WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.760 But let's open in prayer. 00:00:03.419 --> 00:00:10.400 Father in heaven, we know that you sent your son to not only preach the gospel to us, but 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:18.879 ! to accomplish the gospel among us, to suffer and rise and then to commission us as your ambassadors, 00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:23.280 your missionaries, your evangelists, your preachers, your teachers, your servants, your slaves. 00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:28.240 And Lord, we pray that you would help us to learn more about your church through the ages 00:00:28.239 --> 00:00:35.060 and that you would help us to draw closer to you and you would help us to fulfill your great commission 00:00:35.060 --> 00:00:37.219 to preach the gospel to all nations. 00:00:37.979 --> 00:00:39.579 And we pray this in the name of Jesus. 00:00:40.079 --> 00:00:40.299 Amen. 00:00:41.519 --> 00:00:46.000 We are in class four of our series on missions. 00:00:46.920 --> 00:00:53.200 And today we will be looking at the history of missions in the early and medieval church. 00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:58.660 This is something that is often understudied and unknown by Christians today. 00:00:58.900 --> 00:01:04.060 It's also something that we don't have as much information about as we would like. 00:01:04.659 --> 00:01:08.980 But the stuff we do have is fascinating, encouraging, interesting. 00:01:09.640 --> 00:01:19.879 So what I want to do is give a brief sort of stereotypical view of Christianity that you often hear in popular culture. 00:01:19.879 --> 00:01:25.579 Sometimes Christians among us have this view of the history of Christianity. 00:01:26.099 --> 00:01:31.539 And then we'll zoom in and give a more realistic view of the history of Christianity, 00:01:31.659 --> 00:01:36.340 the history of missions and how the gospel reached the nations. 00:01:37.199 --> 00:01:44.079 So if we go back to, you know, 30 AD, we're in Jerusalem. 00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:49.340 And according to what you often hear, there's this Jesus guy. 00:01:49.879 --> 00:01:54.780 And he's this kind of hippie, free love kind of guy. 00:01:55.039 --> 00:01:56.140 You're supposed to love everybody. 00:01:56.239 --> 00:01:56.939 That's what he taught. 00:01:57.480 --> 00:01:58.780 And it was neat. 00:01:58.879 --> 00:01:59.480 It was cool. 00:01:59.599 --> 00:02:04.819 But nothing really much happened until this guy came along, Constantine, the first Christian emperor, 00:02:05.560 --> 00:02:09.759 who you will often hear converted the Roman Empire to Christianity. 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:12.919 And that's why Christianity became a world religion. 00:02:13.319 --> 00:02:16.579 And that's why Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire. 00:02:17.259 --> 00:02:24.239 And that later on in the age of colonialism, when the European powers conquered the world, 00:02:24.659 --> 00:02:27.280 that's when Christianity became a global religion. 00:02:27.620 --> 00:02:32.919 And so that this was all mediated through political military power. 00:02:33.099 --> 00:02:34.019 First, Constantine. 00:02:34.399 --> 00:02:35.959 Second, the European colonies. 00:02:35.960 --> 00:02:40.320 You can see how much of the world Europe conquered at certain points. 00:02:40.439 --> 00:02:44.780 The gray areas are the areas that were never actually colonized. 00:02:45.240 --> 00:02:49.159 But I'll point out, you know, Afghanistan, Japan, South Korea. 00:02:49.280 --> 00:02:54.439 These were places that, if you include the U.S., were conquered by the U.S. at various points. 00:02:54.960 --> 00:03:02.420 So much of the world was indeed conquered by European powers or of powers of European descent. 00:03:02.419 --> 00:03:13.979 However, I'm here to tell you this is not how the gospel spread throughout the Roman Empire and throughout the nations. 00:03:14.279 --> 00:03:18.639 The actual spread was very different, was fascinating. 00:03:18.779 --> 00:03:22.939 Of course, Jesus wasn't that stereotypical person that we see. 00:03:22.939 --> 00:03:29.020 He was, in addition to being a profound teacher, he was an amazing healer. 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:32.500 But above all, the Son of God who died for our sins. 00:03:33.060 --> 00:03:37.859 And the gospel spread throughout the Roman Empire not due to political power, but the opposite. 00:03:38.319 --> 00:03:47.360 Due to faithful Christians who laid their lives down for Jesus again and again and again and again. 00:03:47.360 --> 00:03:54.460 And if we look at a map around 200 A.D. 00:03:54.460 --> 00:03:56.780 So we've got the Parthian Empire in the east. 00:03:56.860 --> 00:04:00.400 We've got some minor empires or kingdoms, really, between them. 00:04:00.440 --> 00:04:02.000 And these borders are porous. 00:04:02.080 --> 00:04:03.140 You know, they go back and forth. 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:08.280 And we've got the huge, huge Roman Empire, the most powerful empire the world had ever seen. 00:04:09.240 --> 00:04:12.180 This is about 170 years after Jesus. 00:04:12.180 --> 00:04:17.720 And this is well before Constantine, the first Christian emperor, comes to the scene. 00:04:17.800 --> 00:04:19.720 He comes to the scene more than 100 years later. 00:04:20.879 --> 00:04:25.840 And if we look at the spread of Christianity, it's extraordinary. 00:04:26.280 --> 00:04:29.259 It's already in the west, in France. 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:30.439 It's in North Africa. 00:04:30.439 --> 00:04:31.360 It's in Greece. 00:04:31.579 --> 00:04:33.139 It's in Turkey. 00:04:33.319 --> 00:04:34.280 It's in Egypt. 00:04:34.620 --> 00:04:36.240 It's in, of course, Palestine. 00:04:36.240 --> 00:04:46.519 But it's also in southern Egypt, in Nubia and in Ethiopia and east of the Roman Empire, in Syriac-speaking lands in modern-day Iraq. 00:04:46.620 --> 00:04:55.040 But even further east in what we would call Iran today and even in India and perhaps even farther east. 00:04:55.040 --> 00:05:07.620 What I'd like to do today is just highlight some fascinating points in these moments of the spread of Christianity. 00:05:07.820 --> 00:05:10.900 So look at how did the gospel get to all of these places? 00:05:11.480 --> 00:05:14.439 We don't know the answer to many of these locations. 00:05:14.720 --> 00:05:16.379 We just know, well, they did. 00:05:16.740 --> 00:05:17.360 They were there. 00:05:17.560 --> 00:05:18.379 We don't know who. 00:05:18.500 --> 00:05:19.320 We don't know how. 00:05:19.520 --> 00:05:21.939 But we know the gospel went there for various reasons. 00:05:21.939 --> 00:05:25.279 But there are some things we do know. 00:05:25.579 --> 00:05:27.759 And I want to give you some highlights today. 00:05:27.899 --> 00:05:34.079 So today we'll be looking at little mountain peaks in history of how the gospel went to region A or region B. 00:05:34.300 --> 00:05:38.500 And we'll find out that the map we're looking at is not big enough. 00:05:39.000 --> 00:05:46.860 We have to go further east to get a better, fuller situation of the gospel amongst the nations. 00:05:47.360 --> 00:05:49.879 So where should we start? 00:05:49.879 --> 00:05:54.939 I thought we could start in a very far-flung territory from our perspective. 00:05:55.680 --> 00:05:59.860 So my little laser pointer, I had to switch at the last moment. 00:06:00.019 --> 00:06:00.939 So bear with me here. 00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:06.199 We're going to go right over here in northeast Africa to Ethiopia. 00:06:07.459 --> 00:06:10.480 Ethiopia is a beautiful, beautiful place. 00:06:10.560 --> 00:06:12.579 Way high up on plateaus, very mountainous. 00:06:13.120 --> 00:06:18.439 And here's a map of Ethiopia in the south here. 00:06:18.439 --> 00:06:19.319 You can see it. 00:06:19.639 --> 00:06:21.219 It's quite some distance away. 00:06:21.219 --> 00:06:29.000 Just so you can get a sense of the geographic distance from, let's say, northern Egypt, Cairo, all the way down to Ethiopia. 00:06:29.180 --> 00:06:31.639 Here's a map of the eastern U.S. 00:06:31.639 --> 00:06:41.360 And if we put Cairo right over New Haven, if you drive all the way down to the tip of Florida to Miami, you're still not in the equivalent of Ethiopia. 00:06:41.360 --> 00:06:48.900 Ethiopia. And remember that it's a lot harder to get there back then than it was today if you were going by car. 00:06:49.660 --> 00:06:53.560 Ethiopia was a very advanced, very powerful civilization. 00:06:53.560 --> 00:06:58.500 These were the kinds of things they were building in the early 300s, these huge obelisks. 00:06:58.620 --> 00:07:01.540 You have to have 79 feet tall, 160 tons. 00:07:02.620 --> 00:07:07.120 You have to have quite an advanced civilization and a wealthy one. 00:07:07.220 --> 00:07:08.920 Most of these have fallen down these days. 00:07:09.899 --> 00:07:12.199 How did Christianity come to Ethiopia? 00:07:12.199 --> 00:07:24.019 I want to qualify what I mean by how Christianity came, because, of course, we have the story of the Ethiopian eunuch in the Book of Acts, who presumably brought the gospel back to Ethiopia. 00:07:24.420 --> 00:07:27.899 So there are probably many individual Christians. 00:07:28.240 --> 00:07:30.300 There were probably churches. 00:07:30.419 --> 00:07:35.000 In fact, we know there were churches before the 300s in Ethiopia. 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:40.240 But we do know one really amazing story about the gospel in Ethiopia. 00:07:40.600 --> 00:07:50.899 And it has to do with two little boys who were Greeks, who were Christians, who were on a boat with their uncle or cousin. 00:07:50.899 --> 00:07:54.660 And they're sailing through the Gulf of Aden up to the Red Sea. 00:07:55.279 --> 00:07:58.740 And the Ethiopians capture the boat. 00:07:58.740 --> 00:08:06.000 They slaughter everyone on board except the two boys, whom they sell off to slavery. 00:08:07.060 --> 00:08:09.480 And the two boys spoke Greek. 00:08:09.660 --> 00:08:12.780 Greek was the prestige language of that part of the world. 00:08:12.920 --> 00:08:14.939 So it was the language everybody wanted to learn. 00:08:15.900 --> 00:08:25.240 And at some point, these boys, one whose name was Frumentius, they are sold into slavery into the court of the king of Ethiopia. 00:08:25.240 --> 00:08:30.060 And they are appointed to be tutors of the prince. 00:08:30.759 --> 00:08:34.919 Because presumably, we don't know why, but presumably it's because they spoke Greek fluently. 00:08:35.100 --> 00:08:38.799 And the idea was that they would speak Greek to the prince of Ethiopia. 00:08:38.799 --> 00:08:43.879 So he would be raised knowing this prestige language and be able to communicate and everything. 00:08:45.100 --> 00:08:51.360 And Frumentius shared the gospel with the prince. 00:08:51.360 --> 00:08:55.080 And he believed, as the story goes. 00:08:55.240 --> 00:08:58.320 And one day, he became the king of Ethiopia. 00:08:59.240 --> 00:09:01.259 And it's an amazing story. 00:09:01.460 --> 00:09:06.440 It reminds one of, you know, Joseph, story of Joseph being sold into slavery and then rising up through. 00:09:06.720 --> 00:09:12.820 It reminds one of the story of Daniel, who sold into slavery and then rises up to the ranks. 00:09:13.580 --> 00:09:19.300 Frumentius, sold into slavery, his family killed, and then rises up to the ranks. 00:09:19.299 --> 00:09:19.379 Yes. 00:09:20.019 --> 00:09:21.639 Frumentius ends up being appointed. 00:09:21.899 --> 00:09:23.120 He travels back to Egypt. 00:09:23.419 --> 00:09:26.539 He's appointed bishop and returns back to Ethiopia. 00:09:27.679 --> 00:09:29.059 It's a fascinating story. 00:09:29.620 --> 00:09:30.939 There's a problem with it, though. 00:09:31.419 --> 00:09:38.759 If we go and look for evidence of this prince, his name was Izana, who became a Christian. 00:09:39.259 --> 00:09:41.879 We have some inscriptions that he left behind. 00:09:42.439 --> 00:09:44.139 And here's a translation of one inscription. 00:09:45.159 --> 00:09:46.639 Izana, king of the Aksumites. 00:09:46.719 --> 00:09:48.439 Aksum was the capital of Ethiopia. 00:09:48.440 --> 00:09:54.860 And, you know, you read this, and he's just bragging about killing people, basically. 00:09:55.500 --> 00:09:57.960 He doesn't really seem like a Christian. 00:09:58.520 --> 00:10:01.420 And then we have some coins of him. 00:10:01.860 --> 00:10:02.660 This is him. 00:10:03.040 --> 00:10:03.640 There he is. 00:10:03.639 --> 00:10:07.559 And the problem with this is this. 00:10:08.279 --> 00:10:10.299 This is a lunar crescent. 00:10:10.799 --> 00:10:13.980 It is the symbol of Sin, the moon god. 00:10:14.360 --> 00:10:15.620 It's pagan symbolism. 00:10:16.500 --> 00:10:21.600 Kind of weird if you're a Christian to have pagan symbolism on your coins. 00:10:21.600 --> 00:10:24.980 And then we've got this beautiful, beautiful inscription here. 00:10:25.220 --> 00:10:26.440 It's called the Izana stone. 00:10:26.600 --> 00:10:29.060 It's trilingual or at least bilingual. 00:10:29.779 --> 00:10:31.360 And this is interesting. 00:10:31.920 --> 00:10:33.480 You maybe detect a shift here. 00:10:33.560 --> 00:10:33.879 He says, 00:10:33.980 --> 00:10:37.740 By the might of the Lord of heaven, who holds power over all beings. 00:10:37.860 --> 00:10:38.300 Izana. 00:10:38.800 --> 00:10:39.720 So it's Izana. 00:10:39.720 --> 00:10:40.279 Izana. 00:10:40.279 --> 00:10:43.700 But it's, if you keep reading, it's monotheistic. 00:10:43.899 --> 00:10:44.259 He says, 00:10:44.460 --> 00:10:48.320 May the might of the Lord of heaven, who has made me king, who reigns for all eternity, invincible. 00:10:48.820 --> 00:10:50.460 Cause that no enemy can resist me. 00:10:50.980 --> 00:10:51.740 So it's this. 00:10:52.180 --> 00:10:52.840 It's interesting. 00:10:53.040 --> 00:10:54.639 It doesn't seem pagan. 00:10:55.480 --> 00:10:58.320 It doesn't seem exactly Christian either. 00:10:58.560 --> 00:11:02.860 It seems like this middle monotheistic ground here. 00:11:02.860 --> 00:11:03.300 Hmm. 00:11:04.500 --> 00:11:06.240 Well, we have more coins of Izana. 00:11:06.560 --> 00:11:08.120 These are the ones I showed you before. 00:11:08.580 --> 00:11:09.320 Here's other ones. 00:11:10.580 --> 00:11:11.580 Now, do you see a difference? 00:11:13.100 --> 00:11:18.340 There's a cross right where the lunar crescent used to be. 00:11:19.800 --> 00:11:20.279 Hmm. 00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:22.399 Maybe this guy did become a Christian. 00:11:23.560 --> 00:11:26.759 These are known as the Christian coins of Izana. 00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:30.220 Fortunately, we have other inscriptions of Izana. 00:11:30.220 --> 00:11:33.360 He was one of the most powerful kings Ethiopia ever had. 00:11:33.940 --> 00:11:35.139 And this one is amazing. 00:11:35.500 --> 00:11:37.160 The translation of it goes like this. 00:11:38.200 --> 00:11:41.160 In the faith of God and the power of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, 00:11:41.840 --> 00:11:45.399 who saved for me the kingdom by the faith of his son, Jesus Christ, 00:11:45.720 --> 00:11:48.120 who has helped me and will always help me. 00:11:49.440 --> 00:11:51.600 I, Izana, king of the Aksumites. 00:11:51.660 --> 00:11:53.820 And he goes on and he gets very personal. 00:11:53.960 --> 00:11:54.279 He says, 00:11:54.279 --> 00:12:16.819 Clearly, Izana was a Christian. 00:12:16.820 --> 00:12:22.120 And what I want to highlight is not just that Izana became a Christian. 00:12:22.560 --> 00:12:24.500 It's how he became a Christian. 00:12:24.879 --> 00:12:31.120 He became a Christian because of a slave who preached the gospel to him. 00:12:31.920 --> 00:12:32.520 Frumentius. 00:12:32.879 --> 00:12:35.680 Who shared the gospel with him. 00:12:36.520 --> 00:12:39.860 That's why he became a Christian. 00:12:39.860 --> 00:12:47.019 We will see this theme come up again as we look at other places where the gospel reached. 00:12:47.220 --> 00:12:48.840 Here's just some Ethiopian manuscripts. 00:12:49.360 --> 00:12:54.080 Ethiopia, the church, was very famous for the manuscripts that they designed. 00:12:54.279 --> 00:12:59.539 This is John the Baptist baptizing Jesus in one of their manuscripts. 00:12:59.879 --> 00:13:01.200 Here's their oldest manuscript. 00:13:01.419 --> 00:13:01.919 Very beautiful. 00:13:02.139 --> 00:13:04.960 Probably the oldest illuminated manuscript in the world. 00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:09.800 Remember that map I showed you of the European colonies? 00:13:10.100 --> 00:13:14.180 What's interesting about Ethiopia is it's one of the few places that was never colonized. 00:13:15.060 --> 00:13:19.879 And yet it's one of the oldest Christian locations in the entire world. 00:13:24.259 --> 00:13:26.639 It's 4th century, so 300s. 00:13:27.000 --> 00:13:30.620 There's debate whether he was like 350 or like 310. 00:13:30.620 --> 00:13:37.899 I think maybe 310, 320, but it's not entirely clear. 00:13:39.100 --> 00:13:40.820 Let's keep moving around. 00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:42.860 So we've been down here in Ethiopia. 00:13:43.240 --> 00:13:47.000 Let's go up here on the outskirts of the Roman Empire. 00:13:47.139 --> 00:13:48.840 This is the Roman Empire at its greatest extent. 00:13:49.019 --> 00:13:51.299 It often, the borders ended around here. 00:13:51.299 --> 00:13:58.019 So up around here in what today is Bulgaria, western Ukraine, Romania. 00:13:58.919 --> 00:14:04.079 This, back then in the 300s again, this is where the Goths were powerful. 00:14:04.240 --> 00:14:08.919 The Goths were sort of a semi-nomadic barbarian people in Europe, and they were all over the place. 00:14:09.019 --> 00:14:11.240 There were the eastern Goths and the western Goths. 00:14:11.240 --> 00:14:17.759 And they were viewed as barbarians, uneducated, illiterate. 00:14:18.860 --> 00:14:21.639 And there was a gentleman named Vulfila. 00:14:22.519 --> 00:14:29.659 And he was, his family was captured by the Goths and enslaved. 00:14:29.659 --> 00:14:35.600 And he grew up, he appears to have been a brilliant, brilliant person. 00:14:35.919 --> 00:14:38.059 He knew Latin, he knew Greek. 00:14:38.419 --> 00:14:41.259 He also learned the Gothic language. 00:14:42.059 --> 00:14:52.659 And he returned to the Roman Empire at one point and felt called to go back to preach the gospel to the Goths, 00:14:52.719 --> 00:14:55.480 which he did very successfully. 00:14:55.480 --> 00:14:59.460 He translated the Bible into the Gothic language. 00:15:00.039 --> 00:15:03.580 And here is the most ancient Gothic manuscript we have. 00:15:03.680 --> 00:15:05.080 It's called the Silver Bible. 00:15:05.980 --> 00:15:11.300 And this is not, that was not written out by the hand of Vulfila, 00:15:11.560 --> 00:15:19.740 but it's a transcription a century or two later of his translation of the gospels into the Gothic language. 00:15:19.740 --> 00:15:29.879 We don't know a lot more details about what exactly happened other than Vulfila was a captive slave 00:15:29.879 --> 00:15:34.379 who returned to his captors to preach the gospel and to translate the Bible. 00:15:34.700 --> 00:15:36.080 But do you see that again? 00:15:36.759 --> 00:15:44.560 That we have another, another slave story of someone preaching the gospel to their captors with Vulfila. 00:15:44.559 --> 00:15:49.239 That's not the last time we'll hear of this. 00:15:49.539 --> 00:15:55.459 If we go to the northwestern regions of our map here, so way up in the British Isles, 00:15:56.179 --> 00:16:01.359 which I know to us as Americans, this can seem like the closest part of Europe. 00:16:01.879 --> 00:16:06.019 Remember back then, this was like the far reaches, the ends of the earth. 00:16:06.019 --> 00:16:12.120 One of the things I like doing as a historian is reading about people groups that I'm either descended from 00:16:12.120 --> 00:16:17.299 or that, you know, my wife is British and reading what the ancients thought of these people. 00:16:17.360 --> 00:16:18.059 And they're horrible. 00:16:18.179 --> 00:16:21.559 They're eating one another and they're killing each other and sacrificing each other. 00:16:21.559 --> 00:16:22.860 And they're doing all these terrible things. 00:16:23.199 --> 00:16:27.039 And now, you know, the British, the stereotype is they were, you know, the pinnacle of human civilization, 00:16:27.039 --> 00:16:28.460 but not back then. 00:16:28.460 --> 00:16:32.720 And here's just some fascinating Christian ruins. 00:16:32.820 --> 00:16:36.100 This is the Isle of Lindisfarne on Easter morning. 00:16:37.740 --> 00:16:39.240 You can see some ancient ruins. 00:16:39.400 --> 00:16:41.759 There's an ancient manuscript of Lindisfarne Gospels, 00:16:42.220 --> 00:16:45.600 often said to be one of the most beautiful manuscripts ever made. 00:16:45.720 --> 00:16:47.060 This was made at Lindisfarne. 00:16:49.720 --> 00:16:52.740 This is the Dunfaladay Stone way up in Scotland. 00:16:53.400 --> 00:16:55.040 And I know you can't really see it. 00:16:55.039 --> 00:17:02.120 So here's a drawing of it, but you can see a cross right in the center on one side of the stone. 00:17:02.219 --> 00:17:03.719 It's a Christian inscription. 00:17:03.919 --> 00:17:05.119 Nobody really knows what it means. 00:17:05.200 --> 00:17:07.399 It's by the Pictish people in Scotland. 00:17:08.259 --> 00:17:14.599 And this just illustrates how far Christianity had spread in the British Isles. 00:17:14.819 --> 00:17:17.759 And including Ireland, this is St. Patrick's Cathedral. 00:17:18.359 --> 00:17:23.720 And this is, according to tradition, the site where St. Patrick baptized many of the local inhabitants 00:17:23.720 --> 00:17:26.420 in the 400s, in the 5th century. 00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:34.140 And this is a well-stone cover that seems to have been for St. Patrick's well, 00:17:34.279 --> 00:17:35.440 seems to have been very ancient. 00:17:37.299 --> 00:17:41.779 Well, how did the gospel come to Ireland? 00:17:42.180 --> 00:17:44.160 Some people will say, well, wasn't it St. Patrick? 00:17:44.420 --> 00:17:47.779 But when you know what St. Patrick, he's not a legendary figure. 00:17:47.880 --> 00:17:48.440 He's real. 00:17:48.740 --> 00:17:49.360 He was real. 00:17:49.359 --> 00:17:51.279 We have some of his writings. 00:17:52.379 --> 00:17:59.059 And it turns out that he was captured by the Irish and enslaved as a kid. 00:17:59.819 --> 00:18:04.519 And then, after escaping, returned to preach the gospel to them. 00:18:05.979 --> 00:18:06.219 Ivor? 00:18:06.619 --> 00:18:08.339 He's actually from where I'm from. 00:18:08.539 --> 00:18:08.979 Oh, yeah? 00:18:09.159 --> 00:18:09.459 Yeah. 00:18:09.719 --> 00:18:10.059 Awesome. 00:18:10.119 --> 00:18:10.479 Birmingham. 00:18:11.319 --> 00:18:11.839 Birmingham. 00:18:11.979 --> 00:18:12.259 Awesome. 00:18:12.259 --> 00:18:12.759 Awesome. 00:18:12.759 --> 00:18:20.319 Wow. 00:18:20.819 --> 00:18:21.079 Yeah. 00:18:21.859 --> 00:18:22.859 It's beautiful. 00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:31.579 Well, folks, here we have, again, the gospel being spread by slaves. 00:18:31.720 --> 00:18:39.339 Often slaves who had chose to return and preach to their former captors after either being released 00:18:39.339 --> 00:18:42.399 or having the chance to be released. 00:18:43.959 --> 00:18:45.480 It's a beautiful, beautiful thing. 00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:49.179 One more story I want to share with you before I transition. 00:18:49.779 --> 00:18:54.759 And this is up in the caucuses here in Georgia. 00:18:56.779 --> 00:19:01.299 Georgia is, if you know Richard, he's a linguist, a grad student here. 00:19:01.559 --> 00:19:02.859 He studies the Georgian language. 00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:04.079 It's a language isolated. 00:19:04.199 --> 00:19:05.199 It's a unique language. 00:19:05.200 --> 00:19:08.000 It doesn't really have nearby relations. 00:19:09.440 --> 00:19:13.819 It's a very difficult language, extremely difficult, notoriously difficult language to learn. 00:19:14.580 --> 00:19:16.460 And these are mountainous people. 00:19:17.019 --> 00:19:18.420 They live tucked away in here. 00:19:19.400 --> 00:19:24.700 Well, around the same time, in the 300s, the gospel came to Georgia. 00:19:24.700 --> 00:19:33.779 And the story of how that happened was, yet again, a captive, a slave, this woman who was impoverished, 00:19:33.900 --> 00:19:35.259 who was a devoted Christian. 00:19:36.019 --> 00:19:42.980 And the inhabitants of the native peoples were kind of puzzled by her because of her fasting and her prayers. 00:19:42.980 --> 00:19:44.620 And they didn't understand her. 00:19:44.619 --> 00:19:49.979 And one day, a local woman's child fell ill. 00:19:49.979 --> 00:19:56.479 And she was so desperate for healing and was asking people, just going around asking, 00:19:56.579 --> 00:20:00.399 does anyone know how to, some medicine maybe that could be given to my child? 00:20:00.879 --> 00:20:08.659 And the slave woman, whose name was Nino, said, well, I can't heal your child, but Jesus can. 00:20:09.339 --> 00:20:11.479 And prayed, and the child was healed. 00:20:11.480 --> 00:20:14.960 And this rumor, this report, spread throughout the kingdom. 00:20:15.700 --> 00:20:20.720 And the queen, the queen heard this, and she was suffering, we don't know what it was, 00:20:20.779 --> 00:20:22.279 but some terrible bodily illness. 00:20:22.599 --> 00:20:26.220 So she went to the slave woman and asked for healing. 00:20:26.819 --> 00:20:30.000 And slave woman prayed for her, and she was healed. 00:20:30.360 --> 00:20:36.380 So she went to the king and said, hey, look, like, we got to do something for this lady here. 00:20:36.380 --> 00:20:42.560 And the king says, well, let's give her a bunch of gold and stuff. 00:20:42.760 --> 00:20:45.120 And the queen said, but she's not going to want that. 00:20:45.320 --> 00:20:47.400 She wants us to follow Jesus. 00:20:48.660 --> 00:20:52.120 And the king said, I'm not going to do that. 00:20:52.480 --> 00:20:58.700 And later, shortly after this, he was out hunting and was caught in a terrible storm by himself, 00:20:58.860 --> 00:21:03.380 separated from his men, feared for his life, and remembered the God of the slave woman 00:21:03.380 --> 00:21:08.840 and prayed to this God, and instantly the clouds parted, and he went home a Christian. 00:21:09.560 --> 00:21:14.220 And the Bible was translated into Georgian soon after that. 00:21:15.800 --> 00:21:17.060 An amazing story. 00:21:17.060 --> 00:21:28.000 Again, though, we have a slave preaching the gospel to her captors to remarkable, remarkable effect. 00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:37.940 If we look at the New Testament and we read the epistles, you'll see that Paul opens his letter to the Philippians by saying, 00:21:38.059 --> 00:21:39.660 Paul, a slave of Christ. 00:21:40.200 --> 00:21:41.859 And James says the same thing. 00:21:41.940 --> 00:21:43.160 James, a slave. 00:21:43.960 --> 00:21:45.420 Peter says the same thing. 00:21:45.579 --> 00:21:46.640 A slave of Christ. 00:21:46.839 --> 00:21:48.700 Jude says the same thing. 00:21:49.299 --> 00:21:50.339 A slave of Christ. 00:21:50.339 --> 00:21:54.959 And Paul, in that famous hymn in Philippians, says, 00:21:55.119 --> 00:22:00.319 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, 00:22:00.879 --> 00:22:06.559 did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, 00:22:06.699 --> 00:22:08.339 the form literally of a slave. 00:22:09.019 --> 00:22:13.000 Being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, 00:22:13.000 --> 00:22:20.380 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 00:22:21.960 --> 00:22:28.220 Friends, we see this same mind in the early church, in the early missionaries, 00:22:28.940 --> 00:22:34.720 in those who preached the gospel so successfully at the far reaches of the earth, 00:22:34.779 --> 00:22:38.240 in Ethiopia and in Ireland and in Georgia and amongst the Goths. 00:22:38.559 --> 00:22:40.519 These were the hardest to reach places. 00:22:40.519 --> 00:22:44.500 Some of these folks were stereotyped as being terrible. 00:22:44.619 --> 00:22:45.819 You don't want to go to those people. 00:22:45.960 --> 00:22:46.839 They're going to kill you. 00:22:48.200 --> 00:22:54.000 And yet these people went, and they went as slaves of Christ. 00:22:54.980 --> 00:23:04.379 We also see some other points in this story is the importance of loving your enemies. 00:23:04.380 --> 00:23:12.980 It would have been very easy for many of the folks we've heard about to become embittered by being enslaved, 00:23:13.240 --> 00:23:16.760 by being captured, by being deported, by being exiled. 00:23:17.000 --> 00:23:17.900 But they weren't. 00:23:19.480 --> 00:23:22.720 They still loved their enemies. 00:23:23.160 --> 00:23:28.720 Another item we see is the emphasis on the translation of the scriptures. 00:23:28.720 --> 00:23:33.640 We see this especially with Volthila. 00:23:34.259 --> 00:23:38.579 He himself translating the Bible into Gothic. 00:23:39.339 --> 00:23:42.079 We'll see this again later on in a few moments. 00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:49.360 But we also see that very quickly, after many of these places believed, 00:23:49.500 --> 00:23:52.579 the Gospels and the New Testament and the Bible was translated. 00:23:52.579 --> 00:23:59.460 So the Georgians, the Bible was translated into Georgian very soon after this into Ethiopic as well. 00:23:59.599 --> 00:24:02.480 There was a translation done very, very shortly afterwards. 00:24:02.599 --> 00:24:04.980 We don't know who did the Ethiopic translation. 00:24:05.240 --> 00:24:09.399 We think we know the name of this guy, Mashtots, Mesrat Mashtots. 00:24:09.619 --> 00:24:12.579 But he also did the translation into Armenian. 00:24:12.960 --> 00:24:17.399 A brilliant, brilliant linguist, according to tradition anyway. 00:24:19.480 --> 00:24:21.419 Friends, there's still a whole lot of the world left, though. 00:24:22.579 --> 00:24:25.419 And I want to highlight down here in Nubia. 00:24:25.559 --> 00:24:28.919 We've kind of, the Gospel was in Egypt at a very, very early point, 00:24:29.319 --> 00:24:32.759 which we don't have time to dwell on today, but went down to Ethiopia. 00:24:32.759 --> 00:24:36.879 That's because it was actually easier to get to Ethiopia than it was to get to Nubia. 00:24:37.379 --> 00:24:41.359 Because you could just sail to Ethiopia and get in that way. 00:24:41.879 --> 00:24:44.679 It was harder to get into inner Nubia. 00:24:45.339 --> 00:24:50.039 You had to go down the Nile and you reach these cataracts, these waterfalls. 00:24:50.039 --> 00:24:55.039 Very treacherous that you have to get out and get your ship out of the water and haul it up. 00:24:55.200 --> 00:24:56.460 And very treacherous. 00:24:56.579 --> 00:25:00.859 A perfect pinch point to be ambushed by the neighboring tribes. 00:25:01.819 --> 00:25:04.139 But Nubia was a very advanced civilization. 00:25:04.559 --> 00:25:09.139 These are some Nubian warriors from 2000 B.C. in an Egyptian tomb. 00:25:09.839 --> 00:25:15.059 Here's another Nubian prince giving tribute to Tutankhamen in 1300 B.C. 00:25:15.059 --> 00:25:21.700 They say that Sudan, which is where ancient Nubia was, modern day Sudan, has more pyramids than Egypt. 00:25:22.779 --> 00:25:23.599 They were big builders. 00:25:24.379 --> 00:25:28.279 Taharqa was the most powerful emperor that ever reigned in Nubia. 00:25:28.399 --> 00:25:30.679 He actually conquered Egypt at one point. 00:25:31.419 --> 00:25:33.099 He was based way down in here. 00:25:34.980 --> 00:25:36.839 This is Taharqa's column. 00:25:37.200 --> 00:25:40.579 You can see, look how the people there, look how huge this is. 00:25:40.579 --> 00:25:41.720 This is what Taharqa built. 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:43.259 Very advanced civilization. 00:25:43.859 --> 00:25:45.839 A Christian civilization, too. 00:25:46.599 --> 00:25:50.740 This is Corinthians and Hebrews in Nubian. 00:25:51.980 --> 00:25:53.439 We don't know who translated it. 00:25:54.319 --> 00:25:56.019 We don't know how the gospel came to Nubia. 00:25:56.439 --> 00:25:57.699 We just know that it did. 00:25:59.000 --> 00:26:03.199 And here are, here's a map of various Nubian kingdoms. 00:26:03.359 --> 00:26:04.299 Nubia is so huge. 00:26:04.299 --> 00:26:07.200 It's hard to appreciate how large this area is. 00:26:07.399 --> 00:26:10.839 You look at a map of Africa and you think, oh, that's like the equivalent of like Pennsylvania. 00:26:10.839 --> 00:26:13.339 And you realize, no, that's like half the U.S. 00:26:14.419 --> 00:26:16.259 And there were three Nubian kingdoms. 00:26:16.779 --> 00:26:22.940 This is in Pharos, a wall painting in a cathedral in Pharos in northern Nubia. 00:26:23.559 --> 00:26:24.720 Here's another one. 00:26:25.139 --> 00:26:29.299 You can see the Nubian priest right there in this. 00:26:29.299 --> 00:26:38.720 I've shown you this already, but you can just see how huge this territory is we're talking about, which is, you know, it's kind of this area right here. 00:26:40.419 --> 00:26:45.099 If we focus in on a place called Soba, which I have two maps here. 00:26:45.220 --> 00:26:48.700 So we're talking about Sudan here, ancient Nubia. 00:26:48.819 --> 00:26:50.980 Soba is right around here, south of Khartoum. 00:26:50.980 --> 00:26:57.019 There are some remains. 00:26:57.200 --> 00:26:59.500 There was also an ancient kingdom called the Kingdom of Alwa. 00:27:00.279 --> 00:27:02.680 And this was a very large kingdom. 00:27:02.680 --> 00:27:07.759 And it went straight into Central Africa, the very edges of Central Africa. 00:27:08.360 --> 00:27:13.480 And we have a traveler's report around 1200 A.D. where the guy is sailing down here. 00:27:13.779 --> 00:27:16.880 And he's just talking about all these churches he sees everywhere. 00:27:16.880 --> 00:27:29.820 And what's amazing about this is that this kingdom was sort of the last kingdom before you get into Central Africa. 00:27:30.860 --> 00:27:35.780 And we don't know what the gospel was doing down in here. 00:27:37.400 --> 00:27:40.740 Now, the thing is, is we don't know about anything that was happening down here. 00:27:40.820 --> 00:27:41.580 There's no writings. 00:27:41.740 --> 00:27:45.620 There's no historical material remains, really. 00:27:45.619 --> 00:27:47.439 We don't know. 00:27:48.119 --> 00:27:53.899 What we do know is that there was right on the borders a Christian kingdom for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years. 00:27:54.779 --> 00:28:02.439 And I can bet you that some of them did bring the gospel down into Central Africa. 00:28:03.019 --> 00:28:04.159 I was talking with Kalou. 00:28:04.599 --> 00:28:06.319 Kalou and Gigi are from this area. 00:28:06.419 --> 00:28:07.419 They're from right around here. 00:28:07.420 --> 00:28:19.860 And he was telling me that actually the language that he speaks is spoken, is a very similar related language, is spoken by a people way down south. 00:28:20.100 --> 00:28:22.600 And usually that happens because of migration. 00:28:23.360 --> 00:28:28.100 And so the idea is at some point these folks did go far south. 00:28:28.099 --> 00:28:32.139 Hopefully they brought the gospel with them. 00:28:32.679 --> 00:28:33.419 We don't know. 00:28:33.659 --> 00:28:36.779 These are mysteries that we will find out one day, I'm sure. 00:28:37.579 --> 00:28:39.019 There's some other Christian locations. 00:28:39.159 --> 00:28:42.359 There's some Christian pottery found way out over here in Ein Pharah. 00:28:42.359 --> 00:28:46.299 Here you can see it, a fish with a cross on it. 00:28:48.099 --> 00:28:49.599 Anyway, these are huge countries. 00:28:49.779 --> 00:28:54.359 This is just transposing some of these countries, Egypt and Sudan and Ethiopia. 00:28:55.179 --> 00:28:56.819 You can see how large these countries are. 00:28:57.479 --> 00:28:58.179 They're very large. 00:29:00.019 --> 00:29:00.439 All right. 00:29:01.279 --> 00:29:08.779 I want us, though, to move further east in Asia to hear about the gospel in that part of the world. 00:29:08.779 --> 00:29:14.019 And we're going to start here, sort of the outpost to Asia, Edessa, ancient Edessa. 00:29:15.359 --> 00:29:17.920 This was on the outskirts of the Roman Empire. 00:29:18.660 --> 00:29:28.599 The people of this city, the city state, spoke Syriac, which was a language very closely related to Aramaic that Jesus spoke. 00:29:28.879 --> 00:29:31.680 Think sort of Spanish and Portuguese, very similar. 00:29:32.660 --> 00:29:35.740 And we have a writer from 200 A.D. 00:29:35.740 --> 00:29:39.299 He's our first Syriac writer, writing from Edessa, named Bardazin. 00:29:39.759 --> 00:29:42.920 And he's got this little sort of argument. 00:29:43.059 --> 00:29:49.059 Everybody in his culture believed in fate, that your actions were guided by the stars controlling what you're doing and stuff. 00:29:49.319 --> 00:29:53.920 So he wrote a, he was a Christian theologian, and he wrote a document against this idea. 00:29:54.680 --> 00:30:03.480 And in this, he lists all of the wicked practices of the nations and how Christians don't follow these practices. 00:30:03.480 --> 00:30:05.620 And he says this, 00:30:05.619 --> 00:30:11.539 For behold, we all, wherever we may be, are called Christians, after the one named the Messiah. 00:30:12.059 --> 00:30:17.099 And upon one day, the first day of the week, we gather together, and on the appointed days we abstain from food. 00:30:17.459 --> 00:30:20.959 And our brothers who live in Gaul do not marry men. 00:30:21.399 --> 00:30:24.459 And those who live in Parthia do not marry two women. 00:30:24.839 --> 00:30:26.919 And in Judea, they are not circumcised. 00:30:27.039 --> 00:30:31.119 Our sisters among the Geli and the Kushanians do not have intercourse with foreigners. 00:30:31.259 --> 00:30:32.099 They're not sleeping around. 00:30:32.219 --> 00:30:34.459 They who live in Persia do not marry their daughters. 00:30:34.460 --> 00:30:35.900 And he goes on like this. 00:30:36.539 --> 00:30:40.160 Now, I'm pointing this out because of the locations he mentions Christians. 00:30:40.960 --> 00:30:46.440 In these locations, Gaul, Parthia, amongst the Geli, wherever they are, the Kushanians. 00:30:46.840 --> 00:30:48.680 You maybe never heard of these people before. 00:30:49.700 --> 00:30:56.200 And if we zoom out, we see that Bardazin is writing here in Edessa, and he's talking about these people. 00:30:56.200 --> 00:31:01.819 And what is interesting is what this means is that, ooh, there are Christians over here. 00:31:02.480 --> 00:31:09.840 He's telling us in 200 AD there's Christians in Parthia and Media and amongst the Geli people and amongst the historic heart of Persia. 00:31:09.839 --> 00:31:16.740 This is historic Persia as opposed to what would become the Persian Empire in a few decades after Bardazin. 00:31:16.740 --> 00:31:21.579 But we don't see all the people he's mentioned. 00:31:22.319 --> 00:31:26.819 One other group he talked about were the people from Gaul, way up in France. 00:31:26.819 --> 00:31:35.519 But he also mentions these folks, the Kushanians, way out here in Afghanistan. 00:31:36.619 --> 00:31:41.200 And actually their capital was ancient, the ancient city of Balkh. 00:31:41.519 --> 00:31:44.919 This was visited by Alexander the Great, you know, hundreds and hundreds of years before. 00:31:45.079 --> 00:31:48.159 This is Balkh today or 20 years ago, actually. 00:31:48.379 --> 00:31:49.539 It's in ruins now. 00:31:49.539 --> 00:31:59.940 And this is the Kushan Empire at the time, centered here and stretching into what is today China and India and Pakistan. 00:32:01.200 --> 00:32:04.180 And Bardazin says there were Christians there. 00:32:04.899 --> 00:32:06.339 We don't know how they got there. 00:32:06.680 --> 00:32:07.839 We don't know what they were doing. 00:32:08.000 --> 00:32:08.740 We don't know how many. 00:32:09.220 --> 00:32:10.759 But he says they were there. 00:32:12.779 --> 00:32:13.339 Fascinating. 00:32:13.339 --> 00:32:18.920 By 200 AD, we do know a little bit more about, 00:32:19.539 --> 00:32:24.019 the spread of Christianity in the Persian Empire. 00:32:24.119 --> 00:32:28.579 The Persian Empire, mighty, mighty empire, often more powerful than the Roman Empire. 00:32:29.599 --> 00:32:31.379 And you see how large it is. 00:32:31.460 --> 00:32:35.319 It stretches all the way into what is today Pakistan on the edges of China. 00:32:35.579 --> 00:32:39.399 And these borders are going back and forth throughout the decades and the centuries. 00:32:39.619 --> 00:32:47.200 Up into Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, but all the way west into what is today Turkey and Saudi Arabia and places like that. 00:32:47.200 --> 00:32:50.779 In fact, it would often even come all the way down the Arabian Peninsula. 00:32:52.160 --> 00:32:56.160 Well, I want to share one story about the spread of Christianity. 00:32:56.799 --> 00:32:59.900 And this was during the reign of the Emperor Shapur I. 00:33:00.600 --> 00:33:04.180 Here's a monumental statue of him, 240 to 270 AD. 00:33:04.180 --> 00:33:12.820 Here's another picture of him accepting the surrender of a defeated king. 00:33:13.640 --> 00:33:24.200 And scholars suggest that this king is the Emperor of Rome, Valerian, whom Shapur defeated in battle. 00:33:24.960 --> 00:33:27.620 And captured Shapur. 00:33:27.619 --> 00:33:31.219 And the story goes, would use Shapur as a footrest. 00:33:32.379 --> 00:33:36.079 So this is how powerful the Persian Empire was. 00:33:36.159 --> 00:33:37.299 They would defeat the Romans. 00:33:38.159 --> 00:33:40.239 And Shapur was the most powerful man in the world. 00:33:40.639 --> 00:33:45.479 And he goes in, mows down the Romans in the Eastern Empire, 00:33:46.079 --> 00:33:50.959 captures thousands of people and deports them back into Persia. 00:33:50.960 --> 00:33:53.940 And there's an account of this deportation. 00:33:56.519 --> 00:33:58.660 It's a chronicle written in Syriac. 00:33:58.819 --> 00:33:59.420 And it says this, 00:33:59.539 --> 00:34:03.960 Those of the fathers, our ancient ancestors, who had been exiled by the accursed Valerian. 00:34:04.660 --> 00:34:06.400 Valerian, remember, he's the Roman Emperor. 00:34:06.539 --> 00:34:07.120 He was a pagan. 00:34:07.240 --> 00:34:08.340 He's persecuting Christians. 00:34:09.079 --> 00:34:11.780 Shapur comes and defeats Valerian, makes him his footstool. 00:34:11.780 --> 00:34:17.720 Well, what ends up happening is Shapur goes to the Roman territory and he takes with him prisoners. 00:34:18.460 --> 00:34:24.019 That he later settled in Iraq, in Susa, in Persia, and the cities that his father had built. 00:34:24.360 --> 00:34:28.519 He settled prisoners and he gave them land to cultivate, to populate, and houses to live in. 00:34:29.019 --> 00:34:31.480 Christians, too, became more numerous in Persia. 00:34:31.860 --> 00:34:33.580 And they built monasteries and churches. 00:34:33.579 --> 00:34:42.039 So, it looks like amongst these huge prison population that Shapur captured, there were many Christians. 00:34:42.039 --> 00:34:44.840 Who are now being settled all over the Persian Empire. 00:34:46.139 --> 00:34:52.219 And the chronicle says Christians spread throughout the entire country and became very numerous in the East. 00:34:53.159 --> 00:34:57.679 For example, at Yaran Shar, the Archdiocese of Persia, two churches were built. 00:34:57.779 --> 00:35:01.940 One was the Roman Church that had Syriac and Greek in there. 00:35:01.940 --> 00:35:09.900 God was merciful to the Romans, that is, the Roman Christians, by mitigating the distress of exile and servitude in that their situation improved. 00:35:10.039 --> 00:35:15.099 They prospered in Persia and their situation became better than in their own country. 00:35:16.159 --> 00:35:19.900 This is because, at the time, Rome was persecuting Christians. 00:35:20.639 --> 00:35:22.960 And it turns out, Persia wasn't. 00:35:24.059 --> 00:35:29.159 And so, Christians spread throughout Persia during this time. 00:35:29.159 --> 00:35:37.000 It was like God just scattered them throughout, where they just founded churches and preached the gospel. 00:35:37.960 --> 00:35:38.799 It's really remarkable. 00:35:40.259 --> 00:35:43.639 Not everything would continue to go well in Persia, though. 00:35:43.920 --> 00:35:46.539 If we zoom in, there's this fabulous inscription here. 00:35:46.719 --> 00:35:47.819 This is the country of Iran. 00:35:48.059 --> 00:35:48.799 It's right here. 00:35:49.139 --> 00:35:50.940 It's called Naqsh-e-Rajab. 00:35:51.000 --> 00:35:52.139 It's a monumental inscription. 00:35:52.139 --> 00:35:54.960 And this guy right here. 00:35:55.440 --> 00:36:02.379 This is Cartier, the archpriest, the high priest of Zoroastrianism. 00:36:03.500 --> 00:36:05.779 He's sometimes called the Arch Magus. 00:36:06.420 --> 00:36:09.159 And he left this inscription right here. 00:36:09.239 --> 00:36:10.259 He's pointing at it. 00:36:10.779 --> 00:36:14.019 And if you zoom in, you can see some of the squiggles of the writing. 00:36:14.019 --> 00:36:21.139 And if you translate it, what he does here, among many other things, is brags about persecuting Christians. 00:36:22.340 --> 00:36:24.079 And this is around the year 270. 00:36:24.639 --> 00:36:26.340 So, about 50 years after Shapur. 00:36:28.639 --> 00:36:30.239 Things continue to get worse. 00:36:30.420 --> 00:36:37.039 The successor, Shapur II, not the first one, the second one, he comes to power in the 300s. 00:36:37.079 --> 00:36:38.420 He reigns for 70 years. 00:36:38.599 --> 00:36:39.619 Really long time. 00:36:39.619 --> 00:36:44.480 He was crowned in his mother's womb when his father died. 00:36:45.359 --> 00:36:52.920 And he started a massive persecution that could rightly be called like a genocide of Christians. 00:36:53.559 --> 00:36:56.920 And he killed untold thousands. 00:36:57.099 --> 00:37:00.359 There's a report that says the number of dead was passed finding out. 00:37:01.079 --> 00:37:06.500 And we have lists of the priests who were killed in this manuscript from 411. 00:37:06.619 --> 00:37:07.719 Very, very ancient manuscript. 00:37:07.719 --> 00:37:09.899 I've held this in my hands in the British Library. 00:37:10.259 --> 00:37:11.500 It's from 411. 00:37:13.159 --> 00:37:15.919 One Christian writer, we have his writings. 00:37:16.019 --> 00:37:17.059 His name is Afrahat. 00:37:17.399 --> 00:37:20.659 He has a beautiful prayer about this persecution. 00:37:20.839 --> 00:37:23.879 And his prayer is, Lord, just leave a remnant of us. 00:37:24.519 --> 00:37:25.699 Please just leave a remnant. 00:37:27.279 --> 00:37:30.659 And God answered his prayers. 00:37:30.659 --> 00:37:43.379 There's a later account about this persecution where this magus, Zoroastrian priest, is complaining about Christianity. 00:37:44.199 --> 00:37:47.980 And this is from a Christian historian, Elijah Vartipat. 00:37:47.980 --> 00:37:55.900 And what he describes the Christians doing during this persecution in Persia is so beautiful. 00:37:56.480 --> 00:37:57.139 He says this. 00:37:57.139 --> 00:38:06.779 In the days of Shapur, king of kings, when that doctrine of yours, Christianity, began to increase and spread and fill the whole of Persia and even reach the east beyond, 00:38:07.420 --> 00:38:15.259 those who were the teachers of our religion, Zoroastrianism, enjoined the king to prevent the religion of Magiism, that's Zoroastrianism, 00:38:15.260 --> 00:38:18.460 from being completely exterminated from the land. 00:38:18.940 --> 00:38:23.700 So he gave a strict order that Christianity should be silenced and brought to a halt. 00:38:24.260 --> 00:38:28.840 Yet the more he wished to restrain and prevent them, the more they increased and expanded, 00:38:29.380 --> 00:38:34.440 reaching even the land of the Krushans and to the south spreading as far as India. 00:38:34.980 --> 00:38:39.020 They were so fearless and audacious in Persia that in every city of the land, 00:38:39.360 --> 00:38:42.780 they built churches which surpassed in splendor the royal palace. 00:38:42.780 --> 00:38:47.800 And although the king lay forcible hand on them, arresting and torturing many of them, 00:38:48.240 --> 00:38:53.660 slaughtering even more and becoming embittered and soured, yet he was unable to diminish their number. 00:38:54.640 --> 00:38:59.060 Furthermore, although he locked and sealed the doors of the churches throughout the whole land of Persia, 00:38:59.440 --> 00:39:03.200 they made every house a church and they practiced the religion everywhere. 00:39:03.920 --> 00:39:09.000 Each one considered himself a shrine and they reckoned bodily temples superior to material ones. 00:39:09.000 --> 00:39:13.519 The swords of the executioners were blunted, but their necks were not wearied. 00:39:14.699 --> 00:39:15.760 Oh, wow. 00:39:18.380 --> 00:39:25.599 That was how they kept the precious treasure of the gospel, by laying their lives down and persevering. 00:39:26.340 --> 00:39:32.579 And actually, after Shapur II died in 379, after a terrible 70-year reign, 00:39:32.579 --> 00:39:38.319 a new emperor came to the throne who realized that persecuted Christians wasn't working. 00:39:38.940 --> 00:39:40.319 They just kept spreading. 00:39:40.719 --> 00:39:42.659 So he stopped the persecution. 00:39:43.699 --> 00:39:45.900 Now, there were other periods of persecution. 00:39:46.099 --> 00:39:48.719 It didn't just get, you know, better all of a sudden. 00:39:49.239 --> 00:39:55.299 In fact, the Christians in Persia never had a Christian emperor like the Romans ended up having 00:39:55.299 --> 00:39:56.980 at some point in their history. 00:39:56.980 --> 00:40:03.860 An interesting thing about the Persian church was their evangelistic zeal. 00:40:04.599 --> 00:40:07.420 They wanted to spread the gospel. 00:40:07.920 --> 00:40:12.940 There's a famous poet from the Persian church named Narsai. 00:40:13.599 --> 00:40:14.980 He's writing around the year 500. 00:40:15.480 --> 00:40:17.519 He wrote many poems, wrote many hymns. 00:40:17.679 --> 00:40:22.000 And just like us, when we write hymns, sometimes we will take on in our hymnography, 00:40:22.000 --> 00:40:27.039 like the voice of God, where God will be speaking in the hymn, or Jesus will be speaking in the hymn. 00:40:27.699 --> 00:40:28.579 He did the same thing. 00:40:28.820 --> 00:40:31.179 So he takes up the voice of Jesus, and he says this, 00:40:31.280 --> 00:40:35.480 Your task is this, to complete the mystery of the preaching. 00:40:35.920 --> 00:40:40.599 And you shall be my witnesses of the new way, which I open in my person. 00:40:40.780 --> 00:40:44.300 You I send as messengers to the four quarters of the earth, 00:40:44.780 --> 00:40:47.639 to convert the Gentiles to kinship with the house of Abraham. 00:40:48.280 --> 00:40:49.460 By you is the light. 00:40:49.519 --> 00:40:51.320 I will banish the darkness of error. 00:40:51.320 --> 00:40:54.340 By your flames I will enlighten the blind world. 00:40:54.800 --> 00:40:58.740 Go forth, give freely the freedom of life to immortality. 00:40:59.960 --> 00:41:05.539 See that evangelistic zeal that they had to spread the gospel, 00:41:06.519 --> 00:41:09.340 and that they were willing to lay their lives down for it. 00:41:10.260 --> 00:41:16.260 So, one story I want to highlight is one of the greatest leaders of this Persian church 00:41:16.260 --> 00:41:18.840 was a gentleman named Mar-Aba the Great. 00:41:18.840 --> 00:41:25.079 He was in charge for 12 years of the Church of the East, from 540 to 552. 00:41:25.700 --> 00:41:28.640 And his story is instructive. 00:41:29.260 --> 00:41:30.820 He was born as Oroastrian. 00:41:30.820 --> 00:41:38.180 The story of how he converted to Christianity was one day he was trying to cross the Tigris River. 00:41:39.240 --> 00:41:39.820 Massive river. 00:41:40.100 --> 00:41:40.980 So, you need a ferry. 00:41:41.280 --> 00:41:42.120 You've got to wait for the ferry. 00:41:42.320 --> 00:41:44.720 And he gets on the ferry, and he sees a Christian on the ferry. 00:41:45.120 --> 00:41:46.920 And he tells the guy, get off. 00:41:47.120 --> 00:41:48.940 I'm not going to be on the ferry with someone like you. 00:41:49.460 --> 00:41:50.440 Makes the guy get off. 00:41:50.519 --> 00:41:51.559 The ferry starts crossing. 00:41:51.660 --> 00:41:52.620 A storm comes up. 00:41:52.740 --> 00:41:53.600 The ferry has to return. 00:41:53.599 --> 00:41:55.579 So, now they're awkwardly sitting next to each other. 00:41:56.360 --> 00:41:58.079 Then, the storm passes. 00:41:58.500 --> 00:41:59.819 He gets on the ferry again. 00:42:00.119 --> 00:42:01.659 Doesn't let the Christian get on. 00:42:02.239 --> 00:42:03.019 Starts crossing. 00:42:03.199 --> 00:42:04.319 A storm comes up again. 00:42:04.719 --> 00:42:05.920 So, he's got to go back. 00:42:05.980 --> 00:42:06.739 Then he's sitting there. 00:42:07.480 --> 00:42:10.920 And so, the third time, he's going, and he's getting really upset. 00:42:11.059 --> 00:42:13.839 He's starting to wonder if this has something to do with his treatment of the Christian. 00:42:14.839 --> 00:42:17.619 Third time, he lets the Christian come on. 00:42:18.619 --> 00:42:21.420 Starts talking to the Christian, and the Christian forgives him. 00:42:21.420 --> 00:42:30.300 And Marabba is so amazed by this, that by the time they reach the other shore, he's become a Christian, too. 00:42:31.079 --> 00:42:35.500 And he went on to be a mighty leader in the Persian church. 00:42:36.440 --> 00:42:40.579 He journeyed to Jerusalem, to Egypt, to Greece, to Constantinople. 00:42:40.680 --> 00:42:43.159 He toured many of the dioceses of Persia. 00:42:43.220 --> 00:42:44.780 Remember how huge Persia is. 00:42:45.659 --> 00:42:50.079 He accepted the Council of Chalcedon from a couple hundred years earlier. 00:42:50.079 --> 00:42:56.400 And one day, the Christians are doing such a great job of evangelizing. 00:42:56.719 --> 00:43:03.799 And the Zoroastrian high priests are getting really upset about how many Zoroastrians are becoming Christian. 00:43:04.179 --> 00:43:09.239 So, they appeal to the emperor, the king of kings, the Shah and Shah. 00:43:09.880 --> 00:43:11.519 And they're like, you've got to arrest this guy. 00:43:11.519 --> 00:43:17.599 In fact, it's against the law to convert from Zoroastrianism to Christianity, which he did. 00:43:17.679 --> 00:43:19.039 And then he's doing it to other people. 00:43:19.119 --> 00:43:20.019 He deserves to die. 00:43:20.519 --> 00:43:21.420 So, he's arrested. 00:43:21.759 --> 00:43:23.159 He's brought before the emperor. 00:43:23.440 --> 00:43:28.119 The emperor, you know, not quite as zealous for Zoroastrianism as the high priest Sars. 00:43:28.239 --> 00:43:29.679 And he kind of likes Marabba. 00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:31.739 So, he tries to strike a deal. 00:43:32.300 --> 00:43:35.440 And he says, okay, Marabba, I'm going to save your life. 00:43:35.440 --> 00:43:39.340 You just got to stop preaching the gospel. 00:43:39.539 --> 00:43:40.880 You can do whatever you want. 00:43:41.000 --> 00:43:41.860 You can be a Christian. 00:43:42.039 --> 00:43:44.159 Just stop preaching the gospel. 00:43:44.960 --> 00:43:47.460 And Marabba said this, I am a Christian. 00:43:48.000 --> 00:43:50.059 And I preach my own faith. 00:43:50.220 --> 00:43:51.960 And I want every man to join it. 00:43:52.220 --> 00:43:56.360 But I want every man to join it of his own free will and not of compulsion. 00:43:56.559 --> 00:43:58.099 I use force on no man. 00:43:59.559 --> 00:44:01.019 So, he says, no. 00:44:01.740 --> 00:44:03.559 I'm not going to agree to that. 00:44:03.559 --> 00:44:06.119 And the king's upset. 00:44:06.239 --> 00:44:06.960 Throws him in prison. 00:44:07.279 --> 00:44:08.500 Eventually, Marabba gets out. 00:44:09.039 --> 00:44:11.460 Isn't actually executed for that. 00:44:11.940 --> 00:44:18.779 But this illustrates, just again, that diligent perseverance for the gospel. 00:44:18.920 --> 00:44:28.199 The patience under persecution that Marabba exhibited and that was exhibited by so many other Christians in Persia. 00:44:28.679 --> 00:44:30.619 Well, how far eastward did the Church of the East extend? 00:44:31.299 --> 00:44:32.880 We have some idea. 00:44:32.880 --> 00:44:35.780 They had a church council in 424 where they took attendance. 00:44:36.660 --> 00:44:39.680 And we know where some of the representatives came from. 00:44:40.039 --> 00:44:41.940 They came from places like Turkmenistan. 00:44:42.660 --> 00:44:46.380 And Afghanistan and Pakistan and Sijistan. 00:44:46.559 --> 00:44:48.180 This is right where Neroz is from. 00:44:49.720 --> 00:44:51.460 And from Herat, Afghanistan. 00:44:51.460 --> 00:44:56.920 And in fact, they had many councils and people came from these places for hundreds of years. 00:44:59.179 --> 00:45:01.820 But did they go further east? 00:45:02.000 --> 00:45:05.280 Oh, this is a bronze cross of Herat from 750 A.D. 00:45:05.880 --> 00:45:09.240 It's one of the very few Christian artifacts that remains from Afghanistan. 00:45:09.239 --> 00:45:15.379 How far eastward did the Church of the East go? 00:45:15.500 --> 00:45:19.000 Well, we've got a couple ways to figure this out. 00:45:19.359 --> 00:45:22.919 One is with a story of the Hephthalites. 00:45:23.439 --> 00:45:25.519 These are a nomadic people from Kazakhstan. 00:45:26.519 --> 00:45:30.059 And they were sweeping down and conquering people and pillaging and everything. 00:45:30.059 --> 00:45:34.440 And how did that happen? 00:45:36.000 --> 00:45:36.139 Hmm. 00:45:37.179 --> 00:45:38.659 We have lost the PowerPoint. 00:45:40.019 --> 00:45:40.559 There we go. 00:45:40.559 --> 00:45:48.179 And there's a beautiful story of after the Hephthalites had conquered of Persian missionaries 00:45:48.179 --> 00:45:50.079 translating the Bible into their language. 00:45:50.199 --> 00:45:53.719 They had to create a whole alphabet, translate the Bible into their language, 00:45:53.719 --> 00:45:56.019 and working with another Armenian missionary. 00:45:56.199 --> 00:45:58.920 So you have kind of a cross-cultural missionary team. 00:45:59.320 --> 00:46:02.960 You have Syriac folks and Armenian folks ministering to these people. 00:46:02.960 --> 00:46:13.240 Here's an example of a Christian artifact from Kazakhstan, one of the very few that we have. 00:46:15.579 --> 00:46:19.119 Well, how far eastward did the Church of the East go? 00:46:19.179 --> 00:46:21.139 Well, we know that they made it to India. 00:46:21.760 --> 00:46:27.380 We have artifacts, bronze plates, inscriptions that remain in India. 00:46:27.599 --> 00:46:31.360 Here's one of them, the Kilon copper plates written in various languages. 00:46:31.360 --> 00:46:35.300 We have crosses in India as well, Christian crosses. 00:46:36.039 --> 00:46:37.820 This one may be one of the oldest. 00:46:38.059 --> 00:46:39.019 It's hard to date. 00:46:39.620 --> 00:46:42.720 Some people say 340 A.D., but we don't really know. 00:46:42.840 --> 00:46:44.400 It could very easily be 8th century. 00:46:45.019 --> 00:46:52.340 Here's another one from Taksila up in the north, a Christian cross up from around there in what is today Pakistan. 00:46:54.980 --> 00:46:59.740 We also have a story of the gospel going to India, 00:46:59.739 --> 00:47:01.939 and that involves the apostle Thomas. 00:47:02.259 --> 00:47:11.939 Way back in apostolic times, the tradition from the 2nd century goes that Thomas was sent by Jesus to go to India. 00:47:12.199 --> 00:47:17.479 He didn't want to go, and Jesus, now this is according to legend, 00:47:17.480 --> 00:47:25.699 Jesus appears in a market and sells Thomas into slavery to get him to go to India. 00:47:26.300 --> 00:47:29.039 And he talks to the slave trader, and he says, 00:47:29.099 --> 00:47:32.219 I want to sell that guy over there to you, and he sells him. 00:47:32.280 --> 00:47:39.340 And then the guy wants to make sure Thomas is actually a slave and not just Jesus isn't just pulling a prank. 00:47:39.500 --> 00:47:42.159 And so he goes up to Thomas, and he points at Jesus across the market. 00:47:42.260 --> 00:47:43.280 He says, is that your master? 00:47:43.280 --> 00:47:44.940 And Thomas says, yes. 00:47:45.880 --> 00:47:53.120 And then he grabs him and sells him into slavery, not knowing that, you know, like sensei master kind of thing, your teacher. 00:47:53.240 --> 00:47:57.880 Anyway, so the story goes, Thomas goes, there's a lot I could say about this. 00:47:58.220 --> 00:48:06.200 He preaches to a king, Indian king, Gundafaris, and is very successful, ends up dying as a martyr. 00:48:06.199 --> 00:48:14.899 And the problem with this story is there's a lot of hilarious, funny things about it, which seems like maybe are made up. 00:48:15.199 --> 00:48:17.859 And then Gundafaris never existed as a king. 00:48:18.460 --> 00:48:20.480 There's another big problem with the story. 00:48:21.099 --> 00:48:25.659 However, when the British were in India, they started finding these coins. 00:48:26.419 --> 00:48:27.399 And what do you know? 00:48:27.980 --> 00:48:31.239 It's the coins of King Gundafaris right here. 00:48:31.239 --> 00:48:38.500 And when you date these coins through other inscriptions, the king dates to right around 55 AD. 00:48:39.379 --> 00:48:42.079 So right when Thomas would have been there. 00:48:42.739 --> 00:48:46.119 Gundafaris was part of the Indo-Parthian kingdom up in northwestern India. 00:48:47.819 --> 00:48:50.539 So maybe he did. 00:48:51.119 --> 00:48:52.399 I think he did go to India. 00:48:52.400 --> 00:48:59.940 This collection of his stories is part of a collection of like the Acts of Paul, Acts of Peter, Acts of Thomas, Acts of John. 00:48:59.940 --> 00:49:06.019 And the one thing we know about these is that they placed Peter in Rome where he dies. 00:49:06.139 --> 00:49:07.519 They placed Paul in Rome where he dies. 00:49:07.599 --> 00:49:08.700 They placed John in Ephesus. 00:49:08.960 --> 00:49:12.639 And we know from church history, those apostles did actually go to those places. 00:49:13.260 --> 00:49:17.900 So the fact that Thomas is placed in India is a pretty good indication he did actually go. 00:49:18.500 --> 00:49:21.980 Thomas ended up dying, according to tradition, down here. 00:49:21.980 --> 00:49:27.179 So and most of the ancient Christians were down here and in Sri Lanka. 00:49:27.920 --> 00:49:34.159 In fact, when Marco Polo went to China, he sailed back and stopped at the tomb of the Apostle Thomas right here. 00:49:34.900 --> 00:49:37.500 So I think Thomas did go to India. 00:49:37.679 --> 00:49:39.900 These pictures were taken by Timothy Hines. 00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:40.900 Some of you might remember him. 00:49:41.519 --> 00:49:42.420 His wife is from India. 00:49:42.740 --> 00:49:49.119 And this is the rock where Thomas was, according to tradition, martyred in southern India. 00:49:49.119 --> 00:49:55.299 So last story before we'll end. 00:49:56.059 --> 00:49:57.380 The gospel in China. 00:49:58.199 --> 00:49:59.319 There's much to say. 00:49:59.460 --> 00:50:01.659 I'll have to rush here and skip over a lot. 00:50:01.900 --> 00:50:10.179 But there is a monument in Xi'an, China, 10 foot tall, maybe nine feet, covered in Chinese inscriptions. 00:50:10.179 --> 00:50:11.839 It was found in the 1600s. 00:50:12.440 --> 00:50:15.539 It dates to the year 785, I think. 00:50:16.059 --> 00:50:16.819 There it is today. 00:50:17.039 --> 00:50:19.219 If you go to Xi'an, China, you can see it. 00:50:19.539 --> 00:50:20.279 It's beautiful. 00:50:21.379 --> 00:50:22.799 Here's a rubbing of it. 00:50:22.879 --> 00:50:25.699 You can see how exquisite the inscriptions are. 00:50:25.699 --> 00:50:34.819 However, this is a Chinese Christian monument set up in 785 AD telling the story of how Christianity came to China. 00:50:36.119 --> 00:50:41.819 There's also some different writings, Syriac writing, because it was the Persian Christians who made it there. 00:50:43.779 --> 00:50:48.139 Here are the names of the Persian Christians who helped set up this monument. 00:50:48.460 --> 00:50:51.079 Their names are written in Syriac and in Chinese characters. 00:50:51.079 --> 00:50:56.119 The story this monument tells is extraordinary. 00:50:56.920 --> 00:51:05.279 It says in 635 AD, a monk named Alapen from Persia came to China. 00:51:06.500 --> 00:51:15.019 And we don't know how, but somehow he was able to meet with the emperor, who was like godlike. 00:51:15.440 --> 00:51:17.880 How this would happen, we don't know. 00:51:17.880 --> 00:51:25.280 In fact, many scholars believe that the monument is exaggerated, that this could have actually happened. 00:51:25.460 --> 00:51:28.440 Alapen, I'm sure he probably came to China, but he didn't like sit with the emperor. 00:51:29.039 --> 00:51:38.700 But we know that he did because the Chinese are very good record keepers and they kept records of imperial decrees. 00:51:38.699 --> 00:51:46.559 And there's an imperial decree from the very emperor named on the monument that mentions Alapen meeting with the emperor. 00:51:46.859 --> 00:51:47.859 So we know it happened. 00:51:48.659 --> 00:51:56.339 And the emperor tells Alapen in this decree that you have permission to preach the gospel throughout the empire. 00:51:56.340 --> 00:52:02.200 And the monument goes on to say they also translated the scriptures. 00:52:04.039 --> 00:52:05.760 And it's fascinating. 00:52:05.900 --> 00:52:09.500 We do have some Chinese Christian remains. 00:52:09.760 --> 00:52:11.180 This is a silk portrait. 00:52:11.320 --> 00:52:13.539 You can see a cross right here. 00:52:14.039 --> 00:52:15.780 It's very hard to make out, but it is there. 00:52:15.880 --> 00:52:16.340 Trust me. 00:52:16.340 --> 00:52:23.800 And if you see a line drawing of it on the left, this is one of the few Christian artifacts that remain. 00:52:25.039 --> 00:52:32.100 Well, the monument goes on and it says that Alapen prospered for some time. 00:52:32.099 --> 00:52:40.539 And that by the time the next emperor came along, so Alapen arrives in 635, the next emperor is from 650 to 683. 00:52:40.900 --> 00:52:51.259 And so great had Alapen become that the emperor conferred to him the honor of the office of the great patron and spiritual lord of the empire. 00:52:52.299 --> 00:52:54.400 Ooh, that's a big deal. 00:52:54.400 --> 00:52:59.840 And it says the monument calls Christianity Jingjiao, the law, the luminous religion. 00:52:59.920 --> 00:53:04.160 And it says the law of the luminous religion spread to the ten provinces. 00:53:05.720 --> 00:53:08.240 So these are the ten provinces of the Tang dynasty. 00:53:08.519 --> 00:53:15.500 And it says that there were churches and monasteries in all of them in the 600s, the 700s. 00:53:16.380 --> 00:53:20.420 Here's another Christian monument from 815 A.D. 00:53:20.579 --> 00:53:23.760 You can see in a rubbing the crosses that are on there. 00:53:24.400 --> 00:53:34.320 If you chart out known Christian locations between 635 and 1000 A.D., we see that they're kind of all over the place, even in Tibet. 00:53:37.280 --> 00:53:45.440 I think perhaps one of the most remarkable pieces of information, though, is that if you read these names that are inscribed on the side of the monument that we saw earlier, 00:53:45.440 --> 00:53:59.500 that are in Syriac and then in Chinese, there's one name that says that the person in China, the missionary who's working there, his native hometown, 00:54:00.139 --> 00:54:03.139 and his native hometown was Balkh, Afghanistan. 00:54:04.960 --> 00:54:08.840 In other words, Afghanistan was a sending church. 00:54:08.840 --> 00:54:16.840 That Balkh is the same place where Bardai's in in 200 A.D. said, oh, yeah, there's Christians there in 200 A.D. 00:54:17.039 --> 00:54:23.260 And then in 835, we get an inscription here that says, oh, yeah, there's Christians there. 00:54:24.059 --> 00:54:29.260 They sent a guy here to start this fabulous mission in China. 00:54:29.700 --> 00:54:32.579 Friends, how beautiful is this? 00:54:32.579 --> 00:54:39.759 So, quickly going, the Mongols roll into power. 00:54:40.079 --> 00:54:41.779 They conquer pretty much everything. 00:54:42.420 --> 00:54:49.880 And we've got all sorts of stories like Marco Polo going from Europe in the 1200s all the way to China. 00:54:50.079 --> 00:54:56.299 If you read Marco Polo's journey, what's interesting is he just keeps running into Christians where he's going. 00:54:56.300 --> 00:55:08.300 And if you chart Christianity in China from 1200 to 1350, these are all places of known where Christians were known to have been in China in the 1200s and the 1300s. 00:55:10.460 --> 00:55:12.660 Amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing. 00:55:13.900 --> 00:55:16.400 So, here's some Christian artifacts from China. 00:55:16.460 --> 00:55:17.320 This is my favorite one. 00:55:18.620 --> 00:55:19.180 Tombstone. 00:55:20.060 --> 00:55:21.700 We have a reverse Marco Polo. 00:55:21.699 --> 00:55:31.859 Rabban Barsama was a native Christian in Beijing who went all the way to France and back and kept a journal. 00:55:32.500 --> 00:55:38.079 And when he came back, his friend, his companion, became head of the Church of the East. 00:55:39.739 --> 00:55:41.379 So, let's pause here. 00:55:42.019 --> 00:55:51.679 What I want to highlight here is, number one, the gospel did go to the nations before the rise of European colonialism. 00:55:51.699 --> 00:55:56.259 Well before the gospel was all over Africa and Asia. 00:55:57.119 --> 00:56:09.179 Secondly, how Christians did this was by becoming slaves of Christ, laying their lives down, loving their enemies, and diligently translating the Bible. 00:56:09.379 --> 00:56:11.099 We saw this with Volfila. 00:56:11.279 --> 00:56:15.579 We saw this with Alapen immediately trying to translate the scriptures into Chinese. 00:56:15.579 --> 00:56:18.940 We see it in Ethiopia with Fermentius. 00:56:19.059 --> 00:56:20.639 We see it in Georgia with Nino. 00:56:21.139 --> 00:56:28.219 The scriptures being translated so that the people can hear the word of God in their own language. 00:56:29.559 --> 00:56:35.159 These places were enormously successful, enormously successful missions, but they came at great cost. 00:56:36.000 --> 00:56:37.779 A lot of people died doing this. 00:56:38.000 --> 00:56:40.360 It was risky, but it was worth it. 00:56:40.480 --> 00:56:42.259 They were serving an eternal kingdom. 00:56:42.260 --> 00:56:49.220 Friends, we only have about two minutes before our service begins. 00:56:50.440 --> 00:56:51.960 I'd love to talk with you more about it. 00:56:52.040 --> 00:56:56.660 I left so much stuff out, but talk to me after the service if you're interested. 00:56:56.760 --> 00:56:57.480 But let me close in prayer. 00:56:57.480 --> 00:57:13.780 Father in heaven, we thank you for the brothers and sisters who have gone before us, preparing the ground, sowing seeds, digging up stumps, persevering in hardship, in trials, loving their enemies, forgiving their enemies. 00:57:14.579 --> 00:57:15.960 Help us to do the same. 00:57:16.800 --> 00:57:18.280 Help us to have that same spirit. 00:57:18.280 --> 00:57:32.200 Lord, that we may love our enemies, that we might forgive those who have done us wrong, that we might persevere under servitude and injustice, that we would not grow embittered, but would rejoice, Lord, at the lot that you have given to us to give you glory. 00:57:33.400 --> 00:57:36.080 Lord, we pray for the nations now that your gospel would go to them. 00:57:36.180 --> 00:57:44.700 We pray for people, our brothers and sisters today, who are doing this right now, who are in places where they are persecuted, oppressed, where they're in need. 00:57:44.699 --> 00:57:46.699 Lord, give them strength. 00:57:47.879 --> 00:57:49.319 And we pray this in the name of Jesus. 00:57:50.139 --> 00:57:50.399 Amen.