About (Part 2)

Born to Lutheran parents in 1955. Baptized while an infant in Cincinnati Ohio. The method which the Lutherans use to baptize is called the "sprinkle" method. Our family were members of the LCMS which stands for Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. A Synod is a group of Lutherans that hold differing views on a few things about the Lutheran denomination. To their credit, the LCMS has always been very steadfast in the belief of the inerrant nature of the Bible. The founder of the denomination, Martin Luther was a Roman Catholic monk and never intended to start a "new Protestant faith". Martin Luther even as he was nailing his 99 theses to the catholic Wittenburg church, had intended to reform the church from within. Before the Reformation, people of faith has to trust the RCC(Roman Catholic Church) or their priest to interpret or understand the scriptures. The Vulgate edition of the Bible which was a Latin rendition was all that the masses had. Many RCC masses even today are spoken in Latin. It mattered what the RCC said or the priest or the pope, not what people could read and understand of the Bible itself. The age before the Reformation was rightly called the Dark Ages. My intent is not to go into a detailed discussion of church history, but just to let you know that I really believe God used Luther and other men before him and after him to bring the Bible back to the hands of people that wanted to read it.

I went to a Lutheran private school in Cincinnati Ohio from Kindergarten to 4th grade. Praying the Lord's Prayer, attending church services and much scripture memorization was included among the standard school lessons in my school. I can remember when I read my first real book in first or second grade (Not including Dr Seuss): Damn Yankees. I can remember reading the Bible as well. It seemed like such a huge book in the hands of a 7 year old, but I remember wanting to know how it ended. The Book of Revelation. Reading that last book through. It was fantastic, horrible, beautiful and mysterious, all at the same time. What a read! Angels and Demons and Monsters and Wars and Mayhem. Today, I truly believe that what the 3rd verse of this book says happened to me: I was blessed by reading Revelation, ("Blessed [is] he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time [is] at hand" ~Rev 1:3).

We moved out further in the suburbs when I was 9 and so I started to attend public schools at this time. I remember around this time a schoolmate named Roger that invited me to his church. Roger was a Baptist. I do not even think that it was a Sunday morning service which was strange. What I will never forget about that day was this: There was an altar call near the end. While all of our heads were bowed, we were asked to raise our hands if we wanted Jesus in our hearts. What? Why? What was this pull I felt to raise my hand? Why was I so compelled? I did not raise my hand and I did not leave my seat although I felt this "pull" to do so. I tell you this because it stands out as a memory. I now know looking back that this was the Holy Spirit convicting me to come to the Lord. At this time, however, all I could think of to get out of it was that I was a Lutheran. I am a member of a Lutheran church and in a couple of years I will be "Confirmed". Confirmation in the Lutheran church means that at about the age of 13 after having studied the Lutheran Catechism which are the teachings that a member of a Lutheran denomination must "confirm" to the church in order to participate in Holy Communion. So that is what glued me to my seat that day in spite of the"pull" I felt. I was a baptized Lutheran, soon to be a full fledged Communion taking Lutheran. I had a name. (to be continued...)