Luther on Trial. The Significance of the Reformation
by Don Clasen
Oct. 31, 2014 Anno Domini
Reformation Day
I live in a city called Los Angeles but it might as well be called Los Diablos, considering its love for celebrating Halloween. I have never experienced a place more given to glorifying the Devil and honoring this, the “highest” and “most holy” day in the Satanic calendar. Gruesome displays of gravestones, ghosts, goblins, vampires, spiders, snakes are found on so many front lawns. you could assemble a commemorative picture book about them all. In West Hollywood, the so-called gay community celebrates with grown men dressing up in pink ballerina costumes to allow media from all over the world to document American “freedom” in all its glory.
Halloween is no joke however, no matter how lightly people may treat it. Every year on this night all over the world in dark hidden corners, it is reputed that human sacrifices of kidnapped adults, children and babies are conducted in blood dedicated to honoring mankind’s greatest Enemy. From what I understand of the whole stupid, sordid tradition from the testimony of those who have come out of it, Satan himself shows up for a brief period of time at the highest status celebrations to receive worship as the Pretender to the Throne of Deity. Like some kind of demented Santa Claus who has 24 hours to do this, (since unlike God, he is not omnipresent), he makes a brief appearance before moving on the next group of slavish devotees.
God Strikes Back
It must be one of the greatest of ironies and Divine satires that October 31st is also the birthday of the Reformation. I cannot help but read some sort of deliberate statement into this event, as if God orchestrated it to take place exactly on this date. For so it was, that on October 31, 1517 Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg church, thus beginning a train of events that have come to be known in history as The Reformation.
Martin Luther and his statement of “Here I stand. God help me.” The Significance of the Reformation
Exasperated, outraged and yet determined to “not take it anymore,” the 95 Theses were essentially Luther’s complaints against what is now known as Roman Catholicism. It was not a whole lot unlike the list of grievances against the King of England enumerated in the Declaration of Independence many years later on.
Heading the list was a protest against the Papal practice of “indulgences.” By paying a designated sum called an indulgence to the Church, you could get your relatives out of Purgatory sooner than normal. At least this is how the pitch went. Popes used this exploitation of ignorance and superstition as a way of raising money for their building programs.
At the first Luther and his fellow reformers had no greater ambitions than to rectify these kinds of wrongs. Their desire was to remain within Mother Church, rather than completely defy it and replace it with another system. But as events and controversies unfolded, they began to realize just how deep their differences with Rome ran. When secular rulers saw an opportunity to break off from Papal political control, they began providing the reformers with sanctuary and protection. In time they became emboldened to do a complete re-definition of Christianity, from what it had for centuries by then become.
The Problem of Authority
Thus was born the third major branch of Christianity—Protestantism, following the emergence of Romanism and an earlier break-off version, Eastern Orthodoxy. Today these three major branches of the Christian faith are often referred to by the term “Christendom,” all differing according to the philosophy of authority they are built upon.
Rome assumes that the Church itself has inherited the mantle of Christ’s authority, based upon promises He made (Mt 16:19; Jn 20:23, etc). They also based subsequent doctrine on tradition, that is, an ongoing, evolutionary process of revelation and practice they assume is from the Holy Spirit. The Eastern Orthodox branch accepts the same basic concept, but limits tradition to the decisions of the first seven Church Councils of the early centuries.
As the Protestant reformation proceeded, it came to reject this philosophy of authority, stating that there are only two infallible “voices” of God in the earth today—the Bible (now completed by the New Testament), and the Holy Spirit. They understood that these two forms of objective truth must be interpreted by the subjective perception of human beings, but also recognized that by making tradition authoritative, people get trapped into justifying errors of the past. By placing the locus of authority outside of fallible human beings and their institutions, they laid the basis for the later Enlightenment, freedom of inquiry, modern science and the entire modern democratic world.
The Problem of Unity
To the outside observer (and even to believers within the faith) this disunity is confusing and disturbing. Not only are there three major branches, but within Protestantism especially there are all these denominations and sects as well. Why all this disunity? Isn’t this a violation of what Jesus implied in John 17, that the world cannot believe until the Church “is one”?
But that’s not what He said. He didn’t say the world cannot believe until the Church is one; He said, “that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me” (Jn 17:21). He’s expressing a wish here, an ideal to shoot for, an atmosphere that would make it easier for people to believe, but certainly not a condition that must be met. If it were not so, there would be no Church today 20 centuries later, because obviously some are believing the Gospel! On the other extreme, neither should we assume it was a promise that all the world would one day believe, for He also agreed there are “few that be saved” (Lu 13:23,24; 18:8).
Yet this unity question is a huge problem for the Church world of our day because of the controversy over Ecumenicalism, both in its relevance to Roman Catholicism as well as the popularity of Dominionism.
The Ecumenical Movement of the latter part of the 20th Century is largely a project of Rome. She claims to be the one catholic (universal) Kingdom of God by virtue of being one institution, in one location, with one head (the Pope as Vicar (“in place of”) Christ), one priesthood, one body of dogma, etc. Whereas she once persecuted Protestants as heretics, today she concedes they are just “separated brethren” who must nonetheless “come home to Mother Church”.
Dominionism likewise beats this unity drum, especially in one of its most hardcore expressions, the NAR or National Apostolic Reformation. The NAR is sort of a Protestant version of the Catholic rationale. It promotes an inter-locking pyramid of hierarchy based on the so-called “restoration” of the Apostles and Prophets. Its aim is to replace the denominational system and its non-existent “chaos” this way.
While there does need to be a better understanding of the ministries of the apostle and prophet in our day, the NAR falsely claims these were ecclesiastical “offices” or ruling positions in the early days that were “lost” with time. In fact, apostles (beyond the unique role of the 12) in the early Church were basically missionaries who sacrificed a lot to fulfill their calling. Likewise prophets were very active and often travelled from church to church. Their status was usually in accordance with how perceptive their warnings and predictions were.
What Is The Church After All?
You may be familiar with the nagging and moralistic pressure on your conscience these entities have imposed over this intimidating question. But it’s important to understand that the kind of unity they are espousing here is neither necessary nor desirable. The fact is, there are always going to be big differences of maturity, knowledge, understanding and the like between believers and groups of believers. There are also matters of conscience (I Cor 14), different traditions, philosophies of the faith, and different distinctives (e.g., the Pentecostals or some other revival) as well.
What unites all true believers is their common faith in Jesus Christ. He is likened to the Head of a Body to which all believers are members. His Kingdom is not a physical one anyway but a spiritual one (Lu 17:21; I Cor 12:12-17; Col 1:18; 2:19, etc). This is the real and primary “Church.” The individual fellowships and other organizations in the “real” world are a much distant and more flawed secondary application.
Furthermore, “the Church” consists of all those individuals who, not only believe in Jesus Christ but whom God recognizes. As Paul put it, the important thing is not whether you say you know God but does He know you (Gal 4:9)? Not everyone who goes to church is in the Kingdom (Rev 3:4), and in the last days, there is a Church Christ will “spew out of my mouth” (Rev 3:16).
Unity vs. Division
Even on a philosophical level, it’s important to see that unity and division are a paradox, i.e., an apparent contradiction. Some situations call for unity and the power it brings (Psa 133:1), and yet some call for division, dividing the light from the darkness (Lu 12:51). An uncertain-sounding trumpet sends forth a confusing message to those who hear it (I Cor 14:8).
In fact, you could make the case that the entire ministry of a prophet is to divide—the light from the darkness, the good from the evil, the chaff from the wheat (Jer 23:28), etc. Their job is to draw a line in the sand (Num 16:23-26), to make the people stop “halting between two opinions” (I Kings 18:21), to call out those prophets that “make you vain, that speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord” (Jer 23:16). People familiar with my writings about my years with the “Kansas City Prophets” know of my bewilderment with a “prophetic company” that concluded that “unity” was the message the Body of Christ needed to hear in this scandalous hour!
The Ongoing Reformation
It’s important to realize then, that the Reformation was not a mistake, nor perhaps a “temporary necessity,” nor is it in a “state of chaos.” In fact, you could make the case that it is an ongoing process, a restoration back to the power and simplicity of the Early Church, with yet even more to come. I believe the culmination of that purifying process (Dan 12:10), will take place during the Great Tribulation which will be a redux of the ministry of Christ Himself again, yet this time corporately through His remnant Church. Furthermore, it will bring in the greatest harvest ever with even greater miracles than Jesus did 2000 years ago.
You see, Roman Catholicism was never the right model in the first place, and a little review of history here can help you understand why. It entails going over that subject of authority again.
In any religion, the most foundational question you can ask is that which the Pharisees asked Jesus—“By what authority doest thou these things?” (Mt 21:23). For most religions it’s a founding document—the Bible, the Koran, the Talmud, the Book of Mormon, etc. which are believed to be a revelation “from the other side” by one’s Deity.
When Jesus walked the earth, anyone who believed in Him as Messiah had no problem with this. They assumed His word was authoritative, seeing He was the Messiah. Likewise after He departed, they accepted the guidance of the twelve Apostles (and Paul), Christ’s hand-picked leaders, to settle any controversies that arose.
The Church’s First Crisis
But as that generation began to die out at the end of the first century, a real crisis of “Who speaks for God” emerged. It was a situation greatly aggravated by the rise of challenging heresies (such as Gnosticism), and the chaos that ensued in the little Christian communities by three centuries of Caesar persecution. The latter was especially serious because it was Rome’s policy to target the pastors for death.
During this time the Christians had the writings of the Apostles to comfort them, but there was a lot of controversy over what was genuine and the like. What became known as the canonization process took over two centuries to play out. In any event, the Spirit of God was so heavy on them that the Apostle John laid down the real guide they went by, the anointing that led them into all truth (I Jn 2:27).
Otherwise, the rule of thumb that emerged was to consider the bishops of the Church (i.e., the pastors), the inheritors of the mantle of Christ and His Apostles. This became known over time as the doctrine of “Apostolic Succession.” It was only natural thereafter for the pastors/bishops of the largest cities of the Empire, to be granted the greatest status or authoritative voices. All the same, it was very much a relationship and trust-based process with no definitive rules. It also in time is not surprising that a logic regarding a “bishop of bishops” or a Pope (“Papa”), also emerged, with not a little carnality involved too, I might add.)[1]
Augustine, The Father of Catholicism
St. Augustine of Hippo
With the writing of St. Augustine in the early fifth century, the Catholic Church was born. Building on these trends, the centralization of the Faith into one earthly institution was furthered. The Church centered in Rome was declared to be the Millennial reign of Christ right now, the City of God on the earth. With it came the hierarchical, pyramidical structure of the Church, and the blessing on the process of tradition to determine Church dogma.
The contradictions and errors that piled up over many centuries, eventually forced the advent of the Reformation. At that point the Reformers looked back at the concept of Apostolic Succession and decided that the Apostles’ real authority was deposited in their writings, the completed New Testament ,which had been unavailable to most believers by hierarchy in favor of their own dogmas derived from tradition.
As I said, I believe the Reformation is still ongoing. The goal is the simplicity and power of the Early Church and even more, the powerful harvest brought in by a faithful remnant during the Great Tribulation. I call this the Tabernacles Church, because it is the only Old Testament feast still left unfulfilled.
Looking Towards The Future
When Jesus died on the cross in 30 AD, He fulfilled the Old Testament Feast of Passover as the ultimate sacrificial Lamb of God. Fifty days later the Feast of Pentecost was fulfilled in Acts chapter 2. Both of these feasts were distorted by what Catholicism did to them with the Mass and the claim that the Holy Spirit only worked through their official Church.
With the early Reformation came the restoration of Passover, with the doctrine of faith through Christ’s death alone without Church-sanctioned works. Pentecost likewise, was restored in the early 20th Century with the Pentecostal movement.
Yet Tabernacles has never been fulfilled in the New Testament age. It doesn’t need to be restored because of this, but its fulfillment with the Second Coming means to me, that the 3 ½ years leading up to it will be that time of “greater miracles than these” being our promise (Jn 14:12).
I have a chapter towards the end of my book American Babylon, American Antichrist devoted to this coming time period. After so much depressing analysis of what’s wrong and delusional about our times, it’s a ray of light and hope to leave the reader with. I hope you’ll avail yourself of a copy.
Notes:
[1] At one point it became quite a rivalry centered in on the bishops in Rome itself, seeing it was the most prominent city of the Empire.
