Tuesday, October 31, 2017

October 31, 2017

On this history-charged morning of October 31, 2017, I would just like to thank the Lord for His goodness and mercy towards mankind, including me.

Today is the 500th anniversary of the day when Martin Luther nailed the 95 theses on that church door in Wittenberg. Last year in August, I had the privilege of standing in front of that door. It was a beautiful experience to walk in the footsteps of this wonderful man. I can't say that I wish I had lived at that time in history. However, if I had, I would probably have tried to listen to every sermon of Martin Luther - which of course would not have been so easy, as there was no Audioverse or YouTube and all these kind of tools around!

Anyway, I'm thankful that his message is still very much alive today; and I'm thankful that we can still hold up the spirit of Protestantism in this dark world - yes, even in this spiritually very poor country of Belgium!

Last Saturday, a group of my church went downtown Brussels, where a special service was held to celebrate this anniversary. Spiritual leaders from all kinds of denominations as well as even other religions were present. It was our intention to share some literature with the people who attended the service when they would come out. Later I learned that the beginning of this service was actually interrupted by a group of Catholics who protested against such kind of ecumenical service being held in a Catholic church. Even the police had to come to get them out. That's probably why it dragged so long. It was supposed to begin at 4 PM, and we only made it there after 5:30 PM. However, only a few people would come out - and they wouldn't let us in either.

Nevertheless, our distribution action was a very cheerful event. Of course not everybody accepted our literature, but most of those people definitely accepted our smiles! Indeed, the language barrier is an issue in Europe. There seemed to be a quite a few Italian tourists around, however we couldn't offer them neither the "Luther brochure" nor a Glow tract in Italian. However, some accepted the English versions. You never know where this literature will end up. Of course, some will be trampled on, but after all, we are told to spread these truths like the "leaves of autumn" - and what happens with autumn leaves? Indeed, some of them are being trampled on; however we still need to go forward and do the work the Lord has told us to do!

Tomorrow, I'll be headed to London. I'm going to visit some dear friends over there. I'm excited, as I haven't been to this island since 2004, when I went there for a business trip. Will share about that when I'm back...

The famous church door

Wartburg Castle

And finally the stone where Luther rested