LC-MS: VDMA or VDME, on the sleeve or in the heart?

      It has been noticed on occasion that some commenters on Lutheran forums and blogs use the tag line VDMA, letters which in Latin mean “The Word of the Lord Remains Forever.” C. F. W. Walther inserted a short blurb in his Der Lutheraner that recounts a conversation about this during the time of the Reformation, vol. 39 (1883), p. 62:

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Verbum Domini Manet In Æternum,

that is in German [English]:

The Word of the Lord Remains Forever.

John the Steadfast, Elector of Saxony, once chose these words as his motto and had the first letters of the same V. D. M. I. Æ. to be embroidered on the sleeves of his servants' skirts, which Landgrave Philip of Hesse then also did. When both appeared with their servants at the Imperial Diet in Augsburg in 1530, they had to endure much ridicule because of this. Among others, Bishop Matthäus Lange of Salzburg mockingly called out to the landgrave: “Your beloved ones confess: Verbum Domini Manet Im Aermel (The Word of the Lord remains in your sleeve)”; to which the landgrave quickly served the Bishop with the answer: “Your beloved ones understand this injustice; we have therefore put it thus: Verbum Diaboli Manet In Episcopis (the Word of the Devil remains in the Bishops)”; to which salted answer the bishop fell silent. A narrator of this story nicely adds, “Whether now, indeed, reportedly the papists only made a mockery of these words at first, they had at last to learn that God's Word remained firm not only on the sleeve, but also in the heart.” W. [Walther]

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      This account deals with the Lutherans against the papists at Augsburg, but I could not help thinking of today's LCMS which ostensibly wants to be known as conserving the "Word of the Lord", yet equivocates on that Word in so many ways, and no longer defends against the Antichrist, the Pope.  I challenge the newly elected President of Concordia Seminary, Prof. Dr. Thomas J. Egger to steer his seminary back…, back…, Back To Luther.