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The Reformations 505th Anniversary & Halloween ~
505
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 blog.
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