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October 31st, 2017, will have marked the great change in history which began to restore the “liberty of conscience” to the human race.  Five hundred years ago a young priest tacked on the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany a document that changed the course of history.  Martin Luther was that young priest, and his bold act threw off the religious yoke of “the tyranny of the mind”.  And while most in America now think of October 31st as Halloween, that’s a “Johnny-come-lately” idea.  Up until the mid-1800s, on October 31st, we celebrated “Reformation Day”, for that was the day the mind of man began to be set free from hundreds of years of living in the fear of what other men thought.  Once again, man began to learn that only God has the right to shape our minds for He created us, and thus by rights, owns us and our minds.  What Martin Luther did would start to restore the precious freedom Jesus talked about when He stated,

“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” (John 8:32)

We call that truth, the “liberty of conscience”, and it is a most sacred part of “religious liberty”.  God used a lowly young boy, grown into a courageous young man, to restore that Biblical truth to mankind.

Martin Luther had much to teach; and as was said of Jesus, “the common people heard him gladly.” (Mark 12:37)  Luther taught us the value of true education when he stated,

“I am much afraid that schools will prove to be the great gates of hell unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures, engraving them in the hearts of youth.

“I advise no one to place his child where the scriptures do not reign paramount.  Every institution in which men are not increasingly occupied with the Word of God must become corrupt.”

(Luther, Martin. R. Flood, The Rebirth of America (Philadelphia: Arthur S. DeMoss Foundation, 1986), p. 127.)

He also taught us the importance of reading the Bible so we can learn to “think with God”.  He said,

“The Bible was written for men with a head upon their shoulders.”

(Luther, Martin. William Neil, Ph.D., D.D., Concise Dictionary of Religious Quotations (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1974), p. 9, No. 14.)

Martin Luther was bold in his resistance to false teaching by the church of his day.  He knew full well that it could cost him his life; yet he exposed the hypocrisy of the Pope and other religious leaders whom he believed did not live by the Bible.  And his boldness set an example for all of us who followed him to speak the truth regardless of what retaliation we might receive for it.  He addressed the specific issues satan was using in his day to enslave people—and admonished all of us to do the same in our day—when he stated,

“If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ.

“Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved and to be steady on all the battlefield besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that one point.”

(Luther, Martin. G. DeMar, God & Government – A Biblical and Historical Study (Atlanta: American Vision Press, 1984), Vol. 1, p. viii.)

This is the man who gave us Reformation Day!  Shouldn’t we celebrate it October 31st?

Are you standing with God on issues like adultery, homosexuality, selfishness, education, and what is called “transgenderism”?  Can you echo the words of Martin Luther which he spoke at his trial, when he stated,

“Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me. Amen.”

(Luther, Martin. April 18, 1521, in his famous speech at the Diet of Worms. John Bartlett, Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855, 1980), p. 155.)

Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you—and for your children!  And you won’t like what that brings to you.  I’m Don Pinson; this has been Think About It.