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The Vast Fraudulent Enterprise of Biblical Studies from the Mainline Denominations And From the UOJ Lutherans

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Once Kantian rationalism took over, and infected the academics of Europe, Biblical studies became worthless. Halle Pietism was anti-Confessional, so that fad had no defense against rationalism.

Halle, mothership of Pietism and Universal Objective Justification, became headquarters for Biblical rationalism. Halle also became a wonderful school for unbelievers, both to study (Schleiermacher) and to teach (Schleiermacher).

Halle University was more than a school. The Pietism business included charities and other subordinate entities. Like Fuller Seminary, one could belong to Halle brand without being specifically a Halle student or professor.

Halle took over Wittenberg University too, which seems appropriate, given the collapse of Reformation doctrine after Pietism.

When ambitious American schools went to Europe to study, they often matriculated at German universities. They brought back the rationalism sweeping European Biblical studied, and that became the norm in America too.

If readers remember the lesson about Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, which has fostered additional mergers and moved, the original impulse was liberal (rationalistic) Baptist doctrine, the kind Walter Rauschbusch (Social Gospel) studied and espoused at Yale (1917 Social Gospel lectures).

I used to go to the Baptist conference center at Green Lake with my family. I was trying to remember if that beautiful place was Baptist or Babtist. Ah, the speaker praised Rauschenbusch. I looked up the site and there was MLK Jr. speaking. It is a liberal Northern American Baptist center.

The rationalists will always end up in the Social Gospel, Left-wing activism camp because there is nothing left after building upon 19th century Fatherhood of God, Brotherhood of Man theology.

So the Biblical studies professors and books and sermons from the mainline leaders have all been worthless. They have nothing to say because they begin and end with unbelief. They have made millions from their enterprise anyway, and people buy their books.

Synodical Conference - UOJ-Land - Equally Useless as the Mainlines
Some faithful Lutherans remain, but there are not many. The ELS-WELS-LCMS franchise is run by UOJ Stormtroopers.

Here is their UOJ dogma - 
God has already declared the entire world forgiven and saved. That is the Gospel. That is the Chief Article of the Faith (ironic, no?), the Master and Prince, though it comes from their Father Below.

Their books, professors, and schools are just as useless as the mainline groups they seem to look down upon. They actually admire, covet, and emulate the mainline groups. Mark Schroeder and Joel Hochmuth condemned ELCA for being honest about what Hochmuth was doing at the WELS Headquarters.



The Synodical Conference continues its downward plunge. They will sell their awful hymnals and their terrible books, knowing and fearing that the next generation does not give a hoot about their congregations, seminaries, colleges, and books.

The readers have probably noticed that the seminaries have spent millions remodeling their digs rather than relieving the horrible debt load they have imposed on their students. The admins and professors make a fortune for doing very little and say about student loan debt, "Let them eat cake."

Buy this for almost nothing + shipping, Amzaon
and Alibris.

The Financial Meltdown in the Mainline book said 26 years ago that the liberals were spending money like there was no tomorrow. Now after the Obama Great Depression, with everyone but the banks robbed, there is nothing left to steal.

Future consolidations and mergers will only trumpet - they are out of money.



Luther's Sermon on Faith - The Stoning of Stephan

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Luther's Sermons - Acts 6:8-14 and Acts 7:54-60.
St. Stephen's Day


ST. STEPHEN’S EPISTLE TEXT

TEXT: ACTS 6:8-14, AND ACTS 7:54-60. 8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, wrought great wonders and signs among the people. 9 But there arose certain of them that were of the synagogue called the synagogue of the Libertines, and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and Asia, disputing with Stephen. 10 And they were not able to withstand the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke. 11 Then they suborned men, who said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God. 12 And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and seized him, and brought him into the council,13 and set up false witnesses, who said, This man ceaseth not to speak words against this holy place, and the law: 14 for we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered unto us. 54 Now when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. 55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,56 and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. 57 But they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and rushed upon him with one accord; 58 and they cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon the Lord, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.

And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

STEPHEN’S EXAMPLE OF FAITH.

1. It is necessary to the understanding of this epistle lesson to introduce something of what is omitted and to present in connection with the narrative the things which gave rise to it. The dispute arose from Stephen’s assertion that whatsoever proceeds not from faith does not profit, and that men cannot serve God by the erection of churches, or by works independent of faith in Jesus Christ. Faith alone renders us godly; faith alone builds the temple of God — the believing hearts. The Jews opposed the doctrine of faith, adducing the law of Moses and the temple at Jerusalem. For the Bible makes frequent mention of Jerusalem as God’s chosen city, toward which his eyes are always directed, a city called the house of God. Such argument they presumed to be conclusive.

2. Stephen, however, opposes them by citing Isaiah 66:1-2: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: what manner of house will ye build unto me? and what place shall be my rest? For all these things hath my hand made, and so all these things came to be, saith Jehovah.” This statement is clear and forcible beyond gainsaying. It shows God does not dwell in houses made with hands, for the essential elements of these are, in the first place, of his own creating and belong to him. Further, if heaven nor earth can contain him — and he here asserts that heaven is not his house but his throne, and the earth not his habitation but his footstool — how can he be expected to dwell in a house made by men? Solomon speaks to the same purpose in 1 Kings 8:27, referring to the house he has himself built.

3. Defeated by the power of this passage from Isaiah, and similar citations they could not gainsay, the Jews proceeded to misconstrue Stephen’s words, making out that he declared Jesus would destroy the temple and change the customs of Moses. Yet Stephen had no intention of giving such impression. He simply asserted that we are saved not by the Law or the temple, but by faith in Jesus Christ; and that having faith we may rightly observe the Law, whether there be temple or not. Stephen’s purpose was merely to remove the Jews’ false confidence in their own works and in the temple.

4. Similar to them, the Papists of today, when they hear it claimed that works are not effectual and that faith in Christ must precede and must be of sole efficacy, cry out that good works are prohibited, and God’s commandments blasphemed. Were Stephen a preacher of today he might not, it is true, be stoned, but he would be burned, or dismembered with tongs, by the enraged Papists.

5. Stephen replies to the false accusation of the Jews. Beginning with Abraham, he goes on through the Scriptures, showing how, previous to the time of Solomon who built a house for God, neither Abraham nor any other of the patriarchs ever built a house for his service, but they were not for that reason the less regarded of God. Then Stephen adds the quotation from Isaiah. He says: “But Solomon built him a house. Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in houses made with hands; as saith the prophet, The heaven is my throne, and the earth the footstool of my feet: what manner of house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?

Did not my hand make all these things?”

6. After these words he rebukes them, saying: “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? and they killed them that showed before of the coming of the Righteous One; of whom ye have now become betrayers and murderers; ye who received the law as it was ordained by angels, and kept it not.”

7. Now follows the latter part of our lesson, beginning, “Now when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.” Evidently, then, the dispute was in regard to faith and good works. But how is it with the Papists, who have not the least semblance of grounds for their position other than their own human laws and doctrines? If they could produce for themselves a shadow of support such as the Jews had in adducing that God gave the law of Moses and chose the temple at Jerusalem, they would instantly raise a cry of, “By divine right” (de jure divino), as in fact did their forefathers the Jews.

BUILDING CHURCHES DOES NOT SECURE GOD’S FAVOR.

8. This epistle text seems to be not at all difficult; it is plain. It presents in Stephen an example of the faith of Christ. Little comment is necessary. We shall examine it briefly. The first principle it teaches is, we cannot secure the favor of God by erecting churches and other institutions. Stephen makes this fact plain in his citation from Isaiah.

9. But if we are to take this position and maintain it, we must incur the same risk Stephen did. Such position calls for the doing away with the bulls of the Pope, with innumerable indulgences, laws of the ecclesiasts and incessant preaching about churches, altars, institutions, cloisters, chalices, bells, tables, candles and apparel. Thus would the holiness of the Pope and his adherents be offended, and not without reason. For in consequence, luxuries of kitchen and cellar would be diminished, and all temporal possessions as well. In course of time idleness, voluptuousness and ease would have to give place to labor, poverty and unrest. The clerical order would be obliged to! study and pray, or support themselves like other people do. Such a course would not be agreeable to them. The holy Christian Church would be despised, as were Christ and the apostles. Her officials could no longer live in royal pomp, waging war, plundering, and shedding blood, all under the pretext of honoring God and exalting the holy Church. For this have the most holy fathers in God done, and still do.

10. We must not, however, be led to conclude it is wrong to build and endow churches. But it is wrong to go to the extreme of forfeiting faith and love in the effort, presuming thereby to do good works meriting God’s favor. It results in abuses precluding all moderation. Every nook and corner is filled with churches and cloisters, regardless of the object of church-building.

11. There is no other reason for building churches than to afford a place where Christians may assemble to pray, to hear the Gospel and to receive the sacraments; if indeed there is a reason. When churches cease to be used for these purposes they should be pulled down, as other buildings are when no longer of use. As it is now, the desire of every individual in the world is to establish his own chapel or altar, even his own mass, with a view of securing salvation, of purchasing heaven.

12. Is it not a miserable, a deplorable, error and delusion to teach innocent people to depend on their works to the great disparagement of their Christian faith? Better to destroy all the churches and cathedrals in the world, to burn them to ashes — it is less sinful even when done through ma-lice-than to allow one soul to be misled and lost by such error. God has given no special command in regard to the building of churches, but he has issued his commands in reference to our souls — his real and peculiar churches. Paul says concerning them ( 1 Corinthians 3:16-17): “Ye are a temple [church] of God If any man destroyeth the temple of God, him shall God destroy.”

13. But observe the holiness of the Papists. The foundation of every soul is disturbed by their error, and the real Church of God is overthrown. This fact does not deter the Papists; indeed, they willingly contribute to the overthrow of the Church. By their doctrine of works they effect nothing else but the destruction everywhere of the true Church. Then they proceed to substitute for it church buildings, of wood and stone. They misuse the conscience until it believes the trivial defacement by knife of such wood and stone is a profanation of the whole church, and the expense and labor of reconsecration must be incurred. Are not the individuals who have no conscientious scruples about the destruction of the actual Church, who even convert that great sin into eternal merit, and at the same time are extremely conscientious about the vain juggling of their own church building — are they not raving, raging, foolish and fanatical? yes, frantic, infuriated?

I continue to assert that for the sake of exterminating the error mentioned, it would be well to overthrow at once all the churches in the world, and to utilize ordinary dwellings or the open air for preaching, praying and baptizing, and for all Christian requirements.

14. Especially is there justification for so doing because of the worthless reason the Papists assign for building churches. Christ preached for over three years, but only three days in the temple at Jerusalem. The remainder of the time he spoke in the schools of the Jews, in the wilderness, on the mountains, in ships, at the feasts and otherwise in private dwellings. John the Baptist never entered the temple; he preached by the Jordan River and in all places. The apostles preached in the market-place and streets of Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. Philip preached in a chariot to the eunuch. Paul preached to the people by the riverside; in the Philippian jail and in various private dwellings. In fact, Christ commanded the apostles ( Matthew 10:12) to preach in private houses. I presume the preachers mentioned were equally good with those of today.

15. But it must be that costly buildings with magnificent arches are required for the false preachers and diabolical teachers of today, though the Word of God could find in all Bethlehem no inn wherein to be born.

Should we not, then, with Stephen cry unto these unreasonable creatures: “Ye stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Spirit. Ye are betrayers and murderers of innocent, harmless Christian souls. Though having received the commandments from the apostles, ye have observed none of them”? I suppose, should we do so, their hearts would be ready to burst with rage and they would gnash their teeth, saying we had blasphemed against God and spoken against the holy place; yes, had profaned all churches. O God, the blind leaders, and murderers of souls, who rule under the accursed popery!

16. You see now some reason why lightning strikes the costly Papist churches more frequently than it does other buildings. Apparently the wrath of God especially rests upon them because there greater sins are committed, more blasphemies uttered and greater destruction of souls and of churches wrought than take place in brothels and in thieves’ dens. The keeper of a public brothel is less a sinner than the preacher who does not deliver the true Gospel, and the brothel is not so bad as the false preacher’s Church. Even were the proprietor of the brothel daily to prostitute virgins, godly wives and nuns, awful and abominable as such action would be, he would not be any worse nor would he work more harm than those papistical preachers.

17. Does this astonish you? Remember, the false preacher’s doctrine effects nothing but daily to lead astray and to violate souls newly born in baptism — young Christians, tender souls, the pure, consecrated virgin brides of Christ. Since the evil is wrought spiritually, not bodily, no one observes it; but God is beyond measure displeased. In his wrath he cries, through the prophets, in unmistakable terms, Thou harlot who invitest every passer-by! So little can God tolerate false preaching. Jeremiah in his prayer ( Lamentations 5:11) makes this complaint, “They ravished the women in Zion, the virgins in the cities of Judah.” Now, spiritual virginity, the Christian faith, is immeasurably superior to bodily purity; for it alone can obtain heaven.

18. The false doctrines and works of the Papists are destructive not only of faith, but also of Christian love. The fool may always be known by his cap.

Many a man passes by his poor neighbor who has a sick child or wife, or is otherwise in need of assistance, and makes no effort to minister to him, but instead contributes to endow some church. Or else while health remains he endeavors to heap up treasures, and when he comes at last to his deathbed makes a will bequeathing his estate to some certain institution. He will be surrounded by priests and monks. They will extol his act, absolve the religious man, administer the Sacrament and bury him with honors. They will proclaim his name from the pulpit and during mass, and will cry: “Here is worthy conduct indeed! The man has made ample provision for his soul.

Many blessings will hereafter be conferred upon him.” Yes, hereafter but, alas, eternally too late.

19. But no one while he is living warns of the man’s sins in not administering to the wants of his neighbor when it lies in his power to relieve; in passing him by, and ignoring him as the rich man did Lazarus in the Gospel. And he does not himself recognize his sins. Hence they must remain unconfessed, unrepented of and unabsolved, however many bulls, indulgences and spiritual fathers may have served. This neglect is the very sin concerning which Christ on the day of judgment will say: “I was... naked, and ye clothed me not.” Matthew 25:43. The religious one will then reply, “I heaped up treasures to establish an institution for thee, in obedience to the Pope’s decree, and hence he has absolved me from all my sins.” What can individuals such as he expect to hear but the sentence: “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire”? For by their works they destroy the Christian faith, and for the sake of mere wood and stone despise Christian love.

20. Let us, therefore, beloved friends, be wise; wisdom is essential. Let us truly learn we are saved through faith in Christ and that alone. This fact has been made sufficiently manifest. Then let no one rely upon his own works.

Let us in our lifetime engage only in such works as shall profit our neighbors, being indifferent to testament and institution, and direct our efforts to bettering the full course of our neighbors’ lives.

21. It is related of a pious woman, St. Elizabeth, that once upon entering a cloister and seeing on the wall a fine painting portraying the sufferings of our Lord, she exclaimed: “The cost of this painting should have been saved for the sustenance of the body; the sufferings of Christ are to be painted on your hearts.” How forcibly this godly utterance is directed against the things generally regarded precious! Were St. Elizabeth so to speak today, the Papists assuredly would burn her for blaspheming against the sufferings of Christ and for condemning good works. She would be denounced as a heretic, though her merits were to surpass the combined merits of ten saints.

GOD’S COMMANDMENTS CANNOT BE FULFILLED BY MAN’S WORKS.

22. Stephen not only rejects the conceptions of the Jews in regard to churches and their erection, but also denounces all their works, saying they have received the Law by the disposition of angels and have not kept it. So the Jews in return reprove Stephen as if he had spoken against the temple and, further, blasphemed the law of Moses and would teach strange works.

True, Stephen could not rightly have charged them with failure to observe the Law, so far as external works are considered. For they were circumcised, and observed the rules in regard to meats, apparel and festivals, and all Moses’ commands. It was their consciousness of having observed the Law that led them to stone him.

23. But Stephen’s words were prompted by the same spirit that moved Paul when he said ( Romans 3:20ff) that by the deeds of the Law no one is justified in the sight of God, faith alone being the justifier. Where the Holy Spirit is not present to grant grace, man’s heart cannot favor the Law of God; it would prefer the Law did not exist. Every individual is conscious of his own apathy and disinclination toward what is good, and of his readiness to do evil. As Moses says ( Genesis 8:21), “The imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” Man, then, being unwilling, he has no real delight in doing the works of the Law. Lacking right motive, he is constrained to works through fear of punishment, of shame and hell, or else through gainful motive and hope of salvation; not through love of God and desire to honor him. All works so wrought are sheer hypocrisy, and in God’s sight are not good. But the Holy Spirit is promised to the believer in Christ, and through Christ’s grace the Spirit produces in the heart a desire for good. Under its influence the individual voluntarily and without expectation of reward performs his good works for the honor of God.

Through faith and the Spirit he is already justified and in a saved condition, a state he could never have attained by any works. In accordance with this principle, we may readily conclude that all who lack faith and grace fail to observe the Law, even though they torture themselves to death with its requirements.

24. When Stephen declares the Jews always resist the Holy Spirit, he means to imply that through their works they become presumptuous, are not inclined to accept the Spirit’s aid and are unwilling their works be rejected as ineffectual. Ever working and working to satisfy the demands of the Law, but without fulfilling its least requirement, they remain hypocrites to the end. Unwilling to embrace the faith whereby they would be able to accomplish good works, and the grace of the Spirit that would create a love for the Law, they make impossible the free, spontaneous observance of it. But the voluntary observer of the Law, and no other, God accepts.

25. Stephen calls the Jews “stiff necked, uncircumcised in heart and ears” because they refuse to listen and understand. They continually cry, “Good works, good works! Law, Law!” though not effecting the least thing themselves. Just so do our Papists. As their forefathers did, so do the descendants, the mass of this generation; they persecute the righteous and boast it is done for the sake of God and his Law. Now we have the substance of this lesson. But let us examine it a little further.

AN EXAMPLE OF GODLY ZEAL AND CHRISTIAN LOVE.

26. First, we see in Stephen’s conduct love toward God and man. He manifests his love to God by earnestly and severely censuring the Jews, calling them betrayers, murderers and transgressors of the whole Law, yes stiffnecked, and saying they resist the fulfillment of the Law and resist also the Holy Spirit himself. More than that, he calls them “uncircumcised in heart and ears.” How could he have censured them any more severely? So completely does he strip them of every creditable thing, it would seem as if he were moved by impatience and wrath.

27. But who today would the world tolerate were he to attempt such censure of the Papists? Stephen’s love for God constrained him to his act.

No one who possesses the same degree of love can be silent and calmly permit the rejection of God’s commandments. He cannot dissemble. He must censure and rebuke every opposer of God. Such conduct he cannot permit even if he risks his life to rebuke it. Love of this kind the Scriptures term “zelum Dei,” a holy indignation. For rejection of God’s commands is a slight upon his love and intolerably disparages the honor and obedience due him, honor and obedience which the zealous individual ardently seeks to promote. We have an instance of such a one in the prophet Elijah, who was remarkable for his holy indignation against the false prophets.

28. We must infer from Stephen’s example that he who silently ignores the transgression of God’s commands, or any sin, has no love for him. Then how is it with the hypocrites who applaud transgression? and with calumniators and those who laugh and eagerly listen to and speak about the faults of others?

29. That the Pope in his absurd laws enjoins the Papists against censuring governors, is not sufficient reason for any man to refrain from administering proper reproof. Whom does Stephen censure here? Is it not the governors of Jerusalem? Yet he was just an ordinary man; not ordained, not clothed with the priestly office. His example teaches the right of every Christian to justly censure the Pope and the governors. Indeed, he is under obligation to do so. Then let no one be content to think he has not such privilege. Especially should spiritual sins be rebuked. Stephen’s reproof was not directed against gross sins, but against hypocrisy; for the Jews in unbelief resisted the Holy Spirit. Thus they wrought more harm than comes from gross sins. By their laws and their works they misled themselves and the multitude.

30. Similarly do the Pope, the bishops and all the Papists deserve public censure as stiff necked and uncircumcised hypocrites, resisting the Holy Spirit and dishonoring all God’s commandments, betraying and murdering Christian souls; thereby being betrayers and murderers of the Christ who bought them with his own blood.

31. We have just had occasion to state that Stephen was a layman, an ordinary Christian, not a priest. But the Papists sing his praises as a Levite, who read the epistle or the Gospel lesson at the altar. The Papists, however, pervert the truth entirely. It is necessary for us, therefore, to know what Luke says in Acts 4 and 5. He tells how the Christians in the inception of the Church, at Jerusalem, made all their possessions common property and the apostles distributed to each member of the congregation as he needed, But, as it happened, the widows of the Grecian Jews were not provided for as were the Hebrew widows; hence arose complaint. The apostles, seeing how the duty of providing for these things would be so burdensome as to interfere in a measure with their duties of praying and preaching, assembled the multitude of the disciples and said: “It is not fit that we should forsake the Word of God, and serve tables. Look ye out therefore, brethren, from among you seven men of good report, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will continue steadfastly in prayer, and in the ministry of the word.” Acts 6:2-4. So Stephen, in connection with six others, was chosen to distribute the goods. Thence comes the word “deacon,” servant or minister. For these men served the congregation, ministering to their temporal wants.

32. Plainly, then, Stephen was a steward, or an administrator and guardian of the temporal goods of the Christians his duty was to administer them to those in need. In course of time his office was perverted into that of a priest who reads the epistle and Gospel lessons. The only trace left of Stephen’s office is the slight resemblance found in the duty of the nuns’ provosts, and in that of the administrators of hospitals and of the guardians of the poor. The readers of the epistle and Gospel selections should be, not the consecrated, the shorn, the bearers of dalmatics and brushers of flies at the altar, but ordinary godly laymen who keep a record of the needy and have charge of the common fund for distribution as necessity requires.

Such was the actual office of Stephen. He never dreamed of reading epistles and Gospels, or of bald pates and dalmatics. Those are all human devices.

THE AUTHORITY OF LAYMEN TO PREACH.

33. As to the question that may arise whether an ordinary layman may be allowed to preach: Though Stephen was not appointed to preach — the apostles, as stated, reserved that office to themselves — but to perform the duties of a steward, yet when he went to the market-place and mingled among the people, he immediately created a stir by performing signs and wonders, as the epistle says, and he even censured the rulers. Had the Pope and his followers been present, they certainly would have inquired as to his credentials — his Church passport and his ecclesiastical character; and had he been lacking a bald pate and a prayer-book, undoubtedly he would have been committed to the flames as a heretic since he was not a priest nor a clergyman. These titles, which the Scriptures accord all Christians, the Papists have appropriated to themselves alone, terming all other men “the laity,” and themselves “the Church,” as if the laity were not a part of the Church. At the same time these people of boasted refinement and nobility do not in a single instance fill the office or do the work of a priest, of a clergyman or of the Church. They but dupe the world with their human devices.

34. The precedent of Stephen holds good. His example gives all men authority to preach wherever they can find hearers, whether it be in a building or at the market-place. He does not confine the preaching of God’s Word to bald pates and long gowns. At the same time he does not interfere with the preaching of the apostles. He attends to the duties of his own office and is readily silent where it is the place of the apostles to preach.

True, order must be observed. All cannot speak at once. Paul writes in the fourteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians ( 1 Corinthians 14) that one or two are to be permitted to speak, and that if a revelation be made to a listener the speaker is to keep silence. That such was the practice of the apostles is evident from Acts 15, where we read how, after the discourses of certain Pharisees, Peter preached, and when he ceased Barnabas and Paul followed, and lastly James. Each spoke in his turn. To a very slight extent the custom still exists in the debates of colleges, but at present sermons are only idle talk about Dietrich of Bern or some dream of the speaker.

35. A sermon proper should be conducted as a dissertation upon any subject at the social board. Christ, therefore, instituted the Holy Supper as an occasion where we might treat of his Word as we sit at table. But now all is perverted and divine order is superseded by arrangements merely human. But let this suffice on this point.

36. In the second place, Stephen’s conduct is a beautiful example of love for fellowmen in that he entertains no ill-will toward even his murderers.

However severely he rebukes them in his zeal for the honor of God, such is the kindly feeling he has for them that in the very agonies of death, having made provision for himself by commending his Spirit to God, he has no further thought about himself but is all concern for them. Under the influence of that love he yields up his spirit. Not undesignedly does Luke place Stephen’s prayer for his murderers at the close of the narrative. Note also, when praying for himself and commending his spirit to God he stood, but he knelt to pray for his murderers. Further, he cried with a loud voice as he prayed for them, which he did not do for himself.

37. How much more fervently he prayed for his enemies than for himself!

How his heart must have burned, his eyes have overflowed and his entire body been agitated and moved with compassion as he beheld the wretchedness of his enemies! It is the opinion of St. Augustine that Paul was saved by this prayer. And it is not unreasonable to believe that God truly heard it and that from eternity he foresaw a great result from this dispensation. The person of Paul is evidence of God’s answer to Stephen’s prayer. It could not be denied, though all may not have been saved.

38. Stephen aptly chooses his words, saying, “Lay not this sin to their charge;” that is, make not their sin unremovable, like a pillar or a foundation. By these words Stephen makes confession, repents and renders satisfaction for sin, in behalf of his murderers. His words imply: “Beloved Lord, truly they commit a sin, a wrong. This cannot be denied.” Just as it is customary in repentance and confession simply to deplore and confess the guilt. Stephen then prays, offering himself up that abundant satisfaction may surely be made for sin.

39. Note how great an enemy and at the same time how great a friend true love can be; how severe its censures and how sweet its aid. It is like a nut with a hard shell and a sweet kernel. Bitter to our old Adam nature, it is exceedingly sweet to the new man in us.

EXAMPLE OF COMFORT AND ENCOURAGEMENT.

40. This epistle lesson, by the example given, inculcates the forcible doctrine of faith and love; and more, it affords comfort and encouragement. It not only teaches; it incites and impels. Death, the terror of the world, it styles a sleep; Luke says, “He fell asleep.” That is, Stephen’s death was quiet and painless; he departed as one goes to sleep, unknowing how — unconsciously falls asleep.

41. The theory that the Christian’s death is a sleep, a peaceful passing, has safe foundation in the declaration of the Spirit. The Spirit will not deceive us. Christ’s grace and power make death peaceful. Its bitterness is far re. moved by Christ’s death when we believe in him. He says ( John 8:51), “If a man keep my word, he shall never see death.” Why shall he not see it?

Because the soul, embraced in his living Word and filled with that life, cannot be sensible of death. The Word lives and knows no death; so the soul which believes in that Word and lives in it, likewise does not taste death. This is why Christ’s words are called words of life. They are the words of life; he who hangs upon them, who believes in them, must live.

42. Comfort and encouragement are further increased by Stephen’s assertion, “I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.” Here we see how faithfully and lovingly Christ watches over us, and how ready he is to aid us if we but believe in him and will cheerfully risk our lives for his sake. The vision was not given solely on Stephen’s account; it was not recorded for his profit. It was for our consolation, to remove all doubt of our privilege to enjoy the same happy results, provided we conduct ourselves as Stephen did.

43. The fact that the heavens are open affords us the greatest comfort and removes all terror of death. What should not stand open and ready for us when the heavens, the supreme work of creation, are waiting wide for us and rejoicing at our approach? It may be your desire to see them visibly open to you. But were everyone to behold, where would faith be? That the vision was once given to man is enough for the comfort of all Christians, for the comfort and strengthening of their faith and for the removal of all death’s terrors. For as we believe, so shall we experience, even though we see not physically.

44. Would not the angels, yes all creatures, lend willing assistance when the Lord himself stands ready to help? Remarkably, Stephen saw not an angel, not God himself, but the man Christ, he who most delights humanity and who affords man the strongest comfort. Man, especially when in distress, welcomes the sight of another man in preference to that of angels or other creatures.

45. Our artful teachers who would measure the works of God by their own reason, or the seas with a spoon, ask: “How could Stephen look into the heavens when our vision cannot discern a bird when it soars a little high?

How could he see Christ distinctly enough to recognize him for a certainty?

A man upon a high steeple appears to us a child, and we cannot recognize his person.” They attempt to settle the question by declaring Stephen’s vision must have been supernaturally quickened, permitting him to see clearly into infinite space. But suppose Stephen had been under a roof or within a vault? Away with such human nonsense! Paul when near Damascus certainly heard the voice of Christ from heaven and his hearing was not quickened for the occasion. The apostles on Mount Tabor, John the Baptist ( Luke 3:22) and again the people ( John 12:29) — these all heard the voice of the Father with their ordinary hearing. Is it not more difficult to hear a voice from a great distance above than to see an object in the same place? The range of our vision is immeasurably wider than the scope of our hearing.

46. When God desires to reveal himself, heaven and everything else requisite are near. It matters not whether Stephen were beneath a roof or in the open air, heaven was near to him. Abnormal vision was not necessary.

God is everywhere; there is no need that he come down from heaven. A vision, at close range, of God actually in heaven is easily possible without the quickening or perverting of the senses.

47. It matters not whether or no we fully comprehend how such a vision is effected. It is not intended that the wonders of God be brought within our grasp; they are manifested to induce in us belief and confidence. Explain to me, ye of boasted wisdom, how the comparatively large apple or pear or cherry can be grown through the tiny stem; or even explain less mysterious things. But permit God to work; believe in his wonders and do not presume to bring him within your comprehension.

48. Who can number the virtues illustrated in Stephen’s example? There loom up all the fruits of the Spirit. We find love, faith, patience, benevolence, peace, meekness, wisdom, truth, simplicity, strength, consolation, philanthropy. We see there also hatred and censure for all forms of evil. We note a disposition not to value worldly advantage nor to dread the terrors of death. Liberty, tranquility and all the noble virtues and graces are in evidence. There is no virtue but is illustrated in this example; no vice it does not rebuke. Well may the evangelist say Stephen was full of faith and power. Power here implies activity. Luke would says, “His faith was great; hence his many and mighty works.” For when faith truly exists, its fruits must follow. The greater the faith, the more abundant its fruits.

49. True faith is a strong, active and efficacious principle. Nothing is impossible to it. It rests not nor hesitates. Stephen, because of the superior activity of his faith, performed not merely ordinary works, but wrought wonders and signs publicly — great wonders and signs, as Luke says. This is written for a sign that the inactive individual lacks in faith, and has no right to boast of having it. Not undesignedly is the word “faith” placed before the word “power.” The intention was to show that works are evidence of faith, and that without faith nothing good can be accomplished.

Faith must be primary in every act. To this end may God assist us. Amen. 

Some People Looked at a Sermon by Luther - On Faith

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A few people were reading this sermon, with the graphic above.

That was my favorite graphic for a time, because Luther's quotation so powerfully contradicted the prevailing UOJ dogma of WELS-ELS-LMCS-ELCA-CLC (sic). Yes, it is all one dogma: everyone is already forgiven and saved without faith.

So I read the sermon over again and garnished the text with additional graphics. Like many of Luther's sermons, this one could be foundational - by itself. The sermon does not cover everything bu the main thing - faith versus works.

Some people imagine they do not teach or believe salvation by works because they are Protestants. But works continue to be our default attitude. That is why Luther called justification by faith slippery and fragile - not that the doctrine is - but we so easily lose hold of the Chief Article.

The braying of UOJ jackasses is proof of the human tendency to let go of justification by faith by correcting and improving upon it. Once they are done, the faithless teach  that no faith is salvation.

Why is Herman Otten upset that a liberal Yale professor is invited to the Holy Place to teach Islam and Christianity are equal or the same, at least worshiping the same god?

UOJ makes all gods or no gods equal. God has forgiven everyone, regardless, so the UOJ god is no different from Allah, except Allah expects submission. UOJ is pure radical rebellion.

I am puzzled. The great and wise Edward Preuss, as Professor of Nonsense at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis ("The greatest seminary in North America:" Herman Otten) said this - as quoted by Paul McCain, Otten stealth friend, and Jack Cascione, Otten overt and cracked advisor -




Did anyone above mention that Edward Preuss later saw a brilliant sunset and joined the Church of Rome, becoming a very powerful and influential editor of a Roman Catholic journal? Cascione, McCain, Robert Preus? Anyone? Anyone?

Ironic that Paul McCain saw a powerful, free Roman Catholic Encyclopedia available and copy-pasted it into his blog to prove what a great scholar he was (minus the RC distinguished marks, of course, like all plagiarists). The UOJ impulse is so strong that when innocent or even not-so-innocent Lutherans are exposed to it, they sinuflect to Rome, snaking along until they reach their desired place of peace.


Luther Days - It Gots Talent. Speaker Endorses Fake Conference Where He Is Speaking

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"
Brian Arthur Lampe We are blessed to part of this amazing event. It (sic) great to be WELS.


***
GJ - 

Lampe is a self-appointed minister to any denomination that will hire him. He was listed as a Church and Change board member, with Ski and other n'er-do-wells. But we all know, wink wink, that Church and Change is no more.

Apparently literacy is not a requirement for Church and Change leadership. If someone can copy and paste, he is on the board.

----

http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2008/02/ceo-ministries.html

"Brian Arthur Lampe delivers a one-two punch to the devil and his schemes with his high powered, enthusiastic, energetic life-applying Biblical motivational speaking. We are on a quest for authentic God. By including Brian Arthur Lampe, you will have more than just a rally or a Bible study. You and your congregation will be providing men, women, and youth with an encouraging process that teaches them how to live lives of authentic Christianity as modeled by Jesus Christ and directed by the Word of God." Christian Speaker Network describes Brian's denomination as Christian.


I am trying to figure out C.E.O. Ministries. Here is a promo from WELS' Church and Change (the outfit "shut down" by WELS):

Parent's Ministry - CEO
Brian and Tracy Lampe


Your baby is now a teenager, going through all of the teenage rites of passage. Between school, friends, God, and a social life, their lives seem to be a foreign country to you. The little boy or girl that once told you everything now has to be hounded to give you even a snippet of thought. Yet there are three things you should know about what is going on in your Christian teen's head that will make your relationship a little better…
Click the link to find out!

CEO also has programs for:
Men's Ministry
Students Ministry
Couples Ministry
Corporate Ministry

Email: Brian@CEO-Ministries.com
Website: www.ceo-ministries.com/parents.html

They are endorsed by WELS. Their March activity is linked from the WELS.net website.

It's also listed on Section Q, which is from CLR (formerly WELS Lutherans for Life).

John J. Wonders does their website. He describes himself as a "Clydesdale in training."

There is a link to Victory of the Lamb Lutheran Church, where women are invited to attend the Bible Babes group.

At St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Muskego:

Check Us Out;

Whether you are a committed Christian or investigating Christianity we invite you to check us out this Sunday at our student center. Doors open at 9:00am. Food and beverages are served between 9:30-10:30a.m. and Brian Arthur Lampe turns it up a notch or two for Jesus!


St. Paul's does a lot with Prayer Warriors, which is a Reformed mania. The Church and Change, Church Growth people like to emphasize prayer in a typical heretical way.

Here is a profile for Brian Arthur Lampe:

Driver
UPS
(Religious Institutions industry)

September 2006 — Present (1 year 6 months) 

Owner
CEO Ministries
(Religious Institutions industry)

September 2006 — Present (1 year 6 months) 

Brian Arthur Lampe’s Education
Wisconsin Lutheran 
1984 — 1987

---


Update on LinkedIn

Summary

We’re simply a group of knuckleheads for Christ, encouraging one another through each other's faith. United in through Christ lay-men, and women from sister WELS families who love our called workers, but fully understand that each of us is called by God, and empowered to fulfill His purpose. [ What?[

Youth, and adult ministry, event and conference planning, and motivational speaking. 

To build Christ Empowered Opportunities into an established tool for people to be encouraged to tap into their spiritual gifts.

Getting them involved in spreading the Gospel message through their profession without even saying a word.

Specialties:Motivational speaking, youth and men's ministries.

Experience

Truck driver

WELS
 –  (13 years)

OTR Driver

Quad graphics
 –  (8 years 3 months)
I was an OTR truck driver and delivered plant to plant materials

Education

Wisconsin Lutheran

Genral (sic)

A Facebook Page Is Not a Blog, Pastor Parlow. ELCA Did Not "Site" But Cited the Western Rite. Why Isn't He Speak at Luther Days' Fake Conference?

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Parlow was one of 8 WELS people at Andy Stanley in 2008.
Ski, Glende, and Bishop Katy went, et al.

All the Church and Changers have drive-by DMins.
Spelling does not count.



---
Rock and Roll Contest. Wait,
it is Andy Stanley worship, 2008.

The Lavender Mafia in WELS
likes Andy Stanley.

Aegidius Hunnius Destroys the Odious Jay Webber Essay - And the Entire UOJ Rabble. Sent by a Reader

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"Meanwhile, God has never intended it to mean that it avails for justifying or for remitting sins without faith, through some sort of general remission of sins or justification, which is also supposedly done among those who never have faith, never had faith, or never will have faith. He who does not believe, says John the Baptist, will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him (John 3). Therefore, regarding whose who never believe in the Son of God, from them also the wrath of God was never withdrawn (not even for a moment). However much the treasure of sins has been obtained for them and offered to them in the Gospel, nevertheless, it was never conferred on them through unbelief, nor was it ever received by them, since faith was lacking to them, which is the very organ for receiving the remission of sins." 
 Aegidius Hunnius, A Clear Explanation of the Controversy Among the Wittenberg Theologians Concerning Regeneration and Election, p. 60;  Repristination Press, Malone, TX 2016, Trans., Paul A.Rydeki; Ed., Rachel K.Melvin.




Order the Kindle (ebook) version of Hunnius here.


Reader:
The other is from WELS's Meditations, March-May 2014, for Monday, 17 March 2014.  The howler is in the second column which reads:  

"No matter what you did yesterday -- or failed to do -- and no matter what you will do tomorrow, God has forgiven you."

Now, try saying that and putting in a sin from the second table of the Law.  Were I to say, for example, that I committed adultery yesterday and I'm going to do it tomorrow, God has forgiven me.  Somehow, that doesn't make sense.  Nor would it were I to say "murder" or theft" or anything other sin, "big" or "little."  I'm not sure if this is an example of UOJ or just the inability to think or perhaps a combination of both -- a "bifecta"?  This is the pap that is peddled in Meditations -- and remember, this is the stuff that goes unfiltered into the homes of the unsuspecting.


WELS-LCMS-ELS Reaping the Thistle Seed of UOJ, Panting after "Growth". It's All about the Benjamins. From 2011

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"I don't think there's anything intrinsically wrong with the church-growth principles we've developed, or the evangelistic techniques we're using. Yet somehow they don't seem to work." 
C. Peter Wagner
Ken Sidey, "Church Growth Fine Tunes Its Formulas,"Christianity Today, June 24, 1991, p. 47.

"The Fuller Evangelistic Association has a doctrinal statement. It is the statement which was adopted by Fuller Theological Seminary some time ago. It does not differ from their early statement and has never yet been changed, that I know of. This statement explicitly affirms that the Bible is free from all error in the whole and in the part. Both Dr. Hubbard and Dr. Fuller are part of that organization. This means they are signing two different doctrinal statements, one of which affirms inerrancy and one which does not. We also know that Dr. Hubbard frankly disavows inerrancy and even declares this view to be 'unbiblical.'
Harold Lindsell, The Bible in the Balance, Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1979, p. 220.

"The graduates of an institution usually give full proof of the teaching they received from the school in which they studied. According to Dr. LaSor's observations the leaven was present when David Hubbard, Daniel Fuller, and Ray Anderson were students. They went from Fuller to graduate study overseas and were promptly converted to the neoorthodoxy and liberalism of their professors. They returned to Fuller Seminary having moved farther to the left than any of their teachers at Fuller. And now their students in turn begin to reflect their views."
Harold Lindsell, The Bible in the Balance, Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1979, p. 236.

***



GJ - Anti-inerrancy, unionism, and women's ordination came into Missouri, WELS, and the Little Sect on the Prairie via Fuller Seminary study, which was universal for world mission and American mission leaders. The so-called mission counselors in WELS are simply salesmen for Fuller Seminary and its bastard offspring, such as Willow Creek and the rest of the humbugs.

All about the Benjamins,
but the Georges now - in the Obama Depression.

------



Fuller Pietism
Fuller Seminary in Pasadena was formed to teach inerrancy, although its initial position was really quite soft. Nevertheless, the faculty went through a revolution and Fuller adopted an anti-inerrancy statement. When The Battle for the Bible, about Fuller, was published, Harold Lindsell, the author, was attacked by Fuller for being “bitter and jealous” that he did not become president. In fact, the author was offered the position and turned it down. Notice how the amazingly successful president of Fuller Seminary, the late David Hubbard, defined the problem of inerrancy. Like most liberals in the driver’s seat, his words drip with sarcasm and scorn. The words are taken directly from the brochure Fuller mailed the author during a vain effort to recruit him.[52]

Fuller: The Bible Does Not Consider God’s Word Inerrant
J-773
"Were we to distinguish our position from that of some of our brothers and sisters who perceive their view of Scripture as more orthodox than ours, several points could be made: 1) we would stress the need to be aware of the historical and literary process by which God brought the Word to us...4) we would urge that the emphasis be placed where the Bible itself places it - on its message of salvation and its instruction for living, not on its details of geography or science, though we acknowledge the wonderful reliability of the Bible as a historical source book; 5) we would strive to develop our doctrine of Scripture by hearing all that the Bible says, rather than by imposing on the Bible a philosophical judgment of our own as to how God ought to have inspired the Word." 
David Allan Hubbard, "What We Believe and Teach," Pasadena, California: Fuller Theological Seminary, 1-800-235-2222 Pasadena, CA, 91182. [emphasis added]

Inerrancy Misleading and Inappropriate
J-774
"Where inerrancy refers to what the Holy Spirit is saying to the churches through the biblical writers, we support its use. Where the focus switches to an undue emphasis on matters like chronological details, the precise sequence of events, and numerical allusions, we would consider the term misleading and inappropriate. Its dangers, when improperly defined, are: 1) that it implies a precision alien to the minds of the Bible writers and their own use of Scriptures; 2) that it diverts attention from the message of salvation and the instruction in righteousness which are the Bible's key themes;...5) that too often it has undermined our confidence in the Bible we have... 6)that it prompts us to an inordinate defensiveness of Scripture which seems out of keeping with the bold confidence with which the prophets, the apostles and our Lord proclaimed it."
            David Allan Hubbard, "What We Believe and Teach," Pasadena, California: Fuller Theological Seminary, 1-800-235-2222 Pasadena, CA, 91182. [emphasis added]

Inerrancy Advocates Are Against the Bible and Tick Me Off
J-775
"We resent unnecessary distractions; we resist unbiblical diversions… Can anyone believe that all other activities should be suspended until all evangelicals agree on precise doctrinal statements? We certainly cannot."
            David Allan Hubbard, "What We Believe and Teach," Pasadena, California: Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA, 91182. [emphasis added]
The downhill doctrinal slide of Pietism begins with placing the good works of man above the truth of God’s Word. At every stage of the decline, the Pietists firmly believe that they must tolerate doctrinal laxity in the name of getting more done, for the glory of God, of course. Soon they find themselves helpless to stop the radicalism of the next generation. The last bishop of the Lutheran Church in America, James Crumley, begged his extremely liberal staff not to succumb to the radicalism of the newly formed Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Soon, those same staff-members were ousted for being too conservative by ELCA Bishop Herb Chilstrom’s network.

Road to Unitarianism.
From anti-creed to anti-Trinity
Pietism begins with the slogan of “deeds, not creeds.” In every case, Pietism has spawned Unitarianism in the next generation or two. The University of Halle was the mecca of Pietism in one generation and the headquarters for apostasy in the next. The American Lutheran congregations most devoted to unionism in the 19th century became Congregational or worse in the next. Fuller Seminary, somewhat conservative but ecumenical to a fault, became an anti-inerrancy school in only one generation. The Augustana Synod blended Pietism from the old country with orthodoxy from Capital Seminary (now Trinity, ELCA, in Columbus, Ohio). Lutheran orthodoxy was taught at Augustana Seminary until the 1930s, and then the old faculty was removed at once. The Pietists at Augustana were instrumental in bringing the Social Gospel Movement into their seminary, by calling A. D. Mattson to the faculty.
The original Wisconsin Synod was as Pietistic and unionistic as a Lutheran group might be. Many congregations offered both Reformed and Lutheran communion, both Reformed and Lutheran catechism.[53] Some congregations, like St. Paul’s in Columbus, were named “German Lutheran and Reformed.” Many congregations, like old St. John’s in Milwaukee, had Reformed splits in their early days. The Wisconsin Synod, later influenced by the great theologian Adolph Hoenecke and the synodical leaders Bading and Brenner, who rejected Pietism and unionism, joined the Synodical Conference. However, the Pietists within the Wisconsin Synod were beaten down but not conquered. They lost, too, when the Wisconsin Synod finally voted to break with the Missouri Synod after two decades of dithering. However, the Pietists did not give up. They quietly networked and got their men into key positions, using training at Fuller Seminary as their uniting force. After years of denying that anyone ever went to Fuller Seminary, even though their own Lawrence Otto Olson bragged up his D. Min. degree from Fuller, the Church Growth advocates finally came out of the closet and said, “Yes, we love Church Growth. Yes, we love religious projects with ELCA. Yes, we want women to be ordained. Now try to stop us.”


Ordination of Women

The ordination of women is a natural step for Pietists, a necessary outgrowth of the cell group. In the cell group, which is anti-Means of Grace and anti-confessional, anyone may serve as the leader. In general, women tend to be more spiritual than men and enjoy taking these positions. Cell group method books call them “lay pastors” so there is little difference between serving as a pastor in a cell group and serving as one in the congregation. Although ordination is far more important than the Pietists allow, they have already accomplished their goal when they have women teaching men and women in authority over men in the church.
Historically, women’s ordination has begun with the anti-Christian cults, whenever an alpha female can gather a group together. The Pentecostal groups follow, since they believe the Holy Spirit calls them directly in their dreams and visions. One Pentecostal woman baptized herself in a bathtub, got her tongue-speaking going by saying “yabba-dabba-doo” repeatedly, and announced she had the gift of preaching, according to her submissive husband.
If we concede that the Confessions are old-fashioned, boring, and irrevelant, even though they are not, and we claim that doctrine is divisive, then there is no particular reason why women should not be ordained and called to serve as pastors of congregations. The Lutheran Church in America took the lead in dismissing the inerrancy of the Scriptures and in teaching the flexibility of the Confessions, so they naturally, as liberal Pietists, ordained the first women pastors in America, in 1970.[54] The American Lutheran Church followed. Acknowledging the ordination of known lesbians and homosexuals followed soon after.



Method Actors
Since Pietism rejects the Confessions, the efficacy of the Word, and the Means of Grace, advocates of Enthusiasm must trust in methods. The key to understanding the Enthusiasts is not only in realizing their separation of the Holy Spirit from the Word but also in seeing the implication of that concept. The Reformed do more than imply what their Enthusiasm means. They teach it quite openly – The Word of God is dead and lifeless without human aid. Here is the secret to cell groups, tongue speaking, the seeker service, entertainment evangelism, friendship evangelism, child evangelism, mission vision statements, and all the flotsam of the Reformed. Why must the ministers pretend to be used car salesmen, talk show hosts, or stand-up comedians? In their eyes, God’s Word is dead without a boost from them to make it appealing and get results. Since they have no faith in the Holy Spirit working through the Word alone, they measure their success by visible results they can put on a graph. They take people out to their parking lots and tell them how many acres they have paved. That is good news for the National Asphalt Paving Association,[55] but it means nothing to God to watch these people clown around and carry on to win the approval of people, who are not even given the chance to hear the saving Word of Truth. In a word, these men are ashamed of the Gospel.



Pietistic Methods
J-776
"Pietist preachers were anxious to discover and in a certain sense to separate the invisible congregation from the visible congregation. They had to meet demands different than those of the preceding period: they were expected to witness, not in the objective sense, as Luther did, to God's saving acts toward all men, but in a subjective sense of faith, as they themselves had experienced it. In this way Pietism introduced a tendency toward the dissolution of the concept of the ministry in the Lutheran Church."
Helge Nyman, "Preaching (Lutheran): History,"The Encyclopedia of the Lutheran Church, 3 vols., ed. Julius Bodensieck, Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1965, III, p. 1943.
J-777
"All those doctrinal questions which were not immediately connected with the personal life of faith were avoided. The standard for the interpretation of Scripture thus became the need of the individual for awakening, consolation, and exhortation. The congregation as a totality was lost from view; in fact, pietistic preaching was (and is) more apt to divide the congregation than to hold it together."
            Helge Nyman, "Preaching (Lutheran): History,"The Encyclopedia of the Lutheran Church, 3 vols., ed. Julius Bodensieck, Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1965, III, p. 1943.
We might as well start on the bottom of Pietistic practices with the “holy laughter movement,” also known as the “Toronto Blessing.” Pentecostals wore out speaking in tongues, singing in tongues, as well as dancing and being slain in the spirit. They have done every rock version of every spiritual ditty one could imagine. What was left? Holy laughter! (They are actually reviving an old Pentecostal fad.) The minister begins a Toronto Blessing service by telling some lame jokes. People are already set to laugh their heads off. After a few jokes, people begin falling out of their chairs laughing. It helps if the minister does this too, as Richard Roberts, son of Oral Roberts, has done on television. Instead of piping their eyes with tears of contrition, yelling “Glory, glory, glory” on their backs on the floor, the Pentecostals now howl and bellow with laughter, with their backs on the floor. This too will fade and become wearisome. In contrast, the historic Lutheran liturgy is always uplifting to man because the worship service glorifies God, always emphasizing His grace through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Promise Keepers, a cancerous growth from cell groups and Pentecostalism, has also run through its time of excitement, its “movement of the Spirit,” and its roaringly high income. Wildly ecumenical and emotional, it offered to bring Protestants, Catholics, and Mormon men together in one big hug and cry. Stadiums were filled. Now they are not. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Visible and Invisible Church
J-778
"No one will open his eyes to the fact that mere human devices and doctrines are ensnaring souls, weakening consciences, dissipating Christian liberty and faith, and replenishing hell. Wolves! Wolves! How abominably, awfully, murderous, how harassing and destructive, are these things the world over!"
            Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VI, p. 32. Second Sunday in Advent Romans 15:4-13.

Divisive Preaching
J-779
"All those doctrinal questions which were not immediately connected with the personal life of faith were avoided. The standard for the interpretation of Scripture thus became the need of the individual for awakening, consolation, and exhortation. The congregation as a totality was lost from view; in fact, pietistic preaching was (and is) more apt to divide the congregation than to hold it together."
Helge Nyman, "Preaching (Lutheran): History," The Encyclopedia of the Lutheran Church, 3 vols., ed. Julius Bodensieck, Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1965, III, p. 1943.




Heavy Rain Coming Today after Misting Yesterday. Sowing the Tiniest Seeds

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Achillea millefolium common yarrow, milfoil 
FAMILY Asteraceae (aster) • perennial, USDA zones 3–8 • 

North American native with many native and introduced subspecies and varieties • blooms spring to summer • 2–3 feet (0.6–1.0 m) high and as wide Common yarrow is widely distributed across North America, and the straight species is now so prevalent that it is considered an invasive weed in many regions. There are numerous subspecies, varieties, and cultivars of this plant, and it’s often difficult to determine the nativeness of any particular selection. Achillea millefolium bears white flowers while its cultivars range in color from pink to purple, red, and yellow. Both the straight species and its cultivars bear hairy, feathery, lance-shaped leaves that are distinctly fragranced. Its many small flowers are combined into a flat-topped flower structure (inflorescence) with each individual bloom organized like all members of the aster family: a group of central disk flowers surrounded by several colorful ray flowers bearing a strap-shaped corolla that appears as a petal. Yarrow is a favorite of lacewings, ladybugs, syrphid flies, parasitic wasps, damsel bugs, and others. The dense mat of lacy foliage produced by yarrow before the flower stalks arrive is one of my favorite early-season garden textures. The flattened inflorescence is long lasting and provides weeks of color in the garden, but with its top-heavy structure the plant may require staking, particularly if sited in less than full sun. Common yarrow is drought tolerant.

Walliser, Jessica (2014-02-26). Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden: A Natural Approach to Pest Control (Kindle Locations 1767-1785). Timber Press. Kindle Edition. 

Yesterday seemed to be raining. The Starlings were eating the suet and the other birds were devouring all the sunflower seeds. The young squirrels hung around the seed platform like it was the Olde Malt Shoppe.

But when I checked my rain gauge - the wheelbarrow - less than an inch fell all day, probably only 1/2 inch.

Today will feature heavier rain on and off during the day.

Yarrow seed was in my drawer, so I scattered that in the backyard gardens, and added another packet of Feverfew in the Wild Garden area.

As I told one reader, the beneficial insect plants are mostly herbs, and the herbs are all beneficial plants. That formula is not 100%, but it is close. In addition, the herbs are easy to grow and can be used for various complaints. At one time, before WWII, pharmacy was almost all herbal.



One herb used for medicine is Foxglove, digitalis, Latin for fingers - good for heart complaints and still being used.

Foxglove is also good for bumble bees. They remain open for pollination for a long time and have a convenient landing zone.

You guessed - I have been looking at Foxglove plants, but they are still priced too high. When the surge of Foxglove buying is done, I may pick up one. They are attractive and unusual plants, shade tolerant, and self-sowing - all good attributes for the Wild Garden.

Jessica Walliser linked an article she wrote about beneficial bugs. I commented on Facebook, "I consider plants a prop for the beneficial bugs." She liked the comment, which makes FB fun. I can write to gardening experts and get immediate responses. I sent her an IM about marketing plants as beneficial insect plants, and she was already working with a company on that idea.

John 1 is connected to Genesis 1,
just as the bee is connected to the flower.


Plants as Props
We do not understand gardening very well unless we see the entire feeding cycle, from the fungi up to the hawks.

For example, people see the stinging insects - bees, wasps, hornets - and go crazy about the imaginary threat.

When I saw a wasp on the weekend, hovering over the roses and landing on them, I wondered, "Where is this guy in the food cycle?" Wasps and hornets are generally pest destroyers until late summer, when the berry season helps them into their winter cycle. I have a lot to learn about this family, so try to ignore my mistakes.

The nearby nests of these creatures mean that lots of food is nearby. Why would I destroy their nests?
They are no different from the dragon flies that show up for a newly built pond. One is connected to the other.

Likewise, I found a bright red hornet or wasp on my wheelbarrow handle. He was not just resting. He seemed to be chewing on the old wooden handles to develop paper for his house. He was very alert to my movements and finally flew away.

One of the most relaxing moments in the garden is watching the insects at work, from the tiny ichneumon wasps and flower flies to the bumbling bumble bees.



The Bible Is Just as Connected as the Garden
Any creature I see in the garden is both eating and being eaten. The slugs that bother most of us follow their own trails and the trails of others - that slime we find on vegetables and anywhere they are - like my slug-friendly straw bale garden. But beetles follow that trail and eat them. And birds look for beetles and eat them.

A sign of life in our bucolic neighborhood is the hawk that feeds from all the food below him.

The Bible is just as connected because it is a unified Truth and the creation of the Holy Spirit. One verse is connected to all other verses. We may not always see the Savior in each verse, but like the baby in the cradle, we know He is there even when we do not see him. (Luther analogy)





Claims and Counter-claims about the Soil and Plants

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Yesterday a reader said, "You have improved the soil in your yard."

I said, "No, God has improved the soil through His creatures."

"But you have improved it through adding earthworms and mulch."

I plead guilty to adding earthworms and mulch, but the amount of work I do is nothing compared to all the creatures in God's management system. This change in the yard is very much like the work of the Christian Church. When we work in harmony with the Word of God, we see the multiplying effects of the Holy Spirit.

One little nudge can have great consequences. One Lutheran writer needed a copy of MS Office to do his work. A gift from a reader paid for it, and he could work far more efficiently. A Lutheran researcher needed an inexpensive computer to do his work. A small gift for a used computer allowed him to continue his work. Often the consequence is just a matter of many tiny steps, just like gardening. As Luther advises, "Do you work faithfully and wait for God to carry out His will." There is nothing glamorous about pastoral visitation, but that has immediate and long-term results. Everyone agrees about that, but very few pastors make that their regular work.

Sassy makes sure I take her for a walk every morning and afternoon. We visit a lot of different streets. She likes to explore each yard, so I look over what the residents are doing. I see strange contradictions. One man had two KnockOut roses and neglected both. I saw a large weed grow out of one and tower over it by several feet. Neither rose was mulched or pruned, so they slowly changed into two more weeds.

In another yard, a large tree stump is being burned and slowly removed by chipping away the burnt wood. The residents have planted a new tree but put the chips on the curb to be taken away. They could have mulched the new tree with the old tree's cremains. They have substituted easy work, moving the chips over a few feet, for the harder work of leaving the pile on the curb.



Great Depression Logic - Everything Has a Purpose
People were more accustomed to using everything up during FDR's Great Depression. The old practical knowledge was almost gone when Obama started his own Great Depression. I see large sunny yards with nothing except grass growing. The laziest gardeners could turn their grassy areas into productive mini-farms in a year or two.

Two examples are raspberry and blackberry plants. Both love the sun. They multiply through their root systems. I turned a weedy, mostly hidden side of our house and planted a few blackberry plants in the mulch, adding red wiggler earthworms. Weeds stopped growing and the blackberries became established (last year). This year, without any more work, the blackberry canes have sprouted around the corner to grow on the east and west sides of the house. White flowers booming on them suggest berries forming and bees being fed.

I planted raspberry canes in the notorious and often reviled (by me) straw bale area, the sunny garden on the south side of the house. Potatoes and strawberries were a disaster last year, slug fodder. Roses did well there, but they had ferocious weed competition near the end. The ignored raspberries are now spreading through area on their own and will probably take over in time. Roses were easily transplanted into our helper's yard, where they are thriving, and into the maple tree garden, where they are already blooming.



Using Organics - Not Throwing Them Away
Trees create an enormous volume of organic matter. I am happy to have my neighbors put all their leaves in green bags so I can pop them into the trunk and easily spread them where I want the soil improved.

By creating a compost pile with a circle of chicken-wired, I provided Mr. Gardener a place to put all his garden trash - namely vines and plants he uprooted or trimmed. Fresh greens break down faster and energize the excess leaves put in the pile. Here is how to do it:

  1. Buy a section of chicken wire.
  2. Make a circle out of it in the shade in the back of the yard.
  3. Fill the circle with leaves, grass, plants, weeds, and things like the remains of potted plants.
  4. Add red wiggler earthworms.
  5. Stop using fertilizer, weed killer, and pesticides.

Most weeds can be pulled and placed around plants as mulch. The big leafy one are both mulch and fertilizer. The annoying spreading ones can be mulched over and turned into compost.

One reader gets coffee grounds in large amounts.  Coffee grounds do not have the magical properties some attribute to them, but pounds of weed free organic additions will feed a lot of critters in time, especially when the additional food gets broken down and passed through many generations of little beasties.





Alec Stain Quoting What's Going on Among the Lutherans? By Patsy Leppien

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S
hould the majority of liberal Protestant ministers ever decide to be intellectually honest with their congregations, the Lutheran Reformation would seem altogether mild by comparison. Protestant parishioners would, I am convinced, leave their churches wholesale. -Otten, Baal or God. 1988, p. ii. as quoted in Leppien and Smith, p. 25.

20 ways to tell if your pastor is apostate

  1. Does he believe that the doctrinal differences in the visible Christian church are no threat to the gospel?
  2. Does he believe that the men who wrote the Bible were skewed by the cultures in which they lived? Does he believe that the writings of Paul in the Bible are less authoritative than other parts?
  3. Does he believe that the creation of Genesis is myth? Or that God used evolution in some way?
  4. Does he believe that Adam, Noah, Jonah and Job are mythical people?
  5. Does he believe that the Torah – the first five books of the Bible – was written many years after Moses died?
  6. Does he believe that Isaiah and Daniel were written by other people?
  7. Does he believe that no Old Testament prophecies specifically refer to the man Jesus Christ?
  8. Does he believe that many of the “red letter” statements of Jesus in the gospels were not said by Jesus at all?
  9. Does he believe that the miracles in the Bible are spiritual lessons rather than historical events?
  10. Does he believe that Jesus Christ had a physical human father?
  11. Does he believe that the doctrine of the deity of Jesus Christ is not found in the Old Testament?
  12. Does he believe that the doctrine of the trinity is not taught in the Bible but was added later by the early church?
  13. Does he believe that the idea of a substitutionary atonement – Jesus paying for the sins of others – is incompatible with the idea of a just God?
  14. Does he believe that Jesus Christ may have risen in some spiritual sense, but in no way was physically raised from the dead?
  15. Does he believe it’s incorrect to speak of souls consciously surviving eternally? That the suffering of hell will end?
  16. Does he believe that morals are changeable based on circumstances? That homosexuality is acceptable between loving Christians and no worse than any other sin?
  17. Does he believe sincere followers of other religions may also get to heaven?
  18. Does he believe in universalism – all have already been saved? That no faith is required for a person to be reconciled to God? [GJ - Wait...What? The ELS/WELS published this? Time to kick out Webber, Buchholz, Bivens, Valleskey, Deutschlander, Mark Schroeder, Pope John the Malefactor, et al.]
  19. Does he believe that Jesus’ chief concern was the elimination of poverty and social oppression?
  20. Does he believe that it’s fine to join with anyone as long as they generally agree “Jesus is Lord”?
If you pastor believes even one of these items, you are not in a wholesome church. There may well be some or many true Christians in it. But if it has an apostate at the helm, what in the world are you doing there? Don’t you think it may well be time for you to leave?
…there are basically two different religions within external Christendom. The difference between these two religions is the difference between God and Baal. Informed Christians ought to recognize that the real difference within external Christendom does not lie along traditional denominational lines…there are those within these denominations who accept the fundamental truths of historic Christianity. On the other hand there are the modern liberals within these same denominations who reject historic Christianity. -ibid
These questions have been taken in large part from Patsy Leppien and J. Kincaid Smith’s 1992 book What’s going on among the Lutherans.

Diapers in the Rainbarrel - The Grackles Are Back

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The common grackle is a member of the crow family:
grackles invented the disposable diaper.
Their strong sharp beaks are digging up grubs in the soil.

I appreciate the many people who write to say they like the gardening articles. They are the fun part of the day in writing, although polemics can also be a riot. One member looks for articles twice a day. A friend in WELS looks for them three times a day. The Icha-peekers who want a new article at midnight are sometimes disappointed, but I try to begin each day very early with horticulture.

I was standing by the main bird observation post, waiting for some to arrive at the platform feeder when a grackle landed, looked me over, and took some sunflower seeds. That reminded me of the fact that they were leaving their diapers in the rain-barrels again. That item - disposable bird diapers - intrigued me when I first learned about it, and readers are astonished by it. The baby grackles form little diapers rather than marking the nest area by firing out of their homes, leaving tell-tale white streaks. Eaglets do, but who want to mess with mother eagle.

The parents drop off the diapers at nearby water sources, supposedly to let them wash away and confuse their natural enemies. Note that these facts assume intention and purpose in the babies and the parents. They used to say "Instinct!" but the enterprise is really a matter of

  • Creation, 
  • Engineering, and 
  • Management. 

All three functions work together to make this happen, and all three belong to God.

Norma Boeckler's robin.


Grackles are different from other birds in leaving their diapers in water sources. One reader said, "Extra vitamins in your rainwater." I never overlook the value of different contributions, because each organic source tends to concentrate one item more than another. For instance, some manures are quite hot (high nitrogen) and better for greening up vegetation: birds and rabbits. They may also be too hot for that same reason, but I never had a problem with rabbit manure mixed with well fed red wigglers, who need nitrogen for their muscles.

Rain is coming again, perhaps, on Thursday, so I am looking at topping off my supply and using more of it on the following sunny days. Rain is the perfect gentle fertilizer for greening up plants and feeding the entire soil universe, which works together to maximize whatever is offered. Last summer was the wet straw era in the sunny garden, which made it a slug paradise. The same garden is not a slug paradise this year because they do not have enough rotten material to enjoy, and the mulch is down where the slug predators can easily reach the slugs. Still, slugs have a vital role in rasping or shredding organic material, to help it rot faster.

Beetles track and eat slugs and their eggs, but another humble creature is a slug foe gourmand as well. As readers may recall, I have doted on the crepe myrtle bush since we moved here, piling up grass, wood mulch, and mushroom compost underneath to feed the future blooms. I have also piled maple leaves up high, an organic pyramid, each winter.

The pyramid was a big circle of rotting leaves underneath the bush, then it was gone, somewhat blown away in the spring by the wind, but also drawn into the ground by earthworms and eaten by other soil creatures - like mites. Then I saw the moles feeding tunnel appear at the base. When the mole was done, the entire area under the bush, where the leaf pyramid had fed the soil creatures, was dug and mixed.



Almost Eden and I had a talk about moles just before. He said, "Am I upset that the moles mix my soil for me? Not at all." What drives lawn-worships nuts is actually good for the soil. No lawn maintenance man can do as much for the soil as the mole does, even if the man walks around the yard with spiked shoes to "aerate" the soil. Yuk, yuk.

Mr. Mole does eat the valuable earthworms, but they always come back in numbers supported by the organics in the soil. The mole does not get rid of that organic matter but recycles it. At the same time he devours delicious grubs. Like the grackle and starling, he is despised for his most noble characteristic - eating the Japanese beetles (June bugs) before they hatch and chew up the roses and other ornamental flowers. Almost Eden said, "I cannot remember seeing a June bug around my place." Nor could I.


Crepe myrtle bushes (not mine)
can be lush with flowers when heavily
mulched during the fall, winter, and spring.

Breaking News - One Luther Days Twitter Follow Is Suspended. New Account Being Followed - Pure Porn. Luther Days "Fun for All Ages"

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Who decided to let Natalie Pratthave a free ad for
Luther Days, by linking it from WELS.net?
And yet another conference was denied
and therefore invisible to the same gullible audience.


Twitter does not like porn accounts and porn spam, and yet Twitter is handy for both, since it is an easy tool for any moron to use. That is why college undergraduates can tweet all day and not know anything about computer science.

Twitter got rid of 10 million porn accounts last year.

Luther Days invited people of all ages to look up their Twitter account, called Luther Days, so it was created for the upcoming fake conference in September.

I checked out one porn account being followed by Luther Days. My safe computer expert (ELS or WELS - I forget which) pointed it out to me - and I still have the graphic, plus many more.

I soon found a formula. If there was an intriguing but not salacious image on the outside, but no words of introduction, the Twitter account was probably porn.

Today, on May 18th, after supper, I decided to look over the list again. The porn addiction accounts had been dropped. That is possible. Ask Natalie Pratt, because she removed many of them after I pointed this out.

One of the sites being followed by Luther Days, new as far as I can tell - is pure porn. I will spell out the name, not the actual link or address - First Sight.

If you have to find the site, you can do that from Natalie Pratt's Luther Days Twitter following list. I am not going to link it.

Maybe people should call President Mark Schroeder or Natalie's safe pastor and read them what is on that Twitter account. Since the Twitter account is linked from the Luther Day's website, Natalie Pratt and the participants from WELS and the ELS - like Jay Webber and Jim Aderman - are inviting people of all ages to view the same accounts.



I don't get the joke either.
Do you want your kids on the Luther Days website
and the Twitter list?




The person on the left was labeled Natalie Pratt
on Natalie's FB page. She blocked me fast,
but keeps and adds porn Twitters for her Luther Days conference.

PoG Endorses Phony WELS-ELS Luther Days Conference. Has the Odd Couple Seen the Twitter Following List?

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Here's a PoG toast for the conference -
Bottoms up!

MARK THE DATE FOR "LUTHER DAYS": SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2016 at Shoreland Lutheran High School, Somers, WI!
Please join Pastor Richard Starr and Scott Barefoot for an exciting day of presentations and displays! Both Pastor Starr and Scott will be giving presentations on the subject of SSA - Homosexuality. Come visit the People of Grace display booth. Also, Pastor Starr and Scott will be doing a book signing of their book: "Forgive Us Our Sins: Homosexuality In The Light Of God's Truth". Copies of the book will be available there that day by Northwestern Publishing House! Here is some additional Information and links to the Luther Days website:
1. 75 Presenters with a 100 presentations & workshops.
2. Around the World in a Day. Live presentations (via Skype) directly from many of our World Missions.
3. Inspirational & True Stories of Incredible Faith and Courage from WELS/ELS members who have overcome tremendous challenges
4. Scholars Tent with in-depth studies into the Confessions, Luther’s Works, & the Book of Concord
5. Current list of Sessions: (http://www.lutherdays.org/luther-days…/sessions-at-a-glance/ )
6. Current list of Presenters: (http://www.lutherdays.org/luther-days-2016/event-presenters/ )

The Luther Days Festival is one of the most exciting events around for Confessional Lutherans and is the largest distinctly Lutheran festival in North America! This one-of-a-kind event is for the entire family and brings Martin Luther and the Reformation to life by offering participants a uniquely i...
LUTHERDAYS.ORG|BY LUTHER DAYS
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Mark Bergemann See you there. I'm also speaking.
Like211 hrs
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"Don't worry, the New New NIV will make that the sin of in-hospitality.
Anyway, everyone is already forgiven and saved."

Wisconsin and WELS - Have 12 of the Drunkest Cities - And a Booming Business in Law Firms Specializing in Eliminating Evidence and ConvictionsELS in Mankato - #10.

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Is it significant that the head of the worship conference is
also the bartender at the cash bar set up for the holy event?

Twelve of 20 drunkest American cities are in Wisconsin

Mankato ranks No. 10 on the list analyzing the prevalence of binge-drinking adults. 
itemprop
CARLOS GONZALEZ
Mankato ranks No. 10 on the list analyzing the prevalence of binge-drinking adults.
Stand tall, Minnesotans, because apparently lots of people in Wisconsin can’t.
A new list of the “Drunkest Cities in America” puts a perhaps unwelcome spotlight on Wisconsin, which is home to 12 cities in the top 20, ranked by the highest rates of binge drinking in adults.
The findings were compiled by online financial news outlet 24/7 Wall St.
The group analyzed self-reported data from County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, a joint program with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. Excessive drinking, concentration of bars and alcohol-related driving deaths all were contributing factors in determining America’s drunkest cities — all but two of which are in the Midwest.
Just one Minnesota city — Mankato — appears on the Top 20 list, at number 10. Nearly one-quarter of residents there admitted to excessive drinking.
Wisconsin outdrinks any other state, results showed. Our neighbor to the east boasted seven of the top 10 “Drunkest Cities,” including the top four: Appleton, Oshkosh-Neenah, Green Bay and Madison.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines binge drinking as consuming at least four or more drinks for women and five or more drinks for men during one sitting. Heavy drinking refers to the number of alcoholic beverages consumed per week (15 or more for men and eight or more for women).
On average, 18 percent of adults drink unhealthy amounts of alcohol, according to the study. Wisconsinites consistently imbibe on a grander scale, with more than one-quarter of adults reporting that they binge or drink heavily throughout the week.
Appleton, Wis., topped the national list just six months after winning the statewide honors. Data showed that 26.8 percent of Appleton residents drank excessively and nearly one-third of driving deaths involved alcohol. The city has 4.4 drinking establishments per 10,000 residents, compared to an average of 1.6 bars per 10,000 population across the 381 cities covered by the survey.
Using the same methodology, the study also ranked America’s 20 driest cities — the majority of which fell inside the Bible Belt. Two Alabama metros topped that list, with less than 13 percent of residents consuming excessive amounts of alcohol.

Drinking on the job, having an appearance bond
refund left on the court records in Milwaukee,
turning a "coffee house ministry into a "bar ministry" -
the Booze Brothers do Appleton.

From 7 PM Last Night to 7 AM This Morning - It Looks Like a Big Day

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Luther Prep (WELS High School) Installs Screen in Chapel Remodeling, Blocking the Stained Glass Windows. Why Not Put a Garbage Can in front of the Mini-Pulpit?

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The remodeling is not done yet. They haven't installed the popcorn and soda machines.

Bada-bing. Chee.

Last Summer Set Us Up for Clover Lawns - The Power of Mulch

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Nothing starts a gardening conversation faster than fresh roses. We were at the chiro's office before when I had a long conversation with a retired professor about organic gardening. This happened again, at the same office, with another retired professor - agriculture. His wife was there for treatment and she fussed over the roses I brought for the office. He invited us to the farmers' market the next day, so we saw him again and took a bunch of roses for her.

I could tell he was in agriculture when he talked about the effects of our unusual 2015 (too much rain and then no rain) and the mild winter. He pointed out the takeover of clover in the lawns all around town, because they went to seed so completely. As he and I both noticed, the flowering trees and bushes were simply astonishing this spring. I mentioned the red bud trees never being so packed with color in any other year, and he said, "Look at the red bud seed pods outside the window." That told me - agriculture for sure.

At the farmers' market, we talked gardening and met the vendors who were there on the off-day. Thursday brings only a few stalls at the Jones Center. Saturday brings about 20 vendors of all types: custom furniture, etc. Growing up in Moline and working at my father's business, I always tried to patronize small businesses from our hometown, which applies to Walmart too, but there is nothing better than a farmers' market.

Emptying the Rainbarrels Again
Rain was about to start when I fed the birds again, late in the afternoon. They ate all day, and continued late in the afternoon, which seemed to be verifying the rain prediction.

I now use four large garbage cans, one small one, and the wheelbarrow to catch rain. The wheelbarrow is my rain gauge, backed up by Lake Gideon, the puddle that forms in a low spot on Scott Street. If it rains a lot and the soil is dry, Lake Gideon is unimpressive. If it fills and overflows into a secondary lake nearby, we had a real sod-soaker, one to wash out the cricks. Last summer one rain did that and perhaps gave us 14 inches in a day, a bonanza for weeds and clover.

Mulch Helps with Light Rains
So my favorites got extra rain from the barrels before the rain - White Profusion Butterfly Bush, hybrid tea roses along the fence, some ambitious blackberry canes, and bee balm.

We have had many light rains this year, which is fine for the roses and returning perennials. We had a little rain last night and some misting this morning. That is where mulch really comes into the Creation food cycle. Mulch holds in the moisture in the soil that would be dried up by steady winds and sunlight. Grass and weeds want to soak up the sun and crowd the roses, drawing from soil moisture as well.

Roses do not like competition, so the proximity of grass and weeds will keep them from producing well. In contrast, mulch will hold moisture and feed the soil creatures and fungus that benefit the roots and feed the plants.

I called this Fireworks once, but it is named Purple Splash.

I try to keep a mulch zone of 3 feet around each rose bush. That also discourages foot traffic, while nearby grass does not. Our helper has mint crowding his Purple Splash roses transplanted from our yard. He can cut the plants at the surface, surround the plants, and cover the zone with cardboard, then mulch. The mint will keep away from the roses, and the cuttings will feed the soil creatures.

Some people fear the seedy weeds, like crabgrass (actually a grain brought to America). Tearing out crabgrass is just about impossible. Using Roundup will leave unsightly plant-free zones, and it is not good for the soil creatures or the environment. The best solution for crabgrass is to turns its sun-power against it - cover the plants with cardboard or newspaper and another layer of some mulch. The worst and seediest weed will become compost in the dark.

I had a Veterans' Honor like this one in a vase,
even though the stem was too short.
The bloom was just too luxurious and full.
Later I had to put the bouquet outside to make room
for new flowers - and this rose remained
full and colorful on the ground instead of wilting.

Baraboo WELS Lawsuit - Freedom From Religion Lawsuit. Irony Abounds - Church Growth WELS-LCMS Hero. Lie Down with Dogs, Git Up with Fleas

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http://www.channel3000.com/news/Feds-investigate-Baraboo-school-Complaint-claims-discriminatory-policy/39637780

BARABOO, Wis. -
St. John's Lutheran School in Baraboo is under federal investigation following a complaint over its policy toward LGBT students, officials confirmed Thursday.
At issue is the fact that St. John's receives federal dollars. The school gets funding for programs for school lunches, busing and through the No Child Left Behind Program.

The Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, an organization that advocates for atheists and the separation of church and state, filed a complaint with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction May 10 after it received a letter school principal Craig Breitkreutz sent to parents in February, making them aware of changes for the upcoming school year. The DPI forwarded the complaint to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the school lunch program.
In the letter, Breitkreutz asked parents to sign an agreement that they and their child will support and obey the school's policy and that any violation could result in removal from the school. Breitkreuz said this protects the school's religious beliefs as well as its "ability to dismiss children that are not following (its) Christian faith."
In the letter, Breitkreutz said the school's federal funding complicates matters, as the acceptance of federal funds makes St. John's a Title IX school. He said the Office of Civil Rights, which protects the admittance of students at Title IX schools, looks for any cases of discrimination.
"The Office of Civil Rights now also protects discrimination against sexual preference and gender identification," the letter states. "If we cannot legally refuse students who are struggling with homosexuality or gender identification, we must maintain our right to hold to the truths of God's Word."
According to the letter, the school maintains the right to "discipline and dismiss" students who "(choose) an outwardly sinful lifestyle."
The letter also states: "(U)nfortunately, we must know the gender of your child. Although this last item should never be an issue, we must be aware to protect our religious freedom."
Patrick Elliott, an FFRF attorney, said while religious schools are generally allowed to implement whatever policies they see fit according to their religious practices, federal funds should not be used to support these institutions.
"We grant religious organizations a very wide latitude to conduct their affairs how they want and many of them are discriminatory," Elliott said. "Many of us don't appreciate that and don't join those organizations. But when they are participating in certain federal programs, we can say, 'You can't participate in this federal program if you're not going to provide your services to everyone.'"
Elliott said St. John's should follow federal rules if it intends to take federal money.
"Just as if a school wasn't going to admit people of a certain race, we would agree that, federally, that school shouldn't participate in those types of funding programs," he said. "As a participant in that program, it has to follow the law, or it could certainly become a non-participant and conduct itself without the federal funds."
Elliott said its complaint over the school's policy brings up a bigger issue over whether federal funds should go to religious schools in the first place. Elliott said his organization believes parochial and other private schools shouldn't be funded by taxpayers.
"Private schools, especially schools that charge tuition, should be on their own and should fund themselves," Elliott said.
Breitkreutz declined to comment on the matter Thursday afternoon.
News 3 also reached out to the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, the conservative Lutheran denomination the school is affiliated with. A WELS spokesperson did not return our phone call as of Thursday afternoon.
USDA spokesperson Amanda Heitkamp confirmed Thursday the agency is investigating the complaint.
“We are firmly committed to ensuring federal protections against discrimination with respect to all of our programs and activities," Heitkamp said in a statement.

Preview of May 23, 2016 Christian News.Reading CN So You Don't Have To

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 “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it” (attributed to Santayana). At the time of Seminex, the LCMS was preserved by the voluntary exodus of professors at the Concordia Seminary, St. Louis — not by disciplinary actions by the Seminary or by the Synodical administration. I doubt that the cleanup would ever have come about through doctrinal discipline, owing to the Gemanic lockstep, bureaucratic mentality prevailing in the Synod. By God’s unmerited grace, those profs created their own exodus. We can hardly rely on such to occur again. 

If nothing is done about the current New Testament Department problem at Concordia Seminary, St Louis, there will be a repeat of the Princeton Seminary debacle early in the 20th century: the collapse of meaningful inerrancy in the New Testament area will spread to other theological disciplines and the students educated with such a philosophy will contaminate the parishes—and the LC-MS will go the way of virtually all other major denominations, into a vague social or pious religiosity that apes the culture and ceases to be witness to it."

Dr John Warwick Montgomery, Ph.D., D.Théol., LL.D. Distinguished Research Professor of Philosophy, Concordia University Wisconsin; Director, International Academy of Apologetics, Evangelism and Human Rights, Strasbourg, France


I ran into Ken Hunter (DMin Fuller Seminary, another degree from Chicago's ELCA seminary) on my way into the Purple Palace. We had already talked on the phone, where he assured me that Paul Kelm endorsed his Church Growth seminar when asked.

What was Hunter doing going into the Purple Palace, LCMS Headquarters? He was meeting with the Council of Presidents, to guide them in the ways of Church Growth. I thought the two directions we were going said it all. I was completely disgusted with Church Growth in the LCMS and WELS, not to mention the adulterous pastors supported by the officials. I resigned from WELS and intended never to serve a church again.

Hunter's pablum took over WELS and the LCMS completely, with the enthusiastic support of each Synod President, including Bohlmann, Barry, and Harrison (Otten blessed, Otten endorsed) and Mischke, Gurgle, and Schroeder (each one assigning handlers to Otten, to keep him in line).


I have great respect for Montgomery's learning and his work for the legal rights of Christians. But I have heard that he supports UOJ in his new book with some LCMS professor.

From someone:
"On a side note, I was reading a collection of essays edited by J.W. Montgomery and Gene Veith. They have obvious LC-MS ties, but, yet, take on a kind of outlier posture. My point is that in reading through J.W. Montgomery's essay, he simply assumes the categories of objective and subjective justification as the orthodox canon of Lutheran theologians."

Observing the Eighth Commandment, I think one reason for this lapse by JW is the widely held assumption that OJ is the same as the atonement, that SJ is justification by faith. I have taken that assumption apart in a few posts. OJ is universal forgiveness and salvation without faith. SJ is simply making a decision for OJ - it is faith in OJ!

And then - he could simply be wrong. He came from the LCA originally, and universal salvation was an assumption.

Wikipedia:
Montgomery is a scholarly maverick[12] who has 11 earned degrees in multiple disciplines: philosophylibrarianshiptheology, and law. His degrees include: the A.B. with distinction in Philosophy (Cornell UniversityPhi Beta Kappa), B.L.S. and M.A. (University of California, Berkeley), B.D. and S.T.M. (Wittenberg University,Springfield, Ohio), LL.B. (La Salle Extension University), M. Phil. in Law (University of Essex, England), Ph.D. (University of Chicago), Th.D. Doctorat d'Universite (University of Strasbourg), LLM and LLD in canon law (Cardiff University). He also holds an honorary doctorate awarded in 1999 by the Institute for Religion and Law,Moscow.[3][11][13][14]

CFW Walther organized a riot to rob and kidnap the Pietistic bishop
he followed slavishly.


It Is All Over - And Christian News Has Only Made Matters Worse
The adoption and canonization of the LCMS Brief Statement of 1932 ended any hope for Missouri becoming a Lutheran synod. Instead, the sect has been divided among the Bronze Age Pietists, with statements and rules on everything, and the next generation product of Pietism - the Pentecostals and ELCA wannabees.

These are simply stages in Halle University Pietism:

  1. Halle UOJ
  2. Confusing hedonism with the Gospel - ELCA UOJ.
  3. Confusing tongue-speaking with evangelism - Pentecostal/charismatic movement.

What do they have in common? All three repudiate:

  • The Book of Concord, 
  • The efficacy of the Word in the Means of Grace, and 
  • The Chief Article - Justification by Faith.


Otten is at Stage 1, arguing with Stage 2, which is most of the the LCMS/WELS hierarchy and many of the clergy.

Many charismatics and Pentecostals believe in Biblical inerrancy - at least they think they do. In fact, many of their statements are diluted with various equivocations to allow those with rationalistic tendencies to associate with them.

So - having everyone stand up and cheer for inerrancy is not going to cure anything.

Also, a large segment of the American people, the Babtist tribe (but not the Baptists) adhere to the traditional text of the Bible and the KJV in its various flavors. However, a brief glance at the flavors show that very few of them are faithful to the text when Babtist dogma gets in the way. The KJV 21 is an exception and I am looking at the Third Millennium KJV as another possibility. Needless to say, the New KJV is dominant and decidedly Babtist and anti-Sacrament.

So let's all argue for the text - Rah, Rah, Make Disciples, Rah!

The problem in Missouri comes from lying about its history, mythologizing CFW Walther, and elevating the little sneak to divine status as the Great and Final Prophet of all Things Christian and Secular.



Memories and Missed Steps at Christian News

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The Lion Sleeps Tonight can be heard on a TV commercial.

I was listening to some Doo Wop songs last night, including such classics Sixteen Candles, Duke of Earl,  and The Lion Sleeps Tonight. Some songs have kept groups working for 50 years; now many concerts have been arranged to feature them while the original artists are still alive.

That reminded me of our upcoming 50th class reunion. Mrs. Ichabod has been absorbed into my class, so it is just as much her reunion. A lot of Moliners went to Augustana College and knew both of us. Many of the original class members are no longer alive, including my best friend in high school. But others are in daily contact on Facebook, and we go back to Garfield Elementary School, now closed. When I saw the photo of the Garfield water fountain, I remembered that day the big kids of the sixth grade picked me up to drink from it. They looked like giants to me.

Christian News is reprinting the glory days of the Seminex fight, which the LCMS lost while celebrating their win. We were all young then - and fascinated that Lutherans could be in the news for a year. The more I learned about the LCA, where I was serving, calling the conservatives the bad guys, the more I saw what the differences were.



I was really Augustana Synod, although that group was merged into the LCA. I was confirmed at an Augustana congregation by an Augustana pastor and went to Augustana College, which was populated by Augustana Synod students and professors. Our Greek professor drove with his wife to attend our wedding in South Bend, which was conducted mainly by our Augustana pastor. I lived where the synod grew, which is also where they built their seminary. Their famous geology professor graduated from my high school.

Augustana - like the LCMS, WELS, and ELS - was a blend of orthodoxism and Pietism. In orthodoxism, every old writer's publications is fed into the brains of the followers. Names become somewhat familiar but never overcome the framework of the synod patriarchs. At Augustana Seminary the same doctrinal summary text was used for 40 years, the only change being the switch form Swedish edition to the English translation.

Doctrinal conflict causes people to look at the Scriptures and Confessions anew. By chance - if it was chance - my dissertation at Notre Dame was about an Augustana Seminary professor who was a Social Gospel advocate. As readers may recall, the main Social Gospel representative - Rauschenbursch - came from the Northern, liberal Baptists who re-interpreted Scripture via rationalism.

So I plunged int to the history of the Social Gospel Movement itself, which came into the mainline denominations through the National Council of Churches and into politics through Franklin Roosevelt administration. The dreams of government control became the reality and then the Gospel itself.

I said, "Our synod is not Lutheran. It is liberal Baptist Social Gospel!" To prove that, without trying, Franklin C. Fry's son gave a talk at a conference where he used the typical SG explantiona of the Good Samaritan. "Our job is more than binding the wounds of stricken. We have to make the roads to Jericho safe!"

That began our slug-like movement into the conservative side, where the residents jeer, "You have to join us to be real Lutherans!" and later chant "You are not one of us because you were not born in our synod!" The second chant is a blessing, although they do not know it.



Pastor Herman Otten would like to enchant his readers back into the glory days, but how many steps were missed on the way to this skirmish?


Attacking the Chief Article of Christianity - Foundational Error
When Papenfuss asked his members to kiss the foot of Pope JP Meyer - purveyor of UOJ at Mequon - the Kokomo Statements blew up in WELS and the LCMS. This would have been a great time to study Justification by Faith, according to the Scriptures, Luther, and the Book of Concord. But Otten sided with UOJ because Stephan, Walther, and Pieper taught UOJ, straight out of Halle. God has visited the LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC(sic) with the most horrible haters of sound doctrine to punish faithless Lutherans for siding with forgiveness without faith, salvation without faith. They all work with ELCA because they agree with ELCA Pietists who reached honest Universalism before they did. Of course, they all have their Lavender Mafia, another kind of fellowship, but that is just the fruit of their dogma.




Selling the Beck Bible - Leading People Away from the English Luther Bible - the KJV
I remember when the ignominious RSV was not yet done. The KJV owned the English denominations and dominated the English language. We were a lot more literate then - in ordinary language and in the words of faith. Christian News joined the rush to have a new translation published every week or so, and the Beck Bible had several radical changes before it sank into oblivion. Otten led Lutherdom in abandoning the KJV and its many modernized versions, some of which are quite good. We do not read the original KJV, even when we think we are. It was very slightly modernized, back a century or so. The Babtists love their New KJV because the key doctrinal passages are twisted to fit their dogma and to avoid troubling references to the Sacraments.



Kissing the Papal Ring by Selling - Yes Selling - A Lying Anti-Luther Rant Published by Rome
Did I see a reference in the new issue about being critical of the Church of Rome? Ha! Christian News had the brass to sell an anti-Luther book in its Reformation issue. That is a bow - or rather a genuflection - for the Roman Catholic readers. In fact, the only consistent editorial policy is to please every faction in every denomination that considers itself "conservative." God preserve us from the conservative Roman Catholics, who would likely bring back burning at the stake if they could get away with it.


The four sects of the Synodical Conference make sure that Otten spikes the stories about their DUIs, drunks, and abusive pastors. If a WELS vicar is sent to state prison for his crimes against a minor girl, "counseling her,"Christian News will spike the story. If the FBI arrives at WELS headquarts, for good reason, because of porn swapping by their PR guy, the story is bleached, bromided, santized, and sent to page 17 to be overlooked. Otten's certification is always Page 1! - above the fold.


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