Day-Lily in the Garage

http://www.dutchgardens.com -
Stella D'Oro Daylily

Dutch Gardens is my favorite catalog for fall bulbs, aka hardy bulbs. Those are the bulbs that need cold to complete their blooming cycle: tulip, daffodil, etc.

DG gave me a plant I forgot to dig in with the fall bulbs. I found it in the garage, and it looked good, so I planted it yesterday. Stella D'Oro is a popular yellow day lily, a category sold with tender (spring planted) bulbs.

It gets confusing. Tender bulbs need to be dug up again, but day lilies just sit there and multiply in clumps. Every so often they are dug up and divided. Day lilies are easy care flowers and bloom often - beautiful for a day, as the official day lily name states.

If you want specific seeds, roses, and plants for the spring, order them now and enjoy the special offers they give to gardening addicts. Some things will not be available later - such as Double Delight and Peace roses, scarlet runner beans (for the hummingbirds), and other favorites.

Amusing Belly-ache on Facebook - About Critical Blogs

Some Lutheran clergy were exercising their right to be sanctimonious, quoting an ex-pastor about those who post so many critical articles.

I am not sure if they meant this blog. They were content to hint about their displeasure without identifying the source or even the content they abhorred. However, almost all "Lutheran" blogs are so irenic in tone--in the world and of the world--that the candidates are few.

If they posted all of the Luther sermons from Lenker, I would not have had that burden - which I enjoyed immensely.

If they objected to the synods working with ELCA, I would not have to mention that from time to time.

If they were honest about Martin Stephan being syphilitic and CFW Walther being his larcenous enabler, I would not have to expose the facts.

If they connected their leadership to the promotion of the emergent church fad from Fuller Seminary, I could just write - "Amen!"




If they would show some spine and reject Thrivent, its crafts and assaults, I would not have so many negative posts about "conservative" denominations working with abortion activists via an insurance business. What is more ludicrous? The Tostidos Bowl or a church bulletin bragging that Thrivent matched the $147.53 made at the recent Junk for Jesus sale in the Fellowship Hall?

Doubtless the apostates fear that clergy and laity
will read this quotation with discernment and balk at synoical leadership.

This Luther quotation post has 100,000 views now. I apologize to everyone offended by it.

This collection of Lutheran quotations has 22,000 views. Sorry. I know Fuller and Mars Hill and the Crystal Cathedral have so much more to offer in a positive, edifying, and spiritual sense. And there is always Rome or the safe harbor of Eastern Orthodoxy. Lutheran bloggers today are true ecumenists - they love every confession of faith except their own.

The top two posts, ever since I started blogging, are quotations from Luther and from famous Lutheran leaders - including CFW Walther and F. Pieper. I would stop quoting Lutherans so much if the overpaid and underworked synodical presidents tried their hand at it from time to time.

The synod presidents could silence me simply

• by teaching justification by faith, 
• by emphasizing the efficacy of the Word in the Means of Grace, 
• by quoting the Confessions, 
• by insisting on the historic liturgy and the classic Christian hymns. 

They could let their buddies go to prison instead of protecting them. But no - they would rather fill their bellies and give me topics for this little blog.

Recalling a Neuhaus Post from Long Ago. Denominational Apostasy Foreshadowed America's Decline

LCMS, then AELC, then LCA and ELCA, then Church of Rome -
Richard J. Neuhaus

According to Richard J. Neuhaus, in a Lutheran Forum article from long ago, an insurance study showed the leaders of America were far more to the Left than Americans were. He wondered how long this could continue. So did I, watching the LCA swerve to the Left - the Missouri Synod content to be always a bit miffed at the ALC/LCA but happy to work with them.

That group (LCA-ALC-LCMS) comprised about 95% of the captive Lutherans at the time. But surely the Wisconsin Synod was different! Once I heard Paul Kelm (WELS/Fuller) brag in a tape that he was the Left wing of the Right wing of Lutherdom. He borrowed that quip from the National Review, but he copied everything and criticized others for not being as creative as he was.

At Mequon I saw a post for the Billy Graham School of Evangelism nailed on the seminary president's door, with directions to contact Paul Kelm for more information. That marked the open phase of the WELS' quest for safe sects. The ELS said, "Amen. Amen."

The covetous CLC (sic) was quick to follow, led by James Tiefel's cousin Paul, everyone pretending not to notice.

The New NIV, Fuller, and Rome
Mark Schroeder, figurehead of the Purpose-Driven Jeske Synod, was going to stomp his size eight shoe at the last WELS convention, stopping the New NIV movement in its tracks. But lo, he took a dive and pronounced his blessing on all translations.

What Neuhaus mourned has continued to this day. The big political issues were foreshadowed in various church headquarters, where quotes were silently instituted. One only needs to look at the way in which WELS/ELS/LCMS works with ELCA, with ELCA guiding the agenda - not that anyone minds that.

Loyalty to Luther is forgotten as the clergy ape the Assemblies of God - the opponents of their apostasy joining Rome,. The dramatic papal mass is a far more sophisticated form of entertainment evangelism.

Lutheran pastors can mark and follow the role they favor:

A. I want to dress like Rick Warren, swear like Mark Driscoll, and copy Craig Groeschel's sermonettes.
B. I want to fill the congregation with awe as I blow incense in their faces and sinuflect to Rome.

Dress-for-success Jeff Schone shows that anyone can be an academic leader in WELS.
Ask Lawrence Otto Olson, DMin, Fuller Seminary.