The Protestant Reformation was a foregone conclusion because, at some point, people would have to rise up to throw off the religious tyranny of the Roman Catholic Church. This movement was led by Martin Luther in Germany, Ulrich Zwingli in Switzerland and John Calvin in France. But sadly, instead of overthrowing the Roman harlot, they ‘reformed’ her, and created a new system of teaching based on creeds, confessions and canons. Reformed Theology. They ‘improved it worse’, or as the Germans say, die verschlimmbesserung. Whoa, that’s a mouthful. On this episode of Rightly Dividing, we are looking at the Protestant Reformation as compared to the clear teachings of your King James Bible, and we wade through some fairly meaty creeds, confessions and canons that form the bulk of the Reformation, or Reformed Theology. The Reformers were a highly passionate lot, which is a good thing, but some of that passion led to some insane excess. Martin Luther, talking about the Jews, wrote “First to set fire to their synagogues or schools and to bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them.” Yikes. John Calvin had his opponents, political and religious, put to death. Certainly none of this aligns with anything Paul ever wrote. But the Reformed Movement which rose up around them is alive and well in our day, and it is based on 3 main things. They are the Heidelberg Catechism, the Canons of Dort and the Westminster Confession of Faith. John MacArthur, RC Sproul, John Piper and others have been the Reformed standard bearers in the 21st century, and they and their followers rule social media with a rod of iron. On this episode, we compare what they teach and believe to the Bible.