Henry VIII

Coming up next on Renewing Your Mind existence of the fool a parliamentary act declared Henry was supreme head of the church. A magnificent office previously occupied by the Pope really is famously infamously known for his many was in their untimely deaths.

But in the midst of all the domestic turmoil. He was busy stirring things up in the church as well. The chaos that followed that a profound impact on every believer ending. And yes, even on the church today. Dr. Michael reach welcome back well to understand the Reformation England. One thing you really need in pace is you need to know about the king of England Henry VIII and his dates and dates I want to be a bit flexible on if you find dates and encumbrance to worry about them.

You'll get a flow of the story anyway. But if the helpful his dates as King. He reigned from 1509 to 1547 I water, rain, Henry VIII.

His story is an extraordinary one, and there are many complicated twists and turns against little complex at this point is been televised so many times because his reign really was like a soap opera, Henry was an autocratic ruler with a fearsome, often lethal temper and energy like a coiled spring and not much more predictability. Henry was also deeply religious. He would serve the priest mass himself personally.

He went to three messages a day and for his adamant support of the Pope. He was awarded the Golden Rose, the highest award, the Pope could confer and so it is unsurprising that when he first hunt of Alexa.

He opposed him and with the help of a few willing ghostwriters in 1521, he wrote a polemic against Colusa cold.

A defense of the seven sacraments Protestants Lutherans were beginning to talk to baptism and communion and Henry like a traditional Catholic was wanting to say no.

There are five more sacraments confirmation, penitence, marriage, ordination and loss rights and these will all means of God's grace in the Roman Catholic system and this defense of the seven sacraments, Henry dedicated to the Pope and for this, the Pope awarded him what would become a most ironic title defender of the faith. I must Henry was hardly a bright hope for the Reformation. Then he had trouble with his marriage, age 17, Henry had Roth reluctantly got marriage to his elder brother, now dead elder brothers window Catherine of Aragon, and after few years and numerous miscarriages, babies dying soon off the bus, it became clear to Henry. Catherine was incapable of delivering us some now she bore him a door so Mary in 1516, but Henry wasn't after a family. He was often at a male as England just gone through the Civil War. The walls of the roses and Henry needed a successor to ensure there was no new Civil War, no new doubts about who was truly king. He needed a son now the obvious solution to someone in Henry situation was to get another wife, one who could deliver some of the usual form. This was usual for four men in Henry situation was to find a fold with the marriage that your written to get it declared illegal, and then getting to know Henry didn't have to look hard to find a reason to get to know because Leviticus 20 verse 21 says if a man marries his brothers wife.

It is an act of impurity. He will be childless and Henry considers he wants childless Mary didn't count.

And so this seemed to him to be proof that his marriage was innocent.

Now the reason Henry knew that for us was because that being the very first of the been a problem when he first got married to Catherine of Aragon back the Pope, Pope Julius the second had very kindly removed the scriptural prohibition with a special papal dispensation. Henry needed to get the new pope that Pope died, the new Pope Clement the seventh, to undo the previous Pope's dispensation feel complexity building is a little complex around here, but you see an issue.

The first Pope Julius the second clearly believed he is Pope could nullify a scriptural, the question now was when you could nullify God's word become the Pope nullify previous popes would now usually the coats of jet fuel could be oils to accommodate a powerful King like Henry the problem was Catherine Queen Catherine herself because she insisted her first marriage had never been consummated main her marriage to Henry was straightforwardly legal. The original papal dispensation hadn't been necessary marriage to Henry was straightforwardly in the just Catherine's claim is very simply, marriage is legal. Henry is saying no, it's no and Henry was not a man easily stops.

In fact, quite the opposite.

When his eyes fell upon the fascinating nubile young and Boleyn. He became relentless in his bid to switch Catherine for the young lady who should Bill provide him with a son so he tried diplomatic pressure on the Pope that didn't work. He tried squeezing the English clergy in the hope the Pope would crack and given to his two moms, then that time he says about his army of scholars with this toxic. He wanted his goal is to prove that he was right and second, the Pope had no right to stop and it was this tactic that came up trumps because his scholars cost themselves. They reminded Henry of an old legend, the kings of England love for long time that apparently and assuredly.

They told Joseph of Arimathea, possibly with Jesus himself had flaunted the first church in England, Glastonbury. So while the church in Rome had been planted by disciple Peter, the first church had been flaunted before that in England, perhaps by Jesus himself. Meaning while all of the countries should submit to Rome, England preceded Rome and was thus independence of Rome. The church therefore not being dependent on Pope put on the king conveniently so from 1530 to a number of laws began to pulse to bring practices in line with this reality, making the church in England increasingly independent of the Pope and dependent on the king. The next year and managed to find himself and Archbishop of Canterbury was willing to marry him, willing to validate Henry's marriage to an which he secretly gone through with a year before the following year 1534 Henry got what he been off to 1530 for a parliamentary act declared the act of supremacy.

This was declared, Henry was supreme head of the church. A magnificent office previously occupied by the Pope.

Now you could say this departure from Rome and the fact that anyone who is loyal to Rome still in England was persecuted. Now you could think this is a Protestant Reformation.

While it was a break with Rome. It was not a Protestant Reformation. Ever since Henry had written his defense of the seven sacraments. He and Luther kept up with the war open letters against each other and to seal King Henry's hatred of Luther Luther had opposed his marriage to Henry was never again have time for Luther Lutherans. Instead, the King made it quite clear he would not be departing from any traditional Catholic doctrine.

It was simply that he was refusing to acknowledge the popes supremacy in England, but having once used the Bible to argue the case for the annulment of his marriage against the Pope was now hard to resist the claim that the Bible was a higher authority than the Pope and those to be prepared to help Henry and his break with Rome were often evangelical in their convictions to Thomas Cranmer, the new Archbishop of Canterbury. He had to be were cold from Germany keeping in Lutheran territory and assign of his budding evangelicalism was.

He got married while he was there. This was in the coal for priest in England and assign of the strength of his conviction. He kept his wife when recalled to England to be Archbishop and it was said because he had to keep the secret that he had a special chest made for Mrs. Cranmer without holes in it so that she could accompany him on her travels and some have seen her as a minor monster of the Reformation fullest time she's packed upside down another key figure of evangelicalism in England at the time was the king's chief minister Thomas Cromwell to Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas chrome. Well, the chief minister not to be confused with all of the Cromwell Lord protector of England.

A century later, Thomas Cromwell was effectively given all the power of the church, but the Pope previously had come to the king of course then there was Queen and herself, who distributed large quantities of evangelical literature, even introducing her husband. Some of it. And while I was Queen. A number of the old Catholic bishops died out with her come onto the Kinsey number of evangelicals were appointed to keep bishoprics and so with Thomas Cranmer, Thomas Cromwell, Queen and in-place.

Henry's changes want to Protestant Reformation themselves, but the word of these well-placed evangelicals ready to use them for evangelical ends, trouble walls as both evangelicals and Catholics found out the king's favor and thus all influence could be removed with terrifying saltiness went on, married to the King.

She found herself pregnant really quite quickly, and though she enjoyed a lovely honeymoon time in the king's goodwill.

Then it was found out when she delivered the baby.

She given birth to Elizabeth Henry could not of been more horrified fight. He was thinking what had it all been fall wanted all his battles with open shut screen for and he's got another girl. Upon hearing the news, Henry said to a gallop from from Greenwich and down to rural Wiltshire that to drown his sorrows with no culture to John Simon who had an attractive door cycle. Jane and the Seymour family were very happy to fuel rumors about who is now starting to full from Henry's favor, and the fool started gathering speed because she was pregnant again.

But then she miscarried a boy the worst thing she could have done it again to be whispered. She was having numerous affairs. She was dabbling in witchcraft that she was plotting to poison various members of the royal family is all absolutely upset the question offender and incapable of bearing a boy was arrested found guilty of treason and beheaded the next day Henry was betrothed to Jane Seymour and 10 days later they were married wasn't that distraught.

Clearly now, Jane wasn't Queen for long.

But for this reason she died from complications in childbirth but Henry would always look back on Jane Seymour, Queen Jane, his third wife is the only wife he truly loved because she bore him long for some and put noted, all added up to being expensive few years for Henry and his empty treasury where showing the strength and so Henry began looking at all those Monastery's scattered around England and there were a lot of hundreds of the combined rents of them talking up to something really worth having. Many of them were falling into ruins and only sustained by gross irregularities and so egged on by Thomas Cromwell. Henry began the process of dissolving these ministries is a popular move because there was widespread irritation of the privileges of the clergy and the wealthy were very happy to buy up all this nice monastic land at knockdown prices and many of the monks and nuns seemed relieved when is a now married each other. Others were content with being pensioned off nicely, overcoming parish clergy. Local pastas moved to dissolve the member monitors might have been intended as nothing more than a royal smash and grab by Henry with the effect was now that the wealthy had both helped monastic land. There was no going back. Because the ruling classes were now committed to Henry's Reformation. They want to give back that land.

The one can of being ministries again and that meant effectively weedkiller and seed beds of Catholicism in England and at the same time Henry was beginning to enjoy his role as the liberator of the English Church from the popes Romish abuses, pilgrimages, relics, images of saints that made money for the church that was slated for destruction or was loft so when the Abbey of Berkeley in Kent was shut down the revered root of books lay a famous crucifix would jiggle excitedly when anyone made a generous donation to the Abbey. This was uncovered to be its miraculous movements attributable not to God but to leave those wires in a concealed monk. It was sent to London where he was greeted with howls of loft or show boxes and load up on the farm in CC where weedkiller is being poured out on old Catholicism. People are beginning to loft the tax very powerful movement and of the same time fertilizer was being poured out on the thirsty on evangelical movements and so two years of Tyndale prayed Lord open the king of England's eyes. Two years later the king decreed, you shall discourage no man from the reading or hearing of the Bible, but shall expressly provoke, stir and exhort every person to read the same as that which is the very lively word of God, it was decreed to the English Bible be placed in every church.

Traditional Catholics were shocked by this. What had so recently been an offense to merit blending of the steak was now encouraged behavior all the law was received with red-hot enthusiasm six Bibles in English were placed in simples Cathedral in London and crowds walked around these Bibles and flocked around those able to read and able to read loudly enough to shout outs above the crowds and priests began to complain of how even during the summer lay people were shouting out the Bible and people were listening to the Bible being red Robin.

The sermon private Bible reading became much more widespread as a feature of ordinary life.

Even the illiterate learned to read just so that they could hear the very lively word of God. Once that happened, it was raining very hard to go back now. Butch is an Bacons reading the Bible. They were coming to new convictions.

They were even daring to disagree with the clergy over with Bible in hand, ordinary people were demanding to know where that priest got his ideas from bus.

Henry's ring was not smooth and even transition from Catholicism to prospectors.

Henry could go through theological moods like he went through wives of Jane Seymour's death. Thomas Cromwell tried to set him up with a Lutheran princess and of Cleves. When Henry finally met that he was so repulsed by her physically colder that Flanders may and he refused to consummate the marriage and it was an old very quickly and Cromwell paid for that fiasco with his head then often Lutheran and the Catholic Howard family put forward Catherine is that brightest young star. This turned out to be a disaster of a marriage. They got married, but young Catherine wasn't satisfied with a husband who is obese and it was 30 years old, and posthumous and she was discovered having an affair, a monumentally stupid thing to do with a king like this and with lightning speed. She followed ambulance, the execution block in the Tower of London. So from Lutheran and of pleas for Catholic Catherine Howard finally Henry turned to the reform minded Catherine Paul who and Henry died.

Must've been one of those wires relieved to outlive her husband, Cece Henry Jesse went through Catholic and Protestant wives seem legislated for and against Protestantism and for and against Catholicism. The events of July 30 1540 make clear Henry's otherwise rather confusing views on that day. Six men were executed three Catholics for the trees of denying Henry supremacy of the church in England. Three evangelicals will also bandh for heresy. It was a brutal demonstration of what Henry wanted.

He did not want England to become Protestant nor did he want England to be Roman catholic.

Henry wanted English Catholicism stripped of old Roman times Roman corruptions. Henry's problem was having once allowed the Bible to critique the pump in church practice having allowed the Bible to be read by ordinary people, even for a few short years it was almost impossible to stop. When he stopped completely unintentional.

Henry had unleashed it under the restraints. Indeed, Henry's cruelty led to the rapid expansion of the Reformation in England is an incredible part of the story and there were grateful for Dr. Michael Reese message today here on Renewing Your Mind all this week. Dr. Reeves is recounting the events and personalities that shake the 16th and 17th centuries in England would like to send you the full 12 part series, simply contact us today with your gift of any amount to regular ministries and we will send you this to DVD set is called the English Reformation and the Puritans, and you can find us online to make you requested. Renewing Your Mind God word or you can call us at 800-435-4343 some of the martyrs and theologians who helped shape this period are virtually unknown today. That's why we think it's so critical to study and learn church history. These men have something valuable to offer. Today's church they inspire us and they convict us of our need to stand strong for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints, so contact us today with your gift of any amount.

We will send you Dr. Michael Reese series, the English Reformation and the Puritans are number again is 800-435-4343 or you can give your gift online at Renewing Your Mind.work church history is just one category of study. We emphasize your leader ministries. It's important for us as believers to be well-rounded in our understanding of the Bible Christian living theology and worldview and culture. You can explore many of our teaching series and an interactive online learning community we call polygamy or connect there you can participate in interactive video courses either with friends, work on your own that your own pace so learn more and get started@ligonier.org/connect@ligonier.org/connect.

Thank you for joining us today and I hope you will be with us tomorrow as we learn how one woman made it unsafe to be Protestant in the 16th century as quickly as she could assume she was Queen Mary returned to evangelical bishops were removed from their positions.

Bibles were removed from churches. Clergy were separated from their wives. Quite simply, national Wednesday here on Renewing Your Mind