Some enterprising students saw the Theses tacked to the door and they, without Luther's knowledge or without his permission, had the Theses translated into the German language and taking advantage of the recent invention of Mr. Gutenberg.

They were able to print off multitudes of copies, literally thousands of copies, and it was said that within two weeks the 95 Theses were discovered in every village in Germany.

It has been said that the sound of Martin Luther mailing his 95 Theses to the Castle Church door all the way back in 1517 echoed around the world as Reformation would begin to spread and the light of the gospel would shine in the darkness once again.

You're listening to the Friday edition of Renewing Your Mind, I'm your host, Nathan W. Bingham.

Arcy Sproll has been walking us in the footsteps of Martin Luther, who have seen his search for peace with God, knowing that he, an unrighteous sinner, could never stand in the presence of a holy and righteous God on his own merit.

He joined a monastery, he visited Rome, but his eyes were open to the good news of the gospel as he studied Romans, full of incredible letter to the church in Rome.

Well today we come to the iconic and history shaping moment as Luther nails his 95 Theses to the church door.

But before we do, don't forget to request the entire series and the paperback book Luther and the Reformation with your donation of any amount at RenewingYourMind.org.

Well here's Arcy Sproll on Martin Luther and his 95 Theses.

In the year 1517 after Pope Leo the 10th that authorized the sale of indulgences through Roman Catholic lands and had worked out an arrangement with Prince Albert of Brandenburg to be able to have exclusive rights to the proceeds from the sale of indulgences in Germany except in those areas that were prohibited.

By law which areas included the area of Saxony by virtue of the authority of Frederick the Wise church was not allowed to dispense indulgences in that particular territory.

But where the indulgences were brought into Germany they were under the leadership of a Dominican monk by the name of Johann Tetzel and Tetzel was known for his creative marketing skills and the way it worked was this that as they would go into a German town or into a German village.

It was done with great pomp and pageantry where there was a solemn procession at the front of which was a cross that contained the sign of the Pope.

And in addition to that there was a papal bull that was carried in front of the procession on a gold embroidered velvet cushion and once the procession came into the village then people would gather around and Tetzel would give one of his famous sermons.

And the basic theme of his sermons on these occasions was to stir the heartstrings of the peasants about the predicament that their passing relatives were experiencing in purgatory and he would say to them things like this can you hear their cries.

Can you hear them pleading for you this day to get these indulgences to reduce their time in purgatory.

And then of course the famous jingle that Tetzel composed which is translated from the German with the English phrase.

Every time a coin in the coffer rings a soul from purgatory springs.

Well again as I said Tetzel was not able to cross the territorial line into Saxony but many of the peasants from the region of Vittenburg made this short journey over into the next territory and availed themselves of this possibility of purchasing indulgences for their departed relatives.

Because this particular action that infuriated Martin Luther as a professor of theology and Bible studies at the University of Vittenburg.

And so in a state of anger Luther wrote down in clear Terce language 95 theses of protests against the corruption that was involved in the sale of these indulgences.

He was chiefly agitated by the way in which they were communicated by Tetzel the Dominican monk and thought that Tetzel was going over the edge from what was actually authorized by the church in the case of the distribution of indulgences.

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