From Amish/Mennonite country – a Lutheran confession?

I'm interrupting this series of posts on Walther on Justification because I want to illustrate Walther's teaching with a most heartening public confession of faith by a man located in the heart of Amish/Mennonite country in Holmes County, Ohio.  Although the Amish and Mennonites are sadly works oriented, yet God in His mercy breaks through that confusion on occasion to work a true faith in the Gospel by His Word.

I learned of this public confession during a trip to this part of Ohio recently.  While we were shopping at a bulk food store, I picked up a brochure and later read it in our hotel room.  My heart leaped with joy over the words that this man wrote on one of the pages.  The owner Curt Yoder of the Ashery Country Store, in spite of a synergistic confusion where he speaks of a decision to accept Christ, powerfully speaks of a Christian faith.  His essay is entitled The Power of Today and I bring an excerpt from it below:

If you have never experienced the peace of God's salvation in your life "Today" is your opportunity.  To start let's look to God's Word the Bible in Romans 3:23 where it says, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God".  At some point in our lives we have ALL broken God's law, and somehow we need to be justified so we can have Eternal Life.  God in His great love for us gave us His son as a sacrifice for our sin.  John 3:16 says: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."  Romans 10:13 says: "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."  Saved from what? Saved from hell!  I cannot have enough good works to get me to heaven.  It's only through the blood that Jesus shed on the cross for my sins and yours that we can have Eternal Life.

I tell you this man, whether he calls himself a Lutheran or not, knows far more than the great Berthold von Schenk (who did call himself "Lutheran") about the Doctrine of Justification, about Christianity!

Yes, Curt Yoder, you are a Lutheran whether you know it or not, because you fairly sum up the Lutheran Doctrine of Justification in your public confession of faith.  May you continue in God's Word and take to heart the following passage:

Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,... –  John 15:16