Orion - The Glory of Every Astronomer, Young or Old

 

Light Pillars and Orion over Mohe

Thou Hast Created All Things, And for Thy Pleasure, They Are And Were Created.

KJV Revelation 4:11

Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.

Norma Boeckler

Drummers, Flutes, And Bells - Seniors Play for All Ages

The post-60s people take delight in playing their favorite instruments for all ages, but especially for military veterans and their fans. As the young band director (grammar school) observes, there is a great deal of effort and satisfaction for those people.

They began with military music and the patriotic songs we know best. My skin raised bumps all over, which began and ended the extensive program. 

Goose bumps favor Persing's Own.

The band had many offers songs, but the top was the band of veterans listening to everyone. The veteran I know best has just passed his 99th birthday and remains active, still using his walker alone. 

Our public school system was insistent on singing and instruments. Yes, I was pushed into playing the flute in band and orchestra, drums in the everlasting marching down streets, across football fields and more. 

My wife Christina and I went to one rock concert a block away from the field. That was our last rock concert and almost our last hearing tubes. We wondered how bad the cacophony could be - in the future - and we saw that in the worst way possible.

The beauty of Creation, the fragrances, and so much more is lost today. That is explained in great detail in the Psalms and the Interpreter of St. John's final work.

 

Nostalgia Tour

 

My neighbor from the former dairy farm started me on Clethra. He was proud to see the bushes growing in my backyard. When he saw that I had poison hemlock, he laughed, "Just don't eat it." It was sent away, wrapped up.

This morning I worked over the links on the left column of Ichabod in order to emphasize the positive. Everyone already has access to the denominations, even if they have no access to grace - due to lack of faith in Jesus Christ. Bellowing "grace!" without faith is a carnival cry. 

Most clergy will say, "Not enough people for the upcoming Ascension Day." We have a big solution for a little audience - 1s and zeroes. Almost everything is comprised that way, a bonus of nostalgia. Everyone with the Internet can enjoy the Ascension Day hymns and liturgy, even a sermon. Zoom has its complexities, broadcasting live and storing with YouTube, but even the geezer squad can get it going and solve the problems.

I have nothing new to say about the Big Five Apostates, all bundled in Thrivent Insurance and elderly annuities. Therefore, it is best to spend time about the past, even if the faithful are small in number today.

Yesterday I had the grungy delight of moving a Clethra closer to the bird feeders in the front yard. My new perspective inside let me watch the feeders through the living room window, with Charlie Sue on my lap. Both of us were pleased. She got to watch the birds close up and stuck to me like Velcro.

The task was loosening the extra Clethra around several times, then lying down to cut the roots loose. I had the empty space cleared and that was easy. I poured water from the rain-barrel into the hole and placed the plant for its new adventure, more rainwater added.

KJV Isaiah 55

8 For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord.

9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.

10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:

11 So shall My Word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Those verses alone should smash and scatter the Church Growth follies of Luther-dumb, but the peddlers are immune. They occupy the high places and despise those who visit the sick and dying, teach the Catechism, and study the King James Version.

So what good is the Clethra? Catnip for pollinators! Its flowers are so tiny that the smallest insects hide within them. The fragrance attracts the bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Smaller birds land within the bush for safety and rest. Best of all, human garden visitors will inhale the Cinnabon aroma, many feet away.

Lacking the concept of Creation, the Father-Son-Spirit in Genesis 1, our modern day growth experts have no idea why their mausoleums are crumbling. Christine and I visited the Purpose Driven Babtist Church by chance and listened to the Rev. clown prince (Rick Warren) make people laugh. We also attended the fabulous Willow Creek Community Adultery Church - Bill Hybels. I wondered where the cross was, absent in the "ahem" worship area. Expensive food followed in the swine court. Not good food, but expensive food.

My friend from Dow Chemical came by our house in Midland, to see the supposed Silver Queen corn I was growing from of a deep area of compost. He doubted my story at the same time we were going back behind the garage. "Silver Queen tends to be short." He stopped and looked up at the stalks. All I did was accumulate the power of God's creatures turning organic matter into a hotel for greedy Silver Queen seeds. 

If people do not comprehend Creation, they will not understand the power of God's Word.

Tom Fisher And His Dog Help His Ewe And Her Lamb.Fisher Video #1

 

Dear Pastor Jackson,

Please post this true account of yet another danger threatening my sheep: Difficult Lambing. This occurred on Saturday April 5 at 10:30 AM.

As I drove my 4-wheeler across the pasture I noticed one of my best ewes laboring and heaving to bring a new lamb into this world. Ringo was worried. He kept looking in her direction. Soon I became concerned too. I could see my ewe was having trouble and decided to give her one more hour. An hour went by. My ewe was now in distress, so I gently guided her into a small lambing pen. To my amazement, Ringo instinctively helped me get her into the pen. Suddenly I realized she was giving birth to a huge lamb. One huge hoof was visible so I took a firm hold and began to gently pull harder and harder and harder. Soon another huge hoof appeared so I now had a firm grip on both fronts legs. Soon a huge head appeared and finally a beautiful new ewe lamb was born into this world. She was alive! I was relieved as this huge new lamb began to breath and cough up fluid that had gotten into her lungs. Ringo was whimpering and watching nervously as the new lamb began to struggle to get onto her feet. My ewe began to call to her new lamb so I gently pushed her new lamb in front of her, now teetering on wobbly legs. She began to lick her new lamb clean, murmuring softly and nudging it onto it's feet with her nose. Ringo was now beside himself with worry, whimpering and whining. Soon all was well. My ewe had her huge new lamb nursing at her side. 

Here are some pictures of my ewe and her newly born lamb, with Ringo nervously watching over them. My ewe is just cleaning off her new lamb. Her lamb will be white when she is finished.

God makes us much whiter than this lamb, clothing us in the righteousness of Christ in our Baptism. 

26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Galatians 3:26-27

We are born again by God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost in our Baptism. Here God makes us His children, heirs of eternal life, joint-heirs with Christ His Son, clothed with the righteousness of Christ, and freely given the gift of God the Holy Ghost, without our works.

18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.                Matthew 28:18-20

When we were helpless infants God gave us forgiveness of all sins and eternal life without our works. As helpless infants we had nothing to give to God, but God gave everything to us, even forgiveness of all sin and eternal life.

4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,

5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;

7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:4-7

Christ our Lord told Nicodemus that everyone must be born again to enter into the Kingdom of God. This perplexed Nicodemus, so Jesus told him everyone must be born of water and the Spirit to enter into the Kingdom of God. The waters of our Baptism hold the incorruptible Word of God and God the Holy Ghost to give us God's gifts of forgiveness of sins and eternal life WITHOUT our works.

3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?

5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?

10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?

11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.

12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?

13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. John 3:3-21

Noah's ark is a picture of our Baptism. The waters of the flood lifted the ark above the ground that God cursed. So the waters of our Baptism saves us from our sins by the resurrection of Christ from the dead. 

Verse 21 may be placed into three sentences to help us understand:

1. Baptism saves us by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

2. Baptism is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh. I take this to mean our own works of righteousness.

3. Baptism is the answer of a good conscience toward God. 

18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;

20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

22 Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. 1 Peter 3:18-22

In Christ,

Tom Fisher 

Shocking News! Evolution Lost in the Scopes Monkey Trial!

 

We won!

"In the case Scopes v. State (1925), Scopes was found guilty and fined $100, but, on appeal, the Supreme Court of Tennessee, pointing to a technicality in the issuance of the fine, overturned Scopes’s conviction, while finding the Butler Act constitutional."

Yes, Students Believe in Creation

 

Dr. Jackson, thank you so much for responding! John 1:3 is one of my favorite scriptures. It implies the difference between what begins to exist versus the One who has always existed. In essence, there is one thing that did not come into being or just begin to exist. That is God! 

The Thunderstorm Was Late But Seems To Be Quite Effective

 

 Enchanted Peace is fast growing, fragrant, and about seven feet tall.
They seem to have lasted the fickle Arkansas winter.

Planting roses is always a bit tricky. I have used bare root roses shipped from various companies. They need to be soaked in water - rain water is best - for days or quite a few days. I kept some in water indoors when we had an early harsh cold spell. Digging them in would have bent my shovel and wrecked their new growth. This time I waited for rain and went to a gardening center for potted roses, not to be confused with potted bishops (purple shirt) and suffragen bishops (purple buttons).

They were featuring David Austen roses in full bloom, so I got them, the most beautiful roses I have seen. I already had some Queen of Sweden roses for chapel for Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday chapels. Tuesday and Thursday are seminary lectures. Wednesday is New Testament Greek lessons. All are at 11 AM and they are saved on this link, the latest one on top. The link for all YouTubes is here -

Click here for all previous YouTubes

The link is at the bottom of the masthead area on Ichabod.

Would Greek be left alone since it is shunned by seminaries everywhere? I already see 19 views, which may be curiosity but it is a good start. The new fad is "Summer Greek" which means a superficial start on Greek and splashing in the fountain after a few weeks (Concordia St. Louis). Wartburg Seminary, ELCA, demands $3,000 cash in advance for their summer Greek. When are people going to learn that Greek for pastors is necessary, not a short spell in Purgatory? It also opens up our knowledge of English, which is very close to the Koine Greek of the New Testament.

"The Romans had the drains, but the Greeks had the brains." Ancient Greek Epigram

Future Greek lessons will feature well known New Testament passages in Greek only. That makes it easier to connect the English with the Greek, because we can easily translate the Greek of - for instance - the Beatitudes or the Lord's Prayer or John 3:16. [Note to ELCA - you remember John 3:16, don't you?]

I think we can get reasonably priced Greek NTs from the KJV source - Trinitarian Bible Society.

The Stephanus Greek NT is already on Biblegateway.com - courtesy of the NIV chaps.

Paine NT textbooks can be found used by summer Greek NT students. Just kidding. I used the Paine in 1966, so it is a long liver. I ignore grammar as much as possible, but learning Greek grammar helps our English, don't it?

We Long for Rain and Then Take It for Granted

 

 Photo by Tom Fisher

We had two days where it rained a bit, and that was appreciated. Before that, when Charli Sue ran or dug in the backyard, clouds of dust billowed from the clay soil.

But now we have an evening of severe thunderstorms coming up. Everything is green, rain barrels are overflowing, and few people feel a craving for more rain.

 Nine Clethra shrubs are growing and blooming, the smallest only knee-high.

God's Creation lays out a map for us, what we should expect in the long run. Jesus said, "The sun rises on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just (believers) and on the unjust (non-believers.

KJV Matthew 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

One readers likes to ask if my rain barrels are emptied for the next rain - without being mosquito maternity wards. Lacking rain, the barrels and the soil dry up, and sprinkling is only a little bit effective. Watering shriveled plants is discouraging, especially when we look at the current results.

Is this an herb brought over to America for its many benefits or "just a weed" filling the coffers of Scotts Lawn and Garden?

Be patient. This is all about congregations. The garden gets very discouraging at the end of summer, when few people buy gardening equipment and plants and tenacious weeds find many places to grow and thrive.

Spring brings a new look, especially when snow melt and sunlight prompt a revelation. The half-dead, feeble, dying plants show themselves as eager, growing, budding - elbowing and overshadowing the weeds. The roots work all winter and the bulbs popping up in the early spring add to the color and charm.

Discouraged gardeners mutter about all their problems. They openly suggest replacing the gardens with green-tinted concrete. That is the problem. Dis-couraged means lacking courage and faith. If the whole world responded with such pessimism, we would be eating frozen food made from algae. Mmmmm-yuk.

Joe Pye Weed is medicinal, attracts butterflies and bees. It improves the soil's nutrition and water storage.

God's Creation is full of surprises. Roots provide 75% of the organic matter added to the soil, much appreciated by the earthworms and an army of soil creatures, including moles, ants, beetles, larvae. Deep roots provide channels for rain and underground storage. Seven foot Joe Pye Weed is the trust fund for water and nutrition, farming the water supply and organic matter, giving and taking. Shrubs like Clethra (Cinnabon or Sweet Spice) need water and send roots down for aeration and storage, rewarding the soil creatures with mulch and leaf litter.

The congregational parallel is impossible to miss. There are two major church themes - essential and yet almost entirely neglected by Fuller dolts, synod officials, and rationalists: 

1. The efficacy of the Word and 
2. Faith in Jesus Christ.

Word of God - Effective

The Word of God is just as effective as the rain and snow - it never returns void, it accomplishes God's will, and it prospers God's will.

The Word of God is active and energetic in all its forms, because the Holy Spirit never works apart from it. The Word never lacks the Spirit, and the Spirit is never divided from the Word.

That means a church should emphasize the Scriptures in their best form (King James Version) and trust in their power. 

Faith in Jesus Christ, The Son of God, Savior

Pursuing the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in John's Gospel, I was struck by the practical advice given but clearly ignored by the soi-disant Lutherans. The work of the Holy Spirit is to teach sin - "because they do not believe in Me."

1. There are your Fuller DMins (pronounced Demons).
2. There are your phony success stories.
3. There are your millions of dollars wasted on carnival style snake-oil salesmen.
4. There are your dumb and lazy clergy who labor in the carnivals and bars, neglecting the vineyards.

Guess what? The Evil Four Bibles plus Beck deny these two elements - efficacy and faith in Jesus Christ. They have erased and distorted the eloquent and simple divine Word in favor of their own philosophies, dogmatics (yay the adulterous Barth and Tillich), and deism (no Trinity).

Faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begins when the Gospel Word is planted in our hearts. The Spirit dwells in us and keeps us within the flock, listening to faithful shepherds and following them to the green pastures of the Faith and the quiet waters of forgiveness through faith in Him.

Gardens are peaceful and beautiful in whatever form they take.

 Photo by Tom Fisher

Nix Wintry Mix

 Friendship Sunday in WELS. Visitors are asked, "Were you born in Wisconsin?" 

The purple ice clouds are scudding across the radar maps today, going straight over us, with wintry mix to follow for the 10 days. 

I was so pleased with green in the garden on New Year's Day, but a procrastinating winter is common here. The month of January has been mostly pleasant.

I dished out the corn and sunflower mix before the bad weather hit, so we had the full display of birds and squirrels early. They knew! They were out in force at 9 AM this morning.

When company is coming, I get the bird food out for entertainment. The kitchen windows overlook the barrels which serve as feeders, easily filled, shaped to drain excess moisture. A few peanuts in the shell are in the mix, so blue jays will grab one, hold it up, showing off, and fly to a safe place to get the peanuts out.

I like having a lot of wintry bushes serving as shelter and perches for the birds. The tiniest birds love fragile branches which support them but dump predators. Finches and chickadees will rest safely on them while enjoying some food.

I often wonder why people look at all the relationships in Creation and imagine everything evolved perfectively so every living thing could serve as food and as eaters. Meanwhile, the politicians, most of them with law degrees, cannot get anything right.

Nutritional Change Simplified

 

I read Joel Fuhrman books almost every day. There is a lot to learn, so I have listed some simple lessons for simple people like me. Everything is related to God's Creation (John 1:3).

Greens

God made the cheapest and lowest calories for the poor and the healthy. They lose none of their nutrition values, whether cooked or not:

1. Spinach
2. Kale
3. Turnip greens
4. Collards

They are filling and yet in the chopped form hardly get noticed in a vegetable dish.

Rainbow Vegetables

Colorful vegetables have almost no calories, lots of nutrition, and are also inexpensive. The colorful vegetables are quite tasty and low in calories. A variety of vegetables will give the eater a wide variety of nutrition and taste. Potatoes (starchy) and corn (high glycemic) are relatively fattening.

Beans

Garbanzo (chickpeas) and other kinds of beans are high in protein, fibrous like other vegetables and very satisfying.

Fruits and Nuts

Fresh fruits are the best possible replacement for dessert. We have to learn that the sugar foods and medicines and liquors are a massive part of every grocery store - and that includes sugar-free and "low-sugar" concoctions. Walnuts and almonds remove bad cholesterol.

Rain and Snow Predicted for Today

 

Last night we had a heavy rain and a bit of hail. Today we have rain and snow predicted. My computer has an icon for weather, so I saw it claiming "temp plummeting" when that only meant a few degrees colder.

This kind of weather is my hardest working time for the garden - not that I lift a finger. I look out the window or sit on the porch to watch the garden green up. I know that hundreds of hundreds of bulbs will bloom in the near future. They extended their roots soon after planting in the fall. Now they have reached up to burst into bloom when the bulbs, more reliable than the meteorologist, sense it is time to flower.

Daffodils and grape hyacinths flourish and bloom a long time, increasing their numbers a little bit each year. The bulb catalogs for 2024 arrive with the advent of the blooms. They know many of us are too weak to resist buying just a few more bulbs for the next spring - to remind us of the currently blooming flowers. The murmuring breezes say, "Don't you want your neighbors to fall over in a faint, enjoying more of the colorful, exotic, bizarre, and graceful bulbs?"

One member said about our congregation, "Just a few here and there." I responded, "It only takes one here and there, over time. And we have no way of knowing." One printed, full-color book was recently delivered to an individual 9,000 miles away. Others travel over the Internet, thanks to ones and zeroes, PDFs that mimic an entire book yet arrive for free. There is no way to measure them.

 Matthias Loy is now easily accessed at the Lutheran Library Publishing Ministry.

Alec Satin has put together over 300 books online with more than 70 of them in print form - and low in cost for the print versions. Many of them are rare, fragile, and very difficult to find. A good way to start is at lutheranlibrary.org. 

That site with no ads outranks the LCMS version, with their small collection costing $300. Oh my! The LCMS has created a free site for various books and essays. Their "ultimate package" of printed books is valued at $539! - for nine books!

Readers have told me that they never heard of the efficacy of the Word of God until they began reading materials from this blog. If the leaders would learn and teach Isaiah 55, and make it a priority, they could flourish. 

 Luther always taught the efficacy of the Word and cited God's Creation by the Word, so why do Luther-ans (sic) ignore Biblical efficacy and Creation?