Monday, January 27, 2020

Not Alone - Happy Anniversary Alicia and Gary Meyer

 Happy Anniversary, Gary and Alicia.


One member wrote something like this, "We journey through life alone."

I agreed - in the sense of faith being individual. No one can make another one believe.

But I soon thought about the second greatest invention after the printing press - the Internet. Clayton M. Christensen became the advocate of disruptive economics, where a new player comes in and changes all the rules. That is why heritage industries often fail when facing a start-up with new rules.

As Ben Stein wrote long ago in the American Spectator, the Internet unites people with common interests. His father Herb Stein, famous economist under Nixon, enjoyed discussing his favorite books over the Net, with special interest groups.

Therefore, traditional Lutherans are not alone, thanks to the Internet. In fact, how else would I communicate with one person from Indiana, others in Iowa, a group of relatives in Washington, our Philippine missionary pastor, the East Coast, Michiganders, and many more?

Relatively few clergy respond individually, but quite a few read the blog. One person wrote me, laughing, that all the screens were on Ichabod during the WELS convention.

The daily connections really matter, and one person can make a crucial difference. One person suggested the House Postils and another person got them into print, with only a little help from me. the House Postils advocate kept suggesting the Election issue, which was Walther's attempt to back up CFW's Calvinistic Objective Justification. That will be a book this year, d.v.

Once we started on the printing of Pilgrim's Progress, another person said, "Why not have a class on it?" That is leading to another book.

 HAL is colder than a Friendship Sunday in WELS.

Conversations (often - but not always - by email) accomplish a lot in dealing with doctrinal questions and addressing frustrations with the Age of HAL - the publisher's robot.

Thanks to streaming video, we can provide the Means of Grace for anyone with broadband and a computer. All we have is "spare room in a rented house," but our Founder started with far less.


Bethany Lutheran Worship

25,586 TOTAL VIEWS

Video from Our Philippine Mission

They have bought the basic materials for the roof at Bethany Lutheran Mission in the Philippines.



An Independent (Formerly LCMS) Pastor Visited Two WELS Congregations



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I had a hunch that Pastor Paul Harris (former LCMS) had more in common with Ski and Patterson than he implied with his reviews.

All I had to do was google his name and Objective Justification, to find Harris endorsing Scaer's bizarre, confused, and erroneous take on Justification by Faith (a term they cannot use - though St. Paul often used it - unless they grasp a sprig of garlic and make the sign of Walther - a W).

OJ always leads to clowning, entertainment evangelism, petting bunnies on Easter, social justice warrior activism, unionism, and reliance on Thrivent - when robbing widows and orphans is not enough.


 Pastor Paul Harris, Trinity, Austin, Texas, not far from OJists Ski and Patterson.