It Is Written Reformation 500 Series

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants:

Series Code: IIWR

01:30 ♪[Theme music]♪
01:40 ♪[Theme music]♪
01:49 >>John Bradshaw: This is It Is Written. I'm John Bradshaw.
01:52 Thanks for joining me for 500,
01:55 a series of nine programs where we study together
01:58 the Protestant Reformation,
02:00 which 500 years ago, on October the 31st in the year 1517,
02:05 roared into life when a young Catholic priest
02:08 named Martin Luther nailed a protest to the door
02:13 of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany.
02:16 History would never be the same.
02:20 In this first episode of 500
02:21 we will take an overarching look at the Reformation.
02:25 And after our program, filmed on location,
02:28 my guest will be Dr. Gerard Damsteegt,
02:31 recently retired from the seminary at Andrews University.
02:34 Dr. Damsteegt, thanks so much for joining me.
02:36 >>Dr. Damsteegt: It's a pleasure for me.
02:37 Appreciate you taking the time.
02:39 I think together we're going to have a good look
02:41 at the Reformation in sort of an overview way.
02:44 And you've made the Reformation quite a field of study,
02:47 haven't you?
02:49 >>Dr. Damsteegt: Oh, every year we go with a group of people
02:52 to Europe and study the whole scenario of the Christian church
02:59 from the time of the first century
03:02 until what happened to the church,
03:04 the apostasy that took place,
03:06 the Reformation,
03:08 and finally the restoration of the gospel.
03:11 >>John: How many Reformation tours have you led?
03:14 >>Dr. Damsteegt: Presently, about forty since 1994.
03:20 >>John: So, Dr. Damsteegt is a man who knows
03:22 something about the Reformation.
03:23 And as a scholar, as a biblical Christian,
03:26 he's dug deep into the matters of the Reformation,
03:29 not only for his own personal enrichment,
03:32 but in order to share with others.
03:34 And in this program Dr. Damsteegt
03:36 will be sharing with you and me.
03:39 The Reformation.
03:40 One of the most significant events in political
03:42 or religious history of the last 2,000 years.
03:47 The Reformation focused on the work done by Reformers,
03:50 people such as Martin Luther, but many others besides Luther
03:55 who worked to reform the Roman Catholic Church,
04:00 which for hundreds of years was immensely powerful,
04:04 both politically and religiously,
04:07 and it affected the world in profound ways.
04:10 We'll look at some of those tonight.
04:12 There are nine programs in this series of 500,
04:16 all of them filmed on location.
04:19 Our first program is an overview of the Reformation,
04:23 filmed in numerous sites in Europe
04:26 and here in North America.
04:28 Program number 2 takes us to Ireland,
04:32 the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
04:35 We look at a man who,
04:37 although not one of the classical Reformers
04:39 as we think back over the last several hundred years,
04:42 was a Reformer in word and deed.
04:46 Patrick of Ireland, actually, Patrick of England.
04:50 And we'll share more about that with you.
04:53 Our third program in 500 takes us to England.
04:57 William Tindale is a gentleman not thought of as much today
05:02 as others like Luther or Zwingli or Wesley or Knox.
05:09 But Tindale was a supremely influential figure who
05:13 stood up against the might of King Henry the Eighth,
05:15 and who dared to translate the Bible into modern English,
05:21 at least the English that was modern in his day.
05:25 And Tindale's ministry urged forward the Reformation
05:29 by placing into the hands of people the Word of God,
05:33 the Holy Bible.
05:35 Our fourth program will focus on the Roman Catholic Church,
05:39 Rome, and the Reformation.
05:42 We'll take you to Rome.
05:43 We'll take you inside the Vatican City.
05:46 And we'll look at this power,
05:47 this supremely influential power,
05:50 spoken of in the Bible and focused on in Bible prophecy.
05:55 What was it about Rome,
05:57 the ruling church,
05:58 the medieval church,
06:00 which made a Reformation necessary and,
06:05 perhaps we could say, possible?
06:07 That's Rome and the Reformation.
06:09 But after the Reformation there came the Counter-Reformation.
06:14 A very significant figure was a man named Ignatius of Loyola.
06:18 Who seeing what was taking place
06:20 as the authority of the Roman church was being eroded,
06:24 decided that he must do something.
06:27 He was a man experienced in the military;
06:29 he had an extremely sharp mind.
06:32 And he petitioned the pope and asked,
06:34 “Allow us to do what we need to do
06:38 to restore this great church to its former glory.”
06:42 Ignatius Loyola and the Counter-Reformation,
06:45 which included very interesting developments
06:48 in the interpretation of Bible prophecy,
06:50 reasserted the dominance of the Roman church.
06:54 Up until now, the Reformation has taken place
06:56 and has been centered on the continent of Europe.
07:00 But then, changes would take place as political
07:05 and religious forces led to Protestants
07:08 moving from Europe to North America.
07:12 Up until this point there had been no
07:14 real religious freedom in the world.
07:18 But the Pilgrims that came to New England
07:22 and settled in these United States
07:23 and ultimately formed these United States,
07:27 through a gentleman named Roger Williams,
07:29 a Puritan minister from England
07:31 who brought the concept of religious freedom.
07:34 He founded the Rhode Island colony
07:36 and established the city we know today
07:39 as Providence, Rhode Island.
07:42 So the concept of religious liberty
07:44 was introduced to Christianity,
07:47 and people began to take hold of the Bible
07:50 and think for themselves.
07:53 One of those thinkers was a man named William Miller,
07:57 who studying the Bible, came to the conclusion
08:01 that Jesus would return to the earth
08:04 at a certain time in the early 1840s.
08:08 This Baptist minister gathered a following around him
08:12 of people known as Millerites.
08:15 They were Adventists because they believed
08:18 in the imminent advent of Jesus.
08:20 Well, as you and I both know,
08:22 Jesus did not return in the 1840s.
08:26 So what next?
08:27 All of the progress that had been made
08:29 as people studied their Bible,
08:31 fought their way out of the dark,
08:33 walked in the light of religious freedom,
08:36 established a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
08:39 All of that had been accomplished,
08:41 but there was more work that needed to be done.
08:46 The Reformation had to be brought to a conclusion.
08:50 And so as you read the Book of Revelation,
08:51 you discover that God brings into focus
08:54 a group of people He identifies as a “remnant,”
08:58 and commits to them a special message
09:00 of prophetic significance,
09:01 which the Bible says will be proclaimed,
09:04 preached to all the world,
09:06 to every nation,
09:08 kindred, tongue and people.
09:11 The Reformation began 500 years ago.
09:15 As we look at the Bible,
09:16 we come to the conclusion that the Reformation
09:17 cannot possibly be finished,
09:20 that there's still work for God's people to do.
09:23 So, in a moment,
09:25 we'll take a look at our first program in this series, 500.
09:29 And our guest following this program
09:31 will be Dr. Gerard Damsteegt.
09:33 Back with more in a moment.
09:35 [Children laughing]
09:37 >>John: Okay, who wants to hear a joke?
09:39 >>Children: Me, me.
09:41 >>John: All right.
09:42 How long did Cain hate his brother?
09:48 For as long as he was Able.
09:52 Okay, not great.
09:53 Here's another one.
09:54 Who was known as the best mathematician in the Bible?
10:00 Moses.
10:01 He wrote the book of Numbers.
10:04 All right, you'll like this one.
10:07 Who was the biggest law-breaker in the Bible?
10:13 No?
10:15 Moses.
10:16 He broke all Ten Commandments at once.
10:19 [Crickets chirping]
10:20 >>Announcer: There's a better way to get your kids
10:21 interested in the Bible.
10:22 Visit My Place with Jesus to introduce your kids
10:25 to the Bible and its wonderful teachings.
10:28 Here your kids will gain spiritual growth
10:30 while having fun.
10:31 That's MyPlaceWithJesus.com.
10:37 >>John: This is It Is Written. I'm John Bradshaw.
10:40 Welcome to 500.
10:43 ♪[Music]♪
10:53 ♪[Music]♪
11:00 Five hundred years ago the world was a very different place.
11:04 There weren't any cars, or airplanes.
11:07 No trains.
11:08 No buses.
11:08 No computers.
11:10 There was no radio,
11:11 no television,
11:12 no internet.
11:13 There was no plastic,
11:15 no cardboard,
11:16 no United States.
11:17 There was no Taj Mahal.
11:19 There was no junk food,
11:20 no x-rays,
11:21 no antibiotics,
11:22 no vaccines.
11:23 There was no anesthetic.
11:25 Smoking was virtually unknown.
11:27 No GMOs,
11:28 no cameras, no newspapers...
11:30 It was a different world.
11:33 Now think about this.
11:35 There was no Baptist Church 500 years ago.
11:38 No Pentecostal Church.
11:40 There were no Presbyterians, no Methodists,
11:42 no Seventh-day Adventists,
11:44 no Church of England (or Episcopal Church).
11:46 In fact, there was only one Church.
11:50 Then, as now, it was led by a pope.
11:54 The popes 500 years ago were men like Leo the 10th,
11:58 Adrian the 6th,
12:00 Clement the 7th,
12:01 Paul the 3rd,
12:02 Julius the 3rd
12:03 and Marcellus the 2nd.
12:06 And they weren't only leaders of the church,
12:09 but they were also immensely powerful political figures.
12:14 Or, to put it another way,
12:15 500 years ago there was no religious freedom.
12:19 You could attend church, listen to the priest,
12:21 maybe hear the organ music,
12:23 but you couldn't believe what you wanted to believe.
12:26 And you definitely couldn't read a Bible.
12:29 You believed what the church told you to believe.
12:32 And if you dared to do otherwise, well,
12:35 life was difficult at best.
12:38 Now, down through the ages there were those who dissented,
12:41 but they existed in the shadows.
12:43 It was only a tiny minority that dared to stand up against
12:47 the might of the Church.
12:49 ♪[Music]♪
12:54 Five hundred years ago it was tough
12:56 if you didn't agree with the church.
12:59 If you wanted to believe what you believed,
13:01 you either had to be very secretive about it,
13:04 or run the risk of being uncovered,
13:06 persecuted,
13:08 and more than likely killed.
13:11 If you value religious freedom today,
13:13 the freedom to belong to the church you want
13:16 and to believe what you believe,
13:18 or even the freedom to belong to no church
13:20 and believe there is no God,
13:23 then consider that a few centuries ago
13:26 that freedom didn't exist.
13:31 But all that would change.
13:33 In 1517, on October the 31st,
13:37 a priest in a small town in Germany
13:40 changed western civilization,
13:43 and risked his life by defying the power of the ruling church.
13:49 His contribution to history was so immense that
13:52 Time Magazine ranked him fourth on the list of the Greatest Men
13:56 of the Millennium.
13:58 Looking at those ranked above him,
13:59 it's easy to think he should have been ranked number one.
14:05 Five hundred years ago,
14:06 the Protestant Reformation began when a young priest
14:10 turned academic by the name of Dr. Martin Luther
14:14 nailed a list of protests to the door of this church
14:18 in Wittenberg, Germany.
14:20 When he did so, he didn't realize
14:21 he was about to set history on fire.
14:24 He had no intention of starting a new church.
14:27 All Martin Luther wanted to see was his church
14:29 come closer to the Bible.
14:32 He was calling for reform.
14:36 Bound up in the genesis of the Protestant Reformation,
14:39 several very important questions.
14:41 To begin with,
14:43 how important is it that a person have that right
14:47 to determine for himself or herself what to believe?
14:52 Five hundred years ago,
14:53 you believed what the church told you to believe.
14:56 Beyond that, you didn't have much of anything.
14:59 How important is it that you choose for yourself
15:01 what you think and what you believe?
15:05 Second, when it comes to what you believe,
15:07 think about that question that Pilate asked Jesus
15:10 the night before Jesus was crucified.
15:12 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”
15:17 Today you'll hear that people have their truth.
15:20 I have my truth.
15:21 You have your truth.
15:23 What is truth?
15:24 And how do you decide?
15:26 Is truth subject to a vote?
15:29 Should there be a, a court of ideas?
15:32 How do you decide?
15:34 Is there a standard by which ideas or truths
15:39 can be objectively judged?
15:44 And what's truth worth?
15:45 What is the freedom to believe actually worth?
15:50 How far do you press this?
15:53 When is it worth being a troubler of the people?
15:57 And is there ever a time that the freedom to believe your own
16:02 ideas is something that's actually worth dying for?
16:07 ♪[Music]♪
16:10 Now, when you think of a person's
16:13 deeply held personal beliefs,
16:15 you could dismiss that as just ideas, theories.
16:20 But what we know is that a person's
16:22 deeply held personal beliefs provide the framework
16:26 for that person's entire life,
16:28 and they certainly form that person's faith.
16:32 In looking at the Protestant Reformation,
16:34 it's important that you go back and consider
16:36 the foundation of Christianity altogether.
16:40 Reform today typically means new ideas,
16:44 whether you're dealing with political, cultural,
16:46 social, or religious reform.
16:48 It's about finding something new, whatever's next.
16:52 But not the way God sees it.
16:54 As God looks at reform, typically He calls us back.
16:57 He calls us back to old ideas,
17:01 to things that he has established already.
17:05 Speaking for God, the prophet Jeremiah said this:
17:08 “Thus says the Lord, Stand in the ways and see,
17:12 and ask for the old paths,
17:14 where the good way is, and walk in it;
17:17 then you shall find rest for your souls” (Jeremiah 6:16).
17:23 The Bible, both the Old and the New Testaments,
17:26 form the basis of the early Christian church.
17:30 The Apostle Paul, writing to young Timothy said that
17:32 “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God,
17:35 and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
17:40 and for instruction in righteousness.”
17:41 That's Second Timothy 3 and verse 16.
17:44 The consuming passion of the early Christians,
17:48 the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus
17:50 for the salvation of humanity,
17:52 was said by Paul to rest upon the Scriptures:
17:56 “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received:
18:01 that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
18:05 And that He was buried,
18:06 and that He rose again the third day
18:09 according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3 and 4).
18:13 The New Testament teaching of justification by faith,
18:17 a central focus of the Protestant Reformation,
18:20 is also said by Paul to rest upon scripture.
18:23 Listen to what he said in Romans, chapter 1, verses 16-17
18:28 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
18:32 for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone
18:36 who believes,
18:37 for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
18:42 For in it the righteousness of God
18:44 is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written,
18:48 ‘The just shall live by faith'” (Romans 1:16 and 17).
18:54 What was clear to the founders of the Christian religion
18:57 is that the message they shared was the Word of the eternal God.
19:03 “When you received the word of God which you heard from us,
19:05 you welcomed it not as the word of men,
19:08 but as it is in truth, the word of God,
19:13 which also effectively works in you who believe”
19:16 (First Thessalonians 2:13).
19:19 When certain individuals got it in their heads
19:21 that the church had to be reformed,
19:23 and when they chose to put their lives on the line
19:26 to see that it happened,
19:28 things were going to get exciting.
19:32 I'll be back with more in just a moment.
19:34 ♪[Music]♪
19:42 [Sound of wolves]
19:46 ♪[Music]♪
19:53 [Camera equipment rattling]
19:56 [Rustling in grass]
19:59 [People talking]
20:01 [Wind Gusts]
20:06 ♪[Music]♪
20:16 ♪[Music]♪
20:25 [Cheering]
20:36 ♪[Music]♪
20:50 >>John: This is It Is Written, I'm John Bradshaw.
20:53 Thanks for joining me for 500.
20:57 Now, think of some of the great reform movements of history.
21:00 The Civil Rights movement in the United States.
21:03 Lunch counter sit-ins.
21:04 Bus boycotts.
21:06 Protest marches.
21:08 Where would the United States be today
21:10 without those heroes who stood up boldly and demanded reform?
21:14 Many lost their lives.
21:18 Was it worth it?
21:20 The fall of European communism in the early 1990s.
21:23 Starting with Lech Walesa and the Solidarity Movement,
21:27 and desperate East Germans
21:29 who wanted to see the Berlin Wall come down,
21:32 and Czechs who protested in Wenceslas Square.
21:37 Was that worth it?
21:39 The Boston Tea Party in 1773.
21:42 Of course the list goes on.
21:44 Sometimes protest is absolutely essential.
21:49 A protest about taxation without representation?
21:52 Yeah, that's important.
21:53 Your country is occupied?
21:55 Well, that's important too.
21:56 You don't like your system of government;
21:59 you feel like you're being oppressed.
22:01 Well, most of us can only imagine.
22:04 But the Protestant Reformation was
22:06 on an altogether different level.
22:08 ♪[Music]♪
22:13 Christianity began with people such as Peter and James
22:17 and John and Paul and Silas and Timothy,
22:20 carrying forward the message of the gospel.
22:23 But after a few centuries,
22:24 that message began to get clouded.
22:27 When the Roman Empire officially accepted Christianity
22:30 and called off its persecution of the church,
22:33 faith in Jesus became popular.
22:36 Unfortunately, it also became corrupt.
22:40 Jesus had warned His disciples,
22:42 saying to them in Luke 6 and verse 26,
22:43 “Woe unto you when all men speak well of you.”
22:48 Instead of the Bible deciding what Christians should believe,
22:52 church councils and bishops,
22:54 even Roman emperors like Constantine,
22:56 began making these decisions.
22:58 Now, of course, not all of those decisions were bad.
23:01 But more and more these human judgments
23:04 began subverting the authority of the Bible.
23:07 Church tradition began to hold veto power over scripture.
23:12 Jesus' words regarding the Pharisees of His day
23:15 began to hold more and more relevance.
23:17 “And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines
23:22 the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9).
23:25 In the centuries that followed the so-called
23:27 conversion of Constantine,
23:30 this reliance on human ideas and human traditions
23:32 became more and more pronounced.
23:35 Those who wanted to follow the Bible
23:36 were forced to go underground.
23:39 ♪[Music]♪
23:43 The Vatican became more and more powerful,
23:45 effectively governing the lives and the souls
23:48 and the political institutions of Europe.
23:52 No pope was more powerful than Pope Innocent the Third,
23:55 who reigned from 1198 to 1216,
23:58 a period that's been referred to as the
24:00 “high noon” of the papacy.
24:03 A leading Protestant historian, J.A. Wylie, wrote that
24:06 “the noon of the papacy was the midnight of the world.”
24:11 Innocent the Third was able to compel the monarchs of Europe
24:14 to do his will.
24:16 At times he deposed those who would not.
24:19 ♪[Music]♪
24:23 One weapon that the church had in its arsenal
24:26 was something known as interdict.
24:28 A territory that was censured with an interdict
24:31 was made to believe that the priests
24:33 would not hear confession,
24:35 prayers would not be offered for the dead,
24:37 and the sacraments of the church would not be dispensed.
24:40 Now, for anybody who actually believed that the pope
24:43 held the keys to God's kingdom, this was absolutely terrifying.
24:48 They were effectively shut out from the grace of God.
24:52 Now this mindset that had existed for hundreds of years
24:55 and which greeted the Protestant reformers
24:58 at the beginning of the sixteenth century
25:00 ♪[Music]♪
25:01 John Wycliffe, the English scholar
25:03 who translated the Latin Bible into English in the 1300s,
25:07 is often called the “morning star of the Reformation.”
25:11 Wycliffe spoke against what he saw as the inaccuracies
25:15 of the state church.
25:17 Church leaders in Rome summoned him to stand trial,
25:20 intending to end his life.
25:22 He got sick and died before he could be tried,
25:24 but Wycliffe's work was done.
25:28 But such was the animosity of the church towards him
25:31 that his body was exhumed, and it was burned,
25:35 and his ashes were dumped in a river.
25:40 Wycliffe's teachings were carried forward
25:42 by a Bohemian priest named John Huss.
25:47 The church summoned Huss to a council in Constance, Germany,
25:50 and promised him protection.
25:52 Huss arrived in Constance and was arrested,
25:55 thrown into a horrible prison, sentenced to death,
25:59 and was then burned at the stake.
26:02 But as one historian wrote,
26:04 “The blood of the martyrs was seed.”
26:06 The persecution the Reformers suffered
26:10 only seemed to further their cause.
26:13 And the need for reform seemed obvious.
26:16 The luxury and the depravity indulged in by church leaders
26:19 was breathtaking.
26:21 It's no secret that there were popes
26:23 who fathered illegitimate children.
26:25 Church offices were bought and sold,
26:28 and the luxurious lifestyle of church leaders
26:30 was out of sync with the self-denial of Jesus.
26:33 Speaking of the corruption of that time,
26:35 one historian wrote that
26:37 “the advance of the Turks
26:39 since the fall of Constantinople in 1453
26:42 was generally considered to have been allowed by God
26:45 in punishment for the sins of the Church.”
26:50 The Christian church was certainly ready for a change.
26:54 But how would that change come about?
26:56 We'll find out in just a moment.
26:58 ♪[Music]♪
27:06 >>Announcer: In Matthew 4:4, the Word of God says,
27:09 "It is written,
27:10 'Man shall not live by bead alone,
27:12 but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"
27:16 "Every Word"
27:17 is a one-minute, Bible-based daily devotional
27:19 presented by Pastor John Bradshaw,
27:21 and designed especially for busy people like you.
27:24 Look for Every Word on selected networks,
27:27 or watch it online every day on our website,
27:29 ItIsWritten.com.
27:31 Receive a daily spiritual boost.
27:33 Watch “Every Word.”
27:35 You'll be glad you did.
27:36 Here's a sample.
27:39 ♪[Music]♪
27:44 >>John: After he was arrested,
27:45 a New York man confessed to 6 burglaries,
27:48 in the borough of Queens.
27:49 He broke into churches and stole from them.
27:51 He said he did it because “I'm mad at God.
27:54 I don't like church anymore. I break in to get back at God.”
27:58 Get back at God?
27:59 After all God has done for you;
28:01 brought you into existence,
28:02 sustained you,
28:03 gave you opportunity,
28:04 and promised you everlasting life,
28:07 in a world where there's no sin,
28:08 disappointment, or broken dreams.
28:10 You can't get back at God.
28:12 If you want to get back at anyone that'll be the devil who
28:15 is responsible for every ounce of misery that has ever existed.
28:19 Jesus said in John 5 verse 40:
28:21 “But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.”
28:25 If you want to right wrongs, come to faith in Christ.
28:28 Staying away from God only plays into the devil's hands.
28:33 I'm John Bradshaw for It Is Written.
28:34 Let's live today by every word.
28:36 ♪[Music]♪
28:39 ♪[Music]♪
28:42 One hundred years after the death of Huss,
28:45 a young German priest by the name of Martin Luther
28:49 found himself in the city of Rome,
28:52 seeking to earn God's favor
28:54 by climbing on his knees up Pilate's Staircase.
28:59 The church claimed that Jesus Himself
29:00 had walked on that staircase,
29:02 and that it had been miraculously
29:04 transported from Jerusalem to Rome.
29:07 While performing this act, Luther seemed to hear a voice
29:11 as loud as thunder,
29:14 declaring in his ear the gospel truth articulated by
29:16 both Testaments of the Sacred Word:
29:19 “The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17;
29:23 Habakkuk: 2, verse 4).
29:26 So why was Luther walking up a staircase on his knees?
29:30 Because Luther believed that climbing those steps
29:34 would earn favor with God.
29:38 And why did Luther believe that?
29:39 Because that's what the church taught.
29:43 ♪[Music]♪
29:43 [Birds chirping]
29:46 The church taught that you could reduce your punishment for sin,
29:50 that you could lessen the “temporal effects of sin”
29:54 by doing things such as attending a certain church
29:57 on a certain day,
29:58 honoring the “blessed sacrament,”
30:00 praying the rosary,
30:02 or climbing the Scala Sancta,
30:04 Pilate's Staircase, on your knees.
30:07 In fact, the church still believes this.
30:11 Here's what the church says about indulgences.
30:14 "An indulgence is a remission before God
30:18 of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt
30:22 has already been forgiven,
30:24 which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains
30:28 under certain prescribed conditions
30:31 through the action of the Church which,
30:33 as the minister of redemption,
30:36 dispenses and applies with authority
30:39 the treasury of the satisfactions
30:41 of Christ and the saints.”
30:44 So you can understand why Luther felt he had to do something.
30:47 The church was teaching salvation by works.
30:51 In fact, indulgences were sold for money.
30:55 Money was raised for the building of St Peter's Basilica
30:58 through the selling of indulgences.
31:00 This was Luther's reality.
31:03 Of course he had to protest.
31:05 ♪[Music]♪
31:08 That moment at Pilate's Staircase proved to be
31:11 the turning point in Martin Luther's experience.
31:14 With that voice still ringing in his heart,
31:16 he sprang to his feet and fled from the place
31:20 in shame and horror.
31:21 ♪[Music]♪
31:22 Luther's zeal would spark a fire
31:24 that spread throughout Europe and beyond.
31:27 From John Calvin's Geneva to William Tyndale's England,
31:31 from France to Scandinavia and the Netherlands,
31:34 and then to Plymouth Rock on an unknown
31:36 and distant shore,
31:38 the message of supreme biblical authority,
31:41 justification through faith in Christ,
31:43 and a conscience set free from civil
31:45 and ecclesiastical control,
31:47 would inspire millions of hearts and alter the course
31:51 of human events.
31:53 [Birds singing]
31:58 Luther and others would also teach
32:00 the principle of Sola Scriptura, the Bible alone.
32:05 The Reformers believed that any teaching should be subjected
32:08 to the ultimate authority: God's Word.
32:11 Now, 500 years later,
32:13 in much of Christianity,
32:14 we simply take that for granted.
32:17 But five hundred years ago?
32:19 No way.
32:20 That's not the way the church was run.
32:24 Now, of course, the Reformers were human,
32:26 and human beings are faulty.
32:29 Martin Luther certainly had his faults.
32:31 But we must keep in mind that the Reformers
32:34 came to the Bible a lot like an archaeologist
32:37 comes to an artifact.
32:38 It was new to them.
32:40 They had to wrestle with the Bible
32:42 and work some things out.
32:43 They didn't have the benefit of hundreds of years
32:46 of scholarship having gone before them.
32:48 Now the truth is,
32:49 we inherit a lot of what we believe by the people
32:53 who've gone before us and done the heavy lifting.
32:55 Which is fine, as long as what we receive from
32:59 those who have gone before us is true.
33:02 In all cases,
33:03 it's important that we go to the Bible and find out.
33:06 ♪[Music]♪
33:09 With the translation of the Bible by Luther
33:11 and Tyndale and others,
33:13 into German and English
33:15 and French and Polish and Czech,
33:17 and with the advent of the printing press,
33:19 the common people soon had access to God's word.
33:24 And when the Bible was put in the hands of Bible students
33:27 hungry for Scripture,
33:29 the church and the world could never be the same again.
33:33 ♪[Music]♪
33:36 The church of Rome wasn't about to quietly tolerate an attack
33:40 on what they genuinely believed was their God-given right
33:44 to direct the minds and hearts of men and women,
33:47 to compel them in faith in God,
33:49 and to correct them when they fell into error.
33:52 The Counter-Reformation would see Rome fight back, forcefully,
33:58 creatively, and not always obviously.
34:01 ♪[Music]♪
34:02 So what does a church do when its authority is threatened,
34:06 along with its hold on the minds of the people
34:08 of the western world?
34:10 In Europe, there was a lot of bloodshed.
34:13 Protestants were burned at the stake.
34:16 Thousands died in the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre
34:19 in France in 1572.
34:20 And anything resembling toleration disappeared.
34:25 More than 200,000 fled France.
34:30 The first foreigners to reach what would become
34:32 the United States of America
34:34 were Protestants of English descent.
34:37 But even then there would be growing pains.
34:39 The Puritans of New England believed that religious freedom
34:43 applied to you only if you lived and believed
34:46 and worshipped as they did.
34:49 But then along came Roger Williams,
34:51 who introduced the concept of religious liberty for all.
34:56 And then the truth would go marching on.
34:59 Through men like Ulrich Zwingli in Zurich
35:02 and John Wesley and his brother Charles in England.
35:05 Through Philip Melanchthon and Thomas Cranmer
35:08 and Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley
35:10 and Theodore Beza and John Knox in Scotland
35:13 and Huss and Jerome
35:13 and William Farel and Roger Williams
35:16 and many others.
35:18 So when did the Reformation end?
35:20 Or has it ended?
35:23 Perhaps there's still a work to be done,
35:25 a work of reform,
35:26 a work of calling people to faithfulness to God
35:30 and to faith in the Word of God.
35:32 Throughout the rest of this series, 500,
35:35 you'll meet some of the great characters of the Reformation.
35:39 Your faith in God will grow,
35:41 and your personal experience with God
35:44 will be richly blessed.
35:46 ♪[Music]♪
35:53 >>John: The book of Revelation makes clear that Babylon
35:56 will be a major player on the prophetic scene
35:59 down in the close of time.
36:01 How do we understand that?
36:02 Well, that's why I'd like you to have this book.
36:04 I wrote it.
36:05 “Babylon Rising.”
36:06 To receive it, call us at 800-253-3000.
36:11 Or visit us online at www.itiswritten.com.
36:17 Or you can write to the address on your screen.
36:19 I'd like you to receive our free offer,
36:21 “Babylon Rising.”
36:23 And thanks for remembering that It Is Written
36:25 exists because of the kind support
36:27 of people just like you.
36:29 Your donation makes it possible for It Is Written
36:32 to share life-changing, biblical truth with the world.
36:36 You can send your tax-deductible gift
36:38 to the address on your screen,
36:40 or you can support It Is Written through our website,
36:43 itiswritten.com.
36:45 Thanks for your generous support.
36:47 Our number is 800-253-3000,
36:50 and our web address is itiswritten.com.
36:54 >>John: Thanks for joining me for 500.
36:56 My guest is Dr. Gerard Damsteegt,
36:59 retired professor of church history from Andrews University
37:02 in Berrien Springs, Michigan.
37:03 Dr. Damsteegt, thank you so much for joining me.
37:06 >>Dr. Damsteegt: It's a pleasure for me.
37:07 >>John: Help me understand just what the Reformation was.
37:13 >>Dr. Damsteegt: When we speak about the Reformation,
37:15 it is good to look at the significance of the word.
37:18 And it comes from the Latin reformare.
37:21 And what the key element is there,
37:24 is stopping abuse,
37:27 corruption, and restoring something to its original.
37:31 >>John: This leads me to the next question.
37:33 Why was the Reformation necessary?
37:35 >>Dr. Damsteegt: The Apostle Paul points already out
37:38 in Second Thessalonians, the second chapter,
37:41 that before Christ returns,
37:44 there would become a power, it's called the man of sin,
37:50 the mystery of iniquity,
37:52 and that would corrupt the church and proclaim to be,
37:57 as it were, God or above God.
38:00 And if we look into the history of Christianity,
38:04 by the sixth, seventh century,
38:05 we see a condition of the church that is far from different
38:10 from the early church.
38:12 The gospel of Christ being central,
38:15 His forgiveness being powerful there,
38:17 His atonement, His cross,
38:19 it doesn't exist anymore.
38:21 It is now centered around one man,
38:24 called the pope, and everyone, all the leaders of the church,
38:30 should pay obedience to him, listen to him,
38:33 and he controls everything that is going on.
38:36 And then in time things get perverted,
38:41 and, for example,
38:42 one important thing is that when people saw the perversion,
38:47 they quoted Scriptures,
38:49 and now the church was trying to eliminate
38:52 the access of the people to the Scriptures.
38:56 Secondly, how are you going to get forgiveness of sin,
39:01 atonement, if the Bible is still there?
39:04 So the Bible is removed, and secondly,
39:08 in regards to the beautiful forgiveness of Jesus Christ,
39:14 we get now a concept being introduced, indulgences.
39:18 What are indulgences?
39:20 The church has a whole pool and whole treasure
39:23 of indulgences that bring forgiveness.
39:27 It eliminates your stay in purgatory,
39:31 and all those things together.
39:34 And so, as a result, what is going to happen?
39:38 We, as common people, don't go to the Scriptures,
39:42 don't go to Jesus Christ, but we go to the church.
39:45 We become dependent on the church for forgiveness
39:49 and for elimination of punishment.
39:53 And that, how does the church get this?
39:56 This whole pool of all good works come from the saints,
40:00 or from Mary.
40:01 And over time, those heroes, those saints,
40:06 have accumulated so much grace and mercy
40:10 that it is being made available to God's people, for a price.
40:16 And then, of course,
40:17 when people [inaudible] protest it,
40:19 what do you get?
40:20 You get then some very interesting things.
40:23 The church becomes now or declares to be infallible.
40:28 We as a church don't err.
40:30 You have to accept what we say.
40:33 And that is the key to success.
40:37 And so the pope then becomes also infallible.
40:40 >>John: Now, you mentioned the man of sin a few moments ago.
40:42 And it's interesting that the Reformers
40:45 didn't only say the church needed to be reformed,
40:49 but it was corrupt.
40:51 And some of those Reformers
40:52 identified the Roman Catholic Church as the man of sin.
40:56 In fact, it seems most all of the prominent Reformers did so.
41:00 How did they come to that conclusion?
41:02 >>Dr. Damsteegt: They looked at the person of Christ,
41:07 and they looked at the pope,
41:10 and they saw tremendous contrast between those two.
41:14 And so they said, hey, this must then be
41:18 what has been predicted in the early church.
41:22 Jesus Christ will not come until the apostasy,
41:25 the falling away, is revealed.
41:29 And so they compared.
41:30 Who is Christ?
41:32 Christ did not want to have any earthly power.
41:35 He ran away from this.
41:37 Look at the pope.
41:38 What does he do?
41:40 He has a triple crown.
41:43 He has the keys, the two keys:
41:46 the key of worldly power and the key to spiritual power.
41:52 What does Christ do?
41:53 He washed the feet of his disciples.
41:58 What does the pope do?
41:59 The pope let his feet be kissed by his followers.
42:06 And so they saw this tremendous contrast.
42:10 >>John: Now, people might listen to this and say,
42:11 yeah, the Reformation is ancient history.
42:13 After all, it was 500 years ago.
42:15 And today we have a pope who said he doesn't want
42:19 to live in the papal palace,
42:21 who goes out and meets the people,
42:23 kisses babies, hugs the sick.
42:26 He says, “Who am I to judge?”
42:29 If Luther was around today,
42:32 do you think he would see that there's a need for reformation
42:35 in the church, or would he say it's a new church?
42:39 >>Dr. Damsteegt: Ah, in Luther's time, during the Reformation,
42:42 there were various actions taken
42:45 to improve the morality of the church.
42:48 Certain of the abuses.
42:50 But the basic teachings that led to all the corruption
42:56 was not changed at all.
42:57 If you go today and you look at the staircase
43:02 that Martin Luther climbed,
43:04 you'll see on the side still,
43:06 you can get indulgences by doing the same thing.
43:10 And so the teachings have not changed.
43:15 And so the teaching that led to all the corruptions
43:18 and the power of the church has not changed at all.
43:21 >>John: I think it's worth noticing to that some of
43:23 those teachings have been brought into the 21st century.
43:26 If you followed the pope on Twitter during World Youth Day,
43:31 you get an indulgence.
43:32 There's been a resurgence, as a matter of fact,
43:35 in some of these old teachings from Catholicism.
43:37 Rome hasn't repudiated them at all.
43:40 A question for you:
43:41 What do you think would have happened if Martin Luther
43:43 hadn't nailed the thesis to the door of the Castle Church,
43:48 if he just shrugged his shoulders and said,
43:50 “I wish my church would change,” but did nothing about it?
43:54 What do you think would have happened?
43:55 >>Dr. Damsteegt: Well, sooner or later somebody else
43:57 would have picked it up.
43:59 But the uniqueness of Martin Luther was he made a very,
44:02 very study after he went to Rome.
44:05 And so the uselessness of the indulgences,
44:08 he analyzed this,
44:10 and by the time the pope had announced a new indulgence,
44:15 and the, and the power of the indulgences was,
44:19 exceeded every other previous indulgences,
44:23 you could have get a forgiveness of sins
44:24 you hadn't even committed,
44:27 you was going to do in the future.
44:29 And, and so when Luther saw [inaudible].
44:32 he said, “Oh, Martin, we don't even need to go to confession,
44:36 we don't even need to go to ask forgiveness,
44:38 because we have already those indulgences
44:41 to take care of those things.”
44:42 So when Martin Luther saw this, he analyzed this,
44:46 and then the 95 thesis is a destructive analysis
44:51 of the power and the efficacy of the indulgences.
44:56 However, among those 95 thesis,
45:00 he made one statement about the true treasury of the church,
45:06 and he said, “The true treasury of the church
45:10 is the gospel of Jesus Christ through God.”
45:15 And so that is available for all, free.
45:20 So keep in mind,
45:22 here people were paying tremendous amount of money
45:26 to get the forgiveness
45:28 and the declaration for forgiveness from the church.
45:31 And here, in the 95 thesis, it was free.
45:36 >>John: And that's really the essence of the Reformation.
45:40 Not man's word, God's word.
45:42 Dr. Damsteegt, let's hold that thought right there.
45:45 We'll be back with more in just a moment.
45:47 >>John: The book of Revelation makes clear that Babylon
45:50 will be a major player on the prophetic scene
45:53 down in the close of time.
45:55 How do we understand that?
45:56 Well, that's why I'd like you to have this book.
45:58 I wrote it.
45:59 “Babylon Rising.”
46:01 To receive it, call us at 800-253-3000.
46:05 Or visit us online at www.itiswritten.com.
46:11 Or you can write to the address on your screen.
46:13 I'd like you to receive our free offer,
46:15 “Babylon Rising.”
46:18 >>John: Welcome back to 500.
46:19 I'm John Bradshaw from It Is Written.
46:22 Dr. Damsteegt, a moment ago,
46:24 a historical look at how the Word of God
46:27 was asserted back above the word of man
46:31 during the Protestant Reformation.
46:32 That was really the essence of the basis of it all.
46:35 You're going to go on here with,
46:36 but I think we're going to look at this
46:38 as it applies to us today.
46:39 So why don't you look at that further for us.
46:41 >>Dr. Damsteegt: Yeah.
46:42 So if you summarize the process of spire,
46:45 it was a solemn witness against the religious intolerance,
46:50 and an assertion of the right of all men to worship God
46:55 according to the dictates of their own conscience.
46:59 Now, that is very important, because that is,
47:03 it shows here what took place there
47:04 is a lesson for all generations.
47:07 In our time, you still have a wide departure of the truth.
47:14 That Luther was fighting against.
47:16 And so here now there is a need
47:19 to return to the Protestant principle:
47:23 the Bible and the Bible only as the rule of faith and duty.
47:28 And that is important here today
47:30 because the anti-christian powers today
47:32 are still working with power around it.
47:36 And the same unswerving adherence to the Word of God
47:40 manifested in the cries of reformation is the only
47:45 hope of reform for us today.
47:48 >>John: Very significant.
47:49 >>Dr. Damsteegt: And so therefore what Luther did,
47:51 what the prince's protested against
47:54 is still very, very important.
47:56 >>John: If there had been no Reformation,
47:59 what would the world look like today?
48:01 >>Dr. Damsteegt: We would all be in the grasp of a church
48:06 that is built on righteousness by works.
48:10 Because that was the whole system.
48:12 The church collected its money, its income,
48:15 because people wanted to get peace of mind, peace of heart.
48:19 And how to do this?
48:21 By buying their way to salvation.
48:25 That's very, very crucial.
48:26 I mean, why, I mean, it took a man like Luther,
48:30 who couldn't have the peace.
48:33 He went everywhere,
48:35 from his law study, he went to his priestly study.
48:39 And why?
48:40 Because he did not have the peace,
48:44 the peace that comes through forgiveness
48:46 through Jesus Christ.
48:48 And so therefore, he did everything possible, vigils,
48:53 you know, he beat himself nearly to death,
48:56 all of those things he did.
48:58 And he still didn't get it,
49:01 until he discovered the gospel of Jesus Christ
49:04 and the forgiveness through the blood of Christ,
49:06 through the Word of God.
49:08 And it was the Word of God
49:10 that the papacy had tried to eliminate.
49:13 And during the Middle Ages,
49:15 everyone who wanted to have this peace,
49:17 they couldn't get it because they didn't have
49:19 any access to the Scriptures.
49:22 >>John: Now, explain that for me,
49:23 because I think in, in our modern age,
49:25 where you can buy a Bible at the Dollar Store,
49:28 it's difficult for people to understand that in that day
49:32 people didn't have the Bible.
49:33 In fact, people could be put to death for reading or,
49:37 or on suspicion of possessing even a scrap of the Bible.
49:40 Explain what it was like there,
49:42 where people were, were walled off from the Bible.
49:46 >>Dr. Damsteegt: Where do you get the peace?
49:48 Go to the church, buy your indulgences,
49:51 confess everything what you have ever done, you know?
49:54 And so, you have to depend completely
49:57 on the church's system.
49:59 And their, gracious work, what they did for you.
50:03 And there was not any personal relationship with God.
50:07 Now, finally, Luther and some of the other ones like,
50:11 like Wycliffe, Huss and Jerome, and the Waldensians,
50:16 they had the peace because
50:17 they had a personal access to salvation.
50:20 You know, in the Bible you realize that salvation
50:22 is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ,
50:27 the personal access.
50:29 And if you don't have this personal relationship,
50:32 you don't have the, the peace that comes.
50:35 And so you had, and this was the 98 percent of the people,
50:42 had not access to salvation as it is in personal experience.
50:48 >>John: Explain sola scriptura to me.
50:50 This was a key of, of really, not just Luther,
50:54 but of all of the Reformers.
50:55 These were people who, at the beginning of their ministry,
50:58 Luther especially,
51:00 didn't really have access to the Bible at all.
51:02 But he came to a position where he said, “Sola scriptura.”
51:07 Explain what that is,
51:09 because it, it's interesting to me that today
51:11 there's still a lot of resistance
51:13 to the idea of sola scriptura.
51:15 >>Dr. Damsteegt: Sola scriptura is the death nail
51:19 of any system that is contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
51:24 And so Luther was very interested
51:26 in getting the Bible among all the people,
51:29 because, you know, illiteracy was great.
51:31 >>John: Sure.
51:32 >>Dr. Damsteegt: Everywhere.
51:33 And so Luther, and also, uh, Zwingli,
51:36 started to translate the Bible
51:39 in the common language of the people.
51:41 And so their teaching was the Bible central.
51:44 That is where you need to go.
51:46 So if you want to know how to be saved, it is through the Bible.
51:52 Sola scriptura. Sola fide.
51:55 It's only through faith, only.
51:58 And not only that, but sola gratia.
52:02 Through grace only.
52:04 And so it was not only the Bible,
52:06 but in the Bible you find grace.
52:08 Grace comes through Jesus Christ,
52:10 but you have to have faith in Jesus Christ to obtain this.
52:14 So everything is now delegated to the person.
52:19 And so it shows you the personal,
52:24 personal pietistic dimension of the person's religion.
52:29 It needs to be a personal relationship.
52:31 And if you don't have a personal relationship,
52:34 you don't have the faith that is necessary.
52:37 You don't have grace that is necessary.
52:40 So keep in mind that this,
52:44 you know, if people depend only on the church,
52:47 and only on the priest,
52:49 and you go say hey, salvation is personal,
52:52 teach me say how?
52:54 How?
52:56 I don't know how to do it.
52:58 And so here now, this is a total new dimension.
53:02 And if you don't have the spiritual experience,
53:04 you don't have the peace.
53:06 >>John: The Reformation really was a threat
53:09 to the viability of the church.
53:12 Without the Reformation you confessed to a priest.
53:14 But if you knew Jesus personally,
53:16 the bottom falls out of that.
53:17 There's no more confession to the priest.
53:19 There's no more praying to Mary.
53:20 The saints become an irrelevance.
53:24 Uh, the church is no longer the repository of the grace of God.
53:29 This was a major threat to the church's existence, wasn't it?
53:33 >>Dr. Damsteegt: Absolutely.
53:35 Now all the finances dried up, and not only that,
53:38 but, I mean, it's, the impact of society,
53:42 all the monasteries became useless.
53:45 And so if the monastery became useless,
53:48 you know, what do you do then?
53:51 They provided, uh, hospitals.
53:55 They provided schooling.
53:56 They provided welfare.
53:58 And now everything had to come from society.
54:02 So the government had to go in force.
54:04 But in order to keep that going,
54:06 people needed to read.
54:08 And so public education became now paramount.
54:13 Protestantism would have failed
54:15 if the people couldn't read and write.
54:19 >>John: You've raised an interesting point
54:21 with the decline of the monasteries.
54:22 It wasn't just the monasteries themselves,
54:24 but other services that were connected to them.
54:26 So take us forward in time.
54:28 Luther nails the 95 thesis to the door, October 31, 1517.
54:33 The fire is lit, or perhaps it had been lit,
54:36 but the flames are fanned now.
54:39 How was the world materially different
54:41 a hundred or 200 years after that time?
54:44 >>Dr. Damsteegt: You know, I mean, even,
54:46 the lives of the people became different.
54:49 Uh, the classes of society,
54:52 the priest class, the nobility, and the peasantry.
54:57 Because of the gospel,
54:59 and the preachers of all believers,
55:01 it eliminated the class distinctions.
55:04 And so what is the difference between a priest and a farmer?
55:08 The difference is the function.
55:10 The function becomes our difference.
55:13 And so therefore it is very, very important
55:16 for the society to continue
55:20 based on the protestant principles.
55:23 And also what you get here is the, of course, you get now,
55:28 Protestantism is split into many, many different groups,
55:32 because the Bible is the authority.
55:35 If the Bible is your authority, the question is,
55:38 what part of the Bible?
55:40 Is it the whole Bible,
55:42 or is it the Old Testament and the New Testament together?
55:45 Is the Old Testament for the Jews?
55:49 And so here you get in a total different interpretation
55:52 of what part.
55:54 Luther was very much moved by the book of Romans;
55:58 that was the key in his, his mind.
56:02 Now, is the book of Romans, is that the key?
56:06 Or is all the other ones?
56:07 Calvin says no, everything is to God's glory.
56:10 The experience.
56:13 And so that was taken care of.
56:16 Then, uh, the whole discussion about salvation, what is it?
56:21 The whole discussion about justification,
56:24 about sanctification,
56:26 about the free will,
56:30 predestination becomes a part of it.
56:33 And not only this, but, uh righteousness by works.
56:37 What is the function of works?
56:39 And so you get all kinds of groups,
56:41 different groups of people
56:42 that are focusing on various aspects of salvation.
56:47 And so you get the proliferation of groups.
56:51 >>John: Well, you know, one argument in favor of the church,
56:53 the Roman Catholic Church,
56:55 and this comes from, from Catholics themselves,
56:58 is the church tells us what we believe, and we believe that.
57:03 Who is a person to believe that he or she
57:05 could really understand the Bible
57:08 without the special priest's training?
57:10 And then the proliferation of Protestant groups
57:13 or non-Catholic groups,
57:15 groups that can't agree among themselves,
57:17 would tend to prove to some people that
57:21 it's just better to line up behind the church
57:22 and do what the church does.
57:24 Why are we in, Protestantism or non-Catholicism
57:27 is in a bit of a mess today.
57:28 Why do you think that is?
57:31 >>Dr. Damsteegt: Well, there are a number of factors,
57:33 but key is that it is easy to say, okay,
57:37 I give it to somebody else.
57:39 Let the church, let the pope, let a priest decide it.
57:43 And they have studied it, and we follow it.
57:46 Protestantism leads to a personal relationship
57:49 with Jesus Christ.
57:51 And if you don't have this personal relationship to Christ,
57:54 salvation is beyond your grasp.
57:57 This is extremely important,
57:59 that if you want to have a personal relationship with,
58:02 with God, it is through the Bible,
58:07 it's through the faith that Jesus Christ gives you.
58:10 And if you don't accept this and don't put it into practice,
58:16 you'll never get a salvation assurance that is important.
58:20 >>John: Dr. Damsteegt, thanks so much for joining us.
58:23 And thank you for joining us.
58:24 Now, don't miss our next program,
58:26 the Celtic Connection.
58:28 The next program in our nine-part series of 500,
58:30 where we take you to the Emerald Isle
58:32 and introduce you to one of history's
58:33 real colorful Christian characters.
58:36 Before we go, let's pray together now.
58:39 Our Father in Heaven,
58:40 we thank you that you've given us your Word.
58:42 I pray you would light a fire in us,
58:45 give us a desire to know your word, and know Jesus,
58:48 the Word made flesh.
58:50 I pray that we would take seriously
58:53 not only the responsibility to be people of your word,
58:58 but to recognize the privilege that is ours
59:01 to be out of the dark and into the marvelous light
59:04 of your revelation.
59:06 Bless us, Lord.
59:07 Let there be a reformation in each life.
59:11 Keep us connected to yourself,
59:13 we pray in Jesus' name,
59:15 Amen.
59:17 Thanks so much for joining me.
59:18 I look forward to seeing you again next time on 500.
59:21 Until then, remember:
59:23 It Is Written.
59:24 Man shall not live by bread alone,
59:26 but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
59:31 ♪[Theme music]♪

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