The Barely Reformed Reformation

Editors Note: Remember to compare doctrines with scripture and the reformers are not as potent nor as scriptural as we have been led to believe. The major emphasis on the Reformation has been a foundation for many church groups history even though they were not always connected to it. Many messy carry-over ideas have stifled power and Bible adherence in many groups. Study some strict Bible based groups that have always been around before misjudging this article.

As a Pentecostal and holiness believer, I claim little or no kinship to the Reformation! Those words sound horrible to the recently liberalized theological seminaries and colleges. Every educated minister knows that all of the evangelical and conservative churches owe their allegiance to Luther for liberating all of us from the Catholic Church! But is that really true? No, it is not! The Reformation should be blamed for the much of the problems in modern Christianity. Let’s look at several areas about the Reformation that will convince you that many believers owe nothing to its memory.

Catholic websites, books, and encyclopedias blame the Reformation on the fact that priests and politicians became cohorts or were one and the same. They also say that many church leaders became more interested in materialism than the church doctrines and precepts. All of these problems grew until there was a huge amount of unrest during the 12th through the 16th centuries. Demands were being made for reform from Catholics themselves. Out of this approximate era came several brave leaders who sought to fix the excesses and rearrange the church to be a blessing to people instead of a hindrance. One of the most popular men was Martin Luther.

Martin Luther has been immortalized as the man who whisked a new group of believers out of Catholicism and birthed the revival that led up to our glorious modern church life. Yet a serious problem remained. Luther did not fully separate himself and his followers from many Catholic ideas. Infant baptism, mother church concepts, absolute authority of the clergy, and other ideas were still held by Luther and transferred to his followers. Therefore, the result was that the Reformation was only slightly removed from Catholic ideas and theology. A couple of simple changes and you have a new group or denomination. If you will honestly look at many of the modern churches that claim kinship to the Reformation, you will still see the ancient, aberrant Catholic ideas and theology still hanging on like useless baggage. That baggage is now allowing those same "liberated" churches to head right back into fellowship with Catholicism, and why not? They have so much in common!

One area that damages modern church life is the idea supposedly spawned by Luther concerning salvation by faith. Many churches who connect themselves back to the Reformation teach this grace and faith message as so simple and all inclusive that much of the zeal for good works and purity of lifestyle has been put aside for the "beauty" of being saved only by your faith. Sin as normal and pre-forgiven is being taught. As Luther got nowhere by works, the modern church is getting nowhere by just faith. These churches have lost all understanding of common sins like immodesty, or they have watered down the former Bible-based theology until it is powerless and useless.

Reformers still kept many ideas of secular life being totally synonymous with religious life and allowed the priests or pastors to hold and dictate political office matters. John Calvin held to this idea so strongly that he had people murdered in Geneva who would not submit to the teachings and actions of his idea of reformation. How did John get so popular and gain "sainthood" while obviously hating his brother to the point of murder?! It is these types of matters that convince me that I have no connection to the Reformation. The supposed reformers had issues with two or three ideas of Catholicism and only parted company by a little space and did not reject the entire morbid and unbiblical system. Calvin still loved infant baptism so much that he compared it to circumcism of the Old Testament. (I assume he baptized little female babies also?) These reformers did not take the Bible as their only rule of order and authority for life and lifestyle. They kept most of their former Catholic ideas. John Calvin was barely reformed and wrote many of his ideas while still employed as a Catholic employee. His ideas will leave you stuck near Catholicism and yet not far enough from it to be considered Biblical in lifestyle. A dangerous place to be!

Watch closely and you will see those who claim kinship to the Reformation continue to go back into the fold of the Mother Church. They will fall prey in a careless manner and soon be part of the Great Whore spoken about in the book of Revelation. But not me! I enjoy groups like the Anabaptists, Albigensians, Waldensians and more fully separating groups. They were separating from most or all specific Catholic doctrines, although some later joined in the Reformation and were liberalized. These groups were constantly harassed and tormented for simply accepting the Bible at face value with no added interpretations of man. All during the periods before, during and after the "supposed" Reformation, somewhere a group of people were fully opposed to the evils of Catholicism and believed only in simple acceptance of scripture. They taught holiness, modesty and good works all done for the Savior who saves simply by grace through faith. Salvation by grace through faith was not a new concept started by Luther. It was believed by some group at all times since the beginning of the church recorded in the book of Acts. The Reformation could have made great strides, but it ended only barely reforming the body of Christ. Today’s "kin" are often even less reformed.

Why do we see so much info on the Reformation? 1) Almost anyone can claim Reformation kinship and seem to have a valid denomination or group in most educated circles. It is "cool" and very popular to have come from the reformed arena. 2) Satan has been able to sterilize many groups by allowing some reform as long as it did not reform all the way back to pure scriptural beliefs and actions. Those who follow this path grow large and affect very little. You would think by now that the Reformation would have overcome the devil and affected the whole world, yet Catholicism is very accepted and considered a brother by many, while sin is rampant. 3) The reliance of European history has dominated the world scene and many other groups of other races (not a Bible term) and continents are largely ignored in favor of a Caucasian world view. Therefore, many very pure Bible-based groups are not considered mainstream or from the "good ole boy" Reformation neighborhood. The majority of church history books seem to be written to view the history of large denominational groups and their hopscotch maneuvers with Catholicism. Also success has often been seen as a numerical idea instead of the words of Christ who stated, "…few there be that find it." 4) It makes for arrogant men who feel rebellious enough to have "come out", but not spiritual enough to have been radically, wonderfully born again unto a new life. It allows a church to be a compromise between the excesses of Catholicism and fully accepting scripture at face value with no interpretation from man.

If you can open-heartedly study the Bible as a literal book and then study the Reformation, you will find so many areas and ideas in reformed theology that are cousins to Catholicism. You will then be able to find a church group more closely aligned with the Bible and not a barely reformed Reformation. You will get a fresh view of why the Bible teaches that all men are called to preach if born again and that we are all kings and priests before God. The end times will make these two groups more distinct. As those who barely left the Mother church rejoin, it will leave those of us, who diligently study a literal Bible, in a separate and maybe lonely (comparatively) company of saints who await the Lord’s return. Even so come quickly, Lord Jesus!