Let the Lion Roar!

In hearing about this movie and understanding the about how the Hebraic influence of the faith has been challenged over the centuries, even within churches, this movie aims to recover the Hebraic influences of the faith and how anti-Semitism has developed over the ages. A must see!

Luther's Prayer to St. Ann

Not too many know this but during the thunderstorm in which he swore to God about becoming a monk, that Luther also prays a prayer to St. Ann, mother of Mary to deliver him from the thunderstorm.  Luther does change his approach about the prayers to saints later and it is addressed in his 95 thesis. He states that the saints do not intercede before Jesus but rather we can go directly to him in prayer. 

Luther's Struggle with Rebellion

If you study Martin Luther's writings long enough, you will understand his distaste for rebellion.  In fact the reason why he flips on supporting the Peasant's  revolt is that he begins to see it as an act of rebellion toward the state of Germany.  That act begins to shape Luther's theology toward a more Augustine approach. Luther saw himself as a reformer not a rebel and noted that rebellion was not to be condoned.  Most of the flips and flops in Luther's theology and ideas do show a resistance to actions of rebellion, but it led to him accepting the German state as having God granted authority, a Constantine/Augustinian idea.  It may have been a reason why later he writes to noblemen on how to deal with Jews in his frustration in failing to convert the ones living in Germany.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Another contemporary of Martin Luther was Niccolo Machiavelli  who lived during the same period.  I bring up Niccolo because much of his writings affected the politics of the kings of Europe much like Martin Luther's writings did. In fact I do believe that part of the Reformation owes some credit to the pragmatism of Niccolo.  One thing that is interesting that some may not know about Machiavelli was familiarity of the Scripture and that he comments a section of The Prince on the leadership of Moses and the strategies he used.  He actually has an admiration for Moses.  Too often the wisdom of  Niccolo is seen as wicked with his “the ends justifies the means” perspective but in observation the writing is structured to give kings advice on maintaining sensible rule while dealing with political adversaries.  As Kings would break off from the ruling influence of the papacy, such advice was more considered and would shape the politics of Europe and the Western World from that point on.

31 things you may not have known about Reformation Period and Martin Luther

It is the first of October and thought I would post 31 days about things that possibly was not known about the Reformation and Martin Luther.


The first that may have simple been not known was that Ulrich Zwingli was a Reformer and a contemporary of Luther.  In one sermon, he actually connected the Eucharist to the Passover. Phillip of Hesse, a prince in Germany, hoped that Zwingli and Luther could work together to unite the direction of the Reformation.  The one area that Luther and Zwingli could not get pass was in dealing with the doctrine over the Lord Supper. Luther wanted to keep it literal and Zwingli wanted to treated as a symbolic representation of Christ's Body. This was an impasse that was never resolved by them. 

The Mission of Jewish Disciples

Upon being appointed to go into "all the world and make disciples," the disciples of Christ did not revoke the fact that they were Jewish.  The distinction that made them different from other Jews in Israel was that, the others did not recognize Yeshua as Messiah.  Did they deny their Jewishness, no they did not?  Basically the difference between the two were on how things were being fulfilled in Jesus Christ? Abrogation of the Torah was far from their mind rather demonstrating how Christ fulfilled so many passages in the Scriptures was their priority. Simply, as those in Israel would be dispersed again by the middle of the second century, the landscaped changed and effected how matters of Scriptures would be interpreted.  The Body of the Messiah would primarily deal with the heresies that would spring up over the next two centuries and began to define the theology of the Body in defense of specific biblical truths.  When Constantine decriminalized Christianity, the faith centered on a declaration of those biblical truths and assemblies in began to formed upon these teachings but the Jewishness disappeared due to the diaspora and the fact the Jewish synagogues would ban those who did make a confession of faith.  As a result, the councils would move away from Jewish expression as well and consider such expression of days and festivals as heresy and anathema to the faith (Council of Laodicea).  And yet in this, the Roman days and months in name would still be dedicated to the gods of the empire.  As a result, assemblies that were dedicated to Hebraic expression, like the Nazarenes, still faced persecution.

What Paul meant by "All Scripture is inspired"

What is often missed is that when Paul wrote the second letter to Timothy is that since that no other letters of the apostles were published nor even the Gospels but that the OLD TESTAMENT Scriptures were still RELEVANT for Gentiles. Protestants sometimes miss this and assume that the Law was only to bring us to Christ as Paul states in his letter to the Galatians. In Galatians, Paul uses the term "nomos" or law to make a point. The term Torah actually means "instruction" and is used differently in respect to his letter to Timothy. More comments on Galatians will be made on later posts but in general Paul was dealing with the conversion heresies in his letter to the Galatians rather than dealing with specific terms of Torah based actions that represent faith. He is even more descriptive in illustrating the attitude or "fruits" in obedience. The Torah is relevant for ALL believers in Christ and is not limited to the Ten Commandments. Also, the annual Torah readings that Jews read comprise of lessons in the wilderness BEFORE entering the promise land. Here is a picture of the Gentile believer completely as they wonder the wilderness of life anticipating the inheritance of the coming kingdom. The believer can identify himself in these wonderings upon of what is expected of him entering the kingdom of heaven. If you are lost in the thoughts of the puffy clouds and pearly gates of heavens focusing the rewards you might miss something in the hear and now about how the instructions of the Torah can apply to you and also to how the ability of the fullness of that obedience will be made complete in the coming age.