Great Truths, Great People Part 1 - "The Church Scatters Through Persecution"

by Pastor Barreca on Mar 15th 2009 (All day)

Key Moments in Theology:

Trinity Council of Nicea, 325
Hypostatic Union Council of Constantinople, 381
Bible Translation Jerome, 400

Justification by Faith - Luther
Sovereignty of God - Calvin
Bible for common people - Wycliff
Textual Criticism - Count Von Zinzendorf
Abolution of Slavery - William Wilberforce
Dispensationalism - John Nelson Darby
Home Bible Study - C I Scofield
Systematic Theology - Lewis Sperry Chafer

We will study these doctrines and the men who clarified them, or fought to preserve them. Some of these leaders were revolutionaries.

Oneida, Ky. - "We are on the verge – within 10 years – of a major collapse of evangelical Christianity. This breakdown will follow the deterioration of the mainline Protestant world and it will fundamentally alter the religious and cultural environment in the West.

Within two generations, evangelicalism will be a house deserted of half its occupants. (Between 25 and 35 percent of Americans today are Evangelicals.) In the "Protestant" 20th century, Evangelicals flourished. But they will soon be living in a very secular and religiously antagonistic 21st century.

This collapse will herald the arrival of an anti-Christian chapter of the post-Christian West. Intolerance of Christianity will rise to levels many of us have not believed possible in our lifetimes, and public policy will become hostile toward evangelical Christianity, seeing it as the opponent of the common good.

Millions of Evangelicals will quit. Thousands of ministries will end. Christian media will be reduced, if not eliminated. Many Christian schools will go into rapid decline. I'm convinced the grace and mission of God will reach to the ends of the earth. But the end of evangelicalism as we know it is close." - Michael Spencer, Christian Science Monitor from the March 10, 2009 edition

The rapid demise of orthodoxy in the Christian Church...This is exactly what happened in Europe (GB) thirty years ago.

How do we avoid being swept up in this wave?

  1. Understand the times
  2. Grounded in the Word of God
  3. Completely dependent on the Lord for everything we do

It would be easy for me to dismiss this except for 2 factors:

Why include history?  The Bible is filled with history

  1. reminds us of the need to guard doctrine
  2. Allows us to see key doctrines in the light of the events surrounding them
  3. Appreciate the sacrifice of dedicated Christians and learn from their example

We are living in a time that will demand similar commitment and sacrifice
"The Coming Evangelical Collapse"


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