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Who Are We?
Campus in Kuching, 2004 |
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Monthly
Newsletter
ISSUE 02, Date:
21 July 2004
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Welcome Guest, |
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TRUTH RECOVERED
DURING THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
From the sixteenth century on, God has been recovering different truths. The sixteenth century was the age of the Reformation. It was a time of monumental change in religion. This does not mean that before the sixteenth century there was no recovery. There were recoveries before that time. However, it was from the sixteenth century on that there were significant recoveries. We have to consider the history from the time of the Reformation as belonging to four periods. The first period is the period of the Reformation. The second period is the time immediately after the Reformation, from the sixteenth century to the eighteenth century. The third period is the nineteenth century, and the last period is the present twentieth century. First, let us consider Luther’s Reformation. When Luther was raised up by God, he saw the light and proposed that man go back to the truth in the book of Romans. Today many people evaluate Luther’s work from the political angle and consider it to be a political movement. However, having read Luther’s diaries, writings, and books, I see that his motives and goals were right. The best thing about him was his recovery of the truth of justification by faith. This is Luther’s particular recovery. Of course, God did not recover all the truths through Luther. Luther recovered only the truth concerning justification by faith. He did not make complete changes with regard to the church. For example, he still recognized the state church and approved of the church being part of the state. He did not receive light regarding this point. For this reason, not long after, the Lutheran denomination became the state religion of Germany. Luther himself once said that the church should not be controlled by the state. Yet he considered administrative questions transitional, temporal, and of the outer court, and not matters that belong to the Holy Place. Therefore, he was not thorough in this matter. God allowed the question of church administration to be left unsolved at Luther’s time. Although this matter was not successfully recovered, the truth of justification by faith was definitely recovered. God dug up this buried truth from all the traditions, human opinions, and creeds and caused this truth to be known and preached once more. If a person were born in that age, what he should have done was preach this truth and exhort others concerning this truth. If he did not do this, he should not be considered a faithful worker of God in that age. |
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Campus In Kuching © 2004 email: campusinkuching@yahoo.com The Mysteries of Human Life |
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