Get Out Your Hankies: Ski Can Empathize with Welfare Recipients - He Is One Too

Kelm joined the aging jobless in December, but grabbed two calls at once by walking Plank Road with this clever sign.


Cheryl Anderson

One Sunday about three months ago, a homeless man went up to the teen manning the after-worship snack table at The Core in downtown Appleton and asked for a Ziploc bag. She obliged then watched the man dump a bowl of cookies in the bag, as well as grab a box of tea.

When the teen told the Rev. Jim "Ski" Skorzewski about what had happened, the pastor knew there had to be a story behind it. The story continued three weeks after that incident with three guys who waited after Sunday worship to talk to Skorzewski.

"They just kind of poured their heart out to me about bad choices they made in their lives … and one of the guys who was crying says, 'We love being here, but we have dinner at the shelter at 5:30 on Sundays. So we have to decide, 'Are we going to eat dinner or are we going to come here?' I said, 'I would eat dinner.' He said, 'What you don't understand is this is the one place we hear hope and are treated like real people.'"

Skorzewski said he cried all the way home that night, and soon gathered the leaders at The Core, who came up with a plan to serve dinners at 4 p.m. before worship.

"When you're in ministry, you usually want to help with the physical needs first and then apply the spiritual," said Tom Medema, who serves on the executive board at The Core and is a member of Mount Olive Lutheran Church in Appleton.

"These people were foregoing their meals to come to church. Where have you heard that happen before? That just touched all of us, including myself. It makes you want to do something, and we did."

"We don't do dinners because of the homeless people," Skorzewski said. "We do dinners because it's a great way to bring people together and it just happens there's a need."

Skorzewski said those who attend the meal also are expected to stay for the service.

What began as small-group ministries at The Core rotating to fund and prepare a meal has grown to include members who want to pitch in to feed the 150 to 160 people who attend, which includes 30 to 40 people from the Fox Valley Warming Shelter and the Emergency Shelter of the Fox Valley who come for dinner and stay for worship.

***

GJ - It takes a strong man to read this without bursting into laughter.

---

Sent via anonymous email:

Regarding your infantile comment after the Core Dinner article you posted this morning, I can only respond in the words of Buzz Lightyear: "You are a sad, strange little man and you have my pity."

***

GJ - That sounds like one of Buzz Lightyear's fans.

Three Infinitives

LCMS Preacher Marva Dawn

KJV 1 Timothy 2:11 Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. 12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. 13 For Adam was first formed, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. 15 Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.

This passage is clear, with Paul using two infinitives to explain what he does not allow, one to show what he does allow.

12 But I suffer not a woman
to teach,
nor to usurp authority over the man,
but to be in silence.

This passage is more encompassing than women reading the Scriptures in church or other examples where WELS/ELS/LCMS feminists take baby steps toward women's ordination.

The apostates like to fuzz up the discussion by introducing all kinds of phony exceptions, such as women teaching children in Sunday School (men? where?) and women playing the organ (does that usurp authority?).

I saw where Missouri was going in the 1980s, before Al Barry was elected. At the Trinity (ELCA) seminary library, the women students bragged in their vicarage reports about working in LCMS congregations, preaching and baptizing and consecrating Holy Communion. Paul McCain almost had a cow denying this was going on and did not want to hear another word about it.

Missouri has made a lot of progress since then. So has WELS.

It will not stop there.

WELS has women pastors already.

We Are Measured by What Offends Us

I heard from a cheerful reader that this blog offends some people. He is not offended, but his friends are.

I set up the Bethany blog for sermons and quotations alone. I created it at the same time as Ichabod.

Ichabod has 500 to 1000 readers per day.

The Bethany blog has about 100 readers per day.

I began Ichabod for one purpose only, to expose and denounce the corruption in the Lutheran Church and to reveal the same rampant apostasy in other church bodies. I am not sure how to soft-pedal the news. Perhaps I should keep everyone in the same drowsy, summer on the back porch, almost asleep in a rocking chair mode they have enjoyed the last few decades.

I am quite deliberately provocative, in the hopes of waking a few people up. One WELS leader called it "his morning entertainment."

There are precedents for humor in the Lutheran Church. I have quoted Luther in papers, watching people burst into laughter because of the truth of what he wrote. Chemnitz had a delightful way of deriding the folly of Romanism and distilling a few jokes in the process. No wonder Chemnitz was dubbed the Most Villainous Lutheran.

The sourpuss Pietists who are so careful to guard the fastness of their synodical sinecures are not amused. I simply propose that

When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: 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. (KJV Luke 11:21-22)

To take away the armor and spoils of the Evil One, believers will need to trust in the Sword of the Spirit, the Word, rather than the gimmicks of Church Shrinkers.

Lutheran clergy and laity alike should be offended by:

1. Whoopee entertainment supplanting liturgical worship.
   
2. Pastors who are not man enough to conduct a worship service themselves, letting a woman or women do their work.
   
3. Lutherans running off to be trained by people who despise and mock Lutheran doctrine and worship.
   
4. Open communion, semi-open communion, and demi-semi open communion.
   
5. Hiding communion because it might hurt attendance by non-Lutherans. Wake up chickee-poo. If you feel that way, you are all non-Lutherans anyway.
   
6. Gutless Doctrinal Pussycats who exercise discipline against faithful Lutherans while letting apostates run wild.
   
7. Gutless Doctrinal Pussycats who pretend they are going to do something against apostates while doing nothing except talk.
   
8. Dmins from whack-job schools deserving an axe, a torch, or a set of Luther's Works.
   
9. Pastors who cheat on their mistresses.
   
10. Seminary professors who lead from the rear, sitting on their posteriors while their own synod rots away.
    

A conservative hates you for telling a lie.
A liberal hates you for telling the truth.

Now That WELS Has Women Pastors, Watch What Comes Next

GJ - First this Iowa district of ELCA questioned the August 2009 vote. Next the bishop got the district council to rescind that dissent from ELCA. Afterwards came this Final Solution for anyone who dared to join a straight lobbying group:

Source:

Resolution from the Upper Iowa River Conference Spring Assembly, February 14, 2010

Whereas the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is a constitutionally governed organization served by constitutionally elected leaders at both the synod and church wide levels, and

Whereas the stated purposes of the organization known as Lutheran CORE are to 1) bring forth a proposal for a new Lutheran church body governed by a new constitution for those who choose to leave the ELCA, and 2) to plan for the continuation of Lutheran CORE as a free-standing synod for all Lutherans, and

Whereas it is an inherent conflict of interest for individuals who are members of CORE to fully and wholeheartedly support the ELCA constitution,

Be it Resolved that: 1) all rostered and lay leaders who are members of CORE and are currently serving in elected positions in the NE Iowa Synod be required to resign from those positions, and that 2) all rostered and lay individuals currently holding membership in CORE be disqualified from election to positions of leadership within the NEIA Synod.

Submitted by the Upper Iowa River Conference of the NEIA Synod — ELCA Voted on at conference assembly, February 14, 2010.

***

GJ - In 1987, I spoke with a Reformed Church in America pastor who had been Presbyterian. When Presbyterians voted for women's ordination, they said the pastors who disagreed would be left alone. Later, this man privately expressed his doubts to the district executive, who immediately said, "I have to remove you from the ministry."

The Presby minister said, "I will never express my views in public."

The executive said, "That does not matter now. You are off the list."

Do not be shocked. Pope John the Malefactor (ELS) did the same. So did Dan Fleischer of the mini-micro Church of the Lutheran Confession (sic). Ditto, many others of small brain and large waist.

The point is that once a new apostate doctrine or application is adopted, all dissent must be liquidated.

ELCA is marching its straight clergy to the metaphorical gas chambers. Diversity is for dopes.

WELS will do the same with women's ordination. They already have women pastors. Ordination is not the issue because all true followers of Walther's Pietism know that ordination is an adiaphoron. How do we know? Because Walther said so.

The Biblical issue is "women usurping authority" and "women teaching men." WELS, the Little Sect on the Prairie, and Missouri have been violating those clear Biblical principles for decades now. All they need to do now is study the issue and publish a report confirming that they have a new revelation from Holy Spirit. They will ordain women as a matter of Biblical and Confessional principles - just you wait.

A few years later, Perez Hilton will be the anointed Prophet of WELS.

Does this hat make me look odd?

Only dah Sausage Factory Graduates Do Not Know German Either

Kelmed from Joseph Schmidt.

Parochial versus a University Education

Yale's Sterling Library

LP Cruz was astonished Jay Webber had such a poor grasp of academics. Many Shrinkers have shown the same ignorance in different forms.

All this comes from a parochial education, which is why one WELS leader would like all the parochial schools shut down.

Parochial is synonymous with "close-minded" for a reason. As I mentioned to LP, each Lutheran seminary teaches its students to worship the fill-in-the-blank synod. ELCA too! May God have mercy on those who question the synod, because no one else will.

In the ELS and WELS, the only requirement to teach is an MDiv from their unaccredited seminary. Pope John the Malefactor did not even have an MDiv or a bachelor's degree when he was hired to teach New Testament at the Little School on the Prairie.

Joe Krohn and his bunch howl that I studied at Yale and Notre Dame. But a real university does not seek to convert someone overtly or force a student to share the same concepts as the instructors. That often happens because many graduate students never leave school and gladly follow the easiest path. However, Ralph Bohlmann's claim to fame was a PhD at Yale where he examined the theology of the Lutheran Confessions. They did not ask him to become a Congregationalist or worse.

Likewise, I had Hauerwas (Methodist) and Yoder (Mennonite) and Gleason (Roman Catholic) as doctoral advisors at Notre Dame. They were interested in whether I did a thorough job in research, not in rebaptizing me as Methodist, Mennonite, or Catholic. Was I harmed by having world-famous theologians as teachers? I think not.

I enjoyed discussing Lutheran doctrine in a room full of Catholic students, with two liberal professors leading the class. They were often far more receptive to Luther's doctrine than the ELS, Missouri, and WELS clergy I have known. One priest from that program, a PhD in liturgy, reminds me annually that he is still reading the set of Luther that I gave him.

Those who suffer from a parochial education never get over their need to find security in the canons of their own little group. WELS rests its confidence on the essay files at the Sausage Factory. One essay, on Church Growth, is by an avowed atheist. Another is by New Age theologian Mark Jeske.

The Little Sect on the Prairie (ELS) likes to act superior to WELS, more confessional, etc. They engage in the same tactics.

I have discussed this with several laymen, who scratch their heads over the obvious inconsistencies in ELS/WELS/LCMS arguments for UOJ. That does not matter to the Stormtroopers, because questioning UOJ is the deadly third rail of synodical politics.

"He denies UOJ!" is the ultimate accusation among these poor, deluded, confused Enthusiasts.

Stepping outside their little circle is doom in their eyes, because doom is good for their income.

The clergy are socialistic. If they can reduce their numbers, they have a greater chance to get the plush non-pastoral jobs. "Ah, no more catechism class. No more preaching, except the same sermon over and over as a guest. No more home visitations. Instead, people will visit ME and bow down in humility."

Stormtroopers do not admit they read Christian News.

---

Tim Felt-Needs:

"On Contemporary Lutheranism
In terms of contemporary Lutheranism there is nothing new out there to speak too (sic)."

Debate: Reagan versus Obama

ELCA Follows WELS Pattern of Back-door Ordination: Wauwatosa Lives!

News Releases


ELCA NEWS SERVICE
March 9, 2010

ELCA Bishops Reach Consensus on 'ELM' Pastors, More Review Needed
10-086-JB


ITASCA, Ill. (ELCA) -- The Conference of Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) reached a consensus March 8 on a draft proposal for a rite that would bring onto the church's official clergy roster those pastors who were ordained and are on the clergy roster of "Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries (ELM)." ELM "expands ministry opportunities for people of all sexual orientations and gender identities in the Lutheran church," according to its Web site.

The ELCA Conference of Bishops is an advisory body of the church, consisting of the ELCA's 65 synod bishops plus the presiding bishop and ELCA secretary. It met here March 4-9.

The draft proposal, "Reception onto the Roster of Ordained Ministers," recognizes and affirms the ministry of ELM pastors. It is not the rite of ordination, though it uses patterns and texts adapted from the authorized ELCA rite, including the laying on of hands and prayer by synod bishops. It is intended for use with "individuals who have experienced an ordination that this church has not yet recognized," according to the draft.

The draft proposal will now undergo internal and external review, said the Rev. Robert G. Schaefer, executive for worship, ELCA Worship and Liturgical Resources. After review conference members will be consulted about final form before the proposed rite is sent to the ELCA Church Council for consideration, he said. The council, the ELCA's board of directors and interim legislative authority between assemblies, could consider a final proposed rite at its meeting in Chicago next month.

Schaefer explained that such a rite would have a specific, restricted, limited use. The conference was told that there are 17 ELM pastors who could seek to be on the official ELCA clergy roster.

Under the draft proposal, ELM candidates would be received onto the roster of the ELCA after fulfillment of all requirements needed for approval by an official clergy candidacy committee within a synod, said the Rev. Margaret G. Payne, bishop of the ELCA New England Synod, Worcester, Mass. Candidacy committees help guide all clergy candidates on behalf of the ELCA from the time they consider a call to the ministry through their seminary years. Pastors who were not ordained in the ELCA also work with candidacy committees, though the process may be shorter.

"After formal approval these people would be received at a service of worship, (with) the laying on of hands and prayer by a synod bishop," Payne said on a behalf of a committee of bishops appointed to prepare the draft rite following a preliminary discussion by the conference March 6.

"All of us without exception felt it was utterly important and essential that there be the laying on of hands and prayer as a part of a rite," she explained. "We know there are some people who would like to use the word ordination -- we are not saying the candidates will be ordained -- but we are suggesting that we use words in the authorized rite that replicate the promises of ordination, and will in fact be words from the ordination rite."

The conference took up the ELM issue as part of its work following decisions of the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Minneapolis. That assembly approved proposals that would create the possibility for Lutherans in committed, publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous same-gender relationships to serve as ELCA clergy and professional lay leaders.

ELM pastors follow the same educational process and credentialing procedure that ELCA clergy follow. Many are serving congregations, anticipating the possibility of becoming ELCA pastors when the church changed its policies regarding professional service in the ELCA.

The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, recommended the draft proposal to his colleagues. He explained that the draft proposal needed to meet specific criteria. One was a desire for reconciliation with ELM pastors "who long to be fully recognized as ordained ministers of the ELCA." Another was that the draft proposal needed to be recognized by the Lutheran World Federation "as consistent with our understanding of ministry as we have understood it in the Lutheran confessions and history." Third, he said it was important that the draft proposal honor the ELCA's six full communion agreements.

The ELCA maintains full-communion agreements with the Episcopal Church, Moravian Church, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Reformed Church in America, United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Church. Full-communion agreements provide for mutual recognition of each other's ministries, provide for exchange of clergy in certain circumstances, and encourage sharing of ministries by the churches.

***

GJ - I am trying to figure out exactly what ELCA wants to do. They seem to want quasi-ordination because ordination would go against their concept of a second ordination. At the same time, they want to insert these people into the roster of ELCA with a patina of respectability. This will only increase the number of congregations exiting ELCA, which is good.

I call this Wauwatosa theology because the same justifications have been used to promote the ordination of male teachers and the crypto-ordination of women. Everyone is a minister in WELS. The Wauwatosa claim is - the Gospel creates its own forms.

An elderly layman put it this way: "This is an adiaphoron. That is an adiaphoron. Pretty soon everything is adiaphora." (Hint for Mequon students: adiaphora means "matters of indifference.") In two words, Wauwatosa means "Anything goes!"

WELS has a woman organizing and conducting a worship service at Latte Lutheran. The women "staff ministers" consecrated and distributed Holy Communion, yet the fake blogger howled that I was lying about women pastors in WELS.

The Shrinkers always howl when I hit the target. Of course, that is like hunting cows with a bazooka.

I think Jay Webber, MDiv, is on the ELS doctrine board. He warns people against paying attention to what I write. But the ELS and WELS could not even condemn the crypto-ordination of women. They only asked for a moratorium, a delay!

That is how ELCA worked out their issue. They backtracked and winked at what was going on in many different congregations, publicly stating they were "under discipline" while confessing later they were working with those congregations as equals all along. All the studies and statements were a delay until they could muster the votes needed. They also wanted a few elderly bishops out of the way.

Suspicions Confirmed - Satan at Work at Antichrist's Home Office

From Times Online

March 10, 2010

Chief exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth says Devil is in the Vatican

Richard Owen in Rome

(Giulio Napolitan/AFP/Getty Images)

Don Gabriele Amorth is the chief exorcist at the Vatican

Image :1 of 2

Sex abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church are proof that that "the Devil is at work inside the Vatican", according to the Holy See's chief exorcist.

Father Gabriele Amorth, 85, who has been the Vatican's chief exorcist for 25 years and says he has dealt with 70,000 cases of demonic possession, said that the consequences of satanic infiltration included power struggles at the Vatican as well as "cardinals who do not believe in Jesus, and bishops who are linked to the Demon".

He added: "When one speaks of 'the smoke of Satan' [a phrase coined by Pope Paul VI in 1972] in the holy rooms, it is all true – including these latest stories of violence and paedophilia."

He claimed that another example of satanic behaviour was the Vatican "cover-up" over the deaths in 1998 of Alois Estermann, the then commander of the Swiss Guard, his wife and Corporal Cedric Tornay, a Swiss Guard, who were all found shot dead. "They covered up everything immediately," he said. "Here one sees the rot".

Related Links

• Abuse scandal may be Pope's defining moment

• Pope's brother: I hit choirboys

• Vatican secrecy ‘let abusers go unpunished’

A remarkably swift Vatican investigation concluded that Corporal Tornay had shot the commander and his wife and then turned his gun on himself after being passed over for a medal. However Tornay's relatives have challenged this. There have been unconfirmed reports of a homosexual background to the tragedy and the involvement of a fourth person who was never identfied.

Father Amorth, who has just published Memoirs of an Exorcist, a series of interviews with the Vatican journalist Marco Tosatti, said that the attempt on the life of Pope John Paul II in 1981 had been the work of the Devil, as had an incident last Christmas when a mentally disturbed woman threw herself at Pope Benedict XVI at the start of Midnight Mass, pulling him to the ground.

Father José Antonio Fortea Cucurull, a Rome-based exorcist, said that Father Amorth had "gone well beyond the evidence" in claiming that Satan had infiltrated the Vatican corridors.

"Cardinals might be better or worse, but all have upright intentions and seek the glory of God," he said. Some Vatican officials were more pious than others, "but from there to affirm that some cardinals are members of satanic sects is an unacceptable distance."

Father Amorth told La Repubblica that the devil was "pure spirit, invisible. But he manifests himself with blasphemies and afflictions in the person he possesses. He can remain hidden, or speak in different languages, transform himself or appear to be agreeable. At times he makes fun of me."

He said it sometimes took six or seven of his assistants to to hold down a possessed person. Those possessed often yelled and screamed and spat out nails or pieces of glass, which he kept in a bag. "Anything can come out of their mouths – finger-length pieces of iron, but also rose petals."

He said that hoped every diocese would eventually have a resident exorcist. Under Church Canon Law any priest can perform exorcisms, but in practice they are carried out by a chosen few trained in the rites.

Father Amorth was ordained in 1954 and became an official exorcist in 1986. In the past he has suggested that Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin were possessed by the Devil. He was among Vatican officials who warned that J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels made a "false distinction between black and white magic".

He approves, however, of the 1973 film The Exorcist, which although "exaggerated" offered a "substantially exact" picture of possession.

In 2001 he objected to the introduction of a new version of the exorcism rite, complaining that it dropped centuries-old prayers and was "a blunt sword" about which exorcists themselves had not been consulted. The Vatican said later that he and other exorcists could continue to use the old ritual.

He is the president of honour of the Association of Exorcists.

Ask a Former Calvinist

Extra Nos

Lastly, Brett's point about Election and the quote of Romans 8:28-30 is relevant, of which I thought about this morning. If justification has already occurred for all, outside of faith as OJ teaches, then justification has occurred prior to calling. This contradicts the chain of redemption passage, to wit... whom he foreknew, he predestined, whom he predestined, he called, whom he called, he justified...etc.

If people are justified already, then the order says, whom he predestined, he justified, whom he justified he calls.

Have you studied Calvinism yourself? In Calvinist theology, justification or being saved(along with regeneration) occurs prior to faith. What Walther said - saved to believe.

This is why I respectfully say - as an ex-Calvinist, the way UOJ/OJ is articulated and what it implies is really operating on the paradigm of Calvinism.

Calvinists equate justification with atonement, seeing that justification is particular and since the two are the same, pulls the atonement on the justification side, hence, they conclude atonement must be limited.

UOJ does the same above, but since atonement is universal and since it is equal to justification pulls justification to the side of atonement and hence, justification is universal.

The point I make and why I am in consternation is that UOJ is doing the same effectively as what Calvinism is doing.

I left Calvinism! I do not want to go back to its way of thinking.

LPC

ELCA - The Only Religion Left Is Green

I was speaking to a Jewish engineer once, and he said, "The only religion left is green." That was 20 years ago.

He might have said, "The only Left religion is green."

ELCA has proven that concept.

Lent and Easter, according to ELCA, are all about the environment!

Welcome to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Lenten e-mail series, Living Earth: A 40-day Reflection on our Relationship with God's Creation. This year’s theme, “Joining the Hymn of All Creation” reminds us that our relationship with our neighbors, our world, and all creatures, great and small, is a gift of communion given us by God from creation’s beginning. In Genesis we hear the call to “tend and keep” the earth (Genesis 2:15), but in our sin we have turned our backs on the call to be God’s stewards and have rejected the gift of living as part of one whole, healthy earth community. As Lutheran ethicist Larry Rasmussen notes “[w]e are most ourselves when we are most intimate with the rivers, mountains, forests, meadows, sun, moon, stars, air, soil, rocks, otherkind, and humankind.”[1]

ELCA has been unusually concerned with otherkind lately. And yet they overlook the nature-based argument against their latest policy change. They should spend more time down to the farm.

Humpty Dumpty As UOJ Theologian

The UOJ Enthusiasts have taken their cue from this literary figure:
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less."

See Extra Nos for evidence.

Mid-Week Lenten Service, Because We Are Not an Emerging Church, 7 PM Central

By Norma Boeckler


Mid-Week Lenten Vespers


Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

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

Bethany Lutheran Worship, 7 PM Central

The Hymn # 436 The Lord’s My Shepherd 1.3
The Order of Vespers p. 41
The Psalmody Psalm 23 p. 128
The Lection The Passion History

The Sermon Hymn #149 Come to Calvary’s 1.5

The Sermon – Confession and Betrayal

The Prayers
The Lord’s Prayer
The Collect for Grace p. 45

The Hymn #161 Hosanna 1.8



Confession and Betrayal

In the lesson for tonight, from The Lutheran Hymnal’s Passion Harmony, we have the contrast of confession and betrayal.

Overall the disciples display their human weakness in being afraid, timid, silent, and ready to run. That should not be alien to us, because we all go through the same experiences in various ways, especially in relationship to the faith.

The disciples were not lost to Jesus. They were strengthened and sent out after His resurrection and ascension. There is a difference between them and Judas.

Judas lost his faith altogether. Various motivations are offered for Judas, including his desire to force a Messianic battle between Jesus and the Romans. His secondary name “Iscariot” may be a clue. There was also a “Simon the Zealot.” A lot is made of those associations with the future revolt against Rome.

Such ideas make for interesting books, but no enough is known to say the disciples included potential members of the Zealot revolt. We do know the Jews clobbered the Romans in one battle, and that made them think they could drive Rome out of Israel. The final result, about 40 years after the resurrection, was the destruction of Jerusalem, followed by another revolt and destruction many decades later (Bar Kochba Revolt).

The key spiritual issue is the loss of faith by Judas. He became an unbeliever and betrayed Christ for some silver coins. Ever since the name of Judas has been associated with betrayal of a friend. Everyone knows a Judas is a someone who will betray his own friend for money.

A Judas goat is the animal trained to lead sheep up to the conveyance that will take them to the slaughterhouse. The Judas goat walks up the ramp and down again. The sheep walk up and wonder what happened to their friend the goat.

The disciples were weak in their faith, but that is true of us all. Weak in faith does not mean lacking in virtue, lacking in merit. It means not trusting God in all things. Jesus said, more than once, “O you of little faith!” And yet, even a weak faith receives the blessings of the Gospel.

Someone who is weak in faith may be strengthened by many different trials.

The worst are those when a supposed friend is willing to be a Judas for a better position in the church. Or that person may gain the approval of others for behaving that way. There is a reason we are compared to sheep so many times in the Scriptures. “All we like sheep have gone astray, each to his own way.”

If we give up on the Gospel because of the weakness of man, we are even weaker than those who seem to be belly-servers (Romans 16:25) at the time. The Gospel has such a powerful effect that the moment it takes root and provides a blessing to people, Satan rushes in to exterminate it and drive the flock away.

Wolves from the outside and the inside scatter and devour the flock. But there are remedies.

Church leaders are often wolves rather than shepherds. Their job is to drive the predators away from the flock and feed the flock with the Word. The Gospel Promises are the green pastures (Psalm 23) but the Word is also a sword and shield, protection against the evil foe.

Lupine leaders do not do their jobs. Oddly enough, the big, old, mainline churches call their leaders “bishop,” a good title, and fit them with a shepherd’s crook, a perfectly good symbol of the office. They parade as overseers (bishop in Greek) and shepherds (pastor in Latin) but they betray Christ in their daily conduct.

The ELCA and Episcopal bishops are busy suing their own brothers in the ministry, although some Episcopal bishops are willing to risk everything and leave their apostate group. No serving ELCA bishop has done this, so far.

The betrayal of those people over there should be no comfort to us over here. The same tendencies are found everywhere.

When people trust in gimmicks rather than the Gospel, is that not also a betrayal like that of Judas? When they silence anyone who questions their betrayal, is that any different from the leaders who shouted “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”?

There is an enormous gap between being weak in faith and showing our sinful timidity and being bold in denial of the truth. Those who deny the Gospel even while they claim the Gospel, are always bold, proud, stubborn, and unwilling to bend.

The weak in faith “tremble at God’s Word” instead of the bishop’s crook. They know their shortcomings and confess them. They ask for guidance. They seek and find comfort in the Word of God and His promise of forgiveness in Christ.

Jesus came to seek the lost, to heal the wounded, to lead His flock, those who hear His voice and rejoice at its sound. He knows His own and they know Him. He leads them to the paths of righteousness, through faith in Him.

UOJ Stormtroopers Downunder, Where Women Glow and Men Chunder

Extra Nos is the central meeting place for UOJ Stormtroopers. MDiv classmates Jay Webber (Little Sect on the Prairie) and Paul McCain (LCMS) are dodging issues about their peculiar opinions.

I need to find my loving pigs graphic again, where I show how Pietism unites UOJ, Church Growth, and Receptionism.

Needless to say, neither Paul nor Jay has ever done anything against Church Growth.

McCain supported the biggest church growth location near the Purple Palace, St. John Ellisville (The CORE of Missouri - yes, that bad) and Heresiarch Al Benke. But McCain rejoiced in pulling the rug out from under Robert Preus.

Jay had no trouble working with Shrinker Floyd Luther Stolzenburg via their Church Growth buddy Roger Kovaciny. Stolzenburg was kicked out of Missouri "for cause," forced to resign. The question was not "who and for how long" but "how many and what ages?" In truth, Webber was against working with Stolzenburg until Jay was on the receiving end of the money from that Masonic congregation.

When I asked an ELS list-serve about Floyd never helping with the pro-life counseling agency in Columbus, in spite of his record of meddling in everything else, the list-serve went nuts and shut down. Rule Number One - never ask a serious question in the Little Sect.

UOJ dissolves the conscience but sanctimony remains.

LP asked me why these people are having so much trouble about UOJ. One reason is their theological immaturity. They have not done any study since seminary and it shows. They are still at the repeat-after-me level of education, the goal of parochial schools.

Another reason is the construction of their house of cards. UOJ is a bundle of contradictions and evasions. When someone pulls away one little card (efficacy of the Word, Means of Grace, the work of the Holy Spirit), the UOJ palace falls down.

Book salesman Paul McCain is now so hyper that he lets loose against me, very ad hominem, on Facebook and goodness knows where else.

McCain likes to warn people, but he and Otten agreed on one thing - neither one worked secretly with the other to get Al Barry elected. Both denied it publicly after bragging about it to me. That would make Paul McCain a ...

Birds and Bugs

Starlings are beautiful, clever, and voracious eaters of bugs and weed seeds.

Cardinals are shy, favoring seeds to open with their powerful beaks.

Bluebirds are so cute that they
have people buying mealy worms for them to eat
and birdhouses to live in.
Arkansas hosts them year around.

Birds like to raise their young at a time when the bugs are going crazy in their reproductive cycle. The explosion of bugs provides a banquet for the next generation of birds. One could say the birds keep the insect population lower or the bugs make the bird population higher. The relationship is one more example of an infinite number of dependencies in Creation.

Mourning doves are seed-eaters. They make a milk out of seeds and feed that to their young.

A blend of food will attract the widest variety of bird species. Some foods enjoyed by foods include:

1. All seeds, but especially sunflower seeds.
2. Berries, fruit, citrus.
3. Suet.
4. Bread crumbs.
5. Food up on trays or near the ground. Many put the ground food somewhat above the ground, perhaps on a window screen, to keep it dry.

All birds want fresh water for drinking and bathing. Multiple baths will encourage more birds. Dripping water will entice them to come. A large container with a very slow drip will appeal to birds, who tune in to the sound of moving water.

A variety of plants will house, feed, and shelter birds. Every tree is a feeding station for birds.

A trashy yard is good for birds. They like long grass, quiet places for nesting, bushes, trees, bamboo, flowering plants, compost areas, branches on the ground, and dead trees. An ideal location includes a broad grassy area, woods, and water.

Meet the Hero of Composting

These look like red wigglers,
often sold commercially as fishing worms.

Earthworms are all muscle, so they are mostly protein. They grind up soil, digest dead organic matter, and produce perfect manure for potting soil. They are unique in having glands that produce calcium to sweeten the soil. They like sweet soil, and they make it sweeter. Almost all plants grow best in sweet soil, the exceptions being the acid-loving plants like hydrangeas and blueberries.

When earthworms die, they add nitrogen to the soil. While they live, they add it in the form of liquid and solid waste.

Thoroughly modern, they are bisexual, each one have a male and a female gland. They line up like elevens and later an earthworm egg rolls off the outside. Each egg contains many babies. The mature worms are quite fragile and die easily from heat, sunlight, or a lack of water. The eggs survive almost anything, so the spread of compost means the growth of the earthworm population.

The digging and tunneling of an earthworm is very important to the garden. Earthworms pull organic material down into the soil, digest it, and deposit their manure (called castings) in the soil or on top. Their castings are perfect for plant growth, so this must have been planned by the Creator. If not, the plants must be grateful for the cleverness of their vermicular friends. Who better to live near the roots than a guy who aerates the soil, builds tunnels for rainwater to seep down, fertilizes the soil, and leaves dozens of children to continue the work?

Many people make fun of the lowly work of the earthworm, but up to a million worms might be at work in a fertile acre of ground. They collectively move about a ton of soil a day, without damaging the growing plants. They deposit an enormous quantity of castings per year.

Charles Darwin studied earthworms for 40 years and gave them credit for burying ancient monuments by adding a little soil each year to the top. Sadly, he missed entirely the agricultural value of the earthworm.

One of the prevailing myths of gardening holds that sand added to clay soil will make the clay easier to work. Ha. The best addition to clay soil is compost, because compost will multiply the earthworm population and mix the humus material with the clay.

Clay soil is very high in minerals and ion exchange, so the addition of compost will make it the ideal medium for almost all plants, thanks to the earthworm.

Sandy soil will not hold water, stay in place, or support demanding plants like corn and pumpkins. Adding compost will mix humus in with the sand, thanks to earthworms. That will hold water in place, keep the soil from blowing away, and feed plants.

Finished composted will be dark, earthy smelling, and full of earth-worms. A compost pile will finish from the bottom up because of the soil creatures working their way up from the soil at the bottom.

Compost Yourself

This compost bin is simple and spacious but should be placed in the shade.

Brett Meyer asked for some material about composting, so I used a gag from Fraggle Rock. When the trash-heap got excited, they said, "Compost yourself."

A compost pile is made from a combination of soil and organic material, usually a mix of high nitrogen items (grass, rabbit manure, chicken manure, weeds) and low nitrogen items (wood shavings, dried leaves, cow manure). One item alone can be composted too, such as leaves, but the typical gardener will want to mix the elements to create a blend that will heat up, break down, and turn into compost soil for a wide variety of uses.

Nitrogen is the building block of all life, basic to protein. High nitrogen ingredients heat up and break down fast in compost, because one type of bacterial will attack it. The heating up tends to kill weed seeds and pathogens.

Various creatures are designed by God to eat and be eaten. For instance, damp compost materials will mold, and some creatures eat the mold. Others rush in to eat the mold-feeders. Many creatures live on rot while many others prey upon those specialists. The earthworm is the last to work on compost, because it cannot tolerate the heating up process.

The life cycle of a good compost pile follows the laws of Creation, with some help from man. The same things goes on all the time without us noticing it, but we can make tons of it on purpose:

1. Create a bin in deep shade with a circle of chicken wire. The bottom and top are left open. The open bottom rests on soil or grass, to speed the process.
2. Layers of leaves, grass, manure, and soil are tossed into the bin. Weeds are no problem. They are full of nitrogen and minerals for the heap. Manure is sanitized by the process and deodorized as well. I would never use dog or cat manure because of shared parasites.
3. Shade is important to keep the pile from drying out. Water is added to keep the dampness close to that of a sponge when rung out.
4. Soil adds beneficial creatures and bacteria.
5. Some aeration is good, but impractical as the help grows in size. In theory, a rotated heap will finish faster. There are tools to facilitate wrenching the back and creating blisters. Or, bamboo poles can be used to create air channels. I let earthworms do their job.
6. The bottom area is finished first and can be drawn out. The clue is the presence of earthworms. They will be busy digesting, adding sweetener to the soil, laying eggs and depositing their own manure. In almost-completed compost they multiply faster than Shrinkers in a dying synod.

Compost gardeners agree that there is never enough compost.

Compost does not have to be dug into the soil. Some people may want to do that because they think back-breaking work is good for the garden. Earthworms will pull the compost down into the top 12 inches of soil. Once that layer is full of compost, the remaining compost on top will act as mulch, protecting the plants from drying out and the invasion of weeds.

Compost has a wonderful earthy smell because of soil bacteria. Compost does not smell like garbage unless leftover food is dumped into the heap. That is a great idea for those who want to breed flies and other vermin.

We knew some city-Mennonites who ran to their "compost heap" and tossed the garbage in from a distance. They were doing it all wrong and likely attracted raccoons, rodents, and other creatures to the garbage pile.

Compost will necessarily spread earthworm eggs to every part of the garden. Red wigglers (which have a lot of names) are the best for this and can be purchased. Dew worms, which are larger and not so red, will also do a good job. The sign of rich garden soil is one earthworm per shovel of soil.

We have composted rabbit manure with soil and had a teaming mass of worms in every shovel. We called it Rabbit-Gro. Mrs. Ichabod thought of placing children's swimming pools under the cages, catching the manure and feeding the earthworms in the soil below. I was the gardener, so I was expected to be shovel-ready at all times.

Another way to create compost on the spot is to place a heavy layer of organic material around plants as mulch. I have used fresh lawn clippings for sweet corn, leaves, newspapers, spoiled hay, and ground up trees. Midland provided free sawdust from their tree removal projects, and I used that around the bushes and other plants. Wood uses up nitrogen at first and then releases it, so it has to be used the right way. I would not mulch a corn patch with sawdust.

After Herman Otten read the Wormhaven book, he used extra copies of Christian News to mulch his new trees. Mulch holds soil moisture in while providing shade for earthworms to work. They hate the sun but like coming up under a moist and shady canopy. Lift up old rotten wood and you will find worms. Leave a stack of newspapers on top of soil and earthworms will gather under it.

The emphasis on rot can promote slugs. One solution is to raise ducks. They seem to be one of the few slug-eaters on the planet. I have had slugs but they never became a problem. They would come up onto a few plants from the mulch and also hide under the cover I placed over some compost. I used an old rug for shade, so slugs rested on the shady side of that rug.

Roses, Suet, Birds, and Squirrels

Sunflower by Norma Boeckler

I received suet for Christmas, and that lasted until March. If I had put out just one bag at a time, it would have lasted all year. I got my reward when the grandchildren watched birds perching on the suet right against the picture window facing the ravine.

Bird watching is so much fun, and easily funded. We saw an impressive inside cage setup at the Mayo Clinic, and I was tempted. Common sense set in and I realized God could do most of the work better and at a lower cost.

Suet is a bargain bird food. A little goes a long way, and suet favors the insect eaters. Like friends who show up whenever they smell baking, the birds will appear for the snack and stay for the real food - insects. We have had cardinals, bluebirds, starlings, juncos, and others feeding. I added Nyjer seed to attract finches in the near future.

I added two birdbaths for another low-cost bird feature. The main bath is a ceramic dish, $7, sitting on a cinder block near the suet. Birds need fresh water more than they need food, so the combination multiplies the bird population.

Mrs. Ichabod enjoys seeing the birds feeding from the kitchen window, so I have one bag of suet hanging in a bush near the kitchen. Birds are territorial, so that allows the front yard birds to enjoy some extra food. I now see cardinals more frequently in the front yard. They are a shy bird, so having one peak in the chapel window is a bonus for providing a little extra care. I will probably set up some water in the front yard too.

I have found that a $100 birdbath will clog up just as fast as a cheap one, so I would rather Go Galt and use the cheapest materials. I used ceramic because Sassy ate one third of a plastic birdbath. They should study the digestive track of a Cattle Dog.

I feed corn to the squirrels each day, and that keeps them away from the bird food. The grandchildren loved seeing the squirrel sitting at his meal, from the dining room window, when they sat down for theirs. He does not even run when I come out on the back deck. He knows I would have to jump from the deck, wait for the broken bones to heal, crawl over to his tree, and struggle getting up - to even be a threat.

When I get compost going, that will also attract birds. The final stage of compost is riddled with earthworms doing a final mix and laying their eggs, so birds love to hang around for a quick protein meal. Compost will be useful for the roses.

I met with the altar guild and decided to go wholesale on flowers - grow my own. Thus empowered and enabled, I ordered some aromatic roses from Wayside Gardens. I was disappointed in the offerings at Jackson and Perkins and unable to find some of my previous suppliers. Wayside is a great catalog, a favorite of mine along with Dutch Gardens. I almost ordered some tender bulbs but decided roses would be the best purchase, bloom for bloom. I will have enough to share with the entire street (two other homes).

Roses enjoy garlic or chives as a companion plant. Rosarians swear that garlic improves the aroma of a rose while keeping bugs away. The more pungent the garlic, the better.

Garlic is also a good herbal for blood pressure and the immune system. Fresh garlic carried by every Roman soldier may be the secret behind their amazing success in war, why enemies fled before them.

Out of the Closet at Extra Nos

The UOJ salesmen are coming out of the closet at Extra Nos.

This is my basic plan for the Justification by Faith book:
1. Efficacy of the Word.
2. Enthusiasm.
3. Pietism.
4. Justification by Faith.

More will probably be involved, but those are the basic divisions. I am finishing three online classes at once, so I will have more time now. God willing, the draft will be available later in March.

WELS Schools in Serious Trouble

The Sausage Factory at Mequon has plenty of cash,
thanks to bequests.
The profs love every doctrine, except Luther's.

The Shrinkers snuffed out Northwestern College in the name of saving money. Now Martin Luther College is going down. The Watertown campus began as the seminary, evolved into the college and prep school, and now exists as Luther Prep - after absorbing the Shrinker experiment at Prairie du Chien, now a prison.

The Wauwatosa campus of WELS had a wonderful Addams Family look, and the ghosts still haunt its eclectic doctrine.

Michigan Lutheran Seminary is the canary in the coal mine.

GJ - This just in - the WELS synodical schools are in serious financial shape.

Michigan Lutheran Seminary is the worst, bled dry by the Gurgle-Mueller dynasty, their recruitment based on "No, we are not going to close next year." An auto-based economy does not help the district, nor does the location of the school.

Ex-SP Gurgle, who is now the campaign manager for Kudu Don Patterson in Texas, blew $30 million on closing Northwestern College, spiffing up Dr. Martin Luther College a bit (removing the "Dr."), and giving away the Prairie campus.

The Watertown campus got a facelift. Some say that the old Toppe regime made it look like a WWII barracks, but no one said it was going to close in those days. Northwestern College in Watertown had a unique identity in being focused on getting men ready to become seminary students. Merging with DMLC, based on a host of lies, was like getting a big shot of estrogen. The coursework was feminazified, languages weakened, and Church Growth fanned into flames. The Watertown profs did not like CG, but MLC is hotter than Georgia asphalt for it.

Can college students get jobs in New Ulm? That was another great move. How do they afford a $60,000 education with no jobs?

Most likely:

1. Michigan Lutheran Seminary will close.
2. Luther Prep will close.
3. Martin Luther College will close.

Meanwhile, millions are spent on weak world missionary efforts scattered around the globe, to make WELS look international. The same visionaries shut down their original efforts among the Apaches. That's right - in the name of saving money.

Plus - WELS has blown $500,000 or so on The CORE, with no discipline for the miscreants involved.

I expect another version of The CORE to erupt soon, since WELS learns nothing from experience.

---

bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "WELS Schools in Serious Trouble":

You wrote: "This just in - the WELS synodical schools are in serious financial shape."

How solid is this information? What constitutes "serious"? "Serious" is relative, just as a recession is when my neighbor gets laid off, and a depression is when I'm laid off.

MLS is so small, I don't think it could withstand another layoff. I could imagine mass lay-offs at Luther Prep and MLC, but closing either one seems far-fetched.

New Ulm is being helped out by the Schroeder stimulus program--building the new chapel. I think the MLC chapel dedication is still on for Apr 10+11:
http://www.mlc-wels.edu/home/about/webcams/chapup20100223/

***

GJ - I should tell you my sources to prove how solid? Solid. And it all makes sense. The new pledges were lower than last year's. Idiots run the government, pressing for a $1 trillion dollar program when layoffs continue. I see another drop coming, a W recesssion, they call it.

It's a bad sign when WELS adds a building to a campus.

Chris Jackson Reports ELCA Income in the Tank

News Releases


ELCA NEWS SERVICE
March 8, 2010

Despite Challenges, ELCA Churchwide Organization had Net Income in '09
10-083-JB

(Updated)

ITASCA, Ill. (ELCA) -- Despite the financial challenges of 2009, much of it the result of the downturn in the U.S. economy, the churchwide organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) finished the year with net income of $3.9 million.

Christina Jackson-Skelton, ELCA treasurer, reported to the ELCA Conference of Bishops meeting here that current operating income to the churchwide organization in 2009 was $76.5 million, down nearly $7 million from the previous year. Current operating funds expenses were $72.6 million, down by $7.6 million from the previous year. The ELCA's 2009 fiscal year ended Jan. 31.

The ELCA Conference of Bishops is an advisory body of the church, consisting of the ELCA's 65 synod bishops plus the presiding bishop and ELCA secretary. It is meeting here March 4-9.

A key reason for the reduced income was a decrease in mission support to the churchwide organization to $59.7 million, a historic low. Mission support funds are shared by congregations with synods, which commit a percentage of their funds for churchwide ministries.

Jackson-Skelton reported that in 2009 mission support income was reduced by 64 synods, 53 with decreases of greater than 5 percent, and 19 of those with decreases exceeding 10 percent.

***

GJ - I can imagine another reason for ELCA income reaching a new low. Their figures do not even account for inflation. It's even worse than they admit. Twenty years ago, they aimed at $130 million.

This Chris Jackson is not Mrs. Ichabod, as you probably guessed, but I enjoy using the name for ELCA's bad news.

Lower income means fewer false teachers infecting America.

Good Testimony on Obama's Cuban Health Plan

Click here.

ELCA Partners with Missouri and Just About Everyone Else

Rev. David Eck

Asheville, North Carolina, United States

I'm an ordained Evangelical Lutheran Church in America [ELCA] pastor who serves Abiding Savior Lutheran Church in Fairview, NC, and has been with my partner, Gary, for 16 years.

Controversial Firing of Principal in Baraboo

So! You criticized Archbishop Weakland's sermon
at Wisconsin Lutheran College? You have broken fellowship
with Holy Mother WELS.

Story


Sauk County's Daily Newspaper

Monday, March 8, 2010

St. John's to vote on principal's future: Parents offer Hartwig support

By Christie Taylor / News Republic


Members of the congregation at St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Baraboo will decide the fate of the principal of the parochial school, John Hartwig, whose employment might be terminated following a vote later this month, though some parents are protesting that firing Hartwig would be unjust.

Church leaders announced to the congregation in mid-February that Hartwig would undertake a voluntary leave of absence to study doctrine. Then, in a letter to school parents Tuesday, church pastors announced Hartwig’s suspension, "for promoting materials" questioning the church’s teachings, and "conduct unbecoming a called worker."

Because Hartwig is not "at one" with the practice of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, the letter states, he cannot serve as principal at the school, and the church council is recommending that his position be terminated.

The congregation’s male members will be asked to vote in a special meeting on the 21st.

***

GJ - I have no details at the moment so I cannot shed any light on the reasons. Normally they just sandbag a church worker before anyone can find out. Holy Mother WELS is never wrong, so instant shunning sets in. However, prevenient shunning warns him that someone has already decided his guilt and passed the word.

Note that Becker, Stroh, Kelm, Ski, Glende, Doebler, Gunn and many more are still fully employed, leaving many to conclude that something is rotten in the State of Denmark.

Good Discussion on Extra Nos

Sasse, not to be confused with Sassy.
Fuller grads need some extra help in theology.

Extra Nos has a good discussion on Universal Objective Justification. LP Cruz is good at sorting out arguments because he comes from a non-Lutheran background. He is analytical, fair, and patient.

Many Lutheran clergy think they know non-Lutheran doctrine because they remember a few slogans from their MDiv classes. Since they repeat these slogans to one another, they think they know Protestant doctrine.

I thought WELS was bad with their repeat-after-me doctrinal classes, but Missouri is just as bad. Making no intellectual progress, 20 years after graduation, is nothing to brag about.

This verse alone defeats UOJ:

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 UOJ Stormtroopers would have us believe that everyone in the world is justified, forgiven, absolved. How can the wrath of God remain on those who are justified, forgiven, and absolved?

What keeps a UOJ Stormtrooper from infidelity? Nothing.
He is already forgiven.

Directions for OpenID

Sassy in Sedona

Directions for using OpenID are here. Note - DMins should ask someone to read the directions to them and help them with the keyboarding.

Anyone with a blog account, and that includes Sassy, can use that for OpenID.