“Why So Many Denominations?” | 20- Revelation's Ancient Discoveries

what does the future hold where can we find certainty in a world of uncertainty the book of Revelation provides hopeful answers for today tomorrow and forever join Mark Finley author and world-renowned speaker on a journey into the future with revelations ancient discoveries [Music] the book of Revelation answers our deepest questions it reveals God's plans for the future the book of Revelation written by John on the island of Patmos at the end of the first century takes us down the stream of time takes us down the epics of time takes us through history to reveal the mighty hand of God in every generation our Bible study in Revelation today takes us to the Four Horsemen of Revelation your eyes will be opened as the spirit touches you with the Magnificent truths of the Four Horsemen let's pray father in heaven thank you so much for Jesus thank you for him revealing these truths to us as we open the pages of Scripture as we see the revelation of God in history guide us we pray thee closer to you may we make those eternal changes and decisions in our life that will be decisions that will impact our destiny we pray in Christ's name Amen my topic is why are there you and how did we get this confusing array of churches one thing is for certain the average person is bewildered by this confusing array of churches if you just take the phonebook and you start with a you go to assembly of God and past the age you go to the B's the Baptist's and pass the B's you go to the Church of Christ and pass the C's you go to the disciples of Christ and well maybe these every man's religion but you go down the whole alphabet of religions and you end up with the Zionists but where did all these different churches come from it's good is it God's intent for there to be this bewildering array of churches how can you have you ever wondered how can I find the truth with all these churches and let's suppose you're moving into a new city and you go to the Yellow Pages you say where do I choose a church how do I find a church if you would have to look through every different denomination and all of their beliefs you would become quite confused in fact it would take you a lifetime so you never go to the church to find out what the Bible teaches rather you go to the Bible to find out what truth is and then you find a church teaching in harmony with the Bible now let me clarify that you see if you had to go to the church to find out what the Bible teaches and you'd have to go through all of these varying churches one after the other after the other maybe it takes you a year to study the doctrines of one and then a year to study the doctrines of another and then pretty soon what happens all of your time is consumed but if you go to the Bible and you raise that question what says the Bible the Blessed Bible to me this my only question be what says the Bible the Blessed Bible to me so you first go to the Bible to try to discover what the church ought to teach not in Reverse Bible prophecy clearly reveals why there is so many different denominations Bible prophecy specifically the book of Revelation lets us know just what scripture teaches about where these different denominations came from revelations four horsemen reveals the future of Christianity these four horsemen take us down the stream of time now here is a prophetic principle in oil time sequence prophecy when you look at the time prophecies say of Daniel the prophecy always begins where the prophet is you remember the great image of Daniel chapter 2 with the head of gold the breasts and arms of silver the thighs of brass the legs of iron the feet of iron and clay that prophecy begins in Daniels day that's true with the prophecies of the four beasts and Daniel 7 and it's true also with the eleventh chapter of the Book of Daniel when you come to the book of Revelation and you look at chapters 2 and 3 the seven churches they begin with the Prophet is when you come to the trumpets they begin with a prophet is the same with the prophecy of the seven seals of the four horsemen they always begin in the first century where the Prophet is these four horsemen described in Revelation reveal four successive ages in the history of the church for successive time periods one that follows right after the other from the first century to our generation in Revelation chapter 6 verse 1 the seals are opened and looking here it says now I saw when the lamb opened one of the seals so who is the Lamb who is that everybody the Lamb of God of course is Jesus Christ he's the Great lamb of Revelation mentioned more than 27 times in the book of Revelation so the lamb is opening the seals Jesus Christ is revealing to you he's revealing to me what's going to happen down the stream of time he's revealing what's going to happen to the Christian Church in each successive generation of history so the Lamb of God Christ is opening the seals if Jesus is opening the seals for you and for me don't you think it's quite important for us to understand them and study them the first seal opens and it says I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder come and see the beings in heaven say to you and me come and see come and take a look at these seals come and understand these seals come with us as we unlock the mystery of these seals what is the first seal when it's opened what does it say and I looked and behold a white horse and he was sat on it had a bow and a crown was given to him and he went forth to conquer and conquering notice what the Bible says that the first seal opens and there's a rider on a white horse when a Roman general conquered the enemy he always came back to Rome riding through the streets of Rome triumphantly victoriously out of white horse so the symbol of a white horse is the symbol of triumph it's the symbol of victory new Testament Christianity was triumphant white is also a symbol of apostolic purity when Jesus comes and he comes riding on a white horse with white horses a symbol of purity and righteousness triumphing over wickedness and evil so when you look at the first century Church it was pure its members were faithful to the Living Word of God it was based on the truth of God's Word and that church New Testament believers went forth conquering and to conquer everywhere so what is the white horse represent this rider on the white horse who gallops across the sky with a bow who gallops across the sky triumphing it represents a powerful and pure faith what a description of New Testament Christianity from ad 31 to a hundred a pure faith a powerful faith a faith that goes everywhere triumphing over the principalities and powers of hell the white horse seal opens represents this conquering faith of New Testament you know one Roman writer put it this way describing the New Testament church he said you Christians are everywhere you're in our armies you're in our navies you're in the marketplace and the shops you're in our Senate our universities you are everywhere in fact one of the early Roman writers wrote back to the governor and he said to the governor these Christians have he actually said this infection of Christianity has influenced even the smallest villages in the Empire so when you see New Testament Christianity it had a powerful impact on Roman society the story in fact is told of 20 of the leading guards of Rome these were part of the honor guard of Rome these 20 guards became Christians gave their lives to Christ and worship the Living Christ and as they did they were arrested another 20 were found they were arrested they were taken out to a lake in northern Italy that Lake was now filled with ice it was cold it was a winter time the ice on the lake a foot two feet thick snow had fallen around the side of the lake temperatures were sub-freezing temperatures down in the teens and these 40 men forty of the honor guard of Rome 40 of those that guarded the Ceaser of Rome were taken in the center of the lake and they were told we're gonna have a fire on the shore and if you desire to save your life if you desire to live all you need to do is deny Christ and you need you can come to this fire be warm but if you move the center of that lake without denying Christ you'll be slain with the sword these men circled together huddled together that centre of the lake and they began to sing 40 wrestlers for the O Christ to thine be the honor to thine be the glory thy name be exalted as they sang through the night they shivered some of them were facing fie freezing to death one of these broke ranks he began to go toward the fire for the warmth he could not stand the cold any longer and as he did the song began to echo through the air 39 wrestlers for thee O Christ 39 wrestlers for the O Christ to die and be the honor to thine be the glory then the captain of the Roman guard standing by the fire saw the faith of these 39 he said I too will accept Christ he left the warmth of the fire went out into the center that Lake the cold and that song went up again 40 wrestlers for thee O Christ to die and be the glory one of the early Christian writers Tertullian put it this way the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the gospel they are in the New Testament nothing could stop the progress of 1st century Christianity armed with the Word of God their minds filled with the truth of God consumed with a passion for Christ they went everywhere ax to 3,000 are baptized into Christ Acts chapter 4 5,000 more added and you come down in the gospel leaps across geographical boundaries it penetrates the Middle East penetrates Asia penetrates Europe God is working a miracle in the white horse period you see my friend when men and women do not compromise truth in their own life the church's power why at times today as the church become power less why at times today has society and culture impacted the church because when you drift away from the Word of God when you drift away from Christ's passion and to have this passion for Christ when religion becomes external then the church loses its power but here in the four seals the four horsemen the scene changes the devil knows he must do something so we go to the Red Horse period the Bible says another horse fiery red went out and it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth and that people should kill one another there was given to him a great sword the Red Horse period persecution comes upon the church the devil sees the church going forward powerfully the devil wants to stop that onward motion of the church so the Red Horse period bloodshed conflict come peace is taken from the earth the state powers of Rome persecute the church Christians are brought to the Colosseum some thrown to lions there they brought to circum s Maximus with the great horse-racing stadium and they are told to deny their faith taking in that stadium chained chained one arm chained one foot put to a horse's here chained this arm chained this leg horses here and the Christian is told unless you recant of your faith the horses will run in opposite directions you'll be torn apart but yet in the midst of that persecution in the midst of being cast the Lions in the midst of being killed with the sword in the midst of be torn apart not only by wild beasts but in those horse racing stadiums Christians were faithful to God and their persecution only showed the truthfulness of their faith the Red Horse period is a blood-stained face faith from a hundred to 313 ad particularly the 10 year persecution of Diocletian from 303 to 313 ad the devil knows I must do some thing so what happens the Whitehorse period the pure faith gives ray to the Red Horse period the blood-stained faith but then another horse marches across the sky the black horse period and here in this black horse period faith compromised revelation 6 verse 5 when he opened the third seal I heard the third living creature say come and see and I say to you my friend come and see come and see the history of Christianity during this period so I looked and behold a black horse and he was sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand the church is weighed in the balance and found wanting this is the period of the fourth fifth and sixth centuries compromise comes into the Christian Church pagan practices come into the Christian Church church in state unites at this period so I looked he says and behold a black horse who sat on had a pair of scales in his hand Satan's strategy was to introduce compromise to lead the church to adopt pagan practices the devil knew that he could not destroy the church merely through persecution these Christians were solid in their faith for Christ these Christians were stalwart in their faith for Christ these Christians were courageous in their faith for Christ so the devil had to decide on another strategy well as that strategy bringing compromise into the church and so from ad 313 to approximately 85 37 and 38 we see a compromised faith we see pagan practices and the practice is not found in the Bible tradition coming into the Christian Church from a pure faith in the white horse period to a red horse of blood-stained faith to the black horse of the compromised faith from the first century to the fourth century things in the Christian Church begin to dramatically change now the Bible predicted this the Apostle Paul actually predicted that this would happen Bax chapter 20 29 and 30 and Paul said this for I know this that after my departure Grievous wolves will enter into the flock that is persecution would come from without that is the church would be persecuted torn apart the sword fire men and women who stood for Christ being cast to the Lions that would take place but after that notice what the Apostle Paul says also from your own selves will men rise up from your own selves who is he talking to he was addressing the leadership of the Christian Church he was addressing the elders of the church and he said from within your own Communion your own fellowship there were those men that rise up they'll speak perverse things what's perverse what's perverse it's crooked they'll speak crooked things deceitful things to draw away disciples after them so here the Apostle Paul in Acts chapter 20 verse 29 and 30 makes two predictions one that persecution would come in to the Christian Church two in addition to the persecution that came in to the Christian Church that there would be a apostasy within the church that falsehoods would come in that errors would come in indeed history reveals that that took place the teachings of men were substituted for the teachings of the Word of God what happened how did that happen the Roman Empire by this time was falling apart and the pagan Roman Emperor Constantine tried to discover a way to unite his Empire the barbarian tribes were coming down from the north the Huns the Visigoths the Ostrogoths the ala men I the sway vie and so forth they were coming down many of these were being Christianized so to make Christianity more attractive to the pagans the pagan Emperor Constantine and the church leaders together began to make compromises images were brought into the church the pagans were used to worshipping images Sunday worship came into the church during this period of time the Bible says that what would happen here Daniel 8 verse 12 he cast truth down to the ground that's this church state power the little horn or what would be called the Antichrist power in these days he cast down truth to the ground he did all this and prospered so church and state would unite in these early centuries and as it did it would grow strong truth would be compromised I like the way James Russell Lowell puts it in his poem truth forever on the scaffold wrong forever on the throne yet that scaffold sways the future and beyond the dim unknown standeth God keeping watch over his own God always watches over his children even in days of compromise now in the development of Christian doctrine page 372 this historian writes we are told by Eusebius Eusebius was one of the early historians of Rome that Constantine in order to recommend the new religion that's Christianity to the heathen so Constantine and the church leaders want to recommend Christianity to the headon what do they do transferred into it the outward ornaments to which they had been accustomed in their own dough don't miss this so Constantine unites with the Christian Church he wants to e desires to have the heathen converted and so what do they do they transfer the ornaments that is the images of paganism the rights of paganism the worship of pagan ISM into the Christianity to try to make Christianity more attractive to paganism this really is a compromise period salvation through Christ the simplicity of the gospel the teachings of the Word of God were replaced by the requirements of the church you know in Ephesians 2 verse 8 it says by grace are you saved through faith it is the gift of God and not of yourselves so that simplicity of the gospel was substituted for the teachings of men and the complexity of human tradition the church grew large large cathedrals were built requirements were placed upon Christian believers that were never found in Scripture the lighting of candles the bringing of money to gain indulgences as penance for sin kneeling before images and worshipping those images the taking of incense in offering that as some form of righteousness these works came into the church and salvation by grace through faith was substituted for the works of man during the age of compromise the pagans day of the Sun replaced the Bible Sabbath now that might surprise you and you might say why do so many people worship on Sunday rather than the Bible Sabbath where does that come from you know in Genesis it's clear God says remember there the Sabbath he sanctified the Sabbath he blessed the Sabbath he rested upon the Sabbath you remember in Genesis 2 verse 1 2 3 it says and then the seventh day God finished all the work that he had made and God blessed the seventh day and God sanctified the seventh day and God rested upon the seventh day he gave it right at creation before the Jewish race ever existed he gave it to Adam and Eve and you remember in the Ten Commandments written with God's own finger on tables of stone Exodus chapter 20 verse 8 to 11 remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy so all through the Old Testament the Sabbath was the day of God as opposed to Sun worship by the heathens and then in the New Testament Luke 4 verse 16 the Bible says as his custom was Genesis went into the synagogue he went there to worship on the Bible Sabbath the disciples kept the Sabbath but look how was the Sabbath changed here's the history of the Eastern Church page 184 it's describing how this Sabbath was changed the retention of the old pagan name of day soleus days means day so a Sunday for Sunday is in a great measure owing to the Union owing to the union of what pagan and Christian sentiment with which the first day of the week was recommended by Constantine to his subjects pagan and Christian alike as the venerable day of the Sun so notice what history says there is no question about how Sabbath was changed not by God he says I am the Lord I changed not Malachi 3 not by Jesus he says in the book of Hebrews chapter 13 verse 8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday and forever not by the disciples Acts chapter 5 verse 20 and 29 we ought obey God rather than men how did the Sabbath get changed by a union a synthesis a bringing together of pagan and Christian sentiments so the pagans were worshiping the Sun God some Christians had started worshiping on Sunday the first day and honor the resurrection now the Bible never tells us to do that of course the symbol of the resurrection is baptism Romans chapter 6 says we go into the watery grave we come out resurrected into this new life of Christ so compromises came into the church during the black horse period Satan's master strategy was to influence powerful church leaders to unite with powerful state leaders in the Blackhorse period and that happened and once that happened the church began to lose its spiritual power in a doctrinal catechism page 174 with the impre motto of the Pope of Rome by Stephen Kenyon the question is asked have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept in other words the question is raged what how can the church have authority to establish all these holy days where if you don't go that sin you know to church how can the church do that so the author is arguing here's why had she not such power she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her well what what is it that all modern religionists agree with she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week for the observance of Saturday the seventh day of the week are you getting the significance this my friend here in the Catechism to uphold the authority of Rome Steven Kenyon the author says that one of the evidences that the Church of Rome has authority over Christianity is that she has changed the Sabbath from Saturday the seventh day to Sunday the first day a change the Catechism says for which there is no scriptural authority on that point I agree with the Catechism there is no scriptural authority there is no clear command at all in the New Testament that says the Sabbath was changed from the seventh day to the first day of the week when did this happen during the compromise period during the black horse period the Bible predicted indeed that these pagan practices such as Sun worship would enter into the Christian Church during this period of time that leads us to the fourth horse the pale horse now the pale is a symbol of death and by this time we've gone down the sequence of the ages and now Christianity during what's now known as the dark or Middle Ages is experiencing death look revelation 6 verse 8 so I looked and be able to pay a horse what kind of a horse everybody a pale horse death and the name of him who sat on it was death and Hades that's the grave followed with him and powers given to them over 1/4 of the earth to kill with the sword with hunger with death and by the beasts of the earth in other words church and state had United anytime the church unites with the state it turns from its true lover Jesus Christ and when the church and state unite and the church goes to the State for its power it's because it's lost its godliness it's lost its genuine authority that comes from God and it's lost truly it's Holy Spirit power church and state unite when they do what happens typically what happens when church and state unite is that there is persecution for those who have not gone along who've not accepted this church state union and so power is given so there's persecution that occurs during the Blackhorse period the their was compromised during The Pale Horse period there was spiritual death the church grew large the church became the major institution of the state but although it had these large in Ephesus there was a lack of spirituality a lack of genuine authentic godliness in fact in the history Christianity century 2 chapter 2 section 7 there is this statement about Christianity in the Dark Ages it's a remarkable statement Christianity became an established religion in the Roman Empire now I want to remind you this is the historian speaking and took the place of pagan ism Christianity as it existed in the dark ages might be termed baptized paganism what a term baptized paganism when you bring in these pagan practices to the church when you bring in these traditions to the church when you bring in the teachings of men that substitute for the Word of God what do you have you know if Christianity you have a weakened faith if you can call it a faith at all you have a weakened faith and you have baptized paganism here we have the pale horse period from about 538 ad to 1798 but wait would truth be cast down forever it took about five hundred years to go into this period from the white horse period of pure faith when the church goes forth conquering and to conquer preaching the Word of God uplifting Jesus Christ faithfully obedient to him from AD 331 to 8100 the Red Horse period blood-stained faith ad 102 313 Black Horse period compromise faith ad 313 to ad 538 pagan practices traditions come into the church compromise but then there is spiritual death The Pale Horse period about ad 538 2 ad 1798 what would we would call a dead faith there's the union of church and state during this period of time true Christianity is being squelched men and women during this period of time are chained they're burned again persecution is revived what are some of those steps that led to this compromise first you'll find in leading this compromise there were traditions the traditions of men came into the church there were penances whata penances when you go on long pilgrimages to earn your salvation many of these Christian pilgrims would go on their knees some of them coming to Rome with blood-stained knees some of them fasting long periods of time why desiring to earn their salvation indulgences what are indulgences indulgences are grants by the popular Roman Church for forgiveness of sin based on a certain amount of money that one might give you see the church believed this that if you weren't good enough to go to heaven and you weren't bad enough to go to hell you'd end up in a place called purgatory and according to the teaching of the Roman Church at that time purgatory was a place between Heaven and Hell where you would burn and be consumed of all your sin you would be purged of sin in purgatory now depending on how much you had sinned that would be depending about how long you'd suffer now you can imagine the average person didn't believe they were good enough to go to heaven they weren't righteous like the Saints they thought they're probably not bad enough to go to hell but they thought that they would be burned in purgatory and there would be consumed their sin would be consumed there think about if that was your understanding and you could get out of there by paying money wouldn't you sell a lot to pay money not to live in purgatory that's was that's what indulgences were images came into the church you take the image of Apollo the image of Zeus change their names to Peter take the image of Venus and change your name to Mary bring those things into the church all this is taking place during the Dark Ages you got the church hierarchy whose authority takes the place of the Bible you have human dogmas and human traditions and so you have this Dark Ages truth of God has been stamped down but with the truth be stamped down forever would God's truth be trodden down always would there be voices that came to uphold and uplift that truth Jude beloved while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation the Bible writer says I found it necessary to write to you exhorting that means encouraging urging you to contend earnestly for the faith that was once delivered to the Saints earnestly contend for the faith delivered to the Saints uphold the Word of God light would shine in the darkness God would raise up man and women whose minds would be captive to the Word of God the Bible would be translated into the language of the people the Word of God would be copied and copied and spread and although there would be fierce opposition although many copies of the word would be seized and burned there would be those that faithfully read God's Word those whose lives would be guided by the word those that would be obedient to the word those who would find Christ in the word and come to a new joy in a new peace in their life those who would find new spiritual vitality as they obeyed God's Word and walked in the light of truth one of these groups in the thirteen hundreds were the bible-believing Waldensian s' Peter Waldo was their leader and he began to read the Word of God he had some manuscripts of it that he was able to get and read from monasteries and as he began to read his life was transformed the grace of Christ touched Peter Waldo's heart and he began to share from the word with others he began to recognize that the Word of God had authority that the Word of God was supreme that the Word of God stood high and above the teachings of the church this led to persecution this led the WOD NZ's to flee from Rome and to flee from Italy and flee from Switzerland and flee from France and they came to the mountains of northern Italy in southern France hi there in the Alps they built their stone homes there they were a peace-loving people studied the Word of God there but the armies of Rome often pursued them there the wild NZ UNS would flee high up into the mountains not long ago I was up in these mountains in this very stone hut this is where in fact they copied the Word of God I remember sitting at this table and I sat at this table with my own Bible in my hand and as I sat there thinking how free it is in our country the United States in in many Western countries today to read and have a copy of the Bible I thought of these Waldensian sitting at this stone table copying the Bible so that they could share it and often these walled Enzi and women whose sons were copying the Bible and whose husbands were well densey and preachers one didn't see women would so secret pockets into the long flowing robes of their children they would hide pages of Scripture in those long flowing robes these young men brilliant and young women would go down to the cities of Europe they would go as merchants and artisans they'd sell pots and pans and as they found somebody that was honest somebody whose heart was opened somebody whose mind was opened they would share the scriptures with them and soon a little light of truth here and soon a little light of truth there many of the world NZ's enrolled in the great universities of Europe and they gathered students around secretly of course and soon the authorities didn't know what was happening the light of truth was shining and I remember the last time I was here in the walled Enzi valleys there's one thing I wanted to do I hadn't done it all the other times I was at the walled Enzi valleys I wanted to climb I wanted to go on the route that they went over the mountains where they were pursued by the Roman armies we went down into the cave where they hid then we began to climb hour after hour across the mountains what a journey what a trip the Wow den Zients believed in the Bible and the Bible only but they did not understand or know all the truth you see it took five hundred years for the truth to be compromised and so God began to restore the truth a little bit in each person's mind God raised up John HUS Czechoslovakian reformer and he made obedience to God his motto I think it's a great motto don't you not obedience to the church not obedience to religious prelates not obedience to religious priests or pomp as pastors but obedience to God our first allegiance is to God and John HUS came in conflict with the popular Church eventually was burned at the stake and martyred for his faith God raised up one reformer after the other huh stood there at the stake and as he did they took the dry wood put it around his feet the executioner came and with the torch and us was singing lord have mercy on me offering up his life why because he had obedience to God then the executioner came around behind him was gonna light the flame and it is reported that HUS said my friend you don't need to come be we bring the flame to my face because if I were afraid I would not be here but as HUS died for his faith others stepped forward the Reformation was going the Spirit of God was moving and it could not be stopped light was shining in the darkness God raised up Martin Luther who was a priest but he felt tormented he felt agonized wanted to find peace he would beat himself flagellate himself whip himself but yet could find no peace traveled to Rome he thought I can find peace there climbed up what was believed to be pilots staircase where the Roman Church taught of course tradition no foundation in history of Scripture that the Angels brought the pilots staircase that Christ went up on his knees from Jerusalem back to Rome Luther was going up that staircase on his knees and then he heard in his ears the words the just shall live by faith he left that staircase and came back to his home in Wittenberg because he knew that Christ only was our Savior these words echoed in his ears Romans 1 verse 17 the just shall live by faith he felt such joy it's not climbing up the staircase on your knees it's not flagellating yourself it's not fasting for days you know Luther tells of a dream he had one night one night he's sleeping he has a dream and in that dream Satan appears before him you know all of his hideous form and Satan unrolls a scroll and on that scroll or goo thir sins and Satan says are these your sins and Luther trembles he says they are they are they are can you deny their you since no I cannot is the wages of sin death yes it is do you deserve to die yes I do will you receive eternal death and Luther since I'm trembling in that dream then he notices that the devil's hand is over something on the top of that scroll and Luther says move your hand move your hand that Neville says no move your hand no finally in the name of Jesus move your hand he moves his hand it says the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses Martin Luther from all his sins friend of mine I don't know what guilt fills your life I don't know how condemned you feel I don't know how unclean you feel but I know this the blood of Christ will cleanse you from all your sins because Acts 4 verse 12 there's no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved except the name the lovely name the beautiful name of Jesus Jesus has never lost a case and he can save you light shining through the darkness the world and Zients the Bible and the Bible alone as the rule of faith John HUS obedience to God as the motto Martin Luther grace and faith but not one of these men had all the truth of God the light of truth would penetrate the darkness just as the Sun rises gradually the light of truth was rising does God turn on all the light at once in the morning does the Sun just boom come out look it took five hundred years for the church to go from the white horse period to the black horse period down to the pale horse period see a black you have white horse then you have red horse then you have black horse you have pale horse that whole process took five hundred years if God would have led the church out of that pale horse period and out of that dense deep darkness all at once have you ever walked out of a dark room into the sunlight what happens you got a blink and your eyes are blinded so God gradually revealed his truth to each generation as it was coming out of the period of darkness why there's so many different denominations because people camped they didn't keep moving the Lutheran said oh if Luther believed it it's good enough for us hussite so if the Hussites believe it it good enough for us and but God had more truth he had more light to reveal was leading his people out of darkness God raised up John Calvin Calvin's special contribution was to bring theological truth together to bring biblical truth together he didn't understand everything he actually didn't understand fully religious liberty and he persecuted people who were not in harmony with his understanding he'd understand for example the great truths about the second coming of Christ and the signs of the times and the way Christ would come he didn't fully understand everything about baptism by immersion so what does God do he uses Calvin he only understood part of the truth but God raises up others when John Robinson got great pilgrim preacher stood with his followers on the shores there in Holland at the dock and the boat was to sail this is what Robinson said to his followers and it's good counsel for you and me if God should reveal anything to you by any other instrument of his be as ready to receive it as ever you were to receive any truth of my ministry for I am confident the Lord has more truth and light yet to break forth out of his holy word friend of mine I would say to you if God reveals more light and truth to you follow it if God reveals light and truth to you from his word do not turn your back on it God was leading out of the Dark Ages men and women to the fullness of his truth he raised up the Anabaptist why because a truth was long lost sight of what was that truth the truth of baptism you see Luther still sprinkled he still baptized babies as did others of the Reformers but the truth of baptism by immersion had been lost sight of so God raised up the Anabaptist to restore that truth often people say to me pastor mark what do you believe I believe in the Bible and the Bible only and so in that sense I'm a Waldensian I believe in obedience to God supremely in that sense I'm a hussite I believe in salvation by grace in that sense I'm a Lutheran I believe that we're supposed to grow in grace in that sense I'm a Calvinist I believe in baptism by full immersion in that sense I am a Baptist the Bible says Matthew 28 verse 29 and 20 go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit jesus said go and baptize I believe that and men and women who hear the word of God are to follow Christ and be baptized teaching them to observe everything I've commanded you though I'm with you always even to the ends of the earth see Jesus said go to the ends of the earth don't teach part of what I've commanded what does the scripture say it says teaching them to observe to keep to do all things that I have commanded you John Wesley was raised up by God the church lacked in holy standards and Wesley came along preaching moving powerful sermons for men and women to come to their knees to repent of their worldliness to repent of their earthliness to have high and holy standards in their dress in their music and their entertainment he brought small groups together that studied the Word of God to grow in the area of sanctification to grow in the area of holiness I believe that God calls his church to be separate from the world I believe that God calls his church to high and holy standards I believe that God calls his church to be distinct a light can only penetrate the darkness if light is distinct from the darkness if the church is like the world the world will not be influenced by the church and the church can't make an impact on the world do you see what God's strategy was he is leading a people out of the Dark Ages leading a people back to himself William Miller was raised up by gods you see at this time the church believed and religious leaders taught that there'd be a thousand year millennial period on earth the church was not preaching the soon-coming imminent second coming of Christ see the wild Indians were brought up in the 12 and 1300s to emphasize the Bible in the Bible only HUS came along following them tempest eyes obedience to God God raised up Martin Luther 1517 nailed the 95 theses on the wall at Wittenberg so Martin Luther is raised up then then God raises up John Calvin they they bring together the systematic theology God raises up the John Wesley's you see every generation by now we come to the 1800s but the church isn't beating with an urgency the church is complacent the idea Christ is going to come to earth he's going to set up his kingdom William Miller begins to study the Word of God and as he does light dawns on his mind Christ is coming and he's coming soon and all over the world there is this messianic movement this sense of the coming of Christ Manuel a cunzhen a Catholic priest in South America begins to sense Christ is coming rights under the pen name of rabbi ben ezra edward irving 300 church church men in the england begins to write three new preachers their Anglicans begin to write about second coming of christ johann thing go and Germany and Joseph Wolfe all over the world God was moving there is an Advent movement and God is restoring the truth about the second coming of Jesus Christ what was God doing why are there so many different denominations because the Waldensian stopped at Waldo and the hussite stopped at us and the Lutheran stopped at Luther and the Calvinists stopped at Calvin and the Baptist's say if we're baptizing by immersion this is good enough for us and and the Methodists say oh we don't go any further than Wesley and then you got the Millerites but what was God doing restoring the truth about the Bible about obedience about grace about growth in Christ about baptism about holiness about the second coming but was all that truth restored not at all God would restore the truth of the Bible Sabbath and in an age of evolution God would lead men and women back to the keeping of his commandments and Jesus said in John 14 verse 15 if you love me do what if you'll love me do what keep my Commandments God would raise up a sabbath-keeping body that would be the capstone of the Reformation God would raise up a last day church the Bible says worship Him who made heaven and earth the sea in the springs of water worshipped the Creator an end time message in Revelation to go to the ends of the earth at a time of evolution Jesus says in Revelation 14 verse 12 here's the patience of the saints here are they that believe like the Hussites the Bible in the Bible only here at they that believe like the wild Indians and the Hussites the Bible and the Bible only and obedience to God as our motto here are they that believe like Luther salvation by grace alone here are they that believe like Calvin that we need to have a theology a belief system that's not scattered but but unified together and we must grow in grace like Wesley said and be separate from the world here is a group of people that believe that Jesus Christ is coming again here is a sabbath-keeping body that bases their faith on the Living Word of God here is a called out people of people that believe in the Bible and the Bible only a people that believe in obedience to God as their motto of people that believe in salvation by grace through Christ a people that believe that the church is organized and it must be a mighty movement that goes to the ends of the earth a people that believe in baptism by immersion of people that believe to that God has called us to holiness and a people that believe in the second coming of Christ and a sabbath-keeping people there's only one group of people like that on the face of the earth that I know friend and that are seventh-day Adventists some time ago there were three men Ridley Kramer and Latimer and there they were tried for their faith in the middle-ages God is going men and women again to have that courage they were burned at the stake burned at the stake in Oxford and while they were you Latimer looked over at Ridley and he said be of good comfort we shall feast a light a candle by God's grace that shall never ever be put out step out for Jesus the Word of God is true today the grass withers the flower fades but the word of our God stand forever you can light a candle a candle in your home you can light a candle you can light a candle my friend a candle of truth you can stand with those you can stand with those who are faithful to Christ down through the ages you can stand with the people of God listen my friend Jesus Christ will never let you go Jesus Christ will never never keep you from walking in the convictions that you have he will empower you he will strengthen you he will enable you some people say well I'm not sure if Jesus is leading me that way my friend Jesus is leading you that way he is leading you to stand with the world nz's he is leading you to have God and God alone as your leader he is leading you to stand with us and make obedience to God your motto he is leading you to stand with Luther and say Jesus all I want is your grace all I want is your grace Lord I know that salvation can only be through your grace that's where Jesus is leading you he's leading you to stand with these great reformers down through the ages leading you to stand with Wesley who says separation from the world is a Christian teaching he's leading you to stand with Miller who said Christ is coming we must be ready he's leading you to stand with those sabbath-keeping believers who've been faithful to God down through the centuries Jesus is appealing to you Ridley and Lattimer and Kramer stood in that Square stood there in Oxford as the wood was placed around them and they said we will be faithful to God God is calling you to that faithfulness God is calling you to make that decision Jesus is leading you would you like to say to Jesus right now Lord I'm opening my heart to you I'm not gonna camp not gonna camp with my religious forefathers camped I'm not gonna stay where they stayed these reformers were men of truth they were godly men they lived up to all of the Word of God they had but God had more truth for them and God has more truth for you your father your mother may have lived up all the truth they had they were faithful and they'll be saved in God's kingdom but God is something more for you would you step out and say Jesus I'm gonna walk with your endtime people as we pray father in heaven thank you for your wonderful love thank you for your grace thank you for your goodness thank you that you lead us step by step that you reveal more light to us that you reveal more truth to us thank you Jesus that we can follow you now and forever in your name we pray amen thank you for joining us for revelations ancient discoveries God has another step for you today in your Christian experience why not right now say Jesus I will take that step [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Three Angels Broadcasting Network (3ABN)

Views: 189,526

Keywords: 3ABN, Three Angels Broadcasting Network, yt:quality=high, Why So Many Denominations?, Which is the true church?, Is there a true church?, Should I go to church?

Id: yFbUTsbZi5g

Length: 58min 0sec (3480 seconds)

Published: Sun May 20 2018