Monday, October 09, 2006

Reformation Month

It is October again and the stores are filled with Halloween candy, costumes, and decorations. Churches that truly understand the holiday shy away from celebrating it and are planning fall festivals. What a shame it is that these same churches are not celebrating Reforamtion Month. This used to be a common theme during the month of October in Protestant churches. In the politically correct climate in which we live the very word Protestant is seen as derogatory and divisive. Many of my fellow Baptists are so ignorant of what constitutes a true Protestant that they refuse to be labelled as one.

What were our spiritual forbears protesting against? Simply, the unscriptural teachings and practices of the Roman church with it's priestly hierarchy and that most blasphemous of offices we know as the Papacy. We all know the story of Martin Luther nailing the 95 theses to the door of the chapel in Wittenburg. This simple act of scholarly protest ignited a fire that spread throughout Europe and the British Isles. William Tyndale, the father of the English Bible, gave his very life's blood to make available the Word of Truth in the English tongue. Great men of God such as these passed the protestant torch from one generation to the next for over 400 years. Sadly, this torch has almost been extinguished today due to the lack of a backbone and spirit of protest against error among bible believing Christians. We are seeing one Protestant church after another join the unbiblical ecumenical movement, seeking to join hands with Rome. They have little or no regard for the sacrifices of those that died to give us the true gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

I pray that my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ will stand up and be counted and continue to protest against the church of Rome and any other church or organization that preaches another "gospel." Let us read and study the lives and works of men like Wycliffe, Luther, Tyndale, etc. and thereby fan the flame for the true Protestant witness in this age or error. Lobby the so-called Christian bookstores to include more books by Bunyan and Spurgeon in lieu of the cream-puff spiritual books that fill their shelves. Finally, I challenge all bible believing Protestants to read John Foxe's Book of Martyrs to truly understand the sacrifices and willingness of our spiritual forbears to bear reproach for Christ.

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

Hebrews 11:13