INTRODUCTION
This is a long and complex message with many links. This is a simple summary of hundreds of hours of research by me. I wish some people had shared this with me long ago. It would have saved me time and energy from going down hundreds of dead ends.
I have lived a difficult life. My faith in Jesus Christ has waxed and waned. And God used what follows to restart and strengthen my faith in Him.
Many places in the Bible it says we are to remember His testimonies. The default setting for humans is to forget the good things that did happen and worry about the bad things that might happen. So it takes a choice and effort to remember.
When as you go down this path you will be amazed and delighted to learn what God has been doing for the last 2000 years. Like me, you will recognize that God has done great things when it seemed impossible. That encourages faith to trust Him to do great things again even in my life.
These days I must take care to monitor my intake of the news and commentaries. If I do not then I can get depressed and discouraged. I do my best to pray and meditate. But I need other inputs like what follows.
What you have here is like a self-paced and self-directed college course in the highlights of parts of church history. Plus there are bonuses at the end.
It will take many hours to explore these options. You are already busy so you will need to make adjustments. What I did was to set aside some time on Sunday afternoons to explore these kinds of links.
It will take many hours to explore these options. You are already busy so you will need to make adjustments. What I did was to set aside some time on Sunday afternoons to explore these kinds of links.
You might go down this path on 3 day weekends, vacations, or staycations.
Maybe you get fed up with watching the same kinds of movies over and over. I do. Then watch these for a while.
Maybe you have had trouble falling asleep or wake at night cannot go back to sleep. This will put your mind on what God has done instead of your worries.
Maybe you are at home sick or at home watching a child. Here is a way to redeem that time.
Maybe you are at home sick or at home watching a child. Here is a way to redeem that time.
If you are ready to go wider and deeper in your faith walk then here are more than enough resources to get you started. These are free. They will stir you up, challenge you, and comfort you. They will raise all kinds of questions that you can put into a search engine.
Many exciting adventures are ahead if you take the bold steps to click on the links that follow.
CHURCH HISTORY
The sad reality is that most Christians are ignorant of church history.
Note that many of the feasts and festivals in the Old Testament were ordained to guide the Jews to learn and recall their history.
Note that Black History Month in February is used to help people learn about and remember their roots.
Yet Christian know little of their heritage. Mostly there are not designated times of ways to remember the past that shaped our current conditions. But a few Christians promote Reformation Day as October 31st.
MARTIN LUTHER
Did you know that on October 31st, 1517 or 502 years ago today Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the church?
Previously I believed that each thesis was a long document. But in reality, nearly all of them are one sentence long. They were just thesis statements.
Shortly before that, he had posted 97 theses on the same door. Those were written in Latin. They were addressed to the scholars who could read Latin. He wanted to enter into lively discussions with his peers about those scholarly matters.
But when he posted the 95 theses his seminary students noticed the profound importance to them. So without his knowledge or consent, they translated those into German. Then they sent them to several printers that spread them widely all over Germany. This is like a blog post or a personal video that goes viral these days.
The 95 theses could be printed out as a 3-page document. It is worth reading because that was the spark that started the Reformation and that in turn shaped the thinking, writing, preaching, and theology that led to the various denominations we have today.
Here is a copy just of the text.
Here is the Wikipedia page that gives much historic context.
Here is an illustrated lecture about Martin Luther and the 95 Theses.
Martin Luther and the 95 Theses
Martin Luther was a monk and professor when he nailed the thesis. He was pressured by the Roman Catholic church to recant. He refused. He was under a death warrant and fled. Then he wrote books in German to the common people about what the Bible taught.
At that time the Bible was only available in Latin. The common people could not read Latin.
While felling the authorities Martin Luther translated the Bible into German for the common people. then they could have faith alone in Jesus Christ.
Later William Tyndale translated the Bible into English. He was also fleeing from the authorities with a death sentence on his head.
Many times each year I earnestly thank God that the Bible is available in my native langue. I have heard testimonies of Bible translators of how having the Scripture in their mother tongue made a huge difference in the lives of seekers.
To fully appreciate why Martin Luther stood up to so much pressure it is useful to dig into his background before the 95 theses. He had earnestly sought for many years to be clean of his personal sins. As a monk in a monastery, he would go to confession for hours in hopes of getting right with God. He did all the church told him to do to the extreme. Yet he felt that he fell short. So he prayed, fasted, and studied the Bible early.
Then God opened his eyes to see the grace of God comes by faith and not by works.
This reminds me of the many testimonies of ex-Mormons on Youtube. They had been working super hard for many years. Yet when they came to faith alone on Christ they deeply appreciated the grace of God in the gospel message. They too faced persecution by family and friends. Yet those that went public wanted to know Him without works to earn salvation.
Note that there are millions of believers in strict Muslim countries today that are facing all kinds of persecution for their faith. A recent report said that 7 people die each day instead of denying the Christian faith.
LEADERS
Over the decades I have explored the many facets of church history. I found it to be very complicated. It is full of all kinds to twists and turns. There was much evidence of the grace and goodness of God as well as the greed, foolishness, and pride of human leaders.
Repeatedly God used key individuals at critical moments to bring about major changes.
Notice that when teaching about the Bible to children there are key individuals in the Old and New Testaments.
The same is true about church history over the past 2000 years of church history. There were key individuals that God used in amazing ways. These include preachers, teachers, theologians, and missionaries. The textbooks of Bible colleges and seminaries go into plenty of details of each person.
The book that brings all this together in an understandable way it Streams of Living Water subtitled Celebrating the Great Traditions of Christian Faith by Richard Foster. He has presented a simple summary of mountains of confusing details. His chapter headings give the overview.
The Contemplative Tradition: Discovering the Prayer-Filled Life
The Holiness Tradition: Discovering the Virtuous Life
The Charismatic Tradition: Discovering the Spirit-Empowered Life
The Social Justice Tradition: Discovering the Compassionate Life
The Evangelical Tradition; Discovering the Word-Centered Life
The Incarnational Life: Discovering the Sacramental Life
In the appendix, there are 75 pages of brief biographies of the individuals that God used to start and grow all these traditions. Each brief biography is only one paragraph long.
Note that all those leaders had the same Bible and it was the King James Version. Yet God moved in mighty ways through them and others that followed them unto today.
So if you want to understand the history and context for the church you attend and the many other denominations then this is a great primer.
VIDEOS
While I like to read I love to watch videos. I especially enjoy videos that are biographies.
Many times over the decades my faith has become dull. Yet God used watching biographies of Christians to rekindle my faith in Him.
There are hundreds of leaders listed in the appendix. But there are only a few that were made into biographical videos.
You can do what I did and search for Christian biographies on Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Youtube.
You will find that there are several on Martin Luther and a few on William Tyndale.
The well-produced videos offer an engaging account of the background of the person and the context of the message that transformed lives.
Here are the Wikipedia articles that give the facts in the text.
Martin Luther
William Tyndale
PBS - Martin Luther – Complete documentary. (Parts 1 & 2)
Luther: The Life and Legacy of the German Reformer (Full Documentary)
Teaching by John Piper on William Tyndale
William Tyndale - John Piper
OTHER BIOGRAPHIES
Over the years I have invested parts of my Sunday afternoons to hear the biographic messages by John Piper. You might enjoy these too. I have been used by God the slowly paint a grand mural of God at work over the centuries.
There are biographic movies on Netflix and Amazon Prime. Yet the most are on Youtube and here is a playlist of movies about Christian missionaries.
ALONEs
The documentaries and lectures about the leaders of the Reformation usually say that their major contribution was to insist that salvation is by faith alone in Christ. That is true as far as it goes but that is not the full story.
The full story is contained in this simple sentence. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, based on Scriptures alone to the glory of God alone.
When I preached on Saturdays at the church for the homeless like me I used that simple sentence as the core for many hours of sermons. I used it to weave together dozens of Bible verses.
The Latin word for alone is sola. Here is the Wikipedia article about those 5 alone
These 5 alones are not some boring footnote of church history. They are foundational like the Constitution of the USA. Much branches from this simple sentence that I like to view more vertically to notice each part.
Salvation is
by grace alone,
through faith alone,
in Christ alone,
based on Scripture alone,
to the glory of God alone.
CAMBRIDGE DECLARATION
While I was working at the seminary I came on a brochure in the Student Center that shook my life. It was a copy of the Cambridge Declaration. This was written in 1996. It is a critical commentary on how far the church has fallen from the high standards of the Five Alones or Solas
Note that most of the twists and turns in church history came from a response to imbalances or impurities in the church at that time. This document is such a response.
What follows is a long quote from the Wikipedia page with the context and then the content.
Reasons for the Declaration[edit]
The conference and the eventual declaration that was created was broadly influenced by the following:
- The culture of the modern world (as represented by Postmodernism) is changing the message that the church preaches.
- The erosion of Christian doctrine within the modern church, including the lack of Expository preaching.
- The increasing influence of Relativism within the church, which has led to an environment where "truth" is subjectively determined, and where church leaders aim to preach only "positive" messages.
- The increasing focus upon man, rather than God, within the church.
- An increasing focus on man's ability to respond to God's grace, rather than a focus upon God's ability to save man.
- A focus on the quantitative and measurable aspects of church growth (which thus links Christian ministry with outward success) rather than the qualitative and spiritual aspects of Biblical ministry.
Content of the Declaration[edit]
The declaration is a call to repentance for the evangelical church in order to reaffirm the historic Christian truths that are articulated by The Five solas and deny modern teachings:
1. Sola Scriptura: The Erosion Of Authority
- A reaffirmation that the Bible contains all things necessary to understand and obey God.
- A denial that any other form of authority is needed to bind the conscience of the Christian.
2. Solus Christus: The Erosion Of Christ-Centered Faith
- A reaffirmation that Christ alone and his penal substitutionary atonement on the cross are the means by which all Christians are saved.
- A denial that the Gospel can be preached without the atonement being declared and without faith being solicited from the listeners.
3. Sola Gratia: The Erosion Of The Gospel
- A reaffirmation that salvation is a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit.
- A denial that salvation is in any sense a work of the human heart, either fully or partially.
4. Sola Fide: The Erosion Of The Chief Article
- A reaffirmation that a person is justified (declared innocent) before God through faith alone and through Christ alone - that Christ's righteousness is imputed to the Christian.
- A denial that justification relies upon any human merit, and that churches which teach this cannot be considered legitimate churches.
5. Soli Deo Gloria: The Erosion Of God-Centered Worship
- A reaffirmation that salvation is ultimately for God's glory rather than man's, and that Christians everywhere should understand that they are under God's authority and act for his glory alone.
- A denial that God can be glorified through "entertainment"-style worship; the removal of law and/or gospel in preaching; and preaching that focuses upon self-improvement, self-esteem, and self-fulfillment.
Detailed commentary on the Cambridge Declaration
PROTESTANTS and ROMAN CATHOLICS
DOCTRINES
BIBLE STUDY
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