Thursday, February 16, 2017

Review of Liberalism: Its Cause and Cure.
Another Pair of Angel Wings - Awarded.

More books by Gregory L. Jackson can be found hereon his Amazon author's page.

The Poisoning of American Christianity and the Antedote, February 16, 2017

Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: Liberalism: Its Cause and Cure: The Poisoning of American Christianity and the Antidote (Kindle Edition)

The Holy Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments, contains numerous severe warnings about false teachers who have been, and will ever be, polluting the pure Word of God. Just one such warning comes from the Holy Spirit in 2 Peter 2:1-3: "But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping." NIV

In "Liberalism: Its Cause and Cure" Rev. Dr. Gregory Jackson details several shady agents of these false teachers, found stomping across and upon the Word. He forces open their wide coats, empties their pockets, and spills the clanging contents of their apostate toolboxes onto the ground. Jackson masterfully takes up each tool into the Light of the pure Word to determine its methods and reveal its Scripture-hating mechanics. Instead of telling you what these tools are, he invites you to come closer and have a look-see with your own eyes, using the very words of these deceivers. "Liberalism" is full of quotations taken directly from the scheming plans of the apostates. In this book, you are given a front seat, the agents are named, and there is no wiggle room available for them. No quarter is given. Their own words are laid bare.

To be noted is the fact that the author has attended or graduated from several seminaries, and has advanced degrees from both Yale and Notre Dame. Jackson is highly qualified to be writing on this subject. He has been in its trenches.

A history of apostasy is presented to trace the long lineage of liberalism. A mere sampling of the agents of apostasy include the historical-critical method of Biblical interpretation, the "new" Yale University, the World Council of Churches, Methodism and its fabricated "social gospel" and many more, each given turns in the Light. The truth laid bare can be a horrifying thing.

The tools themselves are given examination, after wiping the layers of muck away. Many of them are found in the toolboxes of apostates across a wide spectrum. Examples of these are pietism, revivalism, pentecostalism, charismatic renewal, speaking in tongues, ecumenism, works righteousness, and the theory of evolution (trying hard to be provable scientific fact for more than 158 years and counting).

Pages 72-73 contain a type of timeline of the stages from which a congregation or church moves from the pure Word to the infection of liberalism and the diseases of apostasy. I invite you to read through them, with an honest heart, to see where your church lies on this timeline. It was very eye-opening for me.

Jackson does not leave us in the spirit of hopelessness. A cure for the infection of liberalism is shared, or more accurately, we are reminded that it has been with us all along. There is a helpful chapter on how we can dialogue and debate with the enemies of the Word.

This title is highly recommended to those with love for the pure Word, regardless of your religious affiliation.

Java Dude

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you?

This review of Liberalism got me a set of wings. Thanks.

Sixth Green New Testament Lesson - Verbs and Nouns

In Greek the subject can be in the verb ending and not be a separate word. So to tell nouns from verbs, we look for the nominative article

Sight read -

Matthew 28 και προσελθων ο ιησους ελαλησεν αυτοις λεγων εδοθη μοι πασα εξουσια εν ουρανω και επι γης

19 πορευθεντες ουν μαθητευσατε παντα τα εθνη βαπτιζοντες αυτους εις το ονομα του πατρος και του υιου και του αγιου πνευματος

20 διδασκοντες αυτους τηρειν παντα οσα ενετειλαμην υμιν και ιδου εγω μεθ υμων ειμι πασας τας ημερας εως της συντελειας του αιωνος αμην

1550 Stephanus New Testament (TR1550)

John 1

Τῃ επαυριον βλεπει τον Ιησοῦν ερχομενον προς αυτὸν 29

και λεγει

Ιδε ὁ αμνὸς του θεοῦ

ὁ αιρων την ἁμαρτίαν του κοσμου.

οὑτος εστιν ὑπὲρ οὗ εγὼ ειπον 30

Οπισω μου ερχεται ανὴρ ὃς εμπροσθέν μου γεγονεν

ὁτι πρωτος μου ῆν.

καγὼ ουκ ῃδειν αυτόν 31

αλλ' ἱνα φανερωθῇ τῳ Ισραὴλ

δια τουτο ηλθον εγὼ εν ὑδατι βαπτιζων.

Και εμαρτυρησεν Ιωαννης λεγων ὁτι 32

Τεθεαμαι το πνευμα καταβαῖνον ὡς περιστερὰν εξ ουρανοῦ

και εμεινεν επ' αυτόν.

καγὼ ουκ ῃδειν αυτόν 33

αλλ' ὁ πεμψας με βαπτιζειν εν ὑδατι

εκεῖνος μοι ειπεν

Εφ' ὃν αν ιδῃς το πνευμα καταβαινον και μενον επ'αυτόν

οὑτος εστιν ὁ βαπτιζων εν πνευματι ἁγίῳ.

καγὼ ἑωρακα και μεμαρτυρηκα ὁτι 34

οὑτος εστιν ὁ υἱὸς του θεοῦ.

Mequon Needs Schmauks

Hi Pastor,

I found another jewel from T. E. Schmauk in A Biographical Sketch by George W. Sandt:

The minister of Christ will manifest Christ in the strength of individuality. He will not follow the stream whichever way it leads. From the cut of his coat to the formation of his opinion, from the most trifling act to the weightiest decision, he will not do only as others do. He will not dread being in a minority. He will not become a mere reflection, an echo, a shadow of those with whom he mingles. He will not imitate either preacher of thinker. Rooted firmly in the Word, he will develop and proceed in his own way, as God intended he should.

What a radical idea. My prayer to the Lord of the Church is that He would fill Mequon with Schmauks.

***

GJ - The Pietists are quick to condemn brilliant quotations like these, saying, "They are not from our group, so they come from false teachers.

Pietists are "respecters of persons" - literally "appearance people," a very serious sin in the New Testament. They condemn the outside and ignore the statement itself.

Romans 2:11King James Version (KJV)

11 For there is no respect of persons with God.

Acts 10:34King James Version (KJV)

34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:

Schmauk, Krauth, and Reu are ignored, and even condemned by the "conservative" Lutheran leaders, but these three battled for Luther's doctrine and the Book of Concord. Those years of turmoil - dealing with the Church Growthers of their era - gave them a profound appreciation for the Confessions.

Funny how the numerous felonies of Walther - and his papal ambitions -are swept away in paroxyms of joy, because the LCMS has another printing of CFW's Pastoral Theology.

In the LCMS-ELCA-ELS-WELS, Zion is read even less often than Luther's Sermons and the Book of Concord.

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Curt Schilling: Most Pro Athletes Are Conservative « CBS Philly

Curt Schilling

Curt Schilling: Most Pro Athletes Are Conservative « CBS Philly:

He addressed the end of his time working for ESPN, saying they were dishonest about the reason he was fired and defended comments he made while working there.

“What I care about is that they lie about it. ESPN fires me for, apparently, being intolerant because I was actually commenting around the fact men should use the men’s room and women should use women’s room. Apparently, that was enough, the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Schilling explained. “Then, they come out and act as if they are a tolerant group and they’ve gone full mental since then. They’ve gone way over the edge on the left, having a tribute to Obama after his last day in office, which gave me acid reflux.”

'via Blog this'

***

"Buckle your seatbelts.
It's going to be a bumpy ride."
Betty Davis - All About Eve

GJ - Long ago, Father Richard Neuhaus quoted an insurance survey, writing - the American leaders are far more Left than the population in general. This has been shown time and again - in Lutherdom - with the leaders using the tactics of Pope Pius IX:

Those favoring the pope and his infallibility are promoted and canonized as saints.
Those who dare to bring up the truth are threatened, canned, driven into exile, and demoted even when they prostrate themselves before the District Presidents and Synod Presidents.

"Do you know who we used to be?"
Sure - WELS communications, WELS DP,
WELS teacher in Phoenix.

Java Dude Helped Another Angel Obtain His Wings.
Making Disciples: The Error of Modern Pieitsm

Every time someone reviews a Martin Chemnitz Press book, another angel gets his wings.
Java Dude reviewed
Making Disciples: The Error of Modern Pieitism.

Here is the review:

Top Customer Reviews

What does it really say? Translations or merchandising?

By Java Dude on October 27, 2016

Format: Paperback

While reading this book, and this applies to all others I have read by the same author, you will have the treat of ready access to a deep and wide resource in the form of Dr. Jackson’s education, teaching, and preaching. With advanced degrees from Yale and Notre Dame, Jackson’s writing reflects a disciplined approach he honed in the process. He has a love for footnotes and quotations from sources. Jackson will bring into play tools from original languages of the Bible, history, geography, philosophy and of course theology, and use them to craft a narrative that is unusually comprehensive. Lucid and refreshingly succinct, Dr. Jackson carves with precision to his points.

Making Disciples is not merely a discussion of the venerable “Great Commission” found in the closing verses of Matthew 28. That subject is vivisected, to be sure, but an historical background of the English versions of the Bible is also presented, along with Luther’s German Bible and the Vulgate (Latin). All of this serves to add context and relevance to the discussion itself without distraction. Jackson writes with a density not to be found in many wordy so-called Christian books that flood the best seller lists. He’s not being paid by the word here, and he doesn’t profit a couple million dollars each time he takes to pen, as do the megachurch rock-stars so long in enthusiasm and short in academia. Dr. Jackson writes from mind and heart and the reader is a benefactor.

After reading Making Disciples, you will learn how Bible versions often contain agendas carefully inserted into the translation, along with footnotes that work to undermine the original Greek meaning, here and there again, to bend the Bible to suit the particular theology being advanced. Many examples are provided from both Testaments, laid bare and naked, and they can be startling to behold. A question is made to whether some new versions are actually new at all, or simply a profitable exercise in Bible merchandising.

A call to appreciate again (for some of us) and anew (for younger of us) the King James Version is made by Jackson, and solid argument provided to bolster its accuracy and beauty. To overcome some of the difficulties of the KJV, Jackson recommends the 21st Century translation, available on Amazon in book form, and also online at BibleGateway dot com. I have begun including KJV21, as it is also known, in my own studies and enjoy it.

I highly recommend this short book to anybody with respect and love for the inerrant Word.

Many more angels are waiting for their wings.
Here is a list of books by Gregory L. Jackson
and
the books by Norma Boeckler, our award-winning artist.

Valentine's Day Plus One:
The Secrets of Making Cut Flowers Last - And They Work for Potted Flowers Too

Someone gave you roses - now what?

Valentine's Day Plus One. Cut and potted flowers can last much longer, even when a heated house or business office is drier than a Calvinist sermon.

Most cut flowers will arrive with a little packet of stuff to add to water. People also say, "Dissolve an aspirin in water." Either one may help a little, but the following will help the most in makinjg cut flowers last.

In college, the future Mrs. Ichabod and I began learning how long a rose could be kept fresh, because I often bought flowers for her. She would keep a rose in a water glass or vase, dip the bloom in water, and sprinkle the bloom during the day.

Falling in Love roses, pink.
Veterans Honor, red.

Cut Flowers

Cut flowers - especially roses - are sponge-like in their ability to absorb water. That water is not going to move up the stems very well after someone cut them. There are six remedies for this.

To facilitate water uptake, snip the ends of the flowers as soon as delivered and put them in a vase of water - or water plus that packet of something.
Before putting the flowers in the vase, put them in the kitchen sink and soak them with clean water or spray them with that little sink hose gadget. That will hydrate the stems and flowers. Snipping a little from the bottom of the stems will also help.
Change the water every single day. The flowers do not like to sit in bleh water becoming packed with bacteria. Compost them later.
When changing the vase water, spray the entire flower bunch again. Roses love this treatment and really perk up.
If possible, snip some of the stems off each day, which helps the flowers' uptake of water.
Sprinkle the flowers in the vase later in the day, if so moved. Extra water drops in the blooms will help them last longer. They can even get their shower and water change again, later in the day.

Potted Flowers

Potted flowers are a little different. They are in a sterile potting soil medium and the pots are often wrapped in a foil. Potted flowers enjoy more hydration than they usually get.

Poke holes in the foil on the bottom. Fill the pot with water, and spray the entire plant with the sink hose.
Let the excess water drain from the pot while in the sink.
Place the pot on a flat dish to catch extra water draining later.
Repeat this every day.

Poinsettias will last for weeks this way, and other flowers will last much longer than usual.

Flowers harvested from the garden will always be more hydrated
than anything from a store or flower shop,
reason enough to grow some.

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Gardeners Dream of Long, Slow Rains Like This.
The Garden Is a Local Area Netgwork (LAN)

Gardening is contagious.
Here are some KnockOut roses.
My neighbor has a wonderful nursery - Almost Eden.

Last night began a long, slow rain that should last all day. A large front is moving up from the Gulf of Mexico, through Texas, and traveling onto the Midwest, ending on the East Coast.

These weather systems help us realize how water gathered by a single dam can become a threat to hundreds of thousands of people - like the crisis at the Oroville Dam in California. In 2005, various groups filed petitions to have the earthen spillways made into concrete because of the danger of erosion, now happening as predicted.

Meanwhile, the rain is slowly soaking into our clay soil, which turns whiter as it dries out. Our rose canes are greening up and leafing out for Valentine's Day, a February to remember.

I love these rainy days because God is doing so much work with billions of creatures in the soil. Microscopic, beneficial fungal strands are connecting the most elaborate Local Area Network (LAN) anyone can imagine. In fact, no human expected anything so complicated a few years ago. There it was, under our feet.

Fungus tunnels through the soil, finer than human hair, seeking whom it may devour - wood chips, decaying animals, anything organic. The tip of the fungus has enormous power to penetrate wood and chemicals to dissolve and absorb the nutrition. What really astonishes me are the proteins used by the fungus to move chemicals through its skin. No moving parts - this fungus is not even certified as a plant. Nevertheless, the Creating Word designed fungus to use proteins specific for each kind of chemical transport.

The leaves, mulch, and dead wood clumps
are now a much larger pyramid of fungus, earthworm,
and soil food.
Their work feeds the Crepe Myrtle bush above.

The fungus is worried and anxious about many things, taking from various organic sources and serving multiple plants at once in this elaborate, microscopic, self-regulating LAN. If roots need more water, the fungus can deliver. When the plants demand prepared, ready-to-use nutrition, the fungus acts upon the chemical request. But one thing is needful - carbon. The fungus cannot manufactures its own carbon, so it must beg from the plant roots.

Months of showy Crepe Myrtle blooms
come from an autumn and winter of feeding the soil
through organic materials processed by God's creatures.

The roots are devious, because they must have what the fungus can deliver, so they give up spare carbon to keep the fungus alive and growing. Some plants can live without this fungal support around them and in them, but most achieve their best results teaming with fungus, as Jeff Lowenfels has described in a series of books.

Who created and engineered these teams to work together so well? When like-minded and cooperative humans decide to build a church or add onto their building, experts assume that this task will take two years and end up with mistakes, conflicts, finger-pointing, and regrets - even on dedication day. But these microscopic parts of God's Creation build and maintain this living LAN, which repairs itself when needed.

If Mr. Gardener gets a rototiller for Father's Day, conveniently in June, he cannot wait to tear through his future garden, flinging fungal strands everywhere, destroying earthworms, disturbing the layers of soil. As soon as he retires inside to clean up and congratulate himself, the fungal strands begin rebuilding the LAN and supporting all life, above and beneath. With luck, the belt will break on the rototiller and life will be peaceful for several weeks.

The rain is essential for this building of the soil, since all life requires hydration. But rain is the best kind, feeding all life at once and adding a gentle and natural fertilizer in the form of nitrogen compounds. Soil life goes into overdrive, because the microscopic networks expand to recycle the population explosion around them - bugs hatching, earthworms moving and dying, plant debris decaying on top of the soil, roots tunneling and dying.

The melting snow and falling rain always have an effect. The Spirit teaches this in the Word and Creation illustrates this truth from the beginning of time - God spoke the Word - Let there be light - and there was light.