Neighbors Drive By To Needle Me - I Respond

Our distant neighbor, two houses away, stopped her car and rolled down the window.

"Still interested in our pine needles?"

"I sure am, all you can give me, plus cones."

"Cones?"

"Yes, that is part of the mulch treatment for the Hosta garden."

Today she came over with her daughter to deliver the needles and cones. We already had most of the cardboard placed, and somewhat blown around, for the Hosta garden. Bermuda grass was growing in the cracks, but the old pile of needles had no growth under it as they were moved on top of the cardboard.

Her young teen daughter wanted to earn money for horseback competitions, which made me put in a good word for horse manure. Some opportunities develop slowly, as the needles did. That started last year with the mulching of the Blueberry bushes. At that time, the wood mulch was still on top of the corn garden. Ha. The best crop I got from that area was Poison Hemlock. The corn did not get enough sun, and the squirrels wiped the stalks clean of what did grow, leaving the stalks bare. Nothing is wasted. The stalks rotted into the ground and became mulch.

When I bought field corn cobs to put on the squirrel feeder, they put the empty cobs in a place that would remind me of their need for more. Much later the cobs were still appearing from time to time, as if to say, "We still love our corn." Squirrels have no sense of irony, but I do.

Hosta already has a start, thanks to Mr. Gardener. Our neighbor looked at the wall of Morning Glories (climbing the chain-link fence) behind the roses. "How did that happen?" All I have to do is give her a basket of Morning Glory vines, and they will drop seed for free.

"Oh, Blackberries!" They will be easy to dig up and plant in her yard. They spread easily and require little care. They not only spread through stolons underground but also by rooting their own tips into the soil. A few Blackberry plants started on one side of the house now grow on two more sides.
Easy to grow can become "Invasive!" But I like them.

Cardboard itself is an ugly mulch and blows around easily - though nothing like fresh, dry newspapers. Topping the cardboard layer with pine needles gave the Hosta garden a fresh pine scent and a pleasant forest look. Hostas also spread on their own. Norma Boeckler is very fond of them.

I suggested used that approach in her backyard, where a maple is now mulched with those needles. Hosta and Wild Strawberries would probably grow easily in the shade. Hosta provides blooms for Hummingbirds. Wild Strawberries bloom steadily in the shade and provide berries for birds.

While the last load was being brought over, I cut roses for them. The mother and daughter caught me giving roses away on Mothers Day, and now they have their own Veterans Honor rose, which is doing well for being transplanted twice.

I had a Big Purple rose, a Veterans Honor bloom too big for its stem, and a perfect Falling in Love rose. They debated which one was best, because the mother said, "I love them all." But the daughter said, "I know my favorite. Falling in Love."

That was another sweet moment in our little cul-de-sac.

Sassy and I rescued another dog today, the new neighbors' Dachsie. She found us and followed us all the way home, happily entering our backyard, where she had no escape. Later I led her over and she became bouncy as she recognized her owner's voice.

 Falling in Love

One Small Book - Martin Chemnitz on Justification: The Chief Article of Christian Doctrine

Here is a book that came my way not long ago. Concordia Publishing House published it, and Jack Preus translated it.

The book is slender, easy to read. Chemnitz took material from Melanchthon and expounded upon the various issues surrounding the Chief Article.

Luther called himself a Solafide-ist, a Faithian,
so I am happy to use that label.

Given the blabber that comes from Ft. Wayne graduates like Jack Cascione, Paul McCain, and Jay Webber, is it too much to ask about their study of this volume? They were in school when Jack and Robert Preus were teaching or leading the LCMS. Jack and Bob were scholars.

Likewise, Robin Leaver, who lectured at Ft. Wayne, wrote a CPH book about Luther's Justification by Faith Alone. Nobody read that book?

Chemnitz and Melanchthon are especially important for those who want to call themselves "Confessional Lutherans," a term rendered meaningless by ELCA, Father Neuhaus, and the rest of the rabble.

All the gaseous output from the UOJ Stormtroopers is already addressed by Justification. "Your faith is in your faith! You are not a Christian. You are a Faithian!" - Typical Ft. Wayne palaver, from the infamous manure spreader himself, David Scaer.

Chemnitz has a chapter on faith, not only worth reading, but worth careful long-term study.

 Justified before we are born?
No wonder the Synodical Conference began to tank
after this notion was accepted as Gospel, 1932,
even though Ed Preus joined the Church of Rome as a major writer, editor, and theologian.

Fall Preparations in the Creation Garden

Matthew 6:28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. (Proof that God over-ruled Lammerts' fashion sense
to blend the DNA of the Queen Elizabeth rose.)

Our newest member asked how much time I spend blogging. Once I wake up, make coffee, and read some news, I always write a new post on gardening.

This has to amuse B__ endlessly, because he urged me to interlace my polemics with gardening, which suited me. If I have a new topic from religious news, I like to balance it with gardening experience and knowledge. Now I have regular readership for gardening and a new gardening book soon to be finished.

My proof-reading editor just finished with Jesus Lord of Creation, a book I wrote some time ago with Norma Boeckler's artwork. Every aspect of gardening is best explained by Creation. The Word reveals this mystery, but gardening research confirms the mystery.

A mystery in the New Testament is an article of faith revealed by the Holy Spirit in the Word. The unified truth of the Scriptures gives us many additional ways in which to see that same mystery revealed, explained, and supported. Thus Creation by the Word is expressed in another way when St. Paul calls believers New Creatures, or New Creations. Just as the Lord of Creation fashioned the universe by the Word, so the Gospel Word creates new believers.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

The forces of anti-faith are strong, and they work best from within. People should remember that the fiercest opponents of Jesus and the Apostle Paul were religious leaders, not the Atheists Forum. No one is more sanctimonious that a religious opponent of faith, because his trust is in his works. He boasts about his ancestors, as if he picked them himself. He points out his great success and honors, overlooking everything else than might detract from his "glittering vices." (Augustine)

The anti-faith religious leaders are eternally vindictive and never satisfied with the destruction they have caused. They form fellowships to accomplish even more for their Father Below while searching for more converts, making them even more fit for perdition. hypocrites! "...For ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves." Matthew 23:15 

Creation Gardening is a wonderful way to see how God has engineered each plant and creature to do His work on our behalf, managing them all in perfect harmony, even after we toss our man-made tools into His machinery.

Jessica Walliser has solemnly warned gardeners to cease and desist fall gardening clean-up campaigns. Let the seedy flowers stay. Keep the stalks standing. Pile up the leaves and debris instead of carting them to the curb where a cost-conscious gardener will grab the bags and use them himself.

Th autumn leaves are falling now, even in the last effort to humidify and scorch us in Arkansas. I see them as fertilizer (carbon) for the soil fungi, blankets for the flowers, hiding places for the beneficial bug babies of next year. 

I came in from the bird feeder with an apparent streak of deep red blood on my arm. "What's that?" Mrs. Ichabod demanded. 

"Oh, that is stain from the Pokeweed berries. I brushed against them. Indians used them for dye, and birds love them."

The Pokeweed is borrowing the sun and water of the Butterfly Bush, so it thrives and tries to reach its maximum growth in height and width. I will keep a number of them growing and fruiting, because they are late season bird-feeders. So are the two Beautyberry bushes, equally toxic to us but delightful to birds.

As I wrote before, Brett Meyer piled up leaves under his cherry tree for the winter, doubling its production. We mow leaves into the grass and pile them under the bushes. Imported leaves are placed on the cardboard to keep it down and enhance the decomposition started when the sunlight is blocked by the new, free carpeting of cellulose. 

On Saturday the neighboring teens will cart their fine carpet of pine needles to the Hosta garden, which already has its cardboard layer. Their mother wanted to get rid of the very materials I coveted. "I want the cones, too."

"You do?" the daughter asked. 

"Yes, they will be part of the mulch for the Hostas."

I helped start their first rose, a Veterans Honor that was getting too much shade where I placed it. That is their practice rose, and it is doing well already, moved at the wrong time, but getting loving attention. 

Next spring, God willing, the backyard gardens will be covered with leaves and needles, undergirded by cardboard, a fine soggy environment for plants I will install.

I have planted first and mulched around them later, which is far superior to rototilling. But I believe an early start on composting the lawn is better. The first stages tie up a lot of ingredients in the lawn, and the soil creatures need time to populate and soften the soil. Grass roots do not rot overnight, and earthworms shy away from early decomposition warm-ups.

Veterans Honor Rose - For a Veteran's Funeral

 Veterans Honor Rose

Our neighbor's stepfather died, so we attended his funeral yesterday. We know his step-sons better, and one is a former Army Ranger. They took care of their mother at home, and she passed away two years ago.

We knew he was a veteran but did not know his record. He was a Green Beret, who served five tours in Viet Nam, and was afterwards based around the world. He was MAC-SOG in Viet Nam - or "a cowboy in the Wild West," as his stepson said. He died 100% disabled.

Between the Green Beret and his Army Ranger stepson, we never heard tales or heroism. That is so typical of military heroes. They enjoy telling funny stories about their service, but they do not boast. My wife said, "Not many were there, but two were ministers." I said, "Three. A VA chaplain was sitting next to me, too."

I cut some roses for the family and found a beautiful Veterans Honor rose in perfect bloom. Wednesday was watering day, so Thursday I had many new blooms in the main rose garden. The vase was near the VA chaplain as he spoke and read the Scriptures. The colors of the vase of roses seemed lit from within, but the Veterans Honor rose, facing the podium outshone them all.

After the gathering at the family home, we walked home, just a few houses away. Another Veterans Honor rose was showing off its perfect bloom near our front door.

We like Mr. Lincoln for its growth and blooms, but there is nothing like a Veterans Honor rose. Mrs. Ichabod says, "They look like red velvet," and their form is perfect.

Besides the fragrance and long-lasting beauty when cut, the Veterans Honor rose reminds us of the sacrifices of all those in the military, past and present - and that includes their families.

 Another view of Veterans Honor

Someone won a prize at a rose show.
I like to distribute the blooms to friends and doctors,
so I never have three together like this.

Concordia Publishing House - A Warning Label. Two Men Make Enormous Salaries, Have No Real Academic Credentials, and Foist This Garbage on the Public. Gifts for Alcoholic Scoffers

Not So Nice Bible Stories: Gory Deaths

Jonathan Schkade

CONCORDIA PUBLISHING HOUSE / 2016 / TRADE PAPERBACK

$11.99Retail: $14.99Save 20% ($3.00)

Availability: Expected to ship on or about 10/21/16.

CBD Stock No: WW654582

Bruce Kintz has a 3 year online "doctorate,"
which must have enlightened him about really good
Lutheran books and gimmicks for the Reformation 500th Anniversary.

Amazon Page - 

Not So Nice Bible Stories: Gory Deaths Paperback – September 20, 2016

by Jonathan Schkade  (Author)

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"Jael killed Sisera by hammering a tent stake into his head. Jezebel was thrown out a window, trampled, and attacked by dogs. Judas hanged himself.

Death in the Bible is sometimes gory. Really gory. But the grisly deaths and mass killings point to a final gruesome death on the cross, and how God provides His Son as a rescue from eternal death. Readers learn about the historical and factual contexts of some of the Bible s nastiest deaths, and how God works in the ugly, messy world. Each chapter concludes with an explanation of the biblical event in question and how it points to Christ as Savior."

More Trash from Concordia Publishing House

Beer bottle opener plays "A Mighty Fortress."

Dog collar.

Drink coaster.

Universalism - From an ELS Follower of Buchholz and Webber. Ron Pederson's OJ and SJ Terms Are from a Calvinist Translation of a Halle Pietist

Ron Pederson

1 hr

Objective Justification

What did Jesus accomplish by His life, death and resurrection? Did He accomplish a potential forgiveness that is true only when we believe it? Is our faith like some kind of magical genie that brings the forgiveness of sins into existence? If the forgiveness of sins is not already there, what is faith to believe?

[Four questions in a row are the hallmark of freshman English essays, bad freshman essays. These matters that stir Pederson's mind every few months are answered by Romans 4:24-25, not by isolating Romans 4:25 and calling it a "diamond."

Romans 4:23-25King James Version (KJV)

23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;

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.]

Luther nailed UOJ to a post 500 years ago.

Our faith does not bring the forgiveness of sins into existence. On the contrary it is the forgiveness of sins that brings our faith into existence. Our Catechism has a name for it: The means of grace. St Paul writes: “How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?… Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ” (Rom 10:14, 17).

[GJ - This is the same argumentation style of the apostate liberal mainliners, who say, "The Bible did not fall from heaven." If Ron could stick to the plain words of the Bible, he might have something. The Atonement is the Gospel, and those Gospel Promises create and sustain faith in Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit in the Word. His antagonism toward faith is a hostility toward the Word of God, because the purpose of the entire Bible is to create faith in the Savior. Pulling the Means of Grace out, after the fact, after declaring the entire world righteous without faith, is no better than grabbing a rabbit's foot.]

In human relationships one person sins against another person. Sometimes the person sinned against forgives the person who sinned against him. Whether or not the person who sinned believes it or accepts the forgiveness has nothing to do with the fact that he has been forgiven by the person he sinned against. The person who sinned had no part in the other person forgiving him. The forgiveness came from the heart of the person sinned against.

["All analogies limp," which is a good saying for those who build their examples around their pet dogmas from Halle University.]

We sinned against God. The whole human race sinned against God. God says to the whole world, I forgive you. You may not believe it or accept it but that doesn’t change what God has determined in His heart. “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them” (2 Cor 5:19). “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Rm 3:23-24).

[Religious fiction is difficult to swallow. Luther rephrases the Word often, but always in a way true to the Word, not something appealing to a faction.]

That does not mean that the whole human race is saved and will be heaven. Only those who put their personal trust in God’s forgiveness will be saved. Those who reject it will have to pay for their own sins in the torments of hell for all eternity.

[Ron is even a heretic by WELS standards and by LutherQuest standards. According to their beloved JP Meyer, everyone in Hell is a guilt-free saint.]

That is what Jesus accomplished by His life, death and resurrection. We sinned against God and He says to us, to all people, to the whole world, I forgive you in Christ. Confess you sin and believe it, trust in it and “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29).

Additional Comments

What is received must be the same as what is offered (forgiveness received/forgiveness offered) or my faith is seen as the cause for God forgiving me --- A change in His heart from not forgiving me to forgiving me.

[Who declared this in the Word and the Confessions? I would love to know so I could look it up.]

I think where the confusion comes in is that an unbeliever is forgiven by God but not forgiven personally. That’s where the objective justification/subjective justification distinction is important. The objective justification part always remains true but the subjective justification part is true only when it is believed.

[The Lutheran Reformation took place, and the Book of Concord was written, without these invidious terms - Objective and Subjective Justification - both of which deny and repudiate Justification by Faith. After 1580, the first version of UOJ emerged from the work of "former" Calvinist Samuel Huber. The Lutherans repudiated this Huber UOJ and defenestrated him.)

It’s like the illustration I gave about someone who sinned against another person and the person who was sinned against forgives the person who sinned against him. When the person who sinned rejects the forgiveness he is not forgiven personally (subjectively) yet he remains forgiven by the person he sinned against (objectively). Likewise, personal faith in God’s forgiveness is necessary for a sinner to be forgiven subjectively and be a Christian and saved.

[Now we begin to smell the roast. Faith is faith in universal-absolution-without-faith, making a decision for UOJ.]

 We are justified before we are born!
So why do we baptize babies?

Objective justification isn’t as offensive to human reason as the doctrines of the incarnation of Christ, the Trinity and especially the doctrine of election are. It’s just that the devil creates havoc here where the rubber meets the road, on a phenomenon that otherwise is not uncommon in the human experience.

Finally, there are different ways of expressing the Gospel. The Gospel is like a diamond. It has many sides and angles that show a different aspect of it’s (sic) beauty. Expressions like “Christ atoned for the sins of the world” or “Christ paid for the sins of the world” or “Christ won the forgiveness of sins for the world” and “the sins of world are forgiven in Christ” are all different ways of expressing the same Gospel.

[Sorry Ron, your English is as bad in content as it is in grammar. Theology is the grammar of faith, as Lutheran theologian Paul L. Holmer taught. Your grammar is bad. It is not the same to say "Christ died for the sins of the world" and "the sins of the world are forgiven in Christ." Of course, "in Christ" means among believers, but Jay Webber, the ELS UOJ salesman thinks "in Christ" includes the unbelieving world.]

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Gerard Johnson Amen brother Ron! Jesus did all the work whether we believe it or not! All men, even the vilest offender (yes even Hitler!) are justified and forgiven in God's sight. They have been declared righteous! How could our pastors speak the word of absolution unless it was already true? We just have to believe and it will be so! 

The firm conviction on this almost makes me want to be WELS! Would that we saw more of it over here!

Why Fuss about the Efficacy of the Word? Chasubles Are Fashion Forward and Figure Flattering

This Webber-Whritenouer
photo illustrates why "copes should NEVER be worn
with chasubles."
As I said to one layman, "I have to look up copes and
other equipment when I get into this stuff."

Father Hollywood's vainglory is on display - not a hair out of place.

ELS Pastor Paul Webber made a splash in Kloha News by drawing my attention to the high crimes of David Becker, who identified Father Jay Webber as a partner with an ELCA pastor in promoting chasubles on Facebook.

ADMINS

David Jay Webber Pastor at Redeemer Lutheran Church of Scottsdale Joined about 7 years ago

Jack Whritenour Pastor at Evangelical Lutheran Church of Christ Joined about 6 years ago

This page illustrates in great detail why people who fuss over matters of indifference (adiaphora) are really quite shallow and indifferent about Biblical doctrine itself.

Like the Church Shrinkers, who divide and conquer, the high church nit-pickers cannot abide Biblical doctrine or any serious question, so they deride their imagined enemies and obsess over nothingness.

The high church fanatics are simply another manifestation of Entertainment Evangelism, easily proven by videos of them clowning around or being ultra-solemn in their elaborate costumes. What is more vain - to preach in wrinkled jeans and a baggy shirt? - or to process with dainty hands pressed together at the fingertips while making the women gasp at their fine, expensive, flowing robes and expensive accessories.

Bishop James Heiser travels to the part-time pastors of ELDONA
to tell them the latest ways they must bow, dress, bless, and dismiss.
The crosier can cost $8,000, its case a mere $400,
but this staff is probably not at that price point.

The accessories must be just right or the entire effect is spoiled. "A cope with a chasuble? That is just hideous!" - they hiss and fume. I am not sure why, but that is what I glean from this curious amalgamation of Little Sect on the Prairie (ELS) and the ELCA Rome Wannabees.

The Chief Article for them is chasubles - certainly not Justification by Faith Alone. The ELS and ELCA have that clear. They promiscuously peddle the notion that by grace the entire world has been declared righteous, forgiven, and saved. Ever since God transplanted the Stephan-Walther cancer to America, the daft followers have fallen over themselves to expand and enlarge the absurdly anti-Scriptural claims of UOJ.

ELCA and the Synodical Conference were both spawned by Halle University Pietism, so they share the same errors, no matter how the surface details vary.

• Muhlenberg (ELCA pioneer) - Halle University. 
• Martin Stephan (LCMS founder) - Halle University.
• Adolph Hoenecke (WELS theologian) - Halle University.

UOJ did not take over any group at once. The concept of universal righteousness worked its way through each group, like bad yeast, until they dominated every seat of power.

UOJ makes everything else in the Christian Faith irrelevant. "Everyone is forgiven and saved", so the people only need to be told this great truth that never appears in the Scriptures, Confessions, or even the most mediocre book among the various sects.

Thus

1. One congregation needs a cheap rock band and the defenestration of their pipe organ, and
2. Another congregation needs purple clergy shirts and a mitre for the bishop, incense, copes, chasubles, birettas, and such.

Biretta - don't leave home without one.