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Police in the capital have “thought through every scenario” as they prepare to keep visitors safe during Protestant Reformation celebrations, which include a visit by Barack Obama. Around 140,000 visitors are expected in Berlin for the Church Congress marking 500 years since the start of the Protestant Reformation, which kicks off on Wednesday evening and lasts until Sunday. Former US President Obama will be the star guest in the proceedings, discussing “engaged democracy” with Chancellor Angela Merkel in front of a crowd of 80,000 at the Brandenburg Gate on Thursday. “Unfortunately, the terror threat has been constantly high for a...

Germany’s protestant church has secured a coup: Barack Obama will address the annual assembly to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. It could be Obama’s first major appearance since leaving the presidency. […] The former president can likely look forward to a warm welcome in Germany, where he still enjoys a favorable reputation despite revelations that the NSA once tapped Chancellor Merkel’s cell phone under his watch. …

Treasure hunters have apparently found the 500-year-old remains of a naval expedition led by a colonizer who could have changed Florida's history, making it French-speaking at least for a while. The big question is if the shipwreck is that of "La Trinite," the 32-gun flagship of a fleet led by Jean Ribault, a French navigator who tried to establish a Protestant colony in the southeast US under orders from King Charles IX. They probably are, say authorities in Florida, the French government and independent archeologists. And if they in fact are, this is an unparalleled find, said John de Bry,...

Norwegian Church Denounces Luther’s Anti-Jewish Writings November 25 STOCKHOLM — Norway’s state Lutheran Church has condemned the anti-Jewish legacy of Martin Luther, the 16th century German theologian who started the Protestant Reformation. In a statement issued Friday ahead of next year’s 500-year anniversary of the Reformation, the Church of Norway’s General Synod said some of Luther’s writings were later used in anti-Semitic propaganda, including in Nazi Germany. Noting that such propaganda was also spread in Nazi-occupied Norway during World War II, the synod said that “in the Reformation anniversary year of 2017, we as a church must clearly distance ourselves...

Heresy consists in the formal denial or doubt by a baptized person of any revealed truth of the Catholic Faith; as a crime it consists of the outward and pertinacious manifestation of the sin. As we can see below, Scripture speaks frequently of heresy entering the Church. We can also see that heresy is possible even with a Pope. In that case, the Pope is immediately ejected from the Church and papal infallibility no longer applies. See quotes below. References to Heresy in Scripture: Take heed to yourselves, and to the whole flock, wherein the Holy Ghost hath placed you...

In what is being hailed as a milestone in the ongoing progress toward Catholic-Lutheran unity, Pope Francis will celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation on October 31 [Halloween!], in Lund, Sweden. At 2:00 pm, the pope will participate in an ecumenical prayer service in the Lutheran cathedral in Lund, where he will deliver a sermon aimed at strengthening ecumenical ties between the two religions. Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, sums it up. "For the very first time, Catholics and Lutherans will commemorate together, at the global level, the anniversary of the...

“An Eternal Gospel to Reclaim and Proclaim” (Revelation 14:6-7; Romans 3:19-28) It was 499 years ago tomorrow, on October 31, 1517, that Martin Luther nailed Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, thus beginning the movement known as the Reformation. We are the heirs of that heritage, and so it is that on the last Sunday in October every year we observe Reformation Day in our churches. We are grateful to God for raising up his servant Luther to bring the clear truth of the gospel to light and to prominence once again. And we want...

Archbishop Viilma of the Evangelical Lutheran Church said that the exhibit ridicules religionAn image of the Virgin Mary in a museum in Estonia, designed to be desecrated to commemorate the Protestant Reformation, has provoked protests from religious and political leaders.The exhibit in the recently-opened National Museum of Estonia, in Tartu, is part of an exhibition on the Reformation in Estonia. It shows a virtual image of Our Lady of Graces on a screen in a glass box. If visitors kick a marked spot on the plinth supporting the box the image shatters into pieces and is replaced by the...

Pope Francis’ visit to Lund, Sweden, to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation will comprise “two parts” and will begin with a “common prayer” service in Lund's Lutheran cathedral and continue with a public event at Malmö Arena that will be open to wider participation, Vatican and Lutheran leaders have announced. In a joint statement issued today by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, they reiterated that the Oct. 31 event will be centered on the themes of “thanksgiving, repentance and commitment to common witness". It also said the overall aim of...

An update on Dr. Sproul's health: He is currently in the hospital near his home in Florida and is receiving steroids intravenously at his pulmonologist's recommendation. His breathing has been difficult over the past several months. We are encouraged that his vital metrics are good and the chest X-ray was clear showing no signs of pneumonia. He is getting expert care from the medical staff and they will continue to observe his progress and see how he responds to treatment. Please keep the Sproul family in your prayers.

Is a meaningful reformation of Islam possible? Probably not soon, but there have been indications that it may eventually come. The first video in this article features an attractive Saudi television hostess opining that Islam has everything to do with terrorism and that adherents to the "religion of peace" should be ashamed.Please note the absence of traditional Muslim female garb -- on a Saudi television program. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceGqB4raTZo Saudi journalist and TV host Nadine Al-Budair recently criticized the "hypocrites" who say that the terrorists "do not represent Islam or the Muslims." After the abominable Brussels bombings, "it's time for us to feel...

Rome has found a name for a new Square in the heart of the city, an open space in the middle of a leafy garden park in a choice area near the Coliseum: Martin Luther Square. Almost 500 years after Augustinian monk Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Cathedral of Wittenberg, Swabia (October 1517), and 494 years after the bull of excommunication issued by Pope Leo X ("Decet Romanum Pontificem", January 1521), the city of Rome has honored the man who sparked the Protestant Reformation, a movement premised on what Luther condemned in that very...

There is intense anticipation in the Catholic Church -- and no small amount of anxiety for traditionalists -- over what Pope Francis will say about Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics in a key document expected in the coming weeks. But Francis has already made an intriguing change in this area, albeit one that only concerns the Vatican's arcane diplomatic protocol and a very, very select group: Catholic heads of state. As longtime Vatican-watcher Andrea Tornielli reports, the pontiff has altered the long-standing Vatican custom that if a Catholic president or prime minister (or dictator) who is divorced and remarried...

In Infidel, Ayaan Hirsi Ali describes her execrable life as a devout Muslim girl in Somalia, Kenya and Saudi Arabia. She explains why she became an Infidel after experiencing freedom in the Netherlands. In Heretic, she seeks a reformation of Islam, with a focus on women's rights but including tolerance and freedom of thought and speech for all. That will not happen soon, even though there are other current and former Muslims who want it and others who claim to want it. From the first page of Heretic: On ______, a group of ______ heavily armed, black-clad men burst into a...

For a short window of about 80 years in the 13th century, small, portable bibles were produced on a large scale to satisfy the needs of the growing mendicant friar community and university students. Both groups needed bibles that were lightweight and easy to transport, a far cry from the large, thick-paged, multi-volume bibles common in scriptoria, libraries, churches and learning institutions. Between around 1220 and 1300, at least 20,000 and possibly as many as 30,000 portable bibles were produced, most of them in Paris, but also elsewhere in France, plus England, Italy and Spain. The university centers of Paris,...

Ironically, Beza found his "signal example"8 of how to deal with tyranny and resistance not so much in the work of early Calvinists as in the work of later Lutherans—particularly the Lutheran jurists and theologians who had drafted the Magdeburg Confession of 1550. The Magdeburg Confession was a major distillation of the most advanced Lutheran resistance theories of the day.9 The leaders of the small Saxon city of Magdeburg had drafted this Confession in response to the order of the Holy Roman Emperor to impose by civil law the uniform Catholic doctrines and liturgies being crafted by the Council of...

On October 31, much of the culture will be focused on candy and things that go bump in the night. Protestants, however, have something far more significant to celebrate on October 31. It’s Reformation day, which commemorates what was perhaps the greatest move of God’s Spirit since the days of the Apostles. But what is the significance of Reformation Day, and how should we consider the events it commemorates? At the time, few would have suspected that the sound of a hammer striking the castle church door in Wittenberg, Germany, would soon be heard around the world and lead ultimately...

Reformation Reminders: Rome & Her Desecration of Christ By Eric Davis OCTOBER 28, 2015 This Saturday, October 31, commemorates nearly 500 years since one of the greatest movements of God in church history; the Protestant Reformation. Up to the time of the Reformation, much of Europe had been dominated by the reign of Roman Catholicism. To the populace was propagated the idea that salvation was found under Rome and her system alone. But as the cultural and theological fog cleared in Europe and beyond, God's people gained a clarity that had been mostly absent for centuries. The Reformers gained this...

“The Law and the Prophets Bear Witness” (Romans 3:19-28)Today being the last Sunday in October, this is the day we observe Reformation Day, celebrating what happened 498 years ago, when, on October 31, 1517, Dr. Martin Luther went to a church door in Wittenberg, Germany, and there posted 95 Theses questioning the sale of indulgences. That was the beginning of the great Reformation of the church, and as Lutherans we are here today as the beneficiaries of that movement and that heritage. We thank God that he used Luther as his instrument to bring the clear gospel of Christ to...

"But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit," - Titus 3:4-5 The Gospel is the ultimate rags-to-riches story. We were pitiful, poor, blind, and naked, deserving death because of our sins, and unable to help ourselves. We felt unloved and in turn were unloving. This bleak existence of dust-to-dust was all there was.  And then Jesus came. He revealed to us a loving Daddy in heaven...