Luther neither removed the Apocrypha from the Bible nor discouraged its use. Rather, he received and preserved the ancient distinction inherited from the fathers: the Apocrypha is valuable, edifying, and worthy of reading, but it is not Holy Scripture and therefore cannot serve as the foundation of Christian doctrine.
The confessors at Augsburg remind us that every generation of Christians is called to bear witness to the gospel amid the challenges and pressures of its own age. As they confessed Christ before emperors and kingdoms, so the Church continues to confess Him before the world today.
When Jesus washes you with baptismal water, you can rest assured that the Lion of Judah is on the move.

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I grew up playing baseball – mostly “street” baseball, with a bunch of friends. It was one of my passions in life.
We fail over and over again to tame the sin in our hearts, to guard the doors of our lips and to act like the children of God.
Oh Come, see Him loving you before He was ever even born.
A friend recently told me they had never seen the movie A Christmas Story. “What?!” I exclaimed. “Well, you need to fix that this year.”
God’s name is no different. It, too, carries power. The power of a promise only God can make.
Advent is the season when the Church declares to a world overwhelmed by excuses, lies, and cruelty that their Savior comes.
Zechariah’s prophecy about John’s ministry also comes to us in the fullness of our time.
Often, when we talk about the Old Testament, we talk about God's promises and work for his chosen people, Israel.
What does it mean to be a child of God and to carry his image? This is a theological question, but it is a question necessary for our self-understanding
Jesus is the Word of God. God’s Word—on two legs (John 1:14). I’d read it in the first chapter of John’s Gospel many, many times.
But there is something far more serious and important: being reconciled to our Father in Heaven.
I am often haunted by my past. I am daily haunted by what I should be doing.