The Kindle Version of Lutheran Christina Is on Kindle. Print Version Being Reviewed by Amazon

 

Lutheran Christina

Sassy Was Very Ill But Now Is Better, Has Some Meds

 

Sassy and I had a terrible time last night, but the doctor fixed her up. She may need a fair amount of recovery. Old age in dogs - they lose their sense of balance, feel all dizzy, and upchuck...a lot. I laundered, a lot.

IBM nixed the way we were broadcasting and I need to set up the new way, but time and energy ran out. I will be working on it with lots of help from Brett Meyer - for Sunday.

From 2008 - The Church from Scratch - Has Anything Changed in WELS?

"How are you?" said one. "How are you?" said the other. "Well!" said the first. "Old Scratch has got his own at last, hey?" - An illustration from Dicken's Christmas Carol.

In case you wonder, the Church From Scratch website link was taken over by Matt Doebler's Rock and Roll WELS Babtist Church. The URL below does not work, but if the links part is removed from the address, the URL redirects to Christ the Rock.

The Wisconsin Synod never stops plagiarizing from Fuller Seminary and Willow Creek. Their illiterate leaders have managed to insert Satan's nickname into another project. Scratch is an English nickname for Satan. And Jesus called Satan The Father of Lies. That is appropriate, coming from the Church Growth Movement.

Church from Scratch is the rib-tickling name of the WELS website.

Whose name is first to appear on the links page? Paul Kelm - he has written a paper on Christian freedom.

Here are some of the links listed:

General Ministry
http://www.wels.net/
The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod

http://www.churchandchange.org/
A WELS organization committed to address ministry in contemporary culture. Hosts great conferences and provides ministry ideas on the website.

http://www.crosswalkinlaveen.org/
God is doing some really neat things in the area of small groups, large gatherings, etc, through Crosswalk Lutheran Ministries in Phoenix, AZ.

Messiah Church in Nampa, ID has a neat statement of faith. [GJ - Ichabodians will note that the neat statement of faith was originally written by that anti-CGM pariah, me. But they have tweaked it so that their added words fall harshly on the unwaxed ear. "In an age of materialism, we believe that real treasure comes from our raith in the Savior." Is raith the future pluperfect subjunctive of faith?]

http://www.crossroadschicago.org/aboutus.html
Progressive ministry in the heart of Chicago; also has a great statement of faith.

www.apostlessj.org/Church/MinistriesActivities/ASV.html
Excellent example of a vision for a church plant/daughter congregation.

http://www.marshillchurch.org/
This is Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA. From a Calvinistic background. The preaching is excellent and very law/gospel oriented, speaking powerfully to the culture around them. Mark Driscoll is the senior pastor

http://www.xenos.org/
This is Xenos Christian Fellowship in Columbus, OH. From an evangelical background. A congregation of thousands made up entirely of house churches. Very good mindset material and studies. Great on leadership/eldership.

***

GJ - I attended a Sunday service at Xenos in Columbus. The minister got in the pulpit and talked about himself for 40 minutes before God or the Scriptures were mentioned. The proper verb is mentioned, because the talk had nothing to do with worship, the Christian faith, God, or anything spiritual. The audience cooed and fluttered during the minister's preening, egomaniacal monologue. Not surprisingly, the minister at Community of Joy (Phoenix) gave the same kind of talk with the same results. Willow Creek had a more somber audience but the same baloney. They all sound alike.

Notice the trend, which is just as prominent in the Church of the Lutheran Confession (sic). Apostate Lutherans covet non-Lutherans so passionately that they become anti-Lutheran in thought, word, and deed.

The authors of this bizarre website have bios that remind me of fingernails scratching a blackboard:

Matt Doebler
Matt has served as a parish pastor in the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod for the last eight years. After graduating from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 1997, he was called to St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Collins, WI where he served for four years. In 2001, he accepted a call to St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wisconsin Rapids, WI. In the spring of 2006, he accepted a call to assist in planting Christ the Rock Church in Round Rock, TX. He is the proud husband of Christine, a Pilates/fitness instructor who uses her contacts in the fitness world to make connections for Jesus. He is also the proud father of three great kids, Madeline, Samuel and Caleb. They are great assets to him in the ministries into which God has placed him. Matt has been trained as an equipper in the Christ Care program from Stephen Ministries. He and Chris have also participated in the Church Planters training from Acts 29 Network.

[GJ - Acts 29 is a unionistic group, which is seen as a threat to Southern Baptists. That makes sense, because WELS is a unionistic sect, known as a threat to Lutheran doctrine.]

Ken Knapp

Ken retired early from the paper/hydro industries to do more ministry. Historically, he's served in most of the offices of a local congregation. His greatest passion is for nurturing life-long discipleship, and thus he logically serves on the WELS Commission on Adult Discipleship (CAD). Ken envisions a church functioning in our culture with the passion and effectiveness of an "Acts 2" church. He is the author of the soon-to-be-released book, A Womb to Tomb Guide for Nurturing Faith in and through the Family through the CAD.

GJ - I can think of better, rhyming names for the newest apostasy book -

1. From Cell to Sell.
2. Have an Itch? - Try Old Scratch!
3. Faith without Belief - The Paul Kelm School of Evangelism.

--

Comments on this topic, from Bailing Water:




Anonymous said...
It's incredible. One day, blog moderation is disabled, another day it is enabled. What a joke. Make up your mind and decide what it's going to be, because it gives the impression that you weed out comments that hurt your opinions.

June 6, 2008 12:00 AM


John said...
Hey mr. anonymous,

Why don't you start your own blog. You can set your own topics and moderation settings.

There are times when I'm out of town and can't moderate comments. There are also topics that bring out comments that are off topic and not necessary. I guess if you don't like what I'm doing don't come back. (moderation on)

June 6, 2008 12:15 AM


Anonymous said...
Yeah you tell him John. If you can't stand the heat stay out of John's kitchen. Wus

June 6, 2008 5:24 AM


Anonymous said...
I agree Go John!!...it is so funny to see these WELS bots get so irritated and defensive when the truth is pointed out.

June 6, 2008 8:51 AM


Comment deleted
This post has been removed by a blog administrator.

June 6, 2008 9:13 AM


Anonymous said...
WELS has discovered a new sin - the sin of turning off the comments when out of town. Have you no shame, Bailing Water?

I had to vent a little.

Bespoke.

June 6, 2008 9:20 AM


Anonymous said...
Isn't that what the WELS does best- invent new sins so that Bailing Water can point them out?

WELS bot

June 6, 2008 10:29 AM


Anonymous said...
WELS bot,

How about we focus on the topic at hand.

What do you think of the church growth churches listed and their influence on the WELS?

June 6, 2008 10:47 AM


Anonymous said...
I think it is shameful. And I believe that the only answer is to give a firm and brotherly admonishment founded on scripture to show why these things are destructive. I believe this is what is being done by people who do not use blogs to do so.

WELS bot

June 6, 2008 11:02 AM


Anonymous said...
The WELS cannot err.
These churches are WELS.
These churches cannot err.

Whirr-buzz-click-click,
WELS bot #4738

June 6, 2008 11:13 AM


Anonymous said...
There are two things that bother me. If WELS is a confessional church - then it should confess. To leave out the name Lutheran in a church title is to try to have it both ways. Second, by leaving out the name Lutheran and using the names like:Crosswalk; Willow Creek, Cornerstone ,etc. you are giving a false impression to those twenty-somethings who assume it is a non-denominational church.

June 6, 2008 11:39 AM


Anonymous said...
Please tell me how the WELS allows this WELS pastor to claim support of these heterodox churches?

June 6, 2008 1:03 PM


Anonymous said...
This pastor from scratch goes unchecked because the WELS is steeped in Church growth methods.

June 6, 2008 10:24 PM

Watch the Waters - Xi Has Lost the Mandate of Heaven.

 

 Astonishing debt - denied of course - will bring everything to a halt.

Putty buildings fall apart in a few years. These are not fungible assets. Someone has borrowed to build them, a country-wide scam.

Floods hit coal-rich province of China.

Rejecting the Inerrancy of the Bible So Cleverly - Billy Graham Style

 

"Acts 8:37 - I'm sure it's in here somewhere."

Some of us have talked among ourselves about the weakness of a number conservative, Biblical icons. One Calvinist influenced another who influenced a Lutheran. All this happened about a century ago. More will be in the second edition of The Bible Book.

I am just going to address one, Billy Graham, who  clearly represents those who seemed to be more and more conservative as the mainline denominations turned radical, step by step.

Graham addressed - or wiggled around - Biblical inerrancy by saying he believed the original autographs, the very first written Scripture documents, were inerrant. That meant he denied inerrancy in all Bibles, including the King James Version. 

 WELS admitted this in writing, but if they can cover up for two murders and deny them, how much easier is it for the sect to cover up their addiction to Calvinism?

I have to wonder - How could Graham know the unseen originals were inerrant? He cleverly planted doubt in the hearts and minds of his followers, which also freed the Graham organization to use and promote any translation or paraphrase they chose to use. I understand he promoted the Living Bible paraphrase, which sold by the boxcar load, and led the way in verbose flights of fancy not subdued by the original.

Graham also made the demi-semi-conservative Protestants relaxed by opening the doors and welcoming their doubts, their attendance, and their money. 

That side-step made the King James Version the enemy, a straw man to target and set aside for the great glory of the Lutheran SyNODS. 

Church Growth is at least 50 years old now. Check the timeline on WELS TELL, endorsed by Synod President Naumann even before the walking stiff, Mischke, took office.

The purpose of TELL was not evangelism but destroying Lutheran doctrine and replacing it with Calvinism. Why not? Walther, Pieper and their bootlickers had started the process in the Missouri Synod. 

Shock of shocks, Missouri and WELS jumped into promoting the NIV and using it in their Biblical study materials. It is the Millard Fillmore effect. America has forgotten him because his name is seldom brought up. A CLC pastor, trained in the ultra-something of his sect, confessed to me that he never heard of the Means of Grace until I brought it up. (I was not asked to give the paper because I was heavily invested in Biblical doctrine and rejection of Calvinism, which made Tiefel/Koenig furious.)

Mequon began training pastors to spew hatred on the KJV many decades ago. They excommunicated pastors for not liking the NIV and saying so. 

Nothing attacks inerrancy at the root like the NIV, which proved with the newest awful paraphrase that they can play with anything in the Bible and get away with it. Mirthless Mark Schroeder, the WELS bookkeeper, supposedly hated the New NIV, accepted "all translations" which are not really translations, and now sells the new hymnal which has made the New NIV official.

Listening to the ignorant dismiss the King James Version is painful fun. The exercise is painful because it reminds us how much has been thrown away. It is fun because they reveal a horde of weaknesses in their repeat-after-me dogmatism.

About 50% read the KJV and another 7% the New KJV (which bows to Westcott-Hort, Nestle, Aland, and Fuller faction). 

If the consecrated slugs of WELS-ELS-LCMS-LCMS-ELCA-ELDONUTs despise most the Bible people appreciate the most (KJV), what will happen to their glorious marketing programs? 

They raise their tired eyes, looking for excuses. How are the other denominations doing? Answer - Young Calvinists become old Unitarians. That is the path followed by apostasy. 

 Take the Acts 8:37 challenge here.

Rain and Bulbs - As Good as Planting Followed by Rain

 

I was concerned that we would have drenching rains for five days but relatively few bulbs in the ground to get started. Instead we just a had a good rain followed by the Daffodils I was expecting.

Since we have clay soil, which is great for everything except digging, I am happy to have some softened soil ready for bulbs. Grape Hyacinths of various colors will be the top layer of Daffodil drifts. Grape Hyacinths can cost as little as a dime each. I found one Daffodil bulb for $100 from a specialty company, but I was not moved to buy it. Besides, that was long ago, when $100 bought a lot more than now.

I plan on having more of the specialty Daffodils in the front yard with the traditional ones in the back. Yes, I want to show off the strange permutations, which can include orange highlights, orange cups, multiple cups, very large sizes and so forth. Green Daffodil flowers do not intrigue me, but they are promoted too. 

Everyone feels a bit mopey when winter lingers and the spring is damp, drippy, and cold, with few sunny days. That is when I add a few more rose bushes to replace the lost ones. And I gloat over the bulbs finishing their growth with the flowers already formed and ready to show off. 

Nobody bothers the Little Red Hen gardener when digging holes in the hardened dry clay of a drought-plagued autumn. They shake their heads when the garden gets hours of sprinkling to make the digging possible, keeping the roses alive. 

We had a cloudburst where a neighbor said, "Too bad the rain came down so hard and went right into the street." I said, "Not in my yard. Mulch absorbs the rain and holds it. Deep-rooted plants channel the rain deep into the soil. I even demonstrate this for myself every so often. I pour five gallons of water on a Joe Pye Weed and the water disappears as if it were a drain for Springdale Water and Sanitation. No run off." 

I seldom talk about the vast biosphere in the soil itself - the oceans of life alive from the water and various minerals, doing their work and keeping moisture/minerals/carbon in the root zone. Overdoing the botany lesson is obvious in the glazed eyes of the listener. 

Flowers are a delight, and they are clearly designed by the Creator to bring happiness and introspection to everyone, while carrying out the duties assigned to them.

I do not see freedom of the will as a great conundrum. If God had not given Adam and Eve freedom of the will to disobey Him, we would all be like ants, birds, bacteria, rabbits, and hawks. We would do exactly what the divine software installed in us determined and never question the hours of work, the brevity or narrowness of life.

And because of our fallen nature, we need and have a Savior, the Lord of Creation.

HAL 9000 Graphics - Bethany Broadcast. We Have To Make Some Changes

 

As many know, HAL 9000 is a thinly veiled satire about the IBM 9000 mainframe computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey. HAL is difficult, touchy, and malignant in the film. I took the future Mrs. Jackson to the movie and we enjoyed the slo-mo graphics, the difficult computer, and the music.

I use HAL graphics in teaching and almost everyone knows what I am kidding about.

Now - the main point. IBM took over Ustream and stopped supporting the software we use. That change happened three years ago.

We need our own encoder to use with the IBM tool for distributing the video live.

You may recall that we had some fussing not long along when all the files were gone and then came back again. We straightened out the payments and everything was fine.

The New Lutheran Christina Is at the Final Editor's. Next Will Be the Second Edition of The Bible Book

 

The last week was a daily round of finding more photographs and editing...just one more time. Janie Sullivan has the material now.

 At Kermit and Maria's wedding, 44 years ago, Christina is wearing pink. Some of the first cousins are on the left and right. 

 Sassy wore her Christmas sweater for Christina's first walk after surgery.

Christina (left) and Maria sat for a portrait. In the cedar trunk, less than 1% of the photos are good for publishing. Professional photos last better and print better.

 Nothing is quite as much fun as a personal book. Some recent ones via Lulu Press are  Andrea's Love, Joy, and Faith, one on the Creation Garden, another one on the Meyer family.

 This is the back cover of Lutheran Christina.