Warren Malach's Review of Volume I - The Sermons of Martin Luther

Norma A. Boeckler is a prolific artist with a number of her own books. She had artwork for each volume before it was done. How? She looked the sermons up online and planned the art for each sermon. 

Although I already mentioned above Dr. Jackson's additional volume GEMS MINED FROM THE SERMONS OF MARTIN LUTHER, it was only when I examined the individual volumes of the SERMONS that I learned that the GEMS MINED from each individual volume of the SERMONS are offered as an Introduction to each volume, an "appetizer" of what will be found in the SERMONS as well as an overview of the theology of Dr. Luther himself. Dr. Jackson introduces the GEMS with this challenging statement about Luther: "Luther is discussed too much, studied too little." This statement is an indictment of the state of Luther scholarship within the Christian Church, but especially within the Lutheran Church itself. The summary statements for the individual GEMS in this volume demonstrate how Dr. Luther challenges the orthodoxy of those claiming to be "Lutherans" regarding the fundamental doctrines of the Lutheran Church, e.g. "Not All Are Justified"--"Faithless Teachers"--"Where Do We Find Christ?--In the Scriptures." In "The Reason for the Church Postils," Dr. Jackson tells us the history of the Church Postils and how Dr. Luther himself regarded THE SERMONS OF MARTIN LUTHER as "the best of all his books."

GJ - As she read and edited the volumes, Virginia Roberts kept saying, "I found a gem!" and then "Another gem!" My wife and I did this years ago for volumes 1-4 and put them in Megatron, the Database. They were the heavy artillery - dropped on the foes of the efficacy of the Word in the Means of Grace. I said, "We have to feature the Gems in the front," and then "Let's also do a separate volume, full color."

Volume I of THE SERMONS OF MARTIN LUTHER contains the Sermons for the first part of the Church Year, from the First Sunday in Advent through the Festival of the Epiphany.  It includes the Sermons for the festivals of Christmas, Second Christmas Day, Third Christmas Day, St. Stephen's Day, the Day of St. John the Evangelist, and New Year's Day.  Helpful outlines are provided for each Sermon to guide the reader in his study.


I must mention the physical appearance of this large, softbound volume, with its fine illustrations by Norma A. Boeckler, especially the cover illustration of Luther writing the Sermons.  Once again, I must mention how comfortable the volume is to hold and read, with its ease of holding open and its large print.  The volumes in the set of THE SERMONS OF MARTIN LUTHER are designed for regular individual and family use, and not simply to be put on a library shelf in a pastor's office or church library.


What did Luther teach?  Rather, what does the Bible teach, as Dr. Luther explains?  Study THE SERMONS OF MARTIN LUTHER and you will not be misled by those claiming to be "Lutherans" but who do not teach what Luther taught from the Bible about such fundamental Christians doctrines as the Inspiration of Scripture and Justification by Faith Alone!  
--Warren Malach

***

GJ - One reader has already suggested publishing More Gems later.

Warren Malach - On Luther's Sermons, the Gems, and the Goldmine

A Lutheran pastor for forty-five years, the Rev. Dr. Gregory L. Jackson (STM Yale, PhD Notre Dame ) spent a year revising the Lenker translation of the CHURCH POSTILS of Dr. Martin Luther, written in the 1520s.  These sermons on the historic Epistle and Gospel Lessons for the Church Year fill eight large softbound volumes whose typesetting makes them as easy to read as the volumes are to hold open.  In addition, the volumes are profusely illustrated by renowned Christian artist Norma A Boeckler.  In re-introducing these volumes to the public, Dr. Jackson has performed a great service to the Christian Church by responding to the sectarianism and apostasy of our day with the pure Word of God as taught by Dr. Martin Luther to the members of his congregation.

In addition to THE SERMONS OF MARTIN LUTHER, as part of his long study of Dr. Martin Luther's writings Dr. Jackson has also compiled the additional volumes

• GEMS MINED FROM THE SERMONS OF MARTIN LUTHER and 
• THE LOST DUTCHMAN'S GOLDMINE: LUTHER'S BIBLICAL DOCTRINE OF THE WORD.  

 The color version of Gems is the one sent to everyone.
This black and white version was planned at the last minute as a good way to introducepeople to Luther's Sermons without selling the rose farm. This is often included free in orders.

GEMS is the fruit of Dr. Jackson's editorial work on THE SERMONS OF MARTIN LUTHER in which Dr. Jackson distills for the reader the contents of the eight individual volumes in quotations drawn from the sermons, for which Dr. Jackson has supplied titles which are included in the table of contents for easy topical reference.  The quotations drawn from the sermons are generally more extensive than those found in E. Plass' WHAT LUTHER SAYS, which traditionally was searched by students of Luther for useful quotations from Dr. Luther's vast writings, and therefore GEMS is a more comprehensive compendium of extracts from Dr. Luther's writings as a theologian who was also a pastor.

In THE LOST DUTCHMAN'S GOLDMINE Dr. Jackson presents Dr. Luther's doctrine of the Word of God as drawn directly from Luther's own writings, the Lutheran Confessions, and the writings of orthodox Lutheran teachers.  In an age in which the inspiration and authority of God's Word are under constant attack and false doctrine is rampant, Dr. Jackson in his Luther editorial work as well as in his own writings and online blog  (http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com) seeks to follow the mandate of Jude 3 to "contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints" and presented by Dr. Luther in these Sermons, especially the glorious doctrine of Justification by Faith.

These volumes are only the latest publications of Martin Chemnitz Press (martinchemnitzpress.blogspot.com) which also publishes the theological writings of Dr. Jackson covering a wide variety of subjects both of Christian doctrine and of practice.  You are warmly encouraged to search for these books online, and follow Dr. Jackson's Amazon author's page (https://www.amazon.com/Pastor-Gregory-L.-Jackson/e/B00MDC6S4U?ref_=pe_1724030_132998060). 
--Warren Malach

 All the covers and interior illustrations came from our
artist-in-residence, Norma A. Boeckler.

Luther Publishing News

I look at life this way. Things happened so I could learn a lot and experience what was happening in the synods. I am blessed to have reasonably good health, energy, and time to write and teach.

Apart from a few books sold retail on Amazon, everything is being distributed at cost or for free. The synods refuse to teach Luther's Biblical theology so someone has to do their job for them.

I will be sending out more Luther volumes very soon. Some have gone to Africa already, but America is also a mission field. How many Lutheran pastors have Luther's Sermons in their studies or on their computers? Precious few, I am sure.

One woman got multiple sets of all nine volumes for herself and her kin.

Some might consider getting the full color Gems book ($10), with selections from all eight volumes of sermons. Or, my very special promotional item for Luther - the black and white version of Gems, which costs only $2.40 each.

The color Gems is the one always sent when ordered. The black and white volume is only for people who want to give away some Luther at a very low price. No one should be worried about being caught with contraband, since each volume is all Luther, plus graphics from Norma A. Boeckler. Luther is not political, unless one wants to compare the Reformer with the deformers of today.

I have started a reader's verson of St. John's Gospel, plus some initial ideas for a new Lutheran dictionary.

More Luther is planned, plus a long essay on how Calvin ruined Protestantism.

Luther's Sermons - So Far

Volume 6 was tied up for a time by HAL - long story. The color version has been set free.

A Kindle issue is being addressed.

The Gems Mined from the Sermons of Martin Luther volume needs to have pagination added to each quotation - not a big job, really a fun and inspiring task.

Gems - selections from each of the eight volumes, designed to introduce people to Luther's Sermons. This is smaller in size so it will be full color only and Kindle.

Volume 8 is being prepared by Janie Sullivan for Amazon-Kindle.

If someone does not grasp this gem from Luther, he does not understand the Reformer, the Gospel, or the Scriptures.

Anticipated Results

When everything is done, the sermons in black and white will be about $40 TOTAL for all eight volumes - author's price. With sales tax and shipping for the whole set, that might be $60 - 70 or so. Sales tax varies quite a bit.

The Gospel Sermons - Volumes 1-5 - would be about $40 with taxes and shipping. Don't kid yourself, the Epistle Sermons are just as good.

Kindle ebook prices will be a little higher but I may run some specials, which will be noted here.

Gems will be $10-15 (author's price) and a good gift or library addition by itself.

Pastors who get stuck for sermon ideas should turn to Gems, or the complete set of Luther's Sermons, not to ELCA preaching books (yuk!), or Calvin's Commentaries (Why?) or the Pietistic Spoonfuls on Purpose.

 No, we saved a few titles.

Last Ash Wednesday, The Lost Dutchman's Goldmine. This Year - Luther's Sermons Almost Done

 Norma A. Boeckler

Last Ash Wednesday I was finishing The Lost Dutchman's Goldmine, about Luther's Biblical Doctrine of the Word.

This year, Luther's Sermons are being finished.

• Volume VI is with Janie Sullivan, being prepared for Amazon and Kindle.
• Volume VII is almost ready for Norma A. Boeckler's art.
• Volume VIII is being read and corrected by Virginia Roberts.
• The Gems volume is almost ready, by virtue of having each volume's gems selected as we publish.

More New Testament Greek will be taught, starting tonight.

Romans 1-5 will be taught during the Easter season.

Looking ahead, these volumes are planned:

• Luther's Two Catechisms
• The Gospel of John in English and Greek
• The Ichabod Lutheran Dictionary - fun and informative.
• Some other alarms and diversions for the apostates to suffer.

 Norma A. Boeckler

Volume V Glitches Seem To Be Solved

Each volume has its own glitches, though some have a way of appearing again.

While waiting for the student economy version to be processed, several issues came up in the printing department.

That seems to be resolved now, and everything is fine again.

Sometimes the books ordered are sent quickly, but they can take some time to be printed and mailed.

Remember to order through me for the author's price.

The Sermons of Martin Luther - Volume V

Norman and Jean Woehrle have distinguished themselves in
service to our country and the Lutheran Church.

Norman Woehrle served as a Marine in the Pacific theatre, World War II. As many people know, the Marines made countless landings in hostile islands occupied by Japanese troops. Our forces used LSTs - Land Ship Tanks. Norman's job was to be the first off the ramp, holding a smudge pot blowing smoke to obscure his fellow soldiers from enemy fire. Another Marine shared the honors.

I asked Norman about the medals he earned. He laughed and said, "Oh, the usual bunch." He later worked for AT&T, and Jean worked as a nurse. They have always stood up for the truth, whether dealing with issues for patriotic Americans or problems in the Lutheran Church. When the pro-life counseling center needed help, Jean was always will to help.

They are members of Shepherd of Peace, WELS, in Columbus, Ohio.

 The Gems volume - IX - will include the selected gems
from all eight volumes.

Volume V Completes the Gospel Sermons
The first five volumes include all the Gospel sermons in the Lenker series.

We are now working on the last three volumes, the Epistle sermons.

Little Ichabod called this "publishing at a blistering pace." That would not be possible without the help and encouragement of:

1. Norma Boeckler, our artist-in-residence.
2. Virginia Roberts, our remarkable editor.
3. Janie Sullivan, our editor for the print and Kindle e-books.
4. Terry and Lori Howell, members who worked on one volume.
5. An LCMS pastor who edited a volume or two.
6. My wife, who has always enjoyed helping in all publishing work.
7. Bethany Lutheran Church members and friends.

Progress in Luther's Sermons - And African Mission News

Janie Sullivan now has Volume V, the last of the Gospel sermons, and is getting it ready for Amazon print books and Kindle e-books.

Virginia Roberts has already prepared edits for Volume VI, so I am getting that done during Christmas lay-offs. As I told the English class, "They call it vacation, but there is no pay, so I call it being laid off." I enjoy the break, once grading is done.

In fact, Virginia has already started Volume VII edits. The last three volumes are the Epistle sermons - and they soar too.

God willing, we can be done with the set and the Gems volume in early 2018, far ahead of my best expectations - thanks to the help of so many. Norma Boeckler has the art ready before the editing is done. How so? She looked up a complete set of sermons in PDF, so she can figure out the layout of each one.

 The total cost for all of the above - including shipping to the missionary - is $90.
We already have the $100 for the mailbox to Africa.

Africa News
As I wrote before, there is a great need for Luther books in the African seminaries.

We already received a donation for the shipping cost of the first books - $100 for a mailbox, 20 pounds. By chance we have free shipping via the missionary's daughter.

So I have ordered a new set of books sent so those books can go to a second seminary fairly soon. The shipping is already paid for, thanks to that previous gift.

If you want to give toward the African seminary book fund, make out the check to Bethany Lutheran Church, 1104 Letha Drive, Springdale, 72762. We have an IRS tax number as a church and are incorporated, thanks to attorney Glen Kotten.

Some people use PayPal, so I transfer stipulated gifts to the church fund. PayPal allows a memo on funds sent, so that is an easy way to route the gift. Dr. Lito Cruz had us get that started, and it is handy for a lot of uses, such as paying for the mailbox, which is sent from St. Louis.

One reader is sending six copies of each Luther volume as Christmas gifts. My thinking goes like this - the readers are the best distributors, since the big money church publishers boycott me. The important part is getting people to read Luther again, so giving Luther books is one way to do that, and the cost is very low.

In the near future, the Gems from Luther's Sermons, in full color, will be available as a great introduction to the best of Luther.

Lutheran Books for African Missions

 Graphic by Norma A. Boeckler
This is her author's page on Amazon.

We have known a Missouri Synod missionary for 25 years. He worked in Africa and has gone back there, but has health problems now. We have often talked about using Lutheran books.

I keep books in the our fleet of cars (a 1994 Lincoln Town Car and a 2002 Voyager). When the opportunity arises, I give them to interested people. Our biggest day included giving 10 books away at the doctor's office - Creation Gardening. I mentioned to our friend how inexpensive Luther's Sermons are, so we discussed the need for Luther's books in African seminaries.

One copy of every book title (black and white, some are color only) costs $90 at the author's price. We can ship that collection of books to Africa for $95 in a flat rate box. Note that glitches in publication caused some titles to be listed as incomplete or not available. So far, Luther's Sermons are available volumes 1-4.

Compare this to the current price of a textbook in college -
English Grammar - $160 for one book.
Mathematics - $200 for one book.

Gregory L. Jackson Author's Page

Money donated for this will go into a designated account for Bethany Lutheran Church. Thanks to our attorney, Glen Kotten, we have incorporated with a new IRS tax number.

We are starting slowly to see how this works. I am giving permission to the world missions to translate the books without any fees or permissions. The whole plan has consisted in getting Luther's Biblical doctrine recognized and taught again. The synods are not up to the task.

Progress Report - The Sermons of Martin Luther

 Norma A. Boeckler designed the cover
and illustrations for Volume IV.  She had an author's
day at the Midland Dow Library in Michigan.
Her latest book is Those Days on the Farm.

Norma A. Boeckler's extensive list of books and illustrated books is listed here by Amazon.

Progress, The Sermons of Luther -
Volume IV is being prepared for Amazon print and Kindle e-book publication by Janie Sullivan.

Volume V is edited for typos and being finished for Janie Sullivan and for artwork by Norma A. Boeckler.

Volume VI is being read for typos, glitches, and other barriers to good reading.

The last two sermon volumes and The Gems of Luther's Sermons will be finished very early in 2018.

Future Plans
God willing, as always, publishing plans include the two Catechisms and Galatians.

New titles being planned include -

1. An Ichabod Lutheran Dictionary, 
2. The Gospel of John - A Brief Commentary, and 
3. Calvinism Ruined the Protestant Church.

Progress Report - The Sermons of Martin Luther

 Gregory L. Jackson books on Amazon.

Volume III is virtually complete.

I began working on Volume IV today and did 100 pages - with excellent help from our volunteer editors.

Volume V will complete the Gospel series, with three more on the Epistles.

The final volume, which I expect to be slimmer and smaller in size, with a full color interior, will be the Gems from Luther's Sermons. We are accumulating them to use as a sampler, to kelm a term from WELS, easily passed along and shared with others.

Norma A. Boeckler books on Amazon.

 When you click on this link and review a book,
another cherub earns his wings.

The Sermons of Martin Luther, Volume II, Published

The full color edition of The Sermons of Martin Luther, Volume II, is now published.

The Kindle e-book version of The Sermons of Martin Luther, Volume II,  is also available, and naturally, it is full color too.

The no-excuses edition of Luther's Sermons, Volume II, black and white interior, is also in print now.

The author's price is much less than the retail, especially in the full-color version. I used the retail links because clicking on them will increase visibility on the Internet. Everyone has a book about Luther this year, but clearly, few are reading his sermons. The professors are the worst in this category.

Posting a review will greatly increase the results of Google searches. Some are doing posting their reviews.

So will clicking on my Amazon Author's Page.

I will sending out copies of Volume II now. I was waiting for the black and white one to finish - another glitch - but settled. When all the print titles are done, the full color versions will be named

• The Sermons of Martin Luther on Amazon.

and the black and white student economy editions will be named

• Luther's Sermons on Amazon.

The Sermons of Martin Luther

There was a glitch in publishing the print versions -
I will be sending the full color version to supporters. 
The glitch was resolved yesterday.

Norma Boeckler illustrated the interior
and designed the cover.

Volume 1 is now on Amazon. There are three versions:

Full color interior - The Sermons of Martin Luther, Volume 1 - $61.63 retail.

Black and white interior - Luther's Sermons, Student Economy Edition - $12.33 retail.

The Kindle e-book - The Sermons of Martin Luther, Lenker Edition - $7.99.

Author's Prices - Order Here
Now for the good news on printed books, since we are doing this to promote Luther's sermons, not to make money. I put a $1 profit on each printed book to help keep track of sales.

Full color version - $24.65.

Black and white    - $4.93.

The Kindle e-book version is the same price, and I will buy the Kindle versions myself, which are full color, naturally. They are best for research, searching, and quoting, since the citations are included with the copy and paste.

When we are done, someone can have all the sermons (8 volumes) for only $40 total! - plus shipping.

The Gospel sermons will be done first (volumes 1-4) and only cost $20 total! - plus shipping. Anyone who knows the Gospel sermons alone has quite a Biblical and theological education.

Probably most students will want the Kindle version, because it is portable and available on on devices. I ended up doing full color and the black and white because we wanted Norma Boeckler's art in full color, but also desired a price advantage over other public domain versions.

My geezer eyes prefer larger print, so I worked with our finishing editor Janie Sullivan on that.

 We just completed our trip to the Holy Land:
Perryville, Frohna, and Altenburg in Missouri.
Pastor Handrick photographed us in his office -
The Ichabods, Anita Engelman, and her son (our VP) Zach Engelman.
Moliner extraordinaire and Mayor Emeritus of Perryville,
Debbie Mitchell Gahan is behind us.