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Faithless Jay Webber Would Have Prevented Kokomo, Maybe Even Pearl Harbor

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Graduation ceremonies for ILT were held at a Steak N Shake.

David Jay Webber I would maintain that it was an improper dissecting of the doctrine that led to the controversy. If the whole doctrine had been kept together with balanced and careful explanations, and if there had never been any talk of God looking into hell and declaring that everyone there has the status of a saint, this controversy would likely never have started. And those who now deny the genuine doctrine of objective and subjective justification would likely not have been drawn toward that error.
***

GJ - As one pastor wrote me, "All the UOJ terminology and language comes after the Reformation, so why would I conclude that UOJ is faithful to Luther and the Book of Concord?"

OJ and SJ come from the Calvinist translator of the Halle Pietist's lectures.

Once again, the defense of UOJ is vague and accusatory, lacking in substance, easily punctured. Webber wants to reject - on his own - the very dogmas he embraces by being Buchie's counselor on Universal Absolution without Faith.



WELS Announces Unhinged Fanatic Award

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This is our Ma and Pa Kettle portrait from a few years ago.
We are nearing our 47th wedding anniversary.
WELS is calling me "an unhinged fanatic" now. Mrs. Ichabod asked, "Does that make me one, too?"

When your daughter's greatest joy was a push in the swing,
synodical slander means nothing.

Getting Near 4.5 Million Total Page Views. 7,300 in Two Days. Top Views for the Last 7 Days. LCMS Arrest Leads

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WELS Discussions - Daniel Baker Shows Oh! Jay Webber How To Discuss Theology - From the Scriptures and From the Senior Concordist

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Comments
Joe Jewell I've been trying to read more Chemnitz... the one I'm on now is "Ministry, Word, and Sacraments: An Enchiridion". Which is this one from?
Like311 hrs
Daniel Baker This is from his Loci Theologici, which I believe are being published as vols. 7-8 in the CPH "Chemnitz' Works" Series.
Like311 hrs
Benjamin Radtke Really this is another way to describe the distinction between law and gospel. The law always proclaims condemnation for all and the gospel always proclaims justification for all. They are both completely objective and eternal and immutable.
Like210 hrs
Daniel Baker What part of "this man went down to his house justified rather than the other" proclaims "justification for all?" Unless you mean in the sense that the Throne of Grace was there for him, but by virtue of his unbelief he remained before the tribunal of justice in condemnation?
Like10 hrsEdited
Benjamin Radtke That's Chemnitz's entire point. The first throne constantly calls out "guilty". The second throne constantly calls out "not guilty". The man was condemned, not because the second throne was not calling out "not guilty", but because he refused "to use the benefit of the calling".
Daniel Baker Yes, it is true that the Throne of Grace, that Mercy Seat, is forever availing whether we believe it or not. However, if we do not appeal to it, then we do not have part in its benefits, and are in no wise justified. For the converse, everyone is born in a state of condemnation before the tribunal of justice, until such time as he appeals by faith to the Throne of Grace.
Benjamin Radtke I don't disagree with anything you just wrote. Nor do I believe that the proper teaching of UOJ disagrees with with you just wrote.
Like210 hrs
Daniel Baker The term "UOJ" has historically referred to the notion that God has declared the entire world of sinners righteous and forgiven in his heart, as Sig Becker wrote in his essay "Universal Justification," to wit: "The term universal or general justification is self-explanatory. By this term we mean to say that God has justified, declared righteous, or acquitted, the whole world of sinners, or, in other words, that God has in His heart forgiven the sins of all men. An alternate term for universal justification in our circles has been, for many decades, 'objective justification.'"

This stands at complete odds with the notion that everyone is born convicted and condemned before the tribunal of justice, and the words of Christ, who specifically says that the Pharisee (who is part of the "whole world of sinners") was not justified.

Like10 hrsEdited
Rik Krahn II Although I've never met Sig Becker, and granting that he may have overstated in these areas, you seem to be saying that he would deny universal, complete depravity. Is that what you're saying? That seems like a pretty significant charge.
Like210 hrs
Benjamin Radtke Well right, the two things are at odds because law and gospel are at odds, so to speak. We don't try to make the two things fit together logically. The law says what it says absolutely and the gospel says what it says absolutely.
Like210 hrs
Rik Krahn II Benjamin Radtke I believe you've just stated what I think is the crux of this debate - attempts to make law and gospel fit together logically. It's why this debate never gets anywhere.
Like310 hrs
Daniel Baker Chemnitz (and by proxy Jesus) could not be clearer in saying that the Publican started convicted and condemned like the Pharisee, but moved to the Throne of Grace, ceasing his condemnation and ensuring his acquittal. They are also equally clear in saying that the Pharisee is NOT justified.
Daniel Baker Now I remember why I gave up debating this topic. As I said, the Chemnitz citation and the Words of our Lord recorded by St. Luke could not be clearer. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other."
Like110 hrs
Benjamin Radtke Rik Krahn II and I are not disagreeing in the slightest with the clear words of Christ.
Like110 hrs
Daniel Baker Glad to hear it! But the notion that "all are justified" clearly does. Since the Pharisee would be part of all. And Jesus says he is not justified.
Benjamin Radtke But again, law and gospel say two different, contradictory things. At this very moment, the law says that you will be condemned to hell for your sin. At this very moment, the gospel says that you will be saved for the sake of Christ. Your argument seems to be that it has to be one or other, that it can't be both.
Like210 hrs
Benjamin Radtke Also, when you're talking about an individual (like the Pharisee) we're automatically in the realm of the subjective. In which sphere was this Pharisee? The sphere of the law or the sphere of the gospel? Clearly, he was in the sphere of the law, which...See More
Like29 hrs
Daniel Baker The Law and the Gospel are not mutually exclusive. I'm not sure I'd call them inherently contradictory either. The Law tells us what duties we owe to God. The Gospel tells us that Christ fulfilled the Law on our behalf.

Yes, I would argue that one cannot be simultaneously condemned and justified. While the Law and the Gospel are simultaneously true, as you say we can only be in one sphere. Either we're under the Law or we're under grace. The Pharisee was under the Law, and so was condemned. The Publican, under grace and forgiven (justified). They were not simultaneously condemned/justified.

Like9 hrsEdited
Benjamin Radtke In a perfect world, you're right, law and gospel are not contradictory. But in a fallen world they are, since no one can do the duties owed to God, and thus the law always accuses and kills--not because there's something wrong with the law, but because...See More
Like9 hrsEdited
Daniel Baker I'm still not sure how that is a contradiction? The fact that the immutable will of God always accuses is not opposed to the work of Christ.

Saying that the tribunal of justice and Throne of Grace exist simultaneously is not akin to saying that all ...See More

Like8 hrsEdited
Nick Haasch Alright....I've had this post written and sitting here unposted for several minutes. This whole debate feels like poor use of language. As one who desires to speak with greater clarity I submit the following:

I do not wish to belabor a point, but perh...See More

Like38 hrs
Benjamin Radtke I still think Luther is the clearest on this. There's the acquisition and the distribution. Christ acquired/won/achieved/created the throne/sphere/message/treasure. It exists in Christ and because of Christ whether or not anyone knows or believes it. I...See More
Like38 hrs
Daniel Baker Yes well, the contention i make is that it is not objectively or subjectively true to say that God has declared anyone righteous apart from faith. So the world is not declared righteous/absolved, but rather stands condemned.
Like7 hrs
Rik Krahn II Benjamin Radtke I don't think anyone would disagree with what you just wrote, which is why I get frustrated with this whole discussion. What you say is accurate, true, Scriptural, and non-contested (for the most part). The only thing we can't agree o...See More
Like37 hrs
Benjamin Radtke Rik Krahn II, I totally agree. That's why I used so many options/choices/terms. There's this salvation-thing, whatever you want to call it, that Jesus won through his death and resurrection and distributes through his Word and Sacraments. Simple as that.
Like27 hrs
Andrew Schroer I've always wondered if it would be clearer to say that justification has both an objective and subjective aspect to it rather than using two different terms: objective justification and subjective justification as if there were two different justifications... Just a thought.
Like17 hrs
Rik Krahn II Andrew Schroer I think that would be a step in the right direction, and I think it's accurate, but I'm not sure it would be satisfactory to the anti-UOJers. They are convinced that Scripture never uses the term justification in any sort of an objectiv...See More
Like7 hrs
Nick Haasch Further clarification question if I may: the objective side of justification would be the objective fact that Jesus has truly paid for the sins of all people in in Christ there is forgiveness, life and salvation for all. isn't that just atonement?
Like37 hrs
Rik Krahn II Nick Haasch To my understanding, yes. Which is why I wouldn't go to the mat to defend the *term* objective justification. I think we could lose the term and still have the truth. I'm not yet ready to say that we *should* lose the term, just that I think we *could.* All my talking aside, though, I don't claim to be an expert...
Like67 hrs
Nick Haasch Thank you Rik. I've appreciated your level-headed discussion so far. in fact, this has been a very cordial discussion of what sadly has become a "don't touch it" topic for far too many. As stated my goal is simply to use the clearest language possible to reflect Scriptural truth.
Like37 hrs
Benjamin Radtke Here's Marquart on Luther's "grand equation":

"Grace equals forgiveness equals justification equals redemption equals reconciliation equals propitiation. These are theological not philological equivalents. Of course the words...mean different things--but they refer to the same theological reality, though from different angles or aspects of it. This is not scholarly carelessness on Luther’s part, but pastoral meat-and-potatoes orientation. Impatient with everything frilly and pedantic, Luther concentrates massively on the gospel essentials--and with him the Lutheran church."

So, yes, objective justification and universal atonement are essentially the same, according to Marquart's reading of Luther, at least. Which is why, as Rik said, we don't necessarily need to insist on the term "objective justification" if someone maintains universal atonement. At the same time, though, it's also why people get concerned when people argue against objective justification, since they might also be rejecting universal atonement.

Like16 hrs
Daniel Baker FWIW I haven't met a single UOJ skeptic who denies the universal Atonement. But I know a million UOJ fanatics who say that UOJ is more than simply the Atonement, such as the one who kicked out a WELS pastor and subsequently his congregation for questioning the UOJ terminology while nonetheless unabashedly affirming Universal Atonement.


***



GJ - I could quote Oh! Jay Webber at length, but his evasions are always the same, circling the same Walther-Stephan points with various subtle evasions. In contrast, Daniel Baker sticks to one point - the Pharisee and Publican - and asks how UOJ fits that Parable of Jesus. He backs up a good, clear, plain argument with Chemnitz, whose authority in these matters is far greater than JP Meyer, Marquart, and Valleskey put together.

Marquart could not answer Thy Strong Word - and never did. He received a free review copy and responded, only reluctantly when pressed, with a postcard acknowledging he received it.

All the UOJ arguments are divorced from the Confessions, so each person adds his own personal revelations - much like Sig Becker - and makes their wrong position even worse. They have given up the light yoke of justification by faith and assumed the far heavier, even impossible yoke of UOJ.

Must we carry that lying, thieving pimp Walther on our backs until the end of time? How does anything he wrote replace the Book of Concord?

Notice these evasions and lapses among the UOJ Stormtroopers:

  • Luther's Galatians Commentary is avoided and never quoted.
  • The phrase justification by faith is studiously avoided.
  • They never speak of being justified "by the faith of Jesus," which is right from Romans and Galatians. In fact, they hate the word faith and seldom mention it.
  • The attempt to make Subjective Justification into justification by faith is deceptive and furtive.
  • Article III of the Formula of Concord - The Righteousness of Faith - is never mentioned, never quoted.
  • No knowledge of Luther is evidenced, but the writers like to pixelate Luther in a self-serving and ignorant way. Smirk. Smirk. "Uncle Marty," as Jon Buchholz said to a WELS congregation.
  • They call justification by faith Calvinism! but they also say "The three solas!"
  • They like to equate the atonement with OJ, but that is clearly a lie, as they know. OJ is precisely God's imaginary declaration of the forgiveness of the world. That is not the same as Christ dying for the sins of the world. In fact, the early Robert Preus expressly stated that OJ is not the atonement.
  • They are full of themselves and puff themselves up about their synod's doctrine or - get this - THEIR doctrine. The Word belong to God, not anyone else.

The Forbidden Verses - UOJ Stormtroopers Cannot Stand What the Word Teaches

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Romans 3:21-22 KJV
21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

Galatians 2:16 KJV
16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

The modern translations have "faith in Jesus," but that is not the construction in NT Greek, a language barely known among the UOJ clergy. The actual words are "faith of Jesus," which means the faith belonging to Jesus.

The difference is significant. I may have faith in a bridge, to cross it, or faith in a bank, to put money in it. But in both cases the object does not have faith. The bridge has no faith. The bank has no faith.

But Jesus has faith, as these verses clearly teach. This is a devastating blow to the UOJ Stormtroopers, who hate "faith" the way Bernie Sanders hates free enterprise, the way nature abhors a vacuum, the way a vacuous argument abhors the Word.

This phrasing is doubly important because "faith in Jesus" can be interpreted as emphasizing the individual rather than Jesus. Moreover, both instances of "the faith of Jesus" occur in the all-important Pauline discussion of justification by faith.

The accurate translation also clarifies the meaning of "from faith to faith" in Romans.

Romans 1 KJV
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
I would paraphrase verse 17 as "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed, from the faith of Jesus to our faith, as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

The UOJ arguments are cerebral but dumb, clearly violating Luther's admonitions against Enthusiasm - separating the Holy Spirit from the Word. No one can tell me when the imaginary world absolution took place - at the death of Jesus, at His resurrection, or during the angelic blessing "Peace on earth, good will to men." 

Can you picture the UOJ Stormtroopers dividing into rival factions - the Angelic UOJists versus the Atonement UOJists versus the Empty Grave UOJists? I can. Sig Becker thought it worthwhile to differentiate various flavors of UOJ, although the interpreters of this Delphic Oracle from Mequon shed no light on the topic, except to reverence his blessed attempt at clarity.

But, struggling to get back to the main point, this phase "the faith of Jesus" has an interesting and worthwhile perspective - teaching the humanity of Christ. In this Age of Apostasy, the mainline denominations teach against the divinity of Christ and the circus clowns of Church Growth add to that impression with their "buddy Jesus" graphics and emphasis on cola and snacks.

So there is some reactionary danger in believers downplaying the human nature in Christ. The entire narrative of the Passion is one where the human nature in Christ is almost all we see - the submission to Roman and Jewish authorities, the beating and spitting and mocking, the scourging and crucifixion, the fainting and crying out "My God, My God, why have You abandoned Me?" In Christology we speak of the two natures in Christ, so does it not make sense that Jesus exemplified faith in all His work and Word?




Schwan Loot Disappears - Calling the Hogs - Woo Pig Souieeee! How and Why Did the First Mrs. Schwan Die? Did the "Conservative" Synods Sell Forgiveness to St. Marvin Before He Reached the Temperature of His Frozen Foods?

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Schwan brothers wants answers on why father’s foundation has lost millions


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PIERRE, S.D. -- South Dakota’s Supreme Court will hear a case today over a dispute between the Marvin Schwan religious charitable foundation and the giant food company founder’s two sons who are questioning millions of dollars in losses since its founding in 1992.

The hearing is set for 10 a.m. before the justices.
Marvin Schwan, who set up the foundation a year before he died at age 64, called for the organization to provide funding to mostly Lutheran church organizations.
He founded the Schwan’s business in 1952 and it grew into a multibillion company known for its home delivery to rural residents. The company, based in Marshall in southwest Minnesota, now operates in 14 states and has 14,000 employees.
The case brought by Marvin’s sons, Mark and Paul, ask that the foundation’s trustees disclose more information on why it has lost as much as $600 million since its founding.
According to the online Nonprofit Quarterly, a review of the foundation’s tax filings show a “baffling mix of conflicts of interest, overseas real estate investments in resort properties by the foundation and the use of a trustee succession committee designed to review the performance of the trustees on which the two sons serve.”
However, apparently the two sons on the review committee can’t seem to get any answers about the heavy losses.
So the Schwan brothers want want to compel the trustees release more details.
The Nonprofit Quarterly online website said that in 2002 the Schwan Foundation held $886 million in assets and gave $44 million in grants. A report online shows that by 2012, assets dropped to $445 million and grants totaled $14 million.
In 2011 alone, the foundation’s assets dropped by more than $240 million in that single year, said the Nonprofit Quarterly, which added that about a third of the foundation’s assets are invested directly in various real estate projects in the Caribbean and through offshore corporations, including in the British Virgin Islands.
Calls to the foundation, headed by the Rev. Keith Boheim of Earth City, Mo., were not returned. Also not returned were calls to the Schwan brothers’ lawyer.
Others listed on the Supreme Court docket to speak today are lawyers for beneficiaries of the foundation’s funds including Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato, Minn., Wisconsin Lutheran College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Synod and Wels Kingdom Workers mission outreach in Wauwatosa, Wis.
Most of the lawyers representing those beneficiaries, the  Schwans and the foundation trustees are from Sioux Falls.
Also participating in the hearing is the South Dakota Attorney General’s Office.
Attorney General Marty Jackley, who said in an interview that  he couldn’t comment on the case because court documents have been sealed, noted that the reason they are involved is because South Dakota law calls for the attorney general to protect beneficiaries of charitable trusts that aid communities in the state.
“That’s why we are stepping in,” he said.
Jackley appointed “two seasoned prosecutors” to handle the case, assistant attorney generals Jeffrey Hallem and Philip Carlson.

Show Me the Money - On Guidestar.org. Schwan Foundation, Concordia Publishing House, Christian News

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The closer you look,
the worse they look.


Guidestar.org and some other sites publish how non-profit and foundation money is spent. From time to time I look for updates. At the moment, Concordia Publishing House is very lax or late, with figures from 2012 being the latest. The princely salaries of Paul McCain and his boss are listed for CPH, but 2012 is a bit dated, dontcha think?

Christian News is the most up-to-date, and it is also the funniest. At the end is a handwritten note about people coming in to see the figures, expecting them to be published, as they have been in the past. The figures are not shocking and good for 2014, which is commendable.

The Schwan Foundation is in-between with 2013 figures. Cprrection - not long ago that was true. Now they have their 2014 Form 990 posted.

  1. Search Schwan Foundation.
  2. Pick the Missouri location.
  3. Click on the title. Then click on the Form 990 link. That is the form filled out by non-profits for the IRS.  
  4. Thrivent has a pile of reports - all very shocking if time is taken to see where the money goes. There are various funds in various states for Thrivent. My favorite idiotic gift was $5,000 to the Minneapolis Orchestra. But if you are dumb enough to fund Thrivent, why not?
I was unable to pick up the URL in Chrome for this story, published last night, so I went to another browser to get it listed. Apparently Schwan money pays Google to block searches on their name. 

The problem is that the foundation has lost almost a half-billion dollars, $250 million in one year alone. I am no financial expert, but I doubt whether I could lose that much money, even if I did my utmost.

Let us look at who is running the store at the Schwan Foundation. 

The principal officer listed is Rev. Keith Boheim.

Folks, do not make a clergy-person the head of a foundation. The Walther sects have a bad reputation for coveting money and running off with it. Then they lie about it.

This peacock (on the left) gets a salary and plush benefits
for teaching against Biblical, Lutheran doctrine.
I teach their dogmas for free - and then refute them - gladly.


Wowser Salaries
Rev Keith Boheim is listed as executive director with $286,000+ for salary plus almost $47,000 besides. I hasten to add that the extra money, probably for benefits, is more than the salaries of most ELS/WELS pastors.

Rev. Lawrence Burgdorf is listed for a $1,000. He used to get around $400,000 a year - a figure which made Herman Otten go through the roof. 

Keith Raabe gets $1,000

Erik Burgdorf gets $171,000 plus another $35,000.

Consultants Earn Their Dough
Capital Partners gets $1.3 million for advice on how to lose hundreds of millions. I would do that for, say, only $100,000 a year. There are other consultants, too.

Follow the Money, More or Less
  1. $2,560,000 - Bethany Lutheran College
  2. $500,000 - Little Sect on the Prairie
  3. $150,000 - Lutheran Laymen's League (I thought they died.)
  4. $2,100,000 - LCMS.
  5. $0,815,000 - WELS
  6. $2,110,000 - WELS again.
  7. $3,800,000 - Wisconsin Lutheran College - they did name a library after St. Marvin.
  8. $0,460,000 - Missions Advance
The Walther precedent.
Let's not forget the jeweled chalice they stole from Stephan
and used for Holy Communion.
Cops call things like that "trophies" the robbers love to look at.

The Big Bump in the Road
When St. Marvin died prematurely and met his maker, he doubtless had a bundle of indulgences in his hands, certified by indulgence salesmen from WELS, the Little Sect, and the LCMS. I remember Wayne Laitenen preaching St. Marvin into heaven while the man was still alive. 

Little did they care about what a cad Marvin was. So the money has bruised and broken every one it has touched. WELS and Missouri spent money like Congressmen, because it was not theirs to begin with. The final result was a sudden decrease in Schwan gifts from $50 million plus to only $12 million now. 

Unspoken - how much money is spent paying off lawsuits before they reach the court. One lawsuit alone, against Fred Adrian (WELS), his congregation, and WELS got a judgment of $400,000. Naturally, greedy WELS appealed that. The Milcraft lawsuit netted the cheated widow $1,000,000 - not including the legal fees involved.

Rev. Paul McCain, the pastor without a pulpit, said to me, "Missouri had to check up on ministers more carefully because the lawsuits were costing so much money." Note the lack of interest in the victims, only in the monetary cost to Holy Mother Synod. One lawsuit threat was quenched when a Missouri official said, "If this goes to court, it will cost us $10 million, and there goes the Siberian mission." Pastor Otten sent me the papers on that disgusting case.



Biggest Gift - Biggest Woes
When Marvin Schwan reached the temperature of his frozen foods, he left the LCMS-WELS-ELS the large charitable gift ever.

That gusher gave immunity to a large group of parasitic synodical creatures, those who wear their gold crucifix chains over their black clergy vests and pretend to be pastors. Like typical trust fund kids, they have proven to be lazy, shiftless, dishonest, addicted to various substances, and spendthrifts. Their glory days are over. Judgement Day has met many of them already.

When Schwan dive happened, I predicted it would break the back of the three synods by making them even more irresponsible. I was right.





Under the Cardboard - News for Earthworm Fanciers

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Last fall we began to cover half of the backyard with cardboard on the bottom and leaves on top. We used perhaps 80 bags of leaves.

Now that whole area has a soft waterbed feel to it, wherever I step. As I wrote not long ago, the grackles have stopped to feast on the food in the leaves, since moisture and organic matter produce a bumper crop of decomposers.

I had a couple of plants to start forming a screen, so I went to the western corner of the yard and began to dig, prying up some cardboard and pushing aside the leaves. The cardboard was still in one piece and the sod was blackened below. Earthworms were abundant in and below the cardboard, not one per shovel (the commonly cited proof of good soil) but dozens of them.

The sod was semi-decomposed after a warm winter, some snow, and rain. It was very easy to dig in the soil, and easy to place the new plants.

Jessica Walliser uses cardboard for her mulch too,
setting it up in the fall and punching through in the spring.


I once put all the sod from a dig into a compost pit I created in Midland for this purpose.. I was young and prone to use my construction sized wheelbarrow, donated. Large wheelbarrows tempt one into bigger projects.

Upside-down sod shrinks down as it decomposing. A large amount in a pit decomposes more quickly, with all the built-in nitrogen, soil animals, and various soil components pushed together in a mass. That sod compost pit became the parsley patch and produced well with black swallowtail butterflies enjoying their favorite food.

From that time on, the sod compost area remained bouncy like gelatin. That fascinated me. The original prairie soil that settlers found in the Great Plains, supercharged with centuries of deep prairie grass roots and buffalo dung, would create waves when people jumped off their wagons.

Mulch alone will normally feed the weed growth quickly, with the taller weeds like crabgrass shooting through the barrier, enhanced by having the punier growth shaded. For that reason I first began using layers of newspapers.

Larger areas are much easier to mulch with cardboard, and used boxes are everywhere for free. At first the cardboard plus mulch combination is odd, with that dry hollow underpinning sound. After some rains the mass settles down and continues its work of rotting the grass and empowering the soil creatures.

Mountain mint loves beneficial insects -
and butterflies.


Preview of the May 2, 2016 Issue of Christian News. Not Much. David Becker Should Do More Research about His ELCA News

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https://www.reconcilingworks.org/images/stories/downloads/concords/concord%2032_4_winter%202011.pdf

Michelle Miller & Julie Sevig

In honor of the Holy Union of Michelle Miller & Julie Sevig - Thad Fisher\\

Rev. Michelle Sevig (nee Miller)


http://www.elca.org/News-and-Events/5139

The ELCA's 10,721 congregations staff their ministries in
about as many ways, making it difficult to identify clergywomen
who head the congregations' staffs purely by their titles, said
the Rev. Michelle Miller, director, women for leadership in
ministry, ELCA Commission for Women.
     Miller asked the bishops of ELCA synods to identify "women
who lead large congregations with multiple staff and who
supervise at least one other person in professional ministry."
Miller gathered the names of 120 clergywomen and invited them to
the academy.

Mountain Mint and Other Fun Plants

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At one of the gardens in Washington DC, I saw
a wild commotion of insects buzzing one plant.
I saw the name-tag - Mountain Mint - and vowed,
"I will grow that one day."

The mint family loves to spread through the root system. I had reason to regret planting catnip (a mint) in our Midland backyard. Once established, it formed a mat of iron-like roots and plants. Catnip is supposed to be attractive to every member of the cat family, but I have not had the time or inclination to try out this claim on the larger breeds.

Some mints are simply known as weeds that are never quite defeated. Creeping Charlie is a mint that motivates gardeners to try many methods for getting rid of it, but the young leaves are edible and have been used in salads and beer-making.

The most despised plants are often the ones that are:

  1. Favorable to beneficial insects, 
  2. So easy to grow that they are considered invasive, or
  3. Planted by birds through their digestive systems.

Th star flowers of borage can get droopy,
but they never stop producing pollen and seed.

Favorable to Beneficial Insects
If the plant produces tiny flowers (borage, mint, clover, dandelion, and dill families), then tiny insects will pollinate them and aid in their distribution of seeds. Borage is so productive in seeds and seductive to bees that it is called Bee Bread. The star-like flowers are edible and often used in salads for decoration and adding a cucumber-like flavor to the greens.

Comfrey looks a bit ragged in time,
but few plants produce so many leaves.

Comfrey, a tall cousin of borage, is equally productive and also rather sloppy when fully grown - a good candidate for the wild garden. Comfrey produces enough greens to qualify as a compost provider. The taproots mine minerals from the lower levels of soil, so they benefit the overall quality of shallow-rooted plants that may need the nutrients but do not grow deep into the sub-levels. Earthworms and other soil creatures keep those nutrients in the root zone by their constant exchanges through eating, tunneling, feeding, and excreting.

Bee balm (horse mint) feeds all kinds of insects, bees,
and hummingbirds.


Mints flowering make people say, "Oh yes, bees love mint." Many kinds of wild bees keep plants in production, so the abundance of wildflowers and weeds feeding bees is good rather than bad. Bees have never stung me, even when I brush them aside to do my work.

Bee balm is also called horse mint. Its exotic flowers are attractive to butterflies and hummingbirds. I noticed that last year's plants were growing in clumps, just as I hoped. I got many of them on clearance at Lowe's, because the vendors bring plants in for a time and give up on them as the plants age in the displays. And they do age in their pots, in the sun, with tap-water to drink. But they revive at home in good soil. The best deal is a perennial on clearance, with years of growth, perhaps even spreading, for a tiny price.

Some weed and feed bags brag that they fertilize the grass while killing weeds - like clover. But the feed is temporary and the herbicide component kills a plant that fixes nitrogen in the soil - long-term. I love having large drifts of clover fixing usable nitrogen in the soil. Clover constantly grows flowers for the pollinators and has a heavenly bubble-gum scent. A field of clover drifting that scent into the yard will make everyone smile.


Dandelions are another herb converted into a noxious weed by the public relation departments of the chemical companies. They plant themselves (no cost!), coddle earthworms (thanks!), and mine nutrients with their deep taproots. The flowers provide nest material for birds. The leaves are the best and most nutritious salad ingredients. The roots can be made into a coffee substitute.


The Dill Family - Beneficial Insect Heaven
The productive dill family is know for seeding itself -

  • Dill 
  • Carrot
  • Wild carrot or Queen Ann's Lace (the official flower of the truck parking lot)
  • Lovage
  • Fennel
  • Parsley
  • Coriander
  • Celery
One can hardly top the number of tiny flowers and seeds of this family. Beneficial insects adore this family.

Pastor Paul Rydecki - On Reconciling the World - But Not Without Means

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013

Reconciling the world—but not without means


I offer here another piece of Lutheran history on the Lutheran Church's historical understanding of 2 Corinthians 5:18-21.

Some assert that God "finished" reconciling the world to Himself 2,000 years ago, and that He justified all people at that time ("not imputing to them their sins").  Now, they say, He has entrusted the ministers of the Word with the task of announcingthat God finished reconciling the world to Himself in the past, and in this way, they say, people become "individually" or "subjectively" reconciled to God.  They claim that Paul is teaching two separate things in these verses:  (1) that God finished reconciling the world (i.e., all people) to Himself at the cross, and (2) that by preaching this truth, ministers of the Word enable hearers to become "subjectively" reconciled as well.

But that this is not how 2 Corinthians 5 should be understood is made clear by Martin Chemnitz's treatment of it in theExamination of the Council of Trent.  He ties the reconciling of the world to the means of grace, specifically to the Ministry of the Word.  God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself through the preaching ministry of Christ.  So also Christ is present in the authoritative preaching ministry of the apostles, still reconciling the world to Himself.

It is not as if God actually "completed" the reconciling of the world to Himself 2,000 years ago, and then gave the Apostles the ministry of telling the world that the reconciliation was completed.  Instead, God even now continues His work of reconciling men to Himself through this ministry.

I sense that some who balk at this understanding do so, for one reason, because the thought of such an authoritative Office of the Holy Ministry is repulsive to them.  They would rather see the Pastoral Office as simply announcing the fact that pardon has already been issued, so that the pastors are simply passing on information or communicating what was already true.  They don't like the fact that God actually and personally works through the ministry of the Word to pardon sins and to effect reconciliation.  But this is exactly what God says of the Office of the Holy Ministry, not that the apostles/pastors are to announce something that was already done in heaven long ago, but "whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (Matt. 18:18).

 
10 Now this power of forgiving sin must not be understood to have been given to the priests in such a way that God had renounced it for Himself and had simply transferred it to the priests, with the result that in absolution it is not God Himself but the priest who remits sin. For Paul expressly distinguishes between the power and efficacy of reconciliation which belongs to God, and the ministry which was given to the apostles, so that it is God who reconciles the world to Himself (2 Cor. 5:19) and forgives sins (Is. 43:25), not however without means but in and through the ministry of Word and sacrament.

Ministers indeed are said to loose and remit sins on account of the keys, that is, because they have the ministry through which God reconciles the world to Himself and remits sins. Thus Paul says (2 Cor. 1:24) that although he has authority, he nevertheless does not lord it over their faith but is a servant and steward of the mysteries of Christ (1 Cor. 4:1), so that he who plants and he who waters is nothing, but He who gives the increase, namely God (1 Cor. 3:7). Nevertheless, he shows that the use of the ministry is useful and necessary, for, says he, we are co-workers, that is, assistants, whose labors God uses in the ministry, but where nevertheless all the efficacy belongs to Him. We are servants, says he, through whom you have believed. Likewise: “I became your father in Christ Jesus through the Gospel” (1 Cor. 4:15). Paul treats this distinction clearest of all in 2 Cor. 5:18–20. It is God who reconciles us to Himself through Christ, not counting our sins against us. To the apostles, however, He gave the ministry of reconciliation. But how so? “He entrusted to us,” says Paul, “the message of reconciliation. So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

Thus this distinction honors God and gives Him the glory that properly belongs to Him; it also claims for the ministry the honor and authority it has according to the Word of God. For even as it is Christ who baptizes through the ministry and also imparts His body and blood, so also it is Christ who through the ministry absolves and remits sins.

Chemnitz, M., & Kramer, F. (1999). Vol. 2: Examination of the Council of Trent (electronic ed.) (559–560). St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House.

8 COMMENTS:

Brett Meyer said...
Ministers indeed are said to loose and remit sins on account of the keys, that is, because they have the ministry through which God reconciles the world to Himself and remits sins.

In the doctrinal conflict over Scripture's teaching concerning justification it is critical to address the Office of The Keys. The quote in italics is significant since the Office of the Keys has not been addressed by those promoting and defending the doctrine of Objective Justification.

The Office of the Keys was given by Christ to the priesthood of believers - all those who have the Holy Spirit's faith in Christ alone. They contain the power to forgive sins of the repentant and to retain sins in the unrepentant - in the name and in the stead of Christ.

Since all variations of the doctrine of UOJ erroneously teach that, in Christ, God has forgiven the whole unbelieving world, declared them righteous and worthy of eternal life - what then is the effect of retaining an unrepentant unbelievers sins in the name of Christ? It creates another insurmountable contradiction to say that in Christ the whole unbelieving world is forgiven all sin - and that those same sins are retained in the unrepentant in the stead of Christ. UOJ creates yet another dilemma with it's teaching that God has made a declaration that in Christ the whole unbelieving world is justified: forgiven, righteous and worthy of eternal life.

The same dilemma is created regarding the Key to forgive sins. The Christian Book of Concord contends against UOJ concerning the Keys to forgive and retain sins here:
6] Let any one of the adversaries come forth and tell us when remission of sins takes place. O good God, what darkness there is! They doubt whether it is in attrition or in contrition that remission of sins occurs. And if it occurs on account of contrition, what need is there of absolution, what does the power of the keys effect, if sins have been already remitted…" http://www.bookofconcord.org/defense_10_repentance.php

The entire doctrine of UOJ not only lacks harmony with Scripture but severely contradicts Scripture throughout.
Anonymous said...
WELS mis-interprets Matt.16:1918:18;John 20:23
• Martin Luther's Small Catechism explains the authority and use of the "Keys"; however, Martin Luther did not write this section of the Catechism so this teaching used by many Lutheran churches is giving Luther credit for something he did not say, “The three questions of Office of the Keys are not by Luther. The second and third questions are taken from the Nuernberger Kinderpredigten of 1533, and this first is still of later origin.”)
• The "Keys" are the Gospels and they authorize a believer or the church on earth to announce or proclaim the Gospel message only. Accordingly, as they shut or open the door to anything that should be believed or rejected in the church on earth, it must be in agreement with what God has already ordained in heaven. God granted no authority for man to forgive sins as God has the ultimate authority to do so (Mark 2:10).
• The "Keys" open the door to salvation through the Gospel, and close the door to salvation by believer's who recognize man's decision to reject the Gospel message.
• Believers of the Gospel message are already forgiven, so no one needs to forgive them again. (they need constant reminding however, and they need to diligently study the Bible)
• Can we conclude that today's church has the same level of authority as Jesus gave to his apostles who could perform miracles, lay hands giving the Holy Spirit, etc.???? The apostles talked with God, he breathed the Holy Spirit on them and empowered them. No apostles forgave sins, they only pointed people to Christ. The "Keys" authorize the church to preach the means that leads to forgiveness, but is given no authority to actually grant final judgment. 1 Thessalonians 3:11-13, Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.
• Peter on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:37-38 did not himself forgive the sins of those who crucified Christ, but offered the Gospel message regarding repentance, baptism and the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of sins that the crowd received in verse 41. This is a good example of using the "Keys" Jesus gave to Peter and the apostles in Matthew 16:19.
Donald N. Gretel
Brett Meyer said...
Mr. Gretel states, "The "Keys" are the Gospels and they authorize a believer or the church on earth to announce or proclaim the Gospel message only"

Christ's declaration to His disciples:
John 20:23, "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained."

Denying the Means of Grace yields this in WELS -
from the Church and Change son of Wayne Mueller, ex-First VP.

The Scriptures blow up all the UOJ arguments,
and so does Luther in the Book of Concord.
Faithless Jay Webber ignores this.

This is a favorite graphic of one
or more readers.

Almost 4,000 Views Today - Favorite Views of the Month. LCMS Pastor's Arrest Leads New Stories

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St. Marcus Calls Erin Hollmann To Be Principal

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Call Meeting Results
On Sunday, April 10th, congregational members gathered for a special Call Meeting in order to extend two calls – one for a St. Marcus School Main Campus Principal for grades 1-8 and the second for a Pastor of Outreach.

Mr. Tyson explained the reasons for extending this call for principal and then presented the list of candidates. After members shared thoughts, offered comments and asked questions, it was apparent that there was a clear consensus to call Ms. Erin Hollmann. Ms. Hollmann is a member of St. Marcus and is currently serving as the Director of Primary Grades in our school.
Background  - St. Marcus School is splitting the School Principal role into two focuses. Jon Boche, who has served as Principal for 8 years, will be assuming the role of Director of Recruitment and Staff Development. He will focus on staff recruitment and development, interface with the synod, work directly with staff, students and parents, tour groups and implementing areas of the school’s strategic plan. Jon will remain in his current position until someone accepts the call to serve as Principal. The Principal role will focus solely on culture, academics and behavior. The Principal will provide overall school vision, train, develop and support a team of directors and will lead school wide events and initiatives. The North Campus will continue to be led by Principal April Richter and the Kindergarten team will continue to be led by Mrs. Kristy Wegner.

Pastor Hein then explained how we are restructuring pastor roles and responsibilities and how a Pastor of Outreach will fit. After some clarification and questions, members considered the list of pastor candidates presented by our District Praesidium. Again, everyone shared their thoughts, offered comments and asked still more questions, eventually identifying Pastor Clark Schultz as their choice to fill this position. 
Since 2005, Pastor Schultz has been serving as a Religion Instructor at Lakeside Lutheran High School in Lake Mills, WI. Pastor Schultz is married to Kristin and they have two children.
Background -  Historically, St. Marcus has had school pastors and church pastors. Going forward, all pastors at St. Marcus will have a role in both the church and the school with clearly defined responsibilities for each. Some of the Pastor of Outreach’s responsibilities will be to: drive School evangelism, manage Catechism class and youth confirmation in November, provide additional Word of God tutoring for students, teach new member classes, provide staff one-on-one discipleship, deliver some sermons and assist with chapel.
The division of time is expected to be: 40% church / 60% school. Assisting with general member care (particularly those with school background), service projects and advising our Church Council will fill much of the church percentage.

Please include Ms. Hollmann and Pastor and Kristin Schultz in your prayers as they now prayerfully consider their calls and determine where the Lord can make the best use of their gifts and ministry experience.

Relaxing Work at the Jackson Rose Farm

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The car.

The rose - developed
by Dr. Walter Lammerts, Creation scientist.


Predictions of rain on Friday and Saturday moved me to get some gardening done. Every day I look at two weather websites and check the barometer. The last storm spared us the brutal winds  that were only 20 miles north of us. That storm followed a rapid drop in the barometer, and it has stayed that low. A needle marks the last reading.

I planted the dappled willows across the backyard, which will form a rapidly growing screen to block the view on the West and perhaps decrease the excitement of the dogs who guard their fences. Two chihuahuas are sure I am ready to vault the fence and invade their territory.

I was digging through the cardboard and leaves from last autumn's effort. The soil was soft and well worked by the earthworms, which were abundant with every move of the shovel. When I received my double shipment from Uncle Jim's Worm Farm, I scattered  some along the perimeter of the yard and the house.

I packed some seeds in my work-sweats and added some more Bee Balm to the yard. I planted more milkweed for the Monarch butterflies and Scarlet Runner beans for the hummingbirds. Some fully mature beans were still in their pods on the fence, so I crumpled them into the soil as well. Some beans left? I dug those in, around the tall elderberry plants, which are starting to bloom.

God's overwhelming abundance is everywhere in His Creation. The gardeners and farmers think of the tons of fertilizer that come down with each rainfall. I also see it in the vitality of the plants first placed last year. Blackberries planted on one side of the house have moved around to two other sides of the house, rounding the corners and taking up their new positions.

God created each form of life as an opportunist. Most of the world's population lives within 100 miles of the coasts, because a vast food supply is available, ready to be fished. Each plant has a soil, weather, and sunlight preference, so it will take over the time and place allotted for its growth.

Pokeweed's blossoms foreshadow
the form of their red berries.

Weeds fascinate me because they grow unbidden and often have hidden value. They either arrive on the wind or secondarily through the birds of the air. Pokeweed beries (toxic to us) are loved by dozens of birds, so they are planted everywhere and grow up to 8 feet tall, even in the shade. Why should I fill the bird-feeders and cut down the pokeweed in the wild garden?

One gardening article said, "If you want plants favored by birds, just build a perch across one part of your wild garden. The birds will plant their favorite foods while resting." One suggestion was stretching a wire across the area. I planted a tree stump with many branches coming from it,, between two Butterfly bushes in the backyard fence area. The perches allow places for various birds to rest and preen, or watch for prey in the target-rich environment of thick autumn leaves, cardboard, and tall grass.

One indignant reader asked why I would plant roses around a maple tree - too much shade, too many roots. To top it off, he did not want to deal with thick, heavy clay soil. I planted 20 roses around the maple tree for several reasons:

  1. My wife suggested it, and her gardening ideas are great, even when causing backbreaking labor.
  2. The area was once a hideous mass of weeds, suckers, and forgotten trash.
  3. I had no better area for rose farm expansion.

The 20 roses last year were special offers via Gurney's and Weeks roses. They cost $5 each so the gamble was a small one. Placing them around the maple tree meant the entire area would be groomed all the time - mulched, weeded, and trimmed. Shade is not an issue, since the Army Ranger trimmed the tree's branches back, as high as he could safely go.

Clay soil is the best, but difficult to work without planning. Mr. Gardener rototills and confesses, "It only makes the soil worse." Indeed.

I put hundreds of gardeners to work instead. I sprinkled red wiggler earthworms around the tree. We dumped 10 bags of mushroom compost around where the roses would go, then covered the mushroom compost with 10 bags of wood mulch.

As I feared, digging into maple roots close to the tree was tough. I bought tools to hack, pry, and cut the roots. I worked the first ten roses into this mixture last year. Our helper did the second ten this year, using twine and screw-hooks to measure the same distance from the tree.

All 20 roses had their start last year, so all 20 are now budding and blooming. Some of my first roses cut came from the maple tree rose garden. I took one gold rose called Strike It Rich, several yellow roses, and bi-colored orange roses to the chiro's office. For perfume I cut a Mr. Lincoln from the fence garden in the back. The office was all excited by the roses and the fragrance of Mr. Lincoln, truly a giant rose that grows on gigantic canes.



Rose Intensive Care
One way to increase rose production is taking care of the plants that are slow or not growing after their initial week or two. My ambulance consists of a wheelbarrow, a plastic wastebasket full of rain water, and rose shears.

The rainwater is gathered in the back, so I bring it to the front on the wheelbarrow. The wastebasket limits sloshing and makes it easy to dip a  gallon at a time, using a former ice tea maker. The shears are used to remove dead wood from new and old bushes. Cutting roses makes them grow, so this always spurs growth.

Dead wood will never revive and let growth happen at the end of the branch, so snipping it away has a triple benefit:

  • All pruning will enhance rose growth.
  • The dead wood was not going to become alive again.
  • Letting dead wood remain on a rose will sap its energy. See John 15:1-8.


Pouring water all over the rose canes gives the entire plant water and fertilizer at once. The canes need the water. The roots grow more with the water. Feeding the plant natural, mild, non-toxic nutrition will benefit the the roots, canes, and the soil creatures at the same time.

Thunder rolled and the rain began to fall
as soon as I was finished posting this.




More Earthworm and Compost Questions

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One question came in from Facebook - what about a large supply of coffee grounds, pounds and pounds from Starbucks? Aren't earthworms crazy about coffee grounds?

Earthworms love just about anything organic, but they do not actually digest the material. They graze on bacteria that digest what goes into the earthworm's tubular system. The earthworm breaks down organic matter, with a crop or grinder filled with little stones, to make it easier for bacteria to attack the food they both need.

The earthworm is a series of rings of muscles with bristles. These bristles on the muscular rings move the earthworm smoothly through soil and resist being pulled out of the soil by birds or humans.

The earthworms produce Caltrate (TM) with their calciferous glands. OK, it is calcium carbonate, but I remember Caltrate more easily. The tiny kidneys excrete nitrogen compounds into the soil, and the castings leaving the earthworm form an ideal soil.

Big-eyed bugs are beneficial insects easily overlooked.

I have mold under my cardboard. Is that bad?
The idea behind the mulch, which God builds naturally under every plant and tree, is to:

  1. Provide organic products for the needs of the plant.
  2. Conserve moisture in the soil.
  3. Reduce weed competition.
  4. Attract beneficial bugs and birds to help the plant grow.

That mold is part of the decomposing process that can be enhanced with waste products, like:

  • Cardboard, newspapers.
  • Leaves and sawdust.
  • Wood mulch.
  • Animal manure, but not cat or dog manure.
  • Kitchen waste, minus meat and grease.

Mold attracts mold-eaters that digest it. Once digested, the mold-eaters are devoured. Every creature of decomposition is food for another, even the lowly slug. I once read that only ducks eat slugs, but that is not so. Various beetles eat slugs. Otherwise, slugs would overcome the world, just as bacteria would without the protozoa to keeps its numbers down.

Fungus is the champion decomposer, using its microscopic tube system to deliver the dissolved ingredients to plant roots. In turn, the plant roots offer carbon that the fungus must have to grow. God has not only engineered a fascinating system for building soil, but also manages it without our intervention. Sometimes God manages His improvements in spite of our meddling.

My favorite rose grower in a magazine wrote, "I keep putting chemical fertilizer on my roses, but they keep getting worse and do not produce. Should I go organic like my friends? They have lots of roses and never use chemicals at all."

Neither does Queen Elizabeth II, and her private gardens are a mecca for all wildlife.

So we try to balance the earthworm feast a bit, simply because its effect mixing and improving gets better with a tiny bit of help from us. For example, if we have access to rabbit, cow, or horse manure, that means addition ingredients - and lots of bacteria - for the earthworms to process.

As I told the person who IMed me, the wonderful thing about earthworms in clay is their ability to release even more nutrition from the clay to plants. Adding a load of organic matter will make the earthworms multiply and pull down the ingredients while making soil more amenable to digging, tunneling, and soil roots.

Organic matter holds water, sponge-like, and contains a wealth of compounds for the plants. A mix of organic additions will increase the array of these compounds, but one can go far simply with leaves, paper, and cardboard.

My unscientific formula is - one pound of organics (newspaper, cardboard, wood mulch, leaves) = one pound of excellent soil, due to earthworm digging and excretion. Therefore, I am always adding rather than taking away.

God adds to the soil over time by building up plants and trees that rain down material on the soil. The bio-mass increases as plants grow, penetrate the soil with their roots, rot back into the soil, and feed the creatures that helped give them nutrition in the first place.

Dill flowers and its cousins benefit
the insects that protect our favorite flowers.


Midland Experiment
I began organic gardening in Midland, Michigan, so I decided to make one small piece of land my earthworm paradise. I put all the kitchen trash in a small patch near the kitchen entrance. I kept putting grass, kitchen trash, everything, into that soil.

Two things happened. The first - the soil seemed to be almost all earthworms as they multiplied to process all the food. The second - the birds gathered in a tree overlooking that spot whenever I went out to dig. They chortled among themselves contently, looking forward to the extra food I was disturbing for their enjoyment. It became a favorite spot for them to eat, but they always left gifts behind to feed the survivors of their snacking routine.

This was repeated when we put children's swimming pools under the rabbit cages. We put soil and earthworms in each pool. The soil became a mass of well-fed earthworms, and this Rabbit-Gro was put in the gardens and replaced with less potent soil and an initial lump of earthworms to tend it.

The worms kept the area beneath the rabbits sanitary, and the worms were promoted to compost duties and garden chores.

Birds plant pokeberry for me,
and I grow it because so many birds enjoy the fruit.


Will Concordia Seminary Ft. Wayne Close in the Future? Ripped from the Pages of Facebook and Christian News

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Closing One of Two LCMS Seminaries
For The Life of The World
(Christian News, May 2, 2016)
This writer just received his new copy of For the Life of the World magazine from Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana, and what a magazine it is! A tremendous piece for any confessional pastor or layman. For the Life of the World, published by Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, is a magazine that speaks eloquently to the issues of the day from a confessional, Lutheran perspective and offers thoughtful insight into the complexities facing our church, our community and each individual. It is an excellent resource to keep you updated on the training of pastors, missionaries and deaconesses as they prepare to spread the good news of the Gospel to all corners of the earth, stated on the website of ctsfw.edu. 

In addition, the faculty of CTSFW is deeply committed to achieving successfully the education outcomes we have established for each of our degree programs. We continually review our curriculum and participate in the assessment process with the Higher Learning Commission and Association of Theological Schools to ensure the highest quality experience for each and every student. Yet, formation doesn’t only happen in the classroom; daily worship in Kramer Chapel, impromptu study sessions in the library, coffee with a professor to discuss a point just addressed in class, choirs, sports and Friday evening Gemutlichkeit all work together to form servants of Christ for service in challenging circumstances, declared by Dean Rast of the seminary. 

Right from the start, this issue shows that this school is dedicated towards confessional Lutheranism in the 21st century. The cover and many of the opening articles in this new issue present men, graduated students and pastors, wearing clerical shirts which is such a breath of fresh air compared to what is going on over at the seminary in St. Louis. Just seeing men wearing clericals, and in one example, a man preaching from the pulpit speaks volumes in this issue from Fort Wayne. This author remembers graduating from St. Louis and was warned sternly not to wear our clerical for the class photo. At that time, many of us were scratching our heads and saying to ourselves, “Are we supposed to wear a Hawaiian shirt with flip-flops for the class photo?” Probably what Dale Meyer would want us to wear. Even the faculty page in this new journal has instructors wearing clericals. What respect showed to the Office of the Holy Ministry and emphasizing the purpose of this seminary dedicating itself to Holy Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions.

But is too late for this seminary to stay in business? It just might be. There have been discussions from the last board of directors meeting of the LCMS about the possibility consolidating or closing one of the two seminaries. With Mr. Fundraiser himself Dale Meyer singlehandedly raising over a hundred million dollars would tell us that the seminary inSt. Louis is going to stay open contrary to having a record low enrollment of students and promoting false teachers when inviting speakers to speak on campus. 

This writer thinks that the money should be evenly distributed between the two seminaries, more towards Fort Wayne because they are certainly more confessional and Biblical. It’s time to recognize this seminary, which is heading in the right direction for the future, not because they have the most money, but have the right theology. It’s time to support the seminary in Fort Wayne and stop supporting the seminary in St. Louis.
Walter Troeger

***

GJ - I have been writing about the ultimate closing of many brick and mortar schools in Lutherdom. WELS closed two prep schools and merged Northwestern College into Martin Luther College. ELCA has closed colleges and merged at least three seminaries - into colleges (Southern and Berkeley) - or into each other (Gettysburg and Philadephia closing and forming a new institution).

(RNS) Two Lutheran seminaries in Pennsylvania are planning to close and launch together a new school of theology in 2017 with hopes of slashing costs and reversing years of declining enrollments."

In other news- "On Thursday (Nov. 12), Andover Newton Theological School announced plans to relocate and sell its 20-acre campus in Newton, Mass. The move will be part of 'a bold new direction' for the 208-year-old school as it struggles with big deficits."

These schools all represent the same trend - abandoning their own confessional position while chasing the fads of Apostasy.  Once the gay faction in ELCA got its way with gay ordination and marriage in 2009, the harrowing of its seminaries began in earnest. Just as opposing women's ordination doomed many careers in the past and slanted classroom discussion in one direction only, so the lavender card boosted the income and position of a tiny percentage while driving away anyone with a slight grasp of normal behavior.

The Episcopal Church USA has experienced the same collapse in enrollment. A giant endowment should preserve a school. but General in NYC has had bitter fights and harsh plans to deal with the same declines in enrollment and income. They are selling off properties in Chelsea to pay off debts and build up the endowment fund again, which once was listed as worth $60 million. With 12 faculty members, they can hardly fill a decent sized seminary campus, let alone a posh Manhattan museum of past glory. The school can brag that its alumni include some of the strangest idiots to bring ruin on the Episcopal Church.

I once asked Charles Caldwell. fellow Notre Dame student and eventual faculty member of Nashotah House, "How could the conservative Episcopalians become so radical?" He said, "They are a status quo denomination. When conservatism was the norm, they were conservative. They changed with American society." Caldwell fought against all those hip trends, so he and I were outcasts in the PhD program. His favorite topic - angels - was simply tossed back in his face by our advisor. That was after he wrote 300 pages on the topic. When I put the Charley's Angels Time magazine cover on his carrel door, some feminist ripped it away. One must have thought-police to keep the population under control - and that was back in the 1970s.

How Did This Happen to "Conservative" Lutheran Seminaries?
Lutherans are late to the fads. My advisor Stan Hauerwas said, "They are always a day late and a dollar short." I was studying the Social Gospel Movement in the Lutheran Church, a modernist fad that fermented its way into the LCA, ALC, and LCMS.

The Augustana Synod fell for the Social Gospel Movement because it blended Pietism with Lutheran Orthodoxy. The Pietistic side, which they always acknowledged, rejected dancing in any form, social drinking of any kind, and even owning a deck of cards at college in the olden days of Augustana College. 

Pietism displaces Luther and the Book of Concord slowly and effectively. An Augustana response about doctrine would get this response, "I worship Jesus, not Luther." That sounds so LCMS-WELSian, because those two suffer from the same combination of Pietism and Lutheran Orthodoxy, with Pietism triumphant in both.

The Easter epistle lesson is so appropriate, so little understood, so seldom applied. It is based on the Jewish tradition of removing every speck of leaven from the household in preparation for Passover.

1 Corinthians 5:6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
The schemers have been in control of Lutherdom for a long time. They glory in their wickedness. Once bruised they wait their time and work in unison to take over the controlling boards. All they need is a majority on a board to change a seminary.
Likewise the schemers make sure they have a District President with the same low designs. If thwarted, they punish and never forgive.
The Lutheran seminaries do not even teach the Gospel today. They are so far into their rationalistic Pietism that they grasp at every fad and buzz-word. The conservatives work with ELCA and teach the same Universalism, which excuses everything. 

Big Nope for the Brand New Pennsylvania ELCA Seminary. Instead, They Will Have To Merge

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The brand new seminary concept, linked here,was ditched.
How about that for careful planning?

Two Lutheran seminaries will merge instead of closing, forming a new school


(RNS) Two Pennsylvania Lutheran seminaries have dropped plans to dissolve both schools and start a new one as they navigate hurdles in their quest to forge a new institution.
The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia and the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg said in a joint statement Thursday (April 28) that they would be “forming one seminary” from the two existing institutions.
That marks a change in direction from January, when the two schools affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America said they’d be closing to launch a new one.
Accreditation concerns caused the change of course, according to LTSG President Michael Cooper-White. Under state regulations, a new school would not be licensed to grant degrees or federal student loans for about two years, he said.
“We would not have been able to attract new students,” Cooper-White said. “To have students who would not be in an accredited school — that was just untenable.”
The consolidated institution is expected to open in July 2017. With new support from ELCA partners, all full-time residential students preparing for ELCA ministry will be able to attend tuition-free, according to LTSP President David Lose.
Back in January, both boards hoped a new school launch would provide flexibility for a radical redesign. They foresaw building a new, leaner faculty while eliminating costly tenure-track positions at the predecessor institutions.
Now they’re exploring whether both schools will endure under the umbrella of the new institution, or if one will cease to exist. Either way, at least some tenured positions should be retained, according to Hans-Joerg Tiede, an associate secretary at the American Association of University Professors.
“From our perspective, this is a kind of merger,” Tiede said, “and it does create obligations regarding the tenure of faculty from both institutions.”
(G. Jeffrey MacDonald is an RNS correspondent based in Boston)
Robin Steinke escaped Gettysburg to Luther Seminary
as the new president, just in time.

Faithless Jay Webber Does Not Grasp the Meaning of Plain English - And Certainly Knows Little Greek and Less Latin

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David Jay Webber And while you're at it you can also read mine. wink emoticonMy essay on this subject focuses quite extensively on Luther's teaching, and dispels the myth that Luther did not teach objective justification.

Ron Pederson I have read it, some time ago though. Jay, how could anyone say that God has forgiven the sins of the world which includes all people and then say that that does not include every individual? Isn’t that the real comfort of the Gospel. If God has forgiven the world, all people, then that includes my sin too? Forgive me, but it just seems absurd to me to say that God has forgiven the sins of the world, all people, but not me as an individual.
David Jay Webber It's a matter of the most helpful way to explain it, in keeping with the pattern of sound words. And do you offer comfort to people based on their inclusion in objective justification, apart from an emphasis on the here-and-now forgiveness that God is offering and bestowing in the means of grace? Isn't that the best way to make forgiveness personal and individual - to say, "Your sins are forgiven"? The truth of objective justification gives you the basis and the confidence to announce this forgiveness to every penitent individual, in a very personal way. But that's subjective justification - as built on the foundation of objective justification. That's not making objective justification as such an individual thing.
Ron Pederson I agree that in Pastoral teaching/preaching we most certainly need to include both objective and subjective justification. But if it is the basis of subjective justification, objective justification, that we are addressing, especially in doctrinal sta...See More
David Jay Webber Where does the Bible say this? I can show you where it says that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, but not that he takes away the sin of each individual. I can show you where it says that Christ is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world, but not that that he is the propitiation for the sins of each individual. I can show you where it says that in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, but not that in Christ God was reconciling each individual to himself. On the basis of logic and syllogistic deductions, you are imposing individual terms onto Biblical descriptions of a universal event which employ universal terms. Why do this? Just teach general or universal justification in general and universal terms, and teach personal or individual justification in personal and individual terms.


Once again, Jay Webber proves his lack of English reading comprehension. His Greek ignorance is a given, but one does not have to know the Biblical languages to understand a good, precise translation in the KJV tradition.

But the discussion above is especially fun because Ron Pederson is an ELS pastor who often jumps in to defend Objective Justification. But he is not extreme enough for Jar Jar Webber, who must have the last word on everything, even if it means repeating himself endlessly without providing any evidence for his opinions.

Whether it is called Objective Justification, General Justification, or Universal Objective Justification, the dogma comes from Halle Pietism, long after the Lutheran Reformation, and is completely alien to Biblical justification.

The core dogma of UOJ is - God has declared the entire world forgiven of sin. That is embedded in the Brief Statement of 1932 from the LCMS, which marked the beginning of the end for Missouri.

To this day, as one LCMS District President admitted, Objective Justification is not taught in any Missouri catechism, but only in the hideous Kuske WELS catechism. How did they all agree to get together on the basis of UOJ?




The hymn for the Emmaus Conference was - I'd Rather Have Rambach -

to this tune -

 


  1. I’d rather have Rambach with silver and gold;
    I’d rather be Pietist with riches untold;
    I’d rather have Rambach with houses and lands;
    I’d rather be led by the Halle U. band.
    • Refrain:
      And to be the king of a vast domain
      And be held in sin’s dread sway;
      I’d rather have Rambach than anything
      The Gospel affords today.
  2. I’d rather have Spener with men’s applause;
    I’d rather be faithful to UOJ's cause;
    I’d rather have Rambach and worldwide fame;
    I’d rather be true to Halle U's name.
  3. They're fairer than roses or sauerkraut;
    They're sweeter than Thrivent grants without doubt;
    They're all that my Old Adam needs;
    I’d rather have Rambach and let him lead.

 Valleskey is a good example of promoting UOJ
and Church Growth in the same book,
which Webber considers "weird."
The Synodical Conference does this inconsistently
but persistently.

UOJ Must Silence the Gospel Witness of St. Paul, Luther, the Reformation, and the Book of Concord

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Jay Webber prefers Rambach to Chemnitz
and calls Pietistic dogma "Orthodox Lutheranism."

I have read, studied, and posted graphics
from Luther's Galatians Commentary,
which eviscerates Webber's careless and unresearched efforts.

Lutheran Orthodoxy last for a time after
the Book of Concord in 1580,
but Pietism crept in to take over and supplant the Gospel.

The previous post - involving the gaseous Jay Webber - shows how persistently and perniciously UOJ has to have the last word on everything.

What qualifies Jay Webber to speak ceaselessly about his favorite false doctrine? His unaccredited online STM? His books - which do not exist?

One can be a scholar without either one. Many laity are far more proficient in the Word than the self-appointed UOJ Rottweilers.

Webber is quite similar to Paul McCain, who graduated from Ft. Wayne at about the same time. McCain's plagiarism made Otten and Cascione - both UOJ fanatics - think the putative editor was a scholar.

If copying and pasting from the Net is scholarship, then Ski and Tim Glende will soon be teaching at Mequon - or Harvard.

But the intriguing thing is how hard these yahoos work at silencing the Lutheran Gospel. How much hatred much they have for the efficacy of the Word in the Means of Grace?

Has anyone noticed how these UOJ Stormtroopers betray their non-Lutheran perspective by their use of language? The beautiful confessional language of the Book of Concord is completely missing. They seem unable to say "justification by faith" and "the Means of Grace." They should be able to work from the Biblical doctrine of the efficacy of the Word to deal with all Christian doctrine. But they are silent about that too.

Luther is nothing more than a rabbit's foot for these UOJ experts. They mention him, as if that matters, and show no knowledge of Luther's doctrine at all.

And do not miss this - it is not Luther's doctrine  they speak about. It is not Biblical doctrine they write about. It is "our doctrine," which could mean the Imperial We or the dogma of their sect, a covert nod to their peculiar and pernicious concepts.

The Word of God is His alone. We do not have a license to play with words and use them to advance our careers by agreeing with the dumbest and most obstinate among the American Lutherans. How strange that the scholars of the world have missed the point entirely that Luther taught Pietism's UOJ before Halle Pietism existed. How far-sighted of him.



Like it or not, I was very well read in modern the Reformation theology before I joined the WELS. I never heard of UOJ until it exploded in Christian News. I had trouble believing it was the backbone of Synodical Conference dogma. But - as LCMS, WELS, and the ELS stated publicly, UOJ is the ONE THING THEY AGREE ON COMPLETELY - FILLING THEM WITH JOY!

Naturally, they have kept their degraded dogma to themselves, letting people think OJ is the atonement and SJ is justification by faith. That is not true.

Point out the UOJ raving of David Scaer and the toxic reactions immediately fill the air with vulgarity (Larry Beane) or citations of the Eighth Commandment and Matthew 18. Neither passage applies, but they are used all the time - once again tonight on Facebook.




Luther's Gospel Sermon for Rogate Sunday. John 16:23-30

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Chartres Cathredral Rose Window


Luther's Second Sermon for ROGATE  - FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER




KJV John 16:23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. 24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. 25 These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. 26 At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: 27 For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. 28 I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. 29 His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. 30 Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God.


This sermon on prayer is in part a repetition of the preceding sermon.

German text: Erlangen Edition, 12:165; Walch Edition, 11:1251; St. Louis Walch, 11:927.

CONTENTS:

THE FIVE REQUISITES OF TRUE PRAYER.
I. THE FIRST REQUISITE —THE PROMISE OF GOD TO MAN 1.

II.THE SECOND REQUISITE —FAITH IN GOD’ S PROMISE 2.

III. THE THIRD REQUISITE-FAITH THAT OUR PRAYER WILL BE HEARD

* He who doubts that he will be heard commits a double sin 3-4.

IV. THE FORTH REQUISITE — ASENSE OF OUR UNWORTHINESS 5-6.

V. THE FIFTH REQUISITE -THAT WE DO NOT LIMIT GOD IN ANY WAY

A SERMON ON PRAYER.

1. First we note that in order for a prayer to be really right and to be heard five things are required. The first is, that we have from God his promise or his permission to speak to him, and that we remember the same before we pray and remind God of it, thereby encouraging ourselves to pray in a calm and confident frame of mind. Had God not told us to pray, and pledged himself to hear us, none of his creatures could ever, with all their prayers, obtain so much as a grain of corn. From this, then, there follows that no one receives anything from God by virtue of his own merit or that of his prayer. His answer comes by virtue of the divine goodness alone, which precedes every prayer and desire, which moves us, through his gracious promise and call, to pray and to desire, in order that we may learn how much he cares for us, and how he is more ready to give than we are to receive. He would have us seek to become bold, to pray in a calm and confident spirit, since he offers all, and even more, than we are able to ask.

2. In the second place, it is necessary that we never doubt the pledge and promise of the true and faithful God. For even to this end did God pledge himself to hear, yea, commanded us to pray, in order that we may always have a sure and firm faith that we will be heard; as Jesus says in Matthew 21:22: “All things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” Christ says in Luke 11:9-13: “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. And of which of you that is a father shall his son ask a loaf, and he give him a stone? or a fish, and he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he give him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” With this and like promises and commands we must consolingly exercise ourselves and pray in true confidence.

3. In the third place, if one prays doubting that God will hear him, and only offers his prayers as a venture, whether it be granted or not granted, he is guilty of two wicked deeds. The first is, that he, himself, makes his prayer unavailing and he labors in vain. For Jesus says: “Whoever will ask of God, let him ask in faith, nothing doubting: for he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.” James 1:6-7. He means that the heart of such a man does not continue stable, therefore God can give it nothing; but faith keeps the heart calm and stable and makes it receptive for the divine gifts.

4. The other wicked deed is, that he regards his most true and faithful God as a liar and an unstable and doubtful being; as one who can not or will not keep his promise; and thus through his doubt he robs God of his honor and of his name of truth and faithfulness. In this, such a grievous sin is committed that by this sin a Christian becomes a heathen, denying and losing his own God, and thus he remains in his sin, and must be condemned forever, without comfort. Moreover, if he receives that for which he prays, it will be given, not for his salvation, but for his punishment in time and eternity and it is not for the sake of the prayers, but because of his wrath that God rewards the good words which were spoken in sin, unbelief and divine dishonor.

5. In the fourth place, some say: Yes, I would gladly trust that my prayer would be heard, if I were only worthy and prayed aright. My answer is: If you do not pray until you know and experience that you are fit, then you will never need to pray. As I have said before, our prayers must not be founded nor rest upon ourselves or their own merits, but upon the unshakable truth of the divine promise. Where they are founded upon anything else, they are false, and deceive us, even though the heart break in the midst of its great devotions and we weep drops of blood. The very reason we do pray is because of our unworthiness; and just through the fact that we believe we are unworthy and confidently venture upon God’s faithfulness to his Word do we become worthy to pray and to be heard. Be you as unworthy as you may, only look to it, and with all earnestness accept it as true, that a thousandfold more depends upon this, that you know God’s truth and not change his faithful promise into a lie by your doubting. Your worthiness does not help you, but your unworthiness is no barrier. Disbelief condemns you, and trust makes you worthy and sustains you.

6. Therefore, be on your guard all through life that you may never think yourself worthy or fit to pray or to receive; unless it be that you discover yourself to be a freebold character risking all upon the faithful and sure promises of your gracious God, who thus wishes to reveal to you his mercy and goodness. Just as he, out of pure grace, has promised you, being so unworthy, an unmerited and unasked hearing, so will he also hear you, an unworthy beggar, out of pure grace, to the praise of his truth and promise. This he does in order that you may thank, not your worthiness, but his truth, by which he fulfils his promise, and that you thank his mercy that gave the promise, that the saying in Psalm 25:8-10 may stand: “Good and upright is Jehovah: Therefore will he instruct sinners in the way. The meek will he guide in justice; and the meek will he teach his way.

All the paths of Jehovah are loving kindness and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.” Loving-kindness or mercy in the promise; faithfulness and truth in the fulfilling or hearing of the promises.

And in another Psalm he says: “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” Psalm 85:10. That is, they come together in every work and gift we receive from God through prayer.

7. In the fifth place, one should so act in this confidence of prayer as not to limit God and specify the day or place, nor designate the way or measure of the prayer’s fulfillment; but leave all to his own will, wisdom and almighty power. Then confidently and cheerfully await the answer, not even wishing to know how and where, how soon, how long, and through whom. His divine wisdom will find far better ways and measures, time and place, than we can devise, even should we perform miracles. So, in the Old Testament, the children of Israel all trusted in God to deliver them while yet there was no possible way before their eyes, nor even in their thoughts; then the Red Sea parted and offered them a way through the waters, and suddenly drowned all their enemies. Exodus 14.

8. Thus Judith, the holy woman, did when she heard that the citizens of Bethulia wished to deliver the city to their enemies within five days if God, in the meantime, did not help. She reproved them and said, Now who are ye, that have tempted God? They are not designs by which one acquires grace; but they awaken more disgrace. Do you wish to set a time for God to show you mercy, and specify a day according to your own pleasure?

Judith 8:10-12. Then the Lord helped her in a wonderful manner, in that she cut off the head of the great Holofernes and dispersed the enemies.

9. In like manner, St. Paul says that God’s ability is thus proved, in that he does exceeding abundantly above and better than we ask or think. Ephesians 3:20. Therefore, we should know that we are too finite to be able to name, picture or designate the time, place, way, measure and other circumstances for that which we ask of God. Let us leave that entirely to him, and immovably and steadfastly believe that he will hear us.
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