Posted on 06/30/2017 4:43:54 PM PDT by Gamecock
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.
Here are four books Martin Luther read that made him question everything:
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).
Ya need to wear special clothing to get that across?
How does one tell? Experience, common sense, a mind that first asks about possible alternatives setting aside the impulse to find fault and criticize immediately. Giving benefit of doubt when possible.
I will try to do the above more also.
I fear for your immortal soul, ES.
The Transfiguration and the Last Supper?
I don’t see it. Explain?
“Constantly posting falsehood that has been completely demolished
Never demolished.
Totally true.
So, where is the thread or post completely demolishing the arguments against your leader, Michael Rood? Will you ever get around to opening a thread where you can prove this? Be sure and ping me when you do. Thanks.
LOL! Posting excerpts from a link that disputes your leader is now “worshipping Satanic websites”??? Seriously, E-S, is this the best you can offer in defense?
Rood is an anti-Christian, who used to be in The Way cult - one of the leaders.
When it fell apart, he moved on to make money in the Hebrew Roots movement. It is also a cult.
I think there is also a certain amount of pride that has to be swallowed especially when someone has been a vociferous apologist for a cult when he realizes he is wrong and has been fighting for a false gospel. Like Martin Luther, who had to let go of a lifetime of vocation within his church, when the Holy Spirit opens ones eyes to the truth, there is no turning back no matter how ashamed one may be for having once defended error. All we can do is continue to speak the truth in the most loving way we can and to pray for those caught in cults to come to the knowledge of the truth.
"Now if any of you will deny the plurality of wives, and continue to do so, I promise that you will be damned;
and I will go still further and say, take this revelation, or any other revelation that the Lord has given,
and deny it in your feelings, and I promise that you will be damned.
- JoD 3:266 (July 14, 1855)
Of course such people do not post garbage from such contra-scriptural sites in the first place.
Michael is not anyone’s “leader” which you would know had you done even the most cursory of investigations.
Rood is a man with strong spiritual gifts, who associates with similar individuals, and together they provide Yehova’s revelations for this current age that have strongly demonstrated their calling.
That of course puts them at odds with the deceivers that refuse to relinquish the “ inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit” (Jer 16:19) that constitute the doctrine of present day “Christianity.”
So no surprise that attack like the vipers that they are. Visiting their websites is spiritually destructive.
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Just read the chapters.
In them the strife among the disciples to be masters of each other is discussed.
Yeshua makes it plain that he has no “great men” in his Kehillah.
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The “picture” tells a million words.
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You really need to stop searching for “alternatives” to the plain truth of the scriptures.
The scriptures are all Yehova gave us.
They are plain and clear, and need only to be read, not “interpreted.”
There is no man on Earth qualified to “interpret” scripture.
Yehova’s called servants do not interpret anything; they dig for and present physical evidence that supports the scriptures.
They are led to that evidence by the Holy Spirit.
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It is neither arrogant, nor insulting to those with a clear mind.
Stop dismissing scripture!
Jeremiah was writing for our time specifically.
Heed his words completely.
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LOL
So, where is the thread or post completely demolishing the arguments against your leader, Michael Rood? Will you ever get around to opening a thread where you can prove this? Be sure and ping me when you do. Thanks.
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