SIMUL: The Journal of St. Paul Lutheran Seminary, Vol. 3, Issue 2 (Winter 2024)

SIMUL

Our “Other” Neighbors

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The viewsexpressedinthe articlesreflectthe author(s) opinionsand arenotnecessarilytheviewsofthe publisherand editor.SIMULcannotguaranteeand acceptsnoliabilityforany lossor damageofanykind causedby the errorsandfor theaccuracy ofclaims made by the authors.Allrightsreservedand nothingcan be partiallyor inwholebe reprintedor reproduced withoutwrittenconsentfrom the editor.

SIMUL

Volume 3, Iss. 2, Winter 2024

Our “Other” Neighbors

EDITOR

Rev. Dr. Dennis R. Di Mauro dennisdimauro@yahoo.com

ADMINSTRATOR

Rev. Jon Jensen jjensen@semlc.org

Administrative Address:

St. Paul Lutheran Seminary P.O. Box 251 Midland, GA 31820

ACADEMICDEAN

Rev. Julie Smith jjensen@semlc.org

Academics/Student Affairs Address:

St. Paul Lutheran Seminary P.O. Box 251

Midland, GA 31820

BOARDOFDIRECTORS

Chair: Rev. Dr.Erwin Spruth

Rev. Greg Brandvold

Rev. Jon Jensen

Rev. Dr. Mark Menacher

Steve Paula

Rev. Julie Smith

Charles Hunsaker

Rev. Dr. James Cavanah

Rev. Jeff Teeples

TEACHINGFACULTY

Rev. Dr. Marney Fritts

Rev. Dr. Dennis DiMauro

Rev. Julie Smith

Rev. Virgil Thompson

Rev. Dr. Keith Less

Rev. Brad Hales

Rev. Dr. Erwin Spruth

Rev. Steven King

Rev. Dr. Orrey McFarland

Rev. Horacio Castillo (Intl)

Rev. Amanda Olson de Castillo (Intl)

Rev. Dr. Roy Harrisville III

Rev. Dr. HenryCorcoran

Rev. Dr. Mark Menacher

Rev. Randy Freund

“Graduation Picture of the Lutheran Theological Seminaryin India,” (2023)

EDITOR’S NOTE

Welcome to our tenth issue of SIMUL, the journal of St. Paul Lutheran Seminary. This edition includes a number of insightful articles concerning our “other” neighbors, those we don’t usually identify as belonging to our Lutheran tradition. In this volume, David Breidenbach shares his experiences of being a missionary in war-torn Ukraine. Michael B. Duggi examines the creation of a new Lutheran seminary in India. Horacio Castillo explains how to teach Lutheran pastors in poverty-stricken Nicaragua, and Steve Cohen argues for the need to witness to an oftenignored population: our Jewish neighbors.

Now as many of you already know, our Lutheran tradition lost a great mind late last year, the Rev. Dr. Carl E. Braaten. In tribute to his life and work, I have reviewed his semi-autobiographical book, My Ecumenical Journey: Ecumenical Experiences and Perspectives of an Evangelical Theologian, published by ALPB books.

What’s Ahead?

This edition includes a number of insightful articles concerning our “other” neighbors, those we don’t usually identify as belonging to our Lutheran tradition.

Upcoming Issues - Our Spring 2024 issue will discuss ministry to those suffering from mental illness, including Alzheimer’s disease, depression and PTSD.

SPLS now offers the Th.D. – We are excited to announce that St. Paul Lutheran Seminary is partnering with Kairos University in Sioux Falls, SD to establish an accredited Doctorate in Theology (Th.D.). The Th.D. is a research degree, preparing candidates for deep theological reflection, discussion, writing, leadership in the church and service towards the community. The goal of the program is to develop leaders in the Lutheran church who are qualified to teach in institutions across the globe, to engage in theological and biblical research to further the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and to respond with faithfulness to any calling within the church. Those who are accepted into and complete the program will receive all instruction from SPLS professors and will receive an accredited (ATS) degree from Kairos University.

The general area of study of the Th.D. program is in systematic theology. Specializations offered within the degree include, but are not limited to: Reformation studies, evangelical homiletics, and law and gospel dialectics. The sub-disciplines within the areas of specialization are dependent upon the interest of the student provided they have a qualified and approved mentor. Other general areas of study, such as biblical studies, will be forthcoming. For the full description of the program, go to https://semlc.org/academic-programs/ If you are interested in supporting our effort to produce faithful teachers of Christ’s church, contact Jon Jensen jjensen@semlc.org. All prospective student inquiries can be directed to Dr. Marney Fritts mfritts@semlc.org.

Giving - Please consider making a generous contribution to St.

Paul Lutheran Seminary at: https://semlc.org/support-st-paul-lutheran-seminary/. I hope you enjoy this issue of SIMUL! If you have any questions about the journal or about St. Paul Lutheran Seminary, please shoot me an email at: dennisdimauro@yahoo.com

Rev. Dr. Dennis Di Mauro is the pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Warrenton, VA. He teaches at St. Paul Lutheran Seminary and is the editor of SIMUL.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

To the Editor:

Julie Smith’s very thoughtful article, “Disordered? Beginning to Sort Out What Makes a Call ‘Proper’” (SIMUL, Fall 2023) opens with an unfootnoted quote the reader must assume is from CA XIV. Except that it isn’t. It says,

“Concerning church government it is taught that no one should publicly teach, preach, or administer the sacraments without a proper [public] call.”

The statement is from p. 46 of Robert Kolb’s and Timothy Wengert’s 2000 version of The Book of Concord. It contains a bracketed word, meaning the word is not found in the original quote but is the authors’ opinion. CA XIV on page 69 of the original German BSLK however reads:

XIV. Vom Kirchenregiment. Vom Kirchenregiment wird gelehrt, daß niemand in der Kirchen offentlich lehren oder predigen oder Sakrament reichen soll ohn ordentlichen Beruf.

That is, “With regard to church order it is taught that no one in the churches should publicly teach or preach or administer

Kolb/Wengert Book of Concord

the sacraments without a regular call.”

The Kolb/Wengert misquote was created at the height of the debate over the Lutheran-Episcopal agreement “Called to Common Mission” which requires Lutherans to submit to episcopal ordinations as part of a so-called successio episcoporum. Both Kolb, who is LCMS, and Wengert who is ELCA, promote a preeminence of institutional ordination over that of a congregational call. In furtherance of this notion, they attached footnotes 78 and 81 to their misquote.

Footnote 78: “On ordentlichen Beruf. Beruf means both ‘call’ and ‘vocation.’ The 1531 editio princeps and the 1580 Book of Concord add the word [public] in brackets.”

Footnote 81: “Rite vocatus means called in a regular manner by a proper public authority. This is not a matter of ‘ritual.’”

Both footnotes, and the CA XIV “quote,” are fictitious. Not only does Beruf (from berufen “to call”) here not mean “vocation,” but one’s “call” to a vocation or calling (die Berufung zur Berufung), as reiterated in Ap XIV (gebührlich berufen sein), but the bracketed word [public] doesn’t exist in either of the cited works not in the German nor in the Latin, which even a cursory glance at the BSLK makes clear.

Kris Baudler

St. Luke’s Lutheran Church

Bay Shore, New York

WITNESSING FOR CHRIST DURING THE WAR IN UKRAINE

David Breidenbach

“David, do not worry. We do not believe in big war.”1

Ten days later, the air raid sirens started blaring and the sound of missiles ripped through the pre-dawn sky, followed by explosions and the resulting concussion of air assaulting eardrums, shaking Pastor Aleksandr Gross and his family violently out of their beds.

They were bewildered, terrified, and for a short while, in denial that the unthinkable had actually happened— a fullscale Russian invasion of Ukraine had begun—in the 21st century! And yet even in this calamity, the call remained. “Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” – Psalm 82:3-4 (ESV).2

How We Came to Serve in Ukraine

We had been friends with the Gross family for a long time,

stretching back to 2007, where we first met in L’viv, Ukraine. My wife Angela and I were part of a team sent on an exploratory mission to see if a meaningful partnership could be formed between DELKU (German Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ukraine) and our mission organization, Spiritual Orphans Network (SON), called East European Missions Network at the time.

It would be two more years before my wife, two daughters, and I would have the chance to meet Aleksandr’s family: his wife, Alyona, and their two young daughters, Anna-Mariia and Marta. They are a remarkable ministry family with the gift of hospitality and compassion serving a 4-point parish in the southern, Odesa region of Ukraine, near the Black Sea.

In 2009, our organization began sending short-term mission teams to co-host summer English Bible camps with the Gross family and their many coworkers. The camps served hundreds of village children at local schools and they solidified a long-standing partnership that grew into many years of connecting spiritual orphans with the global family in Christ.

Several years later, we added ministry conferences for pastors and full-time ministry workers serving throughout Ukraine. In fact, then NALC Bishop John Bradosky and the Assistant to the Bishop for Global Missions, Rev. Dr. Gemechis Buba, had the joy of teaching fourteen eager young pastors for two days in the living room of the Ukrainian equivalent of an Airbnb, located on the extreme southwestern peninsula of Ukraine, right on the Black Sea. It was early March and the

Rev. David Breidenbach

temperatures were still freezing, so no one was working on a tan at the beach. But the rapt attention of the Ukrainian pastors fueled the excitement in that cramped living room, as the bishop and Reverend Buba taught and shared perspectives for discipling people in the gospel that the pastors had never heard before nor encountered while in seminary. Every pastor, including the (then) new DELKU Bishop, Pavlo Shvarts, was encouraged, excited, and eager to return to serving his multipoint parish.

SON hosted our last ministry conference in Ukraine outside of L’viv in early March 2020. Only two days later, COVID-19 brought the world to a standstill. While many congregations in the Western world entered a new era of live-streaming worship and virtual Bible studies, the reality of inadequate digital infrastructure in Ukraine necessitated a more personal ministry model during the pandemic. Ukrainian pastors became travelling outdoor evangelists and couriers of much needed meals, supplies, groceries, and medicines. They were often the only connection to the outside world for many elderly believers, shut-ins, and others otherwise isolated from the advent of technology.

In 2021, despite limitations imposed by the pandemic, a small team from SON was able to join our fulltime missionaries to Ukraine, Pastor Scott and Lena Yount, and Anna-Mariia Gross, the eldest daughter of Pastor Aleksandr Gross. The Younts primarily serve special needs youth and adults in the region of Bila Tserkva, a medium size city, about forty-five minutes south of Kiev. There, we hosted a modified English Bible Camp for orphaned, special needs boys. Despite all the extra COVID precautions that had to be observed, meaningful

connections were made, and an indelible impression was left on each of our hearts.

Following that camp, Pastor Scott and our team were met by Pastor Gross, who drove us six hours south to Novagradovka, just a few kilometers inland from Odesa. There we reunited with the entire Gross family and hosted an English Bible camp for about thirty youth living in and around their village. AnnaMariia and Marta had both matured into remarkable young women and, in fact, planned and took the lead in most of the camp’s large-group sessions. It was a very memorable experience for all, and we especially enjoyed spending time with the Gross family.

Little did we know just how strong the bonds of our families’ relationship would influence and change the trajectory of each of our lives forever. While the rest of the world was still reeling from the inconveniences and interruptions that COVID imposed, the people of Ukraine were just beginning a journey that would thrust them into the most horrific and unfathomable reality—full scale war with Russia.

The Invasion and Evacuation

Little did we know just how strong the bonds of our family’s relationship would influence and change the trajectory of each of our lives forever.

SON is a member of the U.S. State Department’s OSACDiplomatic Security Service for non-profits and for several weeks we had been receiving military intelligence that a Russian invasion of Ukraine was not only likely, but imminent. On February 12th, 2022, the OSAC private signal

communications channel was reporting verified intelligence about the day and the hour when the full-scale invasion was expected to begin. It was in response to that report that I reached out, via Messenger, to Pastor Gross:

“Do you have plans to evacuate? Bulgaria is recommended over Moldova because of troops build up there. I have friends in Bulgaria if you would like me to contact them. Please let me know how we can help. Scott and Lena have plans to drive to Slovakia.”

They had none, as no one believed it would happen, which prompted Aleksandr’s response to me:

“David, do not worry. We do not believe in big war.”1

You see, Russia actually began its occupation of Ukraine back in 2014. Confined to the far eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions of Ukraine, many families were displaced, and hundreds had been killed, but for most, it was more of a political war and reality of living with their neighbor to the east. In fact, Pastor Scott and Lena Yount met as a result of Lena’s family’s escape from the Luhansk region and relocation to Bila Tserkva, in 2014. For most Ukrainians, the threats of a full-scale invasion from the Kremlin were received only as more “saber rattling.” No one took it seriously and the thought of making an evacuation plan seemed foolish and unnecessary.

On the night of February 23rd (early morning, February 24th in Ukraine) I was glued to the various private messaging feeds and overseas news outlets. Our worst fears came true. Russia began a brutal and indiscriminate assault on 44 million

Ukrainian people. They were being invaded!

For my wife, Angela, and me, we were heartbroken and wept openly. I made repeated attempts at contacting Pr. Aleksandr and his family, not knowing if they were okay or what they were facing. Reports kept coming in that the Odesa region was being hit hard; Kiev was under siege, Kharkiv was in flames, and hundreds of utility targets were being hit all over Ukraine.

Our fulltime missionaries, Pastor Scott and Lena Yount, awoke to explosions only blocks away from their home in Bila Tserkva. We had spoken earlier and already arranged for them to evacuate west, to Slovakia, where our long-time ministry partners from SEM (Slovak Lutheran Youth Ministries) were preparing the Icthys Youth Center in Vélký Slavkov, Slovakia to receive the Younts and a massive number of other refugees from Ukraine.

It was not until after a mostly sleepless night in Albuquerque that Aleksandr responded. They were all okay. While the missiles were aimed at targets several kilometers from their village of Novogradovka, the flashes of light and sounds of explosions, followed closely by air concussions hitting their ears, drove them out of bed and down into the basement for cover.

School for Anna-Mariia (Mika) and Marta, of course was cancelled. Marta (their youngest) was particularly upset because she had prepared for a major exam scheduled for that day; still not grasping the unfathomable reality of the situation—that their lives would never be quite the same again.

Bombings in Novogradovka

My wife, Angela, voiced what she and I had both been thinking, “I want those girls here!” The Messenger conversation between me and Aleksandr resumed:

“Please head for Romania. We love you all so very much.”

“thank you brother. We love yo too. For moment all is ok. All information is not official. People write different things.”

“Have live cameras on Kharkiv and Kiev US military corroborates the reports as do citizens in the cities. You are in danger my brother.”

“i know. But their goal is to spread panick”

“Yes, Missile attacks tend to cause panic and death. Scott and Lena are heading to Slovakia, now.”

“ok. it is No attacks go now. Ukrainian army shot down unmanned aerial vehicles”

“Russian tanks now in Kharkiv”

“it is not thruth”

“Have you talked to Pavel? [Bishop Pavel and his family were living in Kharkiv]”

“he decide to bring family to our congregation in next city. russian attacks military airdrome in 5 small cities. all others in Donbass… now we have officially martial law” 3

More air raid sirens. They headed for cover and spent the night in the basement. A few hours later, on February 25th, we

exchanged this conversation:

“Checking in to see how you are all doing?”

“Hi David, we are okay. Trying to persuade kids to leave to Moldova tomorrow.”

“We support you in this difficult decision, though wonder if Romania might be safer, as Russian troops are also in Moldova? Lord, have mercy. Do you need financial assistance? Do they need to come here?”

“they want to be close us”

“We can well understand. But, as parents, we also understand what we want for our children. We are here to help in ANY way we possibly can. Please do not hesitate to contact us. Lord, have mercy and grant to you strength and his protection. We are praying for Anna-Mariia and Marta for the same. If you want them to come here, I will make it happen.”

“hi David. they will go for two weeks. We will see what happen next. Step by step”

“Understood but I want to be prepared, just in case. I have a copy of Mika’s visa. Do you have copies of Marta and Mika’s passports or IDs that I can have just in case we need to act quickly?”

“i will send you”4

I was also able to connect with many of our other Ukrainian pastors who were preparing to drive their wives and children to the western border crossings and say goodbye to them. In addition to martial law, the Ukrainian government-imposed restrictions on

men younger than age sixty prevented them from leaving the country, as all were subject to conscription in defending Ukraine.

On February 26th, just two days after the Russian invasion began, Pr. Aleksandr and Alyona Gross hugged and kissed their daughters, Anna-Mariia and Marta, and watched them walk across the border into Moldova. That would be the last time they would be together as a family for almost five months.

Suddenly, most of the pastors in Ukraine were alone and facing the uncertainty of what lay ahead. But by God’s grace, even to this day, all pastors in Ukraine have been able to continue serving in their calls, though in ways in which not even the COVID pandemic could have prepared them.

Alyona stayed with her husband, Pastor Aleksandr, in Ukraine, as she heads up a kitchen responsible for feeding the elderly and shut-ins in the Odesa region. The reality of war made the kitchen even more important and necessary since, for so many, the possibility of evacuation was not an option.

Anna-Mariia and Marta Gross crossed into Moldova, were picked up by a ministry friend and driven directly into Romania, where they stayed with a family “friend of a friend” for two months. The prospect of returning to their home in Ukraine grew less and less probable; while the problem of where and how they could go to school became a more urgent concern. Something had to change.

Anna-Mariia was open to my suggestion that we bring her

Gross Family

and her sister to the US and enroll her in university and Marta in high school here in New Mexico. Anna-Mariia had been here before, as she had already studied at a Bible school in Minnesota. Marta, however, was resistant, intent on returning to school in Odesa. SON is partnering with Menaul School, a 612th grade international boarding school in Albuquerque, where students from over twenty-four different countries come to study alongside New Mexico students and benefit from an intentional, and (often) tuition free, pathway into university studies. I thought it would be a perfect fit for Marta. She begged to differ.

It was now May and school applications had to be submitted. In the meantime, we had to get the girls moved out of Romania and so opted to have them join Pastor Scott and Lena in Slovakia. The Icthys Youth Center in Vélký Slavkov was packed with Ukrainian refugees and there was plenty of work to do. It was also a good transition for Anna-Mariia and Marta, as they had some familiar Slovak and Ukrainian faces at the center (the Slovak and Ukrainian Lutheran churches had worked together for years) and, since they spoke Ukrainian, Russian, and English, they were a great help in communicating on behalf of the refugees.

After only a couple of weeks and several conversations with Lena and Pastor Scott, Marta began to warm up to the idea of going to school in the U.S. I submitted her application and was able to get I-20s issued for both girls so they could each obtain student visas for study in the States. Since the last SON

Pastor Oleg saying goodbye to his son

language camp of each summer is hosted in Slovakia, Angela and I were able to spend a couple of weeks with the girls before we all flew home to our new life in the U.S.

Ukraine Relief Fund

Meanwhile, the war rages on in Ukraine and the needs are great. Within twenty-four hours of the Russian invasion, SON was asked to start a Ukraine Relief Fund. The response was both inspiring and humbling, with over $600,000 contributed within the first six weeks, and the fund has grown to over $1,000,000 today. That immediate and generous response from North American congregations and individuals has allowed us to respond quickly to the needs of our brothers and sisters in Ukraine and abroad.

Some would perhaps say that SON suddenly became a social service, rather than a relational, ministry. Every ministry finds itself in different seasons and, for SON, this is a time where we have been called to respond to the acute needs in Ukraine. It is only through our long-term relationships, with so many gifted people of God, where we find the hands, the feet, and the voices that He prepared beforehand to render aid and lend comfort to those in need.

It seems that we were being prepared, all along, for "such a time as this." Distributions from the SON Ukraine Relief Fund first went directly to Ukraine to purchase gasoline for convoys (many of them arranged and driven by Ukrainian Lutheran pastors) for the transport of women, children, the elderly, the disabled, and international students to safer borders. Also, funds continue to be used to purchase food, medicine, and

other necessary supplies, especially for delivery to shut-ins and those otherwise unable to leave the country. By the fourth week of the war, donations received through the SON Ukraine Relief Fund enabled the evacuation of over two thousand people and the feeding of thousands more.

Funds have also gone to Slovakia where, through the efforts of Pastor Scott & Lena Yount and the Icthys Youth Center in Vélký Slavkov, over eight hundred refugees were received, clothed, fed and housed. To help assuage feelings of anxiety and loneliness, regular worship and fellowship opportunities were provided.

In cases where refugees had plans to move further into Europe, help was offered to work out the details of travel; including providing small stipends to help with travel costs. Similar aid is still being extended to Ukrainian refugees, through SON ministry partners in Austria, Czechia, Latvia, Estonia, Romania, Moldova and Poland.

The Continuing Mission of the SON Network

Two years later, and with no end in sight to this horrific war, we continue to provide financial aid to the region and connect people with others who can render assistance. Dozens of generators, heaters, and several transport vans were purchased in the first year of the war. Later, a tractor (for planting crops) and several industrial generators (to power refugee centers and an orphanage) were purchased.

At this writing, SON is partnering with Menaul School and two other organizations to bring seven Ukrainian students to

A Food Delivery by SON

the US for study. Five of these students will live and study at Menaul School in Albuquerque, where Anna-Mariia and Marta are already mentoring and preparing them for life and learning in America. I can imagine there will be more than a few Ukrainian dance parties hosted at our house during the next school year!

What does the future hold? Only God knows, but we will continue to work to meet the immediate needs of those displaced and uprooted by the war in Ukraine and are prepared to respond as longer-term solutions reveal themselves.

At the same time, we are training seven different SON teams to serve alongside our overseas ministry partners this summer in Latvia, Albania, and Slovakia, where we’ll host Bible camps for children and retreats for teens. These will almost certainly include relocated Ukrainian students who are adapting to new lives and the new cultures of their global neighbors. No matter the mode or method of ministry, SON is in mission to connect spiritual orphans to the global family of Christ. To God be the glory! Amen.

Pastor David Breidenbach is the Executive Director at Spiritual Orphans Network (SON)

Footnotes:

1 Facebook Messenger conversation between Pastor David Breidenbach and Pastor Aleksandr Gross, February 12, 2022.

2 The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Bibles, 2016.

3 Facebook Messenger conversation between Pastor David Breidenbach and Pastor Aleksandr Gross, February 24, 2022.

4 Facebook Messenger conversation between Pastor David Breidenbach and Pastor Aleksandr Gross, February 25, 2022.

EDUCATING LUTHERAN PASTORS FOR MINISTRY IN INDIA

Michael B. Duggi

Introduction

Before I tell you the story about the Lutheran School of Theology (LSTI), let me share a little bit about India. My country is a land of 1.5 billion people, 333 million gods, 1,652 languages, 4,635 people groups, many political parties, and a still-existent caste system. Social discrimination is common between its many cultures and creeds, with many social stigmas, including the disgraceful treatment of the so-called “untouchables.” Gender discrimination is also common, and women suffer from many economic and education deprivations, as well as sexual harassment and onerous dowry requirements. These conditions mean that many poor girls are sent into prostitution by their own biological parents. Illiteracy is also common in my country.1

Conditions in Andhra Pradesh

Our ministry work serves the most remote villages in and

around the Sattenapalli area in Andhra Pradesh State, in southeast India, where the terrain, climate, and political and economic conditions are quite challenging.

During the summer Andhra Pradesh is very hot, and heat waves can raise the temperature as high as 54° degrees C, or 129° F. The average rainfall is also very low compared with other areas in India. High population density is also a problem, as it is in other parts of India, and the literacy rate is only 38%.

Disease is always a concern. Our water has a high fluorine content, and the tuberculosis rate is very high. Prenatal and pediatric care is almost non-existent and therefore the mortality rates for children are higher than in other mandals (counties) in the state. The primary health center, which is situated in the county seat, is not serving our area.

Most people make their living by farming, but many don’t even earn the minimum wage and so they are forced to live in deplorable conditions. Poor irrigation and spotty electricity are major problems, and unfortunately, few farmers have access to high yielding seeds, pesticides or fertilizers.

The caste system is alive and well and exists in all our villages. Inter-caste marriages are forbidden. Social distance is observed between touchable (caste Hindus) and untouchables. Christian untouchables have no access to enter the homes or temples of the higher castes.2

Furthermore, people are not aware of political affairs or even their own rights, and they are quite often exploited by rich landlords, moneylenders, and politicians. Political parties

Andhra Pradesh

seek to entice voters while caring little for the public welfare. Sadly, the villagers have little economic understanding and can be easily exploited.

Religion in Andhra Pradesh

There are three major religions in the area: Hinduism, Islam and Christianity. In Hinduism, there are many sects with deities of differing attributes. For instance, there are rich and poor gods as well as beautiful and ugly gods – gods of every shape and size. Hinduism is a mixture of polytheism (many gods and goddesses) and pantheism (seasonal gods and goddesses). Islam is separated into two groups: Sunnis and Shia, and there are many denominations of Christianity in the area as well. Most dangerously, Hindu religious fundamentalism is on the rise. Hindus believe in reincarnation, and many of their gods are believed to have been reincarnated. Some Hindus preach that Jesus is one of these reincarnated gods. They also teach about the “Trimurthulu,” a kind of Trinity, with the Hindu god Brahma as the creator, Vishnu as the reconciler, and Maheswaran as the sustainer. In doing so, they seek to confuse Christian believers by interpreting the Bible in Hindu-friendly ways. The persecution of Christians has recently intensified, and, in some areas, Christians have even been killed. Even here in Andhra Pradesh we have experienced religious extremism at the hands of Hindu fanatics. Islam is another threat to Christianity in India, since they preach that Jesus is simply one prophet among all the others.

The Lutheran Mission in Andhra Pradesh

The Lutheran Mission in Andhra Pradesh began with the arrival of Rev. John Christian Frederick Heyer from Pennsylvania in 1841.3 Later other missionaries, like Rev. James Russell Fink, also arrived. The missionaries worked tirelessly to reach the remote areas in our state, establishing many schools and hospitals, but sadly they started only one theological school in Rajahmundry, which is 400 km away and is no longer in operation.

My great-grandfather was baptized by Father Heyer in 1845. Later, my grandfather, the late Rev. Devanandam Duggi was a close associate with Rev. Fink, who stayed in Sattenapalli. From 1910 to 1921, my grandfather and Rev. Fink trained the local people for gospel work. My father (the late Rev. Samuel John Duggi) was also a Lutheran pastor. I have served in ministry since 1980, and my two sons, Rev. Samuel Peter Duggi and Pastor John Richards Duggi, are also serving in the ministry. Having inherited this wonderful Lutheran heritage, I seek to train Lutheran clergy and lay leaders for God’s work. Here in Andhra Pradesh, we find that there is great need for Lutheran theological education and basic biblical knowledge.

As a great-grandson, grandson, and son of pastors, and the father of two pastors, I am proud to be part of a long line of Indian ministers which continues to this day. And this legacy also includes a heart for Lutheran mission work. We currently operate a Lutheran home for the aged, a Lutheran orphanage, Father Heyer

and several Lutheran congregations. The Lutheran churches in America and in Denmark have been generous in supporting our existing projects and infrastructure.

A New Seminary for Andhra Pradesh

To train and equip pastors for ministry, we established the Lutheran School of Theology in India (LSTI) in 2019. At the seminary, we train pastors not only to preach and teach, but also, to respond to Hindu and Muslim misinformation about Christianity. Pastors need to be able to strengthen the faith of their members who are often persecuted for their beliefs. The government does not support the education of Christians and there is no government employment available for them.4 For example, my children have no scholarships and no opportunities for government jobs because it says “Christian” on their educational certificates. However, Hindu children all get scholarships for their education and opportunities for government jobs. This is but one snapshot of the plight of Christians in India, and the need to constantly encourage the flock.

In light of these conditions there is only one solution, and his name is Jesus. My slogan has been and will continue to be “India needs more Gospel.” He is our only hope. The Lutheran School of Theology in India is the fulfilment of a dream of the Lutheran Church in Andhra Pradesh, and it has been my dream as well: promoting the study of Lutheran theology for those

Orphanage Children

serving in Christian ministry. And although the Lutheran church was started in 1841 in Andhra Pradesh, until recently there was no Lutheran theological training within our area, despite great need, with the result that our Lutheran clergy and lay people were not fully equipped in theology or doctrine. All that changed when our seminary was established in 2019.

Our vision is to equip the Lutheran clergy and laypeople, both men and women, to more effectively share the gospel in their respective congregations. Our seminary is a biblically-based institution of theological education providing a Christ-centered environment for the academic and spiritual preparation of men and women. It seeks to function in cooperation with the Lutheran churches that are committed to the historic faith under the authority of the Bible, the Word of God. We are teaching from a Lutheran perspective, so that our pastors might effectively share the gospel in their congregations. We also work in cooperation with other Lutheran churches that are committed to the one true God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in the historic, orthodox Christian faith.

Presently, the LSTI has twenty students (men and women) in both first- and second-year classes and they hail from different parts of our state. Our seminary offers a two-year Bachelor of Divinity degree with the affiliation of St. Paul Lutheran Seminary (SPLS). We provide free boarding, lodging and scholarships to all our students. We teach in both Telegu (the local language) and in English. The subjects include Preaching Theology, Early Church History and Reformation,

LTSI Graduation 2023

Christian Ethics, Biblical Greek, Christian Communications, Indian Church History, Old Testament, New Testament, Religions, and Music and Liturgy.

We are also blessed by a group of very dedicated board members and faculty who keep us on track. So far, 34 students have graduated from the LSTI since its founding. The LSTI is not only dedicated to educational ministry but also to social ministry as well. During COVID, LSTI helped 1000 families by providing rice and vegetables. Sadly, two students and one faculty member died due to the pandemic.

We thank Rev. Julie Smith (Coordinator, Districts and Fellowship Groups, LCMC) for her encouragement to our theological educational ministry. We have six Indian faculty and four online faculty from overseas. The overseas faculty include Rev. Julie Smith, Rev. Dr. Dennis Di Mauro, as well as others from outside of SPLS, including Mr. Rick Ritchie from 1517, and Rev. Curt Joseph from Immanuel Lutheran Church, Waukee, IA.

How You Can Help Support the Ministry of LSTI

The LSTI has a great mission opportunity for our friends in the United States. We welcome you all, the SPLS faculty, students, congregation members, and youth (both boys and girls) to visit the LSTI.

Consider this the pastors who are studying at LSTI come from poor backgrounds. The average congregational member in a Lutheran Church in Andhra Pradesh makes only $3.00 per day in wages. So, the members are simply unable to support

their pastor’s theological education. But this is so vital, since here in India, many pastors do not have a comprehensive understanding of scripture. The students need generous support for food, study materials and travel to continue their theological education and their congregational ministry. Consider sponsoring a student of the LSTI, knowing that you are preparing a minister to expand the kingdom of God on earth. We also need support to provide remuneration for our Indian professors. They are a committed and highly educated faculty.

Presently, the LSTI holds classes in the Epiphania Lutheran Church hall, Gudipadu, India. At this time, we have no classrooms, no infrastructure, no library and no rooms for students and faculty to stay. There is a great need for building construction because sometimes we have to cancel classes if there is a program at the church.

I have visited the United States several times and have visited many congregations that support the LSTI with prayer support and financial gifts. But there is a great need to have a fundraiser/coordinator to organize support for the LSTI.

To make this vision a reality, we need your prayers and giving “to equip His people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up” (Ephesians 4:12). God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7). Checks can be made payable to: St. Paul’s Lutheran Seminary, P.O. Box 251, Midland, GA 31820, MEMO: India Mission, or you can also write a check made out to “Michael B. Duggi” and send it to Rev. Julie Smith, 1860 Macintosh Court, St. Peter, MN 56082. Checks or cash can also be deposited in favour of Michael B Duggi, USBank,

Epiphania Lutheran Church

Mankato Main branch, MN. Account NO: 1 047 8602 3929, Routing NO:091000022. Our address is: The Lutheran School of Theology in India, Attn: Rev. Dr. Michael B. Duggi, Gudipadu Village - 522410, Krosur- Mandal, Guntur – District, AP, India. Phone number is + 91 944 021 1136, WhatsApp: + 91 800 878 5607 and our email is pastor.benarji@gmail.com

Rev. Dr. Michael B. Duggi is the president of the Lutheran School of Theology in India

Footnotes:

1 “How Unity in Diversity Exists in India,” BYJU’s (Indian education site), accessed March 1, 2024, https://byjus.com/question-answer/how-unity-in-diversity-existsin-india/

2 Hillary Mayell, “India’s Untouchables Face Discrimination,” National Geographic, accessed March 1, 2024,

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/pages/article/indias-untouchables-faceviolence-discrimination

3 “Johann Christian Frederick Heyer,” Christian Cyclopedia, Lutheran ChurchMissouri Synod, accessed March 1, 2024,

https://cyclopedia.lcms.org/definitions?mode=index&page=0&index=HEYER.JOH ANNCHRISTIANFRIEDRICH

4 “Dalit Christians Demand Equality,” The Times of India, Feb. 14th 2004, accessed March 1, 2024,

https://web.archive.org/web/20060216081119/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.c om/articleshow/496862.cms

TEACHING LAW/GOSPEL DISTINCTION IN NICARAGUA

Horacio Castillo

Then Elijah said to the people, ‘I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men’ (1 Kings 18:22).1

I think it’s safe to say that ministry has its challenges. Not all churches have the same difficulties, but all face complications, nonetheless. And perhaps the biggest challenge for pastors is loneliness. Right behind loneliness is theology, or more specifically, staying faithful to the Lutheran Confessions. And as pastors and theologians this is where we can find ourselves even lonelier. We look around at our congregation or other ministry setting, and we can see all the different theologies that float around in people’s heads. And if we turn to look at our colleagues and their churches, we wonder if they are just LINOs, Lutherans in Name Only.

Then we make our confession, crying up to God as Elijah did: “Am I the only one?” Am I the only one preaching law and gospel and administering the sacraments according to the scriptures? I look around and the only thing I see is heresy and

I think, “Is there any hope for the Lutheran church, much less for the church universal?”

This reminds me of the year I took classes from Dr. Steven Paulson at Luther Seminary. One after another, students would come into his office asking the same question, “Am I the only one?” Sensing a common concern, Dr. Paulson chose to address all his students at the same time. He said, and I paraphrase, “you all have come to me wondering and asking if you are the ‘only ones,’ like Elijah. You are not. Get over yourselves. You are not that important!” Dr. Paulson had a way of using humor while at the same time stating the plain truth. His words still ring true today. “Some of you aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed,” he said, “yet God will use you.”

Association of Evangelical Churches of Nicaragua

This is what I have experienced again and again as I have traveled the country and visited Lutheran churches and pastors. Some of these pastors really are unorthodox, yet many embody great conviction to preach, teach, and administer the sacraments according to the scriptures. For these pastors, the distinction between law and gospel is of utmost importance. So, some of these encounters with other ministers create an uneasiness in me about the preaching out there, and yet at the same time there is comfort when one meets so many pastors who are being faithful to their calling to proclaim Christ and him crucified.

As we face these difficulties in the Lutheran Church in the United States, one cannot but help to think about what is

Steven Paulson

going on within the Church, especially the Lutheran Church, around the world. To be honest, there isn’t one single place that’s a whole lot better than the others. The situations are much the same but colored by different contexts and cultures. However, you do get some glimmer of hope once in a while.

I remember over the last decade how St. Paul Lutheran Seminary, seemingly out of nowhere, was contacted by a number of Lutheran churches from various countries. One of these churches was in Nicaragua. This was an eye opener for me because it felt like a sign from God that “we are not alone!”

It is one thing to know about other confessional Lutherans, as we call them, but it is another thing to actually be contacted by them, visit them, and hear their confessions.

The church body I have been working with on behalf of St. Paul Lutheran Seminary is an independent Lutheran church which sought to become part of the LCMC in the early 2000s. Their official name is the Asociación de Iglesias Evangélicas de Nicaragua (IELNIC), which translates to the Association of Evangelical Churches of Nicaragua but is often called the Mission Nicaragua International (MNI). This association of churches started out of necessity due to church politics and other challenges in their previous Lutheran denomination. Like many churches in the United States, they left the “mother ship,” so to speak, trusting that God would provide for their new fellowship.

It is one thing to know about other confessional Lutherans, as we call them, but it is another thing to actually be contacted by them, visit them, and hear their confessions.

At first, the pastors who left the previous church body thought they needed to simply return to “civilian life” by

looking for secular jobs and leaving their callings altogether. However, to their surprise, their church members requested, and even demanded, that their pastors not to walk away from them.

In 2002, the pastors decided to continue their calls but at the same time find jobs outside the church to earn income to sustain their families. They started the new denomination without an existing structure or a plan to finance themselves. To make matters worse, the new association no longer had the financial support from other Lutheran churches as did their previous church body, in fact, it lost all support from its partners in Europe and the United States. But even with these financial constraints, they have continued their work in this new fellowship. Today, they have eleven congregations, seven of them have physical church buildings, and two have multipurpose buildings.

And even though they received their pastoral education in the old church body, they knew they needed to refine their education further. This is the main reason they reached out to St. Paul Lutheran Seminary.

Teaching in Nicaragua

Fast forward to 2017 when my wife Amanda and I began working with St. Paul Lutheran Seminary (SPLS) to serve our international Spanish-speaking students. In 2018, I visited the church in Nicaragua for the first time. The objective of my visit was to begin a partnership between IELNIC and SPLS. The financial support to sustain such partnership for theological

formation would come from some LCMC churches who had previously partnered with IELNIC, and from SPLS doners. Sadly, that support has now been paused due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and because some of the supporting pastors have moved on to different churches.

When I arrived in Nicaragua to visit the IELNIC, I did not know the level of Lutheran theological education the pastors and leaders would have. But I quickly learned the true meaning of “you are not the only one!” It seems that God works outside of our small egocentric bubbles! The Holy Spirit shows that He is at work in the world without our help. The IELNIC’s churches are located in Managua, the capital city, Chinandega in the department of Leon, and in the department (state) of Carazo, which is southwest of Managua, also near the Pacific Ocean. We gathered in the vicinity of the town of Chinandega (located in the department of Leon) for classes.

One of the pastors in Nicaragua, who at the time of my visit was the president of the association of churches, had earned a couple of theological certifications from a Protestant seminary in Managua, Nicaragua’s capital city. He would ride the bus, leaving his house at 4am to attend classes and return home in the evening. He did this a few days per week for a couple of years. The result was, thankfully, a pretty good theological formation. In these classes, he cut his theological teeth, so to speak. But perhaps more importantly, he kept coming back to his community where he edified other pastors. Nevertheless, this theological training was not quite what the IELNIC needed,

Teaching in Nicaragua

and they knew it. They needed Lutheran formation, and this is where SPLS stepped in.

Both my visits with IELNIC were long weekends in 2018 and 2019. We held intensive classes both times. We went through the Lutheran basics with an introduction to the Small Catechism, a discussion of the proper distinction between law and gospel, and preaching instruction. The classes went well. Relationships were formed and information was shared and received. One of my favorite moments during my last visit was when I gathered with all fourteen students at the same time. We were reflecting on the law/gospel distinction in preaching, and they started inquiring about how the absolution could be proclaimed. I explained how to announce the forgiveness of sins and confessions started to pour out of their mouths. They were especially convicted about their inadequate preaching due to their ignorance about the law/gospel distinction in their previous sermons. I naturally started to absolve one after the next. Indeed, when they heard and received the unconditional absolution their shoulders dropped in relief, and hallelujahs sprang from their lips as big smiles appeared on their faces. The comfort they felt as they heard “on account of Christ and by Christ’s authority, I forgive you all your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” was palpable.

The application of their classes began right away with a student-led closing service, including a sermon delivered by one of the pastors. His delivery seemed to be more intentional as he emphasized the proclamation of Christ and his unconditional forgiveness. The pastors’ eagerness to share

this message with the rest of the church was a picture to behold. And then, the real work began. I returned home to my work and they to theirs. There is much to be thankful for as we see God at work in this remote corner of the world.

Challenges of Ministry in Nicaragua

But there are also many challenges that accompany the work of the IELNIC. Having to work secular jobs to support their families and their ministries means that pastors often work double shifts, one for their families and one for the church. Transportation and communication can be challenging. The majority of their congregations are in rural Nicaragua with little or no public transportation. Pastors often need to walk to get to their congregations which are located miles away, and if they are fortunate, they can travel by motorcycle from time to time. The communication infrastructure is also lacking. Nicaragua, like many other central American countries, skipped telephone land lines opting for cellphone service, which is expensive and often unreliable. Access to internet service can also be challenging. Internet cafés are still very popular there, even though they have disappeared in developed nations.

We first tried to set up live on-line classes, but they proved impractical since internet connection is usually unreliable. We then switched to class recordings which work much better but still posed challenges because students still needed to go to

Our IELNIC Students

an internet café in order to download the class or weekly text study. Some of them, to access the recordings, have become very innovative, placing one cellphone on the top of a tree and hardwiring it to another cellphone in their home so they can have access to cellphone data.

Nicaragua’s Economy

To give you a general idea about Nicaragua’s economy and life, here is an excerpt from the World Bank’s website:

Nicaragua's economy relies on light manufacturing, services, and agriculture. The country has a small, open economy that benefits from foreign direct investment and remittances. Nicaragua's long-term growth and per capita incomes are heavily constrained by low human capital, significant infrastructure gaps and a weak institutional and business environment. Coupled with high vulnerability to shocks and natural hazards, this makes Nicaragua one of the poorest countries in the region, despite opportunities. GDP expanded by 3.8 percent in 2022 despite high inflation, global headwinds, and the damage caused by Hurricane Julia. This expansion was driven by robust private consumption fueled by remittances and net exports. Poverty measured at the US$3.65 per capita per day poverty line (2017 PPP) is expected to decline to 12.5 percent in 2023 from 13.1 percent in the previous year. This moderate decline is largely driven by sustained growth in remittances coupled

with lower inflation and modest but positive growth in employment that reached 64.8 percent during the first half of 2023.2

So the economic conditions in Nicaragua are challenging to say the least and are expected to get worse in the near future, making ministry that much more challenging.

Liberation Theology, Illegal Immigration, and the Political Climate in Nicaragua

The Latin America Church as a whole has been greatly influenced by liberation theology. The birth of liberation theology can be traced to the late 1960s Roman Catholic Conference of Bishops that was held in Medellin, Colombia. The most influential of the theologians present was the Peruvian theologian and priest Gustavo Gutierrez who wrote the groundbreaking work, A Theology of Liberation. Other leaders in the movement include Brazilian priest Jose Comblin, Archbishop and martyr Oscar Romero of El Salvador, Brazilian theologian Leonardo Boff, Jesuit scholar Jon Sobrino, and Archbishop Helder Camara of Brazil.3 Liberation theology has also infected the Church in the United States, and unfortunately, the Lutheran church has not been exempted from this Marxist contagion.

The political climate in Nicaragua has been nothing but tumultuous since the beginning of the twentieth century and this instability continues to affect the development of the

Daniel Ortega

country. Nicaragua has been plagued by the rise of communist movements, especially under Daniel Ortega’s Sandinista government, compounded by the introduction of liberation theology. As the Protestant population of the nation has grown, many missionaries have also introduced decision theology into its churches. The pastors at IELNIC struggle with these theological problems, sometimes even in their own teaching, as well as within the general theology of their congregations and other Protestant denominations that are more prevalent and influential in their communities. Another more immediate challenge is illegal (and legal) immigration4 to the United States by both church members and leaders, which drains their leadership. At one point, there were fourteen students in our SPLS theological certificate program, but now due to the lack of internet access, the political turmoil, and immigration to the United States, the number of students has dwindled. Nevertheless, the remaining pastors continue to be faithful to their calling to their churches and their studies. Despite these many obstacles, the leadership at IELNIC has continued to emphasize pastoral theological formation with SPLS.

The Future of the IELNIC

The main goal and objective of IELNIC (in the words of two of its pastors) is, “to bring the Word of God into all of Nicaragua, focusing on all age groups, children, youth, families, and adults. It seeks to create a Lutheran center for the formation of pastors at a national level, and to create regional

offices to serve the church better. Along with all these goals, they dream of establishing, developing, and nurturing partnerships with other Lutheran churches in Latin America and the United States. It goes without saying that even with all these challenges it is their conviction to faithfully proclaim God’s Word with the Lutheran distinctive of justification by faith alone apart from the works of the law.5

But they still struggle with the question that many of us have had at some point in our ministry - am I the only one? Am I alone in this ministry of preaching God’s Word in a country and with a people who have been oppressed by the preaching and teaching of liberation and decision theology? Even with the glimmmer of hope they see in their partnership with SPLS, they cannot help but feel abandoned since they have been isolated for so long now from other Lutheran partners outside Nicaragua.

With all of these challenges it has been an honor for me to be part of the theological preparation of pastors and nonordained leaders in Nicaragua. It has struck me that there is not much difference between the needs of churches in the places I have been privileged to visit in the last few years, including Tanzania, Guatemala, Canada, Mexico, Nicaragua, and the United States, where I now live. We all have the same needs, the same dreams and hopes, and the same original sin, which is not very original after all. The differences are in the context, language, cultural undertones, and the challenges that developing nations face.

God is Faithful to His Promises

We know that God is faithful in his promises to

We all have the same needs, the same dreams and hopes, and the same original sin, which is not very original after all.

his people. He provides us with everything we need from day to day. As we read in Isaiah 55:10-11, “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

The church in Nicaragua is bearing fruit, and I just get to be a small part of all the wonderful things that are happening to Lutherans there. I look forward to seeing how God continues to work in their lives, their ministry, and their country. There are only seven pastors now serving eleven churches and an approximate total of five hundred members in the different regions where the churches are located. The need for more pastors will always be there as churches continue to grow and the gospel is clearly proclaimed, which will not come back empty but does and accomplishes what it has been sent to do. I look forward to visiting Nicaragua in the near future and having you come along.

Horacio Castillo teaches international students at St. Paul Lutheran Seminary

Footnotes:

1 The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Bibles, 2016). The ESV version is used throughout this article.

2 “The World Bank in Nicaragua,” World Bank, Oct. 04, 2023, accessed March 24, 2024, https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/nicaragua/overview

3 Melissa Petruzzello, “Liberation Theology,” accessed March 23, 2024, https://www.britannica.com/topic/liberation-theology

4 “Temporary Protected Status Designated Country: Nicaragua,” U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, accessed 3/24/24, https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/temporary-protected-status/temporaryprotected-status-designated-country-nicaragua

5 Martin Luther, "The Smalcald Articles" in The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, ed. by Robert Kolb and Timothy Wengert, Part 2, Article 1 (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000), 301.

A LUTHERAN JEW FOR JESUS

Steve Cohen

A Sign

A funny thing happened to me on my way to begin law school in 1972. I was standing on a hill in Seattle, Washington when a man in a big black Lincoln Continental drove up. He got out of the car, walked up to me and somehow knew that I was Jewish. “God sent me here to talk with you,” he said. “You are to study the Bible, become a believer in Jesus as your Messiah. For your mission in life will be to bring the gospel to the Jewish people!” He got back in the car and drove away. My first though was, “That is Meshugganeh (Yiddish for crazy), whoever heard of a Jewish person believing in Jesus?”

On December 23, 1973, in Tacoma, Washington I received God’s gift of salvation through the three-year witness of a Lutheran friend. My late wife, Jan, was an organist in a Lutheran Church and I tagged along as a brand-new believer. During a Sunday School class, I asked this question, “If you have a friend who does not believe in Jesus yet, how do you begin the conversation?” One of the members of that study

stood and said, “Mr. Cohen, we are Lutheran, we don’t do that sort of thing!” Why not, I thought?

Reticence in Witnessing to Jewish People

I soon discovered that as a response to the Holocaust, many Christians have eschewed witnessing to Jewish people for fear that there might be backlash. Some have even gone so far as to bolster their non-witnessing by claiming that since the Jewish people are God’s chosen people, they do not need faith in Jesus for eternal salvation. They already have it. While there is indeed a huge surge in overt anti-Semitism in the world today, I propose that the highest form of anti-Semitism is the silence of the Church in sharing the saving message of the gospel with Jewish people. If we take Jesus at face value, then his words in John 14:6 say it all: He said, ““I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”1

I grew up knowing keenly that I was Jewish. My parents were Jewish, my grandparents were Jewish, I was born Jewish. There was never a time in my life when I did not know that I was Jewish though I underappreciated my heritage. After I became a believer in Jesus, I began to rediscover my Jewish roots. That led me into the ancient world of the Bible, Jewish life, the challenges in Israel, and the struggles against anti-Semitism. I began reading with intentionality both the Tenakh (Old Testament) and New Testament to understand what God was calling us to do. Those early years of faith brought new understandings

that opened my eyes to the need and urgency for reaching the lost sheep of Israel.

What Does It Mean to Be Jewish?

This is not as easy a question as it may appear. If you ask three rabbis, you will get five different opinions. Some say it is if you have a Jewish mother (majority view), others if you have a Jewish father (minority view), and still others use the religious test: whether you follow Judaism in one of its major branches. Still others might use the cultural view, or perhaps the bagels, lox and cream cheese test.

But what does God say about all this? We know from the biblical record that God called Abraham to leave his family and homeland to go to the place that God would show him. He did so at age 75. The LORD said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you" (Genesis 12:1-3). The choosing of Abraham and his descendants was for a specific purpose (read mission): to be a light to the Gentiles lost in idolatry that they turn to the one true living God.

The Jewish Festivals

Jewish life is framed by a cycle of biblical festivals. As in many Christian churches, there are those who attend only at

Christmas and Easter, and in the same way many Jewish people attend only during major Jewish festivals. The festivals that govern religious life today are outlined in Leviticus 23. The first festival, held weekly, is given the highest place within Jewish life. It is known as Shabbat, the Sabbath. Leviticus 23:3 reads, “There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a sabbath to the Lord.”

The Sabbath begins at sundown on Friday and runs through sundown of the following day, a time when the family comes together. The Sabbath is a time of joy, change, rest and reflection. It is also a time of worship, studying the scriptures, and reflecting upon God, our creator. A festive occasion, the Sabbath is welcomed as a bride, or as the “Queen Sabbath.”2

The first of the annual festivals in the religious calendar falls in the springtime, around Easter, and is known as Pesach (Passover). This eightday festival is really three festivals combined into one eightday period: the Feast of the Passover Lamb, the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of First Fruits. The Festival of the Passover Lamb commemorates the exodus event. A firstborn lamb is sacrificed, and its blood poured upon the door frames of Jewish homes. This anointing delivered the Jewish people from the grip of the tenth plague, the slaying of the firstborn, and brought them freedom from the bondage and slavery they suffered under Pharaoh. Besides commemorating

Passover Seder Plate

the exodus, Passover is also known as the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For eight days, Jewish people rid their homes of all forms of leaven, such as cookies, cakes and breads, and only the unleavened bread, usually matzoh, is eaten.

The third festival celebrated during this eight-day period is known as the Feast of First Fruits. Leviticus 23:9-11 reads, “The LORD said to Moses, ‘Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest. He is to wave the sheaf before the LORD so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath.’”

Passover is celebrated in the home. The family gathers to commemorate the exodus through the feast of the Passover Seder and the singing of traditional songs. As believers in Jesus, we can gain insight into the sacrament of Holy Communion by understanding what was happening in the Last Supper, which was the Passover meal.

Fifty days after Passover comes Shavout, or Pentecost. Its name means weeks, because we mark seven cycles of weeks from the seventh day of Passover until the day we celebrate Shavout. This holiday is doubly significant. First, it celebrates the harvest by the offering of the first fruits of the wheat harvest. Synagogues are decorated with flowers to commemorate the harvest. And it also remembers the giving of the Ten Commandments to Israel on Mt. Sinai. But within the galut, or exile (Jewish people not living in Israel), the agricultural element of Shavuot is diminished. In American

synagogues, this festival is used as a time for confirmation. The children who are confirmed, or initiated, into the Jewish fold are regarded as “first fruits,” offered on the altar of God in honor of Israel’s covenant on Mt. Sinai. It is commemorated by the consecration of Jewish youth to Torah.

Rosh HaShanna, the Feast of Trumpets, usually falls in midSeptember. Leviticus 23:23-25 reads, “The LORD said to Moses, say to the Israelites: On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. Do no regular work, but present an offering made to the LORD by fire.” According to Jewish tradition, the world was created on the first day of Tishre. While it is 2024 in the Gregorian calendar, in the Jewish calendar it is 5784 – going back to the traditional dating of creation. Rosh HaShanna is designated as a day of judgment for Israel and all mankind, a time dedicated to prayer and contemplation, a day of spiritual rebirth. The shofar, the ram’s horn, is sounded 100 times within the synagogue to remind worshipers of their need to return to God. The shofar has a special position within Jewish traditional life. On Rosh HaShanna, God opens three great books in heaven the Book of Life, the Book of Death and an intermediate book. Those who have lived a most righteous life in the past year automatically have their names inscribed in the Book of Life. Those who have lived a most wicked life in the past year automatically have their names inscribed in the Book of Death. The rest have their names placed in the intermediate book. We

The Shofar

then have ten days to restore our relationships with our fellowman. We are to seek forgiveness where we have offended, make restitution of outstanding damages, and fulfill or seek release from vows made. These are known as the Days of Awe.

We turn to God to seek His forgiveness on Yom Kippur, the 10th day of Tishre. After the last service ends, the shofar is once again sounded, and fates are sealed in either the Book of Life or the Book of Death for the coming year. A typical greeting is exchanged: L’Shannah tovah tekateivu – “may your name be inscribed for a good year.”

Today there are no Jewish sacrifices since the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. So in lieu of the blood of bulls and goats, rabbis teach we do three things to bring about our own atonement for our sins: prayer and fasting, repentance, and good deeds. Rabbinic Judaism is in essence a works-righteousness religion. We must do enough good deeds to overcome the burden of our sins.

Sukkot comes on the 15th day of Tishre and continues for eight days. Sukkot literally means booths, or tabernacles. It’s a holiday of thanksgiving, and the final of the three ingatherings of the harvest for the ancient people of Israel. The sacrifices offered in the temple during this holiday were considered by the sages as the most important ones, and are bound to be resumed, even if the temple is never rebuilt in Israel, and even if all the other sacrifices are abolished.

Chanukkah, Hanukkah, Chanukah (choose your spelling, as experts disagree) is the Festival of Dedication, or the Festival of Lights. This day begins on the 25th day of the Jewish month,

Kislev, usually around mid-December, and lasts for eight days. Hanukkah celebrates the rededication of the temple by the Maccabees, who, in the year 167 BCE, were victorious over their enemies, the Syrian Greeks. These enemies, under the leadership of Antiochus and aided by Hellenized Jewish people, attempted to recapture the liberated Israel. Today people light candles during this holiday to honor the traditional myth that, at the temple’s rededication, a small jug of kosher (proper) oil lasted for eight days, though it contained only enough oil for one day’s light. The only reference in the Bible to Hanukkah is found in John 10:22: “Jesus is at the temple in Jerusalem during the Feast of Dedication.”3

Knowing more about your Jewish friends and their lives helps you better relate the gospel message, and at the same time enables them to see that it is not heretical, but rather natural, to be Jewish and believe in Jesus.

Apple of His Eye Mission Society

I began my missionary journey in 1976 serving with Jews for Jesus. I volunteered with the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod on its task force on Jewish evangelism in 1980 and became its chairman in 1986. In that same year, I was invited to begin a new Lutheran mission society in St. Louis to bring Jewish evangelism into the overall mix of missions within our church. The natural progression of all these efforts came to fruition in the formation of The Apple of His Eye Mission Society in

Hanukkah Menorah

August of 1996. Our mission statement states that “The Apple of His Eye Mission Society exists to boldly declare Y’shua as the Messiah and urgently equip God’s people to do the same.”4 We are also a Recognized Service Organization (RSO) of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod.5

We are organized around a set of core values which guide our mission. First, we stress the need for direct Jewish evangelism. It is vital that we focus our energy on a clear presentation of the good news of life and salvation in Y’shua to unsaved Jewish people worldwide (Romans 1:16). We also follow sound Lutheran biblical doctrine. We value biblical grace-oriented teaching as we equip people to be witnesses to the life we find in the Messiah, Y’shua.

Planting congregations with a messianic Jewish heritage is an important outcome of our ministry. We also seek to nurture Mishpochah (family). We value a caring and committed community which will rejoice together in our victories and mourn with those who mourn. We recognize that for some, faith in Y’shua may lead to loss of family and Jewish community support, and we willingly stand in the gap to provide support and community for those Jewish believers. We value raising the awareness level of Lutheran congregations for their Jewish community neighbors and we work to lift their zeal and skills in sharing their faith with them.

Challenges in Jewish Evangelism

Jewish missions present some unique challenges. There are over 16 million Jewish people scattered over 134 countries of

the world. Missiologists acknowledge that over 98% of the Jewish population today is unsaved. Not only do we face indifference by many Jews regarding spiritual matters, but even if the things of God are entertained, they are often colored by the long history of anti-Semitism, which is linked by some to the Church and to Dr. Martin Luther specifically.

To complicate matters, those who are in our churches are silent when it comes to reaching Jewish people. It has also long been declared by Jewish leaders that one cannot be Jewish and believe in Jesus. Yet we know the opposite to be true - the first followers of Jesus were Jewish, Jesus was Jewish, and the apostles were Jewish. Indeed, we believe that the most Jewish thing one can do is follow the Jewish Messiah, Jesus!

There are other hurdles as well. We cannot piggy-back the gospel onto an agricultural mission, a medical mission, or an educational mission, as is done in foreign settings. But on the plus side, the Jewish people are also highly educated and capable. Let’s face it, they took a desert and made it bloom. They are on the cutting edge of medical technologies and are highly literate. Furthermore, the Old Testament was written in their original tongue, so we don’t need to translate it. This means that the only thing we can do to tell people about Jesus is to witness in as loving and direct manner as possible!

Not only do we face indifference by many Jews regarding spiritual matters, but even if the things of God are entertained, they are often colored by the long history of antiSemitism, which is linked by some to the Church and to Dr. Martin Luther specifically.

The History of Jewish Missions

The history of Jewish missions by Lutherans up to the 1980s could best be characterized by the words “start” and “stop.” Dusty archives bearing the names of Landesmann and Frankenstein recall an era when the Church sought to “find” the “lost sheep of Israel.” And through their faithful endurance and personal missionary efforts, gospel seeds were planted and God granted a harvest of souls. But when their careers ended, there was no one to take up the cause and continue the work, and so it came to a halt. World War II and the Holocaust also left their marks. Many wondered if a people who had been so oppressed should be approached with the gospel, since some Jewish leaders claimed that Jewish missions were akin to spiritual genocide. Many Lutherans have bought in to that mindset, and even validated a so-called two covenant theory which claims that Jewish people receive salvation apart from Christ because they are God’s covenant people. (For a complete article on this issue see our web site: http://www.appleofhiseye.org/resources.html and click on the PDF “To The Jew First.”

Our Work Today

Apple of His Eye Mission Society started with a file folder and the use of a cubby-hole in the administrative unit of Christ Memorial Lutheran Church in Affton, Missouri. From the earliest days, we sought opportunities to bring the message of salvation out into public settings. Our home-made gospel

tracts, called broadsides, have been written, printed and distributed in public venues like parades, concerts, art shows, etc. Each one is an invitation to engage in a personal evangelistic dialogue over the person of Jesus. Since 1996 we have written over 150 new gospel tracts and distributed over a million of them. We have also given presentations in over 1,800 churches in the US and abroad about how to reach Jewish people with the gospel.

With the help of my staff, I have developed a cache of evangelistic materials for both the believer in Jesus and the inquirer. Here are a few examples: Jewish By Discovery6 seeks to understand the covenantal relationship with God and his invitation to follow him. Beginning From Jerusalem7 is a comprehensive 156 page look at Jewish people and evangelism. And Winsome Witnessing 1018 is a practical devotional encouraging the heart to grow in personal witness. We have also published many articles in Portals of Prayer on Jewish themes, and the Apple of His Eye Mission Society also publishes a monthly newsletter.

We would like to send you your choice of the above resources for free. Just send an e-mail to: steve.cohen@appleofhiseye.org and let us know which one you would like. Also visit our website at www.appleofhiseye.org to find a plethora of great source material in these areas. We can also be reached by phone at 636-326-4040.

Steve Cohen is the founder of The Apple of His Eye Mission Society (1996). He has served full-time as a front-line missionary to the Jewish people since 1976. He holds a Master’s of Arts from Fuller Seminary in Jewish Missions (1992) and has authored six books, over 150 Gospel tracts, and has spoken in over 1,800 churches on the need and urgency of including Jewish people in the overall mission of the church. He is currently married to his new bride, Nancy. They reside in Georgetown, Texas along with their two fur babies, Sophie and Izzy – aging labradoodles. His passion is reflected in the words of the Apostle Paul, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God for salvation for all who believe – to the Jew first…” (Romans 1:16).

Footnotes:

1The Holy Bible, Zondervan NIV Study Bible. Edited by Kenneth L. Barker, full revised edition (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing, 2002). All other citations in this article use the NIV translation.

2“Four Reasons Shabbat Is Compared to Bride and a Queen,” Chabad.org. accessed 3/25/24, https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/3753326/jewish/Four-ReasonsShabbat-Is-Compared-to-Bride-and-a-Queen.htm

3“Jewish Festivals,” Britannica Encyclopedia, 3/24/2024, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Jewish-festivals

4“Our Story,” The Apple of His Eye Ministry, accessed 3/25/2024, https://www.appleofhiseye.org/about/our-story

5“RSO Directory,” The Apple of His Eye Mission Society, p. 25, accessed 3/25/2024, https://files.lcms.org/file/preview/rso-directory

6Steve Cohen, Jewish by Discovery (Pennsauken, New Jersey: BookBaby, 2020).

7Steve Cohen, Beginning from Jerusalem (St. Louis, MO: The Apple of His Eye Mission Society, 2001), accessed 3/24/2024, https://www.appleofhiseye.org/images/aohe/docs/aohe-beginning-fromjerusalem-2nd-ed.pdf

8Steve Cohen, Win-Some Witnessing 101, accessed 3/24/2024, https://media.ctsfw.edu/Text/ViewDetails/19950

BOOK REVIEWS

Braaten, Carl E. My Ecumenical Journey: Ecumenical Experiences and Perspectives of an Evangelical Theologian. Dehli, NY: ALPB Books, 2018.

Last fall the Lutheran tradition lost one of its great ones, the Rev. Dr. Carl E. Braaten. And so, I thought it fitting that our book review for this issue should cover his semiautobiographical work, My Ecumenical Journey.

But before I begin, I need to offer a brief disclosure. I became acquainted with Carl during meetings of what was called the “Younger Theologians Colloquy,” what is today called “Lutheran Theologians for the Church.” Essentially, it is a discussion group of egghead PhDs who work to further Lutheran scholarship. The group was founded by Dr. Braaten and Dr. Bob Benne, emeritus professor of ethics at Roanoke College. The joke was that if you were younger than Braaten you were considered a “younger theologian.” But now that I am almost sixty, perhaps my days in this august body are numbered.

The discussions over the years have been wonderful. In that forum, Braaten spoke of his goal to promote “Evangelical Catholicism,” an effort to unite Christianity’s various traditions by embracing our shared liturgical and theological history. He also shared about his upbringing as a Norwegian-American missionary kid in Madagascar, and his belief in a holistic approach to missions. He was also very excited about the plan

to launch SIMUL and was one of the first to request a subscription. Perhaps this effort brought back memories of those heady days when he and Robert Jenson started the journal Dialog, and then later, after being disgracefully ejected by its board, launched another fine journal, Pro Ecclesia.

Perhaps the most entertaining part of the book is his reminiscences of his long career as a Lutheran ecumenist, and it all starts at Harvard Divinity School where he studied with such theologically diverse notables as Krister Stendahl, Paul Tillich, and Richard Niebuhr.

But after moving on to teach at Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC), he began to understand the possible pitfalls of irenic efforts. Braaten was asked to deliver an address for a synod conference on the success, or lack thereof, of Vatican II from a Lutheran perspective. It was published in The Record, the journal of LSTC, under the evocative title “The Tragedy of the Reformation and the Return to Catholicity.” A deeply redacted version of the article was then published in Una Sancta, a nowdefunct Lutheran liturgical journal, where John Richard Neuhaus served as editor.

Neuhaus then sent the article to the Religion News Service and soon Braaten’s talk was being published in newspapers across the country with titles like “Return to Rome Urged by Lutheran Theologian.” The article was also lambasted in the pages of the Christian Century. In this book, Braaten includes many of the letters from outraged readers that he received. One, from a Lutheran woman in Milwaukee states, “You have shocked me…how would you like to sit with beads and pray to

Mother Mary…heaven forbid that we should obey the Pope, who tells us when to eat meat or fish.”

But what Braaten was arguing for was instead a reunion with rather than a return to Rome. Braaten sought “a new selfunderstanding of the Roman Catholic Church, one which sets aside a superiority attitude that assumes it is at the center of the universe of churches.”1 Braaten then offered this thought, “Does it bother you, as it does me, when any given church proclaims itself to be the one and only church of Jesus Christ? …This reminds me of kids on the playground bragging that my dad can beat up your dad.”2

So Braaten’s wasn’t calling for a return to Rome, but nevertheless, some of his positions were decidedly catholic, at least with a small “c.” For instance, he did believe that a reunification would retain the papal and episcopal offices, and he saw no conflict between such a union and the tenets of the Lutheran Confessions.

John Richard Neuhaus

Much of the rest of the book attempts to answer an obvious question, “What exactly happened to Evangelical Catholicism?”

Where did halcyon days of the 1960s and 1970s go, when it appeared that many of the issues that divided Christianity would be overcome? Well, according to Braaten, those days ended because the Barthian neo-orthodox consensus that characterized that era was replaced by “a plurality of liberal theologies under the aegis of various special interest groups.”3 These groups included Latin American, Black and feminist liberation theologians, not to mention the so-called “open theists,” who together, according to Braaten, have changed the true identity of Jesus to serve their own political agendas.

Braaten points to five hot-button issues that divide us into progressive or traditionalist camps: 1) the naming of God in masculine terms, 2) the uniqueness of Jesus in the salvation of the world, 3) the authority of the Bible, 4) the role of the Church and its creed, and finally, 5) matters of sexual morality. And while I could agree that liberal groups have made some decisions, such as the affirmation of gay marriage, that may have shut the door for ecumenical dialog, I believe that much of the fault must be shared with those on the orthodox side who, for their own purposes, have tightly shackled the doors of their own ghettos.

Starting in 1990, Braaten and a group of likeminded editors organized a series of “Call to Faithfulness” conferences (beginning at St. Olaf College) to argue against these five hot-button trends. But Braaten admits that “at these conferences we named the demons but failed to exorcize them.”4 Finally, discouraged by the direction of the ELCA, Braaten resigned his position at LSTC and with Jenson created the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology (CCET), where he could more effectively engage the church universal. Today, the CCET continues its work, holding annual conferences, publishing the aforementioned ProEcclesia journal, printing scholarly monographs, among other efforts to educate Christian ministers.

“at [the Call to Faithfulness” conferences we named the demons but failed to exorcize them.”

Braaten and Jenson also made clear that their view of ecumenism was decidedly different from that of the World Council of Churches, which had moved away from efforts to

unite Christians, turning instead “to matters of social justice, the care for the planet, and inter-religious dialogue.”5 Instead, Braaten committed the CCET to “the ecumenical goal of full visible unity of the one church of Jesus Christ.”6

But Braaten was also realistic about the tangible results of years of ecumenical efforts. A Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification was signed between Catholics and Lutherans in 1999, but many have rejected the statement. Furthermore, there have been eleven published dialogues between Catholics and Lutherans since 1965, but we are still far from consensus on a shared Eucharistic fellowship.7 He also explains that the “Called to Common Mission” agreement, which he felt was watered down from its original form, was in his mind, sadly rejected by those who left the ELCA to create Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC).

In conclusion, Braaten used the 500th anniversary of the Reformation to once again call for renewed efforts to heal the separation it created. But since he sees the doctrine of papal infallibility as obstacle qua non for future unity, he calls on the Pope himself to take the initiative in relieving concerns that prevent Christ’s vision that the Church be as one (John 17). But he also calls us all to Edmund Schlink’s ‘“Copernican Revolution,’ that all churches take Christ as their starting point, for He is the Sun around

whom the churches revolve as planets and from whom we see the light that shines in the darkness of our world.”

Rev. Dr. Dennis Di Mauro is the pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Warrenton, VA. He teaches at St. Paul Lutheran Seminary and is the editor of SIMUL.

Footnotes:

1Carl E. Braaten, My Ecumenical Journey: Ecumenical Experiences and Perspectives of an Evangelical Theologian (Dehli, NY: ALPB Books, 2018), 49.

2Ibid., 88.

3Ibid., 17.

4Ibid., 61.

5Ibid., 73.

6Ibid., 75.

7Ibid., 95

Image Credits

(Page 1, 3, 65) “Graduation Picture of the Lutheran Theological Seminary in India,” (2023), courtesy of Michael B. Duggi

(Page 7) “The Book of Concord, Kolb and Wengert edition,” Amazon accessed March 25, 2024, https://www.amazon.com/Book-Concord-ConfessionsEvangelical-Lutheran/dp/0800627407/

(Page 10) “David Breidenbach,” courtesy of David Breidenbach

(Page 14) “Bombings in Novogradovka,” One Dead, 10 Injured, Others Missing –Including Kids – after Russian Missiles Pummel Donetsk Oblast, The New Voice of Ukraine via Yahoo News, https://news.yahoo.com/one-dead-10-injured-others-153100158.html

(Page 17) “The Gross Family,” courtesy of David Breidenbach

(Page 18) “Pastor Oleg Saying Goodbye to his Son,” courtesy of David Breidenbach

(Page 20) “A Food Delivery by SON,” courtesy of David Breidenbach

(Page 23) “Map of Andhra Pradesh,” WikiVoyage, accessed on March 25, 2024, https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Andhra_Pradesh

(Page 25) “John Christian Heyer,” Aardvark Alley, accessed March 25, 2024, Blogspot.com

(Page 26) “Orphanage Children,” courtesy of Michael B. Duggi

(Page 27) “LTSI Graduation 2023,” courtesy of Michael B. Duggi

(Page 29) “Epiphania Lutheran Church,” courtesy of Michael B. Duggi

(Page 32) “Stephen Paulson,” God the Father Creates, Lutheran Week 2021, accessed March 25, 2024, https://lw2021.thenalc.org/portfolio/stevenpaulson/

(Page 35) “Teaching in Nicaragua,” courtesy of Horacio Castillo

(Page 37) “Our IELNIC Students,” courtesy of Horacio Castillo

(Page 39) “Daniel Ortega,” Daniel Ortega: From Revolutionary Leader to Opposition Hate Figure, BBC News, accessed March 25, 2024, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america15544315

(Page 45) “Tenakh,” Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures (Large Print) English, Karmal Books, accessed March 25, 2024,

https://www.karmalbooks.co.za/item/tanakh_the_holy_scriptures_large_print_e nglish

(Page 47) “Passover Seder Plate,” How to Host Your First Seder, Jewish Journal, accessed March 25, 2024,

https://jewishjournal.com/culture/food/217238/host-first-seder/

(Page 49) “The Shofar,” Original Yemenite Shofar Kosher Polished Quality Israel Made Natural (Yemenite Shofar 29"-33"), Amazon, accessed March 25, 2024,

https://www.amazon.com/Yemenite-Shofar-Horn-PolishedNatural/dp/B0002HTRNM/

(Page 51) “Hanukkah Menorah,” Tradition and Oil Menorahs, Zion Judaica, accessed March 25, 2024,

https://www.zionjudaica.com/Traditional-Menorahs.html

(Page 55) “Jewish by Discovery,” Amazon, accessed March 25, 2024, https://www.amazon.com/Jewish-Discovery-Steve-Cohen/dp/1098331087

(Page 58) “Carl Braaten – Author Package,” ALPB Books, accessed March 25, 2024, https://www.alpb.org/product/carl-braaten-author-package/

(Page 59) “John Richard Neuhaus,” Socrates in the City, accessed March 25, 2024, https://socratesinthecity.com/guests/richard-john-neuhaus/

My great-grandfather was baptized by Father Heyer in 1845. Later, my grandfather, the late Rev. Devanandam Duggi was a close associate with Rev. Fink, who stayed in Sattenapalli. From 1910 to 1921, my grandfather and Rev. Fink trained the local people for gospel work. My father (the late Rev. Samuel John Duggi) was also a Lutheran pastor. I have served in ministry since 1980, and my two sons, Rev. Samuel Peter Duggi and Pastor John Richards Duggi, are also serving in the ministry. Having inherited this wonderful Lutheran heritage, I seek to train Lutheran clergy and lay leaders for God’s work. Rev. Michael B. Duggi

Into this holy, magnificent, joyous, gracious priesthood the sow of the devil, the pope, has fallen with his snout, which he not only defiles but wholly destroys and suppresses, and he has erected another, his own priesthood, cobbled together from all pagan priesthoods, as a stew of all abominations…The clerics he calls his pastorate (geistlichen), among whom he wants to be the highest priest and prince, which he alone thereby makes spiritual (geistlich) by shearing [tonsuring], smearing [anointing] their fingers with oil, and requiring them to wear long garments, and purports to imprint an indelible character on their souls, which is nothing other than the character of the Beast in Revelation 13. (Martin Luther)