Garfield Grade School, Third Grade:The Formative Years

I am in the first row, second from the left.

In two of the three photos I am next to Kathleen Wilcox, who emailed the pictures to me. The Moline High class of 66 is not well represented on Facebook, but that may change slowly.

All my teachers in the Moline system were excellent, devoted to their vocations and their students. Moline was rather small, with a population of 40,000, so people knew each other's families. The teachers were close-knit, so they all knew me. Spy cameras are pretty crude compared to a flock of watchful teachers all over town.

We enjoyed the perks of a private school without the cost. Discipline was swift and sure, so it was seldom needed. Here is one case.

A boy spit at another boy. My mother (his teacher) said, "Spit on my hand, Bob." He said, "Why?" She said, "Never mind. Spit on my hand." He spit. "Spit more." He did as he was told. "Spit more." He did, knowing something was up. She then smeared it all over his face. As my friend told me the story, he added, "Bob never spit again."

At our 40th reunion, the spitter, now a lawyer in a big city, said, "Greg. You should write a book about your mother. She was a remarkable teacher."

Garfield Grade School in Moline, Illinois

I am on the extreme right, first row. Do stripes make me look fat?

Miss Hallie Emory was our fifth grade teacher. I learned later that she never finished her college degree. In the early days, teachers went to the Normal School (in Normal Illinois) for a year and often taught in one-room country schools. My mother did that but slowly earned her degree at Augustana College in Rock Island, later a master's at the University of Illinois. She often talked about teaching all grades in a one-room country school.

Miss Emory loved kids and also made them behave. She was proud of how she looked at a student once and made me choke on the candy he was trying to eat furtively. One basilisk stare from Miss Emory was enough to turn all of us into jelly.

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Rocker

I am in the second row, third from the left, as someone noted. Note the Buddy Holly look, long before the Day the Music Died.

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Ken Schmidt has left a new comment on your post "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Rocker":

Hey, is that Garfield, NJ or some other Garfield?

***

GJ - Garfield Grade School in Moline, Illinois, about 1959 or 60. Three of us from that 6th grade cohort at Garfield went to Yale, and we all knew each other quite well.

All the schools in Moline were named after Republicans, except for Woodrow Wilson Junior High. How Wilson got in there, I will never know. I went to two junior high schools, due to a boundary change: John Deere Junior High and Coolidge Junior High. My last public school had the unimaginative name of Moline Senior High School.

We usually walked to grade school, past the Teske Hardware Store. We knew the Teske family. The long way home took us past Whitey's Ice Cream. We knew the owners too. The daughter of the county GOP chairman, Martha Getz, was in my class. Her older brother became semi-famous in Hollywood in such movies as The Fly I and II and Blood Simple - John Getz, exactly two years old than I.

Church Growth Produces Another Atheist: Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered, As Corky Wrote

Evangelicals skewer the Emerging Church. Lutheran leaders lap it up - with some exceptions.

I wrote before about WELS Church Growther Curt Peterson joining Freedom From Religion to work against all religion. A layman wrote me:

Oh yes, the Freedom From Religion folks. It has ironically occured to me that they have a pretty high understanding of and respect for the efficacy of God's Word. Don't you think? Or Satan acting through them does. That's why they are always having it removed from public places and so forth. I looked up Curtis Peterson and saw an article and pictures of them removing the 10 commandments in Milwaukee I think. So THEY know how powerful it is and how it will and does change hearts and minds. I don't think it's really about the fear of those trying to get some "establishment of a state religion" thing.

The same friend wrote about another WELS Church Shrinker, who was welcomed to Columbus as a messiah by Wally Oelhafen. The Rev. Shrinker polarized the congregation before being exposed as a false teacher. Now he is an avowed atheist who sleeps in when his family goes to church on Sunday. "He will have nothing to do with God anymore and very matter of factly proclaims his atheism."

The studious layman said this about the Church Shrinkers:

I was just talking to an old friend this weekend. Much of the day we talked of the CGM stuff in WELS and such. I can only come to this conclusion, I think that some pastors and leaders that have been taken have been beguiled. Literally beguiled. That's the most accurate description I can give what I have seen. Is that an accurate way to say it in your opinion? I can't find any other way to express what I have seen in the last 15 years or so as it has slowly taken hold. What is even more interesting is that I read an interview my a music retailing magazine with KISS founder Gene Simmons (I can't stand the guy). Simmons's comments on getting more and more (in his case money and women) and marketing and greed could have easily been modified to be a message right from Fuller or Willow Creek. Just a different product. Basically "listen to your audience and give them what they want and sell them other things that they aren't expecting." I was amazed at how hard this hit me......the correlation I mean. From this devil man comes the same thing as the CGM/new paradigm church product.

Crashed on Tweetdeck

I resisted Twitter for almost a year, after trying it once. I am finding Facebook useful, so I thought that Twitter might be. My resistance crumbled when a good friend added himself as a Twitter follower.

I found it amusing that one of the Church and Changers added himself to my non-functioning Twitter. I had him figured as the guy who warned Pastor Rick that his giving statistics and Sweet were mentioned on Ichabod.

So I am linking a number of Twitters on the left. If you want to add yourself to mine, I will think of something intelligent to say. You can follow the Popcorn Cathedral of Rock from their Twitters, linked conveniently on the left. The links run a little behind for some reason.

Tonight's Psalm

KJV Psalm 4:2 O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? how long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing?

Mid-week Lenten Service

The Risen Christ, by Norma Boeckler

Mid-Week Lenten Vespers


Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

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

Bethany Lutheran Worship, 6 PM Phoenix Time

Thursdays after tonight.
The Hymn #558 Tallis Canon
The Order of Vespers p. 41
The Psalmody Psalm 4 p. 123
The Lection Passion Harmony, TLH
The Sermon Hymn #245 St. Crispin

The Sermon – The Little Gospel
The Prayers
The Lord’s Prayer
The Collect for Grace p. 45
The Hymn #376 Toplady

KJV John 3:10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? 11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? 13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 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. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Luther said about John 3:16 – This verse should be written in golden letters on the heart.
The context is interesting because the John 3 section is one of the more distorted passages in Protestantism. This is where many rest their claim, “You must be born again.” For them, that means an adult conversion experience.

The context and many related passages show that Jesus did not say, “You must have an adult conversion experience.”

He said, “You must be water-Spirit baptized,” and that is a very concise way of saying that baptism offers what God promises. In other words, it is a sacrament, to use our shorthand.

“You must be born from above” is the real meaning of Jesus’ statement to Nicodemus.

All false religion is based on being born from below, from man’s effort. Either he performs works and makes sacrifices to appease God or he accumulates virtue in some way to make himself acceptable to God. “Making a decision” is being born from below, from man’s intellectual effort. Fides formata (Roman Catholic) is faith with works added, or being born from below.

Being born from above can only come from the Holy Spirit working through the Word. The ancients, when they fell away from the revealed truths of God, wandered around trying to determine where God was to be found. They made up the most absurd legends and myths. Many of these stories are barely known because they are too absurd or crude to be told.

God had made His will known in the plainest way possible. His Word always accomplishes His will, (Is 55:8-11) so that means the Holy Spirit is never apart from His Word. There is no independent operation of the Holy Spirit, separated from the Word. And the Word is never without the power of the Holy Spirit.

That is – it must be God’s Word to have the power of the Holy Spirit. If a sermon is about “How to be popular and successful,” that is man’s word and devoid of the Holy Spirit. Worse is the attempt to bend an actual text and turn it into man’s philosophy. Man’s philosophy is always based on works and the Law. If someone wants to test that, listen to the language being used. Wait for – You must do this, and you cannot do that. That is law language.

I read a thesis where a liberal Lutheran applauded Robert Schuller’s maxim that “sin is not believing hard enough.” Schuller is an advocate for Napoleon Hill’s philosophy and for what Norman Vincent Peale plagiarized from an occult source. In both cases, the imagination has special powers to re-create the world (see also Nightingale Conant). In that little maxim sin and faith are both distorted so they serve another interest, which is opposition to God’s Word in the name of God. The conclusion is – You must believe harder. Believe in what? “Believe in yourself. Believe in the power of the your dreams.” Faith is turned into works, man-centered works.

In contrast, the Little Gospel is quite different. We call it the Little Gospel because it states the message of Christ in one, easy-to-memorize verse. When students learn Greek, they turn to John 3:16, because the verse is easy and enjoyable to translated. The words are very simple, plain and easy to understand.

The first phrase reveals the gracious love of God toward all:

God so loved the world.

Jesus, in John’s Gospel, also reveals how the world rejected Jesus and would reject His followers. But God’s love is far beyond man’s grasp. His love is all-encompassing, above and beyond man’s ability to understand. Grace means – free and without strings attached.

Instead of God loving us after we love Him, the reverse is true. We love God because He first loved us.

That He gave His only-begotten Son.

The phrase “only-begotten” is still the best, because “only son” is so quickly distorted by man. In the movie “Oh God,” Jesus is called God’s Son. But so is Moses and Mohammed. So what can that term mean? Only-begotten is very precise, pointing to “conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary…”

We are called children of God (as believers) and sons of God (as believers) but Jesus is the only-begotten Son.

That whosoever believeth in Him…

Unlike all the false religions of the world, the Little Gospel has no demand of the Law for salvation. No extra law requirements are added to “any person who trusts in Him for salvation.” Once again, whosoever is very precise in making it clear that no believer is excluded on the basis of prior sins or station in life. No one is too old or too young. Babies also trust in Him, from the moment of baptism, because they are born from above, by water-Spirit baptism.

should not perish
The issue is not whether we will die or not. The word perish sums up two concepts at once – both death and eternal condemnation. To show what “not perish” means, the opposite is stated.

but have everlasting life.

Everlasting life, eternal salvation – that rests upon God giving His Son to us, and that message of divine grace produces faith in His gracious love in Christ. In faith we receive the Promises of God, and those Promises in the Word produce faith in our hearts.

17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 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.

In the verses following the Little Gospel are an explanation of justification without using the term which Paul favored. Only those who believe in Christ are forgiven, saved, and given eternal life. Those who do not believe on condemned for their non-belief. In fact, as another verse clearly states, they are not forgiven (justified) because the wrath of God remains on unbelievers.

KJV 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.

The Gospel of John is especially clear about the Biblical message – there are 1) believers in Christ, and there are 2) unbelievers. The world has only two categories, no more.

Finally, this passage includes the statement that false people hide their works because their works are evil. People laugh about my stealth term, but that is the best way to describe false teachers and their works. They always want to work under the radar. They hate being quoted. They hate having their work evaluated in the light of the Scriptures. They claim they can be more effective if they distance themselves from God’s Word. Sadly, they cannot bear to teach the whole counsel of God found in John 3:16. They always conclude, “Look at all the good things we have done in God’s Name.”

God says, “Look at what I have done for you, long before you ever existed.”

Spoiling the Egyptians - Luther via Walther

Figs From Thistles? Not According to Martin Luther


Luther, House Postil: "No one is so foolish as to go into a field full of thorns and thistles and look for grapes and figs. Such fruits we seek on a different plant, which is not so full of barbs and prickles. The same thing happens in our gardens. Seeing a tree full of apples or pears, everybody exclaims: Ah, what a fine tree that is! Again, where there is no fruit on a tree or the fruit is worm-eaten, cracked, and misshapen, everybody says the tree is worthless, fit to be cut down and cast into the fire, so that a better tree may be planted in its place. These tests, the Lord says, you must apply to the false prophets, and you will not make a mistake, no matter how good their appearance may be. If f wolf had put on twenty sheepskins, still you must know him to be a wolf and not be deceived by him."
C. F. W. Walther, The Proper Distinction between Law and Gospel, trans. W. H. T. Dau, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House 1897, p. 412.

Wisconsin Lutheran High School and Government Money

Mary Thompson wrote:

Carl G's "fact check" is technically correct in that the high school accepting government grants was the WELS high school "Wisconsin Lutheran High School", which started out as "Milwaukee Lutheran High School" in a joint venture with LCMS. The original comment should have said the"ex-communications involved WELS members who protested the government grants being used by Wisconsin Lutheran High High School in the mid 1970's. Carl G.'s doubts that any WELS "members cared enough to protest about it (government grants)" and his doubts whether any WELS people were ex-communicated about government grants are unfounded. The controversy did happen, and it made headlines in the mainline Milwaukee newspapers and religious periodicals around the country. Original source material re: the controversy including newspaper articles and related documents still exist should Carl G. need proof of WELS members protesting and being expelled from WELS congregation for doing so.

I can produce them should he request copies.

Urban legends exist, but the government grants, the protests and expulsion of WELS members is not among them.

***

GJ - I find it odd that people rejoice at a church school depending on government money. I was part of a Christian school that never mentioned using government money and never requested it. Students got bus rides, and that was it.

When Church and Change leaders manage a program, I wonder.

Church and Chicanery Wants To Manage the Synod

Wayne, Ron, and Bruce reminisce about the good old days: "Sure we had a few train-wrecks like this, but it was fun."

To Do List

Ski and Rosebud

Having 1 of those days where the 2 do list isn't going 2 get done. Pressing ministry issue. God is so great & incredible. Changeinh (sic) lives.
9:06 AM Mar 16th from twitterrific

i tackled my to do list and then some today - awesome way to start the week. love it!
about 18 hours ago from TweetDeck

To Do List:

1. Apply for more grants.
   
2. Count paper clips.
   
3. Order non-slip wax polish for Rosebud.
   
4. Buy more popcorn butter. Find out why it is disappearing so fast.
   
5. Test sub-woofers.
   
6. Re-arrange pen drawer.
   
7. Investigate cheaper coffee beans.
   
8. Read fine print in lease, esp. non-payment penalties.
   
9. Check on discount for Jelly Bellies by 100-wt.
   
10. Download more totally awesome sermons from Driscoll, Stanley, and Groeschel.
    
11. Type up Groeschel sermons.
    
12. Change references to Fox Valley, A-Town, and Wisconsin in typescript.

Strange Coincidences - Add Your Story in the Comments

Ron Roth served as the first editor of Church Growth TELL, then guided WELS into one financial diaster after another. With the wise guidance of Gurgel and Mueller, Roth managed to turn the Schwan pot of gold into insolvency.

Jeff Davis and stealthy Church and Change leaders (like Kudu Don Patterson) absorb credibility by being on synod boards while serving Church and Chicanery interests. No one sniffs out grant money faster than apostates.

Three readers sent me similar stories about their WELS congregations.

The congregations are older, larger congregations. Church and Change board member Jeff Davis showed up to talk them into enormous building expansions and raise money toward it, ultimately leaving the parish heavily in debt. The building solved the pastor's edifice complex but never fulfilled the Field of Dreams movie motto: Build It and They Will Come. Bricks and mortar are not a Means of Grace.

Jeff Davis charges a commission - a percentage of money raised by the congregation - and calls this stewardship education! His commission at one church was around $40,000.

Ethical fund-raising groups charge a set fee plus expenses, to avoid the temptation of viewing everyone through dollar-sign glasses. Results are not pumped up just to earn a higher commission.

I thought, "Blimey! St. Paul in New Ulm was in decline, so they spent millions on their building, too."

As I wrote before, Davis has a blank bio at Church and Change, but his so-called stewardship education business is in partnership with Ron Roth, the first openly Church Growth staffer at The Love Shack.

Before I started data-mining the Church and Change website, Davis and Ski both had bios. Now both are blank, and Ski's photo is missing. I did not know Church and Change had a witness protection program.

Help Congregations Save Millions
I know some congregations are in the midst of disastrous Build It And They Will Come programs.

If you had direct experience with Jeff Davis or Ron Roth stewardship education, post a comment.

Their business is Cornerstone Stewardship Ministry.

Their team:


Jeff Davis (Co-Founder)
Lake Mills, Wisconsin

Jeff's 28 years of experience in administration, ministry and consulting, coupled with a strong desire to serve Jesus, have helped form his servant characteristics. Jeff enjoys teaching, directing and leading God's people. His personal commitment to stewardship is a reflection on his beliefs and thankfulness to Jesus. He has written extensively on stewardship, guiding and challenging God's people to live lives of thanks. Recently, Jeff co-authored Heart in Focus, a faith focused financial course (www.heartinfocus.com). Jeff and Sally, his wife, reside in Lake Mills, Wisconsin. They have been blessed with 5 children and 1 grandchild.


Tom Grunow (Co-Founder of CSM, MEd, CFRE)
Portland, Oregon [LCMS]

Tom Grunow is a 33-year veteran in Christian Education, Fund Development and Strategic Planning having served with Lutheran educational ministries in Florida, Texas and Oregon. Following in the footsteps of his father, Dr. Robert A. Grunow, known throughout the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) for his estate planning and fundraising expertise, for the past 14 years he has served as a consultant to Lutheran churches and schools throughout the U.S. Previously he served as Vice President of the Concordia University Foundation Portland and on the National Board of Directors of the Association of Lutheran Development Executives (ALDE). He currently serves Trinity Lutheran Church, as Volunteer Minister of Stewardship & Gifts, is an active member of ALDE, a member of the Christian Stewardship Association (CSA), and serves as Board Chair of the Lutheran Education Association (LEA). Tom resides in Portland, Oregon with his wife, Karin, a commissioned Lutheran schoolteacher. They have 3 children and 3 grandchildren.


Ron Roth (Director)
Hales Corners, Wisconsin

Ron loves to teach and encourage God's people to respond to God's grace with thankful and generous gifts. He has served four congregations as pastor, leading three of them through capital expansion programs. As administrator of Christian giving for an international Lutheran church body, he developed a major gifts ministry and led three national campaigns. He was instrumental in developing a planned giving ministry which after twelve years is blessing various ministries with annual gifts of $10-12 million in current donations and matured bequests. Another $400+ million in estate gifts for the Lord's work have been completed. Ron and his wife Arlene live in the Milwaukee, WI area and are blessed with three children.


His congregation is a champion fund-snagger and teaches Church and Chicaneries how to do the same.
Wayne Baxmann (Associate)
Colgate, Wisconsin

Wayne's forty plus years in public ministry have provided him with numerous opportunities to practice servant-leadership. He eagerly applies his spiritual gifts in working with God's people, particularly in the areas of organization, teaching and administration. He strongly believes in and models the attitude that Christian Stewardship is a manifestation of one's love and gratitude for what God has done. Wayne and his wife Renee live in Colgate, Wisconsin, just northwest of Milwaukee, and are active members of Risen Savior Lutheran Church in Milwaukee. Their three adult children and their families live in Washington and Texas.

[GJ - Mel entered the witness protection program of C and C, so no photo is available.]
Mel Fournier (Associate)
Leesburg, Florida [LCMS]

Mel is "Mr. Lutheran" throughout Florida having served as a layperson in various Lutheran churches and in every capacity both during his work as an independent electrician and later in his retirement years. He has served as both paid and volunteer for Thrivent (formerly AAL) in fraternal assistance and is well versed on the Biblical concepts of Christian stewardship.

Diahann Lohr
Watertown, Wisconsin
William Neubauer
Oconomowoc, Wisconsin
Tim Grunow (Support)
Portland, Oregon

Tim provides support services for general operations, staff travel, and campaign record keeping. He is based in Portland, Oregon.

Angel Falls - Glendale, Arizona

Our backyard, photographed by Alicia Meyer

Oculi - The Third Sunday in Lent

Oculi, The Third Sunday in Lent

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

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

Bethany Lutheran Worship, 8 AM Phoenix Time

Mid-Week Lenten Services are Wednesdays at 6 PM.

The Hymn #175 Hamburg 2.43
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 Ephesians 5:1-9
The Gospel Luke 11:14-28
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #172:1-5 Herzlich tut mir 2.55

The Stronger Man

The Hymn #172:6-10 Herzlich tut mir 2.55
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 #457 Friend 2.24

KJV Ephesians 5:1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; 2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. 3 But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; 4 Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. 7 Be not ye therefore partakers with them. 8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: 9 (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)

KJV Luke 11:14 And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake; and the people wondered. 15 But some of them said, He casteth out devils through Beelzebub the chief of the devils. 16 And others, tempting him, sought of him a sign from heaven. 17 But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth. 18 If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub. 19 And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges. 20 But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.

21 When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: 22 But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.

23 He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth. 24 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out. 25 And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. 26 Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.

27 And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. 28 But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.

Third Sunday In Lent
Lord God, heavenly Father, who hast sent Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to take upon Himself our flesh, that He might overcome the devil, and defend us poor sinners against the adversary: We give thanks unto Thee for Thy merciful help, and we beseech Thee to attend us with Thy grace in all temptations, to preserve us from carnal security, and by Thy Holy Spirit to keep us in Thy word and Thy fear, that unto the end we may be delivered from the enemy, and obtain eternal salvation, through the same, Thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

The Stronger Man
Luke 11:21 When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: 22 But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.

This Gospel lesson has four different parts, which I have divided in the printed version for clarity.

The first part deals with the power of Jesus, which was displayed with great effect from time to time. The audience had two possible conclusions. Either Jesus was divine or demonic, because only God or Satan could have such power. Some accused him of being in league with the devil, while others demanded a sign (a miracle from heaven). That was often a feature of Jesus’ miracles. In the midst of them, people wanted even more. In my current religion class, some students wondered why Jesus promised the cross to His followers.
Our Savior knew that people were attracted to the miraculous and only wanted the miraculous. Many false leaders today have proven that a criminal record, no education and phony miracles will not be a barrier to forming large crowds and getting big offerings.

When Luther wrote about the Two Kingdoms (Reich) he was distinguishing the Kingdom of God from the Kingdom of Satan. (Another category is the Two Realms or Regiments – the spiritual and the material, the Church vs. the government). People either belong to one Kingdom or another. We are born unbelievers so we do not enter God’s Kingdom until we are baptized. The Christian Church began with infant baptism, when whole households were baptized—no exclusions—for 16 centuries until a few men decided to take away that certainty by inventing “believers’ baptism.”

So the Bible teaches us that there are exactly two categories of people – believers in Christ and non-believers. Becoming a believer is the easiest possible thing in the world because the Word accomplishes it either through baptism (among infants) or through conversion among adults. Remaining a believer is the difficult part. God has appointed His Means of Grace so we always know where we find forgiveness and the source for strengthening our faith, but we always take abundance for granted.

I think many would now value the LCA church I attended in the 1960s. The pastor was conservative. Every service was liturgical. No one ever thought of appealing to the youth by bringing in pop music. Confirmation took two years, but no one was allowed in class until the Small Catechism was memorized. The confirmation classes numbered about 60 each year. As I mentioned on the blog, youth meetings ended with Vespers or another service from the hymnal. The pastor routinely visited in the homes and hospitals. That congregation today would be as rare as hen’s teeth.

So there is a perpetual battle between the Two Kingdoms, Satan’s and God’s. People would have us believe that more people will enter God’s Kingdom if we imitate Satan’s realm. Jesus’ message in this Gospel is - His battle against Satan’s kingdom. Proof of God’s Kingdom arriving is Jesus’ ability to cast out demons. Opposition always accompanies the Gospel because Satan cannot abide losing anyone from his followers, and he wants to recruit as many new ones as possible.

People used to take closed communion for granted. No one thought it was a Constitutional right to drop in at a new denomination and demand Holy Communion. Now people will read a closed communion announcement in a bulletin, stand up, and leave in a huff. If enough congregations have open communion, the forces of apostasy win simply by making everyone indifferent to God’s Word.

Falling away from the faith is more toxic than never believing in the first place. Those who fall away (apostasy means falling away in Greek) have an allergy to what they first believed. They are most likely to be active opponents. I have one reader of the blog who posts one or two atheistic comments on a regular basis. I sometimes wonder if one or both of the Church Growth pastors I knew in the past are sending those atheistic posts.

I recall so many famous Evangelists who became apostates that I cannot begin to list them all. Now we are in an era where even the supposedly conservative Christian leaders are apostates. There is no place where doubt and opposition cannot enter. But these things were predicted in the Epistles.

KJV 2 Thessalonians 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away (Apostasis – apostasy) first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

KJV 2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. 5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.

Stronger Man
The brief mention of the stronger man is a good example of Jesus speaking to believers who must study His Word carefully. It is easy to pass by this brief mention, but the passage is full of meaning for everyone. For a non-believer, the passage makes no sense.

21 When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: 22 But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.

The strong man is Satan. He ruled over his realm on earth in peace and kept his spoils. Before the Flood, most of the world was given over to godlessness, so it was destroyed, except for Noah’s family. After the Flood, godlessness and pagan worship grew once again. The public ministry of Jesus began the era of the Stronger Man. First in His miracles, then with His cross of resurrection, Christ defeated Satan and took away his armor (all his weapons of deceit). Christ as the Victor took away Satan’s spoils too. The souls won by Christ through the Word would be in God’s Kingdom rather than Satan’s.

Since then the Gospel has spread over the world and given every tribe the chance to hear the Word.
Warning
The warning parable in the third section notes that someone may be converted, defeating demonic forces, but still be prey to their return. Let’s say the problem was addiction. An individual puts his life in order through the Word and receives nothing but blessings: forgiveness from friends and family, a new chance at a job, respect and a health life once again. He says, “I have conquered this.” So an old friend offers him another hit, and he falls again. That can happen many times over, but despair takes over when someone is proud of his own achievements. The swept and garnished house is easier to wreck. So even worse demons take over.

I have seen young adults speaking in class, former meth addicts, with their special meth acne scars still showing. I wonder how we could have thrown away a civilization on such poison.
The Blessing
People in the crowd tried to bless Mary for giving birth to Jesus, but He responded:

27 And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. 28 But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.

God blesses those who hear the Word of the Gospel and guard that Word. The verb means to protect, watch over. The verb is used for guarding a jail. The happy-chappy-chapel people want to talk about Jesus all the time, but they never take His Word seriously. Conversion to Christ means a responsibility to teach His Word exactly as it is revealed in the Word, without any adulteration. We are blessed both in hearing the Word and in keeping it, because God’s Word—not man’s—is the blessing.

A Mouse in Doubt

Anonymouse has left a new comment on your post "From One of Many Excommunicated by WELS":

Would you care to elaborate on the excommunications? Again, I see nothing here but charges. You offer no proof. This is just typical of you, Greg Jackson.

***

GJ - That is typical of Mouse, to start accusing. I don't have enough mental energy to make up stories. I use my brainpower up exposing the lies of Church and Change. Now that is a creative bunch.

I could name people because I know a lot of them. I have met them. Some write to me. Some are related to family friends. Some were members of my congregation. I will list what I know, without names for the most part.

1. One pastor gave a paper questioning WELS' dependence upon AAL funding. He was driven from the ministry. He never recovered from the shock. I met him and know his daughter and son-in-law.
   
2. A number of laity were excommunicated for participating in Scouting. Two different families were LCA members when I was serving in Michigan. St. Paul in German Village had a Scout troop and a Pioneer group. They also had very active Masonic members. St. Paul (ironic name?) started Church Growth under the anointed leadership of Floyd Luther Stolzenburg. Alas, the congregation has only shrunken more.
   
3. WELS drove several ministers of the pulpit for questioning the NIV. Before, WELS was all-KJV. Then they were NIV-only. I met one of the ministers at a conference.
   
4. Bruce Becker specifically drove Howard Festerling from the ministry because Howard taught the efficacy of the Word alone (and kept insisting on it). Two other pastors I knew from the Toledo area were also driven out of the ministry by WELS. Their crime was questioning the Fuller spin on "make disciples." Note that the KJV never made that error. For the innocent readers: "Making disciples" is the motto of all Lutheran CGM fanatics.
   
5. I know a brilliant family, formerly WELS. They had some questions about the Sampler. The Sampler! The pastor stopped at the house and said, "You are no longer in fellowship with WELS."

I could list more examples, but my typing fingers are growing weary.

Mouse - you may post your apology on this story. Perhaps on the other one too.

Boom Times for Mega-Church Foreclosures

The Bigger They Are, The Deeper in Debt

Metropolitan Baptist Church was bursting out of its home.

From a group of freed slaves in Civil War-era Washington, Metropolitan Baptist had grown into a modern-day megachurch and community service powerhouse. In 2006, construction began on the congregation's dream complex in Largo, Md. — a $30 million campus with a 3,000-seat church, an education center and an 1,100-car parking lot.

Last year, the congregation sold its church in Washington. Preparations began for the move to what leaders had taken to calling "God's land in Largo."

But on Oct. 20, their plans were abruptly put on hold.

The Rev. H. Beecher Hicks learned that financing for the project had dried up. Construction stopped. And the congregation found that it was homeless — reduced to renting space and struggling to find new financing.

Add houses of worship to the list of casualties of the mortgage crisis.

Foreclosures and delinquencies for congregations are rising, according to companies that specialize in church mortgages. With credit scarce, church construction sites have gone quiet, holding shells of sanctuaries that were meant to be completed months ago.

Congregants have less money to give, and pastors who stretched to buy property in the boom are struggling to hold onto their churches.

"The economy has dramatically changed over the last year to 18 months in a way that very few, if any, had expected," said John Stoffel, administrative pastor at Seabreeze Church in Huntington, Calif.

Seabreeze spent about $12 million on a new complex that was completed in 2007. But a drop in donations, partly due to a rift between the pastor and some church members, forced the church to renegotiate for an interest-only mortgage. Stoffel said Seabreeze hasn't missed a payment, yet the mortgage is far from the church's only debt. The church also owes $1.2 million — due this year — on bonds that helped finance the project, and must repay a $200,000 loan that a couple took out on their house to help Seabreeze cover its costs.

It's hard to quantify just how many churches are at risk. Foreclosure records are scattered throughout county offices nationwide. Completing a foreclosure takes months or longer, so it's too soon for many failures to show up on a company's books. In financially stressed churches, clergy are often reluctant to discuss their plight. They don't want to alarm their congregants, and they fear that any complaints about their dealings with banks will backfire.

"Right now, when you're at the mercy of the lenders, you don't want to look like you're coming out against them," said Bishop Eugene Reeves of New Life Anointed Ministries International in Woodbridge, Va.

The 3,500-member Pentecostal church near Washington needs a couple of million dollars to finish its new $19 million complex. Construction stopped last spring when New Life's lender said it would make no new loans to the church, Reeves said.

"We now have children who don't have classrooms to get into, adults who have to go to an overflow room," Reeves said. "We have parking issues. We don't have enough spaces for cars."

Across the country, congregations large and small are struggling to pay off debt:

_Reliance Trust, an Atlanta company that is trustee for nearly three-quarters of the church bonds in the U.S., has seen "some increases in delinquencies," said spokesman Tony Greene, though he would not elaborate.

Among its clients is Temple Beth Haverim in Agoura Hills, Calif., which sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last July and owes the company more than $7 million, Reliance said in court documents. The property is estimated to be worth less than what the synagogue owes.

_Strongtower Financial, an arm of the California Baptist Foundation, said in a prospectus that 10 percent of its $119 million in outstanding loans were in default as of March 31, 2008, its most recent required reporting date. Chet Reid, Strongtower's president, said the specifics were private, but the company had only one foreclosure in the last decade — in 2006.

_The Evangelical Christian Credit Union, a major church lender with more than $700 million in loans last year, moved to foreclose on seven of its 1,100 loans in 2008, said Mark Johnson, the company's executive vice president. The company has had "a noticeable increase" in late payments, and two more foreclosures are expected this year, he said. By contrast, the Brea, Calif., company said it had no other foreclosures until 2007, when there were two.

These problems may seem minor compared to the epidemic of foreclosures on private homes. But church mortgages have always been considered one of the more solid investments, with lenders often boasting of only one or two foreclosures over a billion dollars in loans.

Even in bad economic times, people still go to church, which helps shield congregations from downturns, lenders say. Churches also have more flexibility than some other borrowers in cutting expenses. They can end charitable programs or trim staff and still stay open for business.

"You can certainly make a bad church loan if you try hard enough," said Dan Mikes, who leads the church banking group of Bank of the West, a major lender. "But if you're careful and you don't overlend, and you're cautious in the way you underwrite, you're fine."

However, the recent boom years brought changes that made the industry more vulnerable.

Firms looking for new lending opportunities in a time of easy credit entered the industry, and competition escalated. The size and number of church loans skyrocketed, with several companies reporting double-digit annual growth rates before the bust.

Some lenders even got into the business of securitizing church loans, combining them as an investment in the way banks did with home mortgages. In 2006, Strongtower Financial, based in Fresno, securitized church bonds for the first time, with a $56.3 million offering.

Roland Leavell, president of Rives, Leavell & Co., a church bond broker in Jackson, Miss., said that firms specializing in church financing often aped their commercial loan counterparts, lending too much money without a thorough check of what their clients could afford.

"The starting point was the commercial banks," Leavell said. "When somebody on one side of the business gets moving fast and loose, it makes every body else move fast and loose."

Johnson, of the Evangelical Christian Credit Union, insists that his company upheld its strict underwriting standards throughout the flush years when the firm was growing at an average rate of more than 20 percent annually. He said the economy alone is behind the recent troubles.

"Our history would say that we had done a really good job," evaluating clients, he said. "It has become very visible to everybody today that the recession hit 18 months ago. The foreclosures we've seen have coincided with that."

But foreclosure and bankruptcy records paint a more complex picture of some of the company's failed clients — and raise questions about whether the pressure for profit altered the industry's normally ultra-cautious approach.

Among the company's foreclosed-upon clients is Juanita Bynum, a former hairdresser and popular Pentecostal preacher. In 2006, she got a loan from the evangelical lender to buy a $4.5 million lakeview property in Waycross, Ga. She planned to use it for her ministry headquarters and to open a spa for beauty treatments and spiritual guidance.

But she never paid her property taxes on time and ended up owing tens of thousands of dollars, said Steve Barnard, the Ware County tax assessor, who threatened to auction off the land over the debt. The credit union paid Bynum's outstanding tax bill before foreclosing on her land last December, when Ware said the property value had dropped to only about $2.5 million.

Another church with shaky finances and a big debt: the Shiloh Institutional Church of God in Christ in Fort Worth, Texas.

The congregation began floundering soon after Shiloh's prominent pastor, Sherman Allen, was publicly accused of molesting women and beating them with a paddle. The accusers said that Allen's superiors in his Pentecostal denomination — the Church of God in Christ — had evidence of the allegations for years and did nothing to stop him. Allen has denied any wrongdoing.

Meanwhile, lawyers for the credit union that holds the church's mortgage found another scandal — this one involving money. In court documents, the attorneys said the church could not explain how it spent $100,000 in income in 2006, that a $30,000 anniversary bonus paid to Allen in 2007 "is potentially a fraudulent transfer," and that the church couldn't provide financial statements from a certified public accountant for 2005 and 2006.

The church filed for bankruptcy in February 2007; the Evangelical Christian Credit Union says Shiloh owes it nearly $3.8 million on a 2005 loan, and sought to foreclose.

As in the residential mortgage industry, tight credit has had a chilling effect on loans to houses of worship. Reid, the head of Strongtower, said his company is doing less lending, but he would not discuss specifics. Johnson, of the Evangelical Christian Credit Union, said the company isn't making loans to new clients.

"We're struggling to do a good thing for our community," Hicks said. "Hopefully, we'll get past this impasse and move forward."

From One of Many Excommunicated by WELS

Re: Brett Meyer's Ichabod post about women reading liturgy in WELS.

The statement in the post which summed up WELS for at least the past forty years said it all. WELS "practice is detached from doctrine". In the 1970's the big controversy about government grants to Milwaukee Lutheran High School resulted in ex-communications of WELS members who protested to Synod, then protested publicly, for public largesse is a public matter. The lay members did so on the basis of WELS Statement of Belief published in 1967 which said, "We reject any attempt on the part of the Church to seek the financial assistance of the State in carrying out its saving purpose." The response by some synod leaders in defending the use of government grants was: We didn't seek the grants, they were offered to us. The more things change the more they remain the same.

***

GJ - WELS Pharisaical law is amusing. They were once dead-set against gambling, written policy. Now they are gung-ho for gambling - ever since some big giver was involved in casinos. WELS legalized gambling.

Some other excommunications have included: criticizing the budget process, favoring the KJV over the Reformed NIV, and questioning AAL (now Thrivent). WELS removed men from the ministry over the last two. The big one - daring to critique the Church Growth Movement.

PS - Joining the Boy Scouts went from mortal sin to A-OK.

Tweets in the News

The author of the Tweety bird song died at the age of 91.

Most of the people using Twitter seem unaware or unconcerned that their words are posted to the Net and kept there.

A juror from Arkansas used Twitter during a jury trial where he bragged he was giving away $12 million of Other People's Money. (Church and Change probably added him to their Rolodex - pronto.) The Tweets will be cited in an effort to overturn the verdict.

A Twitter message is called a Tweet. I have found Twitter useful in tracking the Church and Changers. I am not alone in using Twitter as radar. As soon as I activated my Twitter account, a Church and Changer put himself on my list, so he could receive every message. I find Twitter a waste of time, so I never post.

But oh the joys of tracking people on Twitter. One practical benefit is the list of followers and those being followed. Church and Changers follow Mark Driscoll and like to suggest to each other the latest Emerging Church stuff to read. Nancy's World is one Schwaermer on the list for the pricey executive assistant at the Popcorn Cathedral. She also posted a stinging comment on Ichabod. It reminded me of being stoned to death by popcorn.

One point of Ichabod is to get the Schwaermer to read the blog daily, and that is working. They have to read it, even if uncomprehending, in order to post their latest spelling errors. I follow Wesley's motto: "If you can't convert them, at least make them angry." They are annoyed if I write about the past, present, or future, so I am looking for a time zone they approve. They hate quotations from Luther and the Concordists, but they love Stetzer, Sweet, and Groeschel.

Ski and his pricey executive assistant continue to refer to Appleton on their Twitter as A-town, their own term but not one favored by long-time residents of the valley. I hope they never tweet about the Appleton landfill. I can only guess what they will call that operation. Mrs. Ichabod adds, "We live in Phoenix, not in P-town."

Ski cannot help revealing the shallowness of the Popcorn Cathedral of Rock. His website has no reference to Lent because there are no Lenten services. His grand opening is the Sunday after Easter. Until then he only has Sunday evening services announced - with Craig Groeschel sermon themes and texts. He is sharing Lenten duties at his friend's WELS congregation, so the mission to date has almost nothing to do with reaching the I-hate-church crowd, even less to do with the most important content of the Christian Gospel: the cross and the empty tomb.

Sermon preparation, according to Ski's Twitter, means watching TV on his Imax screen. Other peak moments have included firing up the popcorn machine and watching the Wizard of Oz on the giant screen, dancing down the aisles.

Do the Church and Changers ever imagine they are the Great and Terrible Oz, the frightened man hiding behind the curtain?

Or perhaps they identify with the Cowardly Lion? They erase their own revealing material as quickly as they copy the wisdom of the Schwaermer.

Genuflecting to pop culture could best be signified by leading the coffee-saturated congregation in a rousing version of "If I Only Had a Brain."

Twitter in My Google Told a Tale on You
I recall when the Church and Chicaneries went to Defcon-5 to deny Stetzer was invited to speak for their November conference. They were so shrill that one of my sources started to believe them.

The Conference of Pussycats already discussed the invitation. More enlightening were three different pieces of data, starting with Babtist Ed Stetzer's own Twitter. He recorded the moment when WELS Church and Change hired him to teach them the Word of God. He also blogged about speaking to WELS and Missouri, making fun of Confessional Lutheranism (shocked? - you bet I was!). And Stetzer added both WELS and Missouri to his speaking engagement list. Stetzer is no longer a pastor with a congregation. He simply talks about being a minister - as long as people pay dearly for it.

The Chicaneries were squawking so loudly because their stealth leader, Kudu Don Patterson led a group of them to hear Stetzer at Exponential last year. That was probably the start of the Stetzer hire. So C and C responded by saying, "How do you know we haven't canceled him?" I knew from Stetzer's Twitter and his schedule. The dates are recorded for posterity:

1. Stetzer and Patterson at Exponential pan-denominational event, where Lutherans paid but did not speak.
   
2. Stetzer hired by Church and Chicanery.
   
3. Stetzer blogging to make fun of Lutherans and doctrine.
   
4. Stetzer listing WELS and Missouri on his speaking schedule.
   
5. Conference of Pussycats meeting.
   
6. Silence, deceit, and denial from Church and Chicanery.

If I Only Had More Grants

I could while away my daydreams
Watchin' movies on the Big Screen
Consultin' with Andy.
And popcorn I'd be poppin'
And the money never stoppin' -
If I only had more grants.

I would preach like Craig Groeschel
For any individd-el
In trouble or in pain.
With the thoughts Craig'd be thinkin,
They would say, “Another Lincoln!”
If I only had more grants.

Oh, I could tell you why
Sub-woofers make me cry.
I could think of things I never thunk before,
And then I'd sit and think some more

I would not be just a Changer,
My head all full of danger,
My sermons Groeschel’s chants.
Perhaps I deserve you,
And be even worthy erve you,
If I only had more grants.