Invocavit - The First Sunday in Lent

By Norma Boeckler

Invocavit Sunday, The First Sunday in Lent


Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

Bethany Lutheran Church, 10 AM Central Time


The Hymn #148 Lord Jesus Christ 3:61
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual
The Gospel
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn # 146 Lamb of God 3:62


Doing and Believing – The Difference

The Hymn # 153 Stricken Smitten 3:63
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn # 154 Alas and Did My Savior 3:14

KJV 2 Corinthians 6:1 We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. 2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) 3 Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed: 4 But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, 5 In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; 6 By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, 7 By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, 8 By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; 9 As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; 10 As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

KJV Matthew 4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. 3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

First Sunday In Lent
Lord God, heavenly Father, inasmuch as the adversary doth continually afflict us, and as a roaring lion doth walk about, seeking to devour us: We beseech Thee for the sake of the suffering and death of Thy Son, Jesus Christ, to help us by the grace of the Holy Spirit, and to strengthen our hearts by Thy word, that our enemy may not prevail over us, but that we may evermore abide in Thy grace, and be preserved unto everlasting life; through the same, Thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

Doing and Believing – The Difference
The three-fold temptation of Jesus shows Him to be truly man, subject to all our trials, and true God, having the will and power to withstand all temptation without sinning.

Jesus’ trials began immediately after He was baptized by John in the river Jordan.

This is a parallel to the life of the ordinary Christian believer. Our temptations begin after God has planted faith in our hearts. As one person told me, “I was never tempted before I became a Christian. I did whatever I wanted.”

Jesus fasted in the desert and Satan sought to capture Him. As Luther saw so clearly, Satan pursued the Chosen People from the moment God predicted that Someone would arise who would crush Satan’s head (Genesis 3:15). The prophet foretold that this would not happen until a non-Jew was on the throne of David.

By that time, as Luther said, nothing was left of Israel except a stump. It was occupied territory, ruled by pagans, taxed to death, humiliated in every possible way.

The Savior was revealed at the Baptism of Jesus and Satan went to work, returning later at His crucifixion, the final act of Satan’s drama.

First Temptation
During the temptation of Jesus, Satan made three different offers. The first one was to have Jesus prove His divinity by changing stones into bread. During a fast in the desert, every round stone would look tempting. The same temptations are offered today – take care of yourself. Many feel triumphant when they do that. From clergy to well known frauds, there is a great deal of smugness in getting away with it and reminding others of the successful strategies of greed, malice, and trickery.

Jesus responded with the Word,

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

This is a statement which includes a direct reference to Isaiah 55:

KJV Isaiah 55:11 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.

This is a great reminder that the Word, going out from God (since it belongs to Him alone) is our life – we live by it – and the sole cause for accomplishing God’s will.

I see books about Bernie Madoff in the bookstores. For many years, people knew he was crooked. Yet they gathered billions of dollars from investors, promising them impossible investment returns, and lived high and mighty. When the schemes came crashing down, as they had to, the same money men were filled with despair and some gave up their lives. They lived on falsehoods and died in shame, turning stones into bread but realizing at last they were just stones after all.

Every generation has its fraudulent churches, which glory in their material success. Visit any urban area and you will see these monuments, neo-gothic splendors maintained with endowments and almost empty. They have lost their grip of God’s Word and comfort themselves with spending the interest from their funds. A lot of money must be spent to tuck-point the brickwork, clean the curtains, and send the clergy to more conferences.

On an individual basis, many have gone into an easy form of crime to turn their life of want into luxury, only to discover that this led them to the hoosegow. There are always those temporary lulls where all the schemes seem to be working. One coke dealer (and I do not mean soda pop) took every precaution, even to the point of avoiding areas where he could be hurt or arrested. Nevertheless, while sunning himself on the beach, he saw men with sub-machine guns descending from ladders on helicopters, all running toward him at once. They were federal agents who were drawn to his cause by his very success in getting away with it.

Jesus was asked to trust in His own devices, and He had the power to do so. But He quoted God’s Word instead. When we think we can solve our own difficulties, with our own cleverness, we are saying, “I trust in me, but not in God’s Word.”

Second Temptation
In the second temptation, Satan urged Jesus to throw himself from the highest point of the Temple, so that angels would take care of Him, as promised in the Word.

7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

Tempting God has become a major trend among American churches. For instance, I saw this notice in an Episcopalian church and similar ones published all over: “We have prayed that God will increase our membership by 10% per year in the next three years.” There are many variations on that, but they all concern man telling God what to do and when to do it, combined with some sort of deal about what man will do, such as organizing and spending to make this happen. It is a business plan for churches and it has not worked for most of them. The one with the earliest success, Garden Grove (Schuller’s) is floundering and failing, trying to sell off assets to survive. Schuller claimed, “I started the Church Growth Movement.”

On an individual basis, people tempt God by demanding He take action according to their dictates and time schedules. This is also tempting God, putting Him on trial. “I will believe in you if You obey me.” If God obeyed man, He would not be God. Many pagan religions are based upon deals with idols. Feed the idol incense or human sacrifice and he will perform miracles.

Herman Melville, the free-thinker, made fun of this in Moby Dick. These false teachers do not appreciate how much they feed the fires of atheism until they become part of that everlasting furnace themselves. In the name of salvation, they pull others down with themselves.

Third Temptation
Satan took Jesus to the highest mountain, so He could see the vast power He would have if He only bowed down to worship Satan. Jesus responded with the Word:

10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

In one course I teach, we look at Billy Graham versus his partner in the Evangelical Church, Templeton. As I mentioned before, Templeton went from being the most influential minister in Toronto to being an outright atheist. I was interested in Templeton’s version of all this. He was dazzled by the intellectuals at Princeton, and he felt that Christianity had to conform itself to the rationalistic demands of the world. He never got over his anger than Graham failed to go through the same brain-washing.

If Templeton had searched among faithful teachers, he would have realized that rationalism is the final step of Calvinism. Princeton broke with the old ways, so the conservatives marched off. All of Templeton’s questions could have been addressed by the great scholars of the Lutheran Church – Chemntiz, Chytraeus, Luther. Instead he was fed mush and he found it distasteful.

One of the Fuller boys had to have a Princeton degree too – C. Peter Wagner. That did not make him any better either. Lutherans have failed to create their own universities. Instead they have parochial schools and long for the prestige of old, large apostate universities.

The cross individuals must bear is the disapproval of the world, which is always eager to witness to its lack of faith. The fallen-away are the worst of these.

Conclusion from Temptations
There is a crucial difference between Biblical Christianity and Pietism/Romanism/Eastern Orthodox.

Most people follow the wrong path and define Christianity by issues of doing, not believing.

When Evangelicals and Catholics talk, they give this away by describing their lives by what they do.
An Evangelical will talk about not watching TV or the movies, about avoiding the wrong kinds of dress. Christianity is bound up with the act of praying.

A Roman Catholic will speak about Mass, the peak being daily Mass.

So the ultimate criticism of Christianity, people imagine, is “How can you do that if you call yourself a Christian?” Manipulation is easy, “How can you NOT help out if you call yourself a Christian?”

A definition based on doing will always lead to Pietism and then to rationalism, because we should all do good things together, no matter what we believe – they say. Thus the Word of God is obsolete.

In contrast, Jesus’ answers were all directly connected with believing the Word of God.

Christians are not condemned for being sinners, because all of us remain in that state.

Believing in the Word of God means we can fight against temptation with the Word rather than our dubious virtue. We are weak and frail, bound to fall many times over. We may suffer the same temptation for decades and continue to battle it. The Gospel of forgiveness is the only power that can defeat sin, first through justification by faith, secondly with the fruits of the Spirit.

John Bunyan was a perfect example. He was the most obnoxious cursing and blaspheming man in the area. The Gospel tamed him and he became a local wonder, an example of the power of the Word. He immersed himself in Luther and taught the difference between Law and Gospel.

Obedient Slaves No More - New Lutheran Congregations

"Another once-in-a-lifetime giving opportunity? Yes, sir!"

Many new congregations have been formed as they leave ELCA's Lavender Mafia in search of the straight and narrow.

Here are some.

Many have withdrawn from ELCA, their property intact:

Here is a list.

They have taken far too long to wake up to ELCA's agenda, which was clear enough during its formation in 1987.

The "conservative" Lutheran denominations will need to be something other than another version of ELCA if they want to last longer than a metropolitan newspaper.

Missouri, WELS, and the ELS have followed the same business model as ELCA, always a few years behind the cutting edge, thanks to the de facto merger created by Thrivent funding and joint efforts at various levels.

The exodus and new congregations show that people can be fooled for a period of time before they bolt, but they will respond eventually.

The best thing the Boomer clergy can do is retire, so they stop ruining the "conservative" Lutheran groups. But they won't because their greed knows no end. After exploiting all their opportunities to live off synod subsidies, grants, and related foundations, the same clergy want semi-retirement sinecures as well.

The Reformation model is to study and discuss Biblical doctrine and let the Sword of the Spirit do its work. That will not be attempted by those who trust their political skills, their DNA, and the protection of their apostate classmates.

Kelm, Upside Down Theologian - Home for Sale

"Upside-down evangelism follows the path of least resistance to the God of gracious acceptance."
Paul Kelm,
The Evangelism Life Line (WELS), Fall, 1985 p. 5.

"It's just easier for many people to work backwards from the subjective to the objective in their thinking. In fact, upside-down evangelism may start with gospel and work back to law, stating the solution as a prelude to the problem and clarifying both at the cross." [This is Moravian Pietism, as shown by Walther's Law and Gospel.]
Paul Kelm,
The Evangelism Life Line (WELS), Fall, 1985 p. 5.

"Upside-down evangelism doesn't begin with personal sin and guilt, but rather with the consequences of sin. Societal consequences (for which each day's newspaper provides evidence) are the 'perceived need' door to understanding the alienation of life and people from God."
Paul Kelm,
The Evangelism Life Line (WELS), Fall, 1985 p. 5.

"Upside-down evangelism may begin with different diagnostic questions. What do you want out of life? lets the other person pick the path for witness. How do you feel about where our society is heading? uncovers fears and needs without becoming too personal. What makes people happy (or unhappy) do you think? allows someone to express preceived [sic] needs in the third person."
Paul Kelm,
The Evangelism Life Line (WELS), Fall, 1985 p. 5.

"Evangelism upside-down is starting with the subjective issues of perceived reality and working back to God's objective truths of ultimate reality - sin and grace. It's offering the attendant blessings of salvation as the 'hook' to gain an audience for God's plan of salvation." [felt needs used to sell the Gospel]
Paul Kelm,
The Evangelism Life Line (WELS), Fall, 1985 p. 4.

***

GJ - Someone asked recently, "How can WELS avoid ending up like the Episcopal Church?" The answer is in the Word and the Confessions.

To paraphrase Chesterton, it's not that the Word has been tried and found wanting. It has hardly been tried at all.

The only discipline in WELS is upside-down discipline. Confessional Lutherans are punished while apostates are rewarded with cushy jobs.

WELS and LCMS Follow Mainline Trends - Here Is the Result

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA: Diocese in Crisis. Churches to Close. Unpaid Loans to Diocese
Average Sunday Attendance Down 19% since 2003

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
2/13/2010

The Diocese of Northern California is in free fall. Churches are closing unable to pay their basic obligations putting the diocese itself on the brink of a financial crisis as a result.

In a letter to the diocese the Canon for Administration and Finance Bobbi Yeo, writes, "It should not come as a surprise to hear that some churches in the Diocese are struggling to maintain a full-time or even three-quarter time clergy or that some churches are having difficulty paying their basic obligations. In many cases it is loans from the Diocesan Endowment and Memorial Trust, group insurance premiums paid with Diocesan funds on behalf of churches, or Mission Apportionment that is left unpaid.

"Clergy and congregations are making heroic efforts to increase their membership and stewardship. In some instances these efforts have not resulted in the degree of success necessary to maintain sustainability. There are those who feel we are on the brink of a crisis which requires a response from the Office of the Bishop. This is because this is a crisis - not only for the congregation, but for all churches in the Diocese. We are strong when everyone is strong."

Yeo said that Bishop Barry Beisner has requested the formation of a Church Response Work Group made up of concerned Board and Council members along with staff to look at the situation.

"This group consists of folks with expertise in pastoral issues, property issues, law, administration, and finance. When certain markers are identified, such as arrearages in obligations to the Diocese, reductions in the clergy person's work week, or requests for special subsidies, a team will be appointed to make contact with the church and schedule a visit. The intent is to provide a holistic and integrative approach to identify core issues and assist the church in any reasonable way to address these issues effectively."

Yeo said the focus will be on the health of the Diocese as a whole.

"Years of deficit budgets have depleted Diocesan resources to the point where we simply can't continue to subsidize churches which appear unable to sustain themselves. After its latest meeting the group acknowledged that we don't necessarily know how this is going to work."

According to the most recent diocesan figures prepared by the national church, the diocese has 14,008 members, but average Sunday attendance was 5,694 in 2008. It is thought that a more realistic figure for 2010 would be closer to 5,000.

Obama as Teacher

Great Rivalries - Sermons versus Pep Talks

Here is the sermon message.

 Oy!

Rev. and Mrs. Benny Hinn - Where the Shrinkers Are Headed with their Emerging Church Franchise

She is divorcing him? Why? Is he crazier, more obnoxious? Let's check it out.

Do not worry one bit. The synodical officials are keeping an eye on all their missions. The doctrinal boards are working overtime, too.

Ha.

Call List Success

WELS disciplinary process:

1. Out of work missionaries cannot get a call.
2. Shrinkers get two at a time.

Click on this for sound effect.

Why Emerging Sects Do Not Have Lenten Services

Shrove Tuesday Service Tonight - 7 PMish Central

The Crucifixion by Norma Boeckler

Mid-Week Lenten Vespers


Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

Bethany Lutheran Worship, 6 PM Phoenix Time

The Hymn #142 An Wasserfluessen Babylon
The Order of Vespers p. 41
The Psalmody Psalm 1 p. 123
The Lection The Passion History

The Sermon Hymn #347 Jesus meine Freude

The Sermon – The Passover Lamb

The Prayers
The Lord’s Prayer
The Collect for Grace p. 45

The Hymn #554 O Welt, ich muss


The Passion History begins with the preparations Jesus made for the Passover Meal. This shows us the unity of the Old and New Testaments.

That also illustrates the importance of God’s Word in the worship service. Some of us grew up in the Bible Belt, where people were diligent in learning as much of the Bible as possible, and always learning more.

One senior pastor told me that in Canada he barely got 10 people at a Bible study, in the largest Lutheran church in the country. In a similar church in Iowa, he routinely had 200 for the same class.

That seems to be an attitude which crosses denominational lines, because all the churches (except the Catholics) seemed to be like that in the Midwest. One reason it is not true in other parts of the country is the rationalistic, Reformed attitudes toward the Bible. Once it becomes “man’s book about God,” there is no great reason to study. We have enough textbooks already.

But where people want to know as much as possible about the Word of God, the phrases used in the liturgical service and creeds are a constant reminder of the Scriptural Promises. (In the Book of Concord, the Gospel is often interchanged with the phrase “the Promises of God.”)
For instance, when the benediction is said, that is God speaking directly to each person. Therefore, the benediction should be God’s Word, not man’s word.

Man’s word says “God loves you and so do I.” But why put that vague statement in place of the majestic Trinitarian blessing, one Lord three times:

1. The Lord bless you and keep you.
2. The Lord make His face to shine upon you.
3. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.

When people want to fix up the worship service, they take away the historic liturgy, which is 100% God’s Word, and substitute man’s word.

The Medieval Church did that because they could frighten people into good works by threatening Purgatory and Hell, making Purgatory seem like a blessing in comparison. And of course, Purgatory requires even more good works to spring loved ones from that semi-Hell for the semi-saved.

The Reformed Church changed the historic liturgy because Zwingli did not believe in Holy Communion as a Sacrament. He actually had a nightmare before he instituted this change, where an angel spoke to him, “It is the Lord’s Passover.”

Another omen for him was the horde of people who attended the last Holy Communion service before he took it away and made it a symbolic, memorial meal that did not take away sins. Calvin simply continued along the same lines, although he was a better, more elegant writer in undermining God’s Word. However, he also mocked the Sacraments in the same way as Zwingli.

Passover Meal
The Passover Meal unites believers with the Exodus, and the Savior with the spotless lamb sacrificed to set free the People of God.

Therefore, when we read the stories of the Exodus, our own Holy Communion is tied up with those events. If that were not clear enough, Jesus spoke about these elements in the Gospel of John.

The Israelites ate the miraculous manna, the bread from heaven.

Jesus is the Bread from Heaven:

KJV John 6:30 They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work? 31 Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. 32 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. 34 Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. 35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. 36 But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.

Jesus is the water of life:

KJV John 4:13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. 15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. 16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. 17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: 18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. 19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

Jesus is the Lamb:

NKJ Exodus 12:21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. 22 "And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. 23 "For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. 24 "And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever.

KJV John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

KJV Revelation 7:15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. 16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. 17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

That is why Luther emphasized the truth, power, and authority of God’s Word, so that we never take away from it.

As soon as man begins to adulterate the Word to make it appealing (by his standards) he presents man’s word in the guise of God’s Word. This is all the more seductive because the two are blended together and offered in a spirit of making things better for everyone.

Saying that this adulteration is a blessing is Enthusiasm, pure and simple. Anyone who separates the work of the Holy Spirit from the Word is an Enthusiast. Our Confessions condemn Enthusiasm in no uncertain terms.

The opposite of Enthusiasm is faith in God’s Word. More faith is not virtue, it is greater trust. Faith in God’s Word means trusting it 100%, no 80% or 50%.

How To Become a Church Growth Guru in WELS and the ELS

The 19th century Shrinker Henry Ward Beecher
counseled many women at his church
and at their homes.

Here is the link for a most unpleasant story. Parental controls are recommended. The article says, "It's a felony." An Assemblies of God church let this particular felon use its building for "counseling."

WELS said, "We need that kind of guy as a Church Growth consultant!"

WELS said, "He must be returned to the pastorate to prey upon the flock."

The ELS said, "We need him to fund Thoughts of Faith."

And all the clergy and officials fell down before the Golden Calf and said, "Amen!"

Blogs and Websites To Follow Or Ignore

Bailing Water

Extra Nos

Faithful Service - ELCA Dissent

Lutheran Colportage - from Norman Teigen

Lutheran News Gathers Blogs and Websites

Norman Teigen's Original Blog

Rogue Lutheran - Dissenting from the LCMS Shrinkers

Sceleratissimus Lutheranus - The Most Villainous Lutheran. The title given to the great Lutheran theologian Martin Chemnitz by the Roman Catholics after he wrote his masterful work, The Examination of the Council of Trent.

The Finkelsteinery

What Sasse Said

Shifting Blog Gears

This is not Norman Teigen.
Norman thinks it looks like him, too.

I have posted enough to show where WELS and the Little Sect on the Prairie are going. I am going to shift away from current events to concentrate on Lutheran doctrine.

Pastors and laity can easily come to the conclusion that someone is doing their job for them. They can whisper among themselves about the latest scandals and reckon that something will be done, now that everyone knows.

I only see evidence that blood is thicker than doctrine in the old Synodical Conference.

Moreover, the love of money is the root of all evil.

Wealthy people like apostasy and support it lavishly. Witness The CORE blowing through $500,000 during a recession, cloning the worst of the Reformed sects and calling it outreach or transformation.

Consider the Arizona-California-Las Vegas District of WELS, applying absolutely no discipline to their non-WELS congregation, CrossWalk in Phoenix. Quite the contrary is true - Jeff Gunn has taken a place in leadership at Wisconsin Lutheran College, with two of his members. When I pointed that out, WLC stopped identifying the membership of its board by parish. In effect, WELS has rewarded Gunn for avoiding Holy Communion, denying his nominal Lutheran identity, and shunning Lutheran doctrine.

For dessert, WLC has added Paul Calvin Kelm to its staff, in spite of his lifelong devotion to Reformed doctrine. I should say - because of it.

The ELS is no different, clucking its frostbit tongue at the doctrinal shenanigans of WELS, while sporting their own Emerging Pietistic congregation.

The ELS and WELS save their wrath for anyone telling the truth, or even wondering about it. However, they delegate their hothead or pothead children to do their work for them. I don't mind - I consider it an honor. But it does show that they can all get angry, but always for the wrong reason.

In my opinion, all the Doctrinal Pussycats should be fired. But they were elected, and they would be replaced by more felines, who will say anything to get into office and do anything to stay in office. That is what the people want and they will pay dearly for it.

Confession and Liturgy - Sasse on Whoopee Worship

The Missouri Synod treated Herman Sasse like dirt.

Confession & Liturgy

Confession and liturgy belong inseparably together if the church is to be healthy. Liturgy is prayed dogma; dogma is the doctrinal content of the liturgy. The placement of liturgy above dogma, for which one hears calls in the liturgical movements of all confessions with the well-known saying "lex orandi lex credendi"..., has been opposed in the Roman Church by the present Pope Pius XII] in his encyclical "Mediator Dei", in which he points out that one can also turn this saying around and that in all circumstances dogma should be the norm for the liturgy. If that is already known in Rome, how much more should it be known in the church that makes...the right understanding of the Gospel also the criterion for the liturgy.

Sine Nomine

Were there too many collisions with the tackle dummy
or with the pizza parlor?

Extra Nos - On Justification

My research team at Ichabod is ever diligent.

Extra Nos is an interesting blog linked on the left (but not the far Left).

LP has been writing about justification. Click here for the latest.

I appreciate how laymen write about justification. They lack all the filters about:

1. Who will be offended among my relatives?
2. Which professors' toes are being stepped on?
3. Will I still get that coveted committee assignment and mileage allowance?
4. Which of the 10,000 unwritten rules are being violated?

Quinquagesima Sunday

The Lost Sheep, by Norma Boeckler

Qunquagesima Sunday

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

Bethany Lutheran Church, 10 AM Central Time


The Hymn #657 Beautiful Savior 4:24
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual
The Gospel
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn # 364 How Sweet the Name 4:18

Treasure in Heaven

The Hymn # 304 An Awful Mystery 4:6
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #198 He’s Risen 4:60


KJV Joel 2:12 Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: 13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. 14 Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God? 15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: 16 Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. 17 Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God? 18 Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people. 19 Yea, the LORD will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen:

KJV Matthew 6:16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; 18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. 19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Quinquagesima Sunday
Lord God, heavenly Father, who didst manifest Thyself, with the Holy Ghost, in the fullness of grace at the baptism of Thy dear Son, and with Thy voice didst direct us to Him who hath borne our sins, that we might receive grace and the remission of sins: Keep us, we beseech Thee, in the true faith; and inasmuch as we have been baptized in accordance with Thy command, and the example of Thy dear Son, we pray Thee to strengthen our faith by Thy Holy Spirit, and lead us to everlasting life and salvation, through Thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen,

Where Is Our Treasure?

Matthew 6: 19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

The Sermon on the Mount is full of concentrated wisdom from the Savior. Movies about Jesus often have Him delivering this message. In this Gospel lesson alone we have material for two different sermons or two different books.

These three verses speak about treasure. We used to dig in our yard for buried treasure. We dug anywhere we could for buried treasure. We were sure it had to be somewhere. It is part of the plot of Tom Sawyer and every pirate adventure.

Jesus gave us a brief and often-overlooked parable about treasure buried in a field:

KJV Matthew 13:44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.

The origin of buried treasure was the lack of banks. If someone went on a journey or feared an enemy invasion, he buried his treasure in a field or under his home. For that reason, there were always stories of lost gold or suddenly found fortunes.

This passage is also overlooked, or read as if it said, “Lay up for yourselves treasures on earth.”

The reason why so many crimes are committed or false doctrine spread is money.

Crime – the professor who killed three colleagues and wounded others. She shot her brother twice with a shotgun, but her parents’ wealth got the charges dropped, the evidence erased, and an emotional time-bomb sent into academic life.

False doctrine – because it belongs to Satan’s realm, it is blessed by plenty of money. If not, the prosperity coming from the Gospel eventually attracts enough wealth to subvert the Gospel and endow evil. One of the most conservative churches in America became the one of the worst because endowments made it possible – Glide Memorial in San Francisco.

An advantage of seniority is having a perspective. A teaching colleague said to me, “I lost $280,000 from my pension fund, so I will keep teaching.” He was 71. I said, “It’s only money and teaching is fun.”

There have been many bubbles in the past. I once read a history of banking in America. The author loved the Federal Reserve and thought it was the answer to all our problems with bubbles. I read that while the real estate bubble was forming. Throughout history, fortunes have appeared and vanished. Whatever something is worth – that can change overnight. The biggest private estate deal in the world went sour because the Russian mobster who bought the estate ran out of money – and demanded his deposit back. The largest real estate deal in America, apartments in NYC, has become the biggest bust in history.

The definition of treasure is tied to the First Table of the Ten Commandments. If we worship material treasure, that will occupy our hearts and displace the treasure of the Gospel. Material treasure is short-lived. The Gospel treasures are eternal.

I gave away one of my favorite novels, where a dandy from Paris posed at the fireplace, looking down on his country cousins for being so plain and unfashionable. At that moment he was completely without funds, but he did not know it. At the same time, his prospective bride was on her way to becoming one of the richest people in the land, because her father was such a miser and left her everything. And yet the novel begins with the ruin of that entire estate, to show us that all the struggles about money ended up with no one left and the house empty. Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth.

Moby Dick has a hilarious passage where the misery ship owners bargain poor Ishmael down by quoting this passage, which is a pun in the book. A “lay” is a percentage of the cargo. Since whale hunting was like searching for gold, the rewards could be vast for the owners and those having a share or a lay. Ishmael got very little in the hiring contract, but that did not matter since the whale attacked the ship and all hands were lost – except for the narrator. They were debating over something that did not last, that did not even make it to a safe harbor.

Like Ishmael, Newton (author of Amazing Grace) was stranded at sea in a shipwreck, only that cargo allowed him to live. The barrels were so buoyant that they made great life preservers. Newton repented of his evil life, became a minister, and wrote famous hymns.

19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal.

This is a great summary of the transitory nature of wealth. Clothing can be very expensive. We see examples of that on TV, but vermin will destroy anything over time. Even carefully preserved articles of clothing will decay. If something valuable lasts, such as diamonds and gold, thieves steal it.

Luther’s dissertation on money was that it was a weak god. It is so weak that it must be protected with fences, locks, iron safes, and armed guards. Money is such a weak god that it cannot even cure an illness. One of our famous Lutherans, Steve Jobs, is turning into a skeleton as disease robs him of his health. All the money in the world cannot cure that.

20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

We should instead lay up our treasures in heaven, where nothing corrupts and thieves do not steal.

How do we do that?

First of all we place all our trust in the Word of God. The Gospel is repeatedly called a treasure in the Book of Concord, as Jesus clearly teaches in this lesson and the parable in Matthew 13. This treasure is so great that a man sold all he had to obtain the field with the treasure in it.

The comparison is clear. All that we have is less valuable than that place where the Promises of God, the real treasure can be found. The Word is far more precious than all our goods combined.

The Gospel is priceless because its power creates faith and pronounces us innocent, righteous, forgiven, through that faith. It is also priceless because this comes to us because of God’s grace and not because of our own worth.

Most clergy would say they agree with this passage, but they put money before the Gospel in all their decisions. They cannot afford the financial penalty of fighting against error, so they go silent, or worse – go out of their way to curry favor by undermining anyone who would sound the alarm.

The effect of silence or collusion is guaranteed – it hardens the heart. So in the name of the institution the Gospel is lost and the official proclaimers of the Gospel lose themselves in the process.

Shrinkers Out in the Cold

The Shrinkers in WELS and the Little Sect on the Prairie were doing well--for themselves--until the election turned things upside-down.

The Wisconsin Synod is starting to reflect its actual income instead the bubble economy. A recession was once defined by Margaret Thatcher as a time when socialists can no longer spend other people's money. Likewise, the WELS recession is a symptom of wild-hair spending coming to an abrupt halt.

The money spent hired new people at the Love Shack and sent people overseas, creating an artificial shortage of workers, remedied by the economy's body slam. Schwan's foundation took a major hit, with all other foundations. Thrivent was pinched. And there was no money left for Church Growth to steal.

WELS has only three states with significant membership - Wisconsin has half the members. Michigan and Minnesota have roughly 25% each. The rest of the states are marginal in numbers. Obviously, with Michigan hit hard, there is a flat tire on the tricycle.

Some are hopeful that Missouri will turn out the Quiche-niks and elect a new Synod President.

If the Wisconsin Synod and the ELS get serious about doctrine, they will have to address the errors of the last 50 years instead of playing the old Church Growth games. I cannot imagine them admitting to error, but a study of the Confessions may wake them up at last.

Pope John the Malefactor may not remain in office. Most confirmands know more theology than the ELS president, so that may have an effect on his inglorious reign. This is another case of admitting a mistake or pretending to be infallible. The ELS made the mistake in electing a walk-the-plank guy after having George the Everlasting as president. Orvick would please one faction, then another. He kicked out the pastor in Scottsdale and the Shrinker in Florida.

But Moldy got out his scythe, and people remember. Think of Facebook. Get a few friends and pretty soon everyone has 20 mutual friends. The ELS is like that, except the relationships are almost at the 100% level.

Now that things are so bad in the economy, people may be less worried about hanging on to security. If they concentrate on the Word instead of the budget, things will happen.

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wahoo (http://wahoo.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Shrinkers Out in the Cold":

And there was no money left for Church Growth to steal.

How much did Church Growth steal?

***

GJ - It would take a team of forensic CPAs from the FBI to find out. Consider this - WELS went broke after it got a series of enormous gifts from the Schwan Foundation.

Anti-Anti-CG Blogs in Epic Fail Mode

Left-click the picture for visual clarity
and doctrinal confusion.

The anti-anti-Church Growth blogs have stalled out again. The fake blogger probably went back into rehab or violated parole. Tim Felt-needs has returned to his favorite subject, writing about himself. Joe Krohn has one post - boycott Ichabod - and he is a daily communicant.

I am waiting for the Church Growth people to write a positive witness for their peculiar alloy of nominal Lutheran membership and febrile Reformed doctrine. Valleskey tried and failed, producing a worse book than Werning's worst. But Valleskey had Kelm's help, so that explains the leaden quality of his prose and the stubbly quality of his theology.

The anti-anti-CG bloggers simply copy me and rant. I hope that is therapeutic for them.

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brett-meyer (http://brett-meyer.myopenid.com) has left a new comment on your post "Anti-Anti-CG Blogs in Epic Fail Mode":

They're a whiny bunch. I had to laugh out loud at one point when they were discussing whether or not your lack of attention to their posturing was an admission that they were right.

***

GJ - That is especially funny. I do check on them from time to time, to check for exploding heads and new rants. The fake claims it is a horrible lie that WELS has women ministers.

However, the ELS/WELS boards of doctrine met about WELS women staff ministers (Larry Oh's program) consecrating and distributing Holy Communion. The most the timid boards could do was issue a moratorium, a delay, on the practice.

Here is a new riddle - What do you call a book with no spine? This We Believe!

WELS is now in the same position as ELCA was when the larger sect began mincing around about homosexual ordination. It was only a matter of time before the Lavender Mafia got what it wanted, in a flamboyant display of power politics.

Given the lack of confessional integrity in WELS and the ELS, there is no stopping women's ordination. They could not say no to a Fuller program headed by Larry Oh!, so why would they cringe at women's ordination in 2012? They already have women ministers and women acting as ordained pastors.

Getting Straight about Sources

 

One of the lesser lights in blogdom is obviously influenced by his sub-standard training in WELS. He wigs out over the fact that I linked Schmid as a favor to people who might want a compilation of orthodox Lutheran quotations. Schmid was a favorite in WELS and the ALC.

More wigging out - I have said nice things about Deutschlander's book on the theology of the cross.

The Lenski wig out - Every graduate of the Sausage Factory (WLS, Mequon) feels compelled to jump all over Lenski about justification by faith. My intuition was that these graduates have never read Lenski.

I was checking Lenski on Romans 1:17 and that proved me right. He is fairly close to the WELS position, at least in wording, in that passage. Lenski could be very Iowa Synod, in the middle about everything, even though he was Ohio Synod (ALC).

A well trained and ordained Sausage from The Sausage Factory will always start with a rebuke when the Book of Concord is mentioned. "It is only a book!" Or, "It is old fashioned. Nobody reads it." (Nobody he knows!)

But when a doctrinal dispute comes up, the same Sausage will direct the other person to...The Essay File at The Sausage Factory! That is not just the ruled norm of WELS, the norma normata. It is the ruling norm, the norma normans.

Is double-justification correct? Check the essay file.

Is Church Growth cool and wonderful to behold? Check the essay file.

Some of the wise men who have contributed are - Curt Peterson, the WELS pastor who is now publishing as an atheist; Mark Jeske, the WELS DNA pastor who is sinuflecting to Quiche-nik's Missouri; etc. etc. etc.

Most people would remove an atheist's support for Church Growth from contention, but not WELS. Curt wrote the right stuff, and he is a hero, by gum.

Illiterate Lutherans (the Shrinkers) play games with the books cited. They want to say that quoting one author is an endorsement of all he has ever written - not that they would bother reading it.

Walther has many good things to cite, but he was dead wrong about justification, welded to the Pietism which he brought to the New World. Melanchthon was one of the most gifted theologians of all time, but he also had a wobbly character and tried too hard to please everyone, leading to doctrinal confusion.

I like Luther best of all, but he admitted that he emerged slowly from the Medieval Romanism of his past.

That is why we have and esteem the Book of Concord, because the most able theologians of the time (Chemnitz, Chytraeus, Selnecker) gathered together the best confessional works to unify the Lutheran Church. No other denomination is so unified in doctrine and so rooted to the Scriptures and faithful fathers.

We do not have a quia subscription to all of Luther, just the Book of Concord Luther; not to all of Chemnitz, just the Formula of Concord Chemnitz; not to all of Augustine, who planted the seeds of Purgatory, but to those passages cited in the Book of Concord.

WELS and Missouri suffer terribly from their compulsion to defend their founders as infallible. They even deify the next generation, whether August or Franz Pieper. WELS and Missouri are more encased in the mummy-shrouds of infallibility than the papacy.

The results are in - the old Synodical Conference has yet to denounce and repudiate the Church Growth Movement. Instead, they continue to protect and promote the worst of the CG leaders.

That is the payoff for synodical infallibility, and a measure of God's wrath in punishing the Lutherans for their slatternly ways.

PS - I should mention that Joe Krohn enthuses about CG with Church and Change, like his pal Don Patterson, but distances himself from CG, like Don Patterson. However, Joe started the Rock N Roll blog to defend Doebler's Rock N Roll Church.

Joe defends his UOJ position with the dictionary, the 67th book of the Bible.

I Cannot Print the Headline This Information Requires

The ELCA has multiplied the popes.

Lutheran Core - No, not the lazy-bones in A-Town:

A Jan. 19 memo from ELCA Secretary David Swartling to synod bishops and vice presidents suggests that congregations could be disciplined and removed from the ELCA if they do not fully and financially support the churchwide organization.

“If it fails to live up to the commitments contained in the governing documents of this church, the congregation necessarily breaches the partnership relationships that are foundational in this church. It thus jeopardizes its standing on the roster of ELCA congregations,” Swartling states. “A congregation that repudiates its constitutional commitments to this church is subject to discipline.”

Some ELCA officials have said that congregations that choose the recipients of their giving beyond their congregation and have redirected some of their benevolence giving to ministries other than the ELCA churchwide organization are “withholding” financial support that the ELCA is entitled to receive. Congregations determine their budgets and the amounts to be sent for ministry beyond their congregation.

A January “Q & A” being used by several synods says, “Is it permissible for congregations to withhold mission support? No. Withholding mission support is unconstitutional and violates the governing documents of the church.”

The “Q & A” document also insists that a synod bishop is entitled to determine all aspects of a required consultation period between a congregation considering ending its ELCA affiliation and its synod bishop. “The bishop leads and is responsible for all aspects of the consultation. . . . The bishop determines how the consultation will be conducted, who participates, how many meetings or forums are necessary, whether mailings are sent, etc.” It also states that the bishop will involve ELCA lawyers in the process “to ensure legality and good order.”

Some bishops have required extensive consultation processes with congregations considering changing their church affiliation. They have approached the process in an adversarial fashion rather than in a pastoral and consultative manner seeking to help a congregation make the best decision given its realities.

***

GJ - You will have to figure out the headline. ELCA is busy re-certifying the clergy and congregations they mildly punished over being openly homosexual rather than covertly homosexual. They did not punish congregations in the Reconciling in Christ lobby, which advocated no standards at all. They punished the congregations that acted on the principles of the RIC network. To calm the waters of ELCA, the denomination highlighting the most damaging thing they have ever done in a convention.

On the other hand, they are using brass knuckles on the congregations re-directing their money. Hence, the imaginary headline, the difference between kissing and kicking. I dasn't say more.

I am pleased as punch, as VP Hubert Humphrey used to say. ELCA should enforce its actual standards instead of pretending to be nice and Evangelical. WELS and Missouri should take note - this is how to do real discipline.

ELCA's Mark Hanson and The Episcopal Church's Katy Jefferts-Schori should entwine their arms and jump into the lake of brimstone together, taking their denominations with them.

ELCA is still trying to say, "But only a few are leaving." The few leaving are the largest congregations everywhere, encouraged by two former ELCA bishops.

I hope John Brug and John Brenner will grow a pair, of spines, and begin tackling the Reformed doctrine taught with such Enthusiasm at the Sausage Factory. Pietism soon becomes Unitarianism, whether high church (ELCA) or low church (UCC).

It is never to late to trust the Word and study the Confessions.

The Anonymice Have Scattered

Typical Church and Changer - crying baby girl.

I started OpenID and shut down that silly box thing. Identifying the weird letters in the box stopped spam, but it was annoying. OpenID stops spam and scatters the mice. OpenID is the equivalent of turning on the lights and stomping one foot in a prep school kitchen. The vermin head for cover.

I used to get a stream of nasty, abusive comments on a daily basis. Their limited vocabulary, bad spelling, and crippled emotional development pointed to the same few people. They are gone now, those useful idiots who proved to the readers what Church and Change was really like. It is fairly sad when such people can only spell four-letter words correctly.

If someone is unable to express himself in good English, should we kneel at his feet and listen to his stumbling opinions? Funniest of all - these thugs are deeply hurt that I point out their bad spelling with (sic). That seems to be the wooden stake in their flinty hearts.

Why Friday Was Meredith Willson Day

 

My favorite musical is "The Music Man" because it reminds me of my hometown area. I grew up on the border of Illinois and Iowa, and many of my relatives lived in Iowa.

Meredith Willson grew up in Mason City, Iowa, and he created this musical as a tribute to the people he knew. Many characters and names are from Mason City. The song "Lyda Rose" includes the name of his favorite aunt Lyda and his mother (Rose). In the musical, Lyda Rose hailed from Moline.

Willson, played the flute, like me, but much better than I. He joined Sousa's band and played in Toscanini's New York Philharmonic. He was far more than a song writer, composing symphonies and leading orchestras in Hollywood for the music industry. 

Willson's big moment in TV history was a flop, so he had the time to write his first musical, which went through 32 revisions before opening as a smash hit. Robert Preston created the character of Harold Hill, whose real name was Greg, on stage and on film, making any other interpretation seem amateurish.

In small town America, which still exists, people trust each other and help each other out. Recently my car went belly up at a Shell after an earlier jump start and a quick fix at a Goodyear store. A man stopping at the gas station drove us to his house, grabbed his tools, drafted his son, and drove back with us to diagnose and fix the battery. They installed it faster than AutoZone could check me out. He zoomed away in his truck, stopped, jumped out and came back. "Pray for me. I am starting a new business." 

Moline was like that. I developed a flat at midnight, working at Melo Cream. The Shell station across the street was closed and I was a new driver. One customer came out, changed the tire in a few minutes, and was back drinking coffee at the counter. He was uncomfortable about being thanked.

I am having a great time blogging about Moline. I keep looking up websites and pictures, learning more about those memories, hearing from classmates about their similar experiences. 

I remember two Moline girls who were good friends in the flute section in Moline. One is follower on the Moline blog now. The other one lives in...Mason City. They recently got in contact on Facebook.

By coincidence my wife Chris was a librarian in South Bend, and later went to library school in Columbus. I often called her Marian the Librarian. She went to my family reunion in Iowa once, and we laughed about how the musical described them all so well:

Iowa Stubborn

Townspeople:

Oh, there's nothing halfway
About the Iowa way to treat you,
When we treat you
Which we may not do at all.
There's an Iowa kind of special
Chip-on-the-shoulder attitude.
We've never been without.
That we recall.
We can be cold
As our falling thermometers in December
If you ask about our weather in July.
And we're so gosh darn stubborn
We could stand touchin' noses
For a week at a time
And never see eye-to-eye.
But what the heck, you're welcome,
Join us at the picnic.
You can eat your fill
Of all the food you bring yourself.
You really ought to give Iowa a try.
Provided you are contrary,
We can be cold
As our falling thermometer in December
If you ask about our weather in July.
And we're so gosh darn stubborn
We can stand touchin' noses
For a week at a time
And never see eye-to-eye.
But we'll give you our shirt
And a back to go with it
If your crops should happen to die.

Farmer:
So, what the heck, you're welcome,
Glad to have you with us.

Farmer and Wife:
Even though we may not ever mention it again.

Townspeople:
You really ought to give Iowa
Hawkeye Iowa
Dubuque, Des
Moines, Davenport, Marshalltown,
Mason City, Keokuk, Ames,
Clear Lake
Ought to give Iowa a try!

I read some blog and Facebook comments about Moline Memories to my wife the other day. She said wistfully, "You Moliners really stick together."

A Better Facebook Group To Join Than Party in the MLC

Reverence Isn't An Adiaphoron: 

Lutherans Against Liturgical Tomfoolery

 

Clowns should not carry bottled water,
according to Willow Creek liturgical standards.

1. No liturgical karaoke.
2. No coffee during Divine Service
3. No clowns.
4. No text messaging
5. No testimonials.
6. No Pietistic ditties.
7. No rock bands.
8. No "call to worship"
9. No altar calls
10. No praise chicks
11. No Dr. Phil commentary

***

GJ - And people call me harsh?

From Banjo Boy - By and About Meredith Willson

"The showstopper tune from the new musical "Banjo Boy" about the youthful adventures of Meredith Willson (www.banjoboy.net). In 1928, young Meredith Willson (played by Jonathan Sill) is advised by a 20-something Louis Armstrong (played by Derrick Mitchell) about why music is so important in people's lives."

NEW MEREDITH WILLSON BIOGRAPHY

Bill Oates has just published the definitive biography of Meredith Willson, "Meredith Willson: America's Music Man". Released in November of 2005, it is chock full of new stories and insights about Meredith Willson. It's a comprehensive look at Meredith's life as a musician, in radio and in scoring motion pictures, his appearances on TV quiz shows, as well as covering his creation of "The Music Man", "The Unsinkable Molly Brown", "Here's Love" and "1491".

It is available from www.amazon.com, www.bn.com, from www.authorhouse.com and from www.iowabook.com.

Another Meredith Willson Song

The Music Man (Meredith Willson) Wrote This Song

"Meredith Willson (Musical Director for "The Big Show") wrote "May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You" for Tallulah Bankhead to use at the close of her popular Radio Show. She later likened the song to a Hymn, and was always indebted to Meredith Willson for dedicating this song to her. What a charming and loving song for Tallulah Bankhead's radio program, "The Big Show". A shame this song could not be sung today, but how lucky for Tallulah Bankhead to have this personal dedication!"

WELS/ELS-ELCA Differences

Cardinal Walter Kasper, right, was guest preacher at a "Solemn Evening Vespers" service Oct. 1 at St. Luke's Lutheran Church, Park Ridge. Seated, from left, is the Rev. Michael L. Burk, ELCA director for worship, and the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, both of Chicago. ELCA bishops from throughout the United States and Caribbean, ELCA vice presidents and ELCA seminary presidents attended the special event, held in recognition of the fifth anniversary of the signing of the Joint Declaration on Doctrine of Justification in Augsburg, Germany. The Joint Declaration is a significant international theological agreement between Lutherans and Catholics. (Photo by Mike Watson, The Lutheran magazine) 

Archbishop Rembert Weakland: 'I am Gay' - Is he making the Catholic Church look bad?


The 82-year-old retired Catholic Archbishop Rembert Weakland has come out of the closet and announced to the world that he is gay. The former Archbishop was the head of the Milwaukee archdiocese seven years ago and stepped down after an scandal involving another man. In his upcoming memoir, he will express that he is gay. Source

***

ELCA-WELS-ELS Fellowship Differences Explained

GJ - The ELCA has made ecumenism with the Church of Rome a priority, holding joint religious exercises with Roman Catholic leaders and bragging about it.

Wisconsin Lutheran College featured Archbishop Weakland, pictured above, as a speaker at their college, along with some of his priests, and bragged about it, and then provided a cover story to deny it.

The Bethany Lutheran Seminary faculty marched in procession with a former Roman Catholic bishop, holding a religious dedication service where this Roman Catholic was the featured speaker. They bragged about it in the Mankato Free Press and later denied it. [Denouncing was not omitted. ELS Pastor Rolf Preus denounced me for discussing the well publicized facts.]

The Wisconsin Synod and the Little Sect on the Prairie have something called "fellowship principles." That means they posture about fellowship, preen themselves as they look down on ELCA's unionism, and lie about doing the same things as ELCA.

Nota bene: Paul Calvin Kelm will glide into his new job at Wisconsin Lutheran College, protected and promoted as before, even though he has repeatedly demonstrated a heartfelt pleasure and love for false doctrine. Doctrine divides the sheep from the goats. Kelm is sincerely inclined and anxious to advance, that disunity according to his utmost power.

Will the Doctrinal Pussycats of Wisconsin do anything? No. Will Pope John the Malefactor, whose hobnailed boot is ever poised to strike a blow against doctrinal turpitude? No. Will the WELS/ELS boards of doctrine, who could only issue a milquetoast moratorium concerning women consecrating the elements of Holy Communion? No. Will the circuit pastors wield the Sword of the Spirit, the Word? No. Will the pastors and laity, unfettered by the unspoken rules of synod politics? No.

WELS is still determined to scatter and slaughter the flock. But your dollars will make all the difference in reaching the lost with the pure Word of God.

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Norman Teigen has left a new comment on your post "WELS/ELS-ELCA Differences":

Welll, GJ, you've fired a salvo of artillery pieces and I am not entirely sure that I know what the target is. In the military it's called time-on-target. That means that a whole bunch of artillery pieces in various locations are fired sequentially so that all of the shells will arrive at the same time on the same target. The effect is devastating.

I feel like someone who has just experienced such a time-on-target demonstration. I think that the post had something to do with Fellowship but my ears and ringing and my head is spinning and I cant figure out what you had in mind when you wrote.

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brett-meyer (http://brett-meyer.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "WELS/ELS-ELCA Differences":

Pastor Jackson wrote, "Will the Doctrinal Pussycats of Wisconsin do anything? No. Will Pope John the Malefactor, whose hobnailed boot is ever poised to strike a blow against doctrinal turpitude? No. Will the WELS/ELS boards of doctrine, who could only issue a milquetoast moratorium concerning women consecrating the elements of Holy Communion? No. Will the circuit pastors wield the Sword of the Spirit, the Word? No. Will the pastors and laity, unfettered by the unspoken rules of synod politics? No."

A fine piece of tragic poetry. But I can hear the wailing and crying now...wait...what are they saying?...Ah, yes. They are upset because you left out an important, in fact the most important, line: In the end they all had a heart for Christ. And lived happily ever after.

Revelations 18:2-3, "And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies."

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GJ - I will translate for Norman. He mentioned Time on Target, which is tool America used to defeat the Germans in WWII. The Germans would get a counter-attack ready and we would lob so many artillery shells on them that they could not even start.

Many people in leadership positions do not appreciate the increasing level of disgust in their own synods.

The old Synodical Conference partners (LCMS, WELS, ELS) still emphasize their opposition to unionism. That was the start of the LCMS, the awakening of the Wisconsin Synod, and the birth of the ELS.

Put very simply, one does not engage in religious exercises with those of another confession, especially the extreme apostates, represented today by the Roman Catholics and ELCA.

In fact, the Left Foot of Fellowship is reserved only for those who question the infallibility of Holy Mother Synod. The old Synodical Conference partners are bedfellows with Rome, Fuller Creek, and a business called Thrivent. They are not even secretive about it. They brag about it, promote those who share their doctrinal perversions, and knock only those who peak from their rabbit-warrens and say, "Izat right, what we're doing here?"

I could add the micro-mini sects to this list, who are no different.

LCMS Former District VP Indicted for Child Porn

LCMS Pastor and former District VP Andrew Spallek,
Salem Lutheran Church in Black Jack, Missouri,
Where Floyd Luther Stolzenburg used to counsel
young women and wives.


02.10.2010 10:34 am
Former Lutheran pastor admits child porn

By Robert Patrick

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Andrew Spallek, the former pastor of Salem Lutheran Church in Black Jack, pleaded guilty to a federal child pornography possession charge Wednesday and admitted possessing 13 images of children engaged in sex acts.

Spallek, 49, of Florissant, resigned as pastor on Sept. 23, citing “personal reasons.” He was indicted the next day in U.S. District Court in St. Louis on two child porn charges.

He faces roughly three to four years in prison when sentenced in May.

Spallek was snared by an international child pornography investigation after he was identified as a member of an online bulletin board used to share child porn.

Defense lawyer Matt Radefeld said in October that there were no allegations that Spallek produced child porn or was involved in any improprieties with church members or children.

Spallek held various official positions with the Missouri District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, including as a vice president in a term that ended in June, but has not held any positions since that time.

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Published in the Concordia Journal.

Elected District VP.

Family Shield Ministries.

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GJ - Relax, Rev. Spallek. Salem Lutheran Church, LCMS, Black Jack is a regular launching path for clergy careers. Stolzenburg was kicked out of Salem, divorced by his wife, and yet came to Columbus, Ohio to be an expert for WELS in Church Growth, endorsed by DP Mueller, VP Kuske, and the trembling silence of the Michigan District clergy.

Kuske and Schumann gave Stolzenburg glowing references for his new gig at Emmanuel, and he is still there as pastor!

Meanwhile, Stolzenburg worked with ELS Pastors Roger Kovaciny, Jay Webber, and John Shep in building a new church in the Ukraine. Marvin Schwan's foundation matched gifts.
First the Wisconsin Synod and then the ELS gave credibility to a man who should have never been a lay leader, let alone a pastor.

Floyd told people he had "a Scriptural divorce," which may be while Schwan funds subsidized his posturing about world missions. Schwan also had a "Scriptural divorce," even though he divorced his wife to marry his division manager's wife - who also divorced.

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