Candace Owens & Her Struggle of Faith: Historical Perspectives and Biblical Guidance

 

This all started from something Candace Owens said recently.

My husband planted a seed in my head that won’t go away, and I would not yet describe me as being in a place where that seed has fully bloomed. But it is a question that I am struggling with as somebody with Protestant beliefs.

What Candace said next was significant…

Candace’s Question of Church History: Did Anyone Go to Heaven Before Martin Luther?

Considering she is a Christian, and her husband George Farmer is currently Roman Catholic, the have conversations. The question he asked was

“Do I believe that in the 1500 years following Jesus Christ leading up to Martin Luther stapling his Theses that nobody went to heaven?“

This is totally understandable. And what Candace Owens is saying sprouted in her mind from conversations with her husband.

I’m saying this because I’ve been in a similar situation.

Hold on, wait. Like, do Protestants really believe that as a Christian, the church was lost for 1500 years? And I can understand where she’s coming from, and why she would say she’s struggling with this sort of question.

I want to use this article not to answer her struggles in their entirety. But it’s really to get you thinking about how you can view things from a Christian perspective.

The Seed Planted: A Personal Struggle with Protestant Beliefs

Now, I’m not going to spend this article presenting a historical argument. For the most part, the ministry is more focused on applying the Bible to the day and age we live in (Bible Mastery as I like to say). And you will see how this can actually make sense in many different ways when you think about what’s happened over and over again in the Biblical text.

But more on that later.

Something That Can Help Candace Owens & You (Exploring the Protestant Argument: Going Back to the Roots)

All I’ll say from a historical standpoint is something which, as a Protestant, you really need to understand. And that is, we don’t believe for 1500 years (from the time of Christ’s Ascension to the time of the Reformation), the church was in a state of destruction. That is not what informed Protestants believe or teach about church history.

As you begin to realize the Protestant argument is not that for 1500 years, or 1400 years the church was dead. But the Reformation was about going back to the roots, And Protestants believe these roots were in the Bible. And actually found in those early periods of church history as well.

Lessons from Biblical Texts: Examples from Kings and Chronicles

When you think about reformation from the perspective explained above, it changes everything. And the Bible helps by preparing you for this in many ways.

You can start to think about a book, or books in the Bible which are so underused these days, but so vital. And especially for questions and thoughts like this. If you think about the books of Kings or Chronicles, they show us long periods of time in history, where the body of believers at the time were not dead. Even though you have, long periods of time where the kings of the day, were wicked.

Times of Wickedness: Even Before the Rule of Evil Kings

Even before we think about the Kings and the Chronicles, because I want to give you a specific Bible verse today which is significant. Because like I said, the struggles of Candace Owens are real. And it’s not something we as Christians should belittle.

It’s something to think about, but also engage and think about if we see anything like this in the Biblical text.

The Book of Judges I think is a prime example of how as Protestants, could look at church history and not believe that everyone’s fallen away. And not even believe the church as a whole has fallen away.

Generally, when you look at scholarship, the time period in the judges was about 200 years on the lower estimates.

Finding Faith Amidst Challenges: The Book of Judges

What do we see in the Book of Judges? You will see some of the greatest people who followed God.

People like Samson.

Samson was such a righteous man; he’s mentioned in the Hall of Faith of Hebrews chapter 11.

But when you read through Judges, you see that although he was a believer, he didn’t do everything right. He actually made some pivotal mistakes. For example, Samson had questionable relationships with women.

And just think about it from that perspective. Imagine today, as a Christian, you see somebody who professes to be a believer in God, but he’s visiting harlots. We would look at the person and be like, wait, something’s wrong with that person. But this is someone who, despite those behaviours, is still referenced as a great man of God from history.

By the way, I’m not endorsing those behaviours.

Another example is somebody like Jephthah in Judges chapter 11.

You can read about Jephthah doing Godly things; he delivered the Israelites. But one of the things Jephthah did was make a foolish vow in regards to his daughter.

Gideon’s Complicated Journey

Another example is Gideon, described as a mighty man or valour in the Bible (Judges 6). Someone who God used mightily, right? But at the same time, Gideon put the people into idolatry (Judges 8).

Overcoming Struggles: Insights from Biblical Remnants

The point I’m making is, that’s a 200-year minimum period of time in Bible History. And they had the Word of God, they had the Torah. They had the history. But at the same time, were believers, all respected in the New Testament. But did very questionable things.

They did things which went against the Biblical text of the day.

Lessons from History: The Significance of Judges Chapter 21

The period in time of Judges is described multiple times in Judges by this saying in Judges chapter 21:25

“In those days, no king in Israel. Every man did right in his own eyes.”

The Bible is showing you here, that in the time of judges, there were believers in God, but there was no king in Israel when everybody was doing what they thought was right, despite having the Word of God to lean on and follow.

And this is why starting by speaking about Kings and Chronicles is important. Because that’s a period in time where there are Kings in Israel, and they had the Word of God. But they still didn’t follow it to a t.

And looking back at that would be you looking and saying really and truly what was going on in those periods of time, even though there’s believers there.

The Bible’s Preparation: Addressing Difficult Questions of Faith

These are some of the things from a Biblical perspective that can begin to help you overcome the struggles, which I talked about having in the past, as Candace Owens spoke about. And you may go through (or have gone through in the past).

It’s a difficult question yes for many, but the Bible prepares us for this in a great and powerful way as we continue to read it. The Bible says, a remnant of people are always present.

A Thought-Provoking Discussion: Examining Christianity’s Problem according to Ben Shapiro

If this blessed you, comment below and then read when Ben Shapiro discussed what he called the problem he thinks Christianity has. God bless.