In fighting cadence, a magnificent military, an army, takes the field early on a summer day. The cavalry sat tall in their saddles, their regimental flags unfurling a rainbow of colors in the sky. Young men on foot stood prepared to advance. The officers’ swords, drawn and shining in the sun, lent an air of […]
Isaiah 66:1-2: Reformation, God Working Through Our Human Failures
October 29, 2018 by
A monk at Wittenberg, nails a document on a church door. Written in Latin, he desires to spark a debate. For this man spots others selling something called “indulgences,” which claim to cut short someone’s time in purgatory. So, what’s the issue? For the Church of Rome, unless someone lives a super-virtuous life, he dies […]
The Reformation, Five Centuries Later
October 23, 2017 by
By Pr. Rich Futrell One year passes and another begins, 500-hundred years’ worth since Luther tacked his 95 theses on Wittenberg’s wooden door. Through those statements, he wanted a debate about indulgences shortening someone’s time in Purgatory. Today, most don’t understand the fracas, which followed, fracturing Europe. On both sides, Lutheran and Roman-Catholic, people put […]
Reformation: Remaining in Jesus
October 26, 2014 by
“We hold that someone is justified by faith, apart from the works of the law” (Romans 3:28). Can it get any clearer than that? All have sinned and continue to fall short of God’s glory, but they are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:23-24). “Freely” means […]
Revelation 14:6-7: Semper Reformanda
October 28, 2012 by
Pick a date, any date. When did reformation begin? If you’re like most, you would say it began when Martin Luther posted his 95 theses that called for a debate on indulgences. That was October 31st, 1517. If you’re a bit more adventurous, you might pick 1514. That’s when Luther had his “tower experience.” That’s […]
First Communion during the Lutheran Reformation
October 16, 2012 by
This is our pastor’s article for SOTHLC ‘s November newsletter. Today, almost all of us have grown up seeing infant baptism as the norm. Later, a baptized child would finish confirmation around the 8th grade, and then he would receive his first communion. That is what is normal for us. Yet, throughout history, we […]
Reformation Day Sermon: John 8:31-36
October 30, 2011 by
What is this nonsense? How can the Jews who were listening to Jesus say, “We are Abraham’s descendants; we’ve never been slaves of anyone”? Have they never read the Old Testament? Have they never eaten the Passover, which celebrated and remembered God rescuing them from their slavery in Egypt? Even more, look at the time […]
Sola Scriptura in All Its Glory!
August 22, 2011 by
This is an article I wrote for the September 1st, 2011 edition of the Stone County Gazette. ——— “Sola Scriptura” literally says “scripture alone.” It’s a shortened statement Martin Luther used during the Reformation. But as with all sound bites, we lose much when a sound bite replaces the truth it originally promoted. Today, Sola […]
The Apocrypha and Change within the Lutheran and Roman Churches
January 18, 2011 by
The Apocrypha and Change within the Lutheran and Roman Churches Lesson 4 By Pr. Rich Futrell Jan 23, 2011 Recap Last week, we learned how the early Church responded to three traditions on the Apocrypha and affirmed the Anagignoskomena and Deuterocanonical views as legitimate. The Church rejected the view that allowed someone to reject the […]
