4 Books That Made a Priest Leave the Church

The year 2017 is the year of Martin Luther—or at least it should be. Nearly 500 years ago on October 31, 1517, Luther nailed (or “mailed,” for some historians debate this point) his 95 theses to the door of Wittenberg Castle Church.

Even so, Luther didn’t become a full-fledged protestor of the church in that single moment. It took him about eight years (1513-1521) to challenge and hammer out a more robust understanding of the gospel.

Have you ever wondered what Martin Luther was reading during this crucial time in his life? Maybe I’m just a nerd, but I thought at least someone else might be interested in what Luther was reading during his slow, but steady, transition out of the medieval church and into the world of reformation.

Remember, Luther’s goal wasn’t to invent or start an entirely new church. His goal was to reform the church and call her to repentance and faith in the abiding Word of God.

1. The Psalms Luther spent time studying and lecturing through the Psalms in the Bible. He began to realize that the Bible teaches we are not generally sinful, we are totally sinful. Here, Luther had the beginnings of what theologians later would refer to as “total depravity,” meaning that we are sinful in our thoughts, words, and deeds.

2. Romans After that, Luther lectured through Paul’s letter to the Romans. He came across Romans 1:17, “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’” The last part of this verse is a direct quotation from Habakkuk 2:4.

Luther began to see something that he never saw before. He began to see the doctrine of imputation—that we are declared right before God not by our own righteousness, but by the righteousness of another. He began to understand that the righteousness of God that was such a terror to him as a priest (because it told him that he was unholy and unworthy), was actually the righteousness from God that told him he was holy and worthy. God gives this right standing by faith alone. It is a righteousness that is received as a gift and not earned.

3. Galatians It wasn’t until Luther started lecturing through Galatians that he began to realize that faith does not justify us before God. Faith is merely an instrument that God uses. Faith is a tool by which we embrace Jesus Christ as he is offered to us in the gospel.

Faith is, as John Murry once said, “extrospective.” It looks outward—not inward—to embrace the God who gives himself. In other words, faith is only an empty hand. It justifies because it grabs hold of the Jesus who justifies (Rom. 3:26).

4. Hebrews The last book that turned a medieval priest into a true Reformer was the letter to the Hebrews. Luther began to embrace an entirely different understanding of how the Old and New Testaments relate to one another. He realized that the law is not simply the Old Testament and the gospel is the New Testament, but that the gospel of God can be seen as preached throughout both Old and New Testaments.

The same Jesus of the same gospel was offered freely to both Jew and Gentile alike, throughout the whole Bible. Sure, there was a greater and fuller proclamation of that message, such that it went out to the whole world instead of only Israel and their close neighbors—but the gospel was preached nonetheless!

In short, reading and studying the Bible is what ultimately made Martin Luther “protest” the medieval church. Luther was convinced that the Bible was worth listening to. So this year we celebrate the anniversary of a “recovery of the bright light of the gospel.” To God alone be all the glory (Soli Deo Gloria).

Here’s a thought...why don’t you stop attacking Yehova’s called servant, Michael Rood, and discontinue making the absurd false accusations that you make toward him! You will have to answer those foolish words when you stand at the Great White Throne. Cut your losses!

Here's my thought...I ain't skeered!!! You may be at the GWTJ, but I will have already appeared before the Judgement Seat of Christ and been declared, "Not Guilty" and clothed in the righteousness of my Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ whom I have received by grace through faith and not by my works.

Tell me, if Rood really is the "called servant" of Yehova, then why has he failed in his prophecies? Do you know what God says about those who claim to be His prophets yet fail to speak the truth?

Profile
Michael Rood is a self-styled “Messianic Rabbi.” He gained national attention first in the year 2000. During much of that year, Rood was a popular seminar speaker around the country, and guest on the national radio program The Prophecy Club, because he was dogmatically and bombastically predicting that the prophetic “Day of the Lord” would begin on the Feast of Trumpets in the fall of 2000. His prediction failed, but he has continued to promote his speculative prophetic theories through public appearances, literature, a collection of video and audio tape teachings, and his website. At one time he used the name “Michael John Rood” almost exclusively in his ministry, but has recently dropped the middle name.

The Claims
Michael Rood currently presents himself, and is promoted in a number of “Christian” settings, as an “expert” in interpreting End Time prophetic scenarios from the Bible. His specialty is connecting the annual timing of the Feasts of Israel from the Old Testament to his own projected time schedule for events he believes are soon to come to pass. Rood also is considered in many circles as an expert in clarifying the “Hebrew Roots” of the Christian faith, and emphasizing those roots in evaluating, in particular, various New Testament passages.

One of the factors in the popularity of Rood as a teacher of Hebrew Roots is that those who promote his ministry present him as a “Messianic Jewish” rabbi, with the obvious implication that he has a Jewish education as a “rabbinical scholar” that gives him deep insight into the Old Testament. And yet at the same time, he has come to accept Jesus/Yahshua as the Jewish Messiah so he can understand both the writings of the New Testament and the Jewishness of Jesus.

Although he seems to carefully avoid promoting his most controversial teachings in certain “Christian” settings, he clearly teaches those who are involved deeply in his ministry that any involvement of any kind in the denominations of “historical Christianity” leaves them in bondage to a Satanic counterfeit of Biblical teaching. Thus those who would not embrace exclusive observance of the seventh day Sabbath and the Biblical holy day cycle immediately upon hearing of Rood’s teachings are branded as being under threat of imminent divine retribution, no matter the sincerity of their attempts to understand and serve God. http://www.apologeticsindex.org/687-michael-rood

Additionally from the same link:

disparage the Christian Church as full of deception and pagan practices;
consider themselves to be the one source of truth, the revealer of the unknown Mystery and the way out of “pagan” Christianity;
follow the teachings of one Man who can lead them out of deception,
warned that America would be attacked and destroyed by Communist powers,
promote highly speculative, unfounded and inaccurate theories,
devote attention to minute detail on areas of “research” that have essentially little significance,
criticize celebration of Christmas (TWI replaced it with “Happy Household Holidays),
use similar terminology, such as when Rood refers to believers receiving “the gift of holy spirit,” (Mystery of Iniquity, p. 54) meaning that they receive the human spirit which Adam, lost at the fall, not “the Holy Spirit” as evangelical Christianity teaches,
promote the “Lamsa Bible” written by George Lamsa, which claims to the translated from the Aramaic and therefore more accurate than translations from the Greek.
Lamsa actually rejects most central Christian beliefs (his doctrine is similar to the Unity School of Christianity where he worked for many years) and his translation is deeply flawed in many ways (“George M. Lamsa– Christian Scholar or Cultic Torchbearer?” Christian Research Journal, by John Juedes on Rood’s claim to have identified the exact day of Jesus’ birth while defaming the celebration of December 25 is also something TWI claimed to do. TWI’s book, The Promised Seed, also identified Tishri 1, 3 BC, between 6:18 and 7:39 P.M. as the date and time of Jesus’ birth. (Although Rood says that was Sept 23, while TWI says it was Wed. Sept. 11, because Rood claims to use a “corrected” Hebrew calendar.)
Rood is different from TWI in his legalistic requirement that Christians keep the Torah and observe the Saturday Sabbath and Hebrew festivals. (Although TWI did emphasize obeying certain universal laws, such as believing and tithing.) On the surface, Rood seems to contradict TWI teaching by emphasizing Hebrew religion, while TWI showed some anti-Semitic characteristics such as denying the WWII holocaust.
– Source: Michael Rood, Doomsday Prophet Last accessed, May 4, 2008. Formatted for clarity.

Maybe it is you who should "cut your losses" and come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. As long as you have breath, it's not too late.

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