BACK   IN   THE   DAY

         

During the time from about 500 A.D. to 1500 A.D. private citizens were not permitted access to the Holy Bible, only clergy could look upon the Word of God. Clergy would then distribute the Word of God to the people delivering what they wanted them to hear. Often times they would twist Scriptural interpretation for their political and financial gain. By the time the Reformation began much of the Biblical Truth had been distorted. When the reformers acquired possession of the Bible, they put it back into the hands of the common man. Attempts to reconstruct church Doctrines were being made, which was a very difficult task, and along the way, people had been subjected to all manners of false teachings for centuries.

          Different groups successfully corrected some areas of church Doctrine while failing to make proper corrections in others. Some false doctrines became new false doctrines. Today there are thousands of man-made denominations in existence, and not one of them has come close to the original Doctrines understood and taught by the Apostle Paul and the early church. The Apostle Paul in his day spoke of erroneous doctrines that were creeping into some of the local churches.1 Martin Luther was the father of the German Reformation and it was from there that God had begun dealing with men to correct Scriptural Doctrine. Martin Luther was born in 1483. He married a former nun named Katharina. They had a happy life and produced six children. His itinerary brought him to the town of his birth; it was there in Eisleben where he died on February 18, 1546.

          Martin Luther is the man who impacted the reformation. He completely changed the religious settings of the Western world. The Roman Catholic denomination had fallen apart as the reformation opened doors to all kinds of new heresies and extreme groups. Martin Luther’s emphasis was on an individual’s ability to form his or her own personal relationship with God. His belief was that God gave each person the capacity to interpret Scriptures for themselves. This interpretation created an environment of creativity, and set up the potential for:

Ø  Disorder

Ø  Confusion, and

Ø  Division2

          This movement brought about new freedoms for people to interact with spiritual Truth on their own. Many of the isms of today sprung out of the Reformation. Martin Luther changed the fabric of the world by challenging the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church. In the process of his challenging the Roman Church, he launched a social, political, and spiritual reformation.

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1(Galatians 3: 1; II Corinthians 5)

2(I Corinthians 14: 33)