Friday, October 30, 2015

What Every Christian Should do on October 31st!



For so many Christians October 31st (Halloween) is a wicked day. Some call it a Pagan Holiday and do all they can to disassociate themselves from it. Others embrace it as though it is nothing more than a time to give out candy to all the children in the neighborhood. Many Church try to develop and alternative event Harvest day, where they do pretty much the same thing everyone else does, just in a church environment, and call this evangelism. How this day is or is not celebrated is not the issue. What we need to know is nearly 500 years ago the actions of one man so discourage by the false teaching that he  and others like him changed the face of Christianity forever.  

What does this day actually mean for the church.  October 31st 1517 commemorates the day that Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses on the Church door in Wittenberg Germany, Which began the severing of ties with the Roman Catholic Church and the birth of the Protestant, Lutheran, Reformed, and Anabaptist Christian Faith as we know them today.

Angry at friar Johann Tetzel for selling indulgences   (supplied by the Pope Leo X ) on behalf or Albert of Brandenburg as a way to finance the cost of buying the position  of Archbishop of Mainz. These indulgences sold by Tetzel and supplied by Pope Leo X   not only were payment for past sins to be forgiven but also for future sins to be forgiven as well. And for those that had relatives that passed away  these indulgences also allowed the buyer to get his relatives out of purgatory. And so Tetzel began selling these indulgences, using a jingle to sell them: “As soon as a coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.”  (What is the Reformation , 2015) (Paraphrased)

Now if this wasn’t enough, for hundreds of years the Latin Vulgate has mistranslated Matthew 4:17 to read “…do penance: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” While it should have been translated …Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” and this error of translation, and the tradition that followed it, caused penance (indulgence) to become a means of buying your way into heaven. which Martin Luther despised. So on October 31st 1517 he nailed his disapproval on the Church door in Wittenberg Germany beginning the translation away from Church Tradition and birth of  the Reformation (returning to the truth  of the Word of God)

So whether you dress as ghost, or superhero this Halloween, or celebrate  October 31st as Harvest day, or even refuse to celebrate this day at all, Remember As Christians before we celebrate the worldly holidays, let us acknowledge our victory over false traditions, over false teaching, over the Christianizing the American Dream, Over the name it and claim it gospel, Let us learn from Martin Luther  and nail our own 95 theses on the door of false teaching and those who would profitize the gospel of Jesus Christ,  and proclaim
“I’ve had enough! 
This day forward I will follow the word of God and nothing else!”

Sola Scriptura

Blessed Reformation Day 

FireSpeaks