 02:59.600 --> 03:01.940 we're getting bogged down here. 03:02.100 --> 03:05.380 We're covering about a thousand years in less than an hour. 03:06.080 --> 03:12.620 So I think it's a worthwhile use of our time, especially after today I saw a quote 03:12.620 --> 03:14.080 on Wikipedia. 03:14.560 --> 03:16.580 And I'm not bashing Wikipedia. 03:16.760 --> 03:18.160 I really appreciate Wikipedia. 03:18.460 --> 03:20.580 I use their site every day. 03:21.000 --> 03:28.420 But I also use it cautiously because it's a joint effort of a large number of 03:28.420 --> 03:34.800 people, so all different perspectives, and you just have to be on guard because 03:34.800 --> 03:37.160 it's not always going to be accurate information. 03:37.960 --> 03:45.480 But anyway, I'm looking at this article on Wikipedia today, and the page was devoted 03:45.480 --> 03:50.120 to the persecution of Christians during the Roman Empire. 03:50.860 --> 03:57.720 And I couldn't believe what I read, because it literally said that persecution 03:57.720 --> 04:00.600 happened over a period of two centuries. 04:00.940 --> 04:01.940 Bam, that's it. 04:03.360 --> 04:08.240 From 64 AD, the time of Nero, to 313 AD. 04:08.580 --> 04:08.980 Done. 04:09.640 --> 04:11.100 That's just not true. 04:12.360 --> 04:18.480 I mean, I showed that yesterday very clearly, that even after the time of 04:18.480 --> 04:24.500 Constantine, that persecution was running rampant all throughout the Roman Empire. 04:25.320 --> 04:31.280 And so this is the distorted view of history that's promoted, that we are 04:31.280 --> 04:37.740 bombarded with it constantly, that creates this impression that Rome made great 04:37.740 --> 04:44.840 progress from being a pagan empire to being a Christian empire. 04:45.840 --> 04:53.020 And the truth is, the exact opposite happened, because it's one thing to be a 04:53.020 --> 04:58.460 pagan and to be in the dark in your relationship with God, but it's another 04:58.460 --> 05:05.680 thing to then step forward and claim to take His name and start teaching His 05:05.680 --> 05:11.800 people, as if you are a genuine Christian, when in fact, you're only doing it for the 05:11.800 --> 05:13.120 advancement of your own power. 05:13.460 --> 05:18.880 That's a direct assault on God, and that's a lot worse than just being in 05:18.880 --> 05:20.240 the dark and being a pagan. 05:20.980 --> 05:25.940 And, so, Rome took this step in the wrong direction. 05:26.760 --> 05:32.120 They took a step away from the light of God and into greater darkness and 05:32.120 --> 05:32.580 deception. 05:33.380 --> 05:37.060 And that just gets back to the old principle of sowing and reaping, 05:37.120 --> 05:43.480 because they started sowing a lot of bad seed, seeds of deception, deceit 05:43.480 --> 05:48.400 throughout all their actions, putting on the garbs of righteousness without any 05:48.400 --> 05:52.840 conversion to righteousness in their heart, continuing to practice their own 05:52.840 --> 05:53.680 pagan ways. 05:54.280 --> 06:01.100 Those are bad seeds, and those seeds come back and multiply upon them, causing them 06:01.100 --> 06:08.520 to enter into greater darkness and deception to the point where they become 06:08.520 --> 06:10.540 thoroughly deceived themselves. 06:11.380 --> 06:16.600 And it's like that scripture that says that God will eventually give people over 06:16.600 --> 06:23.680 to powerful delusions if they insist on going their own way and turning away from 06:23.680 --> 06:24.100 the light. 06:25.360 --> 06:29.700 And, so, by taking on this appearance of righteousness with this edict of 06:29.700 --> 06:37.120 Thessalonica, they became far more evil than anything that Rome had ever been 06:37.120 --> 06:37.620 before. 06:38.960 --> 06:47.220 And since we're looking at such a large time span, I just attempted to try to boil 06:47.220 --> 06:54.200 it all down and summarize the main gist of it, the general direction, because there's 06:54.200 --> 06:55.480 so many events. 06:56.420 --> 07:00.460 Several years ago I started my own timeline. 07:00.820 --> 07:06.060 I use an Excel spreadsheet, and I've just continued to add to it and add to it and 07:06.060 --> 07:08.080 add to it over the years. 07:08.980 --> 07:10.600 And I just like to be able to see. 07:10.760 --> 07:16.100 I started all the way back at the time of Adam and Eve, and went as far as I could 07:16.100 --> 07:21.680 in the scriptures, because the scriptures tell you the years, the age of the fathers 07:21.680 --> 07:24.540 when the child was born, and it just goes on and on. 07:24.600 --> 07:28.820 So you can go a long way like that, building a timeline from the scriptures. 07:29.160 --> 07:34.440 And then I have added to that with all kinds of different historical sources. 07:34.840 --> 07:43.520 So I have this detailed timeline, and today I was just scanning through all 07:43.520 --> 07:45.260 of the events of this time period. 07:45.460 --> 07:51.900 And I have this one column in the Excel spreadsheet that I call the persecution 07:51.900 --> 07:52.580 column. 07:53.100 --> 07:59.760 And if there was severe persecution, the cell is colored blood red. 08:00.420 --> 08:04.140 If there's mild persecution, it's colored pink. 08:04.980 --> 08:07.360 And if there's no persecution, it's just white. 08:08.160 --> 08:14.200 But for this time span, there's a whole lot of red, blood red. 08:14.860 --> 08:17.500 And I have accumulated from different sources. 08:18.840 --> 08:25.080 Fox's Book of the Martyrs, for one, has great testimonies of Christian 08:25.080 --> 08:31.020 persecution throughout the years of the early church, including all of these years 08:31.020 --> 08:32.780 that we're covering today. 08:33.280 --> 08:37.920 And I have other sources, including Wikipedia, but there's a lot of other 08:37.920 --> 08:42.520 sources that have kept track of the persecution of the Jewish people. 08:43.420 --> 08:48.040 And it's really kind of a heavy, heavy topic to cover. 08:48.700 --> 08:55.520 It's hard to read that whole thing and have it not affect you. 08:56.240 --> 09:02.040 Because, you know, I mean, just consider for a minute, these are real people. 09:02.680 --> 09:03.640 These were Christians. 09:04.320 --> 09:05.900 These were Jewish people, whatever. 09:06.660 --> 09:10.300 But the things that were done to them were so horrible. 09:11.200 --> 09:19.600 And my point was that my spreadsheet for these 1,100 years, I mean, that's why when 09:19.600 --> 09:23.800 I read that quote on Wikipedia, I'm like, are you kidding me? 09:23.860 --> 09:24.760 I'm so tired. 09:25.040 --> 09:27.960 I'm so tired of this false narrative. 09:28.740 --> 09:35.120 The facts of history are screaming loud that we're being fed a bunch of lies. 09:35.740 --> 09:36.840 And I'm just tired of it. 09:38.620 --> 09:41.540 That's one of the reasons I didn't want to skip over this today. 09:42.800 --> 09:51.820 Because to me, the crimes that were committed against our fathers and our 09:51.820 --> 09:58.320 mothers, our Christian in the spirit realm, fathers and mothers, committed 09:58.320 --> 10:06.880 consistently by the Romans, or you call it the Roman Empire, or the Roman Catholic 10:06.880 --> 10:09.780 Church, whatever, the Roman Kingdom. 10:10.720 --> 10:11.760 It's the Romans. 10:12.000 --> 10:15.500 It's always been the Romans all the way through. 10:16.680 --> 10:25.660 And so what happened during this time span is Rome kept facing the same problem that 10:25.660 --> 10:26.920 Constantine faced. 10:27.460 --> 10:31.780 They kept facing this problem of what do I do with all these Christians? 10:32.600 --> 10:35.580 These Christians are threatening my power. 10:36.340 --> 10:38.880 These Christians are going to divide my kingdom. 10:39.560 --> 10:41.420 How do I control these Christians? 10:42.160 --> 10:43.420 That was his challenge. 10:43.940 --> 10:47.460 That was his whole basis for his so-called conversion. 10:48.060 --> 10:51.240 And that is the same problem that Rome has faced repeatedly. 10:51.440 --> 10:54.000 And at every turn, they made a wrong turn. 10:54.800 --> 11:00.760 Every time that they clamped down tighter to try to control the Christians, 11:01.200 --> 11:08.520 they put themselves into greater darkness and they get far more wicked, far more 11:08.520 --> 11:08.840 evil. 11:09.240 --> 11:12.800 And so that's what's been happening all of these centuries. 11:13.700 --> 11:19.040 And so I just tried to summarize the main points and I see this general direction 11:19.040 --> 11:23.640 where they became increasingly militant in their efforts. 11:24.140 --> 11:26.340 They became harder and harder. 11:26.920 --> 11:31.020 You know, that's the formation of that iron, just so hard. 11:31.480 --> 11:38.280 But they became militant, calling people to arms, calling people to fight for their 11:38.280 --> 11:38.820 cause. 11:39.580 --> 11:43.540 And they just caused so much turmoil throughout the world, especially 11:43.540 --> 11:50.220 throughout Europe and the Middle East, as they stirred up multitudes to march, 11:50.460 --> 11:55.760 leave their homelands and march to the Middle East and to try to take Jerusalem 11:55.760 --> 11:57.160 for the Pope. 11:57.900 --> 12:01.740 And that was one of the main objectives that they set for the Crusades. 12:01.920 --> 12:07.180 But they had others and it was basically just the elimination of all heretics. 12:07.440 --> 12:13.460 And they define a heretic as someone, anyone who's not submitted to their rule 12:13.460 --> 12:14.140 and authority. 12:14.600 --> 12:20.600 So it doesn't matter if you're a Catholic or a Muslim or a Hindu or whatever. 12:20.780 --> 12:25.140 If you're submitted to the authority of the Pope, if you're willing to pledge your 12:25.140 --> 12:29.200 allegiance to the Pope, well, then they're going to allow you to operate. 12:30.300 --> 12:35.380 And on the other hand, you could be a devout Roman Catholic, but you're at odds 12:35.380 --> 12:38.220 with the Pope, well, then they're going to have problems with you. 12:38.360 --> 12:39.820 It's an issue of control. 12:40.340 --> 12:42.620 It's not even an issue of faith or religion. 12:43.280 --> 12:44.500 They want control. 12:45.580 --> 12:51.700 And they have proven that repeatedly throughout history by killing multitudes 12:51.700 --> 12:58.180 of Christians, even though they claim to be Christians, and even killing multitudes 12:58.180 --> 13:02.980 of Catholics if they happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time or happen to 13:02.980 --> 13:05.900 be taking issues with the Pope. 13:06.920 --> 13:10.600 And so during this time period, these centuries that we're looking at 13:10.600 --> 13:18.000 today, I noticed patterns where they would use different tactics to try to control 13:18.000 --> 13:18.460 people. 13:18.960 --> 13:22.800 And one was that they would threaten to call them a heretic. 13:23.580 --> 13:28.780 And due to the influence that the church had over these nations, that terrified 13:28.780 --> 13:32.940 people because they were scared to death that they were going to lose their 13:32.940 --> 13:37.900 employment or their land or their possessions or whatever if they were 13:37.900 --> 13:41.800 judged and ruled as a heretic of the church. 13:42.500 --> 13:46.680 And they would also threaten to excommunicate them from the church, 13:46.760 --> 13:51.340 which also terrified people because it went beyond just this life. 13:51.480 --> 13:55.440 They're thinking, these people don't know any better, so they're thinking, 13:55.820 --> 14:00.780 oh my gosh, I'm going to be facing eternity in hell if these people 14:00.780 --> 14:02.000 excommunicate me. 14:02.580 --> 14:07.680 They had this belief that the Pope had that kind of power, that if he could say 14:07.680 --> 14:09.840 that, then you're doomed for eternity. 14:10.700 --> 14:14.600 And it's just a horrible, horrible way to manipulate people. 14:15.340 --> 14:17.700 But that's the way Rome has operated. 14:19.160 --> 14:26.120 And to make matters worse, they actually officially embraced torture as a means of 14:26.120 --> 14:32.740 extracting confessions from these people who were suspected of heresy, which is a 14:32.740 --> 14:36.060 crime that usually there's no evidence of whatsoever. 14:36.540 --> 14:41.880 Maybe there was some rumor circulating, maybe somebody didn't like you in your 14:41.880 --> 14:44.800 town or your family, and they reported you. 14:45.500 --> 14:50.200 So you didn't even have to have done anything in particular. 14:50.340 --> 14:57.500 You could just be ruined overnight by some rumor or some accusation that comes out of 14:57.500 --> 14:58.120 left field. 14:58.760 --> 15:07.020 And so these kinds of activities by the Roman Catholic Church just created terror 15:07.020 --> 15:11.660 in the lands that they ruled and a climate of fear. 15:11.880 --> 15:18.200 It's just so pervasive that everyone is scared to death to say the wrong thing for 15:18.200 --> 15:23.580 fear that someone will overhear them and turn them in to their priest or their 15:23.580 --> 15:26.460 bishop and accuse them of being a heretic. 15:27.860 --> 15:32.700 And so they would set up these inquisition centers and bring people in for 15:32.700 --> 15:33.300 questioning. 15:34.440 --> 15:39.620 And by that time, if they were suspected of heresy, there was almost nothing they 15:39.620 --> 15:41.360 could say to defend themselves. 15:41.500 --> 15:46.700 In fact, the inquisitors weren't very interested in giving them a chance to 15:46.700 --> 15:47.480 defend themselves. 15:47.640 --> 15:52.500 What they were interested in was extracting that confession through means 15:52.500 --> 15:53.120 of torture. 15:53.840 --> 16:02.220 And that included the most barbaric forms of torture that were routinely used in 16:02.220 --> 16:03.620 these inquisition centers. 16:04.600 --> 16:09.840 And I'm going to read you just a few examples just because I just want us to 16:09.840 --> 16:10.260 hear it. 16:10.460 --> 16:13.740 I mean, it happened and it's so horrible. 16:14.140 --> 16:16.340 And it's been swept under the rug. 16:16.700 --> 16:19.480 And that's the part that really bothers me. 16:20.060 --> 16:22.240 So I don't like sweeping it under the rug. 16:22.360 --> 16:27.140 I like shining a big old spotlight on it and call the whole world's attention and 16:27.140 --> 16:32.440 say, hey, hey, hey, everybody look what you did and give us an answer. 16:33.220 --> 16:38.160 And what have you done to fix this problem so that it never happens again? 16:38.840 --> 16:43.420 No, I don't really like it when it's just like it didn't happen. 16:43.880 --> 16:47.460 We just all go through life and we don't hear a peep about it. 16:47.860 --> 16:50.320 It happened repeatedly for centuries. 16:51.060 --> 16:55.140 So these people, I believe, need to be held accountable for their crimes. 16:55.980 --> 17:00.300 Otherwise, they're guaranteed to just keep doing what they've always done. 17:00.760 --> 17:02.120 And that's what they're doing. 17:02.600 --> 17:06.500 Matter of fact, this Office of the Inquisition never has gone away. 17:07.240 --> 17:10.980 It continued operating all through these centuries. 17:11.180 --> 17:15.460 And it wasn't until 1908 that they changed the name of it but kept it in place. 17:15.760 --> 17:20.220 And then in 1965, they changed the name of it again, but it's still the same office. 17:20.940 --> 17:22.060 It never went away. 17:22.340 --> 17:23.600 It still exists today. 17:23.960 --> 17:26.080 It's incredible defiance. 17:27.120 --> 17:31.920 And so, anyway, they had some horrible things that they would do to extract these 17:31.920 --> 17:38.060 confessions from people that included scalding them with hot water or oil, 17:39.240 --> 17:44.200 making them sit down on these iron chairs that were covered with hundreds of metal 17:44.200 --> 17:44.840 spikes. 17:45.560 --> 17:51.360 And then in the center of the seat was a hole, and underneath the seat was a fire, 17:51.580 --> 17:52.480 a coal fire. 17:53.180 --> 17:55.320 And they would strap them to the chair. 17:56.100 --> 18:00.080 And so they would just suffer great pain because of these metal spikes that they're 18:00.080 --> 18:03.600 sitting on and this intense heat coming from under the chair. 18:05.220 --> 18:11.280 And so, how long would you be willing to sit there before you begin to confess that 18:11.280 --> 18:13.780 you're a heretic, even though you're not? 18:15.160 --> 18:20.220 And so another device that they used was these racks where they would stretch 18:20.220 --> 18:26.060 people from one end to the other until their limbs, their arms and legs, 18:26.140 --> 18:28.760 are literally being pulled out of joint. 18:30.260 --> 18:35.420 And so the pain would just be so intense that they would just be like out of their 18:35.420 --> 18:37.000 mind, wanting relief. 18:37.880 --> 18:39.800 And, you know, that was the purpose. 18:39.800 --> 18:44.200 It was designed to be hideous, to get them to confess. 18:45.460 --> 18:51.000 And another thing that they did, they would use red-hot iron forceps to 18:51.000 --> 18:57.220 tear out the person's teeth or pull out their fingernails or their toenails. 18:58.220 --> 19:01.760 And if you still won't confess, they have more. 19:02.300 --> 19:03.620 They have the iron presses. 19:04.080 --> 19:09.540 They make you put your thumb in there or your foot or your leg or even your head 19:09.540 --> 19:17.060 and begin to tighten the press until they eventually crush your thumb or your foot 19:17.060 --> 19:19.680 or your leg or even your head. 19:21.160 --> 19:24.720 And they had whips that they would scourge people with. 19:25.200 --> 19:29.300 And they had red-hot irons that they would burn their flesh. 19:30.120 --> 19:33.980 And all these things were approved by the Pope. 19:34.300 --> 19:40.980 There was a papal bull, which is a papal order that was released in the year 1252 19:40.980 --> 19:48.760 that specifically authorized the use of torture in inquisitions and included these 19:48.760 --> 19:49.720 torture methods. 19:50.420 --> 19:58.660 And this papal bull specifically said that as heretics are murderers of souls as well 19:58.660 --> 20:05.560 as robbers of God's sacraments and of the Christian faith, they are to be coerced as 20:05.560 --> 20:09.660 are thieves and bandits into confessing their errors. 20:10.460 --> 20:17.080 And so these horrible events were not isolated events, but they were condoned 20:17.080 --> 20:19.580 from the very top, from the Pope. 20:20.180 --> 20:26.500 But the Inquisition was really a smaller part in the overall scheme of things 20:26.500 --> 20:32.460 because the larger numbers of persecutions came through the Crusades. 20:32.860 --> 20:38.560 Because it was during the Crusades that they targeted larger cities and actually 20:38.560 --> 20:44.440 destroyed entire populations of different cities all in one event. 20:45.280 --> 20:52.060 And so the Crusades were taking care of big problems, entire cities, whereas the 20:52.060 --> 20:57.120 Inquisition was focused on hunting down individual heretics. 20:57.820 --> 21:04.480 And they would send out Dominican priests two by two to go into these areas and to 21:04.480 --> 21:05.200 investigate. 21:05.980 --> 21:10.620 And they would also employ the local priests and the local bishops and get them 21:10.620 --> 21:16.060 to actively participate in reporting any potential suspects. 21:16.980 --> 21:24.040 And so all the priests and bishops in the local areas were part of a surveillance 21:24.040 --> 21:29.840 effort to constantly report back on what people in their areas were doing and 21:29.840 --> 21:30.160 saying. 21:31.500 --> 21:35.960 And another interesting thing that was happening during all these centuries was 21:35.960 --> 21:43.120 the spread of monasteries where monks and nuns would live. 21:43.520 --> 21:49.660 But the purpose for the monasteries was primarily surveillance of those areas to 21:49.660 --> 21:54.380 report back what was happening and what people were thinking and saying in those 21:54.380 --> 22:00.060 areas so that the Pope would have information for making his decisions 22:00.060 --> 22:03.920 because information moved so much slower back then. 22:04.840 --> 22:10.440 And so they had to have boots on the ground everywhere, and that was the true 22:10.440 --> 22:11.920 purpose for the monasteries. 22:12.920 --> 22:16.600 And of course today they don't need that so much because we all have a little 22:16.600 --> 22:20.480 monastery in our pocket which is called a cell phone. 22:21.280 --> 22:26.120 And it's a great device for surveillance because we're connected to the internet 22:26.120 --> 22:27.360 all the time. 22:27.640 --> 22:34.000 And so the NSA, the fusion centers, they can listen in on our conversations, 22:34.740 --> 22:39.280 they can capture our emails and our text messages, and they know what we're saying, 22:39.360 --> 22:42.220 who we're talking to, our network of friends and family. 22:42.780 --> 22:44.580 They have all the information they want. 22:44.900 --> 22:47.000 But back in those days they didn't have all that. 22:47.640 --> 22:49.380 And so they relied on these other means. 22:50.660 --> 22:57.080 And so all of those things took time for the Roman Catholic Church to build out the 22:57.080 --> 23:01.360 infrastructure so that they had the facilities in place and the people in 23:01.360 --> 23:03.560 place all throughout these lands. 23:04.260 --> 23:07.280 And of course, you know, that took centuries to build all that out. 23:07.620 --> 23:10.680 But during that time they grew in power. 23:11.320 --> 23:12.580 They grew in influence. 23:13.200 --> 23:14.780 And they grew in wealth. 23:15.320 --> 23:19.960 Because while all those things were happening, they were extracting money from 23:19.960 --> 23:21.240 the lands where they went. 23:21.880 --> 23:25.000 And one of the ways they did that was by selling indulgences. 23:25.760 --> 23:31.720 And what that means is they would sometimes sell prayers where they would 23:31.720 --> 23:36.500 agree to pray for them or for their family members or even for their deceased family 23:36.500 --> 23:41.560 members because they taught that they could pray and get their deceased family 23:41.560 --> 23:46.100 members released from this place they called purgatory, which does not exist 23:46.100 --> 23:47.220 anywhere in the Scriptures. 23:47.460 --> 23:52.400 It's very unscriptural, but it's a very convenient way to raise money if you can 23:52.400 --> 23:57.040 get people to believe that there is such a place and that by praying for the dead 23:57.040 --> 24:00.280 that they can actually get them released from there. 24:01.360 --> 24:04.800 And they would actually sell salvation as well. 24:04.900 --> 24:11.160 They would sell eternal salvation for a sizable donation and give the person a 24:11.160 --> 24:11.600 receipt. 24:11.820 --> 24:16.240 This is your receipt, so hold on to it because this receipt is your ticket to 24:16.240 --> 24:16.520 heaven. 24:17.400 --> 24:24.040 Back in those days, it was easy for the church to take advantage of people because 24:24.040 --> 24:27.160 the people did not have the knowledge of the Word of God. 24:27.320 --> 24:30.780 They did not have access to the Scriptures the way we have today. 24:31.800 --> 24:36.220 In fact, the only Scriptures around were handwritten. 24:36.380 --> 24:38.600 There were no printing presses back in these days. 24:39.120 --> 24:42.200 We're talking before the invention of the printing press. 24:42.840 --> 24:46.900 It was just shortly before the time of Martin Luther that the printing press was 24:46.900 --> 24:49.280 invented in the late 15th century. 24:50.080 --> 24:54.920 So for all these years, these people had no real knowledge of the Scriptures and 24:54.920 --> 25:00.160 roamed it all they could to prevent people from getting that access, even in the 25:00.160 --> 25:00.940 monasteries. 25:01.680 --> 25:08.160 The monasteries, there was only one Bible and it was chained to the pulpit so that 25:08.160 --> 25:12.660 nobody could take it with them anywhere else and try to read it. 25:12.900 --> 25:18.220 And it was written in Latin and that's a testimony of Martin Luther who, 25:18.380 --> 25:24.580 for some time, served as a monk in a monastery because he didn't know any 25:24.580 --> 25:25.840 better when he was younger. 25:26.360 --> 25:29.060 He thought that was the way to devote his life to God. 25:29.340 --> 25:36.580 But he wanted to learn the Scriptures and he was surprised by what he saw in the 25:36.580 --> 25:41.820 people there and the fact that there were no Scriptures except this one that he said 25:41.820 --> 25:43.440 was chained to the pulpit. 25:44.020 --> 25:46.860 But he would go there and he would study and learn. 25:47.200 --> 25:52.560 But for the most part, it was very difficult for people to ever get a good 25:52.560 --> 25:58.560 Bible teaching unless they happened to know Latin or unless they happened to have 25:58.560 --> 26:01.980 the Scriptures that had been translated into their language. 26:02.760 --> 26:08.140 And thank God there were communities where the Word of God did take root and 26:08.140 --> 26:11.000 Christianity was growing strong in some areas. 26:11.720 --> 26:18.300 And wherever that happened, it presented a big problem for the Pope because he had no 26:18.300 --> 26:22.600 control over people once they were truly in a relationship with Jesus Christ. 26:23.820 --> 26:26.380 And so that's what the Crusades were all about. 26:26.740 --> 26:30.660 It was about crushing heresy as they defined it. 26:31.180 --> 26:37.400 And this is another great example of how the truth of history is completely the 26:37.400 --> 26:40.880 opposite of what we've always heard our whole life. 26:41.300 --> 26:45.920 You know, I always heard that the Crusades were all about the Christians going and 26:45.920 --> 26:49.480 fighting against the Muslims in the Holy Land. 26:50.280 --> 26:57.540 But that is a severely distorted, twisted view of history because it leaves 26:57.540 --> 27:03.620 out the true facts that what happened was the Roman Catholic Church went throughout 27:03.620 --> 27:09.840 Europe and identified cities where there were Christians and massacred all of them. 27:10.020 --> 27:16.420 So how could the Crusades be defined as the Christians against the Muslims when it 27:16.420 --> 27:20.900 was the Christians who were being massacred by the Roman Catholic Church? 27:21.060 --> 27:24.480 The whole Crusades was led by the Pope. 27:24.740 --> 27:27.100 It was a call to arms by the Pope. 27:28.160 --> 27:36.540 It was back in 1095 when Pope Urban II issued a call to arms at the Council of 27:36.540 --> 27:37.200 Clermont. 27:38.140 --> 27:41.420 And after he made that call, there was a huge uprising. 27:42.160 --> 27:46.620 There were actually millions of people that joined in the cause and left their 27:46.620 --> 27:52.360 home and their nations behind and went to the Middle East and fought for the sake of 27:52.360 --> 27:55.580 the Pope to take Jerusalem away from the Muslims. 27:55.940 --> 27:57.580 But those were not Christians. 27:58.100 --> 28:02.540 In fact, those mobs murdered many Christians along the way. 28:03.240 --> 28:08.960 And the Middle East was just part of the Crusades because they turned their sights 28:08.960 --> 28:15.260 on cities of Europe that had Christian populations and annihilated them. 28:16.060 --> 28:18.340 And the Pope was behind the whole thing. 28:18.820 --> 28:24.260 So how can we portray the Crusades as the Christians against the Muslims? 28:24.680 --> 28:25.560 It wasn't. 28:25.740 --> 28:31.200 It was the Catholics against the heretics who were not submitted to the Pope. 28:31.700 --> 28:38.900 For example, in the year 1209, a city in southern France along the coast 28:38.900 --> 28:45.620 called Béziers was targeted for destruction in the Crusades because the 28:45.620 --> 28:50.540 population was largely Christians and also some Jews living there. 28:51.260 --> 28:57.900 And the population at that time was estimated to be about 15,000 people. 28:58.780 --> 29:04.760 But because of the threat that they sensed from the Crusades, all the people in the 29:04.760 --> 29:09.440 surrounding areas abandoned their homes and came inside the city. 29:09.900 --> 29:14.520 So it was estimated that the total population in the city at that time was 29:14.520 --> 29:18.940 about four times the normal level, about 60,000 people. 29:19.780 --> 29:26.080 And this city was horrified to see a large army gathering around their city to invade 29:26.080 --> 29:26.380 it. 29:26.880 --> 29:33.960 And this army was made up of mercenary soldiers who were under contract to fight 29:33.960 --> 29:37.040 in behalf of the Pope for 40 days. 29:37.800 --> 29:41.500 And in exchange, he would give them eternal life. 29:41.980 --> 29:48.660 And as an added bonus, he would let them share in taking the possessions of the 29:48.660 --> 29:51.140 people that they were going to kill in this city. 29:51.740 --> 29:56.640 And so these Christians in this city, they were not prepared to fight like that. 29:56.740 --> 29:59.500 They didn't have a chance to withstand this attack. 30:00.440 --> 30:04.180 And I'm going to read this one paragraph that describes what happened. 30:04.260 --> 30:09.460 It says, The multitude, when they saw that the city was taken, they fled to the 30:09.460 --> 30:12.760 churches and began to toll the bells by way of supplication. 30:13.640 --> 30:17.360 This only the sooner drew upon themselves the swords of the assassins. 30:17.640 --> 30:20.720 The wretched citizens were slaughtered in a trice. 30:21.140 --> 30:23.440 Their dead bodies covered the floor of the church. 30:23.900 --> 30:26.080 They were piled in heaps around the altar. 30:26.080 --> 30:29.100 Their blood flowed in torrents at the door. 30:29.680 --> 30:34.380 Seven thousand dead bodies were counted in the Magdalene alone. 30:35.480 --> 30:40.800 And when the crusaders had massacred the last living creature in Béziers and had 30:40.800 --> 30:45.460 pillaged the houses of all that they thought worth carrying off, they set fire 30:45.460 --> 30:51.580 to the city in every part at once and reduced it to a vast funeral pile. 30:52.180 --> 30:56.580 Not a house remained standing, not one human being alive. 30:58.060 --> 31:05.920 And that was written in 1878 by James Wiley in a book called The History of 31:05.920 --> 31:07.100 Protestantism. 31:08.620 --> 31:11.320 It's an awesome book if you get a chance to read it. 31:11.880 --> 31:15.920 But the attack on Béziers was not an isolated incident. 31:16.920 --> 31:22.620 The same year, the crusaders turned their sights on another city in southern France, 31:22.940 --> 31:28.100 called Carcassonne, and they attacked Carcassonne the same way. 31:29.120 --> 31:34.400 The people of Carcassonne put up a much better fight, however, and many of them 31:34.400 --> 31:39.820 were able to escape, but many had remained in the city and all of them were put to 31:39.820 --> 31:46.220 death for the crime of being Christians who were not Roman Catholics in submission 31:46.220 --> 31:47.740 to the Pope. 31:47.740 --> 31:55.640 Now, there were many other examples of the Pope raising up armies to attack and 31:55.640 --> 32:02.220 annihilate Christians throughout Europe, including the Hussites in Bohemia, 32:03.020 --> 32:07.860 the Albigensians, the Waldensians, and many others. 32:08.840 --> 32:14.360 And so, the Crusades were not about Christians fighting Muslims, it was about 32:14.360 --> 32:19.940 Christians being slaughtered by the Roman Catholic Church as they had all of Europe 32:19.940 --> 32:24.400 in turmoil and many innocent people murdered. 32:25.140 --> 32:31.840 So, it was correctly called the Dark Ages as this Roman kingdom was so filled with 32:31.840 --> 32:37.820 spiritual darkness that they led the rest of the world into deep darkness. 32:38.560 --> 32:45.680 But while the rest of the world suffered terribly, Rome advanced their kingdom and 32:45.680 --> 32:49.600 gained great power and wealth and influence throughout the world. 32:50.460 --> 32:55.740 So, by all outward appearances, it looked like their strategy was working, 32:56.540 --> 33:02.560 but yet they were in for a surprise as God had raised up a man, Martin Luther, 33:03.140 --> 33:05.160 who was willing to stand up to them. 33:05.620 --> 33:10.180 And we're going to discuss that turn of events in our next program. 33:11.020 --> 33:13.620 So, I'm going to stop there for today. 33:13.820 --> 33:14.960 I appreciate you listening. 33:15.180 --> 33:22.200 I know this is not a pleasant topic to cover, but this is a kingdom that I 33:22.200 --> 33:28.300 believe it is vitally important for us to understand the nature of it, because we 33:28.300 --> 33:32.360 are today continuing to live under its power and influence. 33:32.920 --> 33:37.620 And as we can begin to understand these patterns of history, we can see them 33:37.620 --> 33:40.340 repeating right before our eyes today. 33:41.260 --> 33:46.980 And that's why I think it's worth this time to go back and review what they've 33:46.980 --> 33:48.560 done for many centuries. 33:49.140 --> 33:53.360 So, thanks for joining me today, and I hope to be back again soon with 33:53.360 --> 33:54.240 another program. 33:54.580 --> 33:56.120 Until then, so long.