But there was a ray of hope. There were two laymen in the country who believed that God is, and "He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6).

These men could not forget their heritage. They prayed for the young people of East Germany and asked God to send His light into their hearts. Spiritual darkness had covered that part for Germany 400 years earlier, during a period known to historians as the end of the Dark Ages. The church had become corrupt and was without power.

During that time there lived a man named Johann Tetzel. A seller of indulgences and certificates of salvation, he would travel from city to city swindling people out of their money. From a red cross placed in front of an altar, he suspended what represented the arms of the pope.

"This cross," he would say, "has as much efficacy as the very cross of Jesus Christ. Come, and I will give you letters, all properly sealed, by which even the sins that you intend to commit may be pardoned. I would not change my privileges for those of St. Peter in heaven, for I have saved more souls by my indulgences than the apostle by his sermons.There is no sin so great that an indulgence cannot remit…only let him pay well and all will be forgiven him.

"But more than this," said he, "indulgences avail not only for the living but for the dead.

Priest! Noble! Merchant! Wife! Youth! Maiden! Do you not hear your parents and your friends who are dead and who cry from the bottom of the abyss saying, 'We are suffering horrible torments! A trifling alm would deliver us. You can give it, and you will not!'

"At the very instant, " continued Tetzel, "that the money rattles at the bottom of this chest, the soul escapes from purgatory and flies liberated to heaven."

In the midst of religious corruption and darkness, the glory of God broke into the heart of a young man by the name of Martin Luther. In an Augustinian monastery, he read the Scriptures for the first time. "Der Gerechte wird aus Glauben leben" (The just shall live by faith) began to burn in his heart. Imagine Luther's joy and hope as he understood the fullness of what he read. His eyes had seen the King, a Savior who gives His love and salvation to all who simply receive it by faith.

As the fire of faith was lit in the heart of Martin Luther, the light of God's glory began to spread throughout Europe. Western civilization would never be the same.