Psalm 69


Joy, it is my spiritual pleasure and delight to compile this Psalm from Luther's wealth of wisdom; for it is most practical in helping one who desires to be a true Christian and experience the true cross of Christ instead of a self-created cross, so-called, raised from their own imagination. This Psalm will explain the missing link in Christianity—humility. No one wants to find it; rather, they want to pretend they have it already. May Christ teach you this Psalm and its true meaning within your own mind and especially in your own spirit. God bless you.

Joy, keep this quote in mind as you read this Psalm and make your way through and among the self-righteous hypocrites surrounding you: The greatest temptation of all is to have no temptation. And the supreme misfortune is to have no misfortune. And God is especially angry at a time when He is not angry. As Bernard said: "It is not when I do not feel Thee angry, but when I do feel Thee angry, that I especially trust Thee to be gracious." And that brother in the lives of the Fathers feared the worst wrath of God when he was not sick for one year.

Introduction:

This Psalm speaks of our Lord's suffering and also the sufferings and weaknesses of His own people. There are three groups of sufferers: the first was the trouble and persecution in the time of the martyrs; the second was the presence of heretics in the time of the teachers, and there God really chose the foolish to put the wise to shame; and the third is now the prevalence of the lukewarm and the evil peace and security. For surfeit now reigns to such an extent that there is much worship of God everywhere, but it is only going through the motions, without love and spirit, and there are very few with any fervor. And all this happens because we think we are something and are doing enough. Consequently we try nothing, and we hold to no strong emotion, and we do much to ease the way to heaven, by means of indulgences, by means of easy doctrines, feeling that one sigh is enough. Concerning all of these he prays:

Verse One

Save me. O God! For the waters have come up to my soul.

The waters were the sufferings which the Jews inflicted on Christ; the persecutors of the martyrs; the heretics let loose against the same church by the same demons; and the vast number of lukewarm and nominal Christians let loose on the church to the present day by the same demons. These demons have created half-Christians who are now going strong. About them Mal. 1:8 says: "If you offer what is lame and the sick, is it not evil? Offer it to your leader to see if it will please him, or if he will regard you with favor, says the Lord of hosts."

(Joy, I must share with you the anguish of my soul which is afflicted because of these "half-Christians." They are a death worse than death because they say they are full of life but when I "bite" into them they prove they are only full of death and disappointment. The pastors are the worst offenders. Even the Lutheran pastors who should know better give their people "lame" knowledge and a "sick" explanation of what it truly means to be a Christian. I feel like I am dying a slow, agonizing death because my heart longs to be in a fellowship of unity and peace with them, but they will not. They are drunk with their own opinions and either cannot or will not submit to the possibility that they have it mostly wrong in order to be humbled to investigate Luther's teachings and find their way back to the right path. In my opinion, it would be easier to die the death of a martyr and fight against heretics (at least you have others on your side for support) than to be slain in the spirit by these lukewarm, self-righteous, pretentious, arrogant, so-called Christians. I deeply long to see them truly converted and pray to that end. If you, Joy, follow the true teaching of Scripture, you, too, will die this death with me. I wish this death upon you with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. The lukewarm are afraid of this death, but this death will take you on its black wings to heaven.)

We are sluggish and are worshipping on one foot (that is, with the body only), namely, the left one so that if that kind of homage were offered to a man, it would be despised. And the whole presence of the devil is against us, to make half-Christians in this way. We think he is gone, but he is very much present. Indeed, he does not fight us with adversity or heresy, because he perceives that there he would be overcome, but with prosperity, security, and peace. All of these come because we are without the fear of God and do not consider ourselves as altogether nothing but think that we are doing enough. Therefore the church is in a bad way, for "Behold, in peace my bitterness if most bitter" (Is. 38:17). As Bernard says, "What was bitter under the tyrants is more bitter under the heretics and most bitter under peaceful and secure conditions."

(Joy, watch the movement of the whole world toward security in all areas of life. Look at your own surroundings and consider that most of them are in the force because they lust after security more than anything. Watch this movement as we approach the sudden destruction which is to come upon us and you will understand what the days of Noah were like. And take Christ at His Word and not be a fool like so many learned pastors: "As in the days of Noah, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be… When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?")

Today no battle is so necessary as the one against peace, security, boredom, and lukewarmness. Therefore lukewarmness is what the last, or seventh, angel is charged with in Rev. 3:16 f.) And here it would be necessary for us to take a contrary stand with all our forces and weapons, for this is the most difficult of all, since it has nothing to compel to the good from the outside, as was formerly the case with persecution and heresy. Rather, it has an outside stimulus toward easing up and relaxing. For the devil realized that he could not succeed by attacking from the outside with violence and heresy. Therefore he has now begun to put aside such an attack in favor of resorting to a gentle allurement to cut them down in their smugness. Therefore one who has not already become a tyrant and persecutor to himself and a heretic to himself, so that he would stir up war against himself, that he would regard himself as a persecutor of his own soul and a heretic, and would anxiously flee from himself at all times to the Lord, I believe that he could not stand.

(Joy, no one is going to consider what I am saying because no one will consider themselves to be a heretic. Everyone is a know-it-all, sufficient in their knowledge of spiritual things, and overflowing with their wisdom and direction. They say the love the Word, but they love it so much that they will not work out the separation between their opinions and those of Luther. It means nothing to them that the Scriptures mean so many things to so many people. They give one another a license to believe whatever they want to believe, as long as their demonic right to remain steadfast in their own opinion is maintained.)

If we would see correctly, then all the complaints in the Psalms run today most strongly against the misfortune of prosperity. For now peace attacks more than the sword did formerly, clothing more than nakedness, food more than hunger, security more than difficulty, abundance more than poverty, and the opposite of everything the apostle lists in Romans 8:35, for he says: "Who will separate us from the love of Christ?" And Daniel 8:25 also writes concerning the Antichrist that he will kill the majority of people not through poverty but through an abundance of everything. Therefore, as the apostles applied the psalms to their own time against the Jews, their enemies, the martyrs to their own time against the persecutors, the teachers to their own time against the heretics (As blessed Augustine does nearly everywhere), so we, too, must now pray and apply them against the half-Christians and those who serve the Lord only in a carnal and formal way. Especially should we pray for the princes and priests of the church, where this evil is particularly prevalent. This does not mean we must rage and be indignant against them, blaspheme and disparage them, since this would have no constructive result. But we must grieve and have compassion and commiserate with the church and pray with and for them. For as it was of old, so it is now also. "This is the iniquity of our sister, Sodom: abundance and fullness of bread, pride and the idleness of her and of her daughters; and they did not offer their hand to the poor" (Ezek. 16:49).

"Save me." This general word gives expression to all misery. Christ was never in the evil of guilt like we are, but only in the evil of punishment, while we are in both guilt and punishment. Yet since He was innocent of even the punishment, His punishment was for our sin. Hence when He Himself prays to be freed from punishments, He is at the same time praying that we might be freed from sins and punishments, since He would have no punishments if it were not for our sins and our punishments. Thus the psalm is speaking about Him and about us at the same time, and it must be read with the most devoted love for Christ. Let us, I say, understand our sins and His punishment at the same time, expressed in the same words.

The "waters" are the very punishments and sufferings of Christ, but at the same time they are our iniquities. For as the water is righteousness and those who thirst for it are blessed, since they will be satisfied (Matt. 5:6), so it is iniquity, and those who drink it will thirst again (John 4:13). Our flesh is the well of this water that is thirst-producing and brackish. But behold the marvelous sequence! First there is thirsting for righteousness, and then being satisfied. But with iniquity, there is drinking first and then more thirsting. For Eccl. 1:8 says: "The eye is not filled with seeing, nor is the ear filled with hearing." "There are three things that never are satisfied. And the fourth never says, 'It is enough.'" (Prov. 30:15)

Verse two

I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold. I come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.

Saying "waters" in the plural indicates the plurality of Christ's sufferings and of our sins. In the same way the "mire of the deep" is His punishment for our lust of the flesh, as the waters are the lust of the eyes. Therefore Christ was stuck in our mud, namely, in the lusts of our flesh, which leads Him into the deep and the abyss. And the sin of the flesh is properly compared to the deep, for among all things it especially blinds and makes us altogether a beast. Therefore there is no sure standing there.

And now He is truly holding out for one who will "grieve together with Him, and there is no one" (v. 20). The reason why there is no one is that where there is no adversity, how can there be a grieving together? But no one can grieve with one who is not grieving, although he is just the one with whom one should grieve, just because he is not grieving, or because peace is most bitter to him. Amos 6:4,6: "You who are wanton on your couches, and are not concerned for the affliction of Joseph." And in order that we might give and receive an occasion for entering upon a meditation of this kind, Christ today conducts Himself in this way, that the waters come up to His soul, that is, greedy men because of their great number are nearly destroying the church. Similarly the cravings for riches are choking the faith of the souls without measure, from the least to the greatest, as the prophet says (Jer. 8:10).

(Joy, I pray you will ponder the above words and learn to grieve with me and your mother for the perverted state of the Church.)

He says, "I have come into the depth of the sea," that is, into the midst of the world's pomp and glory. Is . there anything today more proud, more arrogant, more pompous, more ostentatious than the preachers and priests of the church? They are so greedy for power, glory, and vain knowledge and increase it wherever they can, that without shame they openly have the impudence to call all these things the estate of Christ and to amass them for the glory of God and the profit of the church. On account of this it would seem necessary to forsake the whole ministry of the church, and it now appears proper to forsake the Word of God and serve tables (Acts 6:2), so that their table might thus become a snare before them, so that a tempest of scandals might arise. Hence it follows that a tempest of wars, business deals, court cases, and quarrels will submerge the church. (Joy, this certainly describes the condition of the church today. Pastors no longer build their people, but rather use people to build their buildings and programs and sell books to. People no longer have a love for the word, but rather a feverish quest for knowledge, thinking that knowledge in and of itself makes them "spiritual.")

Verse 3

I have labored with crying, My jaws have become hoarse.

First, because the Word of God is being gospeled and shouted and toiled but is listened to so very little, it is so despised that one is thought not to shout it, but barely to grow hoarse. Indeed, according to blessed Augustine, the voice of the preacher is hoarse when he who hears it listens to it poorly, but it is clear and bright when it is heard clearly and brightly But now there is an almost universal complaint about the sterility and dryness of the emotions, and this is so because the people are distracted and dry while they are praying. For that reason this verse briefly depicts the labored dry, and irreverent prayer of the church in our time, on in a time soon to be. Thus formerly out of a rich anointing there were joyful praises of God in their jaws, and their tongue rejoiced over the righteousness of Christ. But now, from a lack of fat and fullness the jaws of Christ are hoarse, and the rough voice grates and groans in a dry throat. Such a voice is not yet entirely ruined or silenced, like that of the unbelievers, who will not cry in their throat, because they have been made like their own images, because only a believer can speak, "I believed, therefore I have spoken" (Ps. 116:10). Then follows:

(Joy, don't ever forget that you must believe and speak. To believe and not to speak makes you coward; to speak without the proper basis of belief makes you a hypocrite. Luther will give you the proper "belief"; the Spirit will have to give you the courage.)

My eyes failed, while I trust in My God.

So Isaiah said: "My eyes are weakened looking upward" (Is. 38:14). This is so because he is not heard but forsaken and evil is growing strong. His eyes are getting tired of looking up, and the eye of faith is getting weak and becoming dim in such great commotions of sins. For just as faith is calmed and invigorated and makes progress through victory over sins and evils, so, on the contrary, it is dimmed when sins gain the upper hand. Allegorically, the eyes of Christ are the studious and contemplative people in the church, those who meditate in the Law of the Lord day and night (Ps. 1:2), those who guide others, especially the bishops, who ought to lead a life committed to both. But in comparison with the vast number of the greedy, the luxurious, and the proud, there is an appalling decrease in the number of such people, and they have surely failed. Some are devoted to gain, some to pleasures, some to ambition, many even to the laws and traditions of men, and not a few to the philosophy of Aristotle. Because all of these are deserting the study of the divine Word, the eyes of Christ are failing in the church. Yet once they were like the eyes of doves and washed with milk and like the fishpools in Heshbon (Song of Sol. 5:12; 7:4).

But there is and has been so much the more progress for the eyes of Antichrist and of the world and of those who see very keenly the things that are of the world. So, too, the jaws of the world are now not hoarse, but exceedingly tuneful. This is true even in those who know much of what is in Scripture and are acquainted with all mysteries and are very skillful in dealing with matters of the faith, so that the eyes of Christ would truly seem to be in them. Yet they have failed, because the wisdom which they have about the things they do know is without love, and they are sluggishly and coldly led to God according to what they know. One who knows much and does not lovingly and fervently reach after it, his eyes seem to have failed, and he appears to be in the company of the foolish virgins, having a lamp but no oil (Matt. 25:3).

And all this happens because their love, being taken up with other desires, has grown cold, or certainly because the person tempted by such desires did not stoutly resist them, but rather fought back weakly as one sleeps. Thus one thing hinders another, so that the eyes go down in sleep and fail. But I believe that many now have first-hand experience of this prophecy. For some know excellently all the things that must be believed, but they can believe and assent to these things in such a sickly way that they seem like people weighed down by some sleep and with a heavy heart that they cannot lift upward toward the Lord. This is because they say that they want to believe freely and be prepared, but they do not know how it happens that they cannot be fervent. (Joy, this paragraph describes the Lutheran pastors of today. They are asleep and sluggish and everyone knows they have little or no fervency, yet they persist in believing they are wide awake.)

How sharp do you think the eyes of the martyrs were, so that even in so many torments they could not forget the things they were seeing. But we are offended by even one word, and with little injury we soon forget eternal things. Note, however, that the eyes fail more from sleepiness than from adversity. Indeed, they are stimulated by the latter, but they get sleepy and they fail because of the former, and they fall asleep with a certain smugness. And why do I delay? This is a horrible word, and I cannot adequately express it, "My eyes have failed." For one who does not fear everything from all sides does not look around. But he who is afraid will neglect nothing, because he is thoroughly alert and afraid of everything. Therefore, to fight that failure, the Lord so anxiously commands us to be watchful and always to have open eyes and wait for His coming. Therefore we need to fear Him who will stir up this lukewarmness and shake off this sleep, namely, that we may think and evaluate, since smugness is worse and more dreadful than all adversity. For that reason so fear and flee it, so hate it and consider it suspects, as if it were the greatest evil of all, because it lulls to sleep and causes the eyes to fail. And you must keep in mind that this is something you should be advised against, because prosperity is a double adversity and security is twice a danger.

Just as there is no greater iniquity than the highest equity, no greater injustice than the highest justice, no greater loss than the greatest gain, so there is no greater adversity than prosperity and no greater danger than no danger at all. This is so because it makes people careless. "When they shall say, 'peace and security,' then shall sudden destruction come upon them" (I Thess. 5:3). Nothing is safe where everything is safe, nothing so sick as when everything is healthy; there is no temptation when all is temptation, no persecution when all is persecution. Thus the devil now fights the church with the greatest persecution, because he fights with no persecution, but rather with security and idleness. Therefore woe to us, who are so snatched away by present things and foolishly do not see the devil's trap! We act like the foolish heir who know only how to squander the magnificent estate left by his parents and did nothing to build it up but always carried away from the pile.

To take from the church's treasure and not also to put something back is impossible and deceitful presumption. {"He who does not work, should not eat either" (2 Thess. 3:10). He who is not a partaker of sufferings will not be a partaker of consolations either (2 Cor. 1:7)} But they think they have this treasure ready in the safe so that they can use in whenever they want to. In their smugness they therefore surrender themselves to all the things that are in the world. Since the treasure obviously abides, while the world passes away, and since they want both, they first go after the world before it perishes, believing that heaven will be left over for them in abundance later. I say, this is what they think, that is, they act thus, that in fact they seem to believe it and to say what we read in Wisd. Of Sol. 2:8, 5: "Let us crown ourselves with roses, before they are withered; for our time is the passing of a shadow." But I am afraid that what has happened to prodigal heirs will also happen to us, namely, that, after all our goods have been dissipated and squandered, we become beggars and must endure every need in disgrace. Not that the church's treasure can be used up but I say that it can be used up as far as we are concerned. The treasure is unlimited in itself, but not for us, since a minority shares in it.

Verse 5

O God, Thou knowest My foolishness.

He is saying this because when the Jews had crucified Christ, they thought that all had now been convinced that He was the worst kind of person and cursed by God and in every way ungodly and a deceiver. For the Law says, "Cursed by the Lord is he who hangs on a tree" (Deut. 21:23; Gal 3:13). Therefore they rushed to this kind of death, so that they might show Him to be hateful to God and might now conclude by authority of the Law that He could not have perished by means of such a death unless He were unrighteous before God. Therefore they said: "He trusted in God. Let Him deliver Him, if He wants to" (Matt. 27:43), as if to say: "It does not look as if He wanted Him or had any desire for Him. For 'cursed by the Lord is he who hangs on a tree.'"

Verse 9

Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.

Zeal is nothing else than the wrath, hatred, displeasure of love, or wrathful love. Therefore the objects of zeal are only those who are also the objects of love. Zeal is nothing else than hatred, ill will, or displeasure of evil or vice in what we love. Therefore no one can be zealous except one who loves. Zeal presupposes love and is directed to the same object as love. Love is that which loves and promotes the good in the object, while zeal is that which hates and removes the evil in it. Therefore Christ is called a zealous God in the prophets (Ex. 20:5; 34:14), because He especially love righteousness and hates wickedness in His believers. So divine or spiritual zeal involves hating or not wanting evil for anyone, not just any kind of evil nor for any purpose, but spiritual evil for eternal damnation. For often, so that His beloved might not have those evils, He imposes all the evils of the flesh and the world upon him. Thus God is zealous for His saints while He imposes the world's ills upon them, so that the evils of the spirit may not harm them. For that reason the world loves and hates destructively and in a way opposite to that in which God loves and hates: "The world loves the good of the flesh but hates the evil of the flesh."

Such zeal has grown cold in our time, as has love. Even the Lord seems to have removed His zeal from the church, as He threatens through Ezek. 16:42: "My jealousy shall depart from you, and I will be angry with you no longer." This is something more horrible than His wrath.

Has eaten Me up, that is, "it has gnawed, ground, and chewed Me up. In this way My zeal has caused Me to be consumed." "I beheld the transgressors and I pined away" (Ps. 119:158) and "A fainting has taken hold of Me" (Ps. 119:53).

Verse 10

I covered My soul with fasting, and it was made a reproach to Me.

Although we do not read in the Gospel that they ridiculed Christ's fasting and goats-hair garment, yet the fact that they ridiculed and despised everything else He said and did, and even blasphemed some things, leads to the conclusion that they also ridiculed Him in these matters. For when He preached poverty and said, "How difficult it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of the heavens" (Mark 10:23-24), the Pharisees, who were greedy, heard this and mocked Him. Greed has made itself at home to the present day, so that a noble who does not choose to be a byword and reproach with Christ is forced to spend nearly his whole property and go into distress for clothing and drinking (so that he won't be different from them in adornment and in gluttony). And those who do not imitate them—if there are such—well understand this verse and can sing it: "I covered My soul with fasting, and it was made a reproach to Me."

Verse 16

For Thy mercy is kind.

Sweet and good is the mercy of God, namely, to those for whom their wretchedness is bitter and evil. But to those for whom their wretchedness is pleasing, the mercy of God is not good; indeed, it is useless, because they scorn it, and this is so because there is a relationship between the greatness and variety of the mercy of God and our wretchedness. For grace does not abound except where sin and wretchedness abound.

Thus if we, too, would know the things that make for our peace, namely, since they are worse than every affliction, we would without doubt act differently. As I have said, everybody would shape and make the biggest affliction for himself. For thus it is written: "Thou hast prepared a table before me against all who afflict me" (Ps. 23:5). Let no priest under any circumstances approach the altar, unless he is burdened with many afflictions and filled with many miseries. But since peace and security do not let us see such things, let us labor and show what we ought to consider, that we may see many miseries, so that thus we may magnify and make propitious the mercy of the Lord. For it is not possible to make the mercy of God large and good, unless a person first makes his miseries large and evil or recognizes them to be such. To make God'' mercy great is not, as is commonly supposed, to think that God considers sins as small or that He does not punish them. Indeed this especially means to reduce mercy. For how can one who regards evil as something small regard as something great the good by means of which the evil is removed? Hence our total concern must be to magnify and aggravate our sins and thus always to accuse them more and more, and earnestly judge and condemn them. The more deeply a person has condemned himself and magnified his sins, the more is he fit for the mercy and grace of God. This is what the apostle has forbidden, that we should please ourselves in even one point (Rom. 15:1), but that we should above all and in all things be displeased and thus with Job fear all our works (Job 9:28). For he who is pleased with himself cannot stand in the fear of God and be without presumption. But what is worse than being without fear? Therefore every concern must be to strive for the supreme displeasure with ourselves, even in our good things.

So then, in the first place, consider your omissions, and these are of various kinds. First, with regard to natural things, for you must see whether you have praised and given thanks to God throughout all the days and hours in your whole life, for you are held to this by a strict commandment and by natural law. For since in all days and hours you have received the blessings of God, such as life, being, feeling, mind, besides food and clothing and the service of the sun, of heaven and earth and all the elements in exceeding variety, it is clear that you owe thanks for what you have received. Who has sufficiently given thanks for one day? Second, in the gifts received, such as the sacraments and blessings of the church, which serves you no less than the whole world, since the church is a kind of intellectual world. Therefore without ceasing you receive life, feeling, being, understanding, food and clothing in spiritual things, the service of the sun of righteousness, of heaven and earth and of all the blessings of the church.

So you see you omissions, yes, your endlessly endless ingratitudes. For at every moment endless benefits are offered you by the Lord. And as you cannot give proper thanks for one morsel of bread, neither can you for one word of truth. But one who thinks these benefits to be of little value and does not magnify those sins of omission will never be truly humble and displeased with himself, nor will he be fit to evaluate mercy and goodness. It is as Ps. 92:6 says: "The foolish man does not know this," and, on the contrary: "I meditated on Thy deeds, and I will meditate on all Thy works" (Ps. 143:5).

Third, there are the sins of omission with regard to the commandments of God. For when it comes to loving God and your neighbor, and so forth, how often have you offended? But even if you have loved, it is very much to be feared that you have not done so to the extent and the degree to which you are held so far as the number and constancy of the heart or attitude are concerned. Certainly this one thing alone would be abundantly sufficient to humble all people thoroughly, even the most saintly, and drive them to fear. Therefor we must pray: "Who can discern his errors? Lore, cleanse me from secret faults, and spare Thy servant from those of others" (Ps. 19:12-13). Everything in weight, number, and measure comes from God, and so He requires it of us. The "number" refers to how often the same thing must be done. The "measure," how many things, or to whom, namely, to yourself, your neighbors, God. The "weight," fervor and effort. But who will measure the neighbors to whom you have duties, except God? Who will determine the weight, except the same Weigher of spirits? Who will count the number, except the same God? Therefore see here your unnumbered omissions and your need for fear and humility.

Fourth, think also of your neglect of zeal toward correcting and admonishing others, that is, all the sins of others, of which you have become guilty by keeping silent, or which you have caused to be committed by the offense you gave. But here, too, you do not know how often, how much, and how seriously you have sinned.

Fifth, consider your sins of commission and your transgressions of things forbidden. They, too, have their own number, and you cannot know how often, how much, etc.

Sixth, consider the sins of all others which you ought to assume as your own and the miseries of all which you ought to bear. For one should bear another's burdens (Gal. 6:2). But since these are endless by every measurement, if you will rightly and seriously consider them and think of them in no other way than as if they were your own, how will you not regard as the very greatest the mercy of God, who forgives you so many sins and misfortunes? For if one does not this way involve himself with the sins of all, how will he fulfill the law of Christ? How will he imitate Christ, who, according to the apostle's citing of this psalm (v.9), is acknowledged to have acted in such a way that He did not please Himself but bore the weaknesses and miseries of others. For the "reproaches of those who reproached God have fallen on Him." So they should also fall on you, and you should bear all things and pray this whole psalm with Him as if it belonged to you. Then you can say, "How kind is Thy mercy! Save me, because I am stuck."

Seventh, consider that the peace and security of our time is the greatest hindrance and reason why God's mercy is not often good or great, for it does not permit evils to appear as many and great, although, if one would think about it, it would be so much greater

Eighth, you can weep most bitterly over all these things, that because of your hardness you do not feel such things nor are moved or touched by them, since any one of these is of such a kind and so great that it could not be sufficiently wept over with all tears. Therefore, if you cannot groan over them, at least groan that you cannot groan; weep that you cannot weep, be sad that you cannot be sad, be humble that you cannot be humble, fear that you cannot fear, and so on, with the rest, if perchance or in this way the divine mercy might look upon and magnify itself over you.

And in order that you might accept the full measure and guidance of God's mercy that is to be magnified, consider someone or some people who were killed or who died suddenly in their sins. But I think that if you are sound of mind, you would not take all the glory, riches, and pleasures of the whole world and die like that. And if you knew that you were about to perish thus and could redeem yourself from this destruction at the cost of the whole world you would most gladly do it.

I implore you, pay careful attention and fashion and assume for yourself the feeling of those who perish in such a manner. I believe that you will see horror upon horror and you would value the great goodness of God if He would snatch you out. And if those already condemned were snatched out, think how immeasurably they would magnify the mercy of God! But now add this: Just as they perished, could you not have perished in the same moment and through all the separate moments to the present? And just as these condemned people are now suffering the punishment, could you hot have suffered the same? But the fact that this has not happened and my not happen even now, is not this the bottomless abyss of divine goodness toward you? Or are you so foolish that you think less of this goodness because it preserves you, rather than because it might rescue you? Do not think in that way. But imagine yourself to be already altogether condemned with all demons (for without doubt you were and are such a one yourself), and therefore weigh the grace of God, who preserves you from damnation with the same measure as you would measure the grace of Him who snatches you out of the midst of hell. Hezekiah had such an extremely devout and efficacious thought when he said (Is. 38:10): "I said, in the midst of my days I shall go to the gates of hell," though in fact he never entered them. And farther on: "But Thou hast delivered my soul that it should not perish" (Is. 38:17). Behold, he calls it delivered, even though it never was there, because as far as he was concerned, it was destined for that place. David said: "Out of the depths have I cried to Thee, O Lord" (Ps. 130:1). Thus the Lord brings down to hell and brings back again (I Sam. 2:6). Thus He magnifies His mercy with us. But those who do not occupy themselves with such reflection consider His mercy of little value. In opposition to them Jonah 2:8 says: "Those who are vain forsake their own mercy." For he himself said with such deep emotion (Jonah 2:3): "I cried to Thee out of the belly of hell." And all the saints are filled with such emotion before they die with the Lord and descent to hell with Him. So also, in the end, when they rise with Him and ascent to heaven. For they die as far as the desire and purpose to commit sin is concerned. Similarly, they descent into hell as far as the attitude toward its punishments is concerned.

Thus all the prayers of the Psalms which are uttered in the person of Christ as being in hell, are also uttered in the person of the saints, as descending to hell in their mind and heart. Thus "the wicked shall be turned into hell, all the nations that forget God" (Ps. 9:17). For that reason whoever does not die with Christ and descend into hell will never rise and ascend with Him. Therefore he prays here, "Draw Me out, set Me free." All these are the most earnest prayers also of those who are occupied with meditating on hell, just as they are the prayers of Christ who was literally in hell. Therefore it follows that worldly men, since they live in their own goodness and do not descent to hell with the Lord, but rather ascend to the heavens, will themselves finally descent and not ascent.

Since, therefore, we do not have actual sufferings and afflictions in our time, it is extremely necessary that we at least inflict them on ourselves in our thinking, so that we might be the kind of people on whom God would have mercy and whom He would save. So let us be our own tyrants, tormentors, heretics, stirring up such attitudes as keep after us and urge us on to better things, lest we be destroyed through peace and security. For peace and security are in all-out opposition to these attitudes, and so is pleasure, gluttony, etc.

Therefore go down with Jacob weeping to hell (Gen 37:35). Mark this sign for yourself: When you are lukewarm and not in hell with your heart, know that there is danger for you, and peace and security are lying in ambush for you to bring you to destruction. For that reason you must not let your eyeball rest day or night, and you must not allow yourself any rest and peace (that is, security), because if you do, destruction will then unexpectedly come over you. Therefore Christ descended once, and all should follow Him wherever He might go, for He has commanded that we should follow Him. But if we are to do so in all other matters, why not also in this? Therefore, if you are looking for a sign of God's grace, and whether Christ is in you, behold, no sign of God's grace will be given you except the sign of the prophet Jonah (Matt. 12:39). If, then, you have been three days in hell, this is a sign that Christ is with you and you are with Christ. Therefore you must be full of fear lest Ezek. 16:42 be cited upon you: "My indignation shall rest on thee, and my jealousy shall depart from thee." Nothing is worse than this wrath. For if jealousy is removed, love must at the same time be removed, love must at the same time be removed, since the two are inseparable companions. Ps. 4:1: "When I was in distress, Thou hast enlarged me." So, on the contrary, "When I was in security, without doubt Thou has constricted me and compressed me." Ps. 127:36: "Thy discipline shall teach me." Therefore, on the contrary, "My peace will unteach me." So you see how truly dangerous the times of peace and security are, as the apostle describes them to Timothy (2 Tim. 3:2). For everything he mentions there arises from peace and security, "lustful, puffed up, lovers of pleasure, etc." Therefore consider this a sign of that God is extremely angry and be not deceived because you do not feel His jealousy over you. And note that as the primitive times were happy times because they were times of discipline and affliction, when the church made its greatest progress, so these last times are unhappy ones, because they are and will be times of peace and security, when the church is and will be most deficient. And the ultimate in persecutions for the church will be peace and security, as the apostle says (I Thess. 5:3): "When people say, 'There is peace and security,' then sudden destruction will come upon them." Therefore the charge is made against the last of the seven angels, that of Laodicea, that he was neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm (Rev. 3:15-16), that is, secure in peace.

Therefore draw the conclusion. Whenever you are not in such a frame of mind, as one already burning and condemned in hell, or as one already dying, you cannot worthily say such prayers, neither can you presume that you are perfect. For the more strongly and intensively you can adopt this attitude, the more progress you will make; and the more coldly you act, the more you will fail. From this fact you have the best reason for being humble, for when you are not humble, for when you are not in hell or death, you can confidently fear God's wrath and not yet expect His mercy. Thus we are told in the lives of the fathers that a person cannot finish one day unless he regards it as his last. So let us add: A person will not worthily finish one hour or moment, unless he seriously regards it as his last. Such a person will be humbled and will fear. And so God will give him His grace, and His Spirit will rest upon him. But this must be done not only with the attitude of fear but also with the attitude of hope and love, so that, just as no one can worthily pray the prayers of affliction unless, as I said above, he goes down to death and hell, so, on the contrary, no one can worthily and joyfully speak praises, unless he ascends to heaven with the attitude of hope and, as intensely as he can, think of himself as being in fact already in the midst of the angels and saints. So also no one can love (according to the spirit) worthily, except one who takes on the attitude of the Lord Jesus, that is, one who thinks as follows. If he were the highest, noblest, richest, most powerful, and filled with the greatest love, he would give himself over into every evil and death for his enemy or the most loathsome criminal. The more earnestly you do this, the more you will understand the love of Christ and ascend to love toward Him.

Verse 21

They gave Me gall for My food, and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink.

This is what the Jews did and do also allegorically when, after they have crucified the truth which is Scripture (namely, Christ Himself) and have twisted it to their own meaning and will, they try to mix bitter glosses with it, glosses that are hateful and blasphemous against Christ, as Moses prophesied, "Their wine is the gall of dragons" (Deut. 32:33). For the truth consumes us, and we consume it. It is our food, and we are its food. Therefore, when they should have been truth's food which it would incorporate into itself, as Christ devours us and changes us into Himself, and we are His food, they were turned into the gall of the most bitter treachery instead, so that they could not be eaten, like that very bad fig in Her. 24:2. Therefore the Lord also cursed the fig tree which had no fruit, and this He did because of the fig tree in order to give a sign of the synagogue that had to be cursed. Thereby the evangelists are showing us something, because they say that it was not the season for figs, as if to say: "That fig tree did not deserve the curse, but that which it signified, whose fruit He hungered for." So also we are a drink for Christ and the truth, and, on the contrary, Christ and the truth are our drink, because we feast with the Lord in a mutual and exceedingly rich banquet, He with us and we with Him, as we are incorporated in each other. But the Jews (and Protestants, Joy) have become vinegar and spoiled wine, of ancient vintage through unbelief. Behold, how great a sacrament these ungodly people unwittingly achieved against themselves! When the Lord tasted it, He did not want to drink it (Matt. 27:34). For the truth of the Scriptures and of faith does not receive them nor their glosses, but rather dies and is blotted out in them.

(Joy, the "gloss" of the Protestants is that the Lord's supper in only an ordinance and not a sacrament. The "gloss" of the Lutherans is that as long as they believe the truth about the Supper, it does not really matter as to the condition of the recipient. The Catholics have the same "gloss" as the Lutherans; they both think, essentially, that partaking of the sacrament changes a person in and of itself, even without faith. In a manner of speaking, the Protestants have faith without the truth while the Lutherans and Catholics have the truth without faith.)

The heretics imitate the rage of these people in every respect. They likewise drink of the truth with the gall of their own treachery and with the vinegar of their supremely arrogant understanding. But the tongue and the throat of Christ does not receive them. All who sin with malice and presumption and partake of holy things while they are in sin act likewise. For they want to be incorporated with the Lord and drink Him, but they cannot. Today their number is very large. It includes all who purposely come to the church's sacrament in pride and envy, in luxury and anger. Or they presume to be saved. But they Lord spits them out like the heretics and Jews, as long as they are such people. If they would mend their ways, He would assuredly drink them, and they Him. But there is no one like that among them.

(Joy, it is my earnest prayer that we will be able to pluck some, yea all, of our extended family from their heresy. They truly think they are drinking Christ, but they have been blinded by satanic deception. We will work and pray fervently and earnestly for their deliverance.)

Verse 22

Let their table become a snare before them.

Here a noteworthy teaching must be indicated. All the punishments, imprecations, and curses spoken of in Scriptures, whether for the Jews or for others, are of the most advantageous and desirable usefulness, as the apostle intimates in Rom. 11:25: "Lest you be wise in your own conceits, I want you to understand this mystery, brethren, that blindness in part has happened to Israel." Behold, he says that this mystery is decidedly salutary, that is, for us, not for them. Thus such curses are not so much foretold out of wrath as they are caused by supreme love for us. Therefore let that curse be on me: Let the table, whether Scripture, or the Sacrament of the Altar, or bodily refreshment, become a snare, so that it may catch me according to the flesh and liberate me according to the spirit, so that the sinner may be seized in his works and for the purpose of repayment, that the flesh of sin, which had rules over the spirit, might justly be made subject and humbled, and the spirit might do to the flesh what it had done to the spirit. Thus we may say with Samson to these five senses, the satraps of Philistia (that is, the flesh): "As they did to me, so I did to them" (Jud. 15:11).

"And a stumbling block," namely, that it may always cause offense and never make progress, but its power become worse and weaker. Let their eyes (namely of lust) be darkened, so that they do not see (v. 23) vanity but permit the spirit to see truth. And always bend down their back so that (the flesh) may not lift up the neck against the spirit nor raise the heel against it or bend it down. And pour out Thy indignation upon them (v. 24), namely, by fasting, scourging, afflicting—cold, heat, hunger, thirst, nakedness, and men persecuting in word and deed. And let Thy burning anger overtake them, so that it cannot get away but is completely mortified and crucified. May their camp be a desolation (v. 25), that is, let no sin, no enjoyment, nothing worldly or carnal in the senses remain, but let them be desolate. And let no one dwell in their tents. Let every lust of the flesh perish, and let no stimulus to sin remain in his members. This the apostle describes very well in Rom. 6-8, where he (6:12) says: "Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies."

This can also be understood profitably in another way, namely, that such ungodly people might realize that such great punishments have come upon them and continue to threaten them and, indeed, that every saint might fear lest they be upon him. And thus, in the explanation of these verses, add knowledge to the ungodly and fear to the saints, so that "Let their table become" may mean: "If only they would realize, if only it would be revealed to them, if only they understood and knew that their table is a snare for them!" Duet 32:29 says: "O that they would be wise and would understand and would discern their last end!" In this way their table becomes a stumbling block to them when it happens, and it happens to them when they understand. (As long as something is not known to have been done, it has not yet been done to him or with respect to him. But it happens with respect to him when it is known to have been done."

(Joy, here is what the above section means to me. The Baptists need "knowledge," and this knowledge will make them grieve seriously over their desecration of the Lord's Meal and Provision. In the meantime, their table is a snare for them because they think they are worshipping God on it, yet they have turned the truth of God into a lie. The Lutherans need "fear," and when this fear comes, they will see and be deeply grieved because of their cavalier spirit in approaching that which they understand—that is, they have a form of godliness, but deny its power.)

According to fear, however, that their table may thus become, that is, that they may thus become fearful and be afraid, as if their table might be a snare for them, so that through humility and fear it may not become a snare for them. (For what is feared as being such, has already been made such for a person.) For, without doubt, if they are presumptuous and if they have not been afraid, that very presumption becomes a snare or makes a snare out of their table. "He has given food to them that fear Him" (Ps. 111:5), while to those who do not fear Him He has given not food, but a snare. For, as I said above, unless a person always descends to hell in attitude and in fear, he will not be in a secure position. He who is secure is least secure, and he who is fearful and terrified is blessed, because he will be least afraid.

(Joy, the above paragraph presents a contradiction, a dilemma, a paradox, which the human mind does not want to experience. This is why modern Christians have decided that to fear God means nothing more than to respect Him and honor Him. NOT SO. This puts us too much in the driver's seat. While we are giving respect and honor to God, where is there time and space to receive from Him? Ah, but all these things make sense if one truly walks by faith. But to walk by faith means one has to suspend belief in the present; that is, I decide to disbelieve everything that SEEMS most real to me and to be carried away by the Word, or that which SEEMS most unreal to me. Make no mistake about it, our God is a consuming fire and this consummation must terrify us and will terrify us if we see the depth of our sinfulness. But God has also called us to peace. So how do we live in both worlds? In my opinion, the riddle is solved in this way: God is spirit and they who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. So, envision two rooms within yourself, one room which contains your flesh and another room which contains your spirit. The room of your flesh composes your carnal nature, your mind, your emotions, and your conscience. All of these components must fear, that is, they must make you tremble, take you to hell, because of your disobedience and ungodliness—and never forget that the worst type of ungodliness is that which claims to be godly. The room of your spirit is beyond all these things; it dwells with Christ and experiences only peace and hope through faith. In the lower room, you experience fear, doubt, and chastisement; but in the other room you experience true comfort, and true comfort only. Because of this experience of comfort which is found only in faith in Christ, you become less and less afraid to experience the discomfort and fear of the flesh. In fact, you willingly and zealously seek to experience this that your Old Man might be crucified; and you do not mind this death because in your spirit you know only peace by faith. But most Christians only know this "peace" when the things of the flesh are going according to their expectations. They truly think they understand the peace of Christ, but they are deceived. If God were to take away these fleshly comforts, they would be damned in the conscience and mind. They only have hope when they can see something according to the flesh; yet, they do not understand the truth, "that which is seen cannot be hope." There can only be hope of a spiritual and godly nature when there is NOTHING according to the flesh to hope in. You see, Joy, hope also dwells in this spiritual room. Or rather, I would say that hope takes you to this spiritual room. True hope makes you devalue all the good and evil things down here (and all things down here are evil, that is, we make them into evil) and look ONLY to that spiritual room where you dwell safely in the cleft of the rock with Christ. That means that you could lose everything down here according to the flesh and it would mean NOTHING to you. You gladly give it up for the sanctuary of that spiritual lodging.)

On the basis of this I believe that so great an abomination of guzzling and high living abounds because we are not afraid that either the spiritual or the physical table will become a snare for us. For since we do not eat the food in fear, it soon catches our soul and ensnares it in the tickling of the flesh, in talkativeness, in fickleness, and other monstrosities without number, that is, a retribution and s stumbling block. And then the eyes are soon darkened for seeing divine things. And the back, that is, the flesh, is bent down to its own lusts and other things that are in the world. But if this happens to all others with regard to their table, how much more does it happen especially to the clerics and the religious. Their table, since it is the sweat and the sins of others, must be feared with an incomparable hear, so that it does not become a snare. Truly, it will be not only a snare but rather snares. For they are entangled with both the sins of others and with their own. Oh, that we, too, would understand and be wise, and provide for our last end! For these imprecations are so abundant nowhere else among the Jews nor among the Gentiles as they are among the priests and the religious today. They, too, have been seized by the rage of God's wrath that they neither see nor want to see that they are under God's wrath.

(Joy, make no mistake about it, the most godly pastors among us have virtually no concept that they/we are under the wrath of God. Because of their lack of taking proper spiritual oversight, God has placed them under his wrath, all the while allowing them to think quite the opposite. May God have mercy on them. I fear those whom I have the most hope for will not make it without being burned up by God's wrath; and it will be their own fault. When it gets right down to it, the Kingdom of God is not that important to them. None of them, Lutheran or Baptist, will consider that MAYBE they are being wise in their own conceits.)

In saying "pour out Thy indignation (v. 24), the psalmist is indicating the wrath of severity without any mercy. For the wrath of goodness is not wrath poured out, but scarcely trickled, because the pouring out of grace, which, according to the apostle, has been poured on us abundantly (Titus 3:6), softens the wrath. "Thy name is oil poured out" (Song of Sol. 1:3). But if all that the saints suffer, namely, death and every evil of this life, is called a trickle of God's wrath, what will the pouring out be? Oh, oh, oh! Who knows the power of Thy anger compared with Thy fear? The greatness of the evils always depends on the measure of the good. And the promises and threats mutually highlight and expose each other. The wrath of God's indignation is pure wrath, without the admixture of mercy, not the wrath of goodness. It seize people, that is, it totally envelops them, so that they cannot get out in any way whatever. For there is no redemption in hell.

Verse 26

Him whom Thou hast smitten.

Here the reason is given for so great a punishment. It is not precisely that they crucified Christ, because He did pray for them, and they could have been forgiven if they had been willing (according to Zech. 1:15: "I was angry a little, but they furthered the disaster"), but that they did not stop persecuting Him even when He was dead and rising again in His members. For He was smitten by the Father, according to Is. 53:4. But if they had stopped when the Father stopped smiting Him, and if they had glorified Him when the Father glorified Him, all would have been well with them. But now, while the Father is glorifying Him, they refuse to do so and keep on persecuting Him nonetheless. Hence He said to one who was one of the most distinguished among them (Acts 9:4): "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?" Therefore the fact that punishment was upon them is due entirely to their own will, for God desired to save them. But since they are unwilling, God cannot save them contrary to their own will. Hence the punishment necessarily follows, because they do not change their will. From this it is clear that this punishment upon them is not definitive and absolute, but as long as their will remains what it is. So the apostle says, Romans 11:23: "They also will be grafted in, if they do not persist in their unbelief."

The psalmist continues, "And to afflict My wounded ones, they would tell," or "They have added to the grief of My wounds." The wounded of Christ are all His saints, because they carry His cross. They have been wounded by the Word of the Gospel and smitten by the Lord (as their head) according to the flesh. For they mortify themselves, they chastise and afflict themselves perpetually in humility and the fear of God, in poverty and contempt. But this is a merciful and fatherly smiting on the part of God.

(Joy, here is what it means to carry Christ's cross, what it means to mortify oneself: To believe and to act in accordance with this true belief that Christ gives us EVERYTHING we need in the wine and the bread, that is, His Body and Blood. This is a true cross when we tell the world and so-called Christians that ALL things are provided in this Feast. They think this foolish because it sounds like we are not willing to put forth effort and take the easy way out. Their basic attitude is that they must work harder and do more, and they have the gall to say they are being saved by faith only, yet they go about as if they needed everything except faith to live the Christian life. They create a worship of God contrary to the will of Christ and then proclaim their worship of Christ is better because they believe and do more.)

Job says: "Have pity on me, at least you, my friends, because the hand of the Lord has touched me. Why do you, like God, persecute me and glut yourselves with my flesh?" (Job 19:2-22), that is, by tearing me according to the flesh you are filling up your anger. So it is with any one of the saints that, his flesh having been consumed, his bone cleaves to his skin (Job 19:20), namely, through his being crucified and suffering with Christ. Therefore killing those who are stricken in their heart is the reason why they cannot be converted and saved. Yet they might be converted if they would stop.

(Joy, forgive the personal illustration, but the fact remains. Look at those who "killing" me. Most agree with much or at least some of what I am saying, yet they cannot take the time to fully investigate and explore what I am saying. They know nothing of searching for the truth and wisdom as one would search for gold and silver. All they do is to keep mining their own opinions. Their eyes are so darkened that they cannot even seriously consider Christ's own words and warning, "When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth;" and Paul's, "Deceivers will wax worse and worse." They all agree there is something seriously wrong with the "church," yet they will not consider that they may be what is wrong with the church. They will not consider that they have departed from sound doctrine. They are experts of our spiritual vocabulary and when they see such grand words such as faith, hope, love, and perseverance and the fear of the Lord, they IMMEDIATELY believe they know all about such words and therefore do not take the time to explore them again. May God always deliver you, Joy, from such evil men and their vain, empty, vulgar, Christless philosophy!)

Verse 27

Add thou iniquity upon iniquity.

This must be understood as I stated earlier: if they remain as they are. For in their present state they cannot enter into the righteousness of God, yet all the people of this sort presume to do so, thinking that they are offering homage to God in their very iniquity. For that reason this verse speaks against their proud presumption, as if to say: "Do not approve of their works, nor credit to them as righteousness whatever they do, but always impute it to them as iniquity through all their generations." He imputes iniquity to the descendants who imitate the works of their fathers; second, when He turns them over to a reprobate mind, so that they continually become worse in their perfidy and hatch ever greater plots against Christ.

(Joy, I know you sense the hypocrisy, the deep, stifling hypocrisy in our churches today. Do not be swayed by their apparent sincerity, but know this above all things and believe it with all your heart: They are nothing more than incubators which hatch wicked things regarding Christ. Do not be fooled by their singing and their piety. Be wise and know that if they are not willing to submit themselves to Luther's teaching, they are either destroyers of Christ or following one who is destroying Christ. Either way, they will be rescued from their delusion with great difficulty. I trust and pray you will seek to give yourself to rescue just such people, no matter the price.)

"And let them not come into Thy righteousness. Do not permit me to regard anything as carnal as pleasing to Thee. For he who makes progress in the love of the spirit also makes progress in the hatred of the flesh. He finds things loathsome and evil in it, such as he did not find before. And so he does not let anything from the flesh come in nor anything of it be mixed with him, but condemns its every lukewarmness and inclination and hates and accuses it, and does not write it with good things nor number it among benefits. From this follows the highest self-humiliation, for with respect to every good work the flesh is hardly absent in any. So we become nothing, knowing that in many things we are guilty in all things (James 3:2), lest anyone trust in his own merits, but that he rather detests them. So also, "add," that is, cause me to be afraid of my flesh as something that is always trying to add iniquity upon iniquity.

(Joy, you can begin to THINK you are truly humble when you see your every act, every intention, and every thought as deeply and hopelessly evil and godless and cast yourself on the mercy of God. Most so-called Christians think it is enough to have a devotional thought about God and give up something outward such as beer and cigarettes. Yet they will not condemn the stench of their nature. Christ called these people "whited graves." They look nice on the outside with all their fine trumped-up piety, but within they are full of idolatry and blasphemy. They do not understand Jobs fear for all his works and David's statement, "Against Thee, and Thee only, have I sinned." They focus only on their outward acts and ignore the filth of their very spirit, that is, their Old Adam, their old mind and vain opinions about God, which are the basis of evil outward acts. They are like a preacher I know and love dearly who is too focused on how faithful he is to the Word. He clings to this so tightly that Christ cannot deliver him from his unfaithfulness. Again, I remind you Joy, to detest according to your flesh and mind the very putting on of your uniform. Seek no pleasure from it. Learn to find your true pleasure from Christ alone. Christ may have drawn you into His place of service for you with your vain love of a uniform, but He will also take away this fleshly pleasure. He will teach you what it means to seek only your neighbor's benefit, taking nothing for yourself. May God grant you wisdom and discernment.)

The substance of the ambitious is glory, of the rich is wealth, of the gluttonous is food and the belly, of the luxurious it is pleasure. But all these substances Christ has destroyed by His own non-substance, so that the faithful may not subsist on them nor trust in them but be without substance. But instead of these they should have faith, which is another substance, the substance of God. So also Christ's death destroyed the life of glory and of riches, so that they may neither live nor subsist on it. Thus the noun, "substance" can be taken in a fourfold sense. Literally concerning Christ's natural life; concerning the life of the martyrs in a similar manner; that we may know that we ourselves do not have the substance of faith, or may fear and see that all that is in ourselves and in the world is not substance, but the mire of the deep. O happy man who can see this, because such a person easily despises all this and looks for another substance. For him honor and riches and pleasure are not substance, and yet he sees himself to be in them, and therefore without doubt his spirit is contrite and concerned. And he becomes a despiser of glory, poor and afflicted; and in a prophetic sense, that because of the abundance of iniquity the substance of faith will perish, as the Lord predicted: "Do you think He will find faith on earth?" (Luke 18:8)

(Joy, I hope you can appreciate that Luther made these comments two years before the Reformation, while he was still under the satanic influence of the Pope. My point is that God wonderfully gifted this man with sound doctrine and a sound mind before he really knew what these were. Many Lutherans want to bring my opinions about Luther to shame by asking, "Which Luther are you wanting us to submit to, the early Luther or the last Luther." I see VERY little difference between the two. This question is nothing more than an excuse by stubborn men who do not want to be brought under the control of anyone's thinking other than their own.)

I love you and pray for you often. I am also humbled by your willingness to serve Christ in the Navy. God bless you, my daughter. I took communion for your spirit this week.

Love,

Dad