My dear readers,

The Heart of 16^th Century Reformation Needed in the 21^st Century!

Remember the 16^th Century Reformation! How much light was required to penetrate one thousand years of spiritual darkness that enveloped the vast western world that was entrusted with the spreading of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the uttermost parts of the world? Thank God that our heavenly Father is omnipotent. The sovereign power of the light of the Most High God can pierce through the hardest of hearts and the thickest and tallest of barriers.

The barriers of superstition and idolatry of the great Roman Catholic Church took more than 1,000 years to construct. The materials used were fear and bloodshed. Thousands of God's faithful children perished during that time of spiritual darkness. They had to run and hide as fugitives from the might and forces of darkness that emanated from the heart of Rome. The gospel of Jesus Christ spread through faithful and courageous men and women of God who rode on horses, or walked with the shoes of the gospel of Christ on their feet. The gospel was shared with whomever they met, at risk from the wrath of the Roman church if caught. Many were martyred for their faith. Many kept on sharing till the light of truth shone through the darkness according to God’s appointed time when He lifted the heavy iron yoke of the mighty Roman church that covered the entire face of present-day Europe.

31 October 1517 was the day of deliverance that must never be forgotten by all of God’s faithful children. The amazing manner in which the LORD brought about the deliverance was that it was done from within the den of the roaring lion. Martin Luther (1483-1546 A.D.) a Roman Catholic monk was initially trained to become a lawyer because of his father’s wishes. But he had no interest in law. He became interested in theology. This God-directed turnaround in Luther’s life came about one day while he was returning from university. A lightning bolt struck near Luther and he was confronted with his own mortality. At that moment of great fear he cried, “Help! Saint Anna, I will become a monk!” He confessed to his father that he feared death and divine judgment. He entered St Augustine’s Monastery in Erfurt in 1505. Within seven years, in 1512, Luther received his doctoral degree in theology. In the same year, upon graduation, he was sent to the University of Wittenburg to teach theology. Before Luther nailed his 95 theses on the door of the church at Wittenburg that sparked the 16^th Century Reformation, he had to be born again. He was soundly convicted and converted by the Lord Jesus Christ and was saved by grace through his faith in Christ while teaching the Books of Psalms and Romans.

“Luther's study and research led him to question the contemporary usage of terms such as penance and righteousness in the Roman Catholic Church. He became convinced that the church had lost sight of what he saw as several of the central truths of Christianity — the most important being the doctrine of justification by faith alone. He began to teach that salvation is a gift of God's grace through Christ received by faith alone. As a result of his lectures on the Psalms and Paul’s letter to the Romans, from 1513–1516, Luther ‘achieved an exegetical breakthrough, an insight into the all-encompassing grace of God and all-sufficient merit of Christ.’ It was particularly in connection with Romans 1:17 ‘For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith, to faith: as it is written: The just shall live by faith.’ Luther came to one of his most important understandings, that the ‘righteousness of God’ was not God's active, harsh, punishing wrath demanding that a person keep God's law perfectly in order to be saved, but rather Luther came to believe that God's righteousness is something that God gives to a person as a gift, freely, through Christ. ‘Luther emerged from his tremendous struggle with a firmer trust in God and love for him. The doctrine of salvation by God's grace alone, received as a gift through faith and without dependence on human merit, was the measure by which he judged the religious practices and official teachings of the church of his day and found them wanting.’ Luther explained justification this way in his Smalcald Articles: The first and chief article is this: Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, died for our sins and was raised again for our justification (Romans 3:24-25). He alone is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), and God has laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6). All have sinned and are justified freely, without their own works and merits, by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, in His blood (Romans 3:23-25). This is necessary to believe. This cannot be otherwise acquired or grasped by any work, law, or merit. Therefore, it is clear and certain that this faith alone justifies us... Nothing of this article can be yielded or surrendered, even though heaven and earth and everything else falls (Mark 13:31).” [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology_of_ Martin_Luther]

The sale of indulgences to make money from the people sparked the righteous indignation in Luther’s heart. He earnestly contended for the faith of his Saviour and Lord Christ Jesus. He did not keep silent but declared the truth of Christ loudly and the whole world heard the voice of his Christ loud and clear!

Luther fought many more spiritual battles after that divinely appointed day of 31 October 1517. Very soon, Martin Luther became a wanted man and one of the most hated men in all of Roman-Catholic-controlled Europe. In 1521, Luther was called to attend the Diet of Worms against many of his friends’ advice to not go. He went and faced the enemies of God. He was asked to recant his writings and all that he stood for according to Holy Scriptures which the powerful Roman Catholic Church considered as heresy. This was what Luther said, “Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. May God help me. Amen.” [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diet_of_ Worms] Tradition has it that he also declared: “Here I stand, I can do no other” before he said, “May God help me. Amen.”

Courage, righteousness, and holiness were the hallmarks of Luther’s good fight of faith. To him, his life meant nothing without Christ. He fought for the honour of Christ. The spiritual battle rages on. A heart like Luther’s is needed in these last days. Jude 3-4: “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” Amen.