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The Midland Library Taught Me about Gardening

July 7, 2014, 4:56 am
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The Red Bridge at Dow Gardens
Midland, Michigan is headquarters for Dow Chemical and Dow Corning, so the city also boasts Dow Gardens, Grace Dow Library, and Dow High School.

The library had an excellent selection of gardening books when I lived there, and the children's library was just as good. I found the children's books often covered the basics I needed to know, or they supplemented the facts by offering material not usually found in the main gardening books - the big questions.

Dow had a large agricultural chemical division, but I avoided chemicals for one reason - cost. I was going to buy some things for my first serious garden - Wormhaven I - when I went to the store. The prices shocked me because I knew those boxes and bags contained only a few pennies worth of basic chemical fertilizer. The church members had interesting stories about work at Dow and the markup on chemical prices.

My mother was an insect expert, so I also realized that pesticides were not a good answer - and they cost plenty too.



I read every organic gardening book I could find, subscribed to the Rodale books, and read about the basics of Creation. Organic gardening is as old as the ancient Egyptians, who made killing an earthworm a crime, and used the flooding of the Nile to make Egypt the breadbasket of the region.

Note this new story on Egyptians and earthworms.

The new version of organic gardened developed from composting in India (the Indore method) when Sir Albert Howard worked on ways to improve the soil without a lot of modern machinery too expensive for the average farm.

Here is another link on Indore composting - too much work! When I read such terms as "double digging" and building boxes to store various materials, I think of ways around those ideas.

For example, once I set up a shelter for small animals in the winter - New Ulm, Minnesota. I made a pile of evergreens on top of the lawn, fashioned into an igloo for the fortunate. The ingrates did not use the shelter, but the evergreens killed off the grass during the winter and spring. I found the soil was very soft and easily shoveled in that area. Double-digging? What about using the sod to compost itself on the spot.

I also put a layer of compost on top of a tough, clay area in the Midland yard. The result was easily dug soil, after the earthworms pulled the compost down.

There are worse examples of back-breaking labor, such as trenching. Nostalgic for WWI, these gardeners dig deep trenches and fill them with organic matter for their future gardens. Digging a pit or trench is a great education on volume, on the exponential weight of soil when a third dimension is added.

  • If a 10 by 6 foot garden area is dug down to 4 feet - 240 cubic feet of soil.
  • Expanded by one foot in each dimension - 385 cubic feet of soil.
  • If... - don't even ask.


Here are some aphorisms that all gardeners accept:

  1. Nitrogen compounds are good for growth.
  2. Soil teeming with bacteria will be productive.
  3. Looser soil is better than packed down soil, because roots grow between soil particle.
  4. Rain is better for plants than watering from the hose.
  5. The best soil is on top and often blows away in the wind.
  6. Insects love weak plants but do little damage to healthy growth.
  7. Earthworm castings are the best for all plants, but the little guys produce only a little bit each day.
  8. Nobody likes to weed.
  9. Everyone loves birds.


One simple method satisfies all these aphorisms at the same time - with relatively little work.

Mulching provides a bacterial base for the earthworms to feast upon. The liveliest soil is a woodsy soil, so wood mulch is handy, easy to place, and inexpensive.

Since earthworms thrive on bacteria and produce usable nitrogen compounds, they enhance the nitrogen levels of the soil.

Earthworms and other soil creatures loosen the soil by pulling down the debris left on top.

Mulch holds the rainwater in place, absorbing it like a sponge, and decreasing the waste of rapid evaporation.

Mulch also holds down the top soil, preventing wind erosion and forming new soil from the worm castings and general decomposition.

Composting and mulching will produce healthy plants, which fend off insect predation by hosting beneficial insects and growing past the damage.

The total weight of earthworms in the yard will equal the total of castings per day. No one could afford to buy all those castings from a gardening supply house. Earthworms do their work in exchange for good working conditions, adequate moisture, and plenty to eat.

Using mulch to produce compost - or using compost as mulch - will reduce weeding to a pleasant byproduct of gardening.

A productive yard will necessarily be one filled with birds. They will feast on insects, bathe in the water supplies, and sing Matins and Vespers each day. Increasing the organic compounds will multiply the birds by giving them a diverse and abundant supply of food and shelter.



God's Creation reminds us of how He cares for all His creatures, because He cares even more for us. As Luther said about the Parable of the Lost Sheep, Jesus is just as anxious for us as we are for Him.




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Leslye Will Take You to Court and Refuse To Drop Her Lawsuit - To Protect Glende and Ski

July 7, 2014, 7:22 am
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Attorney Rick Techlin described the astonishing behavior of Leslye, Glende, Ski, and another
St. Peter Freedom (WELS) member when a husband told the truth about the illegal behavior of the staff.

The judge dismissed Time Glende's pathetic, whimpering, whining case, but the other three (including Leslye) held out to cause more trouble.

WELS wives - do not bother going to a WELS pastor, circuit pastor, or the District Pope. They will reward the abuser and abuse the victim.

It is called cult behavior. See the biopic on Warren Jeffs for additional details.
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Victim to Pope - Stop Apologizing and Start Removing the Predators

July 7, 2014, 7:54 pm
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Destroying the evidence and denying the facts is
standard procedure for the ELS, WELS, and LCMS.
It worked for their founders, Bishop Stephan, STD, and CFW Walther - his enforcer and go-fer.
Top Ten WELS Crimes.


Sex-Abuse Victims to Pope: Stop Begging for Forgiveness and Just Stop the Abuse

Francis met with rape victims Monday and begged for their forgiveness. The head of the world’s largest survivor network has 15 better ways for him to act.
ROME, Italy — On Monday, Pope Francis followed the footsteps of his predecessors Benedict XVI and John Paul II and met with a select group of men and women who had been raped, molested and lied to by their parish priests. 
Francis spent around half an hour individually with each of the victims— a man and a woman each from Ireland, Germany, and England—whose names and ages were not disclosed.  Prior to the one-on-one meetings, Francis presided over a Mass with the victims and members of the Papal Commission for the Protection of Children, led by Boston cardinal Sean O’Malley in which he apologized to the survivors for the “grave sins of clerical sexual abuse” committed against them.
“I beg your forgiveness, too, for the sins of omission on the part of Church leaders who did not respond adequately to reports of abuse made by family members, as well as by abuse victims themselves,” Francis said at the special mass according to the homily transcript released by the Holy See. “This led to even greater suffering on the part of those who were abused and it endangered other minors who were at risk.”
After the Mass and meetings, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi briefed the press, explaining that while the content of each individual meeting should be kept private in accordance with the norms of pastor to parishioner confidentiality, one can be assured “they were profoundly emotional.”  At times laughing nervously as he explained that he knew not what was said but that it was of utmost importance, Lombardi then went on to counter criticism from the clerical sex abuse victims’ groups that warned that the meet and greet was nothing more than a public relations stunt.  “This body of opinion has always demonstrated its unwillingness to understand the pope’s actions,” he told reporters.  “I’m not surprised by the reaction, but it is totally clear that it was not a public relations event. It was a profound spiritual encounter.”
Barbara Blaine, outreach director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests or SNAP disagrees.  Even though SNAP, now 25 years old, is the most widely recognized global support group for clerical victims with more than 18,000 members, no one from their leadership was invited to meet with Francis.
Ahead of the meeting Blaine, who was raped by her parish priest as a teenager, posed a number of topics she would like to discuss with Francis, if only she were given a chance.  First, she says she would like to tell the pope, “Stop talking about the crisis as though it’s past tense, and stop delaying while your abuse panels discusses details. You know the right thing to do. You don’t need a report.”
“Wounded adults can heal themselves but vulnerable kids can't protect themselves.”
She said she would also tell the pope to focus first on prevention, instead of forgiveness.  “Wounded adults can heal themselves but vulnerable kids can’t protect themselves,” she says, noting that abuse and sex abuse and the consistent cover up by the Vatican is still ongoing.  She also suggests that the Holy See take “tangible steps to safeguard those at risk” by doing a number of what would seem like fairly simple steps, that are acceptable responses in the secular community when it comes to battling pedophilia, sex abuse, and child rape.
SNAP’s demands include:
1. Order bishops to set up and finance a “whistleblower fund” to reward church staff whose actions lead to criminal charges or conviction of current or former abusive clerics.
2. Insist that bishops permanently post the names, photos and whereabouts of proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting clerics (including religious order priests) on diocesan and parish websites.
3. Demand that bishops hire independent corrections staff rather than clergy to house and monitor child molesting clerics who cannot be criminally charged because of statutes of limitation in remote, secure facilities so they will be kept away from children.
4. Instruct bishops to use only licensed therapists (not priests or nuns) to deal with abuse victims.
5. Tell bishops to use only former police (not clerics) to investigate abuse cases that cannot be pursued by law enforcement.
6. Convene and fund a world-wide conference of secular lawmakers who work to reform archaic, arbitrary, and predator-friendly secular laws (like the statute of limitations) that prevent victims from exposing those who commit and conceal sex offenses through civil and criminal courts.
7. Make an urgent, strong public plea to all church employees and members, begging them to give information and suspicions about fugitive predator priests to civil authorities so the clerics may be prosecuted and kept away from children.
8. Order bishops to avoid using language that minimizes clergy abuse like “it’s just a small percentage of priests” or deflects blame like “abuse happens in other settings too” or faults accusers like “these allegations are from 25 years ago” or mollifies church-goers like “he’s not accused of molesting at this parish” or praises accused wrongdoers like “he’s a very popular priest” or guilt-trips victims  like “he has tirelessly worked to help the poor”.
9. Turn over Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith or CDF records about predatory priests to local law enforcement in the nations where the alleged crimes took place and insist that the head of each diocese and religious order do likewise with their abuse records.
10. Mandate church-based sessions to teach parishioners how to respond appropriately in abuse cases so victims, witnesses and whistleblowers won’t feel intimidated or hopeless.
11. Insist that priests immediately give their passports to their bishops when abuse accusations arise so they can’t flee overseas.
12. Demote and denounce at least a dozen complicit bishops, including Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City Missouri, the only sitting bishop who has been criminally convicted of refusing to report suspected child sex crimes.
13. Discourage current and future cover ups by clearly, publicly punishing prelates (like Cardinal Roger Mahony and others) who are concealing or have concealed child sex crimes.
14. Stop rebuffing secular officials and start letting Polish and Dominican Republic law enforcement officials arrest and prosecute Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski (a credibly accused child molesting cleric), instead of having Catholic officials investigate other Catholic officials.
Finally, Blaine says she would tell Francis that there is only one criteria that matters as he moves forward with his commission to protect minors: “Will this move actually protect kids by exposing and punishing clerics who commit and conceal child sex crimes?” If not, she says, “Then it doesn’t matter if it’s more or less than other officials or institutions have done or are doing. It doesn’t matter much if it gets great headlines. It doesn’t really matter if it makes adults feel better for a little bit. If it’s not preventing abuse, it’s probably meaningless or almost meaningless.”
First, WELS invited a well known sexual predator,
Archbishop R. Weakland, to lead a series of lectures,
then WELS denied it happened.

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Roses Trump Dandelions Every Time. The Creator Endowed Roses with the DNA Library We Use for Hybrid Roses

July 8, 2014, 8:13 am
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I planted roses in Columbus the same year it rained every day, well into June. As a result, I was cutting hybrid tea roses every day. Children lived on our court, and they were fascinated by the flowers. I cut roses for them to give to their mothers, as long as they properly identified the rose. Soon I had them asking for Fragrant Cloud and Oregold roses, instead of just pointing. They had their favorites, and their mothers loved getting roses rather than a handful of dandelions.

I look through catalogs and websites to pick flowers, but my dominant choice is always going to be roses. They are easy to grow and cut, and everyone likes them the most. We can be thankful that the perpetual rose was combined with the tea rose to give us long-stemmed roses that bloom all summer.

Would you rather get a dozen crepe myrtle blooms or a dozen roses?

The crepe myrtle bush loves sun and grows 12 feet tall, more
when allowed. The flowers are showy during that
blooming season. 
Planning for roses is easy. They should be grown where they get plenty of sun without roasting. I always wanted a rose garden on the eastern side of the house, which happens to be our front yard. Once the maple tree was pruned, we had plenty of sun until late afternoon. We can enjoy the roses from the porch and neighbors can walk by and see them as well.

Roses need their own garden. The only competition should be a garlic-family plant or - in some cases - miniature roses. I never invested much in miniature roses, because they cost as much as full-sized roses and yield tiny flowers.

I have some 12 inch tall sunflowers planted in the rose garden for now. Mrs. I feared I was planting Russian striped mammoth, ugly, overhanging, shading everything sunflowers. But no - these grow up 12 inches and bloom. I promised to cut them away if they detracted from the roses.

Next year I will spread garlic chives among the roses. They will yield potent grassy plants that spread and protect the roses from insects and disease. Roses love garlic, and garlic chives will spread through their roots.
Queen Elizabeth roses are taller and have the ultimate bud
that opens up into a stunning flower, a royal rose indeed.

The best covering for a rose garden is wood mulch. I combined these elements for rose growth:

  • Two shipments from Uncle Jim's Worm Farm were spread around the yard, plenty for the roses. 
  • I planted with Miracle Gro "soil" which was treated with slow release fertilizer.
  • Our helper assisted me in covering the entire lawn area with newspapers.
  • We covered the newspapers with bags of  black-dyed wood mulch.
  • I snaked  black soaker hose across the rose garden.
  • I added four solar lights, three above,  and a string of solar faerie lights.


We simply dug holes in the law for the new bare root roses, which were on sale for $8 each. I filled the holes with soil and Miracle Gro soil and watered each rose heavily for days.

The newspapers and mulch came next, then the lights and soaker hose.

I added eight more roses from the local nursery, so we had a brilliant burst of color before the hybrid tea roses began to bloom.

Underneath the mulch and newspapers the grass began to rot, making perfect high-nitrogen compost for the roses. Earthworms from Uncle Jim's Worm Farm were everywhere, the best diggers known as red wigglers. I could tell we were getting plenty of underground action. The birds had a party disturbing the mulch for food, sometimes pecking down through the newspaper layer. I still find big pieces of mulch thrown from the garden, probably from the search for food.

"Sure I played with the newspaper  mulch in the backyard, and tore it to pieces.
You can't possibly be upset over something that was so much fun."


Don't blame Sassy. She plays in the backyard, but supervises in the front yard.

We had plenty of rain as the rose garden was starting out. Now we are in the dry part of the season. The soaker hose is good for using a little bit of water to keep the whole rose garden hydrated. How can I tell? I push my finger into the soil on the margin and check for dampness.
If the nappies are wet, 
the roses are set.

The work of tending roses is the most fun. I cut off all dead wood and remove the blooming roses. See John 15:1-10 for the same thing done with grapevines. The roses go on the altar and are shared with friends. Our helper and his wife love to get them.


I understand that all colored roses come from the Persian yellow rose. Before that, all roses were yellow.

People talk glibly about hybrid roses, about the thousands of trials started to bring one new rose to market. They seldom mention that all the DNA information for those roses was imparted in the rose from the Day of Creation.

The Olympiad red rose was waiting to be discovered from the beginning of time. The hybrid teas that have great aroma were there, but not yet evident.

Double Delight - all the beauty of a bi-color rose,
plus perfume, ready to be discovered from the moment
God created roses.
"All things were made through Him, and nothing was made apart from Him." John 1

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Classic Ichabod - UOJ in Karl Barth, Fuller Seminary's Favorite Theologue

July 8, 2014, 8:41 am
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Charlotte Kirschbaum was the Commie babe who bedded Barth in his own home, moving in shamelessly. Many Barthians claim she was a major contributor to the gaseous Church Dogmatics that Barth claimed as his own. Note the Church Growth parallels with adultery, apostasy, and plagiarism.


Karth Barth was so cute in his Swiss Army uniform - I had to post this photo for laughs. It looks like a scene from Laugh In.


My friend from Yale explored Barth's love for Marxism and his known affinities with the red cause. Barth-Kirschbaum is the official theologian for Fuller Seminary, where most of the leaders of WELS, Missouri, the ELS, and ELCA have attended.



Here ve haff da luffly Barth family, Karl mit Charlotte, und Kinder, und Frau Barth way over on da outside right. Das machen me schniffle ein bischen. Zo touching und varm. Der kleine Hans hat two mommies - eine Hausfrau und eine va-va-voom Commie. [Translated into German to keep the caption G-rated. Mrs. I is laughing her head off.]


Carl Braaten, the son of missionaries, latched onto Leftist theologians, incorporating Barth-Kirschbaum and Tillich (another adulterer) into Lutheran theology. Barth's $1,000 set now sells for $99. Tillich is a has-been, known chiefly for his promiscuity and sadistic fetishes.

Note the catchy subtitle, which came from an orthodox Lutheran.
The UOJ dimwits use that phrase in all their essays attacking justification by faith.

Carl  Braaten, Justification, 1990:

We cannot hold a universalism of the unitarian kind. People are not too good to be damned. There is no necessity for God to save everybody nor to reject anyone. God is not bound by anything outside of himself. He is not bound to give the devil his due. If we take into account God's love, he would have all to be saved. If we reckon with his freedom, he has the power to save whomsoever he pleases. This does not lead to a dogmatic universalism. But it does mean that we leave open the possibility that within the power of God's freedom and love, all people may indeed be saved in the end. This follows as a possibility from the fact that God is free from all external factors in making up his mind. (p. 139)

...

Then Why Evangelize? (heading, Braaten, p. 140)

...

Barth's doctrine is radically objective. [Bratten now quotes Barth-Kirschbaum verbatim.]

There is not one for whose sin and death he did not die, whose sin and death he did not remove and obliterate on the cross...There is not one who is not adequately and perfectly and finally justified in Him. There is not one whose sin is not forgiven sin in Him, whose death is not a death which has been put to death in Him...There is not one for whom he has not done everything in His death and received everything in His resurrection from the dead. (Barth, Church Dogmatics, IV, 1, 638)
In the face of literally hundreds of such beautiful passages, evangelicals understandably ask, Then what is the point of evangelism? If the heathen are already saved in Christ, and nothing more needs to be added, then where is the urgency in world evangelization? (Braaten, p. 140)


Universalism-Denying
The parallels with WELS, Jon Buchholz, Jay Webber, and Don Patterson are obvious. They deny they are Universalists while confessing the basics of Universalism. Texas WELS even featured an essay where someone read from the Universalist creed and said, "See - we are not Univesalists." The truth hurts.

The language is borrowed the Halle's Knapp, because Halle was pivotal in the transition from a Biblical Pietistic school to a Rationalistic university.

Earlier, Samuel Huber taught the same way, but the Wittenberg theologians crushed him like a bug. The same kind of Enthusiasm came back via Pietism, since that movement was allergic to orthodox confessions but overly fond of unionism. Spener was the first union theologian, but not the last.

UOJ makes anything possible (except rejection of UOJ). Take money from unrepentant adulterers? No problem? Plagiarize the false doctrine of Fuller Seminary? That is spoiling the Egyptians. Engage in child porn file swapping? You are forgiven because you are sorry you got caught again.

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From Wikipedia and George Hunsinger:


Relationship with Charlotte von Kirschbaum

When Barth first met Charlotte von Kirschbaum in 1924 he had already been married for 12 years to his wife, Nelly, with whom he had also had five children.[14] In 1929, von Kirschbaum, with Barth's consent, moved into the Barth family household. This arrangement–described by one scholar as "convoluted, extremely painful for all concerned, yet not without integrity and joys"–lasted for 35 years.[15]
A kind of household of three relationship developed between Barth, von Kirschbaum and Barth's wife, Nelly. The long-standing situation was not without its difficulties. "Lollo",[16] as Barth called the 13-year-younger von Kirschbaum, once wrote to Barth's sister Gertrud Lindt in 1935, where she expressed her concern about the precarious situation:
"The alienation between Karl and Nelly has reached a degree which could hardly increase. This has certainly become accentuated by my existence."[17]
The relationship caused great offence among many of Barth's friends, as well as his own mother.[18] Barth's children suffered from the stress of the relationship.[18] Barth and von Kirschbaum took semester break vacations together.[18] While Nelly supplied the household and the children, von Kirschbaum and Barth shared an academic relationship. Barth has fallen victim to criticism for his relationship with Charlotte von Kirschbaum. One critic has written: "Part of any realistic response to the subject of Barth and von Kirschbaum must be anger."[19] Hunsinger summarizes the influence of von Kirschbaum on Barth's work: "As his unique student, critic, researcher, adviser, collaborator, companion, assistant, spokesperson, and confidant, Charlotte von Kirschbaum was indispensable to him. He could not have been what he was, or have done what he did, without her."

  1. ^ George Hunsinger's review of S. Seliger, Charlotte von Kirschbaum and Karl Barth: A Study in Biography and the History of Theology.
  2. ^ Hunsinger
  3. ^ Eberhard Busch, Karl Barths Lebenslauf, München: Kaiser, 177ff.
  4. ^ Karl Barth: Gesamtausgabe, Teil V. Briefe. Karl Barth – Eduard Thurneysen: Briefwechsel Bd. 3, 1930–1935: einschließlich des Briefwechsels zwischen Charlotte von Kirschbaum und Eduard Thurneysen, eds. Caren Algner; Zürich: TVZ, Theologischer Verlag, 2000, p. 839.
  5. ^ a b c Busch, Karl Barths Lebenslauf, 199 = Karl Barth: His Life from Letters and Autobiographical Texts (Fortress Press, 1976), 185-6.
  6. ^ S. Seliger, Charlotte von Kirschbaum and Karl Barth; quoted in K. Sonderegger's review.
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hunsinger, george
Hazel Thompson McCord Professor of Systematic Theology
Department of Theology
102 Hodge Hall
Phone: 609.252.2114
Fax: 609.497.7728
Email: george.hunsinger@ptsem.edu
(Presbyterian)

Profile
George Hunsinger is Princeton Theological Seminary’s Hazel Thompson McCord Professor of Systematic Theology. He earned his B.D. from Harvard University Divinity School and his M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. from Yale University. He served as director of the Seminary’s Center for Barth Studies from 1997 to 2001. He has broad interests in the history and theology of the Reformed tradition and in “generous orthodoxy” as a way beyond the modern liberal/conservative impasse in theology and church. An ordained Presbyterian minister, he was a major contributor to the new Presbyterian catechism. He teaches courses on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the Reformed tradition, the theology of the Lord’s Supper, the theology of John Calvin, and classical and recent Reformed theology. He is the founder of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.

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George Hunsinger is an ordained Presbyterian minister and theologian. He is currently the Hazel Thompson McCord Professor of Systematic Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, NJ. Hunsinger was the director of the Center for Barth Studies at Princeton from 1997 - 2001. Hunsinger received a BD from Harvard University Divinity School and an MA, MPhil, and PhD from Yale University. His work has focused primarily on the theology of Karl Barth. Hunsinger was the recipient of the 2010 Karl Barth Prize and joins previous prize recipients Eberhard Jüngel, Hans Küng, John W. de Gruchy, Johannes Rau, Bruce McCormack, and others.
Hunsinger has also been associated with the postliberal movement and is an authoritative interpreter of Hans Frei. He has a long history of anti-war and human rights activism and is also an open critic of the war in Iraq. Since 2003 he has been active in the Ecumenical movement through the Faith and Order commission and recently completed a book on The Eucharist and Ecumenism: Let Us Keep the Feast, published by Cambridge University Press in 2008.

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Charlotte von Kirschbaum and Karl Barth:
A Study in Biography and the History of Theology

Suzanne Selinger, Charlotte von Kirschbaum and Karl Barth: A Study in Biography and the History of Theology (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998), viii + 206pp. $29.00
Reviewed by: George Hunsinger

When Charlotte von Kirschbaum first heard Karl Barth lecture in 1924, she was 24 years old, financially almost destitute, and in poor health. Deeply religious and a voracious reader with a keen interest in theology, she had already devoured Barth's 1919 Römerbrief, at the recommendation of her pastor, shortly after it had appeared, and then avidly kept up with Barth's work through the journal Zwischen den Zeiten. At a time when only a tiny fraction of the general population, virtually all male, went on for a university education, she had been trained for a career as a Krankenschwester or Protestant nurse. It was George Merz, her pastor, who first recognized her intellectual gifts. After guiding her through confirmation in the Lutheran church, Merz included her in the intellectual circle he had gathered around him in Munich, which included Thomas Mann. It was also Merz, by then editor of Zwischen den Zeiten and godfather to one of Barth's children, who had taken her with him to that lecture, and who introduced her to Barth afterwards. Barth invited them both for a visit to his summer retreat, the Bergli, in the mountains overlooking Lake Zurich.

Merz and von Kirschbaum went to the Bergli that summer and returned the next. Von Kirschbaum made a very good impression. She was drawn into the circle of theological friends who spent their summers at the chalet. Pastor Eduard Thurneysen, Barth's closest friend, and Gerty Pestalozzi, owner with her husband of the Bergli, took an interest in furthering her education. (Becoming a Krankenschwester had required no special academic training or higher degrees.) Ruedi Pestalozzi, Gerty's husband and a wealthy businessman, paid for her to receive secretarial training, after which she became a welfare officer at Siemans, a large electronics firm in Nuremburg.

In October 1925 Barth switched university teaching appointments from Göttingen to Münster. His wife and family remained behind until a suitable residence could be found. In February 1926 von Kirschbaum visited Barth for a month in Münster, shortly before his family was to join him, but while he was still living alone. Barth's situation at this time is worth noting. He was 39 years old, had been married to Nelly (then aged 32) for nearly 13 years, and had five young children. The marriage, not a particularly happy one, had by his own account left him feeling resigned to loneliness. After his parents had prevented him in 1910 from marrying Rösy Münger, whom he deeply loved and never forgot -- and who died in 1925 -- he had submitted in 1911 to an engagement and then in 1913 to a marriage, with Nelly, that had in essence been arranged by his mother. (Barth always carried a photograph of Rösy with him for the rest of his life, sometimes wept when looking at it, and would continue over the years to visit her grave.) Although we do not know exactly what happened between Barth and Charlotte von Kirschbaum in that fateful encounter of 1926, we do know that from that point on they were in love with each other, that Barth immediately gave her manuscript after manuscript for advice and correction, and that she committed herself henceforth to doing everything she possibly could to advance his theological work.

After spending a sabbatical at the Bergli in the summer term of 1929, with von Kirschbaum at his side as his aide, Barth announced in October that she would be moving into the family household to be a member of it. This arrangement -- convoluted, extremely painful for all concerned, yet not without integrity and joys -- lasted for nearly 35 years until 1964 when von Kirschbaum had to be admitted to a nursing home with Alzheimer's disease. These were exactly the years of Barth's most productive intellectual life. As his unique student, critic, researcher, advisor, collaborator, companion, assistant, spokesperson, and confidant, Charlotte von Kirschbaum was indispensable to him. He could not have been what he was, or have done what he did, without her.

The reverse would also seem to have been true. Von Kirschbaum was a strong, noble and unconventional woman who made her own choices and willingly bore their great costs. The costs of the arrangement with Barth were many, not least a total rejection by most of her own family, and a thousand constant humiliations from church, society, and the larger Barth clan (not excluding Barth's mother, who eventually tempered her harsh disapproval). Many real exits opened up along the way (such as a proposal of marriage from the philosopher Heinrich Scholz), but she never took any of them. What she once wrote in particular to a friend would seem to hold true of her whole life: "It is very clear to me that Karl had to act in this way, and that comforts me whatever the consequences." From her first encounter with his theology in her youth to the very end of her life, she felt gripped by a sense of the greatness of Barth's contribution, an excitement that she once described simply with the words, "This is it!" During one of Barth's last visits to her in the nursing home, she said, "We had some good times together, didn't we?"

We may well wonder also where Nelly Barth was in the midst of all this. There is undoubtedly much we will never know. But we do know that in her own way she never ceased to believe in her husband and his work. We know that the two of them experienced a reconciliation after Charlotte departed the household, that she and Karl both visited her at the nursing home on Sundays, that she continued those visits after Karl died in 1968, and that when Charlotte herself died in 1975, Nelly honored Karl's wishes by having Charlotte buried in the Barth family grave. Nelly herself died in 1976. Visitors to the Basel Hörnli cemetery today can see the names of all three together engraved one by one on the same stone.

The book by Suzanne Selinger is not the first to cover this territory, nor will it be the last. As a study in the history of theology, it succeeds reasonably well. The sections on how Barth and von Kirschbaum respectively viewed male/female relationships as bearing the image of God are interesting and worth reading. As a biographical study, however, the book seems less successful. The author seethes with so much resentment toward Karl Barth that as I closed the book I had an image of him as St. Sebastian. At the level of adjectives, he takes a lot of hits. Unfortunately, Charlotte von Kirschbaum fares little better. The author unwittingly undermines her purposes of sympathy and compassion -- unless one can persuade oneself that it is not demeaning to scorn the life that Charlotte von Kirschbaum actually chose for herself and openly affirmed, as opposed to one that could not have been and never was.

---

http://www.psupress.org/books/titles/0-271-01824-0.html

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http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1465536?uid=3739536&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=47698978832417

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Dependencies and Companion Plants. Creation Explains Relationships

July 8, 2014, 8:49 pm
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Garlic is a companion plant for roses,
and carrots love tomatoes.

Evolution must be a great theory, because the evolution establishment refuses to let Creation be taught in any tax-payer supported institution. They have concluded, against the evidence, that global warming is a terrifying threat, and contrary evidence (with data supplied) is also banned. Many scientists reject global warming as fraud, but the dominant opinion continues to fool people.

I would never want to argue Creation from the facts or logic. That does not make me anti-factual or illogical. Creation is a mystery, just as evolution is. The difference is clear - the Word of God teaches Creation and the Spirit confirms this mystery to be God's truth. Believers realize this, but unbelievers scoff at such a notion, as they must, because they are blind to the Word of God.

The basics of Creation can be observed.

Gardeners have found that in soil, just as in business and marriages, opposites make the best companions. Andy Rooney made a list of people who always arrive early at the airport, always fill the icecube trays, and always replace the TP, versus the opposites. That includes balancing the checkbook and other behaviors. Some men are As and some are Bs. The same is true of women, some being As, others Bs. And As always marry Bs.

Kevin Leman did the same with birth order, which explains this behavior. First-born children are perfections, driven, neatniks, and often highly critical. The baby of the family is lovable, fun, and the least likely to earn straight As. Middle children are normal.

First-born children tend to marry the baby of the family or the middle child. People seldom marry the same birth order.

In business. opposite personalities make great partners, but they often do not work in harmony and split up.

Creation explains that God has built mutual dependencies into every aspect of life. They are not so surprising in marriage and in business when they are so common in nature.



Garlic is a stinky bulb. Leave some in a hot car, as I did once, if you want to find out how stinky. They are just the opposite of roses, yet they are so good for roses that rosarians routinely plant them around their favorite flowers.

But garlic does not do so well with onions. Why? They are the same family.

The same family will trade diseases all too easily. Tobacco mulch on tomato plants caused wilt - common to both nightshades.

Opposites strengthen each other. The deep growing tap-rooted dandelion herb does very well in shallow-rooted grass. Likewise, dandelion plots - grown for wine - are invaded by grass. They love their opposites. Scott's Lawn and Garden is grateful - America will never eradicate the dandelion from lawns.




Carrots are a root crop that gets along well with tomatoes, a berry crop. Gardeners study companion planting and make sure they do not have an incestuous plot, with all the kissing cousins planted together.

We take symbiotic relationships for granted in nature. Large animals tolerate birds that pluck insects from their tender hides, or morsels from their teeth. Didn't we first learn about lichens and mosses, which hardly spend time thinking about the meaning of life.

Science classes present symbiotic relationships in pairs, but everything in Creation is wrapped up together.

The rain is coming tonight, which illustrates how well that works. Gardeners love the rain, because their work is leveraged and fulfilled by rain.

Somewhat good chart - but where are the earthworms?


This is a brief summary of rain and how it affects the garden:

  1. The rain provides moisture, but also usable nitrogen compounds that green up the lawn instantly and give life to the plants.
  2. Rain will run off the soil and carry large amounts away, unless the soil is porous but also good at storing moisture.
  3. Rain, rot, and soil creature support one another. 
  4. Decomposition requires moisture, and soil creatures speed it up through a complex set of relationships where everything is eaten by creatures who are also eaten, until the mix is filled with tunnels for rainwater, earthworm castings, and humus. 
  5. Rain builds up the soil population, and the soil creatures hold the rain in the soil.
  6. When rain penetrates the soil better, plants thrive and send their roots deeper, which softens the soil and brings minerals up from the lower levels.
  7. The build-up of organic matter (humus) means the soil holds more moisture for a longer period of time and has better structure.
  8. When the soil teems with life, birds are attracted to the food supply and eat a lot of the destructive insects.


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What Now? Asks Polluted WELS Blogger

July 9, 2014, 4:25 am
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Check out - Seven Signs WELS is a cult.

So what now?


I'm frustrated and confused.
  • It's clear that the WELS is drifting further and further away from true Lutheranism.
  • It's clear that the WELS is drifting closer and closer to generic Protestantism.
  • It's clear that WELS leaders are unable or unwilling to exercise discipline against those who introduce and promote false doctrine and practice.
  • It's clear that the WELS is hostile to those who cling to true Lutheran doctrine and practice.
  • It's clear that the WELS cares more about outward peace than true unity.
  • It's clear that the WELS is decidedly anti-sacramental.
  • It's clear that I could continue this list ad naseum. 
What's not clear, though, is what to do now. Stay and fight a losing fight? Leave? Is there even a church body in which one can actually be a true Confessional Lutheran? If so, where is it? These aren't idle questions. I am truly struggling and I truly need your help.



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Anonymous said...
I would suggest ELDoNA. :-) :-D
July 8, 2014 at 7:57 PM
Blogger Daniel Baker said...
ELDoNA or LCMS are your best bets. WELS is beyond all hope.
July 8, 2014 at 7:58 PM
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Do not cast pearls before swine. While the dust off your shoes as you leave. WELS is done. It is no longer Lutheran.
July 8, 2014 at 7:59 PM
Blogger Matthias Flach said...
I appreciate your suggestions. At times I have looked longingly at both ELDoNA and LCMS, but I'm not convinced either is a good option. Regarding ELDoNA, I'm not sure I'm convinced that their position on justification is the correct one. Regarding LCMS, it's true that they are slightly more tolerant of Confessional Lutheranism than WELS, but they are also plagued by every error of the WELS and even more.
July 8, 2014 at 8:17 PM
Blogger Vernon Knepprath said...
Regarding justification, consider this. The teaching of justification is being changed with time:

Catechetical Helps, Erwin Kurth, Concordia, 1961, 1970. “This, then, is the central teaching of the Bible that all who believe receive forgiveness of sins and are justified before God, not by works, but by grace, for Christ’s sake, through faith.”

This We Believe, Gurgle, Northwestern Publishing House, 2006. “We believe that God has justified all sinners, that is, he has declared them righteous for the sake of Christ. This is the central message of Scripture upon which the very existence of the church depends.”

... or this

Doctor Martin Luther’s Small Catechism, Edited by C. Gausewitz, Northwestern Publishing House, 1956.
261. To whom does God forgive sins? “God forgives sins to me and all believers.”

Doctor Martin Luther’s Small Catechism, NIV Edition, originally edited by C. Gausewitz, Northwestern Publishing House, 2nd Printing 1989.
261. To whom does God forgive sins? “God forgives sins to me and all believers.”

Luther’s Catechism, David P. Kuske, Northwestern Publishing House, 1982.
253. How many people did God declare righteous? “God declared all people righteous (Objective Justification).”

Are all of these statements with regard to justification in harmony? If not (and I think not), why are they being changed? More importantly, how can they be changed and still be faithful to Scripture?

Consider the 'Means of Grace'. The Means of Grace are the Word and the Sacraments. The Holy Spirit works through the Means of Grace. The gifts of the Holy Spirit, offered through the Means of Grace are faith and forgiveness. If all are forgiven, then what purpose does the "Means of Grace" serve?
July 8, 2014 at 9:01 PM
Anonymous OCP said...
I don't know that there are better options out there. Matthias, I agree with your assessment of ELDoNA and LCMS, so I don't see those as realistic alternatives.

I'm not sure that WELS is quite to the level of hopelessness you fear. Yes, there are issues, but we should expect issues within any visible church. We should expect that the devil will work even harder among us than in the world, so I'm not surprised when there are issues, and I don't see any greener pastures over any other fences. I don't see overt doctrinal issues within WELS, and I do within every other visible church I've seen. My answer has been to continue to talk, continue to listen, continue to struggle, continue to work to address the issues that plague us. I will do what I can in the church at large, but I can have real effect in my own congregation. I teach, train, instruct, educate, as much as possible. I address these issues proactively in my own congregation, and within the Synod as much as I am able.

It may not be a perfect answer, but in a sinful world, I believe it's the best I can do. Come quickly Lord Jesus!
July 8, 2014 at 9:10 PM
Blogger Daniel Baker said...
I think the LCMS is more than a little tolerant of Confessionals. The main advantage they have, though, is the fact that there is the quantity of Confessional Lutherans in their midst, whereas the number is almost nonexistent in the WELS (at least per their fruit, which is the only standard of measure we can use anymore, since even the CoWo fanatics claim to be "Confessional" in some sense.

The simple fact is that I don't know of a single WELS parish that looks like the description of a Lutheran parish given by the Lutheran Confessions - one abiding by the historic celebration of the Mass in all its glory, retaining all the propers, lections, vestments, and other like things, one that regularly offers private confession, one that faithfully makes use of, teaches, and urges toward the Means of Grace, etc.).

As for the ELDoNA, I agree with them on justification, so obviously I find that attractive. God does not declare the everyone righteous outside of faith. But I won't get into a UOJ debate here.
Grace alone,
NIV alone,
But without faith -
WELS mottto, Mequon training.
Brett Meyer said...
You ask 'so what now?'

It would seem that the only people willing to comment, and stand by those comments without Kilcreasing them, are in agreement with the stated condition of the WELS.

The one thing a few of us contend is that the WELS holds to a false gospel as taught in their doctrine of Universal Objective Justification. No better time than the present to discuss and establish whether or not that doctrine is in harmony with Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions.

Not only is it a supreme endeavor to confess, discuss and defend the chief article of Justification whenever possible, but it also serves to clarify your options when considering 'So what now?'

If WELS is wrong about their doctrine of UOJ, and I contend that it is, then the LCMS and ELS are also wrong and the majority of churches in their fellowship which adhere to it would be out of consideration for 'So what now?'. Individual confessional churches who teach Christ's chief article faithfully and who are affiliated with those synods would be a consideration as well as independent confessional churches and ELDONA.

As I mentioned to a friend this morning, the doctrine of Justification is the most important topic of confession, discussion and contention in the history of the world. Why not address it here where individuals have already stated their God given desire to adhere to Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions?

I appreciate the opportunity to comment.

In Christ,
Brett Meyer
July 9, 2014 at 6:50 AM




tlcsvaz@orthodoxlutheran.info said...
Matthias -

Two things briefly:

1.) If you are a WELS Pastor, have you discussed your assessment with your CP, DP, and SP? I'm not suggesting any "18 & 8" violation, but one of the things that is important in WELS is for those with concerns to actually speak the leadership. This is the only chance for them to see that maybe, just maybe there are indeed real problems in our synod. If you are a layperson, have you confronted your Pastor(s) with your observations? Here again, this is an important and honest first step.

2.) This is not meant as a criticism, just an observation, but it would also help if you weren't semi-anonymous or using a pseudonym. As long as the vast majority of WELS critics are nameless and faceless, their statements will carry no weight at all. Of course, even if they are known - as the Intrepids were - they will carry only very little weight. Still, going public would seem to be the Biblical way to go. Just saying.
July 9, 2014 at 8:07 AM
Blogger Brett Meyer said...
Anonymous asks, "What does the atonement accomplish in your view, Brett?"

The atonement was Christ's complete and full payment for the world's sins. The sins of the whole world were laid upon Christ as the perfect and sinless sacrifice and He paid the all sufficient price for them. Therefore all righteousness resides in Christ alone.

He alone is the propitiation for sins through the gracious gift of the Holy Spirit's faith in Christ alone. He alone is Mediator between the Father's wrath over sin and sinful man through the gracious gift of faith, Christ's righteousness.

The doctrine of Universal Objective Justification teaches that Christ has propitiated the sins of the whole unbelieving world (been apprehended as their propitiation) such that God has declared the unbelieving world justified, guiltless and forgiven all sin. All without the gracious, Holy Spirit worked gift, of faith in Christ alone worked solely through the Means of Grace by which Scripture teaches man can obtain Christ as Propitiation and Mediator.

Scripture:
John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God

Romans 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Romans 4:16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,

Romans 3:25-26 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

A person cannot, at the same time, be both declared justified by God and declared condemned by God.

Thanks for your question.

In Christ,
Brett Meyer

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Rumors of Rain. Snow Is Part of the Equation

July 9, 2014, 6:24 am
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Isaiah 55:8-11 King James Version

8 For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord.

9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.

10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:

11 So shall My Word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.


Why do autumn leaves, left on the ground, disappear over winter?
Decomposition continues all winter, under the blanket of snow.


Others are enjoying rain today - or suffering from it - while we wait for the promised storms. My hometown area has flooded on both sides of the Mississippi.

America has lost its way because people are no longer close to Creation and the soil. Denominational leaders would rather sit down at the local Starbucks or the Velvet Lounge than stick a shovel in the soil that feeds them.

We think of rain in relation to good crops and abundant flowers, but snow is equally valuable. 

The blanket of snow, formed by the interlocking crystals:
  • Keeps everything warm underneath. 
  • Promotes winter decomposition because of  the bacteria that work and multiply in the cold, with plenty of moisture available to them.
  • Melts in the spring to give all new growth a burst of life.

Bird life continues throughout the winter, because insects leave their larvae in the bark of trees and hidden in bushes. Blue jays tuck away their own supplies of acorns, which contribute to the growth of oak forests.

Springtail or snow flea.

Springtails work on decomposition all winter. Some ask, "Springtails? What are they?" That is the problem. There are more springtails on earth than people, but most people do not know these tiny insects exist.

In sheer numbers, they are reputed to be one of the most abundant of all macroscopic animals, with estimates of 100,000 individuals per cubic meter of topsoil,[21]

Springtails contribute to symbiosis in their ceaseless labors. Each creature contributes to the food chain, eating and being eaten, predator and prey. 

Earthworms start small with a high protein diet of bacteria, which are mostly protein. From that diet they build their bodies, which are all muscle. Hard-nosed, they can burrow through anything. With tiny pebbles in their tiny gizzards, they grind up the soil they devour and make it finer. Their calciferous glands make the soil sweeter. Their kidneys add to the nitrogen compounds available to plants.




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Polluted WELS - Questions and Answers

July 9, 2014, 7:13 pm
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Some Questions and Answers

Thanks to all who offered their advice and counsel on my previous post. In the comments, some of you asked some questions of me. Here are some answers:

Are you a pastor or a layman?

I am a WELS pastor. The only thing I've ever wanted to do is to be a Lutheran pastor. I took my ordination vows seriously. But I've found that the WELS doesn't have much tolerance for Lutheran pastors who take their vows seriously.

Why do you publish anonymously?

Because I'm a coward. And because I have a family to feed. I can guarantee you that if I attached my name to this blog, I would be kicked out of the ministry within a month. If you're a contemporary worship guy or if you have the right last name, you can get drunk at work, sexually harass your co-workers, and sue your members and be just fine. If you're a Confessional Lutheran without any connections, you can be removed for any reason or no reason at all.

Why don't you voice your concerns to and through the proper channels?

Here's a true story. I once told my DP that there were some vocal members of my congregation agitating for contemporary worship. His response consisted of two sentences: "Yes, I know, they've already talked to me about you. Have you ever thought of pursuing other lines of work?"

I got the message.

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Blogger Vernon Knepprath said...
Matthias,

If all you ever wanted to be was a Confessional Lutheran pastor, there is no reason for a synodical affiliation to get in the way. There are independent Confessional Lutheran pastors out there. Here is just one example:
http://notalone-saints.blogspot.com/

The way things are going, as you pointed out so well in your blog, there will be a growing need for more independent Confessional Lutheran pastors. Perhaps it is time to set up a network to serve this need, if there isn't one already. I suspect there are more like you out there.

Vernon
July 9, 2014 at 3:19 PM
Comment deleted
This comment has been removed by the author.
July 9, 2014 at 3:41 PM
Anonymous Anonymous said...
The CLC (Church of the Lutheran Confession as opposed to Concordia Lutheran Conference) and Protest'ant Conference might be two church bodies to consider down the road if you have not already done so.
July 9, 2014 at 4:00 PM
Blogger Matthias Flach said...
Does anyone have any experience with the CLC? My impression is that they are very conservative, but not necessarily Confessional.
July 9, 2014 at 4:12 PM
Blogger Matthias Flach said...
(Yes, there's a difference.)
July 9, 2014 at 4:12 PM
Anonymous Anonymous said...
I was a member of a CLC congregation for about ten years after I kicked myself out of my WELS congregation over Church Growth nonsense before I even knew there was a term for it. It brought back fond memories of all my best recollections of the WELS before the stuff hit the fan. Individual congregations may vary, but my impression is that the CLC takes confessionalism seriously. Check out Ascension Tacoma's site (lutherantacoma.com) and tell me which WELS pastor holds a Bible class to teach Greek to interested members, or who posts all the public domain tunes in TLH. Michael Eichstadt of Messiah, Hales Corners, is the SP. I would recommend contacting him.
July 9, 2014 at 4:33 PM
Blogger Matthias Flach said...
By the way, this article describes what I'm talking about when I say that there's a difference between conservatives and confessionals:

http://hopelutheranfremont.org/motley/v3n1_a4.htm
July 9, 2014 at 4:57 PM
Blogger Daniel Baker said...
From what I've investigated, CLC is basically conservative but not Confessional as has been stated (just like the WELS).

I actually agree with what someone said in an earlier comment about finding a local Confessional parish and sticking with it. I use LutheranLiturgy.org for that. A cursory search will demonstrate that the bulk of the parishes on there are LCMS. Also, after running a recent poll on Confessional Lutheran Memes, it was discovered that the vast majority of the followers of that page are LCMS. Most people in the Confessional Lutheran Fellowship group on Facebook are LCMS as well. Make of those facts what you will.
July 9, 2014 at 5:04 PM
Anonymous Anonymous said...
I feel you brother. I'm an anonymous coward too. I'm just trying to make my flock as Lutheran as possible before the day comes when I pissed off the DP too much and lose my WELS pension. They can keep it.
I just want to feed this flock. If I get kicked out now many will just assume the WELS is right. I have gotten some out of the blindness of synodalotry and into the Scriptures and Confessions, but I want to stick around and save as many as I can. So I'm keeping my head down and tending to my flock.
May the risen Lord Jesus, the Good Shepherd (and Samaritan) strengthen you and me with his Word and body and blood to be bold and unafraid to confess and suffer.
July 9, 2014 at 5:42 PM
Anonymous OCP said...
Matthias and 5:42 Anonymous,

My opinion is that there is more of us out there than you would think. You know how, in a congregation, there are always a handful of people who will complain about something very loudly, and when that happens, it's easy to overestimate their number. The ones who are supportive are often mature enough to refrain from gossip so they're pretty quiet, and it's easy to underestimate their number.

I think there is some of that in our Synod. There are the big name "celebrities," and many of them are the ones pushing Evangelicalism on our Synod. They have some very vocal supporters, so it's easy to overestimate their numbers. Because their supporters are so vocal, that can sometimes influence elections, and can influence those who get elected.

But like Nixon, I tend to think that there is a silent majority, who humbly and quietly serve their flock. They are not very vocal (and can too easily be "shouted down"), but they aren't really supportive of the creeping Evangelicalism. But because they are all so quiet, many of them (us?) feel like we're alone. They (we?) feel like we're standing against the tide, but there are more of us out there than we realize.

I think if there was some sort of a "leader" for our side of the aisle, we'd see how many our numbers are. But even that is difficult, because the silent majority doesn't feel right "campaigning" for a DP, or SP. So it's only the other side that does the talking.

This is my hope. Maybe it's optimistic to the point of being naive, but that's what I think. I believe that the Church Growth stuff, the Evangelicalism creeping into our Synod, I believe that these are fads, whose days are limited. As just one guy in a tiny corner of the Synod, I will so what I can to effect that. But more importantly, I will fulfill the duties of my call, and teach my congregation.

Anyway, that's what I do.

OCP
July 9, 2014 at 6:59 PM
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Terrible Advice from WELS Circuit Pastor Steve Spencer

July 9, 2014, 9:36 pm
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"Tell us how you really feel, Anonymous WELS Pastor."

From The Polluted WELS Blog

tlcsvaz@orthodoxlutheran.info said...
Matthias -

Two things briefly:

1.) If you are a WELS Pastor, have you discussed your assessment with your CP, DP, and SP? I'm not suggesting any "18 & 8" violation, but one of the things that is important in WELS is for those with concerns to actually speak the leadership. This is the only chance for them to see that maybe, just maybe there are indeed real problems in our synod. If you are a layperson, have you confronted your Pastor(s) with your observations? Here again, this is an important and honest first step.

2.) This is not meant as a criticism, just an observation, but it would also help if you weren't semi-anonymous or using a pseudonym. As long as the vast majority of WELS critics are nameless and faceless, their statements will carry no weight at all. Of course, even if they are known - as the Intrepids were - they will carry only very little weight. Still, going public would seem to be the Biblical way to go. Just saying.
July 9, 2014 at 8:07 AM

[GJ - Confidential to Steve Spencer - Sign your name when advising against anonymity. That might mean more to the recipient.]

 ***

GJ - Given the Intrepid Lutherans track record of non-support for one of their own, this is the worst advice anyone could  give.

Pastor Paul Rydecki did all this, and DP Jon-Boy Buchholz kicked him out while promising the entire congregation that he (DP Jon-Boy) would continue discussing the topic of justification by faith. Next, Jon-Boy kicked out the congregation for rejecting UOJ and licked his canines at the conference, bragging how he was foreclosing on the congregation's mortgage.

Soon Jon-Boy was so far up Jeff Gunn's wazoo that he could see the bottom of Mark Jeske's feet. But I am sure the reports of Jeff sitting on Jon's lap at conferences are pure hyperbole.

The Intrepid Lutheran blog got interesting, so Steve Spencer quit the blog he started, saying it was not doing any good. He pronounced a pox on UOJ and JFBA. Very little has been posted since then, but there are two new posts by laymen.

The WELS Circuit Pastors are considered finger puppets of the District Pope. If they cease being finger-puppets, the DP gets rid of them by fiat.

The DPs and CPs know what is going on in WELS - and deny it when covering up, or laugh about it. Spencer must have jumped off the bus from Our Lady of Perpetual Obligation Convent School when he wrote that advice.

Sensible Advice
Your blog is great. Great title, great posts. Real discussion.

Make serious plans for life outside of WELS. You cannot continue in the cult when its corruption is so obvious.They will find you and kick you out. The WELS leaders will never stop unleashing their vindictiveness and venom on you and your family.

I have always said - clergy should have a second vocation. It is far better to work on the side and carry on with an independent congregation. And there are various options, certainly not in the ELS, but  in other places.

St. Paul made tents on the side, so he would not be a burden to his congregations. Clergy have worthless educations for getting another job, but they often have special skills they can use in the workplace. It is best to prepare beforehand and not wait until the force-you-out meeting happens with DP, his syncophant CP, or both - Dumb and Dumber.

If you want a friend in WELS, buy a dog. The WELS clergy are the worst back-stabbers on this planet. They will walk with a fiend to a cliff, then push him off and blame him for falling. Job's Comforters are still around. Those who suddenly become friendly and sympathetic are simply synod-minders, running to the DP so they can make a good impression.

May God strengthen you in leaving Plato's Cave. The view outside is much better.
Add caption
Add caption

Reliable.
Infallible.

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Zank supported Ski's CRM and call - elected DP to replace Deputy Doug Engelbrecht.

000

Engelbrecht supported:
plagiarism,
 Ski,
Glende,
excommunicating a member for telling the truth,
and suing a member for telling the truth.
Mark Schroeder supported Deputy Doug.
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From a WELS Layman - On Intrepid Lutherans

July 10, 2014, 4:50 am
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In Whom Do You Trust?
by Mr. Vernon Kneprath
… “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves” (Matthew 7:15). When people hear the words – prophet, pastor, minister, reverend, priest, pope, elder, deacon, monk, nun, religion, church – many automatically assume that whatever these people and groups say and do is God-pleasing truth. Not so fast Jesus says – don’t be fooled by outward appearances – watch out. Just because a person comes to you bearing the title pastor, just because a group of people claims to be a church or a religion, just because the music and pastor are hipper and trendier – that doesn’t mean they are providing eternally soul nourishing truth to those who are listening to them. Watch out for false prophets Jesus says and for good reason. “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness” (2 Corinthians 11:14-15) …

These words are taken from a sermon preached by a WELS pastor in recent weeks to his congregation. The words of this pastor sound familiar to me; and for good reason; they are familiar because they faithfully reflect the words of Scripture.

Compare the words above to the words from a WELS Devotional Essay and Discussion, “Outreach That Any Congregation Calling Itself ‘Evangelical Lutheran’ Will Do”, dated May 18, 2011:

… Evangelical Lutherans who are united in faith, trust one another. I trust my brothers in the WELS. Like me, they have been trained in the Word by the Word – all blessed by the Holy Spirit. They have been Called by God to serve in different communities as gospel-sharers to different cultures – ministering to a variety of Calling bodies. I can’t begin to know how they wrestle with the unique challenges in their congregations and communities. I trust they understand our Savior’s mission to preach and teach the gospel to those inside and outside their church’s walls. I trust they grapple with balancing their ministries and family lives like I do. I trust they, like me, work to nurture and reach out with the gospel – doing one without leaving the other undone. When I hear that a fellow pastor uses different worship styles than I do – I trust their use of Christian freedom and rejoice that they are sharing the gospel in a way they feel is best for their circumstances. When I hear that a fellow pastor is having a pumpkin-fest, a children’s carnival or some other unique gathering – I don’t think for a second that he believes pumpkins are creating faith or that his cleverness can make the gospel more powerful. I know exactly what he’s doing – he’s being shrewd in dealing with his community’s unbelievers so he can gather an audience. In time he will unleash the power of the gospel for the salvation of everyone who believes. I trust him. In the rare event that he gets a tad careless in his practices, I know he has a circuit pastor and a district president. I trust them too. And I trust that should these leaders offer loving cautions to a pastor/missionary that he would humbly take their cautions under advisement …

These words in this essay are unfamiliar to me, because I find no supporting Scriptural references. I see claims made to trust, but I find no evidence or basis upon which to place that trust.

Trust ...
    … is not blind.

    … is not automatic.

    … is the result of evidence seen and actions experienced.

    … is earned.
The Bible is clear that we are to put our trust in the Lord.

The Bible is clear that we are to test what we hear from men against what God has said in his Word.

Does membership in the WELS exclude anyone from the warnings Jesus gave? Surely we still recognize that there are hypocrites in every visible church - even the WELS.

Is association with a visible church body the basis for a “blind” trust?

Should variations in practice within a visible church, whether it be with regard to worship or any other church activity, not be tested against Scripture?

What are the lessons from Scripture regarding trust? How trustworthy did Israel prove to be throughout the Old Testament, in remaining faithful to God and his promises? How trustworthy did many of the Jews prove to be in Jesus’ time? History, whether it be recorded in the Bible or in history books since then, give us many examples of the visible church straying from God, over and over again.

There is only one deserving of our complete trust, the One and the Almighty. We have all the evidence we need for the basis of that trust in Holy Scripture. But, like the Thessalonians, we need to use God's Word to test everything of and from men, rejecting the harmful and holding on to the good (paraphrase of 1 Thessalonians 5:21).
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A Perfect Ending for Gardening

July 10, 2014, 6:19 am
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Sassy and I went to Lowe's, where she normally stays in the car with the windows wide open. She loves going on errands but always barks at me to hurry up as I go inside. A Lowe's employee said, "Someone has a dog along." I told her that I leave Sassy where she can watch me shop inside the gardening center.

The Lowe's employee said, "Bring her inside. We love having dogs here. We get to pet them." Sassy was delighted to come inside. She stays close by and obeys my hand signals - usually. She had to check out some alternate aisles when I went to the mulch section. She comes back again so quietly that I call her "Ghost."

It was another almost-raining-but-just-stifling-hot mornings, so Sassy stretched out on the cold cement while I checked out. Sassy barked her happy barks - very loudly - as I finished.

I needed more mulch for the back garden and a bag to Photoshop the rose garden, where weeds slipped through the area between the first roses and the second group.

Our helper showed up to work on the back garden. I now have 75 feet of fence  planted with hollyhocks, pole beans, bush beans, Malabar spinach, pumpkins, and gourds. Soaker hose runs along the top of the fence. When the water is running, birds perch on it to drink and bath. In the artificial rain below, more birds gather to drink and clean their feathers. I have some shallow bowls placed to catch water for their ceremonies.

Birds also gather at the faucet, where someone laid brick long ago. This produces another shallow bathing and drinking spa. Our yard is constantly alive with birds, and we are getting some butterflies too.

Butterflies obtain salts and nutrition from mud and manure.


A puddling area of mud or manure is appreciated by butterflies. The front faucet area is frequently muddy, since it lacks a bricked area underneath it.

The ideal lawn and garden not necessarily friendly to all of God's Creation. A trashy yard is friendlier to them than a sculpted one. Supposed weeds like Queen Ann's Lace are attractive to bees and butterflies. Some birds nest in the ground, in tall grass and weeds. They always look annoyed when disturbed in any way.

I do not want to emulate Dogpatch, but I see tall plants as havens and food sources for a wider variety of life in the yard. We have a grassy-weedy no man's land between the houses on Joye Street and our street. That is where I sowed Queen Ann's Lace by tossing the seed-heads into the area.

I can picture some very tall varieties of Butterfly Bush lining the back fence some day. That would make a green screen that also attracts butterflies and other insects while serving as a place to store natural bird food for the winter (larvae).

Surprise Visit
Sassy supervised the latest effort, sitting in the shade and bringing her ball to me to toss. I already had the fence garden extended and watered, but I needed total mulch and newspapers on the future vegetable garden. Since it is mid-July, I decided against planting every row, but that might change in later. Spinach is a good crop to plant in the fall and harvest in the early spring.

We initially covered alternate rows with mulch and newspaper. Planting in the grassy row means digging it up, which is already done on the other side. We covered the rest of the garden with newspapers galore and cypress mulch.

Sassy began barking when we were almost done. She ran to the back gate, which I could not see. I assumed she was talking to the pit bull across the street.

When I was laying down the last few newspapers, our helper's family showed up on the other side, where the sunny garden is (tomatoes, sunflowers).

"I'll have one of everything."


"So that is why Sassy barked! She was happy to see you." I invited them to the backyard, so they came around. I had two little helpers to pick up more of my pruning work. They wanted to help again, as they do whenever they come along with their father. They  get paid, which was especially fun this time, because...

Just as we left the backyard, the ice cream truck turned onto our street. I yelled, "Run! Run!" Their mother saw he was already slowing down for them.

The kids had their money and could barely suppress their grins. Sassy joined them at the truck, because she loves ice cream treats. Instead, we had frozen yogurt inside.

Today we should enjoy the long-promised rain. The new mulch and newspapers will block grass and weeds from growing, and soil creatures will do the tilling for me.


One person calculated that the earthworm creates as much fine soil in his castings as he has food to eat. That means all the mulch and newspapers will turn into the best soil, teeming with soil creatures, from the little-known springtails to God's own plowman - the red wiggler.
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When the Rain Starts, Real Gardening Begins - And I Sip Coffee

July 10, 2014, 12:58 pm
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Supercell formation - picture source.
I had to hit the books - or rather - the Internet, for the way storms add nitrogen to the soil. The rain brings down fixed or usable nitrogen and lightning strikes also create fixed nitrogen. Secondarily, certain bacteria fix nitrogen in the soil, and they definitely like a cool drive to survive and thrive.

Precipitation creates heat, which drives the cloud higher, and that encourages more precipitation. The anvil shape forms when the cloud cannot go higher and stretches out at the top. Anvil clouds mean a big storm is underneath or soon to break loose.

Falling hail means the precipitation is so wild that the rain coming down keeps being swept up into the cloud again, forming larger and large hailstones. They are finally heavy enough to fall to the ground. The longer the upsweep continues, the worse the storm and the bigger the stones.


Wikpedia:
An example of the free-living bacteria is Azotobacter. Symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria such as Rhizobium usually live in the root nodules of legumes (such as peas, alfalfa, and locust trees). Here they form a mutualistic relationship with the plant, producing ammonia in exchange for carbohydrates. Because of this relationship, legumes will often increase the nitrogen content of nitrogen-poor soils.

I want to know how the plants figured out this swap between carbohydrates and fixed nitrogen. 

A day of rain is going to do far more for my gardens than anything I do. All I did was prepare the land to benefit from the rain. 
Mulching:

  1. Holds the rain and channels it gently down to the soil creatures.
  2. Feeds and shades the soil creatures, who till and fertilize the soil.
  3. Slows evaporation of the moisture.
  4. Prevents wind erosion of the best soil on top.
  5. Attracts birds with an abundance of insects and earthworms, so they devour the bad insects and grubs.
  6. Produces fixed nitrogen by absorbing nitrogen for decomposition and then releasing it slowly.

I also sowed with abundance, and that involved very little work. At one point I looked at the empty seed packets and thought, "Butterfly weed is planted already? I wonder where." And again, "All the bush beans are planted?"

This fact troubles me. In the past, most Christian groups once placed a priority on teaching the Word, even on knowing the Scriptures as an end in itself. For example, in the South, children compete in Bible Bowls for who can memorize the most verses, even entire books of the Bible. And they have traditionally taught faith in Christ.

In contrast, faith has little to do with most denominations today. The leaders are in love with entertainment, business methods, demographics, and statistics. Since they do not believe in the Word, they do not teach the Gospel. They teach narcissism to narcissists, who should have gotten their fix from Oprah or Tony Robbins. Clergy even want to be coaches or pay to be coached. One district president charges a $1300 annual fee to coach clergy.

If nothing is sown, there is no harvest at all.
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Polluted WELS Comment - Synod Tactics - Recovery

July 10, 2014, 1:13 pm
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Polluted WELS Comment:
Anonymous said...
Matthias,
I stumbled upon your web page today and have read through almost all the posts. The title of your page, "Polluted WELS" definitely caught my attention.

Although I am not a pastor, my congregation went through something your's seems to be going through. This was a few years ago. A bunch of the vocal leaders in my church wanted contemporary worship. Our pastor did not. Neither did a large "silent majority" of our congregation.

The WELS officials (not sure about their titles) came in and said we needed to have contemporary worship to grow. I asked where in the bible our mandate was to "grow."

The answer given was the so-called great commission. I pointed out that Jesus simply told us to go out and preach the gospel in that passage. I cited all the passages I could think of where Jesus promoted faithfulness over worldly success. And how he warned of the leaven that infects the whole lump and how he ws always talking about false teachings coming from within the church in those places.

I even pointed out that the ministry of the old testament prophets and even Jesus's own ministry would be considered a failure by WELS standards.

This did not sit well with the WELS officials, but it helped some others in our congregation to speak out and rally around keeping our church traditional.

I have to admit, at that time I didn't really know what the term "confessional lutheran" meant. I was really more into just keeping things conservative. I wanted my worship service to be like they always had been from when I was growing up.

I've learned a lot since then, and I do think we should be changing. But we should be changing by becoming more confessional, not less. Like have communion more often (even every Sunday?). Or by stressing the means of grace more.

So what happened at our church was this. The ones who wanted contemporary worship went off and formed their own church along with members from other local churches. Other congregations in the area were upset that this new church got synod funding and that it was taking some of their members away.

Our pastor gladly let the trouble makers go, and we encouraged anyone who wanted contemporary worship to go to that church instead.

It hurt our numbers and our offerings for a while. But many of us dug a little deeper into our pockets to make sure we could keep our pastor and our church. Now, we have a smaller group, but we are at least a like-minded congregation that can worship with a liturgy and without all the fighting and back-stabbing that was going on. It's much better.

So I don't know if you live in a bigger community with many WELS churches, but if you do, maybe you could send those vocal supporters of contemporary worship off to another congregation that already does that. I don't know if that's a normal thing you can do as a pastor, but it worked out in our situation.

My answer is probably not what you were asking about, but I wanted to tell you our story to let you know you are not alone. I will pray that you can keep your congregation and not give in to contemporary worship.

JPM
July 10, 2014 at 11:25 AM
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More WELS Pollution

July 10, 2014, 6:01 pm
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Two More Impertinent Questions

Since Matt loved my last two questions, I have two more. Before we play, take a look at these two pictures, shared with me by a loyal reader. One is a picture of the closing service at the youth rally and the other is a picture of a secular concert at the youth rally.


 

Here are my questions.

1. Can you tell which picture is the worship service and which is the secular concert?
2. What does it say that you can't tell the difference?

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For comparison's sake

Below are two pictures from services at Higher Things (LCMS) youth retreats. Notice anything in these pictures you don't see in the pictures from the WELS youth rally?




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Polluted WELS Answers Matt Westra

July 10, 2014, 6:07 pm
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Matt is the new Joel Lillo


For Mequon grads who cannot find embedded links - 
Pastor Matt Westra left a comment for us. Let’s read through it. I’ll put his words in red.
I was sent this link by a classmate and would like to respond. (I realize I am over a week late but nothing goes away on the Internet.) As the pastor who planned and led this I would like it to be said that this picture is neither from a worship service or a concert and so I don't know why you are asking the question. 

So, it wasn’t a worship service OR a concert? Interesting. What was it then? 
(It truly is an "impertinent question" as it was never described or thought to be either a worship service or a rock concert by anyone putting the event together or anyone in attendance. There was a worship service but the author pretty clearly knows nothing about how that was led.) 

Are you referring to the specific picture that I used? Is that the issue--that this specific picture was taken when Koine performed at this mysterious non-worship, non-concert thing and not when they performed at the worship service? The official summary of the convention says that Koine performed at the opening service. So even if this particular photograph isn’t of the opening service, the point remains the same.

I’d be happy to post pictures specifically taken from at the worship service, but I haven’t been able to find any pictures of a worship service. Not a Lutheran service anyway with reverence and all the usual ceremonies, you know, like the Confessions say.

Whoever is the brave anonymous blogger who wrote this was obviously not there and did not bother to see if what he said about Koine and this picture was accurate and true. (Just briefly looking over this blog it seems that lies and inaccuracy are a theme.) 

See? This is the patented WELS method. Don’t argue the facts, just shut down the argument with sarcastic insults.

If someone is genuinely concerned about what this is actually a picture of you can look me up by my google account and e-mail me. As for me I have fed the troll enough and will not dialogue on an anonymous blog that very clearly has no interest in truth or accuracy.

Again, more of the WELS method. This was a public event, Matt. Why not just tell us all what the picture is about? Why the need to contact you personally? So you can make a list of the dissenters? 

Basically what you’re saying is, “Don’t worry. This is totally not what it looks like. It’s something else, but I won’t tell you what it is.” 

If you care so much about truth and accuracy, why not just tell us the truth?

Here's a link to the youth rally Facebook page. And here's the youth rally Instagram page. Maybe someone can scour the pictures and find some that depict the Lutheran worship service that Matt claims took place. I haven't been able to find any.

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Der Schwarz Schaf said...
Well, well, so this blog is full of lies. This Matt fellow should then have pointed them out, correct? Is not such the proper procedure if he loves the truth so very much? Experience with the WELS sickopaths has shown the only truth they are really interested in is that nothing allowed anywhere in WELS is bad, wrong, or sinful. They miss the point that while that might be true sometimes, things allowed can be UNLUTHERAN! That's the point! Talk about dense! Heiliges Kanonenrohr!
July 10, 2014 at 3:15 PM
Matthias Flach said...
Black Sheep, that's the way it works. Matt has the right last name, so he can make accusations without providing proof. I have the wrong last name, so I can't make accusations even if I do provide proof.
July 10, 2014 at 3:25 PM
OCP said...
Techincally Pastor Westra is correct, although I'm not sure why he wouldn't elaborate. I was at the Rally, and the picture is from one of the Morning Devotions that Pastor Westra led. His spoken devotions (he led two of them) were excellent, but the stage set-up was exactly the same as it was for the Opening Service, except for Pastor Westra's visual aids, and an extra music stand that served as a podium during the Opening Service. I'm not sure how a "Morning Devotion" is something that is not "thought to be a worship service by anyone putting the event together or anyone in attendance," but that is a question that hopefully Pastor Westra will return to answer.

OCP
July 10, 2014 at 3:41 PM
Matthias Flach said...
No, OCP, technically Pastor Westra is wrong. A morning devotion is absolutely worship. What else would it be?

This is a prime example of the WELS method. Evade and insult.

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Anonymous Comment:

Higher Things is not the official LCMS youth gathering. It is sponsored by a relatively small group of committed Confessional Lutherans within the LCMS. The youth gatherings sponsored officially by the LCMS are much worse than anything the WELS does. As far as I know, the only synodically-sponsored youth gatherings that consistently have liturgical worship, with real hymns, etc., are those sponsored by the ELS.
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Brett Meyer Tackles UOJ Again

July 10, 2014, 6:15 pm
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Bad luck Brian has nothing but bad luck.


Polluted WELS Blog
Anonymous Anonymous said...
What now depends upon whether you are a pastor or layman. If you are a layman and your pastor preaches the Word of God faithfully and administers the sacraments rightly, stay. If not, leave. Find a congregation whose pastor does. If one can't be found, seek like minded brethren, form a congregation, and call a faithful pastor.

If you are a pastor, stop the marking and start the avoiding. If part of your congregation follows you out, then remain independent until you and your congregation find a body that is faithful to the Word both in profession and in practice. There's a veritable alphabet soup to explore.

Whatever your situation, it will require a tremendous amount of resolve, perseverance, and legwork on your part. However, you will be amazed at the depth of your spiritual growth when you've emerged at the other end of the process.

The Lord will never leave you nor forsake you.
July 9, 2014 at 12:19 PM
Blogger Robin D Fish Jr said...
Don't write off the Association of Confessional Lutheran Churches (ACLC). A year ago I would have suggested ELDoNA as well. That now depends on whether or not you believe in objective justification.
July 9, 2014 at 1:27 PM
Anonymous Anonymous said...
"The atonement was Christ's complete and full payment for the world's sins. The sins of the whole world were laid upon Christ as the perfect and sinless sacrifice and He paid the all sufficient price for them."

Even the sin of unbelief?
July 9, 2014 at 2:45 PM
Blogger Brett Meyer said...
Anonymous asks, "Even the sin of unbelief?"

Yes, Christ died and paid for all sins including the sin of unbelief.

Everyone who was born not believing in Christ alone is or has been guilty of the sin of unbelief. It is not the unforgivable sin. Romans 11:23, "And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again." This verse shows that Christ died and paid for the sin of unbelief.

UOJ contends that Christ was forgiven for every sin that was laid upon Him and His forgiveness is our forgiveness since He died in our place - (some versions of UOJ in the WELS have also taught that since the world's sins were laid on Christ they were taken off of us, thus making the world sinless) therefore the whole unbelieving world has been forgiven all sin.

In reality this forgiveness includes the sin of unbelief which Christ died and paid for - which has lead to the charge that UOJ teaches abject Universalism since the whole unbelieving world has been forgiven their sin of unbelief. Some have confessed a version of UOJ in which unbelief is the only damning sin which caused some to teach that Hell is full of forgiven and righteous unbelievers - or saints.

Scriptural truth is that all sins including the sin of unbelief were paid for by Christ's atoning death on the cross. All those who, by the gracious gift of Godly contrition and faith in Christ alone, look to Him for the forgiveness of sins and salvation, receive it. All those who remain in unbelief remain under God's wrath and condemnation - clearly not in His grace.

I contend that the false gospel of Universal Objective Justification (UOJ)has replaced Christ's Gospel of one Justification Solely by Faith in Christ Alone in the Lutheran Synods. There is not one tenet of UOJ which doesn't contradict Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions.

Thank you for your question.
In Christ,
Brett
July 9, 2014 at 3:32 PM
Anonymous Scott E. Jungen said...
Speaking with your WELS District President might seem like a good idea....shall we ask Pastor Paul Rydecki how that worked for him?
July 9, 2014 at 4:48 PM
Blogger Matthias Flach said...
Scott, you're right. The DP will always side with the synod against the pastor, and will almost always side with a congregation against the pastor.

Pastors are easily replaced. Congregations (and their CMOs) are not.
July 9, 2014 at 5:15 PM
Anonymous Anonymous said...
"It's clear that the WELS is drifting further and further away from true Lutheranism."

In many ways it is lurching toward true Lutheranism, a reaction to American Evangelicalism.


"It's clear that the WELS is drifting closer and closer to generic Protestantism."

Many laypeople are, and not a few teachers and pastors; a better question is when did we not consider ourselves generic Protestants?


"It's clear that WELS leaders are unable or unwilling to exercise discipline against those who introduce and promote false doctrine and practice."

Sometimes the fish rots from the head. Not always, but in too many cases.

"It's clear that the WELS is hostile to those who cling to true Lutheran doctrine and practice."

Not hostile. Unnecessarily wary, yeah. If dudes can wear Hawaiian shirts and blue jeas and sport a cool hand-held microphone, then a neighboring pastor can wear a clergy collar.

"It's clear that the WELS cares more about outward peace than true unity."

This is easily overcome by speaking the truth (in love).

"It's clear that the WELS is decidedly anti-sacramental."

Well, DUH. Welcome to Calvinism and Pietism 101. "That's too Catholic!" Again, simply rebuffed by Catechesis. Not easily, but simply.

"It's clear that I could continue this list ad naseum. "

It's an honest take, but better to offer solutions than a litany of sins; anyone can do that.
July 9, 2014 at 9:22 PM
Anonymous Anonymous said...
I see your dilemma, Brett. So if the sins of the world were laid on Christ as you say, where are they in relation to an unbeliever?
July 10, 2014 at 6:51 AM
Blogger Brett Meyer said...
Anonymous, "I see your dilemma, Brett. So if the sins of the world were laid on Christ as you say, where are they in relation to an unbeliever?"

Scripture teaches that the sins of the world were laid on Christ to pay for them. John 8:24 teaches that those who do not have the gracious gift of the Holy Spirit's faith in Christ alone remain in their sins and will die in them - I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. and also Mark 11:26, But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses. - clearly they were not removed from the unbelieving world, nor were they forgiven by God, as the false gospel of Objective Justification teaches.

The Lutheran Synods continue to teach men, women and children the false gospel of Objective Justification which establishes a false object of faith - a supposed prior justification without faith. Whereas the Holy Spirit's faith worked graciously through the Means of Grace has Christ alone as it's object and in Whom it solely trusts.

In Christ,
Brett Meyer
July 10, 2014 at 8:57 AM
Anonymous Anonymous said...
So I'm confused. So all the sins of the world were laid on Jesus, except those who are unbelievers? Or were they laid on Jesus, only to be given back to the unfaithful?
July 10, 2014 at 11:36 AM
Blogger Brett Meyer said...
Anonymous said...
So I'm confused. So all the sins of the world were laid on Jesus, except those who are unbelievers? Or were they laid on Jesus, only to be given back to the unfaithful?

Both of the propositions you offer are wrong.

The sins of the whole world were laid upon Christ and He paid for them. Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

All those who by the Grace of God are given the gift of faith which trusts in Christ alone are forgiven all sin, are adopted as sons and are saved eternally. Acts 10:43 To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. And To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

All those who do not have the gracious gift of faith which trusts solely in Christ alone remain (continue) under God's wrath and condemnation. John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. neither are they forgiven without faith in Christ. Mark 11:26, But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

The Atonement was Christ's payment for the world's sins. It was not the removal of those sins from anyone who does not have faith in Christ. This is as Scripturally true for all those before the Atonement as it is for everyone after the Atonement. As noted above, Christ is apprehended as Propitiation and Mediator solely through the gracious gift of faith which trusts in Christ alone, worked solely through the Means of Grace.

Unbelievers have not apprehended Christ through faith and therefore He does not mediate their Sin with God the Father and therefore they are not declared justified or righteous as the false gospel of Objective Justification teaches.

I hope this helps remove the confusion.
In Christ,
Brett Meyer
July 10, 2014 at 12:08 PM
Blogger Brett Meyer said...
Source of the above Scripture quotation:

Acts 26:18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
July 10, 2014 at 12:10 PM
Anonymous Anonymous said...
They weren't propositions. I was clarifying your position by asking questions.

The sins of all men have been laid on Christ and he paid the debt owed; believers and unbelievers alike.

Good so far, Brett?

Got that, Anonymous?

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Koine - WELS Panhandlers - Fakes a Soccer Injury

July 11, 2014, 3:36 am
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Koine tried to give the impression they had an accident, but the van was not damaged and no one was hurt.

So they asked for donations on their Facebook page and posted the above picture.

Donations? Are they a charity? They charge a $3,000 fee to show up, for assaulting ear drums with their Spike Jones arrangements and secular songs. "I pulled my collar tight against the calling crowd."

Is that a coaching hymn? Does it even make sense?








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Worried about Weeds? Get Out of Gardening

July 11, 2014, 5:14 am
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You see a weed - I see food  that rabbits love,
a nutritious herb, a soil improver,
and compost material


A grandmother rebuked the grandchildren, when they complained about weeding. "Without weeds, everyone would be a gardener."

Our helper said, "The weeds are coming through the mulch. What are we going to do?"

I pointed out that the line of weeds developed where we expanded the rose garden. The grassy weeds found the weak-spot and sent up tentative strands. I have a fresh supply of newspapers, so we will put a layer in on top of the weeds and add some black dyed mulch. Sassy and I must return to Lowe's for mulch.



The sunny garden is weedier because we put the mulch on top of grass, without a newspaper layer to shut out all sunlight. I wanted to see how that worked - and it did not. I was counting on sunflowers and pumpkins to overwhelm the weeds, but the weeds have taken advantage of the soil creatures below and my watering above. The plants are all doing well, with a tiny bit of insect damage. I see the pumpkins, tomatoes, and the sunflowers, not the weeds.

We ran out of mulch for covering the back garden, slated for vegetables in the spring. Today I need to dig up two lanes in the future corn patch, where I will plant spinach, egg plant, kale, and lettuce. That area will be the corn patch in the spring, the one with the most sunlight. Corn wind-pollinates, so I need a number of rows devoted to America's favorite food - sweet corn. That area will be coached into maximum earthworm production, with a winter of mulch and a spring of compost.

We have a lot of gardens in the area. One is on an enormous double-lot. I noticed they planted far apart and mowed the grass between rows. That is not all bad, although some would avoid walking between rows, to keep from suppressing root growth.

Our helper said, "How are you going to plant in the spring? What do you do with the mulch?" I am  not sure how much mulch will be left, but usually it can be moved aside slightly for planting. The soil is bare and soft underneath. Warming of the soil really activates the decomposition and winter's mulch disappears fast.

In Midland I asked our neighbors to put all the grass clippings on our corn patch - from our yard and theirs. The lanky kid who mowed became a professional baseball player - major league. He and his family thought my gardening methods were bizarre, but they ate the sweet corn and the raspberries.

The fence garden has some weeds, but I used weeds to hold them back. Most of that area was covered with a mulch of dead weeds. Rather than scalp it down to bare soil, I pulled it back, dug a slot, and planted with abandon. I pushed the dead weeds back and sprinkled cypress mulch on top. I have 75 feet of fencing sprouting radishes, pole beans, Malabar spinach, bush beans, sunflowers, gourds, and hollyhocks.

The pole beans and Malabar spinach (a vine) are sending up long tentacles, just about connecting with the fencing. Similar vining is starting on the gourds and pumpkins.

That reminds me - I need scarlet runner beans in the spring, because they attract hummingbirds. I have to order them early because the fanatics use up the supply first thing. No, I have never eaten a scarlet runner bean. I grew them for the birds to enjoy the flowers.

Each feather is a work of art.


Birds, Butterflies, and Hummers
Many gardening books have lists of the best flowers or plants for birds, for butterflies, and separately for hummingbirds. I keep them in mind for landscaping. Like books, the best plants can be bought for very little at the right time. Most do not want to garden in the fall and do not buy much, but fall is the best time to plant trees and bushes. If I line the back fence with bushes to block the view of the trashy, grassy alley, I am going to get them at cut-rate prices or not at all.

Butterfly bushes can grow very tall and they will always attract butterflies with their blooms. I could get crepe mytle going, but that is so common around here. The question is, "Who does NOT have a crepe myrtle bush?" The list is small.

Separating Weeds from Plants
Weed seeds are distributed through the soil, and they last for decades without rotting. Some gardeners fear composting weeds, which are fresh and green, ready to activate the pile. Others never think of composting them on the spot by stretching them out where they were pulled, to shade the soil and keep their cousins from joining the upward growth.

Christian denominations no longer separate the weeds from the good plants. Instead, they are prone to harvest and sow weed seeds, saying, "Look at how fast they grow!"

Discerning the spirits is a primary task of all believers. The weedy growth of false doctrine is everywhere, but few want to do anything except praise the weeds.




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WELS - Like the Church of England - Is a Few Years from Collapse

July 11, 2014, 7:56 pm
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The Jeske coalition, aka Twisted Smile,
is losing by winning.



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/8633540/Ageing-Church-of-England-will-be-dead-in-20-years.html

By , Religious Affairs Editor
9:02PM BST 12 Jul 2011
Comments1010 Comments
The average age of its members is now 61 and by 2020 a “crisis” of “natural wastage” will lead to their numbers falling “through the floor”, the Church’s national assembly was told.
The Church was compared to a company “impeccably” managing itself into failure, during exchanges at the General Synod in York.
The warnings follow an internal report calling for an urgent national recruitment drive to attract more members.
In the past 40 years, the number of adult churchgoers has halved, while the number of children attending regular worship has declined by four fifths.
The Rev Dr Patrick Richmond, a Synod member from Norwich, told the meeting that some projections suggested that the Church would no longer be “functionally extant” in 20 years’ time.

***


GJ - We already have the same report from the Evangelical Lutheran Synod, better known as the Little Sect on the Prairie. Their own study shows they will only be a footnote in the history books in a few years.

WELS has trapped itself in the failed tactics of Fuller Seminary, which was bad enough for generic Protestants, but far worse for any group pretending to be Lutheran.

WELS drives away its own and makes itself repulsive to anyone who thinks independently and questions the cult attitude of its leaders. Everyone is waiting for the day when WELS admits its crimes in the pages of FIC and on its dreadfully lawyered-up websty.

As one layman said, "WELS will be apologizing to Rome by 2017, to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. The Lutherans will be united around ELCA, and ELCA with Rome."

The worst false teachers - like Jon Buchholz, Paul Kelm, and Larry Olson - cannot tolerate anyone stealing their purloined glory. As toadies for Fuller, they expect everyone to be their boot-polishers.

We now know what their version of evangelism is:

  1. Get rid of the liturgy
  2. Turn sermons into coaching sessions
  3. Form an untalented rock band
  4. Teach that everyone is forgiven and saved without faith.


WELS is already a dismal failure under Mark Schroeder and his Church and Changers. When they get rid of the Boomers, through exile and burial, the bubble will collapse.

"You weren't born in Wisconsin.
Get out of here."

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