My dear readers,

Why Remember the Reformation?

Many professing believers believe that the 16^th Century Reformation is best forgotten. It is a relic of the past, and the constant harping of this “ignoble” event only brings hurt and pain and engenders an unforgiving spirit. True to this attitude, many professing believers do not know that courageous Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the church gate of Wittenburg on 31 October 1517. They do not know that the gospel message to the world was revived because of this event. It reached the Fast East and South East Asia because of this glorious Christ-honouring event! It is tragic that the only Martin Luther many know of today is the Martin Luther King of America. The date of 31 October is now remembered as Halloween day and is “celebrated” worldwide. Ghouls, evil spirits, witches and wizards and spiritual deadness and darkness characterise this day of evil. [NOTE: No born-again believer must ever dabble in such darkness.] 

“We must remember the Reformation” was one of the clarion calls of the Singapore Bible-Presbyterian (B-P) Movement when the denomination was founded sixty-plus years ago. Today, some of these Singapore B-P churches have gone spiritually wayward whereby they are only B-P in name and no longer in practice, as well as not in heart, mind and soul. However, remembering the Reformation is only good when it impacts the lives of believers in a way that pleases God. A sentimental remembrance of the Reformation, or any spiritual event, is futile.

Remembering the events with a heartfelt personal impact is the first step. The Roman Catholic Church (RCC) of the 16^th Century had been in power since the 5^th Century. All of Europe was under her control. The church ruled with an iron fist, even kings had to kowtow to the church. It takes tremendous courage that comes only from God to stand against the might of the formidable RCC. Martin Luther was an ordinary man who was very sincere and deeply convicted by what he believed.

“After he left law and joined the monastery, he obeyed all that was taught to him regarding repentance and the mortification of the flesh to please God. It is doubtful that there ever existed in the long and tortured history of Roman Catholicism a more devoted, sincere and diligent follower than Martin Luther. He was brought up and trained, like most of the people of Europe in his day, to adore the vast machinery of the mediaeval church, beginning with the Pope and descending through its vast and ubiquitous tentacles, which dominated practically every parish and town in his native land of Germany, and the rest of Europe. He took its claims seriously. He revered it, feared it, obeyed it, and in fact became for many years a slave to it. He once wrote to Duke George of Saxony, 'I was indeed a pious monk. If ever a monk could obtain heaven by his monkish works, I should certainly have been entitled to it.' Luther, rejecting the earnest desires of his father that he should be a lawyer, entered the religious life of a monk, and his primary motive in doing this was to get a handle on the raging sins that tormented his soul and to secure a settled comfort within. He felt (as a loyal Catholic) that through obedience to the church, he could firmly obtain God's favour. He took the vows, fasted, prayed, and mortified his flesh with all the power he could muster. He even took a pilgrimage to Rome, and there, to demonstrate his total dedication to the church, climbed on his knees the mediaeval staircase known as Pilate's stairs, which were said to have been the stone steps leading up to Pilate's house at Jerusalem.” [https://www.christianstudy library.org/article/martin-luther%E2%80% 99s-struggle-peace-god]

After God saved Martin Luther, he became a new man in Christ with the same sense of conviction and zeal, but this time to please Christ alone like the apostle Paul who once persecuted Christians and became the most devoted apostle called by God to reach the Gentiles for Christ. After Luther nailed the 95 theses that described the errors of the RCC and that sinners need to believe in the gospel of Christ alone to be saved, he was denounced and excommunicated by the mighty RCC. This means that anyone who helped Luther in any way would also face the wrath of Rome. By the grace of God, the light of the gospel of Christ could not be stopped once God lighted it through the courage and obedience of Luther.

Remembering the events with gratitude brings conviction of heart. Through the 16^th Century Reformation, the gospel covered the face of Europe, with many battles and deaths of believers. The RCC sanctioned the persecution of believers (called Protestants) throughout Europe. Every believer ought to have a deep sense of thankfulness from the heart when they realise that the saints of old gave their lives for the faith to bring the gospel to every corner of the world. They sacrificed families, and experienced persecution, loss of jobs, properties, freedom and their lives in obedience to the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20 so that we in this part of the world need not die in our sin and be cast into hell. What deliverance from such a great condemnation! How could this knowledge not bring forth the most profound gratitude to God, Christ and the past saints? How could we betray their trust and sacrifices by compromising our faith? Is there not a cause still? Spiritual deadness and darkness remain just as dark and dead as in the old days. Christ’s ability to save sinners remains just as potent. The moment we compromise and call the fiends of Christ our friends, and the enemies of God our brothers and sisters in Christ, we are worse than infidels!

Remembering the events with a responsibility brings forth a duty to warn others of the dangers and snares of the ever-present evil engineered by the old serpent since the fall of Adam. It will not end till Christ’s glorious return in victory. Until then, the battle rages on. Jude 3-4: “³ Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. ⁴ For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” We cannot be contented with our salvation without the responsibility of bringing the gospel to sinners. We must rise and march on for Jesus Christ with the gospel until Christ returns in glory. May that blessed day be soon. May the 1^st and 2^nd stanzas of the hymn “Soldiers of Christ, Arise!” spur us on to greater heights of service and deeper obedience.

Soldiers of Christ, arise,

And put your armour on,

Strong in the strength which God supplies

Thro’ His eternal Son;

Strong in the Lord of hosts

And in His mighty pow’r

Who in the strength of Jesus trusts

is more than conqueror.

Stand then in His great might,

With all His strength endued,

And take, to aid you in the fight,

The panoply of God.

From strength to strength go on,

Wrestle and fight and pray;

Tread all the pow’rs of darkness down

And win the well-fought day.