Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Stephen Hawking dies aged 76 - BBC News

Rest in Peace - Stephen Hawking.
He was given an honorary doctorate when I finished at Notre Dame. The audience was struck by his weakness as his nurse lifted his head to allow the stole to be put on his neck.
That was 1982.


Stephen Hawking dies aged 76 - BBC News:



"Stephen Hawking has died at the age of 76, his family has said.

The British physicist was known for his work with black holes and relativity, and wrote several popular science books including A Brief History of Time.

"We are deeply saddened that our beloved father passed away today," a family statement said.

At the age of 22 Stephen Hawking was given only a few years to live after being diagnosed with a rare form of motor neurone disease."




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My Dogs in the Northland by Egerton Ryerson Young - Lutheran Library Publishing Ministry – "Faithful to the Reformation"





My Dogs in the Northland by Egerton Ryerson Young - Lutheran Library Publishing Ministry – "Faithful to the Reformation":




"Contents (172 pages)
Copyright Information
Introduction
I. My Eskimo Or Huskie Dogs
II. With Wild Eskimo Dogs Under The Auroras
III. Robber Dogs And An Indian Council
IV. Jack, The Giant St. Bernard
V. Jack. And Many Things Concerning Him
VI. Jack Triumphant In The Blizzard
VII. Jack In Civilization
VIII. Cuffy, The Beautiful Newfoundland Dog
IX. Voyageur, The Matchless Leader
X. Voyageur, The Broken-hearted
XI. Rover I, The Successful Dog Doctor
XII. Rover II, Also Called Kimo
XIII. Muff, The Affectionate Mother Dog
XIV. Caesar, The Clever Rascal
XV. Koona, The Eskimo Leader
XVI. Traveling With Dogs In Northern Wilds
XVII. Still On The Trail With The Dogs
XVIII. Our Dogs In Summer Time
XIX. Cui Bono? [For whose benefit?]
About the Author
About the Author – Egerton R. Young
…It was the comfort of the great apostle to the Gentiles that with a clear conscience he could say, “I have kept back nothing that was profitable for you,” and that when he knew that those among whom he had gone preaching the kingdom of God, would see his face no more, he could boldly “take them to record,” that he was pure from the blood of all men, and had “not shunned to declare all the counsel of God.” However materialists may oppose amid the thickening troubles of these ungodly days; however distasteful it may be to the carnal mind; however scorners may jest and sneer; the ambassador of God must boldly deliver unto the people, all that they have received of the Lord. – From Chapter 20.

“Egerton Ryerson Young was born at Smith’s Falls, Ontario, April 7, 1840. He was educated at the Normal School of the Province of Ontario, after having taught for several years, and in 1863 entered the ministry. Four years later he was ordained, and, after being stationed at the First Methodist Episcopal Church, Hamilton, Ontario, in 1867-68, was sent as a missionary to Norway House, North-West Territory. There he worked among the Indians for five years, and in 1873 went in a similar capacity to Beren’s River, Northwest Territory, where he remained three years (1873-76). In 1876 he returned to Ontario and was stationed successively at Port Perry (1876-79), Colborne (1879-82), Bowmanville (1882-85), Medford (1885-87), and St. Paul’s, Brampton (1887-88). Since 1888 he has been prominent as a lecturer on work among the American Indians, and in this cause has made repeated tours of the world. He has written about a dozen books.

“This biography was written before Rev. Young’s Death in 1909.1

Rev. Young is one of the selected authors in the Lutheran Library who is not a Confessional Lutheran."


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More Luther - From Volume 8, The Sermons of Martin Luther

Fuller Seminary! Wheee.
Synod helps pay tuition.


41. Christians, however, though obliged to live among swine and to be at times trampled underfoot and rooted about, have nevertheless surpassing glory; for they can look up and intelligently behold their Lord and his gifts. They are not of the pen of swine intended only for slaughter; they know themselves children of God, adorned by him with gifts and graces not merely temporal. They are conscious that, having given them body and life — for these they realize are not of their own obtaining — he will also supply their further needs, providing for them forever.
Luther's Sermons, Volume 8,Tenth Sunday after Trinity



Greatness of God Unequaled

43. Regarding the baptizer — who may be a woman even — and the baptized, we certainly can see nothing wonderful. The humanity in the case does not effect any great work; the work is wrought by him who is God, Lord and Spirit. It is he who gives to the office power and greatness above that of all emperors, kings and lords, however inferior the instrumentality — the occupants of the sacred offices. By these ministrations souls are won from the devil, snatched out of hell and transformed into saints blessed forever. Person and office may be apparently inferior, but the office is of God and God is no inferior being. His greatness cannot be equaled by a hundred thousand worlds. He accomplishes things incomprehensible to the world and impossible to angels. The combined efforts of all creation could not produce baptism. Were the world to unite in baptizing an infant, the infant would receive no good therefrom unless God the Lord commanded the deed.
Luther's Sermons, Volume 8,Tenth Sunday after Trinity

Glory Which Every Preacher May Claim

9. It is a glory which every preacher may claim, to be able to say with full confidence of heart: “This trust have I toward God in Christ, that what I teach and preach is truly the Word of God.” Likewise, when he performs other official duties in the Church — baptizes a child, absolves and comforts a sinner — it must be done in the same firm conviction that such is the command of Christ.
Twelfth Sunday after Trinity


If the Doctrine of Faith in Christ Be Left Out…

In short, there can be no New Testament preached if the doctrine of faith in Christ be left out; the spirit cannot enter into the heart, but all teaching, endeavor, reflection, works and power remain mere “letters,” devoid of grace, truth, and life. Without Christ the heart remains unchanged and unrenewed. It has no more power to fulfill the Law than the book in which the Ten Commandments are written, or the stones upon which engraved. “For the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”
#36, Twelfth Sunday after Trinity


Efficacy and Bearing Fruit


20. Not only preachers, but all Christians, should constantly entreat the God who grants knowledge to grant also efficacy; should beseech him that the Word may not pass with the utterance, but may manifest itself in power. The prevailing complaint at present is that much preaching obtains, but no practice; that the people are shamefully rude, cold and indolent, and less active than ever, while at the same time they enjoy the strong, clear light of revelation concerning all right and wrong in the world. Well may we pray, then, as Paul does here. He says, in effect: “You are well supplied: the Word is richly proclaimed to you — abundantly poured out upon you. But I bend my knees to God, praying that he may add his blessing to the Word and grant you to behold his honor and praise and to be firmly established, that the Word may grow in you and yield fruit.”
Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity


Where the Spirit Is, Faith Must Obtain

36. A third answer to our enemies is: We are certain that wherever the Word of God is proclaimed, the fruits of the same must exist. We have the Word of God, and therefore the Spirit of God must be with us. And where the Spirit is, faith must obtain, however weak it may be. Though visible evidence may be lacking, yet inevitably there must be some among us who daily pray, while we may not be aware of it. It is reasonably to be expected that our enemies should judge erroneously, because they look for outward evidences of Christianity, which are not forthcoming. The Word is too sublime to pass under our judgment; it is the province of the Word to judge us. The world, however, while unwilling to be judged and convicted by us, essays to judge and convict the Word of God. Here God steps in. It would be a pity for the worldly to see a godly Christian, so God blinds them and they miss his kingdom.
Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity



Creating Discord - Walther's UOJ and Election without Faith

18. One of the wickedest offenses possible to commit against the Church is the stirring up of doctrinal discord and division, a thing the devil encourages to the utmost. This sin usually has its rise with certain haughty, conceited, self-seeking leaders who desire peculiar distinction for themselves and strive for personal honor and glory. They harmonize with none and would think themselves disgraced were they not honored as superior and more learned individuals than their fellows, a distinction they do not merit. They will give honor to no one, even when they have to recognize the superiority of his gifts over their own. In their envy, anger, hatred and vengefulness, they seek occasion to create factions and to draw people to themselves. Therefore Paul exhorts first to the necessary virtue of love, having which men will be enabled to exercise humility, patience and forbearance toward one another.
Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity





The Christian Treasure

14. The Christian has indeed inestimable treasure. In the first place he has the testimony of the Word of God, which is the word of eternal grace and comfort, that he has a right and true conception of baptism, the Lord’s Supper, the Ten Commandments and the Creed. In addition, he has the sure refuge of God’s promise to deliver us from every trouble in which we shall call upon him, and to give us, as he promised by the prophet Zechariah 12:10, the Spirit of grace and of prayer. And the Christian, by virtue of his enlightened understanding, can wisely discern what are good works and what callings are pleasing to God; on the other hand, his judgment is equally true as to unprofitable and vain works and false services. Before, we had not this wholesome knowledge. We knew not what we believed, or how we prayed and lived. We sought comfort and salvation in self-devised trivialities, in penances, confessions and satisfactions, in self-righteous works of monkery and in obedience to the commands of the Pope. We believed such works to be fully satisfactory and, indeed, the only things that were holy; the pursuits of common Christians we considered worldly and dangerous.
Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity

Whose Fault?
28. And so Paul, when here extolling the Corinthians, has not an eye to the contentious, the Epicureans, or to those who give public offense, as the man that “had his father’s wife;” but the apostle looks to the fact that a few remain who have the pure Word of God, faith, baptism and the sacrament, though some hypocrites be among them. Because of these few — and few indeed there may be — we recognize the presence of that inestimable treasure of which the apostle speaks. It is found as well where two or three are gathered together as with thousands. Neither the Gospel nor the ministers nor the Church is to be blamed that the multitude miss this treasure; the multitude have but themselves to blame, for they close their ears and eyes.
Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity


The Devil Builds His Taverns and Kitchens


2. Well, we cannot altogether prevent inharmony in the Church. Paul says (1 Corinthians 11:19), “For there must be also factions among you, that they that are approved may be made manifest among you.” Wherever the Word of God has a foothold, there the devil will be. By the agency of his factions he will always build his taverns and kitchens beside God’s house. So he did at first, in Paradise. In the family of Adam he entrenched himself, establishing there his church. And such has been his practice ever since, and doubtless will ever be. He who takes offense at differences in the Church, who when he sees any inharmony at once concludes there is no Church there, will in the end miss both the Church and Christ. You will never find any congregation of such purity that all its members are unanimous on every point of belief and teaching and all live in perfect harmony.
Luther's Sermons, Volume 8, Tenth Sunday after Trinity


Luther on the Seditious Leaders and Self-Secure Spirits


Ah, these seditious leaders and other self-secure spirits are poor, miserable people, who know nothing at all of this conflict! They drown in their own imaginations, and think they are perfect. And some of them are so shameless and without fear as to blaspheme, saying that God himself could not take their virtue from them. The devil simply strengthens them in these thoughts, and hardens them the more. This very thing is a sign that they do not yet know the devil; they are already blinded and taken captive by him, so that he can ruin them when he pleases.
#77. Third Sunday after Trinity, Luther's Sermons, Volume 8



And in the same sermon -

82. When the devil plagues and assails thee with his manifold temptations, refer him to Christ, with whom to dispute about the severe temptations, the death struggle, the anguish of hell, etc. Comfort thyself that thou art one of a great company of sufferers, past present and future. O beautiful, glorious company! All under one lord and head, who took from the devil his power and hellfire. In short, thy affliction cannot prove so great that thou wilt not find it paralleled in the lives of the apostles, prophets, patriarchs and all the saints, especially of Christ himself; with whom, if we suffer, let us not doubt, says Paul, that we shall “be also glorified,” Romans 8:17.

Progress on Luther's Sermons


Lutheran leaders and Luther - but we do pay them, far too much.


Volume 6 had a cover issue, which is being fixed.

Volume 7 is with our finishing editor, Janie Sullivan.

Volume 8 is being illustrated by Norma A. Boeckler. After that, I will add the gems and send the file to Janie Sullivan.

Next -

Gems Mined from Luther's Sermons will be compiled as the final volume, selections from each of the 8 volumes. That will be all color and a good way to introduce people to Luther's sermons. Every pastor should have it for sermon illustrations. They cover the entire church year, Gospels and Epistles, and not from the papal three-year invention. The papacy is the Antichrist, so Lutheran leaders go to Rome for leadership in worship.

Prayers without faith ne'er to Heaven go.
I never agreed with CN's anti-Christian UOJ.


After that -

The Commentary on John, Greek and KJV, will be prepared. This is not intended to be one of those 1500 page editions, but a basic guide and introduction.

Luther's Two Catechisms - planned.

Luther's Galatians Commentary -  planned.

Lutheran dictionary - planned.

How Calvinism Ruined the Protestants - being worked on, but will follow the ones named above.


Angel Wings Sent a Message



Hi Pastor,

We read your blog today saying somebody berated you for writing and blogging about your dog. Low blow; such a mean spirit. We want you to know that we quite enjoy reading the Sassy stories, as she is our virtual pup (we have no pets); and we love reading about roses. Some pastors blog about dogs and roses; other "pastors" blog and vlog about their AR-15s, tactical shotguns, and 100-round magazines. Such is life.

It's OK that you didn't mention folks in the South that also follow your sermons. No hurt feelings here - LOL.

 Sassy provided security at a Moline luncheon
for MHS 66 ladies.

Not Picking on ELDONA , But Definitely Picking on the Synodical Conference Mindset

 The Stephanite cult was Pietistic?
Yes, they had special rules allowing them to have their cell group meetings at the church, in spite of state law against conventicles.



Someone got the idea that I was picking on ELDONA, specifically WEL-DONA in this linked post. WEL-DONA members are those who were in WELS and immediately silenced themselves once they joined ELDONA. But that is another story.

I ran into some links from the so-called Intrepid Lutherans, founded by Steve Spencer - who bailed out first - and those posts reminded me of the Synodical Conference disease.

The SynCon (for short) caught this disease from Walther, who imagined himself The Great Prophet sent by God

  1. to explain all matters, 
  2. to condemn anyone opposed to his zany ideas, 
  3. to subvert and replace Luther and the Book of Concord.
The method is simple - start with Walther and his disciples, quote this band of criminals as if they were the Twelve Apostles, and simply avoid the ruling norm of the Scriptures and the ruled norm of the Confessions.

That is where the current crowd of UOJ Stormtroopers got their whackadoodle ideas about the doctrine of Luther, the Book of Concord, and various others. If Walther and Company are wrong, then the heavens will come crashing down on us.

To quote John Sparky Brenner, they do not lead people into the Scriptures or from the Scriptures.

The Calvinists led the Lutherans into squirrel chases using Latin terms and philosophical reasoning. That became so sterile, long after the Formula of Concord era, that Pietism erupted as an answer. However, the rationalistic and philosophical style remained. How was Walther trained? - 
  1. Rationalism for his BA and ordination.
  2. Pietism from two abusive cell group leaders.
Stephan did emphasize the Book of Concord more than most at his time, but he mostly taught Himself, which meant he was the sole Means of Grace in Europe. Thus Walther and Company made him Bishop-for-Life. No wonder the Stephan sect members were confused and in disarray after robbing and kidnapping the Means of Grace, forcing Stephan over to Illinois.


Thus I quoted the entire fourth chapter of Romans - not so long - with the transitional conclusion of that chapter - Romans 5:1-2.

That alone refutes the entire corpus of UOJ, which is a vast ocean - two inches deep.