Reflecting on the Tower Experience of Martin Luther

Considering October 31 is also Reformation Day and therefore a Christian day, Satan will always try his best to counter it with Halloween. So aside from soulwinning witches and warlocks to fight the occult, giving Gospel tracts to trick or treaters... here's another thing worth thinking about during Halloween. This was the Tower Experience of Martin Luther.

What launched the Reformation was because Martin Luther read the Bible in further detail. Reflecting on it, I was only reading the Good News Bible as a Roman Catholic. I opened up to finally figure out, "How much good do I need to be saved?" Then the more I opened the Bible back then, the more I hated it because it really attacked my very character as a sinner. After I got saved because I realized salvation was by faith alone in Christ, I saw myself as a hopeless sinner and I wanted to be free of sin... I turned to Him.

Martin Luther was at the Tower of the Black Cloister where he meditated upon the perfect righteousness of God. He was spending much time trying to attain the righteousness of God, attending confession for hours each day, seeking forgiveness for the smallests of sins... he realized it was unattainable. He viewed that divine righteousness as an unrelenting, unforgiving, avenging wrath and believed his state was hopeless. Here was what he said:
The expression "righteousness of God" was like a thunderbolt in my heart... I hated Paul with all my heart when I read that the righteousness of God is revealed in the Gospel [Romans 1:16-17]. Only afterward, when I saw the words that follow - namely that it's written that the righteous shall live through faith [Romans 1:17] - and in addition I consulted AUGUSTINE, I was cheered. When I learned that the righteousness of God is His mercy, and that He makes us righteous through it, a remedy was offered to me in my affliction. (Martin Luther, Table Talk)

Reading the Bible, I could only see myself as a lost sinner. For the works salvationist, if your good works exceed or outweigh your bad works, certainly you can enter into Heaven right? But such foolishness has taught license to sin while they accuse those who teach salvation by faith lead to a license to sin. The Bible's standard of righteousness is clear... you only need to sin once to be damned to Hell. Sounds unfair? Romans 3:19 and James 2:10-11 is clear. You are guilty before God's Law and you only need to break one of God's rules to be damned in Hell. Your standing is like a ten knotted cord. Cut one of the ten knots, you fall down into Hell. That is how rigid the righteousness of God is and that's why Christ came to die for sinners (2 Corinthians 5:21). With the price paid, all you need to do believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. A warning though, a heart that does not repent of one's sins will always refuse to savingly believe. Many people refuse to believe on Christ because of their love for sin. It's either sin or the Savior!

Self-righteousness leads to more sin, righteousness in Christ leads to less in. How can that be? Ephesians 2:8-10 says that salvation is by faith and that after salvation, a Christian is equipped unto good works for Christ. Hebrews 9:14 says that the unrighteousness man's works are dead, the blood of Jesus redeems our useless efforts and results to genuine good works. Salvation by works makes a man try to earn Heaven by dead works... though righteous by society's standards, it is tainted by total depravity therefore unacceptable to God (Isaiah 64:6). But when a person gets saved, he is brought forth unto good works, good works is indeed the fruit and evidence of salvation.

Happy Reformation Day!