More than 500 years ago, Martin Luther’s Ninety-five Theses challenged the way the church taught biblical principles and the authority of the Roman Catholic Church’s leadership.

In his autobiography, Just As I Am, Billy Graham recalled his time visiting the very church where Luther’s movement began.

“In October 1982, we arrived in the German Democratic Republic, as East Germany was officially known, for a preaching mission. …

“I preached my first sermon from Martin Luther’s pulpit in the City Church of Wittenberg on Sunday morning. I used the text made famous by Luther himself: ‘The just shall live by faith’ (Romans 1:17, KJV). Afterward, we toured the historic town with the mayor.

“Then we visited Wittenberg’s Castle Church, where Luther had nailed his Ninety-five Theses to the door in 1517, thus beginning the Protestant Reformation. We also saw the little room where he gave his table talks—I have read and laughed at and pondered them for years—and visited his grave.”

“Later in the trip, while meeting with clergy he recalled that, “Out of a full heart, I told them about my visit to the Luther sites in Wittenberg and how much his life and thought had influenced me. The next year they would be celebrating the five hundredth anniversary of his birth, and I confessed how that knowledge had affected me as I stood at his grave: ‘I am now ten months older than he was when he died, and look at all he accomplished. It made me feel very small.’”

Billy Graham took the same approach as Luther in many ways. He encouraged those he shared the Gospel with to discover the Bible for themselves—to read God’s Word and join with fellow believers to study and learn Scripture. In 1960, he shared this message as part of his address to the World Council of Churches:

“As Martin Luther read and re-read the Epistle to the Romans, he was moved to defy the Church of Rome because he believed it had obscured the truth that ‘the just shall live by faith.’ Stirred by the great biblical insight he had received, he wrote his ’Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans.’ Later when the preface to that commentary was read by one of the Moravians, it warmed the heart of Wesley who in turn lit a flame in England that still flickers.

Whenever the Church has used the Scriptures as her authority, spiritual power has followed. …Throughout the Old Testament we find Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, and the other prophets continually using such expressions, ‘The word of the Lord came unto me,’ or ‘Thus saith the Lord.’ The flaming prophets of old gained their authority from this; but they were not simply speaking their own words, they were mouthpieces for God. I have found that the Scriptures have become a flame that has melted away unbelief in the hearts of people and moved them to decide for Christ. … The older I get, the more I rely upon the Scripture itself. People all over the world are hungry to hear the Word of God. As the people came to the desert places to hear John the Baptist proclaim, ‘Thus saith the Lord,’ so modern man in his confusion, frustration and bewilderments will still come to hear the minister who preaches with authority. It is my conviction that if evangelism is not based upon the Scriptures and does not speak with authority, it will have little relevance for the present situation. The Bible with its discerning, piercing message must become the basis of our preaching. I am not advocating Bibliolatry. I am not suggesting that we should worship the Bible any more than a soldier worships his sword or a surgeon worships his scalpel. I am however fervently urging a return to Bible-centered evangelism, to a Gospel presentation without apology and without ambiguity, to a Gospel presentation with finality and conclusiveness. Our generation has wearied of our theological foundering and uncertainty.”

Many pastors in the U.S. today have been led to their faith through the teaching of Billy Graham because of his resolve to always let the Word of God speak for itself. In a recent episode of Fearless with Cissie Graham Lynch, recorded in Wittenberg, Pastor Skip Heitzig recalled having his own Martin Luther moment when listening to Billy Graham preach in 1973.

Today, we encourage you to live boldly in your faith and share it with others. If you or someone you know is looking for answers about what it means to be a Christian, visit GoingFarther.net for resources about the basics of living out the Christian-faith.