Hymn - Redeemed, Restored, Forgiven

 

"Redeemed, Restored, Forgiven"
by Henry W. Baker, 1821-1877

Tune - Ich dank' dir, lieber Herre - linked here

1. Redeemed, restored, forgiven,
Through Jesus' precious blood,
Heirs of His home in heaven,
Oh, praise our pardoning God!
Praise Him in tuneful measures
Who gave His Son to die;
Praise Him whose sevenfold treasures
Enrich and sanctify.

2. Once on the dreary mountain
We wandered far and wide,
Far from the cleansing fountain,
Far from the pierced side;
But Jesus sought and found us
And washed our guilt away;
With cords of love He bound us
To be His own for aye.

3. Dear Master, Thine the glory
Of each recovered soul.
Ah! who can tell the story
Of love that made us whole?
Not ours, not ours, the merit;
Be thine alone the praise
And ours a thankful spirit
To serve Thee all our days.

4. Now keep us, holy Savior,
In Thy true love and fear
And grant us of Thy favor
The grace to persevere
Till, in Thy new creation,
Earth's time-long travail o'er,
We find our full salvation
And praise Thee evermore.

The Lutheran Hymnal
Hymn #32
Text: Luke 15:24
Author: Henry W. Baker, 1876
Tune: "Ich dank' dir, lieber Herre"
1st Published in: Musika Deutsch
Town: Nuernberg, 1532

Hymnal - On What Has Now Been Sown

"On What has Now Been Sown"
by John Newton, 1725-1807

Tune - Darwall's 148 - linked here

1. On what has now been sown
Thy blessing, Lord, bestow;
The power is Thine alone
To make it spring and grow.
Do Thou in grace the harvest raise,
And Thou alone shalt have the praise.

2. To Thee our wants are known,
From Thee are all our powers;
Accept what is Thine own
And pardon what is ours.
Our praises, Lord, and prayers receive
And to Thy Word a blessing give.

3. Oh, grant that each of us
Now met before Thee here
May meet together thus
When Thou and Thine appear
And follow Thee to heaven, our home.
E'en so, Amen, Lord Jesus, come!

The Lutheran Hymnal
Hymn #46
Text: 1 Corinthians 3:6
Author: John Newton, 1779, cento, alt.
Composer: John Darwall, 1770
Tune: "Darwall's 148th"

Hymn - On My Heart Imprint Thine Image

"On My Heart Imprint Thine Image"
By Thomas Hansen Kingo, 1634-1703

Tune - Der am Kreuz - linked here

1. On my heart imprint Thine image,
Blessed Jesus, King of Grace,
That life's riches, cares, and pleasures
Have no power Thee to efface.
This the superscription be:
Jesus, crucified for me,
Is my life, my hope's Foundation,
And my Glory and Salvation.

The Lutheran Hymnal
Hymn #179
Text: Luke 23:38
Author: Thomas Hansen Kingo, 1689
Translated by: Peer O. Stroemme, 1898, alt.
Titled: "Skriv dig, Jesu, paa mit Hjerte"
Composer: Johann B. Koenig, 1738
Tune: "Der am Kreuz"

Hymn - Lord, While for All Mankind We Pray

"Lord, While for All Mankind We Pray"
by John R. Wreford, 1800-1881

Tune - St. Flavian - linked here

1. Lord, while for all mankind we pray
Of ev'ry clime and coast,
Oh, hear us for our native land,
The land we love the most!

2. Oh, guard our shores from ev'ry foe,
With peace our borders bless,
With prosp'rous times our cities crown,
Our fields with plenteousness!

3. Unite us in the sacred love
Of knowledge, truth, and Thee;
And let our hills and valleys shout
The songs of liberty.

4. Here may Thy Gospel, pure and mild,
Smile on our Sabbath hours
And piety and virtue bless
Our fathers' home and ours.

5. Lord of the nations, thus to Thee
Our country we commend.
Be Thou her Refuge and her Trust,
Her everlasting Friend.

Hymn #578
The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: Romans 13:1-7
Author: John R. Wreford, 1837, ab., alt.
Composer: John Day's, 1562
Tune: "St. Flavian"
1st Published in: Psalter

Hymn - Come unto Me Ye Weary

"Come unto Me, Ye Weary"
by William C. Dix, 1837-18983

Tune - Anthes - linked here

1. "Come unto Me, ye weary,
And I will give you rest."
O blessed voice of Jesus,
Which comes to hearts opprest!
It tells of benediction,
Of pardon, grace, and peace,
Of joy that hath no ending,
Of love which cannot cease.

2. "Come unto Me, ye wanderers;
And I will give you light."
0 loving voice of Jesus,
Which comes to cheer the night!
Our hearts were filled with sadness,
And we had lost our way;
But Thou hast brought us gladness
And songs at break of day.

3. "Come unto Me, ye fainting,
And I will give you life."
0 cheering voice of Jesus,
Which comes to aid our strife!
The Foe is stern and eager,
The fight is fierce and long;
But Thou hast made us mighty
And stronger than the strong.

4. And whosoever cometh,
I will not cast him out."
O patient love of Jesus,
Which drives away our doubt,
Which, though we be unworthy
Of love so great and free,
Invites us very sinners
To come, dear Lord, to Thee!

The Lutheran Hymnal
Hymn #276
Text: John 6:37
Author: William C. Dix, 1867
Composer: Friedrich K. Anthes, 1847
Tune: "Anthes"

New Book Review of Walther, The American Calvin: A Synod Built on Felonies

 

 Walther, the American Calvin: A Synod Built on Felonies

Top reviews from the United States

Amazon Customer

5.0 out of 5 stars A survey of the persons and events preceding the founding of the LCMS

Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2021

In this book, Dr Jackson surveyed the persons and events preceding the founding of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS) in 1847. He began with the pastorate of Martin Stephan in the 1830s in eastern Germany. Stephan was a Lutheran minister, trained at Halle University, where he inculcated rationalism and pietism. Stephan attracted a following of nearly 700 people and in 1838 he led them to America. They settled in Perry County, Missouri and elected him as their bishop.

On May 30, 1839, 300 members of the congregation led by C. F. W. Walther deposed and excommunicated Bishop Stephan on the grounds of sexual misconduct and embezzlement. Dr Jackson showed that Bishop Stephan's illicit activities were known among his followers, even before they emigrated to American. Walther then assumed leadership of the group. He was the leader when the LCMS was founded in 1847 and he served as the synod's first president, holding office from 1847 to 1850 and again from 1864 to 1878. The official LCMS history begins at 1847 and omits any mention of Martin Stephan, his illicit activities, his excommunication, and the circumstances surrounding Pastor Walther's assumption of leadership.

Dr Jackson provided a reading list for those who wish to delve more deeply into this subject matter:

“Zion on the Mississippi” by William Forster
“In Pursuit of Religious Freedom” by Phillip Stephan (great-great-grandson of Martin Stephan)
“Eighty Eventful Years” by Ludwig Fuerbringer

Dr Jackson demonstrated that Pastor Stephan and his congregation were pietists. Dr Jackson provided a concise description of pietism on page 8 where he quotes the following statement from Adolph Hoenecke's book “Dogmatics”:

“They (pietists) confuse the Christian life with justification, and make Christian life the cause of justification.”

By this description we can see that pietism is a form of works-righteousness. Pietists seek salvation through their own actions.

The rationalist and pietist background of the Stephan group helps us to understand the bases of Pastor Walther's teaching which we know as Objective Justification. The following statements from his Easter 1846 sermon illustrate this teaching:

“For God has already forgiven you your sins 1800 years ago when he in Christ absolved all men by raising him after he had first gone into bitter death for them. Only one thing remains on your part so that you also possess the gift. The one thing is faith. ... Every man who wants to be saved must accept by faith the general absolution pronounced 1800 years ago.”

These statements contradict the plain teaching of the Bible, which says that God redeems his elect freely by his grace, through faith, outside of any works that they do.

Dr Jackson showed that Objective Justification is universalism (from rationalism, the concept that God has saved all people) mixed in with decision-theology (from pietism, the concept that sinners must take action to be saved).

To illustrate this point, here are several quotes I found from Arminian preacher Billy Graham. It is striking how similar these statements are to the ideas that Walther expressed in his Easter sermon:

“God proved his love on the cross. When Jesus Christ hung and bleed and died, it was God saying to the world 'I love you'.”
“God will not force himself upon anyone against his will. It is your part to believe.”

I recommend this book to someone who would like a survey of the events leading up to the Saxon migration and the founding of the LCMS, and the part that rationalism and pietism played in the theology of the LCMS from its beginnings to today.

Dr Jackson discusses the problems of present day Christian denominations on his internet blog. Search for ichabodthegloryhasdeparted for the URL. He conducts a weekly traditional Lutheran worship service via the internet, the blog has a link to the broadcast site which also has archived broadcasts.

The Bible Book - Robert Bratcher and TEV

Robert Bratcher, ThD, Southern Baptist Seminary, Louisville

Today’s English Version – Good News for Modern Man – Bad News for the Bible

            Modern translations do not sprout on their own. Someone must decide a direction for them and find the money for the project and initial printing. When Robert Bratcher got in trouble, as a Southern Baptist missionary teacher, for arguing against the Trinity, Nida hired him.

O Jornal Batista, on July 9, 1953:

“Jesus Christ would not enjoy omniscience. That is an attribute of God.”

“…Jesus did not claim He and the Father to be one—which would be absurd.”[1]

 

Bratcher got into so much trouble with the American Bible Society, for similar taunts that he resigned from the ABS while moving to the United Bible Societies. He is given credit for guiding the translation of Today’s English Version, often called the Good News Bible.

Bratcher Obituary

Working for the American Bible Society, employing an approach to translation known as “dynamic equivalence,” and rendering the text in simple, everyday English, Bob Bratcher produced an English translation of the New Testament that was published in 1966 as Good News for Modern Man: The New Testament in Today’s English Version; by 1971 it had sold 30 million copies, and by now over 100 million copies have been distributed. Bob went on to chair a team of scholars that translated the Old Testament in the same accessible style, leading to the publication of The Good News Bible in 1976. These translations have been deeply meaningful to many around the world; they also have been controversial among some fundamentalist Christians. Bob Bratcher’s contributions to Biblical studies extended far beyond his initial translations. He made extensive contributions to a common-language Brazilian Portuguese translation of the Bible, published in 1988. Working with United Bible Societies, he wrote or co-wrote numerous “Helps for Translators,” each one focusing in detail on issues involved in translating a particular book of the Bible, including Psalms, The Gospel of Matthew, and Revelation. He also wrote scholarly essays on translation issues, among other works, and lectured all over the world. Bob was a faithful and active member of Binkley Baptist Church in Chapel Hill since he moved to the area in 1975. He served the Binkley community as a teacher, preacher and wise elder, and will be dearly missed. He also was a strong proponent of compassion for the less fortunate, justice for the oppressed, and world peace.[2]

Those who object to hiring and honoring such infidels are given a story about “he no longer works here” or “has that damaged your faith?”

---

[1] Why They Changed the Bible, p. 105. Denial of the Holy Trinity is common among apostates, who dishonestly play the role of a Christian while undermining Biblical teaching.

[2] Obituary, Dr. Robert Bratcher, 2010. https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/newsobserver/obituary.aspx?n=robert-g-bratcher&pid=144069874

 

The Bible Book - Three Assaults on the Gospel - From the Inside

 I am not sure who created this cartoon.

VIII. Undermining from within Works So Much Better Than Direct Attacks from Outside

 

            I taught world religion to fifty or more classes, in traditional and online settings. I often asked the students about the genius of a particular religion. The same question should be asked about the rampant apostasy of Christianity in America – how did it grow from the foundations of traditional Lutherans, Protestants, and Roman Catholics.

            The first assault was pitting science – in the form of evolution – against Creation by the Word of God. Everyone who favored evolution was modern, up to date, scientific, and reasonable. Those who remained faithful to the Scriptural account were ignorant, backwoods, witch-burning redneck bigots afraid of the future. Every possible attempt was made to keep Christian leadership from undermining evolution. That began already in the 19^th century as Evangelicals found ways to compromise with evolution. I recall the parish church attempts to make the 24-hour days of Creation mesh with the billions of years required for evolution.

            The second assault was a gift in the form of the Great Depression. A small group of mainline church leaders had already formed the Brotherhood of the Kingdom. They had their socialist agenda warmed and ready to go for the economic hardships imposed on America. The Federal Council of Churches had a Social Gospel Creed written to improve matters. Church leaders began confessing the sin of not being social activists -spending too much time on the Gospel, not enough in organizing unions. A good way to trace this influence was to see who published essays on the greatness of Walter Rauschenbusch. Denominations became concerned that they were not doing enough to make the world a better place, so they created social ministry divisions, activist executives, and eventually lobbyists in Washington DC and state capitols. Those who opposed these moves as Marxist and anti-Gospel were ignorant, backwoods, witch-burning redneck bigots afraid of the future.

            The third assault came from Fuller Seminary and a growing list of consultants who marketed the final solution. The new translations did not have much of a foothold until the apostate Fuller Seminary began selling the same solution for all denominations – Roman Catholic, Salvation Army, mainline and conservative Evangelicals. Church executives swarmed into Pasadena to learn how to use methods for building their church bodies. One package fit them all. Those who opposed Church Growth as crass marketing of the Gospel were ignorant, backwoods, witch-burning redneck bigots afraid of the future. Everyone felt that their previous Left-wing moves were damaging the vitality of their church bodies, so dumbing down everything seemed a delightful way of gaining money and members without giving up the apostate agenda. Those who promoted the Church Growth Movement in their own church body were the radicals, not the conservatives. Their hatred for traditional Christianity and Bibles came through all the time.

 

 

Our Thaw Is a Week Away. Frozen Pipe Avoidance

Sassy and I got up early for breakfast. She went out in the snow and will probably expect a walk in an hour or two. We get up before the birds.

We have a temperature of 0 degrees and more snow predicted. We should be above freezing in seven days, with rain predicted. Almost everything is closed today and Tuesday-Wednesday look snowy too.

We had a copper pipe freeze and split in New Ulm, Minnesota, so I was anxious to avoid that here. I did some extra reading and learned this -

• Water frozen in pipes is not the main problem. Thawing and splitting is. Running the water taps, hot and cold, can relieve the pressure from the thawing ice.
• Plastic pipes freeze later than copper. Yay! - we have plastic.
• Extra measures include dripping the hot and cold taps wherever the cold can reach in and freeze pipes.
• Kitchen and bathroom cupboard doors should be left open during cold spells like this.

The renter's agent phoned us about frozen pipes, two days after we were practicing safe sinks. She was pleased and said, "You two are always ahead of the game."

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