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So stay hydrated, stay healthy, and without further ado, let's start the show. What's going on? Clearview Today, listeners, John here with a very, very special update. You know, a couple of weeks back, we announced that Clearview Today was going to be making its way over to TBN Plus. It's a streaming platform for Christian content.
Very, very big deal. God is making inroads and He's making connections with people who have heard Dr. Shah's message and who want it for their platforms as well. We've already seen the same thing happen with Pray.com, and we've seen tremendous success and tremendous response from people who are really, really loving the Clearview Today show and all of Dr. Shah's other content.
But all of this is to say that Clearview Today has grown in the past two years into something that has really outgrown anything that I could have dreamed or Dr. Shah could have dreamed. God has made it a very, very special thing.
So, With it being originally for radio and then moving over, of course, to youtube.com and to Apple Podcasts and to Spotify and to Prey.com and now TBN Plus. There's all these different platforms with all these different expectations, right? You've got radio where it can only be about 30 minutes, and then you've got YouTube and podcasts where people are used to three-hour long content. And then you've got Prey Radio, which is support, which is primarily audio. And then you've got TBN Plus, which is primarily video.
And so, what we wanted to do. was really shape The identity of the Clearview Today show. And so, all of that to say, they're going to be new in a way that feels fresh, but also new in a way that God is going to demonstrate His provision and His vision for what Clear View Today is going to be. But, what about for today?
Well, I'm glad you asked that because I'm going to tell you. You know, just last week on Reformation Day, October 31st, Dr. Shaw was able to go and give a lecture on the Reformation, the history of the Reformation, the implications of what it means for us as Christians today, things that we've talked about on the Clearview Today show before. But he was able to give that lecture in public and we were actually able to film it and to put it together.
So, what you're going to hear now is a snippet from Stu Epperson's show, which is called Truth Talk Live with Stu Epperson. And then the remainder of that episode is just the remainder of Dr. Shaw's lecture.
So, it might be a little bit split into parts, but it's going to really bless you. And maybe there's someone in your life that you know can be blessed by this conversation as well. We want to advise you to share it, encourage you to pass it on to the next person. Without further ado, here's that episode. Over five hundred years ago, A German monk.
nailed the 95 feces to the wall. This set off a firestorm. what we now know looking back as the Great Reformation. With me to talk about that is a author Pastor One of our Awesome Truth Network pastors and teachers, Dr. Abinaj Shaw.
Dr. Shaw, this was an event that We celebrate every October 31st. While everyone else is talking about banging on doors for candy and saying trick or treat, we talk about trick-or-truth. We bring up the Reformation. We say happy Reformation Day.
Why is this significant, Dr. Shaw? Pretend like we don't know anything, which is kind of actually... A little bit true of many of us, especially me. Why is it significant?
Well, thank you again for having me on the show and with this group of men right here. It's awesome to fellowship with them. Five hundred and eighty years ago. Martin Luther, a German monk, professor at the University of Wittenberg.
Something was happening in his heart.
Something was challenging him, especially regarding. this whole thing with indulgences. And he had been studying the Bible. He had been reading the Greek New Testament.
Now that the Greek New Testament was published, Erasmus published that in 1516, just a year prior to him nailing those 95 theses to the the the castle church door in Wittenberg. And he nailed those 95 thesis. He's the first one talking about repentance. Because penance was uh was looked upon as this is the way you do penance and somehow you free yourself from this guilt and indulgence is something you buy so you can have a certain amount of time taken out of purgatory. And if you ever read the 95 thesis, the first one is: repentance should be the life of the believer.
This is who you are. The whole life of the believer should be one of repentance. And so Lutheran Pens many other things in that, putting it out there like a debate. like somebody would come and talk to him and put it in Latin. It was not even in German.
So he was hoping somebody somewhere would take the bait and come argue with him. Little did he realize that it would blow up. And very quickly, the people began to want it in German translations. It was translated and printed. And people began to read and realize that what everybody was talking about.
Even prior to Luther, the papal authority uh the papal abuses that were going on for centuries The degradation of the late medieval Catholic Church in the Of course, indulgences as well. Trying to sell so that you can spring your uncle or aunt out of purgatory. I mean, this, nothing about the grace that came to us through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, now it had become. You can buy. You can buy a few days, a few years.
And even the Pope may have the authority to free you for your whole life out of purgatory with just an amount of money you spend. And so all this is going on, especially the hierarchy between The monasteries or the monks versus the common people, the priests versus the lay people, all of this. It was already brewing. God was doing something. And this was the perfect time in God's sovereignty.
Here comes the Greek New Testament. Here comes A German monk who had the courage to stand up and put something out there. And next thing you know, um People are are awake. They're realizing something needs to change, and of course. If you know about the Reformation.
So many amazing things, starting with justification by grace through faith. It's the righteousness of Christ, not my righteousness that God desires. And how does that happen? It's by imputation where he places his righteousness Christ's righteousness on me. When He sees me, He sees Christ.
I mean, this is the heart, I don't have to work for it. You know, Sue mentioned the solar is the solar Fide by faith alone. Uh soulless crystals. Christ alone. Uh solar Gracia by grace alone.
Sola scriptura. By scripture, en sola dio gloria for the glory of God alone. I mean, this is the heart of. Reformation. Right?
It's the centrality of God. The glory of God. In his sovereignty. And God's grace and salvation. I mean, this is the heart.
of Reformation. I mean, I'm a child of a Reformation. It's because of Martin Luther's. And so justification. By grace through faith in Christ alone.
Scripture, not tradition. Because centuries of tradition caked on, caked on, and caked on.
Now we're going back to the scripture. Uh uh sacraments Yeah, we can keep Um Baptism and Eucharist, but do we need the Mass here? And so that's one of the things that Luther struggled with. Um And so a lot of these things that we today take for granted came through the Reformation.
Now The reformers, let's talk about the magisterial reformers like Calvin and Zwingli and Luther and Knox and even if you want to throw Cranmer in there. One of the Oxford martyrs, they didn't always agree. I mean there were there were distinctions among them in their beliefs. Luther was uh big on God's um Presence In humility and suffering. Calvin was more on God's presence in human.
history, you can see him working providentially. Uh when it came to law. For Lutheran law accuses you. drives you to be to run to Christ. Calvin said, Yeah, that's true, but.
Uh it's also the goal of the Christian life to live a life. not keeping those sacrifices, but a life of perfection towards God. Um They disagreed over other things. Uh Baptism, they agreed on the infant baptism because they were too scared to rattle the whole community. And that's where some of us Baptists turned to the Anabaptists who said, Yeah, baptism should be by grace through faith.
If you understand it, then you can be baptized. They disagree over. the Eucharist today you know, is it um like Luther The in with under presence, or Calvin, the spiritual, or Zwingli, the symbol. But still the news. This was no longer Body and blood.
No transubstantiation happening here.
Something is different now. Election, that was another one because of God's sovereignty, justice and God's grace. They agreed on that. And that's where some Baptists return to Anabaptists to see, hey, you have a choice and all that. The bottom line to me, why Reformation is important for me.
Is the doctrine of justification by grace through faith? In our world today, I love it. Justification as participation that I am one with Christ. Justification as the apocalyptic powers and how Jesus fought them. But if we take away the forensic side of justification, that he paid the penalty of God's wrath against me.
We are in deep trouble. Justification is the doctrine on which the church stands or falls. And I'm a child of the Reformation. And scripture. The inerrant, inspired, infallible.
Authoritative, sufficient, clear word of God. That is what we're built upon. I don't talk too much, right?
Well, you just unpacked 508 years, but you also unpacked about 3,000 or 4,000 years going way back because even Job, even Daniel, all these great men of God of old trusted God's word. They believed in God's word. You know, the Proverbs 30, verse 5: Every word of God is pure. He's a shield to those who put their trust in Him. And the shift had to happen.
Where you have this massive Massive bureaucratic church. That says our view is the church is over God's word. Whereas the reformer said, no, no, no, no. The word of God is over the church. And so the church can't just come and say, well, I don't think that means that.
And I think this and that. And all Peter didn't have a, you know, he didn't have a wife. And, you know, how do you have a mother-in-law without a wife, right? You got to figure that out. Of course, most.
A lot of fellas I know would rather have, I'm not going to say it. A wife with no mother-in-law. How dare you say that? But you can come up with all these man-made things, which is what happened. And so here you have a guy that says, hey, I'm going to say it stops right here.
And there were other great men that we haven't heard of, but Luther really. Kind of lit the torch, as it were. Dr. Shaw. Very practically speaking.
You haven't. Thousands of people, maybe hundreds of thousands of people. Today Like those then. Who didn't have assurance of their salvation? And man, I My grandma was an amazing woman of God.
But She's trapped in purgatory. And in fourteen twenty-eight or fifteen Whatever. I go to the priest who's supposed to be my spiritual authority and says, Hey. And he doesn't pull out Romans 8:28, 29, 30, the golden chain of salvation. He doesn't pull any of that out.
He pulls out. The coffer. He pulls out the the the offering plate and says, hey, you you pop a into this coffer. Your coin We'll sing out of purgatory your grandma's body will spring. And so So you pay your way and this is what And you know, you can, and of course you can pick on the Catholic Church.
But you think about even other Potentially Protestant people and either other. False religions that aren't even, you know, remotely, don't even claim God or the Bible. who have this performance-based Earning achievement-based salvation. And so Dr. Shaw, you can look Someone in the eye on the authority of God's word.
Wherever they're coming from, and you can offer them. Assurance of salvation. And this is what was Really? became mainstreamed. By this little German monk who had the courage to do it.
But speak to that very practically. It's so important as we wrap up this segment. Absolutely.
So, Bill Hull, in his book on discipleship, talks about the various gospels, the false gospels. There is the forgiveness-only gospel that every Sunday I can come and just kind of cleanse myself and go back to the world and do my own thing. There's the liberal left gospel, do all the good in the world and help everybody and we're all good. The the prosperity gospel, I go to church and so I can get richer and have all my needs met. The consumer gospel, which unfortunately is the big deal right now and has been for the past couple of decades, you know, come and get your needs met.
What do you need? You need wisdom. Come for that. Or the religious right gospel, which is we're all right in our beliefs, but there is no gospel. The gospel is the gospel.
Which is I'm a sinner. Jesus died on the cross for my sins. He took the penalty of God's wrath upon himself. And it's only by grace through faith that I can be saved. Chapter 2, and that needs to be preached again in our churches.
And I believe our pastors I mean, you know, you have a heart for pastors they need to once again come back to that instead of going to all these other I call them false. devilish gospels. This episode of Plea View Today is brought to you by Mighty Muscadine. If you're looking for a natural way to boost your health, Mighty Muscadine has you covered. From 100% muscadine grape juice to premium healthy supplements, every single product is handcrafted to bring you the best of this extraordinary superfruit.
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Now, let's get started. And that's why you have the Ministry of Clearview today. You're proclaiming this on the radio waves across the country, across the world, really. Dr. Shaw, you're doing this in your church, Clearview Church in Henderson, North Carolina.
You've got some of your team here. Give a little shout out for folks to find out more about your ministry. And your amazing books. You got a brand new devotional that just came out. Give a shout-out for that, real quick.
All right, Ryan, speak out a little bit louder. Ryan, Ryan, can tell, tell us, tell us, tell us, tell us, come on, crowd the mic, crowd the mic. Absolutely.
So, Dr. Shaw and his wife Nicole have written a new devotional, 30 Days of Praying for America. It is a wonderful walk, 30-day walk of praying for our nation. It walks through American history in a way that doesn't sugarcoat the bad. It also doesn't focus on it.
It talks about the good of our nation as well. And it is the most comprehensive look at American history and how God has had his hand on America and how we can once again be one nation under God. And it is a fabulous resource for your devotional life and for your life as a patriot. Simple website everyone to go to to learn more about that book, all your resources. What's the best website?
Let's bring the deep-throated guy in here. This guy is, you guys are both, you guys, Ryan, you and John do an amazing job. You have an amazing podcast. I've been on there. When you really want the ratings to sink, you bring Stu on there.
I get it, I understand. John, hit us with the information and how people can find out more about this great ministry. And thank you guys, by the way, for being a part of this Reformation celebration. On three, everyone say happy Reformation. One, two, three.
Happy Reformation. We've got some pastors and leaders around the table. We're going to bless them all with this devotional. We've got all kinds of Truth Network door prizes. Our bread, Fred, our buddy Fred Hagee's book, Give Him Jesus, a great soul-winning book.
And we're just so grateful for you guys. What's the best way to connect, brother? We want to make the website as absolutely simple as possible. It's just Abadansha.com. Every single thing is going to be there.
You can find Clearview Today resources, Dr. Shah's blogs, all of our books, original music by Clearview Worship, anything that you could possibly want from this ministry, Abadanshah.com. Dr. Shah, your favorite Bible verse. I'm going to put you on the spot.
Boom. I know the word of God is such on your heart. I know there's a bunch of them, and you're preaching through the Bible. Which is what I love about your ministry, just verse by verse through the Word of God. You know all guys people said?
Amen.
So Talking about John Huss, there were others like John Wycliffe, John Wycliffe, and the Lollards who were also standing up against Catholicism and the degradation of the church. John Hus. Of course the bohemian. Standing up against that and lost his life in the process. The Waldensians in the Alpine mountains were also standing up against.
I mean, so there were. reverberations of the Reformation prior to Luther. But after Luther Does what he does, and talking about the printing press, by the way. It was very lucrative. for the printers in those days to print those indulgences.
because you don't have to do that much proofreading. You don't have to market them like you market books.
So, how many do you need? I need 150,000 of them. Here they come to you. And so it was very easy for the printers to continue printing these things. Imagine a Indulgences, what was that?
There was a certificate that was given to you based on how much money you gave to the church.
So yeah, so it was a big um Shock to them. People that even the printers in Germany were now switching over and printing Luther's. sermons and his theology books. I mean it's it's a big It's a big uh subject there of how Uh printing just changed, you know? I mean they lost a lot of money in the process because No more indulgences, at least in Germany.
As I mentioned earlier, the difference between Luther and Calvin, Luther was more. Focused on the law being something that accuses us drives us to Christ. Yeah, yeah. Just yeah. At his mercy.
kind of fill the other side, which is now that you are saved, live a life that pleases God. And so law was not as much accusatory for Luther, for Calvin, it was more about this guiding. And it's not keeping all the minutiae of the law, like the sacrifices and the offerings, it was more about the principles. The holiness was a big part that came out of the Reformation. How do you live a life of holiness?
It's a great book out there by J. C. Riley. Holiness.
So bad. Back in March, I was in England and I made it a point to stop. At his hometown, I forgot the name now, but near Liverpool. And I found his grave, went by the grave, took a picture, filmed there. Great book on holiness.
He said, this thick book, I think David has read it. I love it.
So now that Christ is in us. We are to live that life of holiness, and we do that because the Holy Spirit is in us. I challenge people to really do a study of the book of Romans. We just almost finished the study of Romans. And that is a powerful book.
beginning with the depravity of man. And the the the the inability of the law to save us, to fix us. coming to Christ And finding justification by grace through faith. And now the Holy Spirit enables us to live. that life.
and nothing can separate us. from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Death nor life, I mean it Uh Stu just mentioned that. And so. I think it's That's the truth we need to go back to.
In our church, we have people who've never heard of the book of Romans. I mean, they were. Even if they did, it was like, oh yeah. And now The past few months have been Transformative is a mildly put. I mean, it's been amazing.
Absolutely.
I think that's what Paul was doing when he uses that scripture. He was saying that it was by faith. It was by faith that he was declared righteous, not by his works. Is Abraham really saved?
Well, look, Jesus said, Abraham saw my day and he rejoiced.
So they miss they miss a It's different, but Jesus himself said, Your father Abraham rejoiced because he knew I was coming. It's a book, part of my dissertation was Changing the Goalpost of New Testament Textual Criticism. People like Ehrman and others have really caused people to doubt whether. we can ever get back to the original text of the New Testament. And he often claims that there are so many more variants than even words in the New Testament.
I mean, that's his big catchline.
So many variants means a manuscript just for us with this manuscript because the scribe made a mistake, you can never get back to the original. And he knows that's a lie. The whole discipline of textual criticism is to help you get back. 96% or 94%, let's just say 94% of the New Testament is intact. No matter which manuscript you go with, it's Perfectly fine.
It in itself is a huge miracle.
So we have 6% where there may be differences and they're very simply solved, like a word order difference or a line got skipped in a manuscript. But we got 10 other manuscripts you can compare to and go, okay, that's this one obviously made a skip. and maybe one percent. where doctrinal issues are involved. And even there None of our cardinal critical doctrines are under attack.
We don't have a problem.
So When he says what he says, it's to jar students, is to make them go back home for fall break and spring break and say, oh, grandma. I'm glad it works for you, but... you know, the church made up this book. and they voted on these books and there are other gospels and that's his goal. The foundational work.
Absolutely.
I mean, that's one of the reasons we're doing this conference: we're trying to bring pastors and staff members, and if they cannot. Pay, it's like what $50 or something like that. He said, We'll cover it. We'll cover it. You just come.
You just take a bus load down there. This is March 28th.
Okay, December 25th. March 25th. March 28th. March 28th. We're going to take a bus load.
He has a prayer for pastor bus. We're going to have Maurice Robinson, who put the Greek New Testament together. We're going to have Mark Ward, who is a. Bob Jones graduate, I mean he's an amazing guy, he has a PhD. Does videos, he'll be there.
Dwayne Green, who's a YouTuber, believes in the Bible, he'll be there. Elijah Hickson from New Orleans Seminary, he's the head of the department there. He'll be there. David Allen Black, he is a professor, he'll be there as well. Yeah.
So it'll be six Solid people. Yeah, all they say early. All this added. General on the ground. Oh, yes, yes, yes.
What's to lose? Exactly.
So let me clarify the 96% that I said earlier. 96% is without issue. Like, there is no... No doubt that that is the line there. That is scripture, we have no question.
94% we are All scholars. In New Testament textual criticism, no matter what their view is, they're pretty settled on it based on the manuscript evidence. The six percent is where a scholar will say, based on my My understanding, these manuscripts present a better variant. And some scholars will say, no, based on my understanding, I think this is a better variant.
So we still have the text. The text is in the manuscript, so it's not like it's lost. But scholarly debates help decide which is which and doctrinally at the most one percent and even those doctrines we find other places so there's not like Oh shucks, version bird didn't happen based because of this variant. For someone like Ehrman, who's a Princeton PhD under Bruce Metzger, to say that, he doesn't say it, he will leave, he's very, very shrewd, he will leave a doubt in your mind. Because he will say, of course, I said it right here, it's 96%.
And sure enough, he says it like 96%, 94%. It was intact. A student, 17 years old, Who reads your book? He is not reading the footnote. And you put it in such a way, he's such a verbal artist that.
You walk away going, yeah, you c how can you get back to the truth? You don't have the original manuscripts. Yeah.
Uh if you ever get a chance to look at it. that some Bibles, some translations will say Verse 36 says, Now, as they went down the road, you know, the story of the Ethiopian eunuch readings, Isaiah. And Philip the Evangelist joins him, and he begins to explain to him about this is Jesus. And then it says in verse 36: And as they went down the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?
So Some manuscripts added Then Philip said, If you believe with all your heart, you may. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. It's great. Acceptance not found. in the biblical manuscripts.
Some very late manuscripts added some of those things in there. Whether you are a recent eclectic, means you hold to more the NASB, NIV, CSB translations. Or you are a Byzantine priority and you hold to the King James, New King James. Both groups say Acts 8.37 should not be there. Why is it still there in King James and New King James?
So it needs to go away. It doesn't add anything. All it does, it gives uh a Bart Ehrman. Ammunition to say it's not there.
So, who put it there? I'm sorry, I may have missed how it got there. It's been. It's part of the textus receptus. It's been included because it was like to take it out.
It's going to cause more headache, just leave it in there. Put a footnote there.
So many of these, there are footnotes. It'll say that it should not be there.
So it'll it'll say right here. NU n NU is nestle Allen and UBS. M. M is majority text. Your critical text and your Byzantine text omit verse 37.
So there's no need to put that in there. What does it say? It is the NU text. It will not include it. Another famous one is 1 John 5:7.
It should not be there. You know, 1 John 5:7 talks about. Five six is uh gonna say There are three on earth. Right.
So He'll say, for there are three, this is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not only by water, but by water and blood. is a spirit who bears witness because the spirit is truth. Verse 7, For there are three that bear witness in heaven. The Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and these three are one.
Only problem. The three that bear witness in heaven, Father, Word and Holy Spirit. should not be in the text. The original text was inerrant inspired. Textual criticism is the science of getting back to the original text.
And honestly, I mean, we're really talking about one, I said 94%. But I could really easily say 99.9%. Yeah, that's not on the New Testament. What is it on the Old Testament? Exactly.
Very sim similar. It's a different science there. Because you have the Hebrew Masoretic text, you have the Septuagint, you have the Samaritan Pentateuch. You have the Dead Sea Scrolls, some book. And it's a different science, but again.
Most of the test is very solid.
