Mid-Week Lenten Service, Wednesday 7 PM Central Standard Time

Midweek Lenten Service, 

7 PM Central Standard Time

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

Bethany Lutheran Worship, 7PM  

The Hymn #479          Zion Rise                                 
The Order of Vespers                                             p. 41

The Psalmody                   
The Lection                            The Passion History

The Sermon Hymn # 657            Beautiful Savior                      

God Makes Something Good

 
The Prayers

The Lord’s Prayer

The Collect for Grace                                            p. 45

The Hymn #49        Almighty God Thy Word Is Cast

God Makes Something Good

"That is enough on the first article concerning which the theologians of the Augsburg Confession have quarreled with each other. Although it was a very scandalous controversy, nonetheless God, who lets nothing evil happen if He cannot make something good out of it, has produced this benefit for His church through the controversy: The chief article of our Christian faith, on which our salvation depends, has been made clear, so that there is not a passage in the Old or New Testament which has not been considered and discussed." Jacob Andreae, The First Sermon, On the Righteousness of Faith in God's Sight. Cited in Robert Kolb, Andreae and the Formula of Concord, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1977, p. 76. 

Luther expressed this in a slightly different way, so that is worth remembering too. From memory - The Holy Spirit is so powerful that He can take the greatest evil and turn it into the greatest good, as shown by Good Friday.

The reason why each Gospel devotes about 25% of its space to the Passion is easy to figure out. The atoning death of Christ is the great treasure of the Bible. Therefore, everything else is an introduction to this great revelation, which connects to all the mysteries of the Bible (mysteries are revealed by the Holy Spirit):

1. The Holy Trinity
2. The Messianic Promises
3. Creation
4. The Virgin Birth and the Two Natures of Christ
5. The miracle of Christ
6. His teaching with authority
7. The Father and the Son - We are One - witnessed by the Holy Spirit
8. The Atonement and Resurrection
9. Justification by Faith

This knowledge of the atoning death of Christ is essential for understanding and interpreting the difficult times of our lives. 

The Atonement is so difficult that unbelievers question it, reject it, and mock it. The famous ELCA Braaten-Jenson Christian Dogmatics book (two volumes!) utterly rejects the atonement, the Trinity, the Virigin Birth, the adiaphora of ELCA! And yet some LCMS gasbags debate (on LutherQuest!) whether one of the Braaten-Jeson editors got the Atonement right. And yet not one of them gets Justification by Faith right - and that is the judge of all other articles of faith - if we follow Luther - a big "if" today.

The Atonement is difficult for children to grasp. I recall wondering - as a child - how it could be called Good Friday and listed as one of the great events of history. This kind of information does not appear to reason, which is  why so many have re-interpreted it to make sense for human reason. The 19th century German rationalists imagined that Jesus simply taught the Brotherhood of Man and the Fatherhood of God, not His Messianic mission at all. It was a Unitarianism for the timid and is still practices today with great zeal.

Children are normally taught first by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and nurtured in that faith by parents. Many of the lessons of faith in childhood are then tested as we grow up, providing a fertile ground for the spiritual fruits that follow. Those who have no background in the faith experience all kinds of trouble in dealing with the challenges and responsibilities of life.

The Atonement is so important because we that God can transform any evil into something good. There are many experiences that are a kind of crucifixion for people. They may  not show it on the outside, but  they feel it on the inside. That can come from having over-sensitive feelings, which are good unless they tune in too long and too hard on every positive negative signal, like playing several video music channels at once.

Some have had painful experiences forced upon them - by the economy, by sudden shifts in culture and public policy, by the sinfulness of man.

I have often had adult students send me messages like this, "I am going to be late with the assignment because I no longer have a place to live. I was tossed out and need to find a place at once."

An accident can cause a disability, and so can bad medical care. To wind up as the victim of a life-long or long-term difficulty is quite discouraging.

The key to grasping the meaning of life's bad turns is stated in the Andreae quotation and Luther's. If God can do this with the greatest of all injustices, Christ dying on the cross, then that Gospel transformation can also happen with our experiences of pain and loss.

The Reformation itself came close to a collapse, as Luther predicted. After 50 years, the Lutherans were squabbling with each other in front of the opponents at theological conferences. One said, "Why should we discuss this with you, when your group does not even agree among yourselves?"

That shame and embarrassment was the best thing to happen to the Reformation. That event united the Lutherans in a study and documentation of what they believed. Martin Chemnitz had been highly trained by many years of publishing and debating the issues. The others were also great, articulate students of the Scriptures.

This shame brought about the only coherent statement of faith in Protestantism - the Book of Concord. Chemnitz was trained by Luther and Melanchthon and shared the Biblical strengths of both men, plus great knowledge of the early documents of the Church.

While most people look at the years from 1517 to 1580 (The 95 Theses to the Book of Concord), just the opposite was true. The entire world was coming unglued, and the Muslims were invading Europe with great success. They helped the Reformation by drawing away the military forces of the Roman Catholic Emperor.

So this is a case of God becoming what we think of Him. If we do not see the good in Good Friday, and many do not, then we cannot see the wisdom and mercy of God in allowing bad things to happen to us. The irony is that many seem to have the least in blessings are also the most thankful about what they have. And the obverse is also true, that some have obvious advantages in many ways and only see the shortcomings. 

People of faith will say, wisely, that God gives special children to those parents who are best for those children. Likewise, those special children teach their parents and others more about love, mercy, and joy than any professor could try to do. Special children with special problems are transparent, to use one popular term, letting the divine purpose shine through. 

One example I often consider, whenever I look at my hymnal marker - Brenda K. who always worried about everyone else and did her best to help others. Her big thrill was giving presents to others when she had almost no money at all.

I have often quoted her - "I cling to the Savior because I have nothing else." And she could laugh. She showed me the mechanical lift for her wheelchair. When I mistakenly made it bang up down and flap like crazy bird, she laughed helplessly. She could barely breathe when she said, "Maybe I will let my helper run the life instead."

Episcopal Divinity School Pursues Merger with Union (aka The Devil's Playground)- Juicy Ecumenism

 Fewer and fewer want to pay more and more
for less and less.

Episcopal Divinity School Pursues Union Merger - Juicy Ecumenism: "Two progressive seminaries are on the road to merging following a financial shortfall and dropping enrollment at a historic Boston-area institution affiliated with the Episcopal Church.

The Board of Trustees of Episcopal Divinity School (EDS) today voted to pursue an affiliation with Union Theological Seminary. According to an announcement from EDS, such a merger would create an EDS entity to provide Episcopal theological education at Union’s New York City campus. The merger would entail the closure of the EDS campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and its programs.

A corresponding vote was cast by Union trustees in support of the move.

One of ten seminaries educating students for ministry in the Episcopal Church, EDS announced in July that it will cease granting degrees at the conclusion of the current academic year, citing “unsustainable” levels of spending. At the same time, the school’s dean tendered his resignation. In November, trustees from the school released a letter revealing staggering financial losses at the troubled progressive seminary.

According to the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada, EDS has four full-time faculty and 35 full-time enrolled students. EDS investments are currently valued at approximately $53 million plus the real estate value of its campus, which is adjacent to Harvard University. More than half of the endowment is restricted. In a statement made available by the school, Board Treasurer Dennis Stark stated, “We are spending six million a year from our endowment, and 30 percent of that is above a reasonable amount.”

Union was one of three finalists considered by a committee tasked with reviewing proposals for EDS’s future. Both schools emphasize progressive political advocacy. EDS describes itself as “leaders in educational programs that are enlivened by theologies of liberation, especially the many voices of feminist, congregational, ecumenical, and global studies.”

UPDATE [4:30 p.m.]: Union President Serene Jones has released a letter about the proposed merger.

“EDS will exist inside Union in such a manner as to deepen Anglican studies and to allow our Episcopal students to get their Union degree from a seminary recognized by the Anglican tradition. This is great news for our already large contingent of Episcopal students and our many Anglican alumni/ae who made their way through Union without this incredible level of support. It is even better news for future generations of Episcopal students who will enter a fully formed program. There are also enormous gifts that EDS and the global Anglican Communion promise to bring to Union as a whole; the programs designed in Anglican studies and ministerial and spiritual formation will enrich the education of every student here, including those of us who are not Anglican and those who are not Christian. Moreover, the significant funds EDS will bring to Union will allow us also to strengthen scholarship aid and to deepen faculty support and infrastructure capacity.”

Jones also specifically notes the closing of EDS’s programs and campus, which was not mentioned in the EDS announcement.

The EDS statement is below:

Episcopal Divinity School Votes to Pursue Affiliation with Union Theological Seminary in New York

Cambridge, MA – February 24, 2017 – The Board of Trustees of Episcopal Divinity School (EDS) today voted to pursue an affiliation with Union Theological Seminary that would create an EDS entity to provide Episcopal theological education and other programs at Union’s campus in New York."

 We need more souls at Union NYC - my playground -
if you know what I mean.

'via Blog this'

Emmaus Conference Making Money Taking the Wrong Positions - Ignoring Luther on the Reformation's 500th Anniversary

This article concerning justification by faith (as the Apology says) is the chief article in the entire Christian doctrine, without which no poor conscience can have any firm consolation, or can truly know the riches of the grace of Christ, as Dr. Luther also has written: If this only article remains pure on the battlefield, the Christian Church also remains pure, and in goodly harmony and without any sects; but if it does not remain pure, it is not possible that any error or fanatical spirit can be resisted. (Tom. 5, Jena, p. 159.) 7] And concerning this article especially Paul says that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Therefore, in this article he urges with so much zeal and earnestness the particulas exclusivas, that is, the words whereby the works of men are excluded (namely, without Law, without works, by grace [freely], Rom. 3:28; 4:5; Eph. 2:8-9), in order to indicate how highly necessary it is that in this article, aside from [the presentation of] the pure doctrine, the antithesis, that is, all contrary dogmas, be stated separately, exposed, and rejected by this means.

Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, III, #6, The Righteousness of Faith, Concordia Triglotta, p. 917.

---

 Cascione and McCain love to quote Edward Preuss,
who joined the Roman Catholic Church as an editor and expert theologian, after teaching this nonsense to the young LCMS.
Does anyone notice today that the Lutheran church bodies - ELCA included - are celebrating the Pietism of Halle University
and rejecting the Lutheran Reformation?
I mean - someone besides me.

"Everyone...have been declared..."
Verb subject agreement is no more necessary
than Book of Concord agreement.

"The doctrine of salvation through the Means of Grace is distinctive of Lutheranism. The Catholic churches have no use for means of grace, for a Gospel and for Sacraments which offer salvation as a free gift. And the Reformed churches, while they hold, in general, that salvation is by grace, repudiate the Gospel and the Sacraments as the means of grace. It is clear that matters of fundamental importance are involved. The chief article of the Christian religion, justification by faith, stands and falls with the article of the Means of Grace. Justification by faith means absolutely nothing without the Means of Grace, whereby the righteousness gained by Christ is bestowed and faith, which appropriates the gift, is created." The. Engelder, W. Arndt, Th. Graebner, F. E. Mayer, Popular Symbolics, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1934, p. 4f.

"That is enough on the first article concerning which the theologians of the Augsburg Confession have quarreled with each other. Although it was a very scandalous controversy, nonetheless God, who lets nothing evil happen if He cannot make something good out of it, has produced this benefit for His church through the controversy: The chief article of our Christian faith, on which our salvation depends, has been made clear, so that there is not a passage in the Old or New Testament which has not been considered and discussed."
Jacob Andreae, The First Sermon, On the Righteousness of Faith in God's Sight. Cited in Robert Kolb, Andreae and the Formula of Concord, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1977, p. 76.

What's Up in the March Garden

 Soon, but not yet.

The roses are leafing out already and will be pruned soon. They love being pruned, and I enjoy the response to the pruning.

Crepe Myrtles are late to produce anything, but they bloom all summer, so I forgive them.

The mother of all forsythias is starting to bloom, so I hope to get a good photograph of this giant when it is fully formed at my neighbor's home.

The elderberries leafed out early. They spread on their own, which is good. I like useful plants that spread on their own.

Cat Mint (not catnip) is growing well from my Direct Gardening buy last fall. Mints can be invasive and obnoxious, but they are also frequent bloomers and good landings for beneficial insects. I only like clumping mints. Those that spread through the roots are a disaster in time.

I will be looking for Mountain Mint sprouting soon in the main rose garden. Once established Mountain Mint can inspire feverish insect activity, like particles around an atom.

Daffodils are starting to appear above the soil. Others have them in full bloom. Tulips should bloom after.

Some Ideas on Rose Buying and Growing - To Make Your Friends Gasp in Amazement

Those new to growing roses should start with the older, more proven kinds. Every catalog is packed with the latest varieties, and they cost the most. Their inherent weakness are not listed - and you better buy before they run out of them!

For example, Pope Paul II is a beautiful and prolific white rose,but it is weak in the vase and does not last long. Therefore, it is ideal for creating contrast outside. In my garden, white roses and Peace roses attract aphids best. That does not bother me in the long run, because the aphids attract aphid-eaters, and the second bloom cycle is close to perfect.

I would buy three to five roses of the same variety, such as Double Delight, Fragrant Cloud, or Mr. Lincoln. That way a group of roses will be available to admire and to cut for vases at the same time. Fragrant roses were the exception a few decades back, but now the breeders are emphasizing aroma again. Most people want to smell roses first, so starting with the fragrant ones will be more satisfying. The three just mentioned are among the best performing and fragrant varieties.

Many times the name will give the scent away, as Fragrant Cloud does. Thus I am sure Bellaroma would be a good choice. I have not grown that one or many other choices.

I am now more likely to order an old favorite than the latest and best.

Long Term Investment
A bare root rose will bloom about one month from planting, which is quite a thrill. Roses used to flower once a year, so more blooms are a blessing of the modern age of hybrids.

Increased blooming takes place because of rain - not chemical fertilizers - and establishing a great root system with fungus helping out. Roots will also grow better with frequent pruning.

Some roses die, and a thorn-scarred veteran will think, "Oh so sad, now I have to try out a new one in that spot." But some roses continue and that longevity plus a good summer will yield spectacular results.

Eschew Man-Made Cures
To have the best roses, one must avoid all toxins, and that includes chemical fertilizers. OK, purists, manure is made up of chemicals too, but you know what I mean. If it has an NPK rating, put the container down. If the professional gardening writers despise it, use it -

1. Manure - rabbit, cow, horse, bird - but not cat or dog
2. Compost - the elements just below, rotted and mixed with soil
3. Mulch - leaves, grass, chopped up clippings
4. Rainwater

I have barrels of rainwater waiting for needy plants. A few large cheap trash barrels will becoming increasingly useful during the summer. If drought threatens, fill them with tap water to let the chlorine evaporate. If chlorine is good at killing bacteria, it is also good at suppressing plant growth. Good, stinky rot is great for the soil because the creatures of rot are attracted to foul smells and convert them to useful plant chemicals.

I look at piles of leaves the way some people look at the Golden Coral buffet spread. If I had the time and a good disguise, I would gather piles of crushed leaves from the street, where they are prepared perfectly for mulch. Our neighbors next door left a front yard carpeted with needles, a fact overlooked until the landlord began raking them into piles. "Just what I need for the cardboard covered lawn nearby." I will make my move today and claim them.

Crushed leaves are great because the tiny flakes are ready to rot when wet and to serve as food for earthworms. They will also suppress weeds and not blow away as eagerly as newly fallen leaves.

Leaves that survive the winter are always ready for the soil, so I gather as many as I can in this area. A lumpy green bag on the curb is my future prize if I find new gardening areas that have absorbed previous layers of leaves.

All this has been created, managed, and engineered by the Creating Word, identified clearly as the Son of God in John 1:3. Mankind has said many times over, "I have a better plan." But those plans are hopelessly flawed.

Insecticides kill beneficial insects and spiders much better than they eliminate pests. The pests always come back because toxins weaken the soil and plants.

Weed killers are especially effective on flowers and bushes, but not so much on weeds. Consider this - would the weed killer industry be doing so well if they actually worked? No - they are the equivalent of acne medicine, a profit-center for every company that can turn a few pennies of chemical into an imagined cure.

The more one seeds Creation in the garden, the more likely he will see the effectiveness of the Word in all matters.

PHOTOS: EF-2 tornado destroys post office in Arkansas town, weather service says

 The tornado was straight East of us,
but we had just rain and winds.

PHOTOS: EF-2 tornado destroys post office in Arkansas town, weather service says: "The post office, situated near an intersection with County Road 22 and Arkansas 327, had been swept up in an EF-2 tornado that descended on the the small town in Newton County on Monday night, officials said.

The building “kind of did a flip,” said one postal employee from a nearby town who was at the scene. “And a smash. And an explode.”"



'via Blog this'

Tips on Proof-Reading

No book is printed error-free, so the first rule is -
Just try to reduce the total number. No one is perfect. The ancients said "Even good Homer nods."

I have found that the easiest way for me to find what the proof-reader has spotted is to have the questionable phrase copied into the email. No one can write five words in a row that are identical to another's, so a phrase is a fast way to find the error when I look over the list - yes, faster than giving the page number. (That is also how I spot plagiarism in student paper's, and I use Turn It In for that.)

For those who have never heard David Scare's rambling, illogical declarations,

I think you mean Scaer...

That is an example I just made up from a post.

I am sure the Luther sermons have OCR goofs from the original transfer from the printed page - to the website - to the blog. They scanned the sermon books and put that on the website. Every so often there is a % or something like that. Some words make no sense because of OCR confusion, so running Word's spell and grammar check could help find those.

So copy and paste the problem into an email.

Note the volume you are working on, and the page number.

Make a suggestion about the correction.

Anyone who helps with a volume will learn a lot of Lutheran theology. The sermons are his best work. The Large Catechism is comprised of an edited edition of Luther's sermons.

 Join the Rebel Alliance.
Read Luther.

The Right Reverend Bishop James Heiser and Rolf Preus - in Christian News . March 6, 2017 Issue

 This is a screenshot of the CN article,
showing that I am no longer a pastor
and no longer a PhD. Wishful thinking, UOJists.

---

 I asked Heiser why he wanted to associate with Rolf,
well known for his UOJ fanaticism.
Heiser said, "Oh, we'll get rid of him."

If you wonder why the LCMS is so badly led, check out the Rolf Preus Justification essay from the Steadfast Lutherans conference. They are the lobby organized to keep Matt the Fatt in office as the Synod President.

Rolf writes the same nonsense each time, so I cannot understand why he ever writes another essay.

For those who have never heard David Scaer's rambling, illogical declarations, delivered as pearls of wisdom, study this essay. Scaer could have ghosted it for Rolf, and CFW Walther, BA, could have ghosted it for both of them.

The title is "Justification" but the topic is "Objective Justification," or candidly  "Justification without Faith."

Rolf began by quoting the Augsburg Confession

Our churches also teach that men cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works but are freely justified for Christ’s sake through faith when they believe that they are received into favor and that their sins are forgiven on account of Christ, who by his death made satisfaction for our sins.  This faith God imputes for righteousness in his sight (Rom. 3-4).

 WELS does the same thing as Rolf, using the topic Justification
to promote their idiosyncratic Universal Objective Justification.
See the Bivens' plagiarism of the Zarling paper.
They claim that Universal Forgiveness is the
Chief Article of the Christian Faith.

One would never know from the disorganized, haphazard string of declarations that Luther taught Justification by Faith and that Article III is named - The Righteousness of Faith.

Lacking the courage to say "the entire world has been pronounced forgiven," Rolf sets up an army of straw men. His arguments assume everyone is already in the UOJ camp, already nodding their heads in agreement. The Steadfast crowd is not very bright or studious. Therefore, in Rolf's little LCMS-ELS-ELDONA-LCMS world, faith is faith in Universal Absolution without faith.

 This is Rolf's argument, though he cloaks its nonsense
with various evasions and little rabbit punches.
The LCMS does not officially teach UOJ.

Rolf is an Enthusiast, like all the UOJ Stormtroopers -

In a word, enthusiasm inheres in Adam and his children from the beginning [from the first fall] to the end of the world, [its poison] having been implanted and infused into them by the old dragon, and is the origin, power [life], and strength of all heresy, especially of that of the Papacy and Mahomet. Therefore we ought and must constantly maintain this point, that God does not wish to deal with us otherwise than through the spoken Word and the Sacraments. It is the devil himself whatsoever is extolled as Spirit without the Word and Sacraments. For God wished to appear even to Moses through the burning bush and spoken Word; and no prophet, neither Elijah nor Elisha, received the Spirit without the Ten Commandments [or spoken Word]. Neither was John the Baptist conceived without the preceding word of Gabriel, nor did he leap in his mother's womb without the voice of Mary.

Smalcald Articles, VIII. Confession, #9-10 Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 497. Tappert, p. 313. 

Rolf, Pope John the Malefactor, Jay Webber, Jon-Boy Buchholz, and Walther agree with this Enthusiasm, that something happened - at an uncertain time, the Atonement?, the Resurrection?, the angelic message to the shepherds? - and the entire world was absolved of its sin, all people declared forgiven and therefore saved.

And in those things which concern the spoken, outward Word, we must firmly hold that God grants His Spirit or grace to no one, except through or with the preceding outward Word, in order that we may [thus] be protected against the enthusiasts, i.e., spirits who boast that they have the Spirit without and before the Word, and accordingly judge Scripture or the spoken Word, and explain and stretch it at their pleasure, as Muenzer did, and many still do at the present day, who wish to be acute judges between the Spirit and the letter, and yet know not what they say or declare. For [indeed] the Papacy also is nothing but sheer enthusiasm, by which the Pope boasts that all rights exist in the shrine of his heart, and whatever he decides and commands with [in] his church is spirit and right, even though it is above and contrary to Scripture and the spoken Word. 

Smalcald Articles, VIII., Confession, #3-4, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 495. Tappert, p. 312. 

Rolf, like his counterparts, has no grasp of Biblical principles, especially God's binding of the Spirit to the Word. Walther had a poor grasp of the Scriptures, and he borrowed his false Justification position from Bishop Martin Stephan, who never graduated from any university (like Moldstad when he was hired as NT professor at Bethany Seminary).

Stephan only became pastor due to the special permissions given the Dresden congregation to serve the Bohemian Pietists, which he was.

Turning away from Dr. Luther, Rolf gives us another does of Martin Stephan, STD, proving that UOJ - like the bishop's venereal disease - is highly contagious.

Missing from Rolf's tirade is any appreciation for Romans 4, Galatians, the faith of Jesus, and the work we are commended by the Concordists to read - Luther's Galatians Lectures.

Throw Away the High-Priced Butter and 
Buy Our Low-Cost Margarine

 No matter how hard he tries, Rolf cannot make UOJ
into Justification by Faith, even with flavor gems
from the Augsburg Confession.

You Are Wrong, Taylor - Someone Out There Is Publishing Luther's Sermons

 Planet of the Apes reference.

The Lost Dutchman's Goldmine: Luther's Biblical Doctrine of the Word is in the art department at the moment.

Meanwhile, two of the eight volumes of Luther's Sermons (Lenker edition) are in Word files already.

As they are entered into Word, some volunteers for proof-reading will be appreciated. It would be best to have one per volume if possible. I will work on some too.

Volunteers will get a free set or so when it is printed.

If you want to help, send a message to greg.jackson.edlp@gmail.com - with the subject heading of Luther's Sermons.

Getting the sermons into Word files (how ironic) is fairly simple, but checking them over is a labor of love.

 Original Planet of the Apes scene, with Taylor
crying and yelling at those who blew it all up.

The Family Tree - Oren Paris II, III, IV - And Ecclesia College - The Paris Family College

 Oren Paris II founded the tiny school that became a tiny college - Ecclesia College -
in Springdale, Arkansas. Its accreditation is limited to a Bible group.

 The son of Oren II is Oren III, who is president of Ecclesia College.
He has an undergraduate degree from EC
and another bachelor's from the U. of Arkansas, nearby.
He recently completed a D.Min. from Laurel Online University,
so they call him Dr. Paris.
His son is Oren IV.

Inside Higher Education - Boards may hold off on terminating a president until guilt is proven, he said. But it’s often best for everyone if presidents take a leave of absence, at the very least.

“Some boards are more strict about this than others,” Chabotar said. “I just think best practice is if somebody is indicted, they’re put on a leave of absence.”

Ecclesia is also rare in that it does not report its financials publicly and it is closely related to a single family. That can raise questions about institutional oversight.

 Oren II died in 2012, but his widow Inez remains on the board and on the Ecclesia College payroll.

 Angie Paris Snyder is Oren III's sister.
Angie and her husband run the online version of Ecclesia College.
Angie has an undergraduate degree from...Ecclesia College.

 Twila Paris, Oren III's sister, is famous for her
Evangelical singing career.
She runs the Ecclesia Prep program for small children,
one of those group home-schooling coops.

Not pictured - Starla Paris Novak is another one of Oren III's sisters. Her husband Mike has many roles, especially raising money. He has a bachelor's degree from Liberty University and is listed on the faculty of Ecclesia College.


Inside Higher Education -

Paris issued a statement Jan. 5 after Neal’s guilty plea stating that no one associated with Ecclesia College had provided money to legislators.
“We have never been a party to any agreements to funnel money to any state Legislature,” the statement said. “At the end of the day, I am secure in the knowledge that there has been no wrongdoing either on my part or the school’s part, and any rumors, innuendo or any future news reports that say otherwise are simply untruthful.”

But the indictment clearly names Paris. It notes that he received more than $300,000 in compensation from the nonprofit corporation that operates the college located in Springdale between June 1, 2012, and May 31, 2016, and that his family members and their spouses have received more than $1 million in compensation from it during that same time period. The kickback scheme’s purpose was for Paris to enrich himself, his family and the college by paying bribes to Woods and Neal through Shelton in exchange for the legislators securing money for the college, according to the indictment.

 It's good that Inez supports her son, Oren III,
but how many colleges are controlled by an entire family,
not one of them qualified to teach college or manage higher education, unless one counts Oren's recent online D.Min.

Cari Paris, married to Oren III, as pictgured on LinkedIn.
She is also on the faculty list of Ecclesia College,
with a bachelor's degree from Evangel College.

Indictment reveals details of alleged Ecclesia kickback scheme

 Oren Paris III

Indictment reveals details of alleged Ecclesia kickback scheme:

"The director of Ecclesia’s Office of Communications, Angie Snyder (Oren's sister), did not return a request for additional comment or interview Friday. But talk of Paris’s involvement in a kickback scheme has been circulating for months, particularly after former Republican State Representative Micah Neal pleaded guilty in January to taking $38,000 in bribes for steering money from the state’s General Improvement Fund to two nonprofit organizations based in Fayetteville and Springdale. Ecclesia College is located in Springdale.

Paris issued a statement Jan. 5 after Neal’s guilty plea stating that no one associated with Ecclesia College had provided money to legislators.
“We have never been a party to any agreements to funnel money to any state Legislature,” the statement said. “At the end of the day, I am secure in the knowledge that there has been no wrongdoing either on my part or the school’s part, and any rumors, innuendo or any future news reports that say otherwise are simply untruthful.”

But the indictment clearly names Paris. It notes that he received more than $300,000 in compensation from the nonprofit corporation that operates the college located in Springdale between June 1, 2012, and May 31, 2016, and that his family members and their spouses have received more than $1 million in compensation from it during that same time period. The kickback scheme’s purpose was for Paris to enrich himself, his family and the college by paying bribes to Woods and Neal through Shelton in exchange for the legislators securing money for the college, according to the indictment.

The scheme was designed for Woods and Neal to enrich themselves by soliciting and accepting bribes in exchange for using their official positions as legislators to steer money, the indictment says. It says that Shelton was intended to make money by keeping a portion of bribe funds before passing them on and that an unnamed businessman was intended to make money by paying bribes to legislators in exchange for money being directed to other organizations.

The indictment outlines a long involvement between the college president, Paris, and the state senator, Woods. It details plans by Paris in January 2013 to call Woods to talk about maximizing the college’s participation in the Arkansas General Improvement Fund. That fund receives money whenever the state runs a budget surplus. The money is then typically routed to economic development districts across the state to be used on local projects.

In April 2013 Paris sent a text message to Woods with talking points intended to convince lawmakers to support Ecclesia.
“Good selling point to conservative legislators is that [the college] produces graduates that are conservative voters,” the text message said, according to the indictment. “All state and secular colleges produce vast majority liberal voters.”

Woods replied that he agreed, the indictment said."

 Angie Paris Snyder is Oren Paris III's sister
and runs the online program with her husband,
both unqualified for the work.

'via Blog this'

New Addition to The Lost Dutchman's Goldmine: Luther's Biblical Doctrine of the Word Now in the Art Department (Norma Boeckler)

Appendix – Modern Problems Solved by Luther’s Biblical Doctrine

Fear of Church Leaders

Those who fear synod presidents, district presidents, and wealthy laity should follow the example of Luther and trust the Word of God above all things.

Isaiah 66 Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? ² For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

Receptionism

The bizarre dogma that the elements of Holy Communion are not the Body and Blood of Christ - until they are received by the communicant - is easily repudiated. The Holy Spirit in the Word consecrates the bread and wine. The recipient receives what the Word promises, the Body and Blood of Christ.

Entertainment Evangelism

The concept of drawing people to church through entertainment methods was promoted by a Fuller Seminary graduate, LCA Pastor Walt Kallestad. He eventually rejected his own approach and saw his congregation absorbed by the Pentecostal Dream City parish. Luther had the Reformation congregations actively participate in the Means of Grace by listening to Biblical sermons and singing Scriptural, doctrinal hymns. They confessed their faith through the Creeds and used a liturgy cleansed of its Roman Catholic errors.

Methods

Just as the Apostle Paul rejected methods[1] (Greek word – methodia – deceit) Ephesians 4:14 and 6:11, Luther abhorred human scheming, tricks, and deceit. They do not belong in worship or teaching the Word, as JP Meyer wrote so eloquently.[2] Unlike many of the great and wise today, Luther was content to read the Scriptures as they were, with child-like faith.

Unionism and Cell Groups

The feverish quest for various confessions of faith working together is not a sign of strength, but weakness, the panic ignited by the steady collapse of once great institutions, congregations, and schools. Luther had no use for those who rejected the plain Word of God and sought no compromise with them.[3] Akin to this ecumenism - where the leaders love every denomination except their own - is the Pietistic promotion of the cell, prayer, care, koinonia, or small group – the names multiply. The Pietists then and now consider their cell groups to be the only True Church and they despise the Means of Grace.

Unfaithful Pastors

The church bodies should remove adulterous pastors from the ministry instead of shielding them. This corrupting leaven leavens the whole lump. Luther had no use for unfaithful husbands, let alone adulterous ministers.

Lazy Pastors and Professors

Luther revealed contempt for those who were not studious in the Word. His four-fold discipline is apt for all parties concerned, whether they have tenure at the college or seminary, or a plum call in a congregation:

1.    Deprive them of food.

2.    Drive them out of town.

3.    Bait them with dogs.

4.    Pelt them with manure.[4]

One famous suggestion from Luther was to have pastors preach only 30 minutes if they could not preach an entire hour. Pastors should be writing expository sermons, explaining the text verse by verse, instead of copying the drivel sold or given away on the Internet. The college and seminary professors should be engaged in study of the Word rather than searching for academic security.

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[1] "Faithfulness is the standard by which God judges those he calls into the public ministry. That faithfulness may or may not be 'effective' in terms of visible results; results are up to God, not us. But part of faithfulness ought to include striving to be as 'effective' as we can be in the methods that we use to take the Means of Grace to people." Lawrence Otto Olson, D. Min., Fuller Seminary, "A Response to Gregory L. Jackson, Ph.D.," Christian News, 3-28-94, p. 23.

[2] "Paul... is speaking about methods of preaching the Gospel. He means to say that you can introduce methods into your Gospel work which on the surface do not appear as shameful, but which in reality disgrace the Gospel. He is harking back to 2:17, where he spoke about kapeleuein, about 'selling' the Gospel. To use a coarse illustration: Some ministers in their eagerness to bring the Gospel to the people, resort to entertainment to attract the crowds, in order to get an opportunity to preach to them. If you would tell such ministers that they are ashamed of the Gospel and that by their methods they disgrace it, because they manifest a lack of trust in its efficacy, they would resent the charge. Are they not doing all in order to promote the Gospel? The disgrace their methods bring upon it does not appear on the surface; that is why Paul speaks of secret things of shame." John P. Meyer, Ministers of Christ, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1963, pp. 62f. 2 Corinthians 4:1-6; 2:17.

[3] "Dr. Luther, who, above others, certainly understood the true and proper meaning of the Augsburg Confession, and who constantly remained steadfast thereto till his end, and defended it, shortly before his death repeated his faith concerning this article with great zeal in his last Confession, where he writes 419 thus: 'I rate as one concoction, namely, as Sacramentarians and fanatics, which they also are, all who will not believe that the Lord's bread in the Supper is His true natural body, which the godless or Judas received with the mouth, as well as did St. Peter and all [other] saints; he who will not believe this (I say) should let me alone, and hope for no fellowship with me; this is not going to be altered [thus my opinion stands, which I am not going to change]." Formula of Concord, Epitome, Article VII, Lord's Supper, 33, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 983. Tappert, p. 575.

[4] “And what need is there of many words? If I were to recount all the profit and fruit which God's Word produces, whence would I get enough paper and time? The devil is called the master of a thousand arts. But what shall we call God's Word, which drives away and brings to naught this master of a thousand arts with all his arts and power? It must indeed be the master of more than a hundred thousand arts. 13] And shall we frivolously despise such power, profit, strength, and fruit-we, especially, who claim to be pastors and preachers? If so, we should not only have nothing given us to eat, but be driven out, being baited with dogs, and pelted with dung, because we not only need all this every day as we need our daily bread, but must also daily use it against the daily and unabated attacks and lurking of the devil, the master of a thousand arts.”

Large Catechism, The Ten Commandments, Introduction. Concordia Triglotta.