The Festival of the Reformation, 2018. Biblical Doctrine Caused the Reformation

Books by Norma A. Boeckler

The Festival of the Reformation, 2018

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

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

Bethany Lutheran Church, 10 AM Central Daylight Time - 

Daylight Savings Is Over Next Sunday

Hymn # 262      A Mighty Fortress         

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 Hymn #387:5-10     Dear Christians One and All            

Biblical Doctrine Caused the Reformation

The Communion Hymn #267   If God Had Not Been on Our Side                    

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 

           

KJV Revelation 14:6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, 7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

KJV Matthew 11:12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. 13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. 14 And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come. 15 He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Collect

O almighty, eternal God: We confess that we are poor sinners and cannot answer one of a thousand, when Thou contendest with us; but with all our hearts we thank Thee, that Thou hast taken all our guilt from us and laid it upon Thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and made Him to atone for it: We pray Thee graciously to sustain us in faith, and so to govern us by Thy Holy Spirit, that we may live according to Thy will, in neighborly love, service, and helpfulness, and not give way to wrath or revenge, that we may not incur Thy wrath, but always find in Thee a gracious Father, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

 

Martin Luther - by Norma A. Boeckler

Background for Sermon

Beginnings - Encouragement
The supervisor of the Augustinian order, Staupitz, encouraged Luther to pursue his emphasis upon Biblical teaching and made him earn a doctorate in Biblical studies in order to teach it.

Authority - Our Choice Changes Everything
Luther made the Scriptures - as God's only revelation - the authority for all Christian teaching. At the time, Rome made the papacy the ultimate authority for everything, secular and religious. The secular rulers were the absolute authority in their realms.

By unhitching the authority of popes and kings, Luther set the stage for America's freedoms as a religious right.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That, to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

John 1:29. Romans 4:25, etc.

The Scriptures Are One Truth - Not a Claw Vending Machine

Luther reversed the tendency to treat the Bible as a claw-crane vending machine, where individual verses are grabbed to support a pre-existing dogma. When the false teachers of today say "Romans 4:25!" or "John 1:29!" they are returning to the Roman error still practiced by the Vatican, making the false prophets little Antichrists serving the Antichrist.

Historic Christianity treats the Bible as one infallible, inerrant harmonious Truth, so anyone who departs from this standard is already playing games with God's revelation. Luther revived this approach by teaching the Scripture against any error rather than making the human teachers our filters for God's revelation.

Divine Efficacy Includes the Holy Spirit in Every Word of the Bible
When people fall away from God's truth, they pretend the Holy Spirit is NOT united with the Word. This error of Enthusiasm  turns the Bible into Bartlett's Familiar Quotations. Luther has been used the same way, including a Luther Insult website. How juvenile!

God only acts and speaks through His Scriptures, so we take comfort in the Spirit bringing all blessings, forgiveness, Jesus Himself, even the thunderings of the Law, through the Word. Thus when the Word of God is preached and taught faithfully, God Himself acts according to His gracious will. The weakest, frailest, most timid person is as powerful as the Word. The greatest human sorrows are comforted by the Gospel Word. The terrors of the conscience are soothed by the guidance of the Spirit, who brings the grace of Jesus to us through the Means of Grace, the Word and Sacraments.

God's Time, Not Ours
God may act while we are asleep, or He may take centuries.

Faithfulness Is Success
Echoing Paul, Luther trusted the power of the Word to accomplish God's will in God's time. Reform means returning to the Word.

Clarity of the Word
The Word of God is so plain and clear that anyone can grasp the basic lessons. At the same time, there is so much truth to be mined that one can spend a lifetime of study and never obtain more than a fraction of the spiritual wisdom within the Bible.

A Very Long Sermon about Jesus
So many threads of discussion are started by so many people over the ages, but Luther summarized the Bible as "a very long sermon about the Man Jesus Christ."

Luther never neglected the main focus of the Scriptures - God becoming flesh so that His true, gracious nature could be taught to man in a way no one could miss - and that mankind would be warned against lack of faith in the Promises.

Biblical Doctrine Caused the Reformation

KJV Revelation 14:6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, 7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

Luther's life did not cause the Reformation. History informs us, at least when it is not filling us with illusions and fantasies. Most of history is lost to us, which is probably good. However, one aspect of our culture has been preserved intact since the beginning - The Word of God.

Bibles were available, but they were still rare - as all hand-copied books were. The Church of Rome, the only church in Europe, kept literacy alive, so the higher levels of clergy could read. But what was important?

1. Aristotle - because his work was in harmony with the Bible (?).
2. Aquinas - because he loved Aristotle and taught the Medieval dogmas of the papacy.
3. The Sentences of Lombard - because everyone said so.

If someone occupied himself in these areas, there was scant time to learn and appreciate the Scriptures. However, Luther wanted to know what God's Word taught. In earning a doctorate so he could teach (seldom done in WELS-ELS), Luther immersed himself in the Word. There was plenty of training in memorizing the Psalms, but this went far beyond monkish training.

Luther had an even more significant training - facing the issues of the times. There is no better way to learn the Scriptures and helpful (or toxic) books than to look for answers that are faithful to God's Word. The most deadly poison in the Lutheran Church today is the refusal to discuss doctrine with any level of seriousness. 

The St. Louis Seminary cried "Eighth Commandment" when two districts insisted on teaching the Biblical doctrine of Creation, which is directly related to the power and efficacy of the Word.

The Wisconsin Sect kicked a pastor out during discussions of Justification by Faith, in spite of public promises to continue the discussion at the next pastor conference.

ELCA is so sure of its dogma that they gladly let people leave as long as the members leave the endowments and buildings behind. WELS does one better by stealing the building and endowment back.

A Very Long Sermon

The trouble with most approaches to the Bible is that dignitaries start with their claims and seek to prove their verities with appropriate or inappropriate snippets from the Word.

Therefore, the key element is missed - the Bible exists to teach us about God becoming man, about faith in Him, about listening to His teaching so we see in Jesus and hear in His Words the true nature of God.

The Gospel of John is the key to God's communication through the Word. The language is so basic and simple that any foreign language - even Greek - can be learned from reading the Fourth Gospel. And yet, the Gospel is so profound it its teaching that one can study it repeatedly and still marvel at how much it reveals through the Spirit about God.

John's Gospel is key in its emphasis upon the Son and Father teaching and willing the same. No one can imagine that God the Father is ferocious and vindictive when we see the Father through the Son, witnessed by the Holy Spirit.

The message is God's love, a love so profound that the Son willingly laid down His life to die for the sins of the world. This is the great paradox. The unbelieving world hated and rejected Christ, but God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son.

Although most people would say they enjoy the passages of the Fourth Gospel we all know so well, such as the Little Gospel in 3:16 and the I AM sermons, the Spirit's clearest witness is attacked on all sides.

Worldly Wise Scholars
The worldly wise "scholars" have found hundreds of reasons - all bad - to move John's Gospel into centuries so late that they have little to do with Jesus, even less to do with the facts and the teaching of Christ. This has relegated St. John to a secondary place in the Bible for these great thinkers.

Clever Unbelievers - UOJ
The "Gospel protectors" of UOJ have misused John 1:29 to deny Justification by Faith and to make people feel guilty about faith. The less one believes, they imagine, the closer they are to the real Gospel, the Gospel of universal forgiveness and salvation without the Word, without faith.

Not Works, But Trust in the Works of Christ
No Gospel is clearer that believing in Jesus is forgiveness and salvation. We know from Paul's writing that salvation is either from works or from faith in Jesus.

But none of that is the Gospel, because God makes things happen with a Gospel or faith beginning. Believers do not know what they are starting or where it will go. They only have faith in the Savior and feel moved to do this or that. No one knows the end of teaching because its influence never ends. Some things start and then stop; the Gospel rain moves on because people are ungrateful when the Gospel is most abundant.

We had no rain, then good rain and even more rain. Everything holding rainwater overflowed because there was no reason to pour water on soaked plants. I began thinking, I could use more sunshine and warm weather. 

That is why those who have seen the most doctrinal turmoil are the most appreciative. Then comes along the temptation to keep everything placid and calm. So we can discern the history of abundance and want. If the abundance goes on long enough, apathy is almost impossible to address. However, false teachers are never content to let the Gospel take root, so they create conflict and a chance to separate the good from the bad, the healthy from the toxic.

God does not allow any evil to last, but uses the power of the Holy Spirit in the Word to make something good out of evil. I visited a jail and taught basic doctrine to them. One man got out and went to his old haunts and taught his friends, the ones who helped get him into trouble, about their need for repentance and faith in the Savior. I did not expect this, nor did the jailer, but the Gospel moved him to leave the City of Destruction (Pilgrim's Progress), warning the others.

The Gospel is all goodness and blessing, which is what God wants for us, no matter where we start. When faith takes root and grows, the power of constant - daily forgiveness energizes the individual. Instead of conflict eating up the person, peace takes over and moves the individual to increase the blessings for others. There is no boundary or limit for the blessings of the Gospel. They inhabit the believer and overflow into all areas of life.

 Books by Norma A. Boeckler

Background for the Reformation Service

Beginnings - Encouragement
The supervisor of the Augustinian order, Staupitz, encouraged Luther to pursue his emphasis upon Biblical teaching and made him earn a doctorate in Biblical studies in order to teach it.

Authority - Our Choice Changes Everything
Luther made the Scriptures - as God's only revelation - the authority for all Christian teaching. At the time, Rome made the papacy the ultimate authority for everything, secular and religious. The secular rulers were the absolute authority in their realms.

By unhitching the authority of popes and kings, Luther set the stage for America's freedoms as a religious right.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That, to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

The Scriptures Are One Truth - Not a Claw Vending Machine

Luther reversed the tendency to treat the Bible as a claw-crane vending machine, where individual verses are grabbed to support a pre-existing dogma. When the false teachers of today say "Romans 4:25!" or "John 1:29!" they are returning to the Roman error still practiced by the Vatican, making the false prophets little Antichrists serving the Antichrist.

Historic Christianity treats the Bible as one infallible, inerrant harmonious Truth, so anyone who departs from this standard is already playing games with God's revelation. Luther revived this approach by teaching the Scripture against any error rather than making the human teachers our filters for God's revelation.

Divine Efficacy Includes the Holy Spirit in Every Word of the Bible
When people fall away from God's truth, they pretend the Holy Spirit is NOT united with the Word. This error of Enthusiasm  turns the Bible into Bartlett's Familiar Quotations. Luther has been used the same way, including a Luther Insult website. How juvenile!

God only acts and speaks through His Scriptures, so we take comfort in the Spirit bringing all blessings, forgiveness, Jesus Himself, even the thunderings of the Law, through the Word. Thus when the Word of God is preached and taught faithfully, God Himself acts according to His gracious will. The weakest, frailest, most timid person is as powerful as the Word. The greatest human sorrows are comforted by the Gospel Word. The terrors of the conscience are soothed by the guidance of the Spirit, who brings the grace of Jesus to us through the Means of Grace, the Word and Sacraments.

God's Time, Not Ours
God may act while we are asleep, or He may take centuries.

Faithfulness Is Success
Echoing Paul, Luther trusted the power of the Word to accomplish God's will in God's time. Reform means returning to the Word.

Clarity of the Word
The Word of God is so plain and clear that anyone can grasp the basic lessons. At the same time, there is so much truth to be mined that one can spend a lifetime of study and never more than a fraction of the spiritual wisdom within the Bible.

Krauth - Not Ashamed of the Chief Article

 No, they are Jesuiterans, the UOJ/CG faction that lusts for union with ELCA and Rome.

I long to be like ELCA,
because they have the loot;
I long to be like ELCA,
they bear such lively fruit;
I long to be with ELCA,
amid the Thrivent thugs,
to sing the pothead praises,
to take the ELCA's drugs.
Sing to Aurelia

She claims a historical right to exist. Her history proves her divine origin and necessity; and as our Church has been needed in the past, so is she needed in the present. She is needed not only for her motherhood to her own children, but for the great wants of Christendom and of the world. She is needed as a witness to that doctrine which is conceded in terms by the whole Protestant world, but which is invaded primarily or by necessary inference by every system which is at war with ours — the doctrine of Justification by Faith. Inadequate views of the person and work of Christ; false views of election and reprobation; of the means of grace, the Word and Sacraments; the mode and subjects of Baptism; the nature of the validity and efficacy of the ministry, — all are in conflict, covertly it may be, but really, with the true doctrine of Justification by Faith. Romanism and Ritualism directly assail it; Rationalism destroys it; Fanaticism, sometimes with an affectation of zealotry for it, confounds justification by faith with justification by sensation, and leads the penitent to rest, not on the old, eternal promise, but on a new personal revelation. No Church holds the doctrine of Justification by Faith in that consistent integrity and harmonious relation within itself and with all other doctrines, in which it is held and confessed in the Lutheran Church.
From Charles Krauth. “The Relations Of The Lutheran Church To The Denominations Around Us.” paper given at the First Free Lutheran Diet, 1877. Lutheran Library Publishing Ministry, Alec Satin.

 "I will sell you the Truth about Luther, which will tear down the Reformer and prepare you for the final steps into ELCA and union with Rome. You will be incensed."

Judge the Words of the False Teachers - The Ones They Use and the Ones They Abhor

 Books by Norma A. Boeckler

We must discern the spirits and judge the words the false teachers use - or abhor.

The Jesuiterans (Lutheran Jesuits) abhor Justification by Faith and the Means of Grace, following the example of their Enthusiast masters.

Christian News should be using those terms in October, especially in its Deformation issue. Funny how one letter turns the Reformation into the Deformation. But a lot of human effort is behind the change.

The October 29th issue does not mention Justification by Faith at all, not once. The Means of Grace? - same result, zero for October 29th. The October issues are similar. With the use of Justification by itself, or Objective Justification, a simpleton from Mordor would assume that Justification means universal salvation without faith.

 I have seen too many magic acts to be fooled by an amateur using the same tricks, but without skill or talent.

Rolf is quoted in the 10-29-2018 issue of CN, based on his epoch lectures in North Dakota. He is the Williston Wonder, but all the fracking in the world cannot distill the Gospel from his Enthusiastic Pietism.

“The denial that God required the bloody sacrifice of his Son to satisfy his wrath is a denial of the vicarious satisfaction. It is a denial that Jesus is the propitiation for our sins. This denial of the vicarious atonement became part of the official dogmatic textbook for much of the ELCA in the publication of Braaten and Jensen’s (sic) Dogmatics in 1984, two years before the formation of the ELCA. We read:..." Deformation issue, p. 5.

This sounds like a genius announcing that water is wet and the sky blue. Boo hiss, Braaten and Jenson, even though some in LCMS-WELS-ELS think their partner Forde (rhymes with murdah) is a great theologian.

The lectures are - once again - Objective Justification, so the words used refer to that peculiar falsehood about the Atonement being the universal declaration of forgiveness and salvation of the world, without the Word (Enthusiasm). So - just as much as Braaten and Jenson - Rolf denies the Atonement.

I tried valiantly to follow Rolf's lectures, and commented on them. He clearly tried to answer the monstrous flaws in his thinking, but was fearful of addressing objections honestly or quoting/citing sources.

This continues the Jesuiteran method of warning about a great threat to Holy Mother Sect without simply saying, "I, Rolf, son of Bob, son of Jake Preus, reject and repudiate Justification by Faith, the Means of Grace, and the efficacy of the Word."

 Why did Rolf fail to mention this book, which he supposedly helped edit? I know from his father's lectures that he loved Quenstedt and wanted to name a son after Q.

Let Us Make Good Use of the Resurrection

 Books by Norma A. Boeckler

From Luther's House Postil, "Second Easter Sermon. On The 28th Chapter Of St. Matthew."

 

 

...let us make good use of the resurrection of Christ, coming unto Him as to our brother, in whom we have all confidence, fully believing that His life is the guarantee of our salvation and our defense from all wrath to come. If we were firm in this belief no misfortune could disturb us; for amid all suffering which may fall to our lot, we know that Christ liveth and that we shall live with Him.

 

Why should the fact of our earthly sufferings distress us, when we are sure of eternal happiness in Christ; or why should we entertain enmity toward those who abuse us? We ought rather to pity them, since by their hatred and envy toward us they clearly show that they are not of this brotherhood and can have no part in the eternal inheritance.

 

Question - What Is the Difference Between a Roman Catholic Seminary and a Missouri Synod Seminary?

 Dancing Word asked, "What is the difference between a Roman Catholic seminary and a Missouri Synod seminary?"

 The difference is - "Missouri Synod seminaries have more Catholics!"

 Dancing Word - "Thanks!"

Deadly Garden of Toxins. When Will They Learn? Jesuiterans Are the Leaders

 The wealthy in Britain distributed Giant Hogweed because it was impressive and attracted beneficial insects. Its sap puts people in the hospital. Does it sound stupid to spread it? The saps of Lutherdom have paid to go to Fuller Seminary and Willow Creek, to spread the toxins. As they say in the Poison Garden below, the plants need human intervention to cause harm.

I finally got my own copy of Malachi Martin's The Jesuits. He was a Jesuit priest and academic who semi-left the order and criticized the modernistic tendencies of the Vatican.

I told people as soon as they complained about Pope Francis, "He's a Jesuit." That is the worst of insults in Catholicism. It means conniving, Sodomite, dishonest, Marxist, always lusting for power, amoral. The applause of the world press was another warning sign - not that the previous popes were angels. But let's digress from the Catholic Jesuits to compare them to the LCMS-WELS Jesuits.

Those who start to read The Jesuits will immediately see the parallels. WELS and Missouri have their own overlapping power group that exists and controls their synods and have their own power. The power base of both synods overlaps along the same lines:

1. Universal Objective Justification;
2. Fuller, Willow Creek, Trinity Divinity, and other inanities;
3. Repudiation of Luther's Biblical doctrine.

They not only own the schools and official presses, but also Christian News, LutherQueasies, and Dead Last Lutherans. The ELS and CLC sic are wholly owned subsidiaries of the Lutheran Jesuits.

Yes, Otten has been behind every LCMS pope since Jack Preus - and spikes stories for the WELS SPs too.

Otten joined with the opportunistic Preus brothers in smashing Walter A. Maier II - for teaching Justification by Faith. Jack and Robert Preus mixed up a Waldorf Salad of words against Luther's doctrine. Their thralls gathered up mountains of Waltherian evidence to arm the apostates against faithful Lutherans.

The Reformation issue of Christian News (haha) sells the vituperous pack of Roman lies called The Facts about Luther.

O'Hare also engaged in a nasty and  very public dispute with the Pastor of St. James Lutheran Church on Milton Street just down a few houses from his parish. When Reverend Frank Oswald praised Martin Luther as a model for the German family O’Hare published a scorching attack on Luther in the parish circular. It was titled “Luther and his Immoral Life” and stated that saying that Luther taught the German nation morality was “A gross slander.” 

 Here is the original Cochlaeus cover - Luther as a monster guarding Hell. Why not be honest and sell this booklet? Maybe the family could self-publish it and get Cascione to illustrate it.

Otten's has "always sold" this dishonest book of lies plagiarized from a crazy who hated Luther and wanted to win points with the papacy - Seven-Headed Luther.

Another weak excuse is "I sell to both sides of the issue." There is a man after the Jesuits' hearts: appear to be on one side, then switch to the other.

Shun and shriek - it works to suppress dissent.

The only way to understand the Lutheran Jesuits is to see how they have invaded all areas and stand ready to shriek at anyone who touches upon their weaknesses. In addition, their network will shun anyone who has violated their canon law.

I do mean shriek. I have had pastors phone me, shriek at me, and slam their phone down (good old days). The ultimate for one was the fact that his brother clergy fed me all kinds of facts that he was trying to deny. Two ELS pastors phoned me (after refusing to talk to Chris, though she knew them) to yell at me that I had no credibility. I naturally asked why two pastors phoned long distance to say no one paid attention to what I wrote.

The Jesuit Lutherans have total control and agreement at the top, and yet they pretend their UOJ is something superior to ELCA's UOJ.

"Our wistful little starr
Was far too high..."

The Jesuit Lutherans complain about the pastors of the ELCA, but gladly work with their clergy - male, female, undecided. So the Jesuiterans offer a choice in their midst:

1. Strut around the stage in picnic clothes, teaching UOJ;
2. Mince around the chancel in theatrical costumes, spouting UOJ.

“A name is a claim — and a false name is a stereotyped lie. Hence the responsibility of assuming or tolerating a name is in itself very great. A name is in itself a creed; a man is bound to what the name really means which he bears, and no amount of private disavowal neutralizes the obligations and responsibility of it. While a man calls himself Roman Catholic, Methodist or Calvinist, he binds himself to be Roman Catholic, Methodist or Calvinist, and we are bound to treat him as such. If he privately repudiates the claim of his Church name, so much the worse for his intelligence and sincerity. . . .

“We must also look with very different eyes on those bodies whose historical record and present acts are in accordance with the official principles on which they rest their right to exist; and those which desert the principles which gave them name, creeds and position — those bodies which exist on one principle and act on another, which lengthen out their lives by abandoning what they once considered sacred, ignoring their history, concealing their confessed doctrines, or evading the necessary consequences of them, and who make their name and their very existence a fraud, — and whose intensest hatred is inflicted on those who remind them of their history, and of the doctrines which gave them their original being.

[emphasis added]

Charles Krauth. “The Relations Of The Lutheran Church To The Denominations Around Us.” paper given at the First Free Lutheran Diet, 1877. Source, Alec Satin, Lutheran Library Publishing Ministry

Learning about Beneficial Insects in the Creation Garden

The Creation Garden should start with insects, which will have a profound effect on the final outcome, perhaps turning the gardener into an etymologist. This video wobbles around a lot, but the content is good. The topic demands Hollywood studio equipment to zoom in on the wee little creatures without scaring them away.

Most people would like a neater garden than the one displayed, but the principles are the same. If gardeners plan for beneficial insects and spiders, they will decrease pest damage to almost zero, without cost and without man-made toxins.

The names are enough to make anyone dizzy at first. How do I know which plants to encourage for which beneficials? The answer is simple - encourage some and let God sort out the feeding and breeding.

1. Never use pesticides in the garden. Weed-killers and fungicides are also discouraged. The only exceptions for weed-killers would be an obnoxious public nuisance, like Poison Ivy, Giant Hogweed, or Poison Hemlock.
2. Every member of the carrot family is friendly to beneficials, including carrots blooming in their second year. The carrot flowers in the video look like Queen Ann's Lace, which is called Wild Carrot. Some would yank the QAL in the yard. I encourage it and plant more along the margins.
3. Plants with a distinctive fragrance and tiny flowers attract the best insects, albeit without producing photogenic flowers. Such plants are beautiful with a macro lens: Borage and Mint families.
4. Most plants in the herb section are attractive to beneficials.
5. A plant can be big and ugly, like Comfrey, yet make up for its bulk and plain appearance by producing hundreds of flowers for butterflies and bees.

Unusual and Fun Plants

Most of us have a basic knowledge of plants, and we look for old favorites, which remind us of the past. Here are some examples of new plants that surprised me, several from Almost Eden next door.

Joe Pye Weed

I kept hearing this name and finding the plant gone later in the season. Finally I ordered two and saw them reach a respectable size the first year. Beware of such a modest start. The second year it reached its full size, blooming at 6 - 7 feet, with large lavender flowers. The plant smelled like foot cream but the flowers are more like vanilla. In the first and second years, butterflies and beneficials always flocked around it and flew away from the bloom. Late in the season it can look old and weedy, true to its name, but new plant and flower growth continue. Always order this one early.

Clethra - Summer Sweet - Cinnabon Shrub - Prima Donna

I obtained two of these from Almost Eden and moved them to the rose garden once Chaste Tree elbowed them aside. This one is a star and deserves a place of honor. It grows about 5 feet tall and blooms later in the season, like Joe Pye. When I bumped its flowers in the past, tiny insects would exit, almost like pixie dust. After I gave the two shrubs a spotlight in the front, I noticed the shrub's unique sweet cinnamon fragrance. If I forget the shrub, a damp breeze from the garden reminds me of its star status.

Chaste Tree - Medicine Shrub 

This shrub loves the sun, hates being watering, comes alive from pruning, and smells like lineament. Twice I did my extra one wrong. Twice I went back to the directions and pruned it back hard. Both times a sickly or dead shrub burst into leaves again. This one will grow rather big for the garden but can be pruned easily. Its pure blue flowers are adored by bumble bees, so its constant supply and unusual looks are enhanced by the constant motion of the bees. Its oil is sold for a very high price.

Monarch Butterfly Rest Stop

What Do Schmauk and Ichabod Have In Common?

 Answer: - Both have degrees from Augustana College.
Schmauk's is honorary, which in those days was a great honor. Today a honorary degree grows from a big donation.

The formatting has been cleaned up and updated. Highly recommended to redownload it, or download it for the first time if you missed it:

Life and Teachings of Theodore E. Schmauk

Alec Satin

PS - The selection below is from that volume

---

5. The Lutheran Conception Of Salvation

Our trust is not salvation by science, and therefore we are against rationalism which sets man’s own thinking above the truth of God.

Our salvation is not by religious ceremony, and therefore we are against ritualism, which externalizes the service of God into a sacred and passing show.

Our salvation is not by tumultuous feeling, and therefore we are against emotionalism which makes light of facts and history and centers all on passing currents in the soul.

Our trust is not in salvation by meditation, and therefore we are against mysticism which raises the soul to God by an inner and poetic sight.

These are extremes and one-sided. From them spring Swedenborgianism, spiritualism. Christian Science, theosophy, occultism, and many of the superficial religions of the moment.

Lutheranism clings to God’s Written Word. Her motto is the Word of God, the whole Word of God, and nothing but the Word of God, not as a prescriptive letter, but as the power of God unto salvation.

In the law and the prophets, in the Gospels and Epistles, we find one mighty principle, the man who can stand before God and live, the man who is counted just in His sight, so to say the good man, is so by faith only. He is saved by his confidence in that which he finds in the written Word of God, by his trust in the blood of Jesus Christ which cleanseth us from all sin.

 Yale Divinity once had a large group of Lutheran professors.
This is the main library for the entire school - Sterling.

The Last Rose of Summer

 Queen Elizabeth - for Bethany and Erin Joy.

'Tis the last rose of summer
Left blooming alone;
All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone;
No flower of her kindred,
No rosebud is nigh,
To reflect back her blushes,
To give sigh for sigh.

I'll not leave thee, thou lone one!
To pine on the stem;
Since the lovely are sleeping,
Go, sleep thou with them.
Thus kindly I scatter,
Thy leaves o'er the bed,
Where thy mates of the garden
Lie scentless and dead.

So soon may I follow,
When friendships decay,
From Love's shining circle
The gems drop away.
When true hearts lie withered
And fond ones are flown,
Oh! who would inhabit,
This bleak world alone?

One reader asked about favorite music. I might have added to the list - folk music. There is nothing like the melodies that are sung from generation to generation and finally written down. Lyrics often follow the music by many generations: thus Danny Boy, the lyrics written by a Brit! A famous organist said to me, "No one writes folk music. It becomes folk music over time."

Growing up, I was held in my room against my will and given no food (felony kidnapping, CFW would approve) so I would practice the flute. In the course of many years of practicing, I played a lot of exercises, opera tunes, and folk songs. "The Last Rose of Summer" is ideal for the flute. The combination of words and melody can make anyone blubber, even a sober WELS DP.

Summer is often extended here. The trees are full of green leaves. No hard frost has arrived to paint the trees and put the persistent flowers into their winter sleep. Shocking to many, roses love cold rainy weather and produce some of their best blooms toward the end of the season.

So we never know when the last rose of summer has bloomed. A dedicated rosarian would let it go to seed and save its energy for next spring. However, I enjoy surprising people with additional blooms. Roses always create happiness when they appear.

One of my classmates, Jorja Beert, has written often about grief on Facebook. Our society acts as if grief ignored will simply go away. But these old nostalgic poems remind people that the pain is a measure of their joy in remembering those times.

 When we see this Veteran Honor rose, we think of veterans Pete Ellenberger and Dave Pearson.

The Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS) Officially Rejects Justification by Faith . And They Celebrate Their Rejection: The Awful Truth Behind the Preus Dynasty!

The ELS is

 No Justification by Faith alone? Nope.

***

 Omitting the Chief Article is a confession of error.

GJ - The issue with the Madison Settlement is that the big Norwegian Synod allowed for both versions of Justification:

1. Justification by Faith
2. Justification without Faith, aka Objective Justification, UOJ, Justification of the World, General Justification.

The little Norwegians agreed with the Pietistic, rationalistic, and Universalistic Objective Justification. One thousand of them left (but no Preus members) and were nicknamed the Little Norwegians. They considered themselves orthodox and probably did adhere to the original tenets of Norwegian Pietism. However, the Preus clan did not join this orthodox and only shifted over from the Big Norwegians during (Robert) and after (Jack) seminary. However, after moving for a break with the LCMS, Bob and Jack took calls in the LCMS immediately after.

As long as the leaders of the LCMS-ELS-WELS are Oblates of Walther Immaculate, they will promote their convenient Objective Justification, whether they believe anything or not. They are opportunistic, like Jack and Bob Preus.

However, even the poorly edited Justification and Rome, by Robert Preus, bears the scars and healing of this vast doctrinal error. Preus clearly identified and refuted Objective Justification, in his own words and the words of the post-Concord orthodox, when the influence of Calvinism and Pietism grew in the combo Lutheran churches enjoying the depredation of unionism.

Rolfie One-Note went to North Dakota to howl with the coyotes and teach the equivalent of Jeske's We Ran Out of Germans speech. He never mentioned his father's book on Justification, and Rolfie edited it!

 The ELS and Objective Justification - partners in piggery.

Rocking the Diabetic Clinic with Two Easy-Does-It Roses

Today's Easy-Does-It roses were a deep orange and a bloom that was completely pure orange, like the central bud in this one.

We know many fine medical people in this area, but our favorite - Melanie Sutton - deals with diabetes. She has always been an advocate for the right meds and measurement tools. She especially loves roses. Today, after our brief frost on Saturday, we still had two perfect Easy-Does-It roses with long stems. I placed them in a bud vase, which we accumulate in yard sales and hints to people about having more roses than vases.

Floribundas like Easy-Does-It are long on blooms, short on stems, but this one has long stems and "autumn colors" with orange variations.

The reception area lit up with the staff and patients enjoying the beauty and the sweet fragrance of the two roses. One staffer said, "I love it when you two come, because the office smells so good from the roses."

 This comes closer to autumn colors, but the variations are unpredictable.

I had a conversation with one nurse who loves cinnamon scent and butterflies, so I wrote down Clethra (Summersweet) for both interests and Joe Pye Weed for butterflies (with a vanilla flower and foliage-created medicinal scents). The beneficial insects seem to enjoy most the scented plants and those with tiny flowers.

Everyone had a good time, and the appointment went well on many levels. The blood test showed exceptionally managed blood sugar levels for three months.