In the 16th century, this little rhyme became popular.

Every time a coin in the coffer rings,

a soul from purgatory springs.

And you would drop your gilder in the chest,

and Tetzl would pull an indulgence off the pile,

and he would stamp it, and he would hand it to you.

And you could get yourself out of purgatory.

With that, indulgence, all of your sins,

past, present, and future, would be paid for.

Johann Tetzel, a 16th-century Dominican friar and a noted indulgence peddler in Germany.

His little tune danced its way across the German countryside.

It moved from village to village, finally finding its way to the ear of a young Martin Luther.

Hello and welcome to this edition of Renewing Your Mind, ugly web.

October 31st marks the day that Luther nailed his protest of those indulgences to the castle church door in Vittember.

It sparked one of the most important events in history.

Our teacher today is Dr. Stephen Nichols.

The Reformation motto was post-tenna-bross looks out of the darkness light.

What we need to remember for a moment is the darkness.

In fact, I've been given the title for this talk as what's the big deal about the Reformation.

And the big deal has everything to do with the darkness.

The darkness that had descended upon the church.

The darkness that rained even in culture.

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