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| Open Theism Discussion Board > Public Forums > Let’s solve the problem of evil > Martin Luther's Warfare Worldview | Forum Quick Jump
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victoryword
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Date Joined Apr 2003
Total Posts : 181
| Posted 1/8/2004 5:07 AM (GMT -6) |   | The quote taken from this article:
http://www.issuesetc.org/resource/journals/luther.htm
When God's holy Word arises, it is always its lot that Satan opposes it with all his might. At first, he rages against it with force and wicked power. If that promises no success, he attacks it with false tongues and erring spirits and teachers. What he is unable to crush by force he seeks to suppress by cunning and lies. This was his strategy at the beginning. When the Gospel first came into the world, he launched a mighty attack against it through Jews and Gentiles, shed much blood, and filled Christendom with martyrs. When this did not succeed, he raised false prophets and erring spirits and filled the world with heretics... And we must be prepared for this, and by no means allow it to disturb us, for so it must be, as Paul tells the Corinthians: "There must also be heresies among you that they which are approved may be made manifest (1 Corinthians 11:19)."
If your beliefs cannot be supported by Scripture, they ain't worth supporting
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victoryword
Registered Member
Date Joined Apr 2003
Total Posts : 181
| Posted 1/8/2004 7:56 AM (GMT -6) | | More from Martin Luther. Quoted from here:
http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/catechism/web/cat-12.html
But this petition is especially directed also against our chief enemy, the devil. For all his thought and desire is to deprive us of all that we have from God, or to hinder it; and he is not satisfied to obstruct and destroy spiritual government in leading souls astray by his lies and bringing them under his power, but he also prevents and hinders the stability of all government and honorable, peaceable relations on earth. There he causes so much contention, murder, sedition, and war also lightning and hail to destroy grain and cattle, to poison the air, etc. In short, he is sorry that any one has a morsel of bread from God and eats it in peace; and if it were in his power, and our prayer (next to God) did not prevent him, we would not keep a straw in the field, a farthing in the house, yea, not even our life for an hour, especially those who have the Word of God and would like to be Christians.
If your beliefs cannot be supported by Scripture, they ain't worth supporting
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victoryword
Registered Member
Date Joined Apr 2003
Total Posts : 181
| Posted 1/12/2004 2:53 AM (GMT -6) | | Martin Luther on the origin of Sickness
Martin Luther believed that sickness and disease originates with the devil. Luther does not seem to believe that God gives sickness though He may send it as a means of discipline:
Martin Luther wrote:
God sends no sickness into the world but through the devil. All sadness and sickness are of the devil, not of God. For God permits the devil to harm us because he receives little regard from us (Ac 10:38; Lu 13:11). Whatever, therefore, pertains to death is the handiwork of the devil; and conversely, whatever pertains to life is the blessed work of God.... The Devil must be our Lord God's executioner.(From "What Luther Says" as recorded in Dr. Ken Chant's book, Healing in the Whole Bible)
While there are some slight differences, it seems that Luther's beliefs concerning God, the devil, and sickness was more consistent with a Warfare Worldview than, say, another reformer of this time, namely John Calvin. Calvin taught that God was the source of everything and everything occurred as a result of some divine decree. Many heresy hunters today seem to follow Calvin's theology more than they do Luther's.
If your beliefs cannot be supported by Scripture, they ain't worth supporting
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victoryword
Registered Member
Date Joined Apr 2003
Total Posts : 181
| Posted 1/16/2004 11:00 AM (GMT -6) | | Taken from Martin Luther's "Larger Catechism", from the section on prayer. Martin Luther wrote:
Therefore, every one of us should accustom himself from his youth daily to pray for all his wants, whenever he is sensible of anything affecting his interests or that of other people among whom he may live, as for preachers, the government, neighbors, domestics, and always (as we have said) to hold up to God His commandment and promise, knowing that He will not have them disregarded. This I say because I would like to see these things brought home again to the people that they might learn to pray truly, and not go about coldly and indifferently, whereby they become daily more unfit for prayer; which is just what the devil desires, and for what he works with all his powers. For he is well aware what damage and harm it does him when prayer is in proper practise. For this we must know, that all our shelter and protection rest in prayer alone. For we are far too feeble to cope with the devil and all his power and adherents that set themselves against us, and they might easily crush us under their feet. Therefore we must consider and take up those weapons with which Christians must be armed in order to stand against the devil. For what do you think has hitherto accomplished such great things, has checked or quelled the counsels, purposes, murder, and riot of our enemies, whereby the devil thought to crush us, together with the Gospel, except that the prayer of a few godly men intervened like a wall of iron on our side? They should else have witnessed a far different tragedy, namely, how the devil would have destroyed all Germany in its own blood. But now they may confidently deride it and make a mock of it, however, we shall nevertheless be a match both for themselves and the devil by prayer alone, if we only persevere diligently and not become slack. For whenever a godly Christian prays: Dear Father let Thy will be done, God speaks from on high and says: Yes, dear child, it shall be so, in spite of the devil and all the world.
If your beliefs cannot be supported by Scripture, they ain't worth supporting
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