Last Saturday, October 31, 2009, marked the 492nd Birthday of Protestantism – one of the most important days in the long history of human kind – the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.
Question: Are you a Protestant? A gentleman was asked this question, and he replied, “I guess I am, and I am trying to be a good enough person and do enough good works to earn my way into heaven.” Was this guy really a Protestant?
What is Protestantism? It is the belief that human beings, all of them without exception, can be saved only by GRACE through faith alone. We do not deserve salvation, we cannot earn salvation, by all out good works, nor can we pay for it with money. It is the underserved, unearned free GIFT OF GOD through Jesus Christ and Him Alone. (Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:8-9. Romans 4:5)
A gallant man by the name of Martin Luther (1483-1546) is the Father of Protestantism. Born into a religious family in Germany in 1483, he was baptized as a baby into the Roman Catholic faith. He entered the University to study law. It is alleged that one day as he and a close friend were approaching the university, a severe thunder storm, accompanied by heavy lightening, came upon them, and lightening struck and killed his friend at his side. Luther was terrified as heavy thunder and lightening continued and he cried out unto his Intercessor, St. Ann, “Help me, Saint Ann, and I will enter the monastery.”
In the monastery Luther did all he could to earn his salvation as he had been taught to do by his religion. He went allegedly to confession two hours every day and sometimes returned, fearing he had not confessed all his sins. On one occasion he prayed on his knees for six weeks. He flagellated his body with leather thongs until he was found bleeding in his blood and unconscious in his room. He stripped naked and slept all night long in the cold German snow to punish his evil body. Said Martin “If monkery would ever save a man, I monkied enough to be saved.”
His superior, a man named Staupitz, sent him to Rome, which he thought was a city of “saints and angels,” but he found it full of empty hearts and weary souls, and he joined them in worshipping all the relics in the city, attending all kinds of masses, and acquainting himself with new rituals.
Finally, he decided to climb the Holy Steps (the Scala Santa) adjoining St. John Lateran Church. These steps were supposed to be the very steps ascended by Jesus Himself, and stained with His blood, as he was summoned to meet Pilate at the judgment seat. These steps were brought to Rome by Constantine’s mother about AD 400. For every step one worthily ascended, fourteen years were subtracted off his stay in Purgatory. As Luther climbed these steps, he heard a low voice speaking to him. “Martin, the just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17) Martin was deeply moved. A second time the voice thundered in an even louder voice. “Martin, the just shall live by faith.” Then for the 3rd time a voice shouted with a very loud voice, enough to shake the cathedral, “Martin, THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”
Martin, then, returned to his home church in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517, and nailed his famous “95 Theses” on the Door of the church, in which he questioned the strange doctrines of the church, all of which said “Man shall live by works.” Then the entire religious world pounced upon Luther, but God in His Grace and Sovereignty protected and preserved Him. His Doctrine of Salvation according to Scripture alone, Grace alone and Faith alone, (Scriptura Sola, Gratia Sola and Fides Sola) became the watchword of the Reformation and began to spread across Europe and from Europe into the whole wide world.
Some things are worthy to be celebrated, like the “Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776, on which day we celebrate our freedom from England. October 31, 1517, marks our freedom from sin and death by Grace through Faith alone. Should we not celebrate it with even greater fervor than the “Declaration of our Political Freedom?” We certainly should, provided we are a true a Protestant? Now I ask “are you a Protestant?” If so, be sure to Celebrate God’s Gift of Grace on the Birthday of its rediscovery by Martin Luther on October 31, 1517 and on everyday you live on this planet – until death do you part.