A few years later in 1520, the Pope issued a bull decree, calling Luther’s teaching poisonous. He demanded that Luther recant in 60 days or be excommunicated. Instead of acquiescing to this request, Luther publicly burned the pope’s bull decree.
In 1521, Luther was summoned to the town of Worms to appear before Charles V, ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. Luther was commanded to recant of all his teachings against the Roman Church. After one night of prayer and pleading with God, Luther returned to the Diet of Worms and declared the following:
Outside Luther’s Germany, similar “protest” movements were helmed by people like John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli, and John Knox. Beyond protesting corruption in the church, the emerging “protestant” movement challenged many of the theological and traditional teachings of the Roman Church.
The reformers believed that Scripture alone—not human traditions or the rulings of a church—held complete authority for Christians, and that salvation was a free gift of God that could not be earned by good deeds. The Protestant Reformation was shaped by many people over many years, but came into focus with this action by Martin Luther.
The contents of this post were adapted from several sources (see links in post). For a history of Halloween click this link.
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