Avalanche of Rain - And Nematodes - Bless Their Little Hearts

This nematode has been captured by fungus strands.

Our teaspoon of good soil teeming with microbial life averages about 20 bacteria-eating nematodes, 20 fungal feeders, and a few predatory and plant-eating nematodes, making the total number between 40 to 50 nematodes. The number of fungi- versus bacteria -eating nematodes is directly related to the availability of the food sources they require.

Arguably, mineralization is the most important thing nematodes ( at least the bacterivores and fungivores) do for gardeners. Nematodes need less nitrogen than protozoa do; those that eat fungi and bacteria, therefore, release even more of the previously immobilized nitrogen into the rhizosphere, in ammonium form.

Jeff Lowenfels & Wayne Lewis (2010-09-10). Teaming with Microbes: The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web, Revised Edition (Kindle Location 5). Timber Press. Kindle Edition.  (2010-09-10). Teaming with Microbes: The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web, Revised Edition (Kindle Locations 1226-1228). Timber Press. Kindle Edition. 

If one teaspoon has 50 nematodes, there are zillions of them in one plot of land. Several characteristics of this hair-like worms are important:

• They are much larger than bacteria and protozoa, so their production of useful nitrogen is significant.
• They are mostly beneficial, although some bad species can be harmful to roots. Fungi help stop them from doing their damage since fungi live in close fellowship with root hairs.
• They provide some of the soil moving that earthworms carry out on a large scale.

I have learned from this book that microbes provide a major contribution to the growth chemical -  nitrogen - right at the root zone. They generate useful nitrogen and keep it in the root area by constant growing, feeding, excreting, and dying.

These microbes like

1. tight proximity to roots, 
2. loose soil, 
3. and a warm summer rain.

We went from sunshine to black clouds on Wednesday, when a downpour let loose on the entire area. A light rain continued into Thursday, and everything began to green up and ripen. Our helper anticipated the storm by 30 minutes, so I called him The Rainmaker.

Lyle Lovett originated the Jeske ambiguous half-smile.

LI laughed when he saw our crepe myrtle bush with the Lyle Lovett cut, all spindly on the bottom and frizzy on the top. As I promised, the bush is in full bloom, with mulch feeding the microbes below and pruning activating the pink flowers on top. Every few days I trim the bush a little more and add those twigs below for mulch. Before rain, I sprinkle a little Epson salt on.

The roses are ready for another epic bloom. On Sunday I cut a dozen Knockout roses for the altar. On Tuesday I cut an additional dozen Knockouts for the chiro. On Friday, today, the Knockouts are reblooming. Hybrid tea roses are budded and ready to open for Sunday.

Malabar spinach looks like and tastes like spinach.

The Malabar spinach finally appeared, with beautiful red stems and delicious leaves. It has a decided spinach taste, a love for heat, and some way to ward off insects. Asians use it for soup, but the tiny leaves are almost exactly like spinach in flavor and texture. This will be our substitute for spinach when the heat makes spinach bolt in the summer.

We are not getting any pumpkin production, since I planted late, but one vine is running across the top of the chain-link fence. There is nothing quite like the Creator's architecture of vines. They gracefully reach up for support, adjust for the best exposure to sun, and run on the fence or ground without regard to anything except frost.

Spinach seeds will arrive soon for fall planting. I will create wide rows for them in the mulch that created the vegetable garden area of the lawn. When the cold weather sets in, the seedlings will be covered with leaves to wait out the winter, then uncovered in the very early spring.

I bought my last haul of mulch for the year. Do not shake your heads. If I bought a used rototiller for far more money, some would murmur, "Good move." Yes, good move to buy a bargain rototiller - if I wanted to destroy the structure of the soil, osterize the earthworms, destroy the fungi. and traumatize the bacteria, protozoa, and nematodes.

Church programs are like that. If they cost a lot of money and do a lot of damage, every is thankful to God that they have spent so much to accomplish so little. Like the rototiller, the highly praised program will rest in storage after being used a bit.

But if people rely on the Word of God, which is free and at work constantly, they are baited with dogs and chased out of town, the reverse of Luther's advice in the Large Catechism. No wonder the synods continue to harrow their congregations, scattering and slaughtering the flocks.

Forgiving the Unrepentant Is Dangerous - From the Shattered Pulpit Blog

There are two keys - not just one:
binding and loosing,
denying forgiveness and offering forgiveness.

Thursday, September 18, 2014

The Issue of Forgiveness

http://shatteredpulpit.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-issue-of-forgiveness.html

Written by Sharon Rose

Several months after the clergyman perpetrator at my church had been exposed, and the church covered up his deeds, allowing him to resign as if nothing happened, I was still numb from all that transpired. I was left without any recourse against the clergyman perpetrator who sexually assaulted me. A well-intentioned Christian friend tried to explain to me that I needed to forgive the clergyman perpetrator and the elders of my church for what happened to me. It was “for me,” he said. It caught me off guard. I was still going through the disbelief and shock stage of grief. I was appalled and angry at the reality that the elders were not ever going to hold the perpetrator accountable. What happened still angers me. But the individual who spoke to me of forgiveness was someone I thought I could trust. He had counseled my husband and me, and had been an advocate for all of the victims of the clergyman perpetrator in my church. But on a particular evening, he insisted that I grant forgiveness to the predator and errant elders even though the predator never confessed, even though the elders deliberately wronged me—and continue to wrong me. I was astounded. In his frustration of not being able to convince me to “forgive” my nemeses, he finally stretched out his arm, pointed his finger in my face, and proclaimed, “YOU have a spirit of unforgiveness!”

I was stunned. Did I have a “spirit of unforgiveness”? His words stabbed deep. All of my Christian life, I have strived to live a godly life. His proclamation certainly didn’t set well with my desire to please God. On the other hand, the clergyman perpetrator hadn’t confessed his sin against me, let alone ask me to forgive him. As a matter fact, no one in authority in my church would acknowledge they had done anything to hurt me. Their stance was they had done the “right” thing in covering up what the clergyman perpetrator had done. They weren’t even going to entertain the idea of asking me to forgive them. Should I just grant them forgiveness without holding them accountable? I was confused. I decided to search for answers. Was I sinning by not forgiving them?

As a child, my parents taught me to forgive those who asked for it, but the clergyman perpetrator who hurt me brainwashed me to incorrectly believe that forgiveness was totally wiping out the offense without any confession or even asking for forgiveness. He said forgiveness was “wiping the slate clean.” Sins and offenses were to be cast “as far as the east is from the west,” he taught me. “You go back to square one with the [offending] person,” he said. “It’s as if the offense never happened,” he explained. He meant that relationships were restored by people unconditionally forgiving their offenders. He further explained that the offending party, if a believer, should be granted forgiveness whether or not any wrongdoing was confessed; that is, it was the obligation of the offended party to grant forgiveness to the offender—because Christ forgave us—and that doing so was for the benefit of the offended party. But this kind of “forgiveness” never seemed right.

Many Clergy Sexual Abuse (CSA) survivors have tried to follow the steps of Matthew 18:15-18. But too often church leaders side with the offender, not the offended. Instead of exposing the wrong and correcting it, they cover up and lie about the crimes committed by the clergyman perpetrator. Doing so is in direct opposition to Christ’s commands to the church. When church leaders refuse to listen to CSA victim/survivors, they skew the process for remedy that Christ Himself has laid out in Matthew 18. That, in itself, is offensive causing further damage and abuse of CSA survivors.

If a clergyman-perpetrator and/or the offending church leaders take steps toward forgiveness, i.e., publicly acknowledge (confess) the wrong, and offer restitution to the CSA survivor (perhaps by making arrangements to pay for pain and suffering, counseling, etc.), and then ask for forgiveness from the CSA survivor, then, and only then, would forgiveness become an issue. Depending on how deep the wounds are, even that might take many years; it would be up to the CSA survivor to determine if enough healing had occurred to grant forgiveness.

Don’t let anyone tell you that you need to ask for forgiveness in order to receive healing! While many victims feel the need to ask for forgiveness (I did), be careful. Much of that felt “need” stems from a “false guilt” which is normal for victims of sexual assault. It may be that you do need to ask forgiveness of certain people you hurt because of clergy sexual abuse. I needed to ask my husband for forgiveness, as well as my parents and the rest of my family. For years I had lived under the lie of the clergyman perpetrator. That hurt my family and especially my husband. So in that regard, I asked to be forgiven for living under a lie, not because I had committed a sexual sin with the pastor. The CSA victim/survivor is not guilty of any offense against the perpetrator or anyone in the church.

You do not need to ask for forgiveness from the church. On the contrary, the church needs to ask you for forgiveness! But don’t expect them to do so. The church leaders allowed you to be hurt when they should have protected you from harm!

As one of God’s precious sheep, it was up to the church leadership to shepherd you, guide you, and protect you; not flee and allow the wolf (clergyman perpetrator) to harm you. You are not at fault for what happened. The clergyman perpetrator and the church leadership are the ones responsible for the harm. If they are living right with God, then they should be compelled to ask you to forgive them!

What is really going on when Christians, church leaders, and church-goers demand that CSA survivors “forgive” their perpetrators? Many times church leaders will use this tactic to divert attention away from holding the clergyman perpetrator accountable for his crime. They seek to somehow blame the CSA survivor so they won’t have to deal with the real issue. The real issue is accountability and responsibility. A CSA survivor is not responsible for what happened, nor should she be held accountable. The clergyman perpetrator is responsible for the crime he committed. He should be held accountable. Church leaders often err in handling CSA cases. They are responsible for their actions before God and man. They, too, should also be held accountable. The real culprits are the clergyman perpetrator and errant church leaders. Attention needs to shift back to the center of the problem: the sexually immoral crimes that were committed, and, too often, the cover up of those crimes.

Often, well-meaning Christians will tell a CSA survivor to forgive the perpetrator, as was the case with me. Laity has a hard time dealing with clergyman perpetrators. The very idea is an oxymoron. Church goers have an even harder time dealing with CSA survivors. In trying to make sense of clergy sexual abuse, many look for someone to blame. They are hoping to find an easy solution to their own pain, or the pain they see in the CSA survivor. They might be grieving knowing their church is “split” over what happened. They yearn to regain their lost sense of “normalcy” in church. They falsely believe that if the CSA survivor would just “forgive” the clergyman perpetrator everything will somehow be better, things will get back to the way they were before they learned about the abuse, and the pain they feel inside will somehow subside. Some Christians have been taught that unconditional forgiveness (without the perpetrator confessing or repenting) is the only way the CSA survivor will gain healing. Many well-meaning Bible teachers erroneously teach that unconditionally forgiving every offender (no matter what the offense) will bring peace and “freedom” to the offended. However, this teaching is not what Scripture teaches, and leads to denial and false hope. Things may never be the same in a church tainted by clergy sexual abuse. Things may never be the same again for a CSA survivor.

Rather than pointing fingers at CSA survivors, church leaders and church goers should instead reach out their hands with open arms. CSA survivors need safety and support to go through the healing process which takes years. Part of the healing process may be to allow the CSA survivor to freely opt to leave the church with honor and with the church’s blessing. It needs to be with the understanding that she did nothing wrong; that she was victimized. Whether the CSA survivor decides to leave the church or not, both leadership and laity need to humbly apologize to her for not providing a safe place for her to worship God, fellowship with other believers, and participate in the Great Commission. CSA survivors are a vital part of the body of Christ and should never be cast off like a “throw-away.”

Written by Sharon Rose

***

ELCA uses this accusation too.

GJ - Forgiveness is the lame excuse offered in covering up the crimes of the unrepentant. If a pastor is kicked out of the ministry for adultery and divorced by his wife, but lies about having a "Scriptural" divorce, WELS calls the cover-up Evangelical. But they are really evan-jellyfish, slippery and poisonous.

I lost track of how many evan-jellyfish pointed their "forgiving" fingers at me and called me various names for saying that an unrepentant adulterer did not have a right to be a pastor.

In corporate life, this is called push-back. Let's say an educational leader wants to protect an obvious and unrepentant plagiarist--who is furious for being called a cheat--even though the URL is printed on the essay or class speech. Push-back involves saying:

• You didn't handle this right.
• This person has connections to the leadership.
• This student is close to graduation.
• Many don't realize this is wrong.
• You should have phoned me.
• You have to document this - hand over all the materials.

The cheat becomes the victim of injustice - with various implied and obvious threats. The person doing his job is now the criminal, so the issue of plagiarism has disappeared.

I tell those who are abused in various ways by the synod officials, "You are dealing with unbelievers. They may go through the motions and act very pious at times, but they hate the Gospel, even though they use their version of the Gospel to bash and trash you."

As Walther said - and he should have this known this well - offering forgiveness to the unrepentant hardens their hearts. Far from being Evangelical, it is guaranteed to make matters worse and to multiply the miseries of the victims and the victimizer.

Soon, as Stephanite mob showed, everyone participates in the Great Deception and the pious cover-up.

Baby as Ski Sermon Prop - Better Than a Weapon

A WELS parish proudly left Ski's famous scrotum sermon on
their website - for many months.

See the baby as a sermon prop.

"One day, all this will belong to...
someone else."

Polluted WELS Blog Dead

http://pollutedwels.blogspot.com/

Blog has been removed

Sorry, the blog at pollutedwels.blogspot.com has been removed. This address is not available for new blogs.

Did you expect to see your blog here? See: 'I can't find my blog on the Web, where is it?'

***

GJ - Do you wonder that I copy and paste blog posts and FB discussions?

One theory is that Buchholz said, "Erase the Polluted WELS Blog or be fired."

In other news - Paul McCain and Charles Austin were both permanently banned from the ALPB Online Forum. Both are back posting, which is regretted by most of the regulars.

McCain is also busy posting elsewhere, so the question arises, "Does he get $200,000 a year to blog?"

Norma Boeckler's Fourth Book - Religious Art

Order Religious Art here.

Norma Boeckler's fourth art book has just been published through Amazon - Religious Art.

This her Facebook page for art - Norma Boeckler's Art.

Norma Boeckler's website is a convenient place to order her prints and original art.

I admit to getting Norma started on the computer. When I took Photoshop at Glendale Community College, a professional artist was taking the class. His artistic skill was ideal for the Photoshop program, and his classroom examples made us gape in awe.

Norma Boeckler became a member of our congregation, and we saw how artistic she was. I encouraged her to learn Dreamweaver and Photoshop, so she took tutorials and began showing what a Christian artist could do.

Everyone enjoys Norma's daily offerings on Facebook. The number of works is staggering, so now people have a chance to own many of them in a printed book or as a Kindle ebook.

The books is divided into two main sections. The first part illustrates Biblical verses, which are included for each artwork. I have enjoyed seeing them as they developed. Many have been featured on this blog or in various books I put together.

The Last Supper, p. 30.

Part 2 of the book features Norma Boeckler's hymn illustrations. Bethany Lutheran Church may be  alone in featuring The Lutheran Hymnal and illustrating the great hymns with art.

Norma selects the well known and the less famous hymns. I teach a graduate class in web tools for educators. I argue that the content plus illustration makes the idea lasting in our minds. This book proves the value.

Norma Boeckler has so many contributions that I can only indicate a few. Readers know how much she continues to do on a daily basis.

This is the idea - she loves art, and everyone appreciates her unusual gifts and her expressions of Christian faith.

Wisconsin Protects Drunken ELCA Bishop Burnside - Who Killed This Woman's Mother - Maureen Mengelt

• Petitioning Wisconsin State Government 

Keep Maureen Mengelt's Memorial Plaque In Place

1. 1. 
    
   2. Petition by
      Megan Mengelt
      Sun Prairie, United States

The fact that I have to petition to keep a MEMORIAL plaque up in honor of my mother should speak volumes. Why should a mourning family and community have to fight to have a dedication kept in place? One person complains about it, and suddenly that constitutes the State of Wisconsin removing it entirely? Please sign to help prove that the majority vote should rule vs. a single complaint.

ELCA bishop Burnside was on his way to a church meeting when he mowed down Maureen Mengelt, and drove drunkenly away from the fatal accident.
Witnesses chased and trapped him.

The struggles that my family have had to put up with regarding all of this are just plain absurd. My mother was hit and killed by a drunk driver, a bishop at that, all while innocently taking a Sunday afternoon training run. That in itself has been the single most traumatic event of my life. But the aftermath of this case involving the State of Wisconsin is simply disgraceful. 

Bruce Burnside was free for over a YEAR while we tried to move the court case forward. That failure to proceed is due to the State of Wisconsin. During that painful year-long process, the community took comfort in placing running shoes at the site of the crash. These represented her love of running and how much she impacted fellow community members. Yet one person complained about them (Why? How does that affect their life, truly?) and the Department of Transportation removed them. 

My family has repeatedly gone out to collect those shoes from the State of WI and put them back on the site. Again, they would be removed days later. This cycle continued until we teamed up with Matt Glowacki to create a "proper" memorial. That way, we wouldn't have to continue dealing with these complaints and also have our memorial as a way to grieve and represent the beautiful soul that was taken from us that horrible day. 

We took time to create a tasteful dedication to my mother, Maureen Mengelt. Now we've been notified that the State of WI is removing the memorial site due to ONE measly complaint. This is truly an outrage. Why should one person dictate such drastic measures? What is so offensive to them that it must be removed entirely? How black can someone's heart be? This is not a distraction to drivers. This is a way to represent a wonderful life that was taken way too soon due to someone's choice to drink and drive. For this to be removed would be yet another failure to our family and the Sun Prairie community. The State of Wisconsin should be ashamed to even consider taking these actions.

To:
Wisconsin State Government 

Keep Maureen Mengelt's Memorial Plaque In Place

Sincerely,
[Your name]

Ski's Tweets Are Protected - Apply To Follow Him

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Pastor at Christ the Rock - Round Rock, Texas

 Hutto, TX

 ctrtx.com

 Joined September 2008

Never Disturb the Soil Under a Tree

I saw the typo.

IN THE story of "My Grandfather's Earthworm Farm" George Sheffield is quoted as saying, in regard to the care of trees, "Never disturb the soil under a tree." The wisdom of this remark is appreciated fully only when a study is made of the subject of orcharding. When we go to nature where primeval forests have stood for centuries, we find the ground riddled to great depth by earthworm burrows. Earthworms like to work in the shade, among the fine roots of trees, finding sustenance in the organic debris and bacterial life of the soil, in the dead bacteria as well as the products of bacterial life. Aside from vegetation, there is a vast world of unseen bacterial life in the soil, amounting in aggregate weight in the case of fertile agricultural lands to much more than all animal life which crawls, creeps, walks, runs, and flies on numbers will reach astronomical figures within a few hours, with a bulk and weight of such magnitude that the human mind cannot grasp the total. The number of bacteria in an ounce of fertile topsoil is variously estimated as from eighteen million to twenty-four billion. When we consider that bacteria appear as dots under the microscope when magnified one thousand times, the results of such multiplication become still harder to grasp.

Barrett, Jason Thomas (2014-08-20). Harnessing the earthworm: a practical inquiry into soil-building, soil-conditioning and plant nutrition through the action of earthworms (Kindle Locations 1027-1028).  . Kindle Edition.

Where is the expensive stuff I must buy to make my garden grow?
And the chemicals to treat the damage I caused with the expensive stuff?

Before people realized the value of soil fungi in feeding the roots, two old battlewagons of organic gardening (Sheffield and Barrett) realized the need to leave soil alone. Now scientists realize how much is accomplished in that fragile zone immediately around the plant roots, where bacteria, protozoa, and fungi team up to gather and exchange nutrition.

Mineralization of nutrients is crucial to the survival of plants in a natural system. Our premise is that by interfering with or destroying the soil food web, the gardener has to step in and do extra work, making gardening a chore instead of an enjoyable hobby. If you are not convinced, then consider that as much as 80% of the nitrogen a plant needs comes from the wastes produced by bacteria- and fungi-eating protozoa . Since bacteria and fungi are attracted by plant exudates to the rhizosphere, and that is where protozoa consume them, a huge source of plant food is delivered, right around the roots.

Lowenfels, Jeff (2010-09-10). Teaming with Microbes: The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web, Revised Edition (Kindle Locations 1178-1180). Timber Press. Kindle Edition. 

Nominate Someone for WELS Prison Ministry

Scott Zerbe was a guest in the Michigan State Prison System,
thanks to his vicarage affair with a minor girl.
Fred Adrian - supervisor. $400,000 initial judgment against WELS, Inc.

WISCONSIN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN SYNOD  

09/15/2014

N O M I N A T I O N L I S T 

The Conference of Presidents invites all voting members of WELS to nominate a qualified pastor, male teacher, male staff minister, or male lay member for the called position of administrator of WELS Prison Ministry. This position is under the Commission on Special Ministries, part of the Congregation and Ministry Support Group.

Candidates may be pastors, teachers, staff ministers, chaplains, or lay members with jail ministry experience and at least five to ten years ministry experience. He must be able to faithfully teach and apply the Word of God, to train adults for volunteer service, to work with correctional institution administrators, and to administer a small staff in New Ulm, Minnesota.

He will also assist the Prison Ministry Committee in developing face-to-face jail and prison ministries and oversee its Bible study publication work. He must have a passion for reaching the lost with the gospel, enthusiasm for working with and encouraging volunteers in ministry, and strong communication skills. Nominations must be received by Sept. 29, 2014. Access the nomination form at: http://www.wels.net/about-wels/synod-reports/nomination-alert Or call the President's Office, 414-256-3202. The list of candidates will be published at: http://www.wels.net/about-wels/synod-reports/nomination-alert

***

GJ

Joel Hochmuth was absolved by Mark Schroeder and given a top dollar lawyer (by whom?).
He pleaded not guilty, repented (see Stormtrooper above), and offended again.
His incredibly light sentence for file swapping was revoked and he went back to government housing with bars in every room.

Fred would be a good candidate.
How many pastoral supervisors see their vicar off to state prison?
Spell that "stupor-visor."

DP Ed Werner also went to state prison.
when he began molesting a second generation of girls, 
the mothers hauled him to court.


Honorable Mention

Al Just went to prison for murdering his wife, but he was not there long enough to gain real experience in prison ministry.

William Tabor participated in the murder of his wife, but he never spent a day in prison. His mistress was sentenced but he went as a pastor and widower to Escanaba, Michigan.

Various synod staff members and at least one Synod President should have gone to state prison for obstruction of justice in capital cases.

WELS's Meditations, March-May 2014, for Monday, 17 March 2014.  

The second column has a great recipe for murder, molestation, and abuse - 

"No matter what you did yesterday -- or failed to do -- and no matter what you will do tomorrow, God has forgiven you."

What better words to keep people coming back to prison and continuing this worthwhile effort!

---

Pastor Leon Piepenbrink was initially convicted of multiple felonies in slipping a large chunk of change away from the WELS. Great software you installed, Mark Schroeder. It cost almost as much as this one theft, which happened long afterward the controls were established. Controls? - that did not happen before, did it? Why aren't those men in prison?

 Pastor Leon Piepenbrink was convicted of multiple felonies in slipping a large chunk of change away from the WELS. Great software you installed, Mark Schroeder. It cost almost as much as this one theft, which happened long afterward the controls were established. Controls? - that did not happen before, did it? Why aren't those men in prison?

He was "helping the needy" and was sentenced to only one year in the hoosegow. Does he have the experience to become the head of prison ministry?

Clergy Abuse Lawyer Will Answer Your Questions at Shattered Pulpit

Clergy Sexual Abuse Attorney Answers YOUR Questions

Coming Soon! One of the nation’s leading Clergy Sexual Abuse Attorneys, who has litigated dozens of clergy sexual abuse cases, will be sharing pertinent information for victims and their families. Learn from an experienced expert the pros and cons of filing a civil suit, how to choose a qualified clergy sexual abuse attorney, and other inside knowledge that he has gained from his experience in the courtroom. 

If you have legal questions that you have been afraid to ask, here is your chance. Questions, do not have to only be from a victim’s standpoint – if churches, leaders, pastors or others have legal questions, they are also welcome to participate. 

Email your questions to lilliansuearmstrong@gmail.com
or add a comment to this post. We will be compiling all of the questions over the course of this next week.
 
He wants your questions! 

***

GJ - Contact the blogger Lillian Armstrong and support her work.

Companion Plants and the Web of Life - Why Roses Love Garlic

The garlic cloves each make a new bulb.
Note well the shriveled roots - the key to this chemical marvel
called companion planting.

I startled a rose-lover at lunch by mentioning how roses love garlic, why rosarians grow the garlic family members with roses. Companion planting is still new to many people, and now I understand better why it works so well.

Double Delight rose - for colors and fragrance.

Double Delight Garden of Roses and Garlic
But first, a story. In New Ulm I found an area built to be a garden beside the wall, near the garage. I dug out all the weeds and planted three things there - daffodils, Double Delight roses, and garlic chives. I mulched the area heavily with wood mulch, so weeds were unknown. Daffodils pushed through the mulch, and so did garlic chives, which spread like weeds but stayed subordinate to the roses, looking like grass among the bushes.

Garlic makes roses stronger, fights diseases of the rose family, and repels insects. I experienced the repulsion when I bent over the rose garden to cut some roses on a hot, humid day. The garlic gas coming up from the chives was potent, like garlic bulbs left in a car on a hot day, windows closed. The roses were perfect and free of insect damage.

Explanation
Scientists are starting to realize the complexity of life in the soil. Two components are fungi and bacteria, but nematode worms and protozoa also contribute at the root level. Fungi are the larger actors in Creation gardening. They take nutrition from the plant roots and give back what the plants need, the plants managing the exchange.

Fungi can reach long distances and connect various plants together in a complex symbiotic relationship. That is one of the key reasons why soil should not be disturbed and compacted.

Botanists have known that plants exude root chemicals to protect themselves. Sunflowers like to keep others away from their extreme sunbathing. They turn solar energy into food even more effectively than corn does. Therefore, they exude root chemicals that make living near them unpleasant.

This explains how the roots of the garlic family connect chemically with the roots of roses in their subterranean Internet. Chemicals have to move to the plant and they have to be usable, broken down into key components. Transport and chemical break-downs are two of these tasks, but locking them in the root zone is another one. Organic improvements build up soil life, so the chemicals stay where they are need and move around where they are used, thanks to earthworms, nematodes, bacteria, protozoa, sowbugs, pillbugs, millipedes, centipedes, springtails, slugs, ants, and fungi. An earthworm pigs out on bacteria, and ants take earthworm corpses away to be used for their feast of pork - since earthworms are all muscle.

This Knockout rose was once a used up newspaper.

My neighbors all have different skills. I hired one to fix the sagging doors on our Lincoln Town Car. His daughters give me their used newspapers, and I give them our Sunday paper to be used for coupons. He came over with his daughter while he looked over the car.

I cut the magenta Knockout rose for his daughter to take home, adding, "This was one of your newspapers." Her eyes lit up and she said, "Really?" I explained, "Your family gives me newspapers, which rot into the soil, and the roses use that to grow."

Complex relationships can work in the world above the soil, if we observe how God manages His Creation.

Where do we humans fit into the soil food web? We have a huge impact on it, and very often not a positive one. Most gardeners have never heard of soil food web systems, even though they exist everywhere, and have no inkling of the role of microbes and arthropods play in them. And, of course, the gardener hardly ever knows when enough is enough and almost always tips the delicate balance a soil food web maintains.
Lowenfels, Jeff (2010-09-10). Teaming with Microbes: The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web, Revised Edition (Kindle Locations 1514-1517). Timber Press. Kindle Edition.

Lincoln roses.

Abuse Victims - Do NOT Go to the Church Leaders - Go to a Lawyer

DP Engelbrecht, future DP Zank,
Tim Glende, and Ski abused the
victim all over again - with SP Mark Schroeder's approval.

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Why Victims Should NOT Go to Church Leaders

Advice for victims written by Predatory Pastors
www.http://predatorypastors.com

KNOW THAT YOU ARE NOT ALONE.  There are many more victims of pastoral and clergy sexual abuse than any of us want to believe. Over time, we've learned, there is rarely, if ever, only one victim of a predatory pastor.  While we were being abused we were isolated and felt extremely alone. Now it's possible to join with other survivors to find healing.  

DON'T GO TO THE CHURCH.  Many victims have gone to church leaders and officials to seek help, guidance and/or healing.  Many of us went to the church after building up loads of courage and strength, because we wanted to make sure our perpetrators didn't abuse anyone else. We mistakenly thought that church leaders would want to ensure others' safety too and that the perpetrators would be removed from the ministry. So many of us did this without ever telling anyone else. Then we found out that we were wrong. The church leaders did not care about protecting others and they did not care about us. Most of us found the experience of going to the church leaders a horrible mistake. The church leaders were insensitive, doubted our claims and didn't know how to respond to us. We were looking for help and healing, but found further victimization.  Most of us left feeling devastated and the entire experience of talking to the church leaders left us hurting more than ever.

Reasons why you should not go to your church leaders and other helpful tips

When first beginning to deal with the abuse, we are very confused about what has happened to us and still trying to sort through it ourselves. We many not have all the facts straight regarding places, dates, times, etc. ​Frequently our memories become refreshed with lots of details only as we engage in the healing process, taking days, months even years to fully recover.  If we've disclosed some details one day and recall more later, we will be discredited for being inconsistent with details.
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We have been taught to trust pastors implicitly ​so we approach with full trust and disclosure. We look up to them and they are in positions of power and authority over us.They, on the other hand, do not trust victims. They may even view you as the "enemy".  While we think they are trying to help us, they are in fact, building up a case against us without our knowledge. Things said during initial meetings with church leaders can easily be twisted to use against you and this has happened to a number of CSA victims.
  
Seek alternative help!  ​As an alternative to going to your church leaders, we recommend that you go to a trusted family member or seek professional help from a counselor. Many CSA victims have found professional counseling to be a very important tool to healing.
  
​Learn your legal rights.  ​The church leaders have a lot more information about our abuse than we do. They know our legal rights, but most of us victims do not know them. We can choose to exercise our legal rights or not, but it is empowering to know we have that choice.
  
​Many survivors develop health problems.  ​The pain and betrayal we felt from being abused was intense. We had no knowledge of how to cope with the experience of Clergy Sexual Abuse as well as the feelings that came as a result.  All of us have found a way to survive or we would not be here today. The problem is that many of the coping mechanisms we used to survive the abuse are not healthy. Here are some of the types of problems some CSA survivors have suffered: Alcoholism, drug addiction, eating disorders, co-dependency, detachment from intimacy, sleep disorders, stomach and intestinal disorders, and overall attitude of anger.
  
​Facing the issues.  ​Acknowledging and facing the issue of our abuse can be extremely time consuming and can require lots of energy and emotions. As a result, many of us have felt completely drained and had months of feeling tired, depressed and overwhelmed. Accept that you are going to have periods in your recover that feel hopeless and know that it will pass.
  
Everyone is unique.  ​Everyone's healing from abuse is unique. While many of our abusive situations were similar, everyone heals in their own way. Mostly we have learned to trust our own judgement and the people who know us best and love us the most.
  
​We are the victims (survivors)!  ​The abuse was not our fault, no matter what we did or didn't do to stop or prevent it.  No matter what, the responsibility for a pastor abusing us rests solely on the pastor.  He was in a trusted position of power and authority. We looked up to him. We trusted him and believed what he told us.  We thought he was close to God and would help us get closer to God.  He should not have taken advantage of his sacred role. He abused his position. He used his role as pastor to victimize us. He had no right to do this. We are victims.  We have been wronged and we deserve to have the wrong made right. This will mean different things to each of us, but we all deserve to be made whole, as much as that is possible.

written by Predatory Pastors
www.http://predatorypastors.com

Matt Harrison ordered Steadfast Lutherans (sic) to remove their
thread about the latest LCMS pastoral abuser - and they did.