Martin Luther

The Great Reformer

By J.A. Morrison

Revised by Michael J. McHugh

Martin Luther The Great Reformer by J.A Morrison is the biography of the great

Protestant, Martin Luther, who was persecuted by the Catholic church during the 16th

century because of standing up for the truths of the Bible. J.A. Morrison tells about

Martin Luther’s childhood, when he worked with the Catholic church, his attempt to

reform the Catholic church, and the end of his life.

Martin Luther was born on November 10, 1483. His parents, Hans and Margaret

Luther, raised him in an extremely Catholic home but without Biblical truth. He was

the oldest of three sisters and one brother. He attended a school that exaggerated in

punishment and made him feel like he was constantly acting bad. He was taught that

the way to be saved was by doing good works, so he decided to enter a strict religious

life.

After finishing school, he went to a religious university in Magdeburg to study.

During this time, he kept asking himself over and over, “What must I do to be saved?”

Since he thought he was too sinful to even talk straight to God, after graduating he

decided to train for nine years then entered the life of a monk. He was later ordained

a priest and after a year and a half started teaching philosophy at the University of

Wittenburg. During this time, because of a fight between monasteries, Luther was

sent to Rome to speak to the pope. Thinking he would find a holy city, instead he

found a church filled with hypocrisy. It was during this trip that Luther realized that,

“The just shall live by faith” and not by works.

As Luther studied the Bible and realized the false teachings, he made the decision

to try to reform the Catholic church. He first tried to do this by nailing to the door of

the church a list of ninety-five things they were teaching wrong. This was the
 Martin Luther

The Great Reformer

By J.A. Morrison

Revised by Michael J. McHugh

beginning of what is known as the Protestant Reformation. The pope reacted badly to

this by making a papal bull which commanded Luther to repent. Luther and those who

agreed with him then took this paper and burned it. Because Luther continued

teaching, the pope and other church leaders tried to kill him several times but were

never able to. One time Luther’s friends even kidnapped him and took him to a castle

called Wartburg and locked him there because they were afraid Luther would be

killed.

Later in his life, Martin Luther married a women named Katie who was training to

be a nun but later ran away. They got married on June 27, 1525, and had six children.

Sadly, because of Luther’s hard life, he died at the young age of sixty-two

surrounded by friends at his home town in Mansfeld.

Even though Martin Luther didn’t accomplish his goal of reforming the Catholic

church, he was able to make a great change by helping to spread biblical truth all over

the world and to this day his teachings are well known by all Christians.

I think this book is a good influence for Christians all over the world by helping us

see what true persecution is and the example of a man who persevered through it. I

liked learning about Martin Luther’s life giving me an example of how I can tell

others about the Bible.