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| Purple Splash - from Weeks Roses. |
Our helper wanted to grow roses, and I had some extras. Two Purple Splash roses cost me $5 each, and I did not have a good place for them. He dug them up and placed them in his front yard. He was really catching onto the fun of watching plants grow. He already had a maple tree from the abundant crop in my gardens. He mulched the tree and protected it from stomping with a tire around it.
The rose wilted a bit from the transfer. One cane looked a bit questionable for a time. He demanded some flowers. I said, "Give it time to establish new roots." Then we had days of rain - and then more rain. He said, "You were right about rainwater. Nothing happened until it rain. I watered and watered it, but the rain made it grow and bloom."
I drive by his home when going to Walmart, and Purple Splash shows up perfectly with its white and purple flowers.
The man-made solutions are tap-water at best, and yet the entire denominational racket is aimed at all these methods and funded from offerings. The hucksters who promote their products promise everything and never deliver. Mark Jeske - the new Jester - gives the same idiotic talk every time he organizes a new conference promoting...Mark Jeske. His rant is - "We ran out of Germans, " a clever way of ignoring the efficacy of the Word in the liturgy, creeds, hymns, and Biblical sermons.
Pastors trusted in the Word in the old days because they had Gausewitz - instead of Larry Olson - guiding them.
Jester's solution is - Change. And yet this Isaiah passage promises three results from the Word of God, which is like the rain and snow from heaven in always being effective -
- The Word will never be devoid of results.
- The Word will always accomplish His purpose.
- The Word will always prosper His purpose.
One layman attended a conference recently and spoke of the nastiness experienced when his group left WELS. I do not know the stories, but I have seen the LCA, WELS, and Missouri leaders at work for decades.
Violent, persistent hatred is one result of teaching the Word. When I allowed comments, any post on the Fox Valley gang in WELS brought plenty of comments, badly spelled, full of grammatical errors, and loaded with personal insults. I preserved them in the main body because I knew the little sissies would strike out and then erase their comments later, always using phony names or no names at all. Too bad I could track them - down to their proximate address and even their operating systems.
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| "Do not read that little Gausewitz catechism. That booklet is too small and simple. We have a big, expensive, and verbose version for you - the Kuske blue book. It corrects and improvesupon justification." |
Nothing sets off the WELS-LCMS-ELS gang like Justification by Faith. Their biggest doctrinal accusation was my rejection of their precious UOJ. But wait - they claim they teach a better, purer Justification by Faith with their UOJ, so why would the classic, Biblical phrases of Justification by Faith send them into post-binge-drinking tirades?
Simple - the actual, effective teaching of the Word of God yanks their ovine fleeces away from their flea-bitten lupine bodies. The sheepish smiles turn into the slavering jaws of wolves, eager to rip, tear, scatter, and slaughter.
This is Satan's last-ditch effort when confronted with sound doctrine - scare everyone into submission with threats and actual attacks. The works-saints of Lutherdom's leadership have no problem destroying a congregation and crushing their former pastors and laity, if they can use that as an example of their righteous (ok, self-righteous) wrath.
So, when people teach and do what is correct according to the Word, they should expect and welcome the efficacy of the Word. The days can be long and weary - seeing the evil reactions, without experiencing the good results. No one truly understands the Gerhardt hymns without that persecution from one's own "friends," family, and former leaders.
Every Lutheran pastor knows that Huss had something to do with the Lutheran Reformation, that Luther condemned himself by identifying himself as a Hussite. But read about that man being burned at the stake for the Gospel and sing his communion hymn.
I have worked four years on this yard that I inherited from previous renters. I took over voluptuous growths of weeds, trash trees and bushes growing and choking worthwhile plants, and so forth. But every spring I have grape hyacinths pop up and beautiful their surrounding with a cluster of flowers. They appear here and there in the front and back. They are not plants that blew in on the wind. They were not placed by birds roosting on limbs and fences. Someone planted them, to enjoy their beauty.
The Word faithfully broadcast will grow and produce for future generations. Too many pastors and laity have withdrawn from the battle. They will not challenge the moneyed manglers of the Word - it might cost them a committee chairmanship or a free trip to Europe.
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| Grape Hyacinths |