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.
Tyndale and Luther did not create the deceptive and foolish "make disciples" paraphrase of the Great Commission. Similar pratfalls are found in the modernized German Bible and the hideous NIV, ESV, RSV, NRSV, and Beck (rhymes with Yuck).
In 1525, William Tyndale, an English contemporary of Martin Luther, undertook a translation of the New Testament. Tyndale's translation was the first printed Bible in English. Over the next ten years, Tyndale revised his New Testament in the light of rapidly advancing biblical scholarship, and embarked on a translation of the Old Testament. Despite some controversial translation choices, and in spite of Tyndale's execution on charges of heresy for having made the translated Bible, the merits of Tyndale's work and prose style made his translation the ultimate basis for all subsequent renditions into Early Modern English.
David Daniell (2003). The Bible in English: Its History and Influence. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-09930-4.
Arnold is a good example of why we should abstain from steroids to build muscles.
I stopped at the largest Walmart in Arkansas. I was there on opening day and felt lost in its vastness. The opposite is true now when I get groceries. This is how I react to various areas. The most profitable are the most useless for food.
Pharmacy -
Nope. No meds except for eye drops. Shots? My response to "free virus shot" was a loud "HA HA HA HA." I used my outdoor voice. Vegetables, greens, fruits, and nuts are the best medicine.
Fresh Fruit -
I would rather have too much than too little, some variety all the time. My favorite is apples, and I eat about four a day.
Blueberries are daily habits now, mixed with the vegetables for lunch, which are often repeated for supper. Chicken is an alternative three times a week.
I buy pineapples and oranges, but gave up on pomegranate juice, which exploded on me and made me look like a hard-working butcher when I opened the bottle at home. I asked for a refund.
Frozen Vegetables - Small Selection
Green/red peppers and onions.
Riced cauliflower
Sweet peas in large bags
Broccoli
Frozen chopped greens - spinach, kale, turnip
Asparagus
Mushrooms
Beans and Tomato Paste
Canned chick peas are my favorite (when washed thoroughly in a strainer). I have tried lima beans and three beans, but the main issue is salt. Many canned beans and vegetables are loaded with salt, which pushes high blood pressure (antihistamines do too).
Tomato paste is the best form of the nightshade. Various kinds of sauce are watery and often very salty. The paste is lacking in skin and seeds, and loaded with low-cal nutrition and flavor. My watery mix becomes just thick enough when mixed with tomato paste, which is quite inexpensive.
Pasta? Flavorless white flour in many shapes
I shelved lots of pasta when I worked at a Walmart plantation. Two things appalled me -
why bother with shapes? and
why pay money for pressed flour?
Salad Dressing - An Essential Part of the Fat Selection
The amount of fat sold in various forms is quite appalling, remaining a major part of the entire food section.
Butter, margarine, eggs, and all cheeses are massive purveyors of fat, which goes right certain parts if not burned up from work and exercise.
Butter, as I explained to one doctor, is a gateway drug for me. It is supposedly harmless, but leads to buttered toast, buttered rolls, and butter added to many good foods to make them better - like the helpless vegetables which already have their own oil. Redundant and potentially harmful.
Once I stopped buying bread, my butter supply stretched out much longer. I eat limited amounts of rolls with chicken.
Milk, skim milk, cottage cheese, all cheeses are fat products, often with a good dose of salt.
Sweets and Fake Sweets, Equally Bad
Opposite the frozen vegetables is a gigantic aisle of candies, fairly expensive and somewhat tempting. High blood sugar made me eat large amounts of hard candy. I no longer buy them and seldom have chocolate.
Rich sources of sweets include sugarless but just as damaging forms of the following:
Hard, soft, and jellied candy
Chocolate
Juices, including orange and apple juice - all sugar or fake sugar
So-called energy drinks and special lose-weight gimmicks (ha ha ha).
Gum, throat lozenges, mints
Donuts, danish, pies, puddings
Nuts
Statins are fraught with problems in "lowering cholesterol." They block the natural function of the liver. Walnuts and almonds use the heavy cholesterol to remove the dangerous, sticky light cholesterol. Quick test -
Who invented statins and made billions?
Who created almonds and walnuts, which sell for very little?
Meats and Fish
I buy chicken from Schwan. Meats are satisfying because they provide a big wallop of fat plus a serious amount of salt. Fish are just as fatty - the plea for their therapeutic oil is easily met with vegetable sources, including walnuts and almonds.
Katy Perry was the star of a Walmart Annual Meeting. I did not get a chance to ask her about Ski and Glende.
‘This university has lost the understanding of what it means to be Catholic,’ student leader says
Gonzaga University, a Jesuit Catholic institution, refused to allow a pro-life event by the campus Zags for Life group.
Zags for Life wanted to host Catholic pro-life speaker Liz Wheeler with assistance from Young America’s Foundation, but the campus ministry office denied the request.
Grant Habersetzer, a student and board member of Gonzaga’s pro-life club Zags for Life, told The College Fix that he was notified the event was canceled by an email from Director of Mission and Ministry Luke Lavin. The ministry director said he was “unaware” that the group was working with YAF on the event, according to an email reviewed by The Fix.
John F. Johnson, got his PhD from the Jesuit St. Louis University, because he thought his Concordia St. Louis ThD was useless outside of the Missouri Synod. He sports the lopsided smile so familiar in the Olde Synodical Conference.
I visited Johnson in his office at Concordia, St. Louis, and got him to start raving about how great the adulterous Karl Barth (Swiss theologian) was. He saw I was not on his adulatory wavelength and immediately switched to another topic. He discussed having a ThD from the LCMS was worthless outside of the LCMS, so he earned a PhD at St. Louis University to be more marketable in academics. No wonder Missouri was so eager to make Johnson a higher education leader.
I could not find David Luy on LinkedIn so I just googled his name + Lutheran. That brought up the page from his previous job at Trinity Divinity. He got his PhD from the Jesuits - Marquette! All roads do lead from Rome nowadays. I need to build a gallery of Jesuit PhDs:
John Sparky Brenner - WELS professor at Mordor, Dean of GA Hazing Rites.
Jack Kilcrease - Our Lady of Sorrows Convent School (a nominal LCMS guy trained in ELCA but born in a WELS parsonage).
Gregory Schulz - LCMS ex-professor, C.U. Mequon.
Karl Fabrezius - LCMS pastor.
David Luy - NALC Seminary.
Charles Cortright - Wisconsin Lutheran College, WELS.
John F. Johnson and.......drum roll
Erik Ankerberg, Marquette U. PhD
Not one of these Lutherans would admit knowing that I exist, and I know four of them one way or another (fewer is better).
Maybe if I wore all black and always played word games with the truth...
Four megs of memory are in these punch cards, so why should we complain.
Be frank with me - is my computer too old?
Beast Buy kitten repair team - "We'll have this purring in no time."
I made three (3) attempts to set up email through Best Buy's remote set up. The home visit was great about audio issues, but no more remotes. I will set up with Microsoft, either Friday or Saturday. I have a used HP Envy I want to start with, if the truck gets here. Otherwise I will just switch services on this computer.
Beast Buy supervisor describes his resume - "I said I was lost, and they said, You are just what we need."
Authorized the engagement of a firm to conduct a comprehensive audit for diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility of the Constitutions, Bylaws, and Continuing Resolutions of the ELCA (CBCR), the Roster Manual, the Church Council Governance Policy Manual and "Definitions and Guidelines for Discipline." A report will be presented at the fall 2023 Church Council meeting.
Scheduled for 2024 the initiation of a task force for reconsideration of the social statement Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust.
"We are not having Jello with celery again. Mom's joking."
I misspelled leafy greens simply because they are the least among the food groups and yet the most important in many ways.
People still joke about the traditional Midwestern salad - Jello, a sugar-based concoction enhanced with sweetened fruit. My mother added walnuts and celery for a more effective gag reflex. If we had reasonably fresh lettuce, I hid mine behind the breakfast room curtains.
I like Panera salads, but not restaurant salads drowning in a cup of dressing. I was genuinely shocked to learn in the Fuhrman books that leafy greens were powerfully nutritious and almost calorie free. One way to stop binge eating is to eat plenty of leafy greens, which can be satisfying and enjoyable. I did that fairly often with grocery store "fresh" spinach, which is not close to what I grew in Minnesota and Michigan.
I knew I had to eat more of those leafy greens but they held little attraction. First, I saw how inexpensive chopped, frozen greens were - and far more appetizing than canned greens of any kind. Could I blend them into the daily vegetable concoction warmed on the stove? Yes! - and they are not harmed by heat.
The prominent leafy greens in the frozen section are:
Spinach
Collards
Turnip
Kale.
Each one has special benefits without significant calories. They lack the massive amounts of sweeteners, fat, and salt that serve as the foundation of the American fast-food diet.
The nutritional benefits overlap, and they are well worth studying by searching "health benefits of" in the browser. Leafy greens suggest the reason why my vision improved and my arthritis went away (90%) in 2022.
The 1889 Johnstown Flood should be a lesson, especially since those who lived in the narrow valley also ignored the same signals of bottled-up energy. An earthen dam was created and the spillway, to relieve the dam from overflowing, was taken away, its pipes sold as scrap.
The dam itself was lowered so carriages could go back and forth.
Fish were brought in to serve the needs of the ultra-rich (in the near future) for hunting and fishing. They were opposed to any meddling with their dam.
Devastating rain cascaded down the valley and some tried to warn everyone. One was response was "You are a coward and so is your horse!" Over 2000 men, women, and children died when the dam overflowed the middle, came crashing down, got blocked by debris, and renewed its power.
One writer made the point that a dam stores energy. If it builds up without relief, disaster follows.
ELCA built up energy, just as its partner synods did, but all of it misdirected, polluted, and corrupted. The Lutheran sects are unable and unwilling to teach Biblical doctrine. Cascione thinks relying on CFW Walther, BA, and teaching Justification without Faith, will fix everything. Walther's Calvinism is the disease, not the cure.
Thrivent answers to no one (much like the hunting-fishing gentlemen who protected their dam).
The sects are collapsing as one, watching one another disappear, working together feverishly to find a way to repair themselves in the flood of departures, the greying of the remaining members, the shrieking of the women pastors.
America is also on the verge. The corruption, evil, and greed are so great, it is startling that the collapse is not more evident. When the energy is released, two things are possible.
The dream of America in chains is realized, everyone reduced to socialistic slavery.
An overhaul of all the institutions brings down the status quo, in recognition of the merits of the past and the ideals of the U.S. Constitution.
The Confession of Sins The Absolution The Introit p. 16
Introit
If Thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities:
O Lord, who shall stand?
But there is forgiveness with Thee:
that Thou mayest be feared, O God of Israel.
Psalm. Out of the depths have I cried unto Thee,
O Lord: Lord, hear my voice.
The Gloria Patri The Kyrie p. 17 The Gloria in Excelsis The Salutation and Collect p. 19
Collect
O God, our Refuge and Strength, who art the Author of all godliness, be ready, we beseech Thee, to hear the devout prayers of Thy Church, and grant that those things which we ask. faithfully we may obtain effectually; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth, etc.
The Epistle and Gradual
Gradual
Lord, Thou hast been our Dwelling Place: in all generations.
V. Before the mountains were brought forth or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the world: even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
V. They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion: which cannot be removed, but abideth forever. Hallelujah!
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 #50Lord Dismiss Us
In Our Prayers
Safe travels to those on distant journeys.
Pastor K and Doc Lito Cruz - dealing with diabetes; Randy Anderson; Callie and her parents; C.
The flowers on the altar and table are for Anita Engleman, Zach's mother.
KJV Philippians 1:3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, 4 Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, 5 For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; 6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: 7 Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace. 8 For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. 9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; 10 That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; 11 Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
KJV Matthew 18:23 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. 24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 27 Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.
28 But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. 29 And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 30 And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.
31 So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. 32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: 33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? 34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.
35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
Thankful Always,
Even in Prison
Background
Paul's letter is often called The Epistle of Joy because joyful terms are used so often, 17 times by Lenski's count. Philippi was a Roman colony honoring the name of Alexander the Great's father. It was a wealthy city because of gold and silver mines. Paul's first convert there was Lydia, who owned a business in the very expensive dye (made from snails) used only by those who could afford it. She generously supported Paul's ministry, so she was a forerunner of Dow Chemical. (See Acts 16:14)
Paul had been awaiting his appeal to the Emperor, which was his right as a Roman citizen. That was developing and therefore a reason for rejoicing. We know very little about this because the New Testament is about Jesus Christ the Son of God, not the Apostles, except for a little background.
Philippians 1:1-2
1 Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: 2 Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
KJV Philippians 1:3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, 4 Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy,
Some more treasure has been dug up - 5,000 coins made of gold, silver, bronze, and statues, in Sienna, Italy. Ditto in England, once controlled by Rome. Paul did not rejoice over gold and silver, but about the Gospel. My impression is that he did indeed rejoice about taking his case to the Roman court, but he had to know that he was not going to enjoy a long life, considering the opposition to him, offending the pagan gods business and the Jewish leaders.
In the Scriptures, thankfulness and joy are not for material gain. As we get older, we realize that the greatest treasures are everlasting and not something to be locked up in a vault. God turns grief into joy as we realize how much we were blessed - and still are - by believers who have gone before us. That is my promise for mothers - you will be the person most valued by the survivors - and they will wish you could only be with them another hour.
This is poignant rejoicing by Paul, because he knows what lies ahead. As a Roman citizen he had rights in prison, so he had the equivalent of blogging today - a way to reach the tiny community of believers in the Roman Empire, with copies made and preserved.
Note that besides the fraudulent Greek New Testaments - Sinaiticus and Vaticanus - we also have scraps from the heretics of the first two centuries. The Christians were constantly wearing out what they had, copying the Apostolic witness, and burning the worn-out copies to keep them from the false teachers, as much as they could.
Today the fake scholars use the faked Scriptures to suggest they were the real deal when in fact the Traditional or Majority Text continued and overwhelmed the fakes by the copies produced, the translations of those copies, and those lectionaries. I used a CPH lectionary bound in leather, which could last a century with care. In short, the NewTestament we have goes back to the Apostles who died to give us this treasure. The real New Testament has 5,000 witnesses. The fakes - about five in all.
Of all the literature in the world, the Bible has the earliest witnesses, the most witnesses (genuine copies) by far - an overwhelming number. The Bibl is earlier by centuries, more numerous than anyone can imagine, with many buried by time, like the gold and silver coins of Rome.
It is a well-known fact that the congregations closing down have almost no people but thousands upon thousands of dollars in Certificates of Deposit. A 300-year-old church next to a Lutheran seminary could not stay open. The Gospel rain moves on.
So why does Paul pray about the obvious. Prayer requires faith in Jesus Christ, and everything requested is moved by the Holy Spirit in the Word, and heard. We know from Ephesians 3 that prayers are answered even before we ask, and they have the power of the Holy Spirit.
Prayer requires genuine faith (not soap opera prayer) and prayer deepens our faith. When we pray for a certain person, even one we have never met, we know and remember that person more easily.
5 For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;
Lydia was the first convert in that province, from the preaching and teaching of Paul. "Faith comes from hearing the Gospel Report." Fellowship in the Gospel does not mean donuts and coffee. Koinonia means communion with God through preaching and teaching.
How many churches have fellowship halls? They are used for secular past-times, whether Halloween parties or Super Bowl gatherings or playing cards. Church Growth experts, who made a ton of money, indebted dozens of churches by telling them they had to have a larger fellowship hall. And nobody laughed!
Fellowship in the New Testament means communing with God. The "fellowship of the Holy Spirit" means through the Word we have a bond with God, a powerful bond.
That fellowship is not through land, property, and money but through God's own will. The fellowship they had from the beginning continues, even with Paul in prison.
6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
They may be dismayed at the founder's predicament, but Paul is confident that the Gospel leaven will continue to grow and spread, a good work to spread the Gospel until the End of Time.
He thanks God that others have come into its fellowship. His confidence is firm regarding certain beginners in the faith, and he is so interested in their salvation he rejoices in it as much as in his own, seeming unable to thank God sufficiently for it. He unceasingly prays that he may live to see many come with him into such fellowship and be preserved therein until the day of the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall perfect and complete all the defects of this earthly life. He prays these beginners may go forth faultlessly in faith and hope until that joyful day.
7 Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace. 8 For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.
The most prominent loss, but not the only one of the Apostles, revealed this through the Holy Spirit. As much as he wanted to be with them again, they would still carry on the Gospel, no matter what. That became basic to the Apostolic Era.
9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; 10 That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; 11 Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
The fruits of righteousness are the fruits of the Spirit, all the eternal treasures which are abundant with faith in the Savior.
23. Our life has not yet reached the heights it is destined to attain. We know here only its incipient first-fruits. Desire is not satisfied; we have but a foretaste. As yet we only realize by faith what is bestowed upon us; full and tangible occupancy is to come. Therefore, we need to pray because of the limitations that bind our earthly life, until we go yonder where prayer is unnecessary, and all is happiness, purity of life and one eternal song of thanks and praise to God.
But heavenly praise and joy is to have its inception and a measure of growth here on earth through the encouragement of prayer — prayer for ourselves and the Church as a whole; that is, for them who have accepted and believe the Gospel and are thus mutually helpful. For the Gospel will receive greater exaltation and will inspire more joy with the individual because of its acceptance by the many. So Paul says he thanks God for the fellowship of the Philippians in the Gospel, and offers prayer in their behalf.
