Participants:
Series Code: AU
Program Code: AU000047S
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00:00 - A lot of people
00:02 understandably have a bad taste in their mouths 00:03 when it comes to the world of organized religion. 00:05 And I get it. 00:07 Religion has done some really, really bad things. 00:10 So how do we explain 00:12 the incredibly bad behavior of Christians? 00:15 [bouncy theme music] 00:37 One of the more embarrassing episodes 00:39 in the history of Western Christianity 00:40 is the St. Bartholomew Day Massacre, 1572. 00:46 It happened when Charles IX and Catherine de Medici 00:49 authorized the widespread slaughter of Huguenot Protestants, 00:53 many of whom were in the city of Paris 00:55 to celebrate a royal wedding, 00:57 a wedding between the royal family's daughter Margaret 01:00 and the Protestant nobleman, Henry of Navarre. 01:04 In the days leading up to this massacre, 01:06 there had been a failed attempt 01:07 on a notable Protestant influencer, 01:10 someone who Catherine feared had too much sway 01:12 with the public. 01:14 Apparently, some people believed that the wars being waged 01:17 between Catholics and Protestants 01:19 could be sharply curtailed 01:21 if certain people just disappeared. 01:24 But assassins failed 01:26 in their attempt to eliminate a key target, 01:28 Admiral Gaspard de Coligny, a leader of the Huguenots 01:33 and ironically, a personal advisor to the king. 01:37 The failed assassination devolved into a much broader order 01:40 to just go out and slaughter all the Huguenots en masse. 01:44 Just get rid of them for good. 01:46 That resulted in what appears 01:48 to be tens of thousands of deaths. 01:51 And I say it appears to be tens of thousands 01:53 because I've seen estimates ranging anywhere 01:55 from 5,000 to 70,000. 01:58 And of course, the number dramatically changes 02:01 depending on whether the historian reporting on the event 02:04 is Catholic or Protestant. 02:06 One side naturally wants to highlight the barbarity 02:09 and the other side naturally would like to play that down. 02:13 But we do know this for sure. 02:15 However big the massacre was, it was absolutely brutal. 02:21 Sometime between midnight and sunrise on August 24th, 1572, 02:27 church bells rung, as they often did. 02:28 But this time the ringing of the bells 02:30 meant it was open season on Huguenots, 02:33 and Swiss mercenaries had a list of prominent leaders 02:36 they were supposed to get rid of. 02:38 And this time, they did succeed in killing the Admiral. 02:42 But the same time, 02:43 they also killed an awful lot of civilians. 02:47 Now, one of the most important lessons we can draw 02:49 from this horrible massacre 02:51 is the fact that Christians in the West 02:53 were behaving very badly. 02:56 A movement launched by the Prince of Peace 02:58 had been transformed into a political machine 03:01 that was being used to seize and/or maintain power. 03:05 What happened was that 03:06 the Church essentially stepped into the power vacuum 03:09 left behind when the Western Roman Empire imploded 03:12 toward the end of the 5th century. 03:14 We just naturally assumed the reigns of government. 03:18 And what we created at that time 03:20 was an absolute monstrosity, 03:22 a tragic perversion of the teachings of Jesus. 03:25 And there's no point trying to deny that this happened. 03:28 You can find this in just about any old history book. 03:31 You'd have to be willfully ignorant 03:34 to say this event didn't happen. 03:36 And the obvious lesson we need to learn as Christians 03:40 is that it's absolutely essential for us 03:42 to cling to our founding document, the Bible, 03:47 and let the teachings of Christ set the standard 03:49 for how the church is going to behave. 03:52 Any other approach only serves to highlight 03:55 the worst things about our human nature. 03:59 Today though, I want to go a little bit further 04:00 and explore another aspect 04:02 of the St. Bartholomew Day Massacre 04:04 that doesn't usually get mentioned very often. 04:07 And that's the influence 04:09 that a now infamous Italian philosopher 04:11 might have had, unwittingly, 04:13 when it came to setting the slaughter in motion. 04:16 His name was Niccolo Machiavelli, 04:19 and the chances are you were required 04:21 to read some of his stuff back in college, like I was, 04:25 or at least you probably heard about it. 04:28 His most influential work is called The Prince. 04:31 And it's a rather bleak view of human nature. 04:34 What Machiavelli believed 04:36 is that most of life is completely out of our control. 04:39 It just carries you along 04:41 and things just happen to you. 04:43 That part of life, he called fortuna, or fortune, 04:47 but the other part of life he said gives you free will. 04:50 You can actually use your intellect and your freedom 04:53 to prepare for the unexpected, to prepare for the worst. 04:57 So let's say you live in Southern California, 05:00 which of course, is very prone to earthquakes. 05:03 And every so often, 05:05 one of those earthquakes 05:06 is really big and completely devastating, 05:09 like the Northridge quake back in 1994. 05:13 According to Machiavelli, 05:15 the earthquake was brought to you courtesy of fortuna. 05:18 It's an event that just happens 05:19 and it's out of your control. 05:22 But because you live in an active seismic zone, 05:25 you can actually use your free will and your intellect 05:27 to prepare for the big one. 05:29 You can have an emergency escape plan. 05:31 You can have emergency supplies. 05:34 You can retrofit your house 05:35 to make it much more resistant to seismic activity. 05:40 What Machiavelli was doing was teaching the Medici family 05:44 how to be more successful rulers, 05:46 or at the very least, 05:48 he was explaining why success happens for some people 05:52 and disaster happens to others. 05:54 He argued that if your basic human nature 05:56 happens to be in harmony with the random events 05:59 that fortune brings to you, 06:01 then you'll be successful. 06:03 But if your essential nature 06:05 is at odds with the things that happen in this world, 06:08 well, then you're going to fail. 06:10 Your job, Machiavelli taught, 06:13 is to meet unforeseen circumstances head-on 06:16 and conquer them. 06:18 Here's how he describes it 06:19 in what is probably the most famous chapter 06:22 of his book, Chapter 25. 06:24 He writes, 06:26 "I compare fortune to one of those dangerous rivers that, 06:29 when they become enraged, flood the plains, 06:31 destroy trees and buildings, 06:33 move earth from one place and deposit it in another. 06:37 Everyone flees before it, 06:38 everyone gives way to its thrust, 06:40 without being able to halt it in any way. 06:44 But this does not mean that, when a river is not in flood, 06:47 men are unable to take precautions, 06:49 by means of dykes and dams, 06:51 so that when it rises next time, 06:53 it will not overflow its banks or, if it does, 06:56 its force will not be so uncontrolled or damaging." 07:01 Now, the need to prepare 07:03 for the unexpected seems obvious. 07:07 But when you notice that the same kinds of disasters 07:10 are going to hit the same location over and over and over, 07:14 and yet it seems like people are caught by surprise 07:17 when a hurricane rips down their house 07:19 for the second or third time, 07:21 well, maybe we should use our reason to figure this out. 07:24 You don't have to fall victim to circumstances 07:27 when they have a reasonable degree of predictability. 07:32 What Machiavelli was doing 07:33 was emphasizing the role of free will 07:36 in a world where most things 07:38 are completely out of our control. 07:40 Fortune might deal you a very bad hand, 07:43 but free will is what a ruler can use 07:45 to counter bad fortune. 07:48 But he also argued 07:50 that a ruler cannot change his or her essential character, 07:53 which means that, yet again, 07:55 you don't have that much control over success or failure. 08:00 Here's a little more from his book, The Prince, 08:02 because I should probably let him speak for himself. 08:04 He says, 08:06 "I would observe that one sees a ruler flourishing today 08:09 and ruined tomorrow, 08:11 without his having changed at all in character or qualities. 08:15 I believe this is attributable, 08:17 first, to the cause previously discussed at length, 08:20 namely, that a ruler who trusts entirely to luck 08:23 comes to grief when his luck runs out. 08:26 Moreover, 08:27 I believe that we are successful 08:29 when our ways are suited to the times and circumstances, 08:33 and unsuccessful when they are not." 08:36 So of course, 08:37 you're probably wondering what that has to do 08:39 with one of the worst religious massacres 08:42 in the history of the Christian Church. 08:44 I'll be right back so I can try to explain it. 08:50 - [Narrator] Life can throw a lot at us. 08:53 Sometimes we don't have all the answers. 08:56 But that's where the Bible comes in. 08:59 It's our guide to a more fulfilling life. 09:02 Here at the Voice of Prophecy, 09:03 we've created the Discover Bible guides 09:05 to be your guide to the Bible. 09:07 They're designed to be simple, easy to use 09:09 and provide answers to many of life's toughest questions, 09:12 and they're absolutely free. 09:14 So jump online now, 09:16 or give us a call and start your journey of discovery. 09:20 - Back in the 16th century, 09:21 Machiavelli was trying to explain 09:23 why some rulers are successful and other rulers are not. 09:26 He placed a great deal of emphasis on the role of fortune 09:29 or fortuna as he called it. 09:32 What he noticed 09:33 is that different rulers have different temperaments. 09:35 And if their temperament 09:37 happens to compliment the unexpected, 09:39 those rulers tended to be successful. 09:42 But if their temperament 09:43 proved to be a detriment at that time, 09:45 well, then obviously it led to disaster. 09:48 Everybody, of course, 09:50 was trying to accomplish more or less 09:52 the same kinds of things. 09:53 They were going after peace or prosperity or power. 09:57 Some monarchs might be reckless and impetuous 10:00 in their pursuit of those things 10:01 and others might be far more patient. 10:04 Some might be forceful and others might be diplomatic. 10:08 And as far as Machiavelli could tell, 10:10 your approach to life didn't really seem to matter 10:13 as long as your temperament happened to line up 10:15 with the current of fortune. 10:18 Now, among all the political philosophers of his day, 10:21 Machiavelli has easily become the most despised. 10:25 What you and I remember him for 10:27 is teaching rulers to do whatever it takes 10:29 to make sure they stay on the throne. 10:32 If you had to do something completely immoral 10:35 to achieve your goals, well, so be it. 10:37 Machiavelli said that's what you have to do. 10:40 And to this day, 10:41 we still use the word Machiavellian 10:43 to describe people who are self-serving, 10:46 manipulative, unscrupulous and dishonest. 10:50 So because of this, 10:51 in 1559 the Catholic Church added The Prince 10:55 to its list of banned books. 10:57 And after the brutal massacre of 1572, 11:00 the Protestants grew to hate Machiavelli too. 11:03 Why? 11:04 Because they suspected that Catherine de Medici 11:08 had been reading this, 11:09 I mean, it was addressed to her family, 11:12 and she was trying to use 11:13 the wholesale slaughter of Huguenots 11:15 to bend fortune in her own direction. 11:19 What Machiavelli taught 11:20 was almost like an early version of situation ethics, 11:23 the system that Joseph Fletcher taught, 11:26 where anything can be deemed appropriate 11:29 as long as you think you have a good reason for doing it. 11:31 In other words, the end justifies the means. 11:34 If you have to be brutal to maintain power, 11:36 well, so be it. 11:38 If you have to lie in order to get what you want, so be it. 11:42 That would be okay as long as the object you want 11:44 is something you think is good. 11:46 And of course, 11:48 that kind of thinking is completely contrary 11:51 to any sense of Christian ethics. 11:53 For years after the massacre, 11:55 a lot of people continued to pin the blame on Machiavelli 11:58 because it seemed to them 12:00 that this was his philosophy put into practice. 12:03 And it wasn't just Christian thought leaders 12:05 who hated Machiavelli's book. 12:07 Members of the royal family hated it too 12:10 because it implied that anybody strong enough 12:13 to seize power by force was entitled to do it. 12:17 And that meant that if you had the means 12:19 to assassinate a monarch, 12:21 you also had a right to occupy their throne. 12:24 It was a recipe for chaos, 12:26 and the massacre that transpired 12:28 in the city of Paris in 1572 was Exhibit A 12:32 for where this kind of thinking could actually take you. 12:36 Now, this is precisely where the record of history 12:39 meets up with the perspective of the Bible, 12:42 which was ironically the sacred textbook 12:45 for everybody at that massacre that day. 12:48 What you find in the Bible is the story of a supreme God 12:52 who allows the human race to go its own way, 12:54 to determine its own destiny. 12:57 After rebelling against the Creator 12:59 and rejecting God's government, 13:01 we were thrown out of paradise 13:03 and we started constructing our own substitute 13:06 for what God had originally provided. 13:09 At first, we built cities, 13:10 and then we built nations, 13:12 and then we built empires, 13:14 in an attempt to recover some of the security we lost 13:18 when we turned our backs on God. 13:20 But what we got in our own version of paradise 13:23 was a continual struggle for power. 13:25 The world had been fundamentally altered 13:28 and now we were subject 13:29 to things like unexpected catastrophes, 13:32 the kinds of things 13:34 that Machiavelli said were a product of fortune. 13:37 And of course, there is some truth to the fact 13:39 that people who bond together in a community 13:42 have a better chance of surviving 13:44 because they have more resources 13:46 and a broader assortment of talent 13:48 and the natural protection you get 13:49 from living in larger populations 13:52 when it comes to things like military invasions. 13:55 We've been watching that play out 13:57 in the city of Kiev recently. 14:00 But of course, 14:01 there's always going to be a serpent 14:03 in these man-made paradises 14:04 because in the brutal reality of a post-Edenic world, 14:08 self always comes before community. 14:12 If you create a situation 14:14 where people can achieve a modicum of power, 14:16 most of them are gonna seize that opportunity. 14:19 Not because it's good for all of us, 14:20 but because it's good for them. 14:23 The common good is almost always gonna take a backseat 14:27 to personal ambition, 14:28 and that's just the way it is. 14:31 I mean, you don't have to go through 14:32 too many election cycles to see this in action. 14:36 A lot of politicians start out with really noble ideas. 14:39 They do. 14:40 I've met some of them. 14:42 They start with a sincere desire to help everybody. 14:46 But once they're presented with the opportunity 14:48 to accumulate some money or power, 14:51 well, let's just say we don't find a whole lot of people 14:54 who seem to be able to resist that temptation. 14:58 What we have in the Bible is a very long story. 15:01 It covers thousands of years. 15:03 And it constantly contrasts something it calls 15:06 the kingdoms of this world 15:08 with the original government of God. 15:12 When you're reading the scriptures 15:13 and you come across the concept of The Nations, 15:17 what it's talking about 15:18 is our lengthy experiment with self-rule. 15:21 In the Old Testament, 15:22 the Hebrew word usually translated as nations is goyim, 15:26 a reference to the Gentiles 15:28 that surrounded the land of Israel. 15:30 In the New Testament, it's the Greek word ethnos, 15:33 which is where we get words like ethnicity or ethnic. 15:38 And what you have outside the gates of Eden 15:41 is two distinct strains of political organization. 15:45 Among the descendants of Abraham, 15:47 you have the Hebrew Republic, 15:49 a nation that didn't have a human monarch in the beginning 15:53 because the real king was the Creator. 15:55 With everybody else, 15:57 you had human government along with all the problems 15:59 that come with self-serving potentates 16:02 who live like Machiavelli, 16:04 trying to bend fortune to their own benefit 16:06 and willing to do whatever it takes. 16:10 And tragically, 16:12 that's what eventually happened in the land of Canaan, 16:14 the land of promise set aside 16:16 for God's system of government. 16:19 The Covenant people grew restless 16:21 and they wanted to be like The Nations. 16:23 They wanted to be exactly like the Gentiles 16:26 and they wanted a king. 16:28 And from that point forward, 16:29 they suffered under a long succession 16:31 of wicked, self-interested monarchs 16:33 who used God's people to accomplish their own goals. 16:38 And then in time, 16:39 actual Gentile nations came and conquered 16:42 the people of Abraham. 16:44 They destroyed the temple, 16:45 the symbol of God's sovereign presence, 16:48 and they took the people captive. 16:50 First, it was the Babylonians. 16:53 And then the Persians, 16:54 who actually allowed the rebuilding of the temple. 16:57 Then the Greeks. 16:58 And finally the Romans, 17:00 who destroyed the temple a second time 17:02 at the end of the first century. 17:05 Which brings us to the New Testament 17:07 and the birth of the Christian Church, 17:10 which was supposed to be something of a return 17:13 to the previous order. 17:14 Let me show you something really interesting 17:16 that Jesus explained to his disciples, 17:19 even before the Church itself was born. 17:22 You find this in Luke chapter 22, 17:25 where the disciples are arguing 17:26 about which one of them was the greatest. 17:29 Here's what it says, 17:31 "Now there was also a dispute among them, 17:33 as to which of them should be considered the greatest." 17:37 So you see, 17:38 there's just a whiff of Machiavelli there 17:39 because it's that kind of thinking 17:41 that makes his philosophy so appealing. 17:45 "And He," that's Jesus, 17:46 "He said to them, 17:48 'The Kings of the Gentiles,'" or The Nations, 17:52 "'exercise lordship over them, 17:54 and those who exercise authority over them 17:56 are called benefactors. 17:59 But not so among you, 18:00 on the contrary, 18:01 he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, 18:05 and he who governs as he who serves.'" 18:09 We're not supposed 18:10 to have monarchs running the Christian Church. 18:12 It was never the original plan. 18:14 But what happened is that we allowed ourselves 18:17 to blend Church and state 18:18 to the point where human potentates 18:21 were building their own power Machiavelli style, 18:24 and doing it in the name of Christ. 18:27 So when Catherine de Medici sensed that Huguenot influencers 18:31 were a possible threat to her sovereignty, 18:33 she wanted one of their key players assassinated. 18:36 And when that failed, 18:38 she and Charles IX decided to just kill everybody 18:42 and they buried the massacre under the veneer of religion. 18:46 So what does that mean for you? 18:49 Well, you might wanna stick around 18:50 because hopefully with the time I've got left, 18:53 I'll show you what I'm driving at. 18:57 - [Narrator] Here at the Voice of Prophecy, 18:59 we're committed to creating top-quality programming 19:01 for the whole family, 19:03 like our audio adventure series, Discovery Mountain. 19:06 Discovery Mountain is a Bible-based program 19:08 for kids of all ages and backgrounds. 19:11 Your family will enjoy the faith-building stories 19:13 from this small mountain summer camp and town. 19:16 With 24 seasonal episodes every year 19:19 and fresh content every week, 19:21 there's always a new adventure just on the horizon. 19:27 - There's a fascinating passage 19:29 found in the book of Revelation 19:30 that really highlights this idea 19:33 that God's system of government 19:35 is meant to be completely different 19:37 from the way that you and I like to run things. 19:40 You find it in the section 19:41 that deals with the seven trumpets. 19:43 And here's what it says, 19:46 "Then the seventh angel sounded 19:49 and there were loud voices in heaven, saying," 19:51 now listen to this, 19:52 "'The kingdoms of this world 19:55 have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, 19:58 and He shall reign forever and ever.'" 20:01 What it's saying 20:03 is that God has been tolerating human rebellion 20:06 for thousands of years, 20:08 allowing us to experiment with our own forms of government. 20:12 But at the same time, 20:13 He has not failed to notice the devastation we caused 20:17 in pursuit of ambition. 20:19 He's allowing us to have what we asked for, 20:22 but He's not going to allow 20:24 this experiment to go on indefinitely 20:26 because well, it causes too much suffering. 20:30 At some point in the not too distant future, 20:33 He's going to blow the whistle and tell all the kids, 20:35 "Hey, get out of the pool," 20:36 because the planet belongs to Him. 20:40 And at that point, 20:42 the kingdoms of this world 20:44 are going to become the kingdom of Christ. 20:47 And all those people who live by Machiavelli's creed 20:50 are going to be faced with the real Prince, 20:52 the rightful head of the human race. 20:55 The passage continues like this, 20:57 "And the 24 elders who sat before God on their thrones, 21:02 fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, 21:04 'We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, 21:07 the One who is and who was and who is to come, 21:11 because You have taken Your great power and reigned. 21:15 The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, 21:17 and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, 21:20 and that You should reward Your servants 21:22 the prophets and the saints, 21:24 and those who fear Your name, small and great, 21:27 and should destroy those who destroy the earth.'" 21:32 In other words, the untold misery caused by our ineptitude, 21:37 our way of running things, 21:39 is going to be brought to a final and judicious end. 21:42 Those who have destroyed the earth through self-seeking 21:45 and personal ambition are going to have to give account, 21:49 and the systems that have been destroying the earth, 21:51 making life miserable for most of us, all gone. 21:55 It's all going to be destroyed. 21:59 And here's the important thing we really need to understand. 22:02 In this life, Machiavelli was somewhat right. 22:06 There is a current of fortune that carries us along 22:09 and it can cut one of two ways. 22:11 It either shuttles us up 22:13 to the peak of human influence and power, 22:16 or it destroys us and makes our life much, much harder. 22:20 Things like war and famine and natural disasters. 22:23 Those are the messengers of Machiavelli's fortuna. 22:27 And Jesus told his disciples 22:28 that before He replaces our worldly kingdoms 22:31 with His kingdom, 22:33 we're actually gonna see more and more 22:34 of that kind of thing, bad fortune taking place. 22:38 Let me show you what I mean 22:39 over in Matthew chapter 24, it says, 22:42 "And Jesus answered and said to them, 22:45 'Take heed that no one deceives you. 22:47 For many will come in my name, saying, 22:49 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. 22:52 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. 22:55 See that you are not troubled 22:56 for all these things must come to pass, 22:58 but the end is not yet. 23:01 For nation will rise against nation, 23:02 and kingdom against kingdom. 23:04 And there will be famines, pestilences, 23:06 and earthquakes in various places. 23:09 All these are the beginning of sorrows.'" 23:13 Now, in the time we have left, 23:15 let me try to bring this home. 23:17 A lot of people will point to the atrocities 23:19 of organized religion, 23:21 especially back in the medieval period, 23:23 and they'll say, "This is what Christianity is all about." 23:27 And I guess on the one hand, they're kind of right. 23:29 It's not like the St. Bartholomew Day Massacre 23:32 was committed by Buddhists or Hindus, 23:34 it was committed by people who said they were Christian. 23:38 But to say that that is what Christianity is really about 23:41 is to miss what actually happened. 23:44 That was not Christianity, 23:45 not according to the religion's founder, 23:48 who specifically told His disciples 23:50 to separate the things that belong to God 23:52 from the things that belong to Caesar. 23:56 What happened in the Western Church 23:57 was not a product of Christian thought, 24:00 at least not Biblical thought. 24:02 I mean, sure, it was the product of Christian thinkers, 24:05 many of whom probably meant well, 24:07 but it can't be reconciled with the pages of the Bible, 24:10 not if we're really honest about it. 24:13 I mean, I've seen people try 24:14 to defend what we did in the past, 24:16 but the Bible says it's indefensible. 24:18 What happened in France in 1572 came from The Nations, 24:22 this man-made system of government that at its core 24:26 is actually opposed to the kingdom of God. 24:29 And what has happened 24:31 is that a lot of people have abandoned the Bible altogether 24:33 because they assume that somehow what this book says 24:37 led directly to the horrors we still find to this day 24:41 in the world of religion, 24:42 and it most certainly does not. 24:44 I'll be right back after this. 24:50 - [Presenter] Dragons, beasts, cryptic statues. 24:54 Bible prophecy can be incredibly vivid and confusing. 24:59 If you've ever read Daniel or Revelation 25:01 and come away scratching your head, 25:03 you are not alone. 25:04 Our free Focus On Prophecy guides 25:07 are designed to help you unlock the mysteries of the Bible 25:09 and deepen your understanding of God's plan for you 25:12 and our world. 25:14 Study online or request them by mail, 25:16 and start bringing prophecy into focus today. 25:20 - Western Christianity really does have a lot 25:23 to apologize for if we're honest about it. 25:25 I mean, there is a lot of blood on our hands. 25:29 What we looked at today, 25:30 the St. Bartholomew Day Massacre, 25:32 where as many as 50,000 were slaughtered 25:34 for matters of conscience, 25:37 that's just the tip of the iceberg. 25:38 There's a lot more than that. 25:40 But to suggest that the teachings of Christ produced that, 25:44 to say that Jesus of Nazareth 25:45 is responsible for the slaughter of Albagensies or Waldenses 25:50 or countless other minority groups 25:51 who disagreed with the official state Church, 25:55 well, that's not honest 25:56 because Jesus never taught that. 25:58 That was caused by human beings, 26:00 why are just like you and me. 26:01 People who persisted 26:03 in a state of rebellion against the Creator, 26:06 in spite of calling themselves Christians. 26:09 They were living by the kind of principles 26:11 you find in Machiavelli 26:12 instead of the teachings of the Prince of Peace. 26:15 And when you open the Bible, 26:17 you find that God is perfectly honest about what happened. 26:21 In the Old Testament, 26:22 He showed us what would happen when His own people decided 26:25 they wanted the kingdoms of this world instead of Him. 26:28 And in the New Testament, 26:29 the Bible actually predicts 26:31 that the Christian Church would do the same thing 26:33 that Israel did. 26:36 So I guess what I want to do is challenge you 26:39 to actually read the source material. 26:42 Don't just assume 26:43 that the critics are giving you a complete picture 26:44 because I can assure you, they're not. 26:48 What you're going to find 26:49 is that the Bible doesn't cover anything up. 26:51 It predicts the problems that emerged in Christianity, 26:54 and it does it in really striking language. 26:58 And then it reminds us that until we are finished 27:00 experimenting with human government, 27:02 until we are finished with playing around 27:05 with the kinds of ideas that Machiavelli taught, 27:07 until we are finished with selfish ambition 27:09 and an utter disregard for ethics or morality, 27:12 well, life here on earth is the way it is. 27:15 But it also tells us it's not gonna last forever. 27:19 It holds out a promise 27:20 that things really are going to get better. 27:22 God has not failed to notice the shipwreck we're living in 27:25 and he's going to set things straight. 27:28 It even says 27:29 that He's personally going to wipe away your tears 27:31 and put everything back the way He first designed it. 27:34 I think you owe it to yourself 27:36 to see the source material firsthand, 27:38 and if you visit BibleStudies.com, 27:40 you'll see we've got all kinds of things 27:41 to help you get started. 27:43 I think you're gonna be blown away by what you find 27:46 because it's not at all what you were told. 27:49 I'm Shawn Boonstra, you've been watching Authentic. 27:54 [bouncy theme music] |
Revised 2022-09-21