Modern Ninety-Five

In 1517 an Augustinian monk by the name of Martin Luther nailed ninety-five statements to the door at Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. This was not a means of open debate but a desire to discuss scholarly objections to church practices of the time. Five centuries later, many of the same errors and heresies have crept back into the evangelical church. A modern ninety-five theses, couched in new terms for a new generation, require scholarly debate once again. Through modern-day apostles and prophets, and through the elitists within the evangelical church, the doctrine of buying God's grace and favor has been propagated through appeals for seed offerings and "e;atonement-day"e; donations in order to garner God's blessings. Pragmatic approaches to preaching the gospel through such movements as the seeker-driven models have moved the focus of the message of Christ and the worship of God from being God-centered to human-centered. Sound historical doctrines, such as the Trinity, have been relegated to the sidelines in favor of unity and ecumenicalism with Oneness preachers. In the words of Martin Luther, "e;Out of love for the truth and the desire to bring it to light,"e; the following propositions need to be discussed in their entirety by church leaders, pastors, and laypeople alike.