A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

Today is a special day in history. 490 years ago, October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg. This led to a Diet of Worms in 1521. No....this wasn't cruel and unusual punishment for vandalism. But a church court that debated his "heretical" statements. Fortunately, Luther was kidnapped and imprisoned by one of his friends, Freddy "the Wise Guy" (okay, it was Elector Frederick the Wise). And before you get too angry, this "kidnapping" actually saved Luther's life from the wrath of Emperor Charles V and, ultimately, from the Pope.

While in exile, Luther was brought to Wartburg near Eisenach. He remained here for 11 months - and it was here that he began to translate the New Testament into the German language -- much to the disagreement of the Catholic hierarchy, for the Bible had always restricted to "trained" priests who could read Latin.

So...what did the Rossons do on Reformationstag? We visited the Wartburg castle and saw the room from which Luther changed the nature of Christianity and brought the Scriptures much closer to everyday people. Wartburg is only an hour away from where we were attending a conference.

Wartburg is a fortress on top of a mountain overlooking Eisenach. It is easy to picture what Luther meant when he penned the words to the hymn: "A mighty fortress is our God; a bulwark never failing." For him, the fortress in Wartburg was a sanctuary where he deeply encountered God through the Word.