God was about to force the Church to examine what it had become, and to choose for itself whether to pursue God or mammon. The original reformers had no intentions to leave the mother church. But God chose to separate his sheep from the treacherous wolves dressed in royalty.
So it was that on October 31, 1517, Martin Luther wrote a letter to Albert of Mainz protesting the sale of indulgences. Included in that letter was a copy of what has come to be called the 95 Theses, the same which were so famously nailed to the Wittenberg Castle church door. The door was a regular bulletin board, being close to and facing the main road through Wittenberg. It was not intended, I believe, to be an act of defiance, but rather an open invitation for scholarly discourse on the matter. However, by the Hand of God's providence, the 95 Theses were quickly translated from Latin into German, printed, and widely copied, making the controversy one of the first in history to be aided by the printing press.
This emphasis on the true gospel, justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, for the glory of God alone has been widely lost today. May God raise up a Luther today who will face down the demonic opposition of all the false religion and lift up high the name of Christ and the gospel in truth. |
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