In the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth and all things.
A vibrant new world was born.
Everything created by God was perfect and beautiful
displaying His wisdom, His goodness, and His almightiness.
God created Adam and Eve in His own image with His own hands,
and breathed His very life into them.
Jehovah God placed them in the Garden of Eden
and told them:
But Adam and Eve did not heed God's instruction.
They gave in to Satan's temptation
and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
After that,
mankind became more and more corrupt, evil and decadent.
They reached the highest levels of sin.
They made an enemy of God and did not allow for His existence.
This was why God resolved to wipe out mankind with a flood.
One day, Jehovah God came to Noah.
Oh, my Lord!
After the flood, all living, breathing things on earth had died,
except for eight people in Noah's family
and every animal placed upon the ark.
The rain has stopped!
The rain has stopped at last!
Look, the sun is coming out!
The sky is clearing!
O my Lord!
My God!
They have continued to proliferate on earth to this very day.
God made a covenant with them
that He would never destroy the earth with a flood again.
And the rainbow seen today
is proof of God's covenant with man.
The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
were full of evil, licentiousness, rampant with murder,
and indulgence in extravagant pleasures.
They reached the point of clamoring against God,
of fighting against Him,
enraging His disposition.
After the angels took Lot and his family out of the city,
burning sulfur rained down from the sky,
the raging fire lit up the heavens.
Hurry, hurry up!
Oh, my house!
Our lives are on the line! Who cares about the house?
I'm not afraid!
Just one look! Just one look!
Mom …
Sodom, Gomorrah, and all their residents
were reduced to ashes,
disappearing into the wrath of God.
The Israelites, descendants of Abraham,
fled to live in exile in Egypt due to famine.
The Egyptians were terrified of the Israelites' expansion,
so they enslaved them.
The Israelites could not bear the torture,
and prayed to God.
God heard their prayers
and decided to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.
He then called on Moses,
Moses went to see the Egyptian Pharaoh with God's command.
But the Pharaoh would not agree to release the Israelites.
The stubborn Pharaoh did not give in
until God unleashed ten plagues.
The Israelites finally departed from Egypt under God's guidance.
Charge! Kill them!
May all glory and praise be to my Lord, Jehovah God, forever and ever …
After escaping from the pursuing Egyptian soldiers,
Moses continued to lead the Israelites southward until they came to Mount Sinai.
In His almighty glory,
Jehovah God descended to Mount Sinai
and issued His commandments to the Israelites through Moses.
God spoke all these words, saying,
After leading the Israelites out of Egypt,
God issued laws comprised of commandments, teachings, prohibitions, and decrees
(a total of 613 laws after collation by later generations).
These laws from God were issued to explicitly instruct people
on how to worship God and live on this earth.
These laws were the earliest detailed conditions to guide mankind on how to live,
to regulate human behavior and measure moral standards.
They were also the first basis and guideline toward determining sinfulness.
They provided standards and guidelines
for future generations on the establishment of the constitution.
They also laid a foundation
for the perfection of legal systems for subsequent generations.
Many modern legal provisions and judicial concepts
have been profoundly influenced by these laws.
For example, murder, rape, robbery, libel, and embezzlement
were established as crimes based on the Ten Commandments.
God's laws issued to the Israelites
have not only had a profound impact on human law,
but have also played a critical role
in the establishment and formation of moral civilization
and democratic institutions in human societies.
In the end,
after hundreds of years of living under the restrictions of the law,
the Israelites were unable to uphold the law.
They constantly violated the teachings of the law,
and everyone faced the danger of being condemned or put to death through the law.
They were also repeatedly preyed upon by other peoples
and were subjected to the torment of war and oppression.
So they urgently prayed and called out to God.
And they received a promise,
a promise that the Israelites could gain an eternal sin offering
and they would no longer be condemned or put to death according to the law,
a promise that would revolutionize the Israelites' very existence and fate.
Thus, Jehovah God told the Israelites by means of a prophet.
In the year of our Lord,
a male child was born in a manger in a Jewish inn in Bethlehem.
Three wise men from the East,
guided by a star that had never before been seen,
came to the place of the child's birth.
They bowed down to Him in worship.
This child was the One promised by God,
who would lead and redeem the Israelites from God's law.
Oh! Whose child is this? So wise!
The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ
put an end to the Israelites' lives of slavery to sin.
They no longer had to face the peril
of being condemned or executed for their inability to uphold God's law.
Their sins were pardoned because of the Lord Jesus' sin offering.
Their living conditions underwent a complete change.
From then on,
the Israelites no longer lived under the law.
Instead, they lived under the protection
of the sin offering brought to them by the Lord Jesus.
It means that the Israelites had completely cast off the binds of the law
and entered an entirely new age.
In this age, they were atoned of their sins
through repentance and the Lord's abundant grace,
and they also enjoyed the promise bestowed upon them by the Lord Jesus.
It was an age replete with the Lord's mercy,
love, tolerance, blessings, forgiveness, and patience.
This is why we called this new age the Age of Grace.
People's sins could be forgiven
as long as they accepted the Lord Jesus as their Savior,
and they could enjoy the rich grace and blessings bestowed upon them by God.
This grace not only narrowed the gap
between God and man,
but also rescued humanity from their slavery to sin.
This allowed people to no longer stray from God because of their sins,
to be absolved because of God's sin offering,
and because of God's rich grace
be able to come in front of Him at any time, any place.
The coming of the Lord Jesus brought an end
to the old age of constraints by the law,
and ushered mankind into a new age.
Meanwhile,
it improved the relationship between God and man,
and opened up a new beginning, a new start
to God's work of management among mankind.
In 70 AD,
thirty-seven years after the Lord Jesus was resurrected
and ascended into heaven, the Roman army captured Jerusalem.
The diasporas of Jewish people wandered the earth
after being driven out of the land of Israel.
Although they had lost their homeland,
they carried with them the Lord Jesus' gospel of the heavenly kingdom
which had been confined to Judea
and spread it to every corner of the world.
Amen! Thank the Lord!
She's come back to life! She's alive!
She's come back to life!
Hallelujah! Thanks to the Lord! Hallelujah!
May the Lord have mercy on me.
My legs have been healed! I can stand up!
Thanks to the Lord! It's wonderful! Praise God!
Oh Lord! May You have mercy on Your child.
It's a miracle!
Here we must proclaim that God's wisdom surpasses the heavens
and His deeds are wondrous beyond belief!
27 BC was the advent of the age of the Roman Empire.
It gradually grew in power and became a vast empire
spanning Europe, Asia, Africa,
and dominating the Mediterranean.
It ruled over about one fifth of the global population at the time.
After the Roman Empire captured Jerusalem
and drove the Jews out of Israel,
Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire.
In 313 AD, the Roman emperor Constantine I legalized Christianity.
Years later, it was classified as the official state religion.
The development of these events
advanced the spread and expansion of Christianity
throughout all of Europe, Asia, Africa, and all of mankind.
It laid the foundation for Christianity among the ruling class
and the common people across those continents.
Of course it influenced the lives of these people,
by way of their faith, thoughts, morals, and social trends.
It also influenced the ideologies and political careers of generations of rulers.
The expansion of Christianity in the Roman Empire and its influence
led to panic among the rulers in Rome.
They were afraid of and hated Christianity.
To prevent Christianity from taking over their rule,
they madly persecuted Christianity
and murdered huge numbers of Christians.
These measures brought natural disasters,
internal strife, and outside incursions upon the Roman Empire,
as well as a number of epidemics.
There were repeated outbreaks,
the shorter ones lasting a few decades,
the longer lasting over a century.
This brought about a sharp drop in the population of the empire.
The once-mighty ancient Roman Empire was in decline.
In 1453, ancient Rome descended into chaos.
Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Empire,
thus the book was closed
on the glorious history of the Roman Empire.
After 1,500 glorious years,
this is how the final days of the empire were ushered in.
Its demise came under the wrath of God.
The ancient Roman Empire rose up
and was founded for the spread of Christianity.
Its golden age was ushered in
by establishing Christianity as its national religion.
And the Roman Empire was destroyed
due to its persecution of Christians.
Although the Roman Empire faded from view
and exited the stage of history,
its mission as well as its development
and existence in human history
have had a profound influence on future generations.
It was a strong force for the spread of Christianity,
and it fueled the spread of Christian thought
and its deepening in people's minds.
Although ancient Rome's prosperity
is a thing of the past,
Christianity's influence on mankind has not ended.
It has nurtured and guided
generation after generation of people.
It is like a seed rooted deeply in people's hearts,
full of vitality.
It not only liberated people's thoughts
and drove the Renaissance,
but it also provided an entirely new direction and inspiration
for mankind's development in all walks of life.
This led to Europe's art, culture, and science
flourishing in unprecedented ways.
In the 17th century, the victory of the bourgeois revolution in England
led to the passing of the Bill of Rights,
establishing the principle of
parliament's supremacy over the monarchy.
As a result, England became the first constitutional monarchy,
opening up the age of mankind abolishing feudal monarchies
and establishing constitutional monarchies.
As the British constitutional monarchy was established,
France, Germany, Italy, and Austria all followed suit.
The bourgeois revolutions erupted,
and one after another feudal autocratic rule
in these countries was overthrown.
They set up their own constitutions
and established their own constitutional monarchies.
British industry and commerce flourished
after a new shipping route was opened,
driving the development of capitalism in the United Kingdom
and creating a huge demand for resources.
So while the UK was expanding its foreign trade
it also gradually broadened the scope of its colonial plundering
and its expansion.
Some countries and areas in Europe, Africa, Asia,
North America, South America, Oceania, and Antarctica,
as well as in the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Indian Ocean,
the Antarctic Ocean and the Arctic Ocean
became British colonies, one after another.
By the early 20th century,
England had conquered one quarter of the earth's territory and its people.
During England's colonial expansion,
advanced knowledge and thinking in areas
such as Western political systems, culture, religions,
education, and medicine were introduced into the colonies.
The old ruling orders of the colonized countries were overturned,
and the pre-existing feudal ideologies were destroyed.
This laid the foundation for the colonies unknowingly
embarking upon the path of constitutional democracy.
This brought about a turning point in the state of the rigid,
stagnant, closed societies within the colonies,
infusing them with new life.
This was an enduring contribution to the development
of every aspect of life in the colonies.
In the 1870s, through industrialization
and the repeal of feudal autocratic systems
in countries all over the world,
England gradually lost its dominant position in global industry.
After two world wars, its colonies gained independence one by one.
England headed into decline, completing its mission in history.
In the mid to late 16th century,
a group of people rose up from churches in England.
They opposed the oppressiveness of the clergy
as well as the formalism in the church.
They sought a pure religious creed,
a pious life, a holy church and a free nation.
They were called the "Puritans."
In 1604,
the British royal family ordered all Puritans
to return to the state church and obey the bishop,
otherwise they would face expulsion or even execution.
So the Puritans were forced to leave Europe behind
and head for North America.
They were followed by larger numbers of Puritans.
Some of them came from Oxford or Cambridge Universities.
They were generally more educated than most Europeans.
They advocated for the concepts of autonomy,
equality, and democracy as well as God's teachings.
They infused the United States Declaration of Independence
and the American Constitution with these values.
Without the Puritans, the United States of America
would not have come into existence,
and the separation of the three powers
would never have been set up.
So not only were the Puritans the cornerstone of the establishment of the USA,
they were the pioneers who made America strong.
On July 4, 1776,
when the United States Declaration of Independence was passed,
an independent, rising, multi-ethnic country was formed in North America.
That is the United States of America we know today.
George Washington, the first president of the United States, said,
"It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God,
to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits,
and humbly to implore His protection and favor."
After the Civil War,
the American economy developed rapidly.
In 1894, the US became the country
with the greatest gross industrial output worldwide.
Economic prosperity in the US followed the outbreak of World War I.
After the war,
the US turned from a country in debt owing $6 billion USD,
into a creditor country that was owed more than $10 billion USD.
It was the most prosperous nation on the planet.
After World War II,
America's military strength continued to grow,
and it established more than 5,000 military bases all over the world.
From an economic or a military perspective,
the US had become an undisputed world superpower.
This established its political position in the world.
On the basis of adhering to its founding principles of freedom, democracy, and equality,
the US took up its duty to play the role of the "global police."
So, the US has continued to intervene and interfere with world trends,
to effectively curb the expansion of authoritarian forces,
and to protect large numbers of people from all walks of life
who have been persecuted for religious or political reasons.
It has also greatly contained the spread of various evil forces
and weakened the damage done to mankind by evil forces.
In a sense,
the US has played an important role in stabilizing the global situation
and providing a balance for world order.
It plays an irreplaceable role
in safeguarding and stabilizing our global situation.