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 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 National Council of Churches.
The lyrics (provided at the end of this article) are, no doubt, familiar to you, but if you’re unfamiliar with the back story of the song, as I was, here’s the history, summarized from “The Amazing Story of ‘O Holy Night.’”
In 1847, a French wine dealer by the name of Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure was asked by his parish priest to write a poem for Christmas mass. As he traveled by coach to Paris, Cappeau wrote his poem, using the gospel of Luke as a guide. By the time he arrived at the capital city, he had completed “Cantique de Noel.” But Cappeau felt that the poem needed to be set to music, so he asked his friend, a fairly well-known composer named Adolphe Charles Adams, to write the music. Both Cappeau as well as the priest who had commissioned the poem were pleased with the final composition, and it was performed three weeks later at Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve.
Initially, “Cantique de Noel” was quite popular and it made its way into various Catholic Christmas services. But then Placide Cappeau left the church and joined the socialist movement, and church leaders also discovered that Adolphe Adams was a Jew. Suddenly, the beloved song was denounced by the church as being unfit for church services because of its “total absence of the spirit of religion.” But those wily French folks continued to sing the song, even though it remained banned by the Church for almost two decades.
A few years after Cappeau penned “Cantique de Noel,” American Unitarian minister, transcendentalist, and music critic John Sullivan Dwight introduced the song on our side of the pond. Dwight was an abolitionist, and beyond the story of the birth of Christ, the lines of the third verse supported his view of slavery in the South:
“Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother;
and in His name all oppression shall cease.”
Dwight published his English translation in 1855 and it quickly became popular in America, particularly in the North.
But that’s not the end of the amazing story. Decades later, on Christmas Eve 1906, a 33-year-old university professor (and former chief chemist for Thomas Edison) by the name of Reginald Fessenden did the seemingly impossible—using a new type of generator, Fessenden spoke into a microphone, and for the first time in history, a man’s voice was broadcast over the airwaves! What was the content of this first transmission? First, Fessenden read the story of the birth of Christ from the Gospel of Luke, and then he picked up his violin and played “O Holy Night,” making it the first song ever sent through the air via radio waves! Now that’s amazing!
O holy night, the stars are brightly shining, It is the night of the dear Saviour’s birth; Long lay the world in sin and error pining, ‘Till he appeared and the soul felt its worth. A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices, For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn;
Chorus
Fall on your knees, Oh hear the angel voices! O night divine! O night when Christ was born. O night, O holy night, O night divine
Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming; With glowing hearts by his cradle we stand: So, led by light of a star sweetly gleaming, Here come the wise men from Orient land, The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger, In all our trials born to be our friend;
Chorus
He knows our need, To our weakness no stranger! Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend! Behold your King! your King! before him bend!
Truly He taught us to love one another; His law is Love and His gospel is Peace; Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother, And in his name all oppression shall cease, Sweet hymns of joy in grateful Chorus raise we; Let all within us praise his Holy name!
Chorus
Christ is the Lord, then ever! ever praise we! His pow’r and glory, evermore proclaim! His pow’r and glory, evermore proclaim!
From the Ford family to your family, we wish you a joyful Christmas!
Just want to let you know that we greatly enjoyed your service and teaching this evening. We thank God for you and we keep you in our prayers. Technical difficulties could not detract from the message.
KJV Micah 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
KJV Isaiah 9:2 The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.
Virgin Birth
KJV Isaiah 7:10 Moreover the LORD spake again unto Ahaz, saying, 11 Ask thee a sign of the LORD thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above. 12 But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD. 13 And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 15 Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good. 16 For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.
Incarnation
KJV Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
KJV Luke 2 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. 2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) 3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) 5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. 6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. 8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
God Honors What the World Despises
KJV Luke 2 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. 2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) 3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
The Roman Empire was very good at taxing people, and forcing those taxes. This may have been the first such census for taxation. America does the same thing, and the count makes a difference about how many Congressmen we have in each state. The Scriptures had many predictions about this happening, and it is important to point out that the birth of our Savior at this time and place meant He would be under man's law. That birth could have been earlier, the travel not necessary. This was the first sign that Jesus would be an ordinary man in the sight of man, since all went to be taxed and that put a great burden on Joseph and Mary.
Thus began a turning point in human history, and the world was groaning over their sins and cruelty, wondering about salvation and the forgiveness of sin. The divine solution would begin with the Holy Child turned away from proper lodging before His birth, and the couple forced to endure this in the place where the animals were kept.
1. It is written in Haggai 2:6-7, that God says: “I will shake the heavens; and the precious things of all nations shall come.” This is fulfilled today, for the heavens were shaken, that is, the angels in the heavens sang praises to God. And the earth was shaken, that is, the people on the earth were agitated; one journeying to this city, another to that throughout the whole land, as the Gospel tells us. It was not a violent, bloody uprising, but rather a peaceable one awakened by God who is the God of peace.
Strangely, Rome seemed to be at the peak of its power, with Caesar Augustus as the Emperor, the baby to be born not even a rumor in the capital or in Jerusalem. Everything would be turned upside down by God's will, in spite of man's will.
Nobody thought a second about this poor family, which is entirely proper, as Luther wrote. The world loves what matters the least and goes away quickly. Not even His relatives thought to take in the family and help out. That is one reason why this holy day means so much to many but so little to most people. The Christian Faith does not give them honors, riches, and esteem from their fellow un-believers. If anything, it is a drag on their reputations so there are a series of quasi-Christian denominations that only teach the Law and have no use for the message of the Bible.
One indication is the use of Winter Break. I am instructed to tell online students about the dates of the Winter Break. Each years I write, "These are the days of the Christmas break, a term I use because no one says Merry Winter, neither do they shop for Winter presents."
The words we use make a big difference, because they represent ideas, plans, attitudes, and conclusions. So that means we should be especially alert about each phrase of the Bible, that it is properly translated and presented so that it is God's Word and not man's opinion. We do well to meditate on the meaning of this Night, because they changed the history of the earth and meaning of human life.
Moreover, the way in which the Savior was introduced is especially important, since the word Christian means following Christ. And Luther said, he was a Faithian, more precisely - a Faith-Alonist, salvation by faith alone in Jesus Christ. I cannot get the learned clergy to use that term, the Chief Article of Christianity (not simply an article of one denomination).
The tax and census forced the Family to go to Bethlehem, which had already been predicted. Caesar and his counselors did not know that, but the evidence piled up when the Jewish scholars were quizzed about the Wise Men.
What kind of complexity can we imagine that puts all the predictions about Christ into human history, even the strangest ones (the bronze serpent, the atoning death of Jesus)? That is why many looked to Jesus after His resurrection, because the Jewish Scriptures, the Old Testament, had it completely right from many centuries before, even down to the First Gospel in Genesis 3:15.
4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) 5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
Caesar caused this to happen and never knew its final result. Jesus died during the reign of Tiberius. The pagan census brought the Family to Jerusalem because the Romans were invited earlier to keep the peace among the fighting Jewish factions. They had a moment of hope with Judas Maccabeus, but fell into turmoil again.
I tell students in Old Testament what I have learned - the most unpleasant, onerous, evil things happen, and God can still turn them into something good, as He did with the cross - a distinctly Roman form of punishment (predicted in the Psalms).
Why let go of something precious and eternal when troubles arise, when all the doors seem slammed shut against the individual, and people gloat about our difficulties?
The Christmas cards are beautiful, but they convey the beauty and holiness we acknowledge now - not the stench of a stable and the cold rejecting of the Family. The baby Jesus was born in poverty, rejection, and solitude.
See how God shows that he utterly disregards what the world is, has or desires; and furthermore, that the world shows how little it knows or notices what God is, has and does.
9. See, this is the first picture with which Christ puts the world to shame and exposes all it does and knows. It shows that the world’s greatest wisdom is foolishness, her best actions are wrong and her greatest treasures are misfortunes. What had Bethlehem when it did not have Christ? What have they now who at that time had enough? What do Joseph and Mary lack now, although at that time they had no room to sleep comfortably?
6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
As Luther wrote, this is such a beautiful moment in history, that the Word was born of a Virgin and received her care. That is a test I use when clergy are talking about the Faith. "Do you believe Jesus was actually born of a Virgin?" One future Disciples of Christ minister said, "That is not an important doctrine." She also rejected the actual resurrection of Christ. I have to use actual with these people because they want to be all symbolic as a way to avoid the issue. And it makes them angry, furious.
God is not inhibited by man's reason, so it is often true that only children can understand the Scriptures, and Jesus confirmed that. "You must believe the way a child does, or you cannot enter the Kingdom of God." That means everything revealed in the Scriptures.
8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
God chose working men, the shepherds, to experience the great revealing of the Son of God. The angels were there to express their joy at an event so earth-shaking that virtually everyone was ignoring it.
If God's holy angels gather to celebrate an event in such a way, it must be very grand - and it was scary. The glory and power of God are so great that Peter said, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man." The shepherds were terrified - so great is the revelation of God's light, which existed before the sun and stars were created.
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
The angelic proclamation tells us what this means. It is poetic, like a creed or hymn, and easily recited by young children. The divine sign of the Savior is a baby in a food trough for animals, wrapped up in available clothes.
12. Just imagine what kind of swaddling clothes they were in which she wrapped the child. Possibly her veil or some article of her clothing she could spare. But that she should have wrapped him in Joseph’s trousers, which are exhibited at Aix-la-Chapelle, appears entirely too false and frivolous. It is a fable, the like of which there are more in the world. Is it not strange that the birth of Christ occurs in cold winter, in a strange land, and in such a poor and despicable manner?
13. Some argue as to how this birth took place, as if Jesus was born while Mary was praying and rejoicing, without any pain, and before she was conscious of it. While I do not altogether discard that pious supposition, it was evidently invented for the sake of simple minded people. But we must abide by the Gospel, that he was born of the virgin Mary. There is no deception here, for the Word clearly states that it was an actual birth.
14. It is well known what is meant by giving birth. Mary’s experience was not different from that of other women, so that the birth of Christ was a real natural birth, Mary being his natural mother and he being her natural son. Therefore her body performed its functions of giving birth, which naturally belonged to it, except that she brought forth without sin, without shame, without pain and without injury, just as she had conceived without sin.
God's judgment against the rationalists and marketeers is to deny them the truth of the Word. I sigh as I go through the verses and see all the ways the "scholars" and growthers have misused and abused the Word of God. They do not see it and hate to hear the truths.
But we can rejoice over these treasures and contemplate them day at night. As it was said when the Bible was about to be translated into English - They should be recited by the farmer at his plow and weaver at the loom.
Physical and mental energy are great, but they do not come from what people eat and drink the most - and pay the most to have.
I began studying Eat To Live to get a better balance, especially since I imagined my bakery DNA would work overtime for me. Live To Eat Desserts - my epic work, has been set aside.
Here is the bad list from the book and some other sources -
Sugared drinks (fruit juices, soda pop, diet drinks) are all bad. Sugar-free simply makes the body more eager to have more carbohydrates. Substitute with water, coffee, and tea. Coffee and tea together are very good for health.
The whites are delicious but bad - white bread, white sugar, hidden sources of sugar (corn syrup for sweetener and flavor enhancer).
Exercise is essential, every day, starting with the daily walk. Stationary devices should be used consistently, not just in panic times (January, part of February, and - oh forget it).
Big Switch from Meat to Vegetables
Eat To Live advocates large amounts of vegetables replacing our over-use of meat. Micro-nutrients and protein are abundant in green vegetables. They satisfy without tossing a lot of carbohydrates into the system. I knew that from experience but kept on returning to my heritage.
Simply put, carbohydrates (sugars, bakery products) demand a lot of insulin for regulation and eventually tilt the body's system the wrong way.
Alcohol products were certainly built into Creation, but moderation is essential. My father argued that heavy drinkers did not like delicious food and therefore shied away from the delights of the bakery. The liver is the most fabulous chemical factory of all time - it can break down chemicals that never existed before, and it improves its ability to do this during the first sample (source - Yale Medical School, where I took a course on alcohol and drug abuse, not for treatment but for academic credit).
I have seen the results of alcohol abuse too many times to join in the hilarity promoted by brewers. Habit becomes addiction over a long period of time, and the last stage is almost impossible to defeat. My friend died early, suffering from blackouts and everything else.
Dr. David Norman Menton, 83, of Petersburg, KY passed away from Covid Saturday, December 11, 2021 in Edgewood, KY. He was born July 1, 1938 in Mankato, MN to the late Stanley and Nellie Menton. Dr. Menton received his undergraduate degree from Mankato State University. He held a Masters and PhD in biology from Brown University and served as an award-winning professor at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis for 34 years. Dr. Menton retired in 2000 as an Associate Professor Emeritus. He then served with Answers in Genesis as a speaker, writer, and researcher. He retired from Answers in Genesis in October 2021. His parents, and his first wife, Marcia Menton (nee: Lehnert) preceded him in death. David is survived by his loving wife: Debbie Menton, his beloved daughters, his 3 cherished grandchildren, as well as several loving nieces and nephews. If you would like to watch the Funeral Service live please go to: https://youtu.be/Ci14TXwHn4k.
Following the services, David will be flown back to Mankato, MN to be laid to rest with his family. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to Immanuel Lutheran High School, College and Seminary at 501 Grover Road, Eau Claire, WI 54701 or to Answers in Genesis at PO Box 510, Hebron, KY 41048. Online condolences can be made at www.linnemannfuneralhomes.com.
Various denominations, but unionism dares not speak its name, lest it be heard on the streets of Gath.
***
GJ - I remember David Menton telling me how horribly wrong and unionistic it was (for me) to publish in Calvinist News (nee Christian News, nee Lutheran News). I pointed out that CLC pastors, such as Paul Teufel (his nickname in the sect) published there all the time. No, said Menton, that did not count, because Otten was reprinting from the CLC publications.
Not long after that, Menton published a series of Creation articles directly in CN. He was very good on the topic.
The irony is that people who want to write and talk about Creation, inerrancy, and the King James Version are the non-Lutherans.
This is how one runs for the LCMS presidential office - and wins!
WELS-LCMS had already apostatized when they scurried off to Fuller Seminary to study marketing trends. But Fuller and Willow Creek did a great job of enforcing women's ordination and Anything Goes religion.
Kilcrease, though born in a WELS parsonage, went to college and seminary at ELCA institutions. He got a PhD from the Jesuits. Below is his effort at the misnamed Teigen lectures. The ELS began by separating from the ELCA branch of Norwegians, so the irony is deep and ripe to have Jack show up and mark his territory.
I am working on several aspects of Vimeo live streaming, so we can keep up with the apostates.
1) A new video camera and tripod were ordered from NewEgg because the old one had a serial number in Roman numerals!
2) I tried a new camera, which was bad and sent it back, because it did not even fit on the tripod.
3) I discerned a way to take labor off the main computer doing the Vimeo live feed, which was also calling up the hymns. The laptop can do that.
4) I will also be talking to Vimeo about the two minute shutdowns, which have happened three times. With high tech stuff there are many things to troubleshoot. I find this a fun challenge.
5) The music could be affected by these issues, too.
The Maier quotation above is from this Otten book. Herman did not listen - he played games with opposing sides so he could sell newspapers to both. CN posed as non-profit, but it was and is non-prophet.
All the Objective Justification fanatics love to display their false doctrine. LQ wallows in it.
Scaer, Otten, Hale, and the Preus Crime Family love to repudiate something in the Scriptures - the Chief Article of Christianity.
Seminex lives! at Concordia Publishing House, home of gigantic, empty volumes of Halle Pietism and rationalism.
CFW Walther and his brother were in cell groups and gravitated to Martin Stephan, STD, famous for his cell groups, pastor of a church where conventicles were allowed because they were Bohemian Pietists.
Harrison's official photo looks to be 40 pounds years old.
When Adam and Eve were expelled from Paradise, they were promised difficulties in childbirth and raising food, but also the Savior who would defeat Satan. People brush past that first Gospel Promise, but Eve believed it and saw her first-born male child as the Savior - "I have begotten a male child - the Savior." Genesis 4:1 - seldom translated that way.
Abraham and Sarah were promised their own son, at hard to believe ages. Why not earlier? Because that would have diminished the miracle. Sarah laughed and denied it, so they named the boy Isaac, or Chuckles. It was, like many names, close to the explanation. We do that today, bending a name for interest or humor. Sarah denied laughed at the promise - "But you did."
Abraham was commanded to sacrifice that child, because it was God's will. This eloquently portrayed what would happen when God gave His only-begotten Son, and the Son obeyed. The anguish on the human side was established in the earliest of days, a foreshadowing of the Atonement. And God gave Abraham a substitute, a ram, for the sacrifice, but the only-begotten Son Jesus was the substitute on the cross, the substitute for all of us.
God stated, through Isaiah, that a Virgin would conceive and bear a child who was and is God. God predicted this again in Isaiah 9. And the public ministry of Jesus began exactly as predicted in Isaiah 40 - John the Baptist serving as the voice crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord."
But those predictions were not as clear as they might have been, people would say. The work of a preacher or teacher is a lot like that of a nature hike guide or gardener, pointing those things from Creation that are present but not easily identified by everyone. My neighbor said, "I saw those Joe Pye Weeds at the nature center. I live next to a nature center."
Like the Fall in Eden, the good was mixed with anguish.
It had to be. God willed it and predicted it, and to prove their point of how blind and hardened they are, the apostates had to write books about Jesus being only a man and miracles being illusions and
the resurrection "not important" (future Disciples lady minister).
Jesus should have won an enormous following but the very men trained to know the Scriptures were alarmed at His supposed violations. Off all the teachers, Luther picked out the key reason - Jesus taught the righteousness of faith in Him, not the righteousness of man's own works. That only came because God became man to teach us in the flesh, to show us compassion and faith in the perfect, sinless, Son of God.
Jesus rocked the establishment on religious grounds because He seemed to threaten Rome and Pharisaic Judaism. That was not true, that the threat came from Him, but they felt the threat. And they made it come true from their blindness.
The priesthood stopped with the fall of the great Temple and the King of Righteousness was recognized (Hebrews 7) as Melchizedek. The Temple had to fall and the Roman Empire had to collapse. And so it had to be. The prophet Daniel predicted this, and naturally, people disallow such prophecy as being true.
This perfect God-man spent three years establishing the communities of faith through miracles and the Gospel. He had only a small following after His Resurrection and Ascension. He sent them out as sheep among wolves, and they were persecuted and slaughtered for teaching the truth. It had to be - because persecution spread the Christian Faith across the world, a mixture of blessings and miracles, anguish and suffering. So it had to be then, and so it continues today.
Believers look at the Promises, the Blessings, the miracles. So it must be, because the Truth given to us by God takes us above material things and shows us how He can take the greatest evil and turn it into the greatest good, as He did with the crucifixion of His only Son.
Sassy is always perfecting her games with me. She liked having a lot of drama with jumping up on the bed. One time she faked it so much I got irritated. But I sat down and petted her instead. That became the new requirement - lovies before jumping up.
I took off the legs of the bed to make it easier for her to jump, but she did the same thing, stopping at the bed to get some affection first. Big smile, looking sideways, her "get the message" look.
Now, if I ask, "Do you need pets first?" she stays in place in front of the bed and says "Woof!" - a strong, affirmative, insistent "Yes!" Then I pet her and tell her how many people love her. She licks my hand in appreciation. Then we have the buildup, a lot of noise and a big run and "Up!" She jumps and lands on a good place to rest.
We had a loud party going on Saturday night, on the street behind us - Joye Street. Covering my ears did not help, so I rented the original Oklahoma! movie, from Amazon, a 1955 classic with great actors and singers. Gordon MacCrae, Shirley Jones (Music Man), Eddie Albert (from the Quad Cities), Rod Steiger, and many more.
I stopped early and fell asleep. On Sunday I saw that I could get Oklahoma (1999) for free. Hugh Jackman starred in it, without his Wolverine costume and Cutco paws. It had to be fairly good, right? The surrey with the fringe on top was invented, not ridden in the new movie. The sets were right off the nearest high school stage. The singing was painful to hear.
Hugh Jackman - elementary school.
I went back to the original film and finished that, thinking, "This is just like the KJV being replaced by the Revised Standard Version! - the new one flat, dull, lifeless, and mundane." And those were the good points of the RSV (under continuous revision). The new paraphrases, which do not pretend to be translations, are as lifeless as O 1999.
Nota bene - I had to pay for the original Oklahoma! rental. The 1999 version is free with Premium.
