Back to Ustream Tomorrow

Monarda, or Oswego Tea, or Bee Balm.

I was able to send perfect audio tonight on Ustream, after experimenting with the new YouTube livestreaming.

I am not sure which one is better in the long run, but I had bad audio on YouTube and perfect audio on the hymns for Ustream. We will use the normal Ustream setup tomorrow.

Cox Cable doubled the bandwidth, which may be one reason for the improvement, but that does not explain having the odd warbling on the YouTube version. Theories are welcome.

BuzzFeed Shows LCMS, WELS, ELS an Example of Dealing with Plagiarism

I was not invited to the Facebook executives' meeting at Walmart Headquarters,
so I Photoshopped myself into the group portrait - for laughs.
This has nothing to do with the article.

From the BuzzFeed Article:
"We have corrected the instances of plagiarism, and added an editor’s note to each. We have also included links to each at the bottom of this note. We will work hard to be more vigilant in the future, and to earn your trust."

LCMS, WELS, and ELS continue to support plagiarism and offer no apologies for it. 

This singular lack of character in the leaders should be kept in mind whenever they hold out their hands for more money. 

This kitten should make your eyes well up with tears.
She is so cute and endearing.
Increase your synod offering so she can have clean litter
and a warm place to sleep.

BuzzFeed Has Higher Standards than LCMS, WELS, ELS. Unlike the Conservative Lutherans, BuzzFeed Is Deeply Embarrassed

Paul McCain erased his cesspool of plagiarism - Cyberbrethren,
but he never apologized. He is still employed by the LCMS - on copyright issues.
Hahahahahaha.

Glende and Ski excommunicated a member
for his research that showed their plagiarism, which Glende lied about.
DP Englebrecht responded by piously endorsing plagiarism.

BuzzFeed fires Benny Johnson for plagiarism

By HADAS GOLD and JENNIFER SHUTT |

7/26/14 1:09 AM EDT

BuzzFeed has fired Viral Politics Editor Benny Johnson after finding more than 40 instances of plagiarism, BuzzFeed's editor Ben Smith announced on Friday evening.

In an apology to BuzzFeed readers, Smith said the plagiarism is “a breach of our fundamental responsibility" and that editors were in the process of attaching an editor's note to every instance of plagiarism.

"Plagiarism, much less copying unchecked facts from Wikipedia or other sources, is an act of disrespect to the reader. We are deeply embarrassed and sorry to have misled you," Smith said.

[Click on the headline for the entire article, on "apology" for the BuzzFeed message.]

Examples from the BuzzFeed apology -

Update: Here are links to the 41 posts in which we found plagiarism and attribution issues.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/miracle-babies-to-warm-your-heart-today
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/hooray-for-washington
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/things-democrats-would-have-freaked-out-about-if-bush-had-do
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/the-most-romantic-story-in-congress
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/the-15-most-absurd-ways-the-pentagon-is-spending-money
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/15-things-to-avoid-if-you-do-not-want-to-eat-horse-meat#
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/things-that-are-definitely-bigger-in-texas
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/the-biggest-slap-fest-dc-has-ever-seen
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/technically-any-catholic-man-can-be-the-next-pope
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/the-17-best-swag-presents-obama-has-received-from-foreign-le
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/this-is-how-the-internet-responded-to-a-13-hour-rand-paul-fi
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/masterfully-creative-resumes
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/the-most-exclusive-hotel-room-in-the-world-inside-disneys-ca
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/pope-washes-and-kisses-the-feet-of-prisoners-women-and-musli
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/part-of-our-world-this-real-life-professional-mermaid-will-b
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/how-8-other-massive-manhunts-ended
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/7-cities-that-defy-terrorism
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/what-would-your-life-be-like-if-you-were-born-in-north-korea
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/how-the-administration-is-having-the-worst-week-ever
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/the-literal-army-it-takes-to-get-the-president-to-africa
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/fdr-had-the-greatest-childhood-ever
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/10-reasons-america-is-still-number-one
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/the-story-of-egypts-revolution-in-jurassic-park-gifs
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/very-badass-things-you-should-not-forget-about-harry-reid
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/dcs-version-of-the-royal-baby-is-a-gigantic-flower-that-smel
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/despicable-things-this-san-diego-mayor-allegedly-did-to-wome
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/the-17-most-canadian-things-about-ted-cruz
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/photos-from-the-world-pipe-band-championships-will-instantly
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/quiz-who-keeps-working-during-a-government-shutdown
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/11-pieces-of-jesse-jackson-jr-swag-being-auctioned-off-by-th
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/the-11-countries-congress-has-declared-war-on-and-why
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/obamacare-failures-as-told-by-dr-house
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/the-senate-conservatives-fund-is-not-living-very-conservativ
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/america-is-pretty-helpless-in-space-without-the-russians
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/inside-fort-hood-the-site-of-tragedy-and-everyday-american-l
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/how-well-do-you-know-basic-us-military-history
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/how-well-do-you-know-basic-us-politics
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/the-2014-running-of-the-interns
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/25-amazing-official-white-house-petitions
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/23-delightful-inauguration-firsts
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/when-the-west-romanced-assad

Commenting on the Post-Lutheran Situation

Money makes SPs go around,
SPs go around,
SPs go around.

Polluted WELS Comment:

 Mr. Douglas Lindee said...

Still recovering, eh? New to blogging? Yup, it can be utterly wasting for the editor/moderator, especially as discussion goes deep and becomes empassioned. This is one of those topics.

Joel Dusek asks: "Suppose we enter into a post-synodical era, where geographic and ethnic histories, and synodical affiliations give way to adherence to the Scripture and Confessions. From where would pastors come, and how would a congregation be assured their pastor was qualified? Independent Lutheran Seminaries? A formal recognized colloquy process? Some other means?"

RE: post-synodical era...
We're already there. I recall seeing this term ("post-synodical era") for the first time few years ago on BJS, and I recall being offended by it. I thought, "Post-synodical for the LCMS, maybe -- they're a mess." But now, I'm convinced that those who stick with the Synods are on the fast track to a post-Lutheran era. And despite my initial offense to the term, LCMS has far more resistance to it than WELS. By the size of the organization, by the size of its Confessional movement, by the willingness of its pastor to publically put there names on a document and enter into Statu Confessionis. ELS and CLC aren't going to survive into the next generation, and they know it. WELS thinks it can survive, but only as an organization, if it has the numbers. It is swiftly becomming the Wisconsin Evangelical Synod (WES), and doesn't seem to be embarassed or concerned about this in the least. One way or another, I am convinced that the Lutheran diaspora -- clergy and laity committed to genuine Lutheran orthodoxy who purposefully embrace a robust Lutheran catholicy -- will be forced out of the old organizions.

RE: Where would pastors come from?
The Confessions make clear (APXIV or SCIII:X, for instance) that where a given church finds it impossible to recognize an orthodox ministerium, it is incumbant upon that church to establish its own ministerium, to call and ordain its own pastors. In our day, that could mean that clergy, who have been examined by the congregation beforehand and who satisfy Scriptural approval criteria, are called from other Lutheran bodies scattered across the country -- or even the world; or it could mean that knowledgable laity, who are known to the congregation to satisfy Scriptural approval criteria and respected by them, are called by their brethren out of the congregation into the Office and ordained by them.

RE How would a congregation be assured their pastor was qualified?
This is where Lutheran laymen simply need to grow up. The burden of responsibility has always been on the laity to continually examine their pastors, in order to maintain the "assurance" that their pastors are, and remain, qualified. It's called being Berean. It is NOT the responsibility of some organization outside the congregation, apart from the laymen being served, to provide these services for the congregation or to "guarantee" anything. The burden of responsibility is on the Bereans in the congregation.

My Opinion.

July 26, 2014 at 6:22 AM

No.
Their Halle confession is Pietistic rationalism.

Thee Million Page-Views Since Ichabod Started

Stop the presses! New front page -
3,000,000 views.
"No one reads Ichabod," the yammering yahoods claim.

Mrs. Ichabod kept asking, "When will the blog reach 3 million views?" The accounting department said, "August," but daily page-views have been 3,000 and up lately, so the counter rolled over this morning.

Total posts - over 12,000.

Only one blog  identified and proved that Paul McCain, 
CPH editor, was a serial plagiarist.
And yet, McCain enforces all imagined slights
against CPH copyrights. Funny, no?

Various tactics have been used to silence me, simply because I am a traditional Lutheran. The Northwestern Lutheran's editor (WELS) told me to stop writing for Christian News, or they would stop printing my articles.

When was the last time Christian News mattered to anyone?

McCain used a cleaned up version of this painting for his dead blog,
so Team Ichabod enhanced the original.
Proof of  Photoshopping - McCain's gut is actually Friar Tuck sized.

Herman Otten - Paul McCain's pal -  banned me for rejecting their precious UOJ, even though he was glad to use hundreds of my articles for free while selling his tabloid. He even borrowed my idea of mulching with newsprint to help his new grove of trees.

Otten always demanded answers for his questions, but when I asked him about selling the dishonest anti-Luther book - The Truth about Luther - he did not respond to my email. Later he told others that he "sells" to both sides of the issue.

Kudu Don Patterson denied having an odious network of fawning ex-vicars, then had all his fawning ex-vicars phone me to deny the existence of the claque. Kudu Don wrote me an email calling me a "fool and a liar." The alleged lie was a little factoid, that his Daddy Warbucks was on his church council - no, he used to be on his church council - typical WELS GA double-talk. No wonder they wanted him for District Pope.

^{Matthew 5:22} But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

Mark Walters defended his classmates and threatened to shut down this blog.

Fox Valley decided to start a couple of anonymous blogs - typical WELS courage - and confuse readers. Glende and Lillo were two of the authors. Like McCain, they erased the evidence of their follies and misdemeanors. But Glende made my day when he complained to the judge about this blog - while suing the victim of St. Peter, Freedom pastoral sexual harassment.

Mark Schroeder and Jon-Boy Buchholz tried to spin the news on this blog. Both of them contacted me and tried their best. Buchholz tried to sell his version of UOJ as something new, but it was regurgitated JP Meyer - and worse. No wonder this alleged critic of Rick Johnson, Jeff Gunn, and Mark Jeske melted faster than DreamWhip left on a picnic table in August. Money cures chapped hides, and Enthusiasm bears corrupt fruit.

Pope Paul the Plagiarist ordered people not to let my posts go through on other blogs and banned links to Ichabod - and the cowards obeyed. That only increased traffic to this blog.

WELS told students not to read Ichabod and yet the Martin Luther College faculty openly discussed how to do things without being written up here.

"Faith makes us bold," as Luther once wrote,
and apostasy makes the timid Lutherans quake like chihuahuas in a thunderstorm.

In a Search of the Literature, I Found This Website

Musicians endlessly categorize their sub-sub-sub categories, merging and fusing names, mesmerizing and confusing the rest of us. I found this scholarly summary of Doo-Wop on the Net a few minutes ago. How many years does it take to reach this level of Doo-Wop scholarship?

Nothing reveals the untrained theological mind faster than endless sub-categories, shadings, history, and trivia. Thus the laity have a great advantage over the pretensions of MDivs who still struggle with spelling. Laymen do not have to remember their precious dog notes from seminary, so they can rely on the plain message of the Holy Spirit in the Word.

One thing is clear - when someone begins articulating Justification by Faith, which is in fact the Article on Which the Church Stands or Falls, the UOJ-sperts begin their campaign of hatred, deception, and division.

Didja know the LCMS version of justification without faith was far superior to the WELS version of justification without faith? That shows the influence of MDiv coaching and brow-beating. Notice that one "without" is italicized while the other is bold. Subtle? Yes, but that takes four years of training drinking beer to achieve that level, which is called "clear" in Scientology.

Likewise, one must know the intimate details of Synodical Conference history to understand this UOJ religion. Disregard the myth of its origins. I suggested that all Lutherans follow Walther's example for excommunication, which he practiced on Bishop Stephan:

• Gather those who agree with the plan into a mob - and leave the rest behind.
• Travel, without warning, to the person's house, armed with torches and guns.
• Kick the person out of his house, threatening him with the weapons.
• Steal all his gold, strip him, and mock him if any gold is left. Take that too.
• Steal all his books.
• Steal his clothing, bedding, and gold jeweled chalice, a personal gift from Europe.
• Kidnap him and force him to cross over the river to Mississippi.
• Dump him on the shore with a shovel and a few bucks.
• Make up stories about the noble, Biblical, Confessional leadership of the mob leader, CFW Walther.

I tried that advice on some LCMS pastors on Facebook, and they did not respond. Another one informed me that I had no knowledge of Walther's forcing F. Pieper on the LCMS as his official parrot, bypassing the normal way professors were elected to that office. According to his nephew, L. Fuerbringer, Walther changed the election away from the local districts and made it a national election. And who chaired that meeting? The Great Walther, of course. One of the Walther hagiographies denied that CFW made a face when one candidate was mentioned. "But even if he did..."

Francis Pieper.
Notice the early photobomb.

I did not steal your iPhone, but even if I did...

Sounds a wee bit fishy. Those are two memories of that moment when Pieper was selected from seminary to take over the Walther dog notes. After three whole years in the parish, Pieper became a seminary professor.

The division among American Lutherans happened mostly because of Walther's ruthless behavior, his lust for power, and his false doctrine. He did not win the fight for justification without faith until Pieper got it canonized in the 1932 Brief Statement, which the Enthusiasts raised above Scripture and the Confessions. The only question became, eyebrows dancing in wrath and consternation, "Do you agree with the 1932 Brief Statement?"

Fox Valley WELS - Candid Photo

One is the sexpert, one is the UOJ theologian, and the other is the enabler.

From Teaching English to Comedy - A Short Hop

Jeffery Daniel, RIP.

I did not know Barnaby the Juggler at Moline High School, but he was remembered as a lot of fun. My late friend, Larry Easter, was quite impressed with Jeff's act. Many of my friends moved from teaching in public school to some other vocation. One became a computer graphics expert. Several became lawyers. I imagine Jeff found comedy useful in teaching English, so the move to the stage was a slight change in audience.

I found some YouTube video about Jeff - and there is a little about Larry Easter - Linn County. Here is another album by Linn County. Larry is found in Wikipedia, among other places on the Net. The group was honored for their work.

I told Larry that his fellow band members all looked like rotund Kiwanis members when they were inducted into the Iowa Music Hall of Fame.

Being in band and orchestra created a compact group of friends. Musicians seem to be over-represented on the honor roll in academics, perhaps from the mental discipline of memorizing music and working on scales until some good music finally emerges.

It seems as if Larry's band got their album recorded only a few days ago. We got together on a trip to Moline when LI was very young. Much later we met in Phoenix with a Moline friend who also passed away in the last year.

People seem to put the wrong emphasis on life. The most important memories involve our children - and now our grandchildren. We had a Norman Rockwell weekend, grilling with Team Jackson. When the charcoal was heating up, Alex helped me prune the roses. He was keen on getting rid of old blooms for me, and soon after we had five dozen in bloom at once.

He said, "Grampy, I learn a lot from you." That is my Hall of Fame, my Oscar, my Pulitzer, my endowed chair of rosarian science.

We walked to the corner for a yard sale. The girls opposite the yard sale started a lemonade stand to take advantage of the traffic and fund their tubing adventure. The next day they were still at work as we drove by their stand. I rolled down my window and asked, "Do you have drive-through service?" They laughed and brought two cups of lemonade. Mrs. I said, "What did they charge?" I said "Fifty cents, but I gave them a dollar each." She said, "We charged a nickel when we had a stand in South Bend." I said, "It's for tubing, and it's the most I ever paid per ounce for a drink. But it was worth it."

Fake, Timid Blogger Comes Out for UOJ, Cuts Off Responses. Color Me Surprised

UOJ at work.

New comments have been disabled for this post by a blog administrator.

Or - about justification by faith.
No wonder Paul Kuske won't commune with WELS anymore.

---

Hello sir!

I was leaving a comment on the UOJ thread that was going on when he decided to shut the comments down.  I cannot understand why one would create and build the oven, put it in the kitchen, turn it on, and then complain because the heat coming off of it is too much to take.  I admit my eyebrows were raised several times during this "open discussion".  I was heartened at first that it was taking place but then it just turned nasty.  Anyway, I thought I would share what I was submitting right as the comments closed:

I find it relatively interesting that after going back to the top of the comment list and back down to here that the only actual Scripture I've seen quoted has come from Mr. Meyer and Pr. Rydecki.  One of the only things actually quoted in rebuttal has been the lyrics to a "Weird Al" Yankovic song.  That is rather telling.

I know I am appreciative of the discussion that was going on.  I am heartened to know that there are those Christians who definitely care about where their church body is going in relation to doctrine.

I know I corrected my words and apologized for the confusion they may have caused.  I obviously wasn't clear and it led into an entire limited atonement tangent that was unintentional.  I didn't know that would be the lone nugget taken out of the main point about Law and Gospel that I was trying to make.

As one who has read Mr. Meyer's posts on several blogs and sites over the years, I have never suspected a hint of Calvinism.  But once again, I think it becomes easier to pigeonhole someone when you label them.  "You're a Calvinist!  Now I know what you are and now I'll have that tack to take because Lutherans know that Calvinists are wrong, so you're wrong!  I don't have to read any further!"

I guess another concern is that if one is prepared to leave the synod and have even typed up a draft to do so, but reneges on it just because of comments on a blog topic they started fully knowing about the hornet nest they were knocking over, I would wonder if you're going whichever way the wind blows at the moment.  I don't know how much confidence I'd have in a pastor that would be that wishy-washy in their doctrinal stance and ministry. 

I don't mean to be confrontational by saying that either.  I agree that the time of day and the lack of sleep can lead to irresponsible posts.  However, I would be taking a good long prayerful look at what you are doing and what exactly you believe.  Go forward from then, but only if you are secure in your position and can defend it with Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions. 

I think I find it disheartening that if this bait and switch is the blogger's motivation.  But going back, it makes sense.  Start off with topics that everyone can get behind and cannot truly defend such as GA or hazing or the CORE and then pull a bait and switch like that.  I've read and watched the debate go back and forth on Ichabod and Intrepid and the like for a while now.  At the very least you, Brett Meyer, and Pr. Rydecki can back up statements with actual Scripture and quotations from the Book of Concord.  That seems to be sorely lacking from the other side, where anonymous name-calling seems to be the order of the day.

Hope you and yours are well and again thank you for your efforts!

In the risen Christ,

Ben Wink

***

GJ - I agree with all you write, Ben. Vernon K. wrote many fine posts too. 

To fake an open discussion about justification and become another Buchholz, axe in hand, carpenters building the gallows, is just too GA for me - the old fake a persona bit from their secret homoerotic ritual.

I had an experience with a Mequonite once. He wanted to interview me in New Ulm. He showed up with a tape recorder - something he never mentioned, for some reason. I did not care because I tell the same story. When he got to his question about Valleskey and Bivens going to Fuller, which they both denied and affirmed, he got very hostile and the mask came out, the slaver dripping on the kitchen table. He came smiling but left looking full of Pietistic wrath.

I have stories from others about the same kind of behavior.

Laymen Make the Message Clear

 Gregory Jackson said...

Flack (slang for public relations) has been playing the GA game all along. He is a UOJ fanatic who played "undecided" or "questioning" so he could pivot at the end. This is just another puerile WELS game. Vernon and Brett have been patient with GA crowd, which includes the anonymous Joel Lillo.

July 24, 2014 at 8:17 AM

 

 Vernon Knepprath said...

Matthias,

You are a pastor. What is your job? Am I too simple minded, or is your job to use the Means of Grace to bring people to faith. Not child care, not contemporary worship, not Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University or self help seminars, but the Means of Grace. Does the work of the Holy Spirit, the gift of the Holy Spirit matter or doesn't it? Should we get rid of the third article of the Apostles Creed? Should we reduce the three solas to the two solas by eliminating "Faith Alone"? Do we have a Triune God with one of the person's of the Trinity missing in action? Do we ignore the work of the Holy Spirit because someone might have a crisis of faith? Do we then throw the Means of Grace, the Word and the Sacraments, out the window? It seems to me that this is exactly what I see happening in so many churches, and now in the WELS. Fewer and fewer churches using the Sacraments, or ashamed to use the Sacraments because it will scare off visitors, thereby turning their back on the Means of Grace. I've heard this rejection of the Sacraments said first hand by pastors and church leaders. The Word is being twisted and distorted and neglected. You've seen it yourself, and raised the concern in your other posts. Does the gift of the Holy Spirit matter or doesn't it?

July 24, 2014 at 8:17 AM

How We Deal with Inevitable Rot

The article about downtown Milwaukee sinking is a fascinating read for anyone who has lived in the area. To create large structures, wooden pilings were driven into the marshland, to provide a base. Borers are eating away at the wood, so buildings are tilting and sinking. "Change and decay in all around I see...."

Charles Darwin was fascinated with the earthworm's ability to bury structures by creating soil, but he never grasped the divinely ordered purpose of the earthworm in improving soil. Four decades of study left him clueless about the design of the creature. If earthworms were not so common, we would have lecture series on them.

Rot is inevitable, so the real issue is how we deal with it. The Chinese recognized that they needed to return plant waste to the garden. This became Sir Albert Howard's contribution to agriculture in India, where the climate used up the soil rapidly. How can they grow tea without good soil?

I think of yard waste in terms of using it again. The bushes have their trimmings used for mulch or in the compost. The crepe myrtle will yield a lot of leafy scrap with relatively soft branches. That will be good for air pockets in the compost and new ingredients before the autumn leaves are added.

Agent Orange devastates tender plants.

The backyard gardens need plenty of shade to turn the grass into compost for planting in the spring. I tried to compromise in the corn patch and get some vegetables growing late, but Agent Orange feasted on the seedlings instead. I can use leaves and mulch to cover where I will plant in the spring. Downed branches from the latest storm will hold the leaves in place.

Some people plant green manure. They start beans or another nitrogen fixing plant. Before winter, they get out their 12 horsepower rototillers and osterize their soil. Instead, they should just let the frost kill the plants,allowing the roots to rot into the soil with their nodules of fixed nitrogen. The soil creatures are designed for this, not for being eviscerated and tossed around like grain in a threshing machine.

Here are some deep roots for rotting into the soil -

• Dandelions - fleshy roots rot into channels for rain and transport.
• Sunflowers - their stalks also serve as perches for birds during their hunt for food in the snow.
• Corn - this heavy feeder has extensive roots, so they can give back a lot of the soil ingredients they tied up while creating sweet corn.

Big leafy plants are going to have a good root system, which we loathe when weeding. If the weed is not obnoxious, let it rot into the soil by cutting the plant just above the surface.

White Goosefoot, called Lambs Quarters and Wild Spinach.
This robust weed is really a nutritious plant, loaded with vitamins and calcium.

I had plenty of Goosefoot growing in Midland, and I ate it whenever I was gardening. If I went around spraying everything with pesticide and herbicide, the plant would be less enticing. A patch of Wild Spinach is good for eating and for composting. In the back of the yard, it can serve as a screen and a place where ground-nesting birds can feel safe. I recall killdeer nesting in my weedy-herbal patch in Midland. The mother was offended that I lived nearby.

A pile of branches can harbor the wrong animal and even be a fire hazard, but in the short run, branches on the ground are a bird haven. They love to have some elevation when searching for food in the grass. They also perch there after bathing on or under the bird spa along the fence. Branches give up insect larvae and harbor insects, so a bunch of branches can be a good source of bird food as well.

I took tossed out Christmas trees and put them in the backyard for bird shelters in the Midland winter. The dry skeletons became part of the compost in the spring. Once I bought garbage bags of leftover popcorn after a public event. Soon after, we had a record snow. I went out daily and tossed handfuls of popcorn in the snow. Soon I had resident birds cooing the moment I walked toward the garage, where their food was stored.

Likewise, a large tree overlooked the Midland yard, which served as the choir loft for birds observing me dig in the garden. I definitely felt watched. When I overturned the soil with my shovel, the prelude began. Happy hunting followed when I went inside.

Preying Mantis.

My favorite pesticide was Little Ichabod. He took to blocks of wood and got rid of asparagus beetles for me. He came inside with green fingers from crushed beetles. Then we went modern and got some preying mantis eggs.

WELS Playing Little Boy Games

One WELS pastor started another anonymous blog, Polluted WELS, where he can dither and dodge anonymousely. After begging people not to use name-calling, like "Calvinist," he engaged in it himself. That is easy for a nameless person with a partial, defective education.

The WELS pastors are so afraid of using their own names that they claim I am hosting the blog and attacking myself for credibility. One of the bizarre traits of WELS clergy is their illegal use of other identities, which was fairly common in the Fox Valley eructations.

One reader pointed out something I noticed - WELS clergy never grow up. They are still adolescents in the dorms, playing hateful pranks, avoiding their studies, vowing they will never grow up in Never-Never-Land.

In fact, Mark Jeske and Richard Starr and another WELS pastor had a pact. The last one to get married would get a refrigerator. Starr lasted the longest and got his prize fridge. Why would a minister want to avoid getting married? That means growing up and giving up the narcissism of youth. Playing Peter Pan is so much more fun. Thus the Mequon Mattress Room.

Those who do not use their names, not even an anonymous identity, can grill others, name-call, and act silly with their dog notes. (Dog Notes are the yellowed dogmatics notes that make up the backbone of WELS false doctrine. The original author was J. P. Meyer, author of three Kokomo Statements. The new editor is Tim Glende's uncle, so we know they are infallible.)

If the blog ever became serious, WELS would shut it down, but this is useful for the leaders, who will find out the author and contributors. The Intrepids used their names and soon the clergy were gone, including the Founder.

When enough idiots say the same thing about justification, the drivel turns into dogma, and the dogma into practice. Jack Cascione and Paul McCain quoted Ed Preuss with approval.

Robert Preus used this abomination in his worst essay ever, when his lobby was driving WAM out of the Ft. Wayne presidency. He found it difficult to back away from the assassination. Like LBJ and another assassination, he repented before he died and recorded his confession.

Whenever the Gospel begins to take root, Satan and his minions rise up to destroy it. They scatter, but do not destroy. Some doubters return to their folly. Others see how horrible UOJ dogma is. Still others search the Scriptures and rely on the plain teaching of the Holy Spirit rather than the philosophical acrobatics of the poorly trained clergy.

That Sinking Feeling - In Milwaukee

"Pay no attention to St. Marcus leaning."

The sinking city: Dozens of buildings in Milwaukee…sinking! There’s a problem and it’s deep underground

MILWAUKEE (WITI) — If you ever look up in Milwaukee, even just a little bit, you can’t help but notice we have some amazing architecture here — buildings that were built to last. But some of them may not last much longer. There’s a problem…and it’s deep underground.

On Milwaukee food tours, hungry walkers can feast their eyes on a strange phenomenon.

“As we’re walking through the Third Ward — how the bricks are starting to crumble a little bit, and the buildings are beginning to lean,” Theresa Nemetz said.

You can even feel the problem under your feet.

“You see the sidewalk is beginning to settle. The city has actually come through and shaved down the sidewalk,” Nemetz said.

So what’s happening here?

Dennis Barthenheier has dug a giant hole in his basement to find out.

“I noticed this large crack that`s along the wall line here. It’s coming apart…and I know why,” Barthenheier said.

Much of Milwaukee was built on a marsh. Around the turn of the century, for stability under foundations, contractors used steam-powered pile drivers to sink into the soggy land below thousands of wood pilings — tree trunks stripped of their branches and bark.

A concrete gap — basically the building foundation, was placed on top.

Milwaukee landmarks were made this way. Among them: Milwaukee’s City Hall, the Mitchell Building. the Button Block, the Pabst, and the Riverfront Building that houses the Milwaukee Repertory Theater.

“A couple years ago we started seeing cracks, basically — in the walls,”  Chad Bauman, Managing Director of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater said.

Floors are no longer level. There are growing gaps under the doors — and a tell-tale sign of the source: wharf borer beetles.

“This wall has come down almost two-and-a-half inches,” Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s Chief Building Engineer Mark Uhrman said.

Signs of the building sinking are everywhere. Wood wedges temporarily support the floor above.

The technique of setting foundations on wood pilings was nothing new. It had been done in Europe for centuries.

However…

“The pilings need to be kept wet. This sounds counter-intuitive, but things that are wet permanently rot slower,” UW-Milwaukee Professor of Geosciences Doug Cherkauer said.

In parts of Milwaukee, the water table has fluctuated — and pilings have been exposed to air.

“They’re starting to rot,” Cherkauer said.

How long they’ve been rotting, nobody knows. And why the water table has gone down is disputed. Cherkauer, a hydro-geologist says he isn’t even sure it has.

“As far as I know, there are no monitoring wells anywhere in the downtown area, so we don`t know what the groundwater conditions in Milwaukee actually are,” Cherkauer said.

But we do know the buildings are sinking — dozens of them.

In the basement of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, they’re getting ready to remove the rotten wood and replace it with a new foundation.

That brings us back to Dennis Barthenheier — and the large hole he’s dug in his own basement. Fixing sinking buildings is his specialty. The repair at the Repertory Theater will be one of his big projects this year. In his basement, he’s just discovering the depth of the problem.

“That wood that you see should be all the way up and into the bottom of that concrete — but it is gone. It’s rotted away,” Barthenheier said.

So here’s how Barthenheier stops the sinking. He digs down, and each rotted piling is cut off below the water level. One by one, steel jacks are installed. Then, a new concrete form is filled to close the gap between the old cap and the new piling top below.

“All we`re doing is extending the concrete down further to make sure the wood is submerged in water,” Barthenheier said.

But with potentially thousands of pilings rotting under buildings in Milwaukee, it’s a big job.

“We have water in our basement and we WANT water in our basement,” Milwaukee Repertory Theater Chief Building Engineer Mark Uhrman said.

You might be wondering: What if the water table goes down? Won’t the pilings rot again?

As part of the repair, they’re often installing reverse sump pumps. In your basement, the sump pump kicks in when the water gets high. Here, it kicks in when the water gets low, and pumps water in from the city system to keep the pilings wet.

Brett Meyer - On Polluted WELS

Polluted WELS Blog

 Anonymous said...

I was listening to Pastor Frey's sermon. Around 33:30 he stated "You can walk up to anyone and say "your sins are forgiven."
Isn't this a diminishing of the Law? So long as a person remains outside of Christ he remains under God's Wrath and is doomed to hell.
Another way to put it is why would a person think they need to believe in Jesus their savior unless they first realize they need saving? This can only be brought about by an application of the Law. To ignore that step seems dangerous and foolish.
He states " You can say your sins are forgiven and that's a fact."
Would it not be better and more Scripturally accurate to say "Your sins have been paid for"?
Just wondering
-Jon

July 23, 2014 at 2:06 PM

 Anonymous said...

Mr. Amendall,

You said this: [i]"WELS is confused on their definition of the Office of the Ministry."[/i]

What do you mean by that exactly?

- Mr. Abbott

July 23, 2014 at 2:12 PM

 Gregory Jackson said...

Anonymous - it worked great for Ski, for the various felons, including DP Ed Werner, who went to state prison, as did Vicar Scott Zerbe. It is the perfect message for the Me Generation. Do what you want. WELS's Meditations, March-May 2014, for Monday, 17 March 2014. The howler is in the second column reads: "No matter what you did yesterday -- or failed to do -- and no matter what you will do tomorrow, God has forgiven you."

July 23, 2014 at 2:32 PM

 

I have heard stories - good ones.

 Brett Meyer said...

I was once told that Synod officials hated me for my approach to the defense of Christ’s Chief Article – one Justification solely by the gracious gift of faith in Christ alone. It is my experience that what they hate is the doctrine itself as I’ve been called an Antichrist, heretic and even a disciple of Pastor Gregory Jackson by the clergy and laity of the WELS, ELS and LCMS for using Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions to teach, promote and defend Christ’s doctrine of Justification while exposing the false gospel of Objective Justification. The discussions available on the internet are many. But most recently there was a revealing discussion of UOJ on this blog which exposes what the WELS teaches and rejects concerning the doctrine of Justification – Objective Justification is completely contrary to Scripture.
http://pollutedwels.blogspot.com/2014/07/so-what-now.html

"However, if anything is undertaken against the Word, faith, and the honor of God, we are in no wise to preserve silence, are to bear it far less patiently. Then we should offer stubborn resistance."
What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, III, p. 1308. Sermon, 1523.
Martin Luther to George Major:

"Therefore, do not speak to me of love or friendship when anything is to be detracted from the Word or the faith; for we are told that not love but the Word brings eternal life, God's grace, and all heavenly treasures." 19 " In matters concerning faith we must be invincible, unbending, and very stubborn; indeed, if possible, harder than adamant. But in matters concerning love we should be softer and more pliant than any reed and leaf and should gladly accommodate ourselves to everything." 20 "Doctrine is our only light. It alone enlightens and directs us and shows us the way to heaven. If it is shaken in one quarter (in una parte), it will necessarily be shaken in its entirety (in totum). Where that happens, love cannot help us at all." 21 " But this tender mercy is to be exercised only toward Christians and among Christians, for toward those who reject and persecute the Gospel we must act differently; here I am not permitted to let my love be merciful so as to tolerate and endure false doctrine. When faith and doctrine are concerned and endangered, neither love nor patience are in order. Then it is my duty to contend in earnest and not to yield a hairbreadth." What Luther Says, II, 637f.

Cont...

July 23, 2014 at 2:47 PM

 Brett Meyer said...

Cont...


"It is by your silence and cloaking that you cast suspicion upon yourself. If you believe as you declare in my presence, then speak so also to the church, in public lectures, in sermons, and in private conversations, and strengthen your brethren, and lead the erring back to the right path, and contradict the contumacious spirits; otherwise your confession is sham pure and simple, and worth nothing. Whoever really regards his doctrine, faith, and confession as true, right, and certain cannot remain in the same stall with such as teach, or adhere to, false doctrine; nor can he keep on giving friendly words to Satan and his minions. A teacher who remains silent when errors are taught, and nevertheless pretends to be a true teacher, is worse than an open fanatic and by his hypocrisy does greater damage than a heretic. Nor can he be trusted. He is a wolf and a fox, a hireling and a servant of his belly, and ready to despise and to sacrifice doctrine, Word, faith, Sacrament, churches, and schools. He is either a secret bedfellow of the enemies or a skeptic and a weathervane, waiting to see whether Christ or the devil will prove victorious; or he has no convictions of his own whatever, and is not worthy to be called a pupil, let alone a teacher; nor does he want to offend anybody, or say a word in favor of Christ, or hurt the devil and the world."
Martin Luther, quoted in Bente's Historical Introduction, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 94.

"Therefore nothing but a satanic, seductive, and sinister strategy is involved when we are called upon to yield a bit and to connive at an error for the sake of unity. In this way the devil is trying cunningly to lead us away from the Word. For if we adopt this course and get together in this matter, he has already gained ground; and if we were to yield him a fingerbreadth, he would soon have an ell."
What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, III, p. 1411f. Ephesians 6:10-17.

July 23, 2014 at 2:48 PM

 Ben Wink said...

Isn't this all a symptom of a larger problem that comes with Church Growth attitudes? When you reduce the work of the church to a numbers game, you want to increase those member numbers, correct?

What is the easiest way to do that? By having a watered down message that appeals to everyone, regardless of Scripture truths and accurate doctrine. If this means telling everyone that Jesus loves them and that everyone is absolutely amazing in the eyes of God the Father, then so be it. You achieved your results and more people have shown up because of the weak tea version of Christianity you just served.

All I ever hear, consistantly pounded over and over again is "God's love" and "the Gospel message". Yet where is the Law? Is not the Law equally important? What meaning does the Gospel have, when you minimize the Law or eliminate it altogether? You then just want to get rear ends in your pews or your theater seating or whatever.

It is getting to the point that the supposed crackpots with the placards that say "Repent for the End is NEAR!" signs are actually getting more closer to the point of Scripture than certain sermons by trained pastors I've been privy to have cross my ears.

The Bible is quite clear in having both Law and Gospel be equally important. Without the Gospel, you end up in desperation and the cul-de-sac of works righteousness. Without the Law, you end up with a lovey dovey message that sounds great here on earth, but won't sound so great for an eternity.

But as people don't by nature like to hear that they are sinners and that's a negative and won't help our numbers, so intead we will lead with the Gospel instead and mention the Law in passing, if at all. And I don't think that I'm exaggerating this phenomenon. Look at some of the websites for these churches and just see the gooey messages of love oozing everywhere. This smarmy nonsense isn't true love.

True love means telling someone that they are a sinner, that God hates sin, and that they are condemned to an eternal hell.

True love then tells someone that God sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for those that believe in Christ as their Savior, through the gift of faith from the Holy Spirit.

Maybe when churches focus on the totality of the Word and present and teach the entire Scripture, not just the parts that get pews filled, then some balance will come. But I'm not holding my breath.