Why Would Anyone Shun Christian News ? Herman Otten Asks Disingenuously

 Herman Otten is consistent - he bans all Lutheran books.
The only Lutheran articles in CN are from the late R. Surburg.

Why Do The Organized Conservatives Shun Christian News? 
Christian News, March 3, 2014. Reprinted May 8, 2017.

This week’s lead story on the 40th Anniversary of Seminex lists some of the articles which appeared in Christian News during the months in 1974 as Seminex was being formed. Many of the articles were reproductions of newspapers reports which appeared in St. Louis and elsewhere throughout the nation about Seminex. CN’s own reports explained the theological issues involved which the secular press often missed. The AP insisted it was a struggle between power and scholarship. The conservatives were supposed to have the “power” and the liberals the “scholarship.” CN showed that the confessional Lutheran minority had the real scriptural scholarship on their side.

No, you cannot fool us with a graphic.
They are all on the same UOJ team.
Bucky's photo is older than Christian News.

Today at least some of those who sided with Seminex such as Dr. Charles Mueller, Sr., Dr. Arthur Carl Piepkorn, and Rev. Richard Neuhaus are considered orthodox and held in high esteem while, according to the LCMS bureaucracy, the editor of CN is an impenitent sinner on the road to hell, banned from preaching in any LCMS church, communing in the LCMS and banned from pastoral conferences. The LCMS’s organized conservatives have remained silent about this “excommunication.” He is a “Journalistic Wolf” out for blood as the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau already said years ago.

SP Matt Harrison was once a seminary student.Two phony doctorates in one synod -
Kintz bought a drive-by online doctorate in education,
in little more time than it takes to earn a real MA,
but he was working full-time at CPH. Astonishing!
Harrison dropped out of the seminary doctoral program,
but won an honorary for his electioneering
and winning the SP prize.
An honorary doctorate is worth one mass,
or in this case, one banjo ballad sung to Herman Otten.

“Noland Doesn’t Mention CN as a Resource for Learning About Seminex” was the title of a discussion of Seminex on the Steadfast Lutheran blog sent to Christian News by David Becker.

It simply is not politically correct for anyone who wants to be in favor with the LCMS’s Harrison administration and the LCMS’s high salaried ($186,000 a year) “unelected ruler,” Paul McCain, to quote Christian News or report what the CN editor has been saying in various publications beginning with the 1950s. With the exception of the Confessional Lutheran edited by Paul Burgdorf, and its supporters, theologians like Theodore Dierks, Harold Romoser, Arthur Drevlow, Fred Bartling, etc. most conservatives remained silent. The LCMS’s administration despised the Confessional Lutheran and few conservatives wanted to be out of favor with the LCMS administration and the district presidents.

 Buy your Reformation 500 shot-glass and other trinkets from CPH.
They refused to print Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant,
because the author (moi) published in CN.

Today most of those who want to be in favor with the Schwan supported Harrison administration act as if what the editor has written since the 1950’s about those who formed Seminex does not exist. Seldom are the 1961 and 1962 State of the Church Book of Documentations, which CN compiled before it began in 1962, the News and Views four part series on “What Is Troubling the Lutherans?” published by the Church League of America and written by Herman Otten with suggestions from a few others, including Kurt Marquart, A Christian Handbook on Vital Issues, the Five Volume Christian News Encyclopedia, Crisis in Christendom- Seminex Ablaze ever mentioned. There is no more complete source of information about Seminex than what appeared in Christian News week after week all during the years Seminex was much in the news. Hundreds of articles in CN were photographically reproduced from a large variety of sources, left, center, right.

Did Otten mention his free review copy of Creation Gardening? 

“A Sharp Difference-ON EVALUATING Christian News” on p. 13 of the December 10, 2012 CN shows the sharp difference of opinion in the LCMS about CN. The founder of the Steadfast Lutheran, who is close to the LCMS president, urged CN to close up shop after Harrison used CN to get about twice as many nominations for LCMS president than incumbent Jerry Kieschnick. Since then Harrison has refused to speak or meet with CN.

Did Otten mention his free review copy
of The Lost Dutchman's Goldmine?
Did the book's emphasis on Justification by Faith
annoy and appall him?
He has no trouble promoting Roman Catholic, Babtist, and Calvinistic books.

Noland claims that the best source of information about Seminex is Affirm, which he says is still in existence. CN helped Affirm when it began, often published its address and reprinted articles from Affirm. Now Affirm claims to publish everything conservatives need to know about the LCMS. Just compare what Affirm published with what CN published. Most of the issues of CN are now available on line. Check the index in the last issue of each year of CN since it began in 1962 with the indexes or content of Affirm. Affirm began when it was considered safe in the LCMS to challenge the liberals in public. CN gave Affirm its mailing list at its request to help Affirm reach laymen who could finance Affirm. CN did this without charge. Affirm said it would give CN it’s mailing list once it had one. Affirm never kept its promise. Affirm said it would not name names as CN was doing and would then “come up smelling like a rose” when compared to Christian News. When a founding editor of Affirm resigned because of a divorce, he sent CN some articles to publish. Dr. Tom Baker...

Paul McCain and Otten worked together to elect Al Barry,
both heatedly denying their collusion, but bragging about it
separately to me. They are both in the bag with UOJ

***

Otten is a true ecumenist -
he loves every doctrine except Luther's.

GJ - Otten treats the duplicitous and hypocritical synod politicians as his equals, as he should. He has spent 50 years getting them into office, including Jack Preus, Ralph Bohlmann, Kieschnick, McCain and Harrison.

UOJists like Otten, McCain, and Heiser+ (a recent convert to the Chief Article) ban every book and author that unhinges them, but they show an impressive breadth of interest in every false dogma that tickles their short attention spans.

In contrast, I promote all the books that might interest readers and try to find free or inexpensive copies for our ever-growing audience. For example, even though the ELDONA priests got their chasubles in a knot and spent their last conference denouncing me and hiding my books from view, I still promote Rydecki's translations.

He had to be the top dog, the only dog,
the synod president, the seminary president, the magazine editor,
the dogmatics text editor, and the censor who decided who
would succeed him in his role as SP/Sem Prez/dogmatics monopolist: F. Pieper.

More Silliness This Year at Emmaus, Where Lutheran Eyes Are Closed to Justification by Faith

 Supper at Emmaus - by M. Caravaggio
Luke 24:30 - 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.

The Tenth Annual Emmaus Conference

December 20, 2016

The 10th Annual Emmaus Conference is Friday, April 28th, 2017, with a banquet the evening prior on Thursday, April 27th. The topic for the 2017 Emmaus Conference will be: “The Unsuspecting American Luthers”. The backgrounds, challenges, and impact of several Lutheran theologians in the 20^th Century will be explored and discussed.

• C. F. W. Walther, by the Rev. Dr. Fifth VP Daniel Preus
• A. Hoenecke, by the Rev. Dr. Prof. Spineless John Brenner
• U. V. Koren, by the Rev. Prof. Markos DeGarmeaux

Wherever two or three LCMS leaders are gathered together, CFW Walther worship begins. This Emmaus debacle was held in late April, but the papers are not posted yet. In this day of instant publishing, the papers could have been linked on the website. I recall Mirthless Mark Schroeder did not want his shared, years ago, not that he said anything worth publishing. Here is the non-archive archive.

The May 8th Christian News must be the archive, because they posted some promotional bits and photos about the event...afterwards. Oh dear, I missed the conference altogether. David Becker found the event disappointing, albeit without being there. Compared to WELS Luther Days, where Jay Webber spoke to one (1) person - and Natalie Pratt disappeared with the money - Emmaus 2017 was probably a smash hit.

We all know that Preus descendants are the Agent Orange of Justification by Faith. Whenever they suspect that Luther's doctrine is being taught somewhere, they spray their toxic dogma from Halle Rationalists all over, until nothing is left living: no faith, no Gospel, no fruits of the Gospel.

Does anyone wonder why the ELS is almost gone and WELS is corrupt beyond measure? To those who are kicked out of WELS, I always say, "Good for you. They did you a great favor." Alcoholism and adultery are not problems among WELS clergy and teachers - they are resume enhancers, if someone has the right friends and the wrong doctrine.

The strength of the LCMS is its mix of Pentecostal, ELCA wannabees, Walther worshipers, and Lutherans. The Missouri Synod is such a rainbow coalition that the bureaucrats do not have the power or urge to crack down on the Chief Article of the Christian Faith. Anyway, they have Otten to do their work for them. And Logorrhea - and their Fuller/Rome seminaries.

 You were born forgiven kids,
now don't ask any probing questions about this.

How bad is WELS? At Mordor Seminary in Mequon, Wendland is the salesman-in-charge of the New NIV. Valleskey was the previous president, based on years of gushing about Church Growth and studying at Fuller with his pal Bivens (also on the faculty). When I was there in 1987, I did not hear Church Growth promoted in the classroom. But once everyone was "finished," they were also required to attend the post MDiv training, which was all Church Growth. Besides that, when I accepted the call to Shepherd of Peace in Columbus, Ohio, the congregation had me attend Paul Kelm's Church Growth "evangelism seminar," which lasted a week. That event was stocked with such CG kahunas as Valleskey, Hartman, Kelm, Larry Olson, and such like.

The message was clear 30 years ago - the only people who understood evangelism were from Fuller Seminary, although seminarians could also attend the Billy Graham evangelism events. The poster in President Panning's office said, "See Paul Kelm for more information."

Need I say this? - WELS is more fanatical about UOJ than any other sect. Just as the Babtists have dogma that can be taught in five minutes, WELS has their "everyone is forgiven and saved," now make a decision for UOJ. Nothing really matters after that is confessed, and WELS has nothing to talk about in Christian doctrine, except to steal the precious gems, gold, and silver from the Egyptians (as Valleskey gushed) - Fuller, Willowcreek, and the Calvinists.

Thirty years ago, Tim Buelow ('87) said to me, "All the books in your library are Lutheran. All our required reading was Reformed." And yet, WELS brain-washed pastors are quick to say, "Lenski is not good about justification." That really means, "From what I have heard, because I never study, Lenski teaches faith in Christ and opposes our precious UOJ."

Fun fact - When I gave Christian News the Corky paper to reprint, Buelow phoned me to scream at me for doing it. That is how WELS works - a friend is designated to do the hit - just like the Mafia. Of course, the WELS leaders do not mind killing the hitman later, just in case he talks.

The ELS is totally owned by WELS, which is why it previously prospered under the shadow of the LCMS and is dying faster than zoot suits. The ELS leaders actually  stood up to Missouri, in print no less, long ago. Today, Pope John the Malefactor is a WELS mouthpiece.

Pope John and Mirthless Mark are promoters of Mark Jeske's Church and Changers, a merry band of alcoholic false teachers, who will always be pulled out of their drunken messes by the synodical officials. What earns a security firing in secular life - being walked out of the building with personal belongings in a cardboard box - is reason to promote a pastor as the speaker at the national teachers' conference.

Does anyone notice that WELS-ELCA Pastor Mark Jeske has a conflict of interest sitting on the Thrivent board, earning a ton of money, and voting on giving Thrivent money to his projects? No, not at all. That is how the synods work. The leaders are like harpies, as Luther noting, using their claws to scrape money out of everyone's pockets - "for the Lord."

If anyone has a copy of the Emmaus 2017 conference papers, send them to me. No questions will be asked. No identities will be revealed. All fingerprints will be carefully removed. Thanks in advance. That will help my future essay on Two Felons and a Christian Leader: Stephan, Walther, and Loehe.

Stop the Flooding with Cover Crops. Stop the Droughts with Cover Crops

 Pocahontas, 2011. Floods are getting worse, for a reason.

Starting in the upper Midwest, the solution for excess snowmelt and rain has been drainage tile for the fields and levies for the towns. That is the reason for increasing floods from the same amount of rain.

Perhaps we cannot end all flooding, but we can certainly stop making them worse. The best soil is also washed away from flooding, so the waste and damage easily adds up to billions of dollars.

Cover crops that follow or precede cash crops not only eliminate drought, but also decrease run-off. When the soil is deadened from excess plowing and the use of toxins, the snowmelt and rain do not penetrate deeply.

Note that at 1 hour Gabe shows his water infiltration rate, which is very rapid, 
due to cover crops and no plowing.

This video is worth careful study, because it goes against all the 

"modern methods" that destroy the soil.

If anyone wants confirmation of this, look at the sidewalk in front of the house. Rain runs off the lawn and deposits the best, finest soil particles on the sidewalk, where weeds take root and grow. When yards have bare spots, the sidewalk soil is deeper and the weeds even more robust.

Cover crops push deep into the sub-soil and let water penetrate, which forestalls drought and flooding. The rain should be saved in the soil, not drained downstream floods.

Some will object and say, "But I cover the soil with thick, green grass. That is my cover crop at home." But those gardeners - more or less lawners - tend to pull or kill every Dandelion and Dutch White Clover plant, not to mention those wildflowers often loathed for interrupting the monotony of thick, green grass.

Those who use chemical fertilizers to add green-grass-producing nitrogen must water their grass even more, which is a double waste. Here is the joke - clover is one of the best providers of usable nitrogen while attracting and harboring beneficial insects. People kill the source of free nitrogen and wonderful beneficial bugs so they can pay for nitrogen and insecticides.

So what I am expanding is this - cover cropping the mulch. All my gardens are mulched, either with shredded cyprus or pine needles. I can grow low-growing Buckwheat among the roses, in the bird feeding area, and the Hosta garden.

Cover crops stop flooding and drought by keeping water in the soil, in the plants, where it belongs. That is God's Creation versus man's so-called ingenuity.

Flooding in Arkansas 2015.

An Interview with George Neumayr, Author of The Political Pope - OnePeterFive

 Pope Francis, Society of Jesus,
demonstrates that the Holy Spirit blows where It will.

An Interview with George Neumayr, Author of The Political Pope - OnePeterFive:



"Maike Hickson: What inspired you to write a book on Pope Francis?

George Neumayr: From the first moment I saw him, I knew that he was going to be a Modernist wrecking ball, and he struck me from the beginning as the prototypical “progressive” Jesuit. I knew it was an extremely bad sign that the Church would name the first Jesuit pope at the very moment the Jesuit Order was in its most corrupt and heterodox condition. I knew it was going to be a distressingly historic pontificate, and from the first moment of Francis’ papacy I began thinking that his pontificate would be a good subject for a book. As it unfolded, it became clearer and clearer that someone need to chronicle this consequentially chaotic pontificate."

 Paul McCain loved this painting so much
that he put a version of it on his plagiarized blog.
One read created this enhancement.
That is St. Mary breast-feeding
a favorite saint.

'via Blog this'

***
GJ - I two definite warning signs about Pope Francis:

1. He is a Jesuit.
2. The media loves him.

Jubilate - The Third Sunday after Easter, 2017. John 16:16-24. Seven-fold "A Little Whiile"

Jubilate, The Third Sunday after Easter, 2017

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

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

Bethany Lutheran Church, 10AM Central Daylight Time

Note - the hymn lyrics are linked on the hymn number, the tune linked on the hymn's name. 

The Hymn #  536                            Awake My Soul 

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 # 518    If Thou But Suffer God To Guide Thee

A Little While - Jesus' Sermon of Comfort

The Communion Hymn #313         O Lord We Praise Thee

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 #231                               We Now Implore                     

THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER

Lord God, heavenly Father, who of Thy fatherly goodness dost suffer Thy children to come under Thy chastening rod here on earth, that we may be like unto Thine only-begotten Son in suffering and hereafter in glory: We beseech Thee, comfort us in temptations and afflictions by Thy Holy Spirit, that we may not fall into despair, but that we may continually trust in Thy Son's promise, that our trials will endure but a little while, and will then be followed by eternal joy; that we thus, in patient hope, may overcome all evil, and at last obtain eternal salvation, through the same, Thy Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

KJV 1 Peter 2:11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; 12 Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. 13 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; 14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. 15 For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: 16 As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. 17 Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king. 18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. 19 For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. 20 For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.

KJV John 16:16 A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father. 17 Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father? 18 They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell what he saith. 19 Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye enquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me? 20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. 21 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. 22 And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. 23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.

Luther’s Sermon on the Gospel Lesson

Luther’s Second Sermon on the Gospel Lesson

Jesus' Sermon about Patience

KJV John 16:16 A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.


Lenski: 10. The Little While of Sorrow, 16:16-24 
The return of Jesus to his Sender brings such an advantage to the disciples (v. 7) in the coming and the work of the Paraclete that joy instead of great sorrow should fill their hearts. Now Jesus adds the further comfort that the separation shall be for "a little while" only. We have the same connection in 14:16, 17, the promise of the Paraclete, and v. 18, 19, the promise of Jesus' coming and of the disciples' be holding him. A little while, and you no longer be hold me; and again a little while, and you shall see me. The separation is to be short. 

Luther:
1. First, we will consider this narrative in the simplest manner, as it occurred after the Last Supper, while the Lord was in the garden on the way with his disciples to his last sufferings and death. In this historical narrative of today’s Gospel the Lord preaches his death and resurrection to his disciples, the words of which narrative the disciples at the time failed to understand, these words being to them dark sayings and totally hidden from them — an experience that may easily be ours, those of us who are not yet firmly established in the faith. What, however, hindered the beloved disciples from understanding the narrative? This, namely, that they thought Christ was about to establish a temporal kingdom which would make an impression upon the world, and move along in pure, perpetual life, not in death, of which he here speaks when he says: “A little while, and ye behold me no more.” As if he wished to say: I will be with you yet a little while longer, perhaps to midnight; after that I will die and be buried, and be taken out of your sight, so that you will see me no more. But again a little while and ye shall see me; that is, on the third day I will arise again and see you again, and ye shall see me again.

This is certainly one of the most peculiar of all Jesus' sermons in the Gospel of John, where the use of repetition is used far beyond our expectation. The same tiny Greek word for "a little while" is used seven times. That serves two purposes.

The first is emphasis. If it repeated so often, then the phrase must be important as one of the last sermons Jesus gave to His disciples in His ministry, before His death and resurrection. A similar example is Paul's seven-fold use of "one" in Ephesians 4.

The second purpose is related - teaching. Brief phrases, repeated, stick in our minds easily, and there is a bit of the annoyance factor that makes us wonder why this has been transmitted to us in a form where the Holy Spirit is quite concise. This lesson is intended to teach us patience in suffering, because all such periods are a little while to God, if not to us at that time of sorrow and pain.

This is a good example of Jesus preparing His disciples for His death and resurrection, although they appear to have forgotten everything in those days of real terror and profound sorrow. He strengthened them through the Word - enough to keep them together in the days after the crucifixion. And He built them up again during His resurrection appearances.

These passages are for us to know first and later apply in our lives, because we do not really comprehend them until the crisis is upon us. That is when we need to trust the Word of God completely and listen only to the Shepherd's voice and let all other voices go.

17 Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father? 

The disciples not only asked for themselves, but also for us. Because they have taken hold of this saying, we wonder too. What exactly does Jesus mean? It certainly goes beyond the obvious part that we know, that they would lose Him to the crucifixion but behold Him again on that first Easter, when "they disbelieved for joy." (Luke)

Going to the Father means that the ministry of Jesus that they knew before would change. Jesus would ascend to the Father and continue on a global scale, not in one nature, as if He were only the Son of God but retaining the human nature which He obtained by being born of the Virgin. 

That seems like such a fragile foundation for the Christian Church. These timid, grief-stricked disciples would be the preachers of the Gospel in the first generation and also train local pastors for their work. But that worked according to divine plan because of the sending of the Spirit to guide, direct, and encourage the disciples at all times, reminding them of what Jesus taught them.

In a time of grief and crisis, that event occupies our minds so completely that we  can hardly think of anything else. Because of that occupation, seeing anything beyond the moment is extremely difficult. That is why this sermon by Jesus is so important, that we already know it in words before we experience in life.

And then, when we pass through such trials, faithful believers are confirmed in their trust in the Savior and in the Word of the Gospel. We say to ourselves and to others - "I have experienced the same pain and wondered too. And I seemed locked in that crisis. And yet, looking back, it was a little while."

Luther lived this for decades because he went through many years where he was a criminal in the eyes of the empire and the Church of Rome. He expected to be a martyr. We call 1517 the beginning of the Reformation. But 13 years later Luther could not attend the Imperial Diet at Augsburg (Augsburg Confession/Confessio Augustana) but remained hidden away in a fortress. That is indeed a long wait. Not only was Europe in doctrinal turmoil, but the Islamic armies came as far as Vienna up until the Formula of Concord, 1580.

So Luther thought in terms of eternity rather than pension funds and mission goals. His first hymn, Flung to the Heedless Winds, was written in memory of the first Lutheran martyrs, burned at the stake. Now we think it is bad that someone is condemned and shunned, even though he keeps his pension plan.

19 Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye enquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me?

It is a little amusing that the disciples discussed it among themselves when Jesus knew their thoughts. That is the kind of detail we should enjoy in the Gospel of John, because we can feel the first-hand intimate portrait of the event. They all wondered and therefore they all needed to be taught so that important phrase would be the anchor of their lesson on patience in suffering.

As Lenski noted in his commentary, there seems to be a contradiction between the hope of "a little while" and "I am going to the Father." This going cannot be anything other than going away, and yet the Ascension of Jesus was not a loss but a triumph and the beginning of their missionary activity, after Pentecost.

And this is all going to be rather rushed, because the disciples would be flattened by the crucifixion, then taught with the 500 before the Ascension, and unleashed on the pagan world, alone but not alone, to preach the Gospel. 

Luther - Faithful Villains
Aye, how friendly and lovingly he associated with us and showed us all exceptional love and friendship! And we have acted thus toward him, have forsaken him and are forsaken by him. Like unfaithful villains, we have denied him, have misused his teachings and grace. What will become of us?

We dare not appear before God, neither can we stand before man, much less before Satan. There is now no consolation. The Savior has departed.

We are in a hopeless, condemned and lost state. Observe, the beloved disciples stood in such anxiety, need and grief that no fasting, no praying, no chastisement, could have helped them. All was lost.

7. In like manner God deals with his children today. Whenever he wants to comfort them, he first plunges them into similar anxiety and temptation. It is agony unbearable when the conscience passes sentence against one. The heart and every refuge fail and anxiety penetrates every nook of the conscience. Anguish and fear consume the marrow and bone, flesh and blood, as the prophet David often laments in his Psalms.

20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. 21 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. 

This parable of child-birth is one we all know from experience or from hearing the stories. Our son was born on the third trip to the hospital. One professor's wife asked so many times that I put a notice on our apartment door - "Not yet, Franny."
I told her, "The announcement is when the sign disappears." She thought that was great.

When something momentous, troubling, or painful is weighing on us, we are to remember the child-birth parable as an explanation of endurance in suffering. The problem weighs us down and presses on us in every possible way. I always tell students, "This degree seems so far into the future, but you will look back on it and say - that was more like a few weeks, not a few years." That has encouraged many of them to stick with it, because giving up seems like a vacation at the moment. Likewise, those who  do not trust in God engage in self-destructive behavior because of impatience. I cannot recall how many felt making up a few assignments was beyond their endurance and strength, when simply doing the work could have been done in a day. And of course, that is nothing compared to dealing with multi-year problems. But in our minds, if it is a crisis, then our lives can be consumed by it.

The special nature of this "little while" is the ability to see what the Holy Spirit is teaching us. There is no such thing as a bad outcome in faith, if we measure according to eternity, which is God's time-table (not ours).

And when we come out on the other side of that long, dark tunnel, whether in this life or the next, we see how God transforms and uses the painful moments of life.
In this life- God says, "You thought this was so terrible, and it was for a little while, but that became a time where something new and better was shown to you."

The disciples wanted to continue, but Jesus gave them a world-wide ministry without His visible presence. Yet they knew His real presence and knew no limits in where they went and what they suffered for Him and for the Gospel. Paul wrote about all the things he wanted to do and yet he languished in prison. However, his most joyful epistles were from prison, while the followers sorrowed. He understood this sermon from Jesus.

22 And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. 

Jesus knew about His suffering in advance - and all the faithful villains (the Twelve) would do. But He was faithful in that role as Teacher and Savior. And for that reason, being without sin, He conquered sin for mankind and was victorious over death.

The depth of sorrow will be matched and even exceeded by joy when Jesus rises again. This is not enough for the disciples now, but will reverberate in their minds when all these events unfold.

As I told one widow in our highschool class. the grief remains and never goes away completely. Nor should it. But grief for a believer is healing. Slowly the pain is transformed to joy because the memories that were so painful at first become something to laugh about and be thankful about. 

And for those who lose someone late in life, the little while is only so many years, not a long time.

We lost our daughters about 30 years ago, and we still feel the sorrow at times, and it pressed down hard. But most of the time, those memory buttons get pushed for the oddest reasons and we laugh about something connected with them, no different from when we talk abut and laugh about our son's antics. So we point out, not we had two daughters, but we have two daughters.

No one can take that joy from us. I would say to any parent, too, no matter what pain your child is giving you at the moment, having a child - born or adopted - is a great blessing from God. All the joy and pain are wrapped up together.

23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.

Here is a Promise that has some startling words - Don't ask ME anymore, after this happens. Instead, ask the Father in My Name, and He will give it to you. What sounds strange at first is the next step in their work, and it remains a great Promise to us as well.

The Atonement Is Not Justification - And the Brief Statement Is NOT the Bible

 The Brief Statement is Biblical proof?

Paul Jecklin (Paul_jecklin) Member Username: Paul_jecklin Post Number: 155 Registered: 2-2015

Posted on Friday, May 05, 2017 - 1:12 pm:       When were the sins of the world placed on Jesus? 1. At His baptism 2. At His crucifixion 3. At His baptism and at His crucifixion Please give Biblical proof with your answer.

Rev. Robert Fischer (Fischer) Advanced Member Username: Fischer Post Number: 641 Registered: 12-2004

Posted on Friday, May 05, 2017 - 5:09 pm:       Paul, I think it's helpful to rephrase the question to: "How were we saved?" Here's an answer from the Brief Statement of the Lutheran Church Church--Missouri Synod: quote: Of Redemption 8. We teach that in the fullness of time the eternal Son of God was made man by assuming, from the Virgin Mary through the operation of the Holy Ghost, a human nature like unto ours, yet without sin, and receiving it unto His divine person. Jesus Christ is therefore "true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary," true God and true man in one undivided and indivisible person. The purpose of this miraculous incarnation of the Son of God was that He might become the Mediator between God and men, both fulfilling the divine Law and suffering and dying in the place of mankind. In this manner God reconciled the whole sinful world unto Himself, Gal. 4:4,5; 3:13; 2 Cor. 5:18,19.

Jubilate Sunday, The Thirds Sunday after Easter. John 16:16-23

THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EASTER.
     
SECOND SERMON.


KJV John 16:16 A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father. 17 Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father? 18 They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell what he saith. 19 Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye enquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me? 20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. 21 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. 22 And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. 23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you




CHRIST’S SUFFERINGS AND RESURRECTION; THE COMFORT CHRIST MINISTERS TO HIS DISCIPLES WHILE IN SORROW, AND THE JOY OF THE WORLD.

1. First, we will consider this narrative in the simplest manner, as it occurred after the Last Supper, while the Lord was in the garden on the way with his disciples to his last sufferings and death. In this historical narrative of today’s Gospel the Lord preaches his death and resurrection to his disciples, the words of which narrative the disciples at the time failed to understand, these words being to them dark sayings and totally hidden from them — an experience that may easily be ours, those of us who are not yet firmly established in the faith. What, however, hindered the beloved disciples from understanding the narrative? This, namely, that they thought Christ was about to establish a temporal kingdom which would make an impression upon the world, and move along in pure, perpetual life, not in death, of which he here speaks when he says: “A little while, and ye behold me no more.” As if he wished to say: I will be with you yet a little while longer, perhaps to midnight; after that I will die and be buried, and be taken out of your sight, so that you will see me no more. But again a little while and ye shall see me; that is, on the third day I will arise again and see you again, and ye shall see me again.

2. This is the sense according to the history, and they are very cold words if not understood in a spiritual way. Yet the Lord also comforts his disciples and says that they will be sorrowful because of his departure but their sorrow will soon have an end. It will be with them as with a woman who lies in the pangs of childbirth; as soon as she is delivered of the child, she forgets her pain. And although this is plain and easy to understand, yet the disciples did not understand how they should fare, what the Lord meant to teach them by these words and by this parable; for such words they had never before heard. But these sayings seem simple to us now, since we often preach and apply them. Were not this the case they would be as dark to us as they w. ere to the beloved disciples. Therefore, let us carefully examine these words and first consider what it means to go to the Father

3. To go to the Father means nothing but to enter upon a new life. As if Christ were to say: I will leave this life of time, of the senses, of nature and of death, and will enter upon the immortal life, where the Father will make all things subject to me, where there is no sleep, no eating, no drinking, as while I lived in the body, and yet the flesh and blood, which I took from the virgin Mary, will continue. That is, I will take to myself a spiritual government to rule the hearts of believers in spirit and faith, and not found, as you imagine, a temporal kingdom. To this spiritual rulership I cannot come except by the way of death. But, as I said, the disciples did not understand it; they thought they would lose the Lord entirely when he died.

Hence they fell into grief and sorrow.

4. Now, here we must take heed, and also learn something from this, lest we read this narrative in vain. To the beloved disciples the greatest pain and sorrow were not that they should never again see the Lord in the body, but the fact that their hearts had lost the Lord was a greater distress and calamity. They were happy to behold the Lord in the body, but they clung much more to him with their hearts. Hence they also thought: If he disappears from our eyes, he will also disappear from our hearts. Just so was it with their joy. To see him again in the body was not the true joy; that they could hardly expect. But that they received him again spiritually and by faith into their hearts, as Savior and Comforter, was their true comfort and joy. For when he is believed in as the Savior the heart rejoices, and aside from this belief there is no help, no counsel, nor any comfort at hand.

5. This we see in the case of the beloved disciples when they fled and forsook and denied the Lord, and shockingly fell into the sin of unbelief.

Then there was no longer a Savior before their eyes. Comfort had departed, Christ had fallen out of their sight, counsel and help were no longer present, and they would have had to remain in this grief and doubt forever had Christ not again caused them to rejoice; for besides this Savior there is none other. Hence, when he is removed there is no other comfort to be had, and nothing but anxiety, need, despair and hell itself must be there. This was the real anxiety, grief and sorrow of the disciples.

6. What agony and grief, think you, they must have had when they recalled the kindness and friendship of the Lord, and the good deeds he did them, and that they were all so unfaithful to him! Then their hearts confessed:

Aye, how friendly and lovingly he associated with us and showed us all exceptional love and friendship! And we have acted thus toward him, have forsaken him and are forsaken by him. Like unfaithful villains, we have denied him, have misused his teachings and grace. What will become of us?

We dare not appear before God, neither can we stand before man, much less before Satan. There is now no consolation. The Savior has departed.

We are in a hopeless, condemned and lost state. Observe, the beloved disciples stood in such anxiety, need and grief that no fasting, no praying, no chastisement, could have helped them. All was lost.

7. In like manner God deals with his children today. Whenever he wants to comfort them, he first plunges them into similar anxiety and temptation. It is agony unbearable when the conscience passes sentence against one. The heart and every refuge fail and anxiety penetrates every nook of the conscience. Anguish and fear consume the marrow and bone, flesh and blood, as the prophet David often laments in his Psalms.

8. But Christ does not let his disciples be long in such anguish and need.

He had said, “And again a little while, and ye shall see me.” This happened on Easter, when he appeared to them and offered them his peace, by which he comforted them and they forgot all the distress, fear and need which they had endured for the little while, until the third day. Narratives like this we should remember when we are in anguish and need, and have lost all hope of comfort. When man is troubled by an evil conscience because of his sins, the heart thinks it is eternal pain; and so it is, also, as man calculates, for he sees no end of it. He thinks God is against him and will not help him, and he himself will not allow God to help him. He looks about and finds no succor from any creature. Yea, he thinks all creatures are his enemies. Therefore, the heart soon concludes and says: Here is eternal anguish, here there will be no change, here there is no help, no comfort. God and everything are against me. In truth it is not so, but it is only a transition. It will not last long. If we can only keep quiet for a little time, he will surely not remain away long with his comfort. This is the Lord’s meaning when he here says to the disciples: “A little while and ye behold me no more,” namely, when ye are steeped in anguish and trouble. “And again a little while, and ye shall see me,” namely, when I shall visit you with my consolation and cause you to rejoice.”

9. Since the holy disciples experienced what it was to be overwhelmed by anguish and want, we must not think that it will be better with us. God will not make an exception in our case. But let us remember that Christ foretells to his disciples their fall, fear and sorrow, and also comforts them in order that they may not despair. Thus we should likewise comfort ourselves and allow the same to be spoken to us, so that when we are taken captive by sin and feel our consciences troubled and burdened, we do not despair; but rather remember it will not continue long. Therefore this is a very comforting Gospel to all troubled and terrified consciences. First, because Christ promises here he will not let them be captives to their misery very long; then, because he shows such kindly friendship to them — casts them not quickly from his presence, although they do not at once learn and understand his discourse; but bears with them, instructs them and deals with them most tenderly.

10. Therefore, should a person come into like fear and misery of conscience, he ought to call to mind these words, and say: Well, a change is taking place. Christ says, A little while and ye shall see me again. It will not last long. Keep calm. It is a matter of only a short time and then Christ will permit us to see him again. But where the conscience is so terrified, one cannot grasp nor understand these words of comfort, even if he hears them. Such was the case with the disciples here. While they were in trouble they could not understand these words. It requires an effort if one is to comfort such terrified and troubled consciences. Hence the Lord uses a parable to explain his former words, in order to establish the disciples firmly in them. He takes an example of a woman in the labor of childbirth, and in such labor that she does not die from it, but brings a happy sight to the world. This is also very comforting and is spoken in order that the disciples may not despair when overtaken by temptation or fear, but may remember that, like a woman lying in travail, it will soon have an end; it is pain for only an hour or so. Christ thus, by means of this parable, makes their sorrow and trouble sweet and beautiful to his disciples.

11. Now we must carefully consider this example. As it is here, so is it in temptation, and especially in the perils of death. Notice how God deals with a woman suffering in childbirth. There she is left alone in her pain by everybody, and no one can help her. Yea, nothing whatever is able to rescue her from her agony; that rests in the power of God alone. The midwife and others around her may indeed comfort her, but they cannot avoid the agony. She must go through it, and venture and freely hazard her life in it, not knowing whether she shall die or recover, because of the child. There she is truly in the perils of death and completely encompassed by death. This parable St. Paul also uses in 1 Thessalonians 5:3, when he tells the Thessalonians how the day of judgment will suddenly fall upon them, just like the pangs of a woman in travail, and they will not be able to escape.

12. Just so it is also when the conscience is in agony or when one lies in the perils of death. Then neither reason nor anything else can help. No work, whether this or that. There is no comfort. You think you are forsaken by God and everybody; yea, you imagine how God and everything are against you. Then you must restrain yourself to quiet and cling only to God, who must deliver you. Besides him nothing else, neither in heaven nor upon the earth, can deliver. The same God gives his help when he thinks it is time, as he does to the woman in travail. He gives her cheer when she no longer thinks of her pain; then joy and life are where death and all distress reigned before. In like manner God makes us happy, and gives us peace and joy where before there were misery and all kinds of sorrow. Therefore, Christ here presents to us all this example, and comforts us with it, in order that we may not despair in the time of death and temptation. It is as if he wanted to say to us: Dear man, when fear, sorrow, temptation and tribulation come, doubt not, despair not. It is only for a little time. When these are over, then follow their fruits, peace and joy.

13. In such sorrow and distress the beloved disciples were when the Lord departed from them. They were forsaken by everybody. They had no place of refuge. They stood in the gate of hell, expecting every hour to meet death; and they heard the judgment of God, thinking they had sinned and must now be given over to Satan. But immediately after his resurrection Christ comes and causes them to forget all their affliction and heartsorrow.

Then they become happy and go and bring forth fruit, and bestir themselves to help all mankind to the same joy. It is a beautiful example and a comforting passage of Scripture for all who experience temptation and trouble. Such should remember that Christ says: “A little while and ye behold me no more and again a little while, and ye shall see me,” and never forget the Gospel of the woman in travail, who gladly goes through all and soon reaches the goal.

14. This Gospel thus arms us for temptation and tribulation, and the sum of it is, that Christ the Lord reveals himself to his own as pure love and friendship, so that they are comforted. This may ever be the case with us, since we know, and from this Gospel learn, that Christ will not forsake those overwhelmed by the perils of death and the temptations of conscience, but will come and comfort them just as he does here his disciples, not leaving them long in their distress. There is truly still hope for one who is terrified in conscience and is troubled because of his sins. But when one doubts and falls into such presumption that he feels in his heart: “There is no hope for me. It cannot be otherwise. I must be condemned.

There is no help nor comfort left, do as I will” — when man is brought to this and hazards everything, it is a terrible fall. May almighty God ever protect us against such a fall! Though the sin be ever so great, if only one does not doubt he will be in no trouble. God will surely rescue him in his own good time.

15. Thus, you have heard here of two kinds of sorrow: The first, that of the disciple when deprived of the bodily presence of Christ; the other, our own, when his spiritual presence departs from our hearts. The first sorrow Christ removed by his resurrection; the other he removes when he causes the conscience again to rejoice. Of this he here speaks further, and says: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: ye shall be sorrowful but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.”

And immediately following the parable he adds: “And ye therefore now have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no one taketh away from you.”

16. Here the Lord means the joy with which the conscience is again comforted and made to rejoice when Christ becomes known as a Savior.

For then sorrow, sin, death, hell and all misfortune vanish. And this is not a worldly joy, as the world rejoices, sings and dances over success, but it is a heavenly and eternal true joy before God, and truly well pleasing to God.

Of this joy the prophet says in Psalm 68:3: “But let the righteous be glad; yea, let them rejoice with gladness.” And Christ says here to his disciples: “And your joy no one taketh away from you.” How does this come about? Thus: When Christ stands again before your eyes, and the conscience finds that it possesses the Lord, from whom it expects everything good, then nothing more can be done for him; for who will harm the heart that is thus established upon Christ? Of what should one be afraid as long as he can say: My Lord Jesus Christ is Lord over all things; over death, hell, Satan, and over everything in heaven and upon earth? As St. Paul also defiantly boasts in Romans 8:31-39. “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth; who is he that condemneth? It is Christ Jesus that died, yea rather, that was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Even as it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter. ( Psalm 44:23).

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

17. These were the words of St. Paul. In the same spirit David also speaks in Psalm 27:1-3, and says: “Jehovah is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? Jehovah is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

When evildoers came upon me to eat up my flesh, even mine adversaries and my foes, they stumbled and fell. Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, even then will! be confident.” And in Psalm 23:1-4 he says: “Jehovah is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside still waters, tie restoreth my soul: he guideth me into the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though! walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.”

18. Behold, how courageous and defiant is this man! Who gave him such a valiant and defiant courage? or whence did it come to him? From the Savior alone. And the more we are driven from him, the more we cling to him. The more injury, misfortune and sorrow people cause us, the more we rejoice, for this joy is eternal; and the more they tear us from it, the greater it becomes.

19. Now the question may be asked, can one fall from this joy? Yes. And as soon as we fall, eternal pain is at hand, out of which, although it is in its nature eternal, yet God rescues his own. Thus the joy continues forever, but as long as the person is upon the earth he may fall from it. You should understand it thus: Christ is my Savior, if! so believe and confess. This joy is to me an eternal joy so far as I remain in it. But when Christ departs out of the heart, then the joy also departs. The grace continues, but the conscience can easily fall. I tell you this to the end that you may not be offended in the future when many of you shall fall from the Gospel and deny Christ. For wherever Christ shall be with his joy and comfort, there the cross and persecution are also soon at hand. But I fear we have neither the joy nor the persecution, since we so little appropriate the Gospel. We continue ever in our old nature and despise the dear and precious treasure of the Gospel; therefore God will visit us with greater punishment than he did the Jews, namely, with blindness and error. As Paul says to the Thessalonians: “And for this cause God sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12. For God cannot allow his Gospel to be disgraced. That one should stumble he will indeed allow, but for one thus to despise his mercy he will not permit, and it is not right that he should. Therefore, it is to be feared that heresy and working of error will come, so that no one will know what is the trouble, as is already evident and will become still more so. May God restrain Satan and save us from such a visitation! Amen.