Our Doctor Wanted Gardening Advice

Terminex called on me the other day, door to door.
I said, "I use birds and beneficial insects."

Team Ichabod went to the doctor's for a routine visit. Our physician loves Lenski and wants to complete his theology PhD one day.

We are both doing well. He suggested a new diabetic treatment for Chris. He was impressed that I was steadily losing weight on his eat-less-bread diet. I switched away from bread and replaced that with meat and fruits.

Part of my exercise routine is gardening, which is so much fun. The doctor asked about how to deal with his June bugs, since he noticed my copy of Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden, But he lives in the woods, and his squirrels dominate the bird feeders. I laughed later, recalling how our squirrels used the levers on the squirrel-proof barrier to shake food out for themselves.

I suggested a bunch of bird baths to attract birds to his yard, then described starlings and grackles for him, since both birds love to hunt bugs and grubs. Starlings and grackles gather around water and bathe with great gusto. I simply use clay dishes and a shallow kiddie pool - and they are filthy and almost dry each day.

The doctor tells his patients to adopt healthy habits and "go to church regularly." He said that he could see the difference in health among believers, because there is a direct relationship between faith and habits, - even how the body responds to spiritual nourishment.

Bend down closely to your plants on a sunny day.
That wee little bee is really a flower fly - or hover fly
for the way it hovers.

In Other News
I am adding flowers and beneficial bugs to my gardening lore. Each time I identify a new bug, the rest of them are less mysterious. At first a gardener is going to say, "I saw an insect and have no idea what it is." The same is true of wildflowers and weeds. They all look alike until we know more and more of them.

Just as there are good bugs galore, so are there good weeds to help the beneficial bugs.

Example - the flower flies as adults need pollen and nectar. They lay eggs which hatch into ferocious babies that exist to eat pests. The plant has to give off distress signals from damage to coax the flower flies into laying eggs there. This beneficial insect is reputed to be more effective than better known good insects - like the ladybug, lacewing, and preying mantis.

Also - the beneficial insects may need food in between feasts on pests, so the wise gardener has many different places where these miracle workers can rest and feed.

Some surprises - good plants for beneficial insects - even if they are weeds or hard to control

• Ragweed
• Pigweed
• Goosefoot
• Dandelion.
• Cow Vetch
• Queen Ann's Lace
• Buckwheat
• Feverfew.

All four get the praise of  Walliser's Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden,

Ordinary flowers - good for the good guy insects we need

• Sunflowers, the aircraft carriers for insect life.
• Coreopsis, also called tickseed
• Shasta daisies
• Dill
• Anything with tiny flowers for tiny insects.

These are also featured in Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden, 

Expanded Version of the Real History of Objective Justificaiton

Justification by Faith Book – The Real History of Objective Justification

Expanded Rough Draft

Webber made a staggering and unbelievable claim when he described his propaganda essay as a work of historical theology. The boggy, verbose, and undisciplined effort avoided key points of history and revealed a lack of knowledge – or candor – about most of it.

The Dogma Is Older Than the Term

First we have to distinguish between the term Objective Justification and the concept. The concept arrived among Lutherans long before the term was used. Since Walther is the gold standard of doctrine for Webber and other synodical drones, it should be added that OJ is a term later adopted by Walther, blessed, by Walther, and used by his minions.

Hoenecke used General Justification, which may sound neutral, but the German word really means :”every single one” so the German term has the same force as universal. To make this redundantly clear, WELS has generally used Universal Objective Justification lately, because the sect has made a fetish of their favorite doctrine. Using Universal and Objective together is repetitive in meaning, similar to saying “a very unique” destination when unique literally means one of a kind.

But WELS has not been blessed with literate writers for a long time, so they have their UOJ and others their OJ. Sig Becker, a Missouri convert to WELS, tried to make distinctions about some of these terms, but his explanations were distinctions without a difference.

Huber the First Professor of OJ in Lutheranism

Some think Objective Justification is very much like Calvinism. Our researcher is working on a separate essay about this. Dr. Lito Cruz believes this to be true, and I would add that Calvin’s scheme is harmonious with OJ.

Calvin separated the Holy Spirit’s work from the Word and Sacraments, using the term sovereign. Because the Spirit is sovereign, He may make a sermon effective or he may not even appear. Calvin did not write this once but many times, as described by a Harvard doctoral researcher and published in his excellent book on this topic. This separation of Word and Spirit is called Enthusiasm by Luther and the Book of Concord in the overlooked Smalcald Articles, where Enthusiasm is condemned.

Notice how Calvinism is remarkably close to Walther’s “election without faith.” For Calvin, God has predestined a small percentage of all church members to eternal salvation and the rest of the world to eternal damnation. That is Calvin’s double predestination. The tiny yield is because of God’s grace, and truly shows God’s grace, they claim. Mark Twain observed that a Calvinistic sermon reduced the number of saved to such a small number that it was not really worth the trouble. The Waltherians like to emphasize Grace! - disparaging the Means of Grace by thought, word, and deed. So their grace is a faux-grace, since they tear down or ignore the Instruments of Grace, the Word and Sacraments. Thus Missouri and its siblings passed easily into Pentecostalism and Church Growthism. Worship has been left behind in favor of entertainment.

The rationalism of Calvin certainly infected his followers, who often live up to the slogan “Young Calvinist, Old Unitarian.” This slogan fits entire countries, as evidenced in the Calvinistic history of New England, and other parts of America. The greater the Calvinistic influence, the more quickly rationalism takes over.

Missouri has often been infatuated with old time Calvinists, because many Calvinists were early to use English in America (unlike Missouri) and the traditional Calvinists seemed to be allies against Modernism.

WELS, Missouri, the Little Sect on the Prairie, and the Coveting Legalistic Cult have all cast longing eyes over the fence at other Protestant groups, the loopier the better. Fuller is their Mecca, and Willow Creek is their local haven. The first one to open the gate was Samuel Huber, and they have yet to admit this fact, quoting their Pietist leader Walther to confirm the truth of their denial.

Samuel Huber, Wittenberg OJ Errorist Defeated by Concordists

Huber was a Calvinist who became a Lutheran, long enough to be on the Wittenberg faculty. He began attacking justification by faith from within, like his descendants in the Synodical Conference. The Objective Justification salesmen of today would like to disassociate themselves from Huber, but they teach essentially the same dogma. Walther also could not accept this, because all the arguments against Huber also address Walther’s errors. The answer, say the OJ Fan Club, is to agree with Walther that Huber was not truly in the OJ camp, just a demi-semi-OJist.

Pastor Paul Rydecki summed up the issue this way on Intrepid Lutherans:

http://www.intrepidlutherans.com/2013/10/exploring-hubers-doctrine-further.html

Even so, the Wuerttemberg theologians, as you say, did not like Huber’s terminology, while the Wittenberg theologians unequivocally rejected his terminology. Why, then, did Walther and H.A. Preus go on to adopt that very terminology? And why does it bother the supporters of universal justification so much to be linked to Huber, if, according to Walther, his doctrine was substantively orthodox and nothing for orthodox Lutherans to get bent out of shape about? If Walther’s followers think that Huber was basically orthodox with regard to justification and that the Wittenberg theologians taught justification wrongly (since they rejected Huber’s teaching of it), then it would seem to be the honest thing to just come out and say so.

This post-Concord conflict is summed up well by Pastor Paul Rydecki:

http://www.faithalonejustifies.com/a-hunnius-on-the-truly-confessional-lutheran-teaching-of-romans-518/

Hunnius takes apart Huber’s (and the official WELS) doctrine piece by piece, concluding with this observation about Huber’s supposed “confessional subscription” to the Lutheran Book of Concord:

And what will Dr. Huber reply to the Book of Concord, which, in citing these very words from Romans, explicitly confirms that those things mean nothing other than that we are justified by faith? This is what the Book of Concord says in the Latin edition, page 666: “Therefore, these statements are equivalent and clearly mean the same thing, when Paul says that we are justified by faith; or that faith is imputed to us for righteousness; and when he teaches that we are justified by the obedience of one Mediator, who is Christ; or that through the righteousness of one man, justification of life comes upon all men. For faith does not justify on account of this, that it is such a good work, or that it is such a splendid virtue, but because it apprehends and embraces the merit of Christ in the promise of the Gospel.” Thus far the Book of Concord.  If the Pauline phrase (that “through the righteousness of one Man, justification of life comes upon all men”) clearly means the same thing as that other statement, “We are justified by faith” (as the Book of Concord clearly and emphatically asserts), then the interpretation is rejected by the sentence of the Book of Concord that imagines from these words of Paul a justification apart from faith—one that extends also to those who have never had faith and never will. Dr. Luther says it even better in [his lectures on] the second chapter to the Galatians: “Where Christ and faith are not present, there is no remission of sins, no refuge, nothing but pure imputation of sins and condemnation.”

Rydecki continued –

According to Hunnius, one cannot honestly claim to be a “confessional” Lutheran while at the same time teaching a justification apart from faith based on Romans 5:18.  His quotation from Luther is also highly relevant.  How long will the WELS continue to claim to be a “confessional Lutheran” church body? How long will the truly confessional Lutheran pastors in the WELS remain in voluntary fellowship with the synod that officially condemns the Gospel of justification by faith alone in Christ as heresy?

A unionist tries to pooh-pooh similarities. In the end, false teachers demand and appreciate a translation of the Bible that repeats their error and appears to canonize it – the New NIV.

However, the core of Objective Justification, however it might be explained, is declaring the entire world forgiven of its sin. That is where Huber started, and that is what Polycarp Leyser and Hunnius opposed.

Leyser was respected enough to be one of the editors of the Book of Concord and an expert in discussions about justification.

Pietism

Pietism really has two major eras in Europe, starting with Spener and his immediate followers, peaking with the establishment of Halle University with the mission of promoting Pietism. Soon after, Halle became the center of rationalism in Europe, and F. Schleiermacher, an alumnus and teacher, earned his place as the pivotal modern theologian – advocating faith without belief.

The second era of Pietism was a reaction to the rationalism that took over clergy training and the institutional church in Europe. Those who dissented were called mystics and Pietists, and many found it difficult to find acceptance or positions in the establishment.

This is very important – all the American Lutheran groups were established with this background of Pietism. The American Luther leaders were either trained at Halle (Hoenecke), trained by Halle students (Walther by Stephan), or associated themselves closely with Halle, - Muhlenberg taught there.

All the American Lutherans groups were greatly influenced by the spirit of union with Calvinism, hiding doctrinal differences among Protestants, and looking for gimmicks like the revival. This rationalistic Pietism was keen on denominational cooperation and allergic to any high church tendencies (as they imagined them) – the liturgy, frequent Holy Communion, and the Book of Concord.

Thus the ingredients of the Wisconsin Synod, the Missouri Synod, and the Evangelical Lutheran Synod were Pietistic. So were the founders of The American Lutheran Church and the Lutheran Church in America.

Hoenecke and Halle University

The passage in Hoenecke’s Dogmatics dealing with General Justification offers no refuge for UOJ, but the author does quote the son-in-law of Johann Bengal (1687-1752), who worked closely with and edited his father-in-law’s work. Bengal was a Wuerttemberg Pietist. Hoenecke studied the Confessions on his own after graduating from Halle University. One of the last of the Pietists, Tholuck was his mentor. Tholuck was a Universalist and admitted it gladly. Hoenecke was not.

Rambach and Halle University

Rambach is especially important because:

·         Webber quoted him favorably on Objective Justification.

·         The first baptism hymn in The Lutheran Hymnal is Rambach’s.

·         Rambach was a loyal Halle Pietist.

·         Rambach gives us a definite data-point on UOJ being taught at the central school for all Lutherans in North America.

Rambach taught – “In His Person all mankind was justified and absolved from sin and curse.

Rambach advocated teaching 1 Timothy 3:16 as all mankind being justified when Christ rose from the dead. Although Bishop Martin Stephan did not graduate from Halle University, we know that his version of justification was life-changing for CFW Walther. We also know that Walther taught the same form of justification all his career. Therefore, the Easter absolution of the entire world, without the Word and without faith, is definitely an effect of Halle’s lasting influence.

Walther-Pieper

Kokomo

Robert Preus CG UOJ, later anti-CG and anti-UOJ

ELCA

Slugs, Bugs, and the Triumphant Roses

The preying mantis may be over-rated,
but he is intimidating, even in a glass jar.

Slugs were crawling into the remnants of beer in three pans, last night, so I added some Bud to each one. Later on, more slugs were crawling in, but the count was much lower.

The backyard beer drinker did not appear to eat the slug chili, when I looked this morning, so I will leave the brew for one more day. I hope the Passion Flower vines will now gain strength, leaf out, and grow up. The slug-chewed Butterfly Bush has now strengthened and started to grow new, more mature leaves. Slugs like the tenderest leaves and rasp the soft parts away, leaving a framework of the leaf.

When we first tried to put solar lights on the dead tree, one slip of the foot broke the string and it stopped working. Our helper, who snagged the wire by mistake, took it home and repaired it, so the lights were put to use again. But when the dead tree fell, all the solar lights remained intact and working. so the dead tree blinks into the night.

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme
I found parsley at Walmart so I brought home a pot, along with more Bee Balm and Fernleaf Dill. Mrs. Ichabod said, "Is the dill dead?" I said, "I bought it for the seed." The seeds had already formed, and dill is famous for seeding itself. I love dill with tomatoes, and dill is favored by beneficial insects.

Many species have a favorite plant. Butterflies seem especially picky. The Black Swallowtail loves parsley, reason enough to buy some. Monarch caterpillars need milkweed and Butterly Weed.

Triumphant Roses
Nothing looks more miserable than an insect riddled rose bloom. I had at least three insects chewing on them - earwigs, aphids, and some chewing beetle. The John Paul II and the Peace roses were hit hardest.

Except for increasing the beneficial insect plants, I have done nothing against the rose pests. Now the roses are free from insect damage, without spraying or picking pests off.  That must work, because a delicate white spider was posing on the roses as I handed them to Mrs. Wright. I flicked it away and she laughed.

Not a wee little bee, but a hover fly, a friend to rosarians -
aka a flower fly.