“Repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His Name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” Luke 24:47
It was during this time in the dark ages (400 AD – 800AD) that Islam began and it spread quite rapidly – mainly through the sword. This new religion moved into areas where Christianity had sprouted and soon the church began to disappear. If you were to go to Turkey today you will find the ruins of the seven churches of Asia Minor mentioned in Revelation chapters 2 and 3.
Islam spread throughout the Middle East, came across North Africa and then over to Spain and tried to cross over the Pyrenees Mountains into France and the rest of Europe. I mentioned Charles “The Hammer” Martel who fought the Muslim invasion and the Islamic thrust into Europe that was checked when a battle was fought near Poitiers and the Emir of Spain was killed. During this time the “Tall Men of the North,” that terrified the southern Europeans with their height, blue eyes, fair coloring, and fierce, warlike ways were also pushing into other parts of Europe.
It was during this time that our church fathers had to make a decision. When they sat down and evaluated all that was taking place in the world – especially with the spread of Islam wiping out the church in the Middle East and across North Africa – they had to make a decision. Should they dig in and try to hold on to what they have or should they go out and evangelize the Norsemen/men of the north? They decided that to go out and not dig in. It was a right decision and 300 years later after the fall of Rome Christianity had taken over Europe except perhaps for Norway.
Matthew Henry said: “The mighty heroes of the world conquered nations for themselves and made them miserable. The apostles conquered them for Christ and made them happy.” This was true not only of the Apostles, but also those who followed in their footsteps. Part of that army were those who took in the babies that were going to be aborted, fed the poor, and did other acts of mercy. They were seen by the others and this led many to accept Christ. The one thing that you find with this army is their commitment and sacrifice of the Gospel.
It was during this time unknown to most that this new army was beginning to change society, culture etc. one person at a time. We can compare these two armies. First, we have the pagan army that for 4000 years had accumulated all the wealth and had ruled with unprecedented power over these years.
On the other hand there was a small band of people that had no influence politically speaking and no wealth, but they went out and began to spread the kingdom of God one person at a time until their influence permeated society.
Our view of God determines everything. If we have bad theology we will compromise and eventually our liberties will be taken away from us.
What can we learn from all of this for our day and age? One lesson that I would like to bring out is that we should never have a “dug in mentality.” After World War II some of our church and missions’ leaders in the early 1950’s sat down to evaluate the world after that tremendous war to see where we stand in regard to missions.
Communism took over China and the missionaries had to leave. Nationalism had taken over Indonesia and India (some of our largest mission fields) and missionaries could not come in anymore. Church and mission leaders had to make a decision: Should we hold on to what we have or advance? Sadly, they saw a down trend in missions and made the decision to ‘dig in’ and hold on to what they have.
When I was converted and sensed God was calling me to the mission field I took a course in missions. In that course the teacher spent so much time telling me about all the places where I could not go as a missionary which were the places where missionaries were needed. I was questioning God if He was really calling me to the mission field. The teacher was thinking like those who have a ‘dug in’ mentality.
In Acts 2:14 Peter stood up in Jerusalem and preached the Gospel of the Kingdom and it began to spread. Through the Apostle Paul it took a westward course. In the last 50 years we have seen some of the greatest advancements of missions in the history of the church.
A couple of years ago I was in the Middle East and saw how there was such a movement of the Gospel back to Jerusalem. The thought that came into my mind was: The Gospel of the Kingdom has circumnavigated the world and is now coming back to Jerusalem. Luke said: “Repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His Name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” Luke 24:47