Luther and Lewis

There is no argument about whether there is on earth a Church which man should obey. The battle begins when men must decide which is the true Church. As long as we judge according to human words and understanding we cannot settle this quarrel, nor can we find the true Church, but we can reach certainty in the matter if we hear how Christ our Lord Himself describes and portrays the Church. Here He christens and depicts her as the little company which loves Christ and keeps His Word (for thus is such love known and felt). ‘My Word’, He says, ‘must remain and be kept or there can be no Church.’ The Word of Christ is here the rule and test whereby one can find and know the true Church, and by which she must set her course.—Martin Luther, Sermon on Whitsunday, 1544

One of the things that surprised me when I first read the New Testament seriously was that it talked so much about a Dark Power in the universe—a mighty evil spirit who was held to be the Power behind death and disease and sin.—C. S. Lewis, Business of Heaven, p. 258.