Martin Luther: Saint Or Sinner?

Martin Luther (Born 10 November 1483 – Died 18 February 1546) changed the course of Western civilization by initiating the Protestant Reformation. After graduating 30th in a class of 57, Martin received his Masters degree. His father then arranged for Martin's entry into law school. On July 2, 1505, less than two months after beginning law school, Martin was traveling his way back to Erfurt from his parents' home and became caught in a violent thunderstorm. Luther was nearly struck by lightning and thrown to the ground. At this moment, he cried to Saint Ann to save him, vowing to become a monk if he escaped alive. Just over 2 weeks later, Martin Luther entered the Black Monastery on July 17 - much to his father's displeasure. Luther saw this as perhaps the surest path to his own soul's salvation. As a grouping of Augustinian Hermits, the monastery was a strict though not austere order of mendicant monks. In 1507, Luther was ordained and celebrated his first mass. As a priest and theology professor, he confronted indulgence salesmen with his The Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. Luther strongly disputed their claim that freedom from God's punishment of sin could be purchased with money. His refusal to retract all of his writings at the demand of Pope Leo X in 1520 and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Edict of Worms meeting in 1521 resulted in his excommunication by the pope and condemnation as an outlaw by the emperor. Martin Luther was behind much of Protestant theology. An examination of some of his quotes give many an understanding that he did not base all that he said or did on the word of God. Here are some of his words. "God does not work salvation for fictitious sinners. Be a sinner and sin vigorously.... Do not for a moment imagine that this life is the abiding place of justice; sin must be committed." "Sin cannot tear you away from him [Christ], even though you commit adultery a hundred times a day and commit as many murders." "As to the common people, ... one has to be hard with them and see that they do their work and that under the threat of the sword and the law they comply with the observance of piety, just as you chain up wild beasts." "How often have not the demons called 'Nix,' drawn women and girls into the water, and there had commerce with them, with fearful consequences." "I almost feel like throwing Jimmy into the stove, as the priest in Kulenberg did." "I maintain that some Jew wrote it [the Book of James] who probably heard about Christian people but never encountered any." "I myself saw and touched at Dessay, a child of this sort, which had no human parents, but had proceeded from the Devil. He was twelve years old, and, in outward form, exactly resembled ordinary children." "I should have no compassion on these witches; I should burn them all." "Idiots, the lame, the blind, the dumb, are men in whom the devils have established themselves: and all the physicians who heal these infirmities, as though they proceeded from natural causes, are ignorant blockheads...." "In many countries there are particular places to which devils more especially resort. In Prussia there is an infinite number of evil spirits." "The Devil fears the word of God, He can't bite it; it breaks his teeth." "The Devil, too, sometimes steals human children; it is not infrequent for him to carry away infants within the first six weeks after birth, and to substitute in their place imps...."

"The fact that [the biblical book] Hebrews is not an epistle of St. Paul, or of any other apostle, is proved by what it says in chapter two...." "The winds are nothing else but good or bad spirits. Hark! how the Devil is puffing and blowing...." "To be a Christian, you must pluck out the eye of reason." "We are at fault for not slaying them [the Jews]." "We should throw the Epistle of James out of this school [the University of Wittenberg].... "What shall we do with...the Jews?...set fire to their synagogues or schools and bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them." "What shall we do with...the Jews?...their homes also should be razed and destroyed." "If I had to baptize a Jew, I would take him to the river Elbe, hang a stone around his neck and push him over with the words `I baptize thee in the name of Abraham'." Here also are some of his words and deeds. The peasants of Germany revolted in 1525 because of their miserable living conditions and were slaughtered at the behest of Martin Luther! Here is a quote from Luther that should wake you up: "They should be knocked to pieces, strangled and stabbed, secretly and openly, by everybody who can do it, just as one must kill a mad dog!" Are these the words of a Christian, a man of God, and a great reformer? You must decide for yourself. Luther was the man who urged the slaughter of the poor who had revolted. He first urged their defiance that is until his finances were in jeopardy of ruin. Then he demanded that the revolt be stopped by any means necessary. Over 100,000 German peasants were horribly slaughtered in that revolt. In closing, those who have lived in the ensuing five centuries of Luther's legacy see his failure to complete the Reformation he started. Luther had failed to throw off the shackles of Nicaea (325 A.D.) or the trinity, that was formally adopted there and then. He met with preachers and teachers of the truth in his time. Here is what Dr. M. Arnold writes about Luther. A.D. 1521 Luther rejected the Biblical teachings on Deuteronomy 6:4 and Acts 2:38. (Knox, "Enthusiasm", pg.134,135). A.D. 1531 Luther agreed to the death penalty in order to annihilate Anabaptist bodies and Jews. (Bainton, p. 279; p. Lapide, "Three Popes and the Jews, p. 25) It appears that Luther was not as sincere about Bible truth as historians and some Christian groups indicate. For instance Mr. Luther fully discussed the Acts 2 message with the Apostolics all around him. And he rejected it. (See: "Martin Luther," by J. Dillengerger, p. 279; Knox , pp. 134-135). So the that fulfillment of reformation, has yet to come for many. The yoke of bondage to sin has not yet been eliminated by Jesus in many churches today. They have only a form of godliness without the power of Jesus in them. As he needs to be applied in all areas. Colossians 3:17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. And John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. God told Pharaoh (a type of Satan or Antichrist) through Moses, to let his people go. Let the real Reformation begin now.