After the reformation began, the world slowly changed. The Bible believers kept sending out missionaries. And the gospel spread throughout the world. There were now two distinct types of Christians- Old Reformers and Bible Believers.
Old reformers wanted to reform the Catholic Church - both Roman and Greek Orthodox- with the Scriptures. This includes John Knox, Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin, and Cyril Lucas I. These men were saved Christians in the Catholic Church.
Their beliefs were amillennial- meaning they believed they were bringing in Christ’s kingdom, usually through force. Religious wars happened all over Europe and the Middle East.
There was another line who wanted a church apart from the Catholic Church. While the Old Reformers faced persecution from the Catholic Church, the Bible believers got it from both sides, being persecuted by both the Catholic Church and the Old Reformers, following in the footsteps of the Apostle Paul:
Their beliefs were amillennial- meaning they believed they were bringing in Christ’s kingdom, usually through force. Religious wars happened all over Europe and the Middle East.
There was another line who wanted a church apart from the Catholic Church. While the Old Reformers faced persecution from the Catholic Church, the Bible believers got it from both sides, being persecuted by both the Catholic Church and the Old Reformers, following in the footsteps of the Apostle Paul:
Philippians 1:29- For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;
The discovery of the "new world" opened doors for both Christian missionaries and Catholic crusaders. Inhabitants of the Americas faced many troubling scenarios from new diseases to blood thirsty armies laying siege and claim for power hungry monarchies.
The Moravians of the 15th century Bohemia, modern day Czech Republic, were influenced by the Waldensians who migrated to Bohemia and Moravia in the 13th century. They believe in the Holy Trinity, the Incarnation of Jesus, and the Resurrection. They also believe in the importance of personal prayer, family devotion, and having a personal relationship with their Savior.
The Moravians were the first Protestant missionaries to operate on a large scale and are credited with starting the modern missionary movement. They were also the first to send everyday Christians to serve as missionaries, and the first to minister to enslaved people.
Two early Moravian missionaries, Johann Dober and David Nitschmann, sold themselves into slavery in order to take the gospel to the islanders of the West Indies. Working in bondage in the harsh conditions of a tropical climate, they reached many of them with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
II Timothy 1:8- Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;
The Huguenots were 16th century Christians in France. Even though they believed that salvation was achieved through individual faith in Christ and knowledge of scripture, they were Calvanistic in their view of salvation claiming that God had already chosen who would be saved and who would be damned, and that this choice was unconditional (predestination).
The Huguenots were led by John Calvin. He had people burned at the stake, including Michael Servetus, who was executed after being tried by Calvin and found guilty of heresy and burned at the stake. Calvin was especially upset that Servetus rejected his doctrine of predestination.
The Huguenots were persecuted by the Catholic majority in France and fled the country in the 17th century. They settled in many places, including England, the United States, and Africa.
Anabaptists were 16th Century Christians in Europe. Anabaptists believed that baptism should only be performed on adults who freely confess their faith in Christ. They also believed that the church should be a voluntary gathering of believers, and that the government should not have authority over church affiliation or theology. Modern day Baptists descend from these Christians.
Anabaptists were persecuted by both Protestants and Roman Catholics, often being drowned or burned at the stake. The persecution of Anabaptists in Europe led to mass emigration to North America by Amish, Quakers, and Mennonites.
English Baptists, who originated in the 17th century, were a separatist congregation. They had an Arminian view of theology, believing that the Scriptures taught believers’ baptism as an ordinance, not a part of the salvation process. They believed in the free will of people to choose to be saved. They also believed that salvation was based on faith, not works.
The Baptists, also, had a number of practices, which included foot washing, anointing the sick with oil, the laying on of hands, lifelong pastorates, and refusing to eat blood.
It was during the early 1600's that a Scottish Monarch took the crown, joining Scotland and England under one ruler. King James I was a religious man who had studied Greek, French, and Latin under George Buchanan. He was aware that the current Bible translations were filled with errors. In an endeavor to unite the different religious factions of his day, he commissioned the translating of the King James Bible.
After King James, Charles II renewed persecution of Baptists along with other non-conformists in England. Those who were not willing to take an oath of allegiance to the king were assumed to be seditious.
Confusion of the Calvinist movement in England squashed the power of the Bible believers. The prevailing belief was “if Christ died not for all but only for the elect, it is useless to invite all to repent and believe in Him”.
The state of the Protestant churches at the time of the Great Awakening was a cold, dead service. When the evangelical movement began within the Church of England in the 18th century, the tenets of the Baptists were renewed- the authority of the Bible, personal conversion, and a relationship with Jesus Christ..
John Wesley and Charles Wesley are among the most notable evangelists. They were called Methodists because of the methodological approach to spreading the gospel. The Wesleyans and the Methodists are their descendants.
George Whitfield was a contemporary of the Wesley brothers, he helped spread the revival throughout Britain and in the British American colonies. At Oxford he became close friends of the Wesleys, and at their invitation, joined them in their missionary work in the colony of Georgia.
Jonathan Edwards was a friend and colleague of George Whitfield. His most famous sermon titled Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God emphasized the wrath of God and the dangers of awaiting hell. He argued that it was each person's responsibility to acknowledge their sinful condition and accept Christ's invitation of salvation.
The preaching of these men, and others, led to the Great Awakening, a religious revival in the American colonies and England during the 1700s. The focus of the preaching was:
- All people are born sinners
- Sin without salvation will send a person to hell
- All people can be saved if they confess their sins to God, seek forgiveness and accept God’s grace
- All people can have a direct and emotional connection with God
- Religion shouldn’t be formal and institutionalized, but rather personal
Acts 17:6b- These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;
The effects of this movement have long been felt in our country and around the world. They are best described by Tom Holland in the book Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind.
"Simply, the ancients were cruel, and their values utterly foreign to him. The Spartans routinely murdered “imperfect” children. The bodies of slaves were treated like outlets for the physical pleasure of those with power. Infanticide was common. The poor and the weak had no rights.It was Christianity, Holland writes. Christianity revolutionized sex and marriage, demanding that men control themselves and prohibiting all forms of rape. Christianity confined sexuality within monogamy. (It is ironic, Holland notes, that these are now the very standards for which Christianity is derided.) Christianity elevated women. In short, Christianity utterly transformed the world."
Tom Holland, who is not a Christian, claims the morals of the western world would not exist without Christianity. And I would add that America, as we know her, would not exist without Bible believers.
It's time that we modern day Christians take a stand. We have an amazing heritage, and we should want to heed Paul's warning to not let their strides and sacrifices be in vain.
Philippians 2:16- Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.
For more information on Church History, you can purchase The History Of The New Testament Church by Dr. Peter S. Ruckman.
Christians today have dropped the ball. They are so afraid of being accused of "judging" that they no longer speak about sin and hell. They try to keep to the nice feeling parts of the Bible and ignore the weightier, less savory matters.
People are far too positive in their thinking. They focus on what someone is saying and fail to look for what they are not saying. They never consider what is missing.
While waiting for the antichrist to appear, many fail to see that the spirit of antichrist is already working.
I John 4:3- And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
For Satan to come to power in this world, all he needs is to remove Christ's world from people's minds. He doesn't need to encourage people to become Satanists; he only needs to encourage them not to worship, or even consider, Christ. By stripping away truth, he has stripped away conviction.
He has accomplished this not only through schools and government legislations that remove God's Word from their systems, but also by corrupting God's Word through multiple new, corrupted, versions. More and more preachers are failing to emphasize the principles in God's Word that deal with His deity, His blood atonement, His resurrection, or His literal second coming mainly because they are using versions of the Bible that have altered or removed these truths.
Satan is slowly stripping the infallible, inerrant Scriptures from Christians, and they are too ignorant to see it because their pastors are too worried about being "judge-y" to point it out! Some have even gone so far as to argue the "virtues" of the new Bibles on behalf of Satan himself!
People today don't know what God's Word says, and they don't care that they've been lied to. Do you know? Do you care? Have you searched the Scriptures for yourself?
II Corinthians 13:5- Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
The troubles, persecutions, and labors of past believers is quickly becoming forgotten history. We have an amazing foundation in Christ, and the start of a building that has been worked on for the last two millennia! How could we grow complacent in these final moments?
II Timothy 1:13- Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 2:16- Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.
It's time to take up the mantle that our forefathers bore. Let's not let their sacrifices and achievements be for nothing.
