Pastoral Letters

Passing on the True Faith

October 15, 2017 Author:Elder Liu Kerh Li
What special occasion falls on 31st October?  Most of you would only know that to be Halloween.  But I am referring to the Christian Church’s Reformation Day.  Why is there such a day of remembrance, you may ask.  Or why does the Church need such a reformation?  To cut the story short, in the 2000 years of church history (starting with the Day of Pentecost until today), there was a period of dark ages.  When the Roman emperor Constantine the Great became a Christian in 310 AD, Christianity became the state religion of the empire from 380 AD onwards.  As such, Christians were no longer prosecuted and Christianity spread throughout the region.  At the same time, this Christian faith was gradually being corrupted.  In the next 1100 years, various cult practices and dogmas which were contrary to biblical principles infiltrated the Church.  As a result, the truth of the Gospel is lost.  During the 1600s, the Church is filled with all kinds of superstitions, its teachings were not from the Bible but were man-made.  Clergies were there to reap a profit and not to serve.  Common believers did not know the truth.  Everyone sought God’s salvation through doing good deeds.  According to 1 Timothy 3:15, the Church is God’s household and is the pillar and foundation of the truth.  But the church of that time had veered away from its core purpose.  It is no longer God’s church.

God, however, had not given up on His church., just as He did not forsake the Israelites when they worshipped false gods.  In the days of the Prophet Elijah, the nation of Israel no longer worshipped God but offer their prayers to Baal.  God sent Elijah to urge the people to repent.  He also preserved 7000 in Israel who had not bowed to Baal (1 King 19:18).  Likewise, during the dark ages of the Church, God preserved a group of warriors of the faith faithful to Him.  These people included Peter Waldo (1140-1250), John Wycliffe (1320-1384), John Hus (1369-1415), etc.  They advocated a church reformation which was resented by the clergies of those times.  These forefathers of the faith paid with their lives to preserve the purity of the faith of the church.

By 1600, God had raised various reformation warriors in different parts of Europe.  These included Martin Luther of Germany and John Calvin of France and Switzerland.  In the beginning, the reformers had only wanted to reform the church internally so as to bring her back to the Bible.  They did not intend to leave the church then.  On 31st October 1517, when Martin Luther posted the Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the Church of the University of Wittenberg, his intent was merely to debate the selling of plenary indulgences.  But little did he know that it would ignite the flame of reformation with no hope of turning back. 

The impact was not limited to the boundaries of the church or the faith of the people.  The reformation affected peasants and nobles, and the whole of Europe.  The church which once kept in bondage believers was, as a result, shaken as never before.  Reformers set up new churches in different parts of the country.  These became what is now known as the “Reformation Church.”  Another objective the Reformation movement is God’s Word.  Reformers emphasise the teaching of God’s Word, and that the Bible must regain its original authority.  It must be the only authority and guide of the Christian faith.  Reformers also stress that everyone should be able to read the Bible.  This resulted in translations of the Bible in different languages.

The Reformation Movement has a deep and lasting impact.  It would be hard to imagine what kind of world we would be living in had the 16th-century reformation not taken place.  We thank God for preserving the precious truth of the Gospel through servants who were willing to sacrifice their lives for the truth.  This generation of believers should also uphold this spirit of defending the truth so that the pure Christian faith could be passed on to the next generations.