In the last two books we have learned about Martin Luther and how God used him to bring the light of truth to the people. We learned how he was taken and hidden at Wartburg Castle to keep him safe from those who wanted to kill him. Now we will learn what happened in Germany while Luther was at Wartburg Castle.

When Luther was taken away and hidden at Wartburg Castle, the people in Germany didn’t know where he was. They became very upset. Some people said that he had been killed. The people were very sad and angry.

Luther’s enemies were very scared. At first they had been happy when they heard that Luther was gone. But now they wished he would be found again. The people had turned against them. All the people wanted to know where Luther was.

At last the people heard that Luther was alive and safe. But now the Reformation spread even more. More people read Luther’s writings. More people joined the Reformation. The seed of truth that Luther had planted was growing more and more.

But the devil wanted to destroy the Reformation. The attacks from the pope and emperor were not working. So instead the devil tried to use men who were part of the Reformation to destroy it.

Some men started to claim to be prophets and to have been sent by God to finish the work that Luther started. But these men were actually workers for satan to destroy the work of the Reformation. These men did not believe the teaching of the Reformation that the Bible and the Bible only is the rule of what we are to believe. Instead of testing what they believed by the Bible they trusted their feelings and thoughts. When they gave up the Bible they gave up their only safety against satan. Now satan could control their minds. But sadly, many good people were tricked into believing these false prophets.

The false prophets went to the city of Wittenburg to tell Melancthon and the other reformers about themselves. The reformers were surprised. They did not know what to do with these men. Melancthon knew the men either came from God or from satan. “But which one had sent them?”  he thought. He knew he had to be careful.

But the Bible says one way we are to know whether a prophet is true or false is by their fruits (Matthew 7:20). Soon Melanchthon and the other reformers began to see the fruits of these false prophets and their teachings.

Because of what these false prophets were teaching the people began to ignore the Bible and some of the people got rid of the Bible. The enemies of the Reformation were happy as they saw the work of the Reformation being destroyed.

At Wartburg Castle, Luther thought of going back to Wittenburg. He prayed about it. He knew that the Reformation was not his work but God’s work. And God would protect the Reformation. But Luther decided that God was calling him to go back to Wittenburg to defend the truth against the false teachers.

So after he had finished translating the New Testament into German, he left Wartburg Castle and went to Wittenburg. He knew it was dangerous.  The law still said His enemies could kill him and his friends were not to help him. But he was not afraid. He believed God had given him the people of Wittenburg to take care of. And he would not sit in a safe place while they were destroyed by false teachings.

When the people of Wittenburg found out Luther had come back, they came from all over the city to hear him preach. The church quickly filled up with people who wanted to hear what Luther had to say.

Luther preached to the people with great wisdom. He was firm but gentle as he showed the error of the false teachings and what the people were doing. Besides the false teachings some of the people had started trying to force other people to do what was right. This was also wrong, Luther told them. They should teach the people what the Bible said and let them decide for themselves what to do. They should never force people to do what was right. Truth must be taught by preaching the Word of God, not by forcing the people.

On every day for that whole week, Luther preached the truth. He showed from the Bible why the false teachings were wrong. He showed the people that faith must not be forced. He told the people they should preach the truth but it is God’s job to work on the hearts of the people and lead them to do what is right. After Luther’s sermons most of the people decided the new teachings of the false prophets were wrong. They did not listen to these false teachers anymore. Instead they only listened to what the Bible said.

Luther did not want to meet with the false prophets. He knew they would not listen to the truth. But the false prophets wanted to meet with Luther and so he had a meeting with them. With God’s help he was able to stop the false teachings and so the false prophets left Wittenburg.

For a short time, the false teachings were gone. But several years later they started again. But this time the false teachings were worse than they were before. The leaders of these false teachings did not believe we should follow the Bible. To them they only believed in following the Spirit. But the spirit they followed was really just them following their own feelings. Without the safety of the Bible satan could work with their feelings and make them do whatever he wanted them to do.

One of the false teachers was named Thomas Müntzer. He thought God had called him to do a special work to change the world. But those whom God calls to do a special work are always humble men. Müntzer was not humble. He wanted to be above all other men. He preached against the teaching of the Reformation that only the Bible should be the rule of what is right and wrong. Müntzer thought the Bible was not so important. He only believed in following his feelings which he thought were the Holy Spirit.

People followed Müntzer and the other false teachers because they thought their teachings were nice. It made people feel good. Now they didn’t have to follow the teachings of the Bible. Some people even burned their Bibles. Müntzer taught the people that there should not be order in the worship of God, but the Bible says, “Let all things be done … in order.” (1 Corinthians 14:40) Müntzer also taught the people that if they obeyed the rulers of the country they were not obeying God. But the Bible tells us to always obey the rulers of our country (Romans 13:1-7; 2 Peter 2:13-17). Only if the rulers of the country tell us to disobey God, then we cannot obey them. We must obey God first (Acts 5:29).

The people who followed Müntzer wanted to follow the “spirit” and not the Word of God. But the Bible says we should not believe every spirit. We must test the spirits to find out if they are good or bad. (1 John 4:1)

Those that believed the teachings of Müntzer started doing many bad things. A war was started and many people were killed. This was because the people had thrown away the Bible and now they were ruled only by their feelings.

Luther was sad as he saw the work the false teachers were doing. The Roman Catholic princes were angry and said that what the false teachers were doing was Luther’s fault. This was not true. Luther had always told the people to follow the Bible. He had taught them to love God and other people.

The false teachers also hated Luther because he did not agree with their false teachings. He preached against them and what they were teaching and doing. Just like he had used the Bible to show the errors of the Catholic Church, Luther used the Bible to show the errors of the false teachers.

The false teachings taught by the false teachers are still taught by many people today. Many people give up the Bible and what it teaches and instead believe what their feelings tell them. This is one of satan’s best tricks that he uses to catch people.

When Luther came back from Wartburg Castle he printed the New Testament in the German language. The people were happy to have the Bible in their own language. The New Testament was spread all over Germany and more and more people read it for themselves. When Luther saw how happy the people were to have the New Testament, he started to translate the Old Testament and he printed parts of it as fast as he could translate them.

Men who wanted to spread the truth traveled all over Germany selling the papers and booklets Luther and other reformers were writing. Both rich and poor people would read these writings.  People who had not been to a school would learn what the Bible says and would share what they learned with other people.

As the people learned more about what the Bible taught, less people followed the Catholic teachers and priests. When the Catholic leaders saw the people leaving the teachings of the church they tried to use everything they could to bring the people back. But the people were learning the truth and did not want the error anymore. So the priests started to force the people. Many people were thrown in jail and some were even killed.

But it was of no use. The more they killed or jailed the people who were following the truth, the more the truth spread. When it became too dangerous in one place for the people to teach the truth, they would move to another place. Then they would teach the truth in the new place like Jesus said they should (Matthew 10:23).

In the year 1529, a great victory happened for the Reformation. This event is called the “Protest of the Princes” and it happened in the city of Spires. It was from this protest that we get the word “Protestant” which is what all the Christians who follow the Bible and don’t agree with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church are called.

The emperor Charles V had wanted to destroy the Reformation but had not been able to. The council at Worms had said Luther should be killed, but he had not been killed. And there still was a lot of freedom for people to follow the beliefs of the Reformation. Every time Charles had thought he would destroy the Reformation, he would have to go and fight another enemy. One time even the pope became jealous of Charles and made a war with him. So while the emperor had to fight other enemies, the Reformation could keep growing stronger. But finally there was no more wars and Charles now decided to finish destroying the Reformation.

To get rid of the Reformation Charles said there should be a council at a city called Spires. The princes who protected and believed in the Reformation were to come to the council. We will call these princes the “reformed princes”. Charles was hoping that the reformed princes would agree to turn against the Reformation. But if they would not agree then Charles planned to force them.

The Roman Catholic leaders also came to Spires. They were feeling very happy. They thought the Reformation was about to come to an end.

Luther wasn’t allowed to go to the council.  But many of his friends like Melanchthon went to defend the truth. Frederick had died, but his brother, Duke John had taken his place. John was a man who loved peace, but he also loved the truth and was very brave to defend it. John also went to the council to defend the  truth.

Three years before another council meeting said that each area had freedom to follow whatever beliefs they believed in. So in the areas which were ruled by the reformed princes, the people were free to believe and live the truth. But now the Roman Catholic leaders said that the areas which had freedom must now come under the control of the Catholic Church. These areas must now give up their freedom and believe and do what the Church said. But the reformers and the reformed princes would not agree with this law.

Since the two groups of leaders could not agree, the council decided on a new law. This law said that in the areas ruled by Catholic princes the Reformation would be illegal. But in the areas where the people already believed in the teachings of the Reformation there would be other laws. Some of these other laws were that no one could teach anything new from the Bible. And also that no one could preach anything unless everyone agreed with him on that teaching. Also no one that was still a Roman Catholic when this law was passed could ever join the Reformation and follow the Bible. But this new law said, the people who had already joined the Reformation were allowed to keep their beliefs. This new law was passed through the council and the reformed princes were told they had to agree to follow the new law.

But if this new law was passed, it would keep the Reformation from spreading to other areas and wouldn’t allow the Reformation to grow stronger in the areas where it already was. It looked like the Reformation was about come to its end and the light of truth that was shining now would be put out forever.

The reformed princes met together. They had to decide what they should do. They could have decided to obey the law and have peace with the Roman Catholic Church. After all, they and the people who lived in their areas who already had begun following the beliefs of the Reformation, could keep their beliefs. But the reformed princes knew that it was wrong for people to be able to control what other people should believe. The Roman Catholic Church should not be able to control what the people wanted to believe and teach. That was wrong.  These brave princes decided it was better to lose their kingdoms and their power and even their lives than to give in and follow this law. They decided to stand against this law.

 King Ferdinand who was the representative for the emperor, saw that if all the princes would not follow the new law it would divide the land. He begged the reformed princes to follow the law telling them that to do so would make the emperor very happy. But the faithful princes had decided they would obey God first and so they would not agree to this new law.

At last, the king told the council that the law was about to be given to the people and that the only thing left was for the reformed princes to agree to the law. After he said this, he left the council so the reformed princes had no time to answer him. They sent messengers asking the king to come back, but he would not.

Since the king did not want to listen to their beliefs, the reformed princes decided to quickly give their reasons against the new law to the other leaders at the council. These reasons were their protest. They wrote up their answer and it said words like this:

“We protest… we… do not agree to the new law in anything where it goes against God and His Word …There is no true doctrine [teachings] but that which agrees with the Word of God. The Lord forbids the teaching of any other faith.”

The reformed princes’ protest was clear. They would not give up the rights of the people to learn, believe, and follow the Bible. They believed that the government did not have the right to make laws about what people could believe.

The council was surprised by the boldness of the princes. The princes’ protest showed that all people have a right to worship God in the way they believe is right. God gives people the freedom to choose. Governments are not supposed to force people to follow certain beliefs.

The reformers at Spires were sometimes in great danger. But God protected them. One time Melanchthon quickly took his friend Grynaeus to the Rhine river and told him to go across it quickly. Grynaeus was surprised and asked him “Why?” Melanchthon told him an old man who he did not know, had just shown up in front of him and told him that very soon the officers will be sent by the king to get Grynaeus and take him to jail. Melanchthon then waited while his friend went across the river. When Melanchthon went back to his house, he was told that the officers had come and searched the whole house for Grynaeus. Melanchthon believed it was an angel that had warned him so that his friend could get to a safe place.

 The next year Charles V called for a council at the city of Augsburg. This time the emperor came to the council himself. The reformed princes were now going to be able to present their beliefs to even more people.

It was a time of great danger for those who were part of the Reformation. John was told by his counselors that he should not go to the council at Augsburg. They felt it was a trap for the reformed princes. But John went anyways trusting in God to protect him.  Luther went with John as far as the city of Coburg. It was on this trip that Luther wrote and sung the German song “A Strong Tower Is Our God.” This song helped the reformers and princes to be happy and stay strong in their faith.

The reformed princes decided they must have a written paper of what they believed and the Bible verses that showed why these beliefs were right. Luther and Melanchthon and their friends began writing this paper. The reformed princes agreed with what the reformers had written. They wrote their names on the paper showing they agreed with it. The reformed princes wanted the world to know that they loved Jesus and would obey Him no matter what happened. They had great faith and many of them said they were willing to lose all their power, money, and even their lives rather than to deny Christ.

The time came for the council to meet. On that day, the reformers stood in front of the emperor and all the princes. The paper was read. In that paper, the truths of the gospel were taught from the Bible, and the errors of the Roman Catholic Church were shown. That day has been called “The greatest day of the Reformation.”

After the paper was read even the Catholics said that it was true. They could not prove it wrong from the Bible. They knew the reformers based everything on the Bible. But they based their beliefs on man’s words. Because of what the paper said, some more of the German princes learned the truth and joined the Reformation.

One teaching that was believed and followed by Luther was that the Reformation should not be defended by the government. Luther was happy that many of the princes believed the gospel, but when they wanted to use their power and armies to defend the truth, Luther did not agree. He said the gospel “should be defended by God alone.” To trust in worldly protection would not lead to the glory of God and it showed a lack of faith.

When very powerful enemies were gathering together to bring an end to the Reformation by war, Luther said the people should pray very hard that God’s Spirit would make the enemies want peace. He said prayer was the most important thing they could do then. He wrote to one of the reformed princes and said that Jesus was strong enough to protect His faithful people.

It was the prayers of the Reformers that brought the power to  the Reformation. During the council of Augsburg, Luther always spent at least three hours of the day in prayer. When he was alone he would talk to God just like he was talking to a friend. He would ask God to protect His work and His followers. And God heard Luther’s prayers and answered them. 

Today God is looking for people to stand for what is right like Luther and the reformed princes of Germany did. God wants us to have a strong faith and trust in Him. He wants us to stand for what is right all the time.

Will you stand for what is right like Luther and the reformed princes did? Will you trust God to help you? Will you defend the truth even when it is hard to do so?

(c) Light in Darkness