Luther Quotes
Dr. Martin Luther (1483-1546)
I
hardly know where to begin with Martin Luther. I will mention
that I was born and raised as a Lutheran, and I attended confirmation
class and was confirmed in the early 1970’s and I will say that
none of this was ever mentioned – In Sunday school and confirmation
class Luther was only portrayed as only the founder of the denomination.
It was until I had left and started attending fundamentalist
and Pentecostal Churches that I was told that Luther was a spiritual
giant, and it was Luther that had discovered one day in a monastery
“Justification by faith.” That he was the founder of the reformation,
and from that time on a restoration process has been going on
in the Church.
Later when I went to bible school these same things were repeated
– making Luther the father of the reformation and Justification
by faith. It was not quite apparent but it is now that they
entire protestant movement has hitched itself to this man and
that this doctrine as well as others that he taught that are
not as well known have had an immeasurable negative effect upon
what we believe today.
First
and foremost we need to understand that Martin Luther was a
Roman Catholic Priest – the monastery that he is depicted as
being in was a Roman Catholic Monastery. Luther was a student
of Greek Hebrew Latin and this was good. Luther was a student
of ancient writings including the Apostolic Fathers it was according
to Luther that when he read these writings that he became aware
of how far the church had strayed. Luther does not say that
a voice from heaven or a light shone on him and he suddenly
understood Justification by faith. He read the same writings
that I have in some part made available on this website. We need to understand that from Martin Luther’s
own words he NEVER desired to leave the Roman Catholic Church.
Martin Luther in his own words tells us that he believed in
worshipping and praying to Mary. And perhaps worst of all Martin
Luther’s concept of justification by faith is utter heresy and
if any would repeat his words as their own in a fundamentalist
church or a Pentecostal church they would be cast out and branded
a member of a cult.
What
I am saying is that the whole of Protestantism is irrevocably
hitched to Luther and his doctrinal wagon – so he has received
facelift after facelift to preserve faith in the movement.
But
there is more, much more Luther was not alone. There were several
men involved in the founding of the reformation they were most
notably Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Menno Simons.
There was a forth man named Zwingli, that had a huge influence
on our current beliefs on Holy Communion. But Luther, Calvin
and Simons were the core. These men were all contemporary –
they not only lived at the same time but they also corresponded
with one another in the early days and collaborated on their
doctrines. One should know that all three of these men were
roman catholic priests – they had received all their doctrinal
training from the Roman Catholic Church and ultimately where
they had no “light” and I use the term loosely here they reached
into their bag of Roman Catholic doctrines and dusted one off
and made a few minor changes so that they could call it their
own.
John
Calvin’s doctrines of election, predestination, and eternal
security were not personal revelations as has been espoused
they came directly from Martin Luther, Calvin claim to fame
is that he focused specifically on these doctrines instead of
a broader scope.
Menno Simons is important because he was the father of the fundamentalist
movement. And he was fundamentalism’s doctrine man. Menno Simons
was a prolific writer who wrote between 1200 – 1500 books, all
of which are with us to this day and many of which are strictly
adhered to this day. In his writings he defined everything about
the church, all our doctrine, how church services were to be
held and the ministry. This is why there is such uniformity
in fundamentalist and evangelical churches, in their buildings
the way they conduct services and doctrinally though in the
past 100 years evangelicals have wandered far afoot from their
forefathers.
In
my writings on this site I have repeatedly made the charge that
the Church of this day that is evangelicals and fundamentalists
and the thousands of offshoots that includes Pentecostals and
Charismatics have more in Commons with Menno Simons, John Calvin
and Martin Luther and hence the Roman Catholic Church than with
Christ and the Apostles. It is not that we do not have Christ
and the Apostles words – it is that virtually everything they
said or taught has been filtered by these three men. How can
this be you say I’ve never read a single book by these men.
I only read the bible. They have a virtual lock on Christian
doctrine – that is how we interpret scripture because they redefined
the terms. So how if you “Only read the Bible” do their words
get to you. The truth is that you do not read only the bible.
There is virtually not a man living that opened the bible and
started reading and “Became saved.” How do the bulk of Christian’s
get saved? Through someone else’s preaching. And how did were
did they get their teaching they went to bible school or read
books or used a correspondence course. Generation upon generation
the words of Menno Simons, John Calvin and Luther’s words have
been carried abroad by ever preacher and believer they have
become a leaven. The whole lump that is called the church has
been leavened by these men’s words. And dare I say even the
Roman catholic Church admits these men have influenced doctrinal
changes within their church. Only those who truly have a love
for the truth will search out these matters to see if they be
so. For all the rest, they are following a pied piper to oblivion.
They have been beguiled, but not by the serpent but by his surrogates
that is every preacher, teacher and ministry that bears his
redefined terms and corruptions of God’s word.
I
will now let Luther speak to you the evil and corrupt words
he taught his followers.
Luther: God must become the devil sometimes;
what is believed conceals itself in the appearance of the opposite
a) (Another translation of
this passage)
”God
cannot be God; first He must become a devil … I must grant divinity
to the devil for a brief hour, and let devilishness be attributed
to our God. But it’s early days yet. In the end we can indeed
say: His kindness and loyalty rule over us.”
(a) WE 31, p. 249 f. b) WE 18, cited from H.
G. Pöhlmann, Abriss der Dogmatik [Outline of Dogmatism], Gütersloh
1980, 3rd Ed., p. 82)
"God does not work salvation for fictitious sinners. (God can not work salvation in
you if you only think you have sinned) Be a sinner and
sin vigorously.... Do not for a moment imagine that this life
is the abiding place of justice; sin must be committed."
"Whenever the devil harasses you, seek the company of
men or drink more, or joke and talk nonsense, or do some other
merry thing. Sometimes we must drink more, sport, recreate ourselves,
and even sin a little to spite the devil, so that we leave him
no place for troubling our consciences with trifles. We are
conquered if we try too conscientiously not to sin at all. So
when the devil says to you: do not drink, answer him: I will
drink, and right freely, just because you tell me not to."
"The imputation of righteousness we need very much, because
we are far from perfect. As long as we have this body, sin will
dwell in our flesh. Then, too, we sometimes drive away the holy
spirit; we fall into sin, like Peter, David, and other holy
men. Nevertheless we may always take recourse to this fact,
that our sins are covered, and that God will not lay them to
our charge. Sin is not held against us for Christ's sake."
"your sin cannot cast you into hell"
"No sin can harm me"
"Sin cannot tear you away from him [Christ], even though
you commit adultery a hundred times a day and commit as many
murders."
(The
following two quotes are regarding when you vigorously sin to
receive salvation, and when you commit adultery and murder 100
times a day – According to Luther it is not that you are sinning
against God and leaving behind a trail of human wreckage, it
is that you are having sex with demons – so there is no harm
or foul. This is so deluded I have no words to say here.)
"We may well lie with what seems to be a woman of flesh
and blood, and yet all the time it is only a devil in the shape
of a woman."
"The Devil can so completely assume the human form, when
he wants to deceive us, that we may well lie with what seems
to be a woman, of real flesh and blood, and yet all the while
'tis only the Devil in the shape of a woman. 'Tis the same with
women, who may think that a man is in bed with them, yet 'tis
only the Devil; and...the result of this connection is oftentimes
an imp of darkness, half mortal, half devil...."
Here
Luther advocates the use of the sword to convert people.it is
not only that he justifies it but he boasts elsewhere of having
killed 100,000 peasants.
"As
to the common people, ... one has to be hard with them and see
that they do their work and that under the threat of the sword
and the law they comply with the observance of piety, just as
you chain up wild beasts."
"They (The Common People)
should be knocked to pieces, strangled and stabbed,
secretly and openly, by everybody who can do it, just as one
must kill a mad dog!"
”Such
strange times are here that a people can earn heaven with bloodshed
rather than others usually with praying … Stab, beat, throttle
here, whoever can. If you remain dead in the process, happy
you, you can never attain a more blessed death. For you die
obedient to the divine word and command.”
(Wider die stürmenden Bauern
[Against the storming peasants] Weimar Edition of Luther’s Writings
(= WE) 18, pp. 357-361)
”Preachers
are the greatest killers of all. For they admonish the authorities
that they should administer their office with resolution and
punish the pests. I have killed all the
farmers in the rebellion; all their blood is on my neck. But I lay the blame on our good Lord; he ordered me to say such
things …”
(Tischreden [Tabletalk] WE 3, p. 75)
In
this next quote Luther advocates burning people to death in
ovens.
"I almost feel like throwing Jimmy
into the stove, as the priest in Kulenberg did."
In this next Quote Luther advocates killing usurers
”… as one breaks
on the wheel and beheads the street robbers, murderers … how
much more shall one break on the wheel and bleed all usurers
and chase away, curse and behead all skinflints …”
(An die Pfarrherren wider den Wucher zu predigen. [To the Pastors for Preaching Against the Usurers] Vermahnung
[Admonishment] D. Martini Lutheri, Anno 1540, Tomos 7 p. 415)
In this next Quote Luther
advocates killing unfaithful partners
”…
it would be better: kill, kill him, in order to avoid more evil
examples … It is the fault of the authorities: Why does one
not kill the adulterer?”
(Martin Luther, Vom ehelichen
Leben - Das ander[e] Teil (About Married Life - the Other Part]
First Edition Wittenberg 1522, cited from Böhm, ob. cit. p.
153; there cited from Lorenz, Vom ehelichen Leben, Reclam, 1978,
p. 16f.)
In this next Quote Luther
advocates killing
prostitutes
”If
I were a judge, I would want to have such a French, poisonous
whore broken on the wheel and bled.”
(”Ernste Vermahn- und Warnschrift
Luthers an die Studenten zu Wittenberg, am 13.5.1543 öffentlich
an der Kirche angeschlagen” [Serious Writing of Admonishment
and Warning by Luther to the Students in Wittenberg, publicly
nailed to the church on May 13, 1543], Tomos 8, pp. 172-172
b)
In these next quotes Luther
advocates killing women with spiritual and magical abilities
”You
shall not let the sorceresses live … It is a just law that they
are killed. They cause much harm … They can also cast a spell
on a child so that it continuously screams and no longer eats
or sleeps. If you look at such females, you will see that they
have a devilish face. I have seen it on several … one can only
kill them.”
”Therefore, kill them, because they have dealings with the devil.”
”When they do not confess, we will hand them over to the torturers.”
(a) Sermon from 1526;
WE 16, p. 551;
b) 1526, cited from Esotera, 3. 3. 1985, p. 245
c) Cited from Hans-Jürgen Wolf, Sünden der Kirche [Sins
of the Church], Erlensee 1995, p. 717 ff.)
Here
Luther advocates burning to death all who are accused of witchcraft.
"I should have no compassion
on these witches; I should burn them all."
For those who doubt that
these things were actually done I have read of one of Luther’s
disciples who claimed to have read the bible 365 times cover
to cover boasting that he has personally seen to the deaths
of 10,000 witches and heretics in his municipality
Here
are a few more quotes from Luther on demons and demon possession.
"At Poltersberg, there is a lake similarly cursed. If
you throw a stone into it, a dreadful storm immediately arises,
and the whole neighboring district quakes to its centre. 'Tis
the devils kept prisoner there."
"Demons live in many lands, but particularly in Prussia."
"In Switzerland, on a high mountain, not far from Lucerne,
there is a lake they call Pilate's Pond, which the Devil has
fixed upon as one of the chief residences of his evil spirits...."
"Many demons are in woods, in waters, in wildernesses,
and in dark poolly places ready to hurt...people."
"Some [demons] are also in the thick black clouds, which
cause hail, lightning and thunder, and poison the air, the pastures
and grounds."
"The Devil, too, sometimes steals human children; it is
not infrequent for him to carry away infants within the first
six weeks after birth, and to substitute in their place imps...."
"The winds are nothing else but good or bad spirits. Hark!
how the Devil is puffing and blowing...."
"We need not invite the Devil to our table; he is too
ready to come without being asked. The air all about us is filled
with demons...."
Luther blamed everything on he did not understand or feared
on the devil. The man seems to have been driven by demons in
his beliefs – the only person in my say that comes close to
this was Kenneth Hagan who claimed to have daily conversations
wit the devil.
Here
Luther suggests that women and girls that go wading into ponds
and lakes are taken over by demons – I am sure this somehow
relates to his talk above of adultery with demons.
"How often have not the demons called 'Nix,'
drawn women and girls into the water, and there had commerce
with them, with fearful consequences."
Luther
here identifies some children as being literal physical children
of demons. In other places he says this of the handicapped and
retarded and advocates killing them.
"I myself saw and touched at Dessay, a child of this sort,
which had no human parents, but had proceeded from the Devil.
He was twelve years old, and, in outward form, exactly resembled
ordinary children."
"Idiots, the lame, the blind, the dumb, are men in whom the devils have established themselves:
and all the physicians who heal these infirmities, as though
they proceeded from natural causes, are ignorant blockheads...."
Luther
rejects the book of James and claims James was written by the
Jews to subvert the Church.
"I maintain that some Jew wrote it [the Book of James]
who probably heard about Christian people but never encountered
any."
"Many sweat to reconcile St. Paul and St. James, but in
vain. 'Faith justifies' and 'faith does not justify' contradict
each other flatly. If any one can harmonize them I will give
him my doctor's hood and let him call me a fool."
Here
Luther decries wisdom -- spoken of in Proverbs Christ and the
Apostles. Aand understanding or might we say a love of the truth
so that we would not take Paul the Apostles word for it but
to search the scriptures daily to see if these things be so?
And Yet Luther wants absolute sway where no one questions his
words but blindly follows him. This carnal corrupt attitude
has taken over the ministry in church
"No gown worse becomes a than the desire to be wise."
"Reason is the greatest enemy that faith has: it never
comes to the aid of spritual things, but--more frequently than
not --struggles against the Divine Word...."
"Reason must be deluded, blinded, and destroyed. Faith
must trample underfoot all reason, sense, and understanding,
and whatever it sees must be put out of sight and ... know nothing
but the word of God."
"The damned whore Reason...."
"To be a Christian, you must pluck out the eye of reason."
"Whoever wants to be a Christian should tear the eyes
out of his reason."
Luther
advocates killing Jews and exterminating their entire race.
He and his perverted Lutheran followers killed tens of thousands
of Jews. And some 400 hears later Adolf Hitler did all that
Martin Luther had commanded. When I read the quotes below I
wept.
"We are at fault for not slaying them [the Jews]."
"What shall we do with...the Jews?...I advise that all
their prayer books and Talmudic writings...are to be taken from
them."
"What shall we do with...the Jews?...I advise that safe-conduct
on the highways be abolished completely for the Jews."
"What shall we do with...the Jews? I advise that their
rabbis be forbidden to teach on pain of loss of life and limb."
"What shall we do with...the Jews?...set fire to their
synagogues or schools and bury and cover with dirt whatever
will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or
cinder of them."
"What shall we do with...the Jews?...their homes also
should be razed and destroyed."
This
is a timeless quote from Luther on the place of women.
"Women...have but small and narrow chests, and broad
hips, to the end that they should remain at home, sit still,
keep house, and bear and bring up children."
Most
of these quotes above came from Luther's “Table Talk" or
from Martin Luther:
“The Christian Between God and Death”
Martin Luther Believed Christ had commited adultery
Christ committed adultery first of all with the woman
at the well about whom St. John tells us. Was not everybody
about Him saying: "Whatever has he been doing with her?"
Secondly, with Mary Magdalene, and thirdly with the woman taken
in adultery whom he dismissed so lightly. Thus even Christ,
who was so righteous, must have been guilty of fornication before
He died.
(D. Martin Luthers Werke, kritische Gesamtausgabe
[Hermann Bohlau Verlag, 1893], vol. 2, no. 1472, April 7 - May
1, 1532, p. 33)
Christ was an adulterer for the first time with the
woman at the well, for it was said, "Nobody knows what
he's doing with her". Again, with Magdalene, and still
again with the adulterous woman in John 8 <:2-11>, whom
he let off so easily. So the good Christ had to become an adulterer
before he died.
(Luther's Works, American Edition,
Volume 54, p 154)
Luther believed
in and Prayed to Mary
Luther
indeed was quite devoted to Our Lady, and retained most of the
traditional doctrines about Saint Mary which were held then,
and are still heald to this day by the Catholic Church.
This
is often not well-documented in Protestant biographies of Luther
and histories of the 16th century, yet it is undeniably true.
Along with virtually all the Protestant Founders (e.g.,
Calvin, Zwingli, Cranmer), Luther accepted the traditional belief
in the perpetual virginity of Mary (Jesus had no blood brothers),
and her status as the Theotokos (Mother of God):
Christ
. . . was the only Son of Mary, and the
Virgin Mary bore no children besides Him . . . "brothers"
really means "cousins" here, for Holy Writ and the
Jews always call cousins brothers.
(Sermons on John, chapters 1-4, 1537-39)
He, Christ, our Savior, was the real and natural fruit of Mary's
virginal womb . . . This was without the cooperation of a man,
and she remained a virgin after that.
(Sermons on John, chapters 1-4, 1537-39)
God says . . . : "Mary's Son is My only Son." Thus
Mary is the Mother of God.
(Sermons on
John, chapters 1-4, 1537-39)
Probably
the most astonishing Marian belief of Luther is his acceptance
of Mary's Immaculate Conception, which wasn't even definitively
proclaimed as dogma by the Catholic Church until 1854. Concerning
this question there is some dispute, over the technical aspects
of medieval theories of conception and the soul, and whether
or not Luther later changed his mind. Even some eminent Lutheran
scholars, however, such as Arthur Carl Piepkorn (1907-73) of
Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, maintain his unswerving acceptance
of the doctrine. Luther's words follow:
It is a sweet and pious belief that the infusion
of Mary's soul was effected without original sin;
so that in the very infusion of her soul she was also purified
from original sin and adorned with God's gifts, receiving a
pure soul infused by God; thus from the first moment she began
to live she was free from all sin.
(Sermon: "On the Day of the Conception of the Mother of
God," December 1527; from Hartmann Grisar, S.J., Luther,
authorised translation from the German by E.M. Lamond; edited
by Luigi Cappadelta, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, first
edition, 1915, Vol. IV [of 6], p. 238; taken from the German
Werke, Erlangen, 1826-1868, edited by J.G. Plochmann
and J.A. Irmischer, 2nd ed. edited by L. Enders, Frankfurt,
1862 ff., 67 volumes; citation from 152, p. 58)
She (MARY) is full of grace, proclaimed to be entirely
without sin- something exceedingly
great. For God's grace fills her with everything good and makes
her devoid of all evil.
(Personal {"Little"} Prayer
Book, 1522)
Luther
held to the idea and devotional practice of the veneration of
Mary and expressed this on innumerable occasions with the most
effusive language:
The veneration of Mary is inscribed in the very
depths of the human heart.
(Sermon, September 1, 1522)
[Mary is the] highest woman and the noblest gem
in Christianity after Christ . . . She is nobility,
wisdom, and holiness personified. We can never honor her enough.
Still honor and praise must be given to her in such a way as
to injure neither Christ nor the Scriptures.
(Sermon, Christmas, 1531)
One should honor Mary as she herself wished and
as she expressed it in the Magnificat. She
praised God for his deeds. How then can we praise her? The true
honor of Mary is the honor of God, the praise of God's grace
. . . Mary is nothing for the sake of herself, but for the sake
of Christ . . . Mary does not wish that we come to her, but
through her to God.
(Explanation of the Magnificat, 1521)
Mary is the Mother of Jesus and the Mother of all
of us even though it was Christ alone who reposed on her knees
. . . If he is ours, we ought to be in his situation; there
where he is, we ought also to be and all that he has ought to
be ours, and his mother is also our mother.
(Sermon, Christmas, 1529)
LUTHER DID
NOT BELIEVE MEN HAVE FREE WILL
AND now what do those words of Christ, where He saith, "No
one can come unto Me except My Father which hath sent Me draw
him," (John vi. 44), leave to "Free-will?"
For He says it is necessary, that every one should hear and
learn of the Father Himself, and that all must be "taught
of God." Here, indeed, He not only declares that the works
and devoted efforts of "Free-will" are of no avail,
but that even the word of the Gospel itself, (of which He is
here speaking,) is heard in vain, unless the Father Himself
speak within, and teach and draw. "No one can," "No
one can (saith He) come:" by which, that power, whereby
man can endeavour something towards Christ, that is, towards
those things which pertain unto salvation, is declared to be
a nothing at all.
Nor does that at all profit "Free-will,"
which the Diatribe [the Discussion by Erasmus] brings forward
out of Augustine, by way of casting a slur upon this all-clear
and all-powerful Scripture—'that God draws us, in the same way
as we draw a sheep, by holding out to it a green bough.' By
this similitude he would prove, that there is in us a power
to follow the drawing of God. But this similitude avails nothing
in the present passage. For God holds out, not one of His good
things only, but many, nay, even His Son, Christ Himself; and
yet no man follows Him, unless the Father hold Him forth otherwise
within, and draw otherwise!—Nay, the whole world follows the
Son whom He holds forth!
But this similitude harmonizes sweetly with the experience
of the godly, who are now made sheep, and know God their Shepherd.
These, living in, and being moved by, the Spirit, follow wherever
God wills, and whatever He holds out to them. But the ungodly
man comes not unto Him, even when he hears the word, unless
the Father draw and teach within: which He does by shedding
abroad His Spirit. And where that is done, there is a different
kind of drawing from that which is without: there, Christ is
held forth in the illumination of the Spirit, whereby the man
is drawn unto Christ with the sweetest of all drawing: under
which, he is passive while
God speaks, teaches, and draws, rather than seeks or runs of
himself.
Sect.
163.
I WILL produce yet one more passage from John, where, he saith,
"The Spirit shall reprove the world of sin, because they
believe not in me." (John xvi. 9).
You here see, that it is sin, not to believe in Christ: And
this sin is seated, not in the skin, nor in the hairs of the
head, but in the very reason and will. Moreover, as Christ makes
the whole world guilty from this sin, and as it is known by
experience that the world is ignorant of this sin, as much so
as it is ignorant of Christ, seeing that, it must be revealed
by the reproof of the Spirit; it is manifest, that "Free-will,"
together with its will and reason, is accounted a captive of
this sin, and condemned before God. Wherefore, as long as it
is ignorant of Christ and believes not in Him, it can will or
attempt nothing good, but necessarily serves that sin of which
it is ignorant.
In a word: Since the Scripture declares Christ everywhere by
positive assertion and by antithesis, (as I said before), in
order that, it might subject every thing that is without the
Spirit of Christ, to Satan, to ungodliness, to error, to darkness,
to sin, to death, and to the wrath of God, all the testimonies
concerning Christ must make directly against "Free-will;"
and they are innumerable, nay, the whole of the Scripture. If
therefore our subject of discussion is to be decided by the
judgment of the Scripture, the victory, in every respect, is
mine; for there is not one jot or tittle of the Scripture remaining,
which does not condemn the doctrine of "Free-will"
altogether!
But if the great theologians and defenders of "Free-will"
know not, or pretend not to know, that the Scripture everywhere
declares Christ by positive assertion and by antithesis, yet
all Christians know it, and in common confess it. They know,
I say, that there are two kingdoms in the world mutually militating
against each other.
—That Satan reigns in the one, who, on that account is by Christ
called "the prince of this world," (John xii 31),
and by Paul "the God of this world;" (2 Cor. iv. 4),
who, according to the testimony of the same Paul, holds all
captive according to his will, who are not rescued from him
by the Spirit of Christ: nor does he suffer any to be rescued
by any other power but that of the Spirit of God: as Christ
testifies in the parable of "the strong man armed"
keeping his palace in peace.
—In the other kingdom Christ reigns: which kingdom, continually
resists and wars against that of Satan: into which we are translated,
not by any power of our own, but by the grace of God, whereby
we are delivered from this present evil world, and are snatched
from the power of darkness. The knowledge and confession of
these two kingdoms, which thus ever mutually war against each
other with so much power and force, would alone be sufficient
to:" seeing that, we are compelled to serve in the kingdom
of Satan, until we be liberated by confute
the doctrine of "Free-will a Divine Power. All this,
I say, is known in common among Christians, and fully confessed
in their proverbs, by their prayers, by their pursuits, and
by their whole lives. . . .
Luther
persecuted Christians, for example, the so-called ”Baptists,
(Ana-baptists.)Elsewhere Luther orders the death of spirit-filled
Ana-baptists.”
”On the other hand, it is now important for
us to damn these and to make them known as damned, so that those
who follow, are freightened off by their heresy an the doubting
and vacillating consciences will be helped.”
They
are to be considered as ”rabble-rousers” and ”murderers”. (Note:
…even though almost all of them live peaceably)
”Therefore,
without doubt the authority is obligated … and should … with
physical violence and according to the circumstances also punish
with the sword,” … ”hand over to the hangman” (= kill).
(a) Tischreden, Luther Deutsch [Tabletalk], Luther German,
ob cit., p. 272
b) and c) The 82nd Psalm written and interpreted
by D. M. L. Anno 1530; Tomos 5, p. 74 b-76 b)
Luther: Faith alone is sufficient for salvation – All is good
just as long as you believe
”And
so, in us we are sinners and nevertheless, as long as God sees
us as righteous, righteous through the belief.”
(Scholien zum Römerbrief [Lectures
on Letter to the Romans] WE 56, p. 271 ff.)
Luther:
Wishes to kill the pope and the bishops:
”Just as we punish thieves with rope, murderers with sword,
heretics with fire, why do we not much more attack these noxious
teachers of corruption, like popes, cardinals, bishops and the
entire ulceration of Roman sodomy, with all sorts of weapons
and wash our hands in their blood ...? But God, who speaks here:
The revenge is mine, will indeed find in good time these enemies,
who are not worthy of temporal punishments, but must have their
punishments eternally in the abyss of hell.”
”The pope is the devil; if I could kill the pope, why do I
not want to do it?”
”Luther urged that one should tear out the tongues of the
pope and the Curia all the way back to the throat and should
nail them like seals on the papal bulls according to order of
precedence on the gallows.”
(a & b) Martin Luther, Zwo harte ernstliche Schriften Doct. Martini an den Christlichen Leser [Two hard, earnest
writings from Dr. Martin to the Christian readers], 1518, Tomos
1, Point II, pp. 24 & 24b; c) E. Erikson, Der junge Mann
Luther [The Young Man Luther], 1958, p. 229, cited from Friedrich
Heer, Gottes erste Liebe [God’s First Love], Esslingen 1967)
Luther
called for killing preachers who could not prove ordination
by an official church, even if they are angels from heaven and
teach the pure Gospel
”… even if they wanted to teach the pure
Gospel, indeed, even if they were like angels and Gabriel from
heaven … If he wants to preach, then he must prove the calling
or order … If he does not want to, then the authorities should
hand over such scoundrels to the proper master, who is called
Master Hans (= the hangman).”
(The 82nd Psalm
through D. M. L., written and interpreted Anno 150, Tomos 5,
pp. 74 b ff.)
Luther
indirectly threatened with the death penalty citizens who do
not betray the person who preaches without ordination by an
official church
”And a citizen is guilty where such insidious scoundrels [preachers without
ordination by an official church] when someone comes to him,
before he has heard this person, that he tell his authority
and also the pastor whose pastoral child he is. If he does not
do this, then he shall know that he acts as one disobedient
to his authority against his oath and as one who despises his
pastor (to whom he owes honor) he acts against God, and thus
is guilty himself and like the hypocrite [Who will be executed]
becomes a thief and a rogue …”
(The 82nd Psalm
through D. M. L., written and interpreted Anno 150, Tomos 5,
pp. 74 b ff.)
Luther
attributes truth to himself and considers, for example, his
Jewish and Christian opponents, whom he fought against, as ”enemies”
of God
”For along with Paul I dare to attribute to myself the knowledge and to
confidently deny it to you [his conversation partner].”
”My
dear Creator and Father, you will graciously see it as good,
that I … must talk so despicably against your accursed enemies,
devils and Jews. You know that I do it out of the heat of my
faith and to honor your divine majesty.”
(a) WE 18, p. 601 - Luther’s
statement refers to an argument with the learned Erasmus of
Rotterdam.
b) WE 53 (1920), p. 605)
LUTHER CANCELS MASS
Luther distinguished between the sacramental
and the sacrificial side of the service. These two parts, he says, must form every service and though they
are distinguished from each other, they must never be separated. In the Sacramental side, God offers his grace
to the congregation through the means of the Word and Sacraments. This is the most important part of the service.
Here the congregation is more receptive, but in the sacrificial
side it gives its answer in confession, prayer, praise and thanksgiving
to what God has given. The Medieval Church completely upset the healthy
relation between the two sides of worship and laid undue stress
on the sacrificial side to the detriment of the sacramental
side. Holy Communion in the Roman Church, as the
continuous unbloody sacrifice by the priest, became the work
of man.
Already in 1520 Luther in his treatise
“Concerning the Babylonian Captivity of the Church” attacked
the doctrine of the mass as sacrifice, calling it the worst
and most deceitful of offences.
At that time he regarded the error so seriously that
he suggested the abolition of the whole service and the introduction
of totally new ceremonies.
In his “Sermon concerning the NT, that is the Holy Mass”
of 1520, he refers to the distinction between the sacramental
and sacrificial sides of the service.
He says: “God’s Word and work must come before man can
do anything or offer anything to God. The Mass is not sacrifice, but a testament
through which God offers to His people the gift of forgiveness
of sins. The Roman Church has inverted this healthy
order and has given to man that which properly belongs to God,
and has given to the mass that which actually belongs to the
people. The mass must remain a sacrament otherwise we lose the Gospel, Christ
and every comfort of grace.
Man cannot offer to God that which God offers to man.”
While Luther was at the Wartburg, Carlstadt
had set to work to put into practice the suggestions for a reformed
common service (at Wittenberg).
His attitude, however, was the revolutionary historical
one, which throws out everything that is not commanded by Scripture
even though it does not contradict Scripture.
Luther, hearing of this, felt the need to return and
in eight forceful sermons he pointed out the error of Carlstadt’s
methods. Luther restored
the Mass and the entire service with the exception of the fundamental
error of the mass as sacrifice. On this point he was uncompromising.
I will theorize here and now that
Martin Luther and John Calvin were so guilt ridden for their
killings and crimes that there knew that they knew that they
knew that they were hell bound. So for personal vanity they
chose to believe that they were predestined, that they by faith
were absolved of all sin no matter how heinous it was, and that
they were eternally secure. THOSE WHO ARE MADE RIGHTEOUS AND
WALK UPRIGHTLY BEFORE THE LORD NEED NO SUCH DOCTRINE. Only the
most perverse of sinners, need such assurances and to give such
assurances to their followers so that they would not abandon
them as prescribed by scripture.
These corrupt doctrines to assure
corrupt believers of a salvation they shall never see has become the underpinnings all of the evangelicalism,
fundamentalism, and Pentecostalism, for all those who confess
that they hold no such doctrine in word and deed affirm that
hey also believe they are eternally secure – and that is why
the church is in the state that it is today.
Isaiah
30:1 Woe to the rebellious children,
saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover
with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may
add sin to sin:
Amos
6:1 Woe to them that are at (careless)
ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief
of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!
