This past weekend we celebrated the 500th anniversary of the start of the protestant reformation. It was on October 31, 1517 that Martin Luther, in an effort to initiate reform of the Catholic Church, nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. A lesser known part of the story took place sometime during the night before. Frederick the Wise had a dream.

Part of his dream concerned a long, strong pen; it was so long it reached all the way to Rome and so strong no one could break it. It was a goose-quill pen that “belonged to an old goose of Bohemia, a hundred years old.” This is a reference to the Czech priest John Huss (Huss means goose in Czech).  Huss had preached against indulgences and had nailed a tract called “Six Errors” (of the Catholic Church) to the door of Bethlehem Chapel in Prague.  He was excommunicated and called to Constance, Germany in 1414 to defend his ideas.  Despite a promise of safe passage, he was convicted in a mock trial and burned at the stake. Huss was one of those whose ideas influenced Luther.

Luther’s writings, like those of Huss, angered the Church and Luther was ordered to appear before the Diet of Worms in 1521. Frederick, who was very powerful, gave Luther a promise of protection and afterwards hid him in Wartburg Castle.  Did God speak to Frederick in his dream?  We don’t know, but certainly the Bible records God using dreams to speak to men. To learn how God used a dream to speak to Peter, read Acts 11:4-18 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Jim