Too blessed to be stressed Too anointed to

Too blessed to be stressed Too anointed to be disappointed

Five of the Worse Ideas in Church History’s

“Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. ” George Santayana

As a Christian, what would you do if you were made the king of the world?

Bad Idea #1: The Welding of Church and State In 313 AD Emperor Constantine made Christianity legal by passing the “Act of Toleration. ” In 380 AD Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius declared Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire which lead ultimately to the Roman Church setting up the kingdom here and now.

Bad Idea #2: The Crusades From 1096 to 1289, the European church launched a military campaign to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims.

Bad Idea #3: The Inquisition For about 600 years (1227 to 1834 A. D. ), the Catholic Church punished those who they considered heretics. The Church confiscated property, burned heretics at the stake, and treated those who harbored heretics with the same punishment as the heretic.

Bad Idea #4: England making the Anglican Church the official state church King Henry VIII asked the Pope if he could divorce his wife Catherine of Aragon so that he could remarry. The Pope said no. Henry murders his wife and marries Anne Boleyn. The Pope excommunicates him, Henry renounces the Roman Catholic Church and sets up his own state church with himself as the head in 1534. This was the beginning of the Anglican Church. He further defies Rome by printing the first legal English Bible. Anglican means “of England”

Forever immortalized by Herman's Hermits: I'm Henry the eighth I am, I am. I got married to the widow next door, She's been married seven times before, And every one was an Henry (Henry!) She wouldn't have a Willy or a Sam (No Sam!) I'm her eighth old man, I'm Henry, Henry the eighth I am Second verse, same as the first etc.

A. The problem stated From the 1500’s until the 1960’s, the Anglican church thrived amidst two world wars and countless obstacles. Today the Church in England is virtually dead.

From a spiritual point of view, the most striking thing about modern English society is the absence of living faith in the Holy Trinity, the loss of the Holy Spirit. This nation is today very largely a spiritual desert, a bankrupt, spiritual wasteland. God has become almost invisible in modern England. Indeed, having lost faith, 'the death of God' was proclaimed as long ago as the 1960 s. Today probably only about 1% of English people actually believe in and practise a form of Christianity which is recognisable as such to Orthodox Christians. http: //www. orthodoxengland. btinternet. co. uk/bravenr. htm

B. So why has Christianity all but died in England? This is a fascinating question and many have attempted to answer it.

In his book, The Death of Christian Britain, (2001) Callum Brown provides a sociologically answer. He blames the downfall of pious feminism as the culprit. For years religious Anglican women kept the church afloat. With the advent of radical feminism, this fell and so did the church.

From a spiritual perspective, one can do forensic research and find Satan behind the fall of the church in England. Let’s look at Satan’s MO…

Satan unmasked in the Bible as scheming against the will of God in order that no advantage be taken of us by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his schemes. II Corinthians 2: 11 Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. Ephesians 6: 11

Satan’s signature verse… “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature; for he is a liar, and the father of lies. ” John 8: 44

How do you know when Satan is lying? His lips are moving.

Satan in action… 1. He lies to Eve, “You surely shall not die. ” Genesis 3: 4 2. Temptation of Christ – Matthew 4: 1 -11 3. Fills Ananias’s heart to lie to the Holy Spirit – Acts 5: 1 -11 4. Disguises himself as an angel of light – II Corinthians 11: 13 -15 5. Satan deceives the whole world – Revelation 12: 9

And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Revelation 12: 9

C. Satan’s three step plan to destroy the church

Step #1. Infect seminaries with heresy In the late part of the nineteenth century, Satan infected Germany Seminaries with theological liberalism. This spread throughout the world. Theological liberalism had at its heart: • Higher criticism: Challenged the authority of Scripture by questioning the authorship and dating of much of the Bible • Lower criticism: The study of the Biblical text to determine errors and reliability of a given text.

Even today… United Methodist Bishop Joseph Sprague recently restated the old liberal creed for a Methodist seminary audience by asserting that Jesus was Joseph's biological son, that he never performed any supernatural miracles, that his body was never raised from the dead, and that the orthodox creeds of the historic church are true only to the extent that they mean something different than they say. http: //www. christianitytoday. com/ct/2003/008/1. 34. html

Step #2. Infect a new generation of men studying for the pastorate with antibiblical lies Men wishing to serve God and be trained went to seminary. Instead of learning the sacred truths of Scripture, they were taught that the Bible is not trustworthy, that God is Father to all, and everyone ends up in heaven.

Step #3. Send these new pastors out to infect the church These carriers of false doctrine were planted in the church. The congregation awaiting to hear from God heard a demonic message. Paul talks about this in his second pastoral letter… But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, I Timothy 4: 1

In his book 1988 book, Darwinism and the Divine in America: Protestant Intellectuals and Organic Evolution, 1859 -1900, Jon H. Roberts makes a fascinating point. It wasn’t the secular universities which embraced Darwinism at first, it was the liberal theological institutions.

D. Why was the English Church all but annihilated while her America cousin survived the liberal onslaught?

In America… Although Christianity in America lost tremendous ground in the 1960’s, it is still alive and well today. Unlike England, the evangelical movement in America is a strong spiritual force. As some have said, “The only hope for the world is America, and the only hope for America is a vital evangelical church. ”

Much of the answer as to why America received a flesh wound and England was fatally wounded can be summarized in one word: Denominations

How did the state religion in England handle the liberal attack? For many years it fought it off. But finally in the sixties liberalism caught up and dealt a lethal blow to the Anglican Church. Today many beautiful church buildings in England have been turned into condos as historical landmarks.

How did the church in America handle it? First of all, we must give the Devil his due. Liberalism destroyed many churches in America as they spilt apart over whether the orthodox Christian faith was real or not. Denominations often polarized ending up with an orthodox and liberal ends of the spectrum. Today Christianity is alive and well and is a force to be reckoned with in the world.

Case in point… My friend Chris Johnson is an Episcopalian priest. After Gene Robinson was elected bishop in 2003 who openly admits being a homosexual, Chris and I spoke. Chris is orthodox in his faith. He and others struggle over leaving his denomination or staying to try and save it.

E. So What About Me? Does Satan have similar aspirations for me as he did for the Anglican Church?

The Devil wants to devour your faith Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. I Peter 5: 8

The Devil wants to devour your faith Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking (place your name here) to devour. I Peter 5: 8

He wishes to destroy: • Your relationship with God • Your marriage and family • Your church

Satan wants to destroy believers… Satan wants to destroy Christian lives and make them ineffective for God. "Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; Luke 22: 31

Satan wants to destroy marriages and families… An unprotected marriage is an opportunity for the Devil. Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again lest Satan tempt you because of your lack of self-control. I Corinthians 7: 5

Satan wants to destroy churches… People in the church who are desiring honor and prominence are a target for the Devil. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back some of the price of the land? ” Acts 5: 3

A line from “Oh Happy Day” He taught me to wash, fight, and pray

Bad Idea #5: Prohibition