Though Jesus Christ changed the course of history, his followers have undoubtedly both disappointed and encouraged him. The disappointments are many as the church has so often become more of a human institution than a divine organism. But the encouragements also are many as into this institution come persons so connected with God that they infuse life into barren organizational form. One of these life-restoring Christians is Martin Luther.
Martin Luther (Joseph Fiennes) became a priest and theologian in the 1500's, when the church's practices had been taken captive by religious and institutional purposes. Selling indulgences to finance their building projects, many of the priests of Europe no longer cared for their flocks but were pawns in a scheme to build great cathedrals rather than great people. Into this decadence, God raised up leaders who would not only protest these practices and beliefs creating Protestant Christianity, but who also planted the seeds of reform within the Roman church that continues to bring about its restoration as witnessed in Vatican II of the 1960s.
Preparing for a profession in law, Luther was captivated by God on a stormy night when he realized that life is fragile and spiritual matters are eternal.
Unconventional in his beliefs, Luther soon began to teach that the Bible is the authority in a believer's life and not the Pope or the church doctrines. Challenging the powers that had kept the Bible in the Latin language so that common people could not understand its teachings, Luther wrote penetrating articles in German that caught the hearts of the German people.
Luther also taught that salvation came through faith in Jesus Christ and not by religious penance or practice. His trust in a loving God who forgives people opened the door for others to experience God in this way as well.

Later reformers who created other branches of the Protestant church, such as Wesley of England and Calvin of Switzerland, were indebted to this courageous man who, at the trial that could have cost him his life, would not recant his teachings but instead declared: "...Here I stand, for I cannot do otherwise. God help me."



Come and learn more as we watch LUTHER at 10:30 a.m. each of the following Sundays, April 17^th, April 24^th, May 1^st, & May 8^th; and Wednesdays, April 13^th, April 20^th; April 27^th & May 4^th at 7:00 p.m.