ELCA Lutheran pastor’s Christmas sermon: “Mary was raped”

1/19/2026

(The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.)

Pastor David Greenlund of Peace Lutheran Church in a Twin Cities suburb preached a Christmas sermon in which he said that the Gospels teach that Mary was raped (minute 3:07 and 10:20 below). Of course, the Bible teaches that Mary was a virgin and that the Holy Spirit conceived Jesus in her womb. But this pastor states that one option is that Mary was raped by a Roman centurion. Another option is that Mary was unfaithful.

When a Lutheran pastor is ordained, even in the liberal Evangelical Lutheran Church in America of which Pastor Greenland is a part, he promises to uphold the Scriptures and the Creeds. Both the Scriptures and the Creeds teach that “Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary“.

Years ago, I was talking with one of the few conservative professors at the ELCA‘s Luther Seminary from which I graduated. I asked him “Do half of the professors at Luther still believe in the Virgin Birth of Christ?” He replied “Oh no, way less than half.”

When a denomination no longer believes in the Bible and the Creeds of the Church, it is time to leave that denomination. Will the ELCA do anything to discipline Pastor Greenlund? I can pretty much guarantee you the answer is “No.” The ELCA bishop of Minneapolis is a practicing lesbian with a “wife“.
Sincerely in Christ,

Pastor Tom Brock
Pastorsstudy.org

https://youtu.be/l3KbXBUvOTA?si=ByXwWVXE0KXqsRu3

4 Comments

dewey l shaw

1/19/2026 12:19:50 pm

Does this heretic and his "congregation" recite the creeds? Why, in fact would they? The Virgin Mary raped?! Find another line of work, pal. How about cleaning the bathrooms of a brothel, that should fit your mindset.

Didaskalos link

1/19/2026 01:09:31 pm

Martin Luther again pronounces a Biblical rebuke on the Ersatz Lutheran Church in America that illegitimately claims his name:

“. . . we must believe that Christ’s mother was a virgin. The apostle [Paul in Galatians] makes this plain when he declares the Son of God was made of a woman — not of man like other children. He alone among men is born of woman only. . . .

“She [Mary] was selected in her virginity not for her own sake, but for Christ’s sake. He chose to be born of a virgin, that he might be born without sin. A sinless birth was impossible except through the instrumentality of a virgin woman, who was able to conceive and bring forth without the aid of man.

“Such seems to be included in God’s covenant, declaring that all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in the seed of Abraham. From the fact of a blessing being promised, it is evident that men must be under a curse because of their physical birth in sin resulting from Adam. Should this seed of Abraham be a blessing to all, it could not itself be under a curse; therefore, the Savior could not come of Adam’s birth, which is altogether under the curse.

“Further, to verify the testament or covenant of God who cannot lie, Christ must be the natural child of Abraham — his flesh and blood. But to what is such reasoning leading us? Christ is to be a natural child, born of flesh and blood, and yet not to be a child of carnal birth. The inconsistency of the reasoning is removed by the fact that a woman alone, independent of man, was chosen to effect the birth. Thus it was possible for a real, natural child, one truly the seed of Abraham, to be born sinless, of a woman, and productive of abundant blessings. In him, then, mankind, under the curse in consequence of its own sinful birth, may be blessed. Thus, the requirements of God’s covenant are fully met; the carnal birth of Adam with its inordinate desire is avoided, and a physical birth in spiritual manner really effected.”

(“Sunday after Christmas,” Sermons of Martin Luther: The Church Postils [Grand Rapids: Baker], vol. 6, pp. 248-50.)

Theologian Al Mohler is on similarly Biblical ground when he declares: "No true Christian can deny the virgin birth."

". . .Christians must face the fact that a denial of the virgin birth is a denial of Jesus as the Christ. The Savior who died for our sins was none other than the baby who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, and born of a virgin. The virgin birth does not stand alone as a biblical doctrine, it is an irreducible part of the biblical revelation about the person and work of Jesus Christ. With it, the Gospel stands or falls.

“Everyone admits that the Bible represents Jesus as having been conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary. The only question is whether in making that representation the Bible is true or false.” So declared J. Gresham Machen in his great work, The Virgin Birth of Christ. As Machen went on to argue, “If the Bible is regarded as being wrong in what it says about the birth of Christ, then obviously the authority of the Bible in any high sense, is gone.”

"The authority of the Bible is almost completely gone where liberal theology holds its sway. The authority of the Bible is replaced with the secular worldview of the modern age and the postmodern denial of truth itself. The true church stands without apology upon the authority of the Bible and declares that Jesus was indeed “born of a virgin.” Though the denial of this doctrine is now tragically common, the historical truth of Christ’s birth remains inviolate. No true Christian can deny the virgin birth.”

Al Mohler, "Can a Christian Deny the Virgin Birth?" -- http://www.albertmohler.com/2006/12/25/can-a-christian-deny-the-virgin-birth-4/

Born again

1/19/2026 04:06:20 pm

It figures this fake pastor is in Minnesota. Absolute lunatic state.

Jerry

2/2/2026 11:59:30 pm

There's no need for ELCA members to test what their church bdy states if they trust in that body's false claim that their statements are rooted in Scripture. Thus the ELCA can state anything they want, and most of its members will believe it as Gospel truth.
Today the LC}LCA states that Mary was raped, bot because Scripture says so, but because it fits their current paradigm.
In the future, they may state that Jesus was the product of normal sexual relations between Mary and Joseph, and at some point a little further in the future, they could state that Mary conceived Jesus by someone else, such as Zechariah the husband of Elizabeth. Again, not because Scripture says so, but to fulfill some liberal objective the ELCA may have at the moment.
"And when memory failed, and written records were altered--when that happened,)the claim of the Party (in this case the ELCA leadership) to have improved the condition of human life (in this case, the faith life of the ELCA membership) had got to be accepted, because there did not exist, and never again could exist, any standard against which it could be tested."
--George Orwell (1903-1950)

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ELCA Lutheran pastor’s Christmas sermon: “Mary was raped”

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