October 31, 1517
A Revolution That Shook the World
Martin Luther’s Stand Against Corruption and Why It Still Matters Today
The Fight for Truth Continues
Finishing the Reformation
In the 16th century, a young Catholic priest named Martin Luther began to read the Bible. At that time, Catholics were not permitted to read the Bible. What he discovered was that Roman Catholicism differed tremendously from the Bible.
Soon after his biblical studies began, a Catholic salesman named Tetzel came to Wittenberg, Germany. He was selling the forgiveness of sins, which in those days was referred to as indulgences.
Luther took issue with Tetzel and nailed his 95 Theses to the church door, igniting the Protestant Reformation. It spread rapidly across Germany and eventually throughout Europe. The differences between Roman Catholic theology and the Bible were shocking to many people, and the Roman Catholic Church began losing members at a rapid rate. Entire countries were lost to the Protestant Reformation, prompting the Magisterium of the Catholic Church to engage in damage control. In response, they convened the Council of Trent in 1545.
The cry of the Protestant Reformation was Sola Scriptura—the Bible and the Bible only. Some Catholics at the Council of Trent were convinced that Luther was right. The debate lasted for 18 years, until 1563, when the Archbishop of Reggio entered the council and effectively resolved the debate. He argued: “The Protestants claim to follow the Bible alone, but they are hypocrites. The Bible commands that the day of worship is the Sabbath—the seventh day of the week. Yet, they follow the Roman Catholic Church and worship on Sunday. Their hypocrisy is evident, as they are adhering to tradition rather than the Bible. Therefore, the Reformation has failed.” Following this argument, the council voted to condemn Protestantism and to uphold both tradition and the Bible.
Today, most Protestants are blissfully unaware of this important history and continue to follow Roman Catholic tradition by worshiping on Sunday, the first day of the week. Additionally, all of the early reformers—including Luther, Calvin, Knox, and Zwingli—identified the papacy as the Antichrist of Daniel Chapter 7 (the Little Horn) and the Man of Sin of 2 Thessalonians 2.
To remove the stigma of the papacy being identified as the Antichrist, the Council of Trent commissioned the Jesuits to counter the Protestant Reformation. Two Jesuits, Luis de Alcázar and Francisco Ribera, wrote theses to divert attention away from the papacy.
Alcázar developed a theology known today as preterism, which claimed that the Antichrist was a relatively obscure Greek king named Antiochus Epiphanes. Many mainline churches—such as Anglicans and Presbyterians—follow preterism today, unaware that they are adopting Jesuit theology.
The second thesis, proposed by the Jesuit Francisco Ribera, was far more successful. He introduced the futurist view, which taught that the Antichrist would come in the distant future, persecute the Jews, and rebuild the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. Today, most evangelicals follow this Jesuit teaching, including Ribera’s theory of a secret rapture—the idea that the church will be taken to heaven, while the Jews will remain on Earth to endure the Great Tribulation. To be clear, the secret rapture is nothing more than Jesuit propaganda, designed to divert attention away from the Bishop of Rome, whom Protestants historically identified as the Antichrist.
In 2 Thessalonians 2, the Apostle Paul gives a clear warning to the church: “Do not be deceived, for the coming of the Lord—the Day of the Lord—will not come unless there is a falling away first.” The phrase “falling away” is translated from the Greek word apostasia, from which we derive the English word apostasy. This means that apostasy must manifest before the coming of the Lord. The agent of this apostasy is the Man of Sin, referred to in Greek as anomia, meaning lawless one. This Man of Sin would exalt himself, sit in the temple (naos) of God, and claim to be God. This, of course, directly pointed to the Roman Catholic papacy, as Roman Catholic literature describes the pope as “Lord God the Pope.”
Furthermore, when Paul uses the Greek word naos, he is not referring to a physical building but rather to the church—the people of Christ—the spiritual temple. In Ephesians 2, Paul clarifies that believers are “living stones” in this spiritual building, with Jesus as the chief cornerstone. Thus, Paul was speaking of a spiritual temple, not a physical one.
When Jesus left the Jerusalem temple for the last time, He declared, “Your house is left unto you desolate” (Matthew 23:38). In Matthew 21, He told the Sanhedrin—the leaders of the Jewish theocracy—”The Kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation that will bring forth its fruits.” The word nation here is the same Greek word translated as Gentiles in the Book of Acts.
This also means that the Zionists who currently occupy Palestine and Jerusalem cannot be the true Israel of God, since they have rejected Jesus Christ as the Messiah and continue to do so. The true temple (naos) that Paul refers to consists of both Jews and Gentiles who have received Jesus as Lord, Savior, and Messiah. The Kingdom of God has been taken away from the physical seed of Abraham and given to all—Jews and Gentiles—who embrace Jesus as the true Messiah.
It is therefore inconceivable that many in the Christian church support Zionism, given that Zionists are still waiting for a Messiah, a rebuilt temple, and the reinstatement of the sacrificial system—all of which are unnecessary in the Christian era. Hebrews 10:14 states: “For by one sacrifice, He has made perfect forever those who are being sanctified.”
Dr. Martin Luther's 95 Theses Against Indulgences
This translation of Martin Luther’s 95 theses was published in the Works of Martin Luther by Adolf Spaeth et al, published in 1915.
This text is in the public domain. You may freely download, print, copy and distribute it.
May God help us to place our priorities on the side of the true Messiah—Emmanuel, Jesus our Lord and Savior.