If the Bride Marries the Spirit of This Age, She May Be Left at the Altar

The bad timing award goes to Mark and Avoid Jeske, for obtaining RSO status in the Missouri Synod,
just in time for his suitor to be chased out of town.


LutherRocks has left a new comment on your post "Book of Concord Study":

I just posted this...not sure if it will see the light of day over there...

Pastor Rydecki and the Intrepid Lutherans...I see five names in the mast head of this blog. Seems Pastor Rydecki has been left hung out to dry and by his post of 8:32pm, 11-12-10 and all previous posts concerning justification. He looks like a leaf twisting in the wind. He is trying to make a gallant effort and yet I am having trouble discerning just where he stands as well as the rest of you.

"Things won't be solved in the synod by us at IL. If we can bring some of these issues to light to be further discussed at conferences and in congregations, we will have done all we're able to do."

I was actually hoping and praying for the opposite. This seems like a cop out. I am disappointed.

I have a couple of sayings that are quite apropos that most Lutherans can relate to that pertain here: Fish or cut bait.

But the Bible always has the last Word...

Revelation 3:14-16
14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;

15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.

16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

JK

Classmates Who Have Died: Lessons To Learn

From Bad Vestments - that is a doggie on the bishop's crozier.


We are working on our 45th high school reunion. Many of those friends have already died. One classmate from an earlier year died right after his reunion.

Leo had a bad heart and died young. Don died of cancer. Randy died in Viet Nam when an ammo dump exploded. Mickey died of asthma. Bruce, our best friend at Yale, who had two earned doctorates from Yale Medical, died of cancer.

Having two disabled daughters quickly changed my perspective. Both girls had so many crises that no one could deny the inevitable was always close at hand, especially since their weakness increased.

That makes me wonder about pastors and laity who have prominent roles in the Church and use their time on earth to trade their birthright for a small bowl of lentil soup. Being chairman of the camping committee must look good to them. Some clergy long for the bishop's crozier and the perks. Perhaps the camping committee is that important first step.

Bored made the point that pastors may think that the synod's position is orthodoxy. That would be true for those trained not to think but to conform. I doubt whether everyone is so thoroughly brainwashed. Deception eventually becomes complete self-deception, and that leads to atheism.

My opinions and predictions do not matter, and I do not care if people agree with me.

What does matter is the confession of truth we leave behind us when we are gone. The Word of God lasts forever, even when everything else has passed away. How strange that this generation clings to the ephemera of titles, honors, and money while letting go of the revealed truth of God's Word.

When Valleskey gave his absurd and deceitful essay on Church Growth in 1992, the Ohio pastors loved it and paid him for it. Three of us objected at the time, and all three were pushed out of the ministry or decided to leave behind the lying adulterers. Valleskey became the Sausage Factory president after that, so his elevation involved more than the cowardice and doctrinal ignorance of the Ohio Conference, WELS.

That was 18 years ago, but I do not see anyone relishing their great victory. The money they worshiped was taken away from them, and their institutions began to rot under them from the net effect of corruption, error, deceit, and cover-ups.

Eternal life is provided by the eternal Word, not by the schemes and gimmicks of man. Any dummy can become a DP, especially when the job description involves forgetting, not knowing, and mumbling incoherently. "Apt to teach" is the description they deliberately undermine, and they do not tolerate anyone who is.

Some people are starting to treasure the Gospel which the charlatans have been stealing away from them, bit by bit.

Another Glende - Tim's Little Brother - The Work of Columbus WELS and Floyd Luther Stolzenburg

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Join Us for a Special Sunday!

Dear Friends,


No one should walk through life alone. That’s why this Sunday is a going to be a special day at Victory of the Lamb. At our regular 9:30 service at Showtime Cinema we’re going to be installing our new part-time pastor, Andy Glende, and we want to invite you to be there for it. We’ve called Pastor Andy and given him the responsibility to help make sure that in our church family “no one walks alone.”

You see, God has been really good to Victory of the Lamb over the past couple of years. By the grace of God I’ve seen us grow from a small group of less than 10 people to a community of over 150 people from all different backgrounds. By the grace of God many of these people are people who didn’t grow up going to church, weren’t Christians, or haven’t been connected to a church in a long time. That’s amazing! I’m talking about people who’ve now been baptized, people who’ve been confirmed after going through Bible 101-301 classes wherever we could meet, people who I first met going door to door or at one of our community events like Hallepalooza!, Soccer Bible Camp, or Christmas for Kids.

And now together we’re learning more about Jesus each week and how we can continue to share His victory with our community. Our Sunday morning Bible Quest kids’ ministry is thriving. Our new Quest teen group has gotten off to a great start. And even as I type this out, there are some awesome “victory stories” going on in some of your lives and so I’m pumped to get to play an ongoing part in them!

So as a church we praise God for all these blessings! Yet at the same time we recognize that we’re at a bit of a crossroads. We’re at that point where it could be all too easy for us to become comfortable and complacent. Like every church we also face the trap of becoming inwardly focused on what we want instead of outwardly focused on what others need—the gospel. Like every church we face the danger of losing our love for the people in our community who don’t know Christ.

But we’re not going to let that happen! And that’s why we’re so excited about bringing Pastor Andy on board. Our people are important. Pastor Andy is going to do all that he can in 25 hours a week to get our people connected not only to God’s Word but also to each other because God doesn’t want anyone to walk alone. And so we want to help everyone get connected and grow in their faith so that even as our church keeps growing bigger, it’ll stay feeling small. And that’s what Pastor Andy’s going to do as he gathers small groups in their living rooms, around their kitchen tables, and in other places around town where we can meet and grow together.

Then also I’m going to stay focused on furthering the outreach mission of our church, teaching Bible 101-301 classes, preaching, worship planning, and helping new people meet Jesus by taking the time meet them where they are.

In one of my favorite books in the Bible, the New Testament book of Acts, we get a glimpse of how the first Christians practically lived their faith. They met regularly in public and in people’s homes. They were devoted to God’s Word. They enjoyed meals together and prayed. They showed their love for each other in practical, concrete ways. “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47). And that’s finally what we’re all about at Victory of the Lamb!

So you are invited! Join us this Sunday morning at 9:30 am at Showtime Cinema here in Franklin. Come early to enjoy some free coffee and treats in the lobby and to register your kids ages 1-10 for Bible Quest. We’d love to see you there!

In Jesus,

Pastor Ben 

Studying the Scriptures - Start with the Fourth Gospel

Jesus healing the blind man, by Norma Boeckler

Sometimes people read through the Bible by starting at Genesis and lose interest. The purpose of the Scriptures is to convey Christ to us. As Luther said, the Bible holds Jesus the way a cradle holds a baby.

Therefore, the entire Bible is one, unified truth, the Book of the Holy Spirit. The culmination of the Gospel message can be found in the Gospel of John, which unifies Matthew, Mark, and Luke by providing the sermons of Jesus and additional material not found in the Synoptic Gospels.

The Gospel of John assumes knowledge of the first three Gospels. As great as they are in their own way, the Fourth Gospel is even better.

John has the simplest Greek, the simplest language. The best way to learn Greek, Latin, French, or Spanish is to read John in that language, translating the known (and often repeated words) and guessing the rest. Grammatical knowledge is derived from use, so most of those mothball-smelling terms can be abandoned. (I never say to myself when writing, "It's time for a conditional clause, and why not add a contrary to fact statement.")

John was not only close to Jesus. His Gospel reveals a closeness to Judaism (references to the Exodus and the Burning Bush) and to the events. The narrative betrays an eye-witness who modestly called himself, "the disciple Jesus loved." I noticed that just as much in Latin as in Greek. Outside the empty tomb, when Jesus says "Mary" and she responds "Master!" at the sound of his voice, I get goosebumps.

Because John integrates the first three Gospels, the content of the Fourth Gospel should be studied with special attention. The traditional symbol of John is the eagle, because that Gospel soars above the rest. That is even expressed in the repetition of terms. A phrase like "bread of life" is used repeatedly, with more meaning added each time.

John is also poetic, easy to memorize. The words are simple but the message is profound, with many passages worth a day's meditation.

John's timeline is the most accurate. He alone shows a three-year ministry for Jesus. I am not saying the first three Gospels are in error. They are preaching pericopes. The Biblical authors were not journalists--thank heavens--so the Holy Spirit did not have them write biographies.

John's geography is quite accurate.

The earliest fragment of a Gospel is from John, showing the Gospel was written and in circulation rather early. I am not convinced that a scrap can be dated, but those who think so believe the Rylands Fragment is the earliest. I always look for the copyright.

Most importantly, John's Gospel features:

1. The "I AM" sermons, which reflect the I AM of the Burning Bush, the Angel of the Lord (pre-incarnation Son of God).
   
2. The Little Gospel, John 3:16.
   
3. Water turned into wine.
   
4. Jesus and the woman at the well.
   
5. The Bread of Life.
   
6. The Keystone Kops chapter of the Bible. This is the funniest chapter of the entire Bible, John 9, where the Pharisees are portrayed as bumbling Keystone Kops from the silent films.
   
7. The Good Shepherd in John 10.

The fanatics cannot find their precious UOJ, because no book of the Bible is clearer about justification by faith alone. Forgiveness of sin only comes through faith and never precedes faith. John is certainly the capstone of the four Gospels, and the central book in content among all the books of the Bible. Why did the Holy Spirit move the Apostle John to write his Gospel late in life? KJV John 20:30 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book: 31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His Name.

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