Here We Stand!

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HERE WE STAND, 506 YEARS LATER!

A wall poster read: “Do you seriously think God can’t use you?”

Then it listed a whole lot of people from the Bible who no one would ever think could be used for the furtherance of God’s Kingdom.

• Noah was a drunk.
• Abraham was too old.
• Jacob was a liar.
• Samson was a womanizer.
• Rahab was a prostitute.
• Elijah was suicidal.
• Lazarus was dead.

God also used a crazy man in the 16th century who was rude, crude…and a Jew hater. He was also a worry wart, always thinking God was going to strike him dead for his sin.

His name was Martin Luther and the reason you are a Baptist, Methodist, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Pentecostal or even a non-denominational believer is because of what he did on Oct. 31, 1517, commonly called the Protestant Reformation.

It’s been 506 years since the day faith in God was RE-formed. We celebrate our independence from hierarchical religion and cherish the truth that we can come to God on our own, by faith, through his Son Jesus Christ.

Though this truth has always been with us, it was hidden for centuries. What Martin Luther did changed the direction of Christianity forever—all because God used this one man.
Every Christian should celebrate October 31, the third greatest Holy Day of the year after Christmas and Easter: Reformation Day.

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Every Christian Should Celebrate October 31!

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There’s a poster in our Youth Wing that says, “Do you seriously think God can’t use you?”

Then it lists a whole lot of people from the Bible who no one would ever think could be used for the furtherance of God’s Kingdom.

  • Noah was a drunk.
  • Abraham was too old.
  • Jacob was a liar.
  • Samson was a womanizer.
  • Rahab was a prostitute (who ended up in the generational line of Jesus).
  • Elijah was suicidal.
  • Lazarus was dead.

God also used a crazy man in the 16th century who was rude, crude and a Jew hater. He was also a worry wart, always thinking God was going to strike him dead for his sin. His name was Martin Luther and the reason you are a Baptist, Methodist, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Pentecostal or even a non-denominational believer is because of what he did on Oct. 31, 1517, commonly called the Protestant Reformation.

It’s been 503 years since the day faith in God was RE-formed, and we celebrate our independence from hierarchical religion and cherish the truth that we can come to God on our own, by faith, through his Son Jesus Christ. Though this truth has always been with us, it was hidden for centuries. What Martin Luther did changed the direction of Christianity forever—all because God used this one man.

Every Christian should celebrate the third greatest Holy Day of the year after Christmas and Easter: Reformation Day, not that silly Halloween, the day that ghouls, ghosts and gross gaggles of the grave are happily acclaimed while death, murder and fiendish activity is lionized.

It all came about in this way:

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DeathBeth.com: SCARIEST. Website. Ever.

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A SEVERED DOLL’S HEAD EERILY GREETS YOU on the first page.

The black backdrop of the Home Page is striking in its simplicity. Only two words, in bright bloody red, punch your consciousness like a bony poke in the eye: “to die”!!! A bead of sweat forms upon your brow as you read the horrifying challenge, apparently, mystically, horrifically uttered somehow, by that…that…decapitated noggin. You stifle a scream as you read the sentence that will unquestionably cause you to click the next step: “learn your fate…find out if you’re…you’re going to die.” Somewhere off in the distance, a dog barks. A woman screams in your mind.

You have now entered into the chilling world of DeathBeth.com.

In less than a week Halloween will be upon us. I personally don’t celebrate it, preferring instead to honor a more significant, historic event (which I’ll write about next week). Still, like all of you, every now and then I like a good scare.

Back when I was nine-years-old, I read about the old black and white zombie film “Night of the Living Dead” in my grandma’s copy of Reader’s Digest.

 

The article lamented how this terrifying movie, which graphically depicted the undead gorging on flesh and entrails, could be rated “G” for every kid to see. (This was in 1968.) I hungered to watch the blood and guts of George A. Romero’s grisly classic, but, alas, there were no DVDs back then.

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