Fall and Winter - The Tiny Things Matter Most

Vanilla Spice is another form of Clethra.

I was discussing fall and winter with famed editor Virginia Roberts, who is well acquainted with science. I had a copy of Darwin's Black Box to share. I do not argue Creation from science, but I enjoy discussions about the topic. I have yet to see "science" contradict Creation.

We discussed how the tiniest parts of Creation are the most fascinating, because they carry out complex operations perfectly. We all know the answers to the behavior of animals - instinct. Why do first-time mothers take care of their young so well? Answer - instinct. Why do bees do a dance to lead their colleagues back to food? Answer - instinct. Why do birds fly South for the winter? Answer - instinct. We should not ask Who wrote the software for this instinct, all instincts working in perfect harmony. But what drives the bacteria, fungus, protozoa, and other microbes?

Darwin's Black Box argues that evolution was easier to sell when no one knew the workings of nature at the microscopic level. In essence, technology and research have undermined the foundations of evolution.

I have either done or avoided most of the work. Now the autumn rains, leaves, and mold start the winter tasks. The old chemical gardeners thought green = nitrogen = growth, but I think rotting leaves = carbon = fungal growth. Nobody would put on nitrogen fertilizer in the fall, though it works on grass - if grass is your passion. And strangely, people treat these useful, power-packed leaves as toxic invaders of the yard and garden. Rake them, burn them, haul them away! I like their attitude - I take their piles of leaves and improve my soil over winter months. I can be standing in piles of leaves in the early spring and yet have none in the late spring - all turned into soil ingredients by earthworms and mites.

Meanwhile, the roots work all winter to improve their fantastic network with fungi, the fungal growth fed by carbon.

Our little congregation is similar. We are few and scattered. But by God's design and will, we use the Word to spread the Gospel in many ways. Sassy and I walk door to door, but we also go country-to-country through the Net, with followers all over the world. In the old days, anonymous scolds made a point to say how nobody read the blog, nobody gave any credibility to the factual reporting, the doctrinal discussions. I miss copying the comments into the main body of the blog so people could observe their eructations forever and ever.

H. C. Leupold on the Six-Day Creation

 In the late 1980s, Trinity Seminary was coaching its graduates on how the evade "the question" from call committees. This is the resulting lawsuit - which you do not want to read. Trinity is now a part of Cap University, ELCA.

Some distinguished professors and authors who taught at the seminary:

1. R. C. H. Lenski
2. H. C. Leupold
3. Matthias Loy

Herbert Carl Leupold on the Historicity of the Creation account in Genesis:

We are utterly out of sympathy with such an attitude; for it does not conform to the facts of the case. Nothing in the book warrants such an approach. It is rather a straightforward, strictly historical account, rising, indeed, to heights of poetic beauty of expression in the Creation account, in the Flood story, in the record of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac, in Judah’s plea before Joseph, and the like. But the writer uses no more of figurative language than any gifted historian might, who merely adorns a strictly literal account with the ordinary run of current figures of speech, grammatical and rhetorical.

Leupold. Exposition of Genesis. 1942. Introduction

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Dr. Herbert Carl Leupold, Columbus, Ohio, was born at Buffalo, N. Y., on July 23, 1891. He received his early education in the Lutheran parochial schools at Buffalo and later finished his elementary and secondary education in the Buffalo public schools. He received his pre-seminary and seminary training at the Martin Luther Theological Seminary at Buffalo, NY., which was discontinued when the Buffalo Synod became a part of the American Lutheran Church. Dr. Leupold graduated from the Martin Luther Seminary on June 24, 1914.

Thereupon he served as pastor of a mission, Ascension Lutheran congregation in Buffalo, and at the same time held an assistant professorship at the Martin Luther Seminary until 1922. He served as professor of historical theology at the Martin Luther Seminary from 1922 to 1929. In 1929, when the Buffalo Synod dosed Martin Luther Seminary, Dr. Leupold was transferred to the Evangelical Lutheran Theological Seminary at Capital University, Columbus, O., where he became professor of Old Testament Theology, in which capacity he is serving at the present time. He was elected secretary of the Theological Seminary faculty in 1941.

Dr. Leupold received the Bachelor of Divinity degree from the Chicago Seminary in 1926 and the Doctor of Divinity degree from Capital University in 1935. Dr. Leupold has gained renown as an Old Testament scholar and an authority on liturgics. He has become a well-known lecturer and writer in these fields.

Consolation - Faith in the Death and Resurrection of Christ

Artwork by Norma A. Boeckler

This consolation we find in the words of Christ: “He shall testify of me,” for outside of this testimony of the Holy Spirit concerning Christ there is no sure and abiding consolation. The words “of me” ought therefore to be written in large letters and well remembered. They teach us that the Holy Spirit, when He comes to console, preaches no other doctrine, not the law, nor anything else but Christ, since it is impossible to comfort the troubled hearts except by preaching Christ’s death and resurrection.

Luther. House Postil Vol. 2. “Sunday After Ascension. (Exaudi.) John 15.26-16:4.”

 Artwork by Norma A. Boeckler

The Faithless Want to Lecture Us about Faith. Misdirection in the Sam Huber Lectures

Here I Misunderstand - 
The Sam Huber Lectures in North Dakota

More than one person has noticed that the least able are trotted out to defend the creaky, sinking barge known as Objective Justification. Why not feature the men and women with the synodical honors and PhDs? But no - we keep hearing the dogmatics notes from seminary, endlessly repeating the same drivel from Pietism.

"It's all about the Benjies, brethren. I will teach y'all about fishing for funds, for only $100 a month."

One guess is that no one wants to be painted into the corner with synodical elections coming up. True, they never change anything for the better, but some hope to gain or retain power, perks, and the Benjies. Just remember what they say at the car factory - "It's all about the Benjies." Kudu Don Patterson can explain that timeless truth, for $100 a month contributed to his coaching business.

So let's talk about a topic they know nothing about - faith. The faithless opportunists, even smug about their supplies of snake oil,
will talk about faith, but only on their terms.

"The doctrine of subjective justification is that we receive this forgiveness and righteousness only through faith in the gospel of Christ." Rolf Preus, Sam Huber Lectures

Notice that Rolfie One-Note lacks the courage to quote me verbatim and give the source. But - since no one else is skewering his claims - one must assume who the target is.

There is no "doctrine of subjective justification," because it is not taught (the meaning of doctrine) in the Bible, the Church Fathers, Luther, the Lutheran Reformation, or the Book of Concord. If anything, the early post-Concord theologians argued against the creeping Calvinism and Pietism of the OJ/SJ claims. This has been proven by Dr. Robert Preus, whose final book is studiously ignored by its supposed co-editor, Rolfie One-Note.

Also, there is no "doctrine of objective justification," just a leftover from late Pietism, which was heavily influenced by Calvinism. The idea of Pietism was to blend Lutheran and Zwingli-Calvin theology. From the General Synod to the Missouri Synod, the founders in America came from Halle Pietism or its subordinate branches.

OJ is Anti-Gospel, Rolfie, Not THE GOSPEL

"The doctrine of subjective justification is that we receive this forgiveness and righteousness only through faith in the gospel of Christ." Rolf Preus, Sam Huber Lectures

Rolfie One-Note would have us understand that universal forgiveness and salvation - without faith - is THE  GOSPEL. Moreover, God has declared this as a judgment (the meaning of justification) but in a way so mysterious that fanatical adherents cannot pin down when this happened or where this gem is revealed. Yay, more than a gem - it is the Diamond of OJ (WELS).

 The zircon of OJ fools those with no knowledge of the Scriptures and no spiritual discernment.

Rolfie One-Note wants to trade the Biblical concept of faith for trust in the false doctrine of Universalism. Since OJ is universal forgiveness and salvation, OJ is the Anti-Gospel.

The Preus clan and its devoted camp followers want to demand all the time - "What is the object of faith?" Their answer is "The Absolution of the World - without faith." 

They are like the car repairman who said, "Trust me. Your car needs all these repairs." I took down notes and asked for a response from a certified repairman, who said, "He does not know what he is talking about! Nothing he says is correct."