Ministry Update: Fall-Winter 2025

We recently returned from a two-month mission trip to Europe where we ministered in three different countries. We are thankful for the opportunity to minister in Europe once again after having experienced a hiatus due to the pandemic, as well as some other factors, including our son Patrick getting married last year. 

 

Europe 

We ministered in the countries of England, Germany, and France, along with visiting some historical sites and other places along the way where we shot some videos on different aspects of Christian History.

Running Before We Hit the Ground 

The Lord was already at work while we were on our way to Europe. We had divine appointments with 2 different Uber drivers when our flights were rerouted by the airline. What looked like a hassle turned into divinely orchestrated opportunities of witnessing to, and praying for, two different drivers who had to get us to and from rerouted situations: Our first flight out of the OC was delayed messing up our connection, so the airline sent us up to LAX for a different flight and had a driver get us up there. 

We ended up sharing the Gospel with the driver and then praying for him on the way to LAX and when we landed in London, we had a driver who was from Kosovo. When we told him that we had been to Kosovo on a mission trip before—he was surprised since not many people go there—and we ended up witnessing to him and praying for him too! The Lord worked out the rerouting for good!

England 

We ministered in London at Ark of God Church with Pastor Daudet and the Holy Spirit’s presence was evident as both of us took turns preaching, and then as we prayed for people, the Lord brought an outpouring, with many experiencing a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit, as well as having a few people receive and recommit themselves to Christ! 

The pastor himself also got deeply ministered to, and greatly encouraged—I felt led at the end of the message to share about how some of the leaders who ministered in the Argentine revival had to sow and sow and sow, as well as suffer with extremely small beginnings, (we know that drill too!) for many, many years and some for some decades, before the Lord brought forth a harvest—the pastor took to the microphone afterwards to share how much that had ministered to him and touched his life.

We were also blessed to receive some powerful prophetic words of encouragement ourselves from some of the prophetic people who were there at that particular meeting in London! Hallelujah!

 

Germany

Our time in Germany included continually ministering, regularly in some capacity, for around nine days straight. We ministered at two different Sunday services at Giessen International Church with Pastors Helmuth and Adriana as well as preaching at Frankfurt International Church with Pastors Tony and Sarah. We were also teaching at a number of different meetings during the week in Giessen, doing 6 meetings altogether, this along with meeting with different people, and sharing and praying with them. We also were able to get to visit some nearby historical sites that involved the Reformation and filmed some historical videos while there as well.

 

The Holy Spirit moved powerfully as we ministered in each and every meeting bringing many into a fresh experience and encounter with God, filling, empowering, renewing, and healing, as well as having some who rededicated themselves to Christ or received Christ for the first time, which included a young man who had come fairly recently from Iran that happened to get unexpectedly and radically touched by God’s power and was overcome by the presence of the Lord and he ended up giving his life to Christ! Hallelujah! We received numerous testimonies from other people of how their hearts were filled, healed, transformed, and renewed!

 

The Church in Giessen is next to an International University, so many of those coming are new to the church and many are fairly new believers. A youth meeting where we ministered and led some worship at, had a number of testimonies come forth about the Lord bringing a deep infilling and healing to many hearts. In fact, one young lady shared how she got a revelation from the Holy Spirit that she needed to forgive her father who had been absent from her life…she had never thought of this before…which brought forth a release of freedom! Praise the Lord! There was also a young French lady who had just arrived there in town right as we began to minister that got powerfully filled with the Holy Spirit when we prayed for her! Glory!

 

It was also a blessing to share in some meetings about Martin Luther and The Reformation, especially while in the land of The Reformation. This included sharing how Martin Luther experienced and then taught about God’s grace so profoundly, as well as saying “that we need to be continually baptized in the Holy Spirit—the rest of our lives—so we don’t get pulled back into the world or unbelief.” (Quote from Martin Luther.) We had numerous people tell us they were blessed and encouraged, saying they don’t hear about this subject as much as you’d expect in Germany. Back in 2017 when we were in Wittenberg, Germany for the 500-year anniversary of The Reformation, we got the sense that the Holy Spirit was stirring up something in our hearts in regard to Germany. It’s a blessing to have begun to experience the revelation the Lord was giving us back then.

 

France 

 

The Lord’s power was demonstrated in our weakness in France in the towns of Tours and Marcon. We had an exceptionally powerful move of the Holy Spirit while ministering in Tours, where we ministered in two different church services. The Holy Spirit filled, empowered, renewed, and brought some healing too at both Ciel Ouvert with Pastor Alpha and CDLR with Pastors Pete and Gwyneth. 

 

A powerful outpouring spontaneously took place on some kids in the morning church service. There were about 8 kids aged about 6-13 that were touched mightily by the Holy Spirit with tears streaming down their faces and hands lifted as they were overcome by the Lord’s presence! It was a glorious demonstration of the verse “His strength is made perfect in our weakness.” 2 Cor. 12:9.

 

We had experienced a lot of Spiritual Warfare coming into France and I got almost no sleep the night before preaching in two different meetings, along with interpretation challenges in the early meeting. I was feeling the weakness of the physical body …. When we were just praying for some people after the message and then out of nowhere a kid by us started getting touched by the Holy Spirit. I began specifically praying for him and it just accelerated, then other kids came up and we started praying for them and it just began to multiply and eventually turned into a powerful outpouring on the kids as more came up and joined in and quite a number got powerfully filled with the Holy Spirit.

 

We had a powerful move of the Holy Spirit in the later meeting in the other church too! We know it is all by the grace of God whose power is perfected in our weakness… I was tired and laden down from the lack of sleep but the Lord went above and beyond in our weakest moment, all by His grace and power! Lonnie Frisbee used to experience children getting touched by the Holy Spirit in some meetings now and then. He talked about what a miraculous thing it is; we have been stoked to experience it now and then too! It seems to happen sometimes when you least expect it!

 

Speaking of Lonnie Frisbee, we shared later in the week in Marcon, ministering with the fellowship pastored there by the Gotte’s, sharing about the Jesus People Revival and Lonnie Frisbee. We had a blessed prayer time afterwards with the Holy Spirit moving amongst us and touching and filling and ministering to most of those who came as we prayed with the people some of whom were actually touched by that Jesus People Revival back in the day themselves! 

 

We had a blessed time of fellowship with the Gotte’s afterwards sharing about how the Holy Spirit has been leading us lately and brought us back to Europe and kept it on our radar screen even when we didn’t get a chance to go there for a little while!

 

Spiritual Warfare - Victories in the Midst of Battles

 

We experienced some spiritual warfare as we ministered and traveled which happens when the Lord is working and moving. However, the Lord turned difficult situations into victories more than once. 

 

When we first flew into France after ministering in England, we had a difficult flight on a rough low budget airline. Blank expressions were the usual response to the most basic questions! Then we had to run about two miles to get to the boarding gate, after enduring miles of road works and traffic on the way to the airport in England and had not had a chance to get food nor had eaten much that day.  

 

We landed in France starved… only to find everything closed. Our stomachs were growling but nothing was available. We checked into the place we were staying and nothing was available there either. We figured it was going to be a long hungry night… then the heater broke in our room. 

 

We called the front desk to have it fixed. The guy they sent asked if we needed anything else and we asked if there was any way to get something to eat. He said, No, everything is closed. But then he thought for a moment and said, Well, let me actually check something out for you and come back. He came back with some food he was able to wrestle up, yay! The wild thing was he said, This is my gift to you, there is no charge. “Every good gift comes from above…” Friends who live in France said that this is extremely unusual in itself, but especially there in France! It was clearly a sign of the Lord’s care and provision in the midst of difficulty! Hallelujah!

 

It happened again when we drove into France from Germany after ministering. We needed to stay somewhere as it was too far to our destination.  We booked a place but when we arrived the door to get into the hotel was locked… we tried and tried calling the number provided but got no answer. We weren’t sure what to do other than pray. After about 40 minutes stuck outside praying in the cold a couple showed up who were staying there and let us in the locked front door, then they also helped us find the little package for our reservation that was sitting right there with the key to the room… it was a mystery what had happened to the hotel manager…? 

 

The next morning, the manager of the hotel showed up and asked why we didn’t call her… we explained that we tried calling the number numerous times… she looked at the number on our phone and it was the right number. She said she always comes over right away when late arrivals come and call her and she lets them in… she said this was a complete mystery that she for sure should have gotten the calls… there was no logical explanation as to why she didn’t get any of our calls? We knew it was spiritual warfare hitting when we were tired and right in between ministering in Germany and France.

 

The Lord turned it around for a blessing, though, as she felt bad that we had to wait out in the cold and gave us a free breakfast… which was pretty expensive … and was another little miracle! 

We’ve had incidents in hotels in the past in France where they did absolutely nothing in response to a problem so we were glad how the Lord intervened and turned these things around for good.

 

A Little R & R

 

Constantly moving and sleeping in unfamiliar conditions, along with long hours traveling, along with the spiritual warfare that inevitably hits, taxes the body and soul. We have learned from those who went before us to take breaks and get some R & R to avoid burning out. We got a chance to get down to the coast for a few days to get in a few activities including a little bit of surfing! Taking time to get refreshed, renews the body and soul. It also opens doors at times to witness and share Christ with people who may never darken the door of a church.

 

New Videos 

 

We were able to shoot, edit, and upload a couple videos even as we traveled including on the subjects of “Martin Luther at the Wartburg Castle” and one on location in Plymouth, England on “The Mayflower Pilgrims” who made the first permanent Colony in the New World. Check them out on YouTube at the Grace World Mission page: www.youtube.com/graceworldmission

 

Quick Review

 

We were also blessed to minister in Colorado, Salinas, San Diego, and Orange County, amongst other places last year, as well as doing a number of online meetings, along with experiencing numerous divine appointments. You can read more about those blessed ministry times and moments here:

https://gwmgracenotes.blogspot.com/2024/07/ministry-update-spring-summer-2024.html

 

We always appreciate all your prayers and support.

Blessings to you in Jesus’ Name!

Bryan and Mercedes Marleaux

 

 

Grace World Mission—

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/graceworldmission 

Donate online: www.graceworldmission.org/contact_us.htm

Ministering in the Land of the Reformation

Luther at the Wartburg

Video link: https://youtu.be/rOVMh-VSSMU

Happy Reformation Day!

October 31 is the Anniversary of the Reformation, and it just so happens that we have been ministering here in Germany this past week and have had a blessed time as the Holy Spirit has been moving powerfully during the meetings we’ve been doing. (We have a little update at the end of this.)

It has also been a blessing to be sharing in some of our messages about Martin Luther and the Reformation, in the very land where the Reformation actually began and took place. Luther had an amazing encounter with the grace of God that is so central to the message of the Gospel. God’s grace is life-changing and it is inspiring to see how it worked through history. Quite a few people here in Germany have been coming up to us and telling us how they don’t hear about this subject often enough.

 

We got to visit some towns and cities along the way with connections to Martin Luther and the Reformation that are listed below with some interesting facts about them. (If you’d like to get a basic overview of the Reformation, click here.)

 

The Wartburg Castle: This is where Luther was hidden after the Diet of Worms, keeping him alive from Catholic assassins out seeking to take his life. After the Diet of Worms in 1521, Luther was declared a heretic, and it was open season on Luther-hunting for anyone who would want to take him out. Luther’s Elector Prince “Frederik the Wise” had come into the fold and was convinced that Luther was doing nothing wrong but rather was just teaching the truth from the New Testament. He thus arranged to have Luther kidnapped and hidden in the Wartburg Castle to be kept alive and to help further the Reformation. Though he experienced serious spiritual warfare, his time at the Wartburg ended up being providential, as it was there that Luther translated the New Testament into the common German tongue from the original Greek language. This had a huge impact, as it gave people direct access to the Word of God, it furthered the Reformation, and it also codified the German language into a comprehensive whole, promoting literacy and education in the general population. Check out our new short video filmed on location at the Wartburg:

 

Eisenach: Right near the Warburg is the town of Eisenach where Luther spent his youth and attended school. There is a Martin Luther Museum as well as a Johann Sebastian Bach Museum because he lived there too. Bach was heavily influenced by the Reformation and the life story of Martin Luther. (Check out this short video we made on Luther and Bach.)

 

Heidelberg: After Luther posted the Ninety-Five Theses, he gave a disputation at Heidelberg, where he explained and expounded on the doctrine of justification by faith through grace alone in the New Testament. Remarkedly, he said that he must rely on the Holy Spirit completely to lead him into all truth so as to be able to teach this effectively and correctly. Hearing his clear biblical teachings won him followers there, including Martin Bucer who became a stalwart leader of the Reformation and became pastor of the Reformed Church in Strasbourg. 

Strasbourg: This city used to be part of Germany and today it is in France. It was a free city and a refuge for many persecuted Protestants. The Reformation in France amongst the Huguenots had heavy persecution break out against it, and many fled to safety to Strasbourg, amongst other places. Amongst those fleeing who came to Strasbourg was a theologian named John Calvin, who Martin Bucer would go on to mentor. Calvin would move on to Geneva from there.

 

Marburg: Roughly 20 minutes away from where we were ministering in the town of Giessen is the town of Marburg, Germany. It’s connected to the Reformation through the Marburg Colloquy, which was when a group of the main Reformers was asked by the Landgrave Phillip to join together for discussions on the Reformation including Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, and Martin Bucer.

 

Here's a little update on our recent ministry in Germany:

We ministered at two different church services this past Sunday in Giessen and Frankfurt, as well as preaching the Sunday before that in Giessen also. We have also been teaching at a number of different meetings during the week in Giessen, doing six meetings altogether. The Holy Spirit has been bringing many into a fresh experience and encounter with God, filling, renewing, empowering, healing, as well as having some who rededicated themselves to Christ and received Christ for the first time, including a young man who was from Iran that got radically touched by God’s power and was overcome and gave his life to Christ! Hallelujah!

 

Praise the Lord, it’s been a blessing to see the Lord moving like this and also get to experience these Reformation places!

America’s Founding and Its Ties to The English Reformation

Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ROTGU2dWfc 

Not too long ago, the bones of the English King Richard III were found and dug up under a Walmart in Leicestershire, England. That they should be found under a Walmart—an American superstore—is ironically prophetic as it ties into a historical shift that eventually brought the coming forth of a new nation called America.

It was Richard the III’s demise and defeat at Leicestershire that led to the rise of the Tudors and Henry VII taking the throne. In turn, he would father the notorious King Henry VIII, who would usher in radical changes that would alter the course of history. All this, over time, would eventually lead to the birth of America.

To understand all of this in context, it is necessary to first understand a little of the English Reformation:

The stark reality was that King Henry VIII wanted out of his marriage, as he had been betrothed at only 13 years of age to his dead brother's widow. When his older brother died, tradition had required him to take Catherine of Aragon, his older brother’s bride, as his own.

 

King Henry VIII

However, Henry had been studying to be a priest, and he became convinced while reading the Book of Leviticus, that his marriage to Catherine was improper according to the Scriptures.

 

Henry demanded a divorce but was refused by the Pope. Charles the V, King of Spain and ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, was related to Catherine of Aragon, and the Pope didn’t want to upset him.

 

When he did not get his way, Henry chose to break away from the Catholic Church. He used the Reformation as his basis to do so, but Henry actually had no real interest himself in reform at all. While Henry's act may have brought a break from Rome to the forefront of the scene, this is hardly the whole picture of what was taking place under the radar. 

There was actually an undercurrent of reform that was already moving through England. 

 

Cambridge University, in fact, had so much Reformation discussion and thought going through it that it was being called “Little Wittenberg” as well as “little Germany.” These reform-minded ideas, which were coming across the Channel from Martin Luther, Germany, were being heavily adopted there in Cambridge as well as beginning to spread in many other places around the British Isles and throughout Europe.

 

While Henry may have used the idea of Reform and the Reformation for his own ends, the winds were already blowing in that direction. When he opened the door, he found out that it couldn't be so easily shut.

 The Rise of the Puritan Movement

Reform was in the air and new movements like the Puritans eventually began to arise. The name Puritan was a pejorative that originally had sprung from a desire to purify the church from unbiblical ideas adopted in Medieval Catholicism. The Puritans wanted a full Reformation, so the milder Anglican reforms that were put in place over time were falling short of what they had hoped for. As time passed, the Puritans continued to increase in numbers as well as prominence, even garnering seats in Parliament. 

 

Cambridge University

Things went back and forth in England with cataclysmic swings: Edward, who was Henry’s only male heir and was raised by Protestant tutors, took things in a more Protestant direction once he became king, but had a short reign because of his ill health and early death.

 

Bloody Mary, Henry's daughter with Catherine of Aragon, had ascended to the throne when Edward died. Full of bitterness and rage, Mary killed somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 Protestant Christians, imprisoning and persecuting countless more during her reign as she sought to purge England of Reformation influences. This included the execution of Thomas Cramner, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who had embraced the Bible and salvation by grace, and was taking reforms in that direction until he was deposed and later killed.

 

Then came Elizabeth, Henry VIII’s daughter with second wife Anne Boleyn, who was raised by Protestant tutors that taught her the New Testament, causing her to embrace reform once she took the throne. 

 

Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth’s mother was a Protestant and known to keep a contraband copy of the Tyndale Bible that she faithfully read, secretly hiding it from the King. Some have speculated that this could have been the actual reason behind her demise when she was set up by Catholic spies and was subsequently executed.

 

After Bloody Mary’s short chaotic reign, Queen Elizabeth’s forty-year reign brought forth in England a time of prosperity, general stability, growth, and expansion like never before.

 

During her reign, the Spanish Armada, which was on its way to invade England and force it back into Catholicism, was miraculously defeated at sea by a sudden and miraculous shift in the direction of the wind at one of the most crucial points in the battle. This thrusted England into the forefront as a major world power.

 

Elizabeth, however, never married and thus had no heir to carry on her legacy. A new king was sought and found in James VI of Scotland, who was crowned King James I of England. 

 

Many Puritans hoped King James would embrace full reform, the kind the Puritans idealized. The fact that he was from Scotland and raised Protestant, and that Scotland had had its own Reformation with John Knox as one of its principal leaders, gave some hope to that idea.

 

King James, however, was quite the unusual fellow: he sputtered and slobbered when he spoke, had his own theological ideas, and didn't have much tolerance for Puritans. He was a bit paranoid of his kingship being threatened and viewed the Puritans with suspicion, fearful of their increasing numbers and power.

 

Some time after taking the throne, the Puritans presented King James with a “Millenary Petition,” meaning one thousand Puritan leaders had signed it, requesting more reforms. 

 

All the requests presented by the Puritans were flatly denied by the king, and instead many suffered persecution. But there was one request King James would “authorize,” and one only: an official translation of the Bible.

 

William Tyndale had made a translation of the entire New Testament as well as a  substantial portion of the Old Testament, when he was hunted down and killed for his effort. His Bibles had been smuggled into England for some time and were embraced and read by many throughout the land. Coverdale had made a few revisions later resulting in what was called the Geneva Bible. These illegal Bibles were hugely popular but remained as contraband. 

 

Tower of London

The Puritans now wanted an Authorized Version of the Bible that would be fully legal. The scholars assembled by King James used Tyndale’s version as their basis and thus, according to David Daniell, scholar from Oxford, nine-tenths of the New Testament and much of the Old Testament in the King James Bible was actually Tyndale’s work. In reality, according to David Daniell, “It was Tyndale who gave us our English Bible.”

 

With the exception of a new Authorized Version of the Bible, things were not getting better for the Puritans in jolly ole England. Eventually, some chose to leave as the persecution and difficulties continued for Puritans in England. After an unsuccessful attempt to settle in Holland, a group of Puritans, including Puritans of a more radical bent called Separatists, made a go for the New World. They would venture to cross the raging sea seeking a free place to worship as they saw fit.

 

They were taking a huge risk as they sailed across the Atlantic upon the Mayflower and founded Plymouth, the first colony to endure and sustain in North America. Other colonies, like Jamestown, had been attempted before them but had failed as most everyone had died of starvation or exposure to the freezing weather. 

 

The pilgrims made a Compact upon the Mayflower before coming ashore that their endeavor should be: “For the glory of God and the Advancement of the Christian faith...” The centrality of spreading the Gospel was rooted in the very foundation of the nation as it all began.

 

Furthermore, contrary to popular revisionism and according to numerous sources, including the History Museum in Plymouth, Massachusetts, the first settlers had good relations with the Native Peoples for several decades. In fact, it was the Native Peoples who actually helped them survive that first grueling winter.

 

More English Puritans would continue to come across the ocean in their wake as well, and with them came their trusted copies of the King James Bible. The Puritan preachers in England were inspiring their followers to come across the sea in obedience to the Great Commission and plant the Gospel in the New World. They thus laid a foundation of faith and promise in the New World.

 

In fact, historian Sydney Ahlstrom points out that it is quite the anomaly that the early North American colonies should be made up of so many English Puritans, when the New World had been first discovered by the Spanish. Furthermore, the French, the Dutch, and many others were here before, but it was the English Puritans inspired by the Great Commission, who comprised the majority of the early North American colonies, giving them a specific foundation of Reformation-influenced faith.

 

Direct link: https://youtu.be/1ZeIrIfW1QI

Furthermore, by the time independence came around, seventy-five percent of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were of Puritan stock. In fact, Benjamin Franklin himself was baptized in a Puritan church in the city of Boston.

 

The strong foundation of faith was absolutely part of the beginnings of this country's origins, as God shed His grace upon the land. As the old hymn declares: “His Grace has led us safe thus far and Grace will lead us on.”

 

Luther first experienced that grace via the Word of God and the revelation of the Holy Spirit. Let the Holy Spirit fill you today and fill your heart with Thanksgiving to God for the awesome blessing of giving us grace through His Son Jesus Christ!

 

Postscript:           

We encourage you to “like” and “share” this blog and the following videos with others, helping spread the important history of our roots, especially in the light of recent statements like this by a Christian Education group:  “Misinformation about our America’s founding is spreading across our country like wildfire. Unfortunately, that is true in the public education system as well. But America is an exceptional nation and every citizen should know about its unique history…which is steeped in, and influenced by, the Christian Faith…”

Videos:

·      The Reformation Revelation

·      Thanksgiving and Its Ties to The Reformation and Revival

·      Plymouths Pilgrims and Their Christian faith

·      The Great Awakening

Connect to Grace World Mission: https://linktr.ee/graceworldmission

The Reformation Revelation: Foundation for Revival

New YouTube video on the Reformation

https://youtu.be/1ZeIrIfW1QI

Martin Luther experienced a revelation from the Holy Spirit about the grace of God that sent forth far reaching waves of reform, renewal, and revival, creating a ripple effect that would have great impact through the nations and history. In fact, the Reformation became the foundation for the revivals that followed in its wake.

 

From Law Student to Monk 

 

Luther had originally been studying to become a lawyer. However, he had a near-death experience on the way to law school one day: He got caught in a thunderstorm and a bolt of lightning struck the ground right next to him knocking him down, and in terror he cried out to Saint Anne, the patron saint of the miners (as his father was a miner) vowing that he would become a monk if he survived.

 

Having survived the storm, he entered the monastery and became a Catholic monk seeking to find peace with God. However, he was soon bogged down and struggling with all the rituals imposed upon him within the Catholic structure. These rituals didn’t bring forth the peace with God he sought but rather served only to drive him further away from God,

 

He sought to earnestly follow the Catholic teaching that says: Each and every sin ever committed must be remembered and confessed to a priest in order to be forgiven. In obedience to these teachings, Luther would rack his memory and confess his sins hours and hours a day. After leaving the confessional, he would often remember something he’d done as a child and return for more confessing.

 

The leader of the monastery grew so tired of his coming so often to the confessional he finally blew up at him, “Why don’t you go out and commit some real sins and come back when you actually have something worth confessing.”

 

Seeking to find a way to distract him and redirect his attention, and frankly get him out of the monastery for being such a bother, the leader of the monastery decided to have Luther go and study the Bible at Wittenberg. 

 

This, however, was not the norm for monks, priests, nor any of the clergy, except some of the highest Catholic theologians who were permitted to read the Bible and interpret it. In fact, the Catholic Church had forbidden common people from even possessing a Bible at the Synod of Toulouse in 1229. Furthermore, the Catholic Church only allowed the Bible to be in Latin—a long dead language even then that very few could understand.  

 

As pointed out by David Daniell: The Bible might have well been in Chinese for all the good it did forcing it to be kept only in Latin. Very, very few could read Latin, and this included the vast majority of the clergy. Instead of the Scriptures the church substituted a book called “The Little Hours of Mary” promoting the cult of the Virgin and her worship.

 

Because Luther had studied law, he wouldn’t have to begin by learning Latin first. He was moved from Eisleben to Wittenberg, Germany and began to read the Bible and study Paul’s Epistles in the New Testament. 

 

He subsequently began wrestling with Paul’s words about justification especially in the book of Romans. After some time wrestling and contemplating it, he finally had the light break forth and received revelation from the Holy Spirit as he gained understanding of Jesus’ full payment for sin on the cross.

 

He understood after a long period of struggle that Jesus had paid the price for our sin on the cross, and simply through faith in Christ we are justified and put right with God through His grace, the grace that comes through faith in Christ’s atonement. 

 

Indeed, Paul communicates about: A Righteousness that comes from God and is by faith and through God’s grace we are justified. (Romans 1:16-17, 3:21-23)

 

Luther finally understood that all his sin was paid for “once for all” by Christ when he took our sins on the cross. Once one repents and receives Christ there is no need to remember each and every sin and confess it to a priest, just believe upon Jesus. Luther spoke of how he was born again when he finally understood this.

 

A Revelation That Reverberated 

 

This rediscovery of this central truth of the New Testament and teaching of Jesus and the Apostles (John: 1:12, 3:16, 6:29, Romans 3:21, Ephesians 2:8-10) had far reaching implications and brought forth waves of renewal, reform, and revival, causing a ripple effect throughout the nations and history. 

 

This revelation caused Luther to challenge some of the teachings and practices that the Catholic Church was engaging in, especially when indulgences began to be sold in his region—basically the selling of forgiveness to reduce time in purgatory—by a priest named Tetzel.

 

Luther drew up some Theses, his intention however was only to debate with some of the other theologians.

 

Before he knew it though he was in the middle of a conflagration, as unbeknownst to him some students had taken Luther’s Theses that he’d nailed to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg on October 31^st  1517—which marks the beginning of the Reformation—and reprinted and distributed them widely. As they went out it caused a widespread “Ja wohl” by many who had grown tired of the errors and abuses in Catholicism. 

 

This reverberation spread to where even the Pope down in Italy eventually got wind of it and reacted: “Who is this drunken German?! I’ll have this heretic burned at the stake within two weeks!” An onslaught of reaction by the powers that be sought to silence Luther who, having been touched in the heart by the grace of God, was of no mind to back down now.

 

The accusations against someone who would dare challenge the established religious system—especially against a system that was producing large amounts of money —flew fast and furious at Luther.

 

Didier Erasmus, a well-known reform-minded professor, jested that Luther’s “sin”was to dare touch the money-making system of the church and dare challenge the authority of the pope who saw himself as some type of king now.

 

As Luther was railed against, he actually grew bolder and spoke and wrote out more, which was touching many and causing him quite a following.

 

The religious system was not tolerant of any dissent and sought ways to silence him—as they had done to all those who had sought reform and a return to Biblical principles in the past—usually with a formal condemnation labeling them a heretic and then burning them at the stake. 

 

Jan Hus had sought a similar return to Biblical teaching a century earlier and was condemned and burned at the stake for it.  However, right before his death, he prophesied of another reformer being raised up in 100 years who they would not be able to burn: It was one hundred years later when Luther experienced his revelation of the grace of Jesus Christ while reading Romans, which set the Reformation in motion.

 

Attempts to Silence Luther 

 

As Luther had already garnered a following, with some even in higher positions agreeing with him, there was a cautionary approach in dealing with him lest the public revolt. 

 

Thus, a debate with one of their staunch theologians was proffered. Luther would debate Johan Eck, who the Catholic leaders thought would make quick work of Luther and then begin the process afterwards of condemning him as a notorious heretic.

 

However, Luther stood up to Eck in the debate and proved to be an equal match. Eck thus resorted to calling Luther a Wycliffite and a Hussite, two men who had earlier attempted to bring reform and a return to Biblical foundations and were condemned for it. 

 

During a break in the debate, Luther went to the library to make a quick study of Hus and Wycliff and came back declaring: I am a Wycliffite and a Hussite for they were not wrong and were wrongly condemned. Quite the bold statement for someone who would not want to be condemned and burned himself.

 

By and large the debate backfired, and Luther only grew more renowned. He displayed a fluency in the Scriptures and a boldness that was clearly coming from on high; it wasn't his natural inclination.

 

In time Luther was called to answer before a Diet—a type of trial—in the city of Worms. Luther was called before a panel that included even the emperor himself, who was the most powerful person in the world at that time, to be examined regarding his teachings. Having been assured he would be able to discuss his views, he came willingly. Yet when he was called before the Diet, he was only given the option to recant all his teaching or face the consequences, which would mean being labeled a heretic and executed.

 

Luther was sweating profusely while being examined, but in the end refused to recant and took his stand saying: “My conscience is captive to the word of God, to go against conscience and the word is neither right nor safe, I cannot and will not recant anything. Here I stand, so help me God.” The room erupted, some with outrage, others cheering Luther on with bravos, as he walked out. Some of those on the panel dropped out and refused to condemn Luther, saying he was only returning to the Bible. However, a rump of the panel decided to condemn him and have him arrested the next day.

 

During the night however, divine intervention took place and the peasants’ Bundschuh was placarded on the building. This was the sign of the Peasants’ Revolt and signaled that if Luther was arrested there would be riots by the peasants throughout the region. The Diet was thrown into a panic and decided it would be better to arrest him quietly after he returned home. He'd surely never make it home, however, since Catholic fanatics—keepers of the Inquisition—would be waiting to assassinate him on the way.

 

Divine Intervention Again 

 

The Elector Prince of Saxony, Frederick the Wise, had been persuaded Luther was doing nothing wrong and was only seeking to return to the church's original Biblical foundations. Frederick set up a ruse and had his knights secretly kidnap Luther as soon as he began his journey back. They surrounded him and with much screaming, yelling, and cussing, made a big show of grabbing him while secretly whisking him away, having riders all take off in different directions, as he was snuck off to be hidden at an old, abandoned castle in Eisenach called the Wartburg.

 

For nearly a year Luther was hidden away at the Wartburg, where while stuck hiding out, he worked on a translation of the New Testament into the common German tongue. Luther’s German Translation of the Bible became one of the biggest boons and blessings spreading the Gospel and the Reformation throughout Germany and into other nations. 

 

The word had spread about how Luther had taken a stance for the truth at the Diet of Worms, and he had become a hero to many Germans as time had passed and he was only more popular. There was no chance now of being able to apprehend him without widespread uprisings after this. This one they were not able to burn, fulfilling Jan Hus’s prophecy he had made as he was about to be executed for trying to bring about reform as well a hundred years earlier.

 

The Reformation Spreads to England

 

One of the places to eventually get impacted, amongst many others, was England and the British Isles.

 

Luther’s teaching began to cross the channel from Germany into England and began to be regularly discussed and debated, especially at the University in Cambridge.

 

The White Horse Inn, a pub on campus, became a central location for discussions about the teachings of the New Testament and about Christ’s payment for sin being received by faith versus the Catholic Church’s teachings on rituals, masses, holy water, confession, the papacy, etc.

 

Amongst some of the early adopters of a return to the roots of New Testament Christianity influenced by Luther were Thomas Cramner, who would become a reforming Archbishop of Canterbury, as well as William Tyndale.

 

Tyndale transferred from Oxford to Cambridge because Oxford was resistant to reform and held a prohibition against the Bible being translated into the English language—this became a stain on Oxford’s historical legacy—standing against one of the greatest contributions to the English language and culture in history.

 

Tyndale had in mind to do just that and translate the Bible into common English. He was a Catholic priest who had also a l experienced a personal conversion to Christ like Luther. He’d also come to understand that it was faith in Christ alone through His grace that salvation is received. Tyndale knew that if people could read the New Testament for themselves, they could see that simple faith in Christ alone is all that was necessary for salvation.

 

Tyndale writes: “Repent and Believe the gospel...and begin life anew! And his Spirit shall dwell in thee and be strong in thee and his promises shall be given thee at the last…and all things forgiven for Christ’s blood’s sake…Commit yourself to Him without respect either of thy good deeds or thy bad, repentance and belief is all! Works count for nothing in Christ’s blood!”

 

He thus saw the need for the Bible to be made accessible to the common person. This required it to be translated into the English language. The Catholic Church opposed translations into vernacular languages and only allowed the Bible to be in Latin—a language that had been long dead even then. Against persecution, oppression, and misunderstanding, Tyndale set out to make a translation from the original Greek into English. Erasmus had recently assembled and published the original Greek version of the New Testament into a whole manuscript, making it available and taking the control out of the hands of the Catholic Church.

 

Tyndale, like Luther, used Erasmus’s Greek manuscript to begin translating the New Testament into English. Soon persecution ramped up and he eventually left England and met with Luther in Germany. Luther’s German translation was another blessing and helped Tyndale finish his New Testament translation. Tyndale printed the first editions of his New Testament in Germany, at Cologne, and had them smuggled as pocket Bibles into England. They were popular amongst the people but opposed by the Catholic clergy and his Bibles were even rounded up and burned by the Bishop in London.

 

Tyndale’s Bible and the Spread of the Gospel

 

The Bible being accessible eventually spread movements of faith and reform through the land and eventually gave rise to further spread of the Gospel and the rise of renewal and revival movements.

 

Amongst them were the Puritans in England which, according to historian Sydney Alhstrom were a revival movement that sought a return to the Christianity found in the New Testament. They also taught that believers need to experience Christ in their lives and should receive His grace in their hearts, as head knowledge by itself alone is insufficient.

 

They were increasingly marginalized in England. A group of Separatist Puritans eventually left seeking freedom to worship as they desired. Sailing across the sea on the Mayflower and arrived on the shores of  America in 1620. They started the first colony that would sustain and last and grow into a continued movement of Puritans coming across the sea, in the process creating the early Christian fabric of America.

 

That first colony that landed in Plymouth was dedicated to the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith. In time, many revivals that were connected to that still-reverberating revelation from Luther and the Reformation, would be spawned in the New World. Though there may be some differences in theology and ideas with different individual groups over time, that core remained the same: It is by grace you are saved through faith, it is the gift of God, not by works, lest any man should boast. And God freely gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask and believe and will fill to overflowing those who call upon him.

 

Some of the Movements and Revivals that followed in the wake of the Reformation: 

• The Great Awakening: https://youtu.be/QcV3_H1DM9M 
• William Tyndale: https://youtu.be/ZEAl5iOyY6c
• The Pilgrims: https://youtu.be/xRM3-jqexe0
• George Whitfield and the 18th century revivals: https://youtu.be/sq1B2qNX-Ks
• John Wesley and the Methodist revivals: Wesley was converted during a reading of Luther’s Preface to his Commentary on Romans: https://youtu.be/Hh4m6oSKvyM
• The Finney Revivals: https://on.soundcloud.com/HEgZi
• The Cane Ridge Revivals

 

And even into modern times :  

 

• Harald Bredesen and the Charismatic renewal: A Lutheran who becomes Spirit-filled and shares his experience with other Lutherans and other mainline denominational believers: https://youtu.be/K7Xciiw2ebI
• Lonnie Frisbee  and the Jesus people Revival:  It was a Reformational type of return to the priesthood of all believers and the simplicity of the New Testament and God's grace to save whosoever calls upon him, even Hippies (!) that brought forth one of the biggest modern revivals: https://youtu.be/0OgfmU13sPI

Connect to Grace World Mission: https://linktr.ee/graceworldmission