The Holy Spirit and a Life Given freely for the Mission

Moravian Leader, Count Zinzendorf

Willingness in a Day of God’s Power
We have seen how radical the Moravian movement was in terms of their willingness to go to far off places and faithfully serve people with the gospel.

This came about, by their own admission, as a result of the move of the Holy Spirit amongst them in 1727. We shall see in later posts how this same dynamic operated in England and America, a move of God so powerful that it’s been called ‘The Great Awakening’.

Crossing Racial and Cultural Barriers
In this post we’ll look at how this impulse for mission enabled them to cross cultural and racial boundaries (albeit imperfectly) and how they reached out towards the slave communities of the West Indies (then under Danish rule).

Mark Noll, in the slow moving but fact-filled work, ‘The Rise of Evangelicalism’ takes up the story:

‘In the early 1730’s a black servant at the court of the King of Denmark, by the name of Anton, was brought to Herrnhut by Count Zinzendorf so that he could plea for volunteers willing to go to his native St. Thomas (Virgin Islands).

Anton hoped in particular that they could share the gospel message with his enslaved sister Anna.

David Nitschmann

In response, Johann Leonhard Dober and David Nitschmann left Germany for St. Thomas, where the work they began in 1732 produced almost immediate results.’ (Mark Noll, The Rise of Evangelicalism, IVP, p.161-2)

Apostolic Passion
It was in preparation for this work that the servant-hearted Dober expressed his willingness to give all to reach the slaves with the gospel, even if it meant his own enslavement. The motivation of his heart was expressed with apostolic simplicity: ‘on the island there still are souls who cannot believe because they have not heard.’ (Christian History Magazine, Issue 1)

Johann Leonard Dober

The Moravian missionaries followed in the footsteps of the Anglicans, who had arrived earlier, but the local people preferred the Moravian message.

Noll writes, ‘Anglican Christianity remained resolutely hierarchical, made much of status and hereditary roles…[and] maintained sharp racial divisions.’

By contrast the Moravians seemed to be offering a far more inclusive style of church life. ‘They encouraged blacks to sing with whites, preached spiritual equality before God and welcomed the expression of religious emotion…’

‘So radical were the Moravians for their time that one of the early workers in St Thomas actually took a bride [of mixed race], a step that brought down the wrath of the island’s white planters…’ (ibid. p.162)

The Moravians also encouraged black preachers (or, ‘exhorters’) to emerge and serve in leadership positions in both small groups and congregations.

When they began planting churches in Jamaica (1754), Barbados (1765) and Antigua (1756) they were permitted to operate by the planters, but under close scrutiny. Noll adds, ‘ On Antigua there was special response, with over 11,000 gathered in Moravian churches by the end of the century.’ (ibid. p.162)

Did Moravian Missionaries really sell themselves into Slavery?
In my research on the Moravians I have yet to find an instance where Moravian missionaries voluntarily sold themselves into slavery, although this is often claimed.

Some assert that Dober and Nitschmann did this but produce no supporting evidence or sources to support the claim. As already noted, Dober expressed a willingness to become a slave if that were necessary, but I would be grateful to anyone who actually has primary or reliable secondary sources for the claim that any Moravian Missionary actually did so.

The Spirit and the Needs of the World
Nevertheless, once again we can see that a move of the Holy Spirit amongst Christians resulted in life long sacrifices for the sake of bringing the gospel to others. These Moravian community didn’t enthusiastically embark on a kind of self-centred quest purely for further experiences of the Spirit (although we must assume they enjoyed many such glorious times in the context of mission).

They certainly had their faults, weaknesses and idiosyncrasies, but were determined to bring the gospel to others.

They were filled with the power of the Spirit and set the course of their lives towards connecting with those outside the church, in order to bring them to Jesus Christ.

May God do the same with us in our day, for our generation.

Next time we’ll see how the Moravians’ church planting efforts improved the economy of the host societies. Click here

© 2009 Lex Loizides

First the Holy Spirit Comes, then the Mission Grows

First the Spirit Comes, then the Mission Grows

We’ve been seeing how the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Moravian believers in the early 18th Century led them directly into evangelistic passion.

This passion not only resulted in fervent prayer, but also in actual plans to reach the nations of the world with the gospel message.

These Spirit-baptised believers did not merely revel in their enjoyment of the experience of God’s power but got to work, began to plan and sacrificially left home and country to proclaim the good news to others.

Organised for Mission
For every 60 Moravian believers, one was a missionary! That’s a staggering statistic compared to estimates for the rest of 18th Century Protestantism, which has been put at 1:5000 (See Ruth Tucker – From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya, Zondervan, p.69).

In 1727 (two weeks after the outpouring) they began a 24 hour a day prayer meeting that lasted all through the Great Awakening and on for over a hundred years!

It was while Peter Boehler was on his way to America that he met John Wesley (in 1738) in the Moravian meeting in Aldersgate Street, London and sparked the Evangelical Revival by gaining Wesley’s conversion!!

Zinzendorf even planted a church in Geneva (in 1741), having moved 50 people from Herrnhut as the core group.

A ‘Missional’ Church

In 1862 Bost wrote:

‘The church of the United Brethren may indeed be called a ‘missionary church’.  No other body of professing Christians can lay an equal claim to that appellation;

for the establishment of missions to the heathen is considered by them as part of the business of the church, as such, and one of the main designs of its existence, while every brother and sister stands prepared to go wherever the general voice shall determine, according to the opinion entertained of their qualifications and gifts.’  (A Bost – History of the Moravians, London, 1862, Religious Tract Society, p.400)

Jesus said we would ‘receive power when the Holy Spirit comes’ on us. But He didn’t stop at saying we were to enjoy God’s power. Something would happen. Something would change. And it is this: ‘you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ (Acts 1:8)

Are you seeking God for a similar outpouring of God’s ‘power’ on your life, and for similar results of His power?

Next time we’ll see how the power of the Spirit ignited Apostolic passion

© 2009 Lex Loizides

The Missional Impact of an Outpouring of the Spirit

What results should we expect to see from a powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit?

Count Zinzendorf, the Moravian leader, preaches the gospel

In Scripture we see a definite link between believers receiving the power of the Spirit and an increased boldness and desire to communicate the faith with others.

This is evident in many places. In Acts 1:8, just prior to His ascension, Jesus tells his followers, ‘you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ First the experience of God’s power, Second, an evangelistic community.

We see this again in Acts 4:30-31. Note what they prayed:

‘Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.’ (v.30)

And see the response of God to their prayer, and their subsequent behaviour:

‘After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.’ (v.31)

It is therefore, not surprising that we see this Scriptural pattern repeated in church history.

The Moravian community had experienced a ‘Pentecost’, ‘an overwhelming flood of divine grace’, as Zinzendorf had described it. Let’s see what happened next!

Their zeal for unreached peoples
As a result of the grace of God on this amazing group of believers they began sending out church planters long before William Carey (often called ‘the father of modern missions’) went to India in 1793.

Their first conference on world missions was held in 1728.  They were already involved in several countries because they had either been driven out of them or had fled into them for safety.  Nevertheless on January 4th 1728 (not even five months after their ‘Pentecost’) they began to intentionally plan to reach un-evangelised nations.

Moravian Historian Bost writes,
‘This first missionary meeting was celebrated by meditations on different portions of scripture, and fervent prayers; in the midst of which the church experienced a remarkable enjoyment of the presence of the Spirit.

The Brethren felt themselves urged to attempt something that might redound to the glory of the Lord; several distant countries were mentioned, and particularly Turkey, Northern Africa, Greenland and Lapland…They were thus inspired with great courage and disposed to hold themselves in readiness to engage in the sacred enterprise whenever the Lord should give the signal.’ (A Bost – History of the Moravians, London 1862, Religious Tract Society p.246)

The Moravians then went on to plant churches in the Virgin Islands (1732), Greenland (1733) – they saw a revival there in 1738 when hundreds of Eskimos were converted, North America (1734), Lapland and South America (1735), South Africa (1736), Jamaica (1754) and Labrador (1771).

Challenged yet? Inspired? Next time we’ll look at how they achieved this…

© 2009 Lex Loizides

An Overwhelming Flood of Grace – Unexpected Power in Germany

An Overwhelming Flood of Grace – The Moravians

Before the breakthrough of evangelism and mission which is commonly called The Great Awakening, there were already significant movements of revival. One of the significant influences on Whitefield and the Wesleys was that of the Moravian preachers and teachers.

Jan Huss, pre-Reformation leader and martyr

The roots of the Moravian (from the province of Moravia, modern Czech Republic) church go all the way back to pre-Reformation days to John Huss, the leader and martyr from Prague.

A Pilgrim Community
They were, like Huss before them, considered heretics at that time.  But even after the Reformation they had trouble on all sides. They didn’t fit comfortably with state church structures and became a kind of refugee community of faith, seemingly unable to settle peacefully even in Reformation countries.

They were persecuted and driven out of many places as they preached the gospel and built their homes.

Finally, after two hundred long years of wandering, in 1722 these religious refugees gathered at Herrnhut in Saxony (Germany) under the oversight of the godly and gracious Count Nicholas Zinzendorf.

Count Zinzendorf

Disunity
This group were made up from several church backgrounds although some were from The United Brethren (a kind of remnant of the ‘original’ Moravians). They sought to live together in peace after so much persecution. But there were sharp disagreements amongst them.  Zinzendorf had laboured to bring the various factions together for a Wednesday morning communion service on August 13 1727.

The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit
The squabbles came to an end when, after confessing their sins and seeking to be reconciled to each other, the Holy Spirit unexpectedly and suddenly fell on all of them.  This was a tangible experience of power they had not previously known.

Zinzendorf described this day as ‘our Pentecost’. Christian David, one of their greatest evangelists, said:

‘It is truly a miracle of God that out of so many kinds and sects as Catholics, Lutheran, Reformed, Seperatist, Gichtelian and the like, we could have been melted into one.’  (R.E. Davies – I will pour out My Spirit, Monarch, UK p.76)

Various descriptions of these ‘baptisms of the Spirit’ have been recorded:
Zinzendorf wrote, ‘We saw the hand of God and His wonders…
The Holy Ghost came upon us and in those days great signs and wonders took place in our midst.
From that time scarcely a day passed but that we beheld His Almighty workings amongst us.’

An Overwhelming Flood of Grace
‘A great hunger after the Word of God took possession of us so that we had to have three services every day: 5am, 7am and 9pm…an overwhelming flood of grace swept us all out into the great ocean of Divine Love.’  (ibid p.77)

God is able to overcome our limitations. The power of the Holy Spirit fell mightily on a disunited, grumbling and hounded people. And what began as a localised ‘Pentecost’, with manifestations of God’s power and presence in a small community, soon sparked a major church planting movement.

Read the second part of the Moravian story: The Missional Impact of an Outpouring of the Spirit here

© 2009 Lex Loizides

The 18th Century Awakening in Europe and America

The 18th Century Awakening in Europe and America

Early 18th C map of England and Wales

Introduction
To understand the global expansion of the Christian Faith across the world in the 19th and 20th centuries it is necessary to focus on the remarkable events of the 18th century in the relatively smaller area of Europe and America.

In Germany, America and Britain, against an unpromising backdrop of unbelief, there were a series of spiritual ‘explosions’ which occurred almost continuously through the 18th century.

When it seemed as though Christianity was finally outdated and running out of steam, a mighty breakthrough of spiritual life occurred which became almost irresistible.

The result of these numerous ‘revivals’ affected not only the life of the Church but also society as a whole.

Rooted strongly in the theology of the Reformation (16th Century) and the Puritans (17th Century) these young evangelists and church planters proclaimed a Bible-based message with a new passion.

Their experiences of God’s love and their encounters of the power of the Holy Spirit brought them criticism from the religious minority, and a skeptical press, but it gave them an irresistible magnetism amongst ordinary people.  Unprecedented numbers attended their meetings.

Soon a formidable army of preachers and leaders had been raised up who overcame both apathy and violent persecution and brought multitudes into the Kingdom, formed thousands of new churches and set the scene for an even greater thrust of the gospel into all the world.

Come! Let us return to an era where spiritual giants walked the land and the great sheaves of the Lord’s Harvest were carried home by rejoicing believers.

We will first enjoy the early sparks of the Awakening and then consider the mighty reforming fire that followed. If you have never read the history of the Christian Church in the 18th Century then you will surely be thrilled by what you are about to read. Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones recommended the 18th Century to any who were feeling discouraged and asking the question, ‘Can God truly break through, in our situation?’

To read about the Moravians click here

To read about the Wesley brothers click here

To read about George Whitefield click here

To read about Howell Harris click here

© 2009 Lex Loizides

The Amazing Power of a Testimony – Bilney and Latimer

Thomas Bilney

Hugh Latimer was one of the shining lights at Cambridge University in the early 1500’s. He was intelligent, articulate, influential – a born leader.

But he was both alarmed and repulsed by the new Lutheran teachings that were slowly pervading the intellectual discussions of the University.

Speaking against the Reformation

When he graduated as Bachelor of Divinity in 1524 he was required to speak at a public lecture on a theological theme.

Biographer Robert Demaus wrote that, ‘With the characteristic zeal of an ardent lover of the Church, indignant at the success of the heresy which was everywhere finding disciples, he directed his whole oration against Philip Melancthon, the eminent German Reformer, who had recently impugned the authority of the school-doctors, and had maintained that they must all be tested by the supreme standard of Holy Scripture.’ (Robert Demaus, Hugh Latimer, A Biography, Religious Tract Society, London 1904, p.45)

Latimer even said that the reading of Scripture was dangerous! But there was someone in the crowd that day whose heart and mind had already been transformed by the ‘heresy’ of an open Bible. His name was Thomas Bilney.

Bilney was very clear that Luther had been correct, and that Scripture was our only true guide. Our justification before God was not on the basis of our good works, or of obedience to church ritual, but rather through faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ. But how was he to convince such an important and formidable opponent as Latimer?

He who is wise wins souls!

Being a wise soul winner, Bilney sought to speak to Latimer directly. Latimer had already been ordained and was therefore able to hear confessions. Bilney considered that he had a particular confession that he wanted Latimer to hear.

And so, Latimer, no doubt expecting that his stinging sermon had turned Bilney back to the old ways, agreed to a private meeting where he would hear Bilney’s confession.

For something like two hours, Thomas Bilney, on his knees, faithfully told the story of his desperate attempts to please God and how, through faith in Jesus, he had experienced a breakthrough at last. He emphasised the vital role the Bible had played in his relationship with God as opposed to the scholars of his day.

Latimer said, ‘To say the truth, by his confession I learned more than before in many years.’ (Demaus p.45)

As JH Merle d’Aubigne writes, ‘It was not the penitent but the confessor who received absolution. Latimer viewed with horror the obstinate war he had waged against God; he wept bitterly; but Bilney consoled him.

‘Brother, said he, ‘though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow.’
These two young men, then locked in a solitary chamber at Cambridge, were one day to mount the scaffold…’ (The Reformation in England, Banner of Truth, Vol 1 p.204)

Latimer and Ridley, standing together to the very end

They did indeed, both giving up their lives as martyrs in Oxford, being burned at the stake. You can see the place today, marked by a small cross in stone on the ground. In the end, Latimer gave everything he had for Jesus Christ.

The testimony of a changed life is powerful.

From the day a man said, ‘One thing I know, I was blind but now I can see!’ (Jn 9:25) to Bilney reaching the hard heart of Latimer, to you in your situation.

Be encouraged! What God has done for you, by forgiving your sins through Christ, is powerful – even before those with greater influence or learning or who seem resistant.

Don’t be silent. Find a way to graciously and appropriately share the good news of God’s amazing love with someone.

Latimer went on to be one of the English Reformation’s great heroes, preaching before the king and in many circles of influence. Who knows what God might do through you, and those you speak to?

You can purchase JH Merle d’Aubigne’s ‘The Reformation in England’ in two volumes here

© 2009 Lex Loizides

The Influence of Good School Teachers

The History Changers are Often Made by School Teachers

CS Lewis

I was surprised to learn that CS Lewis hated school. He struggled intensely with the boarding school environment (he likened it to a concentration camp and a learning factory). He only really began to find genuine delight in learning when his father finally gave in and provided private tutoring for him.

One particular tutor, William Kirkpatrick, helped Lewis love both the classics and the power of logic. And, although both tutor and student were atheists at the time, this powerful blend of literary discovery and persistent logic produced in Lewis a love of learning that blossomed into an avalanche of brilliant lectures, sermons, radio programmes, novels and books which have helped steer multitudes to faith in Christ.

Martin Luther at school

I was likewise surprised on reviewing Kittleson’s superb biography of Martin Luther to find a similar pattern. Bad teaching, or teaching methods – which produced nothing in the life of a future history-maker – followed by good teaching, or rather an encouraging teacher, which catapulted Luther’s academic career forward.

This delight in learning and logic, was brought to bear upon Luther’s own discoveries in the New Testament, and then in his massive literary output, and the influence that followed.

Of his earlier education Kittleson writes:
‘The methods used by his teachers were consistently condemned as ‘barbaric’ by great educators such as Erasmus of Rotterdam.

Coercion and ridicule were chief among their techniques. Any child caught speaking German (the goal was to teach them in Latin) was beaten with a rod. The one who had done least well in the morning was required to wear a dunce’s cap and was addressed as an ass all afternoon.

Demerits were then added up for the week, and each student went home with one more caning to make the accounts balance.’ (Kittleson, Luther the Reformer, IVP p.37)

Luther hated it. Just like Lewis centuries later.

But all was to change. Luther was moved to a school in Eisenach. There ‘He found a teacher who could awaken his imagination while sharpening his mind. In his case the teacher was the headmaster of the school, one John Trebonius, whom Luther later praised as a gifted man.

Trebonius certainly must have instilled a very different atmosphere in this school from what prevailed at Mansfield, for there Luther also struck up a lifelong friendship with a teacher named Wiegand Geldennupf.

These men were more than figures of authority…As Luther now neared the end of his studies in Latin school, he could give speeches and write essays and poetry. He could also read some of the ancient authors…

The great pleasure he derived from these studies showed later in his life as he sat down to translate Aesop’s Fables into German and insisted that everyone must be a student of the classics and of history.’ (ibid p.39)

You and I may not be familiar with the names of Trebonius or Geldennupf or Kirkpatrick but they were the human catalysts that awakened the genius in their students.

When you see a skillful school teacher
When you see a school teacher, tutor or professor skilled in their work, helping to awaken a delight in learning in their students, take a moment to encourage them in the important work they are doing.

Who knows what great reformer might arise, or what great apologist might emerge to help steer a generation to grace, once God has intervened to redeem their skills and desires.

For the first part of the Martin Luther Story click here

To check some of the differences between Martin Luther and John Calvin click here

© 2008 Lex Loizides

Luther on Anxiety, Studying and the Restoration of the Church

This will be our last visit inside the Luther household. Reluctantly, we must take our leave. And here, Luther gives us some parting wisdom regarding anxiety, study, preaching, the purpose of the church and on reaching our friends and neighbours with the good news of Jesus Christ.

On Anxiety
‘Time heals many things but worrying about them does not.’ (p.200)
‘Nothing has hurt me more than worrying, especially at night.’ (p.234)

On the need for diligent study
‘God’s gifts are boundless. He heaps upon us all things at once in the greatest profusion. He gives us the liberal arts and languages. The choicest books are to be had for a song. But woe to our sloth!’ (p.169)

On not preaching ‘over peoples’ heads’
‘In my sermons I do not think of Bugenhagen, Jonas and Melancthon, for they know as much as I do, so I preach not to them but to my little Lena and Hans and Elsa. It would be a foolish gardener who would attend to one flower to the neglect of the great majority.’ (p. 192-193)

‘Let all your sermons be very plain and simple. Think not of the prince but of the uncultivated and ignorant people. The prince himself is made of the same stuff as they! I preach very simply to the uneducated and it suits everybody. Though I know Greek, Hebrew and Latin, these languages I keep for use among ourselves.’ (p.193)

On the best result of good theological study
‘The best thing that theology can teach us is to know Christ. Therefore Peter says: “Grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.”’ (p.171)

On the Restoration of the Church
‘Building a church is not instituting ceremonies…but freeing consciences and strengthening faith.’ (p.227)

On bringing the gospel to the world
‘The first and greatest commandment requires faith and fear of God, the second [requires] love to one’s neighbour, which means we ought to preach to and pray for them and not flee into corners.’ (p.153)

(All references are from Table Talk, Smith and Gallinger edition 1915. Modern paperback edition published 1979 by Keats, USA)

For the first part of the Martin Luther Story click here

For the next part of the Martin Luther Story click here

© 2009 Lex Loizides

In Conversation with Martin Luther – Table Talk

So what was Martin Luther really like? Well, we do have a relatively good idea from the notes taken down by students and friends of his and compiled into a book that was called ‘Table Talk’.

We’ve already seen Luther in humourous mood. Here we get a closer look at the serious side of the man: his likes, dislikes, and passions. These various statement were written by those who heard him in various social contexts in his own home and provide us with a front row opportunity to hear from him.

Luther was spurred on to reform by a charismatic prophetic word
So let’s jump in immediately at the controversial end of the pool and note that Luther was encouraged to initiate reform and to persevere by news of a prophetic word conveyed to him by his spiritual advisor and overseer Johan Staupitz (Staupitz was vicar-general of the Augustinian monks in Germany). Recalling the time when he was struggling with the implications of Scripture against the papacy he said,

‘Staupitz encouraged me much. When he was in Rome in 1511 he heard the prophecy publicly proclaimed: “An Eremite (the Augustinians were called Eremties) shall arise and spoil the papacy!” A certain Franciscan at Rome had seen this in a vision.’ (TT p.9)

On the power of the Scriptures
‘The word of God is free, and will not be confined by human decrees.’ (p.86)

On the inability of good works
‘Works never bring peace to the conscience.’ (p.126)

On Justification
‘Prior to that time I dreaded and hated the Psalms and other parts of Scripture whenever they mentioned the ‘righteousness of God’, by which I understood that He Himself is righteous and judged us according to our sins, not that He accepted us and made us righteous. All Scripture stood as a wall, until I was enlivened by the words: ‘the just shall live by faith.’ From this I learned that the righteousness of God is faith in the mercy of God, by which He Himself justifies us through grace.’ (p.131)

(All references are from Table Talk, Smith and Gallinger edition 1915. Modern paperback edition published 1979 by Keats, USA)

For the first part of the Martin Luther Story click here

For the next part of the Martin Luther Story click here

© 2009 Lex Loizides

‘Here I Stand!’ – A defining moment in world History

 

The Papal Bull excommunicating Luther

Before Luther’s greatest moment of public clarity and integrity came an act of defiance. Following the debate with Eck in Leipzig the Pope excommunicated him.

This was publicised in a ‘Papal Bull’ (a letter or decree with the Papal Seal or, ‘bulla’) largely written by Eck and distributed throughout Germany with an additional command that Luther’s works to be burned.

Luther’s response was to burn a copy of the Bull itself, along with the books of Catholic Canon Law. This act of defiance was witnessed by an excited crowd of Wittenberg residents and many students who sang praises to God as the papers burned.

Eck, the Bull and a Diet of Worms!
The various names and terms have a comic quality about them now but Luther was nearing the most dangerous part of his career yet. Luther was both vulnerable and heroic.

‘I will enter Worms under the banner of Christ against the gates of hell!’ Luther said.

The ‘Diet of Worms’ (or, The Imperial Assembly in the town of Worms) took place in 1521.

The famous John Eck was sent to question Luther and conclusively prove him to be a heretic.  The crowds were immense and it was with great difficulty that Luther and his team entered the hall.

A great gathering of nobles and church officials were there including the 21 year old Emperor Charles V, six electors of the empire, 24 dukes, 8 margraves, 30 archbishops, bishops and abbotts, 7 ambassadors, papal nuncios etc.  All in all 206 of the leading political and religious figures of the day.  It was an intimidating sight.

To Luther’s surprise, there was no debate but simply a command for him to repent of the things he had written, to recant. Eck asked Luther to acknowledge that the books piled on the tables were his. Luther said yes.

Eck then asked him to withdraw and reject the teaching that the books contained.  Sensing the gravity of the situation, Luther asked for time to reflect on the question in order that he might act wisely and in accordance with God’s word.  The meeting was adjourned till the following day.

Luther prayed, ‘There is no strength in me. This is Your cause, O God, not mine.  On you I rely, not on man.’

The next day when Luther was again asked to retract the doctrines he gave a speech, first in Latin then, true to form, he gave it again in German.

'Here I stand! I cannot do otherwise!'

He ended with these famous words:

‘Unless I am convinced by testimonies of the Scriptures or by clear arguments that I am in error – for popes and councils have often erred and contradicted themselves – I cannot withdraw, for I am subject to the Scriptures I have quoted; my conscience is captive to the word of God.

It is unsafe and dangerous to do anything against one’s conscience.

Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise.  So help me God.’

The meeting closed with the Emperor storming out and later said, ‘How can a single monk be right and the testimony of a thousand years of Christendom be wrong?’

Luther returned in safety and spent a period in hiding, but his influence – and the influence of the word of God – was felt all across Europe. He published many books and sermons and translated the Bible into German.  Churches were reformed, many preachers raised up and large numbers turned to the Lord.  A new era had begun.

Here I stand – trusting in Your Word
Here I stand – needing the intervention of God to vindicate His gospel
Here I stand – knowing that Truth cannot be suppressed forever
Here I stand – on behalf of my generation and the generations to follow
Here I stand – for the the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ
Here I stand – where else can I go? Jesus has the words of eternal life! (John 6:6)

References: The Reformation – Owen Chadwick (Pelican), Luther the Reformer – James Kittleson (IVP), Sketches from Church History – SM Houghton (Banner of Truth)

For the first part of the Martin Luther Story click here

For the next part of the Martin Luther Story click here

© 2008 Lex Loizides

Faith Under Fire – Luther in Leipzig

Johannes Eck - Luther's most challenging opponent

In 1519 in Leipzig a debate took place between Luther and the academic papal heavyweight, John Eck.

Eck scored a huge point by making Luther concede that he agreed with some of the teachings of the hated ‘heretic’ John Huss.

Luther: ‘Among the condemned beliefs of John Huss and his disciples, there are many which are truly Christian and evangelical and which the Catholic church cannot condemn.’ (quoted in The Reformation, Owen Chadwick, Pelican p.50)

Luther caused a sensation at this debate by declaring that the supremacy of the Pope was unknown in the Scriptures, that it was a fairly recent historical development (only 400 years old) and that the General Councils were in error by giving their support to it.  Christ, and only Christ, was the head of the Church.

Luther returned from the debate with his 200 bodyguards (loyal University students) and Melanchthon, who later succeeded him as the widely acknowledged leader of the German Reformation.

Luther enjoyed growing, and carefully thought through, political support as did other emerging Reformers in Europe.  Spiritually and politically, it was time for Europe to break free from Rome.

And Luther’s most famous trial and his most robust declaration of personal integrity was still to come…

For the first part of the Martin Luther Story click here

For the next part of the Martin Luther Story click here

© 2008 Lex Loizides

On Defending the Faith – Luther in Augsburg

Luther comes under fire for his faith

The sale of Indulgences

Luther was initially surprised to find that he was considered a dangerous voice of rebellion against Rome. He had not intended to be. Perhaps he was naive. Perhaps he had not initially realised how far reaching his re-discovery of justification by faith actually was.

But his opponents seemed to pick up on it immediately. And so did his supporters, including the influential sovereign, Frederick, one of the Roman Empire’s electors (a member of a select and highly influential group who elected the Emperor).

The sale of indulgences were widely considered as a means of drawing of huge amounts of money from Germany to Rome. While Luther’s revulsion was theological and moral, Fredericks was also political.

What began in private study of Scripture soon led to his posting objections to indulgences on the Witenberg church door. This in turn created a very public debate.

The Pope called Luther to recant.  Luther refused.  The Pope pressurised Frederick to deliver ‘this child of the devil’ to Rome. But Frederick urged the Pope to consider academic hearings instead.

Luther appeared in Augsburg in 1518 to face the learned Cardinal Catejan. Luther was ready but nervous. He knew that Huss had gone to a similar hearing with the promise of safety, only to be arrested and killed.

Kittleson writes, ‘When he entered Augsburg on October 7, his stomach was so upset and his bowels ran so freely that he could no longer walk.’ (Luther the Reformer, Kittleson p.121)

Catejan’s objective was simply to get Luther to recant and promise not to upset the peace of the church. The debate lasted several days and ended in Catejan shouting at Luther to get out and only appear before him when he was ready to recant! Luther had escaped.

For the first part of the Martin Luther Story click here

For the next part of the Martin Luther Story click here

© 2008 Lex Loizides

Advice to Preachers from Martin Luther

Martin Luther

Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, in his classic, ‘Preachers and Preaching’ (Zondervan), gives refreshing and brilliant advice to preachers on just about every aspect of preaching.

Some might be surprised to learn that he also advises about knowing your own temperament, time management (so you don’t ‘fritter away the morning’), what to read and even comments on the pleasure of enjoying good music.

Of course Lloyd-Jones wasn’t the first great preacher to instruct others about the act of preaching. The greatest of the English speaking preachers, CH Spurgeon had done so at the end of the 19th Century (‘Lectures to my Students on the Art of Preaching’, Christian Focus). And before him, Martin Luther himself had given advice.

Here are a few incisive comments from the great Reformer which will help and challenge every public speaker.

On long Sermons
‘To me a long sermon is an abomination, for the desire of the audience to listen is destroyed, and the preacher only defeats himself.’ (p.188 )

‘Every priest must have his private sacrifices. Therefore Bugenhagen  sacrifices his hearers with his long sermons, for we are his victims. He did it finely today!’ [Bugenhagen was the parish priest of Wittenberg, Luther’s home town] (p.193)

How to be a good preacher
‘A preacher should have the following qualifications:
1. An ability to teach
2. A good mind
3. Eloquence
4. A good voice
5. A good memory
6. Power to leave off!
7. Diligence
8.Whole-souled devotion to his calling
9. A willingness to be bothered by everyone
10. Patience to bear all things.
In ministers nothing is seen more easily or more quickly than their faults. A preacher may have a hundred virtues, yet they may all be obscured by a single defect.’ (p.189-190)

On Sturdiness!
‘Melancthon is lighter than I and therefore more easily moved if things don’t go his way. I am heavier and stupider and am not so much affected by things I cannot remedy.’ (p.200)

On Dieting and Hygiene
‘It is true that good diet is the best medicine for anyone who can stand it, but to live hygienically is to live miserably!’ (p. 235)
Page references refer to Table Talk, Smith and Gallinger edition 1915. Modern paperback edition published 1979 by Keats, USA. The headings have been added.

For the first part of the Martin Luther Story click here

For the next part of the Martin Luther Story click here

© 2008 Lex Loizides

Laughing with Luther – quips and comments from the supper table

In this post we go inside Martin Luther’s house, into his home and we take our seats around his table and listen in on the conversation.

As students and friends were invited by the ever-hospitable Luthers to eat with them, some wrote down some of the things that Martin said. These various sayings were collected and are now usually published under the title of  Table Talk.

Here are a few examples.

On ‘Life Cycles’
‘My boy Hans is now entering his seventh year. Every seven years a person changes; the first period is infancy, the second childhood. At fourteen they begin to see the world and lay the foundations of education, at twenty one the young men seek marriage, at twenty eight they are householders and patres-familias, at thirty five they are magistrates in church and state, until forty two when they are kings. After that the senses begin to decline. Thus every seven years brings a new condition in body and character, as has happened to me and to us all.’ (p.43)

On Husbands and Wives
‘A good woman deserves a good husband. To have peace and love in marriage is a gift which is next to the knowledge of the gospel. [Turning to his wife:] Katie, you have a good husband who loves you. Let another be Empress, but you give thanks to God!’ (p.46)

‘God first created a single man, which was a good idea! Then he created woman, and therewith the trouble began! And so the monks, acquiescing with God’s first plan, live without wives, for they are wiser than God!’ (p.152)

On investing in your Children’s education
‘The best thing that ever came out of my father’s property is that he brought me up. No money is ever better spent than in education.’ (p.229)

On badly written worship songs
‘How does it happen that with reference to secular things we have so many a fine poem and so many a beautiful song, while for spiritual edification we have such wretched, cold things?’ (p.100)

On being willing to admit the Pope to church membership
‘If the Pope will throw away his crown and descend from his throne and primacy, and confess that he has erred, has destroyed the church and poured out innocent blood, then we will receive him into the church.’

This sample of sayings are from Table Talk, Smith and Gallinger edition 1915. Modern paperback edition published 1979 by Keats, USA. The headings have been added.

For the first part of the Martin Luther Story click here

For the next part of the Martin Luther Story click here

© 2008 Lex Loizides

Luther Nails Corruption to the Church Door

Martin Luther

Perhaps one of the clearest manifestations of the scandal of the religion of 16th Century Europe, both in its exploitation of the poor and in its greed for money, was the sale of ‘Indulgences’

Luther became increasingly angry at the corruption of the church, especially when Johann Tetzel appeared in Wittenburg in 1517 selling indulgences to the poor.

An indulgence, a certificate of forgiveness allegedly signed by the pope, was supposed to release souls from ‘purgatory’. Purgatory itself is a non-Scriptural idea of an intermediary hell in which believers are to be purified from sin by hellish flames. The Indulgences were supposed to release a nominated dead person. But they were expensive.

Tetzel was a Monk from Leipzig and was raising funds for the re-building of St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome.

He was something of an orator and stirred up the crowds with descriptions of how their beloved parents, or infant children, were now suffering in the torments of purgatory.  ‘Do you not hear the voices of your dead relatives crying out to you and saying, ‘Pity us! Pity us! For we are in dire punishment and torment from which you can redeem us for a pittance? And you will not?’ (quoted in Luther the Reformer, Kittleson, IVP p.103)

His catch phrase was an outrage: ‘The moment the money tinkles in my box, that moment the soul springs up out of purgatory.’  Luther called this ‘the pious defrauding of the faithful.’ (ibid p.104)

These expensive ‘Indulgences’ sold well, including to some wealthier persons who, applying logic to the opportunity, purchased them in advance of sins they desired to commit.

Luther could stand it no more and on 31st October 1517 he nailed his now famous ‘95 theses’, which dealt bravely and powerfully with many abuses, to the door of the Wittenberg church.

Here’s a couple, which reflect both Luther’s outrage as well as the feelings of the people:
66.  The treasures of the indulgences are nets with which they now fish for the riches of men.
86.  Again: — “Why does not the pope, whose wealth is to-day greater than the riches of the richest, build just this one church of St. Peter with his own money, rather than with the money of poor believers?”

The following day (All Saints Day) brought multitudes to the church.  Luther’s denunciations were read, copied, printed and soon distributed all over Germany and before long, all over Europe.

The Reformation had begun.

For more on Martin Luther’s remarkable story (tags) click here

For the first part of the Martin Luther Story click here

For the next part of the Martin Luther Story click here

© 2008 Lex Loizides

Luther wrestles with God – Through Anger, Guilt, Revelation and Forgiveness

When Luther returned to Wittenberg he began teaching and expounding the Scriptures and his thirst for truth intensified.

He writes:
‘I was seized with the conviction that I must understand [Paul’s] letter to the Romans.  I did not have a heart of stone, but to that moment one phrase in chapter one stood in my way.

I hated the idea, ‘in it the righteousness of God is revealed’ …according to which God is righteous and punishes the unrighteous sinner.

I lived without reproach as a monk, but my conscience was disturbed to its very depths and all I knew about myself was that I was a sinner.

I could not believe that anything I thought or did or prayed satisfied God.  I did not love, nay, I hated the righteous God who punishes sinners.

Certainly, and with intense grumbling (perhaps even blasphemy), I was angry with God and said, ‘As if it were indeed not enough that miserable sinners who are eternally lost through original sin and are crushed again by every calamity through the Ten Commandments, God Himself adds pain to pain in the gospel by threatening us with His righteousness and wrath!’

At last, meditating day and night…by the mercy of God, I gave heed to the context of the words, ‘In it the righteousness of God is revealed, as it is written, ‘He who through faith is righteous shall live.’

Then I began to understand that the righteousness of God is…a gift of God, namely by faith…

Here I felt as if I were entirely born again and had entered paradise itself through gates that had been flung open.

An entirely new side of the Scriptures opened itself to me…and I extolled my sweetest word with a love as great as the loathing with which before I had hated the term ‘the righteousness of God’.

Thus, that verse in Paul was for me truly the gate of paradise.’

Luther wrestled with God! Next time we’ll see how he wrestled his generation and began a reform movement that took on the world!

(The quote is from Luther’s Works, Vol 34, p.336-338 Fortress Press,and quoted in Luther, the Reformer by James M. Kittleson, IVP)

For the next part of the Martin Luther story click here

© 2008 Lex Loizides

Dear Medieval world – meet Martin Luther

Martin Luther (1483-1546) was born to a poor family in Eisleben, Saxony, Germany.

He was a bright scholar and entered the University of Erfurt when he was eighteen.  While there, for the first time he saw a Bible and was greatly challenged by the passage in which Samuel was called to be a prophet to Israel.

It wasn’t, however, until he was 22 and had left his studies that he began seeking God.  A combination of traumatic events (including nearly being struck by lightning) culminated in his promising to become a monk which, after a rollicking farewell party to the world, he did.

As a monk he was very diligent, following the strictest rules and trying to make peace with God.  He appealed earnestly to every saint he could think of for help including Mary, but no help came.

Once for a whole fortnight he didn’t eat or sleep.  He was desperate to find peace and yet held under a terrifying expectation of God’s righteous anger against him.

In 1510 he had the rare privilege of visiting Rome.  He had high expectations but was utterly shocked at the lawlessness he saw there.  Nevertheless he said many masses and visited many churches.

Of this trip he says:

‘At Rome I wished to liberate my grandfather from purgatory, and went up the staircase of Pilate, praying a pater noster on each step; for I was convinced that he who prayed thus could redeem his soul.  But when I came to the top step, the thought kept coming to me, ‘Who knows whether this is true?’’ (S.M. Houghton – Sketches from Church History (Banner of Truth) p.84)

Next time we’ll see what happened when Luther began reading and preaching from Erasmus’ recently published Greek New Testament.

For the next part of Luther’s story click here

© 2008 Lex Loizides

The Printing Press

Technology and Truth shaping the Soul of the West

As the year 2000 rolled by, western social historians were reflecting that the greatest invention of the previous thousand years was surely the printing press.

And there is little doubt that the printing press inaugurated a new era of learning that birthed modern western civilisation. The invention of the printing press by Gutenberg in the early 15th century has had an almost unfathomable impact on the modern world.

Gutenberg’s Bible, the first book to be printed from the modern press, is described by the British Library as ‘a work of exceedingly high quality which set standards for book production which in many ways are still unsurpassed today.’

An Earlier Printing Press

But interestingly the British Library’s Online gallery also has an exhibit from China, printed in 868. This ancient document was the Buddhist work, ‘The Diamond Sutra’ (see here for both exhibits).

The Diamond Sutra

In other words, Chinese technological brilliance had already produced a printing press centuries before Gutenberg’s, during the first millennium. So why did Gutenberg’s press have such wide-ranging impact, and why didn’t the earlier one?

With characteristic insight and authority, Indian scholar and author Vishal Mangalwadi makes the point:

‘One fundamental difference between the West and the East is whether words have meaning or not. Your social historians were saying…that the greatest invention of the last millennium was the printing press…they were all wrong. The Chinese had invented printing 800 years before Gutenberg. Koreans had invented movable metal fonts 500 years earlier. [But] printing had not brought about a Renaissance or Reformation in Asia.

At the end of the first millennium Chinese, Koreans, Tibetans had developed the concept of salvation through rotation…we had great universities, great literature, Buddhist literature,…but what these professors and these monks in the monasteries were doing, they put these books on these rotating shelves and they were sitting and rotating those shelves, not reading those books.

Why? Because [they believed] words have nothing to do with truth. Ultimate reality is silence…‘shunya’, void, emptiness, nothingness. Words or sounds become mantra. When you separate sense from sound. You meditate on sound.

And when you’ve been rotating these shelves for two or three hours your mind begins to go in circles and becomes empty, content-less, void, ‘shunya’, and you have the mystical experience of an altered state of consciousness .

So printing, books [and] literature ceased to have any meaning, great universities disappeared, time froze in Asia.

Words have Meaning

The reason [Gutenberg’s] press began to create the modern world was because behind the printing press, behind those books was an idea that the ultimate reality was not ‘shunya’ or emptiness, nothingness, but ‘logos’, ‘In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.’ (John 1:1)

Words are real because there is a personal God who exists.’
(from a lecture entitled, ‘Time and Eternity’ from his series ‘The Book of the Millennium’. To hear the lecture go here )

The Rediscovery of Truth

In other words, it wasn’t the invention of the technology itself that ushered in the new era of reform – it was the truth that the technology conveyed. It wasn’t the press itself, but the gospel of grace that was published on it.

Jesus said, ‘If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (John 8:31-32 NASB)

As the Scriptures were printed, as Reformers began to make their message known, scholars and preachers had an authoritative standard by which to measure the church, and they had a living word to preach. Great change was on its way, freedom from centuries of superstition – indeed a Reformation and the birth of the modern era.

For more on Vishal Mangalwadi, and details of his superb books, visit http://www.vishalmangalwadi.com/

© 2008 Lex Loizides

Radical Forerunners to the Reformation: The Waldensians

The Persecuted Waldensians

Unrest and a desire for change

Increasing unrest and desire for both political and spiritual liberty grew throughout the so-called ‘Dark Ages’, and the prayers of God’s children were finally and astonishingly answered in what has come to be called the Protestant Reformation.

J.H.Merle d’Aubigne in his moving and powerful work on the Reformation in England, in a chapter entitled ‘Christ Mightier than Druid Altars and Roman Swords’, writes:

‘Those heavenly powers which had lain dormant in the church since the first ages of Christianity, awoke from their slumber in the sixteenth century, and this awakening called the modern times into existence.’
(J.H. Merle d’Aubigne – The Reformation in England (Banner of Truth) Vol. 1 p.23)

The Waldensians (12th Century on)

About 1170 Peter Waldo (or, Valdes) employed a priest to translate the gospels into French.  As he and many others read the Scriptures they were converted and a great evangelising force was raised up by God.  They taught about the Christ of the Bible and planted many churches, quickly spreading from France to Italy and Germany.

The Waldensian church planters believed they were genuine apostles, and renounced lavish living for a life of devotion to Christ, evangelism and church planting. They rejected Roman Catholic superstitions. Essentially they became a mediaeval apostolic church planting movement!

At first the Roman church tolerated them but as their numbers and influence grew they were first pressurised to not read and teach the Bible privately, then savagely persecuted and executed.

In 1229, at the Council of Valencia, the Bible was forbidden to be read by any except priests and then only in Latin.  The notorious Inquisition began hunting the Waldensians down from the 1230’s onwards. Some of the Inquisitors report that illiterate poor Waldenses were able to recite large parts of the New Testament accurately from memory. They were a Bible people. (see Churchill, The Age of Knights, Authentic p.240)

The Waldensians were in deep trouble right up until the Reformation.  And even as late as the 17th century a cruel persecution overtook them in Western Piedmont in the Southern Alps.  It was only through the courageous and vigorous intervention of Oliver Cromwell and his threat of naval and military action that brought the persecution to a close. Cromwell also championed fund raising on their behalf, personally donating £2000 for their support.  (See S.M. Houghton – Sketches from Church History (Banner of Truth) p.64)

The dominant religious and political organisation of the day was seeking to suppress the Christian faith. Yet when ordinary people discovered the truth of the Bible in their own language lives were changed and churches were planted. The word of God is powerful and can have true and redemptive impact even in the most difficult situations.

You can purchase ‘The Reformation in England’ here

© 2008 Lex Loizides