Martin Luther's message to the ELCA

Different time, different church structure and level of authority, but the message is the same, whether it's to the powerful papacy of the 16th century or the weak Chicago branch of Lutheranism in the 21st century.

"The focal point of Luther's conflict with the papcy--whether it was his condemnation of the sale of idulgences or other evils, the publication of his 95 theses and the explosion it created, his debate with Eck at Leipzig, his immortal defense at the Diet of Worms, his subsequent excommunication from the fold--revolved around one problem: what was to be the supreme and final authority in spiritual matters, the Church or the Word of God?" David Otis Fuller, "Valiant for the Truth," (1961) p. 99-100