Do Lutherans have apparitions/stigmata/paranormal experiences?

[Jennifer132]

Just wondering if these things are unique to Catholicism and also if Lutherans experience these things and how they view them?

 

[gcnuss]

I am not aware of any such experiences among Lutherans, but I won’t say that it is impossible.

 

[Bruised_Reed]

I had a book “I Saw the Lord” that had accounts of apparitions of Jesus to many non-Catholics.

 

[ComplineSanFran]

I am not aware of any such experiences among Lutherans, but I won’t say that it is impossible.

I don’t want to make light of the question, nor of Lutherans in general, but my mind flashed to Garrison Keillor and his Prairie Home Companion. He introduces Lake Wobegon, and for the life of me, I cannot imagine what those good Minnesota Lutherans would do with an apparition or stigmata. LOL. No, I think not.

 

[Belshazzar]

I don’t want to make light of the question, nor of Lutherans in general, but my mind flashed to Garrison Keillor and his Prairie Home Companion. He introduces Lake Wobegon, and for the life of me, I cannot imagine what those good Minnesota Lutherans would do with an apparition or stigmata. LOL. No, I think not.

I’m aware of one Minnesota Lutheran who was allegedly a stigmatic. Her name was Elsie Nilsson Gjessing.

Unfortunately, all the references I can find about this person point to a brief paragraph in a book called Padre Pio, The True Story by C. Bernard Ruffin. Ruffin, a Lutheran clergyman claims that she received the stigmata as a child in Sweden and among other things, talked with Jesus Christ and Martin Luther. Personally, I feel dubious about this whole thing. I feel surely that a Lutheran stigmatist would have been a first of her kind and surely there would be more information available about her and her life, even if she “shunned publicity” as Ruffin (rather conveniently) claims.

Mind you, I’m not claiming this is impossible. All is possible with God. The Church makes no claims that the stigmata or any other form of these charisms is exclusive only to Catholics. I would just like to see at least one more reference about this lady that isn’t directed back to that passage of the aforementioned book. Until then, I have my doubts.