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Series Code: AFDB
Program Code: AFDB000029S
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00:02 male announcer: This presentation is brought
00:03 to you by the friends of the Amazing Facts Ministry. 00:10 Doug Batchelor: Martin Luther, 00:11 the 16th century father of the Reformation, 00:13 showed his grit when he nailed his 95 theses to the door 00:17 of the church in Wittenberg, Germany to protest indulgences, 00:21 and other non-biblical practices endorsed by the Catholic Church. 00:25 After his trial at worms, he was excommunicated from the church, 00:29 making him a fugitive from religious and civil authorities. 00:33 But God provided for his rescue through Frederick the Wise, 00:37 the elector of Saxony, who staged kidnapping the famous 00:40 reformer and offering him safe refuge at Wartburg Castle for 00:43 nearly a year. 00:45 While in exile at the castle, Luther was known 00:48 as Knight George, and the labor to translate 00:50 the New Testament into German, making it more accessible 00:53 to the common people. 00:55 Martin Luther taught that God's grace cannot be earned, 00:59 but it's a gift that comes through faith in Jesus. 01:02 He was appalled by the church's suggestion that forgiveness 01:05 could be bought through an indulgence, 01:07 and he was not afraid to say so. 01:09 Ultimately, his teaching split Christianity, 01:13 but does what Luther taught several centuries ago 01:16 still matter for Christians today? 01:23 Doug Batchelor: We're gonna be talking about something 01:24 connected with October 31. 01:28 It was All Saints Day, believe it or not, 01:31 that's part of the reason it's connected with Halloween. 01:36 But that was a significant day in history in that that was a 01:40 time when Martin Luther posted an advertisement on 01:45 the church doors, inviting other theologians to a debate. 01:49 It was written in Latin. 01:51 He didn't realize he was gonna turn the religious world 01:53 upside down. 01:55 And so, our message today is dealing with the subject 01:57 of Luther and the Reformation and why it still matters. 02:03 Now, I'll give you a little amazing fact you may not know, 02:06 and if you talk to the average person in society 02:07 about Martin Luther, you know who they first think of? 02:11 Martin Luther King, Jr. 02:13 Do you know how Martin Luther King Jr. got his name? 02:17 He was not born Martin Luther King Jr. 02:20 He was born Michael King. 02:23 In fact, Michael King, his father was Michael King also. 02:29 Here was a pastor of a Baptist Church in Atlanta. 02:32 Martin Luther King, Jr.'s father, whose name was 02:35 Michael King, went with some other pastors to Europe. 02:39 They visited the places of the Reformation. 02:42 He was so inspired by the courage of Martin Luther 02:46 the Reformer, that he changed his name. 02:50 And his son was five years old, he changed his name too. 02:54 But he changed his name to Martin Luther King, 02:57 his son was Martin Luther King, Jr. and so even though 03:00 Martin Luther, who was something of a reformer, 03:04 got his name because of the inspiration 03:06 from the life of Martin Luther. 03:08 So, before we can talk a lot about Luther, 03:11 probably need to talk a little bit about the Reformation. 03:14 Revelation 13, "The beast I saw was like a leopard. 03:18 His feet were like the feet of a bear, 03:20 his mouth was like the mouth of a lion. 03:22 The dragon gave him his power, his seat, 03:25 his throne, and great authority." 03:28 You see, it was foretold that this was gonna happen. 03:30 But after the time of the apostles, 03:33 and after this great revival that happened during the church 03:36 of Ephesus, that during the church of Smyrna there'd be 03:38 great persecution and then came the deadliest form 03:41 of persecution at all, a great compromise. 03:45 With a conversion of Constantine, 03:48 or at least a pretended conversion of 03:49 the Roman Emperor Constantine, suddenly Christianity went 03:53 from a forbidden religion, to the government religion. 03:56 It became very vogue to say you're a Christian because 03:59 Constantine said, "We'll conquer unto the sign of the cross." 04:02 His mother claimed Christianity, though he wasn't baptized 04:05 till the time of his death. 04:08 And some of the leaders all wanted to be in the palace. 04:11 They got tired of living in the catacombs. 04:14 And they said, "You know, we'll reach a lot more people in 04:16 Rome if we, you know, just sort of adopt some of their customs 04:21 and traditions, we could get more converts." 04:27 For instance, they had statues all over Rome. 04:31 Idolatry was everywhere. 04:33 The pagans didn't want to give up their statutes and so some 04:35 of the church leaders said, "Well, you know, 04:37 as long as they know that they're not really praying 04:39 to the statues, let's just rename them, 04:42 give them Bible names." 04:43 And they started to take the statues of Mercury, 04:46 and Jupiter, and Apollos, and Diana, and they named them 04:50 Mary, and Peter, James, and John, and Jesus. 04:55 Idolatry suddenly swept through the kingdom. 04:58 The robes and the vestments of the pagan priests 05:02 were suddenly now being worn by the Christian bishops. 05:06 And the simplicity that they once had was lost, 05:08 and it became the state religion. 05:11 And instead of the humble Jesus going around with a staff and 05:14 barefoot or sandals, now all of a sudden they were carrying 05:17 the church leaders around like royalty, 05:20 and they were living in palaces, and everything began to change. 05:24 Let me tell you some of the things that Protestants 05:27 protested against the church had begun to do. 05:30 The Bible teaches we're not to bow down to statues. 05:34 The church began and that's, of course, 05:35 one of the Ten Commandments. 05:37 The church began to say, you can make and bow down the statues 05:39 and pray to them. 05:41 The Bible says Jesus is the only mediator between God and man. 05:45 1 Timothy 2:5, the church began to teach that Mary 05:48 was a co-mediator with Christ, and you could reach Christ 05:51 through the saints. 05:53 They would mediate. 05:54 The Bible teaches that Christ offered a sacrifice 05:58 on the cross once for all. 05:59 Hebrews 7, the church began to teach the priests offer 06:03 Christ's body when they do the mass every time. 06:07 The Bible teaches that all Christians are saints 06:09 and priests. 06:10 Ephesians 1, 1 Peter 2, the church in Rome began to teach 06:14 the priests are a special cast within the Christian community, 06:18 to be treated differently. 06:20 The Bible teaches that we should call no religious leader father, 06:23 Matthew 23:9. 06:25 In the Catholic Church, they began to say you call 06:28 the priests and the Pope and the bishops father. 06:32 The Bible says not to pray in vain repetition. 06:34 Jesus said in Matthew 6:7, the church started saying if you 06:38 want forgiveness, you've gotta repeat this specific prayer over 06:41 and over again, whether it's the Lord's Prayer or Hail Mary. 06:47 The Bible says you confess your sins to God, 06:48 only God can forgive sins. 06:51 Isaiah 43:25, the church in Rome began to say you must confess 06:56 your sins to the priests to obtain forgiveness. 06:59 The teaching of purgatory in limbo, 07:00 prayers for the dead, nowhere in Scripture, 07:02 the relics of paganism. 07:05 The idea of an everlasting hell that begins at the time of death 07:08 before you're even judged, all these things came out of Greek 07:12 mythology about Pluto and Hades. 07:14 And they crept into the church 07:16 until what you had was milkshake. 07:17 It was a stew. 07:19 It was a hash where you had the commingling 07:21 of some Christian truths, but a lot of paganism. 07:27 The church had fallen, and they then had military power, 07:29 and they began to persecute those who are faithful 07:32 to the Word, who had to flee into the wilderness. 07:35 So, you set the stage for this great apostasy 07:38 that the apostles foretold was coming. 07:42 And there's a lot more I could say about the corruption 07:44 that had come in. 07:46 But it got so bad that the church, 07:48 realizing people reading the Bible would find out these 07:51 problems and false doctrines, they took the Bibles 07:54 away from the people. 07:56 They said, "Only the priests can understand the Bible," and it 07:58 got to the point where very few priests could even read 08:01 and have the Bible. 08:02 And it just fell into formalism, and it became 08:04 a corrupt institution. 08:06 So, what the reformers wanted to do was bring the Word 08:09 back to the people. 08:11 One of the early reformers, there were many through history. 08:13 The records have been destroyed because the church would destroy 08:15 these records. 08:18 He was the one who actually put the Scriptures 08:20 in the language of the people. 08:22 His name was John Wycliffe, and you'll find it spelt differently 08:25 because they didn't have the rules of spelling. 08:28 Now sometimes it's Wycliffe, it's Whitecliff, 08:31 it's Whitecliff. 08:33 But everyone in history knows who this great reformer was. 08:35 He was the one who really inspired so many others like us, 08:38 and like Luther. 08:40 He spoke--but he was a priest. 08:43 He was a Roman Catholic priest, but he realized, 08:46 as he read the Scriptures, he was a professor in England 08:48 and he said, "They're not following the Bible." 08:51 He spoke against the abuses in the church. 08:53 He spoke against the way they were robbing the people of funds 08:57 and that the priests were living in luxury, and the monks. 09:00 He challenged the idea that they would sell forgiveness 09:03 for sin for money. 09:05 See, the idea of purgatory and never burn in hell that begins 09:08 a death became very profitable because the church said, 09:12 only the church has the right to get people out of hell. 09:16 Before you go to hell forever, you might just go to purgatory 09:19 and there's still hope for a while. 09:22 But we decide who gets out of purgatory. 09:24 If you make a good offering, we will pray. 09:26 Only the priests have this power. 09:28 And we can shorten their time in purgatory or get them 09:31 out right away, depends on how much you give. 09:34 And so, the people in their superstition, 09:36 they didn't have the Bible. 09:38 They didn't know any different. 09:39 They believed, and they were being abused. 09:42 They were being exploited and robbed. 09:44 So, he spoke against those abuses. 09:46 He challenged the indulgences. 09:48 Here's what Wycliffe said, "It is plain to me that our prelates 09:50 in granting indulgences do commonly blaspheme 09:54 the wisdom of God." 09:56 He repudiated the confessional. 09:58 "Private confession," he wrote, "was not ordered by Christ and 10:02 was not used by the apostles." 10:04 He reiterated the biblical teaching on faith, 10:08 trust holy in Christ, rely altogether on his sufferings, 10:11 beware of seeking to be justified in any other way 10:14 than by his righteousness." 10:18 He believed that every Christian should have access 10:20 to the Scriptures. 10:21 He began translating the Bible into English in 1382, 10:25 and I think it's safe to say, the English translation 10:28 of the Bible that he affected, altered history more than 10:32 any other document. 10:34 Some of you have King James Bibles, 10:36 you got New King James. 10:37 Even if you get an N.I.V. Bible, all of those Bibles 10:40 grew out of the original translation by Wycliffe. 10:43 There were no Bibles in the vernacular of the common people. 10:46 The Bible's were in Latin, and they were very few. 10:50 The first Bible that Luther ultimately found 10:52 was a Latin Bible. 10:54 If he had not learned Latin at the pushing of his father 10:57 earlier, he never would have been able to read it. 10:59 But Wycliffe put the Bible in the language of the people 11:03 and it change history. 11:06 That leads us to someone who's considered to be the Elijah 11:09 of the Protestant Reformation, born November 10, 11:14 in 1483 in Eisleben, Saxony, and that was part 11:18 of the Holy Roman Empire. 11:20 He originally, at the urging of his father, 11:23 he entered school, he studied Latin. 11:25 His father and mother were lower middle-class people. 11:28 Later in his life, they did much better because 11:30 of their industry and thrift. 11:33 But they knew education was everything, 11:35 and so they sent their son to school. 11:37 They wanted him to be a lawyer. 11:39 Martin Luther's father had no time for the monks 11:43 in the church. 11:45 He was educated enough to know it was completely corrupt. 11:48 They were exploiting the people. 11:50 And so, Martin Luther studied law. 11:53 He had no peace about his relationship with God. 11:57 And one day after a visit home, he was riding on a horse 11:59 through the woods on his way back to law school, 12:02 he got caught in a terrible thunderstorm. 12:04 Lightning was flashing and clapping all around. 12:07 He knew the strikes were very close. 12:09 He was filled with fear that he was gonna be struck. 12:12 And sure enough, a bolt of lightning struck right 12:15 by him and his horse. 12:17 He fell from his horse like the Apostle Paul and in terror, 12:22 he cried out to Saint Anne and said, 12:25 "Save my life, and I will be a monk." 12:29 Well, the storm died away and he realized, 12:32 "I was saved, and I made a vow to God." 12:37 And against the pleading of his father, 12:40 he entered the monastery. 12:42 His father didn't want him to waste his life. 12:44 He said, "You're wasting all these years of education 12:45 I paid for. 12:47 You're gonna become a useless monk." 12:48 And he and his father didn't speak for two years. 12:51 But he realized he had no peace. 12:53 He entered the monastery, and he did everything he could 12:55 to try to find peace with God. 12:57 He prayed. 12:59 He confessed his sins. 13:01 Matter of fact, he spent one time four hours in confession. 13:05 And the priests were worn out. 13:07 Whenever Luther showed up for confession, 13:09 it would wear them out. 13:10 They didn't want to hear his confessions 'cause every little 13:12 thought, he was so sensitive. 13:14 His conscience was so sensitive to sin that every little 13:16 thought, and he just saw the pride, and he saw the problems, 13:20 and he saw the sin, and all the impurity. 13:22 And he thought, "Well, maybe I'll find peace if I go 13:24 on this pilgrimage to Rome." 13:26 So, he went to Rome and he thought Rome, holy city. 13:29 He'd never been there. 13:30 You know, they didn't have the Internet back then. 13:31 They thought everyone walked on air in Rome. 13:33 That's where the Pope was, where the, you know, 13:36 the the apostles were crucified. 13:39 They called it the Eternal City. 13:41 And when he got there, he found out that it was like, 13:43 it was like Las Vegas. 13:45 It was just a party town, and there was so much debauchery. 13:48 And he went and he stayed in some of the monasteries, 13:52 and his monastery's in Germany. 13:54 They were hungry, they were eating crust. 13:57 Here, they were feasting, and it was like a brothel. 14:00 And he was shocked. 14:02 And then he finally got to Rome and he saw it was 14:04 more of the same. 14:05 But he went to all the holy sites, 14:07 and he's trying to find peace with God. 14:08 Ultimately, he's going up this staircase that supposedly 14:13 was the staircase that where Jesus was tried. 14:16 They called it Pilate's staircase. 14:17 It's still there today. 14:18 People go up on their knees, pilgrims. 14:21 And Luther was going up saying the Lord's Prayer on each 14:24 of the steps, and trying to find some peace with God. 14:28 And the Scripture kept going through his mind, 14:31 "The just shall live by faith." 14:33 And finally, he ran from the place and said, 14:35 "What am I doing, trying to find forgiveness by working? 14:38 I'm supposed to find it by faith." 14:41 Back at the monastery, he had found a Latin copy of the Bible. 14:46 Up until that point, he'd only read little sections 14:47 of the Bible. 14:49 He had no idea that someone had the whole book. 14:50 He said, "I'd give everything for a whole copy of the Bible." 14:54 He just was so thrilled that he could find one 14:58 in the monastery he could read. 15:00 You and I don't know the privilege we have 15:02 to have Bibles, multiple Bibles in our hands. 15:05 And he fell in love with the Word of God. 15:07 The rest of his life, he was never the same. 15:09 Everything was about the Word of God. 15:11 He saw it as the final authority. 15:13 He could not trust, the declarations, 15:15 and the edicts of the church. 15:17 He could not trust the words of various priests and monks. 15:21 He realized the only authority for what is truth, 15:24 and he'd studied philosophy, he'd studied law, 15:26 he studied Augustine. 15:27 He studied everything. 15:29 Said, "The final word in life has to be a book that is divine. 15:32 It's the Word of God." 15:34 So, everything Luther did from that point was because 15:36 of his respect for the Bible. 15:39 Doug: Don't go anywhere, friends. 15:42 In just a moment, we're going to return for the rest 15:44 of today's presentation. 15:46 No other book in the Bible has been more misunderstood 15:49 than the Book of Revelation. 15:51 Maybe you've even been a little frustrated trying 15:53 to comprehend it on your own. 15:55 After all, the book is filled with mysterious symbols, 15:58 ominous predictions, and strange beasts. 16:01 Nevertheless, Jesus did pronounce a blessing 16:04 on those who read and keep the things written in this book. 16:08 Well, I've got good news, the Book of Revelation can be 16:11 understood and we'd like to help you experience that blessing. 16:16 "Amazing Facts" wants to send you a powerful resource called 16:19 "Revelation: The Bride, The Beast and Babylon." 16:23 It's a 60-minute documentary DVD that reveals the true identity 16:27 of the beast power in Revelation, 16:29 and it's a vivid panorama of biblical history 16:32 from the time of Christ to our present day. 16:34 This eye-opening feature, which includes subtitles in many major 16:39 languages, will show you how you can be ready 16:41 for the final events of prophecy. 16:44 To get your free copy, call the number on the screen 16:46 and ask for offer number 817, or visit the web address. 16:50 And after you read this incredible resource, 16:52 make sure and share it with a friend. 16:54 Well, let's return to today's presentation and learn some more 16:58 amazing facts from the Word God. 17:02 Doug: On the Bible, Luther said, 17:04 "The Bible is alive. 17:06 It speaks to me. 17:07 It has feet, it runs after me. 17:09 It has hands, it lays hold of me." 17:12 On church practices, "A simple layman," he said, 17:15 "armed with the Scriptures is to be believed above the Pope, 17:18 or Cardinal, or Cardinal without it." 17:21 On human nature he said, "Nothing is easier 17:24 than sinning." 17:26 And finally, when he saw the abuses that were happening 17:28 in the church compared with the Bible, 17:30 he said, "Someone needs to speak up against this." 17:33 He realized the church needs revival. 17:35 Now, right about this time, the church was trying 17:39 to build St. Peter's Basilica, which is today one of 17:42 the biggest churches, if not the biggest church, in the world. 17:45 They needed a lot of money. 17:47 They were spending all the money on the excesses of Rome 17:49 so they needed new revenue. 17:51 So, they thought, we'll have a fundraising campaign. 17:53 They had a different kind of capital campaign than we do. 17:56 They said, "We're gonna sell licenses to sin." 17:59 Not only will you sell a license to you, 18:01 and I've actually got documents I could show you that have 18:03 price lists for various sins, everything from adultery. 18:08 They had a price for murder. 18:10 They had a price list for sin, that you can be forgiven. 18:14 You could purchase, in advance, forgiveness for these things. 18:18 Not only that, you could pay and have your former friends 18:22 and family, that may have been total atheists, 18:25 to get them out of purgatory. 18:29 And this guy named Tetzel, he came into Wittenberg 18:34 and he started to tell people, "You know, 18:35 you come and we're gonna start this fire here. 18:38 And you've got your loved ones." 18:40 And they had a big bonfire and they said, 18:41 "Your loved ones are burning the fires of purgatory, 18:43 but you can get them out right now. 18:45 As soon as the money in the coffer's ring, 18:49 a soul from purgatory flings," or something like that. 18:52 Anyway, he had a little poem, of course, 18:55 it was in German so I don't know what the original was. 18:58 But he had all this, this whole marketing program. 18:59 And everybody lined up and they're buying 19:01 these indulgences. 19:02 And they're showing up to Luther and saying, 19:04 "We don't have to confess our sins anymore because I got-- 19:05 I bought an indulgence. 19:07 I'm good to go. 19:09 I can sin all I want now because I bought--" 19:12 You know, get out of jail card, you ever play Monopoly? 19:15 It was your get out of purgatory card. 19:19 And Luther said, "That's not how you get forgiveness. 19:22 You must repent, you must confess, you must turn." 19:25 And he was outraged. 19:27 And so, with all of this going on across Europe and had come 19:28 to his own town, he said, "Enough is enough, 19:31 we gotta talk about this. 19:33 This is unbiblical." 19:34 So, that's when he took his Ninety-five Theses 19:36 and he named it, and nailed it on the door. 19:38 Well, first he thought it was just gonna be looked at 19:40 by the theologians around the campus. 19:42 But, you know, right about this time, 19:44 the printing press was invented. 19:46 Isn't that interesting? 19:48 It's like what, you know, the internet now. 19:51 And some of the students took his writings that were 19:53 in the Latin. 19:54 He just meant for it to-- the priests, 19:56 he wanted to reform among the leadership. 19:58 But instead, the students translated it into the language 20:01 of the people, and they got some of it to Gutenberg. 20:05 And all of a sudden, Luther's writings, 20:07 the first book on a printing press was the Bible. 20:09 But a lot of Luther's writings were on the printing presses 20:12 that were being built now. 20:13 They began to go, not only throughout Germany, 20:15 they began to go overseas to England, 20:17 and to Sweden, and all of a sudden everybody 20:20 was talking about it. 20:22 Then they told Luther, "You gotta come to Rome, 20:24 answer for your charges." 20:25 He said, "I'm not going to Rome." 20:27 And the Pope would denounced him, 20:28 and he'd send a bull. 20:30 And Luther would stand up in his town. 20:31 The bull was this big letter from the Pope. 20:33 Luther would burn the Pope's letter. 20:35 I mean, people were aghast that he would have 20:37 the audacity to do that. 20:39 They were burning his writings in Rome, 20:41 Luther said, "I'm gonna burn your writings here." 20:44 He says, "I've got the truth on my side." 20:47 And they were hurling threats back and they said, 20:49 "You're excommunicated, you're consigned to the flames," 20:52 and just everything about Luther. 20:55 But the people in the town loved him, and the Germans, 20:57 they were getting tired of being taxed by Rome. 21:00 They started to stand up for Luther as their hero. 21:05 And pretty soon, he agrees to go to this August assembly. 21:12 They say Worms, if you're in Germany, I've been there. 21:14 It was all the princes. 21:16 It was a Holy Roman Empire then. 21:17 Europe was not divided in the way it is today, 21:20 and the different princes, and rulers, 21:22 and kings of the different territories came to this 21:24 incredible gathering for the purpose of letting this poor, 21:29 humble monk, who is born of a father who was a copper miner, 21:35 and he's now going to speak against the largest institution 21:39 in the world back then, which was the Roman Catholic Church. 21:42 And here's the actual answer of Luther, 21:46 and this was given to the Diet of Worms in 1521. 21:50 You can see, he posted his thing 1517, and so, 21:53 I'd been spreading for several years. 21:56 "Since your majesty and your lordships desire a simple reply, 21:59 I will answer without horns and without teeth. 22:02 Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason-- 22:05 I do not accept the authority of popes and councils for they have 22:09 contradicted each other-- my conscience is captive 22:11 to the Word of God. 22:13 I cannot and I will not recant," in other words, 22:16 renounce what he had said. 22:18 "Anything, for to go against conscience is neither right 22:21 nor safe. 22:22 God help me. 22:23 Amen." 22:26 He was something of a modern-day Elijah that God used. 22:30 You see, Elijah was a person, he appears 22:32 out of nowhere in history. 22:35 Doesn't talk about his family, says very little about 22:38 where he's from, but there was a time of great apostasy 22:42 had come to God's people in the Old Testament. 22:44 You see, what happened is the King Ahab, the government, 22:48 he married a pagan Queen, Jezebel, 22:53 the daughter of Ithobaal, 22:55 the king of Sidonians where they worship Baal. 23:00 And they began to replace the worship of God with the worship 23:03 of Baal, and idolatry was introduced in the kingdom. 23:07 And they sort of commingled and corrupted the worship 23:10 of the true God. 23:12 Well, because of this terrible apostasy, 23:14 God said that Ahab lead the people to sin more than 23:18 any that were before him because his wife spurned him on. 23:24 And Bible analogies, the king, the government is the state, 23:27 a woman represent what? 23:30 Represents the church. 23:32 So here, you had the commingling of the church and the state. 23:36 Jezebel began to persecute the prophets of God. 23:40 They went underground, they had to go into the wilderness, 23:43 they hid in caves. 23:45 And during this time of great famine, 23:47 God finally instructed Elijah to do something that was very bold. 23:51 He summoned the king. 23:54 He confronted the king with his sins. 23:56 He said, "You gather all of Israel to me, 23:58 and we're gonna find that which god is the real God." 24:00 And there was an assembly on top of Mount Carmel where 24:04 all the prophets of Baal, there are about 400 of them. 24:07 By the way, you'll read this in 1 Kings 18:22. 24:11 "Elijah said to the people, 'I alone am left of the prophet 24:14 of the Lord; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men." 24:17 And he issued a challenge, "How long will you halt 24:20 between two opinions? 24:21 If the lord of Jehovah is God, worship him. 24:24 If Baal is God, worship him. 24:26 I have a proposition let's see which God is the real God. 24:29 You build an altar to your god, I'll build an altar to Jehovah. 24:32 Whichever god answers by fire, he is the God. 24:37 Any moment, they had been searching 24:38 all over the country for Elijah because of the famine. 24:40 They had his wanted poster everywhere. 24:43 Now suddenly, he boldly appears in front of all of them, 24:46 and nobody dare touches him. 24:49 And he issues this command, he said, 24:51 "Let's find out who has the Word of God." 24:54 And then, you know, they built their altar to Baal 24:56 and they sacrificed, they danced, and sang, 24:58 and shouted all day long, and they cut themselves 25:01 and carried on and nothing but flies. 25:06 Elijah kneels down at the end, and he prays a prayer, 25:09 takes 30 seconds. 25:12 He prays a prayer, a simple, humble prayer and said, 25:14 "Lord God, show these people that you are the true God. 25:16 Bring them back to you again, and show that 25:18 I've done these things at your Word." 25:20 And pow, lightning flashes down like an arc welder 25:23 on the altar of Elijah, burns up the sacrifices, 25:27 burns up the rocks, burns up the water that was in the ditch. 25:31 And the people fell down and said, 25:33 "The Lord, He is God. 25:34 The Lord, He is God." 25:36 And the prophets of Baal start to slink away from the scene. 25:39 Elijah says, "Seize them," and all the prophets of Baal 25:43 were slain. 25:45 That one man had the courage to stand up at the risk of 25:49 his life against an institution that had been corrupt. 25:52 And it wasn't over yet, but through Elijah, 25:55 and through Elisha, and those that followed, 25:58 a revival was brought about a Great Reformation. 26:02 Are the principles of the Reformation under attack 26:04 right now? 26:06 What's changed? 26:08 Does the Catholic Church still believe in indulgences? 26:11 They do. 26:12 They still offer them. 26:14 Pope Francis offered a year of mercy and indulgence. 26:17 Do they still have idols that they pray to? 26:21 Do they still have purgatory? 26:23 Do they still venerate Mary? 26:26 If you go to the--do they still celebrate the mass 26:28 and say they've got the power to turn the bread 26:30 into the body of Christ? 26:31 If you go to what the issues were that the reformers 26:34 protested against, none of them have been changed, 26:38 and the Protestant leaders are capitulating, 26:41 they're surrendering, and accepting 26:44 Baal worship, basically. 26:47 God needs more Elijahs today. 26:50 You know, the Bible says, "Behold, 26:51 I send you Elijah the Prophet." 26:53 Not only did John the Baptist come in the spirit 26:55 and the power of Elijah, Martin Luther 26:59 and many reformers did the work of Elijah and Elisha. 27:03 But Jesus isn't here yet. 27:05 Just before Christ even simultaneous with Christ's 27:08 first coming, John the baptist was doing his work. 27:11 I believe God is looking for people that will do the work of 27:14 Elijah in the world today that will speak up boldly and say, 27:19 "This is what the Bible says. 27:20 It doesn't matter what the church says. 27:22 It doesn't matter what the world is doing. 27:24 Man is gonna live by every word that proceeds 27:26 from the mouth of God." 27:28 We need to have another Reformation. 27:30 We need to be willing to stand like Luther. 27:33 He wasn't afraid of what was gonna happen to him. 27:36 He was more concerned what would happen to the truth 27:39 'cause truth never dies. 27:45 announcer: Don't forget to request today's 27:47 life-changing free resource. 27:48 Not only can you receive this free gift in the mail, 27:50 you can download a digital copy straight to your computer 27:53 or mobile device. 27:55 To get your digital copy of today's free gift, 27:57 simply text the keyword on your screen to 40544, 28:01 or visit the web address shown on your screen. 28:04 And be sure to select the digital download option 28:07 on the request page. 28:12 announcer: And thank you for your continued support as 28:14 we take the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. 28:17 We hope you'll join us next week as we delve deep 28:20 into the Word of God. 28:25 announcer: This presentation was brought to you 28:26 by the friends of the Amazing Facts Ministry. |
Revised 2021-04-21