Friday, November 5, 2021

Creation Roses - The Gamble

 



Neighbors said, "You are planting roses now?" and "Will they freeze?"

Left unsaid, "Are you crazy?" These are not hybrid tea roses, which are grafted and more easily killed by cold weather. They are Freedom roses from Springhill, my favorite provider, and they only cost $10 each with no shipping fee.



It is the gambling with a purpose fever within me. I like to see how plants turn out, and roses have been a great thrill for many - Queen Elizabeth (the best pink), Veterans Honor (best red, best cut flower), Easy Does It (50 sunset colored and varied blooms at once, becoming long-stemmed besides), Falling in Love (bi-color, fragrant, very thorny).

Each plant wonder is a gamble. Some I never see mature. Others fool me and pop up later with great strength.

I may see Yarrow and Comfrey in my dreams next year. Both are poised to take over swaths of land unless I intervene.



Hymn - And Will the Judge Arise?


"And will the Judge Descend"
by Philip Doddridge, 1702-1751
1941)

Tune - Southwell - linked here

1. And will the Judge descend,
And must the dead arise
And not a single soul escape
His all-discerning eyes?

2. And from His righteous lips
Shall this dread sentence sound
And thro' the num'rous guilty throng
Spread black despair around:

3. "Depart from Me, accursed,
To everlasting flame,
For rebel angels first prepared,
Where mercy never came"?

4. How will my heart endure
The terrors of that Day
When earth and heav'n before His face
Astonished shrink away?

5. But ere that trumpet shakes
The mansions of the dead,
Hark from the Gospel's cheering sound
What joyful tidings spread:

6. Ye sinners, seek His grace
Whose wrath ye cannot bear;
Fly to the shelter of His cross
And find salvation there.

Hymn #610
The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: Matthew 25:41
Author: Philip Doddridge, 1755, ab.
Composer: William Daman, 1579
Tune: "Southwell"
1st Published in: Psalter

 By George Vertue - National Portrait Gallery
Doddrigde wrote "Grace Tis a Charming Sound." 

Hymn - Around the Throne of God



"Around the Throne of God a Band"
by John M. Neale, 1818-1866


1. Around the throne of God a band
Of glorious angels ever stand;
Bright things they see sweet harps they hold,
And on their heads are crowns of gold.

2. Some wait around Him, ready still
To sing His praise and do His will;
And some, when He commands them, go
To guard His servants here below.

3. Lord, give Thy angels every day
Command to guide us on our way
And bid them every evening keep
Their watch around us while we sleep.

4. So shall no wicked thing draw near
To do us harm or cause us fear;
And we shall dwell, when life is past,
With angels round Thy throne at last.

Hymn #256
The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: Psalm 91:11
Author: John M. Neale, 1842, cento
Tune: "Winchester New"
1st Published in: Musikalisches Handbuch"
Town: Hamburg, 1690


Hymn - God Who Madest Earth and Heaven



"God, Who Madest Earth and Heaven"
by Heinrich Albert, 1604-1651
Translated by Catherine Winkworth, 1829-1878


1. God, who madest earth and heaven,
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost;
Who the day and night hast given,
Sun and moon and starry host;
Whose almighty hand sustains
Earth and all that it contains:

2. God, I thank Thee, in Thy keeping
Safely have I slumbered here;
Thou hast guarded me while sleeping
From all danger, pain, and fear;
And the cunning evil Foe
Hath not wrought my overthrow.

3. Let the night of my transgression
With night's darkness pass away.
Jesus, into Thy possession
I resign myself today;
In Thy wounds I find relief
From all sorrow, sin, and grief.

4. Help me as the morn is breaking,
In the spirit to arise,
So from careless sloth awaking,
That, when o'er the aged skies
Shall the Judgment Day appear,
I may see it without fear.

5. Lead me, and forsake me never,
Guide my wanderings by Thy Word;
As Thou hast been, be Thou ever
My Defense, my Refuge, Lord.
Never safe except with Thee,
Thou my faithful Guardian be.

6. O my God, I now commend me
Wholly to Thy mighty hand;
As the powers that Thou dost lend me
Let me use at Thy command.
Lord, my Shield, my Strength divine,
Keep me with Thee,--I am Thine.

Hymn #549
The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: Psalm 7:17
Author: Heinrich Albert, 1644, ab.
Translated by: Catherine Winkworth, 1855, alt.
Titled: "Gott des Himmels und der Erden"
Composer: Heinrich Albert, 1644
Tune: "Gott des Himmels"


Hymn - Beloved It Is Well



"Beloved, 'It Is Well!'"
by George W. Doane, 1799-1859


1. Beloved, "It is well!"
God's ways are always right,
And perfect love is o'er them all
Though far above our sight.

2. Beloved, "It is well!"
Though deep and sore the smart,
The hand that wounds knows how to bind
And heal the broken heart.

3. Beloved, "It is well!"
Though sorrow clouds our way,
'Twill only make the joy more dear
That ushers in the day.

4. Beloved, "It is well!"
The path that Jesus trod,
Though rough and strait and dark it be,
Leads home to heaven and God.

Hymn #519
The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: Romans 11:33
Author: George W. Doane, 1833
Composer: Ralph Harrison, c. 1784
Tune: "Cambridge"


If the New Bible Versions Cannot Agree about Their Greek Text,
How Can They Strut about Their Virtues?
They Contradict Their Earlier Editions, Too!

 Dynamic Equivalence from Eugene Nida replaced the concept of precise translation in the KJV.


 

An important point comes from the various books about text criticism. The so-called modern, "scientific" Greek text of the New Testament does not come from a single source. No, it is patched together by the committees and sub-committees appointed to oversee them. 

The modern translations - paraphrases, to be honest - do not agree at all about how to treat the text they claim to own, copyright, brand, and protect. Even their own editions are at war with each other. For example, the first RSV dropped the ending of Mark's Gospel, after Mark 16:8. Next - after the furor - they brought it back up from the footnote to the chapter with a space between verse 8 ("for they were afraid") and verse 9. Likewise, they turned the Virgin Birth of Isaiah 7:10 into a woman having a child in the first RSV Old Testament. Then they replaced "young woman" with virgin in the next edition and put "or, young woman" in the footnote. That footnote is a shining example of denying the Two Natures in Christ, human and divine, and the truth of the Gospel, Jesus Christ dying for our sins and rising from the dead.

We can make judgments on Bible versions and their deficiencies without being professors of text criticism who know 10 ancient and modern languages. Basic logic shows how empty their claims are - that they take comfort in creating a monopoly over the Bible, getting friendly kisses and hugs from the Church of Rome.

Much of the prejudice of 19th century rationalists taint the explanations of the 21st century experts. For example, the 19th century rationalists reasoned that the simple narratives about the Jesus the Teacher turned into elaborate Gospels and apostolic letters. Therefore, these apostates argued that the simpler Gospel of Mark was the original one, with Matthew and Luke "adding Q to their versions." They have never found that Q document, which has nothing to do with Trump supporters. Nevertheless, modern Biblical scholarship - to stretch the term scholarship - still harkens back to that notion. Many, if not all professors, think Mark was the earliest and crudest Gospel.

If we read the Gospel of Mark straight through, it is clearly stressing the miracles performed by Jesus Christ and at the end, the Passion. Rationalists are allergic to miracles, so that annoys them. They are very sensitive about divine healing and the Virgin Birth, even more about the Resurrection. When I wrote a letter to each ELCA seminary about whether any professor taught the Virgin Birth and the actual Resurrection, only one letter came back  - and that had a maybe on the Resurrection. That was the best they could do. 

If we end the second Gospel at Mark 16:8, there is no Resurrection and no Virgin Birth. According to the modernists, Jesus is a miracle worker because people loved Him and followed Him. Should we bind the wounds or make the road to Jericho safe? (That is the Social Gospel twist on the Good Samaritan, thank you Walter Rauschenbusch, rationalist Baptist.) Every text of the Bible is really a call to arms "to make the world a better place" because "justice demands that we act now!"

The Scriptures do not shape the agenda; the agenda imprisons the Scriptures. 

Testing this notion, we can see that WELS-LCMS-ELS-ELDONA are indifferent about translations and what they really mean. They agree on hating and banning the KJV, but their alternatives show hatred or indifference about Christian doctrine and the actual wording of the Bible.

The old NIV led the way in denying the sacraments and teaching Church Growth (Make disciples!). The new NIV does more of the same and deliberately perverts Romans into teaching that the entire world is forgiven. 

New NIV Romans 3: Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 

KJV Romans 3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

The Fort Whiners are weak on Biblical languages, much like their idol CFW Walther. No wonder Objective Justification and its twin, Universalism, find advocates and comfort there.

So you see, there is nothing in this post that requires years of Biblical languages to see that massive deception of the modern Bibles - all of them under the umbrella of Eugene Nida's Bible associations (ABS, UBS) and his invention of "dynamic equivalence." 

Do you believe the New NIV is the dynamic equivalence of the KJV? Hardly! The New NIV is the opposite, which is just what the rationalists and the Romanists want.

The high church smells and bells Lutheran clergy are ferocious about every little detail in copying Rome, and that includes obedience to their Father Below and veneration of Holy Mother Church.