All right, we're going to open up with Revelation chapter two, verse number 10. Read this verse and get started. Good to see you. Hope you're having a good day and week. Appreciate this opportunity. This verse mentions the martyr's crown. In Revelation 2, verse 10, the message to Smyrna in the last part says, be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life. So, faithfulness unto death, not until death, unto being a martyr, dying for the faith. bring a martyr's crown, a crown of life. That's one thing we'll talk about tonight, as we have been almost every night, and that's the martyrs, the persecutions, and we've looked at the Waldensians. Tonight we're going to look at the Albigensies, a very ancient Baptist group, and we'll also Tonight be talking about Muhammad and the birth and growth of Islam, which is a very big part of church history as well. So we'll open in prayer and then we'll begin the night. God bless you. All right, this is our 12th session already. and we're going to be going over pages 82 to 87 in our book in just a moment. We're going to be talking about the Albigences, and I thought I'd share this little bit of information already. In the year 1206, there was the Catholic Church said they wanted to have a formal debate with the Albigensians. And that sounded good. The Baptists saw it as an opportunity to preach the gospel and publicly debate on subjects like the mass and other Roman Catholic doctrines. This was held in Montreal, the original Montreal in France. But the whole thing was deceptive. The whole purpose of it was to get the Baptist out in public and to give the armies of the Pope time to get there and kill everybody. Yes. So they had the debate. They were all met. for several days, and then the army of the Pope arrived and within two months killed 200,000 Baptists. 200,000. 1206. 1206. And then 800,000 more were killed within the next 20 years. That makes a million. That's a million. Baptists who were killed just in that area in Albi, France. They were called the Albigensians because they were headquartered in Albi, a city in France. So we're gonna look at them just a second here. Some more names, however, I'm sure you've noticed that these Baptist groups, and Baptist means a baptized believer. a baptized believer. These groups had many different names. They were not called Baptists. They were usually called after their leader. They were called Packards, Hussites, Cathari, the Gospel-eers. I like that one. They were called good men, Lollards, Anabaptists, Waldensians, And some other names we'll be studying this week and next week. So that's important as you study Baptist history to realize what they were called. The Albigensians, sometimes they're called Albigensians, Albigensies, different names, but all referring to the same group. Again, they were named after the town in Southern France. These groups overlap, as it says here. Many believe they came from the Paulicians, which we studied last time. So these groups would preach the gospel and people get saved. Sometimes men would get called to preach and they would go back to their village, maybe even to a different country and start churches. And so there's a line there. So you could easily say the Paulicians led to the Albigensians and then on down the line. I think, wouldn't it be interesting to know the people God has used to get the gospel to you? I mean, you probably know who told you about Jesus, but who told him and who told him? And go back a thousand years and go back 2000 years. Somebody has just kept on telling the story. until it came to you and me, and now we get to pass it on, right? So it's believed the Albigensians came from the Pauletians. Some believe that, however, that they went further back than that from the earliest ages. They did spread rapidly through Southern France. And again, they were called good men among many other names. And I think it's very interesting that the Inquisition could not charge them with any immorality. The Inquisition is the Roman Catholic machine that interrogated Christians and tortured them and slaughtered them by the millions, the Inquisition. But history says that when these believers were tried, that all they could accuse them of was heresy. They couldn't bring any moral charges against them because they were good people, they were real Christians. And of course, they were not guilty of any heresy, but the Catholic church said, if you don't agree with us, you are a heretic. What did they believe? They believed that a church should consist of good people. They believed it was not right to take oaths. They believed it was not lawful to kill. A man ought not to be delivered up to the officers of justice to be converted, that is, to have his beliefs changed. Religious freedom, they believed in religious freedom. The church ought not to persecute even the wicked. The law of Moses was no rule for Christians. No need of priest, especially of wicked ones. The Albigensi said the sacraments, the orders, all the Roman Catholic ceremonies were a waste of time. Expensive, oppressive, wicked. They baptized by immersion and rejected infant baptism. Sounds like they were baptized in every way. So that's part of our heritage, these Albigenses from France, way back in this time period, seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries. It is very sad that almost nothing is left of their writings. And why is that? Well, the Catholic Church burnt their writings, burnt their Bibles, burnt them. Very little is left. And that's regrettable, and that's true of every group. Every group was harassed. Here's a good historical quote that says, we have found, that is referring to the Albigensians, a body of men In Italy, 500 years before the Reformation, who believed contrary to the opinions of the Church of Rome and who highly condemned their errors. So a lot of people have a lot of respect for the Reformation. I have almost none. The Reformation was a change of political power from the Catholics to the Protestants. It was a movement outside of the mainstream of Christianity. The Baptists were not involved in it in any way. The Reformation was a Roman Catholic monk, Martin Luther, and a Roman Catholic priest, John Calvin, who protested against some of the abuses of the Catholic Church, but they never came out of it, retained so much of it, especially infant baptism. And so they still hated Baptists and hated Jews and never were right, even on the simplest of doctrines, salvation baptism. So you hear a lot of people praising the Reformation, which I forget the exact year, 15 something, not so long ago in comparison to the 2000 years of church history. But here's a historian saying that these folks were around 500 years before that. And there were Christians even here a thousand years before that. So be very careful of the word reformation. The reformation study Bible is called, is full of error, full of heresy, totally Calvinistic. Anytime somebody says they're reformed, then that means that they believe that the Catholic Church was right and just needed to be reformed a little bit and maybe less indulgences and less power for the Pope. But basically speaking, they believe the Catholic Church was the true church. So there are many historical proofs that God's people were around a long time before the Reformation. So that's very, very important to realize. The Albigensies. J.T. Christian was a great Baptist historian. He said these parties were all the same family, which is to say that one came out of the other. They all preached the same thing. They had different names depending on what country they were in, who their leader was. but they all believe the same thing. They were accused of being heretics. They were accused of being mannequins, even though Archbishop Usher said that is not true, and he was not a Baptist, but he knew that that was historically false. They were accused of being heretics and following vain philosophy and cannibalism and all sorts of terrible charges against them. You know, you can accuse a man of anything, can't you? And our Baptist forefathers were accused, I'm trying to think of all the words John Calvin called the Baptists, But he said, basically, run them out of here, and they're nothing but trouble, and the ministers of Satan, and so forth. So, there's been a... We've had a very harsh time. God's people have been hated down through the years, and we didn't get along. It's too much of a doctrinal divide. Our forefathers said, hey, we love you, but we're not gonna call you a Christian. because you don't believe in being saved. So we're going to witness to you. And if you ever get saved, we're going to baptize you the right way as a believer. So they were falsely accused. They were not a metaphysical people. Theirs was not a philosophy, but a daily faith and practice. I like that right there. That's how you can tell a real Christian, isn't it? How they live every day. not merely what they profess. The last sentence says that the Albigenses have one of the saddest stories in the history of the New Testament churches. The greater part of them shed their blood for the cause of Christ and will win the crown of life. And as I just mentioned, a million of them were killed in their own area with over a 20 year period. No. No, Augustine said that heretics are dangerous and should be killed. Yes, and so they felt like they were doing God's work, getting rid of heretics. Yes. So we owe a lot to these folks. We really do. What they didn't do is they didn't sit down and say, hey, we're going to compromise a little bit here, and you believe what you want to, we'll believe what we want to, and let's just all get along. And that's not what they did. They said, this is true, this is false, and if we have to die for this, we're willing to do that. And I think you have to really believe something to be willing to die for it. And so they did. They did. And by this time, the Catholic Church ruled the world for the dark ages. They had the political power to do whatever they wanted to do. They could not be stopped. And they have incredible power today. I mean, what other church denomination sends and receives ambassadors from all the nations of the world? Just the Vatican, just the Vatican. It's a political entity. always has been. It's about lands and gold and libraries and wealth, power. It's never been about the gospel, never been about the truth. If you were the true church, you wouldn't be burning the Bibles. I think what the Bishop of London said years ago, the Catholic of London said, we've got to get all these Bibles away from the, out of the hands of the people. He said, because if we don't, it's going to be the undoing of the Catholic church. If enough people read the Bible and realize that no Catholic doctrines are in the Bible, then that's a threat to the Catholic church, isn't it? So that's why they don't, they totally, um, do not want you to read the Bible. Okay, let's hurry on, we'll talk about Mohammed just a little bit. And we'll end up with the donation of Constantine, okay? Mohammed, you've heard of Mohammed? The fellow that started Islam? Born in Mecca, Arabia, 570. He started traveling in caravans, learning the ways of trade in the Arabian Peninsula. He united the tribes under the God Allah. Now the God of Islam is not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is Almighty God. The God of Islam is the moon God, a pagan deity. The moon is on their symbol, the moon. So please don't think that their God is the real God. And this Muhammad had incredible success conquering all the Middle East eventually, including Jerusalem. These were centuries of great violence and political intrigue, the seventh, eighth and ninth centuries. The Arabs beginning with Muhammad in AD 612 united. as Muslims and overran the Middle East and controlled Jerusalem and would have conquered all of Europe had they not been turned back at the Battle of Poitras in the year 732. So this is the beginning and the rise of Islam. Doesn't sound very peaceful, doesn't it? The word Islam means peaceful. and you hear politicians call Islam peaceful, but there's nothing peaceful about it. It's a slaughtered everywhere. If you read the Quran for a little while, it talks about peace, but then when Muhammad had control, he quit talking about peace. You know, he worked his way in, he gained their trust. And then when he was in authority, he just wiped out everybody. So the Quran that he wrote, I don't know if you've ever read it or not, but it's, when he first started getting these visions, he said it was demonic. He said he felt like this was not right, this was not from God. But he had Catholic friends who said, oh no, you're wrong, it's okay, these are from God. His wife was a Catholic, it was either his uncle or her uncle, I can't remember. But he had a lot of Catholic influence in his life, Muhammad. Also, he was inspired by Augustine, who said, kill the heretics. And that's what Muhammad did. If you were not a Muslim, you got killed. Just like the Pope said, if you're not a Catholic, you'll be killed. They both drew their inspiration and authority from Augustine. He married at age 25. In the year 16, he claimed to have had his first revelation from Gabriel. which began his transmission of the Quran, the Muslim holy book. I think it's interesting that the Quran has never been changed. They've never had a revised version. They've never said we need newer language. The Quran is the Quran. You don't touch it. You don't change it. It's 1400 years old. I think we can learn something from that. We don't need 200 versions of the Bible. We just need the one real version. They've never changed it. You'd be killed in a heartbeat if you change one word of the Quran. Even though some of it is absolute foolishness, paganism, like the sun goes down every evening in a pond somewhere and the devil lives in your nose and other absurdities from way back in his pagan life, but they don't touch it. You don't change it. Muhammad wrote that and it's still their hero today. Almost every Muslim man, his name is Allah or Barak or Muhammad, isn't it? He's their founder and he's their hero. The Quran gives instructions on how to kill unbelievers. The forcible conversion of the world is one of their teachings. The Quran says the last day will not come until every Jew is dead. That's why tonight we have war in the Middle East. Those Iranians are drunk on the Quran. It says we must kill every Jew so that the great last day can come. It says the day will come when the tree will say, there's a Jew hiding behind me, killing. and they hate us, they call Christians and Jews the people of the book, this book, they know that. So they're taught it from a child, they're fanatical, and it's not just a few. Just every Muslim, its main core, it's not just a few men that are on the outside that are suicide bombers. They're all willing to die by suicide for their faith, for Muhammad. So they'll go to, the Quran says you go to heaven if you die. as a suicide bomber. They believe in predestination as well. No free will, that's also in the Koran. Probably got that from Augustine as well. So, you know, what the church failed to do is to evangelize and win these Muslims. And now they're here, as A.T. Pearson said, you either win them or you have to fight them. And that's what we're facing right now, isn't it? All over the world, all those Muslim countries in Africa and the Middle East and Indonesia, they allow no Bible-believing churches. A lot of them don't even allow a Jew to step foot. If you're a Jew, you're not allowed to step foot in Saudi Arabia. They do not believe in religious freedom. So the church, even back then, the decline of the church, lack of soul winning, and the killing of all the Paulicians, all these are reasons for the rise of Islam. And it just kept growing through the centuries. And I would say tonight that Islam is as great a threat or greater than the Catholic church. There are a billion followers of Muhammad tonight. There are a billion followers of the Pope tonight in our world. And their allegiance is above their allegiance to their own nation, is their allegiance to the Pope, their allegiance to Islam and to Muhammad. Here's something you'll find interesting in the Quran. Muhammad got several revelations from Allah to kill dogs, especially black dogs. So that's foolishness. But that's the Quran. And if you were taught that all your life, you'd believe it. You should hear what Catholics believe. It'd make you cry. It's so silly. so dreadfully insane that Padre Pio goes to purgatory every so often and gets you out, or if you're wearing a brown scapular, you know, just lies, lies. So the Pope said, if you give me a child till he's seven, he'll be a Catholic all his life. So that's why we've got to instill the truth in children. because Richard Bennett was a Catholic priest and he got saved, but he said, it's very hard to unlearn something. He said, it's painful, it's painful. So this is the rise of Islam that's still very present in our world after Muhammad died, those that followed him kept capturing Syria, Egypt, Persia, Mesopotamia. North Africa, India, Spain, and would have taken all of Europe if it hadn't been for Charles Martel's victory in 732 at the Battle of Poitours, so the rise and growth of Islam. There's no peace about it. When 9-11 took place, the president came on TV and said, Islam is a religion of peace. That's the biggest lie in the history of the world. But they say that to be politically correct, and they think they can pacify the Muslims. No, you can't pacify them. They're not changing their mind. Every Muslim in the world says we must destroy Israel. Just keep that in mind. I wish our politicians would keep that in mind. There's mention of Charlemagne. I'll say a few things that will be done. Mention of Charlemagne. He was crowned by the Pope. He was crowned the emperor, the Roman emperor by Pope Leo III. And so we see the interaction between the Pope and political parties. The Catholic church was behind Hitler and said when he died, he was a loyal son of the Catholic faith. And Hitler said, I'm just doing what the Catholic church been doing all these years, killing the Jews. So the popes have always been involved in wars, causing wars and so forth. Here's something that the Catholic church has tried to hide. And that is the supposed donation of Constantine. A very embarrassing situation. In the year 756, the Italian Papal States, which was much of the city of Rome and other areas, were acquired by the Catholic Church. And this was legitimized on a document supposedly written by Constantine I that granted all these regions to the Pope. Then they found out that it was a fraud. that Constantine didn't write any such donation as that. They found out that it was written not in 337, but 750, 400 years later. And the Catholic church eventually gave those lands back to Italy in 1929. So they hung on to them for a thousand years, didn't they? And there's one intrigue after another, one fraud after another. Religion has much to hide. Lies, deceptions, you couldn't keep up with it. Just in recent times, the Pope that they poisoned. And just, if you want the most sinister 300 men that's ever lived, just read about the Popes. So that tells you something. about their religion. We love the people, their religion is complete error. There are more groups. Well, how about this? Did you read that about the school of John the Baptist? They had two schools on display. Somebody said, how in the world? One said, that's him when he was a little boy. And then this is his second school when he was a grown man. People believe that. Some people can't even think that one through. Folks, you don't have but one skull, okay? But when you're taught to worship skulls and bones and relics and all that, when you don't have Jesus, then you go for everything else. I remember we used to knock on doors in Catholic areas. especially during election time, they thought we were out canvassing. So they'd be a little bit more ready to open the door. But it would break your heart to see the statues. I noticed many times they had statues of the Holy Land, not statues, paintings, photographs. I said, wow, it surprised me. but to them, they go to Israel as a pilgrimage. You and I go, we go to learn, we go because we support the nation of Israel. They go, that's part of earning you salvation. Just like a Muslim goes to Mecca and Medina, that's more points, more earning salvation. Catholics go to Israel to earn their salvation. That's sad, isn't it? It's all about doing. It's all doing. Religion says do. Salvation says done. That's the difference. Jesus did it all. There's more wonderful groups that we'll be studying. The Paderines, next time, the Henricians, the Arnoldists, different groups, all of them Baptist groups that believe exactly what we believe tonight. All of them persecuted to the uttermost. Some of them just completely wiped out. Eventually just wiped out. And it's the Waldensians. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but they got they were so harassed. So beaten down for so long. That they finally gave up. Finally gave up, and that's that's the story for. another time. We don't know anything about persecution. No, we don't.