The Torchlighters Heroes of Faith series is a selection of stories about heroes of the faith brought to life by animation and made available by the efforts of The Voice of the Martyrs organization.  It is designed for ages 8 to 12. October would be a great time for kids to watch the episode entitled The Martin Luther Story.  This story explains how the Reformation was ignited on October 31, 1517. It lasts only 30 minutes. Below is a sample of the video.

This animated presentation about Martin Luther begins with Martin’s bargain with God that causes him to become a monk, to keep his word. It ends with his escape to a safe place to do his writing after being sought by authorities of the Catholic Church who were threatened by his revelation of Biblical truth. It contains the story of the posting of the “Ninety-five Theses” that sparked the Reformation. This story is very well presented. It has quality animation, a great soundtrack, and a clear script. Kids who watch it will hear the Gospel, see that even church leaders can do wrong, learn that they must rely on the Word of God above all else for truth, and see an example of standing for truth no matter what the cost.

This video was produced by the Christian History Institute, in cooperation with The Voice of the Martyrs organization. The language on the disk can be set for English or Spanish, and English or Spanish subtitles. My copy contained some bonus material that I hope will be included on all copies of this animation. (The bi-lingual options apply only to the animated story.) The bonus material included the following:

(1) The first bonus is 90-minute documentary entitled Luther: His Life, His Path, His Legacy. Here is a sample of the documentary.

This documentary consists mainly of excellent photography of the locations where the events took Place, backed by narration. It also contains clips from the movie called Luther made in 2003. Another component  is commentary by experts, especially toward the end of the presentation, where they discuss the long-term effects of Luther’s life. The commentary is given in German, with the English translation given simultaneously by the narrator.

The documentary seems to be partly focused on historical accuracy. They even questioned whether Luther really posted the Ninety-five Theses on the church door, because it was based on a single person’s account of the event a few years later. However, they acknowledge that it would have been quite logical since the door of the church did serve as a sort of bulletin board.

I appreciated that they pinpointed the time and place wherein Luther came to the realization that  salvation is received by grace through faith, as he recalled Roman 1:17 in “The Tower Experience.” They also showed Luther’s great guilt over the thousands of deaths caused by the peasant revolts that were spurred by the Reformation, despite the fact that Luther was against violence and did his best to discourage it. They brought up Luther’s attack on the Jews in some of his later writings, for which he has sometimes been criticized. They explained that the attacks were the result of his disappointment that the Jews had not responded to the new understanding of the Gospel and that they were theological attacks rather than racial. He attacked other groups as well, such as the     peasants who revolted with violence. Some of the concluding words of the documentary mentioned the value of telling the stories of men who have had the courage to change the world.

(2) The second bonus is information about The Torchlighters series.

(3) The third bonus is a short presentation explaining what martyrs are and the ministry
organization called The Voice of the Martyrs.

(4) The fourth bonus is information on how to access the Study Guides.