Thursday, November 30, 2017

SpenerQuest Post of the Century - on the LCMS Chap Who Joined Eastern Orthodoxy

 Justification by Faith?
Nope - Universal Absolution and a decision to accept
Universal Absolution: the anti-Gospel of the mainline Pietists.


Rev. Robert Fischer (Fischer)
Advanced Member
Username: Fischer

Post Number: 766
Registered: 12-2004
Posted on Wednesday, November 29, 2017 - 5:47 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post


It's ironic that with all the lead-up to the 500th anniversary of the Reformation and all the emphasis on justification by faith alone that he left for a denomination which denies justification by faith alone.
---





The First Feast - LCMS Clergy Join Eastern Orthodoxy

 ELDONA definitely expresses the spirit of Ft. Wayne,
smells and bells are the Chief Article:
everything else is negotiable.




The First Feast:



"The First Feast
8
SEP
For those who don’t know yet, our family is joining the Orthodox Church.  I just realized not too long ago that the church year for the Orthodox just began at the first of the month, and the first feast of the year is today when we commemorate the Nativity of the Theotokos (or in layman’s terms… Mary’s birthday )"

Start your own diocese, stealth-like, low church.

Go full Episcopalian later.

 We'll get to the Chief Article after we jettison Rolf Preus.


'via Blog this'

***

GJ - Apparently both LCMS seminaries are rife with Romanism and Eastern Orthodoxy. As one Ft. Wayne graduate wrote to me, "Eastern Orthodoxy is just a different polity." All the Ft. Wayne graduates do their best to prove to me how little they know about doctrine, comp dog, and the Scriptures.

I will say this for the Eastern Orthodox, they are friendly and welcoming. The priest who bought Glende's church in Illinois began a friendly dialogue with me, instead of being nasty, superior, and oafish (LCMS-WELS evangelism methods).

The Glende bunch began a toxic, anonymous blog against me - that is how they view outreach. They have no doctrine and steal their methods from the Pentecostals and used car salesmen, so that leaves them bereft of anything sound or edifying.

 Glende left two thriving congregations in Illinois -
one is Eastern Orthodox (Bethlehem -  the original, paid for church).The other is Babtist and already adding on, even though Glende skipped town before it was finished building.
That is how WELS evangelism is so much like LCMS outreach - totally incompetent and wasteful.


 Glende's abandoned new church is thriving because they teach the Gospel
instead of the UOJ anti-Gospel.

Kind Words from Someone Who Reads the Blog and Watches the Services on Ustream


Hello Pastor Jackson

I follow your blog and I watch your ustream broadcasts when I am unable to attend my local church.

Congratulations on your wedding anniversary. I hope that God will grant you many more.

I found your sermon "Two examples of Faith" in the November 26 service to be one of the strongest and clearest expositions of the Lutheran doctrine of justification by faith alone that I've ever heard. 

Thanks very much for all you do.   

***

GJ -  I am glad to hear messages like this. More congregations should offer streaming video, because it helps so many people. Some are shut-ins. Some have no church. Some just cannot go to their own church due to weather, circumstances, or an illness.

Strange how  much the apostate leaders yak about evangelism when the best outreach consists of faithful exposition of the Chief Article - Justification by Faith. I will post the graphic again, for those who haven't cracked a Book of Concord since graduation from seminary.




GracePointe and the Elusive LGBT-affirming Megachurch | VirtueOnline – The Voice for Global Orthodox Anglicanism.
LCMS-WELS May Need To Re-Evaluate Their Strategies

No more WELS pastors and their councils dressing
as women for the congregational picnic?
Church and Change your wardrobe - or Die!


GracePointe and the Elusive LGBT-affirming Megachurch | VirtueOnline – The Voice for Global Orthodox Anglicanism:

 No more Scott Barefoot photos?


"After his announcement of LGBT support in 2015, Pastor Stan Mitchell of GracePointe Church in Franklin, Tennessee was profiled in Time magazine. But what was a much sought-after sign of Evangelical movement towards LGBT affirmation may have been wishful thinking on the part of cultural progressives pouring money into programs that aim to shift Evangelical pastors' views on sexuality.

 No more Matt the Fatt cameos featuring Scott Barefoot and his ministry?

A Consequential Change

Time's Elizabeth Dias identified GracePointe as "one of the first evangelical megachurches in the country to openly stand for full equality and inclusion of the LGBTQ community."

GracePointe, with 700-800 weekly attendees at its height, was not actually a megachurch, typically defined as a congregation with worship attendance greater than 2,000 persons.

Perhaps more so than oldline Protestant denominations, pastor-driven structures of Evangelical churches are well-attuned to their constituency. Evangelical institutions that have waffled about Biblical teaching on human sexual expression -- such as World Vision's short-lived policy change allowing those in same-sex marriages to be employed by the Christian nonprofit -- have quickly reversed course as donors promptly redirected their giving elsewhere.

 No more plagiarizing the Fire Island gay music videos at
Martin Luther College?
Martin Luther College caught the attention of another demographic.

GracePointe was no exception: a 2015 article from the Nashville Scene reported significant departures: both members of the church's Board of Elders and half of the congregation's 2,200-person membership quickly decamped following the LGBT announcement.

"A happy ending has not materialized," the Scene reported. "Members have left, and the very fate of the church is at risk."

Changes ultimately were not limited to teachings on sexuality. In August, the Nashville Star reported that GracePointe would share space with another progressive congregation, now describing itself as "unapologetically interfaith".

A visitor to a recent service counted approximately 240 attendees, a fraction of the number that once participated."

 Are WELS, the ELS, and the LCMS done
with ELCA joint-ministry projects via Thrivent?
This is an ELCA meeting - not WELS, ELS, or LCMS.

'via Blog this'

This is a Martin Luther College of Ministry graduate - WELS - not ELCA,
so don't tar ELCA with the WELS brush. OK?

MLC roommates chortle and complain,
but MLC officials did not know!


ELDONA versus the LCMS

Josh Sullivan does the videos and Paul Rydecki translates the books.

The Right Reverend Bishop James Heiser, STM




ELDONA has become a strange bunch, now that "they have reached critical mass," - their words. But they have fallen into a familiar pattern for the micro-mini sects - defining themselves against the group they left. That leaves out the most important part of teaching - starting with the Lutheran Reformation and faithful Bible translations.

The CLC (sic) worries about WELS/ELS, who ignore the sacrament of donkey basketball. Missouri frets over the Leftwing lunacy of the ELCA, although that never prevents them from joint ministry projects with ELCA. Ditto WELS.

Since ELDONA is comprised of a bishop who recruited willing underlings, should not the bishop take a leadership role in teaching, even through YouTube? I was watching Fulton Sheen last night, a long-time fave of traditional Roman Catholics. He invented mainline media evangelism, and he was very good at it, for his time. But Fulton crossed Cardinal Spellman, once described as "that fat, little liar" when they quarreled over $1 million. Sheen collected the money, which Spellman considered his own. Even in Romanism, it's all about the Benjies. Sheen lost and was consigned to the Roman equivalent of Steam Corners, Ohio.

Once Sullivan began with the errors of LCMS resolutions, my brain shut down. The resolution jungle is parallel with the WELS essay norm. A WELS essay is normative if they want it to be, but only in those parts blessed by WELS. A current loud and proud atheist defended Church Growth while being a WELS pastor, but that does not matter. He defended their Helen of Troy, which happens to be everyone's Helen of Troy - Church Growth. Ditto with Richard Jungkuntz, who was kicked out of WELS for being a liberal on the Scriptures. He was ultra-UOJ, which makes him ultra-cool. The only PhDs in WELS at the time were both kicked out for being liberal on the Scriptures. Jungkuntz joined the LCMS and became a seminary professor and theologian for them. But no matter, he was UOJ! He was caught up in the Jack Preus revolution and joined The ALC as a college professor. But no matter, his essay stays in the WELS Holy of Holies because of UOJ.

For Missouri, UOJ is correct because they voted for the Brief Statement of 1932, which they largely ignore. And yet they rest their confidence on the UOJ in that convention document, the early (but not late) statements of Robert Preus, and the sacred exclamations of David Scaer, whose doctrine resembles Tourette's more than the Book of Concord.

Heiser made vesting in the LCMS pension plan more important than leaving Holy Mother Synod. He supposedly rejected UOJ once he found out what it was - in 2000 - but look at how many years passed before that was even mentioned, let along rejected by ELDONA.

 Packing them in at an ELDONA conference.

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

One Metric - To Be Faithful to the Word

 By Norma A. Boeckler


How does one measure a congregation or blog? I know the marketing people go for big numbers, until the congregation, school, or synod rolls up like a cheap window-shade.

One participant (attending her own local congregation) took our Ustream Greek course in the Gospel of John. I ran into this while looking at ELCA seminary tuition charges -

Tuition and Fees 2017 - 18 Eligible students receive grants and scholarships from Wartburg Seminary to assist with tuition costs.

The cost of seminary education is primarily covered by seminary gifts, church support and endowment funds. Tuition covers only 40% of the cost to educate a Wartburg Theological Seminary student. Students often receive support through congregational and synodical support, various scholarship organizations and individuals. Students may also choose to steward their seminary education with federal student loans and/or work study. 

Full-Time Students (9 or more credits per semester) 
Master of Divinity Residential/Distributed Learning/ Collaborative Learning Programs Master of Arts Diaconal Ministry and Master of Arts Residential/Distributive Learning Programs Fall/Spring 

Full-year Full-time Tuition $16,900
Greek (pre-requisite for Master of Divinity degree) 
Tuition for course $2980.



The various seminaries, including LCMS, offer a quickie Greek class in the summer. I do not think WELS has sunk that low yet, but they definitely watered down the language preparation - once their corrupt officials created a phony plebiscite and forced the DMLC-NWC Anschluss with a dishonest vote count.

So I am pleased we offered a free course in Greek for the willing instead of an expensive course for the  unwilling. I have learned from teaching that everyone loves an optional course (though still required for graduation) as opposed to a forced prerequisite. For years I taught world religion and mythology because the undergraduates had to have one liberal arts course.

Also - one of my long-time blogging friends is dying, in hospice care at home. He and his wife attended our Ustream service on Sunday and she wrote about it. As I recently wrote, we are handy for those who are kept indoors by bad weather, illness, or infirmity. Sometimes we are a  substitute for someone who planned to go to church and could not because of a temporary illness.

One person became a regular because there are so few traditional Lutheran churches east of the Mississippi River - or anywhere now.

I answer doctrinal questions by email, and often the question or the observations become part of a post.

Few pastors correspond. Almost everyone is an interested layman.

 This Episcopalian bishop divorced his wife to marry his husband, but they divorced too.

 Why does ELCA lionize Megan Rohrer?
Why are their seminaries failing?
I just answered that question.

Tuition & Fees - Lutheran School of Theology, Chicago - ELCA





Tuition & Fees:



"Rates are for the 2017-2018 Academic Year.

MASTER OF DIVINITY & MASTER OF ARTS

Tuition*

(9 courses at $1,870 per class) $16,830

Activities Fee $70

Technology Fee $150

Total Tuition & Fees** $17,050



ADVANCED STUDIES: MASTER OF  THEOLOGY & DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Tuition* (6 courses at $3,650 per class) $22,800

Activities Fee $50

Technology Fee $150
Total

Tuition & Fees** $23,000"



'via Blog this'

More on the Napoleon Hill Connections with Church Growth

 Maxwell is a minister who earned his drive-by DMin at Fuller Seminary and has preached for Robert Schuller at the Crystal Cathedral. I heard him speak the usual platitudes about leadership and success. Some in the audience were in a state of euphoria.

As I wrote in

Two-Legged Stool: The Twin Props of the Church Growth Movement - Karl Barl and Napoleon Hill. The Celebrated Lives of the Noble Frauds -


Karl Barth and Napoleon Hill are the two men most responsible for the Church Growth Movement. Barth was an openly adulterous fraud, and Hill had a record of paying prostitutes while defrauding people and consorting with criminals. Hill never interviewed Andrew Carnegie but built his career on that claim and a bunch of others he never met, never interviewed. 

Hill's fraudulent reputation is promoted by the foundation he started, modestly named The Napoleon Hill Foundation. Their biography of Hill, penned by the head of the foundation and ghosted by a journalist, is a pack of lies - but fun reading. The author excused Hill from the charge of adultery but emphasized his fourth wife marrying her divorce attorney once the marriage was dissolved.  

 Rick Warren is a Baptist;
like Larry Olson of WELS - he has a DMin from Fuller Seminary.


Most would associate The Purpose-Driven Life with Rick Warren, so I linked his book to the title. Mrs. Ichabod and I stopped at Warren's congregation and attended a few minutes of his conference. The California church is located on Purpose Driven Drive. When we attended a party by one of the Real Housewives of Orange County, her current husband said they went to Warren's church and detected my coolness right away. "You don't like him?"

But Napoleon Hill has his own book - The Purpose-Driven Life. I just bought the book, used. It is one of his lectures. One statement made me smile - about little white lies being dangerous. "No, Nappy. You stuck to Big Lies all your life!" 

Scholars are divided about whether Hill's foundation stole the title from Warren, or Warren borrowed the title from Hill. (I made up that claim - because it sounds academic, thoughtful, and substantive.) There is a close association between all the success and self-help gurus, Napoleon Hill, and Asian polytheism.

David Cho (nee Paul Y. Cho) greatly inspired WELS and other sects with his books on getting in touch with The Fourth Dimension, where the powers of the universe give us what we demand, if we stipulate the details. That is the basic Asian prosperity religion. 

I listened to Mark and Avoid Jeske introducing a prayer by saying, "We are blessed that we can call on the powers of the universe to address our needs." My occult religion alarm went off when I heard Jeske's pious invocation. I am quite sure the preface was Jeske's nod to his millionaire supporters that he was one with them, the success gospel. and the entire odiferous mass of get-rich-quick books.

Donald Patterson, the great white hunter in Africa,
who specializes in shooting herbivores, rescued Ski from unemployment and violated district rules in calling Ski without the approval of the district.
All the UOJ Growthers are antinomians.

Does anyone doubt that the new coaching industry is built upon the same Old Adam principles? Scratch the surface of a WELS Church Growther and you will find an eager coach-for-hire, like DP Kudu Don Patterson. The Church Growthers of Minnesota WELS linked him and others to their coaching scheme.

Here are Kudu Don and a warren of WELS Church Growthers, eager to sign you to a coaching contract. Funny how they are all members of the Church Growth network of WELS. And linked to Mark Jeske. And protective of each other. And Antinomian.


 Patterson hates this graphic, so I post it in his honor from time to time.

 She is one of Mark Jeske's ELCA pastors,
invited to teach the LCMS and WELS clergy and laity at the
Change or Die! conferences.

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Astonishing Coincidences: Dateline, Moline Illinois

John and Diana Robeson were married on November 22, 1969, and so were the Jacksons.

All of us are Cubs fans, which means our parents
never saw a Cubs World Series win, place, or show.

 I invented a cloaking device in chem-physics, but no one noticed.


John and I went to Plymouth Congregational Church, pre-school, and ended up as lab partners in chem-physics class.
I am in that photo - my uncredited cameo.
John and I earned PhDs and became university professors. There was another eventual PhD
in that class, but that was just in rocket science.



 Christina and I had our anniversary photos 
taken at Penney's.
John and Diana's children and grandchildren have hair
the color of bright, red pennies.

Our 48th Wedding Anniversary Photos

 We waited for a Mr. and Mrs. Santa to pose with their dogs,
then pick out the right photos, poses, fonts, cards, gifts, print sizes, etc. We could hear Mrs. Santa saying, "Could you move the words down one line? What about a larger font?"


 The rose was a surprise anniversary gift.




 This is a real rose, preserved in plastic, painted and
edged in 24k gold. Danbury Mint.

Sunday, November 26, 2017

Former Archbishop could face probe over paedophile bishop  | Daily Mail Online

 Lord Carey, pictured with Princess Diana, could face an investigation over the church's failure to pass on sex abuse complaints made against Peter Ball

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5117815/Former-Archbishop-face-probe-paedophile-bishop.html#ixzz4zaRCL9wK
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook


Former Archbishop could face probe over paedophile bishop  | Daily Mail Online:



"The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, could face a police investigation into whether he broke the law by covering up for a paedophile bishop.

Officers are understood to be considering a formal inquiry to determine whether the former leader of the Church of England and other senior church officials should face criminal charges over their failure to pass on sex abuse complaints made against ex-bishop Peter Ball.

Such an investigation would be highly controversial and may involve 82-year-old Lord Carey being interviewed under caution."



'via Blog this'

Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Trinity, 2017.



The Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Trinity, 2017

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson




The Hymn #  11                 Safely Through Another Week                      
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual       
The Gospel              
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed             p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #236                Creator Spirit By Whose Aid         
              

Examples of Faith


The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #199      Jesus Christ Is Risen Today


Colossians 1`:9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; 12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: 14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

Matthew 9:18 While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live. 19 And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples. 20 And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment: 21 For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. 22 But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour. 23 And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, 24 He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. 25 But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose. 26 And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land.


Examples of Faith


Matthew 9:18 While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.

Faith - Taboo
Many do not know this, but faith has become the taboo word among the synodical Lutherans. One must travel the back roads of the UniSynod (ELCA-WELS-LCMS-ELS-CLC) to realize how true this is.

The outward show is one of holiness, which should not be mistaken for faith in God. This holiness is portrayed and advertized as superiority to other synods. ELCA is not restricted by legalism and hate. The LCMS is Biblical and Waltherian, unlike the others. The WELS just plain different, which is always held up as an advantage among cults. The males are alway cross-dressing, but that is because WELS is different. The ELS is superior because it is not WELS. The CLC, which has almost vanished, is the only synod in the UniSynod featuring donkey basketball.

But they have this in common, besides their work in ministry together (via Thrivent) - they disparage faith and say that God has already declared the entire world forgiven and saved, without faith. Moreover, this proves their emphasis upon grace. 

How Faith Was Distorted and Came Up Missing
Unfortunately for the UniSynod, I spent years reading their favorite books when others were advancing in the praise of their organizations and memorizing Packer statistics.

Biblical Christianity recognizes what the Old Testament and New Testament teach - the efficacy of the Word. Just as many "conservative" Christians are embarrassed by the Six-Day Creation, so are they blank about the relationship between the Word and faith.

Calvin and Zwingli were jealous of Luther - and they were rationalists. Thus they fell in love with their own words in dealing with the Scriptures and embedded an opposition within Protestanism. No matter how mankind chooses to label all the Protestants, they follow Zwingli and Calvin to a great extend, with some minor flavors that distinguish one from the other, but not much.

Silence about the efficacy of the Word also leads to disparaging the Means of Grace - the Word and Sacraments as God's instruments of bringing grace to people. 

Thus faith is not a decision of man and not an act of the will. Faith is the creation of God through the Holy Spirit in the Word. Or, in other words, the Spirit brings Christ to the individual and Christ converts that person just as surely as the risen Christ converted Paul.

Paul called believers "new creations" or "new creatures." How can anyone dispute this? They do not, but they have a substitute, which is ignoring this matter altogether. That ultimately ends in emphasizing our own holiness, which is ridiculous but fashionable.

Faith in God is a living, active, impossible to stop quality from our relationship with the Savior. As Luther says in the second sermon on this passage, faith distinguishes us from animals. An unbeliever is an animal. Take a pet for a walk. The dog or cat is always exploring always sniffing - looking for food, water, or a mate. That is all they really know. Unbelievers think only about what is material or for their pleasure. Thus life is moving from one materialistic or pleasure goal to another. 

As soon as we connect faith with something we have done or accomplished, thought or concluded, it is man's creation. But that is false. Faith in Christ comes from God through the Word. 

Refusal to believe in infant faith is a good example of man's blindness. Everyone jumps to trust in the child's knowledge of his parents, especially mom, and his siblings - which are perfect and delightful in a baby's eyes. They know where they belong and they trust that a giggle will delight, a cry will ignite a flurry of activity. What about discomfort in the clothing? They convey that perfectly well, although some parents are a bit dense in interpreting discomfort.

The funniest moment on religious TV was watching Oral Roberts "dedicate" a baby while denying infant faith and infant baptism. So he used the texts for infant baptism to dedicate the child to faith in Christ. Such contradictions do not end well, as we can see from the downhills trends in America.

This all comes from the breakdown between the Scriptures and the individuals. That is not because the Scriptures are difficult to understand in the basics, but because the rationalists have laid down a filter so that every text is read in the context of rationalism.

Matthew 9:18 While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.

How is it that this ruler of the synagogue and this woman began trusting in Christ so much that they believed the impossible? We have many examples of the Gospels telling us that the rumor or hearing of His deeds went throughout the land and droves of people came to hear Him and witness His miracles. This group of people changed all the time, so a large number were ear-witnesses and eye-witnesses of His Word and miracles. 

The Gospel of John teaches that the miracles were performed to confirm the divine teaching of Jesus. (A Lutheran pastor cautioned me not to say this; that struck me as odd - he knew very little of the Fourth Gospel. When he was against faith as a "work" I quoted John, where Jesus used that term ironically. "What work should we do?" - Answer - your only work is to believe in Me."

The ruler of the synagogue had so much faith in Jesus that he came to the Savior to ask for a miracle among miracles. The others were preparing his daughter for the funeral, but he trusted Jesus could restore her to life.

There are three such miracles in the Gospels - 
  1. The widow's son.
  2. The young woman.
  3. Lazarus.

Some deny these miracles as examples of swooning, but they also deny the resurrection of Christ. Lazarus did not swoon for days in a cave-tomb, but the facts do not matter to unbelievers.

My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live. 19 And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples.

The ruler of the synagogue knew that Jesus had to power to restore life to his daughter. The Gospels present Jesus as friendly, gracious, always serving those who were poor, sick, and rejected by the better people of the time. 

This ruler was taking a great risk because anyone in an organization knows that associating with a different person can be damaging, even fatal. If that person is accepted by everyone as a wise person or a celebrity, that is different. There is always a sense of what is acceptable at the moment. There was always opposition to Jesus then, as there is now. 

Everyone is going to know what the ruler did, and the disciples went along for this event. Jesus did this to establish His teaching and to confirm it among many people, because no one could keep quiet about this. 

20 And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment: 21 For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.

The Gospels teach two miracles together, and there are other examples of this style, with a story beginning, a middle story, and the ending of that first story.

This woman was in a hopeless situation, but she had faith in Christ. Her malady was such that she was considered unclean for 12 entire years, miserable from the disorder and weakened by it. And yet she said, "I do not need to ask Him. I only need to touch Him." She was not supposed to approach Him, unclean, according to Jewish law. 

This is an example of what Luther often preached about - the Gospel is for the poor, the seak, the weak, the outcast. 

One ancient Christian wrote, "If the hem of His garment can make someone whole again, how much more powerful is His body and blood to heal us of all ills?" And yet without faith in the Sacrament, this too is discarded. The hem of the garment is an example for people to trust in the Sacraments, because the Promise is attached to physical realities.

On one especially miserable day, in terms of various events, I looked up in the sky and saw a brilliant rainbow, as only Phoenix can provide - a quick storm and dessert sun. That reminded me of the Promises of God. This is universally accepted by Christians, the rainbow as a sign of God's Promise, but they quibble over something far more directly taught and revealed - the Sacrament of Holy Communion.

We have to admit - we all fall prey to doubts and grow cold about the Faith revealed to us. And so we are cheered and encouraged by the Gospel.

22 But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.

Here is someone who did not ask for money, land, housing, clothes. She only wanted to leave her semi-existence behind. Believing in Him drove her forward and her only thought was faith in Him. Thus she received this great blessing of healing. That is why I post prayers whenever someone asks for them, and I believe God will intervene as He has so many times in the past.

These experiences lead us to understand that what mattered before seldom matters in the long run. Everything in the material world is passing away and cannot comfort us, but the Gospel is spiritual life, eternal life, and that is the greatest comfort.

23 And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise,

Splitting the miracle is a great example irony. On the way, incidentally, an unclean woman was healed because of her faith, and it was the kind of miracle which is appreciated by many who have been dogged by a persistence and very annoying disorder.

The noisy minstrels and people were going through a show of mourning, which they thought was proper. And we know they are complete fools, but they have to prove it. This often happens when faith meets unfaith. The unbelievers (often very noble and holy in their church bodies) laugh and mock at the impossible. They are the people that enjoy stoving in the boat, making it leak and sink, and then show up to laugh about the effects of their work. I have seen enough of them to enjoy their mockery, which always ends up as self-mockery. 

When we encountered this New Ulm, we were not even welcome in the unused senior center. Finding a place to use seemed impossible, but we ended up with a property one man refused to sell, except to us, and he rented it back from us as we built a little chapel, found hymnals and chairs, etc etc. That was the beginning of Bethany in the last century, truly a creation out of nothing - no money, no land, no hymnals, no chairs.

24 He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. 

The unbelievers laughed at Jesus, as they will and must. That is the surest sign of their rejection. Sometimes they hold it back a little, but their looks are mocking and they love their witty, little digs.

Thus they laughed at Noah when he was building the ark, but they all wanted passage aboard when it was too late. We know from the fossils that the largest animals gathered with all the others as the waters rose. One thing united them, finding the highest point, but only the life on the ark survived (and the water life). And yet, 1 Peter 3:21 cannot convince many that Holy Baptism is a Sacrament that saves. That makes them angry, another aspect of laughing at God's Promises. 

The same type of people who screamed at Stephen and covered their ears will do the same about Justification by Faith. They throw the stones will glee because they imagine they are doing God a favor, as Jesus predicted in John's Gospel.

25 But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose. 26 And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land.

The unbelievers were thrown out (ekballo). Jesus lifted her by the hand, and she arose. We know He said, "Little girl arise." And she served people afterwards - completely restored to life and to health. How did faith in Jesus grow and antagonism with it? The report of this event went all over the land.