"Christ is our Aaron and high priest, and we should let him alone rule. But ... [the] bishops will not allow that. They have established themselves and wish to take the reins of government by force, having set themselves against Christ.... [T]he people imagine that these idle fellows are the best part, the jewels of Christendom; while they are mere shame-spots and an abomination.... They feed the sheep not, but are wolves who devour the sheep. They are the 'clouds' floating above in the air, they sit high in the church, as those who should preach, and yet they do not preach, but permit Satan to carry them hither and thither.... They are 'wandering stars,' planets as they are called, that go backward and not in a steady, straight course. So these bishops have no regular course, their lives and teachings are mere error, in which they are misled and they mislead all who follow them. Therefore 'the blackness of darkness' has been reserved for them forever.'" (Martin Luther, COMMENTARY ON PETER & JUDE [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel Publications, 1990], pp.296-297).

I don't have a big problem if a church whose basis is extreme, takes extreme positions (think Unitarians). The members of those churches know what is going on and suppport it. But I wonder how many folks sitting in the pews of that rural ECLA church, the same church that their family has been going to since 1910, know that when they drop money in the collection plate, that some of that money goes to support anti-Semitic causes.

Here's a sampling of what the Koran says about the Jews:

"...some of those to whom the Scriptures were given threw the Book of God behind their backs as if they knew it not: and they followed what the Satans read in the reign of Solomon: not that Solomon was unbelieving, but the Satans were unbelieving. Sorcery did they teach to men..." (Sura 2:95-96).

"...if the people of the Book had believed, it had surely been better for them.... Shame shall be stamped upon them wherever found.... And the wrath of God will they incur, and poverty shall be stamped upon them! This--for that they believed not in the signs of God, and slew the prophets unjustly: This--because they rebelled, and became transgressors." (Sura 3:106, 108).

"We gave of old the Scriptures and wisdom to the line of Abraham, and we gave them a grand kingdom: --Some of them believe on the prophet [Mohammad] and some turn from him: --the flame of Hell is their sufficing punishment! Those who disbelieve our signs we will in the end cast into the fire: so oft as their skins shall be well burnt, we will change them for fresh skins, that they may taste the torment. Verily God is Mighty, Wise!" (Sura 4:57-59).

"O people of the Book! do ye not disavow us only because ... most of you are doers of ill? Say: Can I announce to you any retribution worse that that which awaiteth them with God? They whom God hath cursed and with whom He hath been angry--some of them hath He changed into apes and swine; and they who worship Thagout are in evil plight, and have gone far astray from the right path." (Sura 5:64-65).

"Of all men thou wilt certainly find the Jews, and those who join other gods with God, to be the most intense in hatered of those who believe...." (Sura 5:85).

"Say: O ye Jews, if ye profess that ye rather than other men are the friends of God, then wish for death if ye are men of truth." (Sura 62:6).

"But the unbelievers among the people of the Book, and among the Polytheists, shall to into the fire of Gehenna to abide therein for aye. Of all creatures are they the worst!" (Sura 98:5; Rodwell translation & verse numbering).