March 6, 2025

Salem Witch Trials: Cotton Mather

Salem Witch Trials: Cotton Mather

A look at an important person in the history of the Salem Witch Trials.

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A look at an important person in the history of the Salem Witch Trials.

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Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is

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the Theology Central podcast, making Theology Central. Good evening everyone.

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I'm going to begin this episode with a very important question.

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Hero of the faith or a villain in a horrible story.

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Hero of the faith or villain and a horrible story.

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Now you'd be saying, I need to know who you're

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talking about before I can answer if this person is

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a hero of the faith or a villain and a

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horrible story. So tell me and then I'll give you

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an answer. Well, I'm not going to tell you until

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first I say good evening everyone. It is Thursday, March

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the sixth, twenty twenty five. It is currently nine forty

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seven pm Central Time, and I am coming to you

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live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. Now,

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the individual that I am asking you about, even though

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I haven't given you the name yet, the individual I

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want to know if you think they are a hero

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of the faith or a villain and a horrible story.

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That individual is Cotton Mather. Cotton Mather, Right, Cotton, you

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know how to spell that Cott N Mather m A

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t h e R. Cotton Mather. If you've never heard

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of the name, well, then most likely you're not familiar

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with a lot of the Puritan writers and those very

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influential Puritans back at a specific time in American history.

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If you're familiar with the Puritans, you probably know Cotton Mather.

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You probably have heard him mentioned in sermons to some level.

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Most Christians, I will say the majority of Christians would

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probably say, well, either they don't know him, or they're

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going to be Cotton Math was great, he's wonderful. He's misunderstood,

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he's been falsely accused, he's been made to be a

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villain when it really wouldn't be a villain, and they

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will come to his defense. If you need any evidence

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of this, you can start looking around on the sermons,

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the sermons. What's the name of the new app. It's

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not the Sermon's two point oh app. It's not the

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sermons three point oh app, Sermons by Sermon Audio app

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or right the sermon Audio app. If you'll look on

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the sermon Audio app or the sermon Audio website, do

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a search for Cotton Mather, you're going to see a

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lot of messages. Well, I don't know about a lot.

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You're gonna see some, but you're going to be able

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to tell just from the title almost immediately that they

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are taking up and defending Cotton Mather. Now at some

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point we will be reviewing many of those, if not

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all of them, over maybe the rest of the year,

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and talking about it because it will lead us to

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talking not only about Cotton Mather himself, but out what

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this entire series is about, what we have been looking at,

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what have we been talking about, is the Salem witch Trials.

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And I will argue you cannot understand the Salem witch

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Trials until you understand Cotton Mather. So that's who we're

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going to be talking about. I think this may take

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more than one episode. It may take two episodes to

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do everything I want to do. And just to remind you,

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because I've been doing things a little differently, I'm going

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to be once again doing this more as a narrative.

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I'm going to be doing this as a narrative, not

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so much my typical teaching style, which would be Cotton Mather.

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Cotton Mather was born on this state, and like almost

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giving you like a you know, an outline, bullet points,

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write this down, memorize this, asking review questions that way,

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I typically typically would teach, but I'm going to do

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this more as a narrative. Now. What I did is

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I kind of put together, Okay, I want this, I

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want this, I want this and this. I'm going to

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break these down into segments. And then I basically gave

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it all to AI and said, Okay, help me organize this,

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and as a narrative script, help me organize this, and

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then AI would give me one and then be like,

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what revisions do we want to make? And I'd be like,

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let's do this. So AI helped formulate a lot of this,

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but I did a lot of I did the research

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and just once again just to make this very clear,

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whenever we talk about Cotton Mather or talk about anything

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related to the Salem witch Trials, by no means of

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my claiming I'm a complete expert, because I am not.

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But I will say this in my defense. I have

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been studying the Salem witch Trials for years and years,

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and I have been to Salem multiple times and I

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will be going back to Salem again. And every time

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I go to Salem, I'm there trying to learn everything

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I possibly can about the Salem Witch Trials. I want

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to see everything in Salem. I want to visit everything,

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see everything. I want to just walk around and soak

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in the atmosphere of Salem. As I have said numerous times,

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I have this just connection to Salem. There's just something

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about it. I could just walk around, I could just

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sit somewhere in that city and just I don't know,

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just my imagination just goes crazy with Salem and everything

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that happened there. There's lots of things in history that

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I've been fascinated by, and I just kind of get

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pulled into it and I just can just escape into

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what happened. I can almost like relive it in my mind.

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And for some reason, Salem, the city itself, but Salem

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and the witch trials, the witch trials that took place

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in Salem, absolutely just captivates my imagination, my mind. And

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I think one of the reason it does, and we've

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already talked about this in this series, is because I

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just see that it has very important lessons for me

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as a Christian, for the Church, for Christians all across

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the world. I think Salem screams at us some very

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important lessons. That's why the first episode I did was

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about the lessons we can learn from Salem, and I'm

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going to try to, you know, once again, try to

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bring out very important things that we need to know.

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But here's the question. As I started off with hero

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of the faith or the villain and a horrible, horrific story,

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I want you to decide for yourself. I'm going to

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try to be as fair and accurate as I can

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be with all of the research I have done, also

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utilizing artificial intelligence to fact check and challenge me to

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try to make sure. And at the same time, the

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one of the reasons I feel really motivated to do

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this is because on the Sermon Sermon Audio app and

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the Sermon Audio website, there's all these other messages basically

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defending Cotton Mather, almost treating him as a hero, and

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I just don't understand how anyone can see him as here.

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So I have a not do I just not have

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an opposite perspective. I'm very bothered at the other perspective.

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But that's okay. They can have it, and you, the listener,

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can decite. So are you ready? I think and I

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think it's fair that one could say that Cotton Mather

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is the architect a fear. One could say Cotton Mather

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put together the blueprint for the Salem Witch Trials. I

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think that would be possibly accurate. Some could say Cotton

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Mather is the man who shaped the Salem Witch Trials.

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Some could go on to say that Cotton mathers not

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only the architect of fear, not only the one who

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gave the blueprint for the Salem Witch Trials, not only

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the man who shaped the Salem Witch Trials, but he

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also is the man who shaped the fear that would

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endure way past the Salem Witch Trials. And in many ways,

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some of the concepts and ideas are still found in

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the minds of many Christians. And I think it's based

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off a lot of well wrong way of thinking. And

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we're going to look at all of it, all right,

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So are you ready. Let's go back three hundred and

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thirty three years ago. All right, three hundred and thirty

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three years ago. And many many people say the Salem

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Witch Trials really began on March the first. Many believe

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that that's kind of like the anniversary date. We could

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get into it really started in January, when is when

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all the hysteria, but the trial itself, we can get

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into all of that discussion we've already talked about, but

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let's just remind ourselves that the Salem witch Trials are

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one of the darkest chapters in American history. I believe

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that that's not hyperbole. I believe that's accurate. The Salem

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witch Trials are one of the darkest chapters in American history.

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But behind the hysteria, behind the accusations, behind the fear,

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stood a man whose words and teachings shaped it all.

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I want you to really think about that. Behind the

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hysteria of the Salem witch Trials and all the witch

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fear that was going on at the time, behind all

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of the accusations being thrown at people, behind all the

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fear that was driving it, there really stood one man.

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And that man it was his words, it was his

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teachings that shaped at all. His name was Cotton Mather.

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Now he may have never sat as a judge in Salem,

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and that is true. He never sat as a judge

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in Salem, and a lot of people like to use that, well,

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Cotton Mather, he wasn't one of the judges in Salem.

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Why are we blaming him? Why are you Whenever people

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say anything like that to me, it demonstrates a great

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ignorance about everything that occurred in Salem. It seems to

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me that it's almost like, well, Cotton Mather was the Puritan. Oh,

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I love the Puritans. He's on my team. Well, I'm

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just going to justify him. And I cannot stress this enough.

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Whenever you study church history, Oh, nobody's gonna like this.

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But I believe this is a foundational point, like if

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I was teaching a church history class in Seminary Bible College,

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and I definitely say it whenever I've taught church history

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in church. Whenever you study church history, you don't look

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back in church history and try to say, well, these

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guys are on our team, so they're the heroes of

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the story, and those guys are not on our theological team,

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and they're the villains. You don't classify people based on

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which theological team they are on. You classify them as

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human beings who are sinners and they did this, and

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they did this, and they did that. You let the

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facts speak whatever they may be, the good, the bad,

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the ugly. You don't try to and you don't try

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to always because what we love to do is go back,

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maybe even to the early Church fathers and go oh, look,

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look Augustine said this. See say, look he was on

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our team. It's never that simple. And that is a

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bad way to do church history. All right. So when

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it comes to Cotton Mather, we cannot deny, we cannot

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deny that his words and his teaching shaped everything that

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happened in Salem. And just by pointing out the historical

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fact that he never sat as a judge in Salem,

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you can't say, well, that proved that makes him innocent. No, this,

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this is the very thing you need to remember when

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it comes to Cotton Mather. His influence was everywhere. It

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was in Boston, it was in Salem, it was all

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over that area. See, when it comes to Cotton Mather,

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he preached about the war between God and the devil.

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He documented cases of supposed demonic possession, he defended the

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executions of the accused, and when the trial ended, he

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never truly admitted fault. Now, ladies and gentlemen, if you

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have influenced, if you've given the blueprint for the Salem

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witch trials, and then the Salem witch trials come to

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an end, I think you should be the very first person.

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Oh wait, wait, guys, if I influenced this in any way,

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shape or form. No, I was at fault and that

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everything that I've been here in Salem was wrong. This

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was horrible, This was a tragedy. But no, no, he

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never did that. Now you can see maybe in some

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of his teaching he kind of moved away from some

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of the stuff that led to Salem, but he never

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renounced it. He never apologized. He never No, he never did,

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And right there, to me does not put him in

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the hero of the faith category. It may put him

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much closer to the villain and a horrible, horrible, horrible story,

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because anyone who had anything to do with the Salem

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Witch Trials should have been apologizing. Now today, this evening, tonight,

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this morning, whatever time it may be, I'm going to

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attempt to look at this man, Cotton Mather, And even

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though he didn't light the fire, I believe he gave

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it the fuel it needed to burn. He may not

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have been the one who lit the fire that we

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called the Salem Witch Trials, but he definitely gave it

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the fuel. He was pouring fuel all over it, and

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he he in fact, in some way, in some ways

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you can think of Cotton Mather, not by his physical presence,

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but by his words, by his teaching, he basically covered

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that entire area from Boston to Salem and basically in Gasoline.

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And all it needed was someone to strike a match.

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So I'm going to I am going to do my

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very best to tell you the story of Cotton Mather,

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the man who helped shape the Salem witch Trials and

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the Puritan obsession with the Devil. And I think it's

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fair to say the Puritans were obsessed with the Devil

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at least at this specific point in time. And it

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and and and again, it's not just Salem. You have

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to put Boston involved in all of this. Do not

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forget Boston. I mean Boston. What was going on. What

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happened in Boston happened before you even get to what

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happened in the Salem witch Trials. So let's consider Cotton

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Mather as a child of Puritan power. That's the first

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thing we're gonna look at. Cotton Mather, a child of

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Puritan power. Before he was the most feared preacher in

242
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New England, or let me to be more maybe historically accurate,

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before he was considered by some to be the most

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feared preacher in New England. Before his books justified the

245
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execution of witches. Cotton Mather was simply the son of

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a very powerful man. Cotton Mather was born in sixteen

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sixty three in Boston. His father's name, it's Cotton. That's

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already an interesting name, right, Cotton. That's I think that's

249
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a pretty interesting first name, right, Okay, So it's always

250
00:15:57.279 --> 00:15:59.639
it's always easy to remember Cotton Mather because of the

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first and his father's name is even easier to remember

252
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because his father's name was Increase, Increase Mather. So Cotton

253
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Mather was born in sixteen sixty three in Boston. Just

254
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keep that in mind. In Boston, Boston, really, I mean, yeah, well,

255
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we could talk a lot here about Boston, but we

256
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will not. Sixteen sixty three in Boston. His father's name

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was Increase Mather, and he was one of the most

258
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prominent Puritan ministers in the colony. Now, Cotton Mather's mother,

259
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her name was Maria, right, she came from another famous

260
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Puritan family. From birth, Cotton Mather was destined for religious greatness,

261
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or at least that's what he was told. It seems that,

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at least according to some that his parents were like,

263
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you're you're destined for religious greatness. That's your destiny. That's

264
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what you're going to be, that's what you're going to do. Right,

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And it makes sense. Right. I mean, if his father

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is the most prominent Puritan minister, his mother comes from

267
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another famous Puritan family, they have a son that you

268
00:17:09.160 --> 00:17:11.960
can see whether there may be, Hey, you're you're gonna

269
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be a man of the Word. You're gonna be a

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man of God. You're gonna you're gonna do great things

271
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for the for the for the Word of God, for God,

272
00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:27.000
for God's glory, for the Puritan ideas in theology. Now,

273
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his father, Increased Mather, was a leader in the Massachusetts

274
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Bay Colony. He shaped religious doctrine, He advised the government,

275
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and he saw New England as God's chosen land under

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constant attack by Satan, and Cotton Mather absorbed every single word.

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I really want to stress this. So Cotton Mather is

278
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being raised in a family that is saying, hey, look,

279
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this is very Look around. This is God's chosen land. Cotton.

280
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Look around, Cotton, let's take a walk. This is God's

281
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chosen land. But Cotton, this is important. I know you're young,

282
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but it's under attack. By Satan. Cotton. Look, you see,

283
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this is God's chosen lambit, but Satan is attacking it.

284
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Satan is out to get it. And young Cotton, well,

285
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he absorbed every single word. You can understand. Now, this

286
00:18:31.480 --> 00:18:33.720
gives you at least some insight maybe to the way

287
00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:37.319
his thinking is going to be shaped. Now by the

288
00:18:37.359 --> 00:18:45.799
age of twelve, Cotton was already attending Harvard College. He

289
00:18:45.839 --> 00:18:51.839
graduated at just fifteen years of age. By most accounts,

290
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he was incredibly intelligent. But by most accounts he was

291
00:18:55.640 --> 00:19:01.079
also very ambitious. He didn't just want to serve the

292
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Puritan cause. He wanted to lead it. He didn't want

293
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to just be a part of it. He wanted to

294
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lead the cause. He wanted to lead this movement of Puritanism.

295
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He wanted to be at the forefront. I'm not saying

296
00:19:15.240 --> 00:19:18.799
that's bad. I'm not saying that's good. I'm just saying

297
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what we seem to know from what we can read

298
00:19:22.680 --> 00:19:28.680
and discover about him. Now, by the time he turns

299
00:19:28.720 --> 00:19:31.720
to the age of twenty or somewhere early in his twenties,

300
00:19:31.799 --> 00:19:34.119
we not have an exact date. We do know this,

301
00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:37.920
he was already preaching fire and brimstone we already know

302
00:19:38.359 --> 00:19:41.400
that by this point he's already preaching fire in brimstone,

303
00:19:41.640 --> 00:19:44.720
he's going all in. So by the time he was

304
00:19:44.720 --> 00:19:47.440
in his early twenties, I think that's fair to say,

305
00:19:47.480 --> 00:19:49.400
by the time he was in his early twenties, he

306
00:19:49.519 --> 00:19:54.240
was already preaching fire and brimstone, sermons about sin, about

307
00:19:54.240 --> 00:19:58.839
the devil, and the spiritual war raging all about them.

308
00:19:58.839 --> 00:20:01.720
And it makes sense. This is the way he was raised, right,

309
00:20:01.880 --> 00:20:03.599
and now he's in his early twenties, the way he

310
00:20:03.720 --> 00:20:06.920
was raised, the theology he's been raised with. Now he's

311
00:20:06.960 --> 00:20:09.839
there and you can you can say it was fire

312
00:20:09.920 --> 00:20:13.279
and brimstone, but he definitely is going to talk about sin.

313
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He's definitely going to talk about the devil, and he's

314
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going to talk about the spiritual war that is raging

315
00:20:18.160 --> 00:20:20.240
all around them. Why because he was brought up to

316
00:20:20.279 --> 00:20:23.640
believe that this is God's chosen land and the devil

317
00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:29.839
is attacking it. But it's not going to be those

318
00:20:29.880 --> 00:20:33.200
sermons that's going to make Cotton Mather famous. No, it's

319
00:20:33.200 --> 00:20:37.839
not going to be those sermons. His fame is not

320
00:20:37.880 --> 00:20:40.440
going to be attached to the sermons he wrote. His

321
00:20:40.680 --> 00:20:44.799
fame is going to be connected to well witchcraft, because

322
00:20:44.839 --> 00:20:48.440
Cotton Mather and the concept of witchcraft are destined to

323
00:20:48.440 --> 00:20:51.160
have a head on collision. You can say, if a

324
00:20:51.240 --> 00:20:55.640
train leaves Boston traveling at this speed and if Cotton

325
00:20:55.720 --> 00:20:59.440
Mather or you can say, if witchcraft leaves Boston traveling

326
00:20:59.480 --> 00:21:01.680
at this sad speed and Cotton Mather is coming from

327
00:21:01.680 --> 00:21:03.640
a different direction, how long is it gonna take before

328
00:21:03.640 --> 00:21:05.319
they have a head on collision? Were they're gonna have

329
00:21:05.319 --> 00:21:07.200
a head on collision, but in a rear and kind

330
00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:08.640
of a if you really want to put this in

331
00:21:08.680 --> 00:21:11.359
a factual way, it wasn't that the witchcraft was coming

332
00:21:11.359 --> 00:21:14.079
from Salem towards Boston and Cotton Mather was going from

333
00:21:14.119 --> 00:21:17.480
Boston to Salem. Basically, Cotton Mather and Witchcraft is all

334
00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:19.440
in Boston. How long is it going to be before

335
00:21:19.480 --> 00:21:21.240
they head to Salem? All Right? That's kind of the

336
00:21:21.240 --> 00:21:23.079
way you almost have to describe this if you want

337
00:21:23.079 --> 00:21:27.680
to be historically accurate. But for Cotton Mather, it's gonna

338
00:21:27.680 --> 00:21:31.240
be how long before him and witchcraft come together? Because

339
00:21:31.319 --> 00:21:40.880
that's that's gonna be the thing that's going to making famous. Now,

340
00:21:40.920 --> 00:21:43.000
before we get to the witchcraft, before we get to

341
00:21:43.039 --> 00:21:46.039
this head on collision between Cotton Mather and witchcraft. We

342
00:21:46.200 --> 00:21:51.519
have to kind of understand his theology. So we're going

343
00:21:51.519 --> 00:21:55.079
to consider Cotton Mather's teaching on the devil, his teaching

344
00:21:55.119 --> 00:21:58.480
on witchcraft, his teaching on spiritual warfare, and we're gonna

345
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we're gonna put this all together in a way that

346
00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:03.559
will be able for you to remember, because I think

347
00:22:03.599 --> 00:22:06.079
it's very key. It's key. Look, if you're going to

348
00:22:06.200 --> 00:22:09.400
understand Salem, you got to understand some of this. So

349
00:22:09.519 --> 00:22:14.519
to understand why Cotton Mather fought so relentlessly against witches,

350
00:22:15.319 --> 00:22:21.759
we have to understand what he believed about them and

351
00:22:21.839 --> 00:22:26.480
to Mather. To Cotton Mather, witches aren't just criminals. Now,

352
00:22:26.480 --> 00:22:28.880
that's very important to understand. For Cotton Mather, a witch

353
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is a criminal. A witch is a criminal in his mind,

354
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not just someone who believes something different than the Puritans.

355
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They are criminals because this is where you have the

356
00:22:44.039 --> 00:22:48.000
merging of kind of Christianity and the state. All right,

357
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And always remember, whenever you have I say this all

358
00:22:51.880 --> 00:22:56.759
the time, whenever Christianity and the state merge, people die.

359
00:22:57.200 --> 00:23:01.039
It's inevitable. Whenever religion of any kind merges with the

360
00:23:01.079 --> 00:23:04.519
civil authorities. People are going to die. Why because that religion,

361
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whichever religion gains power Islam, Christianity, Catholicism, Puritanism, it doesn't matter.

362
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It doesn't matter who takes it doesn't matter who takes

363
00:23:15.200 --> 00:23:18.480
a charge Lutherans, it doesn't matter whatce they merge with

364
00:23:18.599 --> 00:23:22.400
the state. Now they can say. The religion can say, well,

365
00:23:22.480 --> 00:23:27.400
that sin is a crime. Now believing this is a crime.

366
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Believing this is a crime, Celebrating this is a crime.

367
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So now the religion can say what is not only

368
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what is a sin? They can say this is wrong,

369
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and this is wrong, this is wrong. And then the

370
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state can come along and then punish using the civil authority,

371
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using the police, judge, judicial system, whatever, and they can

372
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imprison and then they can execute whomever religion deems to

373
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be the sinners and the bad people. Now you may say, well,

374
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oh we can bring morality back. Now you bring a

375
00:23:54.920 --> 00:23:58.359
religion back, and whenever that religion is on your side,

376
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you get to live. When that religion is no longer

377
00:24:00.720 --> 00:24:04.200
on your side, you get to die. That's why I

378
00:24:04.200 --> 00:24:06.559
do not I want the separation of church and state.

379
00:24:06.799 --> 00:24:09.279
I want them so far apart that they can't even

380
00:24:09.400 --> 00:24:12.359
see each other, because Church history proves it over and

381
00:24:12.480 --> 00:24:14.400
over as soon as they come together. So what was

382
00:24:14.400 --> 00:24:20.000
happening in Puritan America at this time? This that came together?

383
00:24:20.359 --> 00:24:23.440
So hey, hey, hey, witches are bad. The Bible says

384
00:24:23.480 --> 00:24:25.880
witches are bad. Now let's use the civil government to

385
00:24:25.920 --> 00:24:30.160
go after them and kill them and criminalize criminalize them.

386
00:24:30.359 --> 00:24:33.519
Hey we don't like Christmas, let's ban Christmas. And we

387
00:24:33.519 --> 00:24:35.319
can go on and on and on on the things

388
00:24:35.319 --> 00:24:37.680
that were happening in that area. But that that, that's

389
00:24:37.799 --> 00:24:46.039
just an important lesson. So for for Cotton Mather or witches, well,

390
00:24:46.119 --> 00:24:49.559
they were there were criminals. But not only were they criminals,

391
00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.680
they were Satan's soldiers and an ongoing invisible war. So

392
00:24:54.720 --> 00:24:57.599
if you could identify someone as a witch, you were

393
00:24:57.640 --> 00:25:01.519
not just identifying a criminal, you were identifying one of

394
00:25:01.599 --> 00:25:07.319
Satan's foot soldiers. So, hey, that person's a witch, they're

395
00:25:07.359 --> 00:25:10.680
a criminal, and they are a foot soldier for Satan.

396
00:25:12.759 --> 00:25:20.960
That's pretty serious right now. To the Puritans, New England

397
00:25:21.039 --> 00:25:24.880
was more than just a colony. It was a battleground,

398
00:25:25.680 --> 00:25:28.839
a place where God's chosen people. So not only was

399
00:25:28.880 --> 00:25:32.000
the land chosen, they are So now, where are the

400
00:25:32.119 --> 00:25:38.359
chosen people. This is the chosen land. But the land

401
00:25:38.400 --> 00:25:44.160
had one time belonged to pagan natives and in their minds,

402
00:25:44.519 --> 00:25:47.960
the devil himself. So this is God's chosen land. But

403
00:25:48.119 --> 00:25:51.279
see when we got here, who are these natives here?

404
00:25:51.319 --> 00:25:55.160
Who are these native tribes? They're Pagans, They're they're basically

405
00:25:55.359 --> 00:25:57.960
well foot soldiers of the devil. Right, So now you

406
00:25:57.960 --> 00:26:01.440
can you can dehumanize them based Well, then while these

407
00:26:02.400 --> 00:26:04.480
you know, the native tribes are going to start dying

408
00:26:04.519 --> 00:26:06.319
and oh, you're going to take the land. Okay, we

409
00:26:06.359 --> 00:26:08.359
can get into a lot of discussions here, but this

410
00:26:08.440 --> 00:26:12.240
sets up a really interesting way of thinking in that area. Right.

411
00:26:12.599 --> 00:26:17.880
So basically, if you're not, you know, one of the Puritans,

412
00:26:18.400 --> 00:26:21.039
if you are a slave, then you probably came from

413
00:26:21.039 --> 00:26:24.400
some land you if you were, if you're not from

414
00:26:24.440 --> 00:26:27.880
that particular region, if you're not the right let's dare

415
00:26:27.960 --> 00:26:31.799
we say, if you're not the right ethnic origin, well,

416
00:26:31.839 --> 00:26:34.599
you're gonna be viewed with suspicion because you probably came

417
00:26:34.599 --> 00:26:37.759
from a pagan land. You're a pagan, you could be

418
00:26:38.519 --> 00:26:42.279
a foot soldier of the devil. And so that's that's

419
00:26:42.319 --> 00:26:44.519
going to be very a part of this We're the

420
00:26:44.720 --> 00:26:48.359
We're God's chosen, not any of you. You're you're all

421
00:26:48.480 --> 00:26:52.319
a suspect, you're all dangerous, you are possibly evil, but

422
00:26:52.400 --> 00:26:59.960
we we we were the good guys and all of this. Now,

423
00:27:00.359 --> 00:27:03.559
was one of the loudest voices preaching this war. So

424
00:27:03.880 --> 00:27:06.200
probably I think it's fair to say he was maybe

425
00:27:06.400 --> 00:27:10.279
the loudest, maybe not just one, he was maybe the

426
00:27:10.400 --> 00:27:14.079
loudest voice at the time preaching this war that was

427
00:27:14.079 --> 00:27:19.000
occurring between Satan's foot soldiers and well, the good Puritans.

428
00:27:21.119 --> 00:27:23.799
He saw the witches or anyone accused of being a witch,

429
00:27:23.880 --> 00:27:26.880
basically as a direct agent of Satan, and warned that

430
00:27:26.920 --> 00:27:32.920
the devil had a four part strategy to destroy Puritan society.

431
00:27:34.400 --> 00:27:38.400
There was a four point strategy, a four part strategy

432
00:27:38.480 --> 00:27:41.279
to destroy Puritan society, and you needed to know these

433
00:27:41.319 --> 00:27:44.880
four points. Let's kind of work through these in kind

434
00:27:44.880 --> 00:27:48.400
of a more general way. I'm not getting into the

435
00:27:48.720 --> 00:27:51.000
I'm not getting into the necessarily the weeds here. I'm

436
00:27:51.000 --> 00:27:53.799
trying to give you kind of an overview, So just

437
00:27:53.880 --> 00:27:56.279
make sure you understand how I'm trying to break this down.

438
00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:03.119
So for for Cotton Mather, all right, he carries all

439
00:28:03.160 --> 00:28:05.559
of these ideas, and he's like, Okay, here's this strategy,

440
00:28:05.559 --> 00:28:08.039
and this is the first thing everyone needs to remember.

441
00:28:09.079 --> 00:28:18.799
The Devil's army targets the weakest first. So here's the devil,

442
00:28:19.240 --> 00:28:23.759
and he's going to target weak people, those who are weak.

443
00:28:24.039 --> 00:28:28.160
And who are the weak people? According to Cotton Mather,

444
00:28:30.039 --> 00:28:33.319
who are the weak people? Well, the weak people are women,

445
00:28:34.720 --> 00:28:40.279
children and the poor. Oh, you have to remember this.

446
00:28:41.400 --> 00:28:43.920
You have to remember this, all right. If you know

447
00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:47.160
what happened in Salem, you have to remember this because

448
00:28:47.839 --> 00:28:51.200
he's I told you, he's the architect, not only a fear,

449
00:28:51.319 --> 00:28:54.400
He's the one who writes the blueprint. So Cotton Mather

450
00:28:54.440 --> 00:28:57.319
tells everyone, look Satan's going to come for the week first,

451
00:28:57.319 --> 00:29:02.279
and who are the weak? Women? Are? Children? You are?

452
00:29:02.519 --> 00:29:08.640
And if you're poor, you are poor women? Children. Now

453
00:29:08.839 --> 00:29:11.799
this is going to play in really two different ways, right,

454
00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:15.559
because if you go to the Salem witch trials and

455
00:29:15.599 --> 00:29:17.920
you go to not only what happens in the Salem,

456
00:29:17.960 --> 00:29:20.799
what happens in Boston, which we'll talk about in greater detail,

457
00:29:20.799 --> 00:29:24.079
that Cotton Mather was involved in what happens, Well, if

458
00:29:24.119 --> 00:29:28.680
someone if someone's gonna start being tormented, and like, oh,

459
00:29:29.079 --> 00:29:31.519
a witch is doing this to me. I'm being tormented

460
00:29:31.519 --> 00:29:33.880
by a witch. They're causing me to have convulsions and

461
00:29:33.920 --> 00:29:38.240
they're talking, getting me to bark, or meiw like a cat,

462
00:29:38.440 --> 00:29:41.480
or fall on the floor or have like an epileptic

463
00:29:41.680 --> 00:29:45.279
seizure or whatever. They were claiming how they were being tormented. However,

464
00:29:45.279 --> 00:29:48.640
they're being tormented. Typically the people being tormented would be

465
00:29:49.000 --> 00:29:52.279
one of those people who are considered weak, which would

466
00:29:52.279 --> 00:29:58.359
be women now usually children or actually women or children,

467
00:29:58.920 --> 00:30:02.839
or the poor in many cases. In many cases, those

468
00:30:02.880 --> 00:30:07.359
who were being afflicted would be classified in what this

469
00:30:07.400 --> 00:30:10.720
group as the weak in many cases. Right, so if

470
00:30:10.759 --> 00:30:13.000
you're being afflicted and you fall into one of the

471
00:30:13.039 --> 00:30:16.079
categories that are weak, then you're more believable. Well, of

472
00:30:16.160 --> 00:30:19.519
course they're being attacked. Of course they're being tormented. They're

473
00:30:19.559 --> 00:30:22.599
in the weak category. They're either a woman or the

474
00:30:23.440 --> 00:30:28.039
children play a major role in this classification, the children

475
00:30:28.480 --> 00:30:32.039
or the poor. But then it play this is used.

476
00:30:32.400 --> 00:30:35.680
This is so weird because it's almost contradictory. So if

477
00:30:35.720 --> 00:30:38.200
you are afflicted and you fit into this category, you're

478
00:30:38.200 --> 00:30:39.920
going to be believed because you're one of the week.

479
00:30:40.160 --> 00:30:44.039
But if those being afflicted are going to accuse someone

480
00:30:44.359 --> 00:30:48.960
as being the witch. You accuse someone in these same categories,

481
00:30:49.119 --> 00:30:53.000
you accuse a woman. Now, they didn't really accuse other children,

482
00:30:53.200 --> 00:30:55.599
but they would accuse women, or they would accuse those

483
00:30:55.640 --> 00:30:58.960
who are poor. In fact, and Salem when the first

484
00:30:59.000 --> 00:31:02.839
accusations go, well, the first people afflicted are children. They

485
00:31:02.880 --> 00:31:05.680
are weak, so that's why they're being afflicted. Satan goes

486
00:31:05.720 --> 00:31:09.279
after the week, and who is Satan using. He's using

487
00:31:09.599 --> 00:31:14.920
those who are weak, poor women. They're women and they

488
00:31:14.960 --> 00:31:19.880
are poor, or they are a slave who's not from

489
00:31:20.319 --> 00:31:24.200
this area, brought from Barbados, right, So it all fits

490
00:31:24.240 --> 00:31:27.000
into their kind of overall way of thinking about people

491
00:31:27.039 --> 00:31:30.839
in the way they classify them. Again, slaves from other nations,

492
00:31:30.960 --> 00:31:34.400
other countries who are not like the Puritans are almost

493
00:31:34.480 --> 00:31:37.519
immediately going to be viewed with suspicion and viewed as

494
00:31:37.559 --> 00:31:41.000
basically being a pagan and being used by the devil.

495
00:31:41.200 --> 00:31:44.039
If it's a woman, well she's weak, so clearly she

496
00:31:44.079 --> 00:31:46.440
can be used by a devil. And if she's poor,

497
00:31:47.200 --> 00:31:50.279
a slave would be poor or be a beggar in town,

498
00:31:50.519 --> 00:31:52.200
which was one of the women who were accused of

499
00:31:52.200 --> 00:31:54.559
being a witch, one of the first ones. Then this fits.

500
00:31:54.880 --> 00:31:58.119
So if you are think of how this this is

501
00:31:58.119 --> 00:32:00.240
one of those situations where they can use who is

502
00:32:00.279 --> 00:32:03.599
the same thing to go in two contradictory ways. Satan

503
00:32:03.680 --> 00:32:05.839
goes after the week. So that's the number. That's the

504
00:32:05.880 --> 00:32:10.000
first strategy that Satan has to take down Puritan society.

505
00:32:10.119 --> 00:32:11.680
He's going to go after the week. And who are

506
00:32:11.720 --> 00:32:14.400
the weak people? All right? All the weak people stand

507
00:32:14.480 --> 00:32:17.599
up in church? Are you a woman? Week? Are you

508
00:32:17.680 --> 00:32:21.799
a child? Week? Are you poor? Week? All three of

509
00:32:21.839 --> 00:32:24.880
you are week. So if you start flopping around saying

510
00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:28.160
who which is attacking me? Do you fit this category? Well,

511
00:32:28.160 --> 00:32:30.799
that makes sense. You're weak. That's why Satan's going after you. Wait,

512
00:32:30.920 --> 00:32:34.119
who did it to you? Well? They did it? Oh wait,

513
00:32:34.160 --> 00:32:36.319
that makes sense. They're part of the weak group, so

514
00:32:36.599 --> 00:32:40.960
because they're a woman or they're poor. So this is

515
00:32:41.119 --> 00:32:44.240
very key and this becomes a blueprint of exactly how

516
00:32:44.279 --> 00:32:48.920
everything goes out. Mather believed that Satan's first victims were

517
00:32:49.039 --> 00:32:54.119
usually just my page just skipped around here. Mather believed

518
00:32:54.119 --> 00:32:58.119
that Matther believed that Satan's first victims were usually women, children,

519
00:32:58.200 --> 00:33:01.319
and the poor. He taught that the devil preyed on

520
00:33:01.599 --> 00:33:06.200
the week, those who lacked strong faith, all right, So

521
00:33:06.839 --> 00:33:09.160
he taught that the devil prayed on the week those

522
00:33:09.160 --> 00:33:11.720
who lacked strong faith. But note, day's kind of messed up.

523
00:33:12.079 --> 00:33:14.240
So who has a lack of strong faith? Where you're

524
00:33:14.279 --> 00:33:16.200
kind of now saying women, children and the poor have

525
00:33:16.240 --> 00:33:19.359
a lack of strong faith. Was it always that clean cut?

526
00:33:19.400 --> 00:33:22.000
I'm not saying it was always that clean cut, but

527
00:33:22.559 --> 00:33:24.559
this is kind of the way it sets up. Now,

528
00:33:24.599 --> 00:33:27.839
this is no, it's no coincidence then that the first

529
00:33:27.880 --> 00:33:33.000
accused in Boston and Glover and in Salem were women

530
00:33:33.079 --> 00:33:36.799
on the fringe of society. So the woman accused in Boston,

531
00:33:37.119 --> 00:33:41.440
she fits. She's a woman, she's a she's an outcast,

532
00:33:41.480 --> 00:33:45.640
she comes from a different country. They go after her.

533
00:33:45.960 --> 00:33:49.000
Guess what happens in Salem. The first people accused are

534
00:33:49.079 --> 00:33:51.799
women who are outcasts or at least one from another

535
00:33:51.799 --> 00:33:55.960
country because she's a slave. I mean, you can't the

536
00:33:56.960 --> 00:34:03.319
I mean Cotton Mather is giving the blueprint here. So

537
00:34:03.400 --> 00:34:06.119
the first way, the first part of the strategy of

538
00:34:06.200 --> 00:34:09.039
Satan to destroy the Puritans was number one. The devil

539
00:34:09.079 --> 00:34:11.440
will target the weakest first, So you have to be

540
00:34:11.559 --> 00:34:13.800
on the lookout for the weakest, the weakest will be

541
00:34:13.800 --> 00:34:17.039
afflicted or the weakest will be doing the affliction because

542
00:34:17.079 --> 00:34:20.119
they're both being either tormented by Satan or used by Satan.

543
00:34:20.239 --> 00:34:23.159
And the reason he's tormenting you or the reason he's

544
00:34:23.599 --> 00:34:28.960
using you is because you're weak. Number two, the devil

545
00:34:29.039 --> 00:34:39.760
works in secret. Mather worn that witches could literally be anyone.

546
00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:45.239
It could be your spouse, It could be your parent,

547
00:34:46.719 --> 00:34:52.559
could be your child, could be your friend, could be

548
00:34:52.639 --> 00:34:59.519
your neighbor, could be anyone in your family. It could

549
00:34:59.559 --> 00:35:04.920
be the person sitting right across from you in church.

550
00:35:05.360 --> 00:35:07.599
It could be the person in the pew in front

551
00:35:07.639 --> 00:35:10.119
of you. It could be the person in the pew

552
00:35:10.199 --> 00:35:17.239
behind you. It could even be your minister. Anyone could

553
00:35:17.320 --> 00:35:21.079
be a witch. Now you can see the paranoia this

554
00:35:21.119 --> 00:35:26.840
is going to begin to create a witch. This is

555
00:35:26.840 --> 00:35:32.440
from Cotton Mather. A witch will not announce themselves. Instead,

556
00:35:32.840 --> 00:35:36.639
they will blend in. Witches are not going to announce.

557
00:35:36.639 --> 00:35:38.320
You're not going to know they're a witch because they're

558
00:35:38.320 --> 00:35:42.840
going to pretend to be a good Christian while secretly

559
00:35:42.880 --> 00:35:48.719
performing rituals, speaking in strange tongues, and signing Satan's book.

560
00:35:48.800 --> 00:35:50.840
Now we'll have to get more into that signing of

561
00:35:50.880 --> 00:35:55.559
Satan's book. When I visited Salem, I think the last time,

562
00:35:56.039 --> 00:36:00.159
there was an interesting discussion presentation on this Satan, this

563
00:36:00.239 --> 00:36:04.519
book that you signed, and there was lots of interesting

564
00:36:04.679 --> 00:36:08.840
stories about the time, especially amongst the children, the young.

565
00:36:08.960 --> 00:36:13.119
The young people really had this thing about signing Satan's book.

566
00:36:13.239 --> 00:36:15.119
And so maybe we need to do a little bore,

567
00:36:15.639 --> 00:36:19.440
a little bit more exploring of that concept, and we'll

568
00:36:19.440 --> 00:36:22.320
talk about it. But just note, so number one, it's

569
00:36:22.360 --> 00:36:25.000
gonna go after the week, it's gonna go. So you're

570
00:36:25.039 --> 00:36:27.199
already gonna set up who needs to be the people

571
00:36:27.239 --> 00:36:29.280
who are afflicted one of the week? Who needs to

572
00:36:29.280 --> 00:36:31.599
be the people doing the afflicting one of the week.

573
00:36:31.920 --> 00:36:34.719
So how does it play out in the In almost

574
00:36:34.760 --> 00:36:39.039
every case, children are making the accusations. They're the ones

575
00:36:39.079 --> 00:36:41.840
being tormented because they're weak, And who do they accuse

576
00:36:42.920 --> 00:36:45.760
those who are weak? It's like now, after a while,

577
00:36:45.840 --> 00:36:48.920
they just start they just start accusing anybody and everybody.

578
00:36:48.960 --> 00:36:52.320
But at the very very beginning, they follow this blueprint

579
00:36:53.039 --> 00:36:55.880
to the letter to the letter, and the second the

580
00:36:55.920 --> 00:36:58.599
devil works in secret, it could be anyone. And so

581
00:36:58.719 --> 00:37:04.559
what starts happening. Everyone starts getting accused everyone this person.

582
00:37:04.559 --> 00:37:07.559
I think over two hundred. I think over two hundred

583
00:37:07.599 --> 00:37:10.719
people get accused. If I remember, I'm going from memory.

584
00:37:10.760 --> 00:37:16.920
There a lot of people were imprisoned. Crazy stuff was

585
00:37:16.960 --> 00:37:24.679
going on. Number three. Okay, now Satan is going to

586
00:37:24.760 --> 00:37:29.280
use a specific way to attack people, right, and he's

587
00:37:29.320 --> 00:37:32.159
going to attack people in this way. And this is

588
00:37:32.199 --> 00:37:36.159
how it happens, all right, that the witches could send

589
00:37:36.239 --> 00:37:40.559
their spirits to attack others in dreams or visions or

590
00:37:40.559 --> 00:37:44.480
in different ways. So the third thing that he says

591
00:37:44.599 --> 00:37:46.960
Satan is doing his part of his strategy is that

592
00:37:47.000 --> 00:37:49.360
he's going to use witches to attack. But the witch

593
00:37:49.400 --> 00:37:52.519
could be somewhere else. The witch could be For example,

594
00:37:52.559 --> 00:37:55.880
the witch could be in Maine, just mining their own business,

595
00:37:56.199 --> 00:37:58.599
living their life. You could be in Salem and all

596
00:37:58.599 --> 00:38:02.000
of a sudden, Oh attacked, I'm being itaed. Oh fall

597
00:38:02.079 --> 00:38:07.239
on the floor. Oh they're burning me. They're doing this

598
00:38:07.280 --> 00:38:10.239
horrible thing. What's going on? Who did it? So and so?

599
00:38:10.440 --> 00:38:12.159
And they're like where is so and so? Well, so

600
00:38:12.199 --> 00:38:14.159
and so is in Maine. Well they couldn't have done it.

601
00:38:14.239 --> 00:38:16.440
Oh no, no, no, no, no. Cut in Mather's Like,

602
00:38:16.800 --> 00:38:20.119
you guys don't understand that's exactly how a witch works.

603
00:38:20.320 --> 00:38:22.719
A witch doesn't have to be physically present. They can

604
00:38:22.800 --> 00:38:26.039
send their spirit. They can be hundreds of miles away,

605
00:38:26.280 --> 00:38:29.159
and they can send their spirit after you at any time.

606
00:38:29.440 --> 00:38:35.599
And this was known as spectral evidence. So how was

607
00:38:35.639 --> 00:38:40.039
Satan going to destroy Puritan society? Number one? His army

608
00:38:40.119 --> 00:38:45.320
was going to attack the weakest first. Who are the weak, women, children,

609
00:38:45.400 --> 00:38:48.440
and poor people. The Devil's going to do it in secret.

610
00:38:48.639 --> 00:38:51.880
So what does that mean? Anyone, anywhere, anytime could be

611
00:38:51.920 --> 00:38:55.360
a witch. Anybody everyone is suspect. Everyone could be out

612
00:38:55.400 --> 00:38:59.119
to get you. There are Satan's Satan's foot soldiers could

613
00:38:59.119 --> 00:39:03.280
be literally sitting next to you in church. Number three. Hey,

614
00:39:03.599 --> 00:39:06.039
the witch doesn't actually have to be around you. You

615
00:39:06.079 --> 00:39:08.559
don't even have to I don't even have to be

616
00:39:08.599 --> 00:39:11.440
in the same state. I don't even have to be

617
00:39:11.480 --> 00:39:14.320
in the same city. Oh, they can attack you. You

618
00:39:14.840 --> 00:39:18.719
identify them. And this is called spectral evidence. And Cotton

619
00:39:18.719 --> 00:39:26.199
Mather was the one who promotes this craziness, quoting this

620
00:39:26.400 --> 00:39:29.440
was called this is what Cotton Mather says. This is

621
00:39:29.480 --> 00:39:33.639
called spectral evidence, and it plays a massive Well, okay, well,

622
00:39:33.679 --> 00:39:36.800
he says it's called spectral evidence, I will then add,

623
00:39:37.039 --> 00:39:41.400
and it played a massive role in the Salem witch trials.

624
00:39:42.320 --> 00:39:45.039
You see, if someone claimed they saw a person's spirit

625
00:39:45.199 --> 00:39:49.079
tormenting them in a vision, it was enough to convict

626
00:39:49.119 --> 00:39:54.519
someone of being a witch, even if there was no

627
00:39:55.360 --> 00:40:05.000
physical proof. Oh, physical proof needed. So Mather's support of

628
00:40:05.039 --> 00:40:08.079
spectral evidence became one of the most controversial parts of

629
00:40:08.119 --> 00:40:11.599
the Salem Trials, something even other Puritans would later reject

630
00:40:11.760 --> 00:40:15.480
later on, they'd be like, Hey, this spectral evidence stuff,

631
00:40:15.559 --> 00:40:19.519
we gotta stop, no more using it. Cotton Mather, though,

632
00:40:19.880 --> 00:40:21.920
was the one using it. So is he a hero

633
00:40:22.039 --> 00:40:25.559
of the faith. When you're promoting spectral evidence, allowing people

634
00:40:25.599 --> 00:40:30.559
then to be arrested, tried, and executed based off something

635
00:40:30.599 --> 00:40:33.159
like spectral evidence, you're not a hero of the faith,

636
00:40:33.239 --> 00:40:38.559
ladies and gentlemen, You're a villain and a horrible, horrific story.

637
00:40:40.760 --> 00:40:43.119
But there was a fourth part of this plan, all right,

638
00:40:43.159 --> 00:40:48.039
So let's go through these again. The devil. The Devil's

639
00:40:48.119 --> 00:40:50.840
army targets the weakest. First. Second, the devil works in

640
00:40:50.920 --> 00:40:54.519
secret Number three, The devil uses witches who can then

641
00:40:54.559 --> 00:40:57.199
attack you by sending their spirit to you without being

642
00:40:57.199 --> 00:41:04.119
physically present. This is known as spectral evidence. Right number four.

643
00:41:04.440 --> 00:41:08.840
The devil uses objects and spells to corrupt. Mather taught

644
00:41:08.840 --> 00:41:12.039
that witch is left behind physical signs of their power,

645
00:41:12.400 --> 00:41:17.760
things like puppets use for cursing, written spells, or marks

646
00:41:17.760 --> 00:41:22.079
on their skin. So the devil uses objects. Oh, look

647
00:41:22.119 --> 00:41:24.480
they have that object. Ooh, they have that object. So

648
00:41:25.079 --> 00:41:27.639
you got to be on the lookout for objects. Oh oh,

649
00:41:27.679 --> 00:41:30.079
and he will leave marks, so you got to be.

650
00:41:30.519 --> 00:41:33.920
So Satan is using objects to help destroy Puritan society.

651
00:41:33.960 --> 00:41:36.519
So now everyone's worried about objects. But one of those

652
00:41:36.599 --> 00:41:38.920
objects are things you would be. So you're looking at

653
00:41:38.960 --> 00:41:42.280
what anybody owns. Oh they have a doll, Oh they

654
00:41:42.280 --> 00:41:44.440
have this, they have that, Oh that they're a witch.

655
00:41:44.599 --> 00:41:49.639
But oh, it gets even worse. Oh, this gets even worse.

656
00:41:49.639 --> 00:41:53.960
So you're ready marks on the skin. During the Salem Trials,

657
00:41:54.039 --> 00:41:57.639
Puritans would search for these witch marks, a spot on

658
00:41:57.679 --> 00:42:01.559
the body, which where a witch supposedly fed. They're demonic familiar.

659
00:42:02.000 --> 00:42:04.199
So now if you have a spot on your body,

660
00:42:05.639 --> 00:42:11.719
oh you're a witch. Now. Satan is using all these

661
00:42:11.760 --> 00:42:16.280
devices to help bring down Puritan society, all these objects.

662
00:42:16.559 --> 00:42:19.280
But because they leave objects, they also leaves the mark

663
00:42:19.320 --> 00:42:22.280
and leaving the mark now can be utilized to identify

664
00:42:22.320 --> 00:42:27.039
who's a witch. So Satan really has this four ways

665
00:42:27.079 --> 00:42:32.199
of going after everybody, a targeting the weakest, works in secret.

666
00:42:32.920 --> 00:42:35.599
The witches now have this ability to attack you using

667
00:42:35.639 --> 00:42:39.960
their spirit, no matter from great distances, and well they

668
00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:42.280
can use they can use objects. So you've got to

669
00:42:42.280 --> 00:42:44.559
be looking at Wait, is that object? Oh I think

670
00:42:44.559 --> 00:42:47.280
that's that's attached to witchcraft? Oh? I think that object

671
00:42:47.400 --> 00:42:49.840
is Oh I think that's attached to witchcraft. And that

672
00:42:49.920 --> 00:42:53.480
kind of thinking still plays a major role in the

673
00:42:53.519 --> 00:42:56.320
minds of many Christians. It's basically a lot of superstition

674
00:42:56.400 --> 00:43:01.880
thrown in here. Right, So let's now take a step back.

675
00:43:03.320 --> 00:43:09.239
Everything that happened in Salem. It feels like, this is

676
00:43:09.280 --> 00:43:13.480
my feeling, was following the blueprint. Dare I say, was

677
00:43:13.519 --> 00:43:23.360
following the exact script. Who were the first afflicted children? Week?

678
00:43:24.760 --> 00:43:31.320
Who were the first accused women? Week? A poor beggar week,

679
00:43:32.400 --> 00:43:38.039
an enslaved woman from Barbados week, an elderly widow who

680
00:43:38.039 --> 00:43:42.400
wouldn't play the Puritan reindeer games week? All right, so

681
00:43:42.639 --> 00:43:48.840
that follows it perfectly. What evidence was used? Spectral attacks

682
00:43:48.840 --> 00:43:54.599
and supernatural testimony? The script. Who shaped all of these

683
00:43:54.639 --> 00:43:58.880
ideas Cotton Mather. Oh, but let's not accuse him. We

684
00:43:58.920 --> 00:44:02.079
can accuse good o'cott because he's the hero in the story.

685
00:44:02.199 --> 00:44:11.440
Ladies and gentlemen, he's not the hero in the story.

686
00:44:12.559 --> 00:44:19.039
Mather didn't create the Salem witch Trials, but his teaching

687
00:44:20.280 --> 00:44:28.159
gave them their theological foundation. And when the trials began,

688
00:44:29.679 --> 00:44:36.599
his words, his theology, his doctrine was already in the

689
00:44:36.639 --> 00:44:43.440
minds of the judges. Definitely the first minister that's very

690
00:44:43.599 --> 00:44:47.000
involved in all of this, that minister's mind, and of

691
00:44:47.039 --> 00:44:57.039
course the people of Salem. Now Cotton Mather's path to

692
00:44:57.079 --> 00:45:02.239
becoming the leading voice on witchcraft and new we en. Actually,

693
00:45:02.320 --> 00:45:03.679
I think if we want to try to find a

694
00:45:03.800 --> 00:45:06.320
beginning point now, we could actually go back to when

695
00:45:06.320 --> 00:45:09.079
he was in his twenties he starts preaching those sermons.

696
00:45:09.280 --> 00:45:12.280
But if you really want to see where how Cotton

697
00:45:12.320 --> 00:45:14.920
Mather and witchcraft, remember we talked about that had on collision.

698
00:45:14.960 --> 00:45:18.280
That's coming right, that had on collision. Because Cotton Mather

699
00:45:18.400 --> 00:45:22.679
doesn't become famous for his sermons, it's his involvement witchcraft. Well,

700
00:45:22.679 --> 00:45:24.960
if we really want to find his involvement with witchcraft,

701
00:45:25.039 --> 00:45:26.679
I think, and we've already talked about this, but we're

702
00:45:26.719 --> 00:45:28.239
going to talk about it again here because I think

703
00:45:28.239 --> 00:45:32.079
it's important. Before he becomes a leading voice on witchcraft,

704
00:45:32.360 --> 00:45:34.639
we have to go back to the year sixteen eighty

705
00:45:34.679 --> 00:45:41.480
eight with a case that predated Salem by four years.

706
00:45:42.480 --> 00:45:46.320
That we've talked about this case, right, and you can

707
00:45:46.320 --> 00:45:48.960
go look at my episode the prequel to Salem, because

708
00:45:49.360 --> 00:45:54.239
this case is the prequel. This case really solidifies the script,

709
00:45:54.400 --> 00:45:57.760
It really solidifies everything about it. And I already talked

710
00:45:57.760 --> 00:46:00.599
about it before. It's just amazing the similar. But we

711
00:46:00.599 --> 00:46:02.559
need to at least remind ourselves because we want to

712
00:46:02.639 --> 00:46:05.719
keep things in some form of chronological order here. So

713
00:46:05.760 --> 00:46:09.159
it all starts, or it started with the Goodwin children

714
00:46:09.280 --> 00:46:14.559
in Boston. They were afflicted by strange fits, screaming, convulsing,

715
00:46:15.119 --> 00:46:18.960
falling into trances. A doctor examined them but found no

716
00:46:19.119 --> 00:46:24.119
physical cause. And when Puritans couldn't explain something, the answer

717
00:46:24.760 --> 00:46:29.559
was always the same. If we can't explain it, it's

718
00:46:29.559 --> 00:46:36.039
the devil. If we can't explain it, it's witchcraft. The

719
00:46:36.159 --> 00:46:40.760
blame in this particular case fell on Anne Goodie Glover,

720
00:46:41.519 --> 00:46:46.079
an Irish Catholic woman who had been deported to Barbados

721
00:46:46.239 --> 00:46:50.840
before coming to Boston. Ah, look at this, she's Irish Catholic.

722
00:46:50.920 --> 00:46:55.880
Oh boy, she's a woman weak Irish Catholic. Week. She's

723
00:46:55.880 --> 00:47:02.519
from Barbados week. She spoke mostly the Irish week, with

724
00:47:02.599 --> 00:47:06.079
only broken English week, and she was seen as an

725
00:47:06.079 --> 00:47:08.920
outsider week week week week week week. Okay, so this,

726
00:47:09.239 --> 00:47:14.280
this already sets up that template. Now, under pressure, she

727
00:47:14.360 --> 00:47:17.960
struggled to recite the Lord's Prayer in English, something Puritans

728
00:47:17.960 --> 00:47:21.679
believed a witch could not do. That was enough. She

729
00:47:21.880 --> 00:47:26.960
was convicted and hanged in Boston on November sixteenth, sixteen

730
00:47:27.079 --> 00:47:30.400
eighty eight. That is an oversimplification of everything that happened

731
00:47:30.400 --> 00:47:33.079
in that case, all of its similarities with what happens

732
00:47:33.079 --> 00:47:36.760
in Salem. Please go listen to my previous episode and

733
00:47:36.800 --> 00:47:41.119
you can get a greater detail about what occurred. But

734
00:47:41.199 --> 00:47:46.400
kiss who was there watching it all unfold? Cotton Mather.

735
00:47:48.440 --> 00:47:52.920
He wasn't just watching it. He was studying. And not

736
00:47:52.960 --> 00:48:02.719
only was he studying, he was writing. He took He

737
00:48:02.840 --> 00:48:07.280
took what he had just seen and he turned it

738
00:48:07.400 --> 00:48:12.599
into a book that would define witch hunting for years

739
00:48:13.280 --> 00:48:19.159
to come. That case, in sixteen eighty eight, Cotton mathers,

740
00:48:19.559 --> 00:48:22.599
he's all there, and he watches it, and he writes it.

741
00:48:22.639 --> 00:48:25.079
He turns it into a book, and it becomes the manual.

742
00:48:25.239 --> 00:48:27.559
It becomes the manual for witch hunting. In fact, I

743
00:48:27.639 --> 00:48:31.320
think it becomes the manual for exactly what happened in Salem.

744
00:48:31.440 --> 00:48:33.840
So don't tell me. Well, oh well, Cotton Mather was.

745
00:48:34.199 --> 00:48:37.199
He wasn't a judge in Salem, so how dare you

746
00:48:37.239 --> 00:48:39.800
accuse him? He only wrote the blueprint. He wrote the

747
00:48:40.480 --> 00:48:47.760
script for what happened. So now we need to look

748
00:48:47.800 --> 00:48:55.039
at Memorable Providences and the blueprint for Salem. One year

749
00:48:55.400 --> 00:48:58.920
after the execution of Goodie Glover, Cotton Mather published a

750
00:48:58.960 --> 00:49:05.000
book called Memorable Providences relating to Witchcraft and Possessions. Now,

751
00:49:05.039 --> 00:49:08.280
in this book, he didn't just document the Goodwin case.

752
00:49:08.719 --> 00:49:13.000
He laid out a guide on how to identify and

753
00:49:13.039 --> 00:49:15.800
how to prosecute witches. He didn't just say, hey, this

754
00:49:15.840 --> 00:49:17.880
is what happened. Oh no, no, no, no, He's like,

755
00:49:18.079 --> 00:49:21.000
this is what happened. We're under attack, so what do

756
00:49:21.039 --> 00:49:22.920
we need to do. We got to identify and we

757
00:49:22.960 --> 00:49:28.239
got to prosecute witches. The book spread through New England

758
00:49:28.800 --> 00:49:34.199
and one of the men who read it. One of

759
00:49:34.239 --> 00:49:37.440
the men who had it in his home, had it

760
00:49:37.519 --> 00:49:43.280
in his library, was none other than Reverend Samuel Parris,

761
00:49:44.119 --> 00:49:49.320
who lived in Boston during that trial. Right, he lived

762
00:49:49.320 --> 00:49:52.599
there in the during the trial and execution of Goody Glover.

763
00:49:52.880 --> 00:49:56.400
He was there. But he comes to Salem with Cotton

764
00:49:56.440 --> 00:50:03.480
Mather's book, and guess what, His daughter, Betty his niece

765
00:50:04.079 --> 00:50:08.840
Abigail are the very first two people in Salem who

766
00:50:09.000 --> 00:50:14.079
start exhibiting the same symptoms as the Goodwin children. They

767
00:50:14.280 --> 00:50:21.480
follow the same symptoms that's literally in the book in

768
00:50:21.559 --> 00:50:25.320
their house. Okay, most likely they've heard their father preach

769
00:50:25.360 --> 00:50:28.599
about or talk about. And because this pastor had brought

770
00:50:28.599 --> 00:50:31.599
the book from Boston or got it at some point,

771
00:50:31.679 --> 00:50:33.960
we just know he had it. We know he had it.

772
00:50:37.280 --> 00:50:40.360
So what do you think he assumed when he sees

773
00:50:40.519 --> 00:50:43.960
Paris and when he sees Betty and he sees Abigail

774
00:50:44.239 --> 00:50:47.159
having the same symptoms as what's in that book. It's

775
00:50:47.159 --> 00:50:51.000
in that book written by Cotton Mather. Well, he had

776
00:50:51.519 --> 00:50:56.320
the guidebook sitting in his study. Cotton Mather gave Salem

777
00:50:56.320 --> 00:50:59.400
a script, and they're going to follow it to the

778
00:50:59.519 --> 00:51:04.920
very lets. They almost deserve it, Guys, you're following this,

779
00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:14.840
You're doing so good. So now we can look at

780
00:51:14.880 --> 00:51:20.000
Cotton Mather's teaching on spiritual warfare, the Devil and the witchcraft,

781
00:51:20.079 --> 00:51:23.559
because this is the blueprint for Salem. See, Cotton Mather

782
00:51:23.679 --> 00:51:26.000
didn't just believe in the devil. He believed the devil

783
00:51:26.079 --> 00:51:30.320
was already here, walking among them, working in secret, whispering

784
00:51:30.599 --> 00:51:36.519
to his followers. To Mather, New England wasn't just a colony,

785
00:51:36.760 --> 00:51:40.599
it was a battlefield, just like his father taught him.

786
00:51:42.159 --> 00:51:45.599
Mathers strongly believed that Satan and his witches could send

787
00:51:45.679 --> 00:51:48.639
their spirits to attack people in their sleep or envisions.

788
00:51:50.559 --> 00:51:55.360
These ghostly assaults, known as spectral evidence, were invisible to

789
00:51:55.480 --> 00:51:59.159
all but the victim. Nobody else could see it. So

790
00:51:59.239 --> 00:52:01.480
for example, you can be in the room your child

791
00:52:01.480 --> 00:52:03.840
could be falling on the floor going through a horrible

792
00:52:03.960 --> 00:52:08.760
what's happening? So and so is attacking me. I don't

793
00:52:08.800 --> 00:52:12.480
see anything. It's their spirit that's attacking me. So you

794
00:52:13.400 --> 00:52:17.440
could just fall over, oh huh, and it's just blame anybody.

795
00:52:17.480 --> 00:52:20.360
Like I mean, I have a seizure disorder. I could

796
00:52:20.360 --> 00:52:22.159
fall on the floor, have a seizure, wake up and

797
00:52:22.199 --> 00:52:24.440
say so and so attacked me, and then you could

798
00:52:24.480 --> 00:52:26.360
go get arrested and be accused of being a witch,

799
00:52:26.639 --> 00:52:28.719
even though you were nowhere near me, and the only

800
00:52:28.760 --> 00:52:33.280
person who could see it was the victim. Now let's

801
00:52:33.280 --> 00:52:36.719
take a step back once again. Let's think about what

802
00:52:36.760 --> 00:52:42.039
happened in Salem. Who was the first accused, A poor beggar,

803
00:52:42.199 --> 00:52:45.280
an enslaved woman, an elderly woman who accused them young

804
00:52:45.320 --> 00:52:49.039
girls considered weak and vulnerable to Satan's influence. What evidence

805
00:52:49.159 --> 00:52:53.440
was used? Spectral visions, puppets and supernatural testimony? How did

806
00:52:53.440 --> 00:52:57.239
the Puritans? How did the Puritan leaders react? They believe

807
00:52:57.559 --> 00:53:07.079
every single word of the accusers. This wasn't just a coincidence.

808
00:53:08.559 --> 00:53:13.480
The trials followed Cotton Mathers teaching almost exactly his words,

809
00:53:13.719 --> 00:53:17.719
his belief, his sermons. They created the blueprint for Salem.

810
00:53:17.760 --> 00:53:21.760
I cannot stress that enough. He had the specific teachings

811
00:53:21.960 --> 00:53:25.079
about this like plan to bring down Puritan society, but

812
00:53:25.360 --> 00:53:28.639
just in a general sense, he sets it all up.

813
00:53:28.719 --> 00:53:32.320
I know, I know, I repeat it a little bit

814
00:53:32.320 --> 00:53:34.239
of that, but I want you to see that you

815
00:53:34.400 --> 00:53:36.480
and the reason I have to repeat it is because

816
00:53:36.599 --> 00:53:46.760
everyone's like Cotton mather didn't do anything. He set the blueprint.

817
00:53:49.199 --> 00:53:57.880
So what happened. Now, there's more to what Cotton Mather does,

818
00:53:58.440 --> 00:54:02.119
all right, and I'm going to save that for its

819
00:54:02.159 --> 00:54:05.159
own episode, okay, because I'm gonna skip part of this

820
00:54:05.320 --> 00:54:09.000
right because during the trials, when a man's going to

821
00:54:09.039 --> 00:54:14.280
be executed, Cotton Mather shows up, all right, everyone wants

822
00:54:14.280 --> 00:54:16.280
to act like he has nothing to do. He's literally

823
00:54:16.320 --> 00:54:18.519
there when a man's about to be executed. And when

824
00:54:18.559 --> 00:54:22.119
they the people decide let's let's not let's not execute

825
00:54:22.159 --> 00:54:24.440
this person. We think we got this wrong, Cotton Mather

826
00:54:24.559 --> 00:54:28.360
is the one that's like, I'm not gonna I'm not

827
00:54:28.400 --> 00:54:31.280
gonna give you his argument, and well, it's just it's

828
00:54:31.280 --> 00:54:33.719
a horrible thing that Cotton Mather does. I'm not gonna

829
00:54:33.719 --> 00:54:35.440
go into that right now because I'm gonna save that

830
00:54:35.480 --> 00:54:37.800
for its own separate thing. I just want you to see,

831
00:54:37.920 --> 00:54:41.119
you cannot separate Cotton Mather from Salem. Everybody wants to

832
00:54:41.159 --> 00:54:43.480
separate you know. You can't say he's the one giving

833
00:54:43.519 --> 00:54:45.679
you the blueprint. He's the one giving you the teaching

834
00:54:45.719 --> 00:54:49.239
for And it plays out identical to what Cotton Mather said.

835
00:54:49.400 --> 00:54:54.440
And his book is in the minister's library and it's

836
00:54:54.480 --> 00:54:58.400
that minister's daughters who make the first accusations, who start

837
00:54:58.480 --> 00:55:01.039
showing the first symptoms. Just how depends to follow. I

838
00:55:01.079 --> 00:55:07.079
don't know, page for page book that's in their house. Now,

839
00:55:07.159 --> 00:55:11.880
the world moved on from Salem. The Massachusetts courts banned

840
00:55:12.079 --> 00:55:17.199
spectral evidence, the Puritan grip on the colony weakened, and

841
00:55:17.320 --> 00:55:23.440
some judges and officials even apologized for their roles. I mean,

842
00:55:23.639 --> 00:55:27.960
I'm glad, well, I kind of apologize. But Cotton Mather,

843
00:55:28.719 --> 00:55:34.199
he never fully backed down. His legacy wasn't just in books.

844
00:55:35.360 --> 00:55:40.960
It was in fear. Fear of outsiders, fear of strangers,

845
00:55:41.480 --> 00:55:46.280
fear of strange customs, fear that at any moment the

846
00:55:46.320 --> 00:55:52.559
devil could be working through someone you loved. That fear

847
00:55:53.360 --> 00:55:56.519
didn't really end in Salem. In fact, it's alive and

848
00:55:56.519 --> 00:56:05.079
well in twenty twenty five. Maybe that's why three hundred

849
00:56:05.079 --> 00:56:19.079
and thirty three years later, we're still talking about him. Now,

850
00:56:19.119 --> 00:56:24.320
next time we'll talk about we'll talk about Cotton Mather

851
00:56:26.239 --> 00:56:32.960
and the execution of the minister who became a witch.

852
00:56:36.360 --> 00:56:45.119
Thanks for listening, everyone, have a great night. We have

853
00:56:45.199 --> 00:56:48.920
to learn from history. I know it's a cliche, because

854
00:56:48.920 --> 00:56:52.599
if we don't. We're doomed to repeat it. God bless