Facebook UOJ Stormtroopers Are on High Alert

I seem to be the only one posting about the irony of
Luther's 500th Anniversary being ignored
and his doctrine being opposed at every opportunity.

The Two Best Summaries of Objective Justification

Do You Affirm the Thrivent Pledge, O Ye of Little Fellowship Principles?

Thrivent says, "All your base are belong to us.
You have no chance. Mark Jeske your time."

I know this snippet will create a sardonic chuckle.

Thrivent farms out the management of its matching donations to YourCause.

YourCause requires, as a condition of receiving matching donations, the following: 

The Den of Thieves

 The Wolf of Wall Street -
just the man Thrivent wants as a speaker.
See below.

LCMS-ELS-WELS
all whore for Thrivent's money,
which comes from their members.
ELCA gets a lot of it, but so does everyone else.

Loss of Critical Thinking - British Heritage Forgotten

Sent by a reader, aimed at ELDONA.
There is a story that Wescott or Hort said this, "In chess, too,
a bishop moves obliquely."  The cartoonist knows that
few can define oblique today.

I bought a History of England from Folio Books and read many of the volumes. One time, I read a section to Mrs. Ichabod (nee Jackson) - about the typical Englishman of the 17th century. I said, "This is me!" I enjoyed the part about joking around and devotion to gardening. I even had a part in my front teeth, until the dentist fixed it.

LI said that a shovel appears as soon as we arrive in a new location, and plants are put in the ground.

Terry-Thomas stole my earlier look;
I am not sure if gap teeth are especially British.

Our country owes a vast debt to England and its history of law and justice. For example, to oppose tyranny by those in power, no one had the authority to arrest, try, and execute a supposed criminal. Arrest, prosecution, and execution were separated. If someone asked for a jury trial, he was entitled to be judged by his peers, that is, from his own class. The jury tries the facts in the case.

Critical thinking is directly related to our system of justice, and lawyers help in protecting the vulnerable from the tyrants of today.

I have noticed that many students have no concept of critical thinking in the classroom. Opinions and feelings are sacred, not to be bruised or offended in class. As one plagiarizing student said in anonymous comments, "All he cares about is plagiarism."

Some basic elements in arguing a case, an opinion, a thesis are:

1. Stating the actual argument clearly.
2. Gathering research for and against the argument.
3. Using research to back up the argument.
4. Stating the opposite side fairly and providing a reasonable refutation.
5. Summarizing the argument and ending with the conclusion.

England did not invent this, as we can see from Thucydides, who practiced this in his analytical history of the Peloponnesian Wars. Pericles argued this way too, so this is the fruit of the Athenian foundation for Western Civilization. The English knew this, because education meant studying the Greeks and Romans, not coveting the Kardashians.

A theory or argument may be entirely wrong, but a good presentation of it helps everyone understand the issues involved. That is what debate societies do. The American legal system assumes there are two sides to every case.

Compare the Low State of Lutherdom

Lutherans do not debate issues, but simply start with what the bosses are promoting. There is only one position. As the French Emperor said, "One king, one law, one faith." It rhymes beautifully in French. WELS and Missouri would modernize this as, "Ein Reich, Ein Volk, Ein Fuehrer!"

UOJ is true because Pope John the Malefactor, Matt the Fat, and Mirthless Mark say so. Therefore, gather all the arguments for absolution without faith and dismiss Luther, misquote the Book of Concord, and laud Bishop Stephan's pimp, CFW Walther.

Define Lutheran orthodoxy as those who teach Halle Pietistic rationalism. No need to bother with the issues, Luther, the Apology, or Chemnitz. As Jon-Boy Buchholz solemnly declared, UOJ is "settled doctrine." 

 We don't know what we believe and teach
until the Bishop has spoken. One priest had a question.
He has since disappeared.

 The Chief Article did not mean anything
when ELDONA was schmoozing with the Rolf Synod.

 Here is a woman preaching to Jay Webber's alma mater,
the online seminary run by ELCAts and Romanists.

 It was good enough for Walther
and it's good enough for me.
Gimme that old time adultery,
Gimme that old time adultery...

 This is a Jay Webber Facebook page.
UOJ facilitates all kinds of contradictions and nonsense.

Labor Day Chores Were Fun

 Beautyberry is often used to keep away insects.
The root system kept me from digging it up with easy,
so I moved on.

Do I believe one weather website or its competition? We could have a thunderstorm Tuesday afternoon, or not. Accuweather seems to be optimistic about rain happening, most of the time. Weather.com seems to be against it. In fact, Accuweather has a wet week ahead, starting with Tuesday, but Weather.com declares us dry until the weekend.

Monday started early. Sassy wanted her breakfast and a walk. I let her inside while I aimed at a few gardening chores. The dead KnockOut had to go, and I wanted to move Beautyberry there from the backyard.

Monarda, Purple Bee Balm, or Horse Mint.

Step One - dig the Knockout, roots and all. That went well because I let the plant shuffle off this mortal coil (Hamlet, by Oxford), over the winter and spring. No, I will not say that watching the KnockOuts fade was the "winter of our discontent."
Step Two - dig up the Beautyberry under the tree in the backyard. That proved to be more daunting than removing the KnockOut, so I gave up. Next to it was a very healthy Bee Balm, which came up easily and soon soaked in a rain-barrel. I soak plants, bare roots, and transplants in rainwater as long as 24 hours.
Step Three - rake grass up and pack it around the Butterfly Bush I want to thrive this summer. Grass and clover are quick to decompose and feed the soil creatures. I covered the thick layer around plant with cardboard, weighed it down with old logs, and watered it.
Step Four - retrieve the soggy Bee Balm from the barrel, wheelbarrow it to the front, and plant it with peat humus and rainwater. I left some of the Bee Balm behind in the backyard, so another plant will fill in, to be divided later.

I question the scary gardening theme of plant shock. Perhaps a new plant is just trying to get its roots in sync with the fungal community after transplanting. Mints are thirsty plants and respond with great energy to watering, so I expected a mid-afternoon droop in the heat. Instead, most of the Bee Balm looked happy, healthy, and ready to grow.

Looking across the rose garden, I saw the Mountain Mints, no longer barely there, as they were last year. I should have known - the one buried and lost under the mulch popped up and grew anyway. Mountain Mints love sun and water. Three of them are rising tall, ready to bloom, but not quite blooming. They are scattered among the roses to provide beneficial bug support for the roses.

Buckwheat Again!
This non-grain is now my favorite all around, and easy to sow. Buckwheat is already blooming all over the yard. My only regret is not covering the rose garden mulch with even more seeds. They bloom early and attract a lot of beneficial insects. Even better, they elbow weeds aside, so the gardener can pick his weed, Buckwheat, instead of tearing weeds out of the ground. Buckwheat is shallow rooted and easy to remove, but why pull it? The plant will bloom in the shade and thrive in the sun.

 "Stop lying about me."

Everyone Lies about Hosta
When I think about a plant category, I look up several articles about it. Hosta is widely known as a shade plant, perhaps because it blooms well in deep shade and also spreads through its roots.

However, Hosta loves the morning sun and the afternoon shade. And who doesn't? Roses are similar, except they must have more sun to bloom. And they do not spread on their own. And they have thorns.

"We like the sun."

Ascension Day, Wednesday, 7 PM Holy Communion - Due To Loss of Voice Last Week

Wednesday, May 31st, 7 PM - Ascension Day, Holy Communion

Thursday, June 1, 7 PM -  Greek Lesson, John 6:31ff.

Spring allergies hit all at once last Thursday, and I spent most of the next four days sleeping. I got up early to write and garden today, feeling great.

Memorial Day, 2017

Memorial Day is especially for remembering those who died serving in our military. 

We cannot help but think of those who are active duty, their family members, and those who served in the past.

Warning - ELDONA Meets Tomorrow

Reading this post about Lutheran higher education may help.

I get postings from ELDONA, so I was curious what they would do for their synod and colloquium in the 500th year of the Reformation.

Luther. Luther. Bueller, Bueller, anyone?

So they are no different from the bigwigs at the LCMS-ELS-WELS Emmaus Conference - "It's all about our little sect."

Lutherans go through years of education without knowing the Chief Article of the Christian Faith, even helping to teach against it. Then, if they finally wake up, for whatever reason, they go back to the trivial pursuit of fussy, prissy little topics that will leave anyone comatose.

A rainbow broke the melancholy at
ELDONA's world headquarters.

Wasting Time and Money on Higher Education

Was I right? I created this several years ago.

I am not against higher education. I have spent more time on both sides of the lectern than most people. But most of the money is being wasted among the Lutherans, as I will explain.

Let us forget for a moment the slavish conformists who get hired to teach at Lutheran colleges and seminaries. And we can ignore the back-slapping, back-stabbing politicians elected by Lutherans to advance the twin causes of apostasy and worshi-tainment.

Even with the worst teachers from the Fuller Seminary brigades, every single student has two unequaled assets that seem to be completely unused or abused: the brain and the library.

One - The Brain
God has created us with the most amazing computing and memory device: fast, efficient, working even while we are resting or day-dreaming.

 Lutheran seminary students, cowed, afraid, non-thinking.

What keeps Lutheran students from using their brains to consider the issues involved in their own faith? They must be so consumed with their careers that they are afraid to think or speak. Of course, WELS will kick out any student who begins to question the rank apostasy of the leaders, but that is a blessing. If a gang of immoral drunks refuses to admit me into their sacrilegious circle, should I feel offended or blessed?

Lutherans move through the system like the human robots in Metropolis.
They will repeat any nonsense drilled into them, as the semi-automatic chattering class of UOJists and Church Shrinkers prove.

 Work hard -  you well deserve the next binge.
Your alcoholic leaders will cover for you.

The brain does not work well when pickled in alcohol. The results are slow but sure. Higher order thinking goes away with alcohol and drug abuse. The pleasure centers are no longer what God created, but change almost inexorably to the next drink, the next cig, the next drug.

When this cathedral of books was built at Yale,
libraries were our Ft. Knoxes of learning.
Now we have the Harvard Divinity library on Google
and most classic books for free. Is anyone reading them?

The Library
We no longer have traditional libraries. We have Lenski on our computers, easy to search. We have Bibles galore on various softwares. Anyone can be trained in Greek and Hebrew at home, using various programs.

How can someone be near a library and have one on his computer and yet listen to the drivel taught in Lutheran colleges and seminaries? I manually copied and organized quotations from a wide variety of WELS and LCMS sources. They were all parroting Fuller Seminary and Willowcreek.

I question whether Luther students are learning anything more than the laughable educations of their professors, that Fuller fad that never goes away, the herpes of higher education in Lutherdom.

The Emmaus Conference of LCMS-WELS-ELS ignored Luther to speak about themselves this year. Where are the papers calling pee-wees of theology "Luthers"? Walther - hahahahahaha.

I will save the final salvo for the next post.

 Reuel Schulz in WELS endorsed this idiot,
who got one thing right - CG is a failure.
But WELS did not excommunicate Schulz.
Ask his descendants how the synod treats Justification by Faith.

The List of Creation Farmers Grows - Joel Salatin

Joel Salatin moves his cows, chickens, and pigs to balance
the food input and the fertilizer output.
The video below goes into great
detail about his methods, based on God's Creation.

Queen Elizabeth's private gardens use no
man-made toxins. They are productive and teeming with
wildlife of all kinds.

The Salatin Farm - Polyface

 The Salatins have historic ties to Bob Jones University,
where Joel graduated, but now they attract a lot of the new
generation's interest in pure food and honest farming practices.

The Polyface Story

In 1961, William and Lucille Salatin moved their young family to Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, purchasing the most worn-out, eroded, abused farm in the area near Staunton. Using nature as a pattern, they and their children began the healing and innovation that now supports three generations.
Disregarding conventional wisdom, the Salatins planted trees, built huge compost piles, dug ponds, moved cows daily with portable electric fencing, and invented portable sheltering systems to produce all their animals on perennial prairie polycultures. 

Today the farm arguably represents America’s premier non-industrial food production oasis. Believing that the Creator’s design is still the best pattern for the biological world, the Salatin family invites like-minded folks to join in the farm’s mission: to develop emotionally, economically, environmentally enhancing agricultural enterprises and facilitate their duplication throughout the world.

Where have the butterflies gone?
We kill them to get rid of mosquitoes,
but the mosquitoes never go away.
Painting by Norma Boeckler

Building the Soil

When I began serious gardening in the 1980s, in Midland, I had the run of the Midland Public Library, which included the Rodale Books on organic gardening. I also read the scientific books on agriculture, decomposition, and soil structure. Nothing is quite so complex and interesting as the various soils of the United States and how they formed.

Everyone seems to know that the fertility of the Great Plains came from the perennial prairie grasses enriching the soil and the enormous herds of bison moving across them and fertilizing them. However, modern farming has been depleting the soil built up with grasses and mobile grazing.

Joel Salatin farms the way I garden, aiming at Every Day Low Costs, EDLC, a watchword at Walmart. Sam Walton believed in pushing the price down to draw in more customers, to increase volume and lower prices even more.

If I can buy a two-year bare root rose for $6, then why pay $24 for something similar? If I can renew the soil from the leaves thrown away by my neighbors, why should I buy the chemical fertilizer they seem so anxious to use.

One of the best weed suppressors is Buckwheat. A five-pound bag goes a long way and costs what a bag of herbicide would cost, or better yet (sic) - a bag of chemical fertilizer plus weed killer. Buckwheat removes weeds by competition, but it also improves the soil and attracts pollinators. 

Salatin uses chickens to eat his pests, and I use the local birds, beneficial bugs, and toads.

Birds eat Beautyberries late in the season,
but the plant decorates the garden all summer.

Here are some upcoming chores:

1. I am digging up the remains of a once-productive KnockOut rose and replacing it with a Beautyberry plant from the backyard. This introduces more variety in the rose garden, especially with plants that are unusual and fun to show off.
2. The latest thunderstorm gave me rainwater to distribute for special plants and those that need a little boost, such as the Crepe Myrtle twigs.
3. Piles of grass and clover from the lawnmower will be tucked around the Butterfly Bush for extra food energy.
4. A bird planted a Boston Ivy vine by sitting on one of my stumps. Transplanting it to the Wild Garden will give that area a vine that grows well in the shade because it reaches for sunlight. Planted in sunlight, it barely moves.

Crepe Myrtles are weed-like in their growth,
but remain ugly without pruning, watering, and feeding.
The Mother of All Myrtles gets a little pruning all the time,
extra water, and plenty of organic food at the base.

Some recent insights to implement:

• Every living root adds energy to the soil and represents 75% of the organic matter that will go into the soil. Therefore, land without plants is not improving as much as it could with some kind of cover crop.
• The rose garden will be more productive and friendly to beneficial insects with the mulch supporting Buckwheat rather than low-growing weeds like Bermuda grass. Mulch is like a vacuum - something will fill the emptiness.
• Dutch White Clover and Wild Strawberries are good companion plants for the roses too, because they are low-growing, invasive, and beneficial. 
• Water infiltration is far more important than the amount of rainfall. Deeply rooted plants will take the rainfall downward for storage in the soil. 

Creation Gardening Ironic Humor

1. Chemical gardeners save eggshells for their calcium, which do not decompose, and kill Dandelions, which pull up calcium from the soil. Chemical fertilizers, weed killers, and pesticides kill earthworms, which are the only creature able to manufacture usable calcium for the soil.
2. Crazy people gather free autumn leaves from their neighbors. Wise recyclers buy leaf bags from Walmart, spend hours raking up leaves, so they can get rid of a major source of carbon for their soil.
3. Neat landscapers get rid of all yard trash, including overwintering stalks, leaves, and brush-piles. Creation Gardeners listen as the neatnicks marvel over perfect roses that were never fertilized by man, sprayed for fungi, or gassed with pesticides.
4. Gardeners will push their massive mowers back into the garage after the latest breakdown, wondering why their quirky neighbor only spends a few dollars on a rake and some mulch. 
5. Every yard boasts 90-100% lawn, which demands water and all kinds of treatments to match the cover of the Scotts Lawn and Garden catalog covers. But nobody gives a clump of sod for Mother's Day or a bag of grass, newly cut, to a friend. They spend $50 a bunch for roses, as little as $10 at Walmart, but those roses dry up faster than a Phoenix clothesline.

Our Rose Ministry
We have a problem. Mrs. Ichabod and I love to watch roses bloom, so that means pruning them almost daily, sometimes watering them. They need little care beyond that. Pruning makes them grow even more fruitful, John 15:1-10.

To solve the pruning problem, I cut the best roses for the altar, for neighbors, for all the doctors we visit, for the entire block on Mother's Day, for the cancer support group, for anyone who has an interest in enjoying them. Hinting broadly that we had more roses than vases, we obtained a long shelf full of vases, from the smallest to the largest needed. Besides that drink cups serve well.

Our neighbor visits the cemetery almost every day, because he recently lost his mother and his step-father. He and his brother took care of them until the end. They love having roses to leave at the cemetery, so I drop off a cup-vase full of them any time.

Many are bowled over by the roses, and several of our doctors are confessing Christians, not afraid to name the Name. So we give away Creation Gardening all the time. In fact, there is a waiting line for the next shipment of 10 full-color booklets. LI sees the same diabetic specialist and said, "I was there just after you two were, and she was seriously disturbed by the quality of your roses."

 Creation Gardening - By Him Were All Things Made.
Amazon and Kindle.

Tony's Top Ten Hosta Myths | Article by Plant Delights Nursery

 Blue Hawaii

Tony's Top Ten Hosta Myths | Article by Plant Delights Nursery:



"By Tony Avent
Share Tweet Fancy +1
Hosta Myth 1 - If you fertilize Hostas they will turn green.




Hosta 'Dixie Cups'
Reality - We see many consumers that still believe this. Obviously, this was perpetuated when H. 'Undulata' was the prevalent Hosta sold and nurseries didn't understand the process of viridescence. Hostas are actually very heavy feeders.

Hosta Myth 2 - Hostas are very drought tolerant.

Reality - Hostas hate dry soils. While they might last though one drought, a continuing drought will result in an irreversible decline and often a dry rot or disintegration of the crown. A Hosta that continues to grow well in what seems like dry soil has actually sent roots deep enough to find extra moisture.

Hosta Myth 3 - Hostas need to be regularly divided like daylilies.

Reality- This myth is probably perpetuated by neighbors who simply want divisions for themselves

Hosta Myth 4 - You can get rid of foliar nematodes by picking off the leaves that show damage.

Reality - I've had several nurserymen try to pass this one off as true. I guess you can convince yourself of anything if you want to believe it bad enough. The fact is that plants can be filled with nematodes and show no visible symptoms. The plants will still spread nematodes to other nearby plants...usually within 3 feet. The display of symptoms is cultivar specific. The only way to be sure that a particular plant is clean is with a nematode test.

Hosta Myth 5 - Hostas can only be divided in spring.

Reality - In fact, many commercial growers perform most of their dividing chores in the summer.

 Great Expectations

Hosta 'Autumn Frost' PP 23,224
Hosta Myth 6 - Hostas prefer shade.

Reality - While a few wild Hosta species actually grow in shade, the majority prefer some sun. In the wild, most Hosta grow either on rock cliffs or in sunny meadows...often with daylilies.

Hosta Myth 7 - When I have a mutation on a hosta, I should give it a name and introduce it.

Reality - Ideally, Hostas should only be named and introduced if they are an improvement. A green reversion of a variegated Hosta is almost never an improvement. Such introductions serve only to confuse the public and dilute the Hosta trade with junk.

Hosta Myth 8 - The myth of Originator's Stock (OS) as a different or better plant.

Reality - This is a brilliant marketing gimmick, where Hosta vendors have convinced customers that one particular division is worth 10 times another identical looking division. This "con" is based on the premise that the size of knife used to divide the clump somehow makes the clump better or different. Even normally intelligent people buy into this one. It doesn't matter if 100 different people handle or divide the clump. Either the plant being sold is the correct cultivar as named by the introducer or it is not.

Hosta Myth 9 - Tissue culture Hostas are inherently bad.

Reality - Nothing could be further from the truth. Without tissue culture, we would only have a fraction of the cultivars that are available today. Tissue culture is one of the best methods for cleaning up a Hosta with foliar nematodes. Just like with garden divisions, all reverted shoots must be removed and discarded. Obviously there are going to be more reversions in tissue culture, so attention to detail is critical. The bad reputation of tissue culture is due to labs that had poor quality control procedures.

Hosta Myth 10 - I like hostas, so I should start a Hosta nursery and make lots of money.

Reality - This one sounds really good in theory, but if an accountant took a look at the books of most small Hosta nurseries, they would recommend that you instead consider a passbook savings account or an extra job flipping burgers. The profit margins that seem huge to the public simply don't exist...especially now that the days of $200 Hosta introductions are long gone. If a Hosta is grown to a quality size, it will be one of the least profitable perennial crops that you can grow.



Check out all our hostas and our tips on how to grow Hosta."

 Liberty

'via Blog this'

Exaudi, The Sunday after the Ascension, 2017.

 Graphic by Norma Boeckler

Exaudi, The Sunday after the Ascension, 2017

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

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

Bethany Lutheran Church, 10 AM Central Daylight Time

The melodies are linked in the hymn name. 

The lyrics are linked in the hymn number.

• The melody site is linked here.
• TLH Lyrics site is linked here

The Hymn # 9            O Day of Rest                       

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 #259       Flung to the Heedless Winds

Faith, Memory, and Opposition

            

The Communion Hymn #625          Oh, Blest the House

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 #261                    Lord Keep Us Steadfast                   

 Graphic by Norma Boeckler

KJV 1 Peter 4:7 But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. 8 And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. 9 Use hospitality one to another without grudging. 10 As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

John 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:  27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning. 16:1 These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.  2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.  3 And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.  4 But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.

Prayer

Lord God, heavenly Father, we give thanks unto Thee, that through Thy Holy Spirit Thou hast appointed us to bear witness of Thy dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ: We beseech Thee, inasmuch as the world cannot endure such testimony, and persecutes us in every way, grant us courage and comfort, that we may not be offended because of the cross, but continue steadfastly in Thy testimony, and be found always among those who know Thee and Thy Son, until we 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.

Luther’s Two Sermons for Exaudi

Faith, Memory, and Opposition

John 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:

For all of us, the the first thing to remember about all references to the Spirit is that this also applies to the Word of God. The two are so closely related that one of the two really stands for both together. A parallel is found in the Two Natures of Christ. When we speak of Jesus, we always mean Jesus in His human nature and Jesus in His divine nature, but both are united in the One Person. 

This is similar and yet often neglected. The Holy Spirit only works through the Word and never apart from the Word. Because the Word always has divine energy and efficacy, the Word does the will of the Spirit...always, always, always.

1. The Word never returns void.
2. The Word always accomplishes God's will.
3. The Word always prospers God's will.Graphic by Norma Boeckler

So for example, we know from John 1 that the Creating Word is Jesus, so we have the Father commanding Creation in Genesis 1 and the Son of God carrying this action out - all things created by Him. So why does the Bible neglect the formal declaration of the Holy Spirit? Answer - because the Spirit hovers over Creation and witnesses to this Father-Son creation through the Word. Thus Genesis 1 as explained by John 1 reveals the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Whenever the Father-Son relationship is emphasized, the Spirit is teaching us, so once again, the Holy Trinity is taught hundreds of times without the formality of The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And besides that, many times all three are named together within two verses.

So we see that this lesson teaches us about God witnessing about Jesus through the Spirit, at first through preaching among the witnesses of the resurrection, later through the written, inspired, infallible witness of the New Testament. Rather than being left as orphans, the Apostles were to be sent the Holy Spirit to teach them, to bring to remembrance all Jesus taught, and to inspire their teaching and writing.

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth, so when people write in the Name of the Spirit, or speak in the Name of the Spirit, they can be tested by the witness of the Scripture. 

27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.

The Spirit bears witness and the Apostles will also witness about Jesus. So Jesus knew the disciples would be flattened, frightened, and in despair over the crucifixion, but rise to serve Him in the future, with His help and comfort.

The Scriptures do not simply write about believing but also about witnessing or confessing. "If you believe with your heart and witness with your mouth... Romans 10.

God's will is to have the Gospel shared, because the Word is effective in speaking its truth. However, when someone witnesses to the truth, opposition sets in, and that is the meaning of bearing the cross.

The opposition is shocking to us at first, but we think nothing about polishing gold, silver, and jewels. Opposition tests and polishes our faith, because each aspect of trust in Jesus is tested. One couple objected strongly to a sermon about infant baptism when I baptized their baby. Their Baptist relatives, who were invited, were offended, so the council president landed on me about that. 

Ever since being in school, last century, I have been treated as the village idiot for defended the historical accuracy of the Bible, the divinity of Christ, and more recently Justification by Faith. This opposition comes from within the visible church, which is what Luther wrote about, first from the monks and  bishops of Rome, then among his own followers. He said his own group did more harm to the Gospel than the pope  and Turks put together. (That was a hyperbole, an exaggeration to make a point. But now that could well be true.)

Lenski, p 1067

That is why Jesus now says that the disciples will have the Spirit with them and that he and they will both testify. The hatred of the world against the disciples will go on because they will go on with the testimony of Jesus, now having the Spirit at their side. Nothing is said in this connection about the success of this testimony; how it will win many from the world to faith in Jesus. The fact that the testimony of the Spirit and of the disciples certainly will not be in vain but will bear ''much fruit" has already.

Luther on Bearing the Cross versus Affliction

3. Now, by confession I must take upon myself the load of Satan, hell, death and the whole world — kings and princes, pope and bishops, priests and monks. By faith, everything falls that reason can or ever has devised for the salvation of the soul. It must chastise the apish tricks of the whole world, and its jewel alone must be praised. The world cannot endure this, therefore it rushes in, destroys, kills, and says: “It is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not,” as Caiaphas says in John 11:50. Thus, the confession must break forth, that God alone is the Savior; and the same confession brings us into danger of losing our lives. As the Lord says later to the disciples: “They shall put you out of the synagogues.”

4. One cannot paint the cross differently than it is here painted; that is its true color. But the cross of illness — to lie in bed at home ill — is nothing compared with the cross of persecution. The first is indeed suffering: but the suffering is golden when we are persecuted and put to death with ignominy; when our persecutors have the praise; when right and honor apparently are on their side, while shame, disgrace and injustice are on our side, compared with the world that wishes them thereby to have God’s honor defended, so that all the world says we are served right and that God, the Scriptures and all the angels witness against us.

16:1 These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.

The word offended is easily misunderstood, because everyone is offended about everything, no matter how trivial. But the word comes from the trigger of a trap, the kind that grabs a person or animal, with death expected. 

Bad experiences can be a trigger that serve to kill faith because they were unexpected and unwelcome. Persecution is the best example. All those highly educated clergy will make fun of me and drive me away for believing the plain language of the Bible? That is the last straw.

Jesus built up His disciples in advance, to warn them about bearing the cross. They could absorb or understand all of His final messages but the Spirit brought them to remembrance afterwards and they were written down to strengthen us.

Those who persecute the true Gospel congratulate themselves and give each other high-fives and shiny awards for being brave confessors of the Word. But when questioned, they fly into a rage when flattery will not work. They give people a chance to repent of the Scriptures, then shun them, and rejoice in the evil done to them. Thus many clergy have been disposed of, shunned by fellow clergy. So have many laity, who give up on established church bodies.

2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.

That was true then and even more true now. Christians are being persecuted, tortured, imprisoned, and killed all over the world - because of their faith and their witness.

What makes this especially irksome is their delight in doing so. We see that in the terrorist killings, where they videotape their work and brag about it. 

One person was a member of the church we attended in St. Louis. I spoke to him often and went out to lunch with him. When I questioned forgiveness without faith, I became the enemy. He phoned to see if I had read the LCMS Theses on Justification without Faith (not the actual title). I said yes, and he slammed his old-fashioned phone down as hard as he could.

Likewise, that congregation told Herman Otten he would get no money if he ever printed anything else by me in the future. Otten obeyed St. Mammon and joined the boycott. The person who led this boycott was also a friend I talked to often and visited at his home.

This only led me to study computer science and how I could use website design to publish books, which led to blogging and almost 6 million views so far.

As Luther wrote in other places, opposition is good because it not only shows us what is good but helps us with a better understanding of the truth. Nothing makes an article of faith more interesting than the pious saints trying to destroy it for no Scriptural reason. 

Truly, the painful part of this is how they really think they are working for God in their antics, attitudes, and boycotts. Their histories are "____ Years of God's Grace", but they tear down the Means of Grace, which mean nothing to leaders who reject the efficacy of the Gospel in the Means of Grace.

Question - Was I born forgiven and saved?

Answer - Yes, isn't that great news?

Question -  But how do I know I am forgiven and saved?\

Answer - If you agree with Walther. Rambach, and us that the entire world was forgiven and saved at the cross, then you are forgiven and saved.

Question - But what about Luther?

Answer - We don't worship Luther. He didn't even want the name Lutheran to be used.

Question - Now I am confused.

Answer - Don't think too much about this. Trust me. (Synod President)

The above is a compend of ridiculous conversations others have had about Justification by Faith.

 Graphic by Norma Boeckler

3 And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.  

This takes a long time to grasp, but the Gospel is thinly sown. Many church leaders are de facto atheists who have found a comfortable living in mouthing the words without believing them.

I would be hard put to name any modern theologian (apart from Sasse) who believed or believes anything. They are philosophers who love to play with words and dazzle the audience with their vast knowledge of trivial facts.

Notice the Luther clergy conferences where the main issues are not taught with clarity, but fussy, prissy topics are dragged around, here and there, like wayward kittens. No one learns anything worthwhile, but they say, "Oh, that was such a good talk on the furtive patha in the Old Testament. I hope you discuss vowel pointing next time." Answer - "I am working on that right now."

Unbelief is the majority opinion, which is why Luther (following John, Paul, and the Spirit) always taught faith in Christ Jesus.

4 But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.

Our memories are a great blessing that God has given us. We can fill them and renew them with bad stuff, or we can follow the Bible's advice about recalling and using the Gospel, hymns, psalm, and spiritual songs. 

One idea displaces the other when we think, so the Gospel displaces Satan's temptations, which are great and energetic, as keen as a fresh knife blade. 

Here is a simple one to defeat Satan's efforts to drag people back into despair and self-destruction - "Believing is forgiveness of sin." That is Luther's basic condensation of the Gospel. How do I know everything is forgiven and forgotten by God? Believing is forgiveness. I cannot add anything to that, no crying, no suffering, no acts to make up for what I have. Good things come from forgiveness but they do not cause or complete the requirements. The only requirement is to trust the Gospel Word, that believing in the Savior means receiving the forgiveness of sins through Gods' gentle grace and great comfort.