Are U.S. Churches a Generation Away from being Ghost Towns?

  Ken Ham, whom many of you know is the president of Answers in Genesis and the Creation Museum and the Noah Encounter, wrote a blockbuster book, along with polling and statistics-minded Britt Beemer, called Already Gone.  I’m a little late on this scene, since the book and the poll were written 10 years ago—but it’s still relevant.  Let’s discuss the controversial results and conclusions he draws on some troubling aspects of teens and those who teach them.

He first points to a Barna 2006 survey (another great pollster) of 22,000 young adults who were involved in a church during their teen years—but they are now spiritually disengaged. They are no longer actively participating in the Christian faith in their 20s. Specifically, he found that the 61% of them no longer go to church, don’t study their Bibles, give very little financially, do not volunteer, and do not order Christian media.  Only 20% of those who were spiritually active in high school are maintaining their commitment at the same level.  Further, Barna found that only 6% of those in 20s and 30s can be called “evangelical.”

Confirming this serious drop-off, the Baptist Convention discovered that more than 2/3 of young Protestant high-schoolers active in church later stopped attending at all for at least a year between the ages of 18-22.

Mr. Ham wanted to study only kids brought up in conservative and evangelical churches for this poll.  His co-author Beemer made 20,000 phone calls.  The final study was balanced according to population and gender, and included kids from publics, Christian schools, and home-schooled.  He found that kids were abandoning the church proportionately, no matter the kind of schooling. Christian schooled kids abandoned the church at the same high levels.

Here are some of the blockbuster results he found:

Kids don’t wait till college to “escape” the church: One survey took all those who are now in their 20s, who have been evangelicals, who attended church regularly but no longer do so.  So these dropout rates will add up to 100%.  Please do not misconstrue what I am doing here; we are not pointing out that all kids drop out.  We are simply trying to assess when all the drop-offs actually drop off.  Here are the pollster data: 5% drop out before they finish elementary, 40% drop out in middle school and 44% of them drop out in high school.  Despite what you might think about corrupt college destroying their minds, you’re wrong:  89% of them are already gone before college.  So there isn’t much belief for college to destroy. So, only 11% disappear during college.  So no, the problem is only minimally helped by upholding young adults’ Christian views in college.  The main problem is somewhere else—and somewhere earlier.

So, from the Baptists and the Barna studies, we lose 61-67% of our kids. And they leave as soon as they are “bright” enough to figure what is going on.  So this is a serious, serious problem.  We need to pray about what’s really behind this horrible decline.  Looking at these young people as our church’s future, we have to conclude that our evangelical churches are only a generation removed from being “ghost towns” for the young. The erosion of the young continues into middle age and beyond later. (Looking at population of liberal church declines, they are getting there faster.)

Many parents who spend big bucks to send their child to a Christian college to avoid corruption are simply too late on the scene.  They should have done something radically different for their children in the 4^th or 5^th grade.

A precipitating cause of this sudden apathy among children might be a finding from the same Beemer poll: He asked questions to determine those who “no longer believe that all of the stories in the Bible are true.”  He found that 40% first had doubts in middle school, 44% first had doubts in high school, and 11% first had doubts during college.  You can see that these are the exact same percentages as those who left church at each age group.  So it seems that we should be focusing on “what makes them turned off to the Bible,” not just asking a vaguer question “why they leave.” For sure, they are not bound by tradition; as soon as they don’t believe, they scoot. And parents don’t seem to stop them.

• Beemer decided to explore Sunday School, and found an even more shocking—even mind-blowing—result. He asked the 20-somethings if they often attended Sunday School when younger.  61% said “yes,” and 39% said “no.”  Comparing how the two groups felt about critical issues, he found the following shocking facts:
  1. The 61% students who attended Sunday School were more likely NOT to believe in the truth of Bible stories;
  2. The SS attenders were more likely to “doubt the Bible because it was written by men;”
  3. The SS attenders were more likely to doubt the Bible because it was “not translated correctly;”
  4. The SS attenders were more likely to defend that abortion should continue to be legal (!);
  5. SS attenders believed more than the non-SSrs in many of the evolution ideas; the earth is old, dinosaurs were before men, animals changed from one kind to another;
  6. The SS attenders were more likely to defend premarital sex (48% vs 41% of non-SSers);
  7. The SS attenders were more likely to view the church as hypocritical.
  8. 25% of those who attended Sunday School believed that “God used evolution to create human beings;” but only 19% of that false belief is shared by non-SSers.
  9. For the question “Do you feel the Church is relevant to your needs today?” 46% of SS attenders said “no,” but only 40% of non-SSers felt the same rejection.

What is happening here?  Is the corrupting of the minds that I alluded to earlier caused by Sunday School teachers?  Upon further study, the answer is most likely No.  Remember, these are kids in conservative churches.  Other data Beemer shared do NOT show their teachers or pastors teaching corrupt Gospel. So this alarming data still cries for an answer.  The clear fact here is that Sunday School really had no impact, apparently, on what children believed in critical moral areas.  It didn’t help them develop a Christian worldview.  In fact, it had a detrimental impact—it seemed to harm the spiritual growth of the kids.

Was the problem HOW they were taught? Such as, did the teachers unintentionally teach Bible stories as fables? Or did the other kids in Sunday School, or their parents’ hypocrisy or pressure trigger the kids’ rebellion, so they were worse off than if they had never heard the Bible, and had to think it out on their own?

The problem could not have been simply the overwhelming secular system, with its 30-hours of teaching a week (vs. 30 minutes of teaching the Bible in Sunday School). If that were the cause, both Sunday School and non-Sunday School would have, at worst, similar results.  The problem is that SS attenders were worse.

Mr. Ham and Mr. Beemer considered what to do about this grave problem.

He asks: Should we eradicate Sunday School?  He does say that Deuteronomy 6:6-9 insist that fathers and mothers teach their children the Gospel:

“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. ⁷ You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. ⁸ You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they
shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ⁹ You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.  

 Likewise Ephesians 6:4:

And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.

 He also acknowledges that Sunday School is not a long tradition in the church; it only dates from the 1700s.  Finally, he feels that Sunday School allows parents to shrug off their responsibilities as the primary teachers of the children.

Nevertheless, he can’t bring himself to the radical step to eradicate Sunday School.  He proposes a second idea:

Shall we renovate Sunday School? He says Yes, by, among other things, teaching more apologetics.  Apologetics is defending every teaching of the Bible as the Word of God.  Now here’s my thought:  Aren’t we supposed to be teaching the Bible to these elementary, or middle schoolers, before they are overwhelmed by their secular schools’ doctrines?  But how can we teach apologetics, a conceptual and difficult process, to those so young?  And, keep in mind, few in the adult teachers have this capability.  Also, renovation has already been tried a thousand other ways, but we still get the distressing results above.  I personally don’t see this idea turning things radically around like we need.

Then he writes about how some of those who left church might return if they have children of their own.  Here is his quote about those who might return when they have children.  But what I see in this statement is that he might have stumbled upon possibly the root problem for these “turned off” kids instead.

“What they object to, however, is hypocrisy, legalism, and self-righteousness.  The Bible is relevant to them, but the church is not.  This group needs to be convinced that Christians in the church are living by God’s truth, and are living in a way that is relevant to their lives.”

 So let’s run with using this quote as maybe why kids are turned off.  Let’s consider each charge individually.  Hypocrisy is defined as living in a different way than what you say. Elementary kids pay attention to what their parents say; so when their parents run down the pastor’s salary, or the Sunday School teacher’s lazy lifestyle, they pick that information up.  Then when that teacher or that pastor preaches about how they should live a holier life, when the child sees how they live (per their parents), the child become familiar with hypocrisy.  The kids then are not interested in “holier” as is represented here.

Legalism is defined as judging people based on surface criteria.  Let’s say mom is fundamental enough to send her kids to Sunday School.  Mom also happens to mention about how some teenage girl dresses like a slut in church.  Her daughter knows that girl, and knows how the girl took time to help her at her homework once, or how she has a perpetually friendly personality (and how she wishes she had one too).  The daughter becomes familiar with legalism of her mother.

Self-righteousness shows in too many families.  A lot of kids get the general feeling that since their parents have more money, the parents feel that God must love them and is rewarding them with wealth for being good parents, having sent them to Sunday School and all.  But the kids know how their parents ignore them when they have real needs, and don’t have time for them—work gets in the way. Getting more money, to them, means work and cash are placed higher than the kids.  The parents’ view of God is wrong, they conclude, so Christianity must have deeper flaws when it makes their parents like that.

Brothers and sisters, what do we learn from this?  For one thing, speak carefully about other people when your kids are around.  Avoid picking one a child or adult that you know little about.  Avoid speaking critically about other people, knowing that we each have sins of our own to wrestle with.  Never sacrifice your kids, putting work or money on a higher plane.  And certainly avoid thinking that God’s love for you can be measured by how much money you have. Explain to kids that money is simply a gift from God, and we seek His approval other ways instead. Sadly, as Jesus pointed out, many rich people are living the best life that will be available to them—they will go to hell when they die.  Many poor people will have an eternity in heaven. So riches are not a measure of God’s approval.

Maybe this idea of renovating the parents is not the solution that will work. We’re asking parents to sacrifice and change habits and somehow focus on what their child really needs—is that asking too much?

I wish the Sunday School problem could be solved by making an astounding curriculum.  But the truth is, Satan is temporarily the god of the earth, and targets the young children to win them over to the world and never live for God.  Parents should make it the FIRST desire of their heart to prepare their kids to face up to all of Satan’s tricks, by reading and learning His Word.  Don’t forget, when Jesus was tempted, He answered Satan with Scripture.

The book covers a lot of other topics, but this one is the one that touches my heart.  This is not meant to be a summary of the book, but just about certain eye-popping data and thoughts around it.

Acknowledgement:  Already Gone, by Ken Ham and Britt Beemer.

A Revealing Poll

 A great sermon by Dr. John MacArthur summarized: I hope I haven’t missed his main points:

There was recently a survey of ‘evangelicals.’  People were defined as evangelicals if they believed the Bible, if they believed Jesus and the resurrection, the gospel, and if they felt they were responsible to communicate the gospel to other people.  Those who believed this were considered evangelicals.

Check this, though:   the survey revealed that the majority of ‘evangelicals’ really have no idea what they believe.  One survey question, “everyone is born innocent,” agree or disagree? 65% of evangelicals agreed.  Another: “the Bible is not literally true,” agree or disagree?  55% of evangelicals agreed.  Finally, “God accepts worship from all religions.”  56% agreed. “Jesus was a good teacher, but not God.”  43% of evangelicals agreed. It seems that half of evangelicals are not Bible seekers, or are apostate—without knowing it.

This is so shocking, so dystopian, that anybody who presumably has a sound sense of Biblical doctrine could ever answer “agreed” to these untruths.  How did we get ‘evangelicals’ who don’t believe what is necessary to be saved, let alone be a true evangelical?   Dr. MacArthur believes “this is the legacy of their pastor/leaders.”  People don’t rise above their teachers.  Truth is, the evangelical pastors and churches, over the last 30 years, have been too busy trying to find ways not to offend non-Christians, and trying to take the offenses out of the message.  They design approaches to non-believers that don’t create hostility, or rejection.  But that man-truth voids the gospel of the truth.

Why do they do this?  Because, honestly,  the gospel is offensive.  The ‘good news’ is hated by non-believers.  Let’s focus on the main reason why that is so.  Let’s select John 15:18:

“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.

One thing that the original disciples knew, the world hated Jesus.  Especially  the Jews.  (The “Christians” had a large part in making this possible).  People professed to following God.  Of course, Jesus is God Incarnate.  But they were blind to that. Once they heard the message of Jesus and He preached it, they rejected it—and Him. But why the hate—toward Him who was the most merciful, compassionate, loving Person in all the world?  Here’s the answer, in blunt language in John 7:7:

The world…hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil.

That’s called the “Doctrine of Depravity,” a Biblical doctrine (don’t worry, I’m not going to try to make you Calvinist).  It declares that the whole human race is sinful.  But that ‘negative view of me’ brings out hate in everyone unsaved. People generally consider themselves ‘good enough,’ but many have a dominant sin of Pride. It’s easy to create  an image of ourselves that escapes ultimate condemnation—by spinning a web of delusions.  Man says that he is good—anything without acknowledging that his ‘deeds are evil.’

You can see, in the Gospel of John, how the hate plays out.  In 5:16, the offense was He was doing these things on the Sabbath.  He could have avoided much of the hate by only doing God’s work six days a week, but God doesn’t work under man’s restrictions.  Limiting God?  Who would do that?  In 5:18, Jesus said the Jews were plotting already to kill Him.  It’s only the fifth chapter of John and they want Him dead already.

Of equal offense to them was that Jesus called God His father, making Him equal with God in the Jewish religion.  They judged that ‘blasphemy.’  Of course, their thinking that was irrational because His deeds were things that only God could do.  Later in John, they tried to arrest Him, they wanted to stone Him, but His time was not yet.

Isaiah 53 prophesied that He would be an offense. Definitely proven true; the Jewish leaders treated Him as nobody, nothing.  But He was compassionate to widows, to the disabled, to the children.  He brought a message of eternal life and forgiveness. John 8 tells of the nature of their hatred; it wasn’t superficial.  Jesus says “you cannot hear my words—you are of your father, the devil.” Speaking of being an offense!  But please don’t judge the Jews:  ALL OF US began life separated from God; OUR father was the devil.  And he still is, unless we are truly saved.  We do not start out ‘innocent,’ you see?  We got this terrible trait from Adam. Jesus, in v. 45, says,

But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me

The world’s  minds have a natural tendency to be  irrational on this subject. We are pre-programmed to believe lies—because, as Jesus says, the devil—our father if we are not saved—is the father of lies. This is a profound diagnosis of the human condition. Please don’t fall into the trap of excessive pride; face up to the truth.  It could cost you eternal life.

So the Jews concluded about Jesus, ‘you have a demon. Not us.’ But that is the worst blasphemy of all.  Their world was inverted.

Dr. MacArthur gets back to his original point:  I don’t know what kind of evangelistic strategy you can devise to tell the truth and yet overcome natural human resistance; the truth is, you can’t.  Think of this:  Jesus had no strategy to bypass reality.  We are, before Christ, sinful, dead, blind, ignorant, darkened to the Scriptural facts, and under satanic control. The truth is alien to our nature.

When we talk the gospel, we have a fear of being ‘brutal’ and so we avoid certain subjects, like the depth of human sin.  To speak of that harsh truth takes courage, a willingness to obey Jesus who said we must endure persecution when we tell all the truth.  When they begin judging our peculiarity, we should train ourselves to think, that’s what we expect, a further evidence of the sinful characteristics of man.  Jesus said we should rejoice when this occurs—even though we kick ourselves because we could have said it better.  We hope for them to think rationally and grasp the truth. We thought that ‘that person seemed a wise thinker.’

A side thought: I must reveal the Calvinistic sway of Dr. MacArthur here, his true belief in Total Depravity.  The extremists of Calvin (I’m not saying Dr. MacArthur is one) say that we have no capacity to receive the truth, until the Holy Spirit puts the spark of regeneration in us first.  This work is done by God randomly, without regard for our previous moral behavior or not.  God chooses who is saved and who is not saved—and the latter is doomed to be hell-bound.  I do not believe in this, what I consider a non-Scriptural characteristic of God.  I agree more with Jacob Arminius, who argued against Calvin in the 1600s by stating that God gave us ‘prevenient grace,’ that He gave us free will to choose Him, even in our tragic condition, if we desired to seek after Him.  Despite the bad news we read about Mr. Arminius, he was a godly man.

But let’s not get sidetracked.  Our subject is how we have strayed from the whole gospel because people hate to hear it. Because people are so hostile--and the feeling is, “how can we convert them in this state of hostility?  Because of their hostility, they’re not thinking straight, so let’s avoid that subject.”  Truth is, people aren’t thinking straight to begin with.  You can’t do anything to prevent it.

You must let the Holy Spirit do a will in your prospects’ heart.

You should burn the bridge totally, by telling them that they are under eternal judgment of hell.  Paul does that at the Areopagus on Mars Hill.

But what evangelistic preaching do you hear now? ‘Jesus wants you happy, He wants you successful.  They imply that He is willing to satisfy your carnal desires of truth and loyalty without pain, without inconvenience.  Truth is, He paid the price on the Cross for our sin—so He owns us, we are His servants, we should avoid our carnal desires, but simply seek His will for all we do in all our lives.  We realize how we deserve hell, but we gained heaven, so we love Him for saving us from hell.  We aspire to the goal of seeking endlessly in Scripture for His commands, to find true godliness, and in developing love for our Savior.

Today’s sermons tend to leave off the sinful condition that we’re born into.  It avoids that Jesus is the Judge, the Son of God whose second coming will be for judgment.  When you die your destination is fixed, hell or heaven, depending totally on your relationship with Christ.  Today’s gospel twists the simple fact that Every word in Scripture—even the negative ones—are all true.  By not preaching on some subjects, we ‘follow’ by not believing in those subjects. They cover God as an idol of their own making, a grandfatherly, forgiving type, ignoring the Old Testament.   Their god  accepts pretended humility from all religions.  Hence the terrible answers that you see above, as proof that what I’m saying is an accurate conveyance  of these false and incomplete messages rampant in society.  No other religion has this doctrine, even false forms of ‘Christianity,’ even the Jews in Jesus’ time (they twisted the truths in Old Testament Scripture).  They are all dooming more people to hell, teaching that basically, we are good, and we can reform ourselves into a better life (or lives), and eventually, through purgatory or renewal or whatever, gain heaven.  Or universal peace. God will approve of our righteousness. Most people go to church to relieve some guilt.  Most pastors don’t shake them from this fable.  People in the pews, who say they are Christian, hate the bad news that they are sinful, that they deserve Hell, according to God—and thus reveal that they are NOT Christian.  Most pastors are deluded enough to believe that the people that are there regularly are Christian.  But the pew-sitters believe lies, nuanced distortion of the truth, believe what’s convenient, like the survey above shows.  Many of their pastors would get fired if they preached the truth for more than three weeks straight.  So it has come to be in the consumer America.. The best Scriptural summary for our history might be in Ephesians 2:1-3--you decide if you are before or after:

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, ² in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air (Satan), the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, ³ among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

The concluding statement says that we are all hell-bound, unless we grasp Christ as our Savior, and hang onto Him with all we have.  Now see Ephesians 4:18:

…having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart;

Ephesians 4:19 adds the word “callous,” in the ESV, which means our minds, unsaved, are scarred over so that we cannot sense the truth.  (In Genesis 6, God destroyed humanity except 8 people, saying all He saw was evil continually. Jeremiah says our hearts are desperately wicked).  Scripture spells out the sad facts and destination for us, if we don’t dispose of pride and grasp God in humility to avoid hell.  We don’t have to look far for it.  Jesus raised the issues of hell and final judgment in EVERY chapter of Matthew, from chapter 3 to 25.

Dr. MacArthur simply finally says that we must be reborn, as Jesus told Nicodemus.  Truly we cannot fix ourselves, our ‘reforming ourselves’ to heaven is not an option.  Truly, we don’t know where the source that sparks our salvation comes from.  Maybe we can’t ‘see the light,’ and get the real gospel. We are here maintaining simply the main point of the sermon; that we need to get the truth of Man back into the gospel to appreciate the deep love and sacrifice of God.  We need that aspect of the gospel to have the motivation to realize that we need to cling to Him, that we want to forward His kingdom by anything He wants us to do.  Only by knowing all the gospel will we be eager to read Scripture to know more about our lover, if I may use the term, namely God and Jesus our Savior.  Only with the true gospel will we be eager to follow our Lord’s commands, to please Him and to know what godliness really is.  Today’s “gospel” leads to ‘mental assent’ salvation, not deep-rooted enough to fight off the worldliness.  If you still have worldiness, you have idols—of materialism, of envy, of greed, of jealousy.  God does not save idolaters, because there is no love for Him there.  Today’s gospel leads to a ‘Laodicean’ salvation, which is not a salvation at all; as Revelation says, He will vomit us out of His mouth.  We will not be part of His body when judgment day comes.  Let us spread the word.  The reason why churches have lost their power is because they most teach a false gospel. I urge you to read Scripture, and find out what Scripture really says.  Try the Gospels first.  Your eternal life or hell depends on it.

 

 

 

 

MARTYRDOM THEN AND NOW

 Jesus gave His life, but He was not a martyr.  He was God in the flesh, and the only One who was capable to pay the price for our sin. He was our Sin-bearer.  Isaiah 53:4-6 gave this prophecy:

Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.⁵ But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way (NKJV);
And the Lord gave Him up for our sins (LXX).

Jesus has rescued us from hell, the place we deserved for our sin.  So now he has a rightful claim on us; our lives are His.  He asks that we follow His commands.  Some of those commands, when carried out, threaten Satan’s domination of the earth.  So, if we are to clearly give and live our faith, we might have to give our life.  But as Jesus said in Matthew 10:24-26, 27-28:

A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.²⁵ It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household! ²⁶ Therefore do not fear them….  “Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. ²⁸ And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Jesus knew that those who believe and abide in Him are set for an eternity with Him, thank God.  But if we are to abide in Him, we cannot weaken in those crucial moments, if such moments should arrive.  We must assert we are His and not deny Him when persecution heats up.  To do that would put our soul in eternal danger.  So let’s look at martyrdom carefully, face to face…..

Man’s inhumanity to man is often most destructive in religious zeal. Satan’s emissaries seem to be working hardest in this arena, knowing that if they can get “Christians” to kill Christians, it tears down the name of Christ the most.  In men’s  demonic state of irrational hatred, morality is lost, and unimaginable cruelties on innocent people are “justified” on religious grounds. We know of the recent outbreaks of horrors by ISIS.  Need I remind you, they are a group grounded in the religion of Islam, whose Quran teaches them to hate Christians (see my other blog for proof).  You should also read up on Boko Haram, an Islamic State Western Province group, who since 2009 have killed 20,000 in Nigeria and displaced 2.3 million people from their homes.  In Nigeria, many whole villages had previously turned to Christ.  Boko Haram targets these villages and raids them with guns and machetes, carrying on unspeakable slaughter against Christians.  Boko Haram began his career by listening to an Islamist preacher, Mohammed Marwa, renamed Maitatsine (meaning:  “the one who damns”) in the 1970s.

But these horrors are déjà vu, I’m sorry to say.  Past martyrdom was uglier--it was done, not by Islam vs. Christian, but by "Christian" vs Christian. In the 1400-1600s, it was Catholics killing Protestants, and even Protestants killing other Protestants.  But--when it came to a group so pure as the Anabaptists, their Christianity was so Christlike that they were “dangerous” to established religion--so both Protestants and Catholics went about killing them. Luther and Calvin were Protestants, but also found excuses to kill them.  Not surprising, since Luther and Calvin were incomplete reformers of  the Gospel (as I have proven in my other blogs).  The Anabaptists were closer to Kingdom living, the real gospel, than they were, generally.

With “Christians” killing Christians in those days, the problem is that in that time, entire nation-states declared themselves Catholic “Christian” or Protestant "Christian," and many people were coerced, or intimidated, into going through the motions, and people were trained, from birth, to hate the other--but hatred is not Christian. They ignored the Bible, which plainly speaks out against hate. But there were actually few who really read their Scripture AND followed Christ's commandments--those were the real Christians.  The haters, though, were just “nominal” Christians, "reformed" by the state religion, who were able to practice unspeakable horror for “religious reasons”—they were the worst kind of humanity.  After all, who attacked Jesus with the most abusive language?  The religious leaders.  And did Jesus say many people would be saved, or be a real Christian?  No.  Read Matthew 7:13-14:

13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

I have other blogs exposing the truth about terrible things done by Calvin and Luther, both Protestants. For balance, I would like to lift some enlightening literature from Foxe’s Book of Martyrs and Martyr’s Mirror, exposing horrific deeds done by Catholics.  There are three things I would like to say.  First:  Don’t read this to your kids. The things that were done are just too grisly to repeat.  Secondly, this is not a sad tale, really.  The endurance of these real Christian martyrs, and their uplifting words, are an inspiration to all.  In Christ, they really knew the meaning of Paul’s words—“O death, where is thy sting?”  Thirdly, these stories—even their quotes—are not exaggerated fables.  Foxe lived in the 1550s, in the midst of it all, and most of the Mirror, from the 1600s, both of my volumes--were taken from contemporary journals.  May God allow you to be horrified—and yet inspired to Him—as you read.

Our first reading is subtitled “the Valleys of Piedmont in the 1600s.”  (These were the Waldenses, one of the earliest groups protesting against Catholicism's departure from Scripture, being persecuted in northwest Italy and Switzerland).  Here is the quote:

Pope Clement VIII sent missionaries into the valleys of Piedmont, to induce the Protestants to renounce their religion.  These missionaries erected monasteries…(which became) sanctuaries for all cowards to fly to that had injured the Waldenses. This inspired them to further assaults.  The Protestant Waldenses, therefore, petitioned the duke of Savoy for protection.  But instead of getting any redress, the duke published a decree, in which he declared that one witness should be sufficient in a court of law against a Protestant, and that any witness who convicted any Protestant of any crime whatsoever should be entitled to a hundred crowns reward.  As may be imagined, many Protestants fell martyrs to perjury and avarice.

To encourage the apostasy of the Protestants, the duke published a proclamation that exempted from all taxes for five years if the heretics would recant and embrace the holy Roman faith.  There were also several successive edicts, prohibiting the Protestants from acting as schoolmasters, from holding any places of profit, trust, or honor, and commanding them to attend mass.  This last, if ignored, was a sure signal for a persecution, which soon followed. (The Waldenses said that the mass was not the body and blood of our Lord, and therefore the Catholics committed blasphemy.)

Before the persecution commenced, the missionaries employed kidnappers to steal away the children of the Protestants, that they might privately be brought up Roman Catholics.  Later they took away children by open force, and if the poor parents resisted, they were immediately murdered.  One of the first persons who attracted the notice of the papists was Mr. Sebastian Basan, a zealous Protestant teacher, who was seized by the missionaries, confined, tormented 15 months to effect recantation, and then committed to the flames (i.e., burned at the stake).

That was followed by a most cruel order, dated January 25, 1655, that every family of the reformed religion, inhabiting estates in Lucerne, St Giovanni, etc, (in Switzerland) within three days of publication of said order, must depart out of said places, and translated into the places tolerated by his highness—namely Bobbio, Angrogno, etc. In between was a mountainous terrain.  And all this was to be done on the pain of death, and confiscation of house and goods, unless within the limited time they recanted and turned Roman Catholic.

The winter was remarkably severe.  (Ed: This trip was, on average, 140 miles through the Alps, so they spent many overnights outdoors.  But they were unfamiliar with living in wilderness, and hadn’t had time nor money, to pack for this weather.)  The duke’s troops drove them from their habitations and were assisted by French troops, Irish brigades, and several bands formed of outlaws, smugglers, and prisoners, who had been promised pardon in the world, and absolution in the next, for assisting in their extermination.  (Ed: Plus, they might win a confiscated house.)

Many of the Protestants perished in the mountains from the weather or lack of food. Refusing to move was a poor alternative.  An armed multitude, encouraged by the bishops and monks, fell upon the remaining Protestants in a most furious manner.  All now was horror and despair:  blood stained the floors, dead bodies bestrewed the streets, and groans and cries shocked the ears of humanity from every quarter. There were several men, women, and children flung from the rocks, and dashed to pieces (ed:  From castle heights or cliffs).  Mary Raymondet had her flesh sliced from her bones until she expired.  Anne Charboniere had one end of a stake thrust through her body, and the other end fixed in the ground; so she was left in that manner to perish.  Giovanni Michialin, with four of his children, was apprehended; three of them were hacked to pieces before him; the soldiers asked him at the death of every child if he would recant—but he constantly refused.  One of the soldiers then took up the last and youngest, by the legs, and putting the same question, he replied as before, when the inhuman brute dashed out the child’s brains.  The soldiers roasted alive another girl, about ten years of age, at Villa Nova.

Jacob Birone, a schoolmaster, was stripped naked, and had the nails of his toes and fingers torn off with red-hot pincers, and holes bored through his hands.  He was led through the streets, the soldiers saying, “Will you go to mass?”  He replied in the negative, and being at length taken to the bridge, they cut off his head on the balustrades.

Daniel Rambaut, of Villaro was seized and committed to the jail.  Here he was visited by several priests, who with continual importunities, strove to persuade him to turn papist. He refused.  Then the priests pretended to pity his large family, and told him that he might yet have his life if he would subscribe his belief to the following articles:  1. The real presence (of Christ) in the host. 2. Transubstantiation (Ed: The belief that the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus).  3. Purgatory.  4. The pope’s infallibility.  5. That masses said for the dead will release souls from purgatory.  6. That praying for saints will procure the remission of sins.  To these Rambaut replied (in part):  1. To believe the real presence (of Jesus) in the host is blasphemy and idolatry….5. Saying masses for the dead is only meant to keep up a belief in the fable of purgatory, but the fate of all is decided by the time of departure of the soul from the body. (i.e., trying to change God's decision after their death is a waste of time).  6. Praying to saints for the remission of sins is misplacing adoration, as the living saints themselves have a need for an intercessor in Christ; therefore, as God only can pardon our errors, we ought to sue to Him alone for pardon.  (Ed:  Scripture does not have support for the six Catholic claims).  Filled with rage at these answers, the priests determined to shake his resolution by the most cruel method imaginable; they ordered one joint of his fingers to be cut off every day; then his toes; afterwards, they alternately cut off, daily, a hand and a foot, and finding that he bore his sufferings with the most unconquerable fortitude, and maintained his faith with steadfast resolution, they stabbed him to the heart, and gave his body to be devoured by dogs.

(Ed:  Even crueler acts—if it were possible—are detailed in Wikipedia’s “Waldensians,” along with a never-to-be forgotten horrifying illustration, as well.  It seems that the only ones to belatedly organize help to these people were some Protestants).

Now let’s go to another true story in Martyr’s Mirror.  Under the heading: “Weynken, a Widow, of Monickendam, November 20, 1527” (Ed:  This was in Holland). Weynken, an Anabaptist, was persecuted by both Zwinglians—Calvinist Protestants—and papists.

On November 15, Weynken was brought prisoner from the castle to the Hague.  On the 18^th, she was arraigned before the Governor and the full council of Holland.  There a woman asked her:  Have you well considered the things which my lords proposed to you?

Ans:  I abide by what I have said.

Ques:  If you do not speak differently, and turn from your error, you will be subjected to an intolerable death.

Ans:  If power is given to you from above, I am ready to suffer. (Ed: Here, please read Note 1 of 11--See Scriptures at end).

Ques:  Do you, then, not fear death, which you have never tasted?

Ans:  This is true; but I shall never taste death, for Christ says, “If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.”(Note 2) The rich man (the only way to get rich in those days was, your family had oppressed the poor, so it was assumed he was non-Christian.  Jesus didn't have many nice words about richness either) tasted death, and shall taste it forever.(3)

Ques:  What do you hold concerning the sacrament?

Ans:  I hold your sacrament to be bread and flour, and if you hold it as God, I say that is your devil.

Ques:  What do you hold concerning the saints?

Ans:  I know no other Mediator than Christ.(4)

Ques:  You must die, if you abide by this.

Ans:  I am already dead.(5)

Ques:  If you are dead, how can you speak?

Ans:  The Spirit lives in me; the Lord is in me, and I am in Him (6)

Ques:  Will you have a confessor, or not?

Ans:  I have Christ, to Him I confess; nevertheless, if I have offended any, I would willingly ask them to forgive me.

Ques:  Who has taught you to this opinion, and how did you come to it?

Ans:  The Lord, who calls all men to Him; I am one of His sheep; therefore I hear His voice.(7)

During the two following days she was entreated and tempted by various persons, by monks, priests, women, and her nearest friends.  A woman, prompted by sincerity, commiserated with her after this fashion:

Ques:  Dear mother, can you not think what you please, and keep it to yourself?   Then you will not die.

Ans:  Dear sister, I am commanded to speak, and am constrained to do so.  Though they burn me tomorrow, or put me into a bag, I care not; I will adhere to the Lord.  It grieves me to see that these good men are all so blinded; I will pray the Lord for them.

(Ed Note:  This phrase “adhere” to the Lord was  like its synonym “abide,” to be found at John 15:5-7, 9-10, where our Lord says:

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit…⁶ If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. ⁷ If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you…  ⁹ “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. ¹⁰ If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love

(You can see why Meynken was critically interested in adhering to Christ; if we don’t do it, we are in danger of hell.)

Two Dominican friars came to her.  One showed her the crucifix, saying, “See, here is your Lord and your God.”  She answered, “This is not my God; the cross by which I am redeemed, is a different one.  This is a wooden god; throw him into the fire, and warm yourselves with him.”  (Ed:  Nothing is wrong with the crucifix—but in those days, and to a limited extent now, it was supposed to have special powers and was worshiped. Thus it became an idol.  That was her problem with it).  The other friar asked her in the morning she was to die, whether she would receive the sacrament (presumably Last Rites, which supposedly granted final absolution of sins).  She refused.  Upon his mention of Mass, she told him bluntly that he had crucified Christ anew.

Ques:  What do you hold concerning the holy oil?

Ans:  Oil is good for salad, or to oil your shoes with. (Ed:  Her great desire to eliminate popish practices went too far here, for as James 5:14 shows, oil might, with faith, bring on healing:

⁽ Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 

(She still might have had just cause to reject it in her day, because the Catholic church, in those days as now, has assumed several other powers of oil, thus calling it “holy oil.”  And even water, calling it “holy water.”  Those are unscriptural)

When she was again brought before the court, a monk held the crucifix before her face, saying, “Do recant before sentence is passed.”  But Weynken said, “I adhere to my Lord and my God; neither death nor life shall separate me from Him (8).  The Dean of Naeldwijck, the inquisitor, read the sentence in Latin and Dutch.  She was found in error with regard to the sacrament.  Thus she was a heretic, so he delivered her to the secular magistrate...but then he retired from the council, evidently impressed by her godliness.  The chancellor however immediately read that she should be burnt to ashes, and all her property to be confiscated.  Then Weynken said, “Has all been done now?  I beg you all that if I have harmed or offended any, that you will forgive me.”

As they were leaving the council chamber, the monk said to her that she should call upon our Lady to intercede for her.

Ans:  our lady is well content in God.

Ques:  Call upon her.

Ans: We have Christ, Who sitteth on the right hand of His Father; He prays for us (Ed: actually, it says “makes intercession for us”) (9).

Ques:  Will you condemn all these (Catholics)?

Ans: Not all.  Judgment belongs unto God. (10)

Ques:  Do you not fear the severe judgment of God?

Ans:  God comes not to condemn sinners, but to give them peace. (11)

On the scaffold (these people were burned publicly), the monk said, “Now you will have to go into the fire; do recant.” She said, “I am well content; the Lord’s will must be done.”

The executioner then made ready the ropes with which he was to strangle her.  She put the strap around her neck.  The monk finally said, “Do you renounce all heresy?”  She:  “I do.”  Monk:  “This is well; are you also sorry that you erred?” She:  “I formerly did err indeed (ed:  When she was a Catholic).  "This however is no error, but the true way, and I adhere to God.”

Then the executioner did his work.  November 20, 1527.

Our last entry is from 1572, in Foxe’s, called “A Horrible Massacre in France,” relating to St Bartholomew, in Paris.  A massacre was plotted by Catharine de Medici, mother of the king Charles IX. It was carried out by Parisian nobles and citizenry.  The victims of this slaughter were yet another Protestant group, the Huguenots.  Unparalleled cruelties spread to other provinces, and within one month, an estimated 60,000 Protestants were slain of men and women alike.  When intelligence of the massacre was received at Rome, the greatest rejoicings took place, and a medal was struck to commemorate this “victory of the faith.”  The pope and his cardinals went in solemn procession to the church of St Mark, to give thanks to God.  A jubilee was also published.  Similar rejoicings were celebrated all over France. End of quote.

I think it is appropriate now to present the final words by a courageous man, vanquished in body, but not in soul, which is in heaven forevermore:  “I trust that my salvation is already sealed in heaven, and that the blood of Christ, in which I firmly trust, has washed away my sins.  I now cast off this mantle of clay, for robes of eternal glory.”

Now let us ponder the words of our Lord, in John 16:1-3:

“All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. ^{2 ...}the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. ³ They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me.”

Notes:  1. John 19:11   2. John 8:51   3. Luke 16:23  4. I John 2:19  5. Galatians 2:19   6. John 14:20   7. John 10:27  8. Romans 8:39  9. Romans 8:34   10. Hebrews 10:30   11. Luke 9:56.

Acknowledgements:  Foxe’s Book of Martyrs and Martyr’s Mirror.

Exact Date of Christ's Crucifixion Proved by Scripture and Stars

Can we know the exact day when Christ died? Most likely, yes.

The Sabbath, Saturday, was a day in which no real work is to be done. Jeremiah 17:22 says:

…nor carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work, but hallow the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. That means they had to double-gather the previous day, Friday. Thus Friday was the day of Preparation. As it so happens, all four Gospels record Jesus’ death on Preparation day, so He was crucified on Friday. (Matthew 27:62, Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54, and John 19:14). Friday was also accepted by the earliest church fathers and scholars through the ages.*

A second clue: Jesus is crucified on Passover day. John 18:28-29 says:

Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning. But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. 29 Pilate then went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this Man?”

This is important. Passover is on the 14th of Nisan, a specific date in a Hebrew month. So that means, of course, its day of the week changes year-to-year. But we now know that Jesus was crucified in a year in which Passover, Nisan 14, is on Friday. That narrows the field.

A third clue: As you can see in the previous paragraph, Jesus was crucified when Pilate ruled. Scholars have no trouble giving the years: AD 26-36.

A fourth clue: Luke 3:23 records that Jesus was “about 30 years of age” when He began His ministry. John records Jesus attending 3 Passovers: 2:23, 6:4, and 13:1. This narrows the field further (assuming birth in 2 BC, see my "Birth of Jesus" blog) to Jesus being crucified in the early 30s AD.

Nisan 14 happens on Friday only twice during this time period: 4/7/30 and 4/3/33. Which is it?

To get the final answer, oddly, we turn our attention to Sejanus, an extreme anti-Semite ruler over Pilate for awhile. Pilate, to conform to his wishes, did terribly brutal things to Jews. He did everything he could to tick them off. But Sejanus was assassinated 10/18/31 AD, along with many of his appointees (but not Pilate). Then, Pilate’s new leader had an opposite approach to the Jews: “Leave the Jews alone.” Pilate, to conform to this, to save his skin, had to be careful not to appear cruel. Here’s the question: Since Pilate was ambivalent toward Jesus (John 19:12), which leader was he under? Pilate couldn’t have been under Sejanus, so it must be that Jesus was crucified after his death, 10/18/31. Of our two possible dates above, we now have only one choice:

Jesus was crucified on April 3, 33 AD

Maybe you’re thinking “That year selection seems sketchy, perhaps it was the other date and Pilate was just feeling good, or he wanted to give Sejanus a hard time.” Well--there are lots more confirming evidence about the date we chose—typical of the Bible’s layering of proofs, its unassailable accuracy. We can nail down the year another way: check Daniel 9:25-26:

Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks… 26 “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off…


First off, the word “weeks” is incorrect—the Hebrew word is “sevens.” But seven what—days, months? If you make a week 7 years, then “seven weeks” becomes 7x7 years, or 49 years, and “62 weeks” becomes 62x7, or 434 years. Then you get “from the going forth of the command…until Messiah there shall be 49+434, or 483 years…and after (that), Messiah shall be “cut off”-- killed.

Then you need to know that the Jewish people had a 360-day lunar calendar, vs our 365.24 day solar one. So from the king's “command” to the killing of Messiah is 483 x 360/365.24=476 of our years. The command to restore and build Jerusalem came under the 20th year of Artaxerxes (Nehemiah 2:1-6). Historical books confirm this as 444 BC. Adding 476 years (there is no year between 1BC and 1 AD), you get 33 AD!

You’re still not convinced? Here’s a proof where the sky comes in. Kepler proved (see, again, our "Birth" blog) that the sky is absolutely predictable. Now note darkness in His crucifixion. In Mathew 27:45:

Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land.

Changing Roman time to our time, this means darkness from noon to 3 pm—so 3 pm was when Jesus died (Matt 27:46-50), as soon as darkness ended.

Now turn to Acts 2:20, 22,and 31, where Peter, on the Day of Pentecost, only 10 days after Jesus had been ascended into heaven after His resurrection, quotes a prophecy in Joel 2:30 about the Anointed One—and then makes some intriguing remarks:

“The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood…” Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know—he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ 

He is thus saying this prophecy has already happened--and that they had seen these signs, the darkness AND the “blood moon”—which is a lunar eclipse. In such an eclipse, the sun, the moving earth, and the moon are lined up (briefly while the earth passes by) so that the moon only gets sunlight around the edges of the earth, but refracted through the earth’s atmosphere. The moon, from the earth, takes on an eerie redness. Jesus died when the moon was red. This would’ve spooked everyone (along with the graves being opened, and “zombies” walking about—oh, yeah—Matthew 27:52). So Peter is reminding everyone of this creepy event. Odd that the Gospels don’t record the blood moon, but this quote by Peter definitely proved it happened at His crucifixion. Evidently no one in the audience accused him of lying that those events actually happened.

Well, as it so happens--There was a blood moon on 4/3/33! (For an analysis of how we can know the exact day, see my comments in the "Birth" blog). Thank You, God, for your incredible accuracy. Wise men follow the Lord. At the very same time Jesus died, Jewish priests were sacrificing innocent lambs to be eaten at Passover. This was no coincidence; it was in the plan of God. Jesus was our Lamb, voluntary sacrificed and given to the hand of Satan for our sins.

Also at this time, the moon is back in Virgo (the Virgin), at her foot. But instead of being new, as in birth (see our comments in "Birth" blog), it is full. Jesus led a life fully lived—but then blotted out in blood.

What you can’t miss in all this, is an unassailable fact: from the moment our omniscient God flung the stars out in space, He positioned them knowing that there would be a redemptive plan that we would need to approach Him because of our sin. He knew then that His very own Son would have to die. His power then raised Him in Resurrection like He can raise us again—if we believe and follow His commands. He left His love letter to us, His Word, the Bible. It is perfect in its accuracy, as we have seen here, as perfect as God is in His grace. Let us read His Words to us to learn how we can avoid Hell and make it to Heaven. Scripture says that most people go to Hell (Matthew 7:14). His Word is the way to life in heaven.
(PS: Some of these proofs are not on DVD, but in the “study” section on bethlehemstar.com.

* In case some of you are still scratching your head about Jesus spending 3 days in the tomb, when He was crucified on Friday and resurrected on Sunday, there is a simple answer. Who said He had to spend 3 days in the tomb? Matthew 12:40 says For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Translators might have failed us here. The phrase “in the heart of the earth” doesn’t speak of the tomb—it speaks of in the core of Satan’s grasp (the word "earth" has been mistranslated). I’m using the reputed W.E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. The Greek word for “heart” isn’t “inside.” He says “the word (heart) came to stand for man’s entire mental and moral activity…the Bible describes human depravity as in the ‘heart,’ because sin is a principle which has its seat in the center of man’s inward life, and then defiles the whole circuit of his action.” Citing Matthew 15:19

For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. 

Secondly, the word “earth” doesn’t speak of burial. Quoting Vine’s again: “the earth (is) the world..where the context suggests the earth as a place characterized by…weakness.” (Does the crucifixion of this Man suggest our weakness? Definitely.) Remember, Jesus had dodged their capture time and time again, saying “my time has not yet come.” But in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus emphasized something else: Then he came to the disciples and said,“Sleep now and take your rest . . . The time has come! I am into the hands of evil men! (TLB)

This is saying, Jesus gave Himself over to Satan on Thursday at the Garden. He was in Satan’s wicked hands from Thursday until Sunday morning suffering and paying for our sin. (He suffered much before the Cross). Thus He was in the heart of the earth’s wickedness for 3 days…and nights, just as Jonah was under the sway of the big fish for 3 days. (P.S. This lengthy note is not from Prof. Larson, but from Amazingfacts.org).