Did you know that yesterday, October 31st, marked a historical event of mammoth proportions, one that many in the American church will overlook? On this date, an event took place that forever changed the church. On Wednesday, October 31st, 1517, an Augustinian monk named Martin Luther publicly renounced the church’s sin and heresy as he pulled out his hammer and nailed his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany. From this act, the Protestant Reformation was birthed.
I am quite confident that Martin Luther wasn’t alone in his assessment of the church’s gross error and sin. Surely many others recognized that the church had deviated from the Word. But while many were disturbed by what they saw, Luther took action, declared that enough was enough, and, in doing so, changed the course of human history.
Paragraphs aren’t needed to express the parallel to today’s church. Surely you can see what I see. Among my many concerns is the reality that we have settled for ministries filled with hype and performance (enticing words of man’s wisdom … 1 Corinthians 2:4) but missing the visible, viable presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
Where are today’s Martin Luthers? Where are the men and women who will stand up and cry aloud, “Enough is enough!”? Where are the individuals who will post a mantra to ignite change in a powerless, unproductive “ministry”?
Will you just stay disturbed, or will you join me as a present-day Martin Luther? Will you go beyond being disturbed and do some nailing and announcing that enough is enough? Will you begin to announce that the same-o, same-o days are over and that today is a new day? It is a day of change. It is a day of REVOLUTION as we boldly declare, “Today is the day of the Holy Ghost,” and cry to the heavens that our churches will see and experience it.
Let’s go get our hammers. We’ve got some work to do.
