The Hebrew version of the Bible says there are "Ten Words" (Exodus 34:28) but it does not number them. As a result there have long been three systems of numbering.

The system Lutherans use is the same as the numbering of the Catholic church, which Lutherans simply retained.

The system of splitting the 1st Commandment and combining the 9th and 10th is used by most Protestants.

In the third system the first Word is not a commandment but the introductory formula, "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt." Then there is one command about idolatry and one about coveting.

The Lutheran version does not skip a command, because if all idolatry is forbidden, obviously worshiping images is forbidden. The case for dividing the coveting command is supported by the fact that these commands are in different order in the two versions of the 10 Words in Exodus 20:17 and Deuteronomy 5:21.

Here are some comments from Christian Worship: Manual  (NPH, 1993):

The origins of the feasts of Christmas (December 25) and Epiphany (January 6) are elusive. The word epiphany comes from the Greek and means “appearance,” referring to the appearance of Christ as the Savior (see Titus 3:4). It is almost certainly the older of the two festivals, with the written traces of an Epiphany celebration from Clement of Alexandria at the end of the second century. Other eastern writers confirm the identification of January 6th as the birth date of Jesus. At the same time in various regions of the east the coming of the Magi, the baptism of Christ, and his first miracle at Cana were celebrated on this day. As with the date for Christmas, various explanations have been advanced as to why January 6th was chosen as the Festival of the Epiphany. ...

In the Western church, the Festival of the Epiphany was adopted as the day on which to recall the coming of the Magi to worship the infant King. The twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany came to be known as “the twelve days of Christmas.”

Planning Christian Worship excerpt:
 
The readings during the Epiphany season carry forward the emphasis in the readings for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the theme of Jesus revealing himself to us as God and Savior. At the same time the readings present us with a real conundrum. The conundrum is that he hides the manifestations of his deity, so that his glory remains a secret and a mystery, even while he is revealing it. All the riddles are present in the readings for the Feast of the Epiphany. The theme present in all of the Epiphany readings is: He shows his hidden glory to those he calls. You may notice that in many of the Epiphany season readings appropriation is much easier than application. There is a good reason for that: In Christmas and Epiphany our attention is on getting to know Jesus, who he is and how he works; thus there is not so much emphasis on our response beyond the response of faith, which itself is always seen as his work and not ours.
 
From Proclaim: A Guide for Planning Liturgy and Music (CPH)
 
Not even so rich a feast as Christmas prepares the worshiper for the opulence of Epiphany. At first glance, Epiphany may seem simple and direct: the Magi offer their worship and sacrifices to the Child born on Christmas. But Epiphany is much more.
 
Epiphany is about Christ's birth; it is the nativity celebration of the East.
 
Epiphany is about the Magi, the coming of the Gentiles, as the prophets had proclaimed, to offer gifts as a sign of the end of the division of humankind and the acknowledgment by the nations of Israel's God.
 
Epiphany is about the Baptism of our Lord. Jesus is the true Israelite who crosses the waters of Jordan, conquers the ancient serpent, readies for the baptism of His death and resurrection, is identified as the Lamb of God, declared God's Son and Servant, and anointed by the Holy Spirit with kingly gifts.
 
Epiphany is about Cana, its water turned into wine in anticipation of the wine of the new covenant, the espousal of Christ to the Church, and the eschatological wedding of the Lamb.
 
All this is a part of the history and meaning of the festival. Epiphany is a celebration fit for an Eastern monarch. Everything is in abundance, and a new surprise is hidden behind every veil. Orderly western minds have separated these themes and fixed them to Christmas Day, Epiphany Day, the First Sunday after Epiphany (Baptism of Our Lord), and the Second Sunday after Epiphany (Cana in Series C). Yet, they remain permanent and essential aspects of the festival itself. The historical events we celebrate are the rays of God's glory in history within which He reconciles Himself to us and us to Him. The Light of the world has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen on us. God's Light bathes the feast and drives away all darkness. The festival, indeed, has been called the Feast of Light.
 
The word "Epiphany" refers to the appearance of a god among mortals. The same word was adapted to describe the visit in state of a king to a favored city. He was greeted with pomp. Days were spent in feasting and revelry, all at the king's expense. He granted generous gifts and gave tokens of his favor. All this was his "epiphany." The epiphany of Jesus is the Lord's gracious appearance to His people with signs and wonders and favors given at His own expense.
 
The season of Epiphany opens with the splendor of the festival on January 6. The ancient character of Epiphany Day and the significant role it plays in presenting the Biblical keys to an understanding of Christ's person and work should encourage every congregation to celebrate the festival on January 6 even when it falls on a weekday. If the festival is not celebrated, it remains merely something after which Sundays are counted. (Where sufficient reasons exist for not keeping the festival on January 6, a congregation may consider celebrating it on the Second Sunday after Christmas.)
 
The First Sunday after Epiphany is the Festival of The Baptism of Our Lord. As for Epiphany Day itself, the color for the Baptism is white. We see Christ rise out of the waters of Jordan and the Spirit anoint Him, and we hear the Voice from heaven declare Jesus to be the Beloved Son….
 
The same Voice and words heard at the Baptism of our Lord close the season on the last Sunday after the Epiphany, Transfiguration. On that day Jesus is bathed in the heavenly light proclaimed on Epiphany. Indeed, Jesus is revealed to be the glory of God. Appropriately on this day the color is again white.

The concept of making a deal with the devil or selling one's soul to Satan in exchange for something is rooted in secular literature and folktales, but has no Bible basis. Johann Wolfgang Goethe's fictional Dr. Faustus made such a deal with the devil. Other fictional stories are based on that premise, notably short stories by Washington Irving, (The Devil and Tom Walker) and Stephen Vincent Benet (The Devil and Daniel Webster). To repeat, the Bible has no example of a person “selling his soul” to Satan, and Scripture never implies that making a bargain with the devil is possible.

At the heart of such a concept is some truth and lots of error. The truth part takes Satan seriously. He is powerful, deceptive, and constantly seeking to lead people away from revealed truth of Scripture and saving faith in Jesus Christ. The error in all this forgets that the devil is really not an independent agent and warden of hell; he is an inmate in hell and subject to God's authority and will. Those who do evil and choose to despise Christ and God's gracious will for their faith and faith-life end up joining Satan in opposition to God and will forfeit divine blessings as they receive expressions of God's just judgment just as Satan does and will continue to do. The devil doesn't ultimately cause all this; they do, tragically and unnecessarily. This is their own fault. They really sold their soul to wickedness and forfeited divine blessing.

General word of wisdom: Neither underestimate nor overestimate the power and deceptive nature of the devil. Be alert to his working yet never forget he is already defeated and not an independent agent who enjoys freedom to work evil. And never neglect or underestimate the power and comfort of the gospel of Jesus Christ for ourselves and the world!

Luther did not believe Mary was without sin. In German it was common to refer to her as heilige Jungfrau (holy virgin) but this no different than referring to St. Paul or St. Peter. It also emphasizes that she remained a virgin till Jesus' birth. In Latin Mary was comnonly called semper virgini (always virgin). This was interchangeable in usage with heilige Jungfrau.

There are three theories about Jesus' "brothers and sisters." 1) They were children of Mary and Joseph born after Jesus. 2) They were children of Joseph from a previous marriage. 3) They were cousins of Jesus. Catholics believe theories 2 or 3 for doctrinal reasons. Luther seems to have retained this traditional belief without accepting the sinlessness of Mary. Most WELS teachers believe theory 1 explains the biblical evidence. This is considered an open question.

God's words in Genesis 2:18 teach us that, in general, men and women have needs that are appropriately met within marriage. That doesn't mean that single persons are somehow out of sync with God's will or of lesser value in God's kingdom. We wouldn't think that about St. Paul (or about Jesus himself), would we?

Here we need to understand Scripture's doctrine of vocation--i.e., the teaching that God calls each one of us to a unique role or place in life, from which we offer loving service to him and our neighbor (1 Corinthians 7:17). Singleness is a perfectly legitimate and uniquely blessed calling from God that presents its own special opportunities for service. In fact, as Paul explains (1 Corinthians 7:8, 1 Corinthians 7:32-35), in some situations it may be that a single person can serve in ways that a married person can't.

God often calls us to different roles at different times in our life, and I can't say what he has in store for your future. But I'd like to encourage you to embrace your role as a daughter of the King who, for now, he has chosen to keep single. Undoubtedly he has done this because he loves you and those around you, and right now this is the way that you can serve him and others best.

NIV2011 chooses to avoid the word "saint" because of its potential for misunderstanding. But in Scripture the "saints" are believers (Psalm 85:8-9, Ephesians 1:1)--persons who have been declared "holy" through their faith in Jesus. That includes you and me.

Roman Catholicism denies that all believers are saints, but only certain Christians who were exceptionally devoted to God during their lives on earth. Nobody really knows how many saints and "beatified ones" there are in Roman Catholicism, but some say there are more 10,000. Joseph is a saint; the Virgin Mary is THE saint par excellence.

After a candidate for sainthood dies, his or her life is investigated for faithfulness to Roman Catholic teaching and outstanding piety and virtue. If a special panel of Vatican theologians approves, the candidate is then declared "venerable."

The next step is "beatification." Since the candidate is supposed to be able to help believers on earth from his or her place in heaven, the candidate needs to demonstrate this by performing a miracle after his or her death (except in the case of martyrs). If a miracle takes place, the candidate is declared "beatified," meaning that "veneration" of him or her is permitted (not commanded) in a particular area of the church (not everywhere).

The next step is "canonization," which the pope may declare if another miracle takes place. Canonization makes the person a "saint" who must be venerated as such by the whole church.

In Roman Catholicism, the saints are persons who acquired more merit while on earth than they needed for their own salvation. They can therefore share this "excess" merit with other believers (Catechism of the Catholic Church 956) and help in their salvation. Roman Catholics are taught to ask the saints to pray for them (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2683), and the saints' prayers are said to be much more efficacious than those of believers still on earth.

Despite the fact that they address prayers directly to saints in the second person, Roman Catholics sometimes claim that this is praying "with" the saints rather than "to" them. In a similar way, Rome teaches people to venerate the saints, direct prayers to them, expect help from them, and attribute to them a role in our salvation--and yet denies that this amounts to "worship." You be the judge.

it is certainly highly commendable to honor those believers who have gone before us, to rejoice that together with them we make up one Church, and to look to their earthly lives as examples for us to follow. The fundamental problem with Rome's teaching about the "saints" is the problem with Rome's teaching in general--its denial that, by faith in Jesus Christ, all believers have already been declared as "saintly" as we need to be to enjoy eternal life with God.

You're right to be concerned about this person. What they're saying sounds like a misconception about "church" that's very common in American consumer-culture: the idea that we go to church in order to "get something out of it," the "something" being defined as a sudden rush of religious feelings. Many churches capitalize on this idea very skillfully, offering the worshiper an experience that differs very little from a pep rally or rock concert. Worshipers are then taught to interpret the emotions they feel as an experience of the presence of God. But things are not always what they seem.

In my view, two teachings of Scripture need to be emphasized with your friend: who we are, and where God is. When the message of the Gospel starts sounding like "the same-ol' same-ol," usually it's because our sense of how deeply we need God's forgiveness has faded, and we need to wake it up. Encourage your friend to spend quality time in prayerful self-examination according to the law of God and to go deeper than just "the big stuff." Think about the hundreds of unclean and unkind thoughts that flash through our minds every day. Think about how subtly and skillfully we turn every discussion to make it all about "me." Think about our shocking neglect of our neighbor and their needs, spiritual and emotional as well as physical. Think carefully about what God says each one of these sins deserves; and if we're at all unclear about what they deserve, take a good, long look at our Savior on his cross. When we really understand who we are and what we've done, we won't take a "ho-hum" attitude toward the proclamation of God's forgiveness. We'll willingly die for it.

Then, encourage your friend to think about where God says he wants to be found. As our Lutheran fathers put it, the last thing you as a sinful human want is a direct and genuine experience of God apart from the means he has appointed. Those means are the spoken word of the Gospel, the water and word of Holy Baptism, the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper. In the Lord's Supper, for instance, we have the body and blood of the Lord Jesus himself placed on our tongues (Matthew 26:26-28). In this life, a more direct and genuine experience of the presence of God isn't possible; and whether or not we feel his presence there has nothing to do with anything.

All this isn't to excuse congregations that offer boring and lifeless worship week after week. But the way to enliven worship isn't to repackage it as a pep rally or rock concert. The way to enliven worship is through a lively sense on everybody's part that God is here in the means of grace, offering himself and his pardon to guilty sinners--and we know it, not because we can feel it, but because he promised it. When we truly understand that, we'll usually find our religious feelings pretty much taking care of themselves.

This is the subject for a book not for a brief reply. We would have to go through all the prophecies. The New Testament clearly shows how the prophecies were fulfilled in Christ.

The real issue is what kind of kingdom the Old Testament talks about, a kingdom of the gospel or a kingdom of the sword. The key question is: What is the way of salvation that God offered to people living then? As Paul shows in Romans 4, the way of salvation in the Old Testament was by faith not by works. When the Jews lost the view of salvation by faith alone, they could no longer understand the prophecies. Also Romans 9-11 teaches that not all Jews are the spiritual Israel, but only those who have the faith of Abraham are heirs of the promise.

There is actually very little about this in the Torah, so it is hard to know what you are referring to. Most Jewish millennial ideas come from the latter prophets not the Torah. Where in the Torah do you see these things?

Catholics try to make a distinction between the highest form of worship which is given only to God and a lower form of veneration or adoration given to the saints. Mary receives something in between the two.

That this is simply a word game and not a valid distinction is clear from looking at the content of the prayers to Mary. These prayers do not simply congratulate her on being the mother of God. They ask her to play the role of being an assistant in obtaining salvation for people. Calling this by a different name does not change its nature. It is worship which is idolatrous.

The fact that Catholics call it by a different name cannot excuse it. If people make this claim, ask them to show you a prayer book with the prayers to Mary and ask them to explain how these prayers can be understood as anything less than worship.