Hello, this is Hackberry House. Welcome to God's Word. Father, we approach the study of Revelation with great respect and a certain amount of fear and trembling as we see the holiness of this book. I pray that you would help us to grasp a little more of it than we had before. In Jesus' name, Amen. Hackberry House can be accessed on your computer by just typing in MyHeartCried.net. When you go over there, check out the library page, find the lesson that we're on, which happens to be this time Lesson 50, and join us as we fill out these questions. But first, let's go to the text itself in Revelation chapter 1. We just started the book of Revelation, our last book of the Bible. We're going to interrupt the study of Revelation by a long series of facts and questions about church history. But let's do the introductory part first. As we said, Revelation is divided into three portions. We're in the first portion, really, in Chapter 1, just talking about the vision that he saw of heaven, the things that are, as he says. We'll get into the things that will be later on. The things you have seen, actually, Chapter 1. The things that are, Chapters 2 and 3. But we're going to do those first two sections right now. We're left off with verse 12 where John turns around and he sees who is speaking to him. And he sees first seven golden lampstands. We're told later on that those lampstands are the churches that are going to be written to in chapters 2 and 3. Right in the middle of all this light, which the churches are supposed to be giving forth, was, it says, one like the Son of Man. This is Jesus. How do we know that? Now, by the way, this voice has already said to him, I am the Alpha, the Omega, the First, the Last. And before that, he said in verse 8, the Beginning and the End, who is and was and is to come. All of this is Jesus speaking. How do I know that? Because of the description we're going to have now. By the way, this is the same person that Daniel saw. in Daniel chapter 10. He talks about his head and hair like wool, eyes like a flame of fire, feet like brass. In his right hand he's got the seven stars. We're told later that that means the angels, the angels. Out of his mouth goes the two-edged sword. That's the Word of God. These are all symbolic things. The Bible is usually very literal and plain and obvious, but if it tells you it's being symbolic, then it's literally symbolic at that time. Verse 16, he had in his right hand star, okay, we had that. Verse 17, when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. It's hard for us to comprehend what it must have been like to be there. He tells him, of course, don't be afraid. I'm the first and the last. I am he who lives and was dead. There is our true clue. If you had any question or any doubt about who this is talking about, it's talking about our Lord Jesus Christ. And yet, see the descriptions of Him that match the descriptions that you always had in your mind of the Father, God Almighty. And you'll see there's a oneness there along with the twoness. There's a oneness that cannot be separated. They are one. I have the keys of hell and death. If this is not God speaking, then it's a blasphemer. He's saying things that only God can say. And then he divides the book up into the three parts that I talked about before. And he describes in verse 20 the things I already mentioned about the lampstands and the stars and so on. Well, the seven churches. That's how you're left at the end of chapter one. The seven churches. And then, for the next two chapters, we're going to write to, we're going to see messages being given to those seven churches. As I indicated last time, I do not believe these seven churches are seven church ages. There is no reason to believe that. There is no indication of it. Oh sure, you could stretch it into that if people have tried. It's a very awkward fit. But for sure, they are churches that represent our churches in every church you go to. No matter what your church, you can probably find something like it in one of these seven churches. And if you be honest with yourself, And if your church as a group will be honest with itself, it'll be called to repentance in most cases. In most cases. Let's look at the first seven verses of chapter 2. It's Ephesus. I can't do every detail of every church for reasons I've said many times. We are doing a Bible survey and I implore you to pick up from where I have to leave off and take this a lot deeper yourself. One, it's addressed to an angel. The word means messenger, and it could mean the leader of that church or the speaker, the main speaker who's going to be delivering these things in the physical man. Could also mean an angel. It says angel, as we have come to be accustomed to that word in the Bible. Angel. One of God's spirit messengers. Because the whole thing, the whole revelation was given from God through Christ to an angel. The whole thing is from an angel to John. So the angel could be the one who is giving it in some way to the pastor or to the church. The angel being the one who protects each church. And maybe your church also has an angel or more than one. But anyway, this is the church according to my little title at the top in my particular version of the Bible that is called the loveless church. The church that's lost its first love. It's a church that's filled with a lot of zeal. These are people who have no patience with evil. They hate evil and God hates that too. And false teachers try to come into their church and they don't have a chance. These people are strong in the Word and they're patient and persevering and And yet, verse 4, they've got something wrong. This is not a perfect church. It's got some negative in there. And the only thing he mentions is, you've left your first love. Is that a little criticism? No, I think it's a major criticism, because they're doing everything out of duty, out of, we've done this before, we're going to plow on, but they have lost the whole feeling of what it means to be a Christian. the whole reason that they came into Christ, the forgiveness of sins and the joy of the Lord that was their strength at one time. Now it's just turned into formulas. Oh, they're strong. They're moral too. But it's all just down in a book somewhere. You've seen churches like that. They're very strong against evil, but they're not strong in love. He says, you've fallen, verse 5, and you need to repent. You do hate the things that I hate. He ends and begins with good things, but sandwiched in between all of that, very important negative criticism, and a thing that is so bad that if it's not repented of, they're going to lose their influence in the world. And the end of every one of these messages is a promise, verse 7, to those who overcome. In this case, you'll get to eat from the tree of life. Yes, the tree of life is still available. The next church is the persecuted church in Smyrna. Again, in every one of these things he starts out with, I know something about you. I know all about you. This is Jesus who walks among the churches. He knows. He knows. He's visiting churches all the time. He knows the works, the trouble, the poverty. And in fact, he doesn't say anything about them that is evil. This is a persecuted church. It makes it pure. They've come against evil. They've got love. They're suffering with the Lord. And some of them are going to be suffering even more. Verse 10. You're going to have trouble for ten days. Don't know what that means. Let's don't try to make it mean something. Maybe it just means ten days. But it could mean a long time. We don't know. He says, if you just persevere and you'll be faithful to death, you'll get the crown of life. He says, you guys are right on track. He that suffers with me will reign with me." You stay right where you are. You're doing the right thing. And here's the promise to them. If you overcome, you won't be hurt by the second death. We're going to talk about the second death later on. Then there's that compromising church. Verses 12-17. The compromising church in Pergamum. This is the place where it says Satan's Satan's throne and Satan's seat is. And for a while it was a center, a political center of the Empire, where Satan had quite a hold on the people around him, around that area. Later everything switched forever to Rome, but there was a time in between Greece and Rome when Pergamum was a major center. Well, Antipas is a martyr that's killed there, and he mentions that. And he mentions that there are some really good things going on, and that they're holding strong in the middle of all this mess of political influence that they're in, how evil that place is, and how much there's anti-Christian sentiment in that area. But he says, even though you're doing so many good things, there is this that I have. You have allowed into your midst some false teachers. Now these false teachers are actually involved in bringing people to sacrifice to idols and not think it's bad, and committing sexual immorality and not thinking it's bad. Do we have churches like that today? Yes, we do. It's not to be allowed among the people of God, none of that. And when you allow it, pastor, leader, Sunday school teacher, you give a bad, bad message. It's not the message of grace. You might think you're giving the message of grace, but when you allow sin in the church, you let people think that God is not holy anymore, that He's changed, that all of the holy things were just for the first century. And God says, even here, you better repent, or I'm coming to you quickly and I'll fight against those teachers with the sword of my mouth. And there's going to be some major pain in your church that God will have to do if you don't do it. Repent. Get those people out to Him that overcomes. I'll give Him some of the hidden manna. And I'll give Him a white stone. In other words, I have very special things for you. You don't have to be doing all these fleshly things for yourself. I'll give you good things. You're too open. You're too free. You're too liberated. You're too much like the world around you. Repent. That's the compromising church. Then there's the corrupt church starting in verse 18 in Thyatira. I know everything about you. You're doing better now than you used to. And yeah, you've got some good works and some love there. The last works are more than your first. You've got miracles abounding. It's just a great church. But you do have some problems. You've got Jezebel there. I don't know if that was her real name. It's hard to imagine. Or a code name that John's giving her. But there's a woman in your church. You know, this is the only time that the Bible clearly talks about women leadership in the church. It was Deborah leading in the Old Testament. At least she sat under a tree. Not much in the terms of physical leadership, but she did have the gift of prophecy and was using it to help lead God's people. But here's the only one in the New Testament church that's considered a church leader that's a female. Her name is, quote, Jezebel. What is she? Well, she calls herself a prophetess, meaning she probably isn't one, but she, quote, prophesies. You hear her saying stuff that looks and sounds holy. I see it all the time. I hear about it all the time. going into places and hearing things and watching television, you see these women and men rising up and just saying stuff that sounds holy, but if you listen carefully, some of it's very unholy. And by her prophecy, she was beguiling the people of God. And they also were sexually immoral because of this strong woman in the church who was giving people to believe that God had changed in some way. And also eating things sacrificed to idols, just like at Pergamum. I gave her plenty of space to repent already, and I gave you guys time to do your work, but nobody's doing anything about it. And so I'm going to have to do it in verse 22. You watch out. This woman's going to wind up in a sick bed. and those who committed adultery with her, whether physically or spiritually, I'm not sure, but it looks like she was actually into physical, sexual, just like the priestesses of the pagan religions. She had taken that role in the church, and God is very upset, even though, even though there are many holy people in that church, and many godly things happening, this woman is out of order, totally out of order, and has the wrong spirit all together and she's going to be killed and all those who follow her, her disciples of verse 23 are going to be killed too. There's going to be a disease spread throughout that congregation. You ought to watch out when churches are filled with sickness. There could be something wrong there. You ought to watch out when people are just dying constantly in churches. What is going on? I'm talking about people who are too young to die. What's happening? Is God's hand of judgment on that church? Why not? Why do people try to just sweep that under the rug? That could be God trying to speak to that church. The rest of you, verse 25, 24, to those who never got all of her depths, as they say. You know, people who are into other things are just saying, well, we're deeper than you guys. We're deeper. We've gone on. We're free. We're liberated. We found some new truths. Don't believe it. Don't you believe it. You stick to the Word of God. Whatever is written, that's the depth that you need to go to, and that'll keep you busy all your life. But if it's not in the Word, it's not deep, it's shallow, and it's forbidden, and God will judge it. Hold fast what you have. He says, and what you have is my word. Verse 25. He who overcomes and keeps my word, more promises to them. What? You get to rule with a rod of iron. She's not to rule. You're going to rule if you follow me. Take people who are not supposed to be ruling now and get them out of there. Get them out of there. Chapter 3 starts talking about the dead church. Our fourth church, fifth church is the dead church. The one in Sardis had a name that it was alive. You could drive by and you'd see a big billboard say, we are the living church of God in Christ, hallelujah. We ain't got nothing. No, they ain't got nothing. It looked like they had something, but they didn't. Now, when we say dead, we don't always mean just cold, formal, although that could be what was happening here. But it was just that it wasn't alive in the way God wanted it to be alive. They weren't following the Word of God, which is the living Word. Just wake up, wake up. Your works are not perfect. You need to repent. If you don't, I'm going to come on you as a thief. Only those people that aren't watching are going to be caught off guard in that day. Those people who are watching the Word and watching their life, it's not going to be a big surprise to them. They'll know generally when Jesus is coming. But the people who don't watch, those are the people who are going to be caught off guard. And that's what's happening here in the Church of Sardis. It's a dead church. They're alive to the world probably. Probably a really enjoyable bunch of people you kind of enjoy being with, going places and doing things in the world. But when it came to deep spiritual things, and getting the gospel out and telling people about Jesus and living a holy life, they had none of that. You've got a few people there, even in Sardis, verse 4, you've got a few, but it's not enough. Repent, repent, and anybody who doesn't defile their garments will walk with me in white. And more promises in verse 5. I won't blot out your name from the book of life if you overcome. In fact, I'll confess your name. before the Father. There is a book that has your name written in it, I do hope. But God won't blot it out if you follow Him with all your heart. And then, the faithful church. Philadelphia, again, is a church with nothing negative said about it. He says, I see all that you're doing. I, who have the key of David, I see all this. I've been opening doors for you and shutting doors for you because that's what I'll do for a church that follows me with all their heart. And I have set before you an open door. And you've got a little strength. You've kept My Word. You haven't denied My Name. You might not be the very best of the very best, but you're faithful. You're faithful. So I'm going to make those false people who keep coming to you saying they belong to God, but they don't, I'm going to make them come to you and worship before your feet the Christ that's in you to know that I have loved you. I chose you, not those false people. Because you kept my command, I'm going to keep you from the hour of trial. Now that could mean that Philadelphia Church is to be kept from the Great Tribulation. Well, they surely are because they're long gone and the Tribulation hasn't come. That's one possibility. Does it mean that they're going to be separate from the troubles that will come upon the earth like Noah was and like Lot was. Not raptured up to heaven. There's nothing about a rapture to heaven there. But kept separate from it. Since you went through some persecution already and you kept your garments clean and you judged yourself of all sin, you're a holy people, I'm not going to make you go through all that other stuff that the others might have to go through. But we're not talking about being caught up It could also mean the very final judgment. When Jesus comes, there's still some judging to do. On His way down, He's going to come against Satan, and there's going to be a bloodbath all over this world. God's people won't be a part of that. You will be raptured out of that, the final, final thing that He comes to do when He appears. And before He appears, there's going to be all kinds of stuff going on. In fact, there's all kinds of stuff going on right now. Many, many people who are under Satan's persecution right now. And God's not just taking them on up to heaven, is he? They have to go through this. They have to be purified. He says, I'm coming quickly. Hold fast what you have, that no one take your crown. A lot of people want to put this in a church age. See? He's coming quickly. This must be the church that's alive around that time. No, they were saying, I come quickly, Jesus is coming quickly, all through the apostles' age, all through the first church age. They always believed Jesus was coming quickly and soon. And by the way, quickly and soon could mean two different things. Coming soon means He may be here in the next few days. Coming quickly means when He comes, it's going to be in the twinkling of an eye. He'll be here. One moment you're thinking about other things, the next moment you're looking in the face of Jesus Christ. He'll be here. That quick. He's coming when He comes quickly. That's what that could mean. Verse 12, He who overcomes, I'll make him a pillar and so on. More promises. Read them on your own, will you? Then there's that lukewarm church that everybody knows about and everybody thinks it's that other church. Look at your own church. Look at your own life. Hard on this. Versus not really against Jesus. They have a lip service. They love Him in a way. They'll tell you they do anyway. But they're not doing anything for Him. They show up at church. They dance and sing. And then throughout the week, they don't live for God. They have other things. They're not bad people. They're good people to live next door to and all. They're moral people. And they're rich people, verse 17. They're wealthy. They're telling about how God has blessed them. That's how you'll hear them talk a lot. God has blessed me, which means I got mine. Now you're going to have to get yours. That's what that means. They don't realize they're not blessed at all. They're wretched and they're miserable. They're very poor and they're very blind. Now the people who were very poor, Jesus was telling them, no, no, you're rich. And the people who are rich, He's saying, no, no, you're poor and blind and naked. You need something from Me. You need to go get some gold refined in the fire. You need to hear the Word of God. You need to listen to Me according to Isaiah 55. That's the gold. Going after what God says. Wherever it is that he says to go, to go get that, you're going to go get it. You need some white garment. You need to clean up your life, your morality. As many as I love, I speak like this too. Verse 19, I rebuke you and chasten you because I love you. You better be zealous. You better repent. I'm standing at the door right now, if you can just hear me. He's talking to the church there. This is not an invitation at the end of a service. This is Jesus talking to His church all the time, all the time. Let me in. Let me in. Whenever you get together, let me be there. I want to keep my promise, but do you want me to be there? Don't make me just automatic. Call on my name. I'll be there. But you've got to call on me. You've got to want me to be there. Come on. I want to come into my church. I want to have fellowship with my church. And He gives a promise to those people also. Let's look at the questions on number four. Number three, who are the seven stars and the seven lampstands? That's the angels of the seven churches and the seven churches themselves. Number four, what was the problem at Ephesus? They had left their first love. Number five, what does Jesus know about all seven churches? Their works. Number six, which two churches have only positive comments? That's Smyrna and Philadelphia. Number seven, what evils had entered the Pergamos church? Well, there was immorality, eating things sacrificed to idols, and the love of the teaching of the Nicolaitans. And nobody has ever answered satisfactorily in our day who the Nicolaitans were and what they taught. Number eight, what was Jezebel doing in the church at Thyatira? Was she teaching? She was beguiling the servants of God to sexual sin. Number nine, explain how Sardis was not completely dead. Well, they had a few true believers who hadn't defiled their garments. Number ten, are these church ages or churches? They are churches. They actually existed. We can see ourselves in them. Number 11, how is the rich church counseled? To seek the fire. Seek the purifier. Seek the eye cleanser. And number 12, where is Jesus seeking entry? Is it into your heart? Well, of course, but in this context, He's seeking entry into the church. There's a beginning for you of church history. Here are seven churches with a history of their own that Jesus is speaking to already. Before we go into the future that I believe has never happened yet, starting with chapter 4 and following, at least, especially starting with chapter 6 and following, before we get to that, let's go into a study of church history. This will be as brief as I can make it, but when you're covering 2,000 years, that may not be ultra-brief. I'm using Holly's Bible Handbook. Now, the book that's on the market right now, I want you to stay as far away from as you can, unless you're trying to prove something theologically with it, as I was. I was so disgusted to find that they have rewritten the history portions, in fact, much of the whole book of Halley's Bible Handbook, trying to, as they say, update it. You know you can't update history? History is history. What they're trying to update is their relationship with Rome, and they don't want Rome to be offended. Isn't it sad? Doesn't that sound like what the Communists have done in years past? Let's rewrite history so people won't think we're so bad. Well, Henry Halley didn't care what people thought, and he lived in a day when people freely spoke against Rome when Rome needed to be spoken against. And in terms of history, they do need to be identified. So when we come into that part that is Romanism, you're going to see he does not mince any words. Let me read the introduction that I have to church history right here on the lesson, on the back side of the Lesson 50. It says, The series of events that commence with Revelation 4 lead to the very consummation of all things. The first chapter seemed to coincide with the history of the first century church. And between these two time periods has passed 1900 years. So for the rest of this lesson and on into 51, all of the next one, we will attempt to tell the church's story during that time. Our guide, as was in the gap between Old and New Testament, will be Henry Halley. Lesson 31, if you've been following along, has a description of Henry Halle and his classic handbook. That would be in the 25th edition. That edition will be on page 757. It's the last one of the truly Halle Bible handbooks. That which is on the market today, calling itself Halle's Bible Handbook, is not Halle's after all. Some of Halle's family was involved in that. But when it came right down to it, Halle has been gone for quite some time. And I noticed that year after year, they just kept publishing the same book. I don't know if they made any changes in it, maybe just a few here and there. But on this last one, it is totally different. Henry Halle, I am confident, would not have approved what his family and his so-called friends did. The 20, now I said 25th edition, I think I mean 24th, at least that's the one I'm looking at here. That's the one I used, the 24th edition. It says 1965. I would say that's safe because I believe he was still living at that time. But the one that is now is not of him. I'm on 757 and I'm going to go, Lord willing, to 767 as quickly as I possibly can and then we'll come back and answer the questions that will finish up this lesson. We'll see what kind of time we have left after that. We're showing a connection with the Bible story here on 757. And it's impossible, he said, to understand the present condition of Christendom except in the light of history. But alas, ignorance of church history is more widespread even than ignorance of the Bible. We believe it's the duty of ministers to teach their people the facts of church history. Church history is thought of in three periods. Roman Empire period, we have all the persecutions of Rome, the martyrs, the church fathers, the controversies that began even then, and the Christianization of the Roman Empire. Then in the medieval period, the growth and power of the papacy. the Inquisition, monasticism, Mohammedanism, and the Crusades. And as you can see, a lot of that is not purely church history, but that which was calling itself church history. And then we have the modern period, Protestant Reformation, great growth of Protestant church, wide circulation of the open Bible, growing freedom of civil governments from church and priestly control, worldwide mission, social reform, and the growing brotherhood. He mentions the three great divisions of Christendom that are still with us, Protestant, Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic. Now on page 758. We start with the Roman Empire. The church was founded in the Roman Empire. Rome was founded in 753 BC, subdued Italy and so on. He talks a little bit about the Roman growth and talks about From 46 B.C. to A.D. 180, Rome was in its zenith. And of course, during that period is when the Church began. Julius Caesar was before Jesus. He died before Jesus was born. He was the Lord of the Roman world. But in 31 B.C., that position went to Augustus. And it was during the reign of Augustus that Christ was born. Then Tiberius. During his reign, Christ was crucified. Then Caligula. then Nero. Nero is probably the one who executed Paul and perhaps Peter. The next one of importance to us would be the Emperor Domitian in AD 81 to 96. That's the man who is, as we study Revelation, he's the one that's on the throne in Rome. He banished John and persecuted Christians big time. There was more persecution from Antoninus Pius and Hadrian and another Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. All of these men persecuted Christians. And then the decline and fall of the Roman Empire begins in AD 180. You have Commodus and so on and so on until we finally have a man named, let me see if I can find him here, Constantine in 306-337 who became a Christian himself. and turned the empire around. Christianity was okay. Then Julian came along as the next man and wanted to bring paganism back. And all those guys that had jumped into the church jumped back out. And then Jovian went back the other way. So you got these converts shamelessly going back and forth, one day calling themselves Christians and one day not. That's how paganism got into the church. Theodosius in 378-395 was the last emperor over the whole Roman Empire and also the one who made Christianity, smart move, the state religion, smart for the world, terrible for us, but now, because now you had to be a Christian, now paganism comes into the church big time, the so-called church at that time. Then you see the division of the empire. He talks about the Christianization of the Roman Empire, the rapid spread of Christianity early on. Tertullian wrote, and he was a Christian historian who wrote from 160 to 220. He says, We are of yesterday, yet we have filled your empire, Rome, your cities, your towns, your islands, your tribes, your camps, your castles, your palaces, your assemblies, and your senate. He was right. By the end of the imperial persecutions in A.D. 313, Christians numbered about one-half the population of the Roman Empire. You've got to take into account that this was after Constantine did his work and made Christianity the favorite in state religion. Some of these Christians were Christians in name only. But it is a major thing to say, isn't it, when you think of where it started with just a band of disciples. and them as good as dead. What about Constantine, his conversion in the course of his wars with competitors to establish himself on the throne? On the eve of the Battle of Milvaine, bridged just outside Rome, A.D. 312, he saw, or at least it is reported that he saw, just above the setting sun, in the sky, a vision of the cross, or something that looked like a cross. And it said, in this sign, conquer. At least that's what we think. I'm being very careful with this because there are different versions of it, and church history is definitely not inspired. He decided to fight under the banner of Christ. He won the battle, a turning point in the history of Christianity. His Edict of Toleration in A.D. 313, and by this edict, Constantine granted to Christians, and to all others, full liberty of following that religion which each may choose. The first edict of its kind in history. He went further. He favored Christians in every way. Filled the chief offices with them. Here's the danger. The danger. Now they're politically powerful. They're getting what they thought was their reward. You see, they thought they deserved all this. It went to their head. It destroyed some very important things early on. What Satan could not destroy by persecution, he's destroying by acceptance. Constantine in the Bible, he ordered for the churches of Constantinople fifty Bibles to be prepared under the direction of Eusebius on the very finest vellum by skillful artists and he commissioned two public carriages for their speedy conveyance to the Emperor. It's possible that the Sinaitic and Vatican manuscripts are of this group. As far as Constantine and Sunday, he's the one that made the Christians' Day of Assembly Sunday a rest day. They were meeting on that first day of the week at night, but up until that time they had to meet at night because they had to work all day. Now he is saying, not the Bible anywhere, not the church anywhere, but he is saying that this is to be a rest day. It meant a whole lot to the slaves to have that day off. Well, I say the church wasn't saying that. Yes, the church was, in some areas, saying that this should be it. And they had, indeed, an influence on him. And he wanted to do what he thought was the Christian thing to do. But also, his own God was a God of the first day. His God was the God of the sun. Sun day was very important to him, too. You better believe that Constantine had a mixed up religion. Was the first day ever to be a rest day for Christians when they already had the seventh day according to the Bible before them, according to the Jews who flooded the first church? Well, I'll let you deal with that one. I don't want to go any farther there. What about the houses of worship? The very first church buildings erected during the time of Alexander Severus, 222-235, but after the Edict of Constantine, you could see them everywhere. So church buildings were not in the original plan for the church either. Yes, I think God accepts them when God's people are not destroying their bank accounts to take care of it. That's not a holy building you're building, I'm sorry. It's not a holy building you're church building. And you know, I think some of the churches would be better off to have smaller groups meeting in homes, get together in somebody else's auditorium once a month or something like that, rather than these big kingdoms building up. And that didn't happen in the first century. It didn't happen until the third, in fact. Well, Emperor Constantine, when he became a Christian, told you he allowed everybody to choose his own religion. But Theodosius, 378 to 398, made Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire, made church membership compulsory. As I said, it filled the churches with unregenerate people. Not only so, He undertook the forcible suppression of all other religions, prohibited idol worship. There was much bloodshed. Now Christ had designed that we indeed conquer paganism, for sure, but by spiritual and moral means. Up to this time, conversion was voluntary. But now the military spirit of imperial Rome had entered the Church. The Church had conquered the Roman Empire. But in reality, the Roman Empire had conquered the Church by making the Church over into the image of the Roman Empire. The Church had changed its nature, had entered its great apostasy, had become a political organization in the spirit and pattern of Imperial Rome, took its nosedive into the millennium of papal abominations. The Imperial Church of the fourth and fifth centuries had become an entirely different institution from the persecuted Church of the first three centuries in its ambition to rule It lost and forgot the Spirit of Christ. Oh, they left this out of the new church history. And this is so, so important for you to understand. Worship at first, very simple, was developed into elaborate, stately, imposing ceremonies, having all the outward splendor that had belonged to, what, heathen temples. Ministers became priests. The term priest was not applied to Christian ministers before A.D. 200. It's borrowed from the Jewish system and from the example of heathen priesthood. Leo I in 440 prohibited priests from marrying, and celibacy of priests became a law and an evil law of the Roman Church. Then there was the conversion of the barbarians, the Goths, the Vandals, the Huns, who overthrew the Roman Empire, accepted Christianity, but to a large extent their conversion was nominal, And this further filled the church with pagan practices. I get a little nervous when I hear that a whole tribe has just come to Christ. Well, sure, the leader can lead his people and direct them to Christ, but it's not true. I don't believe that whole people groups come at one time and they're all born again at the same time. Watch those things very carefully. They're happening in our day. conflicts with heathen philosophies, even as every generation seeks to interpret Christ in terms of its own thinking. So, no sooner had Christianity made its appearance than it began its process of amalgamation with Greek and Oriental philosophies. Then here comes Gnosticism, Manichaeism, Montanism, Monarchism, and so on. A lot of isms that came up in many books and works are recorded that answered these various things. All these things were predicted. The false teachings just coming one at a time, flooding into the church and causing God's men to rise up and fight back. Well, then there was the persecution. We talked about that before. The one under Nero. There was the one under Domitian in A.D. 96. In this one, John is banished, we already said. The one about Trajan, the second one, he was one of the best emperors but he felt he should uphold the laws of the empire and Christianity in his day was considered illegal. So we're backtracking a little bit, going back, talking about this persecution that happened in the end of the first century, beginning of the second century. Pliny, who was sent by the Emperor to Asia Minor where Christians had become so nervous that the heathen temples were almost forsaken to punish Christians, wrote to the Emperor Trajan, they affirmed that the sum of their crime or their error, whichever it was, was this, that they used to meet on a stated day before light and to sing among themselves in turn a hymn to Christ as to a God. and to bind themselves by an oath, not to any wickedness, but that they would never commit theft or robbery or adultery, that they would never break their word, they would never deny a trust when called to give it up. And after these performances, their way was to separate and then meet again to partake of ordinary food." He says that's why these Christians were killed, just for doing that. Hadrian persecuted Christians. Many suffered martyrdom. Polycarp died under Antonius Pius. Markorilius comes along. He was the worst since Nero. Killed Justin Martyr. Septimus Severus killed Leonidas, the father of Origen. Let me see some others. Decius, number 8. Cyprian said the whole world is devastated when Decius started his work. Valerian killed Cyprian. Diocletian had the last imperial persecution the most severe. It was a resolute, determined, systematic effort to abolish the Christian name. Well, the catacombs of Rome come into play. They were vast subterranean galleries, commonly 8 to 10 feet wide, 4 to 6 feet high, extending for hundreds of miles beneath the city, used by Christians as places for refuge. worship and burial and the imperial persecutions. Perhaps Christian graves could be estimated at between 2 million and 7 million. 4,000 have been found belonging to the period between Tiberius and Constantine. Church Fathers are mentioned here and we never swear by the Church Fathers. They disagreed among themselves early on. You can't prove anything by the Church Fathers. But they were good men, many of them holy men. with good teachings to a great degree. Polycarp is about to be set free If you will just deny Christ, curse Christ. He says, eighty and six years have I served Christ. He's done me nothing but good. How then could I curse him, my Lord and Savior? And Polycarp was burned alive. In the end of the first century, Ignatius, he's on his way to Rome, writes a letter to the Roman Christians, begging them not to try to get his pardon. He wanted to die for the Lord. He says, May the wild beasts be eager to rush upon me. If they be unwilling, I will compel them. Come, crowds of wild beasts. Come, tearings and manglings, racking of bones and hacking of limbs. Come, cruel tortures of the devil. Only let me attain unto Christ. Wow. Well, he did, we believe. Papias. Papias was a pupil of John. Lived from 70 to 155. He may have known Philip. He suffered martyrdom at Pergamum about the same time as Polycarp. Justin Marder lived 100 to 167. He said that already in his day there is no race of men where prayers are not offered up in the name of Jesus. All the gospel had spread quickly. Here's Justin Martyr's picture of early Christian worship. On Sunday, a meeting is held of all who live in the cities and villages, and a section is read from the memoirs of the apostles and the writings of the prophets, as long as time permits. When the reading is finished, the president, the one who presides over the meeting, in a discourse, gives the admonition and exhortation to imitate these noble things. After this, we all arise and offer a common prayer. And at the close of the prayers, we've before described bread and wine and thanks for them according to his ability and the congregation answers Amen. Then the consecrated elements are distributed to each one and partaken of and are carried by the deacons to the houses of the absent. The wealthy and the willing then give contributions according to their free will and this collection is deposited with the president who therewith supplies orphans, widows, prisoners, strangers and all who are in want." What a beautiful picture of that early church. Irenaeus from 130 to 200, pupil of Polycarp, dies a martyr, talks about Polycarps as, I remember well, the place where He sat and spoke, Palikar. I remember the discourses he delivered to the people, how he described his relation with John the Apostle and others who had been with the Lord, how he recited the sayings of Christ and the miracles that he wrought, how he received his teachings from eyewitnesses who had seen the Word of Life, agreeing in every way with the Scriptures. Then there was Origen, a very learned man. He goes off in a lot of areas, but he did die as a result of imprisonment and torture. under Decius. Tertullian, the father of Latin Christianity, is mentioned as living from 160 to 220. Eusebius, the father of church history, is mentioned here, 264 to 340. John Chrysostom, a golden mouth, he was a great orator of the church from 345 to 407. Preached to great multitudes. He was a reformer. He displeased the king, so he was banished and died in exile. There was Jerome from 340 to 420, the most learned of the Latin fathers. Again, takes us on some sidetracks, but loved the Lord, we believe, translated the Bible into the Latin language, and that translation was called the Vulgate. Augustine, we have pro and con about him, yes, but more than any other, he's the one who molded the doctrines of the Church of the Middle Ages, for better or worse, he's a very important man anyway. Then there were early infidels like Celsus and Porphyry, and we'll talk about more of them later. All the arguments that we have against Christ today could be found in his writings, in Celsus' writings. Porphyry was very much against Christianity, and they fought him. Then it starts talking about the ecumenical councils where all the church came together and made decisions about things. The leaders of the church, first time in Nicaea, A.D. 325, condemned Arianism. I believe we'll talk about that later, I'm not sure. Constantinople in 381 was called to settle another controversy and all these churches, all these things were called together because of controversy. And some of these things then began to be called together to not just settle a problem over here, but to decide an issue and say, this is now the doctrine of the church. And they began to create doctrines that weren't necessarily founded on the Word of God. Finally, you have the schism between East and West. We'll talk about that. I'm looking for some of these councils that might be interesting to you. There was a Pope and an Emperor that had a fight in 1245, so the Church came together to decide that. You see how far afield they've gotten from basic doctrines of the Church. They burned Huss as a result of one of these Church conferences. So you know they're off here. Had to deal with Protestantism. They declared the infallibility of the Pope as late as 1860s and 1870s. Then there was the Vatican Council, Vatican I and Vatican II. that we're aware of. There'll be others. Then Holly talks about monasticism. People like Anthony in 250-350, General Arius, this is from Egypt, retired to the desert and lived by himself. Became a monk, we call it. A monastic, a monk, it's the same idea. Multitudes followed his example. This movement of just going out by yourself, spread to Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, you know, this comes from other religions too. Other religions did this. I don't believe that these monks necessarily got their marching orders from Christ. And as I read the work of a monk now and then, I realize they have some good things that are scripturally based, but they also have some things they've come up with to add to it. And I think it's very dangerous to follow the monastics, the mystics, The monasteries of Europe did the best work of the Church of the Middle Ages in Christian philanthropy, in literature, education and agriculture. But not only did they go off doctrinally, they became immoral in many cases. Homosexuality can abound when these guys get together as just men and already bound to not marrying. In the Reformation, in Protestant countries, they soon disappeared. Monasteries did. And they're even dying out in Catholic countries today. Then there were the Crusades. This was the effort of Christendom to regain the Holy Land from the Mohammedans. There were seven of them. The first was in 1095 to capture Jerusalem. The second was in 1147 to postpone the fall of Jerusalem. The third, the army that failed to reach Jerusalem. The fourth in 1201 captured and plundered Constantinople. The fifth took Jerusalem but soon lost it. All these against the Muslims. The 6th was a failure in 1248. The 7th came to nothing in 1270. We'll talk about them more in a little bit. The Crusades were of influence in saving Europe from the Turks, and in opening up intercourse between Europe and the East, paving the way for the revival of learning. So they had some good cultural aspects, but let's don't put anything spiritual into these things, because the Lord doesn't call His people to go beat up on other people and conquer them. Mohammed is now mentioned by Hali as a very important part of church history in one sense. Mohammed himself, born at Mecca, the grandson of the governor. In youth, he visited Syria, came in contact with Christians and Jews, became filled with the horror of idolatry. He had a lot of good ideas, by the way. He declares himself a prophet in 610. This is before there was the Islam faith. Here's just this man out in the desert calling himself a prophet. They didn't accept him in Mecca. He had to go to Medina. He was received there, became a warrior, began to propagate his faith by the sword. At 630 he re-entered Mecca at the head of an army, destroyed 360 idols, became filled with enthusiasm for the destruction of idolatry and idolaters. He died 632, but his successors followed him and decided to carry it on. Rapid growth followed after that. By 634, he had captured Syria, then Jerusalem, then Egypt, then Persia, then North Africa, then Spain. Within a short time, all of Western Asia and North Africa, which was the cradle of Christianity, was all now Islam. Muhammad appeared at a time when the church had become paganized, 600 years after Christ. Paganized with the worship of images, relics, martyrs, Mary, the saints. Yes, Romanism is the reason for Islam. It was a judgment on a corrupt and degenerate church, says Halley, and I really believe that. It itself, however, has proved a worse blight to the nations that it conquered. It's a religion of hate. It was propagated by the sword. Now this is Henry Halley speaking in the sixties, fifties, forties, thirties, before he knew anything of what was going on today. Polygamy, the degradation of womanhood, encouragement of slavery, He talks about the Battle of Tours, France in A.D. 1732, one of the decisive battles of the world, when Charles Mattel defeated the Muslim army and saved Europe from Islam, which was sweeping the world like a tidal wave. But for that victory, so-called Christianity may have been completely submerged. Christ would not have. His church will never die. Arabians dominated the Muslim world. The capital was moved to Damascus, to Baghdad, and it remained there to 1258. Turks have ruled the Mohammedan world from 1058 to modern times. They were far more intolerant and cruel than the Arabians. Their barbarous treatment of Christians in Palestine led to the crusade. He talks about the Mongols from Central Asia that arrested Turkish rule under Genghis Khan, who at the head of vast armies traversed with sword and torch a great part of Asia. 50,000 cities and towns were burned. Five million people were murdered. In Asia Minor, 630,000 Christians butchered. And he goes on and on with all the horrible bloodshed that's happened from that. Europe was jarred with a second threat of Mohammedan control, which later was stopped by John Sobieski in the Battle of Vienna, 1683. Well, the papacy was a gradual development. first appearing as a world power in the 6th century AD, reaching the height of its power in 13th century AD, declining in power. I want to stop right there. We're going to pick up history and actually backtrack a little bit, give you some more philosophy of the church before we go back into church history. That'll be in our next lesson. Let's do the questions as quickly as we can right now. Number one, name the three periods of church history. That is, Roman Empire period, Medieval period, and the Modern period. Number two, what three Roman emperors touched the lives of Jesus, Paul, and John? Well, Augustus, Tiberius, those two are both Jesus, and then Nero and Domitian. So we would have to say four, wouldn't we? Number three, about how many emperors persecuted Christians? I put down twelve. Number four, for what crimes did Trajan kill Christians? Just mating. Singing to Christ? No evil, really. Number five, how bad was the final persecution? They were hunted in caves. They were burned. They were thrown to beasts. They were tortured. Number six, when did the empire form the two legs of Daniel? That was in 395 A.D. You've got two legs in Daniel. You need to read that sometime if you haven't studied that with us. Number seven, by the end of the persecution, how much of the empire was Christian? About half. Number eight, where did Christians hide? Perhaps, how many of them? In the catacombs? Up to seven million? Number nine, what emperor turned things around for the Christians and when? That was Constantine. 313. Halley doesn't mention, by the way, that this same man prayed to his sun god all of his life. That he honored that god on the day of the sun and not just Christianity. 10. What were the problems that Emperor Theodosius caused for the church? He forced conversion and therefore filled the church with pagans. 11. Name three early church leaders who were students of the Apostle John, Polycarp, Ignatius, and Papias. 12. Give a short outline of an early church service in Justin Martyr's day. There were readings, prophets, exhortation, common prayer, bread and wine, and the offering. Great outline for a church meeting, don't you think? Number 13, who wrote the first church history? That was Eusebius. Number 14, when did the church start having church-wide councils? 325 A.D. in Nicaea. Fifteen, what is monasticism or monks and when did it begin? It's the separation from the world to go out by yourself and find God all by yourself. Now there's true, you should, everybody should be monastic in one sense of having a private prayer time with the Lord for sure. But we need the church because you can go off into several weird things as monks have done through history. Number sixteen, how do the destinies of Islam and the growing political church meet? when Muhammad visited Syria and met some Christians. He was appalled at their idolatry, Christian idolatry. Later, in battle, we confronted them. In the Battle of Tours, Charles Martel defeats the Muslims at that battle. Well, there you have the first part of church history. I was hoping to move a little faster with that. So far, I have not been able to do that. Our next lesson Lesson 51 is scheduled to be all of church history. That could be two more recordings. I'm going to say that at least one more recording will be all about church history. And if church history is not of interest to you, you might want to skip Lesson 51 as far as listing in on it. If you're going the whole way with me, tune in next time. Lord willing, we'll do Church History Part 2. I'll try to do as much of it as I can in the one hour, rather than making that two hours like most of our lessons of late have been. But I'll only do that if I feel I can. After the Church History, Tune in for Revelation 4-22, the rest of the Bible. Again, probably in two, maybe three more lessons of audio. There's a lot to cover in the book of Revelation. We're going to go as quickly as we can, but give it as much justice as we can in that short time. God bless you. This is God's Word. This is God's people. And I trust you're one of them. And you've decided that you're going to stay one of them until Jesus comes. Amen.