Though they valued the gifted, there was no class distinction. For even Peter and John referred to themselves merely as “fellow elders” and Paul was a ’sinner’ and ‘the least of God’s people.’[1Pt 5, 3Jn 1, 1Ti 1, Eph 3]. Any fool could see that, contrasted against the cold staunchness of Jewish religion, this was a vibrant family community. Kings were treated like brothers and paupers were treated like kings. And the love and goodness of simple folk was a magnet to all whose hearts had yearned for something more…

And we know religion came in and choked out this life for many centuries. And we’ve read that in the 16th century God gave Luther a voice of reformation and the church another chance to clean up its act and get back to its roots, the True Vine, Jesus. People were rejecting religious death and coming alive again. ‘Community’ had rekindled and empires began to fall…

But when Luther died so did reform, in a sense. People still revered his enlightened teachings, but the enlightenment stopped with Luther…and God never gives His whole plan to just one saint. People continued with Luther’s reform, but not with God’s. And so Protestantism became as stunted and ghastly as the Catholicism it had rejected…

Just three centuries later, another German, Karl Marx, would rise up as a voice of the people. He looked at the church, the proud centerpiece of all society, and was anguished at the cruel class distinctions it had created. He loathed its hypocrisy. His deep sympathies stirred for the poor working class. Above all, his heart’s desire (a God-given desire, mind you) was for a sense of ‘community’, which was sorely lacking at the heart of church-centered society. “Religion is the opiate of the masses” he famously stated, witnessing the godless apathy of sleepy congregations. And so, in his own protest, he became the author of Communism, the father of the doomed Soviet empire and no small trouble for Christian nations for over a century to come.

Why? How is it that he could he look at the European church, the mother land of reformation, and see a complete lack of life, community, conviction and concern for the poor? Of all the people who should have turned to the faith for an alternative to cruel hierarchies, it should have been the young Karl Marx. Why? It is because the work of the reformation had ceased. The church was active; but not reformed. It was powerful; but not accountable. It was rich; but it was blind. Its soul had slipped back into its sleepy dark ages and allowed the brutal work of reform to cease.

And it must not cease. To reject death is to embrace life and there can be no blessing without brutal repentance. In this age, we all think reformational thoughts but we dare not speak them, in keeping with a non-biblical definition of love. But if we don’t continually press on with reform (which in essence means repentance) then what will rise up in its absence? Another Communism? A New Age deception? How many heresies are we to blame for by the absence of Truth in our midst? How many searching souls are rejecting Christ for all the compromises we turn a blind eye to, so as to not offend? For even Gandhi, the great liberator of India, while basing his life on the teachings of Christ and of Tolstoy, resisted conversion upon inspection of the church’s double standards.

How much damage have we done through resisting reform to date! Let us resist change no longer but give the highest honour to him who brings us the most discomfort! Amen.

Thanks Bretto : )

- well said! : )

I didn’t think that I had to make it too obvious in the article but it appears I should have. I didn’t say I was into Protestantism as in the sect, but protest-antism. This is two articles of mine now that you have miss-represented.

You said “Consider again, Brett, if you will, for how little the Protestant Reformation has since changed “Dark Age Christendom religion”, West to East.”

- It is the protest-ant action that I was reffering to, not the religion that has stemmed therefrom. The good protest-ant reformation that the Lord inspired wasn’t trying to reform “Dark Age Christendom” it was to reform His church- those who are called out ones (ekklesia).

You said “Jesus of Nazareth was a first century transformer (metamorpho), electing not to reform the religious system of the times… a system with its very origins in Him.”

- Jesus was both a transformer and reformer, He brought about - “…the time of reformation” (Heb 9:10).

You- “Many of those who would perish within the Protestant Reformation did not surrender for the sake of a reformation, as it promptly became clear to each “reformer” that the Roman Church would not come to yield — no matter how sound or secure the revelation”.

- I am not speaking about reforming carnal Christendom into a new improved carnal Christendom any more than reforming the Roman church into a better Roman church, hence the word re-form. We’re talking about people in His body taking on a whole new form. For many that can be re-forming from carnal church community into underground celestial community.

You- “Rather than presenting another Kingdom — the Kingdom of Christ, Protestantism foolishly takes up schism from within; reformers coming to practice the like sins of those whom they sought to reform. (e.g., Martin Luther calls for the tortured deaths of thousands).”

- To preach, pray and practice re-formation in a protest-ant, yet loving manner is not to become schismatic. When re-formers (like Luther) stagnate from further reformation and cease to move forward with God they usually set up camp and denominate in schismatic half measures. Luther didn’t actually want the denomination that bears his name, but carnal men decided to make a monument to him and to stagnate in yesterdays reformation.

You- “For the larger part of tens of thousands of denominations and sects today, we have reformation to praise. At what point will there come enough confusion and division to satisfy our taste for it?”

- You are way off. We have carnal men to thank and we have the whole list of things in this article to thank for the denominational debacle, not reformation. Jesus and John brought reformation to the remnant of Israel, the early apostles continued reformation, Luther and co were used by God to re-reform some aspects in the true ekklesia, and we need more re-formation in the true church despite the fact that many in carnal Christendom won’t budge.

Marshall, I suggest you pray before reading any more of my articles so you go into them without a critical spirit. It seems that you just want to argue and I feel a lot of confusion in our disputations.

Love,

Bretto

Good call. It’s sad that sons of God feel the need to be a member of something official rather than relishing in their membership in His church.

Gospel Love,

Bretto

I really appreciate the fact that you are motivated by love, not bitterness.
How’s this for another reason for protest: ‘validating membership by attendance’.

Timo

Blessings

You’ve typed another comment that seams quite ignorant to the article you’ve commented on. I’ll give a worthy response to your comment sometime in the next few days when I get time. Peace