Progress Of Reform In Germany
Audio:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/D3ur2x0D4LM?list=PLA5C7629D1527F981
When persecution was kindled against the teachers of the truth, they gave heed to the words of Christ: When they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another. Matthew 10:23
As there were false christs in the first century of the Christian church, so there arose false prophets in the sixteenth century. Satan was not idle. A few men, deeply affected by the excitement in the
Thomas Munzer, the most active of the fanatics, was a man of considerable ability, which, rightly directed, would have enabled him to do good; but he had not learned the first principles of true religion. He was possessed with a desire of reforming the world, and forgot, as all enthusiasts do, that the reformation should begin with himself...Some even burned their Bibles, exclaiming: "The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life." Munzer's teaching appealed to men's desire for the marvelous, while it gratified their pride by virtually placing human ideas and opinions above the word of God. His doctrines were received by thousands. He soon denounced all order in public worship, and declared that to obey princes was to attempt to serve both God and Belial. The minds of the people, already beginning to throw off the yoke of the papacy, were also becoming impatient under the restraints of civil authority.
Counterfeit holiness, spurious sanctification, is still doing its work of deception. Under various forms it exhibits the same spirit as in the days of Luther, diverting minds from the Scriptures and leading men to follow their own feelings and impressions rather than to yield obedience to the law of God.