In Roman Catholic Church, the only man that has an authority to read the Bible and preach is the Pope. The ordinary people are pity because they do not have this chance to know the truth about what the Bible says. Maybe they cannot understand the Bible but at least this ordinary people will can personally read and realize the truth in Bible. Remember that Bible is the Word of God and God can use this to open the mind of this people to the truth because this truth will set them free. But let’s go back to the Roman Catholic Church. Pope is the only man that has this opportunity to share the Word of God but we are blessed now because every believer now can share the truth to others and we can directly read the Bible and talk to God directly. It is a great privilege for us Christians today to serve God by preaching His Words to other people especially to the unbelievers because we believe the priesthood of every believer.

As a Christian, in my life the highest authority is the Bible as like as many Christians. Some people in the past use the word Sola Scriptura which means Scripture alone. Scripture or the Bible is the source of authority of all and we must read it day and night as what the Bible says in the Book of Joshua. But as a human sinner, we must know also that by reading alone the Bible or the Word of God cannot save our life. Yes it can be talk to us and convict us in our sins that we have committed before God to repent from it but conviction is not an end to be saved. We need to accept Christ as our personal saviour by faith because we cannot see Him anymore. Salvation and justification comes by faith alone and this is all by the grace of God. We are all deserving to be thrown in hell because we are sinners but by the grace of God, he saved us. We received what we did not deserve which is salvation.

John Calvin is one of the most important people in the history of the Church. His life has been an instrument of God how the Church survives and built an organized Church. He is being an inspiration and inspiration for many Christian and we must not forget he and we must introduce him also in the current Church and what is his contribution in Church today. I believe that I cannot understand the Bible without the help of the Holy Spirit and it is true and biblical and this is one of the teachings of Calvin. As human being and one of the creations of God, of course we cannot do in our salvation. We don’t have any power to contribute in our salvation; it is only by the grace and work of God.

Many Church leaders are not good leaders and they are allowed by God to be a leader. But this kind of leadership in the Church did not last. Here comes the reformation and we as the current Christian must be thankful to this. If we can see that there is Church who is corrupt today, it is not new because there is also a corrupt Church even in the old times. This is one of the reasons why reformation in the Church came. They want to stop the corruption inside the Church. This is one of the things that we must be thankful to them. As we know that we are standing to their shoulders because, because of them we are still here now and the most of all, God sustained them and let His Church thrived in spite of this trials.

Before, the Church has no concrete doctrines yet. There are lot of teachings which is not aligned what the Bible says. Some group leaders has more authoritative than the Bible that is why their member will obey them even if they know that it is not the Bible says and of course, they do not have choice but to obey their leaders. This is sad for the Church that there are practices like this before and I can see it until now in some denominations.
This time, God used some people to correct those teachings and mold our doctrines that will align what the Bible says. They are people who are brave to face the death because in their time, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church has the power to execute them and excommunicate them from the Church. Yes, some of them died, some are excommunicated. They are not afraid because they know that they are in the truth. One man that I was impressed most is Martin Luther. God has opened his mind and he realized that an indulgence is wrong. He fought for it and it drove him to write 95 theses and it really help the people to opened their minds also about it and it success. I was amazed in his braveness to face the Pope and many leaders who has authority over him and ask him to recant from what he wrote in his theses and he did not and instead he stands in his faith that God will protect him in times of troubles.

The Church that I am belong right now has lot of struggles that being experienced before and I am thankful to those people and their lives that being sacrifice in order that this Church will survive. Yes, our God is powerful and He can sustain His Church without this experienced that no one Christian will die in a cruel way but we as human has a limited mind and we cannot read the plan of God why He allow this to happen in His Church. The thing that we are blessed right now is that, He sustain it even lot of lives die and we know that all this things are works together for the good to those who love Him.
Crusade is not a good experience of the Church. Their purpose is good and we know that. The purpose which is to control the Holy Land which is the Jerusalem and it is good because the one who controlled the Holy Land this time is the Muslims. Many civilian died because of this desire especially the peasants who are untrained for war unlike the knights who have better training for the war. But even if the peasants are not trained, they are willing to sacrifice their live to fight for it. Even if they get the Holy Land, they will not enjoy it because they died in war.
Even the Church experienced all of this, the Church persevered, not because of the strength of the people who fought for it but because God sustain it. The true Church is the body of Christ. Despite of hardship because of God providence, the Church thrived.
As what I learned from this, there are lot of leaders of Christian group that are very cruel that sometimes I can said that evil but God used their lives to maintained the Church. I cannot judge those leaders by what I have learned because I don’t know what is in their hearts. That is only God know and He is the only one can judge. Dark time of the Church seemed that Church will not survived but by the grace and miraculous way of God, until now, as a latest Church of God, stand still because of his providence.

I was amazed last week by the topic and the movie that we watched in the classroom how God preserve His Church that even in the long run of the dark ages, still the Christianity is there. They did not kill all the Christian that they thought no one Christian survives, the Christianity is dead. But it is still amazing work of God that He is in the back of His History which is the Church. Until now the Church is still here and the Bible tells us about it. Even the gates of hell cannot prevail against it. We Christians today has more blessed for me because we do not experienced what have experienced of the Christians in the dark ages but the same, we are all blessed because we have secure because we are children of God.