And He Must Win the Battle

And He Must Win the BattleAlan Riley An important observance in the life of the church will go virtually unnoticed today, eclipsed by Halloween, which has now become the second highest-grossing holiday of the year for retailers. (How sad is that? But that is a message for another day's devotional...)I am talking about Reformation Day, which is also on October 31. On this day in 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the door of the castle at Wittenburg (pronounced "Vittenburg"), listing the reasons that Dr. Luther was opposed to the church's practice of selling indulgences.It's hard for you and I to imagine this today, but in the early 1500s, the church sold forgiveness of sins like it was a "Get Out of Jail Free" card in a Monopoly game. You could buy one for yourself if you were planning to sin, or you could buy them for a loved one who had passed away, in essence paying the church to bribe God to remove your loved one from purgatory and take them to heaven. Indulgences were primarily used to pay for the construction of the massive St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.Martin Luther never intended to start a new church or to break away from the Catholic church. His intent was to reform the church, hence the name of the event that he set into motion on October 31, 1517 is to this day called the Reformation.As a result of his actions, Martin Luther was declared a heretic in 1521 and threatened with excommunication. He was given the opportunity to "repent" and agree with the practice of selling indulgences. This is what he said in response: "Unless I am convinced by Scripture and by plain reason and not by Popes and councils who have so often contradicted themselves, my conscience is captive to the word of God. To go against conscience is neither right nor safe. I cannot and I will not recant. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me." We can learn a lot from the character and the actions of Martin Luther. He was willing to literally put his life on the line to stand up for what he knew God's Word said, even though that went against the accepted teaching of the church and the prevailing opinion of the day. This week we have focused on the subject of Spiritual Warfare in our Daily Devotionals. We thought that was appropriate considering Halloween fell during the week. I would like to leave you with the words of a song written by Martin Luther, the Great Reformer, concerning our adversary the devil. The song is the great old hymn "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God."A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,On earth is not his equal.Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God's own choosing:Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,And He must win the battle.And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,One little word shall fell him.That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth:Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;The body they may kill: God's truth abideth still,His kingdom is forever!