Church History

If we wish to understand why Christianity is the way it is today and if we wish to avoid making the mistakes others have made in their Christian life, it behooves us to study Church history. The people listed here had a major impact on the church, some for its good and some for its bad. We will stay away from modern day preachers and teachers, leaving that for another study.


MARTIN LUTHER	JOHN CALVIN

Throughout the history of the Christian Church there have been good guys and bad guys. The good guys being those who made true disciples of Christ and who taught clearly and accurately and the bad guys being those who misrepresented teachings in the Bible and who perverted the Gospel of salvation by Grace alone. While none of the "good guys" was perfect, they all made major contributions towards leading believers away from error and towards the truth of Sacred Scripture.
SOME OF THE GOOD GUYS	SOME OF THE BAD GUYS
Martin Luther (1483-1546)	ALL the popes and their priests - claim to represent true Christianity while really representing a blend of Christianity and many pagan religions
John Calvin (1509-1564)
John Foxe (1516-1587)	John Nelson Darby - came up with the current "Rapture of the Church"
Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)	Charles Finney - invented altar calls, causing many Christians to think that it is up to the sinner to get himself saved by walking down an aisle or reciting some sinner's prayer
John Gill (1697-1771)	Charles Taz Russell - started the Jehovah's Witnesses
Matthew Henry (1662-1714)	Joseph Smith & Brigham Young - started the Mormon church
Arthur Pink (1886-1952)	William Miller & Ellen G White - started 7th Day Adventism
John Bunyan (1628 – 1688)
John Huss (1369-1415)
John Wickliffe (1320 - 1384)
William Tyndale (1494-1536)
John Owen (1616–1683)
Benjamin Keach (1640-