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Grace be to you and peace from
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God our Father and our Lord and
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Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
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The text for the sermon you
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have already heard,
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especially the words of Paul, I
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decided to know nothing among
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you except Jesus Christ and Him
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Crucified. First Corinthians
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two two.
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This is the day that Friedrich
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Wyneken went to be
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with his Lord.
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And the passage that was read is
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the text of the funeral sermon
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for him delivered by his
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old friend C. F. W. Walther.
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Actually,
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there were four funeral sermons
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for Wyneken in 1876.
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Unfortunately,
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the manuscript of Walther's
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sermon apparently has
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not survived,
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and so I cannot describe its
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treatment of how Wyneken
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exhibited Paul's words about the
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model preacher and ambassador
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for Christ. Nevertheless,
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I will make the best use of
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the resources available.
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Friedrich Wyneken was born on
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May 13, 1810 at Hanover,
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Germany,
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and educated at the universities
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of Halle and Göttingen.
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He immigrated to America in 1838
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and became soon active among
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German Lutherans in Baltimore,
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and then in Fort Wayne and other
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regions of Indiana and in
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Ohio and in Michigan.
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Early on,
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he was commissioned as a
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traveling missionary by the
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Pennsylvania Lutheran
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Ministerium,
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which is a body of the General
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Synod of those days.
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Now, later on,
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when Wyneken died,
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Walther gave tribute to him in
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an eloquent announcement
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of Wyneken's death.
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And that has survived to us,
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it's still in the Lutheraner.
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And in that announcement,
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Wyneken Walther gave high
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tribute to Wyneken's energetic
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and self denying endeavor to
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seek out, organize, instruct,
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and help his
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fellow immigrants,
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the German German immagrants.
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Calling him, quote, a man whom
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nothing else brought to America
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but the fervent desire to seek
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out his spiritually forsaken
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brethren according to the flesh,
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and to bring to them the blessed
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message of the Gospel of Christ,
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the Savior of sinners.
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End of quote,
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from Walther. In 1841,
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Wyneken married Sophia Buuch,
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and with her was blessed
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with seven children.
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He was called to serve as pastor
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in Fort Wayne and nearby
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Friedheim,
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and then later in Baltimore,
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and then in St. Louis,
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and finally in Cleveland.
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And he served the Missouri Synod
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as its president for 14 years,
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from 1850 onward,
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Wyneken was well known for his
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confrontation of erroring
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wayward sinners.
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In a friendly but urgent way,
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sometimes button holding
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them or collaring them,
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letting them know that he was
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concerned about their
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spiritual state.
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Calling them to repent and to
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seek grace and help in the arms
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of Jesus Christ, their Savior.
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He also knew that the Lord's
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Supper is a very important
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aid for this purpose.
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That explains his treatment of a
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man in Fort Wayne who came to
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him to announce for the Lord's
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Supper, telling him,
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you cannot go to the Lord's
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Supper. And when asked why not?
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He replied,
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Because you are a drunkard.
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And when asked,
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what liar told you that?
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He said,
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A man who knows you very well
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whom you will not contradict.
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And then Wyneken took him to a
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mirror in the house and showed
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him a man with bleary eyes and
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red nose and shaking hands.
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The man was appalled
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at the image scene,
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and he asked if forgiveness
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was available.
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And of course, the answer was,
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you are redeemed through the
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precious blood of God's Son,
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which is present in
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the Lord's Supper.
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And then they had a talk about
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the wonderful, marvelous grace
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of the Lord Jesus.
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And as the man left the house,
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Wyneken called out oh,
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I nearly forgot to tell you.
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Now you can go to the
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Lord's supper.
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On Wyneken's first Sunday
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as pastor of the Baltimore
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congregation,
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he found a serious,
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unexpected problem. It was, it
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the congregation, was a mixture
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of Lutheran and Reformed people.
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And he declared at once that he
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could not agree to this unionism
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and announced that in his next
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sermon he would bring two
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books into the pulpit,
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Luther's Catechism and the
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Heidelberg Catechism of
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Calvinism and explain the
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different forms of belief
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and ask the members,
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the congregation,
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to choose what their confession
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was to be.
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And he did exactly that,
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causing much dispute and
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conflict with the outcome that
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a sizable group of Reformed
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adherents left the congregation
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and formed their own.
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Wyneken held that there should
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be unity of doctrine in a church
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and in a union of churches.
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Since, like Paul and C. F. W. Walther,
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he wanted the whole Council
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of God to be
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explained and preached.
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But always with the Gospel of
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Christ the Savior being
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understood as central to
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everything taught.
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Wyneken soon left the
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Pennsylvania Ministerium and
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and the General Consul for
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confessional reasons and joined
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the newly formed Missouri Synod.
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And soon he was serving the
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Missouri Synod as its president.
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One of his duties in that office
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was frequent visitation of
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pastors and congregations
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for oversight of them.
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He once compared this
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oversight work to
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a carpenter using his plane to
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plane off the rough edges of the
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pastors and to shape them to
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become better workmen
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for the Lord.
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Now one of these visitations was
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to deal with a controversy.
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in which a pastor was
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charged with errors concerning
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the practice of private
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confession.
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Wyneken,
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when he had examined all the
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evidence came to the conclusion
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that the accusations were false
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and that the ones who were
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teaching the errors here
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was his critics,
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his accusers about
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confession.
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Now,
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when the leader of the accusers,
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who was a pompous and haughty
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man saw Wyneken go
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into the church,
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he called out to him
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this man that you're defending
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is spreading false doctrine.
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And Wyneken then
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quietly responded
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you're lying.
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And then and he just kept
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walking toward the church.
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And then this chief critic
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said you know,
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I believe that you're afraid of
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me and of the accusations of the
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arguments which I can
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present here.
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And Wyneken then stared at
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him and said listen here,
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I'm not afraid of the
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devil himself,
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much less of the devil's
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dandruff.
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Now you laugh,
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but do you know why
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you're laughing?
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That's an idiom, a German idiom.
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The devil's dandruff
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which today is
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is a reference to the
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drug cocaine.
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But in Wyneken's day
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I believe it was
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an idiom.
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It was slang for
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the evil influences that fall
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from the devil wherever he goes.
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Or possibly it is
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a reference to the evil people
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who promote the schemes
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of Satan,
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either knowingly or unknowingly.
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Whatever he did mean by that.
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What Wyneken was trying to do
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was to shock this man into
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repenting of his false doctrine.
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It didn't work.
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But later in the proceedings
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Wyneken did succeed in
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overcoming the critics attacks
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by means of a careful study of
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Luther's scripture based
00:12:15.284 --> 00:12:17.200
doctrine about
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confession,
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especially private confession.
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Now go back to Walther's
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announcement of Wyneken's
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death.
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There he calls him quote a truly
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evangelical preacher,
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an eloquent man and mighty
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in the scriptures,
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a fearless witness of the pure,
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full truth,
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an enemy of all deceit
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and hypocrisy,
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a faithful servant of the Lord
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who yet one who in his sincere
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humility knew only his own
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weakness and not his power.
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He became to hosts of
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preachers and layman a model to
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thousands a spiritual father,
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loved and respected by all who
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knew him, really knew him.
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That's the end of the quote from
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Walther. But surely Dr.
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Walther in these words had in
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mind First Corinthians two,
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and the following verses.
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Amen.