Structure

This blog has two parts: A novel and commentary on things of interest to me. I must apologize in that I don’t often make it clear that a particular post is for the novel or is a commentary on a topic.

1) I began writing a novel called Luther’s Baggage in 2008. I have since changed its name to Wittenberg Encounter and just published it on Kindle. I kept thinking of an image where Martin Luther is handing a carpetbag to a modern day college student. The idea is that modern day Evangelicals have inherited a collection of beliefs (the origins of which are in that carpetbag) that contain a mixture of Biblical truth and non Biblical truth. Of particular interest to me is that the Gentile church’s ignorance of its Hebraic roots has led to a whole range of errors in interpretation, practice, and attitudes. When Jesus taught, he often used stories and parables; so, I began writing a story, but life got in the way and it languished. I was challenged by a friend to publish it in a blog. And so Luther’s Baggage began. I have started work on the second and third books with the hope (God willing) to end up with Five books. The early Reformation period is full of content to provide the background for each. I would like to take Heinrich through Europe to meet the key figures of the Reformation.  

2) The second part of this blog is more topical in that it has comments about what I see going on in the world and the church, especially as it relates to the issues I’m interested in. I am definitely pro-Israel because the Biblical God has said clearly (to Abraham): “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Genesis 12:2-3 Through my studies in the Hebrew roots of the faith, my attendance at 5 years of Torah club, and my acquaintance with members of Messianic congregations I have learned many things. But we all know that knowledge without application, wisdom and obedience is of little worth. I trust that the Lord will guide me into meaningful ways to put my faith into practice.

As to the link with Luther, I was born and raised in a Missouri Synod Lutheran Church in a small town in the Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan. 

I was a Lutheran by nationality and the concept of being “born again” was not taught or understood. The Biblical past did not fit into a coherent framework, the Biblical future was even murkier, and there really wasn’t a Biblical present. You died and then there was heaven or hell, and you hoped you went to heaven. How current events and the future fit into Biblical prophecy was totally ignored because Martin Luther continued the Catholic view of eschatology. Israel was the nation that blew it and the Christians were now the good guys who took over.  Their law was part of their downfall and the people of Grace were their replacements. Luther would later turn very sour against them when he wrote his inflammatory pamphlet: On the Jews and Their Lies. I intend to get into these various periods in Luther's life in the five books.

When I was a senior I was asked by a friend to attend a Baptist camp in Wisconsin. While there I made a decision to accept Jesus as my personal Savior. Rather than go through a lengthy testimony and overview of the past decades, let me just say that while I have attended Evangelical churches since then, it has been my studies in the Jewishness of Jesus (Yeshua) that has really made the difference.

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