Name the Next WELS Mission - Open Communion, Women Ministers, Ashamed of the Liturgy, Sacraments, and Creeds

WELS does not like "Lutheran" in the name of their new missions. Here are some names to use. No copyright - go ahead and steal this list:

• Gath Unity Fellowship
• Gath Family Center
• The Cutting Edge
• Gath Community of Joy
• The Popcorn Cathedral of Love
• Real, Relational, Relevant Place - Families Sued for Free
• Theology on Tap - We Commune with Beer
• Soccer Church - He Scores, We Win
• Individual Perspective Center - All Truths Are True
• Ran Out of Germans - Will Take Anyone Now
• GracePoint
• LovePoint
• FaithPoint
• FriendsPoint
• GodfathersPlace

The Only True Perspective - The Word of God

Can't see images? Click here... Comfort for Christians Quotes, Hymns and Devotions to Strengthen Your Faith The Essence of the Word of Christ “The whole spirit of the Word of Christ, one chief work of the Holy Ghost, and the gravest responsibility and deepest joy of those who confess Christ, is to bear witness to the truth as it is in Christ Jesus.” From The Confessional Principle by Theodore Schmauk, Chapter 4.

Theodore Schmauk - The Confessional Principle: Lutheran Library Publishing Ministry. A Great Book Full of Biblical Wisdom and Insights

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The Bible raises ten thousand questions. If you answer any one of them in your own way only, and without looking farther, and say, “This is what I believe,” you are setting up a personal creed of your own. If you simply content yourself with the assertion, “The Bible is my creed,” you are leaving unanswered many of the most important and vital questions of faith and life. And a Church’s answer, more than your own, must be ample to meet all questions. When you refuse to take a definite stand on vital issues in the Christian Faith, but say, “The Bible is my creed,” are you really confessing Christ, or are you taking the problems of religious life easy, and evading the unpleasant but important doctrines which the Spirit of God has brought to an issue in the development of the Faith and His Church in history? – Theodore Schmauk. The Confessional Principle

• A Book in Five Independent Sections
  • Historical introduction
  • Part 1: The Nature of the Christian Confessional Principle
  • Part 2: The Historical Rise and Development in Christianity of the Confessional Principle
  • Part 3: The Lutheran Confessional Principle – Nature, Origin, and Historical Development
  • Part 4: A Partial Application of the Lutheran Confessional Principle to American Conditions in the Twentieth Century
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A Book in Five Independent Sections

This is Dr. Schmauk’s magnum opus on Christian Confessionalism, a treasure of approachable, Biblically Conservative scholarship. Each section can be read separately.

Historical introduction

Part 1: The Nature of the Christian Confessional Principle

1 – The Question of a Confessional Foundation: What is the Question?

2 – How Is The Question To Be Discussed?

3 – What Are Confessions? Definitions.

4 – Does The Church Need Confessions?

5 – Do Confessions Constrict, Or Do They Conserve?

6 – Should Confessions Condemn and exclude?

7 – What Gives The Confession Validity?

8 – Do Confessions Bind?

Part 2: The Historical Rise and Development in Christianity of the Confessional Principle

9 – The Rise of the Confessional Principle in the Church

10 – The Development of The Confessional Principle in The Church

11 – The Confessional Principle In The Augsburg Confession

12 – The History and Tendency of The Confessional Principle in The Church

13 – The Confessional Use of The Word “Symbol”

Part 3: The Lutheran Confessional Principle – Nature, Origin, and Historical Development

14 – The Lutheran Confession

15 – The Origin of the Augsburg Confession. Kolde’s Introduction

16 – Melanchthon’s Unsuccessful Attempts as a Diplomatist. Kolde’s Essay

17 – Kolde on the First Known Draft, or Oldest Redaction of the Augsburg Confession, and its Discovery

18 – The Oldest Redaction of The Augsburg Confession

19 – The Hand of God in the Formation of the Augsburg Confession, as shown by the Course of Events in 1529 and 1530, and in the Letters of Luther, and of Melanchthon

20 – The Augsburg Confession Remained Unaltered

21 – The Augsburg Confession: The Further History of its Editions and Manuscripts. Kolde’s Essay, With A Summary of the Argument as it Bears on the Confessional Question, by T. E. Schmauk

22 – Protestantism Under The Augsburg Confession To The Death of Luther

23 – Protestantism From The Death of Luther To The Death of Melanchthon and to the Disintegration of Lutheranism

24 – Melanchthon and The Melanchthonian Principle.

25 – The Need of A Concordia Realized, and its Origin Attempted

26 – The Formula of Concord: its Origin Based on Kolde’s Introduction and on the Formula in Hauck

27 – The Introduction of The Concordia, and The Augustana Preserved

28 – Is The Formula of Concord A Confession?

29 – The Answer of a Providential Origin to the Question - Is the Formula a Confession?

30 – The Answer To The Criticism Made On The Motives and Men, as Touching The Question, Is The Formula A Confession?

31 – The Answer of The Formula’s Outer Form to The Question, Is The Formula A Confession?

32 – The Answer of The Formula’s Subject Matter, Touching The Question, Is The Formula of Concord a Confession?

33 – The Person of Christ and The Formula of Concord

34 – Concordia Is The Church’s Great Confession of Christ.

35 – What The Formula of Concord Accomplished As A Confession of The Lutheran Church.

36 – The Book of Concord. The Facts of its Origin and Publication. Kolde’s Essay.

Part 4: A Partial Application of the Lutheran Confessional Principle to American Conditions in the Twentieth Century

37 – From the Book of Concord to the Present Day

38 – The Book of Concord and Historical Lutheranism In America.

39 – The Confessional Principle of The Book of Concord and American Protestantism

40 – The Confessional Principle of The Book of Concord and Christian Cooperation

41 – The Confessional Principle of The Book of Concord and The Brotherhood of The Christian Church

42 – The Confessional Principle of The Book of Concord and the Future of the Church In America.

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Toxins Do Not a Garden Grow

There's a sale on toxins at the garden center?
No, this is enrollment day at Fuller Seminary.

On Facebook I told Jessica Walliser that I am gardening for beneficial bugs, butterflies, and spiders. She liked the remark, because she began with toxins and found out how well coordinated the creatures are in taking care of destructive pests.

I learned the Creation concept from my mother, who reminded everyone that most insects were beneficial and kept the destructive ones down. Rather than squeal over a bug, she would catch one and show its interesting features to children or adults, whoever was whimpering about them at the moment.

Last year was bad for June bugs (Japanese beetles) so I began the Milky Spore applications in the fall, when grubs fatten up. I  repeated the Milky Spore application this year. I saw a big reduction in rose damage and Japanese beetles from last year's effort. Milky Spore only hurts white grubs, so it does not upset the balance of nature, as they call Creation nowdays.

I keep reading up on ways to increase beneficial bug happiness, so I have these basic rules to guide what I plant:

1. Tiny flowers feed tiny insects, so overlooked plants are frequently the best ones for beneficial bugs.
2. The entire carrot family is attractive to beneficials: angelica, anise, asafoetida, caraway, carrot, celery, chervil, coriander, cumin, dill, fennel, hemlock, lovage, cow parsley, parsley, parsnip, queen ann's lace, (from Wiki).
3. The mint family is also beneficial-insect-friendly: basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savory, marjoram, oregano, hyssop, thyme, lavender, (from Wiki). Cat mint, horse mint, mountain mint.
4. Some others are: Chaste Tree, Joe Pye, and Summersweet, which have distinctive fragrance and attractive flowers.

As I wrote before, the result is not only a lively armada of flying insects, bees especially, but also butterflies large and small. Pesticides do nothing long-term to stop pests, but wipe out the creatures that get rid of pests by eating them, laying eggs near or in them. The garden benefits from thousands of insects and spiders, which serve to attract birds that feed from the arthropods (all joint-footed creatures).

 First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Moline, Illinois.
They had three services a Sunday with gimmicks. For some reason, they became empty and simply shut down the almost empty building.

Typical Fuller Day

We just came back from training at Fuller Seminary. There is a new program called This Phone's For You. They have started large congregations simply by using this phone program. The synod will pay for it.