Over opinionated with Josh Scott

Reformation Day Explained #96

• Josh scott • Season 3 • Episode 26

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Welcome back to Overopinionated. I hope everyone is having a good day. Well, it is the week of Halloween, all Halloween's Eve, a Christian holiday, where they celebrated the um well or commemorated the death of the Christian martyrs. Yes, people have misused Halloween. But as we did a podcast two years ago on this, um, and I shared it on my socials, um, that I don't think Halloween is inherently sinful, and if your kid wants to dress up like a superhero or a football player or a princess and go trigger-treating, let him do it. You don't have to let him dress up as something demonic or evil like a devil, but let him have fun. But um, All Hallows Eve, October 31st, uh also marks a very important day on the Christian calendar uh when Martin Lufer pinned his 95 thesis to the uh door in Wittenberg, Germany, challenging the Roman Catholic Church on some of its practices, which kick-started the Protestant Reformation. Now Lufer was not trying to break with Rome, he wanted a debate with some of Rome's practices. He was a devout Roman Catholic, one of the best. Um went to confession daily, um, confessed so much that his priest told him, Martin, you don't have to tell me every fart that you have. He that really happened. Um would confess for hours. Um so we're gonna talk about that before that. Um I uh just a personal reflection, I actually had my 10th year uh class reunion this weekend on Saturday. I saw quite a bit of my old classmates. A majority did not go, sadly, but you know, um some people had some prior obligations too, and I had a good time. Um if you're worried that people are gonna see how successful you are, it's gonna be a a peen contest. It's the exact opposite of what it was, really. There people were just curious how everyone's life has been the last ten years. I saw some friends I hadn't seen in years, and I quite enjoyed it and had a good time. Um so, um, yeah, so if you're afraid of your class reunion, let me encourage you to go. And uh, you know, people are way more concerned with their daily life and their daily struggle than how successful you have been, what car you drive, or what job you have. So, um and one thing I I I did get embarrassed because I a couple times I asked, well, how long have y'all been married? and and uh well we're not technically married. We've been together almost nine, ten years, five years, have three kids together, but we're not married, and I'm not shaming these people. Listen, if I wasn't a Christian, I understand not getting married if you're not a Christian. I actually do. But um, it's not good for society. And there's a difference in being married in your heart and being married on paper, and didn't seem like these guys were married in their heart that they've Oh man, some people are gonna get upset with me about saying this. But all I'm saying is if you've made a commitment between you, your spouse, and God, and have made that known publicly, it's hard for me not to say that you're married. But I think it's better just to get the piece of paper. Don't don't use that as an excuse not to have the legally binding contract. Go ahead and get married legally, it makes things less messy. But these people aren't like that, um, and I don't mean that in a bad way. But that's that's all of my personal reflections, so let's get into our daily readings. Let's um read the Apostles' Creed and the Lord's Prayer, and we will get into the Protestant Reformation episode on Reformation Day. It's going to be on October 31st in 1517, and this week it will be I want to release the episode a little bit before October 31st, but this week will be October 31st, 20 2025. I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, he was crucified and died. He was buried, he descended into hell on the third day. He ascended into heaven and is ascended at the right hand of God of the Father. He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of the saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. Remember, people believe many people believe that he descended into hell just means that Jesus died and went was buried in the a grave. And the Holy Catholic Church is referring to the universal Catholic Church, which all believers are a part of, not the Roman Catholic Church in Rome today. And that that's gotta be pretty obvious. Um Martin Luther would not be uh object to the word the words I just use, the Holy Catholic Church, because Catholic means universal. It's not this popish delusion. Let's say the Lord's Prayer, our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, and thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, and give us this day or daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against you. Amen. Okay, everyone. Now um the uh Protestant Reformation it may have um kickstarted. It may have kickstarted um in Wittenberg, Germany in 1517. But we had a lot of people prior to that laying the groundwork. Many of these people are called the Proto-Reformers. I'm gonna read you a summary of some of these proto-reformers, proto meaning before, that died and were killed by the Roman Catholic Church. Um even if Rome did not directly kill them, they might have handed them over to the civil magistrates, meaning the governments of the day. They were influential in their death. They basically put them to death. Um, they might have handed them over to government, but the government listened to the church. John Wycliffe, born in the 1320s and died in 1384, translated the first English Bible. After he died, he was after his death, his body was dug up and burned. Again, as a statement to Rome. Um do not do this. Jan Hus Um 1372 to 1415 burned at the sake for preaching and the language of the common people. Jan Hus. Jerome burned for standing with Hus and the um fourth of scripture. And then the biggest guy one of the biggest guys right before the well, he kind of goes along with the Reformation. William Tyndale, 19, I'm I'm sorry, uh, 1494, not nineteen uh fourteen, but uh fourteen ninety-four to fifteen thirty-seven. He was strangled, burned for translating the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into English. Um young um John Wick Ratcliffe started it, and then William Tyndale uh was putting it into more modern English. William Tyndale's translation was used with what was called the Great Bible, which was the precursor to the King James Bible. So if you have a King James Bible, if you have a King James Bible, uh be thankful for William Tyndale who pinned it into modern English. Well, okay, it's modern in our stance, but it's still pretty old. I I I wouldn't suggest the King James for a first reader, but William Tyndale's a big reason why we all have a Bible, and he died for that. Um he wanted every his saying was he wanted the common plow boy working in the field to have as much as as the scripture in his hands as his ability to use than the Pope in Rome. And they killed him for it. They hand them over to the civil manuscript and they kill him. Um so well um and all those proto uh reformers and reformers before we get into the great uh reformation, let us remember those guys. Um saints of old that gave us a scripture that could be read in our own language. And I have had so many people ask me, Josh, why were so many people fooled by Rome? Isn't it clear in Scripture uh that salvation is by faith alone for grace alone? And my answer is yes, it is clear in scripture that salvation is by faith alone and grace alone. But if you don't have the scripture in your language, and all you have is the church, the Roman Catholic Church that your family has attended for hundreds of years, and you don't have the modern, you don't have the Bible in your modern tongue and your modern language, let alone can you read. I mean, I don't know if you how was how great were the literacy rates back in the day for the common man. I don't know. Um, but even if you could read, you're not reading uh Latin, you're not reading Greek or Hebrew. You needed it the Bible needs to be in every man's language, and I understand that there's a hard time it's hard to translate from Greek, Hebrew, and uh put in English and German. I understand that there are textual variants, but we can get close, even if we're not a hundred percent um to the original theory, we can get close and we could put footnotes for people to read and understand the nuancing. People need the Bible in their language, and Christians and Protestants in particular, really, it's just us Protestants, have distributed the Bible across the world, and men have died to give you the word of God so you could read it. And how often do we ignore it? That's something that breaks my heart. When Christians in North Korea have to hide their Bibles and cherish it, even if it's just a page, the Word of God. And we have them, we have multiple copies of them, and we ignore them. May God forgive us. Um, but yeah, I uh the Reformation was definitely a work of God. Um by the by the late Middle Ages the church had become powerful, the Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church, politically, finance, and sp and spiritually dead. Um, it was corrupt. The cell of indulgences, paying money to supposedly uh s shorten the time in purgatory. Purgatory was the final straw really that broke the camel's back. They would go out and they would um they would tug at your heartstrings, have huge um presentations. There's a there was a saying when the coin and depoffers pot rings a soul from purgatory springs. And purgatory was this in-between place between hell and heaven, but it was still fire. You were going through a flame that you had to process before you could go to heaven. Jesus' blood wasn't enough to cleanse you and get you into heaven. And I understand, I believe that we all have sin and we will all have sins in our life when we die, but Jesus' blood is enough to cover us and take us straight to God. Purgatory is saying that Jesus' blood is not enough, that he has to purify and burn the sin out of us. That's what Rome taught for a long time now. Some of them say that purgatory is no well, it's not really, it's not that fiery, you just just a process. Um, but that's not what the historic Roman church has taught. People were hungry for the truth and for scripture and for grace, not just religious bureaucracy. And out of that unrest came men and a a man in particular who couldn't stay silent. I'm gonna let me um I'm gonna go to Martin Luther. I had in my notes about Jan Hus and William Tyndale, but we covered them briefly. We're going on to Martin Luther. Martin Luther was a German monk, professor, and priest. Um, he was tormented by guilt, tried to earn God's favor. While while reading scripture, Romans uh chapter one, verse seventeen opened his eyes. Um, and that's gonna be our Bible verse of today. I'm actually gonna go to it. Romans 1 17. Uh a verse that picked kicked off the Reformation. Um everyone go to your Bible. Romans 1, 17. Thank you for waiting with me. Sometimes it's good to have a little pause in the podcast, give you a break. For for in the gospel the righteous of God is revealed, a righteousness that is revealed by faith from first to last, as is it is written, the just will live by faith. So on October 31st, in 1517, he nailed the 95 thesis that is T H E S E S. If you don't understand what I'm saying, it's kind of a hard word for me to pronounce. Actually. But he pinned this to the door in Wittenberg, Germany. There's a famous um picture of him, a couple of them paintings of him nailing it to the door. It's kind of a misconception. I think most historians think he used kind of a wax to put it on there. But it's okay to take a little artistic liberties as long as we know that he probably used a wax to hang it on the door. It wasn't meant to start a revolution, it was meant to start a debate with the church so they could talk, so they could go back and forth on these topics, but it spread like wildfire. He was summoned before the Diet of Worms in 1521 and was pressured heavily with his life on the line to recant. Luther asked for a day to reconsider his writings and to pray, and they gave him a day, and Luther um makes a big speech, and he says, To go against uh conscious is no neither right nor safe. Um here I stand, I can do no other. God so help me. I will not recant. And um he was uh he and he was whisped away by his supporters away from Rome after that event, so Rome couldn't h find him and kill him. And they put him they gave him a cottage. They gave him a cottage where he started translating the Bible into German. His movement found it a movement by salvation, by faith alone, by scripture alone, by Christ alone, by grace alone, to the glory of God alone, the five solas of the Protestant Reformation. Let me give you a few main points of Martin Luther's 95 thesis, um, just a handful. Uh one is repentance is a is a heart matter. It's about your heart, it's not about a financial transaction. You cannot buy your way out of purgatory into heaven. You cannot buy your sorry, I tried to dropped something that that's what you heard. You cannot buy your way into grace. It is about your heart. I remember a passage that I read read about King um uh uh about Samuel. Um, I don't know if I did on this podcast. I did a Bible study where where God um was saying to Samuel, um the I care more about your heart than burnt offerings, than sacrifice. Faithfulness is a better uh obedience is better than sacrifice. Indulgences cannot remove guilt or replace true repentance. That's another point. The Pope has no power over purgatory, only God does. And Martin Luther went on to regret some of the points in his 95 thesis because he was under the assumption of the reality of purgatory. As he studied more, he rejected as a concept of the Roman church. Faith in Christ is what saves, not paying money or doing penance. True treasure of the church is the gospel, not money. Christians should help the poor, not enrich the church, as these people were taking payments for their indulgences to get loved ones out of purgatory or buy their way out of purgatory in the future. They weren't helping the poor for they were building Saint Peter's Vasilica in the Vatican. I have a friend that went to the Vatican and seen the beauties of of this uh pay off today. It's still there. It's still you can look at these pictures, it is beautiful, but it was paid on the backs of peasants wanting to escape and wanting their family to escape, purgatory to go to God that didn't have a Bible and trusted the only church they knew that lied to them. That, sir, is why we needed the Reformation. I love the church. But I hate what the church in Rome became. It avoided itself, it it st it avoided the gospel. It wasn't embracing the gospel, it was embracing the traditions of man, and the tradition of man by itself is not wrong, but the tradition of man ignoring scripture gives birth to all kinds of damnable heresy. So thank God for the broken man and the sinner of Martin Luther. And I I'll I'm gonna go over his life some at the end of a summary. Yes, he was a broken and sinful man, but praise God that he can use broken and sinful men, and I pray that he can help me and use me in the sins that I'm that I know about that I have, and the sins that I don't know about that I have, that God will use me a broken and sinful man, and on the day of judgment he will say, Well done and good, faithful servant, and then I can go to heaven. Because the worst thing that would ever happen to me, it's not the first death, it'd be the second death. I want to be with my Lord for eternity. When I when I sin against God, it grieves my heart, and when it doesn't, that scares me even more, and I pray to God to forgive me and help me. And you might say, Well, Josh, you're a preacher, you should not sin. Well, first of all, I'm not a pastor, but I do preach from time to time. But I tell you, some of the most sinful men I've ever known were pastors and preachers, but they that doesn't mean they should be, but they are. But also, some of the greatest men I've ever known were pastors and preachers. I understand it gets complicated. But there's never been a pastor or preacher that's not been sinless. I am a sinner. I've only known one woman since I've been married, since I've been married. Um does that mean that I never have temptations of a wandering eye? No. I'm not a drunkard. Does that mean I I'm I might not overeat? No. I've never killed a man in cold blood or or any concept whatsoever. But does that mean my heart has not graveled in hate towards someone that has been dirty toward me? No. May God forgive me. May God forgive me, a worthless worm that I am. You might say I look at you as a good man. You try to help people, you try to love people, you're trying to help people right now. I am I am trying to help people, but I'm not a good man. The only thing that comes from me that is goods from Jesus, and everything for me is rotten. I'm thankful for the grace of God of Christ Jesus, that we don't have to submit to a pope in Rome. We don't have to go to a priest for the forgiveness of our sins or pray to Mary to get Jesus to forgive our sins. We can go through Christ to God and our advocate and say, Father, forgive me, a wicked sinner that I am. That doesn't mean we should not listen to church authority. We should. But I believe that the Roman church has been so off base and has stopped following the Bible that their authority is null and void. And that doesn't mean that if you go to your church, no matter what denomination or tradition or independent or non-denominated, that you shouldn't listen to your spiritual authority because you should. But there will be many Catholics in heaven. I I feel sure of that. Many Roman Catholics in heaven. Despite what the church teaches, not because of it. And my prayer one day is that the even the Roman Church itself, that all the Vatican, will turn away from just the traditions of man that is not backed up with scripture, and that they will embrace the fullness of the gospel again. I didn't mean to start preaching, but I just uh I just had that in me, guys. I'm gonna keep reading the summary. True treasure of the church is the gospel, not money. Christians should help the poor, not enrich the church. The church is made to help the poor in spirit and in reality. It's not to have these grand cathedrals, the nicest buildings. There's nothing wrong with a nice, a beautiful building. I I went to my youth pastor's church. He was my youth pastor's first Christian church in Ares. Um because I spent the night with my family this weekend. And it on the outside it's not grand, it looks nice, but on the inside it's simple and beautiful. I have a balcony. I I I really believe it's simple and beautiful. And um you can be simple and beautiful, you can have beautiful buildings, but you should not put a building above the poor. And Rome has forgot that many times. And God forbid, forgive us when our churches have forgot that. Christians should help the poor, not enrich the church. Salvation can not be bought. It is a free gift of God's grace. Look, Luther shook Europe. But Calvin built the system that carried it forward. Let's talk about the theologian John Calvin, and I'm not a Calvinist, but he is important to the Reformation. He was a French reformer born in 1509, fled Catholic French for Geneva, Switzerland. He wrote The Institution of the Christian Religion, one of the greatest theological works of all time. I believe he did that when he was in his twenties, by the way. He taught about the sovereignty of God, the authority of Scripture, and salvation by grace alone emphasized the priesthood of all believers, that every job can be glorified to God. He helped organize churches, train pastors, and spread Protestant teachings across Europe. The legacy of the Reformation, the Reformation brought the Bible to the people, it reclaimed the gospel of grace, it reshaped education, government, and the freedom of consciousness. It shook Europe to its core. It has worldwide application still to this day. If you're not a Christian and you take world history, you will learn about the Reformation. And I'm ashamed to say the first time I heard the name Martin Luther was not in the church pew, it was in my tenth grade world history class. I always loved um history, but I loved United States history. I took World History One at Johns High School, Bruce Fraser, I remember learning about Martin Luther. And um as I've re- I've never abandoned my faith, but I've as I've put a more emphasis on it the last few years since I got married, I've I have looked more into Martin Luther. It is a shame that so many of our uh fellow Protestants and evangelicals are so ignorant of the Reformation and church history as a whole. We should look back to the early church fathers like Polycop, Irenaeus, Athanasius, Augusta, to help inform us of our opinions. John Cresantum doesn't mean that they're always right, but we should look toward them. We should look toward the Reformation as well. Protestants and evangelicals should not be hearing about Martin Luther and John. Calvin for the first time in a secular classroom in high school. That's wrong. I'm glad that I grew up as an evangelical that put a huge emphasis on the God's word and the Bible and the spirit. Absolutely. But I uh I'm ashamed that our churches didn't teach any church history. The Catholics are the Roman Catholics are way better at church history than we are. I can't go to toe-to-toe with a Roman Catholic that can quote all these saints. But I and I'm thankful that I can go I can decently go toe-to-toe with a Roman Catholic with Holy Scripture. And if yes, you have to pick one and uh ignore the other you go of scripture, but we don't have to, that's a false dichotomy. We can learn through scripture and through history. And yes, Martin Luther is not infallible, and neither is Irenaeus or Polycarp or Clement or John Calvin. But we should know our history, it's our heritage. Why is it that most people in the church that are true born-again believers can tell you and be so nerdy about the revolution quoting you John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton. But they have no idea who Polycarp is. They have no idea who Clement is. They have no idea who Irenaeus is. They have no idea who um Augustine is. They have no idea who Martin Luther is. Most of the time when I say Martin Luther, I have to clarify and say the great reformer, because you know how many times people say you mean Martin Luther King Jr., the civil rights leader? And I'm not trying to talk bad about him. But no, that's not who I'm talking about. I get so tired of that. Maybe Martin Luther King Jr. was named after Martin Luther and his dad. Because guess what? They definitely were. So it it frustrates me so greatly that we are so ignorant. Stop being so ignorant. That doesn't mean you're stupid. You can learn. Praise God, we can learn. It just frustrates me greatly. If you're a pastor, please, I'm not saying focus everything on church history, but bring it up. Bring it up. We need people to be more smart, to be more knowledgeable. So when they go out to the world they are not eaten by the wolves. Oh, forgive me, I'm preaching again. But yes, it reshaped education, government, freedom, and consensus. It split the Western church and all but also revived the heart of Christianity. It reminded the world that the church doesn't own salvation. Christ does. The church does not get to determine who gets grace. God does. The Reformation wasn't about rebellion. It was about rebuilding the church. Those men didn't seek fame. Most of them died for what they believed or were on the run. And we owe them more than we realize, not just theology, but for giving us the freedom to read, think, and worship God with our conscience. If Luther's hammer shook the church, it was grace that rebuilt it and that grace that still stands today. I want to give you guys I an outline of Martin Luther's early life. I went on Chat GPT and asked it. Oh, you just use Chat GPT. Yeah, I do, because it's a great resource, and I double check it. And listen, I know I don't know a ton about okay, let me phrase this. I know a ha a halfway decent amount about Martin Luther. If this was wrong, I could pick that up. I'm not a Loofer expert by any means, but I I know the basics, okay? So let me read you what uh AI said about Martin Luther. I told this is the prompt. I said, give me a summary of Martin Luther's life, no sugar coating it, the good and the bad. I mean this is their response. Martin Lufer was born in 1583, Wittenberg, uh sorry, Elizabethan, Germany, to a strict working class family. His father wanted him to be a lawyer, not a monk, but in 1505, caught in a thunderstorm, Lufer cried to St. Anne, help me and I'll become a monk. And you know, it's sad that he wasn't praying straight to the father, but he's going with what he was taught. If you've ever watched Martin Lufer or just the movie Lufer that came out in 2004, let me encourage you. You can watch it free on YouTube, you can buy it pretty cheap on Amazon, the DVD. Let me encourage you to do that. It's a great encouragement, it's very historically accurate. Um But let me continue. It was made by a collection of Lutheran churches. But in fifth in 1505, caught in a thunderstorm, Luther cried out to St. Anne, help me, I'll become a monk. He survived and kept his promise. His father was furious. Lufer joined the Augustinian monastery and became obsessed about uh confessions and penance. He was tormented by guilt, constantly terrified of God's wrath. I feel so close to Lufer there, and especially if you watch the movie when Lufer is basically having a panic attack. And his Lufer's uh spiritual mentor says, I've done this before, he just said, when these things when these feelings are so great, just say, I'm yours, save me. When you're so so afraid of the God's wrath, so afraid of going to hell and not pleasing God, that's a fear I live with. I know preachers and teachers are drudged more harshly, and I know the son, the sins and addictions, and just anything in particular that I struggle with, even if you think it's small. And I say, God, forgive me, have mercy on me, forgive me, have mercy on me, save me. If I die tomorrow, let me go to heaven, let me go to heaven, save me. And just being so afraid of this pleasing God, and so afraid of hellfire. That's a little man. I I don't want to go to hell. I don't want anyone to go to hell. I don't want my friends or family to go to hell. That's why I'm a crazy man that holds a cross on the side of the road sometimes. That's why I might ignore you with Facebook post. But I'm not just doing that, I'm also praying for you. I'm also hurt when you won't submit to God, but I'm holding out hope that with every dying breath, no matter how long it'll take, that you will. But I also know that the enemy lies to us. Just uh Martin Luther found out that the enemy lies to us. And that salvation is found in Christ alone. I know when I die I'll go to heaven, not because what I've done, but because what he has done. It is healthy to have some level of the fear of God, but not to the point where you cannot serve him. Sorry, I'm thankful for my salvation. And in those moments of terror and those moments of doubt, cry out to God, I'm yours, save me, have mercy on me, a sinner. He confessed for hours and then turned around and confess and confessed again five minutes later. Oh thank God we don't have to go to a priest. We confess our sins right to God. His spiritual mentor thought he was losing it. Yeah, that's brought this true. The awakening. While teaching theology at Wittenberg, Germany, Luther started studying the book of Romans and was struck by Romans 1 17. The just shall live by faith. That moment changed him. He realized salvation wasn't earned by good works or indulgences, but was received by faith alone. Sola Fede. That conviction let the fire that became the Protestant Reformation. The ninety five Feces and the Rebellion. It should not say rebellion. It should say the ninety five feces and the reformation. So I'll correct it there. In 1517, Luther nailed the ninety five Feces to the door in Wittenberg, Germany, challenging uh the Catholic Church. I okay, guys, I want to clarify. I'm saying Germany, it's not the modern day state of Germany, it's where Germany uh it's Germany today. Um back then it would have been the Holy Roman Empire. I just want to clarify. Challenging the Catholic Church's cell of indulgences, the practice of mu of paying money to support divine forgiveness. He didn't expect the war, he wanted the academic debate, but with the printing press, his ideas spread like wildfire. That's God using technology. That's God's sovereign will using technology, working through that. The holy the I'm sorry, the church branded him a heretic in 1521 at the Diet of Worms. He was ordered to recant his writings. He refused, saying, Here I stand, I can do no further. That was his break with Rome, no turning back. The Reformation and the movement. Luther translated the Bible into German, making it accessible to ordinary people. He married a former nun, and together I can't pronounce her name, so uh forgive me. It's Catherine von Bohr, and together they modeled a Christian household, and Luther had a very good marriage, very, very good marriage. He was a sweetheart to his wife, uh, all reports. He was an absolutely great husband. Um now that I am going to criticize Luther later on, but he was a good husband. They modeled a Christian household. His reforms reshaped uh worship, congressional singing, preaching in the local language, and uh focusing on grace, not guilt. He preached a powerful personal faith, one that emphasized scripture, grace, and direct relationship between the believer and God, the message would birth Lutheranism and the influence every Protestant defam uh uh denomination that followed. Let's look at his ugly side. Now for the darker side, because Luther wasn't a saint in all things, he was brutally intolerant of his opponents. He called rival reformers like Zwingli and the Anabaptist devils and fanatics. He refused to compromise on doctrines and sometimes vowed to viciously insult. His writings on the peas on the peasants were harsh during the present peasant revolt in 1520 and 1524 to 25. Luther literally sympathized uh initially sympathized with the poor but turned against them when uh violence broke out, and it was pretty rough. They were doing very, very rough things. That's why he he broke out and to condemn them. When voice uh when uh violence broke out, he uh urged rulers to smite and slay and stab the rebels. Tens of thousands of produ uh I'm sorry, of peasants died, and his reputation took a hit among the common folk, and it should have. He should have been less harsh in his remarks. He should have condemned the violence, but um Lufer's temper um got a hold of him too often, sadly. And that that's that's just the truth. His anti-Semitic writings were vile in his latter years. Martin Lufer wrote horrible things about Jews urging their synagogues to be burned, their homes destroyed, the rabbis rabbis banned from preaching. Those uh writings centuries later were cited by Nazi propagandists, to be clear. Lufer, and this is this is a good point. So Lufer did uh say all those horrible anti-Semitic things that the Nazis used to justify a horrible Holocaust. But let's be clear, Lufer did not advocate genocide, he never did call for genocide, um, but his words gave later later anti-Semitic Um evil uh uh evils to blossom. He never called for genocide or killing of Jews, but he came close. He never did that, but people use his words. Um the day he died, people went out and killed Jews as horrible, horrible, horrible. And the Nazis used his work on that as horrible, it was horrible. We should condemn that greatly. I b I still believe Lufer saved, we'll go to heaven. But he will forgive me, he will answer for that. I will add in some nuance that Lufer more than likely had a stroke, and people also believe he was getting dementia. Uh, because this is later in his life. So this is later in his life. He was prideful, often crude. Lufer had a sharp wit and a sharper tongue. Yeah, there's actually a a website called Martin Lufer Insults, and there's a button that says insult me again. It's hilarious. And it'll just come up quotes with Martin Lufer insulting people. Lufer had a sharp wit and a sharper tongue. He could downright vulgar vulgar in his comments, it's true, using barnard humor and f foul language against his critics. He knew it too, but didn't care. He said he'd rather speak the truth plainly than polish lies. And there's not all of that's bad, by the way. Uh there is good and there is a lot of good in being blunt, but there's difference in being blunt and being a jerk, and Lufer crossed that line at times. The end of his life. Lufer died in 1546 in his hometown of Elizabethan. He suffered from heart problems, kidney stones, and carotid pain, and by then and by then he was wary of church politics and the fight among Protestant fract uh factions. He last uh his last written words were We uh We are beginnings, this is the truth. We are I'm sorry, we are bears, this is truth. That sums him up. A man who stood before emperors, ro uh popes, and armies, yet saw himself as a sinner utterly dependent on God's grace. Absolutely. Um he also wrote a very big uh book. Um I need to finish listening to it, I'm almost done, called The Bondage of the Will, where the uh Erasmus was writing that we have a libertarian free will, that meaning we can do things um outside, almost outside of the Holy Spirit, a semi-pelagian type of thing. And and Luther comes and says, No, we have will, but it's bound by sin, and and Christ has to go and break it up. Um and that's true. But he did believe but it's not this um idea that people don't have free choices, that we are predetermined to do things. Um we do have choices. But Luther is saying without the Holy Spirit we will never choose to honor God, which is true. And that's kind of a false conception that many Calvinists I believe put on to Armenions. We don't believe that um we can choose God without the Holy Spirit. We don't believe that at all. Um now do do most of us believe that the Holy Spirit will uh communicate to all people salvation? Yes, I believe. Uh give everyone an opportunity to hear his his word at least some point, at least once. Yeah, I believe that. But we cannot submit to the will of God without the invocation of the Holy Spirit. It is not about works. It is a surrender. If you are surrendering, you are not working, you are surrendering. So, yes, I do believe in free will in the sense th that we have legitimate choices, that we are not predetermined to make this decision or that decision. That does not mean we are not predestined for pre-den predestination and predeterminism are not the same thing. They're not for God foreknew um those who would God foreknew those who um would be saved and elected them. Um and if you're a Calvinist, you disagree with me, that's fine. I didn't articulate my point well at the very end. But no matter if you're a Calvinist, an Arminian, a Lutheran, or something else, if you're a Protestant Christian or if you're an evangelical, be thankful for the men I mentioned today. Martin Luther Jon Hus um and um I just can't uh Martin Luther Yann Hus, William Tyndall, John Calvin, Jerome. I'm thankful for these men, broken sinners that God used. Let's end on a hymn. So I'm gonna play you guys um from the live stream of the first Christian church in Narrows that I attended uh this Sunday with my my former youth pastors, now they're head pastor. And uh there's an old hymn called Leaning on the Everlasting Arms. It's such a beautiful song, and um hopefully you can hear it. The production quality is not the greatest, but um I actually can hear it pretty decent. So um I'm gonna play this and uh hopefully they don't get mad and sue me. They won't. They won't. I'm just kidding. But um I'm gonna play Leaning on the Everlasting Arms. So, um, the production quality on that's not the greatest. They're filming it on iPhone, and I keep hearing rattling, but I paused it and I think it did okay. I'm just gonna read the lyrics for you guys right before we close out. So let me gu let read you guys the the lyrics. What a fellowship, what a joy and divine, leaning on the everlasting arms. What a blessedness, what a peace is mine, leaning on the everlasting arms, leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms, leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms, what have I to dread, what have I to fear, leaning on the everlasting arms. I have blessed peace with my Lord sooner, leaning on the everlasting arms, leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms. Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms. What a beautiful hymn. Let's say prayer, and then we will get out of here. Father, thank you for this day. Please let us remember history as well as scripture. Thank you for using broken men like Luther and Calvin to spread your word and your gospel, and we pray that you use broken men like Josh, like me, uh, like anyone else listening to this podcast. That's not to say that we excuse sin and embrace it and sin as much as we can possible. No, no, that's not what we want to do. We don't want to take your grace for granted, but we thank you for when we do fall down in our addictions and our shame and our sin and our grotesque parts of our mind that we would never want someone to see. We thank you, Jesus, even if the world thinks it's small. You you care about our hearts. Thank you for caring about our hearts. Preach the gospel to those who need it. There are still people who've never heard the gospel. Help us reach them, help us give them God's holy word. Dear Jesus, be with the persecuted churches. Many of our brothers in North Korea and Africa and India die for the gospel and all across the world. Let us never forget them. They're such my heart breaks for them, and I rejoice in their salvation, but my heart breaks for them, and when I look at their life and I look at mine, I say, Man, I am truly I'm truly um undeserving. I'm truly arrogant, I'm truly wicked, and they're so much better Christian than I am. God forgive me, a wicked sinner. God forgive us, wicked sinners. Let us read your word. Forgive us for our sins. Thank you for your thank you for the reformation. We believe it is a work of God and not a work of man. We pray for all those that are in false teachings in Rome to come back to the truth of Christ. And we praise God for all the Catholics who are saved, but please lead their church leadership to the trueness of the fullness of the gospel and the East as well. You are you are God. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, the will be done on earth as it is in heaven, and give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not in temptation, but deliver us from the evil one, for divine is the kingdom, the power, and glory forever and ever. Amen. God bless you all, and have a great Halloween, all Halloween, and a great Protestant Reformation Day. Um, be thankful for the word. And remember, salvation is by faith alone, through grace alone, through Christ alone, and the church does not have a monopoly on it. God bless you.

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Josh Scott

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