Pope Urban II's best sermon ever...
The date was 27nov but in 1095. This fellow delivered what historians deem the most effective sermon of all time. Why? It was so eloquent, so effective, so moving.........that it launched the First Crusade. Having seen the movie "The Kingdom of Heaven" (with that dishy guy Orlando Bloom), I get a picture of the passion behind it all. The madness also. Seems so plainly illogical & un-Christian, to try to take back the Holy Land by force. The scary thing to me. There's a catch-phrase in the movie that drives the adrenaline of the people. They rah-rah themselves up by chanting "God wills it! God wills it!". Amazing but history speaks for itself. I believe they believed they were doing the will of God. Their leader affirmed it. The church drove it. How could so many people be wrong & be misled like that? Crowd mentality maybe?
On hindsight though, what they did was not biblical at all. Far from it. So the challenge I think is not to be biblically-illiterate. It's good....important, to know what the Good Book says. Regardless of how moving or 'correct sounding' a sermon or talk is, regardless of how well respected the speaker is......there is no substitute for personal study of what the Bible says.