Martin Luther describing himself: "I am rough, boisterous, stormy and altogether warlike.  I am born to fight against innumerable monsters and devils.  I must remove stumps, stones, cut away thistles and thorns and clear away the wild forests."  He referred to himself as "a man of war."  Here is the third person description of Luther: His words are battles.  He overwhelms his opponents...."

Phillip Schaff quoting Luther in “The History of the Christian Church.”

It has been some time since I have posted.  I wanted to explain again why I have stopped.  It has been gratifying to me as I have shared this link with others how many have now come to read what I have written in looking at The Lutheran Confessions.  I believe that this is a pivotal time in The Church of Jesus Christ, and also for The Lutheran Church in its many denominations.  As you know, I began this blog because I was disturbed by trends in my denomination, the ELCA, moving away from The Lutheran Confessions, and in so doing, away from the oath that we took as pastors.  There has been some discussion of removing the provision in the Oath as it relates to the Lutheran Confessions.  But this has not occurred.  As I type this, the commitment to preach and teach in accordance with the Lutheran Confessions remains part of the oath every pastor takes as part of ordination.

The purpose of this blog was to set forth not what makes Lutherans distinct from other denominations, but rather to set forth those provisions in The Lutheran Confessions which assert what it means to be part of the universal Christian Church.  This is what C. S. Lewis referred to as "Mere Christianity."  And that is the best explanation for why I stopped my posts some time ago.  This blog was not intended as an ongoing exposition of "my brilliant insights."  It was intended to set forth what Melanchthon intended, that The Augsburg Confession would not define what it meant to be Lutheran, but that it would define what it meant to be Christian, part of The Church Militant awaiting The Church Triumphant.  It was more of a treatise than a journal.

Thank you for walking this path with me.  If you have found these posts helpful, I encourage you to share them, with the caveat that it is not intended as an ongoing blog, but a statement of things that needed to be written.  

Someone should say that the emperor has no clothes.