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Plants often fail, for many reasons, known and unknown, mysterious and obvious. One classmate said, "I like Bee Balm, but it began turning white." I asked, "Closed off area?" She said, "Yes." So I said, "Mildew. Bee Balm is prone to it. They need more air circulation."
Tree stumps seem to be solid and tough at first, but when they are left on soil, the appearance remains while the entire core rots away. Left on hot coals, it will burn. Left on the soil, fungus will eat away at the interior until it can be broken up by hand,
People like to make fun of gardening and farming, most likely from a lack of knowledge. When someone calls me a farmer, I mention George Washington who said - “I know of no pursuit in which more real and important services can be rendered to any country than by improving its agriculture, its breed of useful animals, and other branches of a husbandman’s cares.”
I continue to believe that the cologne splashed leaders of the synods have no connection whatsoever with the soil. If they did, they would have unshakable confidence in the efficacy of the Word.
The lifeblood of the soil is water, which feeds the bacteria, fungus, protozoa, and earthworms. We had five inches of rain in one storm, the rain coming down so hard that people pulled over to avoid crashing in that waterfall blackout.
Should we presume that nothing will happen in the garden and lawn afterwards? Everything will green up from the free nitrogen, blooms will form and seeds will set. The Minnesota farmer told me, "Irrigation keeps them alive, but rainfall makes the crops grow."
The Word is that powerful at the very least and more so, as witnessed by the Scriptures. When I was reading the literature of the rabbis, God's Word and a rabbi's word were linked together. If God said something, it was so. If a rabbi said something, even as an afterthought, it happened.
A liberal Lutheran bishop expressed the efficacy of the Word in an offhanded way. Long ago, he said this about congregational life, "Everything happens through the Word." But other than that, few in any denomination can get past their own egos to express the foundational truth, which is simple but exclusive of all other views.
"The Holy Spirit never works apart from the Word." We are so used to ignoring that (as clergy - no really). When I was exploring how Lutherans became so lost, so eager to buy a DMin from Fuller or bow the knee to Baal-Rome, that came up as foundational for Luther.
The test case is Isaiah 55:8ff.
This passage excludes the possibility of the Word being dead (without the Spirit) or the Spirit working in an unpredictable and "sovereign" way (without the Word).
Calvin, Zwingli, and Rome defy this clear revelation of the Word's divine power, which is in harmony with the entire Bible. The anti-efficacy hive declares their imaginary truths based on the creativity of their minds, or the throne of the pope's heart. They become enslaved to their errors, because one error leads to another, especially when that mistake is a foundational concept.
If God's Word says, "Your sins are forgiven," then they are forgiven, regardless of their feelings. The hive does not believe the efficacy of the Word, so they trust their feelings.
No one can get past the authority of the Word, so God has provided many aids to get us back to its meaning. The Creation analogies throughout the Bible take people back to their experiences in growing plants and observing wildlife. How can anyone ignore the perfect harmony? The Isaiah passage reminds us of the Word's power, and a thunderstorm's aftermath takes us back to Isaiah, the rainbow, and the Genesis Flood.
I would not have included snow in that passage, and most people would not either, but I learned early in gardening research - melting snow does indeed have a powerful effect on early plant growth.
One famous Calvinist writer wondered if Isaiah knew about the cycle of evaporation and rain. Doubtless the Holy Spirit did not stop by his office the day he wrote such nonsense. Such are the rationalist chains that weigh down the thought of the Swiss tradition.
I continue to wonder why the Lutheran leaders fell so hard for Calvinism and adopted it in opposition to Luther's timeless Biblical scholarship. I know Lenski's synod deliberately replaced him at the seminary with someone who taught exactly the opposite, and now that school barely exists, sheltered by the university from its recent, lurid past.
