Monday, April 30, 2012

Look Up Paul McCain's $150,000+ Salary at CPH.
Now We Know He Is Not a Pastor.
His Benefits ($30,000+) Are More Than Most Parish Salaries




Jojakim Dettmann (Random_layman)
Senior Member
Username: Random_layman

Post Number: 2794
Registered: 5-2006

Posted on Monday, April 30, 2012 - 8:02 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

Here is the link:
http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2010/430/225 /2010-430225230-07c6a08f-9.pdf

You may need to register & login to guidestar to view the link.

I'm glad they made money in the stock market. And that the vending machine in the cafeteria made $2,524. I'm surprised there are 317 employees. That is a lot.

Page 22 out of 36 features the compensation packages of Bruce Kintz, Jon Schultz, & fellow LQ-er Paul McCain. It reminds me of how one can look up the salaries of 1800s era Lutheran professors on Google Books. Except those old records didn't report how they all had to work 50 hours a week.

I'm really glad that I didn't have to do CPH's taxes. Ugh. That would give me a real headache.


Rick Strickert (Carlvehse)
Senior Member
Username: Carlvehse

Post Number: 3199
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Tuesday, May 01, 2012 - 12:27 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post


Not counting the executive pay (Part IX., line 5) for the President and Vice-President, the remaining 315 CPH employees had FY2010 salaries and wages (Part IX., line 7) of $8,030,700. This number is equivalent to an average annual salary or wage of $25,500 or about $12.75/hr for a full-time employee (2,000 hrs/yr).

If one assumes half the employees work half-time, the average annual full-time-equivalent salary or wage is $34,000 or about $17.00/hr.

For comparison, here's a Bureau of Labor Statistics list of the July 2010 mean (average) hourly earnings for various occupations in St. Louis.

Another WELS Staffer Plea Bargains - Piepenbrink Pleads Guilty To Seven Felonies, Sentencing Set For July - Inver Grove Heights, MN Patch.
Two WELS Plea Bargains in a Row - UOJ!



Piepenbrink Pleads Guilty To Seven Felonies, Sentencing Set For July - Inver Grove Heights, MN Patch:


Fifty-two-year-old former Shepherd of the Hills Church pastor Leon Piepenbrink pleaded guilty to seven counts of theft by swindle in a Dakota County court Friday morning.

A jury trial for Piepenbrink was initially scheduled to begin May 7 but Friday's plea changes the circumstances of the case. Now, sentencing is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. on July 17.

Piepenbrink's plea came just eight days after Judge Edward Lynch ruled that a conversation in which he allegedly told Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) colleagues he falsified documents and took $62,500 was indeed an admission of guilt.

Police say the former pastor used church funds for personal items including bulletproof glass, a gun and a home security system to protect himself from a violent Hmong gang.

Piepenbrink's attorney, Kenneth Ubong Udoibok, has long held that the alleged conversation took place in a confessional format and was thus, inadmissible in court.

Udoibok told Patch in an Apr. 19 statement: "We take the position that Minn. Statute 595.02 applies and also all the privileges therein ... but [Wednesday] the court ruled that the confession does not apply. It is troubling, to say the least."

According to a Pioneer Press article, authorities are now alleging Piepenbrink's misappropriation hovered closer to $300,000.

Each of the offenses against Piepenbrink carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

While Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom initially sought 23 months in prison for Piepenbrink, it is unclear if he will ask the judge for a harsher penalty prior to sentencing.


'via Blog this'

Brett Meyer Is Ordering His Copies of Hunnius



Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post ""Scales Will Fall from Your Eyes" - Theses Opposed...":

Huber made the situation worse by accusing his colleagues of Calvinism when they did not assent to his theological opinions

A pathetic tactic used by old, new and reconverted Huberites today!

Just ordered my first copies from Amazon. Years ago I gave my copy of Thy Strong Word to DP Buchholz - I should do the same with one of these copies.






Not the Bible, but the New NIV says "all have sinned"
and "all are justified."
The second "all" was donated by billionaire R. Murdoch,
who needs absolution for his many crimes.


---

LPC has left a new comment on your post ""Scales Will Fall from Your Eyes" - Theses Opposed...":

It is typical of their father below.

Huber accused those who disagreed with him of Calvinism.

His descendants do the same; notice how UOJers and prodigal UOJers accuse us of Calvinism each time we oppose their theory based on philosophy and rationalism.

Notice how they cry the mantra, ahh but you are not looking at this "objectively" etc etc.

They need artificial categories of objective and subjective justification because that is typical when one is introducing an invented and false idea. The idea is not Scriptural, but it is a figment of one's imagination. Pentecostal enthusiasts have lots of these imaginations but UOJers' errors are far worse because their erroneous invention touches upon the heart of the Christian faith, Justification.

LPC

***

GJ - UOJ Enthusiasts will still say "justification by faith," but they mean faith in universal absolution, so they are really asking people to affirm Universalism, the religion of the mainline denominations, the dogma of the World Council of Churches and the National Council of Churches.

---

Pastor emeritus Nathan Bickel has left a new comment on your post "Brett Meyer Is Ordering His Copies of Hunnius":

I've read in the Psalms that "God is angry with the wicked every day." [Psalm 7:11] I've also read about the wicked and righteous in Psalm 1.

Furthermore, I've also read about the "natural man" in 1 Corinthians 2:14:

"But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." [1 Corinthians 2:14 – KJV]

Looking at the quotations of J.P. Meyer, it seems apparent that he ignores the whole operation of the Holy Spirit in bringing the wicked, - the "natural man" to faith.

What DP Buchholz apparently states in his JP Meyer critique is, essentially the same that J. P. Meyer stated in these Ichabod highlighted quotes. Such foolishness lulls the soul into a false Gospel; a false sense of security and a false belief, because such teaching makes faith a non element and kicks the Holy Spirit to the exit door.

Nathan M. Bickel - pastor emeritus

www.thechristianmessage.org
www.moralmatters.org

***

GJ - Nathan, I am willing to bet you $300,000 (the Piepenbrink gambit) that you are right, and I will raise you one extra synod office building, slightly used and in need of fumigation.

Looking for Some Honest Reviews of Hunnius



I am waiting to get my copy of the Hunnius book.

I have heard all the arguments about UOJ. In fact, I have copied all their favorite absolution-without-faith quotations. The UOJ Enthusiasts like to cite their authorities. This is a chance for them to examine an author from the age immediately follow Luther's lifetime.

If Walther, with a four-year degree from a rationalistic university, was an expert on all things Lutheran, how much more was Hunnius, who was trained in the Age of Lutheran Orthodoxy and known for his faithful work?

Instead of raising an atheist son, as the WELS experts in evangelism, Hunnius raised a another remarkable scholar, Nick, who wrote Diaskepsis Theologica.

I am looking forward to book reviews of Hunnius, by:

  • Tim Glende
  • Uncle John Brug
  • DP Buchholz
  • Rolf Preus or any other Preus kin
  • Jack Cascione
  • Pope Paul the Plagiarist (no cheating this time!)
  • Jack Kilcrease (no erasing this time!)
  • Jim Pierce

The reviews should touch upon these quotations and why they are NOT repudiations of UOJ:





I will be glad to post any reviews of Hunnius.

"Scales Will Fall from Your Eyes" - Theses Opposed to Huberianism: A Defense of the Lutheran Doctrine of Justification.


AC V has left a new comment on your post "Philosophical Terms Are Not Necessary And Can Be H...":

Get it:


Scales will fall from your eyes.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1475186541/ref=tsm_1_fb_lk


Theses Opposed to Huberianism: A Defense of the Lutheran Doctrine of Justification [Paperback]

Aegidius Hunnius


From the Intrepid Lutherans:


Here's the publisher's book description from Amazon:

Aegidius Hunnius (1550–1603) was among the “Champions of Lutheran Orthodoxy” who served on the faculty of the University of Wittenberg and was one of the early signers of the Formula of Concord. During his service at Wittenberg, he was also superintendent, and oversaw the visitation of the churches of Saxony, coauthoring the Saxon Visitation Articles (1592). In this work, Hunnius contends with the theology of Samuel Huber (1547–1624), a former Calvinist who was called to the University of Wittenberg in 1592. After arriving in Wittenberg, Huber introduced his own novel terminology and theology which put him at odds with the Formula of Concord and his fellow professors. Huber made the situation worse by accusing his colleagues of Calvinism when they did not assent to his theological opinions. In this book, Hunnius refutes Huber's errors regarding the doctrine of justification; as Hunnius wrote in the dedication to this work, “we propose ... not only to wash away the charges he has made, but especially to refute his shameful errors concerning the eternal election and predestination to eternal life, not only of the children of God, but also of the children of the devil (that is, all the impenitent); similarly, his errors concerning the universal justification of all men—of unbelievers no less than believers; concerning also the regeneration of hypocrites in Baptism, which is said to be conferred on them in that very act of treachery and impiety.”



***

GJ - Hunnius in Wikipedia.

Philosophical Terms Are Not Necessary And Can Be Harmful in Biblical Doctrine


Leonard Woods Junior
Here's your Calvinist inventor of Objective and Subjective Justification.
He was a superstar and translated Knapp's Halle University dogmatics book,
which summarized Knapp's lecture content.
Stephan studied at Halle, and Walther learned UOJ from Stephan.
Biography in Wikipedia.

Biography of Leonard Woods, Senior and Junior - 1911 Encyclopedia.

Luther was wary of wedding Biblical theology to ancient philosophy. Melanchthon loved philosophy. As I recall, he published an edition of Aristotle shortly after Luther died.

Luther could argue Medieval philosophical theology with the best. See his Galatians Commentary for an example. However, his writing never depended upon it. Paul did the same thing with eloquence. He could showboat when needed but eschewed it.

Melanchthon and Chemnitz kept the philosphical terms under control, but the later orthodox theologians got more involved with complicated Latin terms. Some think this tendency spawned Pietism, because divinity students were taught to have philosophical arguments instead of studying the Bible.

Spener and his followers were radical in introducing Biblical studies and people flocked to them. Walther joined a Pietistic cell group that drifted over to Martin Stephan's cell group ministry, once the earlier leader moved away and died within the year.

Walther and Pieper introduced a Talmudic approach to theology at Concordia Seminary. F. Pieper is a good example of the mummification of Waltherian theory. There seems to be a Latin term for everything, with various sub-divisions, detours, and dead ends.

The Talmud gets Jewish readers so far away from the original text that no time is spent on God's Word, but much is spent with what various people said about various people addressing some of the original scholars.

This nonsense comes from seminary students never learning the Means of Grace,
never trusting in the Gospel.


Subjective and Objective Are Philosophical Terms
No one can find "objective" and "subjective" justification in the Bible or the Book of Concord. Even the UOJ Enthusiasts admit that the Bible only speaks of justification by faith. The Book of Concord never mentions this mysterious "objective justification," because the term and the concept were foreign to Luther and the Concordists.

UOJ was around, at least from Samuel Huber's time. He was semi-converted Calvinist who taught at Wittenberg until the faculty rejected the very concept that Jay Webber and David Valleskey champion - a universal declaration of forgiveness, without the Word, without the Means of Grace, without faith.

P. Leyser rebuked Huber, and Leyser was an editor of the Book of Concord. No one is forgiven without faith in Christ.

Strangely, Walther did not introduce double-justification, but he adopted it later, as the English terms drifted across the Atlantic and lodged in German theological literature. Walther saw the double-justification terms and solemnly decared, "It is good."

Walther and Pieper had a nifty system for locking students into thetical, philosophical statements. By the time they graduated, they had more answers than questions. My tentative theory, borrowed from a researcher, is that Walther generated the election controversy to back up his UOJ scheme. That way he could accuse everyone of false doctrine without dealing with the content of the Book of Concord.

Do the UOJ fanatics deal with the Scriptures and Confessions? No, they go back to their OJ and SJ, and quickly yell "intuitu fidei." If they are Mequon graduates, they may write that as Inuit Fidei, as Glende did. Can they even explain that concept? They do not need to, because that is the response.

One good test of doctrine is whether the concept can be communicated in a simple, easy to understand way, so that child-like faith can grasp it. But UOJ is just the opposite. When the Lutheran Talmudists are done, the audience says, "Your kidding." (Remember, they are WELS, so don't knock the spelling.)

Make a decision for UOJ.




Romans 4:24? Romans 4?
Bueller? Bueller? Anyone?
UOJ and Church Growth go together like ketchup and french fries.
Luther said the same thing, in various ways,
but who was he compared to Walther,
the devoted follower of the syphilitic bishop?
---

quercuscontramalum (http://quercuscontramalum.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Philosophical Terms Are Not Necessary And Can Be H...":

The quote from WELS Stewardship gets my goat. "If God's people aren't regularly using their talents at worship, should it really be called worship?"

Oh, really?

Ps51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

***

GJ - When I see garbage like that from synodical pets, it makes me laugh, because those individuals are just dying to prove they went to Fuller, Trinity Divinity, and Willow Creek.

Giving Away the PDF Download on Facebook - Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant



Free PDF download of the book - Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant -

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5009355/jackson_catholic_luther_prot_pdf.pdf

That Will Teach the Congregation To be Dual-Rostered Like Many ELCA Congregations


"ELCA-Episcopal and ELCA-Catholic and ELCA-Reformed
congregations are OK, but not ELCA-LCMC.
For that we extend the Left Foot of Fellowship."

Source - Pastor Barnhardt:

ST MARK'S LUTHERAN CHURCH, MARION IOWA REMOVED FROM ELCA BECAUSE OF DUAL MEMBERSHIP

We received a message earlier today from a member of St. Mark's Lutheran Church.
Here is a copy of a letter sent out by the council president and the pastor.


Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

As you know, the church council has been in continuing conversations with Bishop Michael Burk regarding our denominational affiliation. It has been and continues to be our desire to keep you up to date. We were informed yesterday that on Saturday, April 21, the Southeast Iowa ELCA Synod Council removed St. Mark’s congregation from the roster of ELCA churches. St. Mark’s remains a Lutheran church, our building remains the property of St. Mark’s, and our congregation’s mission continues as before. We neither celebrate nor grieve the synod’s actions, but we desire to listen to those who may be hurting or confused as a result of these actions.

After the decisions of the ELCA church-wide assembly in 2009, our congregation spent much time studying our denominational affiliation. Our congregational votes to leave the ELCA ultimately resulted in St. Mark’s remaining part of the ELCA. To bring healing and unity to our church family, the church council held discussions with congregational members and Bishop Burk, and reviewed the precedent set by other congregations who are dual-affiliated. After these actions, the church council voted to join Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC) while remaining in the ELCA.

Soon after St. Mark’s dual affiliation with the ELCA and the LCMC, the synod placed our congregation under censure and admonishment. In addition, Pastor Fruhling was recently removed from the clergy roster of ELCA pastors. The synod’s unprecedented action to remove St. Mark’s from the ELCA because of our dual affiliation is saddening and disappointing. We remain a distinctly Lutheran congregation in the Cedar Rapids area as a part of the LCMC, and we belong to no one but Christ.

St. Mark’s will continue to support and work with our brothers and sisters in the ELCA and remain faithful to our mission partners in the ELCA, such as CrossRoads Mission, San Lucas and Cristo Rey Lutheran churches in Texas and Mexico, and World Hunger Appeals, among others. Our focus remains on outreach and our mission is to share Christ’s love with others.

We will continue our pastoral call process and begin to look at constitutional updates that will be needed. While there are challenges ahead, there are opportunities for strengthening our witness as the body of Christ, and we are confident that St. Mark’s will move forward in mission for our Lord.

Yours in Christ,
Kurt Beenen  Church Council President
Pastor Perry Fruhling

---


BALTIMORE, MD CHURCH PASSES FIRST VOTE TO LEAVE THE ELCA
Bishop Wolfgang Herz-Lane of the Delaware-Maryland Synod ELCA reported that First Lutheran Church, Gray Manor, Baltimore, MD, (1275 baptized members) passed its first vote to leave the ELCA February 12.

Reformation (Korean) Lutheran Church, Brooklyn, NY, 27 baptized members, was removed from ELCA roster by Metropolitan New York Synod ELCA, November 19, 2011.


ELCA-WELS-LCMS is delightful too,
ménage à trois arranged by Thrivent
and funded by your insurance dollars.

New bishop brings a reservoir of faith | StarTribune.com



New bishop brings a reservoir of faith | StarTribune.com:


The Rev. Ann Svennungsen is ready for her next challenge. She's been tested before.

In a week, Svennungsen will take on the flowing robes of the bishop of the Minneapolis Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the largest synod of the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States.

In her career, Svennungsen has faced sexism and breast cancer. In the past year, she lost her mother and learned her 27-year-old son, who has Down syndrome, has leukemia.

She knows what faith means. "Even if you're in the depths of ... the valley of the shadow of death, there is this profound presence and comfort and hope of God there," she said.

From those depths, Svennungsen, 56, has climbed to a sixth-floor office near downtown Minneapolis, the base from which she will face her newest challenges as the first female Lutheran bishop to serve in Minnesota.

Her election comes as the ELCA deals with declining membership and works to attract more female and minority leaders to the historically white denomination with Scandinavian and German roots. The synod also recently came out against the marriage amendment -- which if passed in November would change the state Constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and woman.

"I hope her election causes every synod ... to look deep within who are gifted people for leadership ... gifted women and persons of color," said the Rev. Mark Hanson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, who will install Svennungsen at the ceremony at Central Lutheran Church in Minneapolis.

Blazing a trail

When Svennungsen takes office, she'll be in rare company. Of the 65 ELCA synods nationwide, there are six female bishops and two of color. Some 16,811 people serve as clergy in the ELCA -- 3,836 of them women. Minnesota has six synods, and none has ever elected a female bishop until Svennungsen.

"If you're the first woman in a leadership role ... you are scrutinized really from all angles. People are having to do some mental and emotional adjustments, and that just takes time," she said.

Minnesota has nearly 800,000 ELCA members, more than any other state. Nationwide, the ELCA has nearly 4.2 million members.

An accomplished minister, religious educator and mother to three grown children, Svennungsen has blazed a trail much of her 30-year career. A Montana native, Svennungsen credits much of her pioneering spirit to her grandparents, who were early settlers in the state. Her paternal grandfather was a Lutheran minister who came from a long line of ministers in Norway.

"That pioneer spirit is part of who I am, part of what I really think characterizes me," she said. "They [grandparents] were willing to set out on an unknown path. The fact that our family was so connected to the church was inspirational to me."

Women couldn't be ordained in the Lutheran Church until Svennungsen was 15. "So it wasn't part of my imagination as a young child," she said.

It wasn't until college, when she was elected the first female student body president at Concordia College in Moorhead, that she began to envision herself a leader.

"So then I thought I love to ... lead something that matters and make some positive difference," she said. "I'll go to seminary because the church is a community that matters."

At Luther Seminary in St. Paul, she met her husband, Bill Russell, also an ordained minister. They married in 1979 -- the same year she got her first real taste of sexism in the church.

"When it was time to do that year of internship, we wanted to go anywhere outside of the Midwest. We got assigned to Portland, Ore. One congregation was like, sure, 'We'll have Ann, We'll have Bill, either one is just fine. And the other congregation said, 'We'll only take Bill.' Then two weeks later, they called back and said, 'He's married to a woman who wants to be a pastor. We don't want him.'"

After seminary, Svennungsen and her husband served as associate pastors at Zion Lutheran Church in Iowa City. There she and the senior pastor's wife, Mary Nilsen, took on the all-male language for God.

"She was a real groundbreaker in terms of women in the church, of course," Nilsen said. "Two of our daughters became clergy, and I suspect they never would have if they had not had this image of Ann."

Nilsen recalled the impact Svennungsen had. "She was pregnant twice during that time. She'd be standing up in front of the congregation with her flowing robes and leading liturgy in kind of full womanhood, which was quite an image for our children."

The Rev. Erik Strand was a co-pastor with Svennungsen at Edina Community Lutheran Church from 1989 to 1994, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a mastectomy.

"She took the diagnosis like a lot of people do, both with the shock and the fear ... but also with the sense that she still had responsibilities and a call," Strand said.


The call took her from Edina to Moorhead to Atlanta to Texas, where she served as the first female president of Texas Lutheran University. She was interim pastor at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., when she was elected bishop.
Rebuilding membership
Svennungsen will replace the Rev. Craig Johnson, who stepped down to become senior pastor at Mount Olivet Church in Minneapolis.
She assumes one of the most important leadership positions in the ELCA at a time of turmoil. The ELCA nationwide has seen at least 600 congregations leave since it voted in 2009 to allow openly gay and lesbian pastors in committed relationships. The Minneapolis synod lost 10 congregations; membership dropped from 214,003 in 2009 to 188,710 in 2010.
Rebuilding those numbers will be among her challenges.
One of her first plans is to meet with each of the synod's 155 congregations to talk about their concerns and try to ease any lingering tensions.
She's choosing not to discuss specific plans for her tenure and wants to refrain from commenting about the marriage amendment until other state synods have weighed in.
Instead, for now, she wants to enjoy the celebration and reflect on what it means to be a Lutheran leader.
"I really deeply believe that the Gospel, the grace of God, is a message that changes lives, that heals, that gives hope," she said. "And that, it never becomes unneeded in our life."
Rose French • 612-673-4352



'via Blog this'

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Wine Bibbers


"A staggering performance!"

Crossing the Center Line

KJV Titus 1:7 For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not
given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;

Lenski:

Nor is anyone to be able to charge that he is “quick-tempered,” easily flaring up in anger; or that he loves to sit long beside the wine (see 1 Tim. 3:3), a winebibber; or that he is “a striker,” quick with his fists in a dispute; or “out for shameful gain” (see 1 Tim. 3:3, 8). These the candidate for overseership is not to be, his record on these points must be clean.
Lenski, R. C. H.: The Interpretation of St. Paul's Epistles to the Colossians, to the Thessalonians, to Timothy, to Titus and to Philemon. Columbus, O. : Lutheran Book Concern, 1937, S. 897.

I used the term wine-bibber in church today. Here is where that word is used:

KJV Matthew 11:19 The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and 
a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children. (Luke has a parallel.)

Lenski:
With the same slanderous tongue that attributed a demon to John they viciously called Jesus  “a glutton of a man,” the two nouns being used like one term, and “a winebibber,” one who ate and drank to excess. Wine was the common drink at meals and was used at the Passover and in connection with sacrifices. The climax is reached in the addition, “a friend of publicans and of sinners” (9:10, etc.; Luke 15:1, etc.). The viciousness of the charges, both against John and against Jesus, is apparent. Jesus scorns to enter into any sort of defense.
Lenski, R. C. H.: The Interpretation of St. Matthew's Gospel. Minneapolis, MN. : Augsburg Publishing House, 1961, S. 443.

***

GJ - I find it odd that an entire denomination would brag up their habit of excessive drinking  - and honor as gods those pastors who are alcoholics. Should someone who keeps a keg of beer in his fridge be extolled as a leader of youth?

That may explain the kinds of decisions made in the last few decades. The same style continues. 



---

solafide (http://solafide.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Wine Bibbers":

When I was at MLC, I and my roommate had to help the student body president (a pastor track student) up the stairs to Summit Hall after a late-night McDonalds run because he was he was too intoxicated to climb them . He nearly vomited in my car, missing the interior by millimeters after opening the door. What a fine example for all the students!

I never understood why 95% of those who over-indulged in alcohol were allowed to continue to do so without even a warning or stern-talking to; even to the extent that missing a morning language class or some "professional" course because of a hangover was acceptable if you had "synod connections," yet if someone without those connections missed it, even for sickness with a doctor's note, it was an automatic grade deduction, and you would usually get a nasty letter placed in your file suggesting that you "prayerfully reconsider" being in the public ministry. Then, despite all that, if you did manage to make it to graduation, you are rewarded with a 1-year assignment that is generally a maternity leave situation (so no hope of continuation beyond the "temp substitute gig"), or if you were really "bad," no assignment; or no recommendation for Seminary.

Unfortunately, the attitude of some on the MLC faculty is exactly the opposite of what Scripture enjoins on servants of the church. It is even more unfortunate that those same faculty members are dismissing qualified candidates for the ministry because of silly man-made rules and regulations such as supposedly "equally applied" attendance policies (or worse, simply not fitting their description of a called worker), while allowing those who are specifically disqualified by Scripture to pass through with no hassle. These are not the attitudes of servants of the church, they are instead the attitudes of those who serve their own agendas and egos.

MLC will deny it, but any student or faculty member who doesn't drink the cult kool-aid knows what is going on and sees it every day and is either hiding in the shadows trying to not get noticed, or counting the days until their turn to get booted out in some way.

***

GJ - The special rules allow for homosexual and bi-sexual church workers, too.

Fun for the whole in-bred family.
solafide (http://solafide.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Wine Bibbers":

As a "PS," I wasn't kidding about the student body president being too drunk to make it up the steps to the dorm. He will soon be awarded a fine vicar assignment, and upon graduation from seminary, will be given a top-notch call. Watch out, he could be coming to your church!

WELS PR - a clean sweep.

Titus and WELS Leadership Conference



NIV Titus 1:6 An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and
are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.

Wisconsin Lutheran College

FBI looks at church theft | The Times Herald | thetimesherald.com

FBI looks at church theft | The Times Herald | thetimesherald.com:

'via Blog this'

Monthly Pages Reads - 30% Higher Than One Year ago

Banning Ichabod is a great promotional tool.
Please keep it going, synodocats.

---

Pastor emeritus Nathan Bickel has left a new comment on your post "Monthly Pages Reads - 30% Higher Than One Year ago...":

Pastor Jackson -

I know that it is always gratifying as a website owner to experience increased statistics! But, how can you possibly (objectively) interpret web stats, correctly? Could you still be suffering from some past Church Growth infection that you thought you got rid of with your past synodical UOJ associations ? How do you know if these page visitations aren't just some visiting Ichabod for the hilarious, stately and descriptive pics you post, without reading all the weighty content?

Nathan M. Bickel - pastor emeritus

www.thechristianmessage.org

www.moralmatters.org 

***

GJ - The Appleton Dumbling Gang began by sending anonymous comments to me - that no one was reading this blog, that I was making up comments! Actually, Tim Glende sends his own comments to himself, although Jim Pierce and Joel Lillo probably contribute a few.

When I reached 15,000+ comments,  I asked whether it was possible to make up my own comments.

I am sure readers visit the site for different reasons. SP Schroeder "hasn't read it for years" but seems to know every time a WELS member or pastor posts to the blog. Then he pounces like a hobo on a hotdog.

A college student told me that half the Martin Luther College faculty members have Google Alerts set up in case they are mentioned on Ichabod.

I could relate some interesting tales, but that would reveal too much.

I do not expect everyone to read everything. But this is a good place to find news about apostasy in all denominations.

One person has done a lot of research about extortionate tuition practices, waged against LCMS seminary students. No one else has exposed the $100,000 LCMS seminary cost.

Various people have decided that they can reach everyone by giving me information. If they share it with their pastor or CP, or go to those people, as they are commanded, they get nowhere and the cover-up begins. Nathan - aren't you getting a free ad in your signature? Heh, heh. I remember suggesting that.

I plan on expanding the Luther offerings, because people are going to find it easy to search Ichabod for Luther sermons and materials in the public domain.

I could be in business, but I give things away as much as I can. Faithfulness to the Word is the only measure of success.

This is how I feel after a good day of blogging.

This is the WELS leadership after a day of reading Ichabod.

PS - Page-reads went up and stayed up after I posted all 8 volumes of Luther's sermons here. I feel very good about that.

Improve Google Search Skills

"Today we hunt dragons."


Improve your Google Search skills - latimes.com:


By Scott J. Wilson, Los Angeles Times
April 27, 2012, 7:09 p.m.
Think you're a Google Search power user? You might not know all the ways to get faster, more focused search results. Here are five tips:

Exclude terms. If you're looking for information on Vikings, the old Norse explorers, you don't want pages on football's Minnesota Vikings. Use a minus sign to tell Google to exclude pages that contain a certain word, like this: Vikings - Minnesota.

Site search. Limit your search to a single website or a specific group of sites, by using site: followed by a Web address or ending. For example, type site:latimes.com in your search and you'll get results only from the Los Angeles Times website. To get results only from U.S. government sites — which have Web addresses ending in ".gov" — add site:gov to your search. Use site:edu for colleges or site:mil forU.S. military sites.

Wildcard search. Use the asterisk to substitute for any word in a phrase. This can be handy for identifying a particular fact or finding a missing word in a song lyric. Put phrases in quotes. For instance, "Perris is in * county" or "in Penny Lane there is a * showing photographs."

Math and conversions. Enter a math problem into Google Search and it will give you the answer (use * for multiplication and / for division). It will also convert currencies and temperatures. Enter, for example, $100 in euros or 72 Fahrenheit in Celsius.

More shortcuts. Put "define" before any word (for example, define photobomb), and Google will give you a definition at the top of the results. Similarly, entering "movies" or "weather" before a ZIP Code or a city name will produce a list of films playing nearby or a weather forecast for that area.

scott.wilson@latimes.com


'via Blog this'

Jubilate, The Third Sunday after Easter, 2012.
John 16:16f.




Jubilate, The Third Sunday of Easter, 2012


Pastor Gregory L. Jackson




The Hymn #  536     Awake My Soul  3.28
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual        
The Gospel              
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn # 36     Now Thank We        3.40

No Man Takes Your Joy Away

The Communion Hymn # 354      In the Cross 3.84
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 #231 We Now Implore                                    3.38 

THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER

Lord God, heavenly Father, who of Thy fatherly goodness dost suffer Thy children to come under Thy chastening rod here on earth, that we may be like unto Thine only-begotten Son in suffering and hereafter in glory: We beseech Thee, comfort us in temptations and afflictions by Thy Holy Spirit, that we may not fall into despair, but that we may continually trust in Thy Son's promise, that our trials will endure but a little while, and will then be followed by eternal joy; that we thus, in patient hope, may overcome all evil, and at last obtain eternal salvation, through the same, Thy Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

KJV 1 Peter 2:11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; 12 Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. 13 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; 14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. 15 For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: 16 As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. 17 Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king. 18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. 19 For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. 20 For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.

KJV John 16:16 A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father. 17 Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father? 18 They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell what he saith. 19 Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye enquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me? 20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. 21 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. 22 And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. 23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.





Sorrow and Joy


The Sundays after Easter are also the Sundays before Pentecost. We are taught from the Word about the change  - from His local public ministry to the global ministry of the Spirit through the Word and Sacraments.

This ministry continue and expanded, but it remained the same ministry – conveying Christ and His forgiveness to the world.
1.    In the Old Testament, the Messiah was promised, and people believed in Him, justified by faith.
2.    In the Gospels, Jesus taught and performed miracles, teaching people that righteousness came from faith in Him.
3.    After Pentecost, the apostles were given the mission to teach justification by faith, to offer grace through the Means of Grace, Word and Sacrament.

This lesson came from immediately after the Last Supper, when the disciples were sorrowful about the reality of Jesus’ suffering and death. Our need to be taught the same things repeatedly is clearly shown in the Gospels, where the disciples were taught many times about His suffering, death, and resurrection.

Lenski:
16) The return of Jesus to his Sender brings such an advantage to the disciples (v. 7) in the coming and the work of the Paraclete that joy instead of great sorrow should fill their hearts. Now Jesus adds the further comfort that the separation shall be for “a little while” only. We have the same connection in 14:16, 17, the promise of the Paraclete, and v. 18, 19, the promise of Jesus’ coming and of the disciples’ beholding him. A little while, and you no longer behold me; and again a little while, and you shall see me. The separation is to be short. The first “little while” embraces only a few hours, the afternoon of this very day (Friday); the second “little while” shall be equally short. The change in verbs, first “to behold” and then “to see,” is of no special import. However painful a separation may be, if its duration is short, that is great comfort indeed.
Lenski, R. C. H.: The Interpretation of St. John's Gospel. Minneapolis, MN : Augsburg Publishing House, 1961, S. 1093.

John 16:16 A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father. 17 Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father?


This lesson repeats “a little while” so many times that Luther took note of it being a bit annoying. But it is characteristic of the Fourth Gospel and a good way to emphasize an answer to our impatience.

We grow impatient when difficulties seem to last forever, so that reminds us it will be “a little while.”

The disciples had enjoyed a time of great joy and wonder, with Jesus teaching them daily for three years, performing miracles and drawing enormous crowds. They knew the conflict was building because Thomas voiced his fear that they would all die when they went to help Lazarus.

Instead Lazarus was raised from the dead and a crowd followed them to Jerusalem, a crowd came out of the city to surround Him, and they heard Jesus hailed as the Messiah, the Son of David. When there is group excitement, everyone feels it. But that changed to sorrow quickly, and sorrow seems to last far longer than anyone can bear.

When the winter in New Ulm featured weeks of 60 below wind chill, a native said, “I can’t take this any longer.” It was so cold that the politicians had their hands in their own pockets. An older man said, “You can take and you will take it.” Soon the winter was over, but it was brutal at the time. I fed the birds and wrote a book.
Although weather seems minor in comparison, the trouble of the moment can seem to be overwhelming as it seems to stretch out into infinity.

But this lesson says, so many times, “a little while.”

Verse 17 – In retrospect, the “little while” seems to be very short. Jesus died on Good Friday and was away from the disciples a short time. But after He died on the cross, the interval between death and resurrection was painful, stretched out, seeming to last forever, as Jesus warned. But it was a little while.

This shows us the kindness and compassion of Jesus, supporting their growing faith and giving them a foundation when their world was shattered by His death as a criminal.

This also shows God’s compassion for us, because—like Peter and the disciples—we make vows that we can never keep. The Old Adam is still active, and we question God’s grace and goodness. The fake religions say this can never be, and they impress upon their disciples a concept of perfection plus a system of works in case they fail – they must work and suffer to atone for their own sins. This is either depressing or hardening, because the more sensitive realize they can never be perfect. The works-saints become certain of their sanctity, and often remind everyone of their exalted state.

Biblical psychology is the only true psychology – the study of the soul. The apostles, like us, showed their failings and needed the forgiveness of Christ.

18 They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell what he saith. 19 Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye enquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me?

These two verses seem to repeated the previous ones, needlessly. But something else is happening. The verses are poetic repetition in the Hebraic style. That would relatively easy to teach people, with the same term used many times over. It is a type of catechism.

I noticed this when our granddaughter said, as a tiny little girl, “You have to wait.” I said to my wife, “I think she had heard that advice many times already.”

A little while – that gives people hope and keeps them from magnifying the problem. I tell students that college seems to be too long, but soon it will be foreshortened in their memories. The time will have seen to have rocketed by, but it is not so during the studies, when two or three more years seem like infinity.

20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. 21 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.

A second principle of teaching is to use a concrete example, a picture to communicate the same point.

What does a little while mean, in terms of suffering and sorrow?

Answer – it is like childbirth. During labor, the time seems to last forever. There is often crying and always great physical stress. Of course, the emotional stress is also considerable – the worries, the hopes, the fears. Recently a pastor’s wife went through a difficult birth. She and the baby were both quite fragile. Everyone prayed for them as they slowly got stronger. It was quite worrisome for days. Then they both went home and there was great joy – and that baby will be especially treasured, and the mom too.

That congregation will always remember this little parable better because it is so personal. And so will the pastor and his family. “A little while of sorrow and pain” will have great meaning for them, because they experienced all the agonies of the wait.

22 And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.

We must always keep in mind that God allows these sorrows to happen. He protects us from many more. Today we met a woman with enormous medical bills and no coverage. We discussed the fact that Chris got superb coverage for free for several years, then Medicare at an early age with a decent supplement, then more plans. She seemed to be the trapeze artist who kept grabbing one more trapeze during a time great convulsions in the medical market. She worried over leaving a plan she liked in Phoenix, only to have much better care here in Arkansas. Pharmacies are a huge headache, but one opened up near our house, with great prices and personal care. Those are mundane details to show that one of the great fears of our age has been taken care of by One who is a good manager, with millennia of experience.

Sorrows can also mean loss of loved ones. This time on earth without them is very short. It seems long but it goes by in a blink. Heaven comes down to us in forgiveness and the promise of eternal life.





The greatest pains of the moment also include the opportunity for joy. In this last week we had conversations with four people who wanted to read Angel Joy and one who also received The Story of Jesus in Pictures and Wormhaven. Some people talk about going out to people, but we find the opportunities come to us, so we carry books in the car to give away. Each one has a single purpose – to convey the Gospel in some form. The books involve personal conversations about life and death issues, so they are more than brochures handed to the unwilling.

Ken Ham needs a $27 million museum to prove Creation to people, but a free book does the work with the Word of God.

In Paradise Lost, Milton says “The mind can make a heaven out of Hell, and a Hell out of heaven.” That is the difference between faith and unbelief. In faith, sorrows turn to joys. In unbelief, the greatest joys seem to be hellish. We spent a day with a wealthy man who could not get over his son having a minor defect – a cleft palate. He was a little boy filled with happiness and wonder, but the father could not experience that. He was in a hell he built for himself.



23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.

This verse is another example of Jesus building up our faith, then encouraging us to ask anything in His Name, in faith. He encourages us especially because He ends with this promise – Ask in My Name and He will give it to you.

Lenski:
And so Jesus once more tells how all their needs will be met. Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you shall ask the Father he will give to you in my name. Compare 14:13, 14; 15:7 and 16; and on “amen,” etc., 1:51. Here the verb used is “to ask,” “to beg.” As regards the knowledge of the truth, neither asking nor inquiring will be necessary for the disciples, for the Spirit of the truth will attend to that of his own accord, 14:26; 16:13, 14. Jesus equipped his apostles completely in this respect, Acts 1:8. They will not inquire as Peter and John did in 13:24, etc.; as Peter alone did in 13:36, etc.; as Thomas did in 14:5, or Philip in 14:8, or Judas in 14:22; or as several would like to have done in 16:17, etc. The one inquiry just before his ascension in Acts 1:6 belongs with the others just listed, for the Spirit had not yet come. But as regards petitions of all kinds in all the exigencies of life, Jesus most definitely invites them.
Lenski, R. C. H.: The Interpretation of St. John's Gospel. Minneapolis, MN : Augsburg Publishing House, 1961, S. 1099.

Because of His human nature, Jesus understands our sorrows, needs, and fears. Because of His divine nature and sacrifice, God answers those prayers on behalf of the Son.

In the Gospel of John we find a special emphasis of the Father and Son relationship, witnessed by the Holy Spirit – the Threeness of the One God, the unity of the Three Persons.

Jesus was tempted, just as we are, but He did not sin. Knowing the temptations of our frail flesh – and emotions are the weakest of all – He has compassion on us. He does not let us be crushed by them, but lifts us up and encourages us.

Many people have asked for the quotation, and now the quotation with the graphic – that God does not necessarily take the sorrow from our heart, but our heart from the sorrow. He can turn it into such joy that we imagine we are in a garden of roses.

In that Photoshop I blended tornado wreckage with a rose garden. That is a metaphor. We lost two daughters, but their happiness and antics and love brighten each day as we remember them. We grieve for the pain and suffering of friends in the church at large, but we also have joy in sharing their experiences, in being friends.

This is an insight about prayer that someone mentioned a long time ago. When we pray for someone, we remember that person much better, even if we have never met. It creates a bond that overcomes the failings of human memory. When people join together, God does not simply get one memo signed by Christ, but many memos. As we experience those answers to prayer, our trust grows and fears diminish. We will need to have profound trust in the Word as the years go by and the next generation will too.

The trust earned by previous generations of church leaders has been squandered. Actions that would have had people riding out of town on a rail are now accepted and supported. Persecution is not from the outside for Americans, but from their own denominations.

Prayer is not the point of congregations – it is the natural consequence of justification by faith. Prayer is the fruit of faith. The congregation exists to create that faith through the Gospel and to sustain and deepen that faith in the Means of Grace.

Also, good works are the fruit of faith. They are not the purpose of the congregation but the natural consequence of justification by faith in Word and Sacrament. Christ teaches us to be faithful first, and His success will follow – with the cross.

Any gardener knows that an abundance of seed sown will produce an abundant harvest. There really was a Johny Appleseed, and he provided a remarkable example, creating orchards everywhere – thousands of apple trees. If a congregation that wants an abundant harvest, as judged by God alone, not by man, the people will sow the seed abundantly.




Quotations


"The nice, envious person who is sad when another prospers, and would
gladly have one eye less if thereby his neighbor had none, is the product of
Satan."
            Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., III,  p. 102.

 "Here in this Gospel we see how the Lord comforts and imparts courage to His children whom He is about to leave behind Him, when they would come in fear and distress on account of His death or of their backsliding. We also notice what induced the evangelist John to use so many words that he indeed repeats one expression four times, which according to our thinking he might have epressed in fewer words."
            Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., III,  p. 73f.

 "An example is here given us, which we should diligently lay hold of and take to heart; if it went with us as it did in the time of the apostles, that we should be in suffering, anxiety and distress, we should also remember to be strong and to rejoice because Christ will rise again."
            Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., III,  p. 75.

"Therefore we must also feel within us this 'a little while' as the dear disciples felt it, for this is written for our example and instruction, so that we may thereby be comforted and be made better. And we should use this as a familiar adage among ourselves; yes, we should feel and experience it, so that we might at all times say, God is at times near and at times He has vanished out of sight. At times I remember how the Word seems neither to move me nor to apply to me. It passes by; I give no heed to it. But to this 'a little while' we must give heed and pay attention, so that we may remain strong and steadfast. We will experience the same as the disciples."
            Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., III,  p. 75f.

"And although we do at times depart from the Word, we should not therefore remain altogether away from it, but return again, for He makes good His Word. Even though man cannot believe it, God will nevertheless help him to believe it, and this He does without man's reason or free will and without man adding anything thereto."
            Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., III,  p. 76.

 "So very little does the free will and understanding of man know of the things pertaining to the salvation of the soul. These temporal things the free will can perceive and know, such as the cock crowing, which he can hear and his reason can also understand it; but when it is a question of understanding the work and Word of God, then human reason must give it up; it cannot make head or tail of it, although it pretends to understand a great deal about it. The gory thereof is too bright, the longer he beholds it the blinder he becomes."
            Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., III,  p. 76f.

"We should take to heart and firmly hold fast to these words and keep them in mind when in sorrow and distress, that it will not last long, then we would also have more constant joy, for as Christ and His elect had their 'a little while,' so you and I and everyone will have his 'a little while.' Pilate and Herod will not crucify you, but in the same manner as the devil used them so he will also use your persecutors. Therefore when your trials come, you must not immediately think how you are to be delivered out of them. God will help you in due time. Only wait. It is only for a little while, He will not delay long."
            Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., III,  p. 77.

[ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy] "This is spoken to all Christians, for every Christain must have temptations, trails, anxieties, adversities, sorrows, come what may. Therefore He mentions here no sorrow nor trial, He simply says they shall weep, lament, and be sorrowful, for the Christian has many persecutions. Some are suffering loss of goods; others there are whose character is suffering ignominy and scorn; some are drowned, others are burned; some are beheaded; one perishes in this manner, and another in that; it is therefore the lot of the Christian constantly to suffer misfortune, persecution, trials and adversity. This is the rod or fox tail with which they are punished. They dare not look for anything better as long as they are here. This is the court color by which the Christian is recognized,and if anyone wants to be a Christian, he dare not be ashamed of his court color or livery."
            Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., III,  p. 79.

 "Why does God do this and permit His own to be persecuted and hounded? In order to suppress and subdue the free will, so that it may not seek an expedient in their works; but rather become a fool in God's works and learn thereby to trust and depend upon God alone."
            Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., III,  p. 79f.

 [woman in travail] This parable of the woman is a strong and stubborn argument against free will, that it is entirely powerless and without strength in the things pertaining to the salvation of our souls. The Gospel shows very plainly that divine strength and grace are needed. Man's free will is entirely too weak and insignificant to accomplish anything here. But we have established our own orders and regulations instead of the Gospel and through these we want to free ourselves from sin, from death, from hell, and from all misfortune and finally be saved thereby. A great mistake."
            Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., III,  p. 81.

[woman in travail] "The woman is here in such a state of mind that she is fearful of great danger, and yet she knows that the whole work lies in the hands of God; in Him she trusts; upon Him it is she depends; He also helps her and accomplishes the work, which the whole world could not do, and she thinks of nothing but the time that shall follow, when she shall again rejoice; and her heart feels and says, A dangerous hour is at hand, but afterwards it will be well. Courage and the heart press through all obstacles. Thus it will also be with you, when you are in sorrow and adversity, and when you become new creatures. Only quietly wait and permit God to work. He will accomplish everything without your assistance."
            Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., III,  p. 81.

[woman in travail] ..."but wait thou patiently and permit God to do with you according to His will. He shall accomplish it; permit Him to work. We shall accomplish nothing ourselves, but at times we shall feel death and hell. This the ungodly shall also feel, but they do not believe that God is present in it and wants to help them. Just as the woman here accomplishes nothing, she only feels pain, distress and misery; but she cannot help herself out of this state."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., III,  p. 82.


John 16:20 - "Such people, however, do not understand divine things, they think they will suddenly enter death with Christ, whom they have never learned to know except in words. Thus was Peter also disposed, but he stood before Christ like a rabbit before one beating a drum. Notice, how the old Adam lacks courage when under the cross! The new man, however, can indeed persevere through grace."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., III,  p. 85.


"In suffering pious persons have no aim of their own, but if it be God's will they bear good fruit like the tree planted by streams of water; and that is pleasing to God, and besides all presumption is condemned, all show and every excuse however good they may be. But he who battles heroically will receive for his suffering here joy, the eternal in place of the temporal. Of this Christ says: 'Your joy will be turned into sorrow.'"
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols.,
III,  p. 86.