And though Martin Luther encouraged us to read the Bible for ourselves, he must have also understood that we need leaders ...one of which was him.

We all know there are bad leaders ...though they often don't cause us the most problems.  We know they are clearly bad leaders. My concern is with those we consider good.  

With leaders we consider to be good leaders, we have those who lead to what is right, and those who lead against that which is wrong.  Both are necessary at times, but both can become a hazard if they are just leaders ...and not fully followers also, of Him whom they should be followers of.

Those who lead us to what is right, need to lead not towards what we perceive ---but to what He has shown us.  Pastor Tom always says we are to follow no man, but the One who came to die for our sins. Pastor tells us that there is much he feels inspired to share, but we should always go to the Word.  We can be against things, but always make sure what we are for ...is stronger than what we are against.

Those who lead us to stand against, can find ourselves as those addressed in the Book of Revelation ---unto the angel of the church of Ephesus, bearing out them which are wrong and leaving our first love.

In Martin Luther's case, his struggle was with those God first showed His love towards.

“Receive Jews Cordially”

In 1523, Luther accused Catholics of being unfair to Jews and treating them “as if they were dogs,” thus making it difficult for Jews to convert. “I would request and advise that one deal gently with them [the Jews],” he wrote. “ … If we really want to help them, we must be guided in our dealings with them not by papal law but by the law of Christian love. We must receive them cordially, and permit them to trade and work with us, hear our Christian teaching, and witness our Christian life. If some of them should prove stiff-necked, what of it? After all, we ourselves are not all good Christians either.”

Why God Deserted Them

Fifteen years later, however, rumors of Jewish efforts to convert Christians upset him, and he wrote a treatise venting his frustration. In it, Luther concluded that converting Jews had become hopeless.  It seemed to him that God had deserted the Jews, leaving them to wander homeless without a land or temple of their own. And if this was God’s attitude, then one might with good conscience ignore the Jews. Why would God desert his own people if he did not despair of them? He had rejected them and turned his attention to the “new Israel,” the Christian church. Luther thus accepted the existing notion that the promise given to Jews was now transferred to Christians.

Measures of “Sharp Mercy”

By 1543, Luther was ready lo go one step further. He had become utterly frustrated by the Jews’ refusal to convert to Christianity: “A Jewish heart is as hard as a stick, a stone, as iron, as a devil.”

Luther did not, however, hold Jews responsible for the death of Christ. As he wrote in a hymn, “We dare not blame … the band of Jews; ours is the shame.” And he felt that at least a few Jews might be won for Christ.

Yet rabbinic teaching was madness and blindness that blasphemed Christ, Mary, and the Holy Trinity. Luther could not “have any fellowship or patience with obstinate [Jewish] blasphemers and those who defame this dear Savior.” Blasphemy was a civil crime. To allow it to continue, Luther feared, meant Christians would share in the guilt for it.

Thus, Luther now proposed seven measures of “sharp mercy” that German princes could take against Jews: (1) burn their schools and synagogues; (2) transfer Jews to community settlements; (3) confiscate all Jewish literature, which was blasphemous; (4) prohibit rabbis to teach, on pain of death; (5) deny Jews safe-conduct, so as to prevent the spread of Judaism; (6) appropriate their wealth and use it to support converts and to prevent the lewd practice of usury; (7) assign Jews to manual labor as a form of penance.

There was a big problem here.  Luther had begun with a seemingly sincere attitude, but seemed not to fully understand God's love ...ending up rather void of it himself.  He had done much to point out the errors of the church, but had slipped into a very dangerous role of deciding how things should be done.

Luther may have benefited by taking a closer look at himself, as time went on. 

Sometimes it is exhausting, trying to get others to realize what we are trying to get them to understand.  And especially, if we are being highly criticized or persecuted for it ...our own burden may unleash feelings that can possibly lead us to respond in a similar fashion to those we've felt misdirected us. If God gives us discernment, it is to be used to help understand others, and hopefully aid in our prayers.  Whether others listen to us, or not ...should not be the focus of our emotions.  Truth should be our focus.  And the Holy Spirit is He who guides each of us to prompt us to accept that which is God's truth.  If we decide to take this into our own hands ...likely we will end up not in our own minds.

The Gospel of Luke (11:25) ..."When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any ..., then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first."

We all need constant cleansing ...and to guard and protect, to be sure we don't fall into temptation.

Many times we look at temptations only as those things that tempt us that can be visibly discovered by others, or that are commonly mentioned as temptations.  But, we can be tempted even in a more subtle manner than when the serpent tempted Eve.  We often don't know it when we slip into a bit of pride, a bit of envy, a bit of common gossip.

We may say, "Let me slip into something a bit more comfortable."  But, that bit might nibble for a time ...then take a huge bite out of us.

And if we are uncomfortable, unsatisfied, or unhealthy ...it compounds the struggle.