ICHABOD, THE GLORY HAS DEPARTED - explores the Age of Apostasy, predicted in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, to attack Objective Faithless Justification, Church Growth Clowns, and their ringmasters. The antidote to these poisons is trusting the efficacious Word in the Means of Grace. John 16:8. Isaiah 55:8ff. Romans 10. Most readers are WELS, LCMS, ELS, or ELCA. This blog also covers the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, and the Left-wing, National Council of Churches denominations.
Saturday, October 29, 2022
The Johnstown Flood Is a Lesson for Quasi-Lutherans
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| Johnstown, after the dam broke |
The earthen dam upstream from Johnstown, Pennsylvania, was set up for deeper water and imported fish for the summer camp of the ultra-rich. The earlier drainpipes had been removed and the dam's top lowered for convenience.
There were many warnings, even some partial flooding, but no one considered dam failure a possibility. After days of rain in 1889, 20 million gallons of water burst the dam and rushed down on the small town where fortunes were made in iron and steel.
A dam is not passive, but holds back energy. We saw an interesting example at a nuclear power site. The plant pumped water all night into storage, to feed the generators all day.
The build-up for a catastrophe among the Lutherans and other apostate denominations is similar. They have their meetings, votes, and election of officers and bishops. The most outrageous acts and discussions are treated with indifference to the previous definition of normal.
By merging - "that they be one" - the ELCA maneuvered to consolidate and empower the radicals from Seminex, The ALC, and the LCA. They began in 1987 with quotas. Though I was a young lad and not even 40, I was already out of there, convinced that a quota-constricted merger would be a disaster. Very few howled in opposition to the con job and went happily on their way for 22 years of ELCA, wearing their bishop wardrobes.
Ohio LCA president Ken Sauer became the Ohio ELCA bishop and then left ELCA after 2009 to form the "bishops' synod" in reaction to The Vote. That led to Liz Eaton becoming Presiding Bishop of ELCA, someone Bishop Sauer welcomed into the ministry.
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| Note the date, 2017. Liz proved that the pulpit leads the world, as Melville wrote, before anyone noticed what was going to happen by 2022. |
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
The latest ELCA convention featured Presiding Bishop Liz Eaton's song and dance about how she kicked the first transexual bishop out of office in San Francisco.
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| Megan Rohrer was ordained by ELCA. |
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| Bishop Megan Rohrer experienced defenestration in ELCA, for removing a male pastor she did not favor. |
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| The 2009 ELCA vote took place at Central Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, followed by a sudden storm that knocked the cross from the steeple. |
Many church bodies are following ELCA's disastrous ways. I believe the upcoming national vote will be like the Johnstown flood, with people saying afterwards, "We should have seen it coming."
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This is the hit-and-run assistant bishop, backed by her boss, who looks worried. |
Friday, October 28, 2022
Saturday Rain Means Friday Digging
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| Our last garden roses will be on the altar this Sunday, a few Veterans Honor. The size of this crop from earlier years includes Veterans Honor and Falling in Love. The chapel has been remodeled for sound. |
This strange autumn has seen drought alternated with heavy rains. We just had one and another is due for Saturday.
"Sassy, we have to go back!"
A sharp bark or two.
"Back to the bulbs!"
We had some remaining bulbs, large daffodils, small grape hyacinths, and enormous white grape hyacinths.
Fortunately, the ground was soft and the weather perfect for a few more divots. Sassy stood guard on the driveway and eventually told me she wanted back inside.
As bulb gardeners often say, we do not plant seeds, roots, or seedlings, but the flowers themselves encased in food for their journey upwards.
I ran into about a dozen bulbs from previous digs. They look like bulbs from the bag, but they also have roots. They will push the flower upward, wait for the right temperature, then bloom according to the Lord of Creation's plan, John 1:3. Furthermore, they slowly multiply in the soil, each year, making doubles and triples. I had a number from the earlier bags where I peeled them apart for their own separate place.
People glanced at my digging and planting efforts. They will hit the brakes in the spring and see:
- Daffodils of various colors and sizes;
- Grape hyacinths large and small, purple, white, and pink;
- Lilies, huge perfume bombs;
- Aliums (garlic) and a few others varieties.
The only spring planting will be glads and cannas.
The Importance of Hymns - Quotation from the Lutheran Librarian, Alec Satin
From “A Mirror For Pastors. Translated From The German Of Guthe,
By Rev. W. E. Tressel, Baltimore, Md.
The Activity Of The Catechist.” in Loy, ed.
The Columbus Theological Magazine. Vol. 18, 1898.
quote:
The pearls of the Church’s hymnology are likewise not to remain unknown to the scholars. One should also not omit to communicate whatever in the history of the origin or blessed influence of these hymns is edifying. If the children learn the hymn: “If thou but suffer God to guide thee,” relate to them the circumstances under which it was composed: G. Neumark in the year 1653 fell into such great poverty, that he was even forced to pawn his beloved viola di Gamba, upon which he was such a skillful performer. When God did not permit his confidence to be put to shame and helped him out of his need, so that he could redeem his viola di Gamba, he composed the beautiful hymn so expressive of trust in God, and when he had finished writing it, he immediately played. it amid tears of thankfulness. Koch’s “Geschichte des Kirchenliedes” is a rich storehouse upon which to draw in this respect.
The Bethany Hymnal -
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"If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee"
by Georg Neumark, 1621-1681
Translated by Catherine Winkworth, 1829-1878
1. If thou but suffer God to guide thee
And hope in Him through all thy ways,
He'll give thee strength, whate'er betide thee,
And bear thee through the evil days.
Who trusts in God's unchanging love
Builds on the Rock that naught can move.
2. What can these anxious cares avail thee,
These never-ceasing moans and sighs?
What can it help if thou bewail thee
O'er each dark moment as it flies?
Our cross and trials do but press
The heavier for our bitterness.
3. Be patient and await His leisure
In cheerful hope, with heart content
To take whate'er thy Father's pleasure
And His discerning love hath sent,
Nor doubt our inmost wants are known
To Him who chose us for His own.
4. God knows full well when times of gladness
Shall be the needful thing for thee.
When He has tried thy soul with sadness
And from all guile has found thee free,
He comes to thee all unaware
And makes thee own His loving care.
5. Nor think amid the fiery trial
That God hath cast thee off unheard,
That he whose hopes meet no denial
Must surely be of God preferred.
Time passes and much change doth bring
And sets a bound to everything.
6. All are alike before the Highest;
'Tis easy to our God, we know,
To raise thee up, though low thou liest,
To make the rich man poor and low.
True wonders still by Him are wrought
Who setteth up and brings to naught.
7. Sing, pray, and keep His ways unswerving,
Perform thy duties faithfully,
And trust His Word, though undeserving,
Thou yet shalt find it true for thee.
God never yet forsook in need
The soul that trusted Him indeed.
Hymn #518
The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: Psalm 55:22
Author: Georg Neumark, 1640
Translated by: Catherine Winkworth, 1863, alt.
Titled: "Wer nur den lieben Gott laesst walten"
Composer: Georg Neumark, 1640
Tune: "Wer nur den lieben Gott"
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| Georg Neumark |
My Favorite Overlooked Great Lutheran - Theodore Schmauk
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