Vimeo Attempt 1

 Reformation Day Service

Reclaiming the Majority Text - The King James Version - Luther's Bible

 

The people have decided - the most popular Bible is the King James Version. No modern version comes close.

If we put together all the modern versions, which are so anxiously pressed upon congregations, college and seminary students, we would find that not one version agrees with the others. In fact, the New NIV does not agree with the old NIV. The publisher will not allow the old NIV to be used anymore.

Why is one verse added back in and others removed, multiplied many times over in these new paraphrases? None of your business! Can you read Greek-Latin-Syriac-Arabic-German-Coptic? No? Then how dare you question these great scholars. 

The Holy Spirit inspired writings of the Apostles were treasured by the early Church. It is true that heretics provided their own versions, and we have samples of them, from the first two centuries. Egypt was a hotbed of more heresies than anyone can remember. So we have samples that never found more than a local audience.

The faithful preserved the Majority 
Text. Erasmus edited the Greek New Testament that provided the text for the Reformation. The Hebrew Old Testament was translated too. Luther worked with a team of genius theologians to word the German Bible as precisely as possible. Tyndale, who associated with these scholars and died for translating it into English, was safer in Germany than England.

 Aleph is the symbol for Sinaiticus, the Bible found in Egypt, so precious that no one copied and passed it around! Tischendorf fed it to the modernists hungry for a bad version, and the Lutheran synods use it in their NIV-ESV-RSV-TEV paraphrases.

The Newest Publication Lutheran Christina Is Being Sent Now

 

I received the first 10 copies of Lutheran Christina yesterday and began filling out the print orders. Christian News is getting multiple copies - again - but is unlikely to acknowledge this one too. We were sitting in New Haven, Missouri when the editor was still on his trike.

No one would publish Bruce Metzger's first book, so he self-published it. Eventually it sold 200,000 copies.

Books last much longer than magazines, and magazines last longer than newsprint. When I reprinted a couple of my books, I had to buy them from Alibris and have them retyped. 

Christina was the reason so many books were written. She was 100% behind them, all the time, and always anxious to know what the next one would be. 

Many people dream of having great riches, finishing the race with the most money. I am happy to say that I can stay in the black and freely distribute the treasures of the Means of Grace. 

KJV Matthew 6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

The Glorious Tischendorf Manuscripts Are "Parents Without Children" - Pickering

 

 Tischendorf

 Tischendorf's Aleph, the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet. 

The Calvinist Warfield broke the ice for modernism by affirming that the original texts of the Bible were inerrant. He influenced A. T. Robertson, who influenced Lenski in playing with the original Greek text. In the Age of Billy Graham, the same was stated by Graham himself - the originals (which are lost) are inerrant. That meant all the Hebrew and Greek texts of today are errant, not inerrant.

Wonders of wonders, the two books (codices) most famous are Codex Sinaiticus, dubbed Aleph to be first on the manuscript lists, and Codex Vaticanus, or B on the lists, only after A for Alexandrinus. Tischendorf made himself famous by promoting both Aleph and B.

 Westcott and Hort used their Greek New Testament stealthily to affect the KJV Revision.

Westcott and Hort jumped on the Tischendorf bandwagon with their Greek New Testament, which I bought for $5, and their influence on the 19th century revision of the King James Version, 1881. The initial failure to gain traction on their ideas was replaced decades later  with awe and respect for them.

The Westcott-Hort argument was simple - the oldest and best sources were to dominate the text, which meant Aleph and Vaticanus. However, that also meant the leading sources (Aleph and B) were "parents without children" - Pickering.

Pickering, my favorite author on the Greek New Testament, distilled the arguments into one phrase. If those two codices (bound books) were so great, why were they not copied as exemplars?

Using some common sense, there must be a reason why 90-95% of the witnesses are the Majority (Traditional, Byzantine, Ecclesiastical) Text, while the exceptions to this dominance are few and often unrelated to each other. Aleph and B disagree about 40%, so neither one is the parent or sibling of the other.

Many scholars concede that spurious copies of New Testament books came from the deliberate alterations of early heretics. That seems to have stopped around 200 AD as the known Majority Text established itself. 

Thanks to Alexander the Great, Greek was not only the international language three centuries before Jesus Christ, but also the most beautiful and expressive language of all. The Apostolic Church did not archive manuscripts of skin (parchment) and paper (papyrus) because that could not be done with constant copying and the effects of weather. Once a standard text was outside a useful life, it was burned to protect it from heretics, after a new template was copied to use for the paper versions. Skin was extremely expensive and paper was fragile, so parchment served for the example and paper served the expanding population of churches. The Apostolic Church did not save up money for five acres, a busy highway, and a WEF to get started. They began with the inerrant Word of God.

Because they depended on the Word of God, the early Christians did not consider the value of gimmicks, fads, and evasions. As the Church pushed forward into new lands, based on preaching and persecution, translations were useful and necessary. Those copies are available and show the Majority Text was the standard back to 200 AD.

So which is "earliest, best, and most accurate"? Aleph and B have to be considered very late, even though Tischendorf raved about them. The highly promoted stars disagree with each other, but are "the best and most accurate"? Let us pause for some pious laughter. 

In comparison, the Majority Text has to be the earliest and best because the papyrus discoveries after the 19th century reveal the affinity between them and the KJV text. As the Church expanded into many areas and languages, the Bible was translated accordingly. The Majority text is the example, not the childless Aleph and B.

That is why I have little use for the New KJV. First of all, the New KJV honors the changes made by the rationalist text critics, using footnotes for NU - Nestle Aland United Bible Society. Secondly,  the New KJV changes its own wording, willy-nilly, proving their great breakthrough in the English language is only good for a few years at a time.

 WELS-LCMS-ELCA leaders love every Bible translation but their own - the English version of Luther's Bible - the KJV. They do not like sacramental language but adore "making disciples." They see the Calvinism of the modern rationalist paraphrases and hold fast to the latest and worst Bibles. They start up cell groups with eyes bulging with Enthusiasm. 

Working with HAL 9000

 

I thought I was broadcasting on Vimeo today, but I think not. Let me know if you saw anything.

I will send the Reformation service again after I experiment with short efforts and getting more background and help. Vimeo experts are welcome to write me at greg.jackson.edlp@gmail.com

I am dealing with the loss of all my emails and addresses, some hardware issues, and lack of experience with the new video freedom and complications. 

I have two different sources with IBM, so one of them should be able to fill me in. I just bought a Kindle on the topic of Vlogs.

Be Patient - I Am Working on the Live Stream Plus Saving It Option.Wait Until Later Today, Thanks.

Be Patient - I Am Working on the Live Stream Plus Saving Option. Wait Until Later Today, Thanks.

This should work for Vimeo Live Reformation Service.

Vimeo Wins the Contest For Now. Working on Ways To Broadcast and Save the Video - Greek To Me

  

I am up, drinking coffee, and looking at Vimeo.

Here is a Vimeo information link. 

Vimeo will allow us to live stream (the most complicated and expensive part with other sites)

 - record and archive those recordings. That parallels what we were were doing with IBM/Ustream until they dropped support of the original software from Ustream.

The plan is - start at the usual time today Sunday, 10 AM Central Daylight Time, with the vimeo link larger and the older IBM/Ustream link smaller, top of the page. The plan will be free at first, $900 a year normal price. No extra equipment is needed.

Compare and contrast Vimeo and YouTube here.

+++

Looking around - IBM, who took over Ustream, suggests Telestream Wirecast, which seems to have a $600 price. It sounds promising for live and saved programs. We have the money for that.

http://www.telestream.net/wirecast/store.asp

++

My tentative move was to use YouTube. I am trying to set that up for the Reformation service live. If not, I hope to have it saved on my YouTube channel. 

I am a total innocent in these matters, so it is difficult to navigate. IBM directed us to open source, so I have OBS loaded.

https://obsproject.com/welcome

In addition to the Web Broadcaster, you can also stream to IBM Watson Media using a variety of third-party encoding products. This compatibility with most encoding products on the market offers you an excellent number of choices for streaming, from free and easy-to-use, to robust and configurable encoders that offer enterprise-grade professional features.

If you're new to the world of encoding, we recommend that you are familiar with IBM Watson Media's recommended encoding specs. And don't forget to read the manual for whatever product you buy! By learning your encoder's settings and following recommended encoding settings, you can combine the power of industry-leading hardware and software with the industry-leading streaming platform.

Note on plugins: Many third party encoders have built in plugins that allow a user to enter their login using their IBM Watson Media(or other service) credentials to access their endpoints for streaming.  We have discovered that connecting via the  old Ustream plugin, or logging in with your IBM Watson Media credentials, can cause broadcasting issues.  To avoid this, please connect via manual RTMP configuration as opposed to using IBM Watson Media or the older Ustream login credentials and select a channel.

You can find instructions for streaming to IBM Watson Media for some of the most popular encoders here, or follow the instructions below to obtain the RTMP server address and the stream name for your IBM Watson Media channel and consult your encoder's manual for how to send RTMP streams.

• Open Broadcast Software (OBS)

Obtaining the RTMP Address and stream name for your channel

 

Choose the channel you wish to broadcast to within the dashboard.

Click on Channel>Broadcast Settings or Broadcast settings in the overview section

The Festival of the Reformation, 2021.

 

The Festival of the Reformation, 2021

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

Working on the video solution

- 

Daylight Savings Ends 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     Dear Christians One and All            

The Scriptures Comfort and Convert

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 #259  Flung to the Heedless Winds 

In Our Prayers

• Seizures - Callie, who is in college now. 
• Pastor K and Doc Lito Cruz - dealing with diabetes  
• Zach Engleman's mother, Anita, has health issues. 

Ministries of Bethany Lutheran Church 

1. The Christian Art of Norma Boeckler and Norma's print books.
2.  Martin Chemnitz Press - Kindle and print books, and free pdfs.
3.  Lutheran Library Publishing Ministry and Lutheran Librarian - low-cost print books - Alec Satin.
4. Audio Gutenberg - Travis and Lauren Cartee.

           

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.

Romans 5 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope: 5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

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.

Background for the Sermon - Reformation Day

A superficial glance at the Reformation is the usual response to this moment and this era that changed the world. The most important factor was not the printing press, but that Luther - with a doctorate in the Scriptures and vast knowledge his religion - trusted the Word of God and fearlessly taught the Word, without regard to the consequence. He knew that his organization, the only Church in Europe, would be happy to murder him for his teaching. He also knew that many people around him were inclined to sway with public opinion, so he was very much alone at times. But Luther's endless trust in the power and efficacy of the Scriptures fueled the Reformation, threw off the shackles of Medieval superstitions, and showed people the real Gospel - Justification by Faith, apart from the works of the Law. 

The Scriptures Comfort and Convert

Romans 4:20 He [Abraham] staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

21 And being fully persuaded that, what He had promised, he was able also to perform.

22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.

23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;

24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;

25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

Romans 5 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

The Reformation is not about a man so much as it is all about the power of the Word of God. Luther had a bad start, going to a Roman Catholic monastery. He was so restless and intuitive, that he was told to get a doctorate in Biblical studies. 

A doctorate at a Roman Catholic university is a bad way to learn about the Gospel, grace, faith, and forgiveness. I walked over and took the Bible from the Notre Dame seminary library during a discussion about salvation and read Romans 5:1-4 to the whole class. Everyone was quiet and remained quiet. That ended the discussion.

Luther was forced to study the Scriptures and teach them. Nothing makes one more eager to learn than facing a class as the professor. Immersion in the Word of God changed him. He had to change one way or the other. Either he resisted the bare truth of the Scriptures or he hardened his heart against them.

Either he continued to think he could pay for his sins, with self-denial close to the point of death, or realize Christ atoned for all his sins, the petty ones and the great and terrible ones.

The Scriptures are in complete harmony, from beginning to end. One passage leads to the other, and all passages are ultimately about faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Savior.

Luther had the ability to do what our electronic libraries do for us. He could see the Bible as a whole and relate one part to another. Since it is all in harmony, one cannot "prove" something that is contrary to the rest.

So that is why Abraham is so prominent in the New Testament. I think my count was 27 times, always in the most positive way. Abraham was not just a geriatric father of his only son with the equally aged Sarah, he was the start of a line of people leading to the Messiah.

Ask a history-conscious man - Would you like to have more descendants than there are stars in the sky - a mighty and ever-growing kingdom? He would say, "That is not the human condition. Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain had great empires. Now they are known as the PIGS, four countries in deep financial stress, not mighty and ever growing."

That began with Abraham's family and the believers created by the prophets' Gospel Word. We know the prophets taught an effective Word, because most of them were killed. But they left behind their God-inspired prophesies and many believers in the future Messiah.

The Old Testament is exciting because the Son of God is there at the beginning, Genesis 1, and here and there in the Books of Moses, a vein of gold for those who open their eyes. Who is the innocent lamb sacrificed at the Passover Meal? That is the foreshadowing of Jesus the Lamb of God.

We get goosebumps thinking, "The Lord is my Shepherd" in Psalm 23 and "I AM the Good Shepherd in John 10.

We have three parts of the Bible -

1. The Old Testament preaching the coming Messiah
2. The public ministry of Christ proving His divinity, love, and mercy. The Gospels.
3. The Acts and Epistles, explaining and clarifying the Old Testament and the ministry of Christ. Revelation is a summary the Prophets and the Gospels.

The Medieval Church covered up the Gospel Promises and forgiveness with obligations, money paid, work done, suffering suffered. The harder one worked toward perfection, the more miserable (or phony) he became. The surface was full of pious acts and incense and beautiful sacred robes. The inside of that Medieval church culture was rotten, wormy, stinking, and corrupting.

2 By Whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

This verse is one which Luther knew so well, and our darkened culture misses so easily. How do we find God's grace for ourselves? The grace of forgiveness and peace. No one is more tortured than the person not able to see or feel forgiveness of his sins.

Jesus is the conduit. He alone gives us access. Not Buddha, not Obi-Wan. "But how do we gain access?" That is the big question. 

Professor, the paper is found on this link.

The link says, "You do not have access."

Access to God's grace is faith in Christ. Trust in the Savior, not promises to be good. Making a deal in giving up something to obtain God's grace and forgiveness - that is not in this verse. Man can build marble and gold temples with those promises, those acts of contrition, those reparations. 

Jesus the Son of God is access to God's grace through faith in Him.

3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope: 5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

God's Word is so powerful that tribulations caused by evil people are bound to be good and God-pleasing in some way. We may not see that or expect it, but that is how God works. "My thoughts are not your thoughts and neither are your ways My ways."

The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Shed abroad by the Holy Spirit means - by the Gospel in reading, preaching, teaching, hymn singing. That is always God at work, in comforting and converting. 

The Word of God, when it was published faster than papal armies could form - set Europe free from Medieval slavery and tyranny. 

Herman Melville and the Pulpit. From Last Year

 From the movie, starring Gregory Peck, with Orson Welles as the preacher.

What could be more full of meaning?- for the pulpit is ever this earth’s foremost part; all the rest comes in its rear; the pulpit leads the world. From thence it is the storm of God’s quick wrath is first descried, and the bow must bear the earliest brunt. From thence it is the God of breezes fair or foul is first invoked for favorable winds. Yes, the world’s a ship on its passage out, and not a voyage complete; and the pulpit is its prow.

Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 8




I must have been 8 when our family went to see the 1956 movie, Moby Dick. The whaling scenes were thrilling and terrifying, but the pulpit scene was puzzling and dark.

We visited Melville's home, where he wrote the novel, where he viewed the mountain's shape from his study as a whale breaching the surface of the ocean.

Between those mile markers was the requirement of reading the novel and reporting on the novel's collection of rhetorical devices, an odious chore. But at Melville's home, I bought a new copy and read it through. For various reasons, the book got me to finish Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant.

The apostasy of the Church, Roman and Protestant, is a perfect example of the preacher's concluding words in chapter 8. As I told one member last night, ELCA paved the way for rainbow ordination and marriage. They passed their new edict in 2009, after 22 straight years of ELCA quotas and propaganda. The retired bishops finally took notice of their cowardice and formed a new Lutheran church body, decades late.

Examine the histories of the Episcopalians, Methodists, and Presbyterians. They did the same -

"Yes, the world’s a ship on its passage out, and not a voyage complete; and the pulpit is its prow."

Obama did not lead the change - the denominations did the leading. That includes the so-called conservative Lutherans who paid lip-service to the Scriptures while imitating ELCA every possible way.

Rolling history back, here are some important milestones that got all of America on this track:

1. 1880s - Inventive and erroneous text editing allowed the Protestant Left to remove the ending of Mark's Gospel, a task completed by LCMS' Concordia Publishing House with its gold-plated Mark commentary. Seminex won, because the Preus Crime Family only fought to win office, not to change anything.
2. 20th century - The denominations accepted Evolution over Creation and invented many verbal contortions to merge the two, a sugar coating for a poison pill.
3. After changing the name of the Communist Federal Council of Churches, the re-baptized ecumenical lobby became the National Council of Churches, aligned with the World Council of Churches, Geneva, Switzerland. The NCC was no less Marxist but more palatable with a different label.
4. Yes, it was this National Council of Churches that gave us the Revised Standard Version removal of the Virgin Birth from Isaiah 7. They backtracked from the national firestorm, but put "or young woman" in the footnote. That itself was an important step, making the removal of divine action routine by changing a few words. So the Federal Council became the National Council from their Communist scandal, and this NCC became the sponsor of the RSV Bible, hailed by the Left-wing denominations. Footnotes matter - see where the ending of Mark is tolerated but attacks on the text put below in tiny italics with a tiny font.
5. NCC activism worked to leaven the seminaries so the Word of God was really a call for secular "peace, justice, and radical reform."
6. Victory Lap. Universities, seminaries, and denominations reject the traditional text of the Bible. The KJV and various modern KJV publications are off the table for discussion. Elite dummies use the ESV while those with even lower reading comprehension score use the NIV.
7. Unstuck.

The King James Version versus the Others

 

Tischendorf gave the unbelieving rationalists what they wanted and called it Aleph - Sinaiticus, an escape from Biblical inerrancy, very likely a complete forgery. The Vatican provided their own - modestly named Vaticanus - or B.

Tischendorf managed to associate himself with two codices (book style) sources, Sinaiticus and Vaticanus, naming them the best, purest, earliest New Testaments.

The European "scholars" already dismissed the divinity of the Bible, in part from the influence of Halle University and its rancid, rationalistic Pietism. American denominations are no different today. They teach the visible institution, not the Word of God. 

Does it not make sense that the apostolic church carefully made copies of the Gospels and Epistles, expanding the total as Christianity spread? And did they not also translate versions for different languages? And quote the originals? Yes, all that is found in the Greek New Testament, translations, and quotations - the Majority Text, aka Traditional, aka Byzantine, aka Textus Receptus (for Latin 101 graduates). That is the KJV New Testament, from Greek to English.

And do we not know that various heresies corrupted and changed the copies they made, which were as popular as whoopee cushions in a lecture hall? Yes, we have many early Church complaints of those early frauds. They would be rather low in number, because the believing Church did not want strange notions invading worship and teaching.

So we have an unequal comparison, the 95% of all sources - the Majority Text. The 5% come from the heretics.

Now look at your congregation's Bible. Is it the original Luther Bible from the Reformation? Or a copy? Is it from the printing presses licensed by King James? Or a copy? Bibles last a long time, but not all the way back to the first printing, and those earl examples are usually high quality productions.

The early Church burned the worn out copies so they would not fall into the hands of the government or heretics. Please hold back on expecting a Bible on parchment (skin) or papyrus (paper) to last. What can last is the oddball copy in a seldom seen library. 

At Augustana I found a book on comparing Greek grammar to Latin grammar, truly a labor of love. No one had taken it out for 30 years. I wonder why.

There is only one Sinaiticus, which does not match the unique Vaticanus, but both were hailed by Tischendorf as the earliest and best. David Daniels published a book on Sinaiticus as a forgery, a new production which was artificially aged. The Vatican has never held back from fraud, lies, and demonic perversions of the Bible. 

It takes a lot of study to get through the smoke screen created by Tischendorf, Rome, Westcott-Hort, Nida, Nestle, Aland, and the Bible salesmen of today. That is why The Bible Book will soon have a second edition - so many layers of liars to expose, so many typos to fix.

RSV-NIV-TEV-ESV

The modern English paraphrases (they are not true translations) do not match each other. The publishers gather some mediocrities with positions and create something new and different to sell. Like the heretics of the earliest days, they erase what they do not like and completely change phrases to suit their dogmatism. And their spear-carriers fight like demons to keep the errors. The Great Commission is not "make disciples" but "teach all nations," a challenge that makes the Growthers rage and spit.

And - the changes are always changing. The modern paraphrases have no problem with changing their own wording, year after year, and that keeps the copyright ($) legal, sound, and unique. Even better - call the old one New, which works for most of them except the New International Version, which became the New International Version by dumping the "classic" and somewhat less obnoxious NIV. Now the nostalgic in WELS and Missouri pine for the "classic" NIV which Murdoch (Lizard Hands) took away from them. O Tempora O Mores O Shucks.

Murdoch gave you the NIV. WELS said, "Do not let the members know."

Send Me Your Email - But Only If You Want Worship, Publishing Notices

 

A winter chill blew in, but I finally found a good email service. The last one crashed and burned all my email addresses.

Send me your email by writing to me at

greg.jackson.edlp@gmail.com (edlp = every day low prices, for when I worked as a slave on the Walmart plantation). When I tell people that during computer tech calls, they can't stop laughing.

I will make a separate, backed up email list this time. I do not share information with others.

Eclectic Sounds Electric But Is Really Patchwork - WELS-ELS-ELCA-LCMS Are Selling You Expensive False Bibles

Wilbur Pickering - linked PDF

Someone suggested Pickering as a New Testament text source. I wrote "someone suggesting Pickering" - which is a good example of mistakes easily made. I merged "suggested" with "Pickering" and failed to see the mistake the first time through.

I was immediately impressed by the clarity of Pickering's writing, especially so much has been claimed without convincing evidence.

Everyone with a modern Bible, including the New KJV, is dealing with the "eclectic text," which means a Greek New Testament patchwork quilt, taking readings from this and that source. The two main sources are Sinaiticus (Aleph) and Vaticanus (B). I consider both of them to be fraudulent and modern, not trustworthy and ancient. Tischendorf is connected to both and based his fame on his promotion of them as the earliest and best.

Hort, of Westcott-Hort fame, loathed the traditional text. He favored a "Mary" religion over a "Jesus" religion, so he and colleague Westcott produced their own Greek text secretly for the KJV revision and published it at the same time as the revision. Special note - the Westcott-Hort Greek New Testament has no footnotes to support their patchwork. Hort's massive effort failed in his lifetime, but he almost destroyed the concept of a valid, trustworthy apostolic text. 

When you hear "eclectic text," replace it with "patchwork quilt" - from here and there and everywhere, but especially from Aleph (Sinaiticus) and B (Vaticanus), which do not agree.

Another datum - the traditional - or Byzantine - or Majority text comprise 95% of all the documents. The Wescott-Hort evidence comes from 5%. 

All the modernists after Westcott-Hort have attached themselves to the claims of those two men and have not moved beyond W-H. 

The variations among the modernist Greek versions would be hilarious if they were not so sad. They do not agree with each other, which goes along well with the theme of uncertainty.

Pickering gets to the heart of the matter by asking, "How would apostolic sources be treated?" The key copies (parchment/skin) would be used as the template for paper (papyrus) copies as the Church expanded in all directions. 

Very early in the game, heretics produced their own versions. There are more heresies in the early Egyptian congregations than fleas on a dog, and the early Church Fathers complained of these heretical texts. 

What would circulate in abundance versus those copied in very limited editions? - like those NIV "Youth Bibles" and "Macho Men" Bibles and "Young Housewife" Bibles. I can go to the bookstore and get a Holy Spirit Bible, plus all manner of commentary in Bibles from those fleas reborn in the footnotes. The New KJV takes away clarity by constantly offering up Westcott-Hort style corrections in the footnotes. They suggest a scenario where a sports book says, "The Chicago Cubs won the World Series in 2016." Footnote - Or, the Indians.

Thus we have the Majority Text  of the New Testament wearing out the previous generation of templates - copied again as the parchment deteriorated. A popular book, even post-Reformation, is worn out when enough people handle it.  Example - Bunyan's works, some of which fell apart during secretive, energetic sharing.

The modernist argument is that they have the earliest and most accurate text, but "earliest" is a stretch. They give Sinaiticus and Vaticanus birth dates of 400 AD. I have trouble believing that either one lasted 1400+ years.

Here is a sample of Vatican publishing, the Douai version of Genesis 3:15 - the First Gospel.

Jesuit Douay Reims - Genesis 3:15 -  

I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.

King James - Genesis 3:15

15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

I spent a lot of time checking out books from the Vatican owned seminary in Columbus, Ohio. This passage is one of many used by Rome to elevate Mary as the Savior (Co-Redeemer, literally). The cloud that ended the drought was foot-shaped! 1 Kings 18:44. Much of the Mariology was based on that Roman version of Genesis 3:15 which turned the Gospel into the opposite. And yet the Protestants have united with Rome in the production and distribution of Bibles.

Hymn #519 - The Lutheran Hymnal - Beloved - It Is Well

"Beloved, 'It Is Well!'"
by George W. Doane, 1799-1859

Tune - Cambridge - linked here

1. Beloved, "It is well!"
God's ways are always right,
And perfect love is o'er them all
Though far above our sight.

2. Beloved, "It is well!"
Though deep and sore the smart,
The hand that wounds knows how to bind
And heal the broken heart.

3. Beloved, "It is well!"
Though sorrow clouds our way,
'Twill only make the joy more dear
That ushers in the day.

4. Beloved, "It is well!"
The path that Jesus trod,
Though rough and strait and dark it be,
Leads home to heaven and God.

Hymn #519
The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: Romans 11:33
Author: George W. Doane, 1833
Composer: Ralph Harrison, c. 1784
Tune: "Cambridge"

Why Do You Grow Roses?

 

 Heirloom

I found my Lowe's gift card with a few dollars left on it. A table at Lowe's had plenty of Shasta Daisies on sale, so I took a few, plus one pot of mums. Removal of the Hostas to the backyard meant I had some low spots in the Rose Garden. The rain was promised but had not come. Yesterday took care of that. Rain came down so fine that it hardly made a difference, then the serious clouds unleashed rain suited for another Ark.

Where were the new daisies and mums? They were soaking up God's own patented fertilizer, rain mixed with usable nitrogen. Sassy had her own bath towel by the door, so she could go to the ladies' room and come in to be dried off. Several times she decided she could wait a little longer.

Someone recently asked, "Why do you grow roses?" A look at the garden provides the answer. The little plot of land has produced flowers from Joe Pye, Allium, and Shasta Daisies, but they are not winners - too big, to stinky, too small - when compared to a vase full of roses. The best alternatives are from spring and fall bulbs, which bloom riotously but stay quiet the rest of the summer - Daffodils in the early spring, Gladiolas in the late spring.

 Bride's Dream

I enjoy having people point out the newest roses blooms. "Did you see that new one?" the ask, as if I garden for the weeds. Everyone gets a charge out of them. The staff of the diabetic specialist said, "We love seeing Christina's name on the schedule. It always means a vase of beautiful, fragrant roses, with a list of names." 

Some are already muttering, "He bought some roses already, almost November. Good luck with that." Yes, the least likely supplier had some overstock so I decided to gamble, or it is gambol? Rose clearance sales give me new names to remember and appreciate. 

I am guessing that these are from the wholesaler. I have received very mature (overgrown by nursery standards) roses from Weeks Roses. I can dig up some wild roses (always on my Must Do list) and replace them them with clearance roses. The wild one will bloom dark red in the early spring and then take a vacation - except for their delight in snagging skin and cloth.

 Falling in Love

One Facebook reader agreed with me - people need to be closer to God's Creation. One reason is Jesus Christ the Lord of Creation. He was and is the creating Word of Genesis 1. God the Father commanded and God the Son executed the commands, the Holy Spirit hovering over Creation and leaving us that witness. "All things were created by Him and nothing was created apart from Him." John 1:3 explains Genesis 1 in that fashion.

Given what the Word of God reveals, a husband should always view his wife as God's Creation, and the same with her - seeing her husband as coming from God Himself. There is no force more powerful than that, since children - the blessed fruit of marriage - are nurtured and trained by that union, where two become one.

The flower girl at the wedding was in the arms of her father, so she could carry out her duties and not be distracted. She took the petals in her hand and dropped them down the aisle. Then came that special moment, when she was eye-to-eye with me. She gave me an unmistakable and mischievous smile - and tossed her last handful of flowers straight at the groom, leaving him well decorated. Everyone saw the flowered groom and laughed. A few of us saw the flower girl's fun.

I was going to summarize the trip to Seattle, but that image is the week's epitome for me: a man and a woman united by the Word of God, friends, relatives, parents, grandparents, and great-grandma. The uncles only had to show up to delight their nieces, but they entertained the girls as well. That was another indelible picture.