REVELATION 03 Part 1 The German Reformer

We update studies as the Lord Jesus leads us. You can find the latest update of this study at ChurchAges.net

The only important Person is Jesus

The Jewish 7-branched candlestick represented the seven church ages that have occupied the last 2000 years.

The central candlestick alone was important as that is where Jesus was seen. That represents the first church age.

REVELATION 1:13   And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man,

REVELATION 1:17   And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead.

John, the great apostle and prophet, was as nothing compared to Jesus. Any man serves God best when he dies to himself.

From this we learn that no man has great value in himself. Everything depends on your personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus has to be the main focus of your life. Many great men have lived but their ministry was not to elevate themselves, but to elevate Jesus.

JOHN 12:32  And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

Repeating a word twice is emphasis. Jesus emphasizes “I” by saying “I” twice. Himself. He is the only Person worth uplifting.

The middle of the candlestick represents the first church age. Everything that we know about Jesus we learn from the New Testament which was written by the apostolic fathers in that first church age. Thus, only the Bible is important as the New Testament fulfills the Old Testament and gives meaning to the Old Testament. No other person is important. Only Jesus was seen.

We do not see Jesus as a Man on earth today. We see Jesus as the revealed Word of God. When we understand the Bible then we see Jesus walking through the pages of the Bible.

Soon after the last apostle died, the love of Bible truth began to die out. People no longer believed that the Bible was their Absolute. Human opinions began to enter and then human leaders were elevated up to be the head of each church. They were called priests, bishops, ministers, or vicars.

Truth received a death blow at the Council of Nicaea in AD 325 when unscriptural words like “Trinity” and “Father and Son are of the same substance” entered the church. More and more unscriptural ideas entered the church which sunk into the depths of the Dark Ages.

EVIL means they had moved away from the Word of God.

God then decided to restore the truth over the next three church ages.

JOEL 2:25   And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.

There were two insects and two worms to represent the destructive spiritual evil that had spread during the first four church ages during which truth had been lost.

The church gets a dead name

In the beginning, there was Adam and his woman. She had no name. They represented Jesus and His Bride, the church. Thus no church should have a name.

When the woman sinned then she was named Eve.

When a church has a name then it indicates that they have fallen into sin and unbelief.

In the first church age they were just called Christians. We should be the same as them.

The biggest mistake of the Protestant churches was to elevate their leaders and even, foolishly, to take on the names of their leaders.

People called themselves Protestants, or Lutherans or Calvinists. They gave the glory to a man.

They took on these unscriptural names and began to die spiritually. They elevated a man to be the head of a church in the same manner as the Roman Catholic churches. The Roman Catholics called the head of a church a priest. The first church age never did that in the New Testament.

The Protestant churches picked up the Roman Catholic spirit of organization and denomination and called the head of the church a vicar, or minister, or reverend, or pastor. No New Testament church ever did that. They were run by elders. Thus the Protestant churches followed church traditions rather than Scripture. Their loyalty was to the church, not to the Scriptures.

REVELATION 3:1   And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.

The seven Spirits of God are the continuous manifestation of God’s Spirit in each of the seven church ages. No church age is an island unto itself. Each church age has to fit into its place in God’s divine Plan. The true church had been established in the first church age by the apostles. Then the church had died in the Dark Ages. Then it was time for the leaves to germinate in the Reformation of Martin Luther. They would not have a deep knowledge of Scripture as there would be two further church ages of unfolding truth ahead of them.

Thus, Jean Calvin the great Reformer put an over-emphasis on predestination that did away with free will. In other words, they tackled subjects that were too deep to resolve with human scholarship. Consequently, they were also unable to break the shackles of the Trinity. They copied the Roman Catholic idea of having a priest as the head of a church but they called him a pastor. As a result, they were then trapped in the Roman Catholic denominational error of the church having a human head.

The seven stars were the seven men that God used to be the messengers or angels to the seven church ages. Their ministry was to keep the church as close to Paul’s original first church age as possible.

SARDISEAN CHURCH AGE  -  CHURCH AGE BOOK  CPT.7

Seven church ages and seven messengers who were alike, and Paul pronounced a curse on anyone who said he was a messenger but had a different gospel and lived in a different light.

… They appear once in each age

So, there is no return ministry of an angel or messenger at the end time.

There are only 7 stars. There is no Scriptural room for an eighth messenger.

Martin Luther from Germany is probably the best-known messenger as he faced the colossal power of the totally corrupt Roman Catholic church with exceptional bravery.

But he was blessed with exceptional human scholarship that enabled him to debate his Catholic opponents to defeat.

His two main weapons were a conviction that the written Scriptures are the ultimate authority when there is a doctrinal debate. The Pope had no authority at all to disagree with Scripture.

His second conviction was that the Just would live by faith alone. Good works played no part in the salvation of a soul.

Initially, this had an amazing effect on the people who found their freedom in Christ. But soon the rulers saw the advantages of seizing the wealthy Roman Catholic churches and monasteries. Freedom in Christ was easily corrupted to become freedom to get rich and become greedy.

The Reformation, unfortunately, became involved with far-reaching political, economic, and social effects.

The Protestants developed an ethic of hard and honest work that they called Capitalism. It is an extremely efficient way of governing a nation. They developed a world banking and trade system. Wealth multiplied.

But the pursuit of money easily distracts a person from the pursuit of God. Greed easily chokes the human heart when money is involved.

The resulting intrigues and political manipulations of the Roman Catholic church, combined with the church’s increasing power and wealth, contributed to the bankrupting of the Roman Catholic church as a spiritual force. The Protestant churches began with spiritual reformers who wanted souls to get saved. They wanted to be strictly Scriptural. But they imitated the Roman Catholic political involvement which made them powerful with the backing of the state. Then they focused on the economic issues and grew rich. At times some Protestants even killed some of the people who were different from them.

The Reformation caused Southern Europe, such as Portugal, Spain, France, and Poland to stay Catholic while Northern Europe became Protestant. Intense political differences evolved between the different nations. The Pope began to lose political power. The Pope rules as a dictator. As he lost power over a nation, that nation could develop into a democracy. There are no politics that are very good, but democracy seems to be the best of all the options.

Another group of reformers insisted that baptism be performed not on infants but on adults who had professed their faith in Jesus. Called Anabaptists, they survived—despite fierce persecution and torture by Protestants and Catholics—as Mennonites and Hutterites into the 21st century. Notice how each group made up an unscriptural name for themselves. The early church believers were just called Christians.

As each church got established, they thought they had God’s full truth and they stayed where they were. They did not feel the need to grow further. Sadly, they opposed and persecuted those who could go further with God. They formed their own camps and persecuted each other with bitterest hatred.

This was the deadly pattern that afflicted the Reformation.

Each group saw something new in Scripture and they broke away in order to follow God further through the Word. Then they thought that they had it all and built their walls of unbelief around the truth that they had first seen. The Lutherans believed that they were saved by faith alone but rejected adult baptism by immersion. They separated from the Roman Catholics, but even Luther was not prepared to oppose the unscriptural doctrine of the Trinity. God then had to raise up another group that was prepared to go further.

Some Protestants drowned the Anabaptists in order to stop them baptizing adults by immersion.

As the Protestants material wealth grew, so their spiritual vision shrunk. Wealth and power do not make Christians better people.

“Thou hast a name that thou livest but art dead”.

SARDISEAN CHURCH AGE  -  CHURCH AGE BOOK  CPT.7

But in this period there is evidently such wanton disregard for the Lord and His Word that the entire message to this fifth age rings with condemnation.

… Now I just said that this era gave tremendous growth to the denominational spirit. If the Corinthian attitude of "I am of Paul, I of Cephas" was ever exhibited, it was now. There were Lutherans, Hussites, Zwingli's party, etc. Such fragmentation of the Body was deplorable. They were living a name but were dead. Certainly, they were dead. They died the minute they organized. The great groups organized and tied themselves in matrimony to the state. That did it. They were finished. Here were those Lutherans who had criticized the Roman Church. They knew the unrighteousness of political and spiritual unions--yet Luther (as when Peter was overbalanced by the Judaizers) went right ahead and made the state instead of God, the defender of the faith. This is the first denomination of repute that came out of the harlot, but when Luther died it was not long until it had a hierarchy like the one it had fought.

They had the written Word but not the revealed Word

REVELATION 3:2   Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.

SARDISEAN CHURCH AGE  -  CHURCH AGE BOOK  CPT.7

The Word of God was kept from them, so who was to know the truth!

The emphasis was no longer on Scripture. People built their beliefs on some man’s quotes even if these quotes contradicted themselves or were not found in the Bible.

The true seed are strangled by church organization.

SARDISEAN CHURCH AGE  -  CHURCH AGE BOOK  CPT.7

There was something missing. My, yes, there certainly was. This age had justification, but it had missed sanctification and the Baptism with the Holy Ghost. That is what God's original plan was. That is what they had at Pentecost. They were justified, they were sanctified, and were filled with the Holy Ghost. Why, listen to me, the reason for being justified and sanctified is to the end that you might be baptized with the Holy Ghost.

That is the reason that there is a church. It is the temple of God filled with God, even the Holy Ghost.

“Not perfect” means the age was unfulfilled.

They had escaped from the Roman Catholic church but it was not a clean escape. They took Catholic doctrines and denominational traditions with them.

“Watchful” means awake and alert. Look outside your church for truth. Learn to question your beliefs. A clever man questions other people. A wise man questions himself.

“Strengthen” means fix and establish for permanency so that it is not lost. If it is nor written in Scripture then it is wrong.

REVELATION 3:3   Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.

They had received some vital truth. Now it remained to see what they would do with it. Would they value the truth or not?

They had restored salvation by grace through faith. They had restored the fact that faith is only built on the Scripture. But they still had to move on to holiness and outreach which would lead up to the great missionary age. But they ignored holiness and outreach when the Spirit began to move in that direction. So God by-passed the Lutherans in Germany and moved on to England. The Lutherans never realized that God had left them behind.

That would be the tragedy of each stage of the restoration of truth. A new group would see a deeper revelation and move on. Then they would stay where they had got to and God would have to raise up a new group who could go further until they also stopped moving. Often it was involvement with worldly affairs that stopped the movement.

The lure of politics, power, fame, and big money derailed many churches.

The revelation of deeper truth is an ongoing process. We must be vigilant and keep being prepared for new changes that take us closer to the apostolic beliefs of the first church age.

The Reformation looks great but had few good Christians

REVELATION 3:4   Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.

The Roman Catholics were happy to persecute and kill Protestants in what they called the Counter-Reformation. Unfortunately, some Protestants also sunk to this level of violence. The thirty-year war from 1618 – 1648 started as a Catholic-Protestant war but became a war for economic gain and land grabs. The Gospel is not spread by warfare. Up to 7 million people died in Germany from war, famine, and disease.

In 1524 the German peasants used the Reformation of Martin Luther to demand land rights and freedom from their oppression by the nobles. Again, sadly, the focus of the Reformation was on worldly benefits rather than spiritual benefits. About 100000 peasants were killed when Luther backed the nobles.

The church lost their spiritual values when they got involved in politics, land ownership, and economic issues.

As more people joined the Reformation, politics got involved. A Church-State Gospel emerged that sowed a whirlwind. The Protestants broke up into many different groups or denominations who easily opposed and detested each other.

The countries of Europe could now sail overseas and establish colonies. Wealth began to increase and it was easy for money and possessions to corrupt spiritual values. The colonies were soon regarded as a source of wealth rather than a chance to spread the Gospel.

But there were a few who got it right.

SARDISEAN CHURCH AGE  -  CHURCH AGE BOOK  CPT.7

They were in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit.

They were holy and without blame before Him. Thus they were fulfilling their purpose for that is what Ephesians 1:4 says is the purpose of God for us, "that we should be holy and without blame before Him."

Now from this verse which shows the elect of God to be a "Few Names," you can see clearly what we have been teaching about this age. It was chaotic. It was UNFULFILLED. It was split scores of ways, and God rebuked it almost in its entirety. It was weak and sickly and ready to die. It was not the glorious era that carnal minded Protestant historians have tried to make it. One quick look at that tree saw it was cankered and blighted, denuded of leaf and barren of fruit except for some deformed and wormy fruit that was fast dropping to the ground. But hold a moment! Look closer. There at the top, in the light of the sun, were some 'first fruits'--a 'Few Names'--perfect in Him for they were born of Him, filled with Him and walking with Him by His Word.

Thank God for 'those few.'

"And they shall walk with Me."

That is what God says He will bestow upon them for this upright walk. That is part of their inheritance that He has reserved for them. If they were willing to walk with Him through the toils and snares of life and be an honor to Him, He was going to reward them. He is not forgetful of our labour of love. God will always recompense us for our efforts to please Him.

Yes, they had walked through the world and had not partaken of it. They had not let the world systems overcome them. When the illustrious names of that age had yielded to the blandishment of the state and chosen political mindedness rather than Spiritual mindedness and were on their way back into the world, these few stood for the Word of God, and thereby honored the Lord. Now He would honor them in return. For they shall walk with Him in white. They had identified themselves with Him on earth and now He would identify Himself with them in the New Jerusalem.

There will always be some who God regards as worthy. That is a priceless compliment. Something that we should try hard to achieve.

White garments are difficult to keep clean as they show any spots of dirt.

Some names are blotted out of the Book of Life

REVELATION 3:5   He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

The problems and difficulties that we have to go through are all set there for a purpose. To punish our failings or strengthen our good points or test our dedication and toughen us up. But we have to overcome what life throws at us if we are to earn the right to walk with Jesus.

White garments are mentioned for the second time. We must keep our spiritual clothing clean by living a holy and righteous life, separated from the world and from sin. Do not get involved with questionable things.

SARDISEAN CHURCH AGE  -  CHURCH AGE BOOK  CPT.7

You know we are living in the end time. It is in this age that the churches are going to come together. And as they are even now controlling world politics, they will soon control the finances of the world. Then, if you don't belong to the world organization of churches, you won't be able to buy or to sell. You will lose all. Those who stay true to God and keep their garments clean from the defilement of this 'world-system' of church orders will be physically bereft. There will be presented to them a great temptation to give in. Preachers will give in with the excuse that they will serve God within the framework of the antichrist beast-system. They will give in to the flatteries and blandishments of the hierarchy. And the people will follow these false shepherds right into the slaughter. But in the judgment they will all be found naked. They will not be given those white robes; neither will they walk with Him. You can't walk in the spotted garments of the world, holding hands with the devil here, and then expect to be with God. It is time to wake up and hear the voice of God crying, "Come out of her (organized religion) My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, that ye receive not of her plagues." Amen. God is speaking. Shun the religions of this world like you shun the plague. Leave off walking with the world and make your garments white by repentance and the blood of the Lamb. But do it now, for tomorrow may be too late.

The Book of Life was written up before the foundation of the world.

We all love to see our own names written somewhere. If you are told that your name is written somewhere, you will want to read what was said.

So, if your new name is written in the Book of Life it will subconsciously give you a great desire to read and understand the Bible.

REVELATION 17: 8   And they that dwell upon the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world …

Where is this Book of Life? In Heaven.

Jesus said,

LUKE 10:19 … but rather rejoice, because your names are written in Heaven

PSALM 69:28   Let them be blotted out of the book of the living

Yes, like Judas a church leader who began to focus on money, a person who started well can have his or her name blotted out when they leave the Word of God. We must never believe a doctrine that is not written in Scripture.

The seven Thunders, the Seventh Seal, and the new name of Jesus are not written in Scripture. If you think that you understand those three doctrines it just means you are wrong and playing with fire.

SARDISEAN CHURCH AGE  -  CHURCH AGE BOOK  CPT.7

See how Judas was chosen of God. He was instructed in truth. He shared knowledge of the mysteries. He had a ministry of power granted unto him and he healed the sick and cast out devils in Jesus' Name. But when the show-down came, he sold out for gold and political power. He did not go up to Pentecost to receive the Spirit of God. He was devoid of the Spirit.

Make no mistake about it, a person that is truly baptized by the Holy Ghost into the body of Christ receiving the fullness of the Spirit will be in the WORD ALL THE WAY. That is the evidence of being baptized with the Holy Ghost.

… It is the second resurrection wherein the five foolish virgins come up. Notice that they were virgins. They did not have the Holy Spirit so they missed being in the bride, while the five wise who had oil became a part of that bride. But these people, being a separated, God-loving people, and trying to abide in the Word, according to what they knew of it, and being a help in the work of the Lord will come up at the end of time. They will miss the millennium, which you can begin to see by these truths is much more important and wonderful than we have ever thought or believed.

Debate doctrinal differences but be kind to everyone

MATTHEW 25:31   When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

Let us look at the judgement throne of God on Judgement Day.

MATTHEW 25:32   And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another,

AS a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats.

SARDISEAN CHURCH AGE  -  CHURCH AGE BOOK  CPT.7

As a shepherd. This is not a shepherd literally dividing sheep from the goats. These are not literal sheep. They do not have eternal life at that time of the judgement.

But they are allowed to go into eternal life because they were kind to the people who they did not know were the Bride.

MATTHEW 25:33   And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

:34   Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

:35   For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

:36   Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

:37   Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

:38   When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

:39   Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

:40   And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

SARDISEAN CHURCH AGE  -  CHURCH AGE BOOK  CPT.7

But these do NOT have eternal life, and they are in the judgment. They are allowed to GO INTO eternal life. But upon what grounds do they enter into life eternal? Certainly not upon the fact that they already have His life as does the bride, but they receive it because they were kind to His brethren. They are not His brethren: that would make them joint-heirs with Jesus. They are NOT heirs to anything but life. They share no throne, etc. with Him. THEIR NAMES MUST HAVE BEEN IN THE BOOK OF LIFE AND NOT REMOVED. Now because of their love of the people of God they are recognized and saved. No doubt these served and helped the children of God. Perhaps like Nicodemus and Gamaliel they stood for the children in a time of trouble.

… All these people had their names in the Book of Life and their names remained.

Just by being kind to the Bride, they got their reward. But they did not know that the people they were helping were the Bride. They had no ulterior motive. They just helped out of the kindness of their hearts.

They were just naturally kind to everyone.

Lesson to be learned. Kindness pays off big time.

What a rebuke to the vicious hatreds that were generated between the various Protestant churches that disagreed with each other.

What a rebuke to the intense hatreds that sprang up between Protestants and Roman Catholics

This is a fundamental lesson. Always be kind to people. We can disagree about doctrines. Tell a person that their doctrine is wrong. But be kind to the person.

MATTHEW 25:41    Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

:42   For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:

:43   I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

:44   Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

:45   Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

:46   And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

SARDISEAN CHURCH AGE  -  CHURCH AGE BOOK  CPT.7

But whose names did not remain? Those of the world system churches who fought the bride will be those whose names are removed.

That is who will lose out. They will be cast into the lake of fire.

We learn a big lesson. Be kind to people. Help people. If you help bride members, there is a great reward. If you fight the Bride members because you think their doctrines are wrong, then you can lose out big time.

Remember. Disagree freely with doctrines that you think are unscriptural. But be kind to the person that you disagree with.

SARDISEAN CHURCH AGE  -  CHURCH AGE BOOK  CPT.7

Judas failed. Multitudes fail right there. And when they fail to go on in that Word, their names are taken off the Book of Life.

… there are the borderline Christians such as we saw in Israel coming out of Egypt. These had their names in the Book of Life and their works written in the books. These having failed to obey God and being void of the Spirit, though even the signs and wonders were amongst them, will have their names removed from the Book of Life.

Amongst this group will be the ones like Judas who though entirely void of the Spirit, but are religious, will have manifestation in their lives,

and though on the books were not the elected IN HIM. Such also as Balaam will be in that group.

… You have a perfect type of that in Israel leaving Egypt. They came out about two million strong. ALL escaped through the sacrificial blood.

ALL were baptized in the Red Sea; ALL came up out of the water enjoying Holy Spirit manifestation and blessings; ALL ate angel food;

ALL drank of the rock that followed them. Yet except for a very few they were naught but carriers for the children who should follow them and go into Canaan land. All Israel is NOT Israel. And all but a tiny minority had their names blotted out of the Book of Life.

… They bore no fruit (because they were outside the Word--did not abide in it) and they, therefore, were sentenced to death.

Then as we have previously shown there are those who stood for the bride and were an aid and comfort to her. Those had their names remaining on the Book of Life and go into life everlasting. Finally there are those such as Pharaoh who never had their names on the Book of Life and these are cast into the lake of fire also.

SARDISEAN CHURCH AGE  -  CHURCH AGE BOOK  CPT.7

The creative voice of God is calling them forth from the dust or changing their atoms even though they had not fallen asleep.

It is the rapture. It is the great Marriage Supper of the Lamb and His bride.

The “voice of God” will change our bodies into eternal bodies just after the resurrection.

I THESSALONIANS 4:16   For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

:17   Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

REVELATION 3:6   He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Again, the warning. Stay with Scripture.

The Bible is the Voice of God.

60-0804  AS  THE  EAGLE  STIRRETH  UP  HER  NEST

We know the Bible is right;

that's not my voice; that's God's voice, speaking

64-0823  QUESTIONS  AND  ANSWERS.1

But those who can accept the Word in Its fullness,

not me preaching It, because It's the Bible says so.

This is what the church looked like during the fifth church age.

EVIL had been turned around and became LIVE as they now drew closer to the original first church age of the apostles.

Jacob left his father-in-law Laban but his wife Rachel took some of her father’s idols. This gave her father an excuse to pursue them.

The Reformers took many of the Roman Catholic denominational beliefs and traditions with them and that allowed the denominational spirit of Rome to pursue them and to infiltrate them. As such, the age was unfulfilled but a start had been made. Justification by faith had been restored. People began to believe in the authority of the Bible and thanks to the invention of the printing press, Bibles and religious tracts became available to the common people. They could begin to think for themselves and check what preachers said with Scripture.

65-0220  GOD'S  CHOSEN  PLACE  OF  WORSHIP

They think you have to belong to that certain church or you cannot go to Heaven. That's wrong. To believe that, is antichrist. I'll say this: if you believe such a spirit, you're lost.

A new Life was starting to manifest itself.

A major revolution in human thinking had occured which enabled many people to throw off the nightmare domination of the previously all-powerful Roman Catholic church.