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Roses in the Classroom

August 21, 2014, 4:27 am
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Peace is the Secretariat of roses.
Many variations on this classic have been marketed
to include the name and DNA of Peace.
The remarkable history of this rose.
I cut some roses and took them to English class yesterday. One student pronounced them "Fake" and I responded, "You lived in the Hood too long." Everyone laughed and he said, "You are right. We don't see many roses there."

At lunch we bemoaned the lack of rose growing in American parks. Canada and Europe have large rose parks where people can enjoy and examine all their favorites.

Chicago Peace seems to illustrate pink winning out over yellow.
The English composition lesson used roses to show the parallel between rose growing and the True Vine passage in John 15. Parallels are easy to find. Roses and grape vines need:

  • Tending.
  • Pruning of deadwood.
  • Pruning of fruitful branches so they fruit again.
  • Gathering of cuttings to be removed from the plants.
  • Connection to be fruitful. "Apart from Me, ye can do nothing."
The English class answered the question about the plants being fruitful. There is no fruit apart from the plant itself. "So how do we become fruitful as believers?"

The class answered - Through the Word, through the Spirit. Both are correct, since the Holy Spirit works through the Word.


Pruning and Rain
Our crepe myrtle bush is already showing the positive effects of Lyle Lovett pruning, mulch, and rain. Two pink flowers have sprouted on the crepe myrtle, and vertical growth has resumed. The plant looks healthy, if a bit spindly in the legs. At night, faerie lights decorate the top foliage.


Many include Pink Peace as one of the great roses
of all time. The web page lists it as very fragrant.

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Variations in Roses

August 21, 2014, 7:32 am
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Mr. Lincoln is heavily scented.
All my recipients inhale the aroma of their roses.


Roses vary in color and fragrance, based on their environment. Their fragrance varies according to the individual's perception.

There is not just one rose fragrance (the kind we associate with commercial rose scents). Some roses are more lemony. One grower had an Intrigue rose growing and insisted it was lemon-scented. I told her, "Yes, that is what the catalogs say." Her husband said that was impossible, but he was an engineer.

No rose seems to have every single trait people want. Rosarians look at the buds, fragrance, color, resistance to disease, frequency of bloom, foliage, size of the bloom, and the staying power of the bloom when cut and displayed. Peace has most of those but slight in fragrance and some tendency to black spot.
Tropicana is the champion as a long-lasting cut rose. Mr. Lincoln, Double Delight, and Fragrant Cloud are famous for fragrance.

Likewise, Paul lists various gifts people have as different in each person, each one contributing to the body of Christ. He noticed then, too, that jealousy kept members at odds with one another. That would be absurd in the human body, if one organ refused to work with the others and despised the work of others.


Mr. Lincoln rose garden.

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John Seifert Urged Me To File Charges against DP Mueller, But He Would Not. Will Engelbrecht Defend Driscoll on the Plagiarism Charges?Crude Sexual Remarks Made to Wives

August 21, 2014, 10:46 am
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DP Engelbrecht defended plagiarism in an absurd essay,
and he supported Glende and Ski in excommunicating Rick Techlin,
who proved the plagiarism.


Twenty-One Former Mars Hill Church Pastors Bring Formal Charges Against Mark Driscoll

August 21, 2014 by  39 Comments
On the heels of what was arguably the worst week in the history of Mars Hill Church, twenty-one former Mars Hill Church pastors brought charges late last week against lead pastor Mark Driscoll. Accompanied by a cover letter, briefs on workplace bullyingand a summary of the powers of Mars Hill elders, the charges are being leveled by well-respected former pastors and are in the possession of the Mars Hill leadership. These documents greatly expand on charges brought by former pastor Dave Kraft. Those charges were dismissed by the Board of Advisors and Accountability. The cover letter states:
We have submitted to the Mars Hill board of advisors and accountability the attached formal charges of Mark’s disqualification from the pastoral office. We have signed these charges and intend to stand as witnesses. There are additional witnesses whose names have been withheld for their protection, but who also intend to testify in an investigation of these charges...

On the last charge above, I obtained invoices which demonstrates knowledge of Result Source in October, and I have seen an email which indicated Driscoll’s awareness as early as July, 2011. The letter asks Mars Hill leadership questions which contain further concerns and the pastors believe, if investigated, will prove disqualifying. For example:
Is Pastor Mark guilty of plagiarism? If so, what is an appropriate consequence for him?
Is Pastor Mark guilty of sexual harassment in the form of sexual immorality in speech (Eph. 5:3)? We are aware of a number of credible reports of inappropriate sexually-oriented comments that Pastor Mark has made to and about other men’s wives, particularly in casual social settings. 

No one has removed a WELS DP
because no one will stand up to them.
Yet Driscoll is clearly a model
for abusive WELS pastors trained by him.

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Norma Boeckler Has Started a Zazzle Account - Her Art on Various Products

August 22, 2014, 4:50 am
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Travels with Sassy

August 22, 2014, 5:24 am
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The moment we saw her rescue site photo, we loved Sassy Sue.
Those ears are exclamation points during our discussions.
Want to go for a walk? Ears up - barking yes, yes, yes, yes, now, now now.

Sassy and I do errands together, and she enjoys being in the back seat. But she does not sit there passively. Most of the time she perches on the Town Car's armrest, which divides the front seats. Her front legs are on armrest and her only back leg is on the rear seat. Precarious?

She has had a few spills, but she likes leaning forward and watching the sights. She is keenly aware of familiar territory and always barks when we turn onto the home stretch, either on Scott or Letha. I recently passed the final turn because we were going to the bank, too. She was upset that I missed the turn.

Sometimes we sing the Cattle Dog Blues but lately - Waltzing Matilda. I like the part - "Up rode the squatter, sitting on his thoroughbred. Down came the troopers - one, two, three." I am getting Sassy to offer three barks on one, two, three. She is in the novel I am writing; her character is Wigglesworth - Wiggles for short. She plays a key role at the end, saving the writer's life. Taking her along and walking with her - that is pure research.

Here are some of her exchanges:

  • She waited for her treat from a drive-up bank teller who dotes on her. Once she got the first one, she simply stared at the teller until the second one went into the tray. (We use the closest bay.) It was not an evil stare, but an expectant one, her long-practiced puppydog look, loving but starving. The teller loved it.
  • She loves the UPS driver, because he leaves a large milkbone for her. When she hears his truck come onto our cul-de-sac, bedlam barking follows. I open the door as he circles the end of the street. She gets her milkbone and sits in the middle of the yard to enjoy it. The driver waves and smiles at us as he drives past.
  • She flirts with all the women who step up to admire her. I mention the missing leg and the attention doubles. At Lowe's she comes inside and rocks the place with her happy bark. When I pick up mulch afterwards and women load the trunk (with my help), she sits at the window and soaks up the love.

The smile is great for getting treats and
also forgetting she is in trouble for not listening.
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Temps in the mid-90s: More Mulch for a Bigger Garden. Pole Beans

August 23, 2014, 3:48 am
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We had cool weather and rain. Now we have a stretch of 95 degree days coming up. Our helper stopped by to mulch, felt the heat, and went home - with my approval.

With a co-op electrical company and the lowest water prices in the area, we do not feel the bite as much as we did in Bella Vista. Electric was only $100 last month.

Pumpkins wilt on hot days, but they are in the sunniest garden, near a brick wall. The rose garden in the front yard has two advantages. One is the eastern location, so they get the morning and early afternoon sun, but shade during the hottest part of the day. The other advantage is a thick layer of newsprint and wood mulch. The roses simply bloom faster, because there is always enough water for them. One block away, the roses that perked up in the rain have now wilted in the sun and lack of water. On the corner, his roses are surrounded by knee-high crabgrass. He has to work and his brother does not go after the weeds.

Crabgrass is no threat in the early summer, when it is gathering strength to flower and fruit. In August, crabgrass displays its power to produce 250,000 seeds per plant on delicate seed stalks. Mulching alone will not stop crabgrass. Newspaper plus mulch will stop everything except witchgrass and the dandelion seeds that land on top. Both are easy to control.

I watered the roses and the fence garden so I can harvest with our grandson today. He can prune roses and pick pole beans if he wants.

We have always planted pole beans, but this is the first time I have enjoyed a long stretch of support - the chain-link fence. I have considered using both sides and running soaker hose around the entire perimeter.

The pole beans produce continuously because I planted them at different times. They start over with blooms and fruit when I pick them daily. If one section is still thin, I move to the next one. They are fixing nitrogen in their soil - as legumes do - and softening the soil for next year's plants. When the vines are done, they will go into the compost for the winter and be covered with autumn leaves.


My gardening neighbor was speechless when I handed him the latest vase of roses. His voice trailed off as he looked at them. That was not exactly hard work. I dug holes, put a bare root rose in each hole, filled the holes, watered and mulched them. No other plant gives so much beauty for a little well-planned work. Pruning mostly involves cutting roses for church and for neighbors.

I brought some to English class and gave them to the registrar's staff. At lunch we talked roses.

This week the yellow roses budded and bloomed at once. I never plant them on purpose, because of black spot, but this plant is immune to that problem (so far). While some roses take forever to form and bloom, this plant bursts into bloom all at once.

Here is a good example of not understanding the Creation or the efficacy of the Word:

http://922church.com/seek

Seeking ways to use technology to advance God's Kingdom.

These illiterate buffoons are going to have a conference based on pure heresy. Technology does not advance God's Kingdom - the Word alone does.

This is what they would do if they tried to garden the same way they run their churches - into the ground, pun intended:


  • We need a new computer system so we can plan our garden better.
  • The staff got together and created a vision statement about the future of our garden. We will go to God in prayer and tell Him how He is going to do this - and how fast.
  • We cannot have a good garden unless we copy what the neighbors are doing, especially those neighbors who reject the Parable of the Sower and the Seed.
  • All of us need new digital devices. We cannot garden unless we have the best tools.
  • In sorrow we have to kick out anyone who disagrees with our gardening, especially those trouble-makers who quote from gardening books. Confidentially, we blame Ichabod for that.





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Monarch Butterfly on the Sunflowers

August 24, 2014, 3:45 am
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People complain about the lack of butterflies, but do they plant butterfly flowers? If all goes well, I will have butterfly bush and butterfly weed in my yard. For now, sunflowers are attracting all kinds of attention. Next year I will buy sunflower seed by the pound (mammoth or striped - giant Russian) and have rows of them to amuse and intimidate.

Yesterday, after I pruned our roses with grandson Alex, I found a Monarch butterfly on the sunflowers. A variety of flowers will provide a constant food source for all the pollinating creatures. Parsley attracts the Black Swallowtail, which I saw as soon as I had parsley growing on compost (upside-down turf) in Midland. My parsley was so sublime that the Parsley Patch owner came over to harvest it to sell to the fancy French restaurant in town.


You can buy this butterfly notecard from Norma Boeckler's Zazzle website - CreatingIsFun.



My mystery novel is named Metamorphosis, which will make sense by the end of the book.
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The Tenth Sunday after Trinity, 2014. Luke 19:41-48. Jesus Weeping over Jerusalem

August 24, 2014, 6:44 am
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The Tenth Sunday after Trinity, 2014. Luke 19:41-48.
Jesus Weeping Over Jerusalem




The Tenth Sunday after Trinity, 2014


Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

Bethany Lutheran Church, 10 AM Central Time


The Hymn # 202             Welcome Happy Morning                      4:28
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual       
The Gospel              
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed             p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #267            If God Had Not Been   4:61

Love and Compassion


The Communion Hymn # 305.5-9                       Soul, Adorn              4:23
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn # 657            Beautiful Savior                    4:24

KJV 1 Corinthians 12:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. 2 Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led. 3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. 4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. 8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; 10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: 11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

KJV Luke 19:41 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, 42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. 43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, 44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. 45 And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought; 46 Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves. 47 And he taught daily in the temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him, 48 And could not find what they might do: for all the people were very attentive to hear him.


Tenth Sunday After Trinity

Almighty and everlasting God, who by Thy Holy Ghost hast revealed unto us the gospel of Thy Son, Jesus Christ: We beseech Thee so to quicken our hearts that we may sincerely receive Thy word, and not make light of it, or hear it without fruit, as did Thy people, the unbelieving Jews, but that we may fear Thee and daily grow in faith in Thy mercy, and finally obtain eternal salvation, through Thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.


Love and Compassion

KJV Luke 19:41 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,

As Luther wrote in his sermon on this text, Jesus had two ways to address the rejection of God's Word. One was to use threats, which He did more than once - such as saying it would be better to have a millstone around one's neck and be thrown into the sea. 

The other is to express love and compassion toward those blinded by their rejection of the Word. We can see that here, because His reaction is not to weep over His coming passion, but to weep over the horrors that would be visited on the city in the future.

We can see that in America today, with its wholesale rejection of its religious foundations. When I was discussing Mayberry with friends on Facebook, I pointed out that it was a make-believe city that we liked, because it reminded us of the towns we grew up in. And now these same areas are visited with constant crime. They are marked with pawnshops and bail bondsmen, and all the pock-marks of crime, vice, and drug addiction.

My father had a downtown bakery that was open 24 hours. Women worked there at night and no one worried about their safety. The back door was locked at night, but the front door was open. No one would think of doing the same today. Likewise, school problems were so minimal that trivial incidents in today's world were treated as major events that shocked people. Where are their parents? people would wonder.

Our town was closed for Sundays. Nothing happened after noon, and the only store open on Sunday was the drugstore - closing at noon. Where else would people buy the Des Moines Tribune?

When Moliners go back, they are shocked, as we were, about the emptiness of the downtown, with so many closed stores in a strange contrast to some impressive John Deere museum buildings, showcasing the equipment (no longer made there). We drove the streets to look at the old Deere mansions and saw streets lined with decaying homes.

I know the Lutheran churches of the 1960s were nothing like the ones today, with all the ELCA fads taking over. Some dissented as left (Faith, Moline) but my home congregation stayed, and its sister church hosted the ELCA fanatics who lost the battle at Faith. True ELCA members have no Faith now, but WELS and Missouri and the ELS are happy to work with them.

42 Saying, "If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes." 

Which things belong to peace? They are primarily faith in the Gospel of Jesus, forgiveness of sin, and salvation. Everyone wants peace, which is in the first triad of those fruits of the Spirit:
  1. Love
  2. Joy
  3. Peace. Galatians 5


The day of judgment was fast upon Jerusalem, as Jesus approached for the last time in His earthly ministry. They would hail Him as the Messiah and then abandon Him for the crucifixion. The contrast is so great, and yet it has been true of humanity since the beginning.

Luther said - when the Germans are hot for something, they are really hot. Then they are cold. They flocked to the Lutheran churches when the Reformation began, but they ran back to Rome when troubles developed. There are few who remain faithful, and few who refuse to compromise.

In era after era, clergy have pledged to obey those pastoral admonitions where they must remain faithful to the Word. But officials and members press them to compromise, and they do, often for the sake of earthly peace and institutional prosperity.

Faith in Jesus during those days of judgement in Jerusalem proved to be filled threats and obvious conclusions as He was condemned and executed as a religious threat and as an enemy of the Roman Empire. 

When I think about ELCA dissenting bishops, I recall how I watched them get elected, serve the institution gladly, and get along with everyone. ELCA was always quick to chop anyone (or any family member) who dared question its infallibility. One pastor's kid said something rude about the LCA, and his father was punished. Likewise, various clergy parasites and their kin retaliated against my family, too cowardly to face me. And with ELCA, these same bishops in retirement suddenly found their Holy Mother Sect to be loathsome and disgusting. They were there at the creation. I saw one of these dissenters installed as a bishop, saw him elected as a buddy-buddy chair of the bishops, and POW he was opposed to everything he participated in and funded. 

The trouble with compromise and unfaith is this - it paints people into a corner where they cannot escape, because they only want to turn the clock back a few years  - to when they were happy and blind. But they do not want to go all the way back to the Scriptures as they are, because that is too radical.

However, the disturbances and afflictions can make people lose their illusions and return to the Word alone. And additional attacks can make people go to the Book of Concord the way runners grab bottles of water after a race.

43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, 

This one verse should give everyone goosebumps, because Jesus described the Roman attack on Jerusalem forty years before the campaign began. Zealots began with a successful attack against Rome and thought they were winners. But they only defeated the garrison troops, the ones left to keep the peace. Their folly brought an enormous force traveling with their slaves to aid the soldiers in the important work of circumvallation - surrounding a walled city with another wall, to prevent any escape or entry.

When America has a big storm, people empty the shelves of food and water before it hits. Batteries are gone. Flashlights are sold. All essential food is bought up. Strawberry Poptarts are especially prized during storms, so large shipments go to Walmarts in anticipation.

The reaction to potential hunger is panic buying, and the reaction to circumvallation is panic hoarding. I don't believe my father ever got over rationing in WWII. He stockpiled everything, even those things he no longer needed but might need - just in case. I threw some out and dared him to carry them down into the basement again. I won that one.

Jerusalem had stores of food and miraculously engineered fresh water supply. The food supply was burnt early and everyone began hoarding and stealing. Horrible things happened afterwards, as you might imagine.

44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. 

The invasion of Rome came during the pilgrimages, so the greatest possible population was trapped in the city, adding to the burden of defense and feeding people. They boiled their sandal laces to have something to eat - and worse, cannibalism erupted.

When soldiers got into the city, they looted the city, looking for gold. The rumor that gold was hidden in the Temple led to it being destroyed - not one stone left on another. Gold does that to people. In Phoenix, people still brave the dessert trying to find the Lost Dutchman's Mine.

Jesus is warning people - "Because you did not realize the visitation of God's wrath would be upon you." As Luther has commented, God uses enemies to punish apostasy and make people wake up to their folly.
Russia and Germany abandoned the Gospel for two similar forms of paganism (Nazi socialism in Germany, Marxist Communism in Russia).

41. Let Germany, which, praise to God, now has the Gospel, beware, that she may not meet the same fate, as it already so strongly everywhere indicates she will. For we dare not think that the contempt and unthankfulness, which are gaining control among us as great as among the Jews, will remain unpunished. After that he will let the godless world complain and cry: If the Gospel had not come, such things would not have come upon us; just like the Jews at Jerusalem blamed all their calamities to the preaching of the Gospel, and they themselves at the risk of their own necks prophesied that if Christ with his Gospel should continue, the Romans would come and take away their place and nation. And afterward also, even the Romans blamed their destruction to this new God and new doctrine. Just as it is said at present, since the Gospel has appeared things have never been right.

In America we have daily invasions, bringing in drugs (the price of crossing the border) and vice (too grim to relate here). And we pay daily for these horrors and pretend (on a national scale) that it is not happening or affecting us. 

Weather is also a warning, because it takes little to turn calm, productive seasons into times of drought, or blizzards. And earthquakes warn us how fragile this calm can be. If God withdraws His protection from us, we cannot overcome the natural forces unleashed upon America, especially when we have weakened our character to making immorality and genocide legal.

The beheading of a journalist was horrible, but doctors do that everyday to the unborn. How is that not worse? Are we better?

45 And he went into the Temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought; 

Is anything more obvious than the commercialization of the worship service? Congregations sell their souls for a pittance, hawking insurance and overpriced chicken, not to mention grocieries and other items.
The Jews were rather subdued compared to the modern Lutheran, who must pass through a gauntlet of street-hawkers selling "slave days" and bake sales, junk collection (paper and cardboard), Junk for Jesus sales, insurance, local merchants, and more. 

When a Christian wrote to a famous journalist about all these gimmicks - and more - he asked how they could support their congregation better. They were always short of money. Horace Greeley said, "Try religion."

The ghastly apparition of the local congregation today is a haunting antitype of the church in the past. Instead of dignified music praising God, untalented rockers screech about themselves. Cynical ministers know they can make more people happy with cutesy stories and vain efforts at coaching. Perhaps people will flock to see someone more pathetic than they are -  with addictions, neuroses, and even greedier and harder of heart. That is why people liked Evel Knievel. He could not ride a motorcycle. He crashed all the time while lecturing about cycle safety. 

46 Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves.

This saying is engraved over an enormous Presbyterian church in Midland, but the minister worried that he could not move the dinner theater out of the nave to have a funeral. It was clear from his comments that he had to ask permission and hope for a positive answer.

The most important part of our lives is the spiritual part. God takes care of our material needs and then some, but we can easily neglect the better part. When Mary and Martha were visiting with Jesus.

Luke 10

38 Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.

39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.

40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.

41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:


42 But one thing is needful: andMary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

One thing is needful, which is faith. Mary was not worried about work. She wanted to hear the Word of God from the Savior. 

Faith makes the tree good, because faith receives the grace of God, the forgiveness of sin. From this comes peace but also a great love and thankfulness. 

47 And he taught daily in the Temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him, 48 And could not find what they might do: for all the people were very attentive to hear him.

Even though Jesus knew about the upcoming events, far in advance, he taught daily in the Temple. The popularity of Jesus led to the peculiar way in which He was arrested, at night, with a betrayer identifying Him with a kiss.

Luther:
42. And thus it will also go with the world; as its people despise and persecute God’s Word, and become so hardened and blinded, they will blame no one as the cause and merit of their destruction but the precious Gospel itself; which nevertheless alone preserves, thank God, what is still preserved; otherwise all things would long since lay in one common heap of ruins. And yet it must bear the blame for everything that the devil and his clans transact. Because people continue to blaspheme and will not recognize what our sins deserve and the grace and mercy which we have in the Gospel, God must thus repay such blasphemers, so that they become their own prophets, and for a double wickedness receive a double reward.

This premonition has already gone forth, except that it is yet withheld on account of the faithful few; just as he beforehand admonished the Jews by this example when he cast those that sold and bought out of the temple, and afterwards went into the temple himself and finally taught until the day of his death, and yet for a time withheld as long as he could, and afterwards by his Apostles until they would no longer tolerate them; so now we, who cleave to Christ, restrain punishment as long as we live; but when these too shall lay down their heads, then the world will realize what it once had.
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Classic Ichabod - Justification by Faith, Galatians Lectures. American Edition

August 24, 2014, 1:53 pm
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Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan,

But it is because, as I often warn you, there is a clear and present danger that the devil may take away from us the pure doctrine of faith and may substitute for it the doctrines of works and of human traditions.
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 3

For if the doctrine of justification is lost, the whole of Christian doctrine is lost. And those in the world who do not teach it are either Jews or Turks or papists or sectarians.
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 9



These new monks [Anabaptists] invent a new cross and new works, and they imagine that by performing these they will please God. In short, whoever does not know the doctrine of justification takes away Christ the Propitiator. Galatians 1:3
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 28



For until our death Satan will never stop attacking all the doctrines of the Creed in us. He is the implacable enemy of faith, for he knows that it is the victory that overcomes the world (1 John 5:4). Therefore it is our obligation to hold constantly to our faith and to establish it, in order that we may be able to stand up to Satan. Galatians 1:3
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 31



["The Church of Rome is superior to the Gospels because it approves the Gospels" - or today - "The synod has approved it.]

The Church approves Christian faith and doctrine. Therefore the church is superior to them. To refute this wicked and blasphemous  doctrine of theirs, you have here a clear text and a thunderbolt. Here Paul subordinates himself, an angel from heaven, teachers on earth, and any other masters at all to Sacred Scripture. Galatians 1:9
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 57f.



Besides, the question of justification is an elusive thing--not in itself, for in itself it is firm and sure, but so far as we are concerned. I myself have had considerable experience of this, for I know how I sometimes struggle in the hours of darkness. I know how often I suddenly lose sight of the rays of the Gospel and of grace, which have been obscured for me by thick, dark clouds. In other words, I know how slippery the footing is even for those who are mature and seem to be firmly established in matters of faith. Galatians 1:11-12.
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 63f.

Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, Page 93 is the false argument - you weren't here from the beginning (not born in Wisconsin or didn't go to a Concordia Cemetery).



But those men look at Peter's high prestige; they admire his social position and forget the majesty of this doctrine. Paul does the opposite. He does not attack Peter sharply; he treats him with due respect. But because he sees that the prestige of Peter is endangering the majesty of the doctrine of justification, he ignores the prestige, in order to keep this doctrine pure and undefiled. Galatians 2:11
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 108.

The fall or error of one man can so easily bring on enormous ruin if it is not corrected. Therefore the doctrine of justification is nothing to be trifled with, and it is not without reason that we inculcate it and insist on it with such diligence. Galatians 2:13
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 111f.


Here let reason be far away, that enemy o faith, which, in the temptations of sin and death, relies not on the righteousness of faith or Christian righteousness, of which it is completely ignorant, but on its own righteousness, at most on the righteousness of the Law. As soon as reason and the Law are joined, faith immediately loses its virginity. Galatians 2:13
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 113.

Therefore the Christ who is grasped  by faith and who lives in the heart is the true Christian righteousness, on account of which God counts us righteous and grants us eternal life. Galatians 2:16.
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 130

We must not attribute the power of justification to a "form" that makes a man pleasing to God; we must attribute it to faith, which takes hold of Christ the Savior Himself and possesses Him in the heart. This faith justifies without love and before love. Galatians 2:16
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 137

The only thing necessary is that we accept the treasure  that is Christ, grasped by faith in our hearts, even though we feel that we are completely filled with sins. Thus these words, "by faith in Christ," are very emphatic, not empty and vain, as the sophists think when they leap over them so boldly. Galatians 2:16
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 139

Then they ridicule us for inculcating and emphasizing faith with such diligence: "Ha, ha! Faith, faith! Just wait until you get to heaven by faith! No you must strive for something more sublime. You must fulfill the Law of God...." Galatians 2:17
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 143

Holy Scripture, especially the New Testament, always inculcates faith in Christ and magnificently proclaims Him. It says that "whoever believes in Him is saved, does not perish, is not judged, is not put to shame, and has eternal life" (John 3:16). Galatians 2:17
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 146

Meanwhile my old man (Ephesians 4:22) remains outside and is subject to the Law. But so far as justification is concerned, Christ and I must be so closely attached that He lives in me and I in Him. What a marvelous way of speaking! Because He lives in me, whatever grace, righteousness, life, peace, and salvation there is in me is all Christ's; nevertheless, it is mine as well, by the cementing and attachment that are through faith, by which we become as one body in the Spirit. Galatians 2:20
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 167f.



Thus Ephesians 5:30 says: "We are members of the body of Christ, of His flesh and of His bones," in such a way that this faith couples Christ and me more intimately than a husband is coupled to his wife. Therefore faith is no idle quality; but it is a thing of such magnitude that it obscures and completely removes those foolish dreams of the sophists' doctrine--the fiction of a formed faith and of love, of merits, our worthiness, our quality, etc. Galatians 2:20.
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 168f.

Thus "You received the Spirit either from the Law or from the hearing of faith. If it was by the Law, then it was not by the hearing of faith; if it was by the hearing of faith, then it was not by the Law.  There can be no middle ground. For whatever is not the Holy Spirit or hearing with faith is clearly the Law." We are dealing with the issue of justification. But there are only two ways to justification: either the Word of the Gospel or the Law. Galatians 3:2
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 203



But the doctrine of justification is this, that we are pronounced righteous and are saved solely by faith in Christ, and without works. If this is the true meaning of justification--as it certainly is, or it will be necessary to get rid of all Scripture--then it immediately follows  that we are pronounced righteous neither through monasticism nor through vows nor through Masses not through any other works. Galatians 3:5
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 223



This discussion of the example of Abraham involves at the same time Holy Scripture itself, which says that we are reckoned righteous by faith. Therefore this is a very powerful argument on two counts, both because of the example of Abraham and because of the authority of Scripture. Galatians 3:7
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 240

Therefore faith always justifies and makes alive; and yet it does not remain alone, that is, idle. Not that it does not remain alone on its own level and in its own function, for it always justifies alone.  But it is incarnate and becomes man; that is, it neither is nor remains idle or without love. Galatians 3:12
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 272

Who can adequately proclaim the usefulness and the effect of even one work that a Christian does in faith and on the basis of faith? Galatians 3:22
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 334
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Luther's Galatians Commentary - Graebner Translation - Defeat Pan-UOJ Argument

August 24, 2014, 2:09 pm
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Luther Quotation - Pastor Balfour Photoshop

August 24, 2014, 2:11 pm
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"They say it would be better if we would make some slight concession rather than cause such commotion and controversy in the Church regarding an article which is not even one of the fundamental doctrines. My reply is, cursed be any love or harmony which demands for its preservation that we place the Word of God in jeopardy!"

Martin Luther
Comentary on Galations
http://www.bibleteacher.org/luthercom_1.htm
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Effective Work in the Garden

August 24, 2014, 3:24 pm
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Knock-Out roses look better than this.
This looks like the hue was turned up to nuclear on Photoshop.

We had several good projects this weekend. Our grandson helped me prune the roses, and I cut a bunch for the Sunday altar. Some of the hybrid teas were perfect for the vase. The fast-blooming yellow roses were already on a downhill slide, but I could not prune them yet. They are a burst of yellow and fragrance near the door.

I prune the Knock-Outs often and Alex pruned more on Saturday, so I had some great reds for the arrangement.

Trimming the roses is always effective. They respond with more growth and more roses.

The Lyle Lovett crepe myrtle is fuzzy with flower buds already. Two burst out immediately after the severe trim a week ago. Now the entire top of the bush is ready to bloom with compound buds. Lower branches, once bare, are sprouting some new foliage. As my mother often said about her home haircuts - "It will grow out."

Alex


I brought a tomato in for Mrs. I - still warm from the 95 degree weather, but even warmer from sitting in the sun on the south side of the house.

Our helper covered the rest of the vegetable garden in newspaper and mulch. Although the work is not hard, it does take time, newspapers, and trips to Lowe's, for all the square footage planned for the spring. Both backyard gardens will be deeper into the yard.

The rose garden expansion will mean holes and roses first, newspapers and mulch second. That is a lot more fun - and rewarded with roses in 30 days or so.

Little Ichabod walked out in the back and said, "This is a big backyard." When the trees were hanging down to eye level, most of the yard was difficult to navigate and completely shaded. Now the yard is balanced with sunlight and shade and much larger  in its usefulness. I would have written off the back section before, except for composting. Now I am ready to grow some screening plants and try pumpkins along the ground. I can extend the Elevated Soaker Hose (Trademark G. Jackson) around the entire perimeter of the fence, which will give me an enormous vertical garden ( vertical being one of the recent fads) and ease in watering.

We often waste space because we have so much. When the area is relatively small or the ambitions big, the plans change.




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Will Glende Follow His Mentor's Example and Step Down?

August 24, 2014, 3:56 pm
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Mark Driscoll Steps Down While Mars Hill Investigates Charges

(UPDATED) Driscoll offers 8-step solution to followers: 'Current climate is not healthy for me or for this church.'
Morgan Lee

[ POSTED 8/24/2014 12:41PM ]
Mark Driscoll Steps Down While Mars Hill Investigates ChargesMARS HILL CHURCH
Driscoll announces his 'extended focus break' from Mars Hill.

[Updated with eight "next steps," direct quotes, video of announcement.]
http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2014/august/mark-driscoll-steps-down-while-mars-hill-investigates-charg.html
In Mark Driscoll's first public statement since Acts 29 rebuked and removed him from the church planting network he founded, the embattled Seattle pastor announced he will temporarily step down as leader of Mars Hill Church while charges submitted by 21 former pastors against him are investigated.
He offered his church a list of eight next steps he plans to take [see bottom of this post, along with video link], acknowledging that some charges are "simply my fault, and I will own it, confess it, and move on from it as God continues to redeem me."
See the entire article about Mark Driscoll here.
***

GJ - DPs Engelbrecht and Patterson conspired with SP Mark Schroeder to get Ski back into the ministry when most businesses would have handed him his belongings in a cardboard box and shown him the door. Likewise - Glende: he engaged in the same behavior and encouraged/protected Ski from the consequences of their juvenile, abusive behavior.


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The Shattered Pulpit Blog Author - Lillian Armstrong

August 24, 2014, 7:53 pm
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UOJ teaches that everyone is forgiven all past, present, and future sins,
so is anyone puzzled that WELS is plagued by alcoholism, porn, pornography, and worse?


The Shattered Pulpit blog is about a woman who was groomed to be a WELS pastor's sex toy. The blog is linked on the left.

Lillian Armstrong, her pen name, has a Facebook page. Click on the link to the left to find her page and friend her.

Her email is - lilliansuearmstrong@gmail.com



If you want to see how a famous Baptist pastor sexually abused women in his congregation and created his own mini-denomination of abusers, including his clergy son and clergy son-in-law, read this link for starters -

List of Hyles related sex abuse cases - World's Largest Sunday School, Hammond, Indiana.

WELS has not been kind to her for posting the truth, although she hides her real name and the congregation's name.

Does this sound familiar in Green Bay, Wisconsin?



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WELS Endorses Glende Technology Conference. Another Church and Change Coven Meeting

August 25, 2014, 1:44 pm
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Sallie Draper and Martin Spriggs
The usual Shrinker crew will be there,
including those who sued a fellow Lutheran for telling the truth about
Glende and Ski, including staffer/presenter Leslye Ullman.
Martin Spriggs has been serving as the WELS Chief Technology Officer since October 2004. In his capacity as CTO, Martin speaks at numerous workshops and conferences on varied technology topics including building evangelistic websites, promoting your church and school, digital Bible Study, creating the efficient church office and effective time management through technology. He is more than eager to serve the membership of our synod and help our churches and schools make effective use of technology to aid in their ministries.

From: Martin Spriggs via WELSTech<welstech@messenger.wels.net>
Date: Thursday, August 21, 2014
Subject: WELS: [Welstech] SEEK Conference Oct 3, 2014
To: "welstech@messenger.wels.net"<welstech@messenger.wels.net>



Just wanted to let everybody know about a new conference being offered up in Appleton, WI at The Core called the Seek Conference. Seems like they have put together a nice mix of offerings for those interested in technology/media in reaching out. I’ll be presenting on some of the hot and current intersections of ministry and technology, but there are other interesting workshops as well. If interested visit www.seekconference.com.

Martin Spriggs
Chief Technology Officer
martin.spriggs@wels.net
phone: 414-256-3250
Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod •www.wels.net
N16W23377 Stone Ridge Dr • Waukesha, WI 53188


Martin Spriggs has been serving as the WELS Chief Technology Officer since October 2004. In his capacity as CTO, Martin speaks at numerous workshops and conferences on varied technology topics including building evangelistic websites, promoting your church and school, digital Bible Study, creating the efficient church office and effective time management through technology. He is more than eager to serve the membership of our synod and help our churches and schools make effective use of technology to aid in their ministries.
A former WELS pastor, Martin earned his MBA from Keller Graduate School of Management, Chicago. He built the Midwest practice for Net Quotient Consulting Group (a firm that provides Internet application development for Fortune 1000 companies) and Qwest Communications (a telecommunications firm), as well as worked on technical development and internet consulting at these companies. A member at Peace, Hartford, Wis., he, his wife Debra, and their three children live in Slinger, Wis.
Contact Martin: 414-256-3250 | martin.spriggs@wels.net | martinspriggs.com
***
GJ - Martin Spriggs left the ministry because he could not stop giving Willowcreek sermons verbatim, exactly as recorded. Infallible WELS did not think it wrong to ape a false teacher, but Martin promised to stop doing it and went right back to it.  The person who objected was hated out of the congregation. Shun the evildoer! Shun! Shun!




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The Yawning Pit of "Consenting Adults"

August 26, 2014, 4:21 am
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From Norma Boeckler

About 40 years ago, a chaplain at a hospital said this, "A minister better not take advantage of nurses and patients who are vulnerable because of the the crisis they are facing."

Someone came up with a new excuse, which proved useful for the Lavender Mafia. They were "consenting adults," so there must not be any laws enforced against those caught in the park. This escape hatch was quickly adopted for many different opportunities and escapades. Defense lawyers jumped at the phrase, bawling to the judge, "They were consenting adults, but now she is bitter and trying to make money off this human tragedy."

Although this is fading away from public discourse, the former idea was this -  an authority figure dare not use his position to force his way on women, children, or colleagues. Someone in an inferior position of power or in a vulnerable position (age, finances, subordinate) cannot "consent."

The Olde Synodical Conference embraces the Five Freedoms, the fifth being The Freedom To Romp in the Parish. Their notorious founder--Bishop Martin Stephan--practiced this freedom with the approval, or feigned blindness, of his disciples in the CFW Walther circle.

  • No clergy noticed that Stephan did not want to leave Europe until he was arrested for his promiscuity with young women and his financial shenanigans in the parish. 
  • No clergy noticed that Stephan installed a young woman at the parsonage, a woman who was kicked out by his wife, and put back in the parsonage by Stephan as the "lord of the house."
  • No clergy noticed that Stephan took his female groupies along to America, but left his STD-laced family behind (except for his healthy son).
  • No clergy noticed that St. Louis residents were deeply disturbed by their married bishop being surrounded by young women, which is why Stephan bought junk land in Perryville instead of prime property for less in the city.
  • Nor did the brother-in-law attorneys who defended Stephan in court in Germany notice something wrong with the cult until they were in America.

Although various clergy pundits will cheerfully say, "Tell the officials about this," or "Write a letter," the synodical response will be vindictive, deceitful, and volcanic. No one knows, remembers, or believes anything. The very mention of such scandals "hurts the face of the church," an odd notion used by the current president of the mini-seminary at Mankato. Doubtless the Corinthians could have tossed that at St. Paul: "You are hurting the face of the church."

The Little Sect on the Prairie taught their seminarians, "Two strikes and you are out." That really means the ELS pastors are given a Get Out of Jail Free Card at ordination. They can have one adulterous affair in the parish and get a new call. But beware, that only works once. As one ex-Lutheran said of his tribe, "Yes, the synod officials read the Bible carefully - and do the opposite."

All the members are paying for this. They are paying more for congregational insurance to cover the court cases. They are paying more when money is siphoned off to pay victims out of court - even though it is not a line in the budget. When a married WELS vicar had an affair with a minor girl in Michigan, the legal system sent him to the Big House, but the district kept it a secret. No doubt, it would have "hurt the face of the church."

Otten refused to print the story, doubtless because it would have "hurt the face of the church."

We have such sensitive clergy now, so subtle and clever in their handling of the Scriptures. If the Roman Catholic clergy do this, they are condemned on the front page. If ELCA is caught, they are proof of the superiority of  the Olde Synodical Conference. If the Olde Synodical Conference clergy (our guys) do this, the stories are spiked and the leakers are shunned as evil-doers.

Make sure you know the ground rules before you start any crusades.




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Another Hissy from a WELS Minder - On Polluted WELS

August 26, 2014, 4:51 pm
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https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5245975699731845112&postID=2485985714902805985

[GJ note - So many post anonymousely that the others have to respond to the Anonymous handle plus the time stamp. Hence this one is Anonymous at 12:41PM, Anonymous 12:41.]


Anonymous said...
Just so all the readers of this blog know the real reason “Mathias” is anonymous is because he is not a real pastor. He is a fraud. He is not a WELS pastor so he pretends and remains anonymous.
He has also been deleting these comments so if you read this you are one of the fortunate few. He has become like li’l Greg and his icky blog deleting anyone who disagrees with him.
To Spencer, Baker, Vernon, Lidtke et. al. If you continue to post and respond here please do not be surprised when people do not take you seriously elsewhere. It shows a lack of common sense to take up whatever issues you may have with the WELS with someone who is a fraud and deletes comments so only one side is known. If I am ever personally at a Synod or District Convention with you I will personally see to it that as many pastors and lay people know that you are the ones who post on blogs with someone who fakes being a pastor and who deletes any comments from the other side. You will have no one to blame but yourselves for your own poor reputation. (Being OK with someone impersonating a pastor will not be received well by anyone.) Show common sense and “mark and avoid.”
To “Mathias,” I pray that whatever sick thing is going on in your head you will repent of your sin of impersonating a pastor. It is a sin, no matter what you say, to impersonate a pastor. I pray you listen to me before you listen to God in judgment.
I have a feeling however that instead of applying God’s Law to your own heart you will just delete my post.
August 26, 2014 at 12:41 PM
Blogger Matthias Flach said...
The comment above was caught by the spam filter, but I let it through so that everyone can see how the WELS company men fight. Very dirty. Very personal. Very threatening.

I'm also very curious why this individual is so certain that I'm not a pastor. Why would someone anonymously pretend to be a pastor? I'm not sure how to prove that I really am a WELS pastor, but I am.
August 26, 2014 at 1:30 PM
Blogger Matthias Flach said...
One other thing. I've never deleted posts by people from the other side of the argument. In fact, as anyone who has actually read this blog would know, I am eager to respond, sometimes line-by-line, to the arguments of other. I have also repeatedly asked for people on the other side of issues to make a case for their position.

There has only been one time that I've deleted comments. There were some off-topic personal attacks against someone else on one thread that I got rid of. That's it though.
August 26, 2014 at 1:34 PM
Blogger Pastor Paul Lidtke said...
My goodness. One observation about LCMS call practices and an interesting happening in the early years of my ministry surely deserved that anonymous threat, don't ya think? Anonymous at 12:41, you've given the WELS ministerium more of a black eye than anyone else who has posted on this blog!
August 26, 2014 at 2:23 PM

tlcsvaz@orthodoxlutheran.info said...
Matthias - Here's how to prove you're a WELS Pastor: Who won the World Series in 1939? Oh, wait that would only prove you're not a Japanese spy. OK, how about - what was J.P Meyer's nickname, or Carl Lawrence's, or which side was J.P. Koehler on; no, I know, I know, where do you put the apostrophe in Protestant, like the Conference of former WELS guys? Better yet, who once wrote that "forgiveness is found at the foot of the cross?" You other guys could ask him what his "Bonecruncher" name was or something like that.
August 26, 2014 at 3:01 PM
Daniel Baker said...
LOL i think i've only posted here once or twice too, Pr. Lidtke. Couldn't be lumped with better company, though.
August 26, 2014 at 4:19 PM
Matthias Flach said...
Maybe this helps people to understand better why I've been publishing anonymously. If your name is attached (even superficially, apparently) to anything that dares to criticize the infallible WELS, your name will be remembered, you will be threatened, and it will be used against you whenever possible.
August 26, 2014 at 4:38 PM
Vernon Knepprath said...
To anonymous @ 12:41, if Matthias posts anonymously because he's a fraud, why do you?

Vernon
August 26, 2014 at 4:52 PM

Dr. Joseph Jewell said...
Can I get my name on the list, too? I am happy to be counted in the company of such men as Mr. Baker, who stood tall at the last Synod Convention and spoke truth to power against the NIV2011, and Pastor Lidtke, who has provided continuing pastoral care and advocated for laymen (and women) callously and abusively treated by their shepherds in his district.

How exactly, Anon 12:41, are you so sure "Matthias" is not a pastor? Nothing I've read here seems very unlikely to me.
August 26, 2014 at 5:20 PM
Anonymous said...
The anonymous poster at 12:41 was out of line and his contributions are not helpful here. But let's be careful not to make assumptions about the entire WELS ministerium based on his one post. There is a reasonable middle (which I believe is a majority), and we will continue to gather there.
August 26, 2014 at 7:41 PM
Randall Schultz said...
Please put my name on this list also. I still remember my confirmation vow from 45 years ago. I also remember the warnings from my father about windbags like these WELS company men. They sound like we need to mark and avoid them.
Randall Schultz





***

GJ  - Anonymous at 12:41 has been drinking the bong water again. One strange accusation involves the Polluted WELS blog and my blog deleting comments. I made a point of copying comments into the main article so they could not be deleted. People like Jack Kilcrease deleted their own comments (and blogs!) so often that "kilcrease" became a verb meaning - to delete a series of comments previously made. I have followed the Polluted WELS fairly closely and I have never seen one deleted by the blog host.

Sometimes legitimate writers delete because they recognize their typos too late.
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How Long Have the Scandals Been Covered Up?

August 26, 2014, 9:01 pm
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No GA anymore? Here is the new pope - Paul Krueger.
He was MLC student body president, meaning he is a hard drinker.
The secret hazing ritual has a new name.

Lilliam Armstrong, author of the Shattered Pulpit blog, wrote me that WELS people were being very nasty to her about telling the truth. During the day another woman told me of a pastor's closely guarded computer, because it was loaded with adult and child pornography.

Let's look at the foundation - GA - now has a new name - Herzliche Bruderschaft - even though hardly any Mequon student can pronounce or grasp German.



WELS is so used to lying that they deceive people about the most basic things that all the clergy know to be truth. This is consistent with cult behavior - and why the abusive sect has kept its secrets fairly well until now.

They can say there is no GA, because it is now HB - notice a change in each letter. So clever. No wonder the Germans lost two world wars. "Dah G becomes an H and dah A becomes a B. Let's make up a new German name no one can remember."

Is HB any different from GA? No. And it starts next week. If you want the Mequon graduates to be somewhere near normal, end GA-HB. Better yet - end the deceptive practices.

I promised a summary of WELS scandals. I will get to that in the morning. There is an important WELS conference to promote.


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Mark Jeske and the IF Women's Gathering and Blogs and Stuff Like That. More GA Deception, But CT Tells the Truth

August 26, 2014, 9:14 pm
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From Mark-and-Avoid Jeske:

Introducing a new blogger!
I am excited to introduce you to Diana Kerr. She will be writing weekly blogs from a perspective that we love to hear from—the perspective of the younger generation. Diana’s very real and transparent writing style is refreshing and faith-filled and reveals her love for her Savior.
Diana is a speaker and writer and also serves as an IF:Local Leader, hosting women's events and prayer gatherings coordinated by the IF:Gathering, a global nonprofit comprised of Christian female authors and speakers. Diana and her husband, Kyle, live in Milwaukee, and I am delighted to welcome her to the blogging team.  
Be sure to check back next week to see Diana’s first post. In the meantime, here’s a little hello from her:
I am honored to join the blogging team of such an amazing global ministry! I never dreamed that God would bring me to Time of Grace through an opportunity to write. I would call it a total “God thing,” which has kind of become my life’s theme. My battle with rheumatoid arthritis since my teens has continually turned my plans and intentions for my life upside down, causing both pain and growth as I’ve watched God orchestrate my life according to his perfect purpose.
I can’t wait to share triumphs and joys with you through this blogging adventure. I’m especially passionate about topics related to health, personal growth, and wrestling with what it means to live as a Christian in today’s world. Just like on my personal blog, you can expect me to strive to bring value to your lives through transparency and honest conversations. I’m excited to get to know all of you readers, so please reach out to me via social media!  


The IF Gathering is linked and demi-semi-explained here.

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What Guru Jeske didn't say!


If a Brand-New Christian Women's Conference Goes Viral, Then What?

FEB 112014
The story behind the success of the IF: Gathering.
Kate Shellnutt
READ AS MULTIPLE PAGES
Ask author and Bible teacher Jennie Allen how she came to create the most popular interdenominational Christian women's event in years, and she'll stumble to answer.
Ask how she gathered tens of thousands of Christian women—live in Austin, Texas, and online across the globe—around the idea of pursuing spiritual calling, and she won't have the words.
Like the people who witnessed miraculous outcomes in the Bible, all Allen can do to explain the success of last weekend's IF: Gathering is point to the work of the Holy Spirit. "The whole thing has been completely unexpected to me," she said. "It felt like fish and loaves."
The first-time event had a vague premise—If God is real, then what?—and no speaker lineup when announced this fall, but sold out in 42 minutes, forcing organizers to coordinate local watch parties across the U.S. and 22 other countries to accommodate interest.
During the simulcast over the weekend, 40,000-plus locations streamed the women's conference, while 1,200 people attended the event at the Austin Music Hall—pumped with worship songs and decorated with crafty, Pinterest-inspired details: farm tables, mason jars, and strings of twinkling antique lights. #IFGathering trended on Twitter throughout the weekend, ranking among the top hashtags used around the world.
The two-day event featured discussions of calling by women across workplace and ministry settings, plus biblical teachings from women like Christine Caine, international speaker from Hillsong Church; Jen Hatmaker, Christian blogger and author of 7; Ann Voskamp, author of A Thousand Gifts; and Shelley Giglio, a leader alongside her husband Louie Giglio at Passion City Church.
IF: Gathering combined a unique scriptural message with viral marketing through online networks. Several months before the event, Allen brought together 60-some influential bloggers and leaders from across churches, denominations, and theological positions, convinced that God was calling her to rally for unity among the splintering factions of the church. Those women, including Hatmaker (a friend of Allen's and fellow Austinite), generated interest among their readers, enough to fuel the event's popularity throughout Christian blogs and social media.
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A Few Scandals in WELS Reveal the Problem - The ELS and LCMS Are No Different

August 27, 2014, 6:13 am
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Various pastors and laity got nowhere dealing with Ski and Glende.
SP Schroeder jumped in to protect Ski and get him a new call, his fourth in four districts.
Ski's porn addiction was part of the letter that went to entire district and around WELS.

WELS policy is to hide stories, even those that make the newspapers, and Christian News has been useful in helping them by spiking stories. If the WELS leaders have to deal with a scandal, they limit the discussion to the area where people know about it and are demanding the facts. The innocent do not get the facts, of course, but a manufactured tale designed to prove once again that WELS is infallible.

Capital Murder - Total prison sentences - 5 years for Al Just
WELS never told this one. Marvin Schwan, the patron saint of WELS-ELS-LCMS, dumped his wife to marry his manager's wife, breaking up two marriages, two families. She found out the truth of their finances when she read the Forbes article in Christian News. There he laughed about getting rid of her for $1 million and a Cadillac when his net worth was already $400 million. She killed herself, but all that was hushed up, except Jay Webber was happy to tell his ELS bosses that I sent the article to Otten to print. Somehow, that was the only sin, since "no one reads Forbes." Marvin spent a lot of indulgence money on the ELS, WELS, and LCMS, and they doubtless assured him of his forgiveness, salvation, and holiness. Wisconsin Lutheran College named their library after him, for a price, and WELS featured him on their magazine cover, grinning like "I did it." John Shep, who got about $15 million from him for Thoughts of Faith, said, "His only weakenesses were Cadillacs and women." In effect, Marvin ripped apart two families, abandoned the mother of his children for a pittance in alimony, and destroyed her desire to live - all while Missouri, WELS, and the ELS bowed before him as a saint while raking money from his nasty little pockets.

WELS knowingly took in an adulterous LCR pastor when things got hot for William Tabor in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. He did not change his ways in Cape G, but he received a call to Salem in Milwaukee, where his mistress shot his wife in the head, killing her. I believe this happened in the parsonage, yet WELS had no trouble letting him move - as a pastor - to serve a call in Escanaba, Michigan. WELS made sure Tabor's file was empty when the police investigated, and Tabor never went to prison. His mistress did. Three pastors told me about Tabor and his extensive reputation as an adulterer - William Bischoff (former LCR), Jay Webber, and Roger Zehms.

Al Just stabbed his wife many times over in their bed and pleaded innocent at his trial. He claimed she rolled over in bed and kept stabbing herself until she died. WELS jumped at the chance to defend good old Al Just, a teacher at ALA in Phoenix (the area high school that spawned Jeff Gunn's CrossWalk). The current First VP's father testified about Al's character at the trial. Motive? Al married his children's baby-sitter when he was in prison for a very short stretch. She divorced him afterwards, when she got to know him better - and was scared out of her mind.

Scandals Not Quite Contained by the Machine
We met a CLC pastor's wife whose first husband,  a WELS teacher in Milwaukee, ran off with a high school student. Those teacher flings are fairly common.

A female teacher was found by the police, where she was making out with one of her female students.

Years ago I wrote about a male teacher who was still teaching for WELS in Milwaukee, even though he had a history of offenses against female students. He was arrested and on trial for the latest crime, which should not have happened.

DP Robert Mueller's VP - Rick Schulz - was having an affair when a pastor exposed it. Mueller's response was to lie to the congregation and the pastor's wife about the resignation. The VP was "depressed" so buddy Rick got a job heading the WELS nursing home. Someone forced Mueller to explain all this to the various Michigan District conferences, so everyone knew the DP's spin. The pastor who found out told me how glad he was that his father was dead, so he didn't have to find out how low WELS had sunk.

DP Mueller and VP Kuske were cheerleaders for clergy adultery. If someone was forced out, as one Ohio pastor was, it was his wife's fault for lying about it and having all these connections (Kuske). Once I went to the hospital for a long visit with someone. That particular pastor was on the payphone in he lobby talking with someone, in a state of ecstasy, and was still talking like that when I was done.

Mueller and Kuske ran interference for Floyd Stolzenburg, who was kicked out of the LCMS for cause. They let him pretend to be a pastor, serve as a "consultant" in Columbus, and be promoted  as a pastor in WELS and when that failed - at Emmanuel in Columbus. Their buddy was divorced - no problem. He lied about his wife - no problem. They told the same lies - poor Floyd had a Scriptural divorce! The only difficulty was that I found out the truth and said there was something rotten going on.

The ELS and WELS still treated Floyd as one of their own. Jay Webber was glad to have Roger Kovaciny serve as bagman, collecting money from Floyd for the Marvin Schwan Mission in the Ukraine. Does anyone smell the potroast?

Wait, I am not done with the Michigan District officers. Mrs. Ichabod and I went to Dave Grundemeier's wedding. He was a mission pastor and also district secretary. When he resigned and his new wife divorced him, all the divorced and single women wept openly at his church. One of my contacts said he re-appeared in another district.

This is Michigan-centric, because I was in that district and learned about scandals as they unraveled and were silenced. When Scott Zerbe had an affair with a minor girl in Fred Adrian's parish, the police frowned upon his counseling style and put him in state prison. A nearby WELS pastor told me, "You know more about my district than I do!" That was during the "reform" reign of John Seifert, who put Adrian back in the ministry after good old Fred resigned. You will have to ask them about why he resigned.

I helped the girl's attorney win the trial, and the initial award was $400,000. Fred sent a letter around, rejoicing that insurance would cover it and that they were appealing the figure.

Is anyone noticing a pattern here? I am just getting to DP Ed Werner. He was known for openly messing with girls in his congregation, for decades, but the district pastors kept re-electing him. Finally, when new episodes began, the mothers got together and got him into court. He was doing to their daughters what he had done to them. If you think WELS does not have a grip on people, think of that factoid alone. The mothers stayed in Werner's parish. Werner went to state prison in South Dakota.

WELS spin. Keith Free, whose father was a DP, told the initial cover story for Werner. The WELS version was that good old Ed was arrested for slapping some girls on the face for being sassy in confirmation class. (Who makes up these fables?) Keith added, "At least I hope that is why."

When Valleskey's successor out West resigned, a layman said, "He was depressed." I said, "Really? What was her name?" The layman said, "Who told you?" I replied, "That is the patented WELS cover-up, resignation for depression."

When the synodical VP resigned from Muskego, he got a job at a hardware store and told  his family it was to relieve the stress of being a pastor. He even told his family I lied about it. (This is also a patented response.) I told the family member who wrote me about my "lies" that I had the report, which showed "for cause." The VP's method of pastoral counseling was to offer himself... One woman told on him instead being "counseled." Ace is the place for the former WELS VP.

The Lavender Network
There is a well known but very hush-hush homosexual network in WELS. Various people have talked about it and their general knowledge of it, including names they know. The Polluted WELS blog had comments that showed homosexual assault to be common at the synodical schools, all in good fun of course. If someone objected to being grabbed, he was accused of being gay. I guess group grabs were common, too. The leaders know and wink and say they do not know.

Hard To Justify, Even with UOJ
Two WELS workers were arrested for homosexual child porn file swapping, which is only a foreshadowing of the scandals to be suppressed in the future. I was already told to stop mentioning one name.

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