The Zwickau Prophets and Martin Luther.

Thomas Müntzer (Muentzer, Muntzer) was perhaps
the most controversial figure of the period of the
German Reformation, a man who has been
called at various times the "beginner of the
great Anabaptist movement," he forerunner of modern
socialism, the beginner of the mystical-spiritualistic
 movement in Germany, a religious
socialist, the leader in the Peasants' War 1525, MORE..

Zwickau Prophets (1521-1522): Three craftsmen from the town of Zwickau claimed the gift of prophecy and began promulgating a mixture of Taborite and Waldesian teachings: including antipaedobaptism; denial of a professional ministry or organized religion because all godly people would be under the direct influence of the Spirit; special revelation through visions and dreams; and the imminent return of Christ. In December 1521 they came to Wittenberg to try and persuade the reformers. Melanchthon, impressed by their biblical knowledge was uncertain of what action to take. Their continued presence created great agitation, as the "Prophets" became more outspoken in their millennial views and criticisms of Luther's conservatism. Upon Luther's return in 1522, they were expelled and little is known of them after this. Their main significance was their influence upon the revolutionary Müntzer, and in the warning to us that we should not be intimidated about "quenching the Spirit" if we reject teachings of "prophets". (Extracted from THE ANABAPTISTS AND THE REFORMATION - read it all HERE.)

Radical Disciples 
  Many radicals began as disciples of the major reformers. Some so-called Anabaptists had begun as disciples of Martin Luther. These included Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt, a biblical scholar, and Thomas Münzer, a spiritualizer. Even the iconoclastic Zwickau prophets were somewhat influenced by Luther. Karlstadt was a professor of theology at Wittenberg when Luther arrived and had granted Luther his doctorate in theology, but Karlstadt moved further and faster than Luther. Thomas Münzer took up social issues and supported the peasant revolt in 1525. Another Anabaptist, Melchior Hofmann, had been a follower of Luther. His pilgrimage had taken him from Lutheran to Zwinglian (sacramentarian) to Anabaptist to Chiliast. Menno Simons had read Luther as a Catholic priest before his conversion to Anabaptism. Were they simply impatient? Would Luther have moved as far as they had, given more time? Or were there fundamental differences which were irreconcilable?

Other Anabaptists had been disciples of Ulrich Zwingli, the reformer of Zurich, Switzerland, or had been affected by his writings. Although Zwingli had been influenced by Luther and did not reject the authority of the state, even he went too far for Luther when he advocated that what could not be found in Scripture ought to be removed from the Church. Ulrich Zwingli was a biblical humanist and therefore was more radical than the conservative Luther. Luther might even include him among the fanatics. The principle on which Luther operated was that he would retain the traditions unless the Scriptures definitively rejected them. Zwingli operated on the opposite theory. Whatever was not supported by clear and certain Scriptures should be discarded. This was the radical approach. Biblical humanists like Zwingli determined to return to the source of the faith and what was not there does not belong on the tree. Zwingli began his reform on this principle. So did the Anabaptists. This, in Luther's estimation, opened the door for fanaticism and revolution. As Bruce Shelley observes, “In a sense the rise of Anabaptism was no surprise. Most revolutionary movements produce a wing of radicals who feel called of God to reform the reformation.” (extracted from Opposition to Radical Reformation:Martin Luther Against Anabaptists and Radicals. - Read it all HERE.)

YOUTUBE VID: Martin Luther, the 95 Theses and the Birth of the Protestant Reformation

The dominance of the Roman Catholic Church remained unchallenged for nearly 500 years. Then, in 1517, a German priest shook the Catholic Church to its very foundations. His name was Martin Luther. Luther was not a rebel. He wasn't trying to destroy the Catholic Church or even start his own religion. All Luther was trying to do was to stop the Church from engaging in some practices that he considered unchristian.
Luther's problem was with the Church's practice of selling indulgences. An indulgence is a remission of punishment for sins. You can think of an indulgence as a 'get out of hell free' card. The church had been in the practice of granting indulgences in exchange for good works and acts of piety for centuries, ever since Pope Urban II offered indulgences to Crusaders in 1095.
Luther questioned whether the church had the authority to grant such indulgences. He believed that the only true path to salvation lay through faithfulness to Christ and his teachings, not through adherence to the ideologies and dogmas of the Catholic Church. Yet Luther probably would not have made a fuss if it weren't for the fact that these 'get out of hell free' cards weren't actually free.
Earlier that year, in 1517, Pope Leo X had made an unconventional move. Leo wanted to rebuild St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, but he didn't want to spend his own considerable wealth to do so. This is not surprising, as Leo was a member of the wealthy Medici banking family, which dominated Florence. The man was more of a banker than a priest.
Leo's solution was to begin offering indulgences in exchange for donations to the Basilica's renovation. While these donations technically counted as pious works, Luther saw them as simple payment. To Luther's eyes, the Church was essentially selling salvation. He witnessed poor peasants giving up their life savings to buy an indulgence for a dead relative, in the hope of saving their loved ones from the tortures of purgatory. All the while the Church grew ever richer.
This was too much for Luther. Luther had read the Bible, something most people of his age could not do, since the only available translations of the Bible were in Latin and Greek. Luther saw nothing in the Bible that gave the Church the right to charge people for their salvation. The church was supposed to be a spiritual sanctuary, not a marketplace.
So, Luther set about writing 95 complaints with the Church's greedy behavior. These complaints are now called the 95 Theses. On October 3, 1517, Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Church of Wittenberg and sent copies to the higher authorities of the Catholic Church.
The posting of the 95 Theses is considered by many the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. However, it is important to remember that Luther was not trying to undermine the Church. He was just trying to get them to stop making money off the business of salvation.
Luther's 95 Theses spread across Europe like wildfire. Within two months, they were being read in cities across the continent. The next year, they were translated into German and printed on a massive scale, further fueling the controversy. Luther suddenly found himself at the center of the greatest conflict of his age. (Extracted from Martin Luther, the 95 Theses and the Birth of the Protestant Reformation. Pls. click HERE to read the whole article.)
R.C. Sproul and Steve lawson on The Zwickau Prophets and The Reformation. Most Christians have heard of the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformers. But there is good reason why you have probably never heard of their contemporaries, the Zwickau prophets. In the following two videos, R.C. Sproul and Steve Lawson explain who they were and why they left no lasting legacy.

The principle of Sola Scriptura—Scripture alone—lies at the heart of the Protestant Reformation. Rejecting the pope as God's voice on earth required that there be a true and superior authority on which Christians could depend. Replacing the pope with someone else who claimed direct revelation from God would have only served to perpetuate the original problem. The scope and extent of the Reformation legacy, still felt today, is primarily due to the Reformers' unshakable commitment to God's unchanging revelation found in the pages of your Bible.