So, what do you know about October 31st? Perhaps there are Halloween activities that spring to mind, but how familiar are you with the Protestant Reformation? Well, many of the freedoms and blessings most Christians enjoy, even the accessibility of the Word of God in one’s own language, is the direct result of the Reformation. At its beginning in Germany and Switzerland, several priests sought freedom from the Roman Catholic Church. It was clear to everyone, desiring assurance of pardon from sin and eternal life that the church was in need of reform. People had little knowledge of what the Bible taught, and superstitions held people in profound darkness. Those who led the church were often corrupt and immoral, but God was at work even during these dark times. These men, and in time many women, labored and sacrificed at times even to their deaths. To see the church return to biblical practices. Join us as we hear the stories of two such devoted Christian heroes, Ulrich and Anna Zwingli. October 31st, a day that has grown to have merchandise and themed events that rival more than one or two national holidays. In the ways our culture promotes and engages in traditions of this day, might ask if there are alternatives to Halloween. If a person is not an enthusiast about graveyards, the grim reaper or the undead, what are the other options? Well, today we’re going to introduce a historic event that may surprise our listeners that it also began on October 31st. On October 31st, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 thesis on a church door in Wittenberg, Germany. To illustrate this, I’m going to speak with Ulrich Zwingli and his wife Anna today about their part and the Reformation. This reenactment will be a wonderful opportunity for you to hear more about the Reformation, and we’re so excited to have you here. Thank you, Mike. We had a small part to play, but found ways to bless the work of God in his church and in our city of Zurich. I’m really grateful you both came today. Please share with us some of your story. And Anna, I’m going to come to you next. Thank you, Herd Trim. I was raised in Zurich. Before Orra came to the city, I had already been married and widowed. My family ran and in, and it was when I was 17, when a young nobleman and I were married in secret. Because of my social status, it was unacceptable to his parents. He was a political figure in Zurich. But due to financial hardships, he became a soldier and he died in battle. I had three children at the time. After Anna’s husband died, I arrived to be the priest for the church in Zurich in 1518. And I tutored Anna’s son. He was a talented student. So tell me, how did you become married? Marriage was forbidden for priests. But I could not find in the Bible a clear command not to marry. In fact, I found that marriage was held up as highly honorable and that the Bible even included being a faithful husband as one of the qualifications to be a pastor. But to avoid arrest, we kept our marriage a secret. This was my first public controversy in 1522, though not many knew of our marriage. It came to light in 1524, just before Anna and I had our first child. So what happened next? We want our listening friends to hear what is memorable about the Reformation. Well, in Switzerland, which is my country, many were hungry to hear God’s word. I began preaching that salvation was found in Christ alone by grace alone. Beginning to teach only from the Bible in church was a new idea. In my first position at Zurich, I found as I preached from the Bible that the people, even unfortunately the clergy in the church, had a poor understanding of the truth from God’s Word. How so? Well, they didn’t know that the Bible teaches how to be saved from our sins. Okay, so give me an example. I had never seen a Bible in my life. I knew very little about what it taught. I could pray prayers that church required us to learn prayers like Ave Maria, but it was not God’s word. We tried to earn God’s approval. We thought that by doing things like giving money, saying many prayers over and over again, or helping others would make us better people and make us acceptable in God’s eyes. So this event, the Reformation from October 31 to 1517, how did it change that? And why and how is this still important now? Well, let me ask you a question that I think will help answer your question. If I asked 10 people today about how a person can be saved, how many different answers would I get? Yeah, I’m not sure. And if I asked even more people, I’d get even more answers, all different. Well, in my day, you might not have gotten as many different answers, but they would not have given the correct answer. The Reformation brought God’s word to us and with it, the answer to how we are saved. And we find that answer in the Scriptures. We discovered a new that salvation is in Jesus Christ alone. Without the Reformation, we would have continued to be ignorant of this life-changing truth. So getting the truth proclaimed is challenging in the 21st century as much as it was in the 16th century. And there are many ways to get something wrong, but only one way is right. Exactly. I desire to promote the Christian faith as it’s described in Scripture. And I learned this by studying the pages of God’s word. Through the influence of centuries of church tradition, the Christian faith had become almost unrecognizable. The Reformation emanated from Zerad through gospel ministry. So you encountered opposition to this and were there those who would prevent the truth from being shared? Sadly, yes, there were many reasons to keep people in ignorance. I wrote a letter to our bishop, Hugo of Holen-Lindenburg, our most reverent father, begging him to help us. I appealed to him, pleading that he would see how the message of salvation has been hidden for many years, and that we have been working hard to restore it and share it with others, but that there were many who were trying to stop us. How did they try to stop you? Oh, in so many ways, the opposition attempted to harm the Protestants as we had become called. Oric lived in the continual threat of assassination or kidnapping. He could not leave our home after dark alone. I had to arrange for men to escort him back home if he was out late. He had to be careful where he ate or drank, for fear of poisoning. One time, when I was at home, some of those who would not yield to the truth and were opposed to the message that we were trying to spread came to our house and they threw stones at our windows. That must have been alarming and very concerning to you. Yes, the children and I were terrified, but Oric challenged our foes. He was not one to back down, and he yelled to them to come back in the morning if they wanted to do battle. To preach our protector, I also understand that you worked on translating the Bible onto the Swiss German language. Is that correct? Oh, I thought the people needed to have God’s word in their own language. I began the work in 1525, and as I copied a page by page, I would give the sheets to Anna so that she could read and proofread them before we went to bed. This work took many years, but it was finally finished in 1529. We had it published and gave them away to the people of Zurich so that they could read the Bible for themselves. It was magnificent. People could read the Word of God and know the love of Christ straight from the Bible. I even gave Anna a copy as well. That was the best gift Oric ever gave me, except for maybe our children. But to have the Word of God was such a treasure and it became my favorite book. I think there’s so much about the Reformation that so many people don’t know and having the opportunity to talk with Oric and Anna today about their partner Reformation that’s helped illuminate for all of us so much more about this event that happened October 31 in 1517. Thank you, Mike. Not called me to preach for several years while I was in Zurich, giving the people nothing but the true, pure and clear Word of God. The joyous message of Christ by the aid of the Holy Spirit, but I was maligned as a heretic. I was called a deceiver and a liar. I would only ask that those who think these things would give reasons and speak kindly without anger. I desire peace, so I know that things may end in conflict. Well we know that the conflict intensified and finally burst on October 11, 1531. On the 9th news came that the Roman Catholic army was approaching Zurich, so wingly went along with the Protestant forces as a chaplain. And Anna came out of the parcinage to say goodbye to her husband and she burst into tears. The hour has come that separates us. He said to her, “Let it be so, the Lord wills.” He died in battle with many others. His labors had come to an untimely end. The Protestant Reformation brought vital change to the church founded by Jesus Christ and the Apostles. God restored his Word to his people and he revived and renewed them. The process was long and difficult and as we heard from Ulrich and Anna Zwingli and as the word of God teaches, those who take the name of Christ will be persecuted. Many men, women and children suffered and lost their lives to live as God in his Word calls his people to live for him. If learning more about the Protestant Reformation interest you, there are a couple resources. One is the online library of Liberty. You can go to oll.libertyfun.org to find translated writings of Ulrich Zwingli himself. Then there is another excellent resource from Ligonier Ministries. You can go to their page and you’ll find Reformation profiles that have Zwingli and actually a number of other reformers that are commended as well because many men and women labored even and too death for the changes that we now enjoy. You’ll find seven episodes in their series called Reformation Profiles at Ligonier Ministries that cover the essential truths about the Christian faith and the individuals that God used to help recover these truths. Go to store.Ligonier.org that’s L-I-G-O-N-I-E-R and search Reformation Profiles. You’ll even be able to watch the first episode online for free. So again go to store.Ligonier.org and search for Reformation Profiles. And find out why the Reformation mattered then and why it still matters now.
