CHURCH HISTORY
I. INTRODUCTION
A.
The Trail Of Blood.1. The "Trail Of Blood" is the history of Baptist from the time of John The Baptist until 1931.
2. This being the case, one must remember that John The Baptist was NEVER a member of the Lord’s church.
(a). The Lord’s church is the "Bride of Christ." See 2Cor. 11:2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
(b). John described himself as "the friend of the Bridegroom," not as a part of the bride.
(c).
John 3:26 And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him. 27 John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. 28 Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. 29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.3. We will cover this more when we get into the section covering what (and who) the church is.
B. Sources For Our Information.
1. Our main source of information will of course be the Bible.
2. That is the only way we will be able to stay with the truth.
3. This being true, we still have to refer to sources.
(a). We will not use anything that is contrary to Scriptures.
(b). We must remember that history written by man is little better (if any) than traditions and legends.
4. Although information is very available, I have never thought it necessary to "back-up" the Bible.
5. The Bible is the final authority and source of truth.
6. Our study does not "depend" on history books, but rather the Word of God.
7. We will be using information from different sources, but we do not depend on them.
8. Some of the sources we will be using will include...
(a). Encyclopedias...
(b). Various history books...
(c). And books such as "Two Babylon's" by Alexander.
(d). "Why Be A Baptist" by H. Boyce Taylor, Sr.
(e). One of our main sources outside the Bible will be "The Trail of Blood..." by J.M. Carroll.
9. The source we will be using for the most accurate time placements of biblical events will be "Ussher’s Chronology."
(a). Chronology: Study of Time.
(b). James Ussher was Archbishop of Ireland from 1581 to 1656.
(b). He simply took names, places, and events mentioned in the Bible and tied them in with known dates.
(c). For example: if something was mentioned as happening during the reign of a particular king, history tells us when that king ruled; therefore Ussher would have an approximate date for the event (or person).
10. Sources outside the Bible is scant to nonexistent up until the 7th century.
C. Things We Must Know.
1. In order to study "church history," some groundwork is needed.
2. There are certain things that have to be covered.
3. Such as...
(a). The "one," True God.
(b). True worship.
(c). Unacceptable worship.
(d). Paganism (idol & false god worship).
(e). That evil woman Jezebel.�
(f). Judaism.
(g). The Lord’s church.
(h). Man’s churches.