Your Midnight Icha-Peak

 

One friend looks for Ichabod posts three times a day, so his final peak is around midnight.

I have formally started two efforts. One is Lutheran Christina: Memories about a Pastor's Wife.

The other is converting Ustream videos to video platforms.

I also have a clue about a literature discussion group, so that should move along now.

Breaking WELS News

The new WELS hymnal, Aus Tiefel Not schrei ich zu dir (From Tiefel's Nothing, I Cry to Thee) will be very costly - a drain on church budgets, but promises 25 new Calvinist pop hymns. The bigger the congregation, the more they will pay for leasing modern Enthusiasm instead of worship classics. 

This will go over like Jerry Lewis' last film (never released).

 The Anti-Faithians keep repeating the bromides they learned by heart at the highbrow schools.

The Fourteen Sunday after Trinity, 2021. Fruits of the Spirit.

 

  Norma A. Boeckler

The Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity, 2021

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

https://video.ibm.com/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

Bethany Lutheran Church, 10 AM Central Daylight Time

The Hymn # 528:10-15             If God Himself Be For Me               

The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16

Behold, O God, our Shield, and look upon the face of Thine anointed: 

for a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand.

Psalm. How amiable are Thy tabernacles, 

O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, 

yea, even fainteth, for the courts of the Lord.

The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19

Keep, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy Church with Thy perpetual mercy; and because the frailty of man without Thee cannot but fall, keep us ever by Thy help from all things hurtful and lead us to all things profitable to our salvation; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth, etc.

The Epistle and Gradual 

It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord: 

and to sing praises unto Thy name, O Most High.

V. To show forth Thy loving-kindness in the morning: 

and Thy faithfulness every night. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

V. Praise waiteth for Thee, O God, in Zion: 

and unto Thee shall the vow be performed. Hallelujah!

      

The Gospel              

Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed             p. 22

The Sermon Hymn #288            Lord, Help Us Ever To Retain (Loy Translation)         
   

Inevitable Fruits of the Gospel

The Communion Hymn #224      Come Holy Ghost, God and Lord

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 # 189                   He Is Arisen, Glorious Word!

Announcements and In Our Prayers

• Andrea Anderson will celebrate her third birthday this week.
• Enzo Meyer has started college at Grand Canyon University campus in Phoenix.
• Diagnostics and treatment - Mary Howell, Kermit Way, Pastor Jim Shrader.
• 
  

 Norma A. Boeckler

KJV Galatians 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

KJV Luke 17:11 And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: 13 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. 14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. 17 And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? 18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. 19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

Fourteenth Sunday After Trinity

Lord God, heavenly Father, who by Thy blessed word and Thy holy baptism hast mercifully cleansed all who believe from the fearful leprosy of sin, and daily dost grant us Thy gracious help in all our need: We beseech Thee so to enlighten our hearts by Thy Holy Spirit, that we may never forget these Thy blessings, but ever live in Thy fear, and, trusting fully in Thy grace, with thankful hearts continually praise and glorify Thee; through Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

Inevitable Fruits of the Gospel

Background for the Epistle Lesson - Galatians 5:16-24, Fruits of the Spirit

The nine-fold fruits of the Spirit, by their title, suggest two categories at the same time. The Spirit means - these come from the Spirit in the Word and in us. In other words, these fruits come from God, His power and grace. So many churches think they need more money, more smiles, more programs, more everything except the one thing needful - more Gospel. The other category is fruits. These qualities grow from the power of Gospel, so the hearing of the Gospel moves us to be fruitful. The four stages in plants are - seed, plant, flower, and fruit. More fruit comes from the living seed of the Gospel. For someone who does not believe, the broadcast of the Gospel is the start of that seed of faith. The plant grows, flowers, and produces the fruit of Christian life. The qualities listed are the beginnings of the blessings that come from the Gospel.

KJV Galatians 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

Walk in the Spirit means walk in the Word, because those two are never separated. The believer should be used to dwelling on the Word (Torah, teaching, Psalm 1) day and night. Where the Word of God is present, the temptations of the flesh diminish.

When we have the Scriptures or Scriptural hymns on our minds, that moves against the desires of the Old Adam. That is not limited to the Prodigal Son's sins, which began with demanding his share of the estate, then losing it all to fast women and slow horses.

Many of the gravest sins are those which begin in the mind - and blossom into terrible actions. Coveting and jealousy are entirely inside of us at first, but they lead to crimes, as King David showed, Some people store up their evil and manipulate others to carry out the sin. Just as the Gospel of contrition and forgiveness yields fruit, so the tendencies of mortal people lead to death - hardness of heart, lack of forgiveness, rejection of the Christian Faith.

So they are contrary to each other - the Spirit in the Word and the flesh.

18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. 

This is where the Antinomians (anti-Law) get lost. I dealt with an obvious one long ago. He said the Ten Commandments were obsolete - and they were for him, a supposed Lutheran pastor. He also rejected the divine Creation. And then he rejected Christianity altogether.

Luther understood this quite well. We can act by compulsion or by our own desires. The Gospel moves us to act, in contrast to living by the Law, where everything is forced, a "must," commands, punishment, and even revenge.

If someone says to me, "You don't have to..." I say, "That's right. I want to."

19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

There are ways to categorize the list, which is not intended to be complete. The first group is sexual because the pagan world thought little of their festivities (which are next) destroying the family. We have an enormous spread of these two groups in our world. The Word of God and Christianity are dismissed in the world around us while the most outrageous behavior is encouraged, praised, and even ordained into the "Gospel" ministry. Paganism has always been the rejection of anything divine, so that has great appeal as an excuse. As someone wrote, the Romans may not have believed the ancient stories, but that did not keep them away from the unrestrained hedonism that went with the ceremonies. Now we know the wealthiest around the world are united in the same kind of human sacrifice, trafficking, slavery, and prostitution. Draw a circle around Epstein's island to see who is connected. I am bidin my time until the truth comes out for everyone to see. 

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

The works of the flesh are not an exact parallel to the fruits of the Spirit. The works come from us, from the Old Adam. The fruits are from God's work through the Spirit in the Gospel Word. Here is a simple program that does not cost more than a few dollars altogether.

1. Jesus Christ is acknowledged as the central subject of the entire Bible, from Genesis 1 to the end of Revelation.
2. Therefore, faith in Christ is always the topic of lessons, sermons, hymns, and the worship service. (That is seldom true today.)
3. The faith of Christ (belonging to Jesus, Romans, Galatians, Philippians) is part of this teaching because the Word wants to show us that Christianity began with the faith that belongs to the Son, faith in the will and works of the Father.
4. The extent and the benefits of the Gospel of forgiveness are always taught.
5. People pray for each other.
6. The efficacy of the Word and the visible Word of the Sacraments is always featured as basic to the Scriptures.

Gardening teaches us so much about the Word, because the Creation is the visible manifestation of the Word. How could anyone miss this?

The living seed we plant is very much like the living Seed of the Word. The planted seed is so alive that we can wrap it in damp paper towels and see the roots and first leaves popping out, as if from nowhere. The blackberry garden has become the borage and buckwheat garden for now, because sowing those seeds would immediately let them in the mulch.

Borage and buckwheat flower and fruit easily. As they say in the profession, "They drop seed and plant more of themselves, all the time." The flower invites the bees, which set them up to fruit - the seed.

In the same way, the Word of God takes root easily among people, and they grow spiritually in many different ways. What is taught from the Word multiplies in them - and the Gospel is multiplied in Word and deed. 

As many know who read and study Luther, his lessons from the Bible are so striking that they dwell in our minds and shape our thoughts and actions. Most denominations agree he is the greatest Biblical teacher of all time, but his Biblical wisdom is ignored or mocked.

Luther wrote something about loaning once and when the topic came up. loaning a neighbor, I thought, "Of course." And that worked beautifully.

24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

This is a striking figure of speech, reminding us of the crucifixion of Christ atoning for all our sins, not only the small ones but also the great and terrible sins. They are left behind and vanquished each day through faith in Christ cleansing us from sin. Instead of looking back at horrible times, we look forward, absolved of sin through faith in Christ, led by the faith of Christ, from faith TO faith.

 Norma A. Boeckler

Happy Hummingbirds Hover, Bathe, and Scrutinize. When You Are Done with Your Shower, Let Me Know

 

 Hummingbirds show off their aerial acrobatics. Painting by Norma A. Boeckler.

I often step out the front door to see developments in the rose garden, especially when sprinkling. Recently I opened the door to find a hummingbird getting his shower, happily flapping a bit on a big Hosta, and flitting around in the artificial rain. I smiled at his antics and he continued them. His antics suggested he was grinning to thank me.

Yesterday I sat in Ranger Bob's chair, because the sprinkling left the outdoor bench cushion soaked. That put me about a foot from the closest feeder, which is often visited by our friends. I was scanning garden areas to fix and places for more daffodils when a Humming bird swooped in to hover about 12 inches from my knees. He might have stayed to feed, but he tested several times for safety and left for the maple tree perch.

Never Read Luther, Quest Continues Its Endless Pursuit of Dogmatic Error

 

Check Romans 4, which uses Abraham's Justification by Faith as an example, showing his Justification by Faith was not his alone but all those who believed in Him who raised Jesus from the dead. Then the comatose, poorly trained Missouri mules use 4:25 to claim the entire world, yea even the Inuits, were absolved of all sin the moment Jesus rose from the dead.

Steve Ames (Sames) Senior Member Username: Sames Post Number: 1819 Registered: 11-2004

Posted on Friday, September 03, 2021 - 9:00 am:       Dick Rockenbach: “it seems to me the LCMS was in merger mode with both the WELS and ALC and when the ALC began to ordain Women WELS immediately withdrew merger efforts with the LCMS.” Mr. Rockenbach, it is hurtful and offensive to suggest that the WELS would ever have considered merger with the ALC or tolerated the LCMS merging with the ALC. The short-hand explanation that the WELS broke church fellowship with the LCMS over fellowship leaves out the more troubling aspect of the LCMS practice of fellowship. That is for the LCMS what constitutes agreement on doctrine for the establishment of church fellowship. A WELS paper given in 1954 identified the false doctrine of the ALC as: • Rejection of the teaching of Objective Justification • Man cooperates in his conversion • The doctrine of Election as solely God from eternity knowing who would come to faith -- in view of faith • Inerrancy of the Bible as an open question • Rejection of papacy as the Anti-Christ “The Inadequacy of the Common Confession as a Settlement of Past Differences” -- By Ernst H. Wendland -- August 8-10, 1954 http://essays.wisluthsem.org:8080/bitstream/handle /123456789/670/WendlandDifferences.pdf?sequence=1& isAllowed=y

 This Inuit girl (Eskimo) is carrying her husky puppy.

The Latin for "in view of faith" is Intuitu Fidei. Somehow a graduate of the greatest seminary on earth, with its own annual hazing ritual, managed to turn the phrase into Inuitu Fidei, which comes comes to The Faith of the Inuits (Eskimo). Scholars are divided, because the Glende fractured Latin phrase can be understood several ways at once, like his famous lawsuit.

Missouri addressed this in a classic roundabout, befuddled way - "There is no Scripture warrant for it, and though the phrase is capable of correct interpretation, it can be seriously misunderstood."

Missouri promoted this because CFW Walther knew more Latin than Scripture and barely knew the Biblical languages. 

Chip-Wrecked! Auto Industry

 

So many newly made cars and trucks are short of chips, they are called "dead vehicles." They sit in fields, unable to start, waiting for their prince to come - the chip installer.

 Josie and Alex tried a motorcycle video game after seeing Chip Wrecked, The Movie, 2012.

 Make fun of my 2002 Voyager while I sip some lemonade.

They should have stored up their chips early, instead of relying on just-in-time assembly lines.

Moliners Welcomed Christina

My wife Christina always enjoyed going to Moline reunions. Her high school was closed in South Bend. 

She was welcomed by everyone from MHS. Kris Streed was very helpful in regards to cancer treatments. Christina and Jorja Hepner Beert had a great time talking. Jorja wrote to me, "SO wish I could have  hugged  her   one more  time ! it  was   the first hug  she gave me  that  calmed me  and  gave  me  strength.   THAT day (  first day met her in person) will  stay with me  always .."

We were asked to dinner with Linda Nelson Pearson and her late husband Dave.

We had a personal tour of Perryville (LCMS' Holy Land) with Mayor Debbie Mitchell Gahan.

Ranger Bob says, "Live every day like it's your last day on earth."

When Larry Easter visited us in Phoenix, we did not realize it was the last time we would see him.

Pearl-Clutching Panic - Steadfast Lutherans (Ha!) and Calvinist News Share Headline Outrage

 

 Four fish-hats, gold white and red stoles, and one red Webber-approved chasuble prove that true unity has not been achieved, despite many years of coffee and danish.

"Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection. The lovers, the dreamers and Ski."

 Note - you hair-splitters! It does not count as fellowship if someone lines up with all the bishops and is only wearing a Friar Tuck clergy shirt. I wonder if they took 45 photos so each potentate could pose in the central position.

Steadfast Lutherans (sic) and Calvinist News have jointly condemned the Rev. Dr. Matt Harrison for participating in the enthronement of a bishop LCMS is already fellowshipping. However, two of these consecrated and consecrating men were found to be not kosher, and they snuck into this ceremony with little cat feet. OK, they were invited, but facts do not matter when painting the front page with alarms and diversions.

I do not have a decent Drudge siren to announce this debacle, so I am posting the pearl-clutching woman as a symbol of LCMS-WELS-ELS plans to ordain women after they have wrecked everything else.

The basis for unity in the Book of Concord - remember that from seminary? - is the Chief Article of Christianity, Justification by Faith.

These groups are unified against Justification by Faith. That may vary. LCMS-ELS-WELS are united by Objective Justification, but that is largely a Midwestern folly that sticks to them like the sticky sweat of August humidity. However, the Europeans are enchanted by the era of Barth, Bultmann, and rationalism. 

 The LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic) leaders who reject this confession, which cites Luther, Melanchthon, and Chemnitz, call themselves "confessional" (hahaha), "orthodox" (hold my Maalox), and "conservative" (lah-dee-dah).

The Actual, Factual Fellowship Scandal

The real offense is not standing near the bishops from the two micro-synods, but Missouri's illicit, brazen marital relations with ELCA, bottled in bond by Thrivent Insurance.

Quick quiz -

1. How many genders exist among humans?
2. What did Paul say about pastors in 1 Timothy 2?
3. What are the Names of the Trinity?
4. Is the Bible full of miracles or myths? 

By participating with ELCA in joint religious projects - including worship - the LCMS has repudiated its own imaginary confessional status.

We all know that many Missouri pastors agree with ELCA on most points of apostasy. Some realize that the Seminex spirit is strong in WELS, too. After all, Jungkuntz was loved by many students at NWC, and so was Gehrke. They were Seminex pioneers.

So what do we have in these shrieking front page stories from the Deadlast Lutherans and the cub editor of Christian News? They are prime examples of the hypocrisy of Pietism. That allows people indifferent to Biblical doctrine to engage in the invented sacraments  of stink-eye and shunning. 

 You are not from Wisconsin? 

 You have departed from what you were taught at Mordor!

Double stink-eye. Begone!

Recovering Lost Truths - Missouri and WELS Once Taught Justification by Faith. No, Really They Did.

 

I stopped by our chapel this morning. I like to start early on the Epistle and Gospel, so I can start planning hymns and the sermon. We use the historic readings, which go back to the earliest days, not Rome's three-year cycle, which all the Lutherans follow. The excuse was that ministers grew tired of using the same lessons year after year. How could they? ELCA preached social activism and WELS-ELS-LCMS on the glories of Holy Mother Synod. Has anything changed? 

Writing Thy Strong Word - 21 years ago - proved to me that the so-called Lutherans were not teaching from the Scriptures or studying the Word at all. They fell into the pool of melted metal called dogmatics. In Lutherdom, that began nobly with men like Chemnitz and Gerhard dealing with topics like the Trinity, the Sacraments, with Scriptural exposition. 

That explains why Walther and his spear-carriers avoided Luther and despised Melanchthon. Both Reformation leaders could defend Justification by Faith from the Scriptures alone, either with thunderbolts or perfectly clear explanations. 

The dogmaticians loved most by the false teachers of today - the OJists and Church Growthists - are as far away from the Scriptures as possible. Walther pushed Baier, who is best known for being promoted - yet edited conveniently - by CFW himself. Something is true because Baier wrote it? I imagine that few today could offer more than a five second bio of Baier. Jay Webber's favorite is a known Pietist and Objective Justification source, possibly more obscure than Baier.

[Webber quoting Marquart naming Pieper genuflecting to Walther citing Baier] - 

The 1872 essay itself documented its continuity with standard-bearers like Quistorp, Gerhard, “Rohrberg” (which Hardt, p. 77, corrects to “Norborg”) and others (my translation, pp. 21 ff.). Hoenecke was right: “Of universal justification our dogmaticians do not treat separately [besonders], but they do [treat of it] occasionally” (Dogmatik III:354).¹²

 Missouri, WELS, and ELCA mocked the Reformation and celebrated themselves.

 Calvin, Rambach, and Stephan gave Lutherdom Objective Justification and dogmatic STDs.

 Look for this at your local Goodwill store.

The Preus Crime Family ran on the same agenda, piling up dogmatics citations and slogans based on mis-interpreting the Scriptures. The results today are a 400 page enormously large Small Catechism and the boggy, verbose, Dogma-tanic. 

Book Review of Thy Strong Word

Gerald Parker

5.0 out of 5 stars Magisterial Defense of Truly Confessional Lutheranism

Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2007

Verified Purchase

I am a layman, not a theologian, but I have read fairly widely in the literature of Lutheranism, my heritage faith, so I do not hesitate to praise with the highest encomia possible this very fine and much-needed book that refutes the errors of latter-day North American Lutheranism, alike the unbelieving "liberalism" of the E.L.C.A. and E.L.C.i.C. as well as the pseudo-conservatism (which falsely poses as Confessional) of the denominations deriving from the old Synodical Conference (most notably the L.C.M.S., W.E.L.S., E.L.S., and the L.C.M.S.' sister sect, the Lutheran Church Canada), which have betrayed genuine Confessional Lutheranism with their bizarre speculations embodied in the theological paradigm of "Universal Objective Justification and Subjective Justication" (U.O.J.), which Ptr. Dr. Gregory Lee Jackson anathematises and disproves, as well he should do, showing these heinous false speculative ideas to be being neither Scriptural nor Confessional, and, hence, not genuinely Lutheran at all. (Coming back to this review to revise it some, I would point out that Jackson has written and published a separate book, one that handles the matter suberbly, on the U.O.J. heresy, titled "Luther versus the U.O.J. Pietists: Justification by Faith".) Jackson also scathingly and realistically savages the venal "Church Growth Movement" tendencies in all forms of this hemisphere's Lutheranism, liberal and pseudo-confessional alike.

There are magnificent defenses of "genesio-Lutheran" Confessional teaching versus the claims of what Ptr. Dr. Jackson calls the "Reformed" (by which he includes all non-Lutheran Protestantism and sectarianism, rather than only, more properly, the teaching of other genuinely Protestant churches that follow the doctrinal teachings of Martin Bucer, especially, and of Jean Calvin, as well as the Three Forms of Unity and Westminster Standards that so principally, soundly, and moderately codify them confessionally). Jackson's defense of the Lutheran and hence Orthodox Christian "Means of Grace" is a stunning refutation of the claims of Baptists, Pentecostals/Charismatics, the loud-mouthed "Fundamentalists" who are so fundamentally wrong, the so-called "Neo-Evangelicals", Campbellites/"Restorationists", and other "cheap white [or black] theological trash") by explicating from the Scriptures (using, wisely, the Authorised "King James" Version, free of the sectarian bias that afflicts to one degree or another the modern versions in English of the Bible) the true Lutheran and biblical teaching about Holy Baptism and the Eucharist (Holy Communion, Mass). For the fine defense of Lutheran sacramental theology alone this book would be worth the purchase, but there is so much more as well!

A fault, a minor but nonetheless somewhat irritating one, is Jackson's intemperately vituperative assaults on other Lutherans and their squabbles and peccadillos over relatively minor matters of turf, petty corruption, and so forth which, really, are of only passing interest or importance compared to the major issues that this book addresses, something that inevitably will cause this book become a bit dated in that regard. (That said, though, Jackson`s comments on such matters are reasonable and, I believe, true.) Dr. Jackson's book is already a classic of Lutheran exegesis and sound doctrinal teaching.

A note of warning is in store for those who purchase the book second-hand; the earliest printing of this book had some pagination and binding irregularities, but even a copy with these defects is worth having, since they do not affect any of the most important passaages of the book.

Someone Asked about Books

 

 These plans for a new chapel have been squelched by the finance committee.

I am working on two books in September. One will be the second edition of The Bible Book: The KJV Reborn for Those Who Love the Word of God. Some improvements will be:

1. Fixing a few dozen typos.
2. Improving the sections and the Table of Contents.
3. Consistencies in using KJV with quotes (all KJV verses labeled as such).
4. More about the KJV itself and why it remains the standard.
5. Individual pieces about significant good and bad guys.

We have a fund with $900 for promoting the KJV. I plan to use that with packages of KJV books (for one thing) and KJVs where needed. For instance, we can send the four or five best books on the KJV at one time, giving a balanced and clear view of the situation. 

The other book will be Lutheran Christina: Memories about a Pastor's Wife. That will include a basic bio, but also observations about Christina Jackson glorifying God in her work with individuals.

So Many To Thank

 

There are too many names to thank at 4 AM. After Christina's funeral we went to a restaurant and friends spoke about their experiences with a remarkable, patient, and loving Christian. I would have said something myself, but I would not have gotten past the fourth word. I am sure others had the same feelings. I enjoyed hearing what friends had to say.

Redemption and Eternal Life are the central themes of life. Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress is well known to our group. We have read and studied the second most printed book in English after the King James Bible. Because The Pilgrim's Progress is so completely Biblical, we can all identify where we are and have been in that work.

 

CHRISTIAN. We, indeed, came both together, until we came at the Slough of Despond, into the which we also suddenly fell. And then was my neighbour, Pliable, discouraged, and would not venture further. Wherefore, getting out again on that side next to his own house, he told me I should possess the brave country alone for him; so he went his way, and I came mine--he after Obstinate, and I to this gate.

The most unlikely person turned to me with a grin he could not suppress, "That Shrader guy, the preacher. He is really good. I like what he said, those quotes from Luther, and how he really gave a great lesson." Of all the people there, that was the least expected and most startling in a joyous way. Ministers expect the faithful to respond to the Gospel - those with decades of experience in church, Bible study, conferences, and home study. 

Pastor Shrader and your dear wife Chris - you drove down here in spite of illness and physical difficulties. You delivered a sermon about the Christian Faith that bypassed decades of  personal hurt, physical abuse and suffering, menial work, crushing wounds caused by fake Christians. Aiming at truth, the Word bypassed all those obstacles and landed in one person's heart.

Some preachers are very popular and are often quoted. Some become wealthy for nefarious reasons. Others are ground up by the remorseless march toward apostasy and the Last Days. God only knows who loves the truth and spends the energy to hand the unhidden Treasures of the Gospel. In the end, God only can know. But the evidence is there.