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.
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| The Death Star is a felt need in WELS-LCMS. |
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| "We have pacified this WELS circuit, time to move on, so much more work to be done." |
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| "Nobody in WELS went to Fuller Seminary for a DMin or any other kind of training, so turn around the diploma on the wall, OK?" |
Currently, the favorite plant name is pollinator. That term includes the many varieties of bees, their relatives, hummingbirds, and butterflies. The early weeds, which do not bloom long, are perfect for the bees trying to earn their reputation for hard work. Ajuga is a purplish mint and stickyweed is another.
Instead of a hummingbird showing up at its feeder, a woodpecker is stopping by for some sips. Tiny butterflies are flitting about the Rose Garden already. The most fun and relaxing visitors are the bees. The patio is open, shaded overhead, and only inches above the garden.
A hummingbird can be watched from inches away as it checks out its food supply from the feeder. Bees do the same wherever the flowers are blooming. Beneficial flower flies are always around but wary of windy days.
Some of the emerging plants for this three-ring circus of pollinators are:
Shallow water is always present, either from watering or from the air conditioner.
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| Crepe Myrtle is a favorite with robins, cardinals, bees, and butterflies. |
Link to Luther's Rogate Sermon - Five Requirements for True Prayer
A SERMON ON PRAYER.
1. First we note that in order for a prayer to be really right and to be heard five things are required. The first is, that we have from God his promise or his permission to speak to him, and that we remember the same before we pray and remind God of it, thereby encouraging ourselves to pray in a calm and confident frame of mind. Had God not told us to pray, and pledged himself to hear us, none of his creatures could ever, with all their prayers, obtain so much as a grain of corn. From this, then, there follows that no one receives anything from God by virtue of his own merit or that of his prayer. His answer comes by virtue of the divine goodness alone, which precedes every prayer and desire, which moves us, through his gracious promise and call, to pray and to desire, in order that we may learn how much he cares for us, and how he is more ready to give than we are to receive. He would have us seek to become bold, to pray in a calm and confident spirit, since he offers all, and even more, than we are able to ask.
