Web Cam

Left Click
A group of layman asked me about extending our services. We have a small group in three states worshiping together twice a month.

The laymen investigated and found a way to put the audio and video up (live) through a web cam. Those with a cam can view each other. Those without can click on the link, watch, and listen. They only need an Internet connection and broadband (cable or DSL). Dial up does not work with huge graphic files.

We used to videotape services for a man with ALS (Columbus). He and his wife said video made it seem like they were there.

We will be able to record the services and provide them through a website. We did an initial test the other day. The quality of the picture was superb. Sound is trickier.

We will not be able to match the production values of the big, honking Church Growth operations, but we will not hide the Lutheran name either.

Who Told You?, Part II

"Who told you?"

"Who told you?" is a signal that someone has identified a scandalous WELS event, a warning to forget it, as the creatures forgot the Piper at the Gates of Dawn in The Wind in the Willows.

I drove by a town in Arizona where a former WELS member lives. He was in business so he saw through the Church Growth marketing of WELS.

He said one day, "The big Church Growth pastor's hand-picked successor left the ministry due to depression."

I said, "Really? What was her name?"

He shot back, "Who told you?"

I replied, "When a WELS pastor leaves the ministry suddenly over depression, a woman is involved. Just be glad it's a woman."

Lenski explained it a long time ago. He was a genius in New Testament exegesis but also a District President. That was when a DP could have an IQ bigger than his belt size. Lenski said, based on his experience, that a man who was unfaithful to the Word was also unfaithful in other areas of life.

Up the Creek In a Yacht

District Pope Janke

When DP Janke said he was returning to his first love, the congregation, he failed to insert "huge and choice" in the message.

Janke has a call to Jefferson - not Johnson Creek, Wisconsin. Jefferson has had problems with declining membership and income. Doubtless Janke has the answers. Confirmation classes will be shorter in length, with only Nine Commandments to teach.

One anonymous person said I was peddling old news about DP Mueller and VP Kuske. Not at all, gentle readers. The same news is constantly recycled in WELS because people tolerate dictatorial and corrupt leaders. Their DP style is a template from Hell, where their master rules. They drive sound pastors out of the ministry while protecting clergy adulterers and blatant false teachers. They have bowels of Evangelical compassion for divorced pastors and unfaithful pastors, but hatred toward happily married pastors who are faithful to the Word and actually read the Confessions.

Observe another mark of WELS leadership - When they get into trouble, they leave town - or the country. DP Mueller was suddenly called to Russia. SP Gurgel went to Hong Kong, a move that might have been considered an act of war, except no one knows what the Wisconsin sect is in that colony.\

Holy Mother WELS is indefectible.

Tony Blair Will Teach at Yale Next Year

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair will teach at Yale next year. His son is earning a master's degree there.

Judica

By Norma Boeckler
Judica – The Fifth Sunday in Lent

KJV Hebrews 9:11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; 12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. 13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

KJV John 8:46 Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? 47 He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God. 48 Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? 49 Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me. 50 And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth. 51 Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. 52 Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. 53 Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself? 54 Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God: 55 Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. 57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? 58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. 59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

Luther’s Prayer
Lord, it is certainly true that I am unworthy to have Thee come under my roof, but I am so needy and long for Thy help and grace so that I may become righteous. Therefore, I come to Thee, trusting in nothing other than the sweet words which I have heard, with which Thou invitest me to Thy Table and sayest to me, who am so unworthy, that I will receive forgiveness of my sins through Thy Body and Blood if I eat and drink thereof in this Sacrament.

Judica

The Hymn #246
The Invocation p. 15
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual Hebrews 9 :11-15
The Gospel John 8:46-59
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #40
The Sermon
The Great I AM

The Offertory p. 22
The Hymn #309
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #376

The Great I AM – And The Jewish Trinity

John 8: 57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? 58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. 59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

This passage should give every Christian believer goose-flesh, or, as Luther said about John 3:16 – We should write it with golden letters on our hearts.

This is one of many passages where the Trinity is established in the Old and New Testaments and the pre-existence of Christ is detailed.

An ELCA pastor sent me a book, The Jewish Trinity, by Yoel Natan. The author is Jewish, we may assume, trained as a rabbi perhaps, and certainly a Christian. He seems to have an affinity for Luther, but other than that I know very little.

I am studying the book slowly because so many details are included. I am glad I studied rabbinic literature under a rabbinical scholar at Notre Dame. Natan’s style is quite different from most theological books, original and rabbinical at the same time.

Lutherans have always emphasized the Gospel in the Old Testament, the Trinity revealed in the entire Bible, not just the New Testament. If we consider the basic concept, that must be so.

Natan is good at reminding us that much of the commentary and even the translators (NIV) have hidden the Trinitarian nature of the Old Testament, as if the Trinity is only implied and not clearly taught in the Old Testament.

Often we are influenced by the Darwinists, even if we do not realize it. The Darwinists think of religion as evolving, from animism (tree-gods) to polytheism to the Trinity to Unitarianism to an ethical society without God. The old-time apostates liked the Bible in a sentimental way, but they thought the Trinity was invented around 500 AD so it could not be in the New Testament or the Old Testament.

Another perspective would be – if the Trinity has always existed, why would God keep it a secret until the birth of His Son? Or, even more mysterious for the Unitarian view – How could so many Jews convert from strict Monotheism to Trinitarianism during the early years of the Christian Church?

Genesis 1 is Trinitarian, as we know from John 1. The Father commanded the Creation through the Word (His Son), and the Holy Spirit brooded over the waters.

The Angel of the Lord was not a mere angel but the Son of God before His incarnation. When Jacob wrestled with the angel, he was renamed Israel, because he wrestled with God. An angel is not ever called God except the Angel of the Lord.

KJV Genesis 32:30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

The same is true of the Burning Bush. The Angel of the Lord called from the bush, which had two natures, one of natural growth, one of flames. The bush was not consumed but both natures were apparent.

KJV Exodus 3:1 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. 2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. 4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. 5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. 6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God. 7 And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; 8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. 11 And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? 12 And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain. 13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? 14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

Jesus’ response to his critics is unreasonable and ungrammatical unless He is truly God. “Before Abraham was, I AM.” The response is best printed with all capital letters because God’s Name in Exodus is I AM.

The Son of God has always existed, so only He can say, as Jesus, “Before Abraham was, I AM.”

Nor should we overlook that Jesus revealed Himself as the Savior to His people this way. He showed mercy to His critics who were assailing Him. The Word converts or hardens. When people reject the Word, more teaching of the Word will harden and anger them. People feel discouraged because of the rage caused by the Word, but they should be encouraged instead. The Word is having an effect. When people are upset and angry, they are thinking instead of being indifferent to the truth.

One effect of the rage is being rejected, persecuted, and pushed away by the unbelievers who cannot tolerate the truths of the Gospel. This is what Jesus experienced so many times. Some listened, held fast to the Word, and found peace and salvation in Christ. Others became furious and sought peace by destroying Christ. Even in the midst of this horrible crime, God converted people. The centurion said, “Surely this man was the Son of God.” The very concise Passion narrative tells us this because the Roman soldier was converted by the execution he oversaw. In the same way some Jews saw Christ fulfilling the Scriptures they knew so well. They believed and worshiped Christ, but found persecution as their reward.

This passage in John is extraordinary because the two natures of Christ are suggested by the Burning Bush, and this connects us with Holy Communion. Once the Son of God united His divine nature with His human nature in the womb of the Virgin Mary, the two natures remained united throughout eternity.

Those who would deny the Real Presence of Christ in Holy Communion allow for His spiritual presence but not His presence united in both natures. When were they divided? Never.
"The same is true of other factions--the Anabaptists and similar sects. What else do they but slander baptism and the Lord's Supper when they pretend that the external [spoken] Word and outward sacraments do not benefit the soul, that the Spirit alone can do that?" Martin Luther, Sermons of Martin Luther, ed. John Nicolas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VIII, p. 208. 1 Corinthians 12:1-11;

"For in Confession as in the Lord's Supper you have the additional advantage, that the Word is applied to your person alone. For in preaching it flies out into the whole congregation, and although it strikes you also, yet you are not so sure of it; but here it does not apply to anyone except you. Ought it not to fill your heart with joy to know a place where God is ready to speak to you personally? Yea, if we had a chance to hear an angel speak we would surely run to the ends of the earth."
Martin Luther, Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed. John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983 II, p. 199.

"The devil does not rest yet, and hence he stirs up so many sects and factions. How many sects have we not already had? One has taken up the sword, another has attacked the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, others that of baptism."
Martin Luther, Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholaus Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, V, p. 266. John 4:46-54; 1 Peter 5:8; Ephesians 6:12

"For we can definitely assert that where the Lord's Supper, Baptism, and the Word are found, Christ, the remission of sins, and life eternal are found. On the other hand, where these signs of grace are not found, or where they are despised by men, not only grace is lacking but also foul errors will follow. Then men will set up other forms of worship and other signs for themselves."
Martin Luther, What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, II, p. 914. Genesis 4:3.

"Both Baptism and the Lord's Supper qualify as Means of Grace because of the simple fact that they are visible forms of the essential Gospel message announcing the forgiveness of sins." Martin W. Lutz, "God the HS Acts Through the Lord's Supper," God The Holy Spirit Acts, ed., Eugene P. Kaulfield, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1972, p. 117.

"Since God has connected His most gracious promise of forgiveness with Baptism and the Lord's Supper, these also are true and efficacious means of grace, namely, by virtue of the divine promises that are attached to them."
John Theodore Mueller, Christian Dogmatics, A Handbook of Doctrinal Theology, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1934, p. 444.

"In reconciling the world unto Himself by Christ's substitutionary satisfaction, God asked no one's advice concerning His singular method of reconciliation. In like manner, without asking any man's advice, He ordained the means by which He gives men the infallible assurance of His gracious will toward them; in other words, He both confers on men the remission of sins merited by Christ and works faith in the proffered remission or, where faith already exists, strengthens it. The Church has appropriately called these divine ordinances the means of grace, media gratiae, instrumenta gratiae; Formula of Concord: 'Instrumenta sive media Spiritus Sancti' (Triglotta, p. 903, Solid Declaration, II, 58). They are the Word of the Gospel, Baptism, and the Lord's Supper, as will be shown more fully on the following pages."
Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, 3 vols., trans., Walter W. F. Albrecht, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1953, III, p. 103.

"We saw before that Scripture ascribes the forgiveness of sins without reservation to the Word of the Gospel, to Baptism, and to the Lord's Supper. Therefore all means of grace have the vis effectiva, the power to work and to strengthen faith." [Note: Augsburg Confession, V, XIII]
Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, 3 vols., trans., Walter W. F. Albrecht, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1953, III, p. 108f.

"In fact, there is no basis for a real disagreement between Zwingli and Calvin. The situation here is analogous to the one that obtains in the doctrine of Christ's Person and Word and the doctrine of the Lord's Supper. In these doctrines Zwingli and Calvin and all Reformed will agree as long as they all teach that Christ's body can possess only a local and visible mode of subsistence or presence. Similarly, Zwingli and Calvin cannot differ materially in their teaching on the means of grace because they agree, first, that Christ's merit and saving grace do not apply to all who use the means of grace; secondly, that saving grace is not bound to the means of grace."
Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, 3 vols., trans., Walter W. F. Albrecht, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1950, III, p. 163.

"The Reformed, and all Reformed sects, deny the Real Presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Lord's Supper. Through this they detract from God's honor." Francis Pieper, The Difference between Orthodox and Heterodox Churches, and Supplement, Coos Bay, Oregon: St. Paul's Lutheran Church, 1981, p. 36. "Whoever denies the Real Presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Lord's Supper must pervert the words of Institution where Christ the Lord, speaking of that which He gives His Christians to eat, says: 'This is My body,' and, speaking of that which He gives them to drink, says: 'This is My blood.' [Also 1 Corinthians 10:16]
Francis Pieper, The Difference between Orthodox and Heterodox Churches, and Supplement, Coos Bay, Oregon: St. Paul's Lutheran Church, 1981, p. 40. 1 Corinthians 10:16.

"Furthermore, consider this: All doctrines of the Bible are connected with one another; they form a unit. One error draws others in after it. Zwingli's first error was the denial of the presence of Christ's body and blood in the Lord's Supper. In order to support this error, he had to invent a false doctrine of Christ's Person, of heaven, of the right hand of God, etc."
Francis Pieper, The Difference between Orthodox and Heterodox Churches, and Supplement, Coos Bay, Oregon: St. Paul's Lutheran Church, 1981, p. 41.

"That Their Evil Hurt Not Others." - Philip Sidney

Ichabod Is Evil: Q.E.D. WELS Is Perfect

Oh my! The WELS Damage Control Team went into overdrive, like James Carville on meth. The arguments (all anonymous) range from the normal WELS name-calling to the assumption of repentance to the usual excuses (old news).

"That their evil hurt not others." - From The Defense of Poesy by Philip Sidney.

Perhaps my work is too subtle for most WELS pastors. The origin of the discussion was the bizarre assumption that former Vice Pope Paul Kuske was an ultra-conservative because he lobbied for MLS. A school is not a doctrine, but the enemy of my enemy is my friend, as the saying goes. If the Church Growth people hate schools, then a friend of one school is ultra-conservative by virtue of being against the target of Church Growthers.

Pastors are obliged to teach and defend sound doctrine. Someone who advocates Church Growth doctrine, as Kuske did, is not even an infra-conservative. He is a false prophet. The legions of false prophets in WELS do not make one false teacher more tolerable.

As I was saying, the leadership in Columbus was completely and utterly false, corrupt, evil, and destructive. Members there now rejoice that the old gang is gone. The trouble is not so much that Stolzenburg, Zehms, M. Schroeder (not the SP), and their buddies Stadler, Iver Johnson, etc. destroyed their own marriages, but that the doctrinal destruction was allowed, even encouraged to spread.

Columbus, Ohio was Ur-Church-and-Change. The apostates in Columbus suddenly became hosts to the national WELS youth gathering. And who was a featured speaker? Stadler. The actual hosts were not the local pastors but Lutheran Parish Resources, Zehms and Stolzenburg.

Other liberal denominations do exactly the same thing. That is why I feature so many Episcopalian articles. The more dysfunctional a church leader is (no matter the denomination) the more power he--or she--grabs and holds. The evil spreads until a group makes an effort to stop it. The chief victim is sound doctrine because apostates hate the Word of God. They never stop blabbing against the efficacy of the Word and the glory of their own work, so they murder souls with quiet efficiency.

The Episcopalians have shocked and surprised me by packing up and leaving the denomination, with or without their property, willing to face down the lovely Presiding Bishop in court. She uses their offering money to pay the lawyers to sue them, so they must use their local money to defend themselves against the national lawyers funded by their denominational gifts. How many elderly Episcopalians knew they were funding future lawsuits against conservatives, when they signed over their estates?

So far Lutherans have remained spineless and supine.

One WELS minder decided to level the playing field by name-calling, a tactic familiar to all those who have dealt with this sect. How dare I joke about Vicar Zerbe being a youth leader? I did not joke. I asked a question based upon previously gathered information. Recently someone said, "Just is not around WELS anymore, is he?" I told the caller what I understood from a knowledgeable friend - "Just was seen with a WELS youth group." The defence of Just doing youth work was--yes, indeed--he was repentant. Or maybe he served his time. I was sternly warned to avoid mentioning Just because his case still rankles in Phoenix. Some clergy believe Just is innocent (as he claimed), overlooking the fact that he was convicted and also confessed his sin to a pastor.

I was not being comical when I asked if Zerbe was a youth leader in his Muskegon WELS congregation. Al Just murdered his wife, lied about it, manipulated friends and in-laws into defending him, married his children's baby-sitter, and then engaged in WELS youth work when out of the clink.

The Wisconsin sect's pattern of behavior is cancerous and needs drastic surgery. As I mentioned before, the Michigan District drove three good pastors (Toledo) out of the ministry--for good. Were they divorced and married to their former girlfriends? No. Were they sound teachers? Yes. What was their crime? All three were mildly critical of the Church Growth Movement.

Meanwhile, the Michigan District's pet phony-pastor, Floyd Stolzenburg, is still serving a Lutheran congregation. Emmanuel in Columbus was linked several years with the Little Sect on the Prairie, with Kovaciny as the bagman for Thoughts of Faith in Ukraine. The sacrament of absolution is wonderful indeed, especially when accompanied by gold and silver reparations.

The pattern of punishing sound teachers and rewarding false prophets is all too familiar in this Age of Apostasy. The Wisconsin sect is just another example of a mainline denomination decaying into Unitarianism.

The concept of a wealthy adulterer funding pastors, congregations, and the denomination is not new. When J. P. Morgan was the richest man in America, he used to take his Episcopalian bishops to the national convention on his private railroad cars. He took his mistress on the same train. Morgan was known for his many conquests, or purchases, as the case might be. What did these stolid Episcopalian bishops of the Old School say about the mistresses and donations? "Praise God from Whom all blessings flow."

***

GJ - The following is too funny, especially because it is anonymous, misspelled, with the name Robert assigned:

It's likely you know your actions are sinful and you're to (sic) cowardly to admit them on your blog.

The most entertaining comments are the anonymous ones yelling, "Coward!"

Rev. Mouse Plays the Slander Card...Again

Rev. Mouse Enjoying His Daily Ichabod

A. Nony Mouse has left a new comment on your post "Everyone Is Repentant in WELS":

I wonder when someone is going to throw you in the clink for all the slander and libel you're guilty of over the years.

***

GJ - Here is an important legal point, Rev. Mouse - It's not slander if it's true.

Did Kuske, Mueller, Adrian, and Oelhaven cover for Stolzenburg? True.

Did Kuske write a glowing letter of reference for Stolzenburg? True.

Did Kuske and Mueller offer Stolzenburg as a WELS colloquy candidate? True.

Have three WELS church workers done time in state prison? True.

Did Tabor move to a new call after he murdered his wife? True.

Does WELS teach everyone is forgiven, without faith? True.

Is that the same doctrine as ELCA's? True.

Is WELS besotted with Church Growthism? True.

Everyone Is Repentant in WELS

UOJ WELS Kitten


***

MLS Veteran has left a new comment on your post "Paul Kuske the "Ultra-Conservative"":

But didn't Kuske support keeping MLS open? Wouldn't that go against the grain of the Church Growth movement which were not strong supporters of the 2 remaining prep schools?

Also, wasn't Kuske a founding member of "Issues in WELS", which is supposed to be the conservative vanguard in the WELS?

It is all very confusing...

***

GJ - First of all the whole world is righteous, whether anyone believes or not. That is WELS official doctrine - really, their quirky opinion, unrelated to Christian doctrine. Discussing the criminal element in WELS is part of being faithful to the Book of Concord, which is barely glanced at in the WELS system. I will be glad to supply the citation - again. Read the Large Catechism, Eighth Commandment. The Eighth comes right after the one on murder.

Secondly, Al Just did not murder his wife, according to an email from one of his relatives. Note the odd pun here. Al Just justified by his family. Just was justly convicted, went to state prison, and got out. He married his children's babysitter while he was in the hoosegow, but they are divorced. Just was spotted as a leader in a WELS youth group.

I should have a list of WELS church worker ex-cons for their prison ministry program. District Pope Ed Werner is probably out of the clink now too. If the WELS ex-cons would write more often, I could keep track.

WELS secrecy about church worker crimes only feeds the problem. The bigger the scandal, the more the hierarchy will cover it up. But lo, if anyone dares mention the truth about WELS, the mud will fly.

Here is a good example - A retired pastor wrote a fine essay on the true Church being built on the foundation of Jesus Christ. He included some very mild criticism of WELS trends and how the trends were damaging the ministry. When I was in John Lawrenz' MLS office, he lit into this pastor, saying, "Have you seen his congregation? It is dead!" Note the focus of John's criticism. The retired pastor "Named names" and "did not allow people to defend their good names." John could name names behind the pastor's back, and that pastor had no chance to defend his good name. The retired pastor was dealing with doctrinal issues, no better way to get a Church Growther angry, petty, and vindictive.

I have never seen a dead congregation. Anyone who says that is absolutely anti-Lutheran, but I found anti-Lutheran was the dominant theme of WELS leadership. The only thing they defend is Holy Mother Synod. Christian doctrine - no interest.

Supporting prep schools is not a test of orthodoxy. Issues in WELS is so feeble and timid that no one should brag about being part of it.

I remember warning District Pope Robert Mueller and Vice Pope Paul Kuske that covering up for Floyd Stolzenburg and pastors like him would lead to major lawsuits. That only made them angry. Perhaps the lawsuit against Adrian and his congregation was already in the works.

The 2008 President

The torch is passed.

During the Superbowl, second half, I was going to post my prediction, the Giants by 3 points. But I procrastinated. The game was too good to stop watching.

So I am going to predict the presidential election. I do not like any of the candidates, so no bias is involved.

John McCain will be elected.

If Hillary wins the nomination, the Obama fans will still vote for her, but enough will stay home to swing key states. She reminds too many men of their ex-wives or their mothers-in-law, perhaps both. Conservative male voters may hate McCain, but they loathe Hillary.

If Obama wins the nomination, the fragile nature of his fame will become apparent. His connections with big Muslim money, his previous Muslim training, and his bomb-throwing friend will work against him. He has already shown he has a glass jaw. He told one journalist not to make fun of his ears. When Hillary began to work on him, he suddenly looked shell-shocked. When curtains close in the voting booth, many open-minded voters will not vote for him. Hispanics do not vote for Blacks. White males are not likely to vote for a Black Muslim (or) former Muslim who belongs to a Black supremist UCC congregation. Obama's congregation is a Black version of the KKK.

Obama's wife, as one reader noted, is not a vote-getter. The more she talks, the fewer votes he will get.

A contested nomination (Ford when he ran against Carter; Carter when he ran against Reagan) will normally doom the candidate. The Democrat convention promises to be as violent as the 1968 Chicago convention.

The biggest factors against McCain are the genuine conservatives and the economy. Conservatives do not like him for open borders, the education bill, voting against ANWR, and a few other matters. Also, we are in the midst of a world-wide financial panic. Most people do not know how bad it is. If sufficient measures are not taken, the results will go against the party in power. President Bush's endorsement is not going to help much.

Paul Kuske the "Ultra-Conservative"

Michigan Lutheran Seminary, once a seminary for the old Michigan Synod, now a prep school for WELS. The old building was called the Plywood Palace.
MLS Veteran has left a new comment on your post "How One District Pope Was Removed":

Dr. Jackson,

What is the issue you have with Paul Kuske?

I thought he was ultra conservative???

MLS Veteran

***

GJ - Kuske has an issue with Luther's doctrine. Kuske was the dean of men at Michigan Lutheran Seminary. His term there was called The Reign of Terror.

As Michigan District VP, Kuske created Lutheran Parish Resources with donated money, so Floyd Stolzenburg, who had been recently forced out of the LCMS ministerium (for cause), could pretend to be a WELS pastor. Floyd never was and never wanted to be a WELS member. He went to St. Paul's in German Village (Columbus, Ohio) and dissed the pastor - to the pastor's wife - after the service.

No one wanted Floyd as a consultant and they got another divorced pastor, Roger Zehms, to be their Church Growth consultant. So more money was donated to give Floyd his job.

Floyd, Zehms, Kuske, Kovaciny, and M. Schroeder (not the SP) pushed their Church Growth schemes. The District Mission Board--headed by Werning disciple Wally Oelhaven and Fred Adrian --promoted Church Growth without shame or hesitation. Meanwhile I published constantly against Church Growth and for Luther's doctrine.

Floyd constantly caused division and promoted false doctrine in his role as a Church Growth Consultant. Zehms, following his idol (and favorite teacher) Jungkuntz, stayed under the radar and let Floyd do the loud yakking. Kuske ran interference for Floyd. So did District Pope Robert Mueller. The plan all along, as Oelhaven admitted, was to sneak Floyd into the WELS ministerium via this fraudulent Lutheran Parish Resources.

Zehms suddenly found himself leaving Columbus. The circuit pastor told me Zehms ran afoul of one of the pastors. Floyd was allowed to run his little show alone. LPR soon ran out of steam. I was busy quoting the Church Growth people in WELS. Apparently that had some effect.

Kuske and Floyd started Pilgrim Community Church, the stealth mission of LPR. The normally comatose Columbus WELS members were shocked at the dishonesty and fraud of the whole affair. Pilgrim was a grim pill for Kuske and Floyd to swallow. Zehms was in on it, too, telling WELS members to stay away, not visit, and not join. The stealth mission flopped, just as LPR flopped.

Kuske and Schuman (another Church Growth fan) promoted Floyd at Emmanuel Lutheran Church. Kuske denied it on the record and got an Emmanuel member to deny it. However, Schuman and Kuske both wrote letters of recommendation for Floyd, something his old District President would never do. After all, Floyd was sued for divorce by his first wife and sued in court over one of his relationships. Floyd tried to get into a number of different denominations. Due to various factors, Floyd finally made it into Emmanuel. During his rule the lovely female treasurer of the congregation was arrested and convicted for embezzling money from the congregation. Floyd did not want a police investigation! The Columbus Dispatch gave Emmanuel plenty of coverage for this episode. The treasurer went to the hoosegow.

To summarize:
Kuske - for Church Growth doctrine and clergy adultery.
GJ - against Church Growth doctrine and clergy adultery.

Where are they now?
GJ - In sunny Phoenix, teaching graduate students, college students, and conducting services for orthodox Lutherans around the country.

Stolzenburg - Still at Emmanuel, Columbus.

Zehms left Columbus suddenly for WELS Lutherans for Life (renamed to get rid of that pesky name Lutheran). He left WLFL quickly for a call in Texas. He is retiring.

Kuske - Voted out of office as district vice pope. Recent champion of MLS.

Schuman - Forced to leave St. Paul's for false doctrine. Left the ministry, became an AAL agent, but not with them now (apparently).

Kovaciny - Went to Thoughts of Faith, Ukraine, worked under Jay Webber (ELS), joined the ELS (which Pope John the Malefactor denied to my face). Kovaciny became Floyd's pet missionary and bragged about the money he raised from Floyd's congregation. Floyd bragged about Thoughts of Faith and put them on their website. Webber had no objections to this since money flowed from Columbus. Kovaciny helped kick John Shep out as bishop of Ukraine. Kovaciny resigned from the ELS ministry. He stayed a little longer in Ukraine, funded by Floyd, then came back to the US.

M. Schroeder was kicked out of the WELS ministerium for doing what all the WELS leaders were doing - promoting unionism. DP Seifert kicked the congregation out, but not its money. WELS still gets cash from The Donor, as they call him. This is the WELS Doctrine of Telescopic Fellowship: "We are in fellowship with your money but not with you. Just drop the check in the mail."

Fred Adrian, DMB chair, resigned from the ministry.

A national WELS VP denounced me by name at a ministerial meeting. (Apparently I was doing good work. I was gone from WELS, but they needed to do an exorcism of sorts.) The big sin in WELS is "naming names" unless they are doing it. Another big sin is "He is not here to defend his good name, " but not if they are doing it. The VP was forced to resign from the ministry, lied about it to his relatives, then finally admitted it when he called me a liar and I produced the evidence (an official WELS notice).

When a friend visits a WELS congregation and admits he is from SoP in Columbus, the pastoral response is shock, a white face, and this exclamation: "That was Jackson's church!" It's been 16 years, friends - time to get over it.

A former member phoned and said, "Pastor, you would feel right at home in Columbus now. It's orthodox."

Gentle readers, note how the stealth mission concept, pioneered in the Michigan District by DP Mueller and VP Kuske, has grown like kudzu in WELS. Kuske was a bit red-faced when it was brought up at the Michigan District convention. Now WELS shamelessly promotes the same thing.

Clergy adultery and Church Growth doctrine are both safe in WELS. Evidence: California-Arizona-Las Vegas District.

Easter Facts

This year Easter is on March 23rd. It always falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox (March 20th this year). The dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar that the Hebrew people used to identify Passover, which is why it moves around on our Roman calendar.

Here are some interesting facts:

Unless you're at least 95 years old, this year is the earliest Easter you have ever seen.

The last time it was this early was 1913, so if you're 95 or older you were around for that. The next time Easter will be this early (March 23rd) will be in the year 2228, that's 220 years from now.

Easter can actually occur one day earlier, on March 22nd, but that is very rare.

The next time it will be on March 22nd, will be in the year 2285 -- 277 years from now. The last time it was on March 22 was 1818.

No one alive today has or will ever see it any earlier than this year, March 23rd.

(Shamelessly copied from Norm Teigen)

Hillary Endorsement

" . . . she’s like the old pickup you can depend on. She has some dents, but you and she got those dents together. And when you need her, she is there for you." David Brooks, The New York Times, March 5, 2008. (Borrowed from Norm Teigen)

DoubleCrossWalk

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Bailing Water on Janke Exit":

David Vallesky was at Apostles in San Jose, California.
Take a look at the website - they have started their own Crosswalk too :(

http://www.apostlessj.org/Church/index.html

http://www.apostlessj.org/Church/MinistriesActivities/CrossWalk/

***

GJ - So now there are two CrossWalks. About 15 years ago, WELS was ashamed to be caught doing this. They still did it, but they were a bit red-faced about it.

Church Growth marches on as WELS gently ages and fades away, its Lutheran identity registering almost zero in some locations.

Even Episcopalians Blush

Posted by David Virtue on 2008/3/2

Sexual Revelations about Episcopal Bishop Paul Moore Highlights Contradictions in TEC

Multiple Sexualities at Heart of Episcopal Church's Drive for Pansexual Acceptance

News Analysis

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
3/3/2008

It has long been thought, and expressed, that homosexuality (and lesbianism) is at the heart of the Episcopal Church's changing sexual mores and attitudes demanding acceptance by church leaders.

Revelations, this past week that the late Bishop of New York, Paul Moore, engaged in an extensive homosexual affair while married, raises the specter that it is not homosexuality in the Episcopal Church, but numerous pansexual behaviors - behaviors that are causing rifts in the wider Anglican Communion.

Moore was married with nine children. All the while he carried on a homosexual relationship, for a number of years, with a man by the name of Andrew Verver, whom he met on a trip to the island of Patmos. "I was his sexual life," Verver told Honor Moore, Paul Moore's daughter, in a new book about his life that will shortly hit the bookstands. In a discussion with Honor Moore, Verver said, "Of course, there were other men."

A woman, who knew Moore, wrote VOL to say that even in the 1970's people knew about Moore's sexual proclivities and substance abuse. He was later asked not to function as a cleric by Bishop Richard Grein because he was caught in bed with someone, not his wife. He only reappeared for Sisk's consecration, she wrote. This was further confirmed in an article in the New York Times http://tinyurl.com/2gkm38

It was known by many that Moore committed adultery, but never exposed. An orthodox Episcopal bishop, who was a priest in New York at that time, told VOL that Moore's libidinous sexual activities were well -known but no one dared to challenge him. At one point in his climb up the ladder, Moore made the cover of TIME magazine. Moore, who died in 2003 was known as a limousine liberal. While the patrician bishop said he felt the pain of poor and disenfranchised women, he felt it without affecting his own lavish lifestyle.

Ultimately, he was inhibited by his successor, Bishop Richard Grein, though the charges against Moore were never made public. In New York City, Moore introduced the New Age "sexual revolution" into the church by sanctioning lesbianism among the Episcopal clergy. Moore personally broke the "sexual barrier" by ordaining militant lesbian Ellen Marie Barrett as an Episcopal priest in 1977. Barrett told Time magazine that her lesbian love affairs gave her the "strength to serve God." Since then, numerous openly homogenital and lesbian clergy have been ordained or come out of the closet.

At the time, Moore denied that he knew Barrett was a lesbian in order to escape censure by the HOB at Port St. Lucie in 1977. Ironically Barrett had her lesbian partner with her at her consecration. She was president of a homosexuality organization at General Theological Seminary when she was ordained. "She just lied about it," said a bishop, who was a priest at that time in New York, to VOL.

New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson was married with two daughters, then divorced his wife and sometime later met his partner on a beach in the Caribbean and connected. Dr. Louie Crew was married in 1968 and divorced in 1973. He later met Ernest with whom he has been partnered for more than two decades. "Homosexuality had nothing to do with the divorce. She knew that I was gay long before we dated," Crew told VOL. Former Utah Bishop Otis Charles was married with a family before deciding that he was a homosexual and "married" a man.

Lesbian priest Elizabeth Kaeton was married and has grown children and has lived with a woman partner for three decades. The Rev. Susan Russell, president of the unofficial, though fully recognized Episcopal pansexual organization Integrity, acknowledged she was married and has two sons. She has been living in a same-sex relationship for more than two decades.

Crew and Robinson stand for the idea that it is acceptable to leave one's wife and turn to homosexual conduct and may therefore count themselves as "pure" homosexuals. However, he and members of Integrity accept and support bi-sexuality. They use the term LGBT - lesbian-gay-bi-sexual-transgendered - which puts the lie to the claim of a "committed relationship" or "partnered relationship".

Bisexuality, according to Wikipedia, is a sexual orientation which refers to the romantic and/or sexual attraction of individuals to others of both genders (socially) or sexes (biologically). Most bisexuals are not equally attracted to men and women and may even shift between states of finding either gender or sex exclusively attractive over the course of time.

Episcopal homosexuals really cannot hide under the banner of gay rights and denounce their former sexual preferences as an aberration. They obviously enjoyed both kinds of sexual activity. They procreated with women, wrote a priest to Virtueonline.

Bi-sexuality is the new frontier, now that homosexuality in the church has been "conquered". Once you move from the biblical standard on human sexual behavior, there is no limit. It is no surprise then that IsabeI Carter Hayward, a self-described socialist, feminist, lesbian, "womanist" theologian, and a professor of theology at the Episcopal Divinity School and perhaps the best known member of the church's growing feminist- liberation theology movement should endorse sado-masochism. Heyward's theology extends to calling The Trinity, a homophilial/homoerotic image of relations between male (father / son)." Heyward rejected the divinity of Christ out of hand. She said, "I have been led to Sophia / wisdom, to Christa / community, to Hagar the slave woman, to Jephthah's daughter," all post Christian goddesses now popular among certain feminist theologians.

A priest, who was ordained by Moore to the diaconate, wrote VOL to say that news of Moore's sexual revelations was "devastating."

He wrote: "While I disagreed with his ordaining of lesbians and gays to the priesthood, I thought it was done out of strong liberal conviction rather than an affirmation of his own closeted sexual tastes." Indeed.

In an article by radio host Jeff Rense, http://www.rense.com he noted Moore's horrid background: "Prior to his arrival at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Bishop Paul Moore was a leading patron of the notorious Jim Jones in the years leading up to 1961 in Indianapolis, Ind. His People's Temple was promoted there by Moore and the Methodist now Bishop, James Armstrong. Along with Rabbi Maurice Davis, now of Westchester, N.Y., they gave Jones his original Indianapolis temple site, and sanctioned his acceptance among the Indianapolis clergy as a 'legitimate' religious leader.

"In the late 1970s, several sources reported that Canon Edward West, an aide to Bishop Moore, was a frequent patron of some of New York City's seediest sado-masochistic '"private clubs,'" where he would engage in such ritualistic practices as having young boys urinate on him while he lay naked in a ceremonial bathtub. One such club, reportedly frequented by Canon West, was the Mineshaft, a renovated warehouse in Manhattan's wholesale meat district, and run by organized crime interests linked to John Zaccaro, the husband of Walter Mondale's 1984 vice-presidential running mate, Geraldine Ferraro. Child-sex abuses, such as those alleged to Canon West, are indications of a practicing Satanist."

A retired Anglo-Catholic priest who visited West's apartment said it was painted black and looked satanic, "It was pretty scary to me", said the priest who asked not to be named. "We had an awareness that there was a strong strain of homosexuality among the clergy, but nobody said anything. The times were different."

Bishop Horace W. B. Donegan, the Episcopal Bishop of New York from 1950 until 1972, used to cruise New York's gay bars. West took care of him whenever he got beat up, said a priest to VOL. He died at the age of 91. He was an early church advocate for the rights of blacks, women and the poor. He was a slender courtly man with cool blue eyes. He took a diocese with some of the most patrician families in the country and focused its attention on the needs of the growing ranks of the poor.

A retired Anglo-Catholic priest, who worked in New York City for nearly 20 years (1971 - 1989), before retiring to Rhode Island, told VOL that he had no explanation for Moore's underside. "I knew him reasonably well. We didn't socialize. The first time I had any inkling that something was wrong was when I got back from my sabbatical in 1990. Through the grapevine, I learned that Paul Moore was inhibited." Honor Moore said she became aware of her father's sexual proclivities in 1990.

"When he was inhibited there were complaints but from whom we do not know. Bishop Richard Grein later inhibited Moore from the Diocese."

Grein himself was embroiled in scandal when he dumped his wife Joan and ran off with Ann Richards whom he finagled into a position in Grace Church, New York City, after levering the Rev. Janet Broderick Kraft, sister to the actor Matthew Broderick, from that parish. She sued and won significant monetary damages against the bishop. Some 39 charges were brought against Grein, but then Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold made them disappear in a puff of ecclesiastical smoke. Richards was cited as "the other woman" in Grein's divorce proceedings. He later married her. It was her third marriage and his second. Grein managed to walk away from all the charges through the efforts of an attorney brought in by Griswold. Grein also walked away from a presentment against him.

Revelations this week by Honor Moore about her father got to Mark Sisk, the present incumbent Bishop of New York. In a letter to the clergy and people of the Diocese of New York, Sisk wrote that Honor Moore's description of his behavior came as a shock to him and others. "The man that so many of us knew and admired...led a secret double life." Sisk said that while he inspired people to work and hope...he was himself an exploiter of the vulnerable.

"Ms Moore's article brings to light what appears to be her father's decade's long violation of his wedding vows. This was an offense of the most serious nature. Any person who has extra-marital relations commits an offense. This is true whichever party is married: whether clergy or lay, same-sex or heterosexual. Whatever the circumstances, it is family relationships which are broken. And, indeed a point of Ms Moore's article would seem to be just that: the relationships between Bishop Moore and Ms Moore and her mother indeed were evidently severely damaged. Actions such as those which Ms Moore reports are wrong and could quite conceivably result in the most severe penalties that the church can apply to an ordained person."

Sisk went on to say that Bishop Moore violated his ordination vows in another respect. "The long term extra-marital relationship that his daughter describes was begun, according to her account, with a young man who had come to the Bishop for counseling. That inappropriate relationship is a fundamental violation of an ordained person's vow to minister to the needs of those entrusted to his or her care; never is this more so than when working with the vulnerable who have come seeking pastoral care. Sadly the violation of trust that Ms Moore reports is consistent with behavior recorded in complaints about Bishop Moore's exploitative behavior received by the office of the Bishop of New York. As Canon Law required, the concerns of those complainants (who wished their identities held in confidence) were duly conveyed to the then Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning for disposition."

Revelations of Moore's personal life might, by today's moral standards in The Episcopal Church, appear mild. We now have an openly homoerotic bishop living in sin with a man, and, if Mrs. Jefferts Schori is to be believed, there are other homosexual bishops living in partnered relationships. Their names she will not reveal.

Moore's life is but another millstone around the neck of the morally depraved denomination that is now The Episcopal Church - a church that is losing members at the rate of a 1,000 or more each week. Recent figures show it is the fastest dying mainline denomination in America, down 4.5% over the last year. It will only get worse when more dioceses leave TEC in the next few months.

It is ironic that a mere 2000 members of Integrity USA, which the pansexual organization claims to have, have effectively turned nearly 800,000 Episcopalians inside out over a lethal behavior that is proscribed by Holy Scripture, more than 2,000 years of church history and Old Testament prohibitions.

Revelations of Moore's behavior will duly be noted by Global South leaders, confirming in their minds that the Episcopal Church is irretrievably lost, and a parallel church should replace a bankrupt western Anglican church. It may well push many orthodox Global South primates into believing that a new Anglican Communion may be the only way forward in the 21st Century.

END

***

GJ - Nothing was done about WELS District Pope Ed Werner. He molested girls in his own congregation but remained DP for about 20 years, even though the pastors knew about him. When he was arrested, the first story promoted by WELS was this - he slapped a couple of girls for misbehavior in confirmation class. The court documents say otherwise. The grown up girls in the congregation dropped the hammer on Werner when they learned he was working a new crop. Werner went to state prison in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Yes, WELS has the three solas -

1. Solitary confinement - Jail ministry on the inside.
   
2. Solitary occurrence - This never happened before.
   
3. Solitary objection - You are the only one who has a problem with this.

DP Janke went charging around his district, getting rid of good pastors while letting clergy adultery go. DP Robert Mueller did the same thing.

Apostate leaders get everything mixed up. The clergy with skeletons in their closets like DPs who protect them. The synod wants no one to identify their fall from faith.

Reading Comprehension Still Matters

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Who Opposes UOJ?":

How interesting that those church groups that denied the biblical doctrine of objective justification are now part of the Bible denying and Christ denying ELCA! WELS and ELS have their problems, but they still stand on the "solas." That can't be said of the groups you're bragging about.

***

GJ - Someone has a reading comprehension problem. ELCA, WELS, Missouri, and the Little Sect on the Prairie agree about Universalism.

Here is a little summary:

ELCA says everyone is forgiven. The ELS and WELS say everyone is forgiven and saved. I have not read where Missouri tries to feign evangelism by saying everyone is already saved, but I know WELS and the ELS claim that doctrine of Universalism.

The old Synodical Conference members (LCMS, ELS, WELS) agree with ELCA that everyone is forgiven, everyone saved.

The fruit of this doctrinal agreement is plain to see. Because the old Synodical Conference agrees with ELCA, they work with ELCA on a wide variety of religious projects. They lie about it, of course. In the old days, when the AAL/LB PR releases were quoted in Christian News, they began clamming up about their unionism.
They did not change their unionism. They hid it better.

No one in WELS, Missouri, or the ELS can claim "the three solas" when they work peacefully--on ELCA's terms--with ELCA.

UOJ is apostasy. Apostates work together in their hatred of traditional Christianity.

How One District Pope Was Removed

Bow down before Me and despair.

Michigan District Pope Robert Mueller tried to manipulate his district into voting for the merger of Dr. Martin Luther College and Northwestern College. Everyone knew it was a liberal absorption of NWC, but no one had the guts to say it. The district voted down all four proposals to snuff NWC. Mueller went to the WELS convention and spoke on the floor in favor of ending NWC. The district saw this as the worst kind of back-stabbing.

Soon after, at a ministers' gathering, Mueller entered a room full of Michigan pastors. Every single one left.

Mueller decided not to run for district pope. The same convention voted his buddy Vice Pope (appropriate title) Paul Kuske out of office completely. In hide-bound WELS, that was the equivalent of defenestration.

Tyrants eventually learn that they need support too.

In the Little Sect on the Prairie, Pope John the Malefactor could heal the savage wounds he caused by resigning. There will be no reconciliation in the ELS until that happens.

Studying Luther's Doctrine

A Luther Statue Is Expected
At Our Anti-Luther Seminaries.
Stare long and hard, children. One look is all you get today at conservative schools.
A former Roman Catholic asked me about studying Luther.

Roland Bainton's Here I Stand is still a fine book about Luther and the Reformation. My wife, son, and I heard Bainton lecture, visited him at Sterling Library. He helped me with my dissertation. He was a fine historian but a Unitarian at best. He earned his PhD in New Testament but earned tenure as a church historian. His Scriptural views are Unitarian at best. Nevertheless, he opened all his classes with prayer.

The five-volume Luther's Sermons is the best place to start. He is the greatest theologian, preacher, and Biblical expositor of the Christian Church. We know Luther's doctrine best through his sermons. Read them and re-read them. Read them out loud to someone.

What Luther Says is another fine book to own.

I love his Commentary on 1 and 2 Peter.

His Galatians Commentary is enormous but worth careful studying. John Bunyan read it almost as much as the Bible. But who reads The Pilgrim's Progress anymore? Far more edifying is something by C. Peter Wagner or Paul Y. Cho.

Roman Catholics might want to read Luther's Catholic Christology, published by Northwestern Publishing House. That would be good to read along with Chemnitz' Two Natures of Christ.

Many of the Luther classics are printed in Grand Rapids. Gasp. That is a Calvinist center. Yes, they pay more attention to Luther than the Lutherans do.