Happy Reformation!

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Today is the anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses to the door of the church. Even though he had some horrible anti-semitic views, God used him to reform the modern church.


Martin Luther (November 10, 1483 – February 18, 1546) was a German monk,[1] theologian, university professor, Father ofProtestantism,[2][3][4][5] and church reformer whose ideas influenced the Protestant Reformation and changed the course of Western civilization.[6]

Luther's theology challenged the authority of the papacy by holding that the Bible is the only infallible source of religious authority[7] and that all baptized Christians under Jesus are a universal priesthood.[8] According to Luther, salvation is a free gift of God, received only by true repentance and faith in Jesus as the Messiah, a faith given by God and unmediated by the church.

At the Diet of Worms assembly over freedom of conscience in 1521, Luther's confrontation with the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and his refusal to submit to the authority of the Emperor resulted in his being excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church and being declared an outlaw of the state as a consequence.

His translation of the Bible into the vernacular of the people made the Scriptures more accessible to them, and had a tremendous political impact on the church and on German culture. It furthered the development of a standard version of the German language, added several principles to the art of translation,[9] and influenced the translation of the English King James Bible.[10] His hymns inspired the development of congregational singing within Christianity.[11] His marriage to Katharina von Bora set a model for the practice of clerical marriage within Protestantism.[12] - from Wikipedia


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