U.S. Lutherans Returning to Their Mother

“Nearly 500 years after Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the Castle Church door, the largest Lutheran denomination in the U.S. has approved a declaration recognizing ‘there are no longer church-dividing issues’ on many points with the Roman Catholic Church” (CRUX, August 16, 2016). The Lutheran Presiding Bishop noted, “Though we have not yet arrived, we have claimed that we are, in fact, on the way to unity” (ibid.). “Most notably, the ‘Declaration on the Way’ includes 32 ‘Statements of Agreement’ where Lutherans and Catholics no longer have church-dividing differences on issues of church, ministry and the Eucharist” (ibid.). Revelation 17:5 refers to a major end-time church as the “mother of harlots.” The Catholic Douay-Rheims Version of the Bible refers to this “mother of harlots” as pagan Rome—and Rome has been the historical seat of the Catholic Church. The Father of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther, is also credited with referring to the Catholic Church as “the whore of Babylon”—a clear reference to Revelation 17:5 (Catholic World Report, September 25, 2011).

During the last several decades there has been a definite trend of many Protestant denominations (daughters) working to return to their Catholic mother. For more detail on this fascinating topic, be sure to read our brief article “Who Is the Harlot of Revelation 17?”