March 1, 2025 • 28 mins
tep back 1,500 years into a world of Saxon warriors, swords, shields, and thrones—a time when paganism clashed with the rising tide of Christianity. In this special episode of Revival Radio TV, Dr. Gene Bailey helps uncover an untold chapter of history: how the Gospel arrived in Britain and forever changed the course of the world.
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(00:00):
Welcome to a veryspecial episode
of Revival Radio TV.
Today, we're going to takeyou back 1500 years
to tell you an untold storyof middle earth.
It's a story of Saxon warriors,swords, shields, and thrones,
from pagans toChristianity.
So come with me as weuncover these stories
(00:23):
that were lost to history.
Let's begin now.
♪
I want to take youon an amazing journey of discovery,
and share whereand how the gospel arrived in Britain
and how it changed the world.
Do you remember Joseph ofArimathea in the Bible?
(00:45):
He was the rich manthat after Jesus died,
he gave Jesus theuse of his tomb.
Legend has it that withinten years of Jesus
dying on the cross,
about 43 AD, that was evenbefore the Romans invaded,
he and a small group ofmissionaries brought the gospel
from Jerusalem allthe way to England.
(01:07):
From Glastonbury, the gospelspread like wildfire,
and the church in RomanBritain was vibrant
and it was growing.
Now skip ahead 400 years.
When the Romans leftBritain for their homeland
in the fifth century,
Germanic tribes invaded England,
(01:28):
the Saxons, the Jutes, andof course, the Angles.
This forced the RomanChristians to fleet to the West
in what became Wales.
Okay.
So now here is whereour story starts.
So stick with mefor a quick tour,
so you can understand how wegot from Ireland to England,
(01:49):
and where we encounteredour first mystery.
♪
Let me tell youabout Columba.
He was perhaps the mostfamous of the monks
that rose up out of the Irishchurch, and to me,
he was certainly themost inspirational.
(02:10):
Talk about being the one, he wasall about missionary work,
and he began byestablishing a monastery
on this little island off thecoast of Scotland, Iona.
This was the first monasteryestablished outside of Ireland.
Here's a picture of him.
One thing about Columba, hewas definitely a warrior monk.
(02:33):
They were God's Navy Sealsand it brought about
unprecedented peace forChristians in the land.
But he had to first clearoff the Druids
from the island tostart a school.
He was an advisor to Kingsand guided them into forming
Christian-friendly policies.
He became so respectedand was so anointed,
they had him approve anddedicate each new King.
(02:55):
One of the reasons theseIrish monks liked the idea
of establishingtheir monasteries
on the edge of the known world
is because they were beingled by the scripture,
Matthew 24:14,
"And this gospel of the kingdom
shall be preachedin all the world."
They were trying to usher inthe soon return of Jesus
by taking the gospel to theends of the earth.
(03:19):
The Island of Iona was literallythe end of the known world,
but it was herethat the fire of the gospel
was kept burning bright.
Iona wasn't just amonastery though.
It was a ministerschool for missionaries.
They'd train these feistymissionaries and equip them
with Bibles andthen sent them out.
(03:41):
Revivals emerged virtuallyeverywhere they went.
Columba himself convertedthe Scottish Pict tribes.
These missionaries convertedthe Anglo-Saxon tribes,
really all of Englandand much of Europe.
In fact, to put it interms we understand,
Iona was really oneof the first
Revival Capitals of Europe.
(04:03):
Iona eventually
becomes thisepicenter of Christianity
in Europe inthat area,
and it becomes soamazing that it's not just the place
where the monkswould copy the scriptures and disciple people,
but it's also theplace where the arts
just absolutely exploded.
Some of the arts are stillwell-known and famous
(04:23):
that came out of that place.
So it was really a place
that was centered around prayer.
They would have angelsshow up in this place.
They would havevisitations from God.
[Dr. Gene Bailey] Let me showyou something very special.
This is a copy of what'sprobably the best example
of the Bibles that theywere making on Iona.
It's called theBook of Kells,
because they had to move itto the Kells Monastery
(04:46):
in the 10th century
to protect it from theViking raids.
The pagan Vikings began to raidall the monasteries in Scotland,
England and Ireland.
It was really an all-outHoly war against Christianity.
But in the end, the Vikingsthemselves converted to Christianity.
But look at this manuscript.
It's called anilluminated manuscript
(05:08):
because of the artwork and thehighlighting in the text.
You will not findanything else like this.
These guys were allabout evangelism,
and mainly they werecopying the gospel books.
(05:29):
The first Anglo-Saxon Kingof Northumbria in England
had become a Christian as achild while attending Iona.
Then when he grew upand he became the King,
he asked them to sendhim a missionary
and Columba sent thisguy, Aidan.
Aidan travel boldly,making friends
throughout the Islandsharing Jesus,
(05:51):
and many converts followed.
Then one of the mostsignificant things
that Aidan did was on anotherisland off the coast of England,
the Holy Island ofLindisfarne.
Aidan founded one of themost important monasteries
that became the RevivalCapital of England.
(06:15):
But they didn'tstay on the island.
Aidan and the monks that hetrained took the gospel
into the highways andthe byways.
These monks were famousfor copying Bibles
just like this one.
In fact, this is their mostfamous version of the Bible.
It was written aboutthe eighth century.
It's said it may have takenup to ten years
to complete it.
(06:36):
Now this is not ornate likethe Book of Kells was,
but it's still its ownbeautiful work of art,
blending Celticand Roman style.
It's really abeautiful book.
It's been woven into thefabric of English history.
In the 10th century,a monk named Aldred
added English translationsbetween the Latin text.
(06:56):
So look here, look inbetween these lines
of the Latin texts.
You'll see Englishwords written there.
This makes this Bible theworld's oldest English Bible.
It has such a history.
It was stolen by the Vikingsand then ransomed back.
It was lost at sea andthen St. Cuthbert
(07:17):
appeared to a monk in a dream.
Now listen to this, he appearedto him in a dream telling him
where it was washed upon the shore.
When he went to that place,there was the Bible.
♪
Aidan of Lindisfarnerecruited this woman, Hilda.
(07:38):
Let me tell you her story.
The Saxon church, justlike the early church,
had women inleadership roles.
One leader was this famouswoman who established
an enormous monastery atWhitby in Northern England.
This monastery became animportant hub for government.
Even kings traveled toconsult with Hilda.
(08:00):
She was another exampleof how to be the one,
a woman called and equippedfor the right place
at the right time.
Remember we startedon Iona with Columba.
We followed Aidanto Lindisfarne.
Next we met an amazingwoman named Hilda
who was a leader in the church.
(08:20):
Her co-ed monastery hadvast cattle resources,
and her people wereactually self-sufficient.
Among the workers, she sawthe call of God
on one particular man,his name Caedmon.
He was a cow man, andin the old English,
that is literally whathis name means, cow man.
(08:42):
Here's his story.
♪
[Speaker] An angel comesto him and the angel says,
"Caedmon sing me something."
And he says, "I can't sing."
And the angel says,"Oh, but you'll sing for me."
Caedmon opens hismouth in the stream
and this beautiful songjust pours out of him.
(09:06):
Then he wakes up and he writesit down as best as he can
although he says it wasthis heavenly experience,
I don't know that I'm doingit justice but he tried
as best as he could.
Word gets around to Hildathat he had this encounter
with this angel.
So she brings him inand she says,
"Tell me. Sing me thesong." So he sings,
(09:28):
and the whole councillistens and they said,
"Huh, we think there'ssomething to this."
So she gave him some pieces ofliterature and she says,
"Can you setthese to music?"
Well he comes backthe next day
and he set all of it to music.
So she says, "Okay,leave the cows.
You're coming intothe church now.
(09:48):
You're coming into the communityof the monastic center."
So he does that andhe writes hundreds of songs
during his lifetime.
What's amazing about thisis that first of all,
Hilda was able to see itand call it out of him,
just like somebodyhad seen it in her
and called that leadershipability out of her.
But during a time where peoplecould not read and write,
(10:10):
this was very pivotal.
Because anybody could heara song and remember it
and memorize it.
So what he did was he tookall of these sacred stories
and things from scripture,and he set them to music,
and the common peoplecould learn them.
So he was really thefirst worship leader
and really the first sacred poetthat ever came out of England
(10:33):
that we have a record of.
[Dr. Gene Bailey] How wouldyou share the gospel?
Music was a powerfulway to do just that.
People can remember songsthey sing over and over,
and in poems or great warriorsagas as they called them,
this spoke directlyinto the warrior culture.
Remember, for ages they hadrepeated the tales of long ago
(10:55):
around their campfires.
So we know about Caedmon whowrote perhaps the first
and greatest ChristianSaxon poem ever.
But first, we have touncover another mystery.
All across ancient Englandstands carved stone crosses
(11:19):
that are calledpreaching crosses.
They are carved with imagesof the gospel story,
and they literallypreach the gospel
with the storiesthey tell,
filled with thecharacters in scenes
that tell stories at a glance.
This ancient preachingcross literally
illustrated Bible stories,
and we think they were paintedwith bright colors
(11:42):
to capturethe imagination.
Let me show you what Imean with this cross.
This is an exact copy of apreaching cross we think
came from the 10th century.
The original cross isstill standing in Ireland.
Crosses like these were placedin the center of the village.
Itinerant preachers would holdchurch right here at the cross
(12:03):
as they traveled fromvillage to village.
These guys were the originalcircuit riding preachers.
Often it was thepreaching cross first.
Then, as the paganvillagers found Jesus,
that people builta village church.
The preaching cross shows theOld Testament on the East side
(12:23):
and the New Testamenton the West side.
Now look here at this cross.
We see Jesus returningand reigning as King.
Then look down here,you see Adam and Eve.
Now Adam and Eve, you seehere on this bottom panel,
Eve is offering Adam thefruit and next to Adam,
Cain and Abel, the storythat we all know so well.
(12:44):
Then up, here's a scenefrom the life of David.
Here we see Moses strikingthe rock for water,
and then above here, we have thestory of the three wisemen
visiting baby Jesus,with Mary and Joseph.
Here at the top isone of my favorites.
It shows God, Jesusand you all dwelling
(13:08):
in the House of theLord forever.
You can see thisCeltic-Saxon style house
shape on the top here.
It represents a messageof hope for those people.
That was the mystery ofthe preaching crosses,
but this is where themystery really heats up.
We found a cross righthere in Dumfries, Scotland
(13:32):
at an ancientchurch called Ruthwell.
It's at the center of ournext mystery quest
we needed to uncover.
It's called theRuthwell High Cross.
The cross is 18 feet high.
It's thought to have beenconstructed around 664 AD.
The cross has the basicgospel story depictions
(13:52):
with a couple of extra carvings.
Here we see Jesus.
See how His feet are onthe head of the serpent.
They were showing usChrist's authority
and how He is fulfillingGenesis 3:15, Psalms 110,
Hebrews 1:13 and Acts 2:35.
I could go on and on,but the point is this,
(14:14):
these missionaries were sosteeped in theology
and these guys understoodbiblical authority.
With this arming ofwisdom and knowledge,
this is how they could gofearlessly into pagan lands
and declare Jesus is Lord.
They added countless soulsto the family of God,
(14:35):
really by the hundreds,everywhere they went.
We hear of martyrsin the Roman Empire,
but that didn't happen here.
These feisty, fearlessmissionaries actually all lived
to tell of their revivals,
and maybe most amazing,they lived long enough
among these violent pagans toeven carve these crosses.
(14:58):
This cross stood at Ruthwell
from the 7th untilthe 16th century.
By then the fires of theProtestant Reformation
were burning bright all overEngland and Scotland.
The preaching crosses became anundeserving target
of the Reformation.
So, in 1642 when theorder came down
to destroy the Ruthwell cross,
(15:19):
the minister of theRuthwell church
knew this cross was an importantpart of church history
that should not be lost to time.
He carefully took itdown and buried it,
and it was soon forgotten.
Was this the end ofthe preaching cross?
This is where thejourney of uncovering
(15:41):
this complex mysteryhas taken us.
Englishman in England areso steeped in history,
it's intriguing how for avery small island
they have always played a verypivotal part throughout history.
As we uncovered onemystery after another,
we were no longer surprisedthey have superb historians,
or as they were calledin the 18th
(16:02):
and 19th century, antiquarians.
For nearly two centuriesparts of this cross lay
under the church floor, andfragments were buried
in the grounds nearthe church yard.
Occasionally early writerswould refer to the cross
citing old records, but noone knew what had become
of the Ruthwell High Cross.
(16:24):
Then an almost accidentaltwist of happenstance,
it was unearthed duringthe ministry of this man,
Reverend Henry Duncan, whodiscovered a piece of the cross
and recognized theenormity of the find.
Then in 1818, Duncanrestored the Ruthwell Cross,
one of the finestAnglo-Saxon crosses
(16:46):
in all of England.
It's now kept insidethe Ruthwell Church.
This cross is remarkable for itssculpture and inscriptions
in Latin and Old Englishthat are embedded
in the sides of thecross, and mysteriously,
some are written in the ancientwriting of the Germanic people,
the Anglo-Saxonrunes, like this.
(17:11):
This is the next mysterywe had to uncover.
What do these runes mean?
What do theinscriptions say?
Reverend Duncan knew that thesewere ancient Germanic script,
but was it Scandinavianor Viking or Saxon?
These runes were firstdescribed around 1600
before the cross was buried,
but gave no clue totheir meeting.
(17:33):
Even then its meaningwas lost to history.
Around 1832, the runeswere recognized
as different from Scandinavian.
A man named Thorley Ferepshared a passage
in an ancient Saxonmanuscript, The Exeter Book.
John Mitchell Kimball in1840 shared a reading,
(17:54):
referring to Mary Magdalene.
Yet both of these turned outto be a wrong interpretation
and it just didn't fit theinscriptions correctly.
But the thirdattempt worked,
because the runes wererecognized as Saxon
and it all fell into place.
This inscription has come to beknown as the Dream of the Rood.
(18:17):
A rood was a Scottishword for cross.
Reverend Duncan learnedabout this from Kimball's
in an 1842 article.
He had just successfullymade the first translation
of the Epic Saxonpoem, Beowulf.
When he realized the unknowninscription was actually
(18:37):
in the Germanic Saxon language,
he was able to make out thewords "Christ was on the cross,
and their hastening from farcame they to the noble Prince.
I beheld all that."
He recognized this was anincomplete poem
about a talking tree that wascut down to become the cross
(18:59):
that Christ wascrucified on.
Yet it was still incomplete,
because some of theinscription was missing.
We had moreadventures to uncover.
In another seeminglyaccidental turn of events,
a German lawyer wassearching the libraries
of an obscure Italian monasteryway out in the country
(19:22):
at the foot of the Alps when hefound an unlikely book
to be in an Italian monastery.
It was a book of Saxonpoetry that dated
back to the 10thcentury and possibly
even deeper back in time.
The manuscript was found atVercelli in 1822 by the lawyer,
legal historian andwriter on Italian libraries,
(19:45):
Frederick Bloom.
So uncovering themystery of the runes,
we have to explorethe Vercelli Book.
It takes us to theUniversity of Mississippi.
There we find theLazarus Project.
Now what the LazarusProject is about,
they're bringing ancientmanuscripts back to life,
(20:06):
using high-tech scanners and UV
in differentlight wavelengths.
It lets them bring back oldfaded and missing writing.
One of the first booksthey did this too,
was the Vercelli manuscript.
[Lizzy Wicks] We've beenworking on the Vercelli Book,
which is so neat tobe able to work on that.
(20:27):
We're going to be imaging...
We've imaged about 70folios so far,
and we're going to beimaging like 70 more,
and the next ones thatwe're imaging is the poem,
The Dream of the Rood.
It really impacted my lifewhen I read the poem
just in my English class.
So I can imagine howit's going to be
actually seeing it in real life.
(20:48):
[Dr. Gene Bailey] We found out
that they had made highquality scans of the book
for the British Museum.
We made specialarrangements to get a hold
of the digitalfile of this scan.
Then our antique book binderprinted a museum quality print
and bound it usingancient leather techniques.
This lets us experiencetoday what this historical book
(21:09):
would have beenlike, and here it is,
the only copyoutside the museum,
the Vercelli Manuscript.
And right here, here'sCaedmon's poem,
The Dream of the Rood.
Of course it's writtenin Old English.
It's hard to read, but thepoem, The Dream of the Rood,
(21:30):
tells the story ofthe crucifixion
from the perspective of the tree
that was cut down tomake the cross.
In the poem, Jesus becomesthe warrior hero
that lays down his lifeto save mankind,
and the tree is a faithfulmember of his war band,
who out of obedience has tobecome the instrument
(21:51):
of his Lord's death.
The tree laments this.
He says, "I couldhave killed them all,
these feond," anOld English word for fiends.
But out of his obedience, Heendures the crucifixion
and eventually is glorified justlike His victorious Lord.
It's a very moving storysteeped in theology.
(22:11):
It was written in theGermanic hero saga style
that spoke right to theheart of the Saxon warriors
that would eventuallyaccept Christ.
It's similar to Beowulfin that it starts
with the Old English word what,meaning to listen.
(fire burning)
(22:31):
♪
[Man] "What, listen,listen," he says.
"I will tell you of the bestof dreams that I had
at midnight whilethe world slept.
I drempt I saw the mostwondrous of trees towering
(22:56):
in the sky above me,infused with light,
the brightest of beams, and thenthis most beautiful of trees
spoke and saidthese words."
"It was long ago. Iremember it well.
(23:19):
I stood on forest edge, butmen came and cut me down.
Strong foes carried meaway and set me on a hill.
And then ouryoung hero Christ,
firm and unflinching,stripped himself,
(23:43):
brave in the sight of allminded to save mankind.
I trembled as our heroclasped himself to me.
They pierced mewith dark nails. (hammering nails)
Blood covered me.
(24:04):
All creation wept, lamentingthe King's death."
[Dr. Gene Bailey] It tookdeep roots in the Anglo-Saxon culture,
(24:24):
which became the rootof the Western church,
and it changed the world.
One of the things I noticedin the full poem
is how Caedmon follows thetheology behind the 12 points
of the Apostles Creed.
This poem has deeptheological roots.
Basically the ApostlesCreed was your curriculum.
(24:44):
You had to learn by heartbefore you could be baptized
in the early church.
It shows the early churchwas built on sound doctrine.
It's amazing that down the sideswritten in the old Norse runes
are the quotations fromthis Epic poem.
Not only is this aninspirational piece
effective for evangelism,
even the language ispurposefully
(25:06):
enlarging our vision.
For example, inthe original poem,
it says, "The dream came to mein the middle of the night,
after the speech-bearerslie biding their rest."
That word it uses,speech-bearers,
is reordberend, and it is inthe original Old English.
It translates literallyas speech-bearers.
(25:27):
This shows a biblicalunderstanding
of what sets us apartfrom creation.
Being createdin God's image,
we have our God-givenability, like God,
to speak the importance ofthe creative force of our words.
Of course, Brother Copelandunpacks this idea so well
in his teaching series, You'rethe Prophet of Your Own Life.
(25:50):
This is just one example ofthe multilayered meaning
in this inspired poem.
This story now with themystery solved
really shows how the earlychurch under persecution,
yet without compromise,chose to be the one
for their generationand stepped up,
and often at riskof their own lives,
(26:10):
took an uncompromisinggospel to their world
and succeeded and completelychanged a nation for God.
America wouldn't have been here
without these bravemen and women
who laid a scripturalfoundation for England
and converted the first paganCelts and then the pagan Saxon,
(26:31):
and finally the paganVikings to Christianity.
The poem even includesthe great commission.
Here's a quote, "Now Icommand you loved man of mine,
that you this scene gotell on demand."
Now having seen thevision, can we go
and tell everyoneeverywhere
and be the one inour generation?
(26:53):
From pagan toChristian,
one person can makea difference.
Will you pray with me?
Father, I pray that hearinghow these brave men and women
of Old that youcalled answered the call,
and changed theircommunities and their nation,
and advanced the Kingdom of Godeven to this generation
(27:14):
and here in America.
We have been walkingin the footsteps
of these brave menand women who,
even though it may haveseemed small to them,
you know that sometimes theone person we talked to
will bring in100,000 new souls.
Lord, I pray You will makeeverlasting changes
to redeem your church.
(27:35):
Let us do in our moment nowwhat will usher in your Kingdom.
We praise You Father forallowing us to be a part
and show us the next step how wecan be the one in our time.
Amen.
This has been another, Bethe One Story
(27:55):
right here on Revival Radio TV.
Welcome to a veryspecial episode
of Revival Radio TV.
Today, we're going to takeyou back 1500 years
to tell you an untold storyof middle earth.
It's a story of Saxon warriors,swords, shields, and thrones,
from pagans toChristianity.
So come with me as weuncover these stories
(00:23):
that were lost to history.
Let's begin now.
♪
I want to take youon an amazing journey of discovery,
and share whereand how the gospel arrived in Britain
and how it changed the world.
Do you remember Joseph ofArimathea in the Bible?
(00:45):
He was the rich manthat after Jesus died,
he gave Jesus theuse of his tomb.
Legend has it that withinten years of Jesus
dying on the cross,
about 43 AD, that was evenbefore the Romans invaded,
he and a small group ofmissionaries brought the gospel
from Jerusalem allthe way to England.
(01:07):
From Glastonbury, the gospelspread like wildfire,
and the church in RomanBritain was vibrant
and it was growing.
Now skip ahead 400 years.
When the Romans leftBritain for their homeland
in the fifth century,
Germanic tribes invaded England,
(01:28):
the Saxons, the Jutes, andof course, the Angles.
This forced the RomanChristians to fleet to the West
in what became Wales.
Okay.
So now here is whereour story starts.
So stick with mefor a quick tour,
so you can understand how wegot from Ireland to England,
(01:49):
and where we encounteredour first mystery.
♪
Let me tell youabout Columba.
He was perhaps the mostfamous of the monks
that rose up out of the Irishchurch, and to me,
he was certainly themost inspirational.
(02:10):
Talk about being the one, he wasall about missionary work,
and he began byestablishing a monastery
on this little island off thecoast of Scotland, Iona.
This was the first monasteryestablished outside of Ireland.
Here's a picture of him.
One thing about Columba, hewas definitely a warrior monk.
(02:33):
They were God's Navy Sealsand it brought about
unprecedented peace forChristians in the land.
But he had to first clearoff the Druids
from the island tostart a school.
He was an advisor to Kingsand guided them into forming
Christian-friendly policies.
He became so respectedand was so anointed,
they had him approve anddedicate each new King.
(02:55):
One of the reasons theseIrish monks liked the idea
of establishingtheir monasteries
on the edge of the known world
is because they were beingled by the scripture,
Matthew 24:14,
"And this gospel of the kingdom
shall be preachedin all the world."
They were trying to usher inthe soon return of Jesus
by taking the gospel to theends of the earth.
(03:19):
The Island of Iona was literallythe end of the known world,
but it was herethat the fire of the gospel
was kept burning bright.
Iona wasn't just amonastery though.
It was a ministerschool for missionaries.
They'd train these feistymissionaries and equip them
with Bibles andthen sent them out.
(03:41):
Revivals emerged virtuallyeverywhere they went.
Columba himself convertedthe Scottish Pict tribes.
These missionaries convertedthe Anglo-Saxon tribes,
really all of Englandand much of Europe.
In fact, to put it interms we understand,
Iona was really oneof the first
Revival Capitals of Europe.
(04:03):
Iona eventually
becomes thisepicenter of Christianity
in Europe inthat area,
and it becomes soamazing that it's not just the place
where the monkswould copy the scriptures and disciple people,
but it's also theplace where the arts
just absolutely exploded.
Some of the arts are stillwell-known and famous
(04:23):
that came out of that place.
So it was really a place
that was centered around prayer.
They would have angelsshow up in this place.
They would havevisitations from God.
[Dr. Gene Bailey] Let me showyou something very special.
This is a copy of what'sprobably the best example
of the Bibles that theywere making on Iona.
It's called theBook of Kells,
because they had to move itto the Kells Monastery
(04:46):
in the 10th century
to protect it from theViking raids.
The pagan Vikings began to raidall the monasteries in Scotland,
England and Ireland.
It was really an all-outHoly war against Christianity.
But in the end, the Vikingsthemselves converted to Christianity.
But look at this manuscript.
It's called anilluminated manuscript
(05:08):
because of the artwork and thehighlighting in the text.
You will not findanything else like this.
These guys were allabout evangelism,
and mainly they werecopying the gospel books.
(05:29):
The first Anglo-Saxon Kingof Northumbria in England
had become a Christian as achild while attending Iona.
Then when he grew upand he became the King,
he asked them to sendhim a missionary
and Columba sent thisguy, Aidan.
Aidan travel boldly,making friends
throughout the Islandsharing Jesus,
(05:51):
and many converts followed.
Then one of the mostsignificant things
that Aidan did was on anotherisland off the coast of England,
the Holy Island ofLindisfarne.
Aidan founded one of themost important monasteries
that became the RevivalCapital of England.
(06:15):
But they didn'tstay on the island.
Aidan and the monks that hetrained took the gospel
into the highways andthe byways.
These monks were famousfor copying Bibles
just like this one.
In fact, this is their mostfamous version of the Bible.
It was written aboutthe eighth century.
It's said it may have takenup to ten years
to complete it.
(06:36):
Now this is not ornate likethe Book of Kells was,
but it's still its ownbeautiful work of art,
blending Celticand Roman style.
It's really abeautiful book.
It's been woven into thefabric of English history.
In the 10th century,a monk named Aldred
added English translationsbetween the Latin text.
(06:56):
So look here, look inbetween these lines
of the Latin texts.
You'll see Englishwords written there.
This makes this Bible theworld's oldest English Bible.
It has such a history.
It was stolen by the Vikingsand then ransomed back.
It was lost at sea andthen St. Cuthbert
(07:17):
appeared to a monk in a dream.
Now listen to this, he appearedto him in a dream telling him
where it was washed upon the shore.
When he went to that place,there was the Bible.
♪
Aidan of Lindisfarnerecruited this woman, Hilda.
(07:38):
Let me tell you her story.
The Saxon church, justlike the early church,
had women inleadership roles.
One leader was this famouswoman who established
an enormous monastery atWhitby in Northern England.
This monastery became animportant hub for government.
Even kings traveled toconsult with Hilda.
(08:00):
She was another exampleof how to be the one,
a woman called and equippedfor the right place
at the right time.
Remember we startedon Iona with Columba.
We followed Aidanto Lindisfarne.
Next we met an amazingwoman named Hilda
who was a leader in the church.
(08:20):
Her co-ed monastery hadvast cattle resources,
and her people wereactually self-sufficient.
Among the workers, she sawthe call of God
on one particular man,his name Caedmon.
He was a cow man, andin the old English,
that is literally whathis name means, cow man.
(08:42):
Here's his story.
♪
[Speaker] An angel comesto him and the angel says,
"Caedmon sing me something."
And he says, "I can't sing."
And the angel says,"Oh, but you'll sing for me."
Caedmon opens hismouth in the stream
and this beautiful songjust pours out of him.
(09:06):
Then he wakes up and he writesit down as best as he can
although he says it wasthis heavenly experience,
I don't know that I'm doingit justice but he tried
as best as he could.
Word gets around to Hildathat he had this encounter
with this angel.
So she brings him inand she says,
"Tell me. Sing me thesong." So he sings,
(09:28):
and the whole councillistens and they said,
"Huh, we think there'ssomething to this."
So she gave him some pieces ofliterature and she says,
"Can you setthese to music?"
Well he comes backthe next day
and he set all of it to music.
So she says, "Okay,leave the cows.
You're coming intothe church now.
(09:48):
You're coming into the communityof the monastic center."
So he does that andhe writes hundreds of songs
during his lifetime.
What's amazing about thisis that first of all,
Hilda was able to see itand call it out of him,
just like somebodyhad seen it in her
and called that leadershipability out of her.
But during a time where peoplecould not read and write,
(10:10):
this was very pivotal.
Because anybody could heara song and remember it
and memorize it.
So what he did was he tookall of these sacred stories
and things from scripture,and he set them to music,
and the common peoplecould learn them.
So he was really thefirst worship leader
and really the first sacred poetthat ever came out of England
(10:33):
that we have a record of.
[Dr. Gene Bailey] How wouldyou share the gospel?
Music was a powerfulway to do just that.
People can remember songsthey sing over and over,
and in poems or great warriorsagas as they called them,
this spoke directlyinto the warrior culture.
Remember, for ages they hadrepeated the tales of long ago
(10:55):
around their campfires.
So we know about Caedmon whowrote perhaps the first
and greatest ChristianSaxon poem ever.
But first, we have touncover another mystery.
All across ancient Englandstands carved stone crosses
(11:19):
that are calledpreaching crosses.
They are carved with imagesof the gospel story,
and they literallypreach the gospel
with the storiesthey tell,
filled with thecharacters in scenes
that tell stories at a glance.
This ancient preachingcross literally
illustrated Bible stories,
and we think they were paintedwith bright colors
(11:42):
to capturethe imagination.
Let me show you what Imean with this cross.
This is an exact copy of apreaching cross we think
came from the 10th century.
The original cross isstill standing in Ireland.
Crosses like these were placedin the center of the village.
Itinerant preachers would holdchurch right here at the cross
(12:03):
as they traveled fromvillage to village.
These guys were the originalcircuit riding preachers.
Often it was thepreaching cross first.
Then, as the paganvillagers found Jesus,
that people builta village church.
The preaching cross shows theOld Testament on the East side
(12:23):
and the New Testamenton the West side.
Now look here at this cross.
We see Jesus returningand reigning as King.
Then look down here,you see Adam and Eve.
Now Adam and Eve, you seehere on this bottom panel,
Eve is offering Adam thefruit and next to Adam,
Cain and Abel, the storythat we all know so well.
(12:44):
Then up, here's a scenefrom the life of David.
Here we see Moses strikingthe rock for water,
and then above here, we have thestory of the three wisemen
visiting baby Jesus,with Mary and Joseph.
Here at the top isone of my favorites.
It shows God, Jesusand you all dwelling
(13:08):
in the House of theLord forever.
You can see thisCeltic-Saxon style house
shape on the top here.
It represents a messageof hope for those people.
That was the mystery ofthe preaching crosses,
but this is where themystery really heats up.
We found a cross righthere in Dumfries, Scotland
(13:32):
at an ancientchurch called Ruthwell.
It's at the center of ournext mystery quest
we needed to uncover.
It's called theRuthwell High Cross.
The cross is 18 feet high.
It's thought to have beenconstructed around 664 AD.
The cross has the basicgospel story depictions
(13:52):
with a couple of extra carvings.
Here we see Jesus.
See how His feet are onthe head of the serpent.
They were showing usChrist's authority
and how He is fulfillingGenesis 3:15, Psalms 110,
Hebrews 1:13 and Acts 2:35.
I could go on and on,but the point is this,
(14:14):
these missionaries were sosteeped in theology
and these guys understoodbiblical authority.
With this arming ofwisdom and knowledge,
this is how they could gofearlessly into pagan lands
and declare Jesus is Lord.
They added countless soulsto the family of God,
(14:35):
really by the hundreds,everywhere they went.
We hear of martyrsin the Roman Empire,
but that didn't happen here.
These feisty, fearlessmissionaries actually all lived
to tell of their revivals,
and maybe most amazing,they lived long enough
among these violent pagans toeven carve these crosses.
(14:58):
This cross stood at Ruthwell
from the 7th untilthe 16th century.
By then the fires of theProtestant Reformation
were burning bright all overEngland and Scotland.
The preaching crosses became anundeserving target
of the Reformation.
So, in 1642 when theorder came down
to destroy the Ruthwell cross,
(15:19):
the minister of theRuthwell church
knew this cross was an importantpart of church history
that should not be lost to time.
He carefully took itdown and buried it,
and it was soon forgotten.
Was this the end ofthe preaching cross?
This is where thejourney of uncovering
(15:41):
this complex mysteryhas taken us.
Englishman in England areso steeped in history,
it's intriguing how for avery small island
they have always played a verypivotal part throughout history.
As we uncovered onemystery after another,
we were no longer surprisedthey have superb historians,
or as they were calledin the 18th
(16:02):
and 19th century, antiquarians.
For nearly two centuriesparts of this cross lay
under the church floor, andfragments were buried
in the grounds nearthe church yard.
Occasionally early writerswould refer to the cross
citing old records, but noone knew what had become
of the Ruthwell High Cross.
(16:24):
Then an almost accidentaltwist of happenstance,
it was unearthed duringthe ministry of this man,
Reverend Henry Duncan, whodiscovered a piece of the cross
and recognized theenormity of the find.
Then in 1818, Duncanrestored the Ruthwell Cross,
one of the finestAnglo-Saxon crosses
(16:46):
in all of England.
It's now kept insidethe Ruthwell Church.
This cross is remarkable for itssculpture and inscriptions
in Latin and Old Englishthat are embedded
in the sides of thecross, and mysteriously,
some are written in the ancientwriting of the Germanic people,
the Anglo-Saxonrunes, like this.
(17:11):
This is the next mysterywe had to uncover.
What do these runes mean?
What do theinscriptions say?
Reverend Duncan knew that thesewere ancient Germanic script,
but was it Scandinavianor Viking or Saxon?
These runes were firstdescribed around 1600
before the cross was buried,
but gave no clue totheir meeting.
(17:33):
Even then its meaningwas lost to history.
Around 1832, the runeswere recognized
as different from Scandinavian.
A man named Thorley Ferepshared a passage
in an ancient Saxonmanuscript, The Exeter Book.
John Mitchell Kimball in1840 shared a reading,
(17:54):
referring to Mary Magdalene.
Yet both of these turned outto be a wrong interpretation
and it just didn't fit theinscriptions correctly.
But the thirdattempt worked,
because the runes wererecognized as Saxon
and it all fell into place.
This inscription has come to beknown as the Dream of the Rood.
(18:17):
A rood was a Scottishword for cross.
Reverend Duncan learnedabout this from Kimball's
in an 1842 article.
He had just successfullymade the first translation
of the Epic Saxonpoem, Beowulf.
When he realized the unknowninscription was actually
(18:37):
in the Germanic Saxon language,
he was able to make out thewords "Christ was on the cross,
and their hastening from farcame they to the noble Prince.
I beheld all that."
He recognized this was anincomplete poem
about a talking tree that wascut down to become the cross
(18:59):
that Christ wascrucified on.
Yet it was still incomplete,
because some of theinscription was missing.
We had moreadventures to uncover.
In another seeminglyaccidental turn of events,
a German lawyer wassearching the libraries
of an obscure Italian monasteryway out in the country
(19:22):
at the foot of the Alps when hefound an unlikely book
to be in an Italian monastery.
It was a book of Saxonpoetry that dated
back to the 10thcentury and possibly
even deeper back in time.
The manuscript was found atVercelli in 1822 by the lawyer,
legal historian andwriter on Italian libraries,
(19:45):
Frederick Bloom.
So uncovering themystery of the runes,
we have to explorethe Vercelli Book.
It takes us to theUniversity of Mississippi.
There we find theLazarus Project.
Now what the LazarusProject is about,
they're bringing ancientmanuscripts back to life,
(20:06):
using high-tech scanners and UV
in differentlight wavelengths.
It lets them bring back oldfaded and missing writing.
One of the first booksthey did this too,
was the Vercelli manuscript.
[Lizzy Wicks] We've beenworking on the Vercelli Book,
which is so neat tobe able to work on that.
(20:27):
We're going to be imaging...
We've imaged about 70folios so far,
and we're going to beimaging like 70 more,
and the next ones thatwe're imaging is the poem,
The Dream of the Rood.
It really impacted my lifewhen I read the poem
just in my English class.
So I can imagine howit's going to be
actually seeing it in real life.
(20:48):
[Dr. Gene Bailey] We found out
that they had made highquality scans of the book
for the British Museum.
We made specialarrangements to get a hold
of the digitalfile of this scan.
Then our antique book binderprinted a museum quality print
and bound it usingancient leather techniques.
This lets us experiencetoday what this historical book
(21:09):
would have beenlike, and here it is,
the only copyoutside the museum,
the Vercelli Manuscript.
And right here, here'sCaedmon's poem,
The Dream of the Rood.
Of course it's writtenin Old English.
It's hard to read, but thepoem, The Dream of the Rood,
(21:30):
tells the story ofthe crucifixion
from the perspective of the tree
that was cut down tomake the cross.
In the poem, Jesus becomesthe warrior hero
that lays down his lifeto save mankind,
and the tree is a faithfulmember of his war band,
who out of obedience has tobecome the instrument
(21:51):
of his Lord's death.
The tree laments this.
He says, "I couldhave killed them all,
these feond," anOld English word for fiends.
But out of his obedience, Heendures the crucifixion
and eventually is glorified justlike His victorious Lord.
It's a very moving storysteeped in theology.
(22:11):
It was written in theGermanic hero saga style
that spoke right to theheart of the Saxon warriors
that would eventuallyaccept Christ.
It's similar to Beowulfin that it starts
with the Old English word what,meaning to listen.
(fire burning)
(22:31):
♪
[Man] "What, listen,listen," he says.
"I will tell you of the bestof dreams that I had
at midnight whilethe world slept.
I drempt I saw the mostwondrous of trees towering
(22:56):
in the sky above me,infused with light,
the brightest of beams, and thenthis most beautiful of trees
spoke and saidthese words."
"It was long ago. Iremember it well.
(23:19):
I stood on forest edge, butmen came and cut me down.
Strong foes carried meaway and set me on a hill.
And then ouryoung hero Christ,
firm and unflinching,stripped himself,
(23:43):
brave in the sight of allminded to save mankind.
I trembled as our heroclasped himself to me.
They pierced mewith dark nails. (hammering nails)
Blood covered me.
(24:04):
All creation wept, lamentingthe King's death."
[Dr. Gene Bailey] It tookdeep roots in the Anglo-Saxon culture,
(24:24):
which became the rootof the Western church,
and it changed the world.
One of the things I noticedin the full poem
is how Caedmon follows thetheology behind the 12 points
of the Apostles Creed.
This poem has deeptheological roots.
Basically the ApostlesCreed was your curriculum.
(24:44):
You had to learn by heartbefore you could be baptized
in the early church.
It shows the early churchwas built on sound doctrine.
It's amazing that down the sideswritten in the old Norse runes
are the quotations fromthis Epic poem.
Not only is this aninspirational piece
effective for evangelism,
even the language ispurposefully
(25:06):
enlarging our vision.
For example, inthe original poem,
it says, "The dream came to mein the middle of the night,
after the speech-bearerslie biding their rest."
That word it uses,speech-bearers,
is reordberend, and it is inthe original Old English.
It translates literallyas speech-bearers.
(25:27):
This shows a biblicalunderstanding
of what sets us apartfrom creation.
Being createdin God's image,
we have our God-givenability, like God,
to speak the importance ofthe creative force of our words.
Of course, Brother Copelandunpacks this idea so well
in his teaching series, You'rethe Prophet of Your Own Life.
(25:50):
This is just one example ofthe multilayered meaning
in this inspired poem.
This story now with themystery solved
really shows how the earlychurch under persecution,
yet without compromise,chose to be the one
for their generationand stepped up,
and often at riskof their own lives,
(26:10):
took an uncompromisinggospel to their world
and succeeded and completelychanged a nation for God.
America wouldn't have been here
without these bravemen and women
who laid a scripturalfoundation for England
and converted the first paganCelts and then the pagan Saxon,
(26:31):
and finally the paganVikings to Christianity.
The poem even includesthe great commission.
Here's a quote, "Now Icommand you loved man of mine,
that you this scene gotell on demand."
Now having seen thevision, can we go
and tell everyoneeverywhere
and be the one inour generation?
(26:53):
From pagan toChristian,
one person can makea difference.
Will you pray with me?
Father, I pray that hearinghow these brave men and women
of Old that youcalled answered the call,
and changed theircommunities and their nation,
and advanced the Kingdom of Godeven to this generation
(27:14):
and here in America.
We have been walkingin the footsteps
of these brave menand women who,
even though it may haveseemed small to them,
you know that sometimes theone person we talked to
will bring in100,000 new souls.
Lord, I pray You will makeeverlasting changes
to redeem your church.
(27:35):
Let us do in our moment nowwhat will usher in your Kingdom.
We praise You Father forallowing us to be a part
and show us the next step how wecan be the one in our time.
Amen.
This has been another, Bethe One Story
(27:55):
right here on Revival Radio TV.
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