Last Christian Ministries

Should civil law be based on the Ten Commandments? Is a “Christian nation” a biblical idea? And what does the Lutheran Confessions actually teach about the relationship between Church, State, Law, and Gospel? In this episode, we explore the Lutheran doctrine of the Two Kingdoms and the difference between: • Natural law and revealed law • The Ten Commandments and the Gospel • Civil righteousness an...

In this episode, I present a modernized and abridged reading of Martin Luther’s Church Postil on Matthew 8:1–13. Luther reflects on two powerful examples of living faith and active love: the leper who trusts Christ’s will to cleanse him, and the Roman centurion who believes Christ’s word alone is enough. Luther also addresses the nature of true faith — including the reality of infant faith — showi...

In this episode, we read two powerful selections from Franz Pieper’s Christian Dogmatics, Volume Three (public domain). The first reading addresses a critical question: 👉 Is the State a means of grace? Pieper clearly distinguishes the spiritual kingdom of Christ from the civil kingdom, showing that the State cannot create faith, forgive sins, or dispense salvation. The second reading explores the...

What makes a theologian—not in theory, but in reality? In this episode of The Last Christian Church on Earth, we read from Volume One of Franz Pieper’s Christian Dogmatics on the attainment of theological aptitude, drawing deeply from Martin Luther’s teaching on Oratio (prayer), Meditatio (meditation on the Word), and Tentatio (spiritual trial and suffering). Luther did not believe theology is lea...

In this episode of The Last Christian Church on Earth, we present a newly abridged and modernized version of Martin Luther’s sermon for the Second Sunday after Epiphany on the Wedding at Cana in Galilee (John 2:1–11). Luther preaches to troubled consciences who know what it is to hear God’s promise and yet feel the opposite. When the wine runs out, when joy disappears, and when God seems distant,...

What is Christianity at its very core? In this episode of The Last Christian Church on Earth, we bring you a reverent reading from Franz Pieper’s The Essence of Christianity. Pieper cuts through sentimentality and moralism to proclaim what Christianity truly is: not human striving toward God, but God’s saving action toward sinners in Christ. You’ll hear the sharp Law and the pure Gospel—Christiani...

What is the true Christian worldview—and how does it stand against the spirit of the age? In this episode of The Last Christian Church on Earth, we present a reading of Franz Pieper’s powerful lecture The Right Worldview, originally delivered to the Synod of Delegates in 1923. Pieper cuts through modern confusion with clarity drawn from Holy Scripture, confessing Christ as the center of all truth,...

What does a mercied life actually look like? In this episode of Outlaw Lutheran Podcast, we open Romans 12:6–16 and hear the apostle Paul forge the Church into something sharp, living, and disciplined. These are not soft words for comfortable Christians — they are battle commands for people made new by grace. You’ll hear about: • Gifts that are tools, not trophies • Love without a mask • Fire inst...

In this episode, we read Francis Pieper’s The Difference Between Orthodox and Heterodox Churches, focusing on Thesis III—one of the most rejected and necessary teachings in modern Christianity. Pieper insists that God Himself forbids fellowship with heterodox churches, not only in doctrine but in membership, participation, and every action that strengthens false teaching. Drawing directly from Scr...

In this episode, we examine Thesis VIII of C. F. W. Walther’s Church and Ministry—one of the most uncomfortable and necessary teachings for Christians today. Walther shows from Scripture that the Church is not defined by names, constitutions, or synodical affiliations, but by what is actually taught. We explore the biblical command to flee false teachers, why remaining in fellowship with false doc...

Why does Jesus step into the waters of baptism? What happens when the sinless Son of God stands with sinners? And what does His baptism mean for you? In this sermon for The Baptism of Our Lord, we hear the Gospel clearly proclaimed: Jesus enters the Jordan not because He needs repentance, but because we do. At the river, heaven is opened, the Spirit descends, and the Father declares His love—revea...

In this episode, we read Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article XVI — Civil Affairs in full from the 1580 Book of Concord and unpack one of its most overlooked teachings: that Christians do not seek to change or overthrow existing civil laws, whether written by believers or unbelievers, and that the Church rejects private redress—personal vengeance, vigilante justice, or political subversion...

In this episode of Glory in the Dust, Charles Wiese confronts the most celebrated and most lethal sin: pride. From the garden’s ancient whisper to modern banners of white pride and American pride, we expose the lie that righteousness can come from flesh, nation, achievement, or identity. With Scripture as our plumb line and Luther as our hammer, we hear the Reformer’s warning that boasting in bloo...

Epiphany shines the King of the Jews to the nations — not to the powerful, but to outsiders who are summoned into worship by God’s own Light. In this sermon, Christ is revealed as the star-maker, the idol-toppler, the prayer-hearing God, and the King who will die and rise for sinners. Herod trembles, the Magi kneel, Scripture guides, and faith is sent home by another way — equipped, forgiven, and...

Did the early church teach dispensationalism? Or are modern claims engaging in historical and theological equivocation? In this episode, Charles Wiese dismantles the popular narrative that dispensational eschatology was suppressed by antisemitism. We examine what early Christian millennialists actually believed—showing the absence of any rapture doctrine, secret return of Christ, or land promises...

Long before the hammer struck the Wittenberg door, the blood of the saints had already watered the Church. In this podcast, Charles Wiese leads a deep dive into the pre-Reformation martyrs Martin Luther discussed in his sermons, lectures, and writings. From Jan Hus and Jerome of Prague to the Waldensians, St. Lawrence, Polycarp, and the martyrs under Rome, we examine their witness, their suffering...

The world tolerates religion—but it rages against the Gospel that dethrones human pride and false authority. In this episode, we walk through the history of Lutheran persecution across centuries and continents: from Reformation-era martyrs, imperial bans, and state-church coercion, to the tragic moments when Lutherans turned against their own confessors. We trace the blood-stained path of pastors...

During slavery, Black Christians risked everything to gather in secret churches—hush harbors in the woods, hidden cabins, and night meetings where the Gospel could be proclaimed. In this episode, we explore the history of these illegal Black churches, the spiritual courage of those who worshipped under threat, and the forces—both earthly and spiritual—that sought to silence them. Discover how fait...

When the state forbids what God commands, the church does not revolt—she refuses. This episode explores civil disobedience through the lens of Daniel, the outlaw prophets, and America’s long history of spiritual movements thriving without state permission. Daniel opened his windows and prayed when empire criminalized devotion. The prophets were “outlaws” not for breaking God’s law, but for proclai...

This episode is a watchman’s cry and a Redeemer’s answer. From Isaiah’s plea for heaven to tear open, to God’s revelation of hands stretched out toward rebels, the Word here exposes false hopes, unmasks self-made righteousness, and proclaims a Savior who descends to the unable and seeks the unseeking. Hear God as Father, Christ as Redeemer, and mercy as God’s initiative—not man’s achievement. A me...

At twelve years old, Jesus is found where He must be: in His Father’s house, listening, teaching, obeying, and preparing for His mission to redeem the world. In this episode, we walk into the temple courts, hear the voice of the incarnate Word, and receive clear catechesis on the Second Commandment—learning to honor the Name of the Lord rightly in prayer, praise, and thanksgiving. This sermon proc...

The Church was not born in comfort but in the furnace, and faith is not proven in applause but in flame. In this sermon on 1 Peter 4:12–19, we learn why trials are not strange to the believer, how suffering becomes fellowship when Christ is shared, and why the name Christian is a crown the world cannot strip away. God’s judgment begins at His house—not to condemn His saints, but to refine them. An...

Isaiah 62 is divine resolve forged into promise. In this rhythmic proclamation, we hear the God who refuses silence, rejects rest, and rejoices over His redeemed Bride. The nations do not make Zion glorious—God names her, holds her, and crowns her in His hand. Salvation is not negotiated; it blazes like dawn, and burns like a torch. This sermon unfolds the great Gospel reversals: Forsaken becomes...

Luther called William of Occam his “greatest teacher” — but was he ever an Occamist theologian? Not even close. In this episode we take Occam’s Razor itself and use it to slice through the myth. Luther learned logic from the scholastics, then rejected all philosophy as useless for theology. With irony and history we show that Luther didn’t adopt Occam’s system — he outgrew it, buried it, and repla...

The First Blood of Christ begins the year in obedience, and His saving Name begins the covenant for the world. On the eighth day, the Son of God submits to the Law He gave, receives the sign that binds Him to redeem us, and is publicly named Jesus — YHWH Saves. In this sermon for January 1, Charles Wiese preaches Christ’s circumcision as: the signature of perfect obedience, the inauguration of sub...