Friday 17 October 2008

We need the 15 th Century Reformation !



A FORGOTTEN REFORMATION


491 years ago when Martin Luther protested against the Roman Catholic teaching on their indulgences, and produced the 95 theses against this doctrine and other doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church (RCC), the Protestant movement came into being. It was a great movement which saw the Church turning back to the Bible.

The days before Luther's reformation was the dark ages. It was a period of time when the Bible was kept from the common people. The RCC used the Latin Vulgate as the sole Bible in Christendom in those days. Not many people could understand Latin. This was the language that was "inspired by God" in those days. No one could go against the Latin Vulgate. To do so would be a death sentence. But when the reformation came to the Church, the Bible was given to the people in their own languages. It was the greatest moment in Christendom when believers could read the Bible in their own language and not be executed. God's Word is now available to everyone in the world!

Have we forgotten the Reformation? Today, there are people in the fundamental Church who insist that the Church use only the King James Version (KJV). They say that the KJV is the "inspired" Word of God in this modern Century.

Have we forgotten the Reformation? Did not the RCC behave in that manner? They forced the people to read Latin Bible. They said the Latin Bible was the only Scripture God had given the Church. They insisted that if they did not read the Latin Bible, they would miss God's Word. Such extremism is never to be tolerated. Luther brought the Bible to the people in the German language, so did Tyndale and other reformers. They all wanted the common people to have the Bible in their own languages so that they could read God's Word and be saved.

Have we forgotten the Reformation? The Reformation occurred when they returned to the reading of the Bible. Without the Bible, the Church has no truth to proclaim and no Gospel to share to a lost world. Why should the Church be reading only the KJV when the masses of people today do not understand it? Depriving the lost to understand the Scripture is a sin. It is hindering the unsaved to know the truth.


Thank God !

In Grace Church, we must never go to the extreme as these people are doing today. Our official Bible is the KJV, but we will also use the New King James Version (NKJV), New American Standard Bible (NASB), and the English Standard Version (ESV). God's precious Word has been given to the people to read for edification and for comfort.

Have we forgotten the Reformation? No, we have not in Grace Church. We treasure this moment of truth. We have the Bible in our own languages today, be it in Chinese, Tamil, or English. We will seek to know God's Word as we read it and share the glorious truth to a lost world.

Thank God for the Reformation of the 16th Century, whereby the reformers had held the Bible highly. We, in Grace Church, have also believed in the infallibility of God's precious Word (2 Tim. 3 : 16-17) and that it is inspired and inerrant. Thank God for the courage of Martin Luther and the Reformation.

Pastor



___________________________________Qouted from a BP Church !

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