Doting on a Plant in the Creation Garden

Once wimpy and not blooming, this crepe myrtle owns our cul-de-sace most of the summer, and reblooms too.

Doting - "to be lavish or excessive in one's attention, fondness, or affection"

I do not work very hard on plants; instead, I concentrate on the soil they grow in. Each year I dote on one or two plants and do everything possible to improve the soil.

When we moved here, we had a scrawny Crepe Myrtle that never bloomed. I pruned and manured it, gave it all kinds of excessive organic matter, including wood shavings and grass droppings from the lawn mower. I added red wiggler earthworms to help digest and pull down the amendments.I was startled to see how bags of mushroom compost and piles of autumn leaves could be devoured by the plant base. A friendly mole circled the plant base and ate the worms, but I did not mind. The stirring of the soil was good and the survivors would quickly build another colony.

My project for 2019 is to dote on the purple butterfly bush, supposedly the largest variety but not very big so far. I am not too keen on them for gathering butterflies, though they do entertain a few and stay in bloom if I prune them. The chief merit of this butterfly bush is the hummingbirds sipping from its flowers.

People always have similar answers when they are interviewed on the street about having a chance to ask God just one question. I would say, "Why did you create so many wonders with the tiniest creatures, often the most overlooked? Is it to give us encouragement in our own lives?"

The key to Creation gardening is ignoring everything they try to sell in the gardening department: insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, and man-made fertilization.

What is left? Mushroom compost, peat compost, manure, and mulch. Plastic trash cans converted to rain barrels are also good for real gardening.

 Butterfly bush makes our backyard smell like grape jelly.
Hummingbirds look for more than nectar - they need insects in their diets.

How Did I Dote in the Autumn of 2018?
I had a lot of leaves from a wild ginger plant. I put them around the base of the soon-to-be-spoiled butterfly bush. Next I dumped two bags of peat compost (Stinky Peat), which is wet manure mixed with peat moss. I had some wood mulch, so I added a generous layer of wood chips. Then I put bags of rotting leaves around and on the previous layers.

Coffee grounds always go on the butterfly bush.

Much rain followed. That means the roots had a chance to grow and aerate the soil, and soil creatures had the time and materials to multiply and do their work.

This is important - the ideal is to maximize the chemical swapping in the root zone - this goes on with life, death, and feeding. The eaten food is not gone but recycled into another creature.

Living roots provide most of the fertility in the soil and increase rain infiltration. When I prune the butterfly bush in the early spring, the roots will be triggered to grow even more, and the upper bush will sprout faster and bloom more - just like roses (John 15).

The organic mass I layered around the butterfly bush will decompose and feed the soil creatures, holding rainwater and gently hydrating the plant. I could buy tree diapers that do the same thing, but they cost about $20 each. No, they do not call them Treepends.

My goal is to have a generously blooming purple butterfly bush that will attract larger numbers of hummingbirds and butterflies.

 Buckwheat grows easily and seeds itself. 

Mobbing Is Another Word for Unbelieving Synod Officials with Dollar Signs in Their Eyes

The original MOBBING article is still getting attention on the Net. I was amused by the ALPB.org liberals in a state of denial about their methods, especially heresiarch David Benke, retired DP, DP, ex-DP, DP - LCMS.

Enabler Hall of Fame: WELS headquarters, DP Robert Mueller, VP Kuske, and the Michigan District pastors, George Orvick, John Shep, Jay Webber, and Roger Kovaciny.

I wrote a follow-up post on MOBBING, too. Few people realize the source of mobbing - the unbelieving officials - Synod Presidents, District Presidents, Circuit Pastors, and Bishops who meddle with congregations to protect the guilty and expel the faithful. Seminary faculties get involved too.

Never overlook the networks: Church Growth, women's ordination, lavender, and worse. They look out for each other and overlap in their agendas.

The system works because evil and incompetence are rewarded, and the absolved but unrepentant clergy become extra loyal and obedient to their organizations. If a pastor is involved in adultery in the course of counseling a troubled wife, he is promoted from the parish to a position as a mission counselor or Planned Giving Tetzel. If the newspapers find out, the only question among the leaders is not "How can we remove this sin?" but "Who told?" and life goes on.

The more someone is aligned to important people, by birth or marriage, the more he is protected from facing consequences. My example is well known:

1. Floyd Luther Stolzenburg was caught in the act, forced to resign, was divorced by his wife, and moved to Columbus, Ohio.
2. Even though Stolzenburg sat in the pew and insulted the circuit pastor during the sermon, whispering his remarks to a relative, Floyd was made the head of a Church Growth cancer "agency" funded by a rich man. Why? 
3. Columbus WELS people did not want the arrogant Stolzenburg doing this work, so even more money was given to have a second divorced pastor, Roger Zehms, share in the destructive work.
4. VP Paul Kuske was behind this - with Robert Mueller - and they always backed these two losers, who said, "We answer to nobody because we were called directly by the Holy Spirit."
5. Once the area was finally purged of Zehms and Stolzenburg, the WELS leaders got Floyd by backing his efforts to run Immanuel, where he still is.
6. Jay Webber and Roger Kovaciny raised money from Floyd Stolesomeburgers and Floyd bragged about his support of them and the ELS. Meanwhile, a large sum of money went missing from the parish funds. The police were invited to investigate, to satisfy the insurance agency. 

So guess what happens to anyone who questions the genius leadership of WELS-ELS? MOBBED.

After WELS stopped propping Stolzenburg up, the ELS took over. Kovaciny, backing Faithless Floyd, sent rants against me on email, so I forwarded them all to George Orvick and WELS officials. Webber had no problem working with Floyd and naming a Ukraine church after Floyd's Masonic parish.

Otten's Christian News Features Thrice-Married Phil Giessler - Above the Fold! He Received Schwan Money Too, Because St. Marvin Loved To Fund Adulterous Pastors. Ask UO Jay Webber about Floyd Luther Stolzenburg's Schwan Dough.

Using a gimmick during a sermon?

Otten featured Giessler's book in the 2-4-19 issue, above the fold, then reproduced part of it. The Pietists, like Jay Webber and Herman Otten, have no trouble with supporting adulterous fake pastors. However, rationalistic Pietists choke on Justification by Faith.

Earlier Post on Ichabod - 
DR. PHILLIP B. GIESSLER 
Missionary to Africa Dr. Phillip B. Giessler has been a Lutheran day-school & high school teacher; a parish pastor & Bible teacher in excess of 40 years; Christian author; an Instructor of students at Concordia Theological Seminary—Ft. Wayne, IN; CEO of God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society; and Editor of the New Evangelical Translation (NET) of the NT. Currently, he is a commissioned missionary professor to seminary and evangelistic students in Kampala, Uganda; Yambio, Sudan; Nairobi, Kenya, Africa. Dr. Giessler is on his fourth missionary journey to Africa. This journey brings him to: Pretoria, South Africa; Mwika, Tanzania; Meru, Tanzania; Nairobi, Kenya; Kisii, Kenya; Entebbe/Kampala, Uganda; Gulu, Uganda; Arua, Uganda; Lira, Uganda; Mbale, Uganda. Pr. Giessler’s ministry primarily involves teaching seminary students, local pastors and missionaries wherever they can be gathered. Pr. Giessler often has to cover the traveling expenses of those who come to be equipped for outreach in their local areas. Dr. Giessler has visited Peace the last several years and receives financial and prayer support from our members.

Wikipedia:
In 1978, it was decided that Beck's translation would be revised. Phillip B. Giessler, a pastor from Cleveland, Ohio, then formed a committee and revision work began in 1982. The work of Giessler's committee (although it was—much like Dr. Beck's earlier work—essentially a "one-man" translation team with a single English reviewer) yielded another translation of the New Testament that was released in 1988 titled New Testament: God's Word to the Nations (GWN) This work was later renamed the New Evangelical Translation (NET) in 1990. (Important note: Beck's AAT, according to Rev. Hackbardt, only served as a basis for "English style.") In early 1992, according to Hackbardt, all the earlier New Testament work was abandoned by the Society and an entirely new Bible translation based on the best Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek texts and using the translation principle "closest natural equivalence"—beginning with the Old Testament—was completely re-translated by the Society's five scholars, 17 technical reviewers, and four English reviewers. In early 1994 the translation was renamed GOD'S WORD prior to being turned over to World Bible Publishers in October 1994 for publication in March 1995.

Back to the Giessler issue. Nobody knew? He was cheerfully running a Bible society as a pastor and spending money on his mistress? How many times will Missouri repeat the Bishop Stephan example? Nobody knew! And yet when finally everyone knew, he was still a pastor albeit in a more Pietistic sect that does not - officially - accept divorced and remarried pastors. "Dr." Phil sold the dishonest Rich Food Plan, too.

Exactly what did this Beck translation accomplish? As far as I can see, it ended up in the hands of a lying adulterous spendthrift, then morphed into one more liberal translation. The final results? Nobody cares.