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¤[Theme music]
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>>John Bradshaw: This is It
Is Written. I'm John Bradshaw.
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Thanks for joining me.
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He's one of the
least-known well-known people
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in all of history.
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On a certain date every year,
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people all around
the world celebrate him,
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without knowing much
of anything about him.
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Here in Ireland, St.
Patrick's Day is huge.
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It's a national
holiday in Ireland.
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On St. Patrick's
Day people wear green,
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and there are often parades and
other celebrations conducted.
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It was in the 17th century
that the Roman Catholic Church
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set aside March 17 as a day
of celebration and remembrance.
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In recent decades, Ireland
has been a land of religious
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and political
tension over the question
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of who should
control Northern Ireland:
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the Irish or Great Britain.
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The dispute goes back
many hundreds of years.
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¤[Bagpipes]
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In the 1960s, the Troubles
began in Northern Ireland.
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It was a period marked
by violent clashes between
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unionists and republicans--
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basically, between
Protestants and Catholics.
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More than 3,200 people died
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during the 30
years of the Troubles.
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There were thousands of bombings
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and tens of
thousands of shootings.
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Men like Bobby Sands
are still revered by many
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here in Ireland.
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Sands died in the
notorious Maze Prison
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just outside Belfast,
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following a 66-day-long
hunger strike in 1981.
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In all, 10 men died
during that hunger strike,
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men who were committed to
the idea of a united Ireland
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and wanted to
see Northern Ireland
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wrested out of the
control of the British.
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¤[Music]
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The tension began to
ease following an agreement
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that was signed in
Belfast on Good Friday of 1998.
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But religious tension goes
back much further in Ireland.
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And the man responsible
for radical religious change
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among the Irish,
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the man responsible for
the Christian evangelization
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of the British Isles,
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is celebrated all
around the world today.
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¤[Music]
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During his lifetime, Patrick
was considered a troublemaker.
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He was a disturber of the peace.
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Today, you might call him
a religious lightning rod.
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And there's one
thing Patrick wasn't.
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He wasn't Irish.
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He was born in the year
385 A.D. or thereabouts,
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and he died around 461 A.D.
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At that time, the
British Isles were pagan.
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They were
dominated by the culture
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and the religious
practices of the druids,
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an elite class that had a
direct line to the occult.
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By the time Patrick
came onto the scene,
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druidism was at the
height of its powers.
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Druid literature
speaks of the magical
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and spiritual
training of the druid,
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in which he is eaten by a
goddess, enters into her belly,
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and is reborn as the
greatest poet in the land.
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Mention of druidism
evokes images of wizardry.
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And the druids in
Patrick's day were into magic
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and charms and healing powers.
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They foretold the future.
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And they worshipped
the forces of nature.
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They've been referred to as
magico-religious specialists,
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and it's said that
they could call up a storm
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to ward off invaders.
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Now, while most modern scholars
would not agree with this,
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no less a person
than Julius Caesar
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made the claim that the druids
practiced human sacrifice,
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burning their victims in a
device known as a “wicker man.”
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Caesar also said that
they believed in reincarnation.
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Modern scholars
say that the druids
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were essentially
shaman, spiritualists.
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>>Dr. David Trim: So the
religious situation in Ireland
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in the 5th century is that it is
the last holdout of the druids,
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the druids who had once been the
predominant religious figures
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right across the
British Isles and, indeed,
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the north part of
what we now call France.
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But they had been largely
stamped out by the Romans,
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who found their
religious practices,
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such as human
sacrifice, objectionable.
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Um, there's very little
evidence of human sacrifice
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being practiced
by Patrick's day,
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but the druids are there.
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This is a religion
that is really focused on,
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on nature and on spirits.
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Uh, but it is a fairly
sophisticated religion as well.
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They had education;
they were well-educated men
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by the standards of the time.
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And they had reasonably
well worked out cosmology
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and a pantheon of gods.
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Um, but the druid, druidic
religion, as far as we can tell,
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does seem to be in a little bit
of decline by the 5th century.
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It's past its
heyday, and so, uh,
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there is this
emphasis on spirits.
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Uh, and where therein might
still be some human sacrifice
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is that we know people are
found in the bogs of Ireland,
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in the peat.
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Now, some of them clearly
ended up there accidentally,
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tripped and fell, oh, too bad.
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But others we know, uh,
are offered as sacrifices.
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Because you're
hoping that by doing that,
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you can ensure
you have good weather,
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a good harvest,
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because everything
depends on the harvest,
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and so you want to
appease the natural deities.
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>>John: It was this paganism
that confronted St. Patrick
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during his ministry
to the Irish people.
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Druid magicians hindered the
work Patrick was trying to do.
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The druids resented Patrick,
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knowing that his ministry
was the beginning of the end
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for druidism.
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Patrick was born in Britain,
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which at the time was
controlled by the Roman Empire.
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Exactly where he was
born no one really knows,
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although it seems likely
that he was born on or near
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England's west coast.
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His family evidently
was reasonably well-off.
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Both his father
and his grandfather
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worked in religious service.
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But Patrick, as a young man,
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didn't take
matters of faith seriously.
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When he was 16 years old,
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he was captured by raiders sent
or led by Ireland's King Niall.
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He spent six years
toiling as a shepherd,
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and it was during this
time that he found faith in God
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for himself.
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¤[Music]
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God spoke to Patrick and told
him to flee to the Irish coast,
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where he'd find a ship
waiting to take him home.
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So he left his master,
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traveled many miles to a port,
and he found the promised ship.
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He traveled back to England and
made his way back to his family.
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And it was there and then
that he dedicated his life
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to serving God.
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So how did
Patrick, the runaway slave,
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become St. Patrick, known
and loved all the world over?
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And what does Patrick have to do
with the Protestant Reformation?
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I'll tell you
more in just a moment.
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¤[Music]
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>>John: We look around the
world and it appears this planet
00:09:10.81\00:09:13.01
is spinning out of
control in many ways.
00:09:13.05\00:09:16.05
The world of today is a far
cry from the world of yesterday.
00:09:16.08\00:09:19.42
Is there hope?
00:09:19.45\00:09:20.66
Yes, there is.
00:09:20.69\00:09:21.79
Our free offer today is
"Hope for a Planet in Crisis."
00:09:21.82\00:09:25.56
Call us on (800) 253-3000,
00:09:25.59\00:09:28.63
or visit us online
at www.itiswritten.com
00:09:28.66\00:09:33.77
Or you can write to
the address on your screen.
00:09:33.80\00:09:36.37
I'd like you to
receive our free offer,
00:09:36.40\00:09:38.34
"Hope for a Planet in Crisis."
00:09:38.37\00:09:40.28
[Crickets chirping]
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¤[Music]
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[Camera equipment rattling]
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[Rustling in bushes]
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[People talking]
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[Wind blowing]
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¤[Music]
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¤[Music]
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[Cheering]
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¤[Music]
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¤[Irish music]
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>>John: Thanks for joining
me today on It Is Written.
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He's known all around the world,
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and he's celebrated
every March the 17th.
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But who was St. Patrick,
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and what did he do
that made him a global icon?
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Well, to begin with, he
wasn't Irish; he was English.
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And he wasn't a Roman Catholic.
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The principles that he
lived by and shared with others
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made him a forerunner of
the Protestant Reformation,
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which would occur
many years after he died.
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He was taken from
his home in England
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by Irish raiders
when he was a boy,
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and he was forced
into slavery in Ireland.
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He eventually escaped,
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and he wrote that
after studying in France
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and returning to
his home in England,
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he had a vision,
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not unlike a vision
Paul had in the book of Acts.
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“I saw a man coming,
as it were from Ireland.
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His name was Victoricus,
and he carried many letters,
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and he gave me one of them.
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I read the heading:
'The Voice of the Irish.'
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As I began the letter,
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I imagined in that
moment that I heard the voice
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of those very people who
were near the wood of Foclut,
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which is beside the western sea,
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and they cried
out, as with one voice,
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'We appeal to
you, holy servant boy,
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to come and walk among us.'”
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Eventually, Patrick
acted on the vision he received
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and returned to Ireland
to work as a missionary.
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He landed at the same port from
which he had escaped Ireland,
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and began his ministry in
Tara, just north of Dublin,
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in what today is
the Republic of Ireland.
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And before long, the
son of a powerful chieftain
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in the north of
Ireland was converted
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and joined
Patrick's missionary team.
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Thousands were baptized,
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among them many who
were wealthy and influential.
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Patrick ordained
pastors throughout the island
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to shepherd these new
Christian communities.
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Here's what he said
about the new Irish believers:
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“Never before
did they know of God
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except to serve
idols and unclean things.
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But now, they've 
become the people of the Lord,
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and are called children of God.
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The sons and daughters
of the leaders of the Irish
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are seen to be monks
and virgins of Christ.”
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There's plenty said
about Patrick's life
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that's nothing more than legend.
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No, he didn't chase all
the snakes out of Ireland.
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There'd never been any snakes
in Ireland in the first place.
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They certainly didn't attack him
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after he had fasted for 40 days.
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His walking stick
did not grow into a tree.
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And he never used the
shamrock to teach the Irish
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about the Trinity.
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Patrick sailed from near
Drogheda to just outside Belfast
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where he began sharing
the gospel with people,
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who, for the most part,
had zero working knowledge
00:13:45.39\00:13:48.56
of the plan of salvation.
00:13:48.59\00:13:50.29
Now, Patrick wasn't the
first missionary to Ireland,
00:13:50.33\00:13:53.43
but he was the first to gain
any real traction and establish
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an effective, far-reaching work.
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So what was it that drove
00:14:00.37\00:14:02.30
this Bible-believing
missionary forward?
00:14:02.34\00:14:04.97
As the church lost
its focus on the Bible,
00:14:05.01\00:14:08.38
its increasing popularity
within the Roman Empire
00:14:08.41\00:14:11.11
caused it to compromise
its faith and witness.
00:14:11.15\00:14:14.92
However, there were
many Christians who put up
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strong resistance to this new
alliance of church and state.
00:14:17.62\00:14:22.82
During these centuries, the
Celtic Christians set a pattern
00:14:22.86\00:14:26.76
of independence
from the church of Rome.
00:14:26.80\00:14:29.70
Like the reformers
which would follow them later,
00:14:29.73\00:14:32.47
they held to the
Bible as their exclusive
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and supreme spiritual authority.
00:14:35.34\00:14:38.31
Historians had this
to say about Patrick:
00:14:38.34\00:14:41.41
“He never mentions
either Rome or the pope
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or hints that he
was in any way connected
00:14:44.11\00:14:46.35
with the
ecclesiastical capital of Italy.
00:14:46.38\00:14:49.75
He recognizes no other authority
but that of the Word of God.
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If he were sent by Celestine
to the native Christians
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to be their
primate or archbishop,
00:14:57.23\00:14:59.56
no wonder that stout-hearted
Patrick refused to bow his neck
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to any such yoke of bondage.
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There is strong
evidence that Patrick had no
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Roman commission in Ireland.
00:15:09.40\00:15:11.74
Patrick's churches in Ireland,
00:15:11.77\00:15:13.17
like their brethren in Britain,
00:15:13.21\00:15:15.21
repudiated the
supremacy of the popes.
00:15:15.24\00:15:18.38
All knowledge of the conversion
of Ireland through his ministry
00:15:18.41\00:15:21.02
must be suppressed.
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There is not a
written word from one of them
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rejoicing over Patrick's
additions to their church,
00:15:25.05\00:15:28.22
showing clearly that he
was not a Roman missionary.”
00:15:28.26\00:15:32.13
>>Dr. Trim: In the 5th century
there is only one church.
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Uh, and there's
still a connection between
00:15:35.40\00:15:37.57
Britain and Rome.
00:15:37.60\00:15:38.70
It's in the middle 5th
century that that gets severed,
00:15:38.73\00:15:40.97
and the British Isles gets
cut off from the Roman Empire.
00:15:41.00\00:15:44.54
Um, but at that point
here is still one church,
00:15:44.57\00:15:46.71
and Patrick is a member of it,
00:15:46.74\00:15:48.31
from all the
evidence we have, um,
00:15:48.34\00:15:51.15
and we know that
that church actually sent,
00:15:51.18\00:15:53.35
sent Germanus to Britain in
429, and one of his colleagues,
00:15:53.38\00:15:57.59
Palladius, is believed
to have gone to Ireland.
00:15:57.62\00:16:00.52
Um, but he seems to
have minimal impact.
00:16:00.56\00:16:02.82
But that's the
church that they're part of.
00:16:02.86\00:16:04.46
But it's really the inheritance
of the primitive church
00:16:04.49\00:16:07.36
of Christ's day.
00:16:07.40\00:16:08.90
Um, if we say
the Catholic Church,
00:16:08.93\00:16:11.67
then people
think of St. Peter's,
00:16:11.70\00:16:13.64
and a whole series of things
00:16:13.67\00:16:16.24
which just don't
exist in the 5th century.
00:16:16.27\00:16:19.71
So to, you know, the
danger of saying that he's
00:16:19.74\00:16:22.98
a Roman Catholic missionary,
it's true in one sense,
00:16:23.01\00:16:26.35
but it's not true in another,
00:16:26.38\00:16:28.35
because there--it's, it--there
just isn't a church, like,
00:16:28.38\00:16:32.52
called the
Roman Catholic Church.
00:16:32.55\00:16:33.86
There is the one church,
which is called "Catholic"
00:16:33.89\00:16:37.76
at the time to
distinguish it from Arians,
00:16:37.79\00:16:39.89
uh, who don't believe in
the full divinity of Christ.
00:16:39.93\00:16:43.20
That's what "Catholic"
means in the 5th century;
00:16:43.23\00:16:45.97
it means somebody who
is an orthodox Christian
00:16:46.00\00:16:48.54
on the Trinity.
00:16:48.57\00:16:49.77
And Patrick is definitely that.
00:16:49.80\00:16:52.84
So what we know about Patrick
comes largely from his writings.
00:16:52.87\00:16:59.31
There are stories,
00:16:59.35\00:17:00.52
but most of them were
written down in the 7th century,
00:17:00.55\00:17:03.25
so, 200 years after he died.
00:17:03.28\00:17:05.19
So there's probably some
grains of truth left in them,
00:17:05.22\00:17:09.69
but a lot of exaggeration.
00:17:09.72\00:17:11.89
To judge from his own writings,
he's a relatively simple,
00:17:11.93\00:17:15.30
uh, Christian.
00:17:15.33\00:17:16.26
His theology is, is
relatively simplistic.
00:17:16.30\00:17:19.70
And that's not a
criticism--far from it.
00:17:19.73\00:17:22.40
Uh, he's definitely trinitarian;
he believes very strongly,
00:17:22.44\00:17:26.44
uh, in God the Father, God
the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
00:17:26.47\00:17:29.41
and he's very focused on Christ.
00:17:29.44\00:17:30.85
But he has a simple message,
00:17:30.88\00:17:32.01
and he has a burning passion
for the people of Ireland,
00:17:32.05\00:17:35.62
who had enslaved him as a youth.
00:17:35.65\00:17:38.59
But even after he
was free, he recognized,
00:17:38.62\00:17:40.59
these people are
lost in superstition
00:17:40.62\00:17:43.29
and I have good news for them.
00:17:43.32\00:17:44.83
¤[Music]
00:17:44.86\00:17:46.03
A century after Patrick,
00:17:46.06\00:17:47.93
the church of
Rome launched an attack
00:17:47.96\00:17:49.86
on the Celtic
communities of Western Europe,
00:17:49.90\00:17:53.00
because the Irish customs of
the Celtic church were at odds
00:17:53.03\00:17:56.30
with the customs sanctioned
by the Bishop of Rome,
00:17:56.34\00:17:59.01
who by now had become
a very powerful figure.
00:17:59.04\00:18:02.01
But Patrick wasn't the only one
00:18:02.04\00:18:04.35
who was reaching the
world with the gospel.
00:18:04.38\00:18:06.95
After Patrick, there was Aidan,
00:18:06.98\00:18:09.48
who as a
missionary went to England
00:18:09.52\00:18:11.59
and reached not
only the high nobility,
00:18:11.62\00:18:14.42
but also children and slaves.
00:18:14.46\00:18:16.26
And he traveled extensively.
00:18:16.29\00:18:18.29
Like Patrick,
00:18:18.33\00:18:19.26
he wasn't affiliated
with the Roman church.
00:18:19.29\00:18:22.40
Aidan established a cathedral
00:18:22.43\00:18:24.33
off the
northeastern coast of England
00:18:24.37\00:18:26.03
on the island of Lindisfarne,
00:18:26.07\00:18:28.20
and from there he was
greatly influential in reaching
00:18:28.24\00:18:31.51
great numbers of
people for Christ,
00:18:31.54\00:18:33.07
especially in the
region of Northumbria.
00:18:33.11\00:18:36.98
And there was
another who reached
00:18:37.01\00:18:39.35
not only the British Isles,
00:18:39.38\00:18:40.98
but who impacted the world
with the message of the gospel.
00:18:41.02\00:18:45.65
He was from this
island of Ireland,
00:18:45.69\00:18:48.12
and I'll tell you who
he was in just a moment.
00:18:48.16\00:18:51.03
¤[Music]
00:18:51.06\00:18:55.20
>>Announcer: Planning
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00:18:58.67\00:19:00.40
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00:19:00.44\00:19:04.24
For this reason, It Is
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00:19:04.27\00:19:07.01
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Call 800-992-2219
00:19:21.46\00:19:26.16
>>John Bradshaw: Today I'd like
to ask you to help It Is Written
00:19:31.83\00:19:34.17
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But simple cataract
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00:20:01.60\00:20:05.27
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00:20:05.30\00:20:06.97
You can also donate
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00:20:07.00\00:20:11.21
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Or visit ItIsWritten.com
00:20:20.62\00:20:26.65
¤[Irish music]
00:20:26.96\00:20:35.40
>>John: Thanks for
joining me on It Is Written.
00:20:35.43\00:20:38.20
Right here on this very
spot in Belfast, Ireland,
00:20:38.23\00:20:41.30
there was a hive of activity
a little over 100 years ago.
00:20:41.34\00:20:45.11
Right here is where
the Titanic was built.
00:20:45.14\00:20:48.31
Not only the
Titanic, but its sister ships,
00:20:48.34\00:20:50.45
the Olympic and the Britannic.
00:20:50.48\00:20:52.75
Thousands of workers
labored on this very spot.
00:20:52.78\00:20:55.72
What happened here then
dominated not only this city,
00:20:55.75\00:20:59.39
but went on to impact the world.
00:20:59.42\00:21:02.46
Somebody else
labored here in Ireland
00:21:02.49\00:21:04.83
whose work impacted the world,
00:21:04.86\00:21:06.70
and that was Patrick.
00:21:06.73\00:21:08.46
Patrick was a
dynamic Christian missionary,
00:21:08.50\00:21:11.50
and from Ireland his influence
spread to impact Christians
00:21:11.53\00:21:15.67
and Christianity
all around the world.
00:21:15.70\00:21:18.91
In the time of Patrick,
the church was dominated
00:21:18.94\00:21:21.61
by the popes of Rome,
00:21:21.64\00:21:23.38
and they were not too keen
with what Patrick was doing.
00:21:23.41\00:21:26.41
They saw it as a direct
threat against their authority,
00:21:26.45\00:21:29.52
and they were
committed to getting rid
00:21:29.55\00:21:30.89
of the distinctive
Irish religious practices.
00:21:30.92\00:21:34.69
But it wasn't only
Patrick that impacted the world
00:21:34.72\00:21:37.76
in those days.
00:21:37.79\00:21:38.89
Aidan was an Irish missionary
who traveled to England
00:21:38.93\00:21:42.90
and won many there
to faith in Christ.
00:21:42.93\00:21:46.23
He was sent from the
remote Scottish island of Iona,
00:21:46.27\00:21:50.34
where a
missionary training center
00:21:50.37\00:21:51.87
had been established by
another Irish evangelist,
00:21:51.91\00:21:55.58
a man by the name of Columba.
00:21:55.61\00:21:58.78
Today, Columba is remembered
00:21:58.81\00:22:00.42
as one of the three
chief saints of Ireland,
00:22:00.45\00:22:03.49
along with Patrick
and Brigid of Kildare.
00:22:03.52\00:22:06.99
He was born in Donegal,
in the northwest of Ireland,
00:22:07.02\00:22:10.16
in the year 521.
00:22:10.19\00:22:12.69
When he was about 40 years old,
00:22:12.73\00:22:14.20
he set off with several
others to evangelize the Picts.
00:22:14.20\00:22:18.33
He traveled 100 miles to
Iona and built a monastery,
00:22:18.37\00:22:23.20
not as a retreat, but as a
missionary training center.
00:22:23.24\00:22:27.28
The Venerable Bede, the
influential writer and scholar,
00:22:27.31\00:22:30.88
said that Columba “converted the
nation to the faith of Christ,
00:22:30.91\00:22:34.88
by preaching and example.”
00:22:34.92\00:22:37.72
As well as being an
evangelist and a missionary,
00:22:37.75\00:22:39.69
there was something
else that set Columba apart.
00:22:39.72\00:22:42.92
In contrast with
the church of Rome,
00:22:42.96\00:22:45.79
he observed the
Sabbath on Saturday,
00:22:45.83\00:22:48.46
the seventh day of the week.
00:22:48.50\00:22:50.57
There's no evidence he
ever kept Sunday as the Sabbath.
00:22:50.60\00:22:54.47
Dr. Leslie Hardinge examined
every primary source connected
00:22:54.50\00:22:57.84
with the Celtic church,
00:22:57.87\00:22:59.51
and confirmed this
Celtic Sabbath connection.
00:22:59.54\00:23:03.35
Just before he
died, Columba said,
00:23:03.38\00:23:05.95
“This day is called in
the sacred books 'Sabbath,'
00:23:05.98\00:23:10.12
which is interpreted 'rest.'
00:23:10.15\00:23:11.89
And truly this day
is for me a Sabbath,
00:23:11.92\00:23:16.02
because it is my last day
of this present laborious life.
00:23:16.06\00:23:20.20
In it after my
toilsome labors I keep Sabbath.
00:23:20.23\00:23:25.47
One historian wrote,
00:23:25.50\00:23:27.17
“We find traces in the early
monastic churches of Ireland
00:23:27.20\00:23:30.81
that they held
Saturday to be the Sabbath
00:23:30.84\00:23:33.58
on which they rested
from all their labors.”
00:23:33.61\00:23:37.88
Later, in the 11th century,
Queen Margaret of Scotland
00:23:37.91\00:23:41.35
said this about
Scottish Christians.
00:23:41.38\00:23:43.59
She said, “They work on Sunday,
00:23:43.62\00:23:45.82
but they keep Saturday
after a sabbatical manner.”
00:23:45.85\00:23:49.72
But Queen Margaret,
00:23:49.76\00:23:50.69
later Saint Margaret
in the Catholic Church,
00:23:50.73\00:23:53.23
was committed to
eradicating Sabbath worship
00:23:53.26\00:23:56.70
and replacing it
instead with worship on Sunday.
00:23:56.73\00:24:00.50
The Roman emperor Constantine,
00:24:00.54\00:24:02.44
who was a pagan sun worshipper
00:24:02.47\00:24:04.51
before his nominal
conversion to Christianity,
00:24:04.54\00:24:08.24
was the first to
decree Sunday worship,
00:24:08.28\00:24:11.21
and he did it
before Patrick's time.
00:24:11.25\00:24:13.72
But the Irish Christians
were not bound by Roman decrees.
00:24:13.75\00:24:19.65
One thousand years
before the beginning
00:24:19.69\00:24:21.76
of the Protestant Reformation,
Patrick was a nonconformist.
00:24:21.79\00:24:25.99
Before there was a reformation,
00:24:26.03\00:24:27.86
Patrick was a Protestant.
00:24:27.93\00:24:31.67
In this way, the
Celtic church formed part
00:24:31.70\00:24:34.64
of what the Bible refers to as
the “church in the wilderness”
00:24:34.67\00:24:37.87
during the Middle Ages.
00:24:37.91\00:24:39.67
John wrote about this time of
exile for Christian believers.
00:24:39.71\00:24:42.64
He said in
Revelation 12 and verse 6,
00:24:42.68\00:24:45.45
“And the woman”--
that's the church--
00:24:45.48\00:24:47.42
“fled into the wilderness,
00:24:47.45\00:24:49.08
where she has a
place prepared by God.”
00:24:49.12\00:24:52.35
The Albigenses
of southern France,
00:24:52.39\00:24:54.26
the Waldenses of
Italy and the Alps,
00:24:54.29\00:24:56.36
and others like them,
00:24:56.39\00:24:57.89
chose to base
their faith on the Bible,
00:24:57.93\00:25:00.43
rather than lining up
behind a church that was placing
00:25:00.46\00:25:02.73
such a strong
emphasis on tradition.
00:25:02.76\00:25:05.23
They kept the torch of Christian
faith shining brightly in an era
00:25:05.27\00:25:09.47
of what was some pretty
considerable spiritual darkness.
00:25:09.50\00:25:12.74
¤[Music]
00:25:12.77\00:25:16.71
Unfortunately, the Christians
of Ireland and Scotland
00:25:16.75\00:25:20.35
didn't maintain their
religious freedom indefinitely.
00:25:20.38\00:25:23.95
In time, new rulers came
to power in both countries
00:25:23.99\00:25:27.46
who submitted the practices
of both church and state
00:25:27.49\00:25:30.36
to the rule of
the Catholic Church.
00:25:30.39\00:25:33.43
But the legacy of
the Celtic church,
00:25:33.46\00:25:35.63
and Patrick in particular,
was destined to live on.
00:25:35.66\00:25:40.34
The spirit of
independence from Rome
00:25:40.37\00:25:42.77
was nurtured by the
original British church.
00:25:42.80\00:25:46.21
Submission to rules of any
sort on the European continent,
00:25:46.24\00:25:49.11
ecclesiastical or political,
00:25:49.14\00:25:51.25
didn't come easy to
the British or the Irish.
00:25:51.28\00:25:53.05
¤[bagpipes]
00:25:53.08\00:25:54.15
When King Henry VIII
00:25:54.18\00:25:55.78
declared England
free from the Roman church
00:25:55.82\00:25:58.59
and established the Church of
England, or the Anglican Church,
00:25:58.62\00:26:02.56
he was simply enshrining in
law what in millions of English
00:26:02.59\00:26:06.26
minds had been
true for centuries.
00:26:06.29\00:26:09.06
Speaking prophetically of this
time, the prophet Daniel wrote
00:26:09.10\00:26:11.73
in Daniel 11:32 and 33,
00:26:11.77\00:26:14.17
“The people who know
their God shall be strong
00:26:14.20\00:26:17.07
and carry out great exploits.
00:26:17.11\00:26:19.54
And those of the people that
understand shall instruct many”"
00:26:19.57\00:26:23.41
This is the true
legacy of Patrick,
00:26:23.45\00:26:25.31
and of the Celtic church,
00:26:25.35\00:26:27.62
and those heroes of
faith who held the true gospel
00:26:27.65\00:26:31.75
in the centuries
prior to the Reformation.
00:26:31.79\00:26:34.76
Without this gospel
seed having been sown
00:26:34.79\00:26:37.46
and scattered by
Patrick and others,
00:26:37.49\00:26:40.10
the Reformation
might never have happened.
00:26:40.13\00:26:44.00
It's said that
Patrick died on March the 17th
00:26:44.03\00:26:47.14
in the year 461 A.D.,
00:26:47.17\00:26:49.54
and that he's buried right
here outside Down Cathedral in
00:26:49.57\00:26:55.61
Downpatrick in northern Ireland,
00:26:55.64\00:26:58.21
alongside Brigid and Columba,
00:26:58.25\00:27:01.22
two other giants
of Irish history.
00:27:01.25\00:27:04.42
The legend of
Patrick lives on here.
00:27:04.45\00:27:07.26
The truth of his life is even
more impressive than the legend.
00:27:07.29\00:27:11.56
¤[Music]
00:27:11.59\00:27:16.13
>>John: I'm John
Bradshaw from It Is Written,
00:27:16.16\00:27:19.00
inviting you to
join me for "500,"
00:27:19.03\00:27:22.67
nine programs
produced by It Is Written
00:27:22.70\00:27:24.94
taking you deep
into the Reformation.
00:27:24.97\00:27:28.11
This is the 500th
anniversary of the beginning
00:27:28.14\00:27:31.15
of the Reformation,
00:27:31.18\00:27:32.21
when Martin Luther
nailed his 95 theses to the door
00:27:32.25\00:27:35.22
of the Castle church
in Wittenburg, Germany.
00:27:35.25\00:27:37.65
We'll take you to
Wittenburg, and to Belgium,
00:27:37.69\00:27:39.85
to England, to Ireland,
00:27:39.89\00:27:42.26
to Rome, to the Vatican City,
00:27:42.29\00:27:44.39
and introduce you to the people
who created the Reformation,
00:27:44.43\00:27:47.36
who pushed the
Reformation forward.
00:27:47.40\00:27:49.33
We'll take you to
sites all throughout Europe
00:27:49.36\00:27:51.27
where the reformers
lived and, in some cases, died.
00:27:51.30\00:27:54.14
We'll bring you
back to the United States
00:27:54.17\00:27:55.77
and take you to a little
farm in upstate New York,
00:27:55.80\00:27:58.81
and show you how God
spread the Reformation here.
00:27:58.84\00:28:01.81
Don't miss "500."
00:28:01.84\00:28:03.81
You can own the
"500" series on DVD.
00:28:03.85\00:28:06.78
Call us on 888-664-5573
00:28:06.82\00:28:11.52
Or visit us online
at itiswritten.shop
00:28:11.55\00:28:16.39
>>John: Let's pray together.
00:28:17.56\00:28:19.26
Our Father in heaven,
00:28:19.29\00:28:20.66
I thank You today for
giant figures of history
00:28:20.70\00:28:23.70
who changed the
world for Your glory.
00:28:23.73\00:28:26.87
People like Patrick
and Aiden and Columba,
00:28:26.90\00:28:30.74
who shared the
Bible with people,
00:28:30.77\00:28:32.64
and urged them to know
Jesus as their personal Savior.
00:28:32.67\00:28:36.54
I pray today for us here, now,
00:28:36.58\00:28:39.61
I pray that we, too,
would hear the voice of Jesus.
00:28:39.65\00:28:42.52
I pray for that one who is
joining me in prayer right now
00:28:42.55\00:28:46.62
who knows that
she or he must give
00:28:46.65\00:28:48.62
her or his heart
to Jesus Christ now.
00:28:48.66\00:28:51.23
Friend, would you do that?
00:28:51.26\00:28:52.93
Would you reach out to Jesus,
00:28:52.96\00:28:54.03
knowing that He's
reaching out to you,
00:28:54.10\00:28:56.03
and claim Him as
your righteousness
00:28:56.06\00:28:58.07
and as your Lord and Savior?
00:28:58.10\00:29:01.10
Father, we thank You
today for the Scriptures,
00:29:01.14\00:29:03.61
we thank You for Your Word and
for Jesus the "Word made flesh."
00:29:03.64\00:29:08.74
And we pray with
faith and thanks,
00:29:08.78\00:29:11.48
In Jesus's name,
00:29:11.51\00:29:13.48
Amen.
00:29:13.52\00:29:15.15
Thanks so much for joining me.
00:29:15.18\00:29:16.52
I'm looking forward to
seeing you again next time.
00:29:16.55\00:29:19.09
Until then, remember:
00:29:19.12\00:29:20.99
"It is written,
00:29:21.02\00:29:22.46
'Man shall not
live by bread alone,
00:29:22.49\00:29:25.03
but by every word that proceeds
from the mouth of God.'"
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¤[Theme music]
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