Worship God Alone

I’ve spent the last three weeks writing about Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation that he is credited with initiating. There have been untold millions, if not billions of people positively impacted because of one sarcastic monk. But I want to make one final point about Luther before moving on; he should not be idolized or worshipped.

For all his strengths, Luther had many weaknesses. He was short-tempered and thin-skinned, a dangerous combination for such a prolific writer. Anyone who remotely crossed him or differed on a minor point would feel his wrath in his next booklet. He was offensive and crude even on his best days. Worse yet, Luther hated the Jews with a passion that Hitler would have envied. In his 1543 tract brazenly titled On the Jews and their Lies, Luther argued for the destruction of synagogues, as well as Jewish books, schools, and even homes; their property should be confiscated, and Jews themselves forced into hard labor. He concluded that it was not a sin to kill a Jew.

Years later in Germany, where Luther remained a hero, Hitler was sure to furiously copy and distribute Luther’s tract, using it to rally support for his own twisted ends. The same man who inspired Protestants in Germany was now posthumously inspiring them to approve of the Holocaust. Luther is rightly remembered for his contributions to Christian history, but he is a classic example of why we worship God and not man. People will always let us down because even the best of us is still imperfect.

The same can be said of Protestants in general. With five hundred years of history now in the books, some has been commendable, but some regrettable. While Protestants were the loudest voices against the Nazis in Germany and the slave trade in England and America, there were many who quietly looked the other way or justified the evils for their own gains. We cannot worship churches or denominations, because they are composed of imperfect people.

Like John on Patmos trying to worship an angel, we may need to be reminded that we should worship God alone.

And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things. Then he said unto me, “See that you do not do that… worship God.”

Revelation 22:8-9