10-27-25<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some Christians will be celebrating All Saints\u2019 Day this week, more specifically observing several feast days of the Catholic Church \u2013 also All Hallows\u2019 Eve (Hallowe\u2019en) on October 31 and All Souls\u2019 Day on November 2 \u2013 bookends to All Saints\u2019 Day, which itself was formed as a catch-all holiday. Sort of like Presidents\u2019 Day. It remembers saints of the Catholic Church, real and imagined, whose significance fell short of their individual celebrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By coincidence, another Christian commemoration is on October 31 each year, observed by Protestants and celebrated by many others around the world: Reformation Day. It revolves around the figure of Martin Luther (1483-1546), and is not an arbitrary date nor his birthday. It was the date in 1517 when Luther, a Catholic priest who was appalled by corruption throughout the Church, and non-Biblical heresies in its teachings, nailed 95 \u201ctheses\u201d \u2013 basically, complaints \u2013 to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Five hundred years ago, such was the Internet of its day. What Luther hoped would be a spirited debate locally and perhaps up the chain of clergymen\u2026 became a spark that ignited a flame, ultimately splitting Christendom, encouraging free thought, and inspiring democratic revolutions across the West.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Deeper than Luther\u2019s critiques of the Church\u2019s scheme of selling peoples\u2019 access to Heaven (that is, promising such things), denying the right of believers to read the Bible, and Popes maintaining mistresses, was a profound set of theological revelations. Chief was Luther\u2019s reliance on Scripture, not priests; that Salvation comes from faith alone through the Grace of God, not earned by one\u2019s accumulation of worldly works and good deeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Luther did not intend anything but Reform (hence, \u201cReformation\u201d) yet his views begat Revolution. Princes defied the Holy Roman Empire. Denominations were established on serious theological points, as well as on whims. Earnest debates fueled literacy and, eventually, Enlightenment thought in ways still felt today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many scholars think that the Catholic Church, in spite of itself, eventually would have designated Luther a saint (not that he would have coveted such a title: he recognized that the Bible declares all born-again believers to be saints)… if it had not excommunicated him. No matter: the man stands as one of the great men of history. Luther is a monumental figure, not only in ecclesiastical matters, but in the unique maturation of Western Civilization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I have documented, he represented the concept of the Individual as a legitimate force in society. He opposed the \u201cSystem\u201d that sought to stifle him, as many of his fellow theological rebels were made martyrs by the Church through torture and death by flames. He eventually had to rein in many of his followers because of excesses. He accomplished the feat (contrary to the Vatican\u2019s orders) of translating the Bible from dead Latin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It seems impossible to overstate the significance of this man to the sweep of history\u2019s many aspects \u2013 religion, scholarship, political independence. Yet he embodied contradictions. Kicked out of the priesthood, he married. His language and recorded thoughts were both earthy and, today, politically incorrect. He rejected \u201cmodernism\u201d and regarded Reason as the enemy of Faith. His theology and philosophy were as scholarly as one could imagine, yet volumes of his \u201ctable talk\u201d reveal a man of broad humor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTomorrow I have to lecture on the drunkenness of Noah <\/em>[Gen. 9:20-27], so I should drink enough this evening to be able to talk about that wickedness as one who knows by experience.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA natural donkey, which carries sacks to the mill and eats thistles, can judge you \u2013 indeed, all creatures can! For a donkey knows it is a donkey and not a cow. A stone knows it is a stone; water is water, and so on through all the creatures. But you mad asses do not know you are asses.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHoly Scripture does not deal much with great sinners like tax collectors and poor little whores because such people can also be recognized and judged by heathens. Rather, it deals with spiritual little worms and scorpions who pretend to have an appearance of holiness and great piety.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Martin Luther also revolutionized worship modes, and was a great proponent of music in church \u2013 he said that music was a gift of God, and that the devil should not be allowed to monopolize it. His greatest contribution in this field was the \u201cbattle hymn\u201d of the Christian church, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.<\/em> The Lutheran Johann Sebastian Bach set it to powerful harmonization, and its words still bring tears to this Christian\u2019s eyes every time I hear it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n A migh\u00adty for\u00adtress is our God, A bul\u00adwark nev\u00ader fail\u00ading; Our help\u00ader He, amid the flood Of mor\u00adtal ills pre\u00advail\u00ading.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Did we in our own strength con\u00adfide, Our striv\u00ading would be los\u00ading; Were not the right Man on our side, The Man of God\u2019s own choos\u00ading:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Dost ask who that may be? Christ Je\u00adsus, it is He; Lord Sa\u00adba\u00adoth His name, From age to age the same, And He must win the bat\u00adtle.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Let goods and kin\u00addred go, This mor\u00adtal life also; The bo\u00addy they may kill: God\u2019s truth abid\u00adeth still, His king\u00addom is for\u00adev\u00ader!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n History is populated by many military leaders and rulers. Epochs, lands, and peoples inherited their names; statues and faces on coins survive them. Today, celebrities \u2013 every one of them flawed \u2013 are called heroes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the truly noble people among us mortals are those who have been heroes of conscience, of integrity, of moral courage. They defended eternal truths or consecrated them for the next generations of humankind. Their beliefs and spirits prevailed against intellectual and physical onslaughts; but their bodies and lives frequently paid the ultimate price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Occasionally a generation will have crises met by such inspirational figures. In our day \u2013 it is not too early to state that this will not become an empty cliche \u2013 Charlie Kirk bids fair to join such ranks. Jan Hus was burned at the stake; Socrates drank poison; Charlie was assassinated. Martin Luther was kidnapped by supporters to escape martyrdom. Ironically he escaped being killed by a segment of the Church he ultimately helped to salvage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n