Rogers Arkansas Tornadoes Killed Seven People - Tremendous Damage, Eleven Miles North of Springdale

 

https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2024/05/31/north-arkansas-digs-out-after-devastating-tornadoes?utm_campaign=daily_update&utm_source=arktimes_email&utm_medium=email

"A tornado nearly two miles wide was ripping through their property. 

That night, at least 11 other tornadoes destroyed homes and businesses, felled trees and upended the lives of hundreds across northern Arkansas. Seven Arkansans were killed, according to the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management (the state initially said the death toll was eight but later revised the figure downward). The same storm system caused more than a dozen more deaths in Oklahoma, Texas and Kentucky."

United Methodists Lose One Million Members From Ivory Coast Cutting Ties - “For reasons of conscience before God and His word, the supreme authority in matters of faith and life.”

 

 Link from Protestia

"In a continued blistering indictment against the destructive and damned United Methodist Church denomination, their largest overseas jurisdiction has voted to cut ties with them over their support of same-sex marriage and all things gay at their General Conference earlier this month, resulting in a loss of over a million members in a single day."

The Radical Left of the United Methodist Church got tired of the traditional American Methodists resisting them, so they offered to let the conservatives leave for $25 million, still insisting that the conservatives owed them money. The Left wanted the departure so they could legalize what they had been promoting for years - omnisex ordination. By coaxing the conservative Methodists out they were able to copy ELCA, so Presiding Bishop Liz Eaton, back from her four-month time of healing, could gloat:

Bishop Eaton Reflects on UMC’s Bishop Eaton Reflects on UMC’s Historic Changes and Ecumenical Growth

Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton reflects on the profound changes emerging from the recently concluded United Methodist Church (UMC) General Conference in Charlotte, N.C. After being postponed since 2020, the conference highlighted the UMC's adoption of significant measures including the lifting of a 40-year ban on the ordination of practicing homosexual clergy, and the expansion of marriage definitions to include same-sex couples. These actions represent a major step toward a more equitable, diverse, and global church structure. 

Additionally, the UMC celebrated full communion proposals with The Episcopal Church and ongoing communion with the Moravian Church. 

Bishop Eaton underscores the ELCA's joy and gratitude for 15 years of full communion with the UMC, celebrating the shared commitment to inclusivity and unity in Christian teaching.

Read @ elca.org

Dear church,

In 1 Corinthians 12:26 the apostle Paul reminds us that "if one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it." For 15 years we have accompanied our full-communion siblings in the United Methodist Church (UMC) through joyous and challenging times. We know firsthand the pain of debate, disaffiliation and division that they have experienced. Yet we also know the hope-filled renewal of Christ's church.

Last week the UMC General Conference, postponed since 2020, concluded in Charlotte, N.C. With each day's news we witnessed our partner church emerging strengthened, revitalized and united. Several actions will shape the future of the UMC. These include the adoption of a plan for worldwide regionalization to restructure the UMC as a truly equitable, diverse and global church, which now goes to annual conferences for ratification. Regionalization will allow for unity within the worldwide UMC structure, even as members hold diverse opinions on the following actions:

Lifting a 40-year ban on the ordination of practicing homosexual clergy.

Lifting restrictions on clergy to officiate at, and on congregations to host, weddings between adults of the same gender.

Eliminating from the UMC's Social Principles the assertion that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.

Broadening the definition of marriage to be between either a man and a woman or two consenting adults.

The UMC welcomed over 70 ecumenical guests, who were present when the conference adopted a proposal for full communion with The Episcopal Church (TEC); this now awaits action by the TEC General Convention. Worship included a postponed celebration of full communion with the Moravian Church in America (Northern and Southern provinces), ratified in 2018, and a sermon titled "Christian Unity Matters," preached by the Rev. Dr. Jerry Pillay, general secretary of the World Council of Churches.

These significant actions and the UMC's witness to the ecumenical vocation we share come as we celebrate 15 years of full communion. The ELCA rejoices and gives thanks to God for the opportunity to proclaim together, from this point forward, that Christian teaching is for all people and that the gifts of all are welcome and needed to serve Christ's church.

In unity,

The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton

Presiding Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Cheerful Projects

 

"Behold, how simply faith proceeds, and acts joyfully, securely and effectively. Treat all your troublesome evil spirits in the same way." Luther's Sermons, Lenker edition, ending of the first Trinity 1 sermon.

The latest Trump trial did not surprise me. Anyone who has been invited to a WELS or CLC (sic) kangaroo court would cheerfully agree with that. Doc Cruz would probably consider the name insulting to kangaroos everywhere.

Let's not overlook, the equally cultish LCMS. They recently excommunicated someone from a congregation when that person was no longer a member. Moreover, Matt the Fatt invented a new term for bishops to use - "alt-right." There must be a good Latin legal term to apply - alt dextera.

Matt is so vain that he sends around photos from his Slim Masters graduation but he shows up live as their worst result. LCMS delegate - "I thought he was still running. Who is that guy at the podium?"

Enchanted Peace

There are lots of things to do while waiting for common sense to return to America. Here are some cheerful projects:

1. Surprise roses - Nobody expects roses, but they are highly favored everywhere. Hint - Enchanted Peace is prolific, tall, and quick to flower.
2. Do one thing for the garden, something new and daring.
3. Categorize fruits as candy and consume lots of them as three desserts per day - blueberries, pears, apples, oranges, bananas.
4. Switch to tea, not that nasty factory tea often promoted. (My attorney said - skip the trade names.) Find a loose leaf tea, no paper bags, and find out why tea is the #1 beverage in the world.
5. Get a plastic hummingbird feeder, or maybe five of them. Keep them filled, act as if they are not being used. Fill them steadily.  That's not a leaf falling from the maple, it's a hummingbird looking for food.
6. Look for KJV Biblical passages that reveal the irony, wisdom, blessings, and warnings of Jesus Christ. 
7. KJV Proverbs 17:22 A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
8. Practice polemical writing and publish it on a blog. The people who understand it are divided into two camps. Those who understand the message will laugh. Those who really understand polemics will rage and extend the Right Boot of Fellowship. Does Right Hoof sound better? I will consult my farmer friend.

Daily Luther Sermon Quote - Trinity 1 - "Behold, how simply faith proceeds, and acts joyfully, securely and effectively. Treat all your troublesome evil spirits in the same way."

 

Complete Sermon - First Sunday after Trinity, Luke 16:19-31. Examples of Unbelief and Faith. The Rich Man and Lazarus

32. Therefore be prudent and know that God will not let us know how it is with the dead, so that faith may retain its place in the Word of God, which believes that God will save the believers after this life and condemn the unbelievers. If now a familiar spirit present itself before you, take no notice of it; but be assured that it is the devil, and conquer him with this saying of Abraham, “They have Moses and the prophets,” and likewise with the command in Moses, “Thou shalt not be a consulter with a familiar spirit;” then he will soon be gone. If he leave you not, then let him make a noise until he is tired, and in firm faith suffer his wantonness.  And if it were possible that it were indeed a departed soul or a good spirit even, then you should neither learn nor inquire anything of him, since God has forbidden you to do so; because he has sent his Son himself to teach us all that is necessary for us to know. What he has not taught us, that we should gladly not wish to know, and be satisfied with the teachings of the holy Apostles, in which he is preached to us. However, I have further written on this subject in the Postils on the Gospel for Epiphany and in my booklet on the Misuse of the Mass; where you may read more along this line.

34. Likewise, to give an example, we read in the Historia Tripartita (A History in Three Parts) of a bishop, who came to Corinth where he had come to attend a Council, and as he could not find a suitable lodging for himself and his attendants, he saw a house unoccupied and condemned as uninhabitable, and he asked if he might not be allowed to occupy it. Then they told him in reply that it was infested with nightly ghosts, that no one could live in it, and often people were found dead in it in the morning.

Then the bishop said but little and immediately entered and lodged there the same right, for he very well saw that the devil was the author of all these ghost stories, and as he had firm faith that Christ was Lord over Satan, therefore he was not moved by his stratagems and he entered to lodge with him. And thus that house was made free by the prayers and presence of a holy man from infesting ghosts and horrifying spectres. Behold, you see that the ghosts are Satan, and there is little use to dispute with them; but one should despise them with a cheerful spirit as nothing.

35. A similar story we read about Gregory, the Bishop of Cappadocia, that he crossed the Alps and lodged with a heathen sexton or clerk of the church, who had an idol, that answered him the questions he asked; and he made his living by telling the people secret things. Now the bishop knew nothing of this, and proceeded the next day as soon as it was morning on his journey. But Satan or the evil spirit could not endure the prayers and presence of the holy man, and at once he betook himself out of the house, so that the heathen sexton could no longer receive answers as before. As soon as he felt his great loss, he set up a great howl to call back his idol, which appeared to him while he was asleep, and said, it was his own fault because he had lodged the bishop, with whom he (the evil spirit) could not remain. The sexton hastened to overtake the bishop and complained to him that he had taken his god and livelihood, and returned evil for the kindness extended to him. Then the bishop took paper out of his pocket and wrote these few words: “Gregory sendeth greetings to Apollinius. Be thou at liberty, O, Apollinius, to do as thou hast done before. Farewell.” The sexton took the letter and laid it by the side of his idol; then the devil came again, and did as before. Finally the sexton began to think, what a poor god is he, who allows himself to be driven away and lead by my guest who was only a man. And at once he started to the bishop, was instructed and baptized, and grew in his faith, so that he became the eminent bishop of Caesarea, a city in Cappadocia, upon the death of the bishop that baptized him. Behold, how simply faith proceeds, and acts joyfully, securely and effectively. Treat all your troublesome evil spirits in the same way.