History Grants Vision, Perspective, and Wisdom:

I love history. A big part of my discipleship was delving deep into Church history; a little later, reading a lot of missions history, too. It is too easy to find bad church history because well-intentioned authors try too hard to draw a lesson or make a point from a historical incident and, therefore, distort it. Christians are not immune to the temptation of the story that is “too good to check.” When done correctly, the history of the Church through the ages and across the world can be edifying and informative while granting us wisdom in our decision-making today. Especially when we risk panicking over certain situations or repeating mistakes.

One of the things that surprised me in the mission field was how much church history helped inspire and give perspective to the young people I discipled. They thought their own situation was hopeless and no one else had it so bad. After going through a course of Church history with me, they often took hope and courage into their ministry. They were not hopeless; they recognized that Christians through the ages dealt with worse situations and had triumphed. Gratitude seemed to be a product of learning Church history, and it was one of the greatest gifts we could have in our fight against the enemy. When you are grateful to the Lord, it is very hard to indulge in sin and impossible to despair.

We think we have a hostile media to Christianity in the United States, but, think of this: George Whitefield preached at the Moorfields in London a venue filled with “booths for players, puppeteers, clowns and other entertainers.”[1] So many people left the entertainers' booths to hear Whitefield preach that during one sermon, a clown kept interrupting by trying to hit Whitefield with a whip. Another clown climbed a nearby tree, exposing his rear and mocking Whitefield nonplused. Whitefield continued preaching for three hours![2]

The next day, one actor came at him with a sword, taking off his hat and whig with a single blow while nicking him in the temple. A quick-thinking listener blocked the next likely fatal strike with his cane, and the others in the crowd rushed the attacker, saving the preacher’s life.[3] Talk about hostile media!

We also rightly mourn the moral outrages of our time: government-sanctioned abortion, transgender practices that destroy the lives of children and adults, and the promotion of all kinds of debauchery. In the past, we suffered and had to overcome great moral collapse just like today.

In the book Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom, Stephen R. Platt recounts how Britain and America ran a massive drug trade into China, creating as many as 20 million addicts; the largest drug bust in world history is when the Chinese authorities confiscated 1200 tons of Indian Opium from the British. Americans were small fry in contrast, but we Yankees always have an eye for profit. Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s in-laws got rich by running cut rate Turkish opium into China undercutting Britain’s trade. When the Chinese tried to resist this flow of illegal drugs, Britain went to war twice to force the Chinese to take their drugs. When a massive uprising of Protestant Christians rose up from among the Chinese, the British sided with the Pagan Qing dynasty, helping to slaughter 20 million Chinese to put down this Christian rebellion. Remember when the news talks about our rivalry with China when the country had a chance in the 1860s to become a Christian Republic the West sided with the pagan Emperor because they judged the pagan Emperor would be less able to stem the flow of opium into China!

History doesn’t just put the sins of today in perspective; history also allows us to celebrate the victories of God! You have also heard it said many times that Islam is a fast-growing religion, and that Christianity continues to shrink. In 1800, at the very start of the Christian movement, there were about 204 million Christians, and in 2024, there will be 2.707 trillion Christians. From 1800 to 2000, the world population grew by six times. Christians over the same period, the time of the modern mission movement, by nine times. We have more work to do, but God has done an amazing thing in the last 200 years! I think the story is not yet done.  So, study history and know it will give you wisdom, build your endurance, reassure your faith, and give you a lot to be grateful for as we fight our battle for God’s praise in our generation and make ready the next generation to fight their own battle until Jesus comes again!

[1] George Whitefield: America’s Spiritual Founding Father, Chapter eight kindle location 3211

[2] ibid

[3] George Whitefield: America’s Spiritual Founding Father chapter 8 kindle location 3223