From the desk of
JOHN BRADSHAW
TM
P.O. Box 6, Chattanooga, TN 37401-0006 • TEL 423.362.5800 • FAX 877.507.3239 • www.itiswritten.com
April 2017
Dear It Is Written Friend, Later this year the world will focus on one of the most significant dates in history. It was on October 31, 1517 that a young German priest nailed a strong protest against the Catholic Church to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg, Germany. Martin Luther’s protest profoundly changed the landscape for much of the world and made it possible for you and me to experience religious freedom and biblical faith in God. Without Luther, there would be no proclaiming of the Three Angels’ Messages. That October 31, Luther shook the world. This October, Luther’s influence is still immeasurable as people the world over will be commemorating his bold stand for the Word of God. Germany has devoted an entire decade to its favorite son. Pope Francis of the Roman Catholic Church sees October 31 this year as a great opportunity for unity. He has said, “Now we have a new opportunity to accept a common path. We have the opportunity to mend a critical moment of our history by moving beyond the controversies and disagreements that have prevented us from understanding one another.” You can see how sobering those words are when you consider the issues involved in the great controversy. The papacy’s agenda for this historic anniversary is to undo what Luther accomplished. Pope Francis’ “common path” is not a path towards the power of God’s Word. “Mend[ing] a critical moment of our history” means officially reversing what God’s Spirit accomplished through Martin Luther and those that followed him. We must do all we can to turn the world towards the beauty and power of the Bible and to the Reformation principle of justification by faith. In January, I asked you for help to produce “500,” It Is Written’s landmark, nine-episode series about the Reformation. Some time after that letter went out, a ministry supporter called me excited about the project. So excited, in fact, that they mailed a check to cover the filming, postproduction, and equipment costs for the series. And it’s going to make a huge impact.
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