~ The Reformations 500th Anniversary & Halloween ~
500 Years! ~ October 31, 1517 was the day when
a scholarly German monk by the name of Martin Luther nailed his famous The Ninety-Five Theses to the church
door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg,
Germany.
The Point
~ Reformation simply means renewal.
It was a renewed effort to follow the teachings of Scripture. Two of Luther’s
main concerns were the religious rites of sainthood and the controlling of
parishioners with the fear of purgatory.
Luther was greatly disturbed at the practice of indulgence
selling (acquiring spiritual merit based upon purchasing indulgences from the
established church). The haunting
question for parishioners was, “Have I purchased enough merit to make it to
heaven.” Of course, this was a great
money maker for the church. Based on his
understanding of the Bible Luther didn’t believe man could buy his way to
heaven, and he did not believe the Pope had authority over purgatory.
The most important theological point that came from The
Reformation was: the doctrine of justification / salvation from grace alone. “I do not set aside the grace of God; for if
righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain” (Galatians
2:21).
It was also through The Reformation that Christians once again
understood that the word saint as
used throughout the New Testament referred to all believers in Jesus Christ.
The outcome of this was now interpreting All Saints as unity of the
Church.
A
key point in Luther’s Theses declares: “The
true treasure of the church is the most holy Gospel of the glory and the grace
of God” (Thesis #62). That point is
the essence of The Reformation. It is
the essential key to The Reformation.
Why October 31st?
~ November 1 was a special time
on the church calendar—All Soul’s Day. A
huge display of newly acquired relics were on display in the church, which if
purchased, would take literally many hundreds of years off of purgatory. Luther chose the evening before this big
event to post his thesis so it would gain maximum exposure.
Now, the connection between The
Reformation and Halloween. It is a
fascinating piece of history:
Celebration of Christian Martyrs
~ The origin of what would later become
All Saints’ Day is the early commemorations of Christian martyrs. Over time this expanded to include all
saints.
All Saints’ Day (609 a.d.) ~ Also
known as All Hallows’ Day was first
celebrated on May 13, 609 at the time of the dedication of the Pantheon in Rome
to the Virgin Mary by Pope Boniface IV. Later,
Pope Gregory III, who dedicated a chapel in the Vatican Basilica to the honor
of all saints, changed the date to November 1.
Still later, in 837, it was Pope Gregory IV who ordered All Saints’ Day
to be a church-wide celebration.
All Souls’ Day (late 900s) ~ Also
known as the Day of the Dead is most
frequently celebrated by Roman Catholicism on November 2. It is a day dedicated to almsgiving and
prayer in memory of ancestors. A day
when prayers are offered to God for the souls of those who have died in an
effort to speed their transition from purgatory to heaven through the process
of cleansing / purging their sins.
Reformation
Day
(October 31, 1517) ~ A commemoration of Martin Luther’s posting of
his 95 Theses. This was the initial
spark that flamed the reformation. His
thesis was quickly translated and distributed throughout Germany in a matter of
a few short weeks. In essence it was a
protest against the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church of the time—which
Luther believed was teaching unbiblical doctrines and adding false doctrines,
superstition, and encouraging Biblical illiteracy for parishioners.
Halloween ~ The
deepest roots of Halloween are from old pagan rituals and are most generally
believed to be based on Celtic summer sacrifices to satisfy Samhain—the lord of
death and his evil spirits. Humans
believed they could escape Samhain by disguising themselves by appearing to be
evil spirits themselves.
Christians, in an effort to counteract these beliefs, provided an
alternative celebration of All Hallows’
Day on November 1. In medieval
England the festival became known as All
Hallows and the previous evening as All
Hallows’ Eve which led to the term Halloween. Various other names have been used including
Allhaloween, Hallowmas and All Saints’ Eve. In fact, the term ‘Halloween’ means Hallowed Evening
or in today’s terminology Holy Evening.
The Bottom Line
~ The Reformation caused the
Church to move back to the simplicity of God’s Word as it’s only authority. At the very core is salvation by grace alone
through placing faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. “For by grace
you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the
gift of God, not of works, lest anyone
should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). “So
when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished!’ And bowing
His head, He gave up His spirit” (John 19:30).
The most
important lesson for the church today is to keep The Gospel of Jesus Christ at
the heart of everything we do! A related
key is to avoid allowing works to enter into Christian belief. All other religions are based upon man doing something—earning his way to
heaven. Only Christianity is based upon
what God has done already—He has
already paid the penalty of man’s sin.
However, man’s pride continually moves him toward trying to his own
way.
~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW
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