A revealing anti-Protestant sculpture in the heart of Rome

Recently, I was listening to a Reformanda Initiative podcast featuring guest, Tim Challies, as he recounted how, on one of his visits to Rome, he encountered a large sculpture depicting the triumph of Catholicism over Protestant “heresy.” Curious, I did a little googling and discovered the following:

“Religion Overthrowing Heresy and Hatred” (photo above) was sculpted by Pierre Le Gros the Younger between the years 1695-1699 and is on display at the Chiesa del Gesù, the mother church of the Society of Jesus religious order (aka the Jesuits), located about 2 miles from Vatican City in Rome. The Society of Jesus was founded in 1540 by Ignatius of Loyola (d. 1556) specifically to oppose the Reformation. The sculpture is situated alongside the crypt of Ignatius, which is located within a side-altar of the church (see photo below).

“Religion Overthrowing Heresy and Hatred” depicts a woman (symbolizing the RCC) holding a cross in one hand and a bundle of flames in the other (keep that in mind!) while in the act of expelling two distressed figures, a male (heresy) and a female (hatred), to their eternal damnation. Lest anyone wonders who the figures represent, a smiling putto, or “little angel,” is also depicted ripping pages from a large book bearing the inscribed name of Huldrych Zwingli, while books with the names of Martin Luther and John Calvin await a similar fate.

The Reformers Zwingli, Luther, and Calvin, were moved by the Holy Spirit to reclaim the New Testament Good News! Gospel of salvation by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone that had been buried under one-thousand years of the RCC’s religious authoritarianism, sacramentalism, “sacred” tradition, and its works-righteousness false gospel. The RCC maintained a militant, confrontational approach towards Protestants until the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), when it adopted an attitude of reconciliation and rapprochement. However, the RCC has not changed any of its basic doctrines since the Reformation, including its false gospel of salvation by sacramental grace and merit.

The “Religion Overthrowing Heresy and Hatred” sculpture at the Chiesa del Gesù is a reminder carved in immutable marble that the church of Rome opposes the Gospel of grace and that tens of millions of Protestant believers were killed for their faith, some of them by immolation (recall the flames) at the direction of popes and Catholic prelates.

In direct contradiction of the “Religion Overthrowing Heresy and Hatred” sculpture and 445 years of violent Catholic militancy directed at Protestants, pope Francis stated the following at a 2016 ecumenical service, “With gratitude we acknowledge that the Reformation helped give greater centrality to Sacred Scripture in the Church’s life. The spiritual experience of Martin Luther challenges us to remember that apart from God we can do nothing. With the concept of ‘by grace alone,’ he [Luther] reminds us that God always takes the initiative,* prior to any human response,** even as he seeks to awake that response. The doctrine of justification thus expresses the essence of human existence before God.”

Between the congenial lines of his text, pope Francis reaffirms RC doctrine, that regeneration initially happens at baptism,* but it’s then up to each Catholic to perpetually “cooperate with grace” and attempt to merit their salvation by obeying the Ten Commandments (impossible!) and church rules.**

Question for my Catholic friends: If all popes are divinely-ordained and Holy Spirit-guided “Vicars of Christ” as the RCC claims, how could the popes of old have sanctioned deadly violence against Protestants in direct contradiction of modern popes (post-1958) who pragmatically encourage ecumenism and cooperation?

Above: The yellow circle marks the location of the “Religion Overthrowing Heresy and Hatred” sculpture adjoining the ostentatiously grandiose crypt of Jesuits founder, Ignatius of Loyola, at the Chiesa del Gesù in Rome.

Zwingli: God’s Armed Prophet?

Zwingli: God’s Armed Prophet
By Bruce Gordon
Yale University Press, 2021, 349 pp.

Huldrych Zwingli (1484-1531), was one of the principal figures of the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. From the pulpit of the Grossmünster church in Zürich, Switzerland, Zwingli preached the genuine Good News! Gospel of salvation by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. Zwingli started out as a Roman Catholic priest, but after intense and prayerful study of the New Testament, the Holy Spirit opened his eyes to the Gospel of grace.

In the minds of most students of the Reformation, Zwingli, takes a back seat to his contemporary, Martin Luther, and to John Calvin of the following generation. This excellent biography explains why. Whereas Luther and Calvin saw the Gospel more as a universal message for all mankind, Zwingli thought more in terms of a church-state interconnection and was focused on converting his beloved Swiss Confederation.

Zwingli and Luther both reclaimed and taught the genuine New Testament Gospel, but they disagreed on some secondary doctrines. Luther taught “consubstantiation,” that Jesus Christ was truly present in the communion elements, while Zwingli taught the elements were symbolic. This difference prompted Luther to angrily oppose and disparage Zwingli. Also, Luther embraced icons while Zwingli was a notorious iconoclast. Luther and Zwingli’s unnecessarily bitter disagreement over secondary doctrines and practices is echoed today in debates between some believers over secondaries and tertiaries.

I disagree with Zwingli’s support of infant baptism, his persecution of the Anabaptists, and his endorsement of church-state alliance. Zwingli was killed at the Battle of Kappel in connection with the misguided effort by Zürich’s political-religious leaders to force the Catholic-controlled states of the Swiss Confederation to allow Protestant preaching. Zwingli, an ardent student of ancient Greek philosophy, also erred by taking the doctrine of predestination to heretical extremes by teaching Sovereign God also elected the pagan philosophers of old.

The Reformers had their flaws. It’s easy from our vantage point to criticize the early Reformers like Zwingli and Luther for hanging onto vestiges of Roman Catholic doctrine, however, it was enough that they reclaimed the New Testament Gospel of grace. It would take succeeding generations of Reformers to further distance the church from Roman error.

This is an excellent biography of early-Reformer, Huldrych Zwingli, and I highly recommend it.

Throwback Thursday: Why the Reformation Still Matters

Welcome to this week’s “Throwback Thursday” installment. Today, we’re going to revisit a post that was originally published back on November 1, 2016 and has been revised.

Why the Reformation Still Matters
By Michael Reeves and Tim Chester
Crossway, 2016, 223 pages

Michael Reeves previously wrote an excellent book on the history of the Reformation for non-academics titled, “The Unquenchable Flame: Discovering the Heart of the Reformation” (2010). See my review here.

Now Reeves and Tim Chester have written this book which deals more with the theology of the Reformation rather than with its history. Once again, the material is aimed at non-academics like myself, so those who break out in a rash when they pick up a theology treatise can take comfort.

I would guess most evangelicals know very little about the Reformation and don’t care to know. A large number of WordPress evangelical bloggers will undoubtedly see the title of this post and hastily skip over it as quickly as they can. In our era of growing ecumenism, doctrine is becoming less and less important to people. But Reeves and Chester point out why the Reformation is still extremely important 505 years later. Mainline Protestant churches and even some evangelical leaders are lining up to sign ecumenical accords with the Catholic church. But Rome opposes the Biblical Gospel of salvation by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone today just as it did in 1517.

This is a short, easy-reading book that the reader should complete in three or four sittings. When they finish they’ll have a better understanding of what the fuss was all about in the 16th century and why it still matters in our day.

Chapters

1. Justification – How Can We Be Saved?
Unfortunately, much of the Protestant literature of the past that examined Roman Catholicism spent more time examining secondary issues (Mary, Purgatory, the papacy, etc.) than the primary issue of justification; how a person is made righteous before a Holy God. Luther said, “Justification is the article by which the church stands or falls.” The authors correctly give priority to the examination of the two opposing views of justification.
2. Scripture – How Does God Speak to Us?
3. Sin – What Is Wrong with Us?
4. Grace – What Does God Give Us?
5. The Theology of the Cross – How Do We Know What Is True?
6. Union with Christ – Who Am I?
7. The Spirit – Can We Truly Know God?
8. The Sacraments – Why Do We Take Bread and Wine?
9. The Church – Which Congregation Should I Join?
10. Everyday Life – What Difference Does God Make on Monday Mornings?
11. Joy and Glory – Does the Reformation Still Matter?

Order from Amazon here.

Welcome to the Weekend Roundup! – News & Views – 11/5/22

• Guy Fawkes Night celebrated tonight

In 1604-05, thirteen Roman Catholic conspirators worked on their plan to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London in an attempt to overthrow the Protestant monarchy of King James I and install a Catholic monarch. The Gunpowder Plot was discovered on November 5, 1605 and the conspirators, including Guy/Guido Fawkes, the munitions expert (illustration above), were arrested. The foiling of the plot has been celebrated in Britain as Guy Fawkes Night every year since then. In a hat tip to religious correctness, the celebration is now officially referred to as “Bonfire Night.” Colonists brought the celebration to America as “Pope’s Night” with the burning of effigies of the pope and mobs of “Protestant” ruffians looking for Catholics to harass. With the start of the American Revolutionary War, General George Washington discouraged the observance in deference to potential French-Catholic allies in Quebec and Paris. I don’t condone any religious violence, but the British and early-American Protestants of that era were keenly aware that the pope and Catholic monarchs had no compunctions about persecuting Protestants. Were the Jesuits involved in the Gunpowder Plot? A direct connection was strongly suspected (the night was also referred to as “Jesuit Night” by some), but never proven. TRIVIA: Our word “guy,” used to designate a strange, unfamiliar person, actually stems from the infamous Guy Fawkes.

• New Vatican synod document mentions women’s ordination, LGBTQ relationships

This article confirms that the Vatican is using the RCC’s church-wide 2021-2024 “Synod on Synodality” initiative to move the church forward towards eventually embracing practicing S&G-ites as fully-accepted members.

• Catholic Diocese of Buffalo Will Submit to Government Oversight

In an unprecedented measure, New York State has assigned an independent, former high-ranking F.B.I. official to the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo to oversee the diocese’s compliance with strict protocols aimed at eliminating sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests and any hierarchical cover-up. This should have been done decades ago in hundreds of U.S. Catholic dioceses when the priest sexual abuse scandal first broke, but city and state officials of the past worked hand-in-glove with the RC hierarchy.

• Pope warns priests about the dangers of watching porn: ‘It weakens the soul’

Roman Catholicism’s celibacy rule for clergy has both attracted and fostered deviancy. In 2021, a conservative Catholic source reported many Catholic priests use the gay hookup app, GRINDR (see here). It’s ironic that Francis warns priests and nuns about using porn, but propagates spiritual wickedness with his church’s false gospel of salvation by sacramental grace and merit.

• The attraction of Catholic traditionalism: From the fringes to the spotlight

A small but vocal faction of young Catholic “rad-trads” are calling for a return to pre-conciliar Catholic militantism.

• Vatican official reflects critically on work of EWTN

Conservative Catholic pundits on EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network), especially Raymond Arroyo with his “World Over” program, regularly criticize progressive pope Francis, and the Vatican is definitely not pleased.

• Nailed It? The Truth About Martin Luther, the Ninety-Five Theses, and the Castle Church Door

This interesting article points out that Martin Luther may not have used nails to attach his 95 theses to the Wittenberg Castle Church door as has been popularly portrayed. Also, the reclamation of the New Testament Gospel wasn’t full-blown on October 31, 1517 as many assume, but the Holy Spirit was working, working, working.

Throwback Thursday: “But I don’t like being called a ‘Protestant’”

Welcome to this week’s “Throwback Thursday” installment. Today, we’re going to revisit a post that was originally published back on September 2, 2016 and has been revised.

I came out of Roman Catholicism and accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior way back in the early 1980s. I can still vividly remember the intense joy of knowing all of my sins had been forgiven by my wonderful Savior, Jesus Christ. I was finally able to step off of that religious treadmill and find spiritual peace and acceptance with God the Father through His Son, Jesus Christ.

One thing bothered me, though. In leaving Catholicism and accepting Christ, many would say I had become a “Protestant.” Protestant? I didn’t like that at all. It seemed as if, in using that term, Protestants were identifying themselves in respect to their opposition to Roman Catholicism. I saw myself much more as a proclaimer of the genuine Good News! of salvation by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone rather than a protester of Catholicism’s works gospel. I wanted to be known as being “for” Christ rather than being “against” Catholicism. How did this “Protestant” label get started, anyway?

In 1526, the Diet of Speyer (a meeting of the “parliament” of the Holy Roman Empire in Speyer, Germany) issued the Edict of August 27th, which granted each principality the freedom to choose Catholicism or Gospel Christianity as the official religion. This was the first political step towards freedom of religion. Unfortunately, the pro-Catholic Diet of 1529 rescinded the previous edict. Gospel Christians immediately lodged a protest with the Diet (see painting above) and non-Catholics have been labeled as “Protestants” ever since.

These days, I’m not nearly as sensitive about being labeled a Protestant. The Lord used the Reformers and early Protestants in a great way and it’s a heritage all genuine Christians should be familiar with. However, as we’re all aware, many of the mainline Protestant denominations (Episcopalian, United Methodist, Evangelical Lutheran, Presbyterian USA, American Baptist) drifted into liberal apostasy long ago. I’m certainly blessed to be called a Christian, a follower of Christ, although the term has become a catch-all, which includes a whole lot of people who teach an unbiblical gospel of works or who have never accepted Christ. Because of that, I also like the term evangelical, one who proclaims the Good News of Jesus Christ, because it’s a little more distinguishing. It was generally understood that evangelical Christians proclaimed the genuine Gospel, but now we’re even seeing that term losing its distinctiveness (e.g., Joel Osteen, TBN).

“He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.” – Luke 13:18-19

There’s probably a number of people who dislike the title of this blog, excatholic4christ. I even thought about changing it a few times to something more “positive.” But I AM an ex-Catholic and I AM for Christ. Both Catholics and Christians need to know the Catholic church does not teach the genuine Gospel of salvation by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. Everyone who reads the New Testament knows that the Lord Jesus and the apostles weren’t patronizing and accommodating in regards to wrong doctrine. They confronted false religion and heresy. In this era of advancing ecumenism with its idols of accommodation and compromise – led by the church of Rome – I will continue to protest error and compromise and uphold the Gospel of grace.

“…And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.” Acts 11:26

For more on the “Protestation at Speyer,” see here.

Historical trivia: The Diets of 1526 and 1529 were held at the Reichskammergericht (Imperial Chamber Court) nearby to the Dom (Catholic cathedral) in Speyer. The building was destroyed in 1689 in a city-wide conflagration started by the invading French. The Hotel Domhof now sits on the site.

Above: Hotel Domhof, Speyer, Germany

Throwback Thursday: If you read only one book about the Reformation, this would be an excellent choice.

Welcome to this week’s “Throwback Thursday” installment. Today, we’re going to revisit a post that was originally published back on August 26, 2016 and has been revised.

The Unquenchable Flame: Discovering the Heart of the Reformation
By Michael Reeves
B&H Publishing, 2010, 207 pages

After Christianity becoming legalized by the Roman Empire in 313 AD and was subsequently adopted as the official state religion, the early Christian church began incorporating many of the beliefs and practices of its pagan predecessors. By the early-Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic church had very little in common with the primitive, New Testament church. The message of salvation by a personal, saving faith in Jesus Christ had devolved into clerical imperialism, ritual, and ceremony. In addition to its hopelessly compromised theology, the church had become an open cesspool of greed, corruption, political intrigue, and immorality.

But then something absolutely wonderful happened. Beginning in the 14th century (some would argue for an even earlier date), men and women began rising up to challenge the church’s autocratic position through the power of God’s Word and the Holy Spirit. The flame of reform reached a tipping point in the early 1500s when Martin Luther, Huldrych Zwingli, and John Calvin broke from Rome completely in their endeavor to return the church to simple saving faith in Jesus Christ. With the translation of the Bible into the vernacular and the invention of the printing press, the Roman church was unable to get the horse back into the barn despite the anathemas, inquisitions, and executions.

I’ve read several books on the Reformation over the past year and this easy-to-read primer is one of the best. Reeves writes with much wit while also delivering on the historical essentials. He doesn’t put the Reformers on a pedestal. Luther, Zwingli, Calvin and the rest were all flawed sinners saved by God’s grace. Some monarchs definitely exploited the movement for political and economic advantages and it took succeeding Reformers to move the church even farther from Roman error. But the Holy Spirit accomplished a great work through these early Reformers and we should be grateful for their courage and fidelity to the Gospel of salvation by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. In addition to the three principal Reformers, Reeves devotes quite a bit of attention to the Reformation movement in England.

Most people who flock to today’s evangelical-hipster, donut-shop, movie-theater-ambiance mega-churches will hear nothing about the Reformation. Catholics talk about “Jesus,” “grace,” and “faith” and that’s good enough for many evangelicals. But Catholicism hasn’t changed any of its important doctrines since 1517. It still teaches the same false gospel of salvation by sacramental pseudo-grace and merit. Catholics can never say they are saved because they must continue to attempt to merit their salvation right up until the day of their death. Reeves confronts those evangelicals who declare the Reformation is over. In this era of ecumenical compromise and the betrayal of the Gospel, the Reformation must continue. Roman Catholics (and unsaved Protestants) remain as a mission field.

As we approach the 500th anniversary of the Reformation (2017), if you should decide you would like to read a non-academic introduction, this well-written, short book would be an excellent choice. It’s readily available from Amazon. See here.

Throwback Thursday: The “Other” Reformer

Welcome to this week’s “Throwback Thursday” installment. Today, we’re going to revisit a post that was originally published back on June 14, 2016 and has been revised.

Ulrich Zwingli
By William Boekestein
EP Books, 2015, 163 pages

As I related in an earlier post, my wife and I visited Zurich, Switzerland as a side trip during our stay in Germany in early April (2016). My wife had an interest in Zurich because her grandfather originated from there and I was interested in the city because it was the home of the Reformer, Ulrich Zwingli.

After returning to the U.S., I wanted to read about Zwingli, but I didn’t want to get bogged down in an academic tome. This short book from the “Bitsize Biographies” series was perfect.

When it comes to Reformation history, most people know about Luther and Calvin, but Zwingli is far less familiar. Ulrich Zwingli was born in 1484 and ordained a Catholic priest in 1506. Young Zwingli was strongly influenced by the priestly scholar, Erasmus, who was a critic of the thoroughly corrupt church. Zwingli was one of the first to obtain a copy of Erasmus’s New Testament translation in 1516. When Zwingli was appointed pastor of the most important church in Zurich, the Grossmünster (Great Minister), in 1518 at the age of thirty-four, he was already pushing for reforms that would return the church back to New Testament faith and practice. Zwingli preached against ritualistic liturgy and the mass, indulgences, obligatory Lenten fasting, worshiping statues, the intercession of Mary and the saints, and the enforced celibacy of priests. Zwingli taught that salvation was not by sacramental grace and merit as Catholicism taught, but by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone as revealed in the New Testament. The Reformer won over the support of the civil government of Zurich and most of its citizens.

Zwingli and Luther met in 1529 in an attempt to unite the Swiss and German Reformation movements, but the two could not reach agreement on the issue of the Lord’s Supper. Luther held to the real presence of Christ in the elements while Zwingli believed the bread and wine were only symbolic.

Zwingi believed in a strong alliance between church and government. Anabaptists pushed for reforms beyond what Zwingli could accommodate and he persecuted them via the city magistrates. Several of the Swiss cantons followed Zwingli’s Reformation while others remained Catholic. Civil war ensued and Zwingli died in battle in 1531 as a chaplain to the Zurich troops.

I learned quite a bit about Zwingli in this short book. His belief in an ordained, church-state alliance is disappointing, but understandable given his RC foundation. Perhaps the most unusual information I learned about Zwingli was his belief that God elected some “heathens” for salvation, those who would never hear the Gospel during their lifetime.

As this book makes clear, Zwingli was an imperfect man. But as flawed as he was, the Lord used him in a mighty way to return the church back to the Gospel of grace. In America, with all of its freedoms, it’s hard for us to imagine the amount of faith and courage needed by Zwingli, Luther, Calvin, and the other Reformers to stand up to Rome in the 16th century.

* An interesting (and even humorous) episode in Zwingli’s revolt against Catholic formalism and ritualism was the famous “Affair of the Sausages.” See here.

Throwback Thursday: “Rescuing the Gospel” aka The Reformation – 101

Welcome to this week’s “Throwback Thursday” installment. Today, we’re going to revisit a post that was originally published back on May 25, 2016 and has been revised.

Rescuing the Gospel: The Story and Significance of the Reformation
By Erwin W. Lutzer
Baker Books, 2016, hardcover, 224 pages

With the 500th anniversary of the Reformation coming up in the Fall of 2017, we can expect the publication of many books on the subject. Every evangelical should, at the least, be “somewhat” familiar with the struggles of the men and women of the 16th-century, who, led by God’s Word and the Holy Spirit, sought to return the church from Roman Catholic ritualism and legalism to the New Testament Gospel of salvation by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. Sadly, many of today’s seeker-friendly mega-church pastors never reference the Reformation.

“Rescuing the Gospel” is an excellent introduction to the Reformation for those who want to get just an essential understanding. It’s basically a “Reformation 101” in an easy-to-read style and a very attractive format with many small, color illustrations. It’s abundantly evident that this book was a labor of love for author, Erwin Lutzer, retired pastor of Moody Church in Chicago.

The book begins by examining the absolute corruption of the Roman Catholic church in the Middle Ages. The early church had gradually devolved from preaching simple, saving faith in Jesus Christ into ritualism, legalism, ceremonialism, and superstition, all tightly controlled by the increasingly despotic clergy. The popes, cardinals, and bishops had adopted flagrantly wicked lifestyles. Early reformers like John Wycliffe in England and Jan Hus in Bohemia defiantly challenged Rome’s teachings and practices. The bulk of the book focuses on Martin Luther’s rebellion against church authority beginning with the nailing of his 95 theses to the cathedral door in Wittenberg, Germany in 1517. Luther was a complex man with his share of faults, but he was used mightily by the Lord to return the church back to the Gospel. Lutzer then turns to the important contributions of Huldrych Zwingli in Zurich and John Calvin in Geneva, as well as a few others. The Reformers had several failings and missteps (e.g., Luther’s liturgicalism and anti-Semitism, Zwingli’s alliance with civil government), which the author readily acknowledges. It would be up to succeeding Reformers to chip away at remaining vestiges of Roman error.

Perhaps the best part of this book is the final chapter: “Is the Reformation Over?” Today, some evangelicals clamor for unity with Rome despite the remaining irreconcilable differences in doctrine. Most importantly, the Roman Catholic church continues to teach salvation by sacramental grace and merit in contrast to the Good News! of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. Some undiscerning evangelicals hear “grace” and “faith” mentioned by Catholic representatives and proclaim, “Close enough!,” while purposely ignoring the fine print. Lutzer calls for evangelicals to continue to rescue the Gospel of grace from the Catholic church and all other groups and individuals who believe “that it is up to them to contribute to their salvation and that they must make themselves worthy to receive it “ (p.200). Lutzer suggests that our task to uphold the Gospel may be even more difficult than in Luther’s day because of the compromise with error WITHIN evangelicalism. It’s our unending job to rescue and defend the genuine Gospel of grace and to proclaim it! The Reformation continues.

If you’re interested in reading a basic examination of the Reformation without the challenges and obstacles of a lengthy academic tome, THIS is your book. It would also make a wonderful gift for anyone who loves the Gospel. I’m not one to collect books on a dusty bookshelf anymore, but this one’s a keeper! Order from Amazon here.

Throwback Thursday: Searching for the Reformers; Hus and Zwingli

Welcome to this week’s “Throwback Thursday” installment. Today, we’re going to revisit a post that was originally published back on April 10, 2016 during a trip to Germany and Switzerland and has been revised.

There’s only a few days left on our 12-day trip to Martinshöhe, Germany to visit with family. It’s been very enjoyable, especially the time we’ve been able to spend with our grandson. We’re so grateful to the Lord to be able to be with him.

This was our third visit to Germany and each time my wife and I have taken a side-trip somewhere by ourselves to break things up. This time we visited Konstanz, Germany and Zürich, Switzerland. My wife’s grandfather was originally from Zürich and she had always wanted to visit there. I knew that the Swiss Reformer, Huldrych Zwingli, had been based in Zürich and that also sparked my personal interest. While researching our 5-hour trip to Zürich, I discovered the Bohemian/Czech pre-Reformer, Jan Hus, had been martyred in Konstanz, a city on our route. The house Hus had briefly lived in is now a museum, so we decided to visit there also.

We rented a car Tuesday morning and started off to Konstanz, a trip of 4 hours. When we arrived there we discovered parking was impossible, just like all European cities. We drove around looking for a hotel, but found nothing suitable; no big hotel chains in this small city. But we drove by the famous Konzil (Council) building where the Catholic church’s infamous Council of Constance (1414-1418) had convened. The Council found Jan Hus guilty of heresy and delivered him to the magistrates to be burned at the stake. The Council also elected a new pope because no one could figure out which of the three rival popes claiming the office at the time was the “legitimate” pontiff. The house where Hus lived prior to his trial was located in the pedestrians-only, old town section of the city and could not be seen from the road. With all the hassles of trying to find a hotel, we decided to push on to Zürich and stop again at Konstanz on our return.

We arrived in Zürich an hour later and relaxed for the rest of the evening. On Wednesday morning we were up bright and early and took a commuter train to the old town section. Our seven-hour walk took us through the winding, very narrow streets of the old town. The highlight for me was visiting the Grossmünster (“Great cathedral”) where Zwingli preached. While reading Erasmus’ New Testament translation, the Holy Spirit led Zwingli, like his more well-known contemporary, Martin Luther, to trust in Jesus Christ as Savior by faith alone and to pursue several reforms to return the church to the simple yet sublime Gospel of grace. We thoroughly enjoyed visiting the Grossmünster with its stark interior (Zwingli had removed and destroyed all of the idolatrous Catholic statuary). Not far from the church we saw Zwingli’s parsonage. After several more hours of strolling through Zürich’s old city section, we returned to the hotel happily exhausted.

Thursday morning, we began our trip back to Martinshöhe. We stopped at Konstanz once again, but decided the hassle of trying to find a parking spot and the long walk to the old town was not worth it for just a quick photo of the Hus house. I would have happily made the sacrifice had I been traveling alone, but, unfortunately, my wife does not share my enthusiasm for history.

I am so grateful to the Lord for raising up Reformers like Hus and Zwingli. Defying the Roman Catholic church usually meant certain death in those days. If you haven’t read about Hus and Zwingli, I would encourage you to do so. Succeeding Reformers would move the church even farther away from vestiges of Roman legalism and ritualism, but these brave men took the first very dangerous steps. Although Rome has not changed any of its major doctrines, some contemporary evangelical leaders are lining up to betray the Gospel and embrace Catholicism, as if the Reformation had never occurred. Many evangelicals would rather indulge in spiritual cotton candy rather than bother with any of the nitty gritty history of the Reformation.

Above: The Jan Hus House in Konstanz, Germany. Hus resided here for three weeks in November 1414 before he was imprisoned and his trial for heresy began.

Above: This monument in Konstanz commemorates the martyrdom of Jan Hus. It’s located midway between the Konzil Building where Hus was tried, and the Konzil Cathedral (Münster) where he was condemned to death.

Above: This monument stone in Konstanz marks the spot where Jan Hus was burnt alive at the stake.

Above: The Konzil Building (“Konzilgebäude”) in Konstanz, Germany built in 1388 where the Council of Constance (1414-1418) tried pre-Reformer Jan Hus as a heretic and also deposed the three rival claimants to the papal throne, John XXIII, Gregory XII, and Benedict XIII.

Postscript: In a speech delivered in Prague, Czech Republic on December 18, 1999, pope John Paul II expressed “deep sorrow” for the death of Jan Hus. How can a modern pope apologize for the ruling of a RC church council? What does that say about the RCC’s vaunted Magisterium?

Throwback Thursday: If you read only one book about the Reformation, this would be an excellent choice.

Welcome to this week’s “Throwback Thursday” installment! Today, in honor of Reformation Day, we’re revisiting a post that was originally published back on August 26, 2016 and has been slightly revised.

The Unquenchable Flame: Discovering the Heart of the Reformation
By Michael Reeves
B&H Publishing, 2010, 207 pages

After Christianity became legalized by the Roman Empire and subsequently adopted as the official state religion, the early Christian church gradually began adapting and incorporating many of the beliefs and practices of its pagan predecessors. By the 14th century, the Roman Catholic church had very little in common with the primitive, New Testament church. The Gospel message of salvation by God’s grace though a personal, saving faith in Jesus Christ had devolved into clerical imperialism, legalism, and ritualism. In addition to its hopelessly compromised theology, the Roman church had become an open cesspool of greed, corruption, political intrigue, and immorality.

But then something absolutely wonderful happened. Beginning in the 14th century (some would argue for an even earlier date), men and women began rising up to challenge the church’s autocratic position through the power of God’s Word and the Holy Spirit. The flame of reform reached a tipping point in the early 1500s when Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin broke from Rome completely in their endeavor to return the church to the Good News! of salvation via saving faith in Jesus Christ. With the translation of the Latin Bible into the vernacular and the invention of the printing press, the Roman church was unable to return the horses back into the barn despite the anathemas, inquisitions, and executions.

I’ve read several general histories of the Reformation and this easy-to-read primer is one of the best. Reeves writes with much wit while also delivering on the historical essentials. He doesn’t put the Reformers on a pedestal. Luther, Zwingli, Calvin and the rest were all flawed sinners saved by God’s grace. Some monarchs definitely exploited the movement for political and economic advantages and it took succeeding Reformers to move the church even farther from Roman error. But the Holy Spirit accomplished a great work through these early Reformers and we should be grateful for their courage and fidelity to the Gospel of salvation by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. In addition to the three principals, Reeves devotes quite a bit of attention to the Reformation movement in England.

Those who attend today’s “seeker-friendly” evangelical mega-churches generally hear little or nothing about the Reformation. They are not aware of the irreconcilable differences between Roman Catholicism and Gospel Christianity. Roman Catholics talk about Jesus, “grace,” and “faith” and that’s good enough for many. Sadly, these days we even have popular evangelical pastors recommending books by committed Catholics to their unwary congregations and media audiences. But Catholicism hasn’t changed any of its important doctrines since 1517. It still teaches the same false gospel of sacramental grace and merit. Catholics can never say they are saved because they are taught they must continue to attempt to merit their salvation right up until the day of their death. Reeves confronts those evangelicals who declare the Reformation is over. In this era of ecumenical compromise and betrayal of the Gospel, the Reformation must continue. Roman Catholics (and unsaved “Protestants”) remain as a mission field.

Today, we mark the 502nd anniversary of the Reformation. I praise God for raising up Luther, Zwingli, Calvin and the other early Reformers to restore the Gospel of salvation by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. If you should decide you would like to read a non-academic introduction to the Reformation, this well-written, short book would be an excellent choice. It’s readily available from Amazon here.