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.
I went out with her twice to have some fun. She also had a third romp much later.
She loves to race full speed toward me and change course instantly. She also runs on her back legs for a short distance, no doubt to find prey. She loved the snow fell asleep after each adventure.
All the dogs stayed inside.
 |
Hale, Calvin, and Knapp - Phil removed me from the link to Christian News, saving me five minutes every time a new issue comes off their antique printing press in New Haven. CN boasts they had a book about Walter Maier, even though the business rejects Biblical inerrancy (Bogus Beck Bible) and the statement by Maier on the Otten book cover about Justification by Faith. Confessional Lutheran FB ___ (fill in the blank, there are many) |
 |
| George Borgwardt kicked me off his FB forum, and then kicked my wife off, even though he taught that everyone is already forgiven. Everyone! |
 |
| Matt the Fatt removed me from his FB as soon as he was elected. Former LCMS President Jerry Kieschnick has remained my FB friend.  |
 |
LCMS slobbers over this nonsense, always avoiding the fact that Edward Preuss joined the Roman Catholic Church after seeing a red sunset.  |
 |
| ELCA Pastor Tibbets, STS, former ALPB Online Forum contributor |
 |
| The CLC (sic) |
 |
| Donkey basketball is CLC school fun - bring your own mop bucket. |
Almost all the discussions about Luther are stuck in the About stage. Individuals take a concept or a book about Luther and waste everyone's time on superficial repetition. That is why the Big Four - ELCA-WELS-ELS-LCMS continue to teach Universalism with the fire of their Father Below. The irony is profound - The Church of Rome teaches that no one is forgiven, so even the best of the best spend a few days in Purgatory. The Big Four teach that everyone is forgiven - "Everyone! Everyone!" - so grace without faith is taught without any comprehension, contrary to Romans and the entire Bible.
 |
| George cut me off his Facebook page, and he kicked out my sainted wife as well. |
Complete Sermon -> Third Sunday after Epiphany. The Leper and Healing the Centurion's Servant
8. The other example is like it in respect to faith and love. For this centurion also has a heartfelt confidence in Christ, and sets before his eyes nothing but the goodness and grace of Christ; otherwise he would not have come to him, or he would not have sent to him, as Luke 7:3 says.
Likewise he would not have had this bold confidence, if he had not first heard of the goodness and grace of Christ. In this instance also the Gospel is the beginning and incentive of his confidence and faith.
9. Here we learn again, that we must begin with the Gospel and believe it and not look upon any merit or work of our own as this centurion also advanced no merit or work, but only his confidence in the goodness of Christ. So we see that all the works of Christ exhibit examples of the Gospel, of faith and of love.
10. We also observe the example of love, how Christ freely shows him kindness, without any request or reward, as was said above. Moreover, the centurion also shows an example of love, in that he took pity upon his servant as upon himself, even as Christ also has had compassion upon us, and did the good deed freely, solely for the benefit of the servant, as Luke 7:2 says, he did it because the servant was dear to him; just as if he said: The love and affection, which he bore to him, impelled him to consider his need and to do this. Let us also do likewise, and see to it that we do not deceive ourselves and rest satisfied in that we now have the Gospel, and yet have no regard for our neighbor in his need. This having been said of these two examples, we will now also examine some details of the text.
II. THE EXPLANATION OF TWO THOUGHTS IN THIS GOSPEL.
11. When the leper here limits his prayer and says: “Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.” it is not to be understood as if he doubted the goodness and grace of Christ. For such a faith would be of no value, even if he believed that Christ was almighty, and was able to do and know all things. For that is living faith, which does not doubt that God is also good to us and is graciously willing to do what we ask. But it is to be understood in this way: faith does not doubt the good will God has toward a person, by which he wishes him every good; but it is not known to us, whether what faith asks and presents, is good and useful for us; God alone knows this,. Therefore faith prays in a way that it submits all to the gracious will of God, whether it is for his honor and our good, and yet it does not doubt that God will grant it, or, if it cannot be granted, that his divine will withholds it in great grace, because he sees it is better not to bestow it. But in all this faith nevertheless remains certain and sure of God’s gracious, will, whether he gives or withholds, as St. Paul also says in Romans 8:26, we know not how to pray as we ought, and as the Lord’s Prayer bids us to prefer his will and to pray for it.
12. This is what we have often said: we ought to believe without doubting and without limiting the divine goodness; but we ought to pray with the limitation, that it may be his honor, his kingdom and will, in order that we may not limit his will to time, place, measure or name, but leave all that freely to him. For this reason the prayer of the leper pleased the Lord so well and was soon heard. For where we submit to his will, and seek what is acceptable to him, he cannot refrain from doing in return what is acceptable to us. Faith inclines his favor to us, and submissive prayer inclines him to grant us what we pray for. As to the sending of the leper to the priests, why it was done and what it signified, enough has been said in the Postil of the ten lepers.
13. However, the saying of Christ: “I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel,” has been discussed with solicitude, lest it should imply that Christ did not speak truly or that the Mother of God and the apostles were inferior to this centurion. Although I might say here that Christ is speaking of the people of Israel, among whom he had preached and to whom he had come, and that therefore his mother and disciples were excluded, because they traveled with him and came with him to the people of Israel in his preaching, nevertheless I will abide by the words of the Lord and take them as they stand; and for the following reasons. First, it is contrary to no article of belief that this faith of the centurion was without a parallel among the apostles or in the Mother of God. But whenever no article of faith openly contradicts the words of Christ, they are to be taken literally, and are not to be adapted and bent by our interpretation, neither for the sake of any saint, or angel, nor of God himself. For his Word is the truth itself above all saints and angels.
Yesterday was especially cold for Springdale, so I put seed out on the garbage barrels. Soon I spotted a male cardinal sitting on his person pile of seeds and eating all he could reach without moving. Blue jays took their turns snatching food.
We had inches of light, fluffy snow today, so I found the grain shovel and began clearing off the driveway this morning. My Laotian neighbor taught me that early shoveling reduced labor by 90%. Solar heat favors my east-pointing driveway, so I went outside to a solo performance. I am the oldest on the block but the only one shoveling. Kids shoveling for money or threats? Nope. The powder was very light, so I also cleared my neighbor's sidewalk up to their mailbox.
The bonus after shoveling was clearing off the garbage barrels, and several feeders. Just now I looked out the kitchen window to see starlings all over the feeders and arriving at the trees.
The only problem was coming in with snowy shoes on the clean, polished kitchen floor. I survived it.
 |
| This train's not bound for glory this train. |
 |
| Before - Liz Eaton became the first woman to be elected Presiding Bishop in ELCA. She defeated Mark Hanson, seen applauding behind her on her right. Love the matchy matchy robes. |
 |
| After - "The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Church Council Executive Committee approved Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton's request for a 4-to-6-month leave of absence. Her leave starts Nov. 17, 2023." |
"The head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will take a leave of absence for at least four months.
The ELCA announced on Thursday that Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton will take a four-to-six-month leave of absence effective Nov. 17, as approved by the ELCA Church Council Executive Committee.
The Rev. Michael Burk, former bishop of the ELCA Southeastern Iowa Synod, will serve as "Presiding Bishop Pro Tem" while Eaton is on leave."
"We give thanks for Bishop Eaton's tireless dedication and leadership and pray for her during this time of rest and rejuvenation," stated the ELCA in the announcement.
The Christian Post reached out to the denomination for more information on the reasons surrounding Eaton's leave of absence. However, a response was not returned by press time.
***
 |
| ELCA photoshopped this sweater picture with different messages, suggesting a need to show more activity. |
GJ - I was startled recently by the two Eaton photos showing a decided downhill trend caused by stress. The sweaters were ugly and added to the worn, vacant look on her face. I have not heard of a national church leader asking for up to six months of leave from work. Moreover, ELCA had nothing more to say about it.
If I were still strolling through the Elysian fields of ELCA - which I never joined and told people as much - I would conclude that the Presiding Bishop had a can of worms blow up in her face with the Megan Rohrer expulsion and subsequent reactions. My favorite boring newsletter, from the ALPB Ovaltines, suggested that Megan Rohrer never should have been ordained, let alone elevated to the bishop's throne. Megan created numerous raging fires and was fired as the first trans-sexual ELCA bishop (as far as we know). Megan became a staffer at Glide Memorial, the famously radical "Methodist" congregation.
 |
| Paolo Veronese - Healing the Centurion's Servant, 16th century |
Complete Sermon -> Third Sunday after Epiphany. The Leper and Healing the Centurion's Servant
TEXT:
Matthew 8:1-13. And when he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. And behold, there came to him a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And he stretched forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou made clean. And straightway his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go, show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.
And when he was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, and saying, Lord, my servant lieth in the house sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And he saith unto him, I will come and heal him. And the centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed.
For I also am a man under authority, having under myself soldiers: and I say to this one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.
And when Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven: but the sons of the kingdom shall be cast forth into outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And the servant was healed in that hour.
I. TWO EXAMPLES OF FAITH AND LOVE.
1. Two examples of faith and love are taught in this Gospel: one by the leper, the other by the centurion. Let us first consider the leper. This leper would not have been so bold as to go to the Lord and ask to be cleansed, if he had not trusted and expected with his whole heart, that Christ would be kind and gracious and would cleanse him. For because he was a leper, he had reason to be timid. Moreover the law forbids lepers to mingle with the people. Nevertheless he approaches, regardless of law and people, and of how pure and holy Christ is.
2. Here behold the attitude of faith toward Christ: it sets before itself absolutely nothing but the pure goodness and free grace of Christ, without seeking and bringing any merit. For here it certainly cannot be said, that the leper merited by his purity to approach Christ, to speak to him and to invoke his help. Nay, just because he feels his impurity and unworthiness, he approaches all the more and looks only upon the goodness of Christ.
This is true faith, a living confidence in the goodness of God. The heart that does this, has true faith; the heart that does it not, has not true faith; as they do who keep not the goodness of God and that alone in sight, but first look around for their own good works, in order to be worthy of God’s grace and to merit it. These never become bold to call upon God earnestly or to draw near to him.
3. Now this confidence of faith or knowledge of the goodness of Christ would never have originated in this leper by virtue of his own reason, if he had not first heard a good report about Christ, namely, how kind, gracious and merciful he is, ready to help and befriend, comfort and counsel every one that comes, to him. Such a report must undoubtedly have come to his ears, and from this fame he derived courage, and turned and interpreted the report to his own advantage. He applied this goodness to his own need and concluded with all confidence: To me also he will be as kind as his fame and good report declare. His faith therefore did not grow out of his reason, but out of the report he heard of Christ, as St. Paul says: “Belief cometh of hearing, and hearing by the Word (or report) of Christ.” Romans 10:17.
4. This is the Gospel that is the beginning, middle and end of everything good and of all salvation. For we have often heard that we must first hear the Gospel, and after that believe and love and do good works; not first do good works and so reverse the order, as the teachers of works do. But the Gospel is a good report, saying or fame of Christ, how he is all goodness, love and grace, as can be said of no other man or saint. For even if other saints have a good report and reputation, it is nevertheless not the Gospel, unless it tells alone of the goodness and grace of Christ; and if it should include other saints also, it is no longer the Gospel. For the Gospel builds faith and confidence alone upon the rock, Jesus Christ.
5. You see therefore that this example of the leper fights for faith and against works. For as Christ helps him out of pure grace through faith without any works or merits of his own, so he does for every man, and would have all to think thus of him and expect from him like aid. And if this leper had said: “Behold, Lord, I have prayed and fasted so much; I beg you to look upon this and on account of it make me clean” – if he had come in this manner, Christ would never have cleansed him. For such a person does not rest upon God’s grace, but upon his own merit. In this way God’s grace is not praised, loved, magnified nor desired; but one’s own works deprive God of his honor and rob him of that which is his. This is to kiss the hand and to deny God, as Job 31:27-28 says: “If my mouth hath kissed my hand; this also were an iniquity to be punished by the judges; for I should have denied God that is above;” and Isaiah 2:8: “They worship the work of their own hands,” that is, the honor and confidence they ought to give to God, they attribute to their own work.
6. Furthermore the example of love is presented here in the love of Christ to the leper. For you see here, how love makes a servant of Christ, so that he helps the poor man freely without any reward, and seeks neither advantage, favor nor honor thereby, but only the good of the poor man and the honor of God the Father. For this reason he also forbids him to tell anyone, in order that it may be a pure, sincere work of free and gracious love.
7. This is what I have often said, that faith makes of us lords, and love makes of us servants. Indeed, by faith we become gods and partakers of the divine nature and name, as is said in Psalm 82:6: “I said, Ye are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High.” But through love we become equal to the poorest. According to faith we are in need of nothing, and have an abundance; according to love we are servants of all. By faith we receive blessings from above, from God; through love we give them out below, to our neighbor. Even as Christ in his divinity stood in need of nothing, but in his humanity served everybody who had need of him. Of this we have spoken often enough, namely, that we also must by faith be born God’s sons and gods, lords and kings, even as Christ is born true God of the Father in eternity; and again, come out of ourselves by love and help our neighbors with kind deeds, even as Christ became man to help us all.
And as Christ is not God, because he first merited divinity by his works or attained to it through his incarnation, but has it by birth, without any works, even before he became man; so we also have not merited by works or love sonship with God, so that our sins are forgiven, and death and hell cannot injure us; but without works and before our love, we have received it in the Gospel by grace through faith. And as Christ first became man to serve us after being God from eternity; so we also do good and exercise love to our neighbor, after we have become pious, free from sin, alive, saved, and sons of God by faith. Let this suffice concerning the first example, the leper.
Introit
The Better Wine Last
KJV John 2:1 And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: 2 And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.
Sceptics (aka seminary professors) enjoy their removal of anything divine, whether miracles or anything beyond human. Their other target is faith, because they do not understand or teach faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This miracle begins with a precise location and setting.
The mother of Jesus was there, most likely to manage the wedding of the couple. Jesus and His discipled were invited (called) to attend, which means the Savior did not despise marriage. Not being married was a corruption of God's Creation, which came from paganism. That notion corrupted the Medieval Church and corrupts people today. Where marriage is scorned, the priestly ones make themselves holy and above all women and marriage itself. Jesus' presence at the wedding, with all His disciples, honors marriage, and the miracle was the first one, seen by all of them. They began the public ministry of Christ with faith in Him, because of this remarkable event.
3 And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.
Wedding remain the same over the centuries. The manager-in-chief is the mother of the bride. Mary is the substitute for parents and takes charge of the event. The couple must have been poor - They ran out of wine. Mary was the key person, and she trusted in Him.
4 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. 5 His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.
Jesus' response is the key to this miracle, a sign not only for His disciples but also for us. People who make fun of miracles and reject them are often anxious to experience one when they are in a crisis. Isaiah 7:14 teaches us that Ahaz refused any miracle - in his arrogance - and had one anyway, a direct sign from God - a virgin would conceive a son, not just any son, but one born of a virgin, and the Name would God-with-us, Immanuel.
Luther:
For this is the reason there is so much care and unpleasantness in marriage to the outward man, because everything that is God’s Word and work, if it is to be blessed at all, must be distasteful, bitter and burdensome to the outward man. On this account marriage is a state that cultivates and exercises faith in God and love to our neighbor by means of manifold cares, labors, unpleasantnesses, crosses and all kinds of adversities, that are to follow everything that is God’s Word and work. All this the chaste whoremongers, saintly effeminates and Sodomites nicely escape, serving God outside of God’s ordinance by doings of their own.
Luther himself was a celibate and did not marry until he was 38 years old. The nun Katy had escaped from the convent and was lined up to marry Glatz, an older man. She did not want to but suggested Luther himself. He laughed at this idea but his father approved. And so Luther married Katy and the Church of Rome was horrified! - even though priestly marriage was allowed by Rome and paid for with a tax, so Luther's virtue in following God was mocked by those who rejected marriage, an institution created by God.
This miracle has three parts. The first is Mary telling Jesus they had no wine. She did not tell Him what to do, but she knew what God could do. Telling the Son of God what to do is the same as demanding marshmellows growing on trees and rivers full of bottled water from France.
The second is Jesus being very short with His mother. There is no escape, even if He says "dear" mother, which He does not. One translator wrote in a note - "Woman is a sign of respect." That word alone, not matter how it is spun, continues with "Is that my fault? This is not my time."
The third part of the miracle is in the order of spoken words - "Whatever He says, do it." We get our order of words from Greek. For emphasis - Whatever He says. That is first in order. It is her faith and the emphasis on Him... and ... whatever follows. Not a frantic, DO SOMETHING! to the servants, because the emphasis is on Jesus' Word.
Luther emphasized what the Bible clearly teaches - the bitter comes first, the sweetness later. That is true of grief, when someone can endure thousands of pains based on loss, but then the peace and blessings of memories. We see it in children, who have special needs that seem to be an enormous burden, and yet the unique qualities what makes them special, much stronger than the typical child in other ways, much more a miracle in many ways.
If the bitter brings on sweetness from God, then we should not berate God for the first step - they have no wine. If our country flounders for another year, could that be the signal that the evil ones will collapse from their own evil?
6 And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins [GJ -10 gallons per firkin] apiece. 7 Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it.
We can easily recall Gospel miracles that involved touching, but this one has servants doing the work (not the disciples), the pots filled with 20-30 gallons of water, which the servants saw, and then Jesus commanded them to draw the liquid to the toastmaster. This makes unbelievers realize the power of God's Word, unless they harden themselves against it.
Denial of the water turned into wine is a parallel to the bread and wine as the body of Christ. The miracles caused by the Word are plentiful and should cause us to consider the power of God.
9 When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, 10 And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.
The ruler - also called governor of the feast - was invited to do his job at checking out the food and drink. When he tasted the water turned into wine (το υδωρ οινον γεγενημενον) not knowing its origin, he promptly called the bridegroom. The best wine is always served first, but this rule was violated. The toastmaster did not know anything about the water miraculously made wine, so he was upset that the best wine came last.
This is a metaphor for how God works at all times. He knows in advance and lets us go through many kinds of difficulties. The worst students I ever had in class were those whose tuition or new cars or gigantic phones or apartments were paid instead of being the fruit of their labors. Parallel to that was a student who did not have any more paper at home to print his paper (in olden days when dinosaurs still roamed the earth), so he printed his paper on the back of 5 pages of cell phone use. I said, "No wonder you cannot afford typing paper.
The lesson is very clear for marriage and children. There are many bad times for various reason. However, God transforms so that even when things remain the same or worse, life is transformed and blessed.
The disciples are good examples of facing the worst kind of distress and opposition, with only the Apostle John living a long time, according to tradition. He was the one who took care of the mother of Jesus. Mary perhaps suffered more than anyone else, but she also had great faith from God's own messenger.
John 19:19:26 When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!
19:27 Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.
This faith came from God's Word -
KJV Luke 1:26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, 27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. 28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. 29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. 30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. 31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. 32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: 33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. 36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.
The end.
