Luther was born in Eislebin, Germany on November 10, 1483 into a religiously conservative peasant family. His father was a minor, but by the time Martin was a teenager he had acquired several smelting furnaces and they had become part of the town's elite. Apparently the relationships in the family were rather cold. Luther attended the university in Erfurt where he showed much promise as a debater and public speaker. His father expected him to become a jurist, make a prosperous marriage, and support his parents in their old age. But that just was not to be.

In July of 1505 Luther was traveling down a parched road when suddenly a thunderstorm came up and a bolt of lightening struck him and knocked him to the ground. He was terrified and cried out to St. Anne, "If you help me, I will become a monk."

Well he lived to tell about it and later that year he entered the monastery of the Augustinian Hermits at Erfurt. His father was horrified.

Luther applied his brilliant mind to the study of theology and by 1509 was lecturing to new monks.

On a mission to Rome in 1510, he was appalled by the corruption, in particular the sale of indulgences—sins washed away by money rather than by the blood of Christ. Buyers were assured that "as soon as the coin the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs."

In 1511, Luther was appointed professor of theology and philosophy at the University at Wittenberg. While lecturing in 1512 on Paul's letter to the Romans, he came to a new understanding of the righteousness of God. Man can be justified only through faith, by the merit and work of Christ alone.

On October 31, 1517, he posted his treatise, Ninety-Five Theses, on the door of the Wittenberg Castle church, condemning indulgences, questioning the authority of the pope, and putting himself in direct opposition to the Catholic Church. He was excommunicated in 1520.

In 1525 Luther married Katharina von Bora, a nun who had left her convent. Their home was always open to visitors--a place of affection and godliness, unlike the home of his youth.

Martin Luther went to be with the Lord in 1546, having done the work of five men as they say...meaning Luther left behind a legacy in his translation of the Bible, a prayer book, the catechism, his style of preaching and even the many hymns that he wrote. In England, Bible translation was the work of Tyndale, the prayer book of Cranmer, the catechism of the Westminster divines, the sermon style came from Latimer and the hymnbook was the work of Watts.

The man who called upon a saint was later to repudiate saints. Vowing to become a monk, he would later to renounce monasticism. Loyal to the Catholic Church, he would shatter the structure of medieval Catholicism. A devoted servant of the pope, he would identify the popes with the antichrist. And he would go on to become the father of the Reformation.

This year, forget Halloween - celebrate Reformation Day instead! And what better way than by getting to know Martin Luther.

Background music: Our Father, Thou In Heaven Above. Lyrics by Martin Luther. Score by Luther, too, well--okay it's been jazzed up a little bit...