PROCLAMATION TO THE CHURCH:

I am in the process of reading, studying, compiling, praying over, and trembling before the works of Martin Luther for the third time in as many years. I have no interest in promoting a man; my interest is in the disheveled Church of Christ.

Who does not know the Church is in a plight in every sense of the word? What Christian is not looking for the imminent return of Christ? Yet who is there who deeply ponders Christ's own words: "When the Son of Man returns will He find faith on the earth?" and "As in the days of Noah so shall the coming of the Son of Man be."

Could it possibly be that the real problem with the Church is a virtual departure from faith because It has departed from the Word, all the while boasting of Its commitment to the Word? Could it possibly be that in the midst of so much religious activity and fervor, the greatest falling away in the history of the world has been transacted under our religious noses by the Great Deceiver, Satan?

Is it possible that this is the generation that Christ will spew out of His mouth? Is it possible that THIS is the very generation of which Luther writes about in the early chapters of Hebrews-a generation in the future with which God is so disgusted that He does not even call it by name? Is this generation worse, far worse than even the one that perished in the wilderness under the leadership of Moses?

Has the Church not been under the "leadership" of one called Luther for 500 years. Does not the whole Church call itself by his name? Who has the Church looked to for leadership more than this Gift of God who expounded to Us the whole counsel of God in truth and verity?

My greatest fear, horror, frustration, and grief are that this message will fall on deaf ears and smug, self-assured hearts. The Church certainly has an interesting way of working out Its salvation with fear and trembling. No one seems to be trembling. On the contrary, everyone seems absolutely self-assured of his or her doctrinal tenets and of their steadfastness in the faith.

Is it possible that the wrath of God is coming upon the Church because of a 500 year process of despising not just His gift of this man, but because of our departure from the Word he preached, expounded, and stood for, to innumerable opinions, programs, and names? Is it possible that the writings of Luther are the hope of the Church, just as the ark of Noah was the only hope the early world had? They didn't get on the ark because they were convinced their religious boat would float just as well as Noah's.

They were wrong and perished because they neither listened to Noah, nor to Enoch, the seventh from Adam, who warned them with tears and terror of their ungodliness which they ungodly committed-even in their most adamant, fervent worship.

Luther did not recant at Worms; but we have recanted before the slimy worm of our own opinion and self-righteousness and before that great wormy snake, the Devil, the reigning father of even Today's Church! A bold statement? You disagree? Well, search the Scriptures and see what they say about division. The only way the Church is united is in the misunderstood meaning of all the words and Scripture itself which Luther "dusted off" with the mighty help of God. Now not even the very church particularly called by his name has any real use for him.

WELS addendum: It hasn't taken me long to figure out that you truly believe you are exempt from Christ's own warning: "When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth." It seems you believe that just because you have something written down somewhere as to your stringent beliefs, you are safe from harm. Not so. Do you really believe that the "chief article," how to be rid of sin, is maintained only (or also for that matter) by you, when it is the nature of our very society to minimize sin, proclaim a carnal liberty, and make self the center? How can this be? What gives you reason to think your people understand Justification any more than, aghast, even the ELCA, when you are part of the satanic plot to minimize sin.

Do you have a general confession? Then you are minimizing sin. Do you allow virtually anyone, unexamined in particular, to come to the Table? Then you are minimizing sin and consequently destroying the main article with your own hands. The Jews also boasted that they were of Abraham, not on account of Abraham but on account of their own glory, just as the papists boasted of Christ in order that they could get large fees during Luther's time. You think you are righteous and superior because you hold to Concord more vigorously than the others. But you minimize sin. But, like the others you think you are above, you have only learned to parrot the words, "Sola, sola, sola." That would be as ignorant as me bragging I was smarter than Einstein was just because I could frame the words, "Algebra, trigonometry, and calculus," with my lips. There is a world of difference between words and substance.

If you love the doctrine so much, then return to the writings of Luther, as I have, to make sure you understand the heart of these precious words and creeds! Luther stated: "A student who doesn't want his work to go for nothing ought to read and reread some good author until the author becomes part, as it were, of his flesh and blood. Scattered reading confuses more than it teaches. Many books, even good ones, have the same effect on the student. So he is like the man who dwells everywhere and therefore dwells nowhere. Just as in human society we don't enjoy the fellowship of every friend every day, but only of a few chosen ones, so we ought to do in our studies." (54/179)

I have been given a gift of dedicating myself to Luther's book-a book that profoundly explains what I love, Scripture and the Creeds. If you cannot even say you have journeyed through his writings even once, don't make a fool of yourself by rebuking me in any way. If you do, I will call you what you have demonstrated yourself to be: A fool.

Dwell somewhere that is sure, not the nowhere you share with everyone else today.

My objective in having sent "Proclamation" to you in the first place was NOT to make you upset with your pastor, religion, or anything else, other than with yourself. David said, "It is good that I was humbled." It is only my desire to encourage you to go to the writings of Luther and find out how a Christian can be humbled. His writings will not only provide a wonderful, accurate, and refreshing commentary on Scripture, but they will show you what it is to be mortified and how to become mortified.

I find it most interesting that no person, when writing to me, addresses my chief concern: "When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" We effectively say, "The Lord cannot come back now because there is too much faith on the earth." This is my most sincere concern and the purpose for what I am doing has to do with offering an avenue whereby you can find out not only what faith is, but how to know if it is pure and being strengthened. Everybody assumes they have faith and few, very few, "work out their salvation with fear and trembling." We have become too self-assured, smug, and pharisaical in our faith.

There are people who agree there is a severe problem; there are people who agree that Luther was a great man; but there is no one who will address my thesis: The writings, works, spirit of Luther are a modern-day Noah's Ark whereby one must enter in order to (understand what it means to) be saved. Instead of trembling at the prospect of being outside the ark, we are buoyed up in our most certain, holy faith that we are not only in the ark, but are actually decorating its walls with the finest paintings.

I am hardly concerned about the state of the visible church, though this does grieve my heart and sadden my spirit. I am primarily concerned with plucking a few souls from this modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah. One should not forget that life for the inhabitants of Sodom went on as if disaster would never come. This is also true for those who perished in the Flood-they were quite secure, confident, and smug in their religion. I am positive that Lot, whose friends thought he was drunk, and Noah, who put off marriage for 600 years because of the religious idolatry of his world, heard the same basic responses that I have heard. The response that stands out is, "Surely, Noah, you do not believe you are the only one with the Word of God, do you?" Luther heard the same thing from those of his day. I am hearing the same thing this very day: "Surely you don't think Luther's opinion is of any more importance than others, do you? I am as led by the Spirit as he. I am a priest and I have the Word of God. Certainly you blaspheme in telling me I must submit myself to a man who lived 500 years ago in order to understand what it means to be a Christian and be prepared for the coming of the Son of Man."

I'll give you one example of what we are missing and our preachers are not telling us. Luther says: "Our ingratitude is to be deplored. Because of it we do not acknowledge God or give Him thanks that the Son of God has changed eternal death into temporal punishment." If we were being taught this and submitting to it, then we would not be so soft. Instead of providing divorce recovery seminars, we would tell the divorced among us that "the misery you have brought upon yourself is just punishment for your sinfulness and selfishness. I plead with you to bear your punishment, confess your sin, look to the cross, and wait for God Himself to provide an escape from your suffering. Surely, this suffering is not only for the good of your faith, but it is a small price to pay to escape eternal wrath. Embrace the wrath now or embrace it later in yonder life."

We would lovingly send the same message to unwed mothers, rebellious teens, drunks, troublemakers in our churches, and on and on. Instead, we provide more and more support groups whereby we make sure everybody's pain is placated and pacified as much as possible. We have worked hard to produce nice, soft, emotionally charged worship services, but no one stands up and says: "Whatever difficulty you are going through is just punishment for your sinfulness. Endure this hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Allow him to make a holy martyr out of you and your faith will be purified and when you get to Heaven you will say, 'I wish I would have endured more.' I implore you to understand that worship should not be primarily aimed at what pleases the flesh and our carnal mind, but the two true and highest acts of worship-teaching and praying, and mortification of the flesh and the purging out of the old leaven in our flesh will follow them. By this way you will come to know Him who is called "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." (6/248)

Instead of even considering submitting to our dear brother, Martin Luther, we hold him in low esteem in one way or another. We can no more call Christ Lord without doing what He tells us any more than we can Luther brother without sitting at his feet in humble obedience, open minds, and craving spirits. Luther himself said: "Many now hear us teaching and read our writings, but with their hearts they are wandering about in the kitchen or elsewhere. So it comes to pass that although they stand with ears erect, they nevertheless understand nothing. This is a kind of insensibility which is not natural but voluntary, by which man withdraws his heart from things present and observes and desires strange and lofty things. Hearts of this kind Isaiah calls hearts that have been made fat, as though they have been covered with slime, and eyes that have been made heavy, such as the disciples had in the garden who did not pay attention to what Christ was saying. Of this kind are the majority among Jews and Christians alike. There are very few who have any regard for the doctrine of the fathers of who imitate their faith." (6/251)

All I can conclude is that we believe we have gone beyond Luther in our understanding and application of doctrine. But we are insensible and do not even know it, any more than those in the previous age knew the water or the fire was coming. But it came and it will be more tolerable for them in the day of judgment than it will be for us who have been given such a bright and shining light who sought only to bring us to that Daystar of our salvation.