The Shattered Pulpit Blog Author - Lillian Armstrong

UOJ teaches that everyone is forgiven all past, present, and future sins,
so is anyone puzzled that WELS is plagued by alcoholism, porn, pornography, and worse? 
Questioning WELS is a sin against the Holy Spirit and Holy Mother Sect, so that is NOT forgiven...ever.

The Shattered Pulpit blog is about a woman who was groomed to be a WELS pastor's sex toy. The blog is linked on the left.

Lillian Armstrong, her pen name, has a Facebook page. Click on the link to the left to find her page and friend her.

Her email is - lilliansuearmstrong@gmail.com

If you want to see how a famous Baptist pastor sexually abused women in his congregation and created his own mini-denomination of abusers, including his clergy son and clergy son-in-law, read this link for starters -

List of Hyles related sex abuse cases - World's Largest Sunday School, Hammond, Indiana.

WELS has not been kind to Lillian Armstrong for posting the truth, although she hides her real name and the congregation's name.

Does this sound familiar in Green Bay, Wisconsin?

Marvin Schwan--the patron saint of WELS-ELS-LCMS--thought nothing of breaking up his family and his manager's family to marry his second wife. Tragedy followed, but WELS held Marvin's predestinating hand and told him he was forgiven all past, present, and future sins. Marvin did not live much longer, so perhaps God took up that case on appeal.

The conservative Lutheran abusers will continue to get away with this until the victims network together. The synods will obstruct, frustrate, and slander their efforts, but they can help many by exposing the racket of protecting the guilty while crushing the victims with accusations.

Remember Archbishop R. Weakland, featured speaker at Wisconsin Lutheran College? He protected Roman Catholic priests who abused children, because he said children asked for it. Of course, Weakland himself was a basket case, with a young boyfriend who blackmailed him.

WLC hired Weakland and some of his priests
for a series of public lectures on urban ministry.
WELS denied this happened and then created a story about it being private.
Ha - they advertised it all over the city.

Will Glende Follow His Mentor's Example and Step Down?

Mark Driscoll Steps Down While Mars Hill Investigates Charges

(UPDATED) Driscoll offers 8-step solution to followers: 'Current climate is not healthy for me or for this church.'

Morgan Lee

[ POSTED 8/24/2014 12:41PM ]

MARS HILL CHURCH

Driscoll announces his 'extended focus break' from Mars Hill.

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[Updated with eight "next steps," direct quotes, video of announcement.]

http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2014/august/mark-driscoll-steps-down-while-mars-hill-investigates-charg.html

In Mark Driscoll's first public statement since Acts 29 rebuked and removed him from the church planting network he founded, the embattled Seattle pastor announced he will temporarily step down as leader of Mars Hill Church while charges submitted by 21 former pastors against him are investigated.

He offered his church a list of eight next steps he plans to take [see bottom of this post, along with video link], acknowledging that some charges are "simply my fault, and I will own it, confess it, and move on from it as God continues to redeem me."

See the entire article about Mark Driscoll here.

***

GJ - DPs Engelbrecht and Patterson conspired with SP Mark Schroeder to get Ski back into the ministry when most businesses would have handed him his belongings in a cardboard box and shown him the door. Likewise - Glende: he engaged in the same behavior and encouraged/protected Ski from the consequences of their juvenile, abusive behavior.

Effective Work in the Garden

Knock-Out roses look better than this.
This looks like the hue was turned up to nuclear on Photoshop.

We had several good projects this weekend. Our grandson helped me prune the roses, and I cut a bunch for the Sunday altar. Some of the hybrid teas were perfect for the vase. The fast-blooming yellow roses were already on a downhill slide, but I could not prune them yet. They are a burst of yellow and fragrance near the door.

I prune the Knock-Outs often and Alex pruned more on Saturday, so I had some great reds for the arrangement.

Trimming the roses is always effective. They respond with more growth and more roses.

The Lyle Lovett crepe myrtle is fuzzy with flower buds already. Two burst out immediately after the severe trim a week ago. Now the entire top of the bush is ready to bloom with compound buds. Lower branches, once bare, are sprouting some new foliage. As my mother often said about her home haircuts - "It will grow out."

Alex

I brought a tomato in for Mrs. I - still warm from the 95 degree weather, but even warmer from sitting in the sun on the south side of the house.

Our helper covered the rest of the vegetable garden in newspaper and mulch. Although the work is not hard, it does take time, newspapers, and trips to Lowe's, for all the square footage planned for the spring. Both backyard gardens will be deeper into the yard.

The rose garden expansion will mean holes and roses first, newspapers and mulch second. That is a lot more fun - and rewarded with roses in 30 days or so.

Little Ichabod walked out in the back and said, "This is a big backyard." When the trees were hanging down to eye level, most of the yard was difficult to navigate and completely shaded. Now the yard is balanced with sunlight and shade and much larger  in its usefulness. I would have written off the back section before, except for composting. Now I am ready to grow some screening plants and try pumpkins along the ground. I can extend the Elevated Soaker Hose (Trademark G. Jackson) around the entire perimeter of the fence, which will give me an enormous vertical garden ( vertical being one of the recent fads) and ease in watering.

We often waste space because we have so much. When the area is relatively small or the ambitions big, the plans change.

Luther Quotation - Pastor Balfour Photoshop

"They say it would be better if we would make some slight concession rather than cause such commotion and controversy in the Church regarding an article which is not even one of the fundamental doctrines. My reply is, cursed be any love or harmony which demands for its preservation that we place the Word of God in jeopardy!"

Martin Luther
Comentary on Galations
http://www.bibleteacher.org/luthercom_1.htm

Luther's Galatians Commentary - Graebner Translation - Defeat Pan-UOJ Argument

 

Preface and Forward
Chapter 1:1-6

Translated by Theodore Graebner

December, 1998

pp. iii-v

PREFACE

http://www.bibleteacher.org/luthercom_1.htm

Classic Ichabod - Justification by Faith, Galatians Lectures. American Edition

Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan,

But it is because, as I often warn you, there is a clear and present danger that the devil may take away from us the pure doctrine of faith and may substitute for it the doctrines of works and of human traditions.
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 3

For if the doctrine of justification is lost, the whole of Christian doctrine is lost. And those in the world who do not teach it are either Jews or Turks or papists or sectarians.
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 9

These new monks [Anabaptists] invent a new cross and new works, and they imagine that by performing these they will please God. In short, whoever does not know the doctrine of justification takes away Christ the Propitiator. Galatians 1:3
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 28

For until our death Satan will never stop attacking all the doctrines of the Creed in us. He is the implacable enemy of faith, for he knows that it is the victory that overcomes the world (1 John 5:4). Therefore it is our obligation to hold constantly to our faith and to establish it, in order that we may be able to stand up to Satan. Galatians 1:3
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 31

["The Church of Rome is superior to the Gospels because it approves the Gospels" - or today - "The synod has approved it.]

The Church approves Christian faith and doctrine. Therefore the church is superior to them. To refute this wicked and blasphemous  doctrine of theirs, you have here a clear text and a thunderbolt. Here Paul subordinates himself, an angel from heaven, teachers on earth, and any other masters at all to Sacred Scripture. Galatians 1:9
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 57f.

Besides, the question of justification is an elusive thing--not in itself, for in itself it is firm and sure, but so far as we are concerned. I myself have had considerable experience of this, for I know how I sometimes struggle in the hours of darkness. I know how often I suddenly lose sight of the rays of the Gospel and of grace, which have been obscured for me by thick, dark clouds. In other words, I know how slippery the footing is even for those who are mature and seem to be firmly established in matters of faith. Galatians 1:11-12.
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 63f.

Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, Page 93 is the false argument - you weren't here from the beginning (not born in Wisconsin or didn't go to a Concordia Cemetery).

But those men look at Peter's high prestige; they admire his social position and forget the majesty of this doctrine. Paul does the opposite. He does not attack Peter sharply; he treats him with due respect. But because he sees that the prestige of Peter is endangering the majesty of the doctrine of justification, he ignores the prestige, in order to keep this doctrine pure and undefiled. Galatians 2:11
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 108.

The fall or error of one man can so easily bring on enormous ruin if it is not corrected. Therefore the doctrine of justification is nothing to be trifled with, and it is not without reason that we inculcate it and insist on it with such diligence. Galatians 2:13
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 111f.

Here let reason be far away, that enemy o faith, which, in the temptations of sin and death, relies not on the righteousness of faith or Christian righteousness, of which it is completely ignorant, but on its own righteousness, at most on the righteousness of the Law. As soon as reason and the Law are joined, faith immediately loses its virginity. Galatians 2:13
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 113.

Therefore the Christ who is grasped  by faith and who lives in the heart is the true Christian righteousness, on account of which God counts us righteous and grants us eternal life. Galatians 2:16.
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 130

We must not attribute the power of justification to a "form" that makes a man pleasing to God; we must attribute it to faith, which takes hold of Christ the Savior Himself and possesses Him in the heart. This faith justifies without love and before love. Galatians 2:16
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 137

The only thing necessary is that we accept the treasure  that is Christ, grasped by faith in our hearts, even though we feel that we are completely filled with sins. Thus these words, "by faith in Christ," are very emphatic, not empty and vain, as the sophists think when they leap over them so boldly. Galatians 2:16
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 139

Then they ridicule us for inculcating and emphasizing faith with such diligence: "Ha, ha! Faith, faith! Just wait until you get to heaven by faith! No you must strive for something more sublime. You must fulfill the Law of God...." Galatians 2:17
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 143

Holy Scripture, especially the New Testament, always inculcates faith in Christ and magnificently proclaims Him. It says that "whoever believes in Him is saved, does not perish, is not judged, is not put to shame, and has eternal life" (John 3:16). Galatians 2:17
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 146

Meanwhile my old man (Ephesians 4:22) remains outside and is subject to the Law. But so far as justification is concerned, Christ and I must be so closely attached that He lives in me and I in Him. What a marvelous way of speaking! Because He lives in me, whatever grace, righteousness, life, peace, and salvation there is in me is all Christ's; nevertheless, it is mine as well, by the cementing and attachment that are through faith, by which we become as one body in the Spirit. Galatians 2:20
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 167f.

Thus Ephesians 5:30 says: "We are members of the body of Christ, of His flesh and of His bones," in such a way that this faith couples Christ and me more intimately than a husband is coupled to his wife. Therefore faith is no idle quality; but it is a thing of such magnitude that it obscures and completely removes those foolish dreams of the sophists' doctrine--the fiction of a formed faith and of love, of merits, our worthiness, our quality, etc. Galatians 2:20.
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 168f.

Thus "You received the Spirit either from the Law or from the hearing of faith. If it was by the Law, then it was not by the hearing of faith; if it was by the hearing of faith, then it was not by the Law.  There can be no middle ground. For whatever is not the Holy Spirit or hearing with faith is clearly the Law." We are dealing with the issue of justification. But there are only two ways to justification: either the Word of the Gospel or the Law. Galatians 3:2
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 203

But the doctrine of justification is this, that we are pronounced righteous and are saved solely by faith in Christ, and without works. If this is the true meaning of justification--as it certainly is, or it will be necessary to get rid of all Scripture--then it immediately follows  that we are pronounced righteous neither through monasticism nor through vows nor through Masses not through any other works. Galatians 3:5
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 223

This discussion of the example of Abraham involves at the same time Holy Scripture itself, which says that we are reckoned righteous by faith. Therefore this is a very powerful argument on two counts, both because of the example of Abraham and because of the authority of Scripture. Galatians 3:7
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 240

Therefore faith always justifies and makes alive; and yet it does not remain alone, that is, idle. Not that it does not remain alone on its own level and in its own function, for it always justifies alone.  But it is incarnate and becomes man; that is, it neither is nor remains idle or without love. Galatians 3:12
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 272

Who can adequately proclaim the usefulness and the effect of even one work that a Christian does in faith and on the basis of faith? Galatians 3:22
Lectures on Galatians, 1535. Volume 26. American Edition. Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, p. 334

The Tenth Sunday after Trinity, 2014. Luke 19:41-48. Jesus Weeping over Jerusalem

The Tenth Sunday after Trinity, 2014. Luke 19:41-48.
Jesus Weeping Over Jerusalem

The Tenth Sunday after Trinity, 2014

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

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

Bethany Lutheran Church, 10 AM Central Time

The Hymn # 202             Welcome Happy Morning                      4:28

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 #267            If God Had Not Been   4:61

Love and Compassion

The Communion Hymn # 305.5-9                       Soul, Adorn              4:23

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 # 657            Beautiful Savior                    4:24

KJV 1 Corinthians 12:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. 2 Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led. 3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. 4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. 8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; 10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: 11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

KJV Luke 19:41 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, 42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. 43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, 44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. 45 And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought; 46 Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves. 47 And he taught daily in the temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him, 48 And could not find what they might do: for all the people were very attentive to hear him.

Tenth Sunday After Trinity

Almighty and everlasting God, who by Thy Holy Ghost hast revealed unto us the gospel of Thy Son, Jesus Christ: We beseech Thee so to quicken our hearts that we may sincerely receive Thy word, and not make light of it, or hear it without fruit, as did Thy people, the unbelieving Jews, but that we may fear Thee and daily grow in faith in Thy mercy, and finally obtain eternal salvation, through Thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

Luther’s Sermon on Luke 19:41-48

Love and Compassion

KJV Luke 19:41 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,

As Luther wrote in his sermon on this text, Jesus had two ways to address the rejection of God's Word. One was to use threats, which He did more than once - such as saying it would be better to have a millstone around one's neck and be thrown into the sea. 

The other is to express love and compassion toward those blinded by their rejection of the Word. We can see that here, because His reaction is not to weep over His coming passion, but to weep over the horrors that would be visited on the city in the future.

We can see that in America today, with its wholesale rejection of its religious foundations. When I was discussing Mayberry with friends on Facebook, I pointed out that it was a make-believe city that we liked, because it reminded us of the towns we grew up in. And now these same areas are visited with constant crime. They are marked with pawnshops and bail bondsmen, and all the pock-marks of crime, vice, and drug addiction.

My father had a downtown bakery that was open 24 hours. Women worked there at night and no one worried about their safety. The back door was locked at night, but the front door was open. No one would think of doing the same today. Likewise, school problems were so minimal that trivial incidents in today's world were treated as major events that shocked people. Where are their parents? people would wonder.

Our town was closed for Sundays. Nothing happened after noon, and the only store open on Sunday was the drugstore - closing at noon. Where else would people buy the Des Moines Tribune?

When Moliners go back, they are shocked, as we were, about the emptiness of the downtown, with so many closed stores in a strange contrast to some impressive John Deere museum buildings, showcasing the equipment (no longer made there). We drove the streets to look at the old Deere mansions and saw streets lined with decaying homes.

I know the Lutheran churches of the 1960s were nothing like the ones today, with all the ELCA fads taking over. Some dissented as left (Faith, Moline) but my home congregation stayed, and its sister church hosted the ELCA fanatics who lost the battle at Faith. True ELCA members have no Faith now, but WELS and Missouri and the ELS are happy to work with them.

42 Saying, "If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes." 

Which things belong to peace? They are primarily faith in the Gospel of Jesus, forgiveness of sin, and salvation. Everyone wants peace, which is in the first triad of those fruits of the Spirit:

1. Love
2. Joy
3. Peace. Galatians 5

The day of judgment was fast upon Jerusalem, as Jesus approached for the last time in His earthly ministry. They would hail Him as the Messiah and then abandon Him for the crucifixion. The contrast is so great, and yet it has been true of humanity since the beginning.

Luther said - when the Germans are hot for something, they are really hot. Then they are cold. They flocked to the Lutheran churches when the Reformation began, but they ran back to Rome when troubles developed. There are few who remain faithful, and few who refuse to compromise.

In era after era, clergy have pledged to obey those pastoral admonitions where they must remain faithful to the Word. But officials and members press them to compromise, and they do, often for the sake of earthly peace and institutional prosperity.

Faith in Jesus during those days of judgement in Jerusalem proved to be filled threats and obvious conclusions as He was condemned and executed as a religious threat and as an enemy of the Roman Empire. 

When I think about ELCA dissenting bishops, I recall how I watched them get elected, serve the institution gladly, and get along with everyone. ELCA was always quick to chop anyone (or any family member) who dared question its infallibility. One pastor's kid said something rude about the LCA, and his father was punished. Likewise, various clergy parasites and their kin retaliated against my family, too cowardly to face me. And with ELCA, these same bishops in retirement suddenly found their Holy Mother Sect to be loathsome and disgusting. They were there at the creation. I saw one of these dissenters installed as a bishop, saw him elected as a buddy-buddy chair of the bishops, and POW he was opposed to everything he participated in and funded. 

The trouble with compromise and unfaith is this - it paints people into a corner where they cannot escape, because they only want to turn the clock back a few years  - to when they were happy and blind. But they do not want to go all the way back to the Scriptures as they are, because that is too radical.

However, the disturbances and afflictions can make people lose their illusions and return to the Word alone. And additional attacks can make people go to the Book of Concord the way runners grab bottles of water after a race.

43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, 

This one verse should give everyone goosebumps, because Jesus described the Roman attack on Jerusalem forty years before the campaign began. Zealots began with a successful attack against Rome and thought they were winners. But they only defeated the garrison troops, the ones left to keep the peace. Their folly brought an enormous force traveling with their slaves to aid the soldiers in the important work of circumvallation - surrounding a walled city with another wall, to prevent any escape or entry.

When America has a big storm, people empty the shelves of food and water before it hits. Batteries are gone. Flashlights are sold. All essential food is bought up. Strawberry Poptarts are especially prized during storms, so large shipments go to Walmarts in anticipation.

The reaction to potential hunger is panic buying, and the reaction to circumvallation is panic hoarding. I don't believe my father ever got over rationing in WWII. He stockpiled everything, even those things he no longer needed but might need - just in case. I threw some out and dared him to carry them down into the basement again. I won that one.

Jerusalem had stores of food and miraculously engineered fresh water supply. The food supply was burnt early and everyone began hoarding and stealing. Horrible things happened afterwards, as you might imagine.

44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. 

The invasion of Rome came during the pilgrimages, so the greatest possible population was trapped in the city, adding to the burden of defense and feeding people. They boiled their sandal laces to have something to eat - and worse, cannibalism erupted.

When soldiers got into the city, they looted the city, looking for gold. The rumor that gold was hidden in the Temple led to it being destroyed - not one stone left on another. Gold does that to people. In Phoenix, people still brave the dessert trying to find the Lost Dutchman's Mine.

Jesus is warning people - "Because you did not realize the visitation of God's wrath would be upon you." As Luther has commented, God uses enemies to punish apostasy and make people wake up to their folly.

Russia and Germany abandoned the Gospel for two similar forms of paganism (Nazi socialism in Germany, Marxist Communism in Russia).

Luther:

41. Let Germany, which, praise to God, now has the Gospel, beware, that she may not meet the same fate, as it already so strongly everywhere indicates she will. For we dare not think that the contempt and unthankfulness, which are gaining control among us as great as among the Jews, will remain unpunished. After that he will let the godless world complain and cry: If the Gospel had not come, such things would not have come upon us; just like the Jews at Jerusalem blamed all their calamities to the preaching of the Gospel, and they themselves at the risk of their own necks prophesied that if Christ with his Gospel should continue, the Romans would come and take away their place and nation. And afterward also, even the Romans blamed their destruction to this new God and new doctrine. Just as it is said at present, since the Gospel has appeared things have never been right.

In America we have daily invasions, bringing in drugs (the price of crossing the border) and vice (too grim to relate here). And we pay daily for these horrors and pretend (on a national scale) that it is not happening or affecting us. 

Weather is also a warning, because it takes little to turn calm, productive seasons into times of drought, or blizzards. And earthquakes warn us how fragile this calm can be. If God withdraws His protection from us, we cannot overcome the natural forces unleashed upon America, especially when we have weakened our character to making immorality and genocide legal.

The beheading of a journalist was horrible, but doctors do that everyday to the unborn. How is that not worse? Are we better?

45 And he went into the Temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought; 

Is anything more obvious than the commercialization of the worship service? Congregations sell their souls for a pittance, hawking insurance and overpriced chicken, not to mention grocieries and other items.

The Jews were rather subdued compared to the modern Lutheran, who must pass through a gauntlet of street-hawkers selling "slave days" and bake sales, junk collection (paper and cardboard), Junk for Jesus sales, insurance, local merchants, and more. 

When a Christian wrote to a famous journalist about all these gimmicks - and more - he asked how they could support their congregation better. They were always short of money. Horace Greeley said, "Try religion."

The ghastly apparition of the local congregation today is a haunting antitype of the church in the past. Instead of dignified music praising God, untalented rockers screech about themselves. Cynical ministers know they can make more people happy with cutesy stories and vain efforts at coaching. Perhaps people will flock to see someone more pathetic than they are -  with addictions, neuroses, and even greedier and harder of heart. That is why people liked Evel Knievel. He could not ride a motorcycle. He crashed all the time while lecturing about cycle safety. 

46 Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves.

This saying is engraved over an enormous Presbyterian church in Midland, but the minister worried that he could not move the dinner theater out of the nave to have a funeral. It was clear from his comments that he had to ask permission and hope for a positive answer.

The most important part of our lives is the spiritual part. God takes care of our material needs and then some, but we can easily neglect the better part. When Mary and Martha were visiting with Jesus.

Luke 10

38 Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.

39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.

40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.

41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:


42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

One thing is needful, which is faith. Mary was not worried about work. She wanted to hear the Word of God from the Savior. 

Faith makes the tree good, because faith receives the grace of God, the forgiveness of sin. From this comes peace but also a great love and thankfulness. 

47 And he taught daily in the Temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him, 48 And could not find what they might do: for all the people were very attentive to hear him.

Even though Jesus knew about the upcoming events, far in advance, he taught daily in the Temple. The popularity of Jesus led to the peculiar way in which He was arrested, at night, with a betrayer identifying Him with a kiss.

Luther:
42. And thus it will also go with the world; as its people despise and persecute God’s Word, and become so hardened and blinded, they will blame no one as the cause and merit of their destruction but the precious Gospel itself; which nevertheless alone preserves, thank God, what is still preserved; otherwise all things would long since lay in one common heap of ruins. And yet it must bear the blame for everything that the devil and his clans transact. Because people continue to blaspheme and will not recognize what our sins deserve and the grace and mercy which we have in the Gospel, God must thus repay such blasphemers, so that they become their own prophets, and for a double wickedness receive a double reward.

This premonition has already gone forth, except that it is yet withheld on account of the faithful few; just as he beforehand admonished the Jews by this example when he cast those that sold and bought out of the temple, and afterwards went into the temple himself and finally taught until the day of his death, and yet for a time withheld as long as he could, and afterwards by his Apostles until they would no longer tolerate them; so now we, who cleave to Christ, restrain punishment as long as we live; but when these too shall lay down their heads, then the world will realize what it once had.

Monarch Butterfly on the Sunflowers

People complain about the lack of butterflies, but do they plant butterfly flowers? If all goes well, I will have butterfly bush and butterfly weed in my yard. For now, sunflowers are attracting all kinds of attention. Next year I will buy sunflower seed by the pound (mammoth or striped - giant Russian) and have rows of them to amuse and intimidate.

Yesterday, after I pruned our roses with grandson Alex, I found a Monarch butterfly on the sunflowers. A variety of flowers will provide a constant food source for all the pollinating creatures. Parsley attracts the Black Swallowtail, which I saw as soon as I had parsley growing on compost (upside-down turf) in Midland. My parsley was so sublime that the Parsley Patch owner came over to harvest it to sell to the fancy French restaurant in town.

You can buy this butterfly notecard from Norma Boeckler's Zazzle website - CreatingIsFun.

My mystery novel is named Metamorphosis, which will make sense by the end of the book.