The Junior High Where I Attended - And Where My Mother Taught

I administer the Calvin Coolidge page, Moline, for the alumni. Someone had me take it over after it started. I used my social media experience to build the page up to almost 1,000 participants, by welcoming new members and asking them to invite their friends. They were also asked to tell us about themselves and when they were at CC. New people join all the time. Our rival, John Deere Junior High, has less than 500 participants - not that I'm counting.

But one person wrote:

Is there no one in this group from the 70's ? Why is everything about the 60's and before? Even the group's picture ... You make us baby boomers feel like we didn't attend. Do some research admins. Find some later pictures to post to make the rest of us feel like we belong.

I responded.

We have almost 1000 members. Anyone can post a photo, starting with those who want more recent photos. One of my classmates took the trouble of scanning everything from three years at Coolidge. Unfortunately, he kept passing each grade, so he only obtained three years worth of photos to scan.

Sassy Does Almost Eden Gardens and Nursery. Nex Door To Us and Toxin Free

Sassy explored Almost Eden Gardens and Nursery with me.

This is one of two large Coreosis gardens,
buzzing with beneficial insects.

Watering pots is a daily task.

I was standing under these spigots one morning when they started on automatic,
7 AM.

Sassy explored while I photographed.
This is an asparagus bed ferned out
after everyone has eaten the spears they wanted...and then some.

The Sassy video loads well on Facebook.

Gardeners Dream about Rain. How Nitrogen Gets to Plants

I woke to the sound of rain beating on the roof - or I imagined that sound. Later, I studied the sidewalk to see if I imagined it. I did.

Gardeners dream about rain, because there is no substitute for the life generated by this miraculous free substance. Nitrogen is abundant in the atmosphere but useless for plants as a gas. In fact, nitrogen is so neutral that Dow Chemical pulls it from the air, via a service company, and uses the gas to prevent explosions and fires.

However, when nitrogen is fixed, the building-block of life begins to do its work. The graphic above seems to diminish the effect of lightning making the rain into a liquid fertilizer. However, the small amount of useful nitrogen created by lightning translates into tons of fertilizer on the ground, as dry straw-colored grass will reveal after one soaking rain. The yellowed grass, which tends to overgrow and get over-thirsty from man-made fertilizer, will green up during one rainstorm.

Where does the rest of the useful nitrogen come from, apart from the chemical industry? One source is animal manure, which ranges in content from very hot (chicken, rabbit) to cool (horse, cow). Birds offer their tiny amounts, often with seed included. I routinely cut down enormous Pokeweed plants. They grow, flower, and fruit in any size imagined, but favor the jumbo size, seven feet tall with outstretching branches. Over sixty bird special love pokeberries, so the weeds are all free bird-feeders.

Green plant matter is also a source of useful nitrogren. Although straw is not green, and dried grass looks like straw, both retain their nitrogen and make compost hot when nitrogen-loving bacterial feed on the remains. That is why I wonder about people mowing their lawns, throwing away the clippings, and buying fertilizer to make the lawns green. Mulched clippings left on the lawn would do far more than man-made fertilizer additions.

Plants also fix nitrogen, but that is giving the plant too much credit. Bacteria take nitrogen from the air, converts it, and stores it in nodules on the roots. This donation improves the soil. Clover - often despised, feeds nitrogen to the grass, The more clover, the better.

A common weed here is Hogweed, which is a legume that adds nitrogen to the soil.

Gardening Knowhow - Nitrogen
How Do Plants Fix Nitrogen? 

Nitrogen fixing plants do not pull nitrogen from the air on their own. They actually need help from a common bacteria called Rhizobium. The bacteria infects legume plants such as peas and beans and uses the plant to help it draw nitrogen from the air. The bacteria converts this nitrogen gas and then stores it in the roots of the plant. When the plant stores the nitrogen in the roots, it produces a lump on the root called a nitrogen nodule. This is harmless to the plant but very beneficial to your garden. 

How Nitrogen Nodules Raise Nitrogen in Soil  
When legumes and other nitrogen fixing plants and the bacteria work together to store the nitrogen, they are creating a green warehouse in your garden. While they are growing, they release very little nitrogen into the soil, but when they are done growing and they die, their decomposition release the stored nitrogen and increases the total nitrogen in soil. Their death makes nitrogen for plants available later on. 

How to Use Nitrogen Fixing Plants in Your Garden 
Nitrogen for plants is essential to your garden but can be difficult to add without chemical assistance, which is not desirable for some gardeners. This is when nitrogen fixing plants are useful. Try planting a winter cover crop of legumes, such as clover or winter peas. In the spring, you can simply till under the plants into your garden beds. As these plants decompose, they will raise total nitrogen in soil and will make available the nitrogen for plants that are unable to get nitrogen from the air. Your garden will grow greener and more lush thanks to plants that fix nitrogen and their beneficial symbiotic relationship with bacteria.

Read more at Gardening Know How: Nitrogen Nodules And Nitrogen Fixing Plants http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/nitrogen-nodules-and-nitrogen-fixing-plants.htm

Earthworms
Earthworms seem even more insignificant than birds, but they add up too. Their kidneys produce nitrogen from the bacteria breaking down organic matter in the long digestive tubes. The total earthworms in one acre can add up to a one ton animal, so the fertilizer produced from kidneys is not unremarkable. Besides, the earthworm castings (manure) concentrate nitrogen compounds, and concentrate other needed ingredients for good soil.

Nitrogen is essential to most plants and is the building block of protein.

The Creating Word gave us all these creatures and plants to work together, engineered them to recycle and save what is good, detoxify what is bad, and still manages them now to provide that Balance of Nature we heard about in science classes.

Four Titles Being Added to Amazon Printed Books and Kindle E-Books

Liberalism is almost in production now.

Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant will
be available very soon at a great price.

The next two titles are being edited -

Introduction to the Christian Faith: Jesus, Priceless Treasure (I am reversing the title to make the subject clearer to people.)

Jesus Lord of Creation.

And two more are being written -

And - The Lost Dutchman's Goldmine - Luther's Doctrine of the Word of God.

The Big Rain Came Today - Jude and Isaiah 55:8-10

Today I was muttering about needing to water the roses again. The promised rains had not come. Sassy and I went on a morning walk, only to have two (2) raindrops fall. The dark clouds blew past - clouds without rain - like the false teachers.

Jude 12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

Veterans Honor Rose is fragrant,
long lasting in a base, and glowing with color.

Suddenly a new set of clouds blew down from the north, unusual here, and began dumping rain, not quite the waterfall from a week ago, but plenty to make everyone happy again - with the sun coming out. 

Mrs. Ichabod imitated me grumping about needing to water the roses again.

I asked, "Why don't you bring it up when I am right?"

She said, "This is more fun."

I delivered and planted the Veterans Honor rose yesterday, aware that my supply of stored rainwater was gone. I poured it on roses and favorite plants to make sure I had fresh water for the promised Saturday deluge.

Nothing is better after planting or moving a rose than to have plenty of rain. The gentle rain soaks the canes, builds up the plant's moisture while activating the soil creatures. Fixed nitrogen in rain greens up the plant while moving soil particles into place. The new situation means the root hairs need to grow and begin the transactions with soil fungi, giving up carbon needed by fungi for the nutrients and moisture needed by the rose. Fungi also protect plants against disease and make them more productive.

Now I have an abundance of stored, fresh rainwater to share with my neighbors, who are working on a system for their home. I contrasted the cost of an official rain-barrel with the cost of a large garbage can on sale at Walmart. One is $50 and the other is about $13.

The rain also soaked and weighed down the new cardboard, which is covering most of the two gardens close to the house, in the backyard. Our future expansion will include most of the Wild Garden not previously paved with cardboard and leaf mulch. My neighbors are so eager to get rid of their mown grass that I may use that to mulch as well, but leaves are more attractive and work well for a year.

Our newest rose grower admits that following the principles of Creation are best for growing plants, offering that "God knows how all this works together." 

I poured extra rainwater on Falling in Love roses.
The result was a stem with two roses and two buds on it,
bested only by Easy Does It with five roses and two buds.
The Word of God is also effective, each and every time.

Bishop-for-Life James Heiser: "Fellowship Is for Thee, Not for Me."

 Bishop-for-Life James Heiser, like Bishop Martin Stephan,
was made bishop by those who subordinated themselves to him,
the only clergy allowed to be ELDONAed.

Bishop-for-Life James Heiser frets about who goes to church where, although that is none of his business, outside of his little sect.  I will not dignify what his minions spread around, either in ignorance or malice. But perhaps he should extend the work of his consecrated and consecrating hands - to his own family.

Heiser's parents were communing members of a WELS congregation - shock - Pastor Steve Spencer's in Arizona. The parents recently left for another congregation - destination unknown.

Heiser's brother is Lutheran Brethren, yet another sect of Lutherdom. Three family units in three denomination is is quite a record. But that is diminished by the fact that his brother communed - shock - at Spencer's congregation.

From a 2008 post -

So ELDONA began as a protest against syncretism, which is being cosy with non-Christian groups, aka unionism on steroids, aka taking a world religion course at the community college.

Nevertheless, Heiser began a Center for the Study of Lutheran Orthodoxy with an ELCA layman on the board. Did the evil Texas DP force him? Did Benke mesmerize him? No, he said, "I had to - he bought so many books." That is a fine start for Lutheran orthodoxy. "Unionism is bad, unless I can sell more publications," as Otten has expressed in so many different ways.

Pastor Spencer wrote that no other WELS pastor will join Heiser's "cult," as he called it. That is most likely true. If ELDONA nicks a few more properties from the LCMS, the only gain will be large buildings with tiny memberships to support them.

---

Here is a tidbit about the Lutheran Confessional Synod, which is where Heiser started out -

The LCS was briefly in fellowship with WELS and ELS because it was the creation, in part, of Kincaid Smith and Jay Webber (both ELS). After the dust cleared, DeJaynes eventually joined the Eastern Orthodox and plead guilty to a criminal charge, as delineated in the Herald Review article. It was a sad, sad story. Needless to say, the LCS ceased to exist around the same time.

Rt. Rev. James Heiser, M.Div., S.T.M.

Bishop, the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America

718 HCR 3424 E

Malone, Texas 76660

www.eldona.org

hunnius@mac.com 

---

The parallels in leadership are eerie, especially
since the new Walther was an underling for Bishop Randy DeJaynes.
Walther also was very good at expropriating property he coveted.

At the recent What's Wrong with Ichabod ELDONA conference, held in the Holy City of Malone, Texas, there were many complaints and criticisms of what we do with streaming video (which Rydecki is exploring). I should apologize for making the Gospel available for free to the entire world, printed and broadcast on the Net! - because that is their job, though not attempted by ELDONA so far.

Their layman Vernon Knepprath wrote me about how to establish such a service, and I gave him all the information I could provide, which he appreciated.

Although ELDONA likes to have their books promoted on this blog - which can reach 4,500 average views per day - they banned my books without warning or notice. What did Rydecki complain about in WELS? - Justification by Faith was banned by imperious leaders. He was silenced, banned, and kicked out.

As Luther said, "Hypocrisy is the honor vice pays to virtue, but hypocrisy is still a sin."

Someone in ELDONA came up with this graphic,
which seems a bit self-important.
Pure doctrine - while they dithered with the Rolf Preus
UOJ sect?

The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity, 2016. 1 Corinthians 15:1-10. Risen from the Grave

The Empty Tomb - By Norma Boeckler

The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity, 2016

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

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

Bethany Lutheran Church, 10 AM Central  Daylight Time

The Hymn # 200     I Know that My Redeemer Lives    

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       

The Gospel              

Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed             p. 22

The Sermon Hymn # 384            How Great Is Thy Compassion             

Risen from the Grave - The Foundation of the Faith

The Communion Hymn #199            Jesus Christ Is Risen Today (trumpet)                    

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 # 514             God Moves in a Mysterious Way     

By Norma Boeckler

KJV 1 Corinthians 15:1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: 6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. 7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. 8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

KJV Luke 18:9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. 13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Eleventh Sunday After Trinity

Lord God, heavenly Father, we beseech Thee so to guide and direct us by Thy Holy Spirit, that we may not forget our sins and be filled with pride, but continue in daily repentance and renewal, seeking our comfort only in the blessed knowledge that Thou wilt be merciful unto us, forgive us our sins, and grant us eternal life; through Thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

By Norma Boeckler

Risen from the Grave - The Foundation of the Faith

KJV 1 Corinthians 15:1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 

Paul teaches the ultimate confirmation of the Gospel in 1 Corinthians 15. Notice the poetic cadences of this opening, as if it were a poem, a hymn, or a creed.

Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel 

which I preached unto you, 

which also ye have received, 

and wherein ye stand; 

By which also ye are saved, 

if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, 

unless ye have believed in vain. 

They remind us of this well known passage in Luke 2

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.

Or Philippians 2

Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in the form of God, 

thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

7 But made himself of no reputation, 

and took upon him the form of a servant, 

and was made in the likeness of men:

8 And being found in fashion as a man, 

he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, 

and given him a name which is above every name:

10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, 

of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

11 And that every tongue should confess that 

Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The Gospel is the resurrection of Christ, which is not simply a little story of inspiration, but the foundation of all the truths of Jesus as the Son of God and Savior. The end of this opening statement says - unless you believed in vain.

That is a good start, because the rationalists either dismiss the resurrection as a fable or cleverly re-imagine it as representing "the Easter faith of the disciples." The second is the most dangerous because people hear in faith and think the sermon is enforcing faith, but just the opposite is true. Supplanting is the best way to undermine faith in the Scriptures, since people resist a frontal attack on the truths of the Bible. 

The third method of removing the resurrection is the most dangerous and successful. The hucksters merchandise the Gospel as the best way to motivate people to become successful, happy, and prosperous. Fuller Seminary, Willow Creek Community Church, and some clones have mastered the art of rephrasing occult success religions from Asia and making them sound a bit Christian. The Lutherans - from the most apostate ELCA to the most Pietistic CLC (sic), with LCMS, WELS, and ELS inbetween - have adopted this method with gusto and protect their brand ferociously. No one is allowed to poke holes in this obvious charade. The great lights of this method always come up in the talk of these snake-oil salesmen: Napoleon Hill (denied Satan, spoke to spirits hovering in his office), Robert Schuller (honored by the Napoleon Hill Foundation), Paul Y. Cho (Korean kicked out of the Assemblies of God for teaching occult, Asian religion), Norman Vincent Peale, who plagiarized an occult author for the Power of Positive Thinking and inspired Robert Schuller.

In short, the three methods for getting rid of the actual resurrection of Christ are:

1. Outright denial that it happened or 
2. Rephrasing it as an event in the minds of the disciples, or
3. Selling the Gospel as a conduit for success and motivation stories.

When one of these methods is at work, the tell-tale sign is - The preacher hardly mentions God or Jesus at all in the so-called sermon, most likely "the message." The wolf preachers are ashamed of the Gospel and ashamed of Jesus, but do not mind using the words like magic incantations to get what they want. They scatter and devour the sheep.

Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you

This is the Apostle calling the troubled congregation back to correct doctrine by repeating the foundation of the Gospel. He says "brothers" because all believers in Christ are brothers among themselves and brothers of Christ.

He established the congregation by preaching the resurrection of Christ. The Gospel had miraculous growth among the Jews, with persecution following, because they were prepared for centuries by liturgical worship, singing hymns, and hearing the Old Testament Gospel, centered in Isaiah 53. They did not always know that but the Apostles showed them how Jesus fulfilled all the Scriptures, which at first were simply the Old Testament books.

Paul also went to the Gentiles and showed the Apostles that they did not need to create Jews first and then build on that to convert them to Christianity. They only needed to preach faith in Christ and later train the new believers in the Old Testament foundations, without the demands of kosher, circumcision, etc.

Sometimes I wonder that a small band of men started the conversion of the Roman Empire - with mixed results, of course - when all the religions and Judaism were against them. How could they make all these claims without Christ, when even the Savior had trouble gaining traction against the obstinance of unbelievers?

The answer lies in this classic chapter of 1 Corinthians - The risen Lord appeared to Peter, the 500, James (the half-brother of Jesus),  all the Apostles, and to Paul. Every single preacher of the first generation saw the risen Christ and heard Him teach the Gospel directly to them. The resurrection appearances, so carefully detailed in the Gospels, were taught by those who experienced them. And those preachers were forever changed by the certainty and faith embedded in them by the living Word of God.

They mutually confirmed this witness, which can be seen in the details. If a group became shaken or became doubtful, they could be reminded of these facts by multiple witnesses of the risen Christ.

the Gospel which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 

They heard the Gospel and believed, since receiving is a synonym for believing. One could also use the verb in the sense of welcoming, because the Gospel itself created faith in their hearts and continued by grafting this Gospel onto their hearts, an active and strengthening energy from the Spirit in the Word. Unbelievers outside of the Church or within the Church have no concept of this at all.

Wherein ye stand - Their spiritual gifts and the fruits of the Spirit come from this Gospel energy in their hearts - not from their inherent virtue (a Roman teaching) since many were converted from sexual perversion, thievery, and other vices. 

One person was talking about the benefits he lost from working, and said, "You don't want to be a slave of the government again, do you?" I was reminding him of what he gained by working instead of loafing. This is a lesson of reminders about what the Corinthians already knew and believed.

2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory 

This is a reminder that believers saved by faith in the resurrection of Christ, as Paul taught in Romans 4. Christ was raised for our justification if we believe in Him who raised Him from the dead. Funny how 3 synods of millions of Lutherans could overlook the three verses that together serve as one sentence:

23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;

24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;

25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

Keep in memory - 

That does not mean that memory saves, but that the Word is not only effective in hearing and reading it, but also when we remember the Gospel of the Resurrection. Not remembering leads to not believing, and not trusting the Gospel message means losing the fruits of that saving message. That often happens gradually from a variety of forces and our own sinful flesh.

unless ye have believed in vain. 

That is ironic, because the Apostle is calling to mind the power of faith in the Gospel. Was that all in vain? The assumption is No - because the power continues even in the various mix-ups and conflicts in the group.

That can be seen throughout history, because there was always turmoil when false teaching was confront and the true Word measured the errors. People were angered, divided, and shocked. But that divided the good from the bad, and the good continued in various forms. The printing press in Europe allowed a massive assault on the errors of Medieval Rome, which meant even more turmoil and bloodshed, but the Gospel emerged as distinct from the false doctrine of Rome and grew exponentially (as they like to say today). 

3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: 6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.

Christ taught Paul and Paul also united with the Apostles in teaching these united truths. Verses 3-5 are poetic in structure - again - as a basic teaching or confession of faith. Isaiah 53 is condensed into a phrase - Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. His burial and resurrection are also according to the Scriptures. So not only the actual resurrection is the basis for their confidence, but also the Old Testament teaching that these things must happen. The witnesses are mentioned to support the truth - first in the written Word, then in the preached Word.

When people want to tell a fable, they say, "Well, I heard that..." The source is anonymous or from somewhere on the Net or TV. Here the actual witnesses are named and probably known personally - at least in part.

We should not take for granted that degrees of separation were as small then as they are now, if not more so. Some were relatives. Some of the witnesses traveled. One of our friends was visiting a family in California. Suddenly that woman screamed. The hosts said, "What happened?" The guest asked, "How do you know Greg Jackson?" The woman was looking at a photo displayed. 

This happens through the spoken Word, which is what Luther emphasized the most. People gathered at a big three-synod conference. One was from our congregation, Brett Meyer. A pastor teaching against justification was known to me back to the baptism of his daughter and even before. One pastor was just a name at the time.

Our member gave away materials on justification by faith, which contributed to several people seeing the light and leaving those who denied this Chief Article. That had an effect in two different states, but it is not from a book or even giving away books, but from always broadcasting that living Word and letting God work.

This is an old story. What really woke me up was a free book I got from someone leaving the LCMS ministry. John W. Montgomery edited it, but the clincher was one author, someone I knew from my home church, a missionary I heard preach. And he was the brother-in-law of my father's best friend. 

I doubt whether the old Augustana Synod missionary wrote his essay with the thought of influencing that kid who was in church doing the liturgy that day. The book was published, largely forgotten, bought perhaps used, and left behind when a pastor dropped out. But the Word of God still remains in effect. When it is taught, it always lends its divine energy either to converting or hardening, enlightening or blinding.

7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. 8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

Paul teaches the order of the Resurrection appearances - very important. He was the last of those who saw the Risen Christ and learned from Him. God elected the perfect man to teach justification by faith apart from works, because Paul fits the profile of the Pharisee in the Gospel parable. He was not just a Pharisee, known for their holiness, but he was the best of all the Pharisees, possessed by a spirit of persecution. 

That by itself is another indication of the efficacy of the Word. He was constantly angered and excited by the mere presence of the Gospel, so he went out to get those people arrested (Acts). The divine Word was working on Paul, who as an unbeliever, felt its power and raged against it.

In the same way today, those who adhere to forgiveness and salvation without faith are just as excited to wipe out and silence Justification by Faith. They will moved heaven and earth to stop one person from teaching the truth, but that never works.

No weapon devised by man can harm the Word of God, so the betrayers are betrayed and blinded by their own obstinant refusal to hear the truth of the Gospel.

Notice too the effect of denying the Chief Article. What do they talk about? Themselves! Their glorious holiness. The sanctity of their little synod, which is really nothing in the eyes of the world or the history of Christianity. And oh the glory of their relatives, and leaders, and past leaders. We are so good, so big, so powerful, so worthy of God's praise. It never ends. They cannot say "faith in Him" but "faith in forgiveness without faith." They cannot say "Means of Grace" but use that phrase as to apply the universal absolution (without faith). Sick. So they hate the liturgy, hymns, creeds, and hymns, but love popcorn in church, soft drinks served for free, clowns and dancing girls to make their empty message "relevant."

10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

Paul is a bit annoying, sometimes extremely annoying. But God did not elect him to be an Apostle in spite of this but because of this. Even when he falls into boasting, he corrects himself by showing that God used him to teach that God's grace is all sufficient in the Word. Paul had the greatest failing of all. Not only he disbelieved the Gospel but persecuted the Christians who believed. There are many Christian Pharisees like that today. I have seen the damage they have caused in synod offices and in the manipulations of Circuit Pastors.

God elected a man who could be as energetic in teaching the Gospel of Grace as he was in trying to silence it. Paul could never live down his reputation and carried that with him always, and so that humbled him, as his thorn in the flesh did, showing him daily that this was God's mission, not his.

Applying This Today

God offers us just one thing - not success or great health or endless numbers of friends. The Resurrection of Christ is our foundation of faith, because eternal death is the great enemy. All this talk of "legacy" is a reminder of how little people believe in God. They want to think that their influence lives on, so people can say, "He did this" or "She accomplished that."

When dealing with Yale histories, since they get to pick the celebrity intellectual to teach, I have seen how quickly the honored professor and author is forgotten. Sometimes we hear a story and find out one person made a dent in history, so we say, "I did not know that." 

In revealing this Gospel to us, sometimes through people trying to take it away, God gives us purpose, because eternal life and purpose go together perfectly. We cannot always know exactly what that purpose is, but in connection with God's Word, we know we are a part of God's family through Christ. 

Only through faith can people see the fruits of faith.  They reveal themselves over time, and they are God's signs that faith in the Gospel generates those fruits. Galatians 5

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Knowledge of the Resurrection of Christ animates our thoughts and conversation, so the Gospel influences our thoughts and words at all times. When we are discouraged and find enormous roadblocks in our lives, the power of life over death shows us how tiny our immediate problems are, even though they loom in front of us.