Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Mid-Week Lenten Service, 7 PM Central Daylight Time


Mid-Week Lenten Vespers, 2019

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson


Bethany Lutheran Worship, 7 PM Central Daylight Savings Time

The Hymn #523    Why Should Cross and Trial Grieve Me         
The Order of Vespers                                                p. 41
The Psalmody                          Psalm 24                  p. 128
The Lections                            The Passion History
                                                 
The Sermon Hymn #63     On Jordan's Bank

The Sermon –    I Baptize with Water, But...
 
The Prayers
The Lord’s Prayer
The Collect for Grace                                            p. 45

The Hymn #554         Now Rest Beneath Night's Shadows

 Norma A. Boeckler


The Sermon –    I Baptize with Water, But...


Mark 1
1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;

2 As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.

3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

4 John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.

5 And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.

6 And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey;

7 And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.

8 I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.

 Norma A. Boeckler


Beginning of the Gospel
Mark's Gospel is not given as much attention because so much of it is found in Matthew and Luke. To quote Lenski on the general subject, There are many ingenious explanations but none are convincing.

This is deliberately a summary and doubtless useful, because the four Gospels are based on apostolic preaching. The eyewitnesses gave us the Gospels, and Mark is associated with Peter. 

This Gospel starts with Jesus as the Christ and the Son of God. The beginning of Jesus' ministry is John the Baptist. When predictions are made and they begin to come true, that alerts an entire country, an entire region. People longed for the Savior promised in the Old Testament. Doubtless this was also a desire of many religions because their own pagan ideas were sterile and hopeless. 

We know people gravitated toward Judaism because they could read the Old Testament in the universal language of the era (thank you, Alexander the Great). Imagine the Old Testament only in Hebrew and the New Testament only in Greek. How many would read both testaments today, with all our technology? Very few.

Therefore, those who read the prophesies of Isaiah knew the forerunner was coming to announce the Messiah. When this happened with John the Baptist, everyone was alerted  and filled with hope. But the rulers were alarmed.

The importance of John can be seen in that he was put in prison and executed. Nothing proves the truth of God more than martyrdom. And this unleashed hope in the true Messiah, Jesus.

John's promise is very significant to remember. "I am baptizing you with water, but One is coming Who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

This signifies the preaching of God's Word by God's own Son. His teaching would be confirmed by its power, which people could feel, and also by the miracles He performed.

What do opponents say who want to reduce Jesus to an ordinary teacher? They claim His teaching is like any other rabbi, and they say His miracles were performed by other rabbis. They must mean the other rabbis did a little of that, but they are not known for turning water into wine, walking on water, feeding the multitudes, and raising the dead. 

Since Jesus' teaching rested on faith in Him, His teaching was also far above what anyone else taught at the time.

This should always alert us, when people make comparisons that leave out major facts. Or they cite scholars against the Bible. Of course, every item in the Bible has been debated and criticized, so "scholars are divided" is perfectly true, though meaningless.

Jesus baptized with the Holy Spirit through the Word - truly the Word of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Its power on people's souls confirmed this, and the miracles seconded that confirmation. 

This is the major difference with Jesus. He is not one more teacher of religion but the source of spiritual wisdom, forgiveness, and eternal life.

That means, no matter what we have experienced in life, or heard from various authorities, we have the freedom to hear from Jesus Himself and His apostles about the Truth. All we need is a good translation of the Bible and some reliable, faithful books.

I chuckled as I read Lenski's introductory material about the Gospel of Mark, because so many blabbermouths have written books since then, all full of fancy statements but little or no faith. Mark is not a museum object, but a priceless witness to the world.

If I want to show people the most important basics of Christianity, I give them John's Gospel. If I want to give them a summary of the four Gospels, I can give them Mark. (We will do a commentary later, God willing.)

What do people need to know? We need constant refreshment about Jesus as our Savior, the things He did, the grace He gives us through the Gospel.

There is no reason to despair, because all sins are forgiven through faith in Christ. We can picture how people flocked to Him. They were nobodies, poor, lame, sick, dying, often shunned. They were "open sinners," in other words - so obvious that there was no dispute. They were not like those who could hide their sins, the damaging sins of the heart - greed, coveting, pride, and hatred.  So the secret sinners were outraged that Jesus welcomed the open sinners and ate with them. That was really the last straw.

But Jesus knew the hardened hearts of the secret sinners and condemned them. 

It is always good to know that Jesus condemned lack of faith, and freely offered grace to those who repented and believed.

 Norma A. Boeckler

Second Greek Lesson - After the Midweek Service at 7 PM Central Daylight Time - Mark 1:1-8


Helps -

Parser - tells us the I.D. of the word

Lenski's Commentary - download as a PDF

Copy and paste a Greek word into Google, add "Strong" and "Thayer" - you will get an instant word study about that Greek word. This is modestly called "The Ichabod Greek Treasure Hunt."


ΚΑΤΑ ΜΑΡΚΟΝ 1 1550 Stephanus New Testament (TR1550)

αρχη του ευαγγελιου ιησου χριστου, υιου του θεου
ως γεγραπται εν τοις προφηταις ιδου εγω αποστελλω τον αγγελον μου προ προσωπου σου ος κατασκευασει την οδον σου εμπροσθεν σου
φωνη βοωντος εν τη ερημω ετοιμασατε την οδον κυριου ευθειας ποιειτε τας τριβους αυτου
εγενετο ιωαννης βαπτιζων εν τη ερημω και κηρυσσων βαπτισμα μετανοιας εις αφεσιν αμαρτιων

A. Start by learning the alphabet and reading the text out loud. We will read it out loud in class too.
B. Look for words you know or words based on the Greek. Mark 1:1 - I see archaeology - the beginning of history; Good News, also good and angel; Jesus Christ; theology.

Basic translating means - Translate the words you know and guess the rest. In simple passages we already know the other words - or at least we think we do. This approach gives us a sense for the Greek rather than that slow style of 
  1. What does this word mean?
  2. How do I parse it?
  3. What is the grammar rule?
The slow style means that a few learn Greek or Latin or German in spite of the teacher. The fast style or immersion is used for quick, effective ability in the new language. We don't have the luxury of total immersion, but we can repeat how we first learned our language.

Children learn language by hearing it and learning what it means in its context. "No" to a small child means "Let's start debating."

PS - "DO NOT PANIC - Written in Large, Friendly Letters." That is the beginning of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, a great satire novel.

The article (the) tells us the case and number of the word it is with, making Greek especially easy.

και εξεπορευετο προς αυτον πασα η ιουδαια χωρα και οι ιεροσολυμιται και εβαπτιζοντο παντες εν τω ιορδανη ποταμω υπ αυτου εξομολογουμενοι τας αμαρτιας αυτων
ην δε ιωαννης ενδεδυμενος τριχας καμηλου και ζωνην δερματινην περι την οσφυν αυτου και εσθιων ακριδας και μελι αγριον
και εκηρυσσεν λεγων ερχεται ο ισχυροτερος μου οπισω μου ου ουκ ειμι ικανος κυψας λυσαι τον ιμαντα των υποδηματων αυτου
εγω μεν εβαπτισα υμας εν υδατι αυτος δε βαπτισει υμας εν πνευματι αγιω



To be is irregular in all languages - is, was, be, etc.

 The subject is often in the verb ending.

Unearthing Popular Ichabod Posts - Pure Data

 Go here for the Ichabod posts since 2015 with the most views.

The summaries provided by Blogger are rather unbalanced. I have noticed that really shocking reports gain thousands of views but do not show up very well on Google or on the summaries.

Yes, software exists to move posts and photos off the priority list when searching.

So I began plodding through my own menu to find posts with more than 1,000 views. Quite a few have 300, 500, 800 views. The topics vary, as you will see.

This is just the first list. I went as far as I could and decided to stop. I suppose this will end up with a navigation page for the navigation page.

 We reach around the world. Here are Rev. Dr. Lito Cruz and his wife Lynne. You can see what they were reading before the photo shoot.

Over 1,000 Views on These Blog Posts, Up to 17,000 - The Readers Decide.
First Installment.


H. C. Leupold on the Six Day Creation

How To Detect False Teachers in the Lutheran Church

Another Disgraceful Issue of Christian News

The Conflict Of Fundamentalism And Modernism by Leander Keyser - Lutheran Library Publishing Ministry – "Faithful to the Reformation"

A Short Devotion - God Knows - Comfort for Christians

When Will the Clergy Start Listening to the Laity Who Study?

John Sparky Brenner's Jars of Clay Cover-Up

Navigation for the LCMS Mythology Posts

ELCA's Luther Seminary Chapel -
Lip-synch dance - "Baby, I'm On Fire"


ELCA - A Grand Tour of Failing Seminaries

Another Lutheran Seminary That Couldn't - Trinity, Columbus

The Harvey Weinstein Synods Worry about Tuxes

Did Ricky Johnson, Resigned from WELS, Start His Own Parish?

Ricky Johnson Chapped Jon-Boy's Hide

Bishop to Bishop, The Strange Case of DeJaynes and Heiser

Jason Ewart Introduced by Mark and Avoid Jeske

Navigation Page for Jason Ewart

How Did WELS Extend the Left Foot of Fellowship to Ewart?

Universalism in the LCMS - Chad Bird

Free NT Greek Lessons - Gospel of Mark.
Wednesdays at 7 PM Central Daylight Time.


Bethany Lutheran Greek Lessons To Begin - Saved Videos List

Lutheran Books To Read How To Spot Them - over 2,000 Views

Murders Most Foul - WELS - over 3,000 views

Putting To Rest Jay Webber's Absurd and Ignorant Claim - Luther as OJist - 2,000 views

Luther's Thee Gospel Sermons on False Prophets

The Fault Is Not in ELDONUTs - Bishops

The New Edition of Thy Strong Word

WELS Takes in All-Gay Congregation

Luther's Sermon for Cantate Sunday - John 16:5-15



LCMS - Darwin Schauer Arrested - Previous Record!

Community Church of Joy - Church Growth

Is He Even a Pastor?

Page 15 Explained - Holy Communion - From The Lutheran Hymnal

Lutherdom's Major Crime List

Crime Watch in Lutherdom

Join the Booze Brothers

Pub Theolog - WELS Already Known for Its Alcoholic Clergy

WELS Teacher Anthony Natalie - Arrest

Institute of Lutheran Theology

Victory of the Lamb - WELS

Recovering from an Abusive Cult

 WELS Circuit Pastor kept saying, "Nothing happened!" - which is why the parish constitution was immediately changed. The DP flew to Alaska to save the Love Letter pastor - but "nothing happened."


WELS DP Bullies Council into Rehiring Fired Pastor - 4500 views

The Error of Modern Missouri - Classic Book

Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant - The Only Book That Explains...

Basics of Pietism

Avoid These Topics on a Nominal Lutheran Blog

We Must Believe for Ourselves - But What Does Mark Schroeder Say?

Are Synods Necessary?

We Built This Synod on Rock and Roll - Hymn



CN Story on Matt Harrison - Not Found Elsewhere

Otten Accuses Harrison of Sexual Harassment Settlement - 6600 views

WELS Discussions on Facebook - More Than 17,000 views

WELS Discussions on Facebook II - More Than 13,000 views

WELS New Ulm Pastor Arrested - 5,000 views

Beneficial Creatures

Jesuit in the Vatican - Misdirection of the Eyes

Mark and Avoid Jeske's Latest Extravaganzas - Change or Die!

LCMS St. John Associate Pastor - On Grindr like WELS Zak Stowe

Jeske Covers for "Victime" Dave Wendt in Bizarre Post

Oh Jay! Webber Lying about UOJ Dogma

Horst Gutsche and the ELCA-WELS-ELCiC-CLC (sic)

WELS Nathan Fager

Gardening Addicts Want Their Daily Fix

Ending at page 43, Ides of March, 2015.

 Falling in Love Rose spider close-up

 Creation Gardening on Amazon,
but get it at the author's price.

Tuesday, March 12, 2019

George Gerberding Quotation

 George Gerberding


This is from the wise and comforting "Reflections of a Youthful Octogenarian" by Rev. George Gerberding.  He is speaking of one his favorite professors at the Philadelphia Seminary, Rev. William J. Mann:
 
'In one of his classes in Ethics I once asked, in substance, this question: "Doctor, if the Lutheran Church is so much better than others, how does it come that we find so many superior Christians in the Reformed Churches around us?" As always, the doctor was ready with his answer: "That's easy, my good friend; you might live on the juiciest beefsteak and be a lean dyspeptic. Your neighbor might have nothing but soup-bone and thin soup, and he might be healthier than you. Does that prove that thin soup is better than beefsteak? Ach, no. But he assimilates his soup bone soup better than you do your beefsteak. That's all!"'


Terminology Matters Because Words Convey Meaning - And Culture

 The author was a teacher of math and logic.

The Word of God judges all books, so no book or human author judges the Scriptures.

This is the problem with the modern Pietists. They pick their guru, as the Walther circle did Martin Stephan, and assume the guru is always correct.

That authoritarian and Enthusiastic spirit remains strong with the LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic).

I wonder why the Objective Justification wolves have not examined the words they use.

To redeem means (two different words in Greek) - to pay with a price, based on the word for marketplace. The other verb means to release, such as releasing from slavery. Both refer to Jesus as paying the price for our sins with His blood, for Jesus releasing us from the power of sin, death, and Satan.

The word atonement means "one for another," used in secular fashion as four quarters equal to a dollar. The same word is translated as atonement and reconciliation.

Ransom is a ransom for many, not all. The OJists want to rewrite Greek and change the words, but they cannot get away with it honestly, as if to claim the most flexible and precise language means "all" rather than "some" (since some blows up their dogma) and that "all" can appear like a leprechaun when needed (New NIV).

The word for saved is also used for healed. Exactly where - apart from the fulminations of Jon-Boy Buchholz are all saved and all forgiven?


Some would follow the style of Halle Pietism and say the world was justified when Jesus rose from the dead (Rambach, Walther, Oh Jay Webber).

Others - like Hale - groove on 2 Corinthians, that He became sin that we might have His righteousness. So Hale leads us into his swamp of universal forgiveness and salvation without faith.

But it does not matter if the Great Walther imagined this to be true and taught it all his life. Poor Hale was given an M.Div. in guru-worship at Ft. Wayne, and skipped the part about the Scriptures as the ruling norm and the Confessions as the ruled norm. His master and guide is Walther, who was a Pietist with a B.A. and little grasp of the Biblical languages. Others in the OJ pantheon are followers from the Midwest, men who bowed the knee to Walther.

The real founder and leader of the Perryville Sex Cult was Martin Stephan, who studied at Halle University but never graduated from anywhere. He did not have the minimal requirement for becoming a pastor, but his status as a Bohemian Pietist (see Count von Zinzendorf) allowed the Pietist Bohemian Pietist congregation (land donated by Zinzendorf) to call him.

Stephan taught Objective Justification, whose language comes from Halle Pietism, not from the Bible. There is no OJ in the Bible, and SJ does not equal Justification by Faith (as Dave Scaer claims in his overpriced autobiography).

 A Calvinist leader used OJ to define a Pietist Halle professor's deep thoughts, and one ELS pastor got all huffy with me about this graphic being misleading. Verbatim quote, exact source. Before getting irritated, I would get the book, check the source, and worry about my sect colluding with Calvinists and Pietists. 


Track Objective Justification - A Favorite Dogma for Various Denominations, Cults, and the Mainline Apostates
Readers, anons, OJists, minders, innocent bystanders - please check out  Objective Justification with search engines, concordances, doctrinal books.

The concept is used by Calvinists, and Walther's deliberate polarizing of the Lutherans with his Election-without-Faith is exactly what Calvin taught about predestination. John Sparky Brenner, OJ fanboy, confirms that Walther's Election dogma was his backup for his OJ. CFW deliberately went against Article XI of the Formula of Concord, but he decided to fling his Powerful Objective Observation (POO for short) at everyone. He emerged as the only leader of the ones who still followed him, a very bad precedent for the future.

As I have written before, more than once, Objective Justification is also used by the Jehovah's Witnesses to teach the same nonsense. These links are very hard to find, whether Ichabod or about the JWs. I suspect paid Internet scrubbing of the issue, either from JWs, SynCons, or both.

If that is not enough, UOJ is the penultimate expression of the mainline apostates like ELCA, UCC, Presbyterians, liberal Baptists. Penultimate means almost ultimate, just before the end -in this case. Once they reach the UOJ stage, the final one simply declares that all these religious labels and categories are useless. God-talk is irrelevant - express yourself and make up your own Christology to build a foundation for being a Social Justice Warrior.
Exposing ELCA gives a lot of unsavory details, but many of them are at your doorstep.


Monday, March 11, 2019

UOJ Enthusiasts Should Shiver in Fear -
Hale's Defense of Halle Pietism Is a Disaster for Their Side.


Rev. Philip Hale was installed as Associate Pastor at Zion in August, 2015. He previously served as pastor at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Bancroft, NE in 2007-2015. He was also called to St. John Lutheran Church in Lyons, NE as part of a dual parish in 2012. Pastor Hale graduated from Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, 2007, following a vicarage in Fredericksburg, IA. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in electrical and computer engineering. After working briefly as an engineer in Austin, he entered the seminary. Pastor Hale was born in Oklahoma and raised in Keller, TX. In 2007, Christ gave Philip his blessed wife Aubri. God has given them eight children: Lily, Clara, Gerhardt, Esther, Ephraim, Mercy, Martha and Josephine.

The book is Aspects of Forgiveness, The Basis for Justification and Its Modern Denial, by Philip Hale. published by Amazon. The title itself is dishonest. An honest subtitle would be - The Basis for Objective Justification and Its War Against Justification by Faith.

Hale continues this deception throughout the book, constantly upholding the late, false Calvinistic or Pietistic Objective Justification against "those who deny it."



Is this a clumsy effort to poison the well? I pointed out recently that the OJ Enthusiasts resort to "OJ deniers" so they do not have to say Justification by Faith.

This book is an extended argument against Pastor Paul Rydecki (WELS, ELDONA). There are a few potshots at me, but Hale never stops long enough to make an intelligent point with proper citations and warrants for his claims. A video game - right up his alley - portrays this as the Death Blossom: mow down the opposition in every direction with random fire.




The biggest problem Hale has is a lack of reading comprehension, the curse of the present generation - who lack a thorough education in language, rhetoric, informal logic, Hebrew, and Greek.

The second problem, almost as significant, is loading his argument with all the authors on his side - a very shallow group - ignoring the actual meaning of some statements, and dismissing objections fatal to his cause. He avoids the Biblical, doctrinal anchors for Justification by Faith the way a vampire avoids garlic. Some call this cherry-picking, a clever term for this logical fallacy.

If I Were Hale
If I were Hale, I would start with Genesis 15:6, Abraham believing God's Promise of a Messiah and a Kingdom as numerous as the stars. Abraham was Justified by Faith, I would concentrate on why Abraham is such an important figure in the New Testament. Abraham would have to be exiled or demoted by some extensive, imaginative exegesis.


Next, I would address Romans 3 - 5 and Romans 10, but really concentrate on Romans 4 through 5:2, to prove that Abraham is not our example of Justification by Faith and that Paul did not mean to say we have peace, forgiveness, and salvation through Justification by Faith (Romans 5:1-2, for Mequon, Bethany, and Ft. Wayne graduates).



I would not cite Galatians against Justification by Faith, because even the dimmest dimwit knows the little epistle was written specifically about Justification by Faith. Hale's efforts are like warning people not to get into real estate like Donald Trump, because they will never get anywhere.


Finally, I would fight like a madman to make people forget the Chief Article of the Christian Faith and who endorsed it in the Book of Concord. I would make them forget Melanchthon. Mrs. Ichabod just said, "They already have." OK, that is taken care of. And I would get people to think all the serious scholars who wrote about the Reformation as Justification by Faith to burn those horrid books.

Page Through the Little Tome
Hale thinks Diers, Oh Jay Webber, and Jon-Boy Buchholz are experts on Justification. He quotes Rick Curia's OJ Autograph Book like it is the Bible. I am glad Curia collected all that nonsense, because he was cherry-picking like a fanboy, not even pretending to study an issue. Curia found OJ fool's gold long before Church Growth found - Oh! Oh! - CG principles.


Unanswered Questions

Why does Hale ignore Thy Strong Word, (available free) - written against Church Growth and Objective Justification - the research beginning when he was still using a three-wheeler?

Why did Hale quote from this blog but fail to cite it? Has Paul McCain ordered him not to mention this blog's URL, as he did with the ill-named Steadfast Lutherans?



How does a seminary graduate avoid the Book of Concord so perversely while raking up every bit of false doctrine from any OJist he can find? The implied answer? - the Synodical Conference, starting as an OJ Sex Cult absolved by Walther, trumps the Book of Concord.

Helpful Hints for the Misinformed Seminarians and Their Barthian Professors

Hale certainly does not know that the Atonement and Justification are different. The Atonement is the reconciliation, and it also called the Redemption with two different Greek words. Ransom is another synonym.

The Old Testament Gospel is Isaiah 53 - the Atonement. Where does it say that God absolved the sins of the world? No where. There is an obvious difference between Christ the Savior paying the price and this Gospel creating faith which receives the message of forgiveness.

Justification by Faith of Jesus - solve that puzzle and you might begin to grasp the meaning of the Bible. Until then, the OJists will continue to drift downward into mainline apostasy, coveting those big empty churches and seminary buildings of ELCA and the UCC.

 The Faith of Jesus: Against the Faithless Lutherans

The Trampled Cross - Novel



“A young English man in the early 20th century is captured by a fanatical tribe of Muslims and given the choice between death and trampling on the cross. Life is more to him than religion, and he places his heel where the two sticks cross each other, and crushes them into the desert sands.
“This is the story of the consequences of this decision. What would you have done?

About the Author

Joseph Hocking was a faithful Welsh minister. A prolific and popular writer in his lifetime, Rev. Hocking considered the novel an ideal platform for exploring Christian spirituality and the deeper aspects of life. His books deal with trials, the difficulties of life, and issues of faith.

Luther's Sermon - Audio - An Entreaty To Live as Christians





End the Two-Faced Triumvirate



Who worked secretly with Herman Otten to elect Al Barry, instead of doing his parish work in Iowa? And emerged after Harrison was elected to strut around the Purple Palace? 

Concordia Publishing House marked the Reformation's 500th anniversary with dog collars, spatulas, and Here I Stand socks. Who was minding the store? Pope Paul the Plagiarist!

 Matt Harrison borrowed McCain's weight-gain diet and Paul's passion for Pietism's Objective Justification, making anti-Luther dogma official in the CPH dual pratfalls - the Dogma-tanic and their hideous caricature of the Small Catechism.
Christian News must hate Luther or love filthy lucre to sell this load of manure, a collection of lies going back to Rome's effort to silence the Reformer. CN also promotes Church Growth, which - like OJ - is an ecumenical delicacy.


Why are Missouri Synod Presidents so awful? They work for their elections secretly with Herman Otten, as they have back to Jack Preus. They need to sing ballads to the copy-and-paste editor, as Matt Harrison did. Otten the Martyr has suffered a growth in his non-profit entity, which has over $1 million stashed in it. Justification by Faith? - stay not here.