The NALC Life Ministries team is once again preparing for the March for Life in Washington D.C. this January, but our plan is a little different. Instead of holding a life conference, NALC Life has decided to team up with Lutherans for Life (LFL) and participate in their events at the march! Their youth conference, Y4Life, will be held at the Hilton Arlington Landing Hotel (2399 Richmond Highway, Arlington, VA 22202) from Thursday, January 22rd, 2026 through Saturday, January 24th, 2026 and it has over 400 kids already registered – register at https://y4life.org/events/ We encourage all our NALC youth to participate in this free conference.

On Friday, January 23rd we will be once again participating in the March for Life under the NALC banner, and I hope you can join us at 12th and Madison Sts., N.W at noon as we march to the U.S. Capitol.

Before the march there is a prayer service at DAR Constitution Hall 1776 D St. NW (18th and D St.) Washington, DC 20006 starting at 8:30am. The service will be in celebration of America’s 250th birthday, celebrating the Right to Life as recognized in our Declaration of Independence and honoring the memory of Charlie Kirk. The special speaker will be Liche Ariza, who plays the role of Gedera, a Sadducee in Jerusalem and a member of the Sanhedrin in The Chosen.

All our NALC members are invited to attend this service and our clergy are invited to participate (stoles are white). If you have any problems at the march, please contact Pastor Dennis Di Mauro at (703) 568-3346. Pastor Di Mauro can also host you in his home if you would like to stay overnight in DC. We can’t wait to see you in our nation’s capital this January!!

The Eighth Commandment: You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way.

When was the last time you defended your neighbor’s actions in the kindest possible way? It’s not a very common thing we see done today. But was it ever a very common thing to do? In the charged atmosphere we live in today, a time and an age in which things are “hardening and narrowing and coming to a point…getting sharper and harder” (That Hideous Strength, chapter 13, C.S. Lewis), to speak well of others, especially those we vehemently disagree with on theological or philosophical or political grounds, it makes one wonder if it is even at all possible to do so. It makes one wonder if it would even be prudent to do so. After all, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven…a time to keep silence, and a time to speak” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 7). But there is God’s Law staring us in the face: “You shall not bear false witness.” As always, the Law gives no wiggle room. The Law, that hammer of God (Jeremiah 23:29), crushes as it is intended to do. Or, as Saint Paul once so shockingly put it, the letter of the Law kills (2 Corinthians 3:6).

We cannot explain away the 8^th Commandment no matter how tempting it might be. Those who are opposed to the truth, those who do not think Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6), those who do not take into consideration or blithely ignore that love rejoices with the truth (1 Corinthians 13:6), cannot be expected to follow this divine command. But we who are of the truth, we who teach and will be judged with “greater strictness” (James 3:1), take the yoke upon us to honor all the commandments including the one here in focus, the 8^th Commandment.

What others cannot and will not do (and can we expect them to?), the Church and her people must absolutely do to the best of their ability. Again Saint Paul (Romans 12:18): “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” So how, dear Christians, might we defend our neighbor’s actions in the kindest possible way that we may so live peaceably? As we obediently follow the Lord’s commandments as seen and given us in the Ten Commandments, think about the following paragraphs.

As we are all aware, on September 10^th this country, and millions throughout the world, saw the assassination of Charlie Kirk. The fallout of his murder has motivated some to come back to Church. God be praised for this! The fallout of his murder has also hardened the consciences of others, convinced that what he said was hateful and that he deserved what happened. What I have noticed, and perhaps you have too, is that those who hated this man – a champion for freedom, encourager of young men, encourager of discussion and debate on any topic, and defender of Christian values and principles – have not watched very much of what he said in his various dialogues and debates with people. Often all that has been seen by those who despised Charlie Kirk is a snippet, a viral quote, something taken out of context in a longer answer to a question. And for others, they don’t even want to listen to the man himself but are simply taking it as gospel from someone else that he was a mean, bigoted man.

To honor and follow the 8^th Commandment, perhaps we can think about some questions: What motivates someone to paint someone else (like a Charlie Kirk) as hateful, as deplorable?  Why would they not want to interact with the one they deem as a bigoted teacher so as to disprove them? Whom have they been listening to and what books have they been reading? Why does this person you know or work with or are related to feel so strongly against a Charlie Kirk? Against the moral precepts of the Church? What has been their experience of the Church? Of the Bible? Have we read dissenting opinions with which we vehemently disagree and learned from them? Am I just as much in an echo chamber as those with whom I disagree? Is there anything redeemable, anything that can be spoken well of, in viewpoints or opinions that conflict with “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude v. 3)?

In asking ourselves such questions I don’t presume the Church, “the pillar and buttress of truth” (1 Timothy 3:15), will give an inch to erroneous teaching, to faulty, misguided, or just lazy opinions from those with whom we disagree. But by asking such questions we continue the hard work of honoring the 8^th Commandment explaining “everything in the kindest way.” Like the people of Nineveh, there are many “who do not know their right hand from their left” (Jonah 4:11). Yet in the midst of all the moral, philosophical, ideological, and theological confusion there remains our Lord Jesus “the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain” (“Old Rugged Cross”). We do what we can until the Lord’s glorious return. We do what we can having “mercy on those who doubt,” hoping to “save others by snatching them out of the fire” (Jude vv. 23-24). We do what we can remembering that “so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all” (Romans 12:18). And we do what we can so that all thoughts may one day be “captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Honoring the 8^th Commandment can help us in that task, as well as crucify any animosity we might also be harboring or hiding.

A FAITH FOR THE STORMS

During my lifetime I have witnessed several high-profile assassinations.  I was in high school when President John F. Kennedy was shot.  I was in college when Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy were killed.  I can remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I first heard about each of these tragedies.  But the one that has affected me the most and has given me the greatest feeling of loss is the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

I am confused and puzzled by some of the things that I have heard people say that Charlie Kirk said.  But still I see him as a man who deeply loved the Lord Jesus, who wanted everyone to know and love Jesus, who had boundless energy and an incredible gift for reaching young people, and who was able to present and defend traditional values and views in a way that made them credible and viable.  And the way that his wife, Erika Kirk, in front of the whole world forgave the man who had killed her husband – because that is what Jesus did – was absolutely astounding.  With her at the helm I am hopeful for the future of that organization.

The death of Charlie Kirk is certainly not the only example of a tragic killing that is a reflection of the political extremism, violent rhetoric, and high levels of hatred that are tearing our nation apart.  Every single one of them should cause us to ask, “How did it get this way and what can be done about it?”  We are living in the worst of storms – social, political, inter-personal, moral, and spiritual storms.  What can help us as God’s people face, endure, and maybe even help calm the storms?  What can give us A FAITH FOR THE STORMS?

We live in Arizona northeast of Phoenix.  Up until a few years ago the area where my wife and I live was open desert.  New homes are being built further and further out into the desert.  Most of the time Arizona is sunny.  But we do have storms.  During the summer monsoon season we have thunderstorms that equal anything I ever experienced in Minnesota.  And we can have very heavy rainfall.  We can have rainfall that makes roads impassable.  While walking our dog I was looking at the way in which the land was graded, desert washes were preserved, and the area was prepared before homes were built.  There are major washes between rows of houses that allow for the flow of very heavy rain without endangering the homes.  Storms will come.  Very intense storms will come.  How can a community be planned so that it is prepared for the storms?  How can we live our lives so that we are ready for the storms?  What can give us A FAITH FOR THE STORMS?

To answer that question I would like to look at the account of two storms in the Gospel of Mark – in chapter 4, where Jesus stills a storm – and chapter 6 – where Jesus walks on water. 

The first thing I notice in both stories is that a storm came into the lives of the disciples even when thy were doing exactly what Jesus had told them to do.
Mark 4: 35 – “When evening had come, Jesus said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’”
Mark 6: 45 – “Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd.”

Obeying Jesus and doing exactly what God tells us to do is not going to protect us from all storms.  And just because a severe storm is happening to us does not mean that we are living outside the will of God.    

 Mark 4: 35-41 – Jesus Stills a Storm

 Verse 37 – “A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped.” 

You might ask the question, Several of the disciples were seasoned fishermen.  How could seasoned fishermen have gotten caught off guard by a storm?  As I understand it, storms that come from the west – from off the Mediterranean Sea – are rainstorms that are accompanied by clouds.  You can see these storms coming.  But storms that come from the east – from off the desert – are windstorms.  There are no clouds that warn you they are coming.  And those winds are only intensified as they rush down the canyons surrounding the Sea of Galilee to a water surface that is several hundred feet below sea level.  I am reminded of what Luke said in Acts 2:2 in his description of Pentecost.  “Suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind.”  The disciples who had been fishermen before they became followers of Jesus certainly knew what it was like to experience a sound like a rush of a violent wind.    

Verse 38 – “But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion, and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’”  When you are going through the storms in your life, have you ever wondered if Jesus is asleep?  Have you ever wondered whether Jesus cares that you were perishing? 

Jesus does care, and Jesus can do something about the storm.  Verse 39 – “He woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Be silent! Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.”

I believe that this was more than just a weather event.  I believe that this was a spiritual event.  This was Satan trying to stop Jesus from advancing into the Gentile world.  And I believe that the political violence, hateful rhetoric, and extreme divisiveness that are disrupting our country and tearing it apart are not just human dynamics.  They are spiritual dynamics.  The Bible tells us that the Thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10: 10).   

 Mark 6:45-51 – Jesus Walks on Water

 And then two chapters later Mark gives us another account of how our relationship with Jesus can give us A FAITH FOR THE STORMS.   Here also a storm came into the lives of the disciples even when they were doing exactly what Jesus had told them to do.  Verses 45-46 – which come right after the feeding of the five thousand – “Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd.  After saying farewell to them, he went up on the mountain to pray.”  There are three things that I would want to say from this account.

 First, Jesus prays for us during the storms.

Whatever storm you are going through right now, Jesus is praying for you just as He was praying for the disciples.  Therefore, Hebrews 4: 16 tells us that we can “approach the throne of grace with boldness,” knowing that there we will “receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”  Jesus intercedes for us in our time of need.  We receive His mercy and grace and help in time of need.   

 Second, Jesus comes to us during the storms.

 Verses 47-48 – “When evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land.  When he saw that they were straining at the oars against an adverse wind, he came towards them early in the morning.” 

The same Jesus who saw that His disciples were straining at the oars against an adverse wind also sees you in all of your struggles.  But notice something.  Sometimes God does not intervene right away.  When evening came, the boat was out on the sea, but Jesus did not come to them until early in the morning.  Sometimes Jesus will not respond and come right away.  But He will always come – never too early and never too late – but just at the right time. 

And then –

Third, Jesus comes to us victorious over our greatest fears.

Verse 48 – “He came towards them, walking on the sea.”  He came to them, walking on top of the very thing that terrified the disciples the most.

Whatever it is that frightens you the most, Jesus is literally on top of.

So, are you concerned for our nation?
Are you troubled by all the political extremism, violent rhetoric, and high levels of hatred?
Does it ever feel to you like Jesus is asleep?
To put it on a personal level, do you ever wonder if He cares about what is happening to you?
Do you ever wonder if He sees your struggles?
Do you ever ask why He does not respond any sooner?

Just look out on the waters.
He is walking on the waves.
He is literally on top of what frightens, threatens, intimidates, unsettles, and upsets you the most.

In the strong Name of Jesus,

Dennis D. Nelson
Executive Director of Lutheran CORE