Saturday, April 30, 2022

Cardinal Fly-By - Early Garden Growth

 





I tried some miracle bird food, which arrived as sunflower seeds and peanuts, plus something else. I poured it onto two bird feeders (garbage barrel lids). The swarmed the food. Later, all of them seemed to be in formation as they flew by the back door.

Cardinals are supposed to be shy birds, but they love their homestead. The male cardinal, according to some sources, will let his mate go first to see if the bath or the food is safe. However, several times I have stepped out of the front or back doors, only to see a Cardinal fly toward me and perch close by. "May I have a few moments with you to share my family's need for fresh food?"

My first Hummingbird of the season hovered around three empty feeders, plus one we no longer hang, then repeated his soul-wrenching flight pattern at each empty feeder and fourth ghost feeder. I filled the three that day.

Instead of a ferocious storm last night, we had a decent rain. I planted in the butterfly garden as the sun was setting. 

We now have Joe Pye Weed growing up quickly, just as the daffodils are finishing their cycle and fading for now. The plants are quite distinctive and robust, predicting their path upward, ready to eliminate weeds by overshadowing them. They would take over the roses, but I can prune them back and let the leaves serve as additional mulch.

Bee Balm is coming up with the Joe Pye, so the bees, butterflies, and Hummingbirds will have hundreds of stations for food. Clethra, the most modest of shrubs, is budding out. 

Young Hostas are known for feeding the rabbits and perhaps the squirrels. The older ones which survive are known for color and for Hummingbird flower spikes, not so attractive except to the Hummingbirds and pollinators. 

The Hostas transplanted last fall are now in the backyard, 

  1. under the green fence of Elderberry bushes and bird-loving shrubs, 
  2. along Mrs. Wright's fence, and 
  3. in the former jungle of weeds far back. 

The Hostas took advantage of winter rains and a bit of snow to burst into mature growth. I have been longing for some blue varieties to show off their color, and they are now in a place where the filtered sunlight shows off their subtle blue and yellow.






Friday, April 29, 2022

Directly Related to the Failing Seminary Syndrome - Keep Track of This Link - Berean Patriot

Berean Patriot reminded me of the Veterans Honor rose.

https://www.bereanpatriot.com/whats-the-best-bible-translation-and-more-importantly-why/

Hello Pastor Greg,

 

Came across this link, and I find it interesting, thought I’d share:

 

What's the Best Bible Translation? And More Importantly, Why? - Berean Patriot

 

Now I don’t know who this guy is nor what his credentials are, but he seems to have done his homework and I can relate to his line of reasoning. He links to other articles of his, on textual criticism and also the Apocrypha.

 

His link is entirely about modern Bible translations, none of which he thinks are usable, except for the NKJV and the NASB95. He has this to say about the ESV:

 

"I actually consider the ESV to be among the most dangerous of all Bible translations.

Not because it’s the worst translation – it’s not – but because it’s subtle, almost sneaky, about being bad. It’s just literal enough and just gender-accurate enough to escape detection as being mistranslated. This is especially bad because all the passages where they intentionally mistranslated God’s words also go undetected. (And there are more besides the half dozen we looked at.) In my opinion, that makes it more dangerous than something obviously mistranslated like the NIV and NLT.  Plus, there’s that word it deleted in 1 Cor 6:9…"

 

I like this kind of talk!

 

Anyway, you may find something of interest in this link.

 

In Christ"


***


GJ - Blog are often a good place to find out information or to get opinions about important topics. I enjoy the comment about ESV, because so many Lutheran pastors tried to show me their superiority by snobbishly telling me, "I can't stand the NIV. I use the ESV.


Lutherans are not even in the picture about defending the apostolic Majority Text.


Wherever Christianity has touched a new area with the Scriptures, the Faith of Jesus has grown and spread. People have risked their lives and died from persecution, spreading the Gospel even more. 


Lutheran seminaries - from ELCA on down to the CLC (sic) - have bailed out of the KJV, ridiculed it at every opportunity, and turned out class after shrinking class of 

unbelievers. The cold cash of St. Marvin Schwan did not build up any seminary, but left the institutions with even more brick and mortar to heat, cool, and repair. Did they not know they were building monuments to an adulterer who bought off his long-suffering wife for $1 million and a Cadillac? Schwan did not make any donations anonymous. Marvin had his name on everything but his place in heaven.


 St. Marvin's mug is mostly scrubbed from the Internet. So is his notorious behavior and the consequences. Ask your Circuit Pastor or District President about the death of his first wife. It has to do with his grinning photo in Forbes. Even the ELS knows.


Link to The King James Version Review on Amazon

 Link to The KJV on Amazon, print and Kindle

Top review from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2022
Gregory L Jackson PhD is a Lutheran theologian, teacher, and pastor. He received a STM degree in Biblical studies from Yale in 1973 and he earned a Master's degree and a PhD in theology at the University of Notre Dame in 1982.

The purpose of the Bible is to instill faith. Faith is the instrument God uses to save us. Doubt is the instrument the devil uses to lead us away from God.

In his previous book on the King James Version (KJV), Dr Jackson demonstrated that the KJV is an inspired and trustworthy translation, and it is the Bible which faithful English-speaking Christians should read. He described how the authentic texts of the Bible were preserved and passed down by faithful men as what we call the Majority Texts, and how they were translated into English by faithful men.

In this book, Dr Jackson demonstrates that “modern” Bible translations (such as the RSV and NIV) are neither inspired nor trustworthy. They are based on defective texts, translated by faithless men.

On page 1, Dr Jackson provides the following quote from the Trinitarian Bible Society regarding the problem with modern translations:

“Today there is an artificially produced conviction resulting from marketing techniques and imposed on the churches from without. This whole modern consensus maintains the Bible publishing industry must now determine the texts of Scripture.

The Church ... has abdicated her role as guardian of the Bible and has turned such responsibility to hirelings who market various, conflicting translations to the confusion and disarray of the Church.”


Dr Jackson provides an overview of the actions of several persons who brought us to this state: Constantine Tischendorf with his 'discovery' of Codices Sinaiticus and Vaticanus which he claimed were the world's oldest and best Bibles, Wescott and Hort with their redacted Greek New Testament which removed references to miracles and the divinity of Jesus, and Eugene Nida with his dynamic-equivalent, paraphrase translations in which essential doctrines are watered-down so as to make them acceptable to Roman Catholics and other apostates.

Dr Jackson also provides an extensive lists of books which the reader may use to make a deep-dive study of the issues behind deficiencies in modern Bible translations. Therefore, one can use this book as an overview of the issues as well as a reference source for further study.

I would recommend this book to someone who wishes to learn about the deficiencies of 'modern' Bible translations and how such defective Bibles have contributed to the apostasy which we see today in mainline denominations.

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