God is the holy Triune God—one divine essence in three Persons -- Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He is perfect and holy.

Humankind was originally created by God holy and innocent but Adam, the first man, went against God's will and sinned, and in this way brought sin into the world. Since then, all people have been conceived and born in sin.

Sin is going against God’s will. We sin in thought, word and deed, by what we do and by not doing what we should do. The holy Triune God is a just and holy God who must punish sin. Because we sin, we are all subject to death and eternal damnation.

The holy Triune God is also a God of mercy and grace who saves us from the just punishment for our sins. We cannot save ourselves.

Jesus is both true God and true man. He is God the Son who took on human flesh, being born of the Virgin Mary. He was the only one to live without sin, perfectly keeping all of God's demands and commands. He did this for us as our substitute. Also, as our substitute He willingly died on the cross to pay the penalty for the sins of all people. By His death, He reconciled us to God. Jesus physically rose from the dead three days later on Easter Sunday. His resurrection shows His sacrifice to be the once-for-all sacrifice. With His resurrection, we are declared forgiven and with His ascension into heaven 40 days later, He opened heaven to all believers. Jesus now rules in heaven as King of Kings. On the last day, He will come again to earth, raise all the dead, and bring the Christians into eternal life in heaven. All non-Christians will go with the devil into eternal damnation in hell.

The Christian Church is made of all believers from all times who believe in Jesus as their only Savior. Faith is a gift of God, given by the power of the Holy Spirit.

God the Holy Spirit works through the Word and Sacraments-- the Word of the Bible and the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion -- to create this faith in Jesus in our hearts and to strengthen and preserve us in that faith.

Holy Baptism is God’s work in which He works the forgiveness of sins, rescues us from death and the devil and gives eternal life. Baptism is not what we do but something God does for us. Through baptism, we are brought, either as infants or adults, into God's holy family, His church.

Holy Communion is Jesus giving us His true body, which hung on the cross, and His true blood, which was shed for our forgiveness, together with the bread and the wine for us to eat and drink. In this sacrament, we receive the forgiveness of sins and the strengthening of faith.

Christians live their lives to the glory of God seeking to do His will. When they sin, as they will, they are sorry for their sin, confess that sin to God, and trust in His mercy and the work of Jesus for forgiveness of that sin. Rejoicing in that forgiveness and strengthened by the Holy Spirit, Christians strive all the more to root out sin from their lives. Christians are called to live their faith through deeds of love toward others and to tell people that the only way to salvation is by faith in Jesus.

"Is it wrong to use the name 'Lutheran'? Let no one imagine that in and of itself, it is wrong when Christians let themselves be named after a man. This is shown undeniably by the fact that the church of the Old Testament was named by God Himself after a man. What did He call them? -- the Israelites...

"Therefore, we do not call ourselves Lutherans after (Luther) in the same way that we are called Christians on account of Christ. We are not called such because we believe in Luther. As highly as we treasure this vigorous witness, in our church we still do not accept so much as a word in matters of faith simply because Luther said it. Rather, we accept his words only in the instance that it can be shown written clearly in the Word of God. We do not accept him as any apostle or prophet, but rather we know that he was subject to error and sin like other men. He is not the head of our church. He is not our pope...

I will simply list some of the teachings that I have come to see and believe.

1) I believe that I am saved by GRACE alone, through FAITH alone. That is, I do not believe in WORKS righteousness.

2) That is not to say that good works are not necessary, but that they come DOWN FROM ABOVE and not UP FROM BELOW. Otherwise, they would be DEAD works. The ONLY good work I can offer is PRAISE and THANKSGIVING to God for saving me; i.e.; nothing that I DO on my own pleases our Lord.

3) Why? Because the Word tells me I am DEAD in trespasses and sins due to my OLD man, ADAM, from whom I inherited my CARNAL nature (original sin) which is dead and destined for the GRAVE. (can a corpse rise up on it's own?) To be saved, I must be BORN ANEW.

4) The new birth is entirely GOD'S work and NONE of mine. Being DEAD, I cannot make a DECISION.

5) God has divine MEANS through which He works to CREATE a new heart within me and to RENEW a right Spirit within me. (Electricity comes to me by MEANS of a wire: I mow my lawn by MEANS of a mower, etc.)

6) JESUS CHRIST, Who is both GOD and MAN, is the foremost MEANS of God's grace.

7) Jesus has instituted MEANS to KEEP ME IN THE TRUE FAITH: BAPTISM, when I am WASHED by the WORD spoken OVER THE WATER by God's CALLED and Ordained Servant of the WORD. Since it is done by GOD alone, it makes no difference WHEN, how MUCH water, or HOW it was applied. I now have a heavenly BIRTH CERTIFICATE and CITIZENSHIP to Heaven. God knows me by name. OT = circumcision / NT= BAPTISM. In the Tabernacle, sacrifices were WASHED before being sacrificed.

8) God has required in His Ten Commandments that I HONOR MY FATHER AND MOTHER; they teach me WHOSE I am. Eventually, if a babe, I will come to understand via the WORD, but God knows and will never abandon me.

9) God feeds me CHRIST'S TRUE BODY AND BLOOD---IN, UNDER, AND WITH---the bread and the wine in Holy Communion. This is a MYSTERY or Sacrament, which was foreshadowed in the worship of the OT Tabernacle.

10) God has given us His LAW, the 10 Commandments, which show His will. They are so high and perfect that no person but CHRIST has ever BEEN ABLE TO KEEP THEM. To break the LAW demands DEATH, but the Law provides no means for keeping them. So why give them? They cause the sinner to cry out , GOD HELP ME !

11) And He does! He sent His only BEGOTTEN SON, JESUS CHRIST, to be my SUBSTITUTE and die in MY PLACE. Jesus Christ has been made the world's SINNER.

12) So by FAITH ALONE I am saved from the eternal DAMNATION of the broken LAW and Heaven is OPEN to me!

13) We examine Scripture through GRAMMATICAL HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION, not by the RATIONAL HISTORICAL METHOD; i.e, "What does the GRAMMAR actually say?"

14) Worship in the Old Testament Tabernacle presented TYPES which became the ANTITYPES fulfilled in the NT.