Discover Prophecy

Discover Why So Many Denominations

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Pr. David Klinedinst

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Series Code: DPR

Program Code: DPR000018A


00:07 Tom had decided it was time
00:11 for his family to start going to church
00:15 so he decided to phone book and find christian church
00:19 for his family go to, but has flip
00:23 through the pages of the phone book to his amazement
00:27 discovered that there were literally hundreds of different
00:31 churches in his city alone many of
00:35 had names he had never even heard of
00:39 some of those denominations had names that he could not even pronounce
00:42 and he recognized that it took up five whole
00:46 pages of the phone book and Tom was just
00:50 confused, he scratched his head and thought to himself there is one God
00:54 there is one Bible, there was
00:58 one christian church where in the world did we
01:02 get all of these different denominations
01:07 now i have a feeling Tom is not the only one who has ever asked
01:11 that question chances are pretty high that you have asked it
01:15 I have asked it or somebody we know has asked it
01:19 if there is one god if there is one bible where did we get all of these different groups
01:23 with thousand different groups with thousands of doctrines and teachings
01:27 believe it or not did you know the book of Revolation
01:31 prophesied that this would happen
01:35 Revelation told us that the early christian church would eventually fall
01:39 away from truth and would begin to split up into
01:43 many different groups throughout the centuries
01:47 tonight we are going to take a look at those prophesies in the book of Revelation
01:51 that predicted the emergence of these groups then we are gonna go
01:55 back and trace the steps of history to see how it happened
01:59 and then we are going to end with watching how God
02:03 decided how to restore his truth so tonight go
02:07 ahead and get out your bibles and we're going to start in Revelation
02:11 chapter 12 beginning in verse 1
02:15 you want to go to Revelation chapter 12 and I'm going to start reading
02:19 verses 1 through 5
02:23 now we were in Revelation 12 last night but we focused on the last
02:27 part of that chapter tonight we are going to focus
02:31 on the first part so as I read these first 5 verses
02:35 I want to invite you to just use your imagination
02:39 and I want you to picture the things that John is describing
02:43 in this vision Revelation chapter 12
02:47 verse 1 the bible says
02:51 now a great sign appeared in heaven
02:55 a women clothed with the sun with the moon under her
02:59 feet and on her hair a garland of how many stars?
03:03 12 stars then being with child
03:07 she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth
03:11 and another sign appeared in heaven behold a great
03:15 fiery red dragon having 7 heads
03:19 and 10 horns and 7 diadems on his head
03:23 his tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and
03:27 threw them to the earth and the dragon stood before
03:31 the women who was ready to give birth to devour her
03:32 the women who was ready to give birth to devour her
03:35 child as soon as it was born
03:39 verse 5 and she bore a male child who
03:43 was to rule all nations with a rod of iron and her child
03:47 was caught up to God and to his
03:51 throne
03:52 throne now let's stop there for a second
03:55 how many of you would agree that is a pretty vivid description that John gives us
03:59 can I see your hands ya you have this picture of a dragon
04:03 who is attacking a women who is ready to give birth
04:07 to the male child and when the dragon cannot
04:11 concur the male child the dragon turns his attention to
04:15 who? the women itself
04:19 so now literally speaking here is what we see in this passage you have a women and her child
04:23 being attacked by a dragon that has got 7 heads and
04:27 10 horns and the question is
04:31 what in the world does that mean well that passage
04:35 has a number of symbols that we have already interpretated through out this
04:39 seminar so let's just take a look at them on the screen we've already learned
04:43 that a women in bible prophecy represents God's people
04:49 or you could say God's church the sun and the moon
04:53 the revelation doesn't come out and say what that is the sun and the moon both give and
04:57 reflect life so they seem to be symbols of righteousness
05:01 the 12 guard the 12 stars are the garland that is around the womens
05:05 head now doubt that represents the 12 apostles the child
05:09 revelation 12:5 tells us represents who? what do you think?
05:13 Jesus Christ he rules all nations he is caught up to God in his
05:17 throne that one is pretty easy that is Jesus
05:21 the dragon we already learned represents satan and we've studied that this
05:25 beast with 7 heads and 10 horns represents the
05:29 persecuting power of Rome
05:33 so when you put all of those symbols together here is the picture that
05:37 Revelation is giving us it is a picture of Jesus Christ
05:41 and his church being attacked by
05:45 satan through the Roman empire that is how Revelation
05:49 12 begins now the question is
05:53 is that actually what happened in history and the answer is yes
05:57 no sooner was Jesus Christ born
06:01 than Marry and Joseph had to take him and they had to hide
06:05 away in Egypt for a while do you remember why
06:10 because king herod had made the decree
06:15 to murder all children 2 years and under
06:18 because he had heard the kind of the Jews was born can you imagine that
06:22 murdering all the children 2 years and under to protect
06:26 your throne you know I would not want to be Herod
06:30 when the record of my life comes up in the judgement
06:34 now Herod was a Roman ruler tried to kill Christ from the moment that he
06:38 was born all through his life the devil dogged hi
06:42 s steps and eventually Jesus was arrested by Roman soldiers
06:46 tried in Roman courts and nailed on a
06:50 Roman cross but when Jesus died
06:54 and resurrected he had victory over the grave and he had victory over
06:58 over sin because when Jesus laid his life down
07:05 that sealed the devils fait and the devil's doom
07:09 to the throne of god it was clear the dragon could not
07:13 concur the male child so now the dragon
07:17 satan turns his attention to who
07:21 the followers of jesus are the church of
07:25 Christ
07:28 Christ and all we have to do is look at the first second and third
07:32 centuries of christian history and you read all about the
07:36 persecution that the early christian church went
07:44 through you see to be a christian in the pegean roman empire
07:48 christianity wasn't a legal religion if you chose to follow jesus if you chose to be a disciple
07:52 of his you risked your house your home
07:56 your buisiness and even your life
08:00 to give you an idea how bad that persecution was i am going to put a symbol
08:04 of that persecution up on the screen and as soon as you see it youre going to
08:08 recognize what it is what is that
08:12 picture of the Roman collasuem
08:16 now how many of you been to Rome and had a chance to go through the
08:20 colleseum can I see your hands a few of you have about
08:24 ten years ago or so markita and I had the opportunity to go to
08:32 on a study tour of the protestant reformation to go to all of the significant sites where the reformers were
08:36 and one of the places they took us was into Rome
08:40 to go into this colleseum
08:44 now to give you and idea how large this collesuem is can you see
08:49 it is parked right there on the first level you see that?
08:53 compare the size of that truck to the three levels of the Roman
08:57 colleseum that was a huge monstrosity of a
09:01 structure 3 levels high and it was said that it could see
09:05 probably 70,000 screaming fans
09:09 and see here is what would happen inside that colleseum
09:13 is where Rome would throw all of their prisoners all of
09:17 the enemies of the state those who were condemned to die
09:21 and they were then forced to defend themselves against armed gladiators
09:29 but also wild and ravenous beasts you see a picture of the circular playing field there now
09:33 half of it is excavated and you might be able to notice that right
09:37 below the playing floor you have these tunnels or these
09:41 caverns that have been carved out that is where they would hide all
09:45 the wild beast and they actually had believe it or not
09:49 ancient primitive elevators that would bring those
09:53 animals up to the playing field and see what would occur
09:57 is they would throw thousands upon thousands of
10:01 christians over the years of course not at the same time into the same time into the middle of this
10:05 playing field 70,000 people
10:09 screaming to see there death
10:13 70,000 people calling for there blood to be spilled
10:17 not that different from when Jesus stood on one side of
10:21 pilot and barabus stood on the other and the
10:25 bible describes and there is also a book called the desire of ages about the life of Jesus
10:29 that actually describes as the crowd screams
10:33 for Jesus to be crucified that it was like the bellowing of
10:37 wild beasts as though demons had taken over the crowd of
10:41 and were screaming for the blood of Jesus
10:45 that is what happened inside this colleseum
10:49 70,000 people who wanted to see a christian getting mauled
10:53 to death by wild beast,they would through
10:57 blood on the top of the christians , then there wild beast
11:01 that had been starved weeks when they smelled and saw
11:05 the site of blood when into wild franzy and
11:09 they tore them limb from limb
11:13 can you imagine society so depraved
11:17 that you are eager to watch people die in front your
11:21 face that what sin does to us it twist our minds
11:25 and our prescription but yet you read in history
11:29 these christians they could look death in the
11:33 face they could look wild beast in the eye
11:37 they could stand before the Roman Emperor and they would say I will not give up
11:41 my faith in Jesus Christ, I will not give up the
11:45 truths of scripture the truths of the gospel that I know
11:49 I believe that Jesus is looking for christians today
11:53 like those early believers. Can you say amen? People who are willing to
11:57 stand for Christ and his truth no matter what the cost
12:01 people are not will make excuses, people who not
12:05 going compromise, people who not straddle the fence
12:09 but are willing put Jesus everyone else, and put His
12:13 word above everything else
12:17 You see the dragon was not able to conquer the male child
12:21 and the dragon was also not able to conquer the
12:25 woman or the church of Jesus Christ in those early centuries
12:29 But you know then a shift occurred
12:33 in the Roman world because satin decided
12:37 to follow an old adage, have you ever
12:41 heard that saying witch say, if can't beat them
12:45 join them, see the devil
12:49 realized, the dragon knew that persecution never
12:53 stamps out the christian church, in fact all through out history
12:57 when you persecute the followers of Christ that when they grow
13:01 because every christian martyr whos blood was shed four or five more would stand
13:05 up in their place and the devil realized this is not working
13:09 so here happen within the Roman empire a shift
13:13 toke place satin changed his strategy
13:18 the Roman roman emperor Constantine
13:22 became a christian and christianity went from being an
13:25 illegal religion to become the official
13:33 state religion. In 313 Constantine issues the Edict of Milan
13:37 where christianity is now acceptable in Roman empire
13:41 now a frist that may sound good, you may say wonderful
13:45 God is getting the victory, but you see when that happens
13:49 Conatantine because he formally was pagan
13:53 brought many of the false pagan teaching
13:57 into the christian church and out of Rome
14:01 came a religious system where the tradition of men
14:05 took the place of the truth of scripture and
14:09 commandments of men and human authority was placed above the
14:13 commandments of God and Papal Rome became
14:17 a persecuting power for over a
14:21 1,000 years and that's why read
14:25 what you see verse 6 now go to Revelation chapter 12
14:29 and verse 6, now this after male child
14:33 Jesus is caught up to God and His throne this after the
14:37 ascension this after the persecution of the early centuries
14:41 now notice what verse 6 says Revelation 12
14:45 6 the Bible says
14:49 Then the woman fled (where?)
14:53 into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by
14:57 God, that they should feed her there one thousand
15:01 two hundred and sixty (what?) days. now we already
15:05 know from our previous study, if you apply the day for principle
15:09 not 1260 days but what? What time frame is that?
15:13 1260 years see when it talks about
15:17 the the woman having to hide in wilderness
15:24 this is referring to the 1260 of persecution
15:28 Papal Rome dominated, when church and state
15:32 they came together, and if you chose not to follow the doctrine
15:36 or the creeds of Rome you were considered heretic
15:40 that could tortured and that could put to death
15:45 if you want to follow what the Bible said if you want to follow God's authority
15:49 instead of man authority, you could lost your life
15:53 if you wanted to believe that could go to Jesus Christ
15:57 and to Him crucified for you salvation instead
16:01 yearly human leader, your were considered to be
16:05 a traitor to Rome who was not fit to live
16:09 you lost everything. That is why
16:13 Revelation describes that time period a woman
16:17 hiding it the wilderness, it's the time of percussion
16:21 and what is amazing when you back in histoy
16:25 538 is when church and state came together
16:29 in the Roman empire it lasted all the way to 1798
16:33 when the Papal government was abolished by Napoleon
16:37 in the French revolution and if you the addition
16:41 or the subtraction that is exactly
16:45 1260 years when the woman
16:49 is in the wilderness God's people
16:53 have to exist under ground in a sense
16:57 see it was when the Bible forbidden to people you couldn't
17:01 translate it you couldn't own it taken away
17:05 that why people couldn't just open the Bible and say oh well that's not truth
17:09 I need to follow what the scripture say the didn't have the bible
17:13 to look at, in fact just to give you little
17:17 illustration of what is like durning this time in the wilderness
17:21 I want read you a couple quotes from a book called
17:25 Foxe's book of martyrs now that is very well known book
17:29 that details some of the horrible percussions that
17:33 God's people and His church went through in the middle ages
17:37 on pages 250 it says
17:41 A Spaniard named Juliano travelled into Germany
17:46 and there became a convert to the reformed religion, Now do you know
17:49 what the reformed religion is? That is talking prostatism.
17:54 That's talking movement in middle ages which said
17:58 we need start coming back to the Bible and the Bible alone that reformed
18:02 religion. It goes on to say.
18:06 When he went back to Spain he took with him to Seville
18:10 a number of (what?) Bibles...
18:14 He succeeded in this dangerous enterprise so far
18:18 as getting books into the hands of a great number of people
18:22 Juliano was immediately seized and put to the most
18:26 cruel tortures to make him confess the names of
18:30 all to whom he had given the books"
18:34 Now I want you to notice there. What Book
18:38 was Juliano sharing with People? The Bible
18:42 What was that book called durning this time? The
18:46 hated book, just for
18:50 owning or sharing a Bible see folks there is a reason
18:54 called the dark ages, people were living in darkness
18:58 because the light of truth was not able to shine
19:02 not in its full brightsness, it goes on to say on page
19:06 234,
19:38 No such thing as religious liberty, people were
19:42 tortured until they were willing to reject the Bible
19:46 go with the traduction of me. you and I can't imagine that
19:50 because we have only religious liberty, paise God for that
19:54 that is the time woman is in the wilderness it's time Papal
19:58 persecution we can even imagine what it is like
20:02 you see revelation symbolize Rome of
20:06 middle ages as a beast, now I don't say that to be
20:10 unkind or offensive in way it just
20:14 unfortunately the sad facts of human history
20:18 because whenever you stray from the word of God whether it
20:22 institution or whether it is a person
20:26 it always changes our character
20:30 and it always changes it for the worst
20:34 Now in here Revelation we see picture of
20:39 pure woman the church being persecuted by
20:43 the dragon. The woman has been left in the wilderness
20:47 so now I want you to take journey to Revelation 17
20:51 and your're going to see the picture of another woman
20:55 and another church. Revelation chapter 17
20:59 and I want us go to verse 1 here
21:03 Revelation and want I to start by reading
21:07 the first 4 verse. Now I want you to
21:11 take note here, you saw how the pure woman
21:15 of Revelation 12 is described I want
21:19 to notice how the woman of Revelation 17 is described
21:23 and your're going to notice a very distinct
21:27 difference. Revelation verse 1
21:31 The Bible says;
21:35 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls
21:39 came and talked with me, saying to me, "Come,
21:43 I will show you the judgment of the great harlot
21:47 who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication,
21:51 and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine
21:55 of her fornication." verse 3
21:59 So he carried me away in the Spirit into the (where?)
22:03 into the wilderness. now in chapter 12 of Revelation
22:07 where did we leave the woman? In the wilderness.
22:11 so now we are coming back to the wilderness in chapter 17
22:15 Notice that something has changed
22:19 verse 3 And I saw a
22:23 woman sitting on a scarlet beast
22:27 which was full of names of blasphemy,
22:31 having seven heads and ten horns.
22:35 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned
22:39 with gold and precious stones and pearls,
22:43 having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations
22:47 filthiness of her fornication. Now lets stop there for a second
22:51 Now we may not know what that means just yet
22:55 but let me ask a simple question does description sound like
22:59 positive or a negative one , what do you think? That doesn't sound too
23:03 good. Now here is summery of what John is describing for us
23:23 Now notice back in Revelation 12 the woman was being attacked
23:27 by the dragon and the beast, here in Revelation
23:31 17 is as though she has now partnered with the
23:35 beast because she is riding on the beast
23:39 that gives us a clue that something drastically
23:43 changed there has been a shift
23:47 Now again lets look at these symbols and let the Bible interpreted for us
23:51 we already know the woman represents the church
23:55 or God's people when it is a pure woman
23:59 it represents God's faithful people when it is impure woman
24:03 prostitute it represent God's unfaithful people or
24:07 unfaithful church the scarlet, purple
24:12 and jewels of which see a adornment is quite interesting
24:16 because in Ezekiel 16 that was the adornment of prostitute
24:20 in ancient time you now even in back
24:24 biblical time prostitute wanted to advertize
24:28 they was there was certain way you dressed to communicate
24:32 that and unfortunately the same thing still exist
24:36 today does it not, you going into major cities of America
24:40 it doesn't even have to be a major city you certain street corners
24:44 and woman will be dressed a certain way in order to communicate
24:48 what they do for a career in ancient times
24:52 if were a prostitute you were to dress in scarlet
24:56 purple and jewels to show that you were available
25:00 it is interesting that here in Revelation 17 how
25:04 the woman is adorned, it says she is holding a cup of
25:08 fornication, well that probably not good because fornication simply
25:12 means what? unfaithfulness and we already know
25:16 that the beast is Rome, so put all those
25:20 symbol together and here is what you have
25:24 You have the church of the middle ages acting like a
25:28 prostitute and being unfaithful by joining with Rome
25:32 and accepting her errors and traditions
25:36 in other word instead of staying true to the pure word of God
25:40 they have now left the word of God to follow the tradition
25:44 and commandment of men that are coming from
25:48 Rome that's why the woman is no longer
25:52 being persecuted you might say be the dragon, she
25:56 now riding with the beast Revelation 12 is a pure
26:00 woman a faithful church Revelation 17
26:04 impure woman or unfaithful
26:08 church. You say what happened that
26:12 God describes the in such tow different ways
26:16 You see the time when the woman was in the wilderness
26:20 the truth is when you face persecution
26:24 when you have to go through difficult times because
26:28 of your faith in Jesus, because of standing for His word
26:32 for so many people it
26:36 just easier to compromise and to give in
26:40 it was easier to simply go with majority
26:44 instead wanting to be minority cause if you went
26:48 along with Rome, if went with the traditions of men you
26:52 could live a normal and not be persecuted
26:56 but if you chose to stand for the truth of the word
27:00 of God, if you chose to stand for Jesus
27:04 Christ that He is the only meditator that He is the only Savior
27:08 you want to point people to the cross.
27:12 You were a heretic, you were persecuted
27:16 you lost everything, so see the majority
27:20 just gave into Rome and there was only a
27:24 few who decided to remain faithful
27:28 you know folks that just happen in the middle ages
27:32 it even happens our lives today, in our
27:36 work place, in our school sometimes to say a
27:40 I'm christian, somethings I'm believer in Jesus
27:44 Christ does cause persecution, maybe not same kind persecution of the
27:48 middle ages, but people shying away from you
27:52 people making fun of you, people talking behind your back and saying
27:56 you know that is just different and they necessarily
28:00 mean it in a good way. But the truth is if
28:04 Jesus Christ could have abuse heap on Him, if He
28:08 could go to the cross, because he wanted you and I to saved
28:12 If He will confess our name before the Father then we
28:16 need willing to confess the Jesus before men. Can you say
28:20 amen? And we need not be ashamed of following the
28:24 scriptures and what the word of God says, see
28:28 I don't join with the beast I don't with culture
28:32 I want to be faithful to Jesus I want to uphold His word
28:36 But you know then comes verse 5
28:40 and verse answer the question why are there
28:44 so many different denomination, notice what is say
28:48 Revelation 17:5
29:04 lets pause there
29:08 now that is pretty hard hitting verse, that is definitely not a vesre
29:12 that you would consider to politically correct
29:16 but God is not beating around the bush about happen during this time
29:20 on the women's forehead the unfaithful church in the middle ages
29:24 Babylon the great and remember what means
29:28 religious confusion see it was the church of the middle
29:32 ages that was responsible for all the religious confusion
29:36 the doctrines, the tradition of men, human authority being put
29:40 above of God's authority that brought it to the world even
29:44 all the way to our time today
29:48 but then she is the mother of harlots
29:52 when connect that with history, what is saying
30:12 and isn't interesting even today Rome is
30:16 considered to be the mother church
30:20 see what Revelation 17:5 was telling us
30:24 that the women is give birth to daughters, what Revelation was telling
30:28 us that in middle there would be groups that start
30:32 to brake away from Rome and they would eventually brake into
30:36 many different groups, or many different denomination and that is what you
30:40 see, when God ignited the protestant reformation
30:44 and people rebelled against the idea that man word can place above
30:48 God's word they started to bring people back to the Bible
30:52 and when Rome wouldn't except that after a period of many many years
30:56 it started other movements, it stared other churches
31:00 that came out of Rome, and you fast forward through the centuries
31:04 now we have today hundreds of different denominations
31:08 and it all started when the women
31:12 give birth to daughters, when other churches
31:16 came out Rome Revelation predicted it all
31:20 the back in first century and it happen just the
31:24 way God said it would
31:28 But now here is the question, lets trace
31:32 the step the history and look just in a little bit more
31:36 detail, how that actually happen, and then we're going to see how
31:40 God begin to restore truth, because you think about it when
31:44 you fall away from truth, does that happen in one day?
31:48 Not usually, it happens over time. I
31:52 want you to take your Bibles and let's got to II Thessalonians chapter 2
31:56 and verse 3, II Thessalonians
32:00 chapter 2 and verse 3 and sense we are on night
32:04 18 by point you ota to be pretty familiar and pretty
32:08 quick at finding books of the bible, II Thessalonians
32:12 chapter 2 verse 3, by the I got tell you I remember doing
32:16 one seminar where there was a guy coming who didn't
32:20 know where a lot of the books of the bible were, you know after this for
32:24 month, you have notice how many bible verse we look up
32:28 every single night, by time the thing was done he said you know what I have
32:32 now learn most books are, because he got
32:36 familiar with the scriptures. Can you say amen? And if you get nothing else from this
32:40 seminar than you get familiar with your bible then its all been
32:44 worthy it. II Thessalonians and verse 3
32:48 The Bible says, Let
32:53 no one deceive you by any means; for that
32:57 day (that is referring to the second coming) for that Day will
33:01 not come unless the falling away comes first,
33:05 and the man of sin is revealed,
33:09 the son of perdition, Now did you
33:13 notice what warned about, He said there is
33:17 going to be a falling way from truth
33:21 because he already saw it starting to happen in
33:25 his day. Why most of the books of the New
33:29 Testament are simply letters that were to christian churches?
33:33 In most of those letter there are combat
33:37 false teaching that were already coming in
33:41 to the christian church then, and Paul they dead and gone
33:45 it would just accelerate,let me show you a
33:49 little summary for truth. It start with
33:53 Arianism- The belief that Jesu was not fully divine
33:57 In 321 Constantine passes one of the first Sunday
34:01 laws and the Sabbath is beginning to lost sight of
34:05 In 327 pagan images were introduced into the church
34:09 and image worship began. In 538 church and
34:13 state begin to combine. In 590 the
34:17 false doctrine of Purgatory was invented. In 850
34:21 worship of Mary as intercessor was introduced
34:25 and Jesus as mediator was lost of, In
34:29 1198 confessional where to confess to early human being
34:33 instead of the Christ, In 129 the Bible
34:37 was officially banned as hated book. In
34:41 1311 deferent formes of baptism came in and in
34:45 1480 the Spanish inquisition began
34:49 Now do you know the inquisition is? The
34:53 inquisition basically a group people many of them jesuits who had been
34:57 commissioned by Rome to go hunt down and find
35:01 heretic find anybody who believed the Bible and
35:05 disagreed traditions of Rome,find them
35:09 torture them, make them recant and if don't
35:13 put them to death. You know when the Bible talks about
35:17 end times and times of trouble it is hard for us to imagine
35:21 how that could happen, but it has happen many
35:25 time through out history, because wh0t happen in the middle ages
35:29 may well happen again but God promises to protect
35:33 His faithful people. Can you say amen? Now this
35:37 falling away truth, notice it didn't happen in a year
35:41 it didn't even happen in one century
35:45 period of hundreds of years there was this
35:49 gradually falling away from the Bible
35:53 just like in our personal live do you thinks any
35:57 of us wake up one morning and decide you know what, I think totally
36:01 backslide today and completely fall away from truth. Does that wappen?
36:05 Not usually, it happens imperceptively
36:09 a little bit at a time, because the
36:13 devil is too smart to get us to everything at once, he was to do little
36:17 bit here and a little be there until we don't even recognize
36:21 the direction he is take us, that what he did
36:25 with the church of the middle ages, until it got the
36:29 point were scripture is totally lost sight
36:33 of. That seems like a depressing story doesn't it?
36:37 But here the good news, you would think
36:41 that when the Bible banned wants to follow it is a heretic
36:45 you would think all hope is lost, but you know it is when
36:49 all is hope is lost, that is when God step in. Can you say amen?
36:53 And He ignited a serries of events that today is known
36:57 as the reformation and even this falling
37:01 away occurred, behind the scenes God was already
37:05 raising up people who were going to begin the process of
37:09 restoring God's truth from the middle all the way
37:13 to the end of time. Now we have talked falling away from truth
37:17 I don't want end on that, let's about how God began to restore
37:21 His truth from the later middle ages onward
37:25 and this going to be a fascinating study, you might say it began
37:29 somewhere around 1300 it actually began lone before that, but in the
37:33 1300s God raised up a man by name of John
37:38 Wycliffe, now how many of you have ever heard of Wycliffe? Can I see your hand? Awesome
37:42 John Wycliffe was actually a parish priest, he
37:46 was Rome priest in Oxford England but
37:50 He taught it was wrong to keep the bible
37:54 from the people
37:55 from the people he believed the Bible ota being people
37:58 hand in the common language, they can read truth
38:02 for themselves and that man translated the
38:06 Bible English language
38:10 Now we may not thats a big deal, but tell you standing here tonight
38:14 the the fact English Bible in hand regardless of what
38:18 version it is, you and I owe to courage and fortitude
38:22 of John Wycliffe, he translated
38:26 that into English at the risk of his life
38:30 And when he died in
38:34 order to show their contempt for the man that put the
38:38 Bible in hands of the people, you know Rome dug up
38:42 this bone and burned them publicly
38:46 In the 1400s God raised a man name
38:50 John Huss was a disciple of John Wycliffe
38:54 Huss believed that the Bible is supreme authority
38:58 Now you and I were're think will ya that's fundamental
39:02 Isn't it, but remember back then you were taught
39:06 the church is the final authority
39:10 the church has the power to place its law, its tradition above the
39:14 Bible that the church can even change the Bible if it wants to
39:18 but John Huss said no. The Bible final is the
39:22 authority, not the church, not religious leader, He taught
39:26 the church doesn't change the Bible. the Bible ota change the church. Can you say amen?
39:30 And just for teaching that
39:34 this man burned alive at the stake
39:38 in the year 1450, Now I had the chance to go
39:42 to his memorial, his grave site in Constance Germany
39:46 you know I expecting to see some, you know huge memorial
39:50 that everybody would notice as they walk by, you know what it is
39:54 it is just a little stone
39:58 in the corner of a street somewhere, and if wouldn't for tour guide I would
40:02 have never even noticed it
40:06 You see the world may for get what John Huss did
40:10 the world may forget things we do, but the good news is
40:14 God never forgets His faithful
40:18 people, He knows the chooses John Huss
40:22 made. But it didn't stop with John Huss in the
40:26 1500s came William Tyndale he translate some more
40:30 and then in the1500s God raise up someond
40:34 that you have heard of quite a bit, how many of you know about Martin Luther? Let me
40:38 see your hands everybody has heard of Martin Luther. Why was Martin Luther
40:42 significant, because Maritn Luther was also
40:46 parish priest and by the way I got to say something about that
40:50 you know I meet people get a holier than thou attitude and they think
40:54 oh ya that is what Rome did us protestant were great we never do that
40:58 But I want to remind you of something, who started
41:02 the reformation? Roman
41:05 Catholics of the middle ages, John Wynciffe and
41:09 and Martin Luther were parish priest who
41:13 decided they wanted to stand up and follow the Bible and the Bible alone
41:17 so before we're to quick to get on high horse because some of us
41:21 protestant you have to remember it was many Roman
41:25 christian who were also part of that reformation and coming back
41:30 to the Bible and the Bible alone. Can you say amen? Now Martin Luther
41:34 is this priest, but you know he never
41:38 felt the assurance of salvation with God.
41:42 He never felt that no matter how many rosery he did or prayers
41:46 he prayed or penance he preformed he just never felt
41:50 like he was forgiven, until one day he came cross
41:54 a bible that chained in a convent cell
41:58 and he came across one simple verse Romans 1:17
42:02 The Just shell live by what? Faith! Not by works
42:06 Not by pernance, not by going to
42:10 human leader. The just shall live by faith
42:14 Faith in what? Faith in Jesus Christ and
42:18 Cross and Martin Luther realize for the first time
42:22 He can got to Jesus and find forgiveness
42:26 that Jesus perfect life will cover him
42:30 that Jesus offers him his rightness and when he
42:34 finally understood that this rightness by faith concept
42:38 It changed his entire live and his outlook that he can't
42:42 change himself but Jesus can change and give him
42:46 assurance, it's about what Jesus has done when Martin
42:50 Luther finally understood that, he began preaching the Cross of Christ
42:54 He became directing people to pray and talk to Jesus directly, in fact
42:58 they had somthing called indulgence back then. Now I don't know if you
43:02 know what indulgence are, most people have read about in the history that was
43:06 basically if you gave enough money to the church you could buy your own salvation
43:10 you could pull a loved out of purgatory and into the
43:14 kingdom you know could gain your own assurance, infact it is said
43:18 Martin Luther came crossed someone lying in the street
43:22 who was known to be a regular drunk and being intoxicated
43:26 and when he walked by him the man looked up at him
43:30 and Marten Luther strated to him about Jesus and the man said you need to that
43:34 I've already I'm going to heaven and he said how is that
43:38 I bought indulgence and is and the church gave me this certificate so I live
43:42 however I want nd I'm going to heaven, that really irritated
43:46 Martin Luther and he preaching against indulgence
43:50 because you don't your faith in human beings you put your faith
43:54 in Jesus do you when Tetzel the guy in-charge of selling indulgence
43:58 when came to Martin Luther town, you know how many indulgence
44:02 he sold? Not one!
44:06 Cause Martin Luther had taught people to look to Jesus
44:10 and He who was crucified from there
44:15 Martin Luther nailed on the door of the Wittenberg church 95
44:19 Theses you say what that? He basically wrote down 95
44:23 95 ways in which the church had strayed from the Bible
44:27 you say what did put on door of the church for? You got to understand
44:31 500 years ago in the 1500s that was basically the internet of the day
44:35 you know anything that was going on in town, you nailed on the door of the church
44:39 that was the bulletin board so when he did that you and I posting
44:43 something on Facebook or posting something on the internet everybody
44:47 read it and you know what is interesting
44:51 you see what day that happen. What day is it?
44:55 October 31, 1517
44:59 That is one of most important events christian history
45:03 The truth of people going to Jesus
45:07 to find salvation, the Cross being rediscoverted
45:11 but you fast forward 500 years
45:15 and what is October 31st? Halloween
45:19 Now not here to judge whether not you should participate Halloween
45:23 I mean went trick or treating when I was kind, my point is this
45:27 isn't it interesting how what Martin Luther did
45:31 was total lost sight of and now the day is
45:35 all about ghost, ghoul and goblins and lifting up
45:39 the dark side that is no accident
45:43 thats part of the devil strategy lose sight
45:47 of coming back to the Bible eventually Martin Luther called
45:51 before all the leader world, the then known world both politico and religious
45:55 and tired force him to recant you know what
45:59 if this guy don't recant he's not going back home, we'll burn him at the stake right here
46:03 and most peopled wilted under that presure
46:07 but you know what Martin Luther did, as he stood
46:11 before that counsel of Kinds and princes and
46:15 religious leaders he look them in the eyes and he said
46:31 And that man walked out of counsel
46:35 and no body dared to a lay
46:39 a hand on him, of all the reformers
46:43 grace was
46:47 grace was upon him I mean we could spend all night talking this
46:51 Then John Calvin came, in the 1600s Roger Williams
46:55 in the 1700s John Wesley talked about being born again
46:59 and overcoming sin and in the 1800s came William Miller
47:03 who brought people back to prophecies of Daniel and Revealtion
47:07 began teach Jesus is coming soon, something that wasn't
47:11 taught back then and bit by bit little by little
47:15 God restore the truth and now you notice
47:19 He didn't do it all in century, why do you thinks that is?
47:23 Too much to handle, I mean until you recognize the Bible
47:27 is supreme authority all that other doesn't matter, you know like when light
47:31 on in the middle night, that to much light you can't handle it. He did
47:35 on century at a time but
47:39 unfortunately something happen that is all to common to the human nature
47:43 What happen is that many who followed these reformers
47:47 became to build to church around them and they stop
47:51 following the light, those who followed
47:56 those who Huss became Hussites, those followed became Lutherans
48:00 which by do know Martin Luther begged them not build to church
48:04 around him, most of these reformers did not want a church to build around
48:07 them because they knew there was still more light
48:11 and there was still more truth to discover
48:15 but the problem was those followed Luther wouldn't go on to follow Calvin light
48:19 that he found, those who followed Calvin wouldn't go on to except
48:23 Wesley light, those followed Wesley wouldn't go on to follow Roger Williams
48:27 light and so the protestant reformation begin to
48:31 stop because we are going to come this far and if our leader doesn't believe
48:35 other truths we're just to going stand still
48:39 and see that happens so much even out word today
48:43 I follow this person, I follow this preacher or this leader
48:47 and what they teach maybe well good but when God
48:51 brings me to knowledge that I didn't know before
48:55 we need to follow it, and so by the time the eighteen hundreds
48:59 came them Revelation 12:17 kicked in
49:03 Remember what we read last night. And the dragon was wroth
49:07 with the woman, (that's talking about the middle ages)
49:11 and went to make war with the (with who?)
49:15 remnant of her seed (the people Gods people at the end of time)
49:19 which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
49:23 What is Revelation says? Revelation is telling us
49:27 after the time when the woman is in the wilderness
49:31 after 1260 years of persecution is over, Revelation
49:35 says there is going to be a remnant movement and that remnant is going call
49:39 people back to commandments of God which includes the true Sabbath
49:43 and back to the testimony of Jesus
49:47 and that period of persecution the 1260 years ended in 1798
49:51 so that means somewhere in the 1800s
49:56 we see a continuation of the reformation we see a movement
50:00 of people that drawing folk back to the Bible
50:04 back to commandments of God and back to the Bible Sabbath
50:08 and when you look that this exactly what happen, now I told
50:12 you where other church have played a part in this reformation now I would like to
50:16 share where this church, the Seventh-day Adventist church played apart
50:20 In the 1800s after Rome losts its power
50:24 and church and state no longer united, it was the early 1800s
50:28 the printing press was improved upon. Bible societies
50:32 were formed. Bibles were made widely made available to the people
50:36 and so people from various began to study the scriptures together
50:39 Baptist, Methodist
50:43 Episcopal, Catholic and so you know
50:47 what? Now that we have religious liberty and freedom, because by now
50:51 America is formed, let's open the bible and let's study it
50:55 together as they did, these people from all
50:59 different denomination they discovered truth that had been lost
51:03 in the middle ages was the soon return of Jesus
51:07 and the Seventh-day Sabbath, see other truth have already been
51:11 recovered these were two that not been
51:15 but remember what Revelation say the remnant would do?
51:19 Keep the Commandments of God which includes the Sabbath and
51:23 have the testimony of Jesus. These faithful
51:27 christian of all different denominations were excided about this
51:32 they wanted to keep throwing away the tradition of men and come back to the Bible
51:35 so they took these truth and they when back to the churches of their day
51:40 in 1800s but the sad part
51:43 story is the church of the 1800s
51:48 rejected those two truth and were not
51:52 willing to move forward with the light
51:56 as a result many of those dear christian were disfellowshipped
52:00 form there churches and they were eventually forced to ban
52:04 together and they began was known as the
52:08 Seventh-day Adventist movement it wasn't their original intent
52:12 to start a movement or a denomination they just wanted bring people
52:16 back to truth, but when the churches of the rejected it
52:20 they had not choice. And so when Seventh-day Adventist movement
52:24 began in the early 1800s it was simply
52:28 a continuation of the reformation it was a fulfillment of
52:32 this prophecy in Revelation 12:17 that God would have
52:36 a movement that bring people back to His commandments back
52:40 to His Sabbath, back to the testimony of Jesus and the
52:44 traditions of men would be let go of
52:48 now I partly I choose to be a Seventh-day Adventist Christian, not because
52:52 I believe Seventh-day Adventists are going to saved anybody else
52:56 because I want to part of that movement, I want to part of movement that
53:00 that continues the reformation, that comes back to the bible that comes back
53:04 to His commandments and that's why Revelation speaks
53:08 to us in Revelation 18:4 that we saw last night
53:12 where God gives this all important appeal to people
53:16 to people living it the last days. He says to us
53:24 share in her sin, What mean? It'sva call to out of
53:28 Babylon like we learned last night. Babylon represents
53:32 all the religious confusion in the the world the tradition of men
53:36 the commandments of men, the authority of men
53:40 being placed above the word of God, just it happen in the middle ages
53:44 God is saying today I want you to come out that
53:48 He is calling Baptist, He is calling catholic's, He
53:52 is calling Episcopal's He is call nondenominational folks, He
53:56 is call all of us no matter language we speak, no matter
54:00 color of skin is, He says I want you to come out of religious
54:04 confession, I want you to come to follow Bible and the
54:08 Bible and the Bible alone, if you love me I want you to keep my
54:12 commandments. You see folks the call
54:16 to come out of Babylon is simply a call to put Jesus
54:20 above everyone and to put His word everything
54:24 else, folks in these last days
54:28 I believe that God is look people just like Martin Luther
54:32 people who aren't worried about what the majority say
54:36 people aren't willing to compromise, people who like Martin Luther
54:40 can stand up and say, here I stand on the word
54:44 of God I can do no other.
54:48 His is looking for people who will follow Him with all their hearts
54:52 all their souls and all their might.
54:56 You see as a christian myself
55:00 I know the commandment of god aren't popular
55:04 I know the Sabbath isn't popular
55:08 but when I see Jeses Christ lying prostrate
55:12 in the garden of gethsemane, when
55:16 see drops of blood coming from His forehead
55:20 when I recognize that he gave up all of heaven
55:24 to go through the plan of salvation just to save
55:28 me just to save you
55:32 that He would leave a place were He is worshiped and adored by millions
55:36 billions angelic beings and He literally
55:40 risk His internal life to come
55:44 and save sinful human beings
55:48 Jesus went all the way for us
55:52 Now is calling his people to go all the way with Him
55:56 to come out of Babylon
56:00 to keep His commandment to follow the Bible
56:04 and the Bible alone that's God's call to His people
56:08 in the last days, and the question what will your answer
56:12 be? Are we willing to come out of Babylon
56:16 to take our stand on God's word and to take our stand with
56:20 Jesus? Because when we follow Jesus, though there maybe challenges
56:24 we have peace, we have assurance
56:28 and we know that we our standing on the right side
56:32 even if the majority is against is I walk
56:36 through anything as long Jesus is by may side
56:40 I want to invite you to get out your response card
56:44 for tonight, now as you came it should got a response card
56:48 that says Revelation remnant, if you don't have one if you
56:52 just raise your host should be able to one because
56:56 these are in the blue buckets. Is there anyone that does not a card
57:00 that say Revelation remnant? Alright let's go through it together
57:04 There for everyone to mark, the first
57:08 box says I believe the Bible is inspired word
57:12 of God and should be out guide. If you can say yes
57:16 I believe we should we follow the Bible and the Bible alone, I invite you to check that
57:20 box. By the you wonder why do you do response
57:24 every night? Because when we're convicted
57:28 something our heart, we don't take kind of step
57:32 that conviction well die, even if that conviction is simple
57:36 as just marking something on a card if it is
57:40 important to speak about it is important enough to make a decision
57:44 about it. The second box say; I want to baptized
57:48 one day soon, I didn't your situation or what going on
57:52 in life, but if never taken step of publicly confessing
57:56 Jesus through baptism by immersion, I would invite you just check
58:00 that box. I'm sure Pastor Mark would love make day
58:04 possible for you one day, Box number 3
58:08 says I want part of the remnant who keep the commandments of God
58:12 In other words your saying Pastor Dave I want to keep God's
58:16 commandments in my life and want to ask the Holy Spirit
58:20 if he me to do that including His Bible Sabbath
58:24 If that is the desire of your I want to invite you to check that box


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Revised 2015-11-12