Fascinating Post from Norman Teigen, 2006. President Moldstad may have acted precipitously in suspending Rolf Preus | Norman's Demesne

 The Rolf Synod sojourned with ELDONA for a long time,
but Rolf went back to the LCMS, after suitable penance -
and the Rolfians crawled back to the ELS.

President Moldstad may have acted precipitously in suspending Rolf Preus | Norman's Demesne:



"
JUL 21
President Moldstad may have acted precipitously in suspending Rolf Preus

I have learned from a reliable source that President John Moldstad did not do much consulting when he suspended Rolf Preus from the ELS a few months back.

Moldstad had first suspended Preus on the convention floor of the 2005 ELS convention. That suspension was quickly revoked when Erling Teigen (full disclosure compels me to say that Prof. Teigen is my cousin) asked every one to stop and to withdraw the statements of the previous several minutes.

In February after a series of some meetings (I don't know how many, or whom was in attendance) Moldstad suspended Preus. Moldstad has authority to suspend, but having the power and using it wisely are two different things.

My source (not a family members) tells me that Moldstad did not consult with the faculty at Bethany College. Moldstad might have been wise to do so as there is a reservoir of talent and experience there that would have helped him. The faculty consists of bright men and women with experience in civic work, military service, academics, and synodical board service.

I think that the suspension power which Moldstad has under the by-laws of the synod would necessitate that an emergency be present. No such emergency existed, as I understand emergency. No one was denying the Trinity or any essential doctrine of the Church.

Preus said that he did not agree with what the synod had done the previous summer and that he would not be bound by the resolutions. It was that that prompted his suspension by President Moldstad.

There may have been a personal animus between the two men. President Moldstad comes from the yeomanry of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod. The yeomen faithfully serve the congregations in which they are called to serve. The yeoman may not have felt comfortable with a man who came from a family of lords, spiritual and temporal.

To further indicate to me that it was not an emergency, I consider that the synodical resolutions did not pass the 2005 convention with an overwhelming majority. In fact, the vote was close. Furthermore, Preus was not the only one to object to the resolutions. There are some 25 other pastors and 15 laymen who have publicly stated their disagreement.

President Moldstad was not unanimously elected to the ELS presidency in 2006 and this would further suggest that the Evangelical Lutheran Synod is less than unanimous on the issues and personalities of those involved in the present case.

President Moldstad probably consulted with people who encouraged him to suspend Preus. These people were not the academically trained of the Synod. I think that President Moldstad probably consults with people that he feels comfortable with. He probably consults with people who have had the same educational experiences as he has had.

He would also consult with others who have supported the past administration of the ELS. These would not be the academics from Bethany College.

There is a topographical divide on the Bethany Campus. On one side of the divide, the Elm Street Hill, is the Seminary and the Synod HQ on Browns Court. On the other side of the divide is the College. The two campuses are linked by Browns Court Road.

For many years the Seminary did not have any of the professors teach in the Seminary, even though they were fully qualified to do so. This was something of a scandal since there were Bethany College professors who were more qualified to teach in the Seminary than some of the seminary professors.

One of the glaring examples of this deficiency was Professor Dan Metzger. Metzger had a PhD from Marquette and should have been teaching in the seminary. He wasn't because, I believe, he could not be counted on to promote the specific interests of the administration. Metzger is now gone.

In recent years the Board of Regents, after President Moldstad had moved from the Seminary faculty to the synodical Presidency, took a firmer control of the situation so that college professors are no longer excluded from teaching in the Seminary.

Had President Moldstad done some consulting with the faculty of Bethany College, he might have learned that suspension was not the only way to proceed with the problem. I think that the ones who advised Moldstad were those who shared his vision of what the Synod should do and how it should proceed. I think that the pastors of those congregations who so quickly voted recommendations of support for President Moldstad were those who advised President Moldstad to suspend.

I continue to believe that President John Moldstad is a faithful Christian pastor and administrator who is deserving of the highest respect. I believe that Pastor Rolf Preus is also a faithful Christian pastor.

It is most unfortunate that this situation should have developed within the Evangelical Lutheran Synod at this time.
Posted 21st July 2006 by Norman Teigen"

'via Blog this'

***
GJ - Norman Teigen was ordered to stop blogging, and he definitely had the most interesting blog around. Paul McCain had a special laser beam of hate aimed at Teigen, a retired teacher. Infallible popes do not like the truth.

 Note the reference above to Pope John's education - minimal,
not even a bachelor's degree when he was called to teach
New Testament at the Little Schoolhouse on the Prairie.
Readers - name another UOJ fanatic with no college degree.
Answer - Bishop Martin Stephan, STD, founder of the LCMS.
Pope John finished up his BA degree, so he does have
an undergraduate degree. Whew!

Lutheran Clericalism Suffers Badly from Their Doctrine of Infallibility

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Reading in context makes all the difference
between pixelating a phrase like "raised for our justification"
and understanding the Word of God.
Pope John 22 - not often mentioned - wisely rejected the Roman Catholic doctrine of infallibility, which some were promoting. He knew it would bind him to previous decisions and decrees.

Centuries later, a weakened and stumbling papacy insisted on papal infallibility, and Vatican I affirmed what Pope Pius IX wanted.

As I have shown many times before, WELS and LCMS have a history of teaching Justification by Faith and not UOJ - Justification without Faith.

Now that they are committed to clergy infallibility, the "conservative" Lutheran synods have to keep piling on more essays about their precious UOJ, even though they refuted themselves by citing Romans 4 - and even by citing anything from the Bible.

WELS has about 60 or so essays on their Satanic dogma of UOJ. The Emmaus Hootenanny will add more.

WELS Professor John "Sparky" Brenner will present at Emmaus. His nickname should be "Spineless."

• When I asked Brenner about Valleskey's essay - that drooled over Church Growth and lied in his claim about Evangelicals "downplaying the Means of Grace" - Spineless said, "Write a letter." I asked whether the faculty had any responsibility for their Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly. Frau Brenner scowled at me during the conversation, like, "How dare you question an infallible professor at Mordor!"
• By the way, when I published an essay in Christian News, taking apart Valleskey's Figs From Thistles essay, the Bethany Seminary faculty jumped all over Little Ichabod, as if he wrote it. I never heard from those weasels at all.  [By the way - Valleksey admitted to David Koenig, CLC, that he did attend Fuller Seminary, as Bivens did, but Valleskey lied about it when I asked him directly.]
• When two students went to speak to Spineless about the abuses of GA, the secretive hazing ritual at Mordor, the Dean defended GA, saying, "It has good benefits too."
• After one prospective student was sexually assaulted by a student when visiting the Mordor campus, he complained about it to Brenner. The response was "You are too thin-skinned."
• Anyone who complains to Brenner will find himself pushed out of the seminary program, as were all three students mentioned above - and yes, I know about these incidents from them.
• Spineless needed remedial work before he was accepted into the doctoral program at UW. WELS has such a superior educational program that no one recognizes it.

---
--

The 10th Annual Emmaus Conference is Friday, April 28th, 2017, with a banquet the evening prior on Thursday, April 27th. The topic for the 2017 Emmaus Conference will be: “The Unsuspecting American Luthers”. The backgrounds, challenges, and impact of several Lutheran theologians in the 20^th Century will be explored and discussed.

• C. F. W. Walther, by the Rev. Dr. 5th VP Daniel Preus
• A. Hoenecke, by the Rev. Dr. Prof. John Brenner
• U. V. Koren, by the Rev. Prof. Markos DeGarmeaux

Daniel Preus

John Brenner

Markos DeGarmeaux

Swingers Gather Outside Our Window - Jackson EZ Birdswing Enlarged

I noticed the array of screw-hooks under the eaves would support a very wide birdswing - 72 inches. (That's six feet for those who graduated from Mordor Seminary in Mequon.)

I went to Lowe's for the express purpose of spoiling the birds and getting some potting soil for the latest plants. Yesterday was shirt-sleeve weather, 71 degrees.

They were discounting sunflower seeds already, so I also got a corn kernel block for the squirrels. The block went to the platform feeder and kept them away from investigating the new bird configuration. The squirrels also have their own feeder, but they epitomize greed and gluttony.

At Lowe's, I explained my need for a six-feet threaded rod, and the staffer found it at once. He was pretty old - at least as old as I am, so I explained my mission. Youngsters are so judgmental.

"I am expanding my birdswing to six feet. I hang two chains from the eaves and put the threaded rod through it."

He lit up and said, "Neat."

I expected the birds to stay away from the new swing, because of their shyness, so I filled the hanging feeder to the brim, spread seeds around the area, and added some to the corn kernel block.

This morning we had more Cardinals than ever before. It was cold and blustery, overcast with clouds. Several male cardinals and three female cardinals went back and forth, to the swing and Butterfly Bush and feeder.

One reader said, "If I had that set-up, I would not get any work done. I would watch them all day long."

Cardinals are enchanting.

Fourth - New Testament Greek Class - The Article and Pronoun. Today, Thursday, 7 PM Central Time

Ιωαννης μαρτυρεῖ περὶ αυτοῦ και κεκραγενλεγων                            15

Οὑτος ῆν ὃν ειπον

Ὁ οπισω μου ερχομενος εμπροσθεν μου γεγονεν

ὁτι πρωτος μου ῆν.

ὁτι εκ του πληρωματος αυτοῦ ἡμεις παντεςελαβομεν                     16

και χαριν αντὶ χαριτος ·

ὁτι ὁ νομος διὰ Μωϋσέωςεδοθη                                                             17

ἡ χαρις και ἡ αληθεια διὰ Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ εγενετο.

θεὸν ουδεὶς ἑωρακεν πωποτε ·                                                                 18

μονογενὴς θεὸς ὁ ων εις τον κολπον του πατρὸς

εκεῖνος εξηγησατο.

The Synods Are Building on Swamp Mud Too. Who Will Pay for San Francisco's Tilting, Sinking Millennium Tower? - Bloomberg

 No, they are Halle Pietists
who neither know nor love Biblical, Lutheran doctrine.

Built on swamp mud, the synods tilt,
That's why the steeples are falling;
Crumbled have spires that once were built,
Bells have stopped chiming and calling,
Calling the young and old to rock,
Never to play some hymns by Bach,
Off'ring  fresh popcorn and soda.


Who Will Pay for San Francisco's Tilting, Sinking Millennium Tower? - Bloomberg:


The 58-story tower's shine faded on May 10, 2016, when Agabian attended a homeowners association meeting and was informed that the building had sunk 16 inches into the earth and tilted over 15 inches at its tip and 2 inches at the base, according to suits filed by residents and the city of San Francisco. “You can imagine how distressed we were to know that, for one, our lifetime investment and savings are at risk,” she said. “And we have no idea whether or not there’s a fix to it, and if there is a fix to it, what it will entail.”

'via Blog this'

***

 Hunter is far more influential in the LCMS and WELS
than Luther and Melancthon put together.

GJ - No wonder what the synods claim - like dogs, they always return to their vomit. They are forced to acknowledge the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation, but they do so by steaming ahead with their Fuller fads, undermining the ministry, and protecting false teachers and criminals. The greater the felonies, the more protection offered by the synod leaders.

 The Galatians Lectures are seldom read or understood
by the pompous peacocks who want to hector us about forgiveness without faith.

Only $40 for the Pastoral Theology of the UOJ Heretic - CFW Walther. Polishing the Missouri Synod Myths

 No hiding the unGospel in this ELS reprint - 

the entire world is forgiven - without faith -

pure Halle heresy.

Yesterday John Pless was promoting the $40 Pastoral Theology of Walther - on Facebook. On his post, I noted Walther's sordid history with the Martin Stephan sex cult, so he unfriended me. Other Walther disciples added their praises below as if they had not read anything or looked at the graphics I graciously shared with them.

Gregory L. Jackson I would buy it as a humor book - how to make a serial adulterer into a bishop, sign his bishop-for-life document, and organize a mob to threaten, rob, and kidnap him at gunpoint. And then - erase the facts and forget all that.

Concordia Publishing House is good at digging the gold out of the pockets of their pastors, teachers, and clergy. Herman Otten had a much cheaper version of this book many years ago.

My largest book, at about 650 pages is only $7.52 at the author's cost, at Amazon.

Thy Strong Word - $7.52 By Dr. Gregory L. Jackson Hardcover adds a little more cost, but not much. For Amazon to sell my book to me at the lowest cost, they must pay less than $7.52 to manufacture a copy. Most of my books are sent free to individuals or at the author's cost plus shipping. Each title is on Kindle Unlimited, which allows readers to get all the titles for "free" by paying $10 a month. By charging so much, CPH enables an enormous cash flow to pay the princely salaries of the boss Kintz and his wayward underling Paul McCain, the only person in the publishing business to get away with blatant plagiarism. Even those who confess and apologize are usually fired on the spot, but McCain did not even apologize. When I brought the plagiarism up to Kinz, he unfriended me too. The primary problem with Walther is his consistent history of teaching against Justification by Faith. Posing as a new Luther, Walther manipulated history to make himself the founder of the Missouri Synod and the One With All the Answers. As one of my Lutheran FB friends says, "The worship of Walther in the LCMS is nauseating." Does anyone say The Great Krauth and sponsor a Krauth League?  Does anyone say The Great Hoenecke and call youth groups Hoenecke Leagues? The LCMS has no less than two shrines to The Great Walther, plus a statue at the Purple Palace. But the LCMS does not have an official UOJ teaching, as one DP admitted. UOJ is not in their catechisms, so the Preus franchise is decidedly ignorant of their own doctrinal history. Likewise, WELS. The Gausewitz Catechism taught Justification by Faith, so they deep-sixed the author and the booklet.  If all of them taught exactly the same error, the false doctrine would remain.

The Latest Book - Creation Gardening Is Now Available on Amazon.com

 Creation Gardening is available at this link on Amazon
and will soon be a Kindle ebook.

Books for members and friends are being sent soon. I have not seen mine yet. Those who want multiple copies are welcome to order them at the author's price, a 75% discount, through me.

 Norma Boeckler designed the cover -
her  own garden -
and the interior of Creation Gardening.
She has her own books on Amazon as well.

Tallahassee pastor's tryst in spotlight - Another UOJist Pronounces His Own Absolution

This is a resume enhancer in WELS.
Ask DP Robert Mueller, VP Kuske, and DP John Seifert.

Tallahassee pastor's tryst in spotlight:


"What I want from God, I have already received - that’s his forgiveness, " Simmons said in his address. "What I am asking of our members is your prayers and your forgiveness.”


In response, the congregation stood and applauded for several minutes.



'via Blog this'

 The ELS supposedly has a "two strikes and ye-e-e-er out!" rule.
But when someone is a serial adulterer and
caught like the Tallahassee minister above -
"He's our Church Growth expert!"
The ELS named a church after his synagogue of Satan.

The Vocabulary We Use Points to the Books We Read

 One of my talented friends created this Photoshop.

People write to me about their frustration with the language of Lutheran leaders. I am not surprised. Mainline, liberal, apostate Christianity is a big business with an enormous vocabulary.

I did a lot of the reading when I had the time and eye-muscles to go through piles of books about modern theology. Notre Dame was heavily invested in liberal, rationalistic philosophies, with few exceptions. One Holy Cross priest was a traditionalist, and he had not real standing on the campus.

Still, everyone pretended to be talking about the Christian Faith when their favorite authors were pagans (Tillich), adulterers (Tillich, Barth), and plagiarists (Tillich, Barth). Someone wrote that Hans Kueng, famous German Catholic theologian, had his students write his books. He was suitably outraged.

Tillich stole his students' research and regurgitated it. Barth had people write helpful notes, which he included as his writing. Besides that amoeba-lke absorption of content , Karl Barth's hawt live-in mistress - Charlotte Kirschbaum - did the bulk of his research  and writing.

Graduate students listen with awe to lectures about how one modernist is different from the rest, how they have fought with each other, but they have a common vocabulary.

The words and thoughts come from Halle University, fetid swamp of Universal Objective Justification. The history of ideas is difficult to track, but many will agree that Biblical, Lutheran doctrine was diluted and polluted by Calvinism, where the Spirit is divorced from the Word.

The Bible teaches the efficacy of the Word, so no one can legitimately divorce the work of the Holy Spirit from the Word of God. Therefore, those Roman Catholics, Calvinists, Babtists, and cultists who divorce the Spirit/Word combination are going to betray their loyalties through their vocabularies and authorities cited.

The Ohio Conference of WELS, Michigan franchise, let me give a paper on the Book of Concord and modern theological issues. Using Megatron, my database, I showed how WELS pronouncements were almost verbatim the insights of Fuller Seminary - where all the WELS-ELCA-LCMS leaders trained.

The conference had their quaint little custom of discussing and voting on a paper, normally routine. They refused to do that during the uproar. Once I resigned from WELS, the conference brought up the paper again (after the paper spread through WELS, faster than Johnsonville brats). Someone said, "You refused to discuss the paper when he was here. Now you want to discuss it in his absence?"

Haha.

Those fed from the Fuller teats are going to sound Fullerish whenever they speak and write. That is easy to track.

The same is true of Universal Objective Justification, which rejects:

1. The Means of Grace
2. Faith
3. The efficacy of the Word
4. The Spirit/Word union 
5. Justification by Faith
6. The historic liturgy, yea even
7. Luther, Melanchthon, Chemnitz.

Those who have no real Lutheran education  - like Herman Otten, Waldo Werning (RIP), Jay Webber, Frosty Bivens, Paul Calvin Kelm, and Larry Olson - also show no evidence of a Lutheran vocabulary.

On the Church Growth side of this swamp, it is all

• Cell groups
• Demographics
• Entertainment evangelism
• Management by Objective
• Marketing
• Popcorn and soda
• Stages rather than worship areas
• Coaching rather than sermons, yea even
• Lousy rock bands rather than a pipe organ

Universal Objective Justification, which harmonizes so well with Church Growth, boasts this vocabulary - 

1. God has pronounced the world forgiven
2. In Christ all were absolved when He rose
3. Objective Justification
4. Subjective Justification (but hardly ever Justification by Faith, which they hate)
5. The Brief Statement of 1932
6. The NIV, especially the Newest NIV
7. Our beloved synod
8. Our honored leaders from the past - but not Luther, ptui, ptui
9. Our synodical essays, but not the Book of Concord, the Galatians Lectures of Luther, Luther, Chemnitz, or Melanchthon

Friendship Sunday - WELS

Northwestern Publishing House - WELS - Still Distributes Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant

Northwestern Publishing House still sells Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant.

Catholic Lutheran Protestant

A Doctrinal Comparison of Three Christian Confessions.

Author: Gregory Jackson, PhD

"The purpose of this book has been to provide a way for people to understand, study and discuss three distinctive Christian confessions." The book is divided into three sections: Part One, Areas of Agreement; Part Two, Areas of Partial Agreement; and Part Three, Complete Disagreement. Papercover. 299 pages.

Catalog Item Number: OL-154450

The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, 2017. Matthew 8:23-27. Christ Stills the Storm

The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, 2017

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

Bethany Lutheran Worship, 10 AM Central Time 

This week marked the 55th anniversary of Gary and Alicia Meyer.

The Hymn #24               Lord of My Life                       
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual Romans 13:8-10
The Gospel Matthew 8:23-27
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn # 132            O God of God       

From Troubles - Faith in Christ

The Hymn #307         Draw Nigh                 
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #649            Jesus Savior Pilot Me                         

KJV Romans 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. 9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

KJV Matthew 8:23 And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. 24 And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. 25 And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish. 26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. 27 But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!

Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
Lord God, heavenly Father, who in Thy divine wisdom and fatherly goodness makest Thy children to bear the cross, and sendest divers afflictions upon us to subdue the flesh, and quicken our hearts unto faith, hope and unceasing prayer: We beseech Thee to have mercy upon us, and graciously deliver us out of our trials and afflictions, so that we may perceive Thy grace and fatherly help, and with all saints forever praise and worship Thee; through Thy dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.  

From Troubles - Faith in Christ

KJV Matthew 8:23 And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.

Luther has a wonderful introduction to this miracle:
1. This Gospel, as a narrative, gives us an example of faith and unbelief, in order that we may learn how mighty the power of faith is, and that it of necessity has to do with great and terrible things and that it accomplishes nothing but wonders; and that on the other hand unbelief is so fainthearted, shamefaced and trembling with fear that it can do nothing whatever. An illustration of this we see in this experience of the disciples, which shows the real state of their hearts. First, as they in company with Christ entered the ship, all was calm and they experienced nothing unusual, and had any one asked them then if they believed, they would have answered, Yes. But they were not conscious of how their hearts trusted in the calm sea and the signs for fair weather, and that thus their faith was founded upon what their natural eyes saw. But when the tempest comes and the waves fill the boat, their faith vanishes; because the calm and peace in which they trusted took wings and flew away, therefore they fly with the calm and peace, and nothing is left but unbelief.

2. But what is this unbelief able to do? It sees nothing but what it experiences. It does not experience life, salvation and safety; but instead the waves coming into the boat and the sea threatening them with death and every danger. And because they experience these things and give heed to them and turn not their fear from them, trembling and despair can not be suppressed. Yea, the more they see and experience it the harder death and despair torment them and every moment threatens to devour them. But unbelief cannot avoid such experiences and cannot think otherwise even for a second. For it has nothing besides to which it can hold and comfort itself, and therefore it has no peace or rest for a single minute. And thus will it also be in perdition, where there will be nothing but despair, trembling and fear, and that without end.

Nothing is quite so important as faith in the Bible. Christ and His grace are central, but faith in Him lays hold of this grace. Therefore the Gospel creates faith in Him, and this faith works wonders, not because of man, but because of God's miraculous work, which begins with faith in His forgiveness.

The strange thing today is that the wolf-churches are so busy teaching unfaith. I can listen a minute or two and hear them talking about inspirational figures, who really had sordid lives. Or they talk about human experiences and the desire to have everything go well - friends, plenty of time, and material success.

There are various bad prescriptions for a lack of peace, a lack of friends, or a lack of money. All of them argue against faith in God, so in the guise of the Christian Faith, people are led away from it, step by step. Sometimes the leader goes too far, and people say, "Be gone!" But the clever ones just imply what many want to hear, to learn how better to rely on themselves.

To understand the dismay of the disciples we have to remember that they embarked on a ship made especially for that gigantic body of water. The vessels were sturdy and stable in bad weather, and the fishermen had a lifetime of experience in them.

As Luther says, we think we have faith in God when all is well and nothing goes against us. The disciples were following a teacher they loved and respected, and they were in their own element. I knew an MD who was awkward and anxious with people - unless he was in his white coat and at the hospital. Then he was in familiar territory where all went well and he had great authority. Once or twice I experienced that when I wore a mask and robe for infection precautions - nurses assumed I was a physician and offered to obey any orders I had. 

24 And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but He was asleep.

Homer wrote about the "wine-dark sea," which makes the epic appealing when reading The Iliad in a warm, dry, heated room. But this storm was one of the worst, threatening to swamp the boat and leave them all drowning in the midst of the water, where the sky met the sea and all sense of direction was lost.

When fear enters our hearts, faith goes out the window, and all we see is terrifying. I know clergy who lives their lives in fear - fear of disapproval, fear of the synod leaders, fear of offending the wrong people, fear of being seen with someone on the shun list.

Unfaith sees the Son of God asleep, a great symbol of not caring. Experience is no help unless it is countered by the Word of God. Isaiah tells us that God is answering our prayers before we ask them. 
And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. Isaiah 65:24


Therefore, seeing Jesus asleep in the boat is welcoming - and a sign of peace. Experience alone is terrifying. In Mark the disciples cry, "Don't you even care if we die?"

And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? Mark 4:38

25 And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.

If we fail to read the next verse, we might think the disciples were just doing their duty to inform Jesus and to pray for help. 

Pagans really get frothy when they are terrified. There are stories, too gory to relate, about human sacrifice increasing when a city was under siege, as if the angry gods would be appeased by even more death.

One Byzantine mob demanded the life of the chief tax-collector. The emperor reasoned that losing his best tax-collector was worth it, since the mob would have torn apart the royal family. So he pushed the tax-collector out to appease their wrath.

But the disciples are here to remind us of our times of dread, panic, and anxiety. Sometimes the fears are unreasonable but they still dominate. At other times the emotions are stirred up by reality. Any person would react the same way. Our emotions are a thermometer, which will register - often based on illusions. If something we value is missing, for example, we can be angry (someone stole it), or perplexed (did I put it in a safe place I no longer remember?), or afraid (how can I replace it?). 

If I had been on that ship, I would have imagined a lot of bad things all at once. Jesus responded to their fears.

26 And He saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then He arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. 

Here is the connection between fear and faith. When their emotions ran away with them, faith went out the window. The previous teaching and miracles were forgotten, because these were men of experience who knew they were in trouble.

So, in one verse, the disciples are rebuked and the power of the Word is revealed again. The disciple were rebuked more than once for lack of faith, never for having faith. Eager followers of UOJ should remember that Jesus commended those with faith and said, as he did of the centurion, that "This man has more faith than anyone in Israel," including My disciples.

Faith in God tosses the rules out because God can overcome and change anything in a second. He can topple rulers and billoinaires just as easily as He changed water into wine and a storm into a calm sea.

27 But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!

The disciples had already seen great miracles, but the miracle of overcoming natural forces with a Word of rebuke, that was enough to make the fishermen marvel.

The two great enemies are sin and death. No one can overcome sin by himself. Many great works have been purchased to make up for a lifetime of greed and adultery, and they embellish many church holdings.

The smallest sin cannot be paid for by man, but Christ has paid for the greatest and most terrible sins.

Who has overcome death, except Christ? A company in Arizona will freeze people, even their pets, but that is terribly sad or comical. Christ is the resurrection of the life. He who believes in Him will never die but have eternal life in Him.

Luther:
8. Therefore this Gospel is a comforting example and doctrine, how we should conduct ourselves, so that we may not despair in the agony of sin, in the peril of death, and in the tumult of the world; but be assured that we are not lost, although the waves at once overwhelm our little boat; that we will not perish, although we experience in our evil conscience sin, wrath, and the lack of grace; that we will not die, although the whole world hates and persecutes us, although it opens its jaws as wide as the rosy dawn of the morning. These are all waves that fall over your little bark, cause to despair, and force you to cry out: “Save, Lord; we perish”. Thus you have here the first part of this Gospel, faith, how it should thrive and succeed, and besides, how incapable and fainthearted unbelief is.