Reformation Day

Tragically many people, even the church, will rise tomorrow, go through their daily routines, collect a bunch of candy, attend a festival of sorts and never realize the import of October 31st. In all sincerity this day is probably in my top ten most cherished days in the course of a year. When one stops to ponder what God did on this day it is truly confounding. How much glory He brought to Himself through the Reformation because it was the resurgence of Biblical teaching and doctrine. To gaze back on what God did to order events and to prepare the way for men like Martin Luther to nail a list of 95 Theses on the door at Wittenburg church, or Tyndale to translate the Bible into English from the Greek and Hebrew for the 1st time (btw, I am looking at an original page from that first printing of the 1537 Matthews Tyndale Bible in my office as I type. A most cherished treasure!), to Farrell's pleading with Calvin to remain in Geneva, to so many other things, it screams out to me that God is sovereign and His glory will not be clouded by anything. Praise God for these men who led the way in the face of what pragmatists would call "certain failure". (The One thing they leave out of the equation however is the Sovereign God Who brought these things to pass.) So tomorrow, I will celebrate my heritage, that by God's grace, I am one who stands in the direct fire hydrant type flood of blessing that has come from these faithful friends who are now with their God.
But as I reflect on the past I am drawn to a view of the future as well. With "Christendom" not much better off now than it was on October 30th, 1517, I believe we need another Reformation. Semper Reformanda (Always Reforming) you might say. To we who are striving to be faithful, I believe a greater judgment will fall if we do not boldy attempt such a Reformation by the proclamation of Biblical Truth. Greater judgment? Yes! For you see friends, in my estimation the benefit we have that many pre-Reformation didn't have is namely this, WE HAVE THE WORD OF GOD in our own languages. The critical mass of the Reformation was Sola Scriptura, the Word of God Alone. Now that we have it what will we do with it? We must be faithful to study It accurately, proclaim It faithfully and forcefully, and live It sincerely.

May God grant us the boldness to all be as bold and courageous in the Lord as Luther, Tyndale, Calvin, Zwingli, Knox, Rogers, and so many others were. Stand fast my friends and do not despair. Only eternity will tell the results of committment to the Truth!

Happy Reformation Day!

P.S. For anyone interested, I am working on a Reformation Calendar that will be complete with all the major dates of import on the Reformation with brief footnotes of each event. Lord willing it will have some great photos of Reformers/Reformation sites of interest as well. If you are interested you can email me or just leave a comment and a contact and I'll let you know when they are ready!