Bathroom Remodeled - Reformation Seminary Lecture Tomorrow, 11 am - John 2 Wedding Miracle

 

The bathroom remodeling is done, minus some painting in the near future. Even this morning, one major task and some finishing got done.

I am looking forward to upcoming lectures. I plan on a steady supply of Johanninge passages, and I can add extra lectures when that comes up.

Some Pratfalls at the Democrat Convention, Third Night

 

First of all, the media report that their rental charges are double what it cost at the Republican convention, with half the space allotted! I tell people - that is Chicago - they skim everything and run up the charges. The Chicago theme  -  "This city is perfect - it is 100% corrupt."

Second - As many disgruntled blog readers should know, it is not wise to irritate the media. At one WELS convention, every laptop had Ichabod on their screens and looked for the updates.

Third - I finally looked up the Project 2025 scare story, which this convention is brandishing as Donald Trump's autobiography. Here is a description -

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Project 2025 is a historic movement, brought together by over 100 respected organizations from across the conservative movement, to take down the Deep State and return the government to the people. Its Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, published in April 2023, is a product of more than 400 scholars and policy experts from around the country. The book offers a menu of policy suggestions to meet our country’s deepest challenges and put America back on track, including:

• Secure the border, finish building the wall, and deport illegal aliens
• De-weaponize the Federal Government by increasing accountability and oversight of the FBI and DOJ
• Unleash American energy production to reduce energy prices
• Cut the growth of government spending to reduce inflation
• Make federal bureaucrats more accountable to the democratically elected President and Congress
• Improve education by moving control and funding of education from DC bureaucrats directly to parents and state and local governments
• Ban biological males from competing in women's sports

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I listen to as much as I can tolerate, hearing the sounds of despair, clear fallacies, and rotten solutions. If they hired me as a media consultant, I would begin with two concepts.

A. Do not attack the opponent with false accusations. That will always fail.

B. Do not get behind abortion on demand and call it virtue, especially when the open borders are serving as a gigantic money machine for trafficking children and the unborn.

More Protestia Than Protestia - The Latest Belch from ELCA's Dyspepsia

One ECLA to rule them all, and in the darkness BIND THEM! - The World Council of Apostate Churches, the National Council of Gay Churches, and the Confessional Lutherans who deny Justification by Faith.

I enjoy Protestia, because their blog includes many denominations and the apostate ELCA. Of course, ELCA has its own blog machine, just to let the dwindling hoards and The Four Waltherian Cults - LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic) learn from them.

I may be just ahead of Protestia. Lookie here - or as we say in higher education - Nota bene:

Strengthening the communion across regions and generations

(LWI) – Current and past recipients of scholarships from The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) hold a shared conviction. The theology and diakonia study grants are not merely about financial support: they represent experiences that have transformed individuals, shaped the work of churches and local communities.

“The studies opened the world to me in many different ways, including the beauty of the diversity of people around the globe,” said Rev. Eva Guldanova, Secretary for Foreign Relations and Chair of the Ecumenical Committee at the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in the Slovak Republic.rful way to strengthen the communion across regions and generations

Rev. Eva Guldanova, Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in the Slovak Republic

Guldanova was among participants in a LWF webinar, 15 August, to launch an alumni network of scholarship holders. Such a group, she said, “could be a fantastic resource of connections and experiences of people who share our Lutheran faith, and who have been enriched in many ways. It can be a wonderful way to strengthen the communion across regions and generations,” she noted.

At the time of her master’s in divinity studies in Slovakia, Guldonova received an LWF scholarship for a non-degree exchange program, 2004-2005 at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC), USA. The New Testament and ecumenism course included classes at Catholic and Presbyterian schools of theology, a Bible and Qur'an course with Muslim students, visiting a Jewish synagogue, celebrating with Muslims, and connecting with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Back to the LSTC under a different program, 2009-2012, she earned a master’s in theology and returned home, where she was ordained in 2012.

Her time in Chicago, she recalled, also “brought a lot of new insights” from Slovaks who have emigrated there and formed Lutheran congregations. “I met a ton of amazing people, who have been shaping my life and journey until today,” Guldonova added.

Connecting people, providing mentorship

Recent master’s in theology graduates, Mr Hans-Christoph Thapelo Lange (South Africa) and Rev. Adrian Lopez (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malaysia), and PhD holder Kidist Bahru Gemeda (Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus) helped in planning the webinar. All three LWF scholarship holders spoke of the connections and friendships formed around the quarterly “Coming Together” online meetings and other platforms with fellow scholars and LWF staff. A highlight for Lange was hosting a workshop with three other theology scholars at the Thirteenth Assembly in Kraków, Poland. “This is something I could never have dreamed of,” he said.

The latest count of women bishops in ELCA over 50%, and yes, some are lesbians with children.

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Daily Luther Sermon Quote - Trinity 13 - "Now you have often heard that a Christian life consists in acting before my God in faith and with a pure heart, but toward my neighbor in right living and good works; and not wait until my neighbor seeks a kindness of me, and asks me for something, but approach and meet him with kindness and freely offer it to him. Let us now see what the parable in itself teaches. This Samaritan of course is our Lord Jesus Christ himself..."

 

KJV Luke 10:23-37.
Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity.
The Good Samaritan

Therefore it is safer that we go and confess that we all are sinners, than that we have respect to our works and cling to our beautiful, glittering lives.

II. A SERMON ON THE GOSPEL IN A PARABLE.

20. The foregoing is the first part of our Gospel lesson, and it is a sermon on the law. The second part now follows, and it preaches the Gospel, how and whence we are to receive power to fulfill the Law. This the good Samaritan will teach us.

21. How does this lawyer act now after the Lord had thus turned him away? He goes ahead, the Evangelist says, and desires to justify himself and says to the Lord: “And who is my neighbor?”

22. He does not ask: Who is my God? As though he would say: “I owe God nothing, with God I am in good standing. I am also inclined to think that I am under obligations to no man; yet, I would like to know who my neighbor is? The Lord answers and tells him a very beautiful parable, by which he shows that we are all neighbors among one another, both he who does another a kindness, as well as he who is in need of a kindness.

Although the text reads as if Christ said that he is our neighbor who does another a kindness. In this, however, the Scriptures make no difference.

Here they call him neighbor who does a kindness, and at other places him who receives the kindness.

23. By means of this parable the Lord concludes with the words, “Go, and do thou likewise,” so that this lawyer did not only sin against God, but also against his neighbor. He not only failed to love God, but he did not love his neighbor, and never did him a favor. By this the poor man falls into such a sweat that he is only deceived from head to foot. How could he be so mistaken, the highly learned and pious man? His mistake came in this way; he led a Pharisaical, feigned and hypocritical life. He did not look down to his neighbor to help him with his life, but only sought thereby his own vain glory and. honor before the eyes of the people, and with this he stared piously toward heaven.

24. Now you have often heard that a Christian life consists in acting before my God in faith and with a pure heart, but toward my neighbor in right living and good works; and not wait until my neighbor seeks a kindness of me, and asks me for something, but approach and meet him with kindness and freely offer it to him. Let us now see what the parable in itself teaches.

25. This Samaritan of course is our Lord Jesus Christ himself, who has shown his love toward God and his neighbor. Toward God, in that he was obedient to him, came down from heaven and became man, and thus fulfilled the will of his Father; toward his neighbor, in that he immediately after his baptism began to preach, to do wonders, to heal the sick. And in short, he did no work that centered in himself alone, but all his acts centered in his neighbor. And this he did with all his powers, and thus he became our servant, who could have well remained in heaven and been equal to God, Philippians 2:6. But all this he did because he knew that this pleased God and was his Father’s will.


26. When he entered upon that high mission to prove that he loved God with all his heart, he laid down his bodily life with all he had, and said:

Father, here you have all, my bodily life, my glory and honor, which I had among the people; all this I give as it is for thy sake, that the world may know how I love thee. My Father, let my wisdom perish, so that the world may look upon me as most foolish. Let me be the most despised, who was heretofore praised by all the world. Now I am the worst murderer, who before was friendly, useful and serviceable to the whole world. Dear Father, all this I despise, only that I may not be disobedient to thee.

27. This is the Samaritan who came uninvited, and fulfilled the law with his whole heart. For only he fulfilled the law, and no one can deprive him of this honor. He alone merits it, and well maintains it all alone. Now this would be no special comfort for us; but that he has compassion on the poor wounded man, takes him under his care, binds his wounds, takes him into the inn and waits on him, this avails for us.

28. The man who here lies half dead, wounded and stripped of his clothing, is Adam and all mankind. The murderers are the devils who robbed and wounded us, and left us lying prostrate half dead. We still struggle a little for life; but there lies horse and man, we cannot help ourselves to our feet, and if we were left thus lying we would have to die by reason of our great anguish and lack of nourishment; maggots would grow in our wounds, followed by great misery and distress.

29. The parable stands in bold relief, and pictures us perfectly, what we are and can do with our boasted reason and free will. If the poor wounded man had desired to help himself, it would only have been worse for him, he would only have done harm to himself and irritated his wounds, and only prepared more misery and distress for himself.

Had he remained lying quiet, he would have had as much suffering. Thus it is when we are left to ourselves. We are always lost, we may lay hold where we will. Hitherto man has always acted thus, he has thought out many ways and methods how we might reform our lives and get to heaven.

One found this way, another that, therefore so many kinds of orders arose: in like manner the letters of indulgence and crusades originated; but they have only made evil worse. Such is the world, and it is thus finely portrayed in this wounded man, it lies in sins over head and ears and cannot help itself.