Thursday, November 3, 2022

Apostolic Succession - What ELDONA Does Not Have - It Should Be
- The EL-DON'T-YA Have Sect

 All you need is an endowment for robes and incense.


 Not every Roman Catholic parish is an example of high church worship. 
 

Amidst all these varying and opposing lists, this contradiction and confusion worse confounded, how utterly baseless must be those pretensions, whether made by the papists of Rome, or the semi-papists of Oxford, which are founded upon a supposed ascertained, and unbroken descent from the apostles? 

The arguments to sustain them are lighter than air. Hence we are not surprised to hear that bright luminary of the British establishment, Archbishop Whately, declare his solemn conviction, that “There is not a minister in all Christendom, who is able to trace up, with any approach to certainty, his own spiritual pedigree. The ultimate consequence must be,” remarks the same excellent prelate, “that anyone who sincerely believes that his claim to the benefits of the gospel covenant depends on his own minister’s claim to the supposed sacramental virtue of true ordination, and this again on apostolical succession, must be involved, in proportion as he reads, and inquires, and reflects, and reasons on the subject, in the most distressing doubt and perplexity. 

It is no wonder, therefore, that the advocates of this theory studiously disparage reasoning, deprecate all exercise of the mind in reflection, decry appeals to evidence, and lament that even the power of reading should be imparted to the people. It is not without cause that they dread and lament ‘an age of too much light,’ and wish to involve religion in a ‘solemn and awful gloom.’ It is not without cause that, having removed the Christian’s confidence from a rock, to base it on sand, they forbid all prying curiosity to examine their foundation.” 

(Whately on the Kingdom of Christ, Essay ii. § 30.)



***

GJ - Lord Jim Heiser does not have the Apostolic Succession. His minions are copies of him, just as he copied Bishop DeJaynes in the office of fakery.

Doubtless it has bothered the faux-bishop Heiser that I was ordained by an Augustana Synod pastor - and later bishop - who was ordained by a Swedish prelate. The Augustana Synod was high church and enjoyed a continuing relationship with the Church of Sweden. Therefore, they are part of the Apostolic Succession. 

Members kid me about the prohibitive cost of a fish-hat and the massive price-tags of Almy costumes. 

The true apostolic succession rests on faithfulness to the Word of God, which the ELDONUTs continue to reject. They were fanatical in favor of Objective Justification, as Heiser was. Now they accept his imitation of papal infallibility: he is the ultimate authority. False doctrine never improves itself and usually scrapes the bottom of the dogma pile soon enough.

Wikipedia says that some of DeJaynes' followers joined up with Eastern Orthodoxy. Heiser began the bishop game with DeJaynes. CFW Walther was wanted for the felony kidnapping of his niece and nephew and signed the document making Martin Stephan his bishop. As my friend says, "A bishop and a pope stepped off the boat in America."

Autumn Is Upon Us

 

 Grape hyacinths are easy to plant and enjoy a sweet fragrance. They multiply over time and come in blue, blue/white, white, and pink.

Tomorrow promises 100% rain, once started. The leaves are coming down quickly, and the serious cold will start on November 11th.

The bulbs are planted, with a few daffodils hiding in one of many cardboard boxes. My favorite way of finding things is not looking for them. Then they show up in surprising and mysterious places.

The new grape hyacinths just sent their leaves above ground. Every bulb starts its roots, once planted. The greens will feed the hidden flower, but I doubt the flower will show up before spring. 

My next trick is remembering where all the bulbs have been buried. It is easy to say, "But they will be blooming all over the gardens. Take notes, make a map, photograph them." 

Creation does not allow all bulbs to have the benefits of the others. Because we have such early and late warmth, the hardy (or autumn) bulbs do not fare well - except for daffodils and grape hyacinths. I have tried tulips and other beautiful bulbs, but they come up looking sick and not very hardy.

On the other hand, I can keep cannas and glads in the ground and not dig them up. They are tender or spring bulbs, but they will stay in the ground over winter and come back again.

 I have seen spectacular cannas in the neighborhood. Their roots spread and tolerate our cool weather.