Presented to the Port Alberni Men's Breakfast at Grace Point Church, 30 October 2021, by Captain Michael Ramsay
Oct. 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the church door. Jan. 3, 1521, Luther was excommunicated after he had a number of Papal bulls burned and was investigated by the Inquisition; 1521 saw the Diet of Worms and Luther’s kidnapping by Fredrick and by 1524 the religious wars were well underway in Europe. Though not a soldier, Luther was very active in inciting military engagements.
Luther rejected the authority of the Pope, agreed to the principles of Sola Scriptura and justification by faith; rejected the seven sacraments, church tradition, the prohibition to marry for clergy; and he emphasized the power of the Word of God.
Erasmus: His Textus Receptus (1516) was a very important translation of the NT. He was one of the first reformers. Luther was quite upset with Erasmus as Erasmus spoke about good works being shown by those who are saved. Luther really tried to divide faith and deeds – thus he did not like the Book of James very much at all. Erasmus really tried to reconcile the growing violent rifts between the established church and the Reformers.
Wycliffe translated the Bible into English. He wrote, "Englishmen learn Christ's law best in English. Moses heard God's law in his own tongue; so did Christ's apostles." 43 years after his death, officials dug up his body, burned his remains, and threw the ashes into the Swift River. Wycliffe's teachings, however, though suppressed, continued to spread.
Henry VIII: In 1521 After writing Defence of the Seven Sacraments in opposition to Luther, Henry VIII of England was rewarded with the title Defender of the Faith by Pope Leo X. However, he later began the English Reformation in 1534 because the Pope would not grant him a marriage annulment. His marriage to Catherine of Aragon was then declared null and void by Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury in defiance of the Catholic church – and the fight was on! King Henry VIII rejected the Pope's authority and created the Church of England.
Thomas More (1478-1535) wrote Utopia and was close to Henry VIII for a long time but was executed on the orders of Henry VIII for refusing to support the English Reformation.
William Tyndale (c. 1494-1536) published a translation of the New Testament in English. In 1536 Tyndale was executed. William Tyndale was burnt at the stake for heresy. His final words were: Lord! Open the King of England's eyes.
John Calvin - 1509-1564 - Perhaps the most important aspect of Calvin’s theology was his analysis of the doctrine of Predestination. Calvin argued that salvation was something not freely chosen, rather individuals were elected to it by God. These individuals (the elect) are known only to God. TULIP
· T: Total Depravity
· U: Unconditional Election
· L: Limited Atonement
· I: Irresistible Grace
· P: Perseverance of the Saints
John Knox – Brought Calvinism to Scotland. His name is synonymous with Presbyterianism.
John Wesley – Successfully argued against TULIP – Emphasized the personal relationship with Jesus Christ; he and his brother were used by God to start a massive revival in England. He opposed the evils of the American revolution; he was not a fan of democracy and was used by God to spare England from all the horrors of the Atheist/ Deist French and American Revolutions. Methodism follows Wesley.
Zwingli – the grandfather of reformed Theology. Politics, religion, and even soldiery became forever mixed for the Great Minister of Zurich. He died in battle fighting against his countrymen in October of 1531 at the age of 47.
Zwingli and Martin Luther were born on the very same day: 01 January 1484.They agreed on many things but finally did break irreconcilably. Intermediaries could not bring them together which is interesting since the issue that they broke over has been considered by many to be a matter insignificance: they broke over an understanding of Christ's role in the bread and the wine of communion. Both men rejected transubstantiation. Luther argued that when one consumed the bread and wine there was no change in their substance, but there was an addition of the elements of the body of Christ to them.” Zwingli recognized the Lord’s Supper as purely a symbolic act, rejecting 'real presence' all together. The rift between these two great Reformers continued un-mended. Not even Zwingli's violent death appeased Luther. The unforgiving Luther said, that “his death was merely the removal of another fanatic. Zwingli resorted to the sword and received his just reward.” Worst of all, Luther proclaimed, Zwingli “was no fellow Christian.”
Here we have some significant people whom the Lord used to shape the world and His church. Some of them did some very good things and some very bad things. Some of them died violent deaths. Some of them died for political reasons, some of the died for personal reasons, some of them were martyrs for the faith. They lived in violent times when good church men were divided over political, military, and spiritual issues.
It is the same in the Church today. Covid has divided the churches and has caused many to be uncharitable to each other. It has forced us to decide whether we are men of conviction or not and what our conviction looks like. We face real serious moral dilemma.
During the period of the lockdown when the churches were told we couldn’t meet to worship, many churches and many pastors made many different decisions. Some were probably right. Some may have been wrong. What made me sad was when people in the churches in our country attacked one another, instead of building one another up in service to Christ. We all had to decide then, like we still need to decide now, if we were people of conviction who were prepared to stand up for the Gospel of Christ or not.
Our congregation with the approval of the government and after multiple inspections, we continued to meet. We were allowed to meet because while we were listening to messages and worship music, we were making food to feed the hungry. We then delivered the meals to homeless and other people in our community. We felt strongly convicted that we needed to continue to meet as the Church to worship God in this way. We followed our convictions. God is good: we were able to navigate that storm by being wise as serpents and gentle as doves. I hope and I trust that churches and Christians who made other choices did so also under the conviction of the Holy Spirit. I hope and I trust we all are men who follow the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
This week I came to a head with some people who work for a level of government. We have a contract with them. A government employee and his advisors were all of a sudden trying to force us to hand out crack pipes and needles to people who were struggling to remain sober and safe – or they wouldn’t fund us. This would do so much damage to many vulnerable people. Praise God, as we remained firm in our convictions to stand up to those who seemed to be in authority on behalf of those struggling with addiction, the Lord delivered us. God let the employee’s supervisor overrule the employee and his advisors whose advice would hurt many people. God saved our people.
Now, still in our pandemic, I face another moral dilemma and I am not 100% sure what I should do. (I would like you men to pray for me.) The Salvation Army’s Canadian Headquarters is requiring all our staff and our officers to be double vaccinated in order to continue to serve God in in-person ministry. I am double vaccinated. I feel for my colleagues and certainly the staff under my care who are unable to be vaccinated for reasons of health, mental health, and/or conscience. I feel convicted to stand up for them, to help them, and I am willing; but how? The devil has taken the opportunities afforded him during covid to try to divide the Church and the churches. This vaccine mandate has possibly caused a real rift even in our organization. I need to continue to discern where and how the Lord is leading me.
These are some of my struggles, my friends. I hope I am always faithful to my convictions. Tomorrow is Reformation Day. The Reformation was a major rift in the Christian Church that caused the deaths of many people and hopefully much good as well. Many Reformers died for their convictions. Some died fighting with each other or for matters of little or no significance. Some died for personal gain. Some of the Reformers, however, died well. They died – as they lived - for the gospel of Christ. I hope I always live for the Gospel of Christ.
We are faced with times of division in our churches today – not just around covid and vaccines but around many other things. There are many issues and struggles facing us in the church today. So today I encourage you to seek God, hear what He is telling you and to do what He is convicting you to do. Pray for me that I will be firm in my conviction to follow Christ faithfully through these times -and that I will be able to always discern where He is leading me - and I will pray the same for you.
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