Happy Fourth of July and Christmas in July!
The Reverend Doctor Jordan Cooper Reflections: The Reverend Doctor Jordan Cooper was born on June 3, 1987 and he has a wife, Lisa, whom he married on December 19, 2010. Dr. Cooper and Lisa have two young sons, who are called Jacen and Benjamin. Dr. Cooper was raised and baptized in the Reformed Tradition, but his wife Lisa was raised and baptized Lutheran. Not only did his wife's religious heritage help Dr. Cooper become Lutheran, but he personally saw a lot of flaws in the Reformed Tradition aka Calvinism.
Dr. Cooper has had an interesting educational journey. Dr. Cooper graduated from Pioneer Valley Christian School in Springfield, Massachusetts with his high school diploma in 2005. Dr. Cooper graduated with his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Biblical Studies from Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania in 2010. Dr. Cooper graduated with three Masters Degrees, Masters of Theology (Patristics) and Masters of Theology from The Wittenberg Institute in Everett, Washington in 2012, and a Masters in Theological Studies from The American Lutheran Theological Seminary. Dr. Cooper graduated with his Ph.D. in Theology from the South African Theological Seminary in 2019 and this is Dr. Cooper's crowning achievement in my humble opinion.
Dr. Cooper has been involved in several good Lutheran ministries over the years. Dr. Cooper has served as Pastor of Hope Lutheran Church in Brighton, Iowa and as Pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Watseka, Illinois. Dr. Cooper taught classes for Christian Union at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York but sadly due to funding issues caused by the Corona Virus Dr. Cooper was laid off in August 2020. His wife Lisa also worked for the Christian Union ministry, but she was also laid off due to the Corona Virus killing funds. This Christian Union should not be confused with the conservative Methodist-style church body called Christian Union, which I was raised in. Dr. Cooper is the President of Just and Sinner, which is both a Lutheran publishing house and a Lutheran podcast. Reverend Lewis Polzin is the Vice President of Just and Sinner, the Pastor of St. Peter-Immanuel Lutheran Church and School (LCMS) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and a friend of Dr. Cooper's. Reverend Matthew Fenn is the Secretary of Just and Sinner, the Pastor of St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Stratford, Ontario. Just and Sinner has an online Lutheran educational ministry called The Weidner Institute, which was named in honor of the American Lutheran Theologian, who was called Revere Franklin Weidner. Dr. Cooper also teaches classes for The Weidner Institute.
Dr. Cooper has become friends with several fine Lutheran pastors. Dr. Cooper is friends with the Reverend Doctor Matthew Harrison, who is the President of The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS). Dr. Cooper is friends with Reverend George Borghardt, who is the President of Higher Things, Inc., former Senior Pastor of Zion Lutheran Church (LCMS) in McHenry, Illinois, and current Pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church (LCMS) in Bossier City, Louisiana. Dr. Cooper is friends with Reverend Joshua Sullivan, who is the pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church (ELDONA) in Kerrville, Texas and the Host of the YouTube Channel "Ask the Pastor." Dr. Cooper is friends with Reverend Bryan Wolfmueller, who is the Pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church (LCMS) in Austin, Texas and Jesus Deaf Church in Austin Texas and who is Host of the YouTube Channel "Bryan Wolfmueller," and who is an author. Dr. Cooper is friends with FLAME the famous rapper, who used to be Reformed, but FLAME became an LCMS Lutheran after attending Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana to earn a Masters of Arts in Theology. Dr. Cooper is friends with Reverend Curtis Leins, who is the Presiding Pastor of The American Association of Lutheran Churches (AALC). The AALC is the church body in which Dr. Cooper serves.
Dr. Cooper is a Confessional Lutheran in The American Association of Lutheran Churches (AALC) and The AALC is the sister church body of The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS), which is my church body. Dr. Cooper and I are both consecrationists in Confessional Lutheranism's Holy Communion Debate. Consecrationism is the camp within Confessional Lutheranism, which believes, teaches, and confesses, that the Bread and Wine become the literal Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, when the Words of Institution are read during the Mass. Receptionism is the camp within Confessional Lutheranism, which believes, teaches, and confesses, that the Bread and Wine do not become the literal Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, until the congregation tastes the Bread and Wine in their mouths. The debate in Confessional Lutheranism is not, whether or not the Bread and Wine become the literal Body and Blood of Jesus, rather when this Great Mystery takes place.
Dr. Cooper is also a Classical Theist, which means, that Dr. Cooper believes, teaches, and confesses, that Yahweh and the Holy Spirit do not human bodies, since They are both Spirits. However, I must respectfully disagree with Dr. Cooper on this point, because in Genesis Chapters 1 and 2 talk about how Yahweh, Who is referred to as simply "God," created man in The Image of Yahweh, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. I interpret that to mean, that Yahweh, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, while They are Spirits, all look like men, since They Created Adam in Their Image. Granted I am referring to pre-Incarnate Jesus, when I am discussing Jesus creating the world with Yahweh and the Holy Spirit. I am a Theistic Personalist, since I believe, teach, and confess this. This is one of the few areas, which I disagree with Dr. Cooper.
Dr. Cooper is a radically opposed to the Flat Earth Movement in American Christianity today. While I agree with Dr. Cooper, that the earth is round, I really do not care, whether the earth is round or flat, because this does nothing to save a person' soul from death, Hell, Satan, Satan's demons, Original Sin from Adam and Eve, or their own personal sins. Only Jesus' Death on the True Cross saves people from all of these things and this Salvation is freely given away by Yahweh, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit as a Free Gift in the waters of Holy Baptism, in Confession and Absolution, and in Faith, which is given to Christians as a Gift from the Holy Spirit. When it comes to a similar issue to Flat Earth vs. Round Earth, Dr. Cooper believes, teaches, and confesses Young Earth Creationism basically the same as us LCMS Lutherans, but he personally does not get involved with the Creationism vs. Evolution Debate, as we LCMS Lutherans do. Ironically, but not disrespectfully, I will turn our attention again to Genesis Chapters 1 and 2.
Let us read Genesis Chapters 1 and 2:
“1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3 And God said, ‘Let there be light:’ and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light ‘Day,’ and the darkness He called ‘Night.’ And the evening and the morning were the first day.
6 And God said, ‘Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.’ 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters, which were under the firmament from the waters, which were above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament ‘Heaven.’ And the evening and the morning were the second day.
9 And God said, ‘Let the waters under the Heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear:’ and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land ‘Earth;’ and the gathering together of the waters called He ‘Seas:’ and God saw, that it was good. 11 And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth:’ and it was so.12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw, that it was good.
13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.14 And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens, to give light upon the earth:’ and it was so.16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: He made the stars also. 17 And God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth, 18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
20 And God said, ‘Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature, that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heavens.’ 21 And God created great whales, and every living creature, that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw, that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.’ 23And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
24 And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind:’ and it was so.25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw, that it was good.
26 And God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our Image, after Our Likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.’ 27 So God created man in His Own Image, in the Image of God created He him; male and female created He them.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, ‘Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing, that moveth upon the earth.’
29 And God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything, that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat:’ and it was so. 31 And God saw everything, that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
2 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His Work, which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His Work, which He had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His Work, which God created and made.
4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth, when they were created in the day, that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. 6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. 8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the man, whom He had formed.9 And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree, that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. 11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it, which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; 12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. 13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it, that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it, which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.
15 And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day, that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.’
18 And the Lord God said, ‘It is not good, that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. 19 And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see, what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. 20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 22 And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made He a woman, and brought her unto the man. 23 And Adam said, ‘This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.’ 25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed” (KJV 1611).
MAILING CHECKS TO ME FOR BOOKS: I am now accepting checks through the mail for $15 for copies of each book: The Rising of The Moon Book 1: Changing Tides Part 1, The Rising of The Moon Book 1: Changing Tides Part 2, and The Rising of The Moon Book 2: Faith, Hope, and Love. $15 checks will cover the cost of each book and shipping. Please include a note with your on which books you want to buy off of me with your check. Checks may be written out to me, James O'Flannery, and mailed to James O'Flannery 1524 Crayton Avenue Lima, Ohio 45805. I also can meet up with you, if you live in the following Ohio communities, Lima, Cridersville, Vaughnsville, Fort Jennings, Columbus Grove, St. Marys, Delphos, and Ottoville, and sell you books directly.
Book Signing and Table Sale at The Pony Keg on the corner of 117 and Shawnee Road in Lima, Ohio Saturday July 11, 2020:
- Brad of The Pony Keg got back with me with the date and we agreed on Saturday July 11, 2020 from 11 AM to 5 PM for my book signing and table sale. I will be signing copies of my Christian Romance Novels The Rising of The Moon Book 1: Changing Tides Part 1, The Rising of The Moon Book 1: Changing Tides Part 2, and The Rising of The Moon Book 2: Faith, Hope, and Love and, if I still have copies of it by that time, then I will sign copies of my Greek and Roman Mythology book A Survey of Classical Mythology as well. I will sell face masks for $5 a piece. I will sell some used books. I will bring my Angel Statues to sell and I might have a few nice surprises for sale as well. The date is July 11, 2020 the time will be 11 AM to 5 PM. Fat Kid BBQ and/or another great food vendor will be outside selling food and I will be in the A/C, so come inside and cool off and get yourself, your friends, and family members some new and used books, face masks, and Angel Statues at The Pony Keg!
July 2020 Book Signings:
1. I'll be having a book signing at The Pony Keg on the corner of 117 and Shawnee Road on Saturday July 11, 2020 from 11 AM to 5 PM.
2. I'll be having a book at The Menagerie at 1178 Indiana Avenue in the St. Marys Business Complex in St. Marys, Ohio on Saturday July 18, 2020 from 11 AM to 5 PM.
August 2020 Book Signings: TBA
October 2020 Book Signing(s):
1. I'll be having a book signing at the Vaughnsville Craft and Vendor Show at the Vaughnsville Community Center in Vaughnsville on Saturday October 31, 2020 (Reformation Day) from 11 AM to 5 PM.
Vaughnsville Craft and Vendor Show: I will be hosting the 2020 Vaughnsville Craft and Vendor Show on Saturday October 31, 2020 from 11 AM to 5 PM at the Vaughnsville Community Center on State Route 12 in Vaughnsville, Ohio. I'm still looking for vendors to come and sell their merchandise. I'm pretty much open to anything family-friendly, legal, and clean, but homemade baked goods and craft items are preferred. Please see my "2020 Vaughnsville Craft and Vendor Show: Vendor Entry Form" blog post for more information:
https://ohioirishlutheranpress.com/blogs/news/vaughnsville-craft-and-vendor-show-vendor-entry-form
Stores Carrying My Books: My books, which I’ve written and published, are also available at the following stores: Brunner News Agency on Flanders Avenue in Lima, Ohio, Jen's Furniture and Collectibles (JFC) on the corner of High Street and Chestnut Street in St. Marys, Ohio, The Menagerie at 1178 Indiana Avenue in the St. Marys Business Complex in St. Marys, Ohio, Readmore Hallmark Stores out at Eastgate Plaza and on Elm Street in Lima, Ohio, Wagner’s IGA Grocery Store in Minster, Ohio, and in the Shop section of my website ohioirishlutheranpress.com .
My Green Irish Angel Statues: My Green Irish Angel Statues are really cute! They are only $1 each and they make great gifts. I have three kinds: 1. Cross-Bearing Angels, 2. Praying Angels, and 3. Angels Holding Butterflies. I like the Cross-Bearing Angels the best, because they are carrying Crosses. Each one bearing a Cross reminds us, that Jesus died on the True Cross to save every single person from death, Hell, Satan, Satan's Demons, Original Sin from Adam and Eve, and their personal sins. They're available exclusively at Jen's Furniture and Collectibles (JFC) on the corner High Street and Chestnut Street in between Circle K Gas Station and Zion Lutheran Church (NALC) in St. Marys, Ohio.
Thank you!
James W. O’Flannery, President and Founder of Ohio Irish Lutheran Press (OIL Press)
Photo Credit: Reverend Doctor Jordan Cooper's timeline on Facebook