Participants: John Bradshaw
Series Code: IIW
Program Code: IIW001249
00:06 It has stood the test of time.
00:11 God4s book, the Bible 00:16 still relevant in today4s complex world. 00:25 It Is Written, sharing hope around the globe. 00:36 Thanks for joining me today. 00:38 In May of 2012 I had a very interesting experience. 00:42 I was here, in Paris, 00:44 France, to conduct some Bible lectures 00:46 around the city and it was while I was here that the 00:49 French presidential elections were being held. 00:52 The President of France at the time was Nicolas Sarkozy and 00:55 he was being challenged for the presidency by François 00:58 Hollande. 00:59 A week or two before the elections, 01:02 Sarcozy was trailing Messier Hollande by about 13 points in 01:05 the opinion polls. 01:06 But just before the elections, that gap had narrowed to about 01:11 six percent. 01:13 It was clear this was going to be a close race. 01:16 Now, unlike some parts of the 01:18 world, progress reports on election 01:20 results are not given throughout Election Day here 01:23 in France. 01:25 That means you don4t get to find out how the election is 01:27 going until you find out how the election has gone. 01:31 But that doesn't supports of presidential candidates making 01:34 preparations for big victory celebrations. 01:38 The Election Day was a Sunday and that Sunday morning I was 01:41 here, in the Place de la Bastille 01:43 and I noticed that the supporters of Messier Hollande 01:45 were making plans for a big victory celebration. 01:49 That night, France had elected itself a 01:52 new president. 01:53 After five years in office, Mr. Sarcozy had been voted out 01:57 of the presidency and Messier Hollande would be moving into 02:00 the presidential palace. 02:08 The scenes of jubilation here at the Place de la Bastille 02:12 were incredible. 02:13 The music blared. 02:15 The people cheered and shouted and chanted. 02:18 They waived their flags in the air. 02:21 I came down to witness what was going on and found myself 02:24 jammed into a massive humanity right here about 50 yards 02:27 behind me. 02:28 There were tens of thousands of people jammed into this 02:31 place. 02:32 People were clambering all over the monument, 02:34 something you just don4t see everyday. 02:37 But, the fact that people were 02:39 celebrating an election result here, 02:42 at the Place de la Bastille, is itself extremely 02:46 significant. 02:47 About 230 years ago, the Bastille or the Bastille 02:53 prison was stormed. 02:55 Revolutionaries made their way into that prison located, 02:58 it was located right behind me, 03:01 and the revolution was not so much born, 03:04 but propelled into prominence. 03:06 Now, there could be no going back 03:09 for France. 03:10 The Revolution was full on. 03:21 The French Revolution: One of the most incredible 03:26 revolutions in the last several hundred years. 03:28 It was a time of tremendous turmoil, 03:37 a time of terrible bloodshed and cruelty and a time when 03:43 God was told in no uncertain terms that he was 03:48 not welcome in France. 03:51 Many people don4t realize what some of the most remarkable 03:54 things were that happened in association with The French 03:57 Revolution. 03:58 On yes, we have heard about the 04:00 guillotines, but what about the story 04:02 behind the story. 04:04 Today we are going to take a look at this landmark period 04:07 in human history. 04:09 We are going to see that it is very closely related 04:11 to the Bible and we are going to find out that people 04:14 ought to be very careful what they ask for. 04:17 You know that Bible verse that essentially says 04:21 you reap what you sow? 04:22 That principle was graphically demonstrated during 04:25 the French Revolution. 04:26 The French people reaped what they had sown. 04:31 What they had sown was a rejection of God 04:36 and what they reaped was chaos, bloodshed at a terrible time 04:41 of intense misery. 04:43 [Music] 05:00 Let's go back, way back. 05:02 During the middle Ages, the medieval church kept the 05:05 Bible from the people and the people believed what they were 05:07 told to believe by a church whose leaders did not do a 05:11 very good job of modeling Biblical Christianity. 05:14 Rather than making God directly accessible 05:17 to the people, the church made God accessible 05:20 to the people through the church. 05:22 That is, through the traditions and the 05:24 sacraments of the church. 05:26 The priests were said to be God's representatives 05:29 here on earth. 05:30 Forgiveness was to be obtained by going to God through the 05:32 priests of the church. 05:34 The people were not encouraged to read the Bible. 05:37 As a matter of fact, those who had the Bible or 05:40 found to have the Bible or many times even suspected of 05:44 having the Bible or parts of the Bible, 05:46 were often sentenced to death. 05:48 Now, regarding salvation 05:51 and forgiveness, the people were told 05:53 that they could even purchase forgiveness of their sins, 05:56 that salvation could come from forgiveness of sins that was 05:59 obtained for a price. 06:01 In spite of the fact that the Bible said, 06:04 Jesus said whoever is thirsty; he can come and drink 06:08 of the water of life freely. 06:10 Jesus said, come to me all ye that labor 06:13 and are heavy-laden and I will give you rest. 06:16 We are told that we have an advocate with the Father and 06:19 that that is Jesus Christ, the righteous. 06:21 And when Paul wrote to Timothy, 06:23 he told them that there is one Mediator between God and men, 06:26 the Man, Christ Jesus. 06:28 This manmade, tradition-based religion could 06:32 not satisfy the longings of the human heart. 06:36 But then, light was found. 06:38 People discovered that God had said salvation came freely by 06:43 grace through faith in Jesus Christ. 06:46 When that sort of light was found, 06:48 it could not be kept hidden. 06:49 It was shared. 06:50 It was shared with others. 06:51 And the Protestant Reformation was born. 07:00 There were many others, of course, 07:02 but through Hus in Bohemia and later Luther, 07:04 in Germany and then Calvin and Zwingli, 07:07 and Wesley in England and Knox in Scotland, 07:10 the Reformation took off and thousands and thousands 07:14 of people were introduced to salvation by grace through 07:17 faith in Jesus Christ and not through a church, 07:21 a priest or a pope. 07:25 But what about France? 07:27 The Reformation struggled to take hold in France and as 07:30 long as the Reformation struggled to get 07:33 off the ground, the people were stuck 07:35 in tradition. 07:36 They were kept from the freeing truths of the Bible. 07:39 They were kept in darkness and ignorance and superstition. 07:46 Now, God did raise up a people who 07:48 would take hold of the Word of God here in France. 07:51 There were the Albigenses and the Huguenots, 07:54 a Bible-believing people who loved the Word of God. 07:59 There were, at times, 08:01 some people who sided with the Protestants, 08:03 even some in high places. 08:04 But generally, the Huguenots were 08:06 relentlessly persecuted and as many as 200,000 08:08 of them were hounded right out of France. 08:11 But as bad as that was, that was nothing compared to 08:15 what would happen in 1572. 08:17 It was in 1572 that the St. Bartholomew's 08:21 Day Massacre took place. 08:23 At the behest of the ruling church, 08:26 several thousand Huguenot Protestants were murdered in 08:30 one night. 08:31 Within a month, 25,000 08:34 Protestants were murdered here in Paris, 08:37 and tens of thousands of others were killed in other 08:40 parts of France. 08:42 The signal to start the massacre was the tolling 08:46 of church bells here in Paris. 08:48 [Music] 08:53 The news of the massacre was received with joy 08:55 in the Vatican. 08:57 In fact, there are three frescos in the 08:59 Vatican that detail the massacre. 09:01 The event is forever commemorated there. 09:05 [Music÷ 09:15 France simply would not let the light shine. 09:17 The people were kept in the dark. 09:20 The darkness was not only welcomed, 09:22 but preserved, even defended, 09:24 and good things do not tend to happen when people 09:28 are kept in the dark. 09:29 The very large underclass in French society was forced to 09:34 bare the financial burden for the nation. 09:37 The nobility was not taxed but the lower class people; 09:42 the poor people were heavily taxed and contemptibly treated. 09:46 If you are familiar with Victor Hugo's book Les 09:48 Miserables, you understand that the 09:50 central protagonist in that book was a gentleman named 09:52 Jean Valjean, who was sentenced to 7 years 09:55 in squalor's prison for simply stealing a loaf of bread. 09:59 Then, because of various 10:01 infractions, his seven-year prison sentence 10:03 grew into a 19-year prison sentence. 10:06 Now, I understand that Les 10:08 Miserables is not a documentary, 10:10 it's a work of fiction, but it does represent how 10:13 French society operated at that time. 10:17 The French people started to develop intense resentment and 10:21 bitterness. 10:22 As a matter of fact, deep hatred for the ruling 10:25 class. 10:26 There came a time when the king realized that the poorer 10:29 people needed to have representation in the affairs 10:32 of the state. 10:33 But when the underclass was given that representation, 10:37 they simply wanted more, and more, 10:40 and more power. 10:44 An absolute title wave of anger was let loose across 10:49 France and the French Revolution was born. 10:53 [Music] 11:20 This is an incredible piece of architecture and it 11:24 also represents an incredible amount of arrogance on the 11:27 part of its builder. 11:28 It's the Palace of Versailles. 11:31 It was built by the Sun King, Luis XIV who was the King of 11:36 France for around 60 years. 11:39 During that time, France about went bankrupt. 11:42 Louis had several wars he was fighting, 11:45 but he also spent piles of money on excesses like this. 11:50 You can imagine how that went over with the people. 11:53 They resented what the wealthy class was doing while they 11:56 suffered so badly. 11:57 It was actually Luis XIV who sowed the seeds of the 12:02 Revolution. 12:05 [Music] 12:17 Now consider the factors that went into this. 12:20 You had a group of people who were starved of the Word of 12:23 God and, therefore, 12:25 had no real conception of the true character of God. 12:28 And this same group of people had been pushed down, 12:31 manipulated by the State, persecuted, 12:34 really. 12:35 When this group of people rose up, 12:37 they really rose up and what was going to happen wasn't 12:42 going to be pretty. 12:45 In Matthew 4:4 the Word of God says "It is written 'Man shall 12:49 not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out 12:53 of the mouth of God'." 12:55 Every Word is a one minute Bible-based daily devotional 12:59 presented by Pastor John Bradshaw and designed 13:02 especially for busy people like you. 13:05 Look for Every Word on selected networks or watch it 13:10 on-line everyday on our website itiswritten.com. 13:13 Receive a daily spiritual boost. 13:16 Watch Every Word. 13:17 You'll be glad you did. 13:19 I live in a country where people are free to believe 13:22 whatever they want to believe about God. 13:24 And I like it that way. 13:25 I like not being forced to believe something about God 13:29 that I might not necessarily choose to believe on my own. 13:32 I have noticed in recent years, 13:35 atheists have started to speak with a louder voice. 13:38 To be honest, in some cases, 13:40 I sympathize with atheists because the God that many 13:44 atheists don't believe in is a God that I don't believe in. 13:48 The argument from some atheists goes like this: 13:52 Because some of the things that Christians believe are 13:55 just so silly, therefore, 13:57 I don't believe in God. 13:59 Or, because the way many 14:01 Christians act is just so silly or repugnant, 14:05 therefore, I don't want to have anything 14:07 to do with God. 14:09 But history shows us that atheism isn't a great path 14:13 for people to follow, either as individuals 14:17 or as nations. 14:19 Think about the implications of atheism. 14:21 number 1 If there is no God, if there is no God who 14:25 purposely created this earth, then you and I are just the 14:28 results of a cosmic accident and we don't have any real 14:31 divine purpose to our being here. 14:34 Point number two If there was no creation, 14:36 if there is no God, then surely there is no 14:40 after life and then this earth is all you have. 14:43 After your life on earth, it's all over. 14:47 Is that an attractive thought; and Point number three 14:50 What happens to morals? 14:51 If there is no God, there is no absolute source of 14:54 right and wrong. 14:55 There is no final arbiter in these things other than you 14:58 and me. 15:00 Really? 15:01 You and I get to choose what is right and wrong about 15:04 everything? 15:06 It's hard to imagine that that's a good way 15:08 to approach life. 15:09 You know, we have examples of what 15:12 society would be like if there was no God. 15:17 [music] European communism in the 20th 15:22 Century was largely a Godless form of communism, 15:26 which led to the tyranny of the state-controlled Soviet 15:28 Union and dictatorships like that of the Romanian monster, 15:32 Nicolae Ceausescu , 15:33 who was killed by his own people. 15:37 [Music] And here in France we 15:42 have a chilling example of what happens when a country 15:45 turns its back on God. 15:47 France did that, officially. 15:50 It turned its back on God and declared itself to be an 15:54 atheist state. 15:56 Let's discuss that. 16:02 [Music] The French Revolution 16:04 came about because of a variety of factors. 16:06 The working class had been ground down by the ruling 16:09 class and they came to the place where they decided... 16:12 the working class... 16:13 that they just weren't going 16:15 to take it any longer. 16:16 And so they rose up. 16:17 They took revenge against the ruling class killing anyone 16:20 who dared to stand in their way. 16:23 A national assembly was formed and this was an assembly that 16:27 gave voice to the people, not simply listening to the 16:29 nobility and the ruling classes. 16:32 Now the poverty and the exploitation being experienced 16:36 by the working class in Paris, France at the time was 16:40 phenomenal. 16:41 When I talk about poverty and exploitation, 16:44 I mean really, it was hard to imagine. 16:46 The difficult circumstances that the poorer classes went 16:49 through were absolutely amazing. 16:52 So, the TheBastille 16:53 was stormed, as a symbol of the protest of 16:57 the people. 16:58 The state prison, the Bastille was stormed. 17:01 Now, there was only a few people in 17:03 there at the time as prisoners, 17:05 seven, as a matter of fact, 17:07 but they were liberated and the governor of the prison was 17:10 killed. 17:11 To demonstrate how serious they were, 17:13 the Bastille was destroyed. 17:15 Parts of it were taken around France and shown to the 17:18 citizens of France and this was a way for the 17:21 revolutionaries to say to the people of France: We are 17:24 serious about this. 17:26 The Revolution was in full swing. 17:29 The country was now being run by the people, 17:31 not the nobility. 17:33 And before long, a Bill of Rights was drafted. 17:42 [Music] And the Church, which had exercised such power 17:45 in France until this time, wasn't going to escape the 17:49 attention of the revolutionaries. 17:52 Its right to collect a tithe, a ten percent on income from 17:56 every citizen in France, was abolished. 18:03 In fact, it wasn't long and the church 18:05 itself would find itself in the cross hairs of the 18:08 revolutionaries. 18:09 The members of the clergy who remained loyal to the Pope 18:13 rather than to the national assembly, 18:15 and that was the majority, were considered to be traitors 18:18 and now many members of the clergy were themselves 18:22 persecuted. 18:24 Here is what you had. 18:25 An essentially godless group of people seizing power and 18:29 rebelling against not only the State that had persecuted 18:32 them, but against the Church that 18:34 had extorted and misused them. 18:36 And a group of people with that sort of power and with 18:40 that sort of bitterness, not guided by the Holy Spirit 18:43 or anything remotely resembling Christian 18:45 principles, were committed to revenge and 18:49 destruction, and this morphed into a 18:52 hellish period that became known as the Reign of Terror. 19:08 The Reign of Terror began in 1793 and it lasted for about 19:12 10 months. 19:13 During that time, 20,000 people were executed 19:15 by guillotine, thousands of them 19:19 here in Paris. 19:20 And tens of thousands of others were executed by other 19:22 means all over France. 19:25 Many of the executions happened right here, 19:27 in a place that is now known as the Place de la Concorde. 19:32 It is a fabulous place now. 19:33 [Music] In one direction is 19:41 the Louvre and the beautiful gardens that surround it. 19:44 And the other is the famous Champs-Elysées, 19:47 a magnificent boulevard that leads to the Arc de Triomphe. 19:51 The National Assembly Building is right there. 19:54 There is a stunning Obelisk that was given to France by 19:58 the Nation of Egypt in the 19th Century. 20:00 But before t here was an Obelisk here, 20:04 there was a guillotine and it was kept busy. 20:08 At that time, instead of being the Place de 20:15 la Concorde, or Concorde Square, 20:17 in other words, Getting along with each other 20:20 Square, it was called the Place de la 20:23 Revolution. 20:24 The executioners started wiping out the nobility. 20:28 King Louis XXI was executed here. 20:31 So was his wife, Marie Antoinette, 20:34 who incidentally probably didn't say, 20:37 "Let them eat cake", and seems to have been 20:39 executed simply because people didn't like her. 20:46 You know, the guillotines were actually 20:48 set up right here. 20:50 They were set up right here where this Obelisk now stands. 20:55 And when you think about it, what the revolutionaries were 20:57 really trying to do was execute God. 21:02 They were so fueled by their lack of Christianity, 21:05 so maddened by what they perceived to be the misdeeds 21:08 of the church, that they began this process 21:11 of banishing God from society. 21:13 What they did was initiate an intentional process of 21:17 de-Christianization, where God was pushed out of 21:20 society and not only was God pushed out of society, 21:23 but atheism was set up as a national religion. 21:27 Think about it. 21:28 In 1793, the world heard an educated, 21:32 civilized country declare in its national assembly 21:35 that there is no God and masses of people rejoiced. 21:41 [Music] 21:49 But it goes even further and gets even more 21:51 bizarre than that. 21:53 In a ceremony that now seems impossible to believe, 21:56 a woman was brought into France's National Assembly 22:00 building, placed right next to the 22:02 country's highest political leaders, 22:04 and declared to be the goddess of reason and the people were 22:09 told it was this woman that they would worship from now 22:13 on. 22:14 [music] Then, 22:20 unbelievably, she was taken here, 22:24 to Notre Dame Cathedral. 22:25 She was elevated before the people and was presented as an 22:29 object of worship, receiving the adoration of 22:33 everyone present. 22:37 The weekly day of rest was set aside and France installed 22:41 every 10th day as a festive day. 22:44 The institutions of the Bible were banned. 22:46 Baptism and communion were strictly prohibited. 22:50 A nation had declared that there was no God. 22:53 France had de-Christianized itself and installed a goddess 22:58 of reason. 22:59 A nation turned its back on God and essentially declared 23:03 itself atheist and look where that got it. 23:08 Having thrown off the restraining power of the Holy 23:10 Spirit, the leaders of this movement 23:13 left to their own devices, filled France with blood. 23:19 Godlessness never prospers an individual or a nation. 23:23 History shows us that. 23:25 Nobody can point to a place in the world where Godlessness 23:28 has turned out for the better and led to advancement or 23:31 prosperity. 23:32 And nobody will ever be able to do that, 23:34 because that sort of place has never existed and never will. 23:40 The Bible says, "The fool has said in his 23:42 heart there is no God." 23:44 Proverbs 14:34 says, "Righteousness exalts 23:48 a nation." Listen to this, 24:09 So what happens to a nation when God is left out of the 24:12 picture? 24:13 Well, it can't possibly go in a good 24:16 direction and history shows us that only too clearly. 24:20 But what happens to your life when God is left out of the 24:23 picture. 24:24 In the same way it cannot possibly go the way that God 24:27 wants it to go. 24:30 You know, I suppose it's one thing to 24:32 look at a nation and examine some of the sadder parts of 24:34 its history but it's altogether another thing and 24:37 most likely a far more important thing to examine our 24:41 own hearts and ask ourselves what is going on there. 24:45 Friend, what is going on in your hear 24:47 today? 24:48 You know, in Philippians 2:14 Paul 24:51 wrote, and he wrote this words, 24:53 he said: " It is God who works in you both to will and to do 24:56 for his good pleasure." When a nation asks God to leave and 25:00 says we don't want your help and we'll do things our own 25:03 way, a nation will reap what it 25:05 sows. 25:06 Same thing with a person. 25:08 When a person says I don't think I want God working in me 25:12 both to will and to do of his good pleasure, 25:14 what can God do? 25:15 But friend, today you can say, 25:17 Lord, whatever the circumstances of 25:19 my life, whatever my strengths or 25:21 weaknesses, whatever my ups and downs, 25:23 I would like you to live your life in me. 25:27 And when we make that request of God, 25:29 God honors that request, and God lives his life in you. 25:34 And then, you reap what you sow, 25:37 but you've sown good things and you will reap 25:41 everlasting life. 25:43 Revolutions are nothing new but many years ago, 25:47 a revolution occurred in heaven and the sin and 25:50 problems we see in the world today are the result of that 25:53 revolution. 25:54 There is a last-day battle going on. 25:56 A battle to see who will rule the earth in earth's final 25:59 days. 26:00 I want you to have a study we have prepared on this subject, 26:02 called The Battle for the Throne. 26:05 You will understand the beasts of Bible prophecy, 26:07 what they mean, and what they reveal about 26:10 earth's last days. 26:12 The Battle for the Throne. 26:13 In just a few pages, you will discover what the 26:15 Bible has to say about the beasts of Bible prophecy 26:19 and it is clearly explained. 26:20 You won't be guessing or wondering after you read 26:24 The Battle for the Throne. 26:25 And it's our free gift to you right now. 26:29 This informative and practical booklet is available free from 26:32 It Is Written. 26:34 Just call 1.800.253.3000 and ask for the Battle for the 26:37 Throne. 26:38 You can also request this study by writing to It Is 26:41 Written, Box O, 26:43 Thousand Oaks, CA 91359 and we will mail a 26:47 copy to your address in North America. 26:50 And be sure to visit our website, 26:52 itiswritten.com, where you will discover many 26:55 more helpful resources on a variety of life-changing 26:58 topics. 27:00 It Is Written is a faith-based outreach made possible by 27:03 viewers like you. 27:04 Thanks for your letters and emails and thank you for your 27:08 continued financial support. 27:09 Your support enables It is Written to share clear Bible 27:12 truth and impact lives around the world. 27:17 Our toll free number is 1.800.253.3000 and our web 27:22 address is itiswritten.com Thanks for joining me today. 27:27 Let's pray together. 27:28 Our Father in heaven, thank you for showing us that 27:31 things work better when you are in the center of a nation 27:36 and of an individual. 27:38 Lord, please be the center of our 27:40 lives that we might reap what we sow, 27:42 having sown the good, having sown Christ, 27:45 that we might reap everlasting life. 27:48 Be honored in our lives. 27:50 We pray and thank you in Jesus' name, 27:53 amen. 27:56 I look forward to seeing you again next time. 27:58 Until then, remember "It is written, 28:00 man shall not live by bread alone, 28:03 but by every word that proceeds from 28:05 the mouth of God. |
Revised 2015-02-06