Michael Blaser, Moline High School, 1965, Famous Military and Marine Artist

Michael Blaser's website shows how versatile he is
how talented in his depictions of boats and ships.

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Greg McCluskey:

Marine Veteran, Michael Blaser, painted this cover for us. He is a member of VVA Quad CitiesChapter 299.


Peggy Taylor:

Michael Blaser is an amazing artist from the Quad Cities. I am honored to have been a classmate of his class of 1965 Moline HS. He is known for great marine works.

Commentary by the Artist

So, now you have seen a cross section of what I have done with my life and talents. I hope it pleases your profile of what is good in the painted arts. I have painted river ports, riverboats, deep water ports and ocean going vessels all my life. In the last few years I've been working on commissions from patrons who like how I handle a brush. I may have an insight that just may create an itch for the collector that only I can scratch. If I collected art I would want to work with an artist that had a defined passion to do a certain thing. I'd give him the money he needs, then stand back and watch him go that extra mile. Often, people pay me to paint what they want. This works to a certain level, but my finest works come from an idea that I am on fire to paint. If you'll take the time to read on I think that fire will warm your imagination and hopefully you will call me and then we can talk over in detail about why I have this particular fire to paint.

When you really look at a painting, you can see through the minds eye of the painter. On the same level creative writers craft an image that frees your imagination and places you inside a literary art work so fresh that you feel the warmth of the sun or smell the breeze blowing over the river. The art collector, the reader and the historian spend lifetimes looking for the treasures scattered among the weeds of the ages. Such an American treasure was Captain Frederick Way Jr. He was a unique American riverboat captain, writer and historian. I have excerpted for you just in one paragraph he wrote about a steamboat named the QUEEN CITY. She ran the Ohio river during the first third of the 20th Century. I would like you to read this and stay with me while I tie the threads into a fine rope for you.

"Your scribe fell for the wiles of the QUEEN CITY in 1911 standing in the forward end of the cabin gazing aft at her multitude of repititions; repitition of doors, of shining brass oil lamps in their swinging brackets, of overhead lights coming from twined oak leaves of metal, of chairs soldiered in parade, and her dining tables the same way - all of these things as trim as West Point cadets, sweeping in a dip downward to the mid-ship gangways, then up again to the immense mirror in the distance - an unbelievable distance - twice as wonderful as anything military; a person could wear out his eyes looking for a single straight line; there wasn't one anywhere; all was cadence and curve, an immense arc. A lady at the grand piano played. She sang in a dusky voice "Oh Beautiful Lady" and "Chocolate Soldier." She had too much powder and paint for my mother's standards, but I thought she was a blessed angel, and shall expect all honest angels to resemble her in the Hereafter. I was 10 years old when this indelible tattoo creased my imagination. The QUEEN CITY did this to adults as well, so I learned later".

There are literary pearls among his books that exhibit the wisdom of a man who stood the deck then had the intellectual depth to record these experiences in his own words for us. He left us an image of America that has passed to the ages. I knew Cap Way at the end of his life. By then he was bent over and small. His hands were twisted from arthritis. We talked of the usual things but he looked at me once, over his little reader glasses, his eyes kind of lit up and said to me quite out of context that I had a "part to play down the road". Now I think I understand what he had in mind and here is where the three threads come together to make a fine rope.

Luther's Sermon for the First Sunday in Lent - Invocavit. Matthew 4:1-11

Luther's Sermon for INVOCAVIT. FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT


German text: Erlangen edition II, 107; Walch II, 727; St. Louis II, 532.

TEXT:

Matthew 4:1-11. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he afterward hungered. And the tempter came and said unto him, If thou art the Son of God, command that these stones become bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him into the holy city; and he set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, if thou art the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and, On their hands they shall bear thee up, lest haply thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Jesus said unto him, Again it is written, Thou shalt not make trial of the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh him unto an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and he said unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him; and behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

CONTENTS:

THE FAST AND THE TEMPTATION OF CHRIST.
I. CHRIST’ S FAST.

1. How this fast has been twisted in the most unreasonable manner by those who have been led to imitate it 1f.

* An opinion on the fast of the papists 1-2.

2. The nature of this fast 3-4.

* How and why man should not seek the temptation and need of fasting without being called by God to do so 4.

3. How Christ’s fasting should serve us. For instruction

5. For admonition 6.

II. CHRIST’ S TEMPTATION.

A. In Detail.

1. The First Temptation, a. How Christ in this temptation was forsaken by all 7. b. How Christ is here attacked by Satan through unbelief and hunger (bauchsorge) 8-9. c. How Christ overcame this temptation 10-12.

* God’s care for mankind 13-14.

* Why God nourishes mankind by means of bread, and not only by means of the Word 15-16.

2. The Second Temptation. a. The nature of this temptation 17-20. b. How this temptation seldom takes place in outward things, but often in spiritual matters 20-21. c. Comparison of this with the former temptation

3. The Third Temptation. a. Its nature

23. b. Comparison of this with the former temptations 23-24.

B. In General.

1. Which is the hardest of these temptations

2. The order of these temptations

3. What follows these temptations 27.28.

I. THE FASTING OF CHRIST.

1. This Gospel is read today at the beginning of Lent in order to picture before Christians the example of Christ, that they may rightly observe Lent, which has become mere mockery: first, because no one can follow this example and fast forty days and nights as Christ did without eating any food. Christ rather followed the example of Moses, who fasted also forty days and nights, when he received the law of God on mount Sinai. Thus Christ also wished to fast when he was about to bring to us, and give expression to, the new law. In the second place, Lent has become mere mockery because our fasting is a perversion and an institution of man. For although Christ did fast forty days, yet there is no word of his that he requires us to do the same and fast as he did. Indeed he did many other things, which he wishes us not to do; but whatever he calls us to do or leave undone, we should see to it that we have his Word to support our actions.

2. But the worst of all is that we have adopted and practiced fasting as a good work: not to bring our flesh into subjection; but, as a meritorious work before God, to atone for our sins and obtain grace. And it is this that has made our fasting a stench and so blasphemous and shameful, so that no drinking and eating, no gluttony and drunkenness, could have been as bad and foul. It would have been better had people been drunk day and night than to fast thus. Moreover, even if all had gone well and right, so that their fasting had been applied to the mortification of the flesh; but since it was not voluntary, and it was not left to each to do according to their own free will, but was compulsory by virtue of human commandment, and they did it unwillingly, it was all lost and to no purpose. I will not mention the many other evils as the consequences, as that pregnant mothers and their offspring, the sick and the weak, were thereby ruined, so that it might be called a fasting of Satan instead of a fasting unto holiness. Therefore we will carefully consider how this Gospel teaches us by the example of Christ what true fasting is.

3. The Scriptures present to us two kinds of true fasting: one, by which we try to bring the flesh into subjection to the spirit, of which St. Paul speaks in 2 Corinthians 6:5: “ In labors, in watchings, in fastings.” The other is that which we must bear patiently, and yet receive willingly because of our need and poverty, of which St. Paul speaks in 1 Corinthians 4:11: “Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst,” and Christ in Matthew 9:15: “When the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, then will they fast.” This kind of fasting Christ teaches us here while in the wilderness alone without anything to eat, and while he suffers his penury without murmuring. The first kind of fasting, one can end whenever he wills, and can satisfy it by food; but the other kind we must observe and bear until God himself changes it and satisfies us. Hence it is much more precious than the first, because it moves in greater faith.

4. This is also the reason that the Evangelist with great care places it first:

Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness, that he might there fast and be tempted, so that no one might imitate his example of their own choice and make of it a selfish, arbitrary, and pleasant fasting; but instead wait for the Spirit, who will send him enough fastings and temptations. For whoever, without being led by the Spirit, wantonly resorts to the danger of hunger or to any temptation, when it is truly a blessing of God that he can eat and drink and have other comforts, tempts God. We should not seek want and temptation, they will surely come of themselves; we ought then do our best and act honestly. The text reads: Jesus was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness; and not: Jesus himself chose to go into the wilderness. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” Romans 8:14. God gives his blessings for the purpose that we may use them with thanksgiving, and not that we may let them lie idle, and thus tempt him; for he wishes it, and forces us to fast by the Spirit or by a need which we cannot avoid.

5. This narrative, however, is written both for our instruction and admonition. First, for instruction, that we should know how Christ has served and helped us by his fasting, hunger, temptation and victory; also that who ever believes on Christ shall never suffer need, and that temptation shall never harm him; but we shall have enough in the midst of want and be safe in the midst of temptation; because his Lord and Head triumphed over these all in his behalf, and of this he is assured, as Christ says in John 16:33: “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

God, who was able to nourish Christ forty days without any food, can nourish also his Christians.

6. Secondly, this is written for our admonition, that we may in the light of this example also cheerfully suffer want and temptation for the service of God and the good of our neighbor, like Christ did for us, as often as necessity requires it; which is surely accomplished if we learn and confess God’s Word. Therefore this Gospel is sweet consolation and power against the unbelief and infamy of the stomach, to awaken and strengthen the conscience, that we may not be anxious about the nourishment of our bodies, but be assured that he can and will give us our daily bread.

II. THE TEMPTATION OF CHRIST.

7. But as to how temptation takes place and how it is overcome, is all very beautifully pictured to us here in Christ. First, that he is led up into the wilderness, that is, he is left solitary and alone by God, angels and men, by all creatures. What kind of a temptation would it be, if we were not forsaken and stood not alone? It is, however, painful when we do not feel anything that presents its back to us; as for example, that I should support myself and have not a nickel, not a thread, not a twig, and I experience no help from others, and no advice is offered. That means to be led into the desert and to be left alone. There I am in the true school, and I learn what I am, how weak my faith is, how great and rare true faith is, and how deeply unbelief is entrenched in the hearts of all men. But whoever has his purse, cellar and fields full, is not yet led into the desert, neither is he left alone; therefore he is not conscious of temptation.

8. Secondly, the tempter came forward and attacked Christ with these very same cares of food for the body and with the unbelief in the goodness of God, and said: “If thou art the Son of God, command that these stones become bread,” as if he should say: Yes, trust thou in God and bake and cook nothing; only wait patiently until a roasted fowl flies into your mouth; do you now say that you have a God who cares for you; where is now your heavenly Father, who has charge of you? Yea, it seems to me he lets you in a fine condition; eat now and drink from your faith, let us see how you will satisfy your hunger; yea, when you have stones for bread. What a fine Son of God you are! How fatherly he is disposed toward you in that he fails to send you a slice of bread and permits you to be so poor and needy; do you now continue to believe that you are his son and he is your father? With like thoughts he truly attacks all the children of God. And Christ surely felt this temptation, for he was no stock nor stone; although he was and remained pure and without sin, as we cannot do.

9. That Satan attacked Christ with the cares for daily food or with unbelief and avarice, Christ’s answer proves, in that he says: “Man shall not live by bread alone;” that sounds as if he said: thou wilt direct me to bread alone and dost treat me as though I thought of nothing but the sustenance of my body. This temptation is very common also among pious people, and they especially feel it keenly who have children and a family, and have nothing to eat. Therefore St. Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:10 that avarice is a root of all kind of evil; for it is a fruit of unbelief. Do you not think that unbelief, care and avarice are the reasons people are afraid to enter married life?

Why do people avoid it and live in unchastity, unless it be the fear that they must die of hunger and suffer want? But here we should consider Christ’s work and example, who suffered want forty days and nights, and finally was not forsaken, but was ministered to even by angels.

10. Thirdly, behold how Christ resists this temptation of bread, and overcomes; he sees nothing but stones and what is uneatable, then he approaches and clings to the Word of God, strengthens himself by it and strikes the devil to the ground with it. This saying all Christians should lay hold of when they see that there is lack and want and everything has become stones, so that courage trembles, and they should say: What were it if the whole world were full of bread, still man does not live by bread alone, but more belongs to life, namely, the Word of God. The words, however, are so beautiful and powerful that we must not pass over them lightly, but carefully explain them.

11. These words Christ quotes from Deuteronomy 8:3, where Moses says: “Thy God humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by everything that proceedeth out of the mouth of Jehovah doth man live.”

That is as much as to say: Since God permits you to hunger and you still continue to live, you ought indeed to grasp the thought that God nourishes you without bread through his Word; for if you should live and sustain yourself by bread alone then you must continually be full of bread. But the Word, that nourishes us is, that he promises us and causes it to be published that he is our God and desires to be our God.

12. Thus now the meaning of Moses and of Christ is: Whoever has here God’s Word and believes, has both blessings; the first, where he is in want and has nothing, but must suffer hunger, that Word will sustain him, so that he will not die of hunger nor perish, just as well as if he had abundance to eat; for the Word he has in his heart nourishes and sustains him without eating and drinking. But has he little to eat, then a bite or slice of bread will feed and nourish him like a kingly meal; for not only bread but the Word of God also nourishes the body naturally, as it creates and upholds all things, Hebrews 1:3. The other blessing he will also enjoy, namely, that finally bread will surely be at hand, come whence it will, and should it rain from heaven like manna where none grows and none can grow. In these two thoughts every person can freely trust, namely, that he must in time of hunger receive bread or something to eat, or if not, then his hunger must become so moderate and bearable that it will nourish him even as well as bread does.

13. What has been said of eating and feeding the body should be understood also of drinking, clothing, house, and all our needs: namely that although he still permits us to become naked and suffer want for clothing, house etc., clothing must finally be at hand, and before it fails the leaves of the trees must become coats and mantles; or if not, then the coats and garments that we wear must never grow old; just as happened to the Children of Israel in the desert Deuteronomy 8:2-4, whose clothing and shoes never wore out. Likewise the wild wilderness must become their houses, and there must be a way where there is no way; and water, where there is no water; stones must become water. For here stands God’s Word, which says: “He cares for you;” and St. Paul in 1 Timothy 6:17: “God giveth us richly all things to enjoy;” and Matthew 6:33-34: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Be not therefore anxious for the morrow.” These and like words must continue true and stand forever firm.

14. All this one may indeed learn from his own daily experiences. For it is held, and I almost believe it, that there are not as many sheaves of wheat grown as there are people living on the earth; but God daily blesses and increases the wheat in the sack, the flour in the tray, the bread on the table and in the mouth, as Christ did. John 6:12 f. It is also noticeable that as a rule poor people and their children are fatter and their food reaches farther and agrees with them better than is the case among the rich with all their provisions. However that the godless at times suffer need, or in times of famine many die of hunger, is caused by a special plague as pestilence, war etc. In other ways we see that in all things it is not the food, but the Word of God that nourishes every human being.

15. Now that God sustains all mankind by bread, and not by the Word alone, without bread, is done to the end, that he conceals his work in the world in order to exercise believers; just as he commanded the children of Israel to arm themselves and to fight, and yet it was not his pleasure that victory should come through their own sword and deeds; but he himself was to slay their enemies and triumph with their swords and through their deeds. Here it might a1so be said: The warrior was not victorious through his sword alone, but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God, as David sings, Psalm 44:6: “For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.” Also <19E710> Psalm 147:10 and Psalm 33:16-17: “He taketh no pleasure in the legs of a man. A mighty man is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a vain thing for safety.” Yet he uses man and the horse, the sword and bow: but not because of the strength and power of man and of the horse, but under the veil and covering of man and the horse he fights and does all. This he proves in that he often did and daily does the same without man and the horse, where there is need and he is not tempted.

16. Thus he does also with the bread; since it is at hand, he nourishes us through it and by means of it, so that we do not see it and we think the bread does it; but where it is not at hand, there he nourishes us without the bread, only through the Word, as he does by means of the bread; so that thus bread is God’s helper, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:9: “We are God’s fellow workers,” that is, through and under our outward ministerial office he gives inwardly his grace, which he also could give and does give indeed without our office; but since the office is at hand, one should not despise it nor tempt God. Thus God sustains us outwardly by bread; but only inwardly he gives that growth and permanency, which the bread cannot give. And the summary is: All creatures are God’s larva and mummery, which he permits to work with him and to help to do everything that he can do and does do otherwise without their cooperation, in order that we may cleave alone to his Word. Thus, if bread is at hand, that we do not therefore trust the more; or if there is no bread present, that we do not therefore despair the more; but use it when it is at hand, and do without it, when there is none; being assured that we shall still live and be sustained at both times by God’s Word, whether there be bread or no bread. With such faith one overcomes avarice and temporal care for daily bread in the right way.

17. Christ’s second temptation is opposed to the first and is repugnant to common sense. Its substance is that the devil teaches us to tempt God; as he here calls to Christ to cast himself down from the pinnacle of the temple, which was not at all necessary, since there were surely good steps upon which he could descend. And that this temptation was for the purpose of tempting or making trial of God, the answer of Christ also clearly proves, when he says: “Thou shalt not make trial of the Lord thy God.” By this he shows that the devil wished to lead him into temptation.

18. And this very appropriately follows the first temptation. For where the devil feels a heart trusts God in times of want and need, he soon ceases his temptation of bread and avarice and thinks: Wait, wilt thou be very spiritual and believing, I will assist you: He approaches and attacks on the other side, that we might believe where God has not commanded us to believe, nor wills that we should believe. For example, if God gave you bread in your homes, as he does yearly everywhere in the world, and you would not use it, but instead you would cause need and want yourselves, and say: Why, we are to believe God; I will not eat the bread, but will patiently wait until God sends me manna from heaven. See, that would be tempting God; for that is not believing where all is at hand that we need and should have. How can one believe that he will receive what he already has ?

19. Thus you see here that Satan held before Christ want and need where there was neither want nor need; but where there was already good means by which to descend from the temple without such a newly devised and unnecessary way of descending. For this purpose Satan led Christ to the top of the temple, in the holy city, says the Evangelist, and placed him in a holy place. For he creates such precious thoughts in man that he thinks he is filled with faith and is on the true way of holiness; and yet he does not stand in the temple, but is only on the outside of the temple, that is, he is not in the true holy mind or life of faith; and yet he is in the holy city; that is, such persons are found only in Christendom and among true Christians, who hear a great deal of preaching about faith. To these persons he applies the sayings of Scripture. For such persons learn Scripture also by daily hearing it; but not farther than they can apply it to their erroneous opinions and their false faith. For Satan here quotes from the Psalter, Psalm 91:11-12, that God commanded the angels that they should protect the children of God and carry them on their hands. But Satan like a rogue and cheat fails to quote what follows, namely, that the angels shall protect the children of God in all their ways. For the Psalm reads thus: “For he will give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone;” hence the protection of the angels does not reach farther, according to the command of God, than the ways in which God has commanded us to walk.

When we walk in these ways of God, his angels take care of us. But the devil omits to quote “the ways of God” and interprets and applies the protection of the angels to all things, also to that which God has not commanded; then it fails and we tempt God.

20. Now, this temptation seldom takes place in outward material things as bread, clothing, house, etc. For we find many foolhardy people, who risk and endanger their body and life, their property and honor, with out any need of doing so; as those do who willfully enter into battle or jump into the water, or gamble for money, or in other ways venture into danger, of whom the wise man says in Sirach 3:27: “Whoever takes pleasure in danger, will thereby be overcome;” for in the degree one struggles to get a thing, will he succeed in obtaining it; and good swimmers are likely to drown and good climbers likely to fall. Yet it is seldom that those of false faith in God abstain from bread, clothing and other necessities of life, when they are at hand. As we read of two hermits, who would not accept bread from the people, but thought God should send it to them directly from heaven; so the consequence was that one died and went to his father, the devil, who taught him such faith and left him fall from the pinnacle.

21. But in spiritual matters this temptation is powerful when one has to do with the nourishment not of the body but of the soul. Here God has held before us the person and way, by which the soul can be forever nourished in the richest manner possible without any want, namely Christ, our Savior.

But this way, this treasure, this provision no one desires. Everybody seeks another way, other provisions to help their souls. The real guilty ones are those who would be saved through their own work; these the devil sets conspicuously on the top of the temple. They follow him and go down where there is no stairway; they believe and trust in their own work where there is no faith nor trust, no way nor bridge, and break their necks. But Satan makes use of and persuades them through the Scriptures to believe that the angels will protect them, and that their way, works and faith are pleasing to God, and who called them through the Scriptures to do good works; but they do not care how falsely they explain the Scriptures.

22. Who these are, we have identified often enough and very fully, namely, workrighteous persons and unbelieving hypocrites under the name of being Christians and among the congregation of Christian people. For the temptation must take place in the holy city and one temptation is seldom against another. In the first temptation want and hunger are the reasons that we should not believe; and by which we become anxious to have a full sufficiency, so that there is no chance for us to believe. In the second temptation, however, the abundance and the full sufficiency are the reasons that we do not believe, by which we become tired of the common treasure, and every one tries to do something through his own powers to provide for his soul. So we do; if we have nothing, then we doubt God and believe not; if we have abundance, then we become tired of it and wish to have something different, and again we fail to believe. There we flee and turn against want and seek abundance: here we seek want and flee from the abundance we have. No, whatever God does for us, is never right. Such is the bottomless wickedness of our unbelief.

23. Christ’s third temptation consists in temporal honor and power; as the words of the devil clearly teach, when Satan shows and offers Christ all the kingdoms of the world if he would worship him. To this class those belong who fall from their faith for the sake of honor and power, that they may enjoy good days, or not believe further than their honor and power extend.

Such are also the heretics who start sects and factions in matters of faith among Christians, that they may make a great parade before the world and soar aloft in their own honor. Hence one may place this third temptation on the right, and the first on the left side. The first is the temptation of misfortune, by which man is stirred to anger, impatience and unbelief; the third and last, the temptation of prosperity, by which man is enticed to lust, honor, joy, and whatever is high. The second or middle temptation is spiritual and deals with the blind tricks and errors that mislead reason from faith.

24. For whom the devil cannot overcome with poverty, want, need and misery, he attacks with riches, favor, honor, pleasure, power and the like, and contends on both sides against us; yea, “he walketh about,” says St.

Peter in 1 Peter 5:8, so that if he cannot overthrow us either with suffering or love, that is, with the first temptation on the left or the third on the right, he retires to a higher and different method and attacks us with error, blindness and a false understanding of the Scripture. If he wins there, we fare ill on all sides and in all things; and whether one suffers poverty or has abundance, whether he fights or surrenders, all is lost. For when one is in error, neither patience in misfortune nor firmness in prosperity helps him; seeing that in both heretics are often powerful and the devil deliberately acts as if he were overcome in the first and last temptations, although he is not, if he has only won in the middle or second temptation. For he lets his own children suffer much and be patient, even at times to spurn the world; but never with a true and honest heart.

25. Now these three temptations taken together are heavy and hard; but the middle one is the greatest; for it attacks the doctrine of faith itself in the soul, and is spiritual and in spiritual matters. The other two attack faith in outward things, in fortune and misfortune, in pleasure and pain etc., although both severely try us. For it is sad that one should lay hold of heaven and ever be in want and eat stones where there is no bread. Again, it is sad to despise favors, honor and possessions, friends and associates, and let go what one already has. But faith, rooted in God’s Word, is able to do all things; is faith strong, then it is also easy for the believer to do this.

26. The order of these temptations, as they met Christ, one cannot absolutely determine; for the Evangelists give them in different order. The temptation Matthew places as the middle one, Luke places last, Luke 4, 4f.; and again, the temptation Luke places in the middle, Matthew places last, as if little depended on the order. But if one wished to preach or speak of them, the order of Luke would be the better. For it is a fine opportunity to repeat and relate that the devil began with want and misfortune; when that did not work, then he began with prosperity and honor; and last, when all fails, that he wantonly and wickedly springs forth and strikes people with terror, lies and other spiritual tricks. And since they have no order in practice and experience, but as it happens that a Christian may be attacked at one time with the last, and another time with the first etc., Matthew gave little attention to the order for a preacher to observe in speaking of this theme. And perhaps it was also the same with Christ through the forty days that the devil held to no order, but today attacked him with this and tomorrow with another temptation, and again in ten days with the first and so on, just as occasion was given.

27. At last angels approached and served him. This must have taken place in a literal sense, that they appeared in a bodily form and gave him to eat and drink, and just as at a table, they ministered to all his wants. For the service is offered outwardly to his body, just like, no doubt, the devil, his tempter, also appeared in a bodily form, perhaps like an angel. For, seeing that he places him on the pinnacle of the temple and shows him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment, he must have been a higher being than a man, since he represents himself as a higher being, in that he offers him all the kingdoms of the world and permits himself to be worshiped. But he surely did not bear the form of the devil, for he desires to be beautiful when he lies and deceives, as St. Paul says of him in 2 Corinthians 11:14: “For even Satan fashioneth himself into an angel of light.”

28. This however is written for our comfort, that we may know that many angels minister also to us, where one devil attacks us; if we fight with a knightly spirit and firmly stand, God will not let us suffer want, the angels of heaven would sooner appear and be our bakers, waiters and cooks and minister to all our wants. This is not written for Christ’s sake for he does not need it. Did the angels serve him, then they may also serve us.

Rottenness - Good for the Garden,Good for the Creatures, Good for the Soil

This is so inadequate and textbookish,
but it is a start for the unthinking thralls of Scott's Lawn and Garden,
the despairing slaves of the German chemical industry.

I found a Sharon Lovejoy book at Cracker Barrel and paged through it quickly to check about adding it to my list. Two items alone made it worthwhile to purchase later. One was a crow trap for the corn patch. The other described the effect of a pile of leaves left to rot.

Lovejoy combines extensive observation and experience with research to get a lot of worthwhile content on each page. One brief section noted the effect of rotting leaves. They foster the growth of bugs that prey on other bugs - and I forget which. By design, the presence of bugs will attract birds who feed on them.

Gardening books have been one-dimensional at their worst and two-dimensional at their best. The new emphasis on soil microbiology and its support of the food chain has changed this, so gardeners can see and foster the three-dimensional approach. Everything matters, but the foundation is the first part of the effort - feeding the microbes.

Food Attracts the Eater
One principle is simple. The food attracts the eater and denying food keeps the eater from settling down for a meal. When I put together a small pond, a dragonfly showed up - as if by magic. Dragonflies love still water and the life below and above that water. Below - the dragonfly nymphs devour their food. Above, they dart around and capture the quickest creatures.

We always want to rake up the leaves, haul away the cut grass, yank the weeds, and throw away the rotting wood. Each is a component in feeding bacteria, mold, micro-organisms, and the larger creatures.

One book wrote up what I observed - put down wood mulch and the spiders show up to cast their webs and feed on insects. As soon as it warmed up - before the snow - the silken threads were showing on the rose bushes. They will return because I use no sprays at all in the garden or yard. Why kill the predators of the bugs when the Creator has this all sorted out already?

We all know that a lot of food has to be ready for five or fifty people to come over. If we want them to stay, the food supply has to be increased. Our helper wants to take away the maple leaves resting on the rose garden mulch. Instead I am going to bet that the leaves will be gone soon enough, devoured by the soil creatures below. They will digest all the mulch in time, but leave behind a mass of fungi, earthworms, bacteria, protozoa, springtails, sowbugs, centipedes, and millipedes.

That is why many advocate leaving rotting logs along the perimeter of the garden. Queen Elizabeth does the same, encouraging fungi in her private gardens (forbidding all inorganic treatments). The infinite dependencies of the soil begin with fungus, the ultimate decomposer and transporter of nutrition.

This management goes on without our thinking about it, although we can enhance the effect with more organics, more native plants, more weeds, and more mulch. We also also block as much as possible with inorganic fertilizer, herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides. And yet, in our all foolishness, the power of God's Creation bursts through.

Our paltry planning is nothing compared to God's management. We cannot summon a robin or order a preying mantis to show up, but we can entice, nurture, feed, and water these helpful creatures. The less we manage with human wisdom, the more God manages with divine wisdom and power.

That should carry over to the work of the Christian Church, but we have too few farmers and gardeners today. Seminarians should be required to build a compost pile, garden, and bird watch. For the summer they could be required to study insects and arthropods. No one should graduate with an MDiv without

• knowing what a springtail does, 
• reading An Agricultural Testament, 
• or growing a garden without the 'cides.

Then, if a church council member whines that "our congregation needs to grow," the new pastor can ask:

1. "Have we planted the Seed, the living Word, and watered it? 
2. Have we taken the time to dig it and dung it?"
3. Have we remembered Who gives the growth?"

1 Corinthians 3:6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.

9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.

10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Boycott the Emmaus Conference, Part 17. Send Jay Webber, STM Candidate, and Jon Buchholz, MDiv, Back to School

Romans 4:24-25King James Version (KJV)

24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;

25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

Webber and Buchholz want to be experts in Romans, but they cannot grasp that Romans 4 destroys their entire argument. They must either charge St. Paul and the Holy Spirit with being fickle, or they have to concede that Walther and his syphilitic bishop were false teachers. They would also have to conclude that the Synodical Conference was bereft of doctrinal integrity for citing Romans 4:25 constantly in support of its precious Universal Objective Justification. Therefore, the Brief Confession of 1932 is a farce for getting the Gospel wrong, for inserting Halle University's rationalistic Pietism into Lutheran doctrine.

Jay Webber cited Halle's Rambach against Chemnitz
on the Steadfast Lutherans blog.

The other hidey-hole for UOJ Stormtroopers is Robert Preus' support of the dogma, but his final book repudiated that claim, even though it was edited by his UOJ loyalist sons. The following two quotations are citations from Justification and Rome, Preus' final book.

This Calov quotation is from Justification and Rome,
belying the claim that Calov was another UOJ fanatic.

When did the imputation - counting us righteous - take place?
Quenstedt is not in Walther's cell group.
Below is J. Gerhard, who was cited falsely by the Synodical Conference
as a UOJ leader, even though he worked closely with Martin Chemnitz.

Better Than C. S. Lewis - Secret Plans for the Jackson EZ Bird Swing Released to the Public

When dawn, the rosy-fingered child of Morn appeared, Sassy Sue was inkling her need for food. She acted as if she wanted to go out in the dark, but stopped at the watering jug, which is also next to food barrel.

Do you want to go out?

No motion.

Do you want some water? Have some.

No motion.

Are you hungry?

Sassy smiled that I figured her out so fast - for a human.





I got Sassy some breakfast and blogged. The thaw began in earnest, so I decided to pick up some meds and stop at Lowe's, to repeat the glorious experience of the Jackson EZ Bird Swing. I am not sure if I copied the idea or figured it out.

This Jackson EZ Bird Swing parts are simple to buy, inexpensive, and simple to install, assuming a wooden overhang.

1. Measure from the eaves or wooden structure to the mid-point of the window from inside. A good place to observe the birds is halfway down the window and a little distance from the feeder.
2. You will need two chains cut to the length measured above. The exact length is not crucial because...
3. A metal pole with screw threads hangs from the two chains. Extra length of the pole is good for stability in hanging. The diameter has to fit through the links.
4. Two screw hooks are needed to hang the chains down from the wood. They will not bear much weight. so I get large, thin ones. The hooks are secured  to allow the pole to reach through the chains with several inches at least on each end.
5. I secured the pole to the chain on each end with electric tape, to keep the pole from coming out, but that is unlikely with the threading and the gentle action of the swing.

Why does this work so well?

Birds do not stay on a feeder too long. They like to fly from a perch to the feeder and then to their perch again. The small ones feel safer taking a sunflower seed away and opening it up. Chickadees pound it open with their beaks, holding the seed in their feet. If the little ones open the seed on the swing, that is the best show in town.

A cardinal will sit at the feeder and do the work with their beaks alone. They seem to be grinning as they man-handle the seed.

The swing is an ideal resting place. The birds can observe everything around them, and they are away from obvious danger, such as a bush hiding a cat. They may eat or preen or relax on the swing.

Once they are used to humans nearby, they become oblivious to being watched. The bird-watcher can be inches away.

Some enhancements.

• Drape lint and twine around suet baskets hanging from the feeder. Birds will come to it for nest material. Dryer lint can also be  packed into empty suet baskets.
• Place seed on the window sill. Often baby squirrels will sit there and eat, and so will smaller birds. My ledge is narrow, so that excludes larger animals.
• Throw bonus amounts of food around the base of the feeder. Extra activity draws more birds, and more will land on the sill and the bird swing.

The squirrels have left empty corn cobs below the two feeders they use - a message?

Birds Have Eaten Most of the New Suet and the Old Supply. Diversity at the Jackson Bird Spa

A reader sent two hand-made, wooden suet feeders. I filled them and the birds emptied them. I refilled some older bags of suet. That is gone. The previous bags that went down slowly are hanging flat.

A trip to the meat market will refill them tomorrow. I am also running low on sunflower seeds and dried meal worms. Sharon Lovejoy suggested many kinds of seed, including wheat and corn, for a greater variety of birds.

Diversity of food helps. Another method is to have various levels and types of feeding stations.

I keep the squirrels on the filing cabinet at the Jackson Bird Spa. They leave the bird feeder near our window alone. Chickadees raid the nearby one all the time, and we get purple finches resting and eating there. Starlings are used to seeing me stand inches away, and all the birds are getting accustomed rather than flying away at the slightest movement.

Multi-Level Marketing
The Jackson Bird Spa has many important features:

• The filing cabinet has a top, a shelf underneath, and a drawer, so various animals feel comfortable using one of the levels. If a squirrel is in the drawer, the birds are on the top layer.
• A pile of sticks is stacked up for perching. Many birds will rest there, do some beak wiping, or look for food that I toss there.
• The ground has four pans of water, often frozen now, but thawed with hot water each afternoon. The birds are increasingly more fun as they splash and drink there. The starlings are clowns or little children in the baths.
• The abundance of leaves and mulch means that insect life is ready to pop up and feed more birds as the soil and air warm up.
• The aerial aqueduct will sprinkle and bathe many birds at once, giving them a safe place to get cleaned and watered. Where the hose puddles on the ground, shy birds like the cardinal will gather.

PS - Sassy says I owe her a walk outside.

Winter's Blast Felt in NW Arkansas. Kind Words about Moles and Toads

The Wind in the Willows is a book I cannot give away.
This passage reminded me of why I started a blog about my hometown, Moline.

The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame, Chapter Five, Dulce Domum, Excerpts, Public Domain 

We others, who have long lost the more subtle of the physical senses, have not even proper terms to express an animal's inter-communications with his surroundings, living or otherwise, and have only the word `smell,' for instance, to include the whole range of delicate thrills which murmur in the nose of the animal night and day, summoning, warning? inciting, repelling. It was one of these mysterious fairy calls from out the void that suddenly reached Mole in the darkness, making him tingle through and through with its very familiar appeal, even while yet he could not clearly remember what it was. He stopped dead in his tracks, his nose searching hither and thither in its efforts to recapture the fine filament, the telegraphic current, that had so strongly moved him. A moment, and he had caught it again; and with it this time came recollection in fullest flood. 

Home! That was what they meant, those caressing appeals, those soft touches wafted through the air, those invisible little hands pulling and tugging, all one way! Why, it must be quite close by him at that moment, his old home that he had hurriedly forsaken and never sought again, that day when he first found the river! And now it was sending out its scouts and its messengers to capture him and bring him in. Since his escape on that bright morning he had hardly given it a thought, so absorbed had he been in his new life, in all its pleasures, its surprises, its fresh and captivating experiences. Now, with a rush of old memories, how clearly it stood up before him, in the darkness! Shabby indeed, and small and poorly furnished, and yet his, the home he had made for himself, the home he had been so happy to get back to after his day's work. 

[ GJ - But Ratty refused to take a detour! He was too busy.] 

Poor Mole stood alone in the road, his heart torn asunder, and a big sob gathering, gathering, somewhere low down inside him, to leap up to the surface presently, he knew, in passionate escape. But even under such a test as this his loyalty to his friend stood firm. Never for a moment did he dream of abandoning him. Meanwhile, the wafts from his old home pleaded, whispered, conjured, and finally claimed him imperiously. He dared not tarry longer within their magic circle. With a wrench that tore his very heartstrings he set his face down the road and followed submissively in the track of the Rat, while faint, thin little smells, still dogging his retreating nose, reproached him for his new friendship and his callous forgetfulness. 

The Mole subsided forlornly on a tree-stump and tried to control himself, for he felt it surely coming. The sob he had fought with so long refused to be beaten. Up and up, it forced its way to the air, and then another, and another, and others thick and fast; till poor Mole at last gave up the struggle, and cried freely and helplessly and openly, now that he knew it was all over and he had lost what he could hardly be said to have found. 

The Rat, astonished and dismayed at the violence of Mole's paroxysm of grief, did not dare to speak for a while. At last he said, very quietly and sympathetically, `What is it, old fellow? Whatever can be the matter? Tell us your trouble, and let me see what I can do.' 

Poor Mole found it difficult to get any words out between the upheavals of his chest that followed one upon another so quickly and held back speech and choked it as it came. `I know it's a -- shabby, dingy little place,' he sobbed forth at last, brokenly: `not like -- your cosy quarters -- or Toad's beautiful hall -- or Badger's great house -- but it was my own little home -- and I was fond of it -- and I went away and forgot all about it -- and then I smelt it suddenly -- on the road, when I called and you wouldn't listen, Rat -- and everything came back to me with a rush -- and I wanted it! -- O dear, O dear! -- and when you wouldn't turn back, Ratty -- and I had to leave it, though I was smelling it all the time -- I thought my heart would break. -- We might have just gone and had one look at it, Ratty -- only one look -- it was close by -- but you wouldn't turn back, Ratty, you wouldn't turn back! O dear, O dear!' 

Recollection brought fresh waves of sorrow, and sobs again took full charge of him, preventing further speech. 

The Rat stared straight in front of him, saying nothing, only patting Mole gently on the shoulder. After a time he muttered gloomily, `I see it all now! What a pig I have been! A pig -- that's me! Just a pig -- a plain pig!' 

Read this brilliant analysis of the author's life and his classic work.

***

GJ - The Wind in the Willows became part of our father/son vocabulary, especially when LI and his grandfather tipped their rowboat into the river. "Please, Ratty. I want to row - now!"

The animal characters are everlasting - in the book. The Disney version is a sad corruption, turning classic literature into a dumb cartoon.

Moles are rampant in our yards here. I have talked it over with Mr. Gardener many times. He has lived here decades and never saw anything like last year's run of moles. I have not tried to kill them or drive them away or trap them.

I sought comfort and wisdom in A Blessing of Toads, by Sharon Lovejoy, which is on its way to Norma Boeckler's home and gardens. Lovejoy has something good to say about every creature in the garden.

Lovejoy gave the mole a chapter. I doubt her remedies for keeping them away, but not her advice about their benefits. Moles feast on insects, slugs, and grubs in the soil. The disruptive tunnels, near the surface, are their feeding runs, which are often temporary. The permanent tunnels are another foot below, and their construction results in the famous molehills of soft earth piled on top. So moles get rid of pests but they also mix, aerate, and soften the soil. They are giant earthmovers in comparison with earthworms. Lovejoy - "On the Matter of Moles," A Blessing of Toads.

Wayne Lewis wrote about those who hate on the larger animals, squirrels, mice, groundhogs, rabbits, chipmunks, voles, moles, prairie dogs, gophers, snakes, lizards— all burrow and travel in the soil, mixing, moving, and depositing organic matter and providing pathways and reservoirs for water and air...

The role these larger animals play in a vegetable garden is very different from the role they play in other parts of the yard. But wherever they roam, their role is important and entirely underpinned by microarthropods and microorganisms, which far outnumber them in any soil food web. The dung of all reptiles, mammals, and birds serves as a food source for other members of the food web community, which recycles it into nutrients. They also carry microbes on and in their bodies and feet from one location to another, and at death their carcasses are decayed by soil life.

Lewis, Wayne;   Lowenfels, Jeff;  (2010-09-10). Teaming with Microbes: The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web, Revised Edition (Kindle Location 1503). Timber Press. Kindle Edition. 

Lovejoy did not admit to moles eating earthworms (a death penalty in ancient Egypt) but the soil food web concept means providing for the tiniest soil creatures so the larger ones can feed on them and recycle them. Earthworms simply multiply according to the moisture and organic matter given them, and they make good soil even better while supporting any creature that needs their high protein bodies, whether birds or moles or snakes.

You are probably wondering - why the strange title? Lovejoy played on the unusual names for groups of animals: a pride of lions, a murder of crows, a parliament of owls, an exaltation of larks, a charm of finches. She reject the official  "knot of toads," and offers hers - "a blessing of toads."

I covet toads and want more of them in my garden, so I am on the lookout for broken flower vases to serve as their shelters and homes. Toads are the number 1 enemy of slugs. Note that moles are eating them below ground while toads snag them above ground. Toads also eat enormous amounts of insect pests and feast on ants. Lovejoy, "A Blessing of Toads," A Blessing of Toads.

Compost - build it and they will come - up from the soil.
My Midland compost fed birds on top as they perched and waited for movement.
The wily blue jays loved to feast there.Any deep pile of organic matter will compost, including leaves alone,
but most of us do some mixing of soil, leaves, and garden trash, plus weeds.

From the Oracle of New Ulm

Sam-Amber told Zach, another MLC graduate, "I caught your gay."

Sam Birner graduated from Martin Luther College, WELS, in December, 2014.
Now he is Amber Noel.

WELS Discussions

• 

  Amber Noel Birner Well, in my case specifically I do plan on marrying someone who is male, as I currently have a boyfriend. 
  However, your statement is interesting because if you recognize it is a correction, then that would be recognizing I am female, so then for a heterosexual relationship I would date a male, otherwise if I dated a female it would be a lesbian relationship.
  
  Now, could I marry someone who is female? Sure! I *am* attracted to women. But then it would be a lesbian relationship not a heterosexual one. 
  
  It really *is* a clear cut difference because transgender people exist in many sexual orientations however, so it is still a very clearly different topic.
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