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Series Code: TIJ
Program Code: TIJ001119A
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00:08 This is Oxford, England, one of the world's most famous 00:12 university cities. It's a beautiful privileged place 00:17 steeped in history and studded with august buildings. The 00:21 elegant, honey colored buildings of the university's 00:25 colleges wrap around tranquil courtyards that are meticulously 00:31 manicured and maintained. The city's famed spires twirl into 00:35 the sky above. The magnificent architecture of the 38 colleges 00:40 and the city's medieval center led to its nickname The City of 00:45 Dreaming Spires. Oxford is a wonderful place to wander. The 00:52 narrow cobblestone lanes take you on a journey back through 00:56 the centuries as you cross old stone bridges and pass some of 01:00 the most famous landmarks in Britain. But not all the 01:05 cobblestone streets in Oxford lead to places of romance and 01:09 beauty. One led to a place of execution and death. This small 01:16 area of cobblestones forming a cross in the center of Broad 01:19 Street beside one of Oxford's most famous colleges marks the 01:25 site where three men were led and publicly executed. It was 01:31 right here that the Oxford martyrs were tied to a stake, 01:34 wood piled up around them, bags of gunpowder placed around their 01:39 necks and burned alive. Who were these men? And why did they die? 01:46 Well their story will surprise, shock and inspire you. Make sure 01:53 you stay tuned for our program Standing in the Circle. 01:58 ♪ ♪ 02:14 Oxford is located about 80 km northwest of London in central 02:18 southern England and revolves around its prestigious 02:22 university which was recently ranked as the best in the world. 02:27 Oxford University is the oldest university in Britain and the 02:33 second oldest in the world. Scholars have been studying here 02:36 for nearly 1000 years. What many people don't know is that this 02:43 place was once a hotbed of religious revolution. It was 02:48 in Oxford and at Cambridge University that the ideas of 02:52 Martin Luther and John Calvin, the ideas of the protestant 02:56 reformation began to transform the minds and hearts of the 03:00 English people. They began to study the Bible and follow its 03:05 teachings. As they studied the Bible they discovered the good 03:09 news that God is a God of love and that salvation is a gift, 03:14 that people are saved by believing in Jesus and accepting 03:19 him as their Savior. They found peace with God and came close 03:24 to him. The Bible and its message became important in 03:28 people's lives. The context of this spiritual awakening was the 03:33 religious and political upheaval that took place when King Henry 03:39 VIII separated the Church of England from the Roman Catholic 03:43 Church. At this time reformation ideas gained a foothold in 03:47 Britain and particularly here at Oxford. On Henry's death his 03:53 young son Edward became king. Many of Edward's advisors tried 03:58 to move the English people and the English church in the 04:02 direction of the reformation and a more Bible-based Christianity. 04:06 Among these royal advisors were three prominent university men. 04:13 Nicholas Ridley was a brilliant scholar who had been palace 04:19 chaplain to King Henry VIII and was Bishop of London under his 04:23 son Edward VI. He was popular with the ordinary people and his 04:28 live portrayed the truth of the Christian teachings he taught. 04:32 In his own household he had daily Bible readings and 04:36 encouraged the people to memorize passages of the Bible 04:40 and establish a personal relationship with God. Hugh 04:46 Latimer was a powerful and influential preacher under King 04:50 Edward's reign. He boldly proclaimed Bible truth from the 04:54 pulpit. He knew his Bible well and his sermons encouraged 04:59 people to serve 05:00 God with a true heart and inward affection, not just 05:04 with outward show. He practiced what he preached and spent a lot 05:08 of time helping the poor and visiting inmates in prison. 05:12 Another university friend Thomas Cranmer traveled to Germany to 05:18 learn more about the teachings of Martin Luther. On his return 05:21 to England he became an able churchman and leader of the 05:25 English reformation eventually carrying out church reforms as 05:30 the first protestant Archbishop of Canterbury. These three 05:35 university men worked hard to free their church from 05:39 superstition and dead tradition. When King Edward VI died at the 05:45 age of 15, Mary, his half sister became Queen of England in 1553. 05:53 Now Mary was a devout Roman Catholic and she worked hard to 05:57 to bring England back to the Roman Catholic church. She 06:01 wanted to reverse the protestant reformation launched by her 06:05 father King Henry VIII and her half-brother Edward VI. Moreover 06:11 it was Mary's mother Catherine of Aragon who had been cast 06:15 aside by Henry VIII in favor of Anne Boleyn. The annulled 06:20 marriage of her parents made Mary an illegitimate child. So 06:25 she had extra reason to remain staunchly Catholic and undo the 06:30 father's reforms and stamp out Protestantism and its emphasis 06:34 on the Bible and she did this by force, by persecution. She had 06:41 hundreds of people put to death, often by fire, for their 06:46 religious convictions. To history she became known as 06:50 Bloody Mary for the many executions she ordered. One of 06:55 Mary's first acts as Queen was to arrest the three university 06:59 men Ridley, Latimer and Cranmer. Suddenly these prominent 07:05 reformers became heretics, traitors and outcasts. Each one 07:11 was condemned to death and executed here in Oxford. But 07:16 that's not what makes the Oxford martyrs so unique. Hundreds of 07:20 others died for their faith during the reign of Bloody Mary. 07:24 What is so remarkable about these three individuals is how 07:29 they died, how they went to the stake. These men met their 07:35 barbaric deaths with extraordinary calm and 07:39 steadfastness. They'd become justly famous for making such a 07:44 courageous stand for their faith Now most of us would like to 07:48 assume they had enormous strength as individuals. That 07:52 they were heroes who could stand alone. But there's more to the 07:57 story than that. There's more to their steadfastness than that. 08:01 And I'd like to share with you just why their faith proved so 08:06 unshakeable. The people of England who accepted the ideas 08:13 of the protestant reformation in Europe met together in 08:17 English inns where they could fellowship and study the Bible 08:20 undisturbed. Now although Ridley Latimer and Cranmer are 08:26 remembered as the Oxford martyrs they were actually all students 08:29 here at Cambridge University which is just over 100 km from 08:35 Oxford. A favorite meeting place of these Bible students in 08:40 Cambridge was the White Horse Inn. The budding reformers 08:44 nicknamed it Little Germany because the reformation had 08:47 begun in that country. These men spoke together for long hours 08:52 into the night. Often the windows were shuttered. 08:55 Sometimes they had to look carefully who came through the 08:59 door. But their conversations about Bible truths and the 09:04 meaning of the good news about Jesus were always animated. Now 09:08 we often picture martyrs as people who stand alone. They 09:13 stand along for their convictions. For most of us 09:17 that's close to a definition of a religious hero. Martyrs stand 09:22 against the time. They stand steadfast when everyone seems 09:27 to be against them. They cling to the truth when the church 09:31 teachings to error and wanders from the teachings of the Bible. 09:36 Martyrs stand alone. Well I'd like to suggest that this 09:40 popular conception can be very misleading. It doesn't give us 09:45 an accurate picture of religious heroes. Above all, it doesn't 09:49 give us an accurate picture of their unshakeable faith. Ridley, 09:54 Latimer and Cranmer did have to stand against the tide of church 09:59 corruption and error but they didn't stand alone. They didn't 10:04 find their strength as solitary heroes. This story makes one 10:09 thing clear. These men stood steadfast because they stood 10:14 in a circle. They found their inner strength in a very intense 10:20 kind of fellowship. They found their strength by opening the 10:24 Bible together and studying together and praying together. 10:28 That's what happened at places like the White Horse Inn. At one 10:34 point Ridley had to appear before the Bishop of Lincoln to 10:37 explain his views. The Bishop threatened him with 10:40 excommunication, being cut off from the so called one Holy 10:45 Church. But notice what Ridley said in response: 11:08 Yes, Ridley and his companions did have to make a stand against 11:13 the practices of the church of their day. But they never felt 11:17 they were above the need for fellowship. They never stood 11:20 against the need to belong to a body of believers. These men 11:25 wanted to reform and purify the church, not destroy it. They 11:31 were fundamentally men who built up. They followed Paul's 11:35 admonition in Hebrews chapter 10: 11:52 These English reformers understood their need to meet 11:57 together for mutual encouragement. In fact, they 12:01 built up Christian fellowship wherever they went, even here in 12:06 the Tower of London. After Queen Mary came to the throne Ridley, 12:15 Latimer and Cranmer were all sent to the tower of London. 12:18 They were kept in separate cells but they managed to send letters 12:22 back and forth. These men were still working out the 12:27 implications of Bible teachings. Remember they were early 12:31 pioneers in the reformation. They were just beginning to 12:35 challenge the teachings of the medieval church and so they kept 12:40 sharing insights, passing along verses of scripture, refining 12:44 their beliefs. They communicated their views responding back and 12:49 forth. And after many months of physical isolation the day 12:55 came when these men were allowed to stay together in the tower. 12:59 Now there could be no hindrance to their fellowship. Latimer 13:05 referred to the joyful experience in this way: 13:39 So how did these men spearhead the reformation in England? By 13:43 studying God's word together. By praying together. They stood 13:48 in a circle based on scripture. They discovered truth in a 13:53 circle. That's the second thing we need to understand about 13:58 these religious heroes. They didn't assume they could come up 14:01 with the whole truth and nothing but the truth individually on 14:05 their own. They didn't conduct a private search for the truth. 14:10 They looked for more truth together in the study of God's 14:15 word and so they grew together. These men experienced the kind 14:19 of fellowship that the Apostle Peter described in I Peter 14:23 chapter 1 verses 22 and 23: 14:43 We stand in a circle when we obey the truth together. That 14:49 creates a special bond of love. We stand in a circle on the 14:54 imperishable word of God. That's how our faith grows into 14:59 something unshakeable. In early 1554 the three reformers were 15:05 transferred from London to Oxford and imprisoned in the 15:09 Bocardo Prison, the Oxford town prison which was located here 15:14 near the St. Michael of the Northgate Church at the north 15:19 gate of the city wall. The door of their cell is on display in 15:23 the tower of the church. In April 1554 they were summoned 15:29 to stand trial and were interrogated separately herein 15:33 the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin. They were 15:37 pressed to disavow their belief in the Bible and their 15:40 protestant beliefs but refused. They were sentenced to death 15:45 by burning. On October 16, 1555 Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer 15:54 were led along the streets of Oxford toward the place of 15:57 execution. Ridley wore a black gown ornamented with fur and a 16:02 velvet shoulder cape. He was in good spirits. He had decided to 16:07 look his best for this occasion when he would make the ultimate 16:11 sacrifice, when he would experience a special bond with 16:14 Christ in suffering. He was going with style and dignity to 16:19 his execution. Latimer was dressed more simply but he too 16:24 walked along rather cheerfully though quite feeble now in his 16:28 old age. Town officials made sure there were plenty of 16:32 soldiers stationed by these streets to prevent any rescue 16:36 or protests that sympathetic citizens might attempt. Finally 16:43 they arrived here at the execution location marked today 16:47 by a cobblestone cross. In 1555 the place of the execution lay 16:53 outside the north wall in wide ditch. Ridley had been subjected 16:59 to a ceremony of degradation the day before when all his 17:03 religious offices and honors were taken away. Latimer had 17:08 been publicly disgraced years before. The doomed men had 17:13 nothing left in terms of worldly support but there was one thing 17:18 no one could take away from them and that was their bond of 17:22 faith in Jesus Christ. They were still standing in the circle. 17:28 When the soldiers led them into the ditch where the terrible 17:33 fires would be, Ridley knelt down by the stake, kissed it and 17:38 began to pray. Latimer knelt beside him and prayed too, with 17:44 great fervor. It was a scene none of the spectators would 17:49 ever forget. A church official began to speak to the crowd. He 17:54 warned of the grave errors into which these two so-called 17:58 heretics had fallen. And while his voice droned on Ridley and 18:03 Latimer had a few moments to talk together. There they were 18:07 standing against the piles of wood and the fearful stake 18:11 surrounded by soldiers and church officials in imposing 18:15 robes. A man with a fiery torch stood nearby ready. But the two 18:22 condemned men were talking earnestly, encouraging each 18:26 other, keeping the light of faith bright in each other's 18:31 eyes. They remembered the old days at the White Horse Inn. 18:34 They remembered how thrilling their discoveries had been, how 18:39 wonderful it was to see the good news of Jesus in the Bible as if 18:43 for the very first time and how wonderful it was to share it 18:48 with their family and friends. Standing here beside the stake 18:54 Ridley and Latimer knew that the joy of fellowship was still 18:58 theirs. They were still standing in the circle. After the charges 19:04 had been read the two men asked permission to speak. It was 19:08 denied unless they recanted. Ridley replied: 19:25 The attending blacksmith then chained the two men together to 19:30 the stake. Bags of gun powder were then tied around their 19:35 necks so that death in the flames might come more speedily. 19:39 Finally, a fiery torch was put to the pier. It was then that 19:46 Latimer uttered those famous words: 20:05 Thomas Cranmer was forced to watch his friends suffer in the 20:09 flames and perhaps overwhelmed by the death of his fellow 20:14 reformers he recanted his protestant beliefs and the 20:17 truths of the Bible. However, Queen Mary doubted his sincerity 20:22 and he was still burned right here at the very same location 20:27 five months later. Before he died Cranmer was allowed to 20:32 preach a final sermon here at the University Church in central 20:38 Oxford. Standing in the pulpit and addressing the priests he 20:41 rejected his earlier recantations and denounced the 20:45 errors of the medieval church. He restated his belief in the 20:49 truths of the Bible and his trust in Jesus as his Savior. 20:53 He was immediately removed from the church pulpit and brought 20:59 directly here to the stake. As the execution pier was lit and 21:04 the flames reached upwards Cranmer held up the hand that 21:08 had signed his recantation and plunged it into the flames so 21:13 that it should be burned first crying out, This is the hand 21:18 that offended. The flames of the fire were so intense that they 21:24 scorched the doors of nearby Balliol College. The doors have 21:28 since been moved from the street gate to an inner gate. Today 21:33 they are hung between the _ of Balliol College as a reminder 21:37 of the Oxford Martyrs who were willing to make the ultimate 21:42 sacrifice for their belief in the Bible and Jesus Christ. 21:46 And as Latimer said as the flames consumed him: 21:58 Yes, Ridley, Latimer and Cranmer and many others did light 22:06 candles and those candles have never been put out. They've gone 22:11 on burning brighter and brighter because those men were standing 22:16 fast in the circle of faith. In his message to Timothy the 22:21 Apostle Paul wrote this admonition: 22:35 That is how Paul describes the church. It is the pillar and 22:40 ground or foundation of truth. That's what God designed his 22:45 church to be. God's true church is a circle based on the 22:50 authority of the Bible, the word of God and no other authority. 22:55 It's not just a collection of tradition. It's the pillar and 23:00 foundation of the truth. God has always had his witnesses to that 23:06 truth. Sometimes they're persecuted. Often they're in the 23:10 minority. But that circle of faith has been kept alive down 23:15 through the centuries. In their day Ridley, Latimer, and Cranmer 23:21 kept the flame burning. They represent the great fraternity 23:25 of the faithful, people who have bonded in the simplicity of 23:29 the gospel, people whose faith proved unshakeable in the worst 23:35 of times. These men give us a glimpse of what God's last day 23:40 church called the remnant will be like. Revelation chapter 23:45 12 and verse 17 refers to a cosmic struggle in the last days 23:50 between the dragon, that is Satan, and the woman, God's true 23:56 church: 24:05 You'll notice it says, The rest 24:08 of her offspring. That's the remnant, the faithful in the end 24:14 times. And what are they like? Well, they're still committed to 24:18 the faith of Jesus Christ, the testimony of Christ. They're 24:22 still standing on the word. They're still united in Christ. 24:26 They keep the flame of truth alive. They're faith still 24:31 proves unshakeable. Are you standing in a circle today or 24:36 are you trying to stand alone? Are you just settling for your 24:41 own opinions about God or are you making exciting discoveries 24:45 with a group of true believers. Listen, we need each other. We 24:51 can't stand alone. Faith was never meant to be something 24:56 private and hidden. It was meant to be shared. It was meant to be 25:00 the thing that glues together our most precious relationships. 25:04 Will you make a commitment with me right now, a decision to do 25:09 something very basic, something very important. Will you become 25:14 a part of the circle of faith based on faithfulness to God's 25:18 word the Bible? Find a place of fellowship in Jesus Christ and 25:23 begin investing yourself. Let's start standing in a circle now. 25:28 Why not make that decision right now as we pray. 25:33 Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word the Bible that 25:40 a God in heaven who loves us and who cares for us. We thank you 25:47 for the encouraging example of the Oxford martyrs who remained 25:51 faithful to Jesus and his word, the Bible, and kept the flame of 25:55 truth alive. Lord we too want to stand in the circle of faith. We 26:01 want to find a place of fellowship in Jesus Christ. 26:04 We want to find salvation and peace in him, our Savior and 26:09 accept your invitation to stand in your circle. Bless us now we 26:14 pray. In Jesus' name. Amen. 26:19 If you would like your heart filled with God's love and find 26:25 a deeper faith and a stronger relationship with him, I'd like 26:29 to recommend a free gift we have for all our viewers today. Our 26:34 free gift for you today is the wonderful book Standing in the 26:40 Circle. This book will draw you closer to Christ and his word, 26:44 the Bible. This book is our special gift to you today. It's 26:48 absolutely free and there are no costs whatsoever. So don't 26:53 miss this opportunity to obtain your own copy of this book, 26:58 Standing in the Circle. Here's the information you need: 27:03 Phone us now on 0481315101 or or text us on 0491222999 or 27:16 visit our website: theincrediblejourney.tv 27:20 to request today's free offer. So don't delay. Contact us right 27:26 now. If you've enjoyed today's journey to Oxford and back 27:32 through the centuries be sure to join us again next week when 27:36 we will share another of life's journeys together and experience 27:40 another new and thought provoking perspective on the 27:44 peace, insight, understanding, and hope that only the Bible 27:48 can give us. The Journey truly is television that changes lives 27:54 until next week remember the ultimate destination of life's 27:59 journey. Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth. And God will 28:05 wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more 28:09 death nor sorrow nor crying. There shall be no more pain for 28:13 the former things have passed away. 28:15 ♪ ♪ |
Revised 2020-09-22