Interesting Story

[CrossWiseMag]

Hi! I'm new to this forum, so I guess I'll introduce myself. My name is David --I'm a layman from Republic, Mo. I'm looking forward to some good Lutheran discussion here! :)

I have an online publication I've just started, but since I'm not supposed to advertise here, I won't do that. But a pastor recently contributed a story that was very powerful, and I hope it's okay to share it. I'm just going to paste it in here as it appeared at the site. I'd be interested in any comments you might have.

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What Does It Matter? - Decision Theology

Modern culture values freedom—so much that we believe we have freedom in areas where the Bible is clear that we don’t. Can we “decide” for Christ before the Holy Spirit comes to us? No! What does it matter? Pastor Alan Wollenburg knows firsthand, and shares this story:

“It was Easter Sunday. After celebrating the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ with my congregation, my family had continued the celebration with relatives who lived in a nearby community. Returning home late that evening, there were numerous urgent messages on my answering machine.

“A family in my congregation had an elderly father in the hospital and it seemed he might be dying. Though he was a professing Christian—and a Baptist minister—he was suffering terrors of conscience.

“Late on Easter evening, I went to that old man’s hospital bed, where he lay tossing and turning. He told me he was terrified. In our short conversation, it became clear that he truly feared for the eternal fate of his soul. He wondered aloud if he was ‘saved enough.’ Yes, he had answered an altar call many years before. Yes, he had been baptized (perhaps more than once).

“‘But was it enough?’ he fearfully asked. ‘I’m a sinner. I know what God does to sinners. How can I be sure?’ The man’s fear was truly palpable.

“So in that late night hour I reminded him of the very Gospel he himself had been privileged to preach.

• “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.” (1 Tim. 2:15)
• “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes...” (Rom. 1:16)
• “For God so loved the world that He gave His one & only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” (John 3:16-17)
• “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 6:23)
• “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28)
• “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works so that no one can boast.” (Eph.2:8-9)
• Psalm 23
• Psalm 46

“As we continued in that late night hour, I was blessed to watch how the Holy Spirit works through the Gospel to bring peace to terror-stricken souls. Just as his terror had been palpable, so was watching the ‘peace of God, which transcends all understanding’ (Philippians 4:7) come over his soul.

“He nodded in agreement as God’s Word assured him that, while his ‘acceptance’ could never be sufficient, Christ’s payment truly was all-sufficient. We prayed a prayer of thanksgiving and confessed the historic Christian faith; he drifted off to sleep, resting in the merits of our Lord Christ.

“He did not die that night. A short time later he moved to a nursing home. He declared to his family that he was now ‘a Lutheran’ and that he wanted ‘the Lutheran pastor’ to conduct his funeral.

“God mercifully took him to his eternal home in heaven some weeks later. As his family and members of his congregation gathered for worship in that funeral home, it was a Lutheran pastor who preached Christ crucified—His merits and works, not ours!—and risen again, in joyful celebration of the Gospel.”

[Flipper]

Hi! I'm Felicia, and I live in St. Louis, MO. Welcome!!!

The essay brought tears to my eyes. Is it ok for me to post this on another messageboard - one full of people who need to hear this? You can PM me the stuff to give the author proper credit if you want.

[SPALATIN]

Hi! I'm new to this forum, so I guess I'll introduce myself. My name is David --I'm a layman from Republic, Mo. I'm looking forward to some good Lutheran discussion here! :)

I have an online publication I've just started, but since I'm not supposed to advertise here, I won't do that. But a pastor recently contributed a story that was very powerful, and I hope it's okay to share it. I'm just going to paste it in here as it appeared at the site. I'd be interested in any comments you might have.

---------------------

What Does It Matter? - Decision Theology

Modern culture values freedom—so much that we believe we have freedom in areas where the Bible is clear that we don’t. Can we “decide” for Christ before the Holy Spirit comes to us? No! What does it matter? Pastor Alan Wollenburg knows firsthand, and shares this story:

“It was Easter Sunday. After celebrating the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ with my congregation, my family had continued the celebration with relatives who lived in a nearby community. Returning home late that evening, there were numerous urgent messages on my answering machine.

“A family in my congregation had an elderly father in the hospital and it seemed he might be dying. Though he was a professing Christian—and a Baptist minister—he was suffering terrors of conscience.

“Late on Easter evening, I went to that old man’s hospital bed, where he lay tossing and turning. He told me he was terrified. In our short conversation, it became clear that he truly feared for the eternal fate of his soul. He wondered aloud if he was ‘saved enough.’ Yes, he had answered an altar call many years before. Yes, he had been baptized (perhaps more than once).

“‘But was it enough?’ he fearfully asked. ‘I’m a sinner. I know what God does to sinners. How can I be sure?’ The man’s fear was truly palpable.

“So in that late night hour I reminded him of the very Gospel he himself had been privileged to preach.

• “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.” (1 Tim. 2:15)
• “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes...” (Rom. 1:16)
• “For God so loved the world that He gave His one & only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” (John 3:16-17)
• “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 6:23)
• “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28)
• “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works so that no one can boast.” (Eph.2:8-9)
• Psalm 23
• Psalm 46

“As we continued in that late night hour, I was blessed to watch how the Holy Spirit works through the Gospel to bring peace to terror-stricken souls. Just as his terror had been palpable, so was watching the ‘peace of God, which transcends all understanding’ (Philippians 4:7) come over his soul.

“He nodded in agreement as God’s Word assured him that, while his ‘acceptance’ could never be sufficient, Christ’s payment truly was all-sufficient. We prayed a prayer of thanksgiving and confessed the historic Christian faith; he drifted off to sleep, resting in the merits of our Lord Christ.

“He did not die that night. A short time later he moved to a nursing home. He declared to his family that he was now ‘a Lutheran’ and that he wanted ‘the Lutheran pastor’ to conduct his funeral.

“God mercifully took him to his eternal home in heaven some weeks later. As his family and members of his congregation gathered for worship in that funeral home, it was a Lutheran pastor who preached Christ crucified—His merits and works, not ours!—and risen again, in joyful celebration of the Gospel.”
Welcome to the Theologia Crucis-Confessional Lutheran(not to be confused with Theologia Crucis the person;) ) forum David. I read this over on LQ this morning as well. It is a very good story and shows that Decision theology or Theology of Glory is not as comforting as the title sounds. I will say that on this forum we are confessionals but we are varied in our synodical viewpoints. We have quite a few from the ELCA here and a couple from the WELS as well as those of us in the LCMS.

We are not as quick to condemn here as you might find on LQ in some of the threads. Though we can be tough if we have to. I actually find that I enjoy this forum more than LQ because of this. Please feel free to hone in on any of the threads here and give us your input.

[CrossWiseMag]

Thanks for the welcome. :) Lots of arguing just gets my blood pressure up. That doesn't stop me from arguing anyway at times, but I think I can survive just fine with a lower level of heat on this forum. Anyway, since I've started writing for the website, I'm trying to keep my posting at Internet sites down to a minimum. I promised myself I could do it without a huge addition to my time commitment, just by cutting back on my discussion posts! So far, that's worked--but this story was so good I wanted to share it with anyone I could, and I found this place with a Google search. It seems pretty busy!

By the way--anyone who wants to share this story can feel free to pass it along via email, discussion posts in other places, etc.

David Brazeal

[PurpleBunny]

Welcome!

I'd like to borrow the essay as well--if you would like credit given where credit is due, PM me the details and I'll include them :D

Sarah

[KagomeShuko]

Thanks for the welcome. :) Lots of arguing just gets my blood pressure up. That doesn't stop me from arguing anyway at times, but I think I can survive just fine with a lower level of heat on this forum. Anyway, since I've started writing for the website, I'm trying to keep my posting at Internet sites down to a minimum. I promised myself I could do it without a huge addition to my time commitment, just by cutting back on my discussion posts! So far, that's worked--but this story was so good I wanted to share it with anyone I could, and I found this place with a Google search. It seems pretty busy!

By the way--anyone who wants to share this story can feel free to pass it along via email, discussion posts in other places, etc.

David Brazeal
Welcome to TCCL! That was a great story. Yes, we have quite a few different synods of Lutherans here - but, we're all confessional Lutherans. . we'll talk about the differences, but we don't nitpick and complain! I've read over at LQ before, and I just can't stay and read because it makes me angry or upset.

Stein Auf!
Bridget

[ByzantineDixie]

WELCOME CROSSWISE!!! :wave:

So good to have you here!

Scotty...have I told you lately how much I appreciate you! :hug: Yep, I prefer CF over LQ myself. (So does my husband...as LQ sometimes makes me cranky! YIKES!!!)

Anyway, Lutherans...I have a surprise for you! Here is the link to CrossWise's magazine (http://www.crosswisemag.com/). I have read a few of the articles and this is great stuff!

Peace

Rose

[KagomeShuko]

Anyway, Lutherans...I have a surprise for you! Here is the link to CrossWise's magazine (http://www.crosswisemag.com/). I have read a few of the articles and this is great stuff!


Yay! I like the small article on infant baptism. I never liked that whole "age of accountability" thing. I've seen all these studies by others about how baptism should be done by immersion and of course, the age of accountability. Then, there was always, but there are passages that say they had their whole household baptized. .sureyly there were babies.

Stein Auf!
Bridget

[filosofer]

Hi! I'm Felicia, and I live in St. Louis, MO. Welcome!!!

I didn't know you lived in the Holy City? Been to the Purple Palace lately?

[KagomeShuko]

I didn't know you lived in the Holy City? Been to the Purple Palace lately?
Ah. . .St. Louis is a great city. I loved it when I was there for the ELCA Youth gathering in 2000!

Stein Auf!
Bridget

[Flipper]

I didn't know you lived in the Holy City? Been to the Purple Palace lately?
LOL - I drive by it once in a while. ;) Great shopping nearby.

I remember that ELCA Convention. I worked right by the Convention Center at the time and traffic was a nightmare. :D

There were a bunch of youths from the ELCA Convention working on Habitat for Humanity projects in the area that was featured big in the news here. Did you get to do any of that?

[night2day]

I didn't know you lived in the Holy City?

*snicker* When I attended Concordia Ann Arbor one one of my instructors within a class often called St. Louis the "Holy City" as well. Then he'd remind everyone what Jerusalem had been like. :) Yikes! :eek:

Anyway, nice to see others from here in the Show Me State too. I'm about an hour or so south of the land of the silver arch. ;)

[BBAS 64]

Good Day, Crosswise

Welcome to CF!! :wave:

When Augustine explained the Gospel message of John 3:16, he referred back to the golden serpent raised by Moses to heal the snake-bitten Israelites. Augustine’s statement shows clearly that the Lutheran Reformation was simply a return to the historic teaching of Christ’s church:

"Just as they who looked on that serpent perished not by the serpent's bites, so they who look in faith on Christ's death are healed from the bites of sins."

Augustine understood the concept of salvation by grace, through faith, about 1,200 years before Martin Luther. He spoke eloquently about God’s gracious gift of salvation, apart from our own power. For these reasons, he is our Pre-Lutheran of the Month.


Even a Lutheran by, by the kindness of you here got to love a quote like this.

Makes a Baptist Shout!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D

Peace to u,

Bill

[KagomeShuko]

LOL - I drive by it once in a while. ;) Great shopping nearby.

I remember that ELCA Convention. I worked right by the Convention Center at the time and traffic was a nightmare. :D

There were a bunch of youths from the ELCA Convention working on Habitat for Humanity projects in the area that was featured big in the news here. Did you get to do any of that?
No, didn't sign up for the habitat for humanity stuff. Yes, the traffic was crazy for cars and people! We figured out that after the evening services, instead of taking the nearest metro station, we'd walk to the one down by the arch to get to where we needed to be! We stayed in the Louis VIII hotel. Does it even exist any longer?

However, I do remember people thinking we were crazy for walking in "the rain." To us, it was a mere drizzle and we loved how it made it cooler. I also remember people complaining about the heat, and of course to a group from Louisiana it was just wonderful weather for the summer! While people thought we were crazy, we thought they were crazy! LOL

Gosh. . .so many great memories of that time. Even though I hated the haircut I had then (it wsa SO short because of a mistake that was made by my friend that was cutting it).

Stein Auf!
Bridget