Saturday, November 13, 2021

Vimeo Should Be Fine - Live - Tomorrow at 10 AM Central Standard

 

 This is my photo for Vimeo.

I will start the service early and talk about books so people know it is up and running. And I will begin the worship service promptly at 10 AM Central Standard. If my robe is one, it is LIVE.

To distinguish myself from the other Pastor Jacksons, I am listed as Pastor Gregory L. Jackson, PhD, and my page link is embedded here. We are linked in Facebook and LinkedIn.

Waldensians - The Reformation Before the Reformation





Jean Paul Perrin wrote the following at the start of his book on the Waldenses and the other Christians of the Alps. The words should comfort us today as we have all experienced the gap between the established denominations and the true Church of the living God.

God bless you all tomorrow and always.
Alec

“God hath never left himself without witness; but from time to time he raises up instruments to publish his grace, enriching them with gifts necessary for the edification of his Church, giving them his Spirit for their guide, and his truth for their rule; whereby they may distinguish the Church begun in Abel, from that which commenced in Cain. He also teaches them to define the Church by faith, and faith by the Holy Scripture. In the midst of the most grievous persecution, he strengthens them, making them to know that the Cross is profitable, even when the faithful by means thereof exchange earth for heaven; for the children of God are not left, when massacred or burned by an unrighteous judgment, since “in the blood of the Martyrs we find the seed of the Church.”

— Jean Paul Perrin. History of the Ancient Christians Inhabiting the Valley of the Alps. The Waldenses, The Albigenses, and The Vaudois. 2021/1847. Lutheran Library.


 Waldensians burned alive by the papacy and its allies.

Response from a reader about The Bible Book:
The KJV Reborn for Those Who Love the Word of God.

 


Dear Pastor Greg,

I just wanted to take the time to congratulate you on informing the world of the outstanding accuracy/dependability of the KJV translation. You have done what this journalist used to dream of. I know I'm not telling you anything but you really have the story of all time since it is important to the salvation journey of all. What a wondrous work the Lord has done through you. You’ve investigated and specified credible reasons for the total lack of credibility of certain “biblical experts” and the obvious harm they have done. I would be glad for any recommendations you may have on studying Greek and Hebrew

I now understand why I quickly got Pastor Carlton Reimer's (Zion LCMS Stillwater) attention several years ago while serving as a Sunday school assistant. I had just begun sharing a few of the differences (NIV/KJV) you listed in "Thy Strong Word" with the college-aged Sunday school class and got cut off for a conversation to be held later. He strongly recommended I not bring that subject up again. 

When and if it's convenient, I would appreciate any thoughts you may have on Jaroslav Pelikan. I had so hoped that he would have written something about his conversion to “Orthodoxy” before he died, though I doubt it would have been worthy of his former work. He especially spoke to me in “The Riddle of Roman Catholicism.”  As for other theologians, I found Richard McBrien deceptive and nuanced to the hilt. Sometimes it would seem as if he had never read the RC catechism. 

 --Jim Mitchell

***

GJ - McBrien was a liberal like most of the Roman Catholic professors at Notre Dame and its seminary. He was not that different from the mainstream Protestants and liberal Lutherans, which was a clever way to get those clergy to pope (joint Rome) or semi-pope (joint Eastern Orthodoxy). I think he was the one who asked a question from Psychology Today and apologized for using a question from that magazine, when I took the oral exam in the PhD program. Nuanced? He was a clever apostate.

Jaroslav Pelikan was a professor I saw every Sunday at Bethesda (LCA) in New Haven. He did not fit in with the LCMS or the LCA as it unraveled into what we see today. I also met his father and brother in Cleveland. 

Thank you for the kind words. I am working on the larger and more detailed second edition of The Bible Book: The KJV Reborn for Those Who Love the Word of God. This time I will take no prisoners and show no mercy for what the modernists have done to the Bible.

 Jaroslav Pelikan earned a PhD at the U. of Chicago while completing his MDiv at Concordia, St. Louis.

PS - Greek is not difficult to study. I have a series of lessons on how to learn Greek through John's Gospel. NT Greek is easy, English with funny looking letters. Frats and sororities have an automatic advantage.

I suggest Hebrew through a tutor or class. It is not as difficult as people fear, but it is quite different. Learning some will open up the Old Testament for anyone.

Thank You for the Book Reviews


Amazon directed me to Author Central, where I could read the book reviews. I was touched by the number and variety. Thank you. They are very encouraging.

More is brewing with the second edition of The Bible Book - "More pages. Fewer typos!" Yesterday I was editing and improving when I ran into an imaginary writer's block. The block was real but the facts were an illusion. I drank some pour-over coffee (Costa Rican) and set up a new place on the hard drive for a series of edits. (Never use the extension - final - because it never is.) I number them, then change by adding norma, then the almost final janie, because Norma A. Boeckler provides the beautiful art and Janie puts the final edit through. There can be 30 versions as I go along because I had an early Luther's Sermons volume that became corrupted at the end of the process. I had 350 pages gone forever, until I remembered sending it, without art, via DropBox. I retrieved that and put the art back in.

I could do the last steps for publishing, but I would only be finishing on my second book now. Frustrated perfectionists never finish  writing and they often never start. Besides, Janie is exceptionally good and I could never match her speed and perfection. Norma Boeckler's art speaks for itself, and we all love it.

In order:
  1. The second edition of The Bible Book: The KJV Reborn for Those Who Love the Word of God. New Year's.
  2. The I AM Sermons of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel, early 2022.
  3. Another Biblical book. 

 


Sassy got snarly about needing to go outside, so I obliged her. She came back in, had breakfast, and fell asleep. We had a freeze last night, so the house feels like a walk-in freezer at Tyson's. She decided the bed-warmer was better than the carpeting for her beauty rest.

The Lutheran Librarian says, "Our pets teach us the games they want to play." So true. Someone was chiding me about "still helping Sassy up on the bed." No, that is a game she invented when the legs were still on the bed. She could easily jump up on the bed but she liked to make a game of it, sitting there and smiling at me. Making the jump got harder and I did cheers to get her running up to the bed and jumping. That was so much fun that one day she made 10 attempts in a row. I sat on the bed and petted her. (That is the old part of her game.) She wanted pre-jump petting after that.

We took the legs off to make it easier for Sassy. She continued the tickle jump game. I had to nudge her with my foot to make an attempt. She snarled and barked at the offending foot and made the jump. I cheered and she barked triumphantly, "Bark. Bark. Bark. Bark. Bark. Bark." Her six-fold bark means she is really proud of herself.

I had to do this while on the phone. "Are you still spoiling her, even though the legs are off the bed?" I had to explain, "She loves the game, so I have to go along with it."

Likewise, Sassy was craving attention when I was on the phone with the Lutheran Librarian. I explained my extra duties while talking, and he said, "My cat is in my arms demanding attention, too. I understand."

 Sassy amazed people with her ability to follow directions at the dog park. The more they cheered her ball chasing and catching, placing it gently in my hand, the more crowd cheers she earned. She is more sedate now and more likely to give orders than obey them.