Colder Than One Can Imagine

 

The brutal cold is sweeping across Minnesota. Several more days will be rough. I hesitate to say how much and when. If possible, I will have sound/video to repeat from the past. 

We are making progress toward the new residence.

All Time Record on Ichabod - For Total Words Used

 

All Time13,500,056in words

Today84

Yesterday1776

This Month32,325

The $71-a-ticket megachurch Christmas show tearing Dallas apart… and the furious fans saying ‘Jesus would be flipping tables’
UK Daily Mail ^ | 12/11/2025 | MARYANN MARTINEZ

The Meaning of Christmas?

 

The $71-a-ticket megachurch Christmas show tearing Dallas apart… and the furious fans saying ‘Jesus would be flipping tables’
UK Daily Mail ^ | 12/11/2025 | MARYANN MARTINEZ

The cast includes 8 sheep, 3 camels, 3 peacocks, 2 donkeys, 2 zebras, 2 alpacas, and 1 horse. The animals come from Hedrick Exotic Animal Farm in Kansas which also provides animals to the Texas State Fair.

Talking about Foods

 

SAD is the acronym created by Dr. Joel Fuhrman - the Standard American Diet:

SAD is long on -

1. Fats, 
2. Salt, 
3. Sweeteners, juices, and 
4. High blood sugar carbohydrates (corn, popcorn, white rice, white flour, Wonderbread (I wonder if is bread).

The processed food we buy at McDonalds is very expensive and loaded with all the wrong ingredients, including orange juice (orange flavored syrup, no fiber).

The Chubby Chunky Industry - two components - has an ideal place in our budgets. Our SAD is super expensive for what it pretends to be, such as spending dollars for pennies worth of colas, burgers, and fries. And SAD is very harmful to our health at the same time. Most SAD solutions are expensive.

The Chubby side is exemplified by the enormous aisles at Walmart 

• for sweets, 
• for soda pop, and 
• for snacks. 

At the largest WM in Arkansas, second largest in America, each category above has one side of an entire aisle devoted to that product, plus impulse displays as the laden shopping carts are pushed toward the do-it-yourself cashier.

Being overweight has become the American norm, and that brings us to the Chunky department. The medicine, food, and fad industries endeavor to keep us obese and craving for even more destructive habits. 

First, let us name some obvious outcomes of all that fat - or as the Chubby businesses say - all that wasted money:

• Obesity often causes high blood sugar...diabetes.
• Obesity drives up blood pressure, which leads to cardio-vascular problems, heart-attacks, and stroke.
• Obesity starves the body and brain of good food while substituting bad food for the good.
• Obesity leads to overlapping medical disorders because one thing like diabetes will also cause many other problems, including the need to amputate.
• Obesity drives people to try various useless, expensive, and dangerous fads to reduce weight. Doctors cluck their tongues in pity and offer all kinds of expensive prescription medicine that can be even more dicey than insulin.

Creation-Based Health Ideas - Or, As My Parents Used To Say - "Eat Your Vegetables! Do you know what is wrong with you kids? You are spoiled. SPOILED ROTTEN!"

Dad never saw the irony in his speeches about eating good food.

I was brought to repentance by the combination of overweight, high blood pressure, and high blood sugar. I also had low energy from low potassium thanks to too many colas used to promote energy. 

I found an unread copy of Eat To Live! by Joel Fuhrman in my own library. 

First, I began eliminating bad habits - like ice cream twice a day. One reader observed that our deep freezer was devoted to ice cream treats of many varieties. I also dropped desserts in general.

I knew I could drop 10 pounds easily that way, but I needed to do more than repeat failures of the past. 

I had to flip my habits from 100% SAD to 95% beans, greens, fruits, and nuts. That took my weight down another 25 pounds. I faced food cravings by daily weighing. I lost weight steadily with raw spinach and chickpeas, plus many different vegetables. If I indulged in a craving, I could see my weight go up in the next day or two.

The number one weapon against craving is spinach by the bowl. If I have one or two large bowls of raw spinach, the craving goes away a long time and I am not stuffed, quite unlike a SAD binge. I thought I hated all that spinach; I hated the dressings instead. There are good dressings that are not blobs of fat, but I simply like spinach alone. No, I will not say lettuce alone is Honeymoon Salad.

Almonds and walnuts are also good to blunt craving. They are a daily requirement for nutrition and low cholesterol. 

I enjoy four fruits a day, trying out new ones I previously ignored - two apples at least, pears, cherries, peaches, oranges, blueberries. Yes, I swapped apple pie ala mode for apples.

My main food for the day is a quart of frozen vegetables, warmed up on the gas stove:

1. Chickpeas or other beans, like red or lima.
2. Frozen, chopped collard greens or kale. Mustard and other greens are also good.
3. Frozen peas because I always enjoyed them.
4. Frozen chopped onions, green and red peppers.
5. Tomato paste or low-salt tomato sauce.
6. Sometimes broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms.

All these ingredients are incredibly low-cost. Remember the Roman Emperor who bonked his head on the pillar and moaned, "Varus - Give me back my legions" ? That is how I feel about the money previously not spent on vegetables, greens, nuts, and fruit.

Some good side-effects of vegetables I did not expect:

• My doctor was shocked that walnuts dropped my bad cholesterol to zero, but he showed me the blood sugar was up with ice cream. He scared me with that A1C level, so I went full-Fuhrman and brought down BP and blood sugar.
• I previously accepted painful arthritic hands, but now that sharp pain is 90% gone and no trouble.
• I dropped a BP medicine once it was in a good range.
• I saw that antihistamines were still driving up my blood pressure, so I dropped Benadryl and Claritin, resulting in normal BP, very good sleep, and no allergic symptoms in ragweed season. Marketing tip - "Drop your allergic medicine and decrease BP and allergic symptoms!" That won't fly.

At the risk of offending the medical industry and the non-licensed food fad industries, I have to conclude -

God created many dozens of medicines through plants, herbs, fruits, and nuts. The variety of cures is simply astonishing and low in cost. 

The medical industry addresses symptoms of eating badly, but they skip over the most basic and least expensive way to cure many problems. Christina went to one cardiologist who weighed 400 pounds. I said, "How can he treat patients with a good conscience?" I told the desk clerk it was a bad idea to ask people there, "Are you ready to check out?"

  The doctor agreed that ice cream is a great tranquilizer. However...

The Necessity of Kindness without Equality

 

My favorite Luther story (from R. Bainton) is the neighbors laughing at Luther because he was washing his children's diapers outdoors. He responded, "You may laugh, but the angels look at me and bless me." 

There are so many ways to get irritated, and so many to delight.

The neighbors, mother and girls, decided to write out cards - in great detail - about their love of roses during the season, with artwork included. I did not know how much that meant to them because they were always near to take a vase and exchange more fresh flowers. I should have remembered, because women and girls easily respond to flowers. Later I saw how much that meant to them - in great detail.

The equivalent is having students (online and the old-fashioned) who take the time to say a class was very much worthwhile. Members and friends are like that, too.

Quoting Luther in another post, we should be looking out for those we are inclined to stink-eye or ignore. We can improve matters on our part, but stink-eye and ignoring will never build upon trust, humor, misunderstanding, and many more ways to improve rather than disapprove.

I have had odd experiences on the cul-de-sac. One person did not respond to roses for a long time, then waved in a friendly way. After that, there were more friendly gestures.

One tough veteran said, "I don't need roses." I said, "They are for your sainted mother, not you." He took that well. Some people need a lot of softening before something worthwhile happens. There is so much opportunity and not enough time. It is better to overcome the barrier and create some cheerfulness.

 Christina loved seeing a paraplegic and listening to him through his special computer. She was always reaching out to people will special needs.

 

Ruminating with a Friend

 

Norma Boeckler gallery - as imagined by a non-artist.

I was talking with a friend about the collapse of congregations, which are greater than anyone imagines. The first ones to go are the glory churches headed by by vain-glory ministers always selling their product, not the Gospel. 

I once looked up the early Hour of Power (which countered the Hour of Glower). The almost famous man looked and sounded fairly normal at first. His extreme gestures grew until it was it was more of a clown act, or maybe a sandcastle near the seashore, aching to dissolve. And it did.

Few seem shocked today that the Hour of Power eventually became the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange.

The glory pastors - now retired - are too many to count, but a surprising are still rising up to make themselves known again. The real issues are more like this:

1. Denominations and synods are doubly harmful in making sure sonny boy will be at the top - or equally - someone who will be driven away for being too serious, too sober, too academic. Keep track of the genetics, in-laws, and cousins. The smaller groups memorize it all and repeat solemnly. 

2. Didja ever wonder how many dullards leapt to the top, landed in a choice spot, and floundered? 

3. Only the efficacy of the Word and the Means of Grace will make a difference, no matter how glorious the outward appearances look

a. Efficacy means we always treat the effective Word of God as active through the work of the Holy Spirit. For example, when we ask for help, pardon, and relief in our prayers, they are always both asking from God and listening to God's Word.

b. Efficacy in the Means of Grace can only prove that the visible and invisible ways in which faith receive grace.

I go through folders of files and find beautiful photos and illustrations. They remind us of the grace that comes to us and others through faith in Jesus Christ the Good Shepherd.

Before You Read - Yes, Love the Photos

 

This here is named "Angel" because her curls were blond, reddish, and always at their best.  She had a loving grin for everyone and laughs like her  baby Erin Joy sister. Her mother Christina loved the whole world, all her children, and anyone who needed help.

I stopped some blog work to refresh the Justification essay on various blogs. Bethany - Angel - was looking straight at me for this photo, and Christina loved Bethany's tug toward the photographer. 

It's time for pastors and laity to gaze into the eyes of Jesus Christ. I know people will be crying, even sobbing about the tender love of the Infant. We are surrounded by His first steps into our world.  

*****

I was thinking about the explosion of printing during the Reformation and how much that helped in promoting reading and in learning the Christian Faith from the Bible.

This is a good time to post folders and a website of free Lutheran books. That is made possible by PDFs (the file used in all printing, including on your computer) and distribution by such services as Dropbox.

If you get a free copy of Dropbox, you can download all the Lenski books and all of my books in minutes. In this era of cancellation (previously called censorship), more copies out there are better.

Lutheran Library PDFs are freely and easily found here.

Lutheran Library - over 240 free books.

Lenski's New Testament Commentaries and more - Free.

Luther's Sermons. Jackson PDFs. Copy and distribute - Free - no cost ever.

Lutheran Librarian low-cost print copies.

Jackson books - low-cost print books (much lower if you order directly from me.)

Norma Boeckler's Christian Art Books

Time To Read - The Summary of Justification by Faith

 

Father Hesburgh has passed into his papal doom. John Howard Yoder is ... never mind.
The one in the middle is still teaching the Chief Article of the Christian Faith - Justification by Faith.

An Honest Catechism for Objective Faithless Justification - 

By Gregory L. Jackson, STM (Yale) and PhD (Notre Dame)

I am not going to repeat the methods of those who oppose Justification by Faith, the Chief Article of the Christian Faith - which is not simply the Chief Article of Lutherdom. This is a battle against all the denominational errors - the Church of Rome, Calvinism, Pietism, and the Baptists. I have not heard anyone from the OJ side define Justification by Faith, so I will have to balance the topic for everyone by showing what they teach, even if they are terribly lax with the facts. 

Some History, Pietism, Halle University, and Syphilis

The devotees of Objective Faithless Justification would like to start with the prolific writings of CFW Walther, but that would not be honest. The leader of the Saxon Migration was Pastor Martin Stephan, a Pietist pastor of a Pietist congregation, the land donated by a Pietist, Nicholas Zinzendorf. Stephan was trained at Halle University, which became known as the mothership of Pietism, which changed into rationalism.

Stephan was well known in the region for being a Pietist and later on for taking long walks at night with young, single women. CFW Walther group of Pietists had a very demanding leader who moved away and died. Looking for a replacement, they contacts Stephan and began associating with him, who became the leader for them. Walther was consumed by Pietistic vigor and almost ruined his health through various exercises in self-denial. Stephan's letter to him, concerning Justification brought great relief, and that sense of salvation stayed with him the rest of his life. That is documented in the festschrift for Dr. Robert Preus.

Pastor Stephan's popularity was so great that the non-members were greater in number than the parish members. This also created conflict over money and outside contributions. Various conflicts led to plans to leave Europe for America, which became real when Stephan was tried for his use of money and young women and found guilty in a house arrest. This was the trigger for the journey to America, with a large group of people eager to leave and many residents eager to see them go. Stephan was the overall leader and Walther led his circle, even though his older brother was part of that group.

Stephan did not take his wife and children along on the trip - only his eldest healthy son and his mistress. Symptoms of syphilis became troublesome on the trip and became more obvious - a truly horrible disease. He was already going to spas in Germany for treatment, taking his mistress with him and telling his wife she was not needed at the spa.

When they landed in New Orleans, Stephan told his clergy to designate him as their bishop, and they signed the document, including CFW Walther. The group started out toward St. Louis and eventually bought overpriced land in Perryville, Missouri, with some of them staying in St. Louis. The Stephanite migration was the source of outrage because the bishop's reputation preceded them through German newspapers.

CFW Walther organized a mob to get rid of Stephan, taking St. Louis people who agreed with him down to Perryville to have a well organized riot. They forced Stephan out of his house, took all of his gold, books, and personal possessions, even the special communion chalice given to their bishop. He was forced at gunpoint across the river (another felony) and became the first bishop in Illinois. Stephan served a church there and his long-time mistress moved in with him. The Stephanites refused to return anything to their former bishop through the courts.

Although the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod has fashioned itself as congregational, it would be more honest to say they rejected the leadership of a bishop and accepted a pope, CFW Walther. Once the situation settled down to some extent, Walther took over every aspect of the growing denomination. The Stephanites had millions (in today's money) in gold stolen from Stephan, his purloined library, his confiscated 120 acres, and a location which funneled German migration to Missouri. Before the going away party, the Stephanites were almost bankrupt.

The Dogmatic Disaster

The Objective Justification of Missouri, WELS, the ELS, and CLC is not at all from Luther and the Book of Concord. but from Halle University Pietism. The term Orthodox is strangely applied to their groups, certainly a term so badly used that it should be dropped. Even worse is Confessional, which  comes from people who deny the Confessions - the Book of Concord, where Objective Justification is completely absent and Justification by Faith is taught throughout. Dr. Lito Cruz has said, "How can they be Confessional when they disagree with the Confessions?"

Bishop Martin Stephan did not invent Objective Justification, but he certainly promoted it, based on his own education (Halle) and others who taught it. Rambach is pictured above with a glowing quote from Tom Hardt, another Objective Justification devotee.

Knapp's book in English is tedious, but it was a best seller for 90 years in American libraries. The note is from the Calvinist translator, and the terms Objective and Subjective. Pastoral papers have noted that Walther liked and used those terms, which apparently reached Germany as well. 

Walther did not know the Biblical languages but felt comfortable in Latin and German. His description claims that all sins were forgiven when Jesus rose from the tomb.

The members of Missouri, WELS, ELS, and the CLC seem to be drilled in the concept of Jesus forgiving all sins the moment He rose from the tomb, although some seem to make the crucifixion the moment of world absolution.

The 1 Timothy 3:16 passage is used to produce the confusion.

KJV 1 Timothy 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: 

• God was manifest in the flesh, 
• justified in the Spirit, 
• seen of angels, 
• preached unto the Gentiles, 
• believed on in the world, 
• received up into glory.

This should not be difficult for anyone, if they look at the concept of forensic, that is, from a judicial point of view. "Justified in the Spirit" does not mean that Jesus was finally declared innocent, which is absurd, since Jesus was without sin from conception. The very act of rising from the dead means He alone of all humans was innocent, not made innocent. If an individual is arrested and brought before an earthly judge, innocent of all charges, the judge declares him innocent, not made innocent.

This confusion comes from the merging of Pietism and rationalism, revealed when people simply rage against Justification by Faith, clearly taught throughout the Scriptures, the Book of Concord, and Martin Chemnitz' great works.

Robert Preus moved toward Justification by Faith, although his final book is somewhat mixed between clear and foggy statements, the outcome of late dogmatics compared to the Book of Concord, Chemnitz, and Gehrhard.

 This is a very clear statement - my apologies to the OJ crowd.

This is a bit confused, the victim of dogmatics.

 Try teaching that in confirmation class.

This is clearer, but I think the wording is more of a Latin dissertation.

Part Two - The Misinterpretation of Supposed OJ Passages

The most tattered declaration in Objective Justification is "You are making faith a work of man!" That is expressed with great force but without any Biblical support. The clearest answer is obvious. 

KJV John 6:28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. 

Those dedicated to Objective Justification have an astonishing reaction against faith in the Savior, but Jesus' response dismantles the warning. Faith in Him is primary - not treated as a sin.  In fact, a parallel absurdity is offered an excuse against faith.

Robert Preus quoted this statement from Edward Preuss, who was a professor in the Missouri Synod when he wrote this, leaving to join the Church of Rome. The declaration is absurd and yet is held up as the clearest expression of Objective Justification - all Creation is justified, without faith.

David Scaer follows the logic of Eduard Preuss, but not the Scriptures. It is easy to see how the errors of Pietism pile up. Once this dogmatic statement is published as truth, error will follow. That explains how the most Objective Justification statements come from the LCMS, leading professors and seminarians to the Church of Rome - or Eastern Orthodoxy - as an outcome of their studies. The Wisconsin Synod has compiled over 760 papers in their Essay File link here, exalting the Objective Justification assertations. I know of one WELS pastor who joined Eastern Orthodoxy, but many follow the Enthusiasm of Fuller Seminary and its clones. 

Scandalous Use of the Scriptures

The Greek word scandalon does not mean trap, but the trigger of the trap seizing the prey. Following are the passages used to support Objective Justification but fail in the attempts.

The Brief Statement of 1932 is so precious that the LCMS publishes it verbatim on the web. However, the justification section tries to promote the idea that the last verse of Romans 4 supports Objective Justification. This must be so, because Pastor Rolf Preus has repeated that many times over the years, but not lately.

KJV Romans 4:25 has this incomplete sentence "25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification." That implies that the resurrection of Christ justified the world.

But the whole statement - in a chapter about Abraham and faith - says this:

KJV Romans 4:23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; 24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

This clear passage about the faith of Abraham is summarized the beginning of chapter 5. The chapter and verses came later in the publishing of the New Testament, but the structure is quite clear. 

KJV Romans 5:5 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

The entire Objective Justification enterprise is wrecked by Romans 4 and 5, and yet there is more mischief in their assertions, or rather - their follies.

The latest NIV, possibly the worst Bible ever paraphrased, gave the Walther synods a gift of magic in Romans 3.

KJV Romans 3:21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

This is a brilliant passage on Justification by Faith, so take note of the latest, always changing NIV -

NIV Romans 3:21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in[h] Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement,[i] through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. 

"All are justified" (the text does not include "all") - this means that every single person in the world has already been declared righteous and free of sin, without the Word of the Gospel, without faith, without grace. The Scriptures clearly teach the this without any hesitation or magical wands - faith in Jesus Christ gives us access to God's grace. WELS and Missouri have embraced the NIV. That is based on bad "translation" and horrible text mutilation (thanks to the Vatican and Tischendorf).

This has reached 16 typed pages, so I will stop for now. This is linked in the left column on Ichabod, with the heading - The Big Five. I expect to add and amend.

 

 The Augsburg Confession did not reveal Objective Justification.
Later, people found OJ with Pietism and Halle University.

Part Three

Corinthians And Other Triggers in the Big Five's Search 

For Their Faithless Objective Justification

The problem comes from people forcing their false agenda on Biblical expressions, with help from the Bad Bible salesmen who impose Dynamic Equivalence paraphrases from Nida and the Bible societies. One example is the Atonement, Christ dying on the cross for our sins, which they turn into the absolution of the entire world. That is a good reason for ELCA to agree. The experts in the largest failing synod - ELCA - argue that there is nothing but grace. That was articulated in anger back in the LCA when a lecturer said, "The Evangelicals have no grace!" which meant that faith matters in the divine equation, anathema to the apostates. No one should wonder today that the Big Five all work together through Thrivent - they agree in dogma and where that is going.

KJV 2 Corinthians 5 18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing [counting] their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.

Those forever stuck in the rationalistic Pietism of Halle University ignore and scorn the simple relationship between faith and grace. We have a section in Romans focused on Abraham as the Father of Faith, concluding he is the father of all that believe (Romans 4:11). 

Faith in Jesus Christ gives us access to grace - 

KJV Romans 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

They need to be unstuck by the simple formula - the bright (very clear) passages of the Bible shine a light on the more difficult passages. The more difficult sections give us problems at first, like the Canaanite woman being rebuffed by Jesus, so we see by study and prayer how clear the Word is. Nevertheless, the devotees of their individual sects use their prized passages against the clearest ones, revealing hardened hearts and blindness to the Gospel. 

"One does not simply absolve the entire world."

One LCMS-ELS-LCMS pastor was always saying - to enforce Faithless Objective Justification -  John 1:29 "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!" That means the entire world was counted righteous, even before the cross. 

Because the Big Five do not teach or even understand the efficacy of the Word in the Means of Grace, the pastors do not connect the power of the Holy Spirit always at work in the Word - and never without the Word. Reconciliation is what Paul preached, in other words, the Gospel. 

In contrast, Pastor Wayne Mueller (WELS) told a convention of youth, "Evangelism is easy. Just go around saying You are already forgiven." That has not worked well for WELS or the rest of the Big Five. They are so blinded by their shopworn synodical statements that they cannot do anything except condemn and expel the faithful pastors.

Victims of the Big Five - ELCA-LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic) should realize that they are being taught Fuller Seminary management programs, not the Gospel. Notice how comfortable the managers are with unLutheran, antiLutheran, and just plain destructive plans. They have no grace because they have no faith in the genuine Scriptures and Gospel established for all ages.

 

 

Some Art and Humor

 

Advent 3 Midweek - The Snow Continues

 

The Hymn # 77:1-8  - Gerhardt              All My Heart   

Some may wonder about the birth of Christ  and the highlights when Advent addresses the cross. The concept is to assume the entire scope  from Creation to the End of all Time. Some will say, "Aha. There goes those sweeping narratives, so much to learn and re-learn."

There are very few who can learn so much, and they are even more eager to learn. Christmas begins at the first verses of Genesis. It is not just God the Father, but God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God the Father commands, the Son executes the commands, and the Spirit teaches us through His Word.

God is One, and the more we consider His work and His love, the more we understand His nature and ours. Just as we understand the Virgin Birth, the Star, and the baby in the manager, so we listen to the Word in every aspect of our lives. The Words are simple and plain, so the great leaders and warriors are completely without the truth revealed.

I recently saw puzzles that fit the problem. This older man gradually drew all the complicated parts together, hundreds and hundreds, everything must fit. The joy is in fitting them together and being beautiful to admire.   

Many today are outside the puzzle, because they scorn the Bible if they even try to look and listen. 

 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

53 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

The bad and the good are mixed together, but ultimately for God's approval and our fulfillment.

4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

Tom Fisher is a farmer who shows off his sheep and reminds us of the Biblical lessons. His little lambs are as beautiful as can be, with faces of delight and jumping around. The adults show their maturity.

8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

Verse 9 brings us back to the divine, knowing how great this event was - but also has great it is. There is nothing else like it, except within the eternity of the Son of God, from Genesis 1:1 to the ending of St. John's Revelation. 

10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

We have miniature travails, and they teach us how to understand and appreciate God's universe, the Shepherd of all.

12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

And so He became the Greatest among the Least, and we honor this work for all believers in Christ.

Delivered on the front porch for a couple's wedding. Saved from the garden.

"All My Heart This Night Rejoices"

by Paul Gerhardt, 1607-1676

1. All my heart this night rejoices

As I hear Far and near

Sweetest angel voices.

"Christ is born," their choirs are singing

Till the air Everywhere

Now with joy is ringing.

2. Forth today the Conqueror goeth,

Who the foe, Sin and woe,

Death and hell, o'erthroweth.

God is man, man to deliver;

His dear Son Now is one

With our blood forever.

3. Shall we still dread God's displeasure,

Who, to save, Freely gave

His most cherished Treasure?

To redeem us, He hath given

His own Son From the throne

Of His might in heaven.

4. Should He who Himself imparted

Aught withhold From the fold,

Leave us broken-hearted?

Should the Son of God not love us,

Who, to cheer Sufferers here,

Left His throne above us?

5. If our blessed Lord and Maker

Hated men, Would He then

Be of flesh partaker?

If He in our woe delighted,

Would He bear All the care

Of our race benighted?

6. He becomes the Lamb that taketh

Sin away And for aye

Full atonement maketh.

For our life His own He tenders

And our race, By His grace,

Meet for glory renders.

7. Hark! a voice from yonder manger,

Soft and sweet, Doth entreat:

"Flee from woe and danger.

Brethren, from all ills that grieve you

You are feed; All you need

I will surely give you."

8. Come, then, banish all your sadness,

One and all, Great and small;

Come with songs of gladness.

Love Him who with love is glowing;

Hail the Star, Near and far

Light and joy bestowing.

9. Ye whose anguish knew no measure,

Weep no more; See the door

To celestial pleasure.

Cling to Him, for He will guide you

Where no cross, Pain, or loss

Can again betide you.

10. Hither come, ye heavy-hearted,

Who for sin, Deep within,

Long and sore have smarted;

For the poisoned wound you're feeling

Help is near, One is here

Mighty for their healing.

11. Hither come, ye poor and wretched;

Know His will Is to fill

Every hand outstretched.

Here are riches without measure;

Here forget All regret,

Fill your hearts with treasure.

12. Let me in my arms receive Thee;

On Thy breast Let me rest,

Savior, ne'er to leave Thee.

Since Thou hast Thyself presented

Now to me, I shall be

Evermore contented.

13. Guilt no longer can distress me;

Son of God, Thou my load

Bearest to release me.

Stain in me Thou findest never;

I am clean, All my sin

Is removed forever.

14. I am pure, in Thee believing,

From Thy store Evermore

Righteous robes receiving

In my heart I will enfold Thee,

Treasure rare, Let me there,

Loving, ever hold Thee.

15. Dearest Lord, Thee will I cherish.

Though my breath Fail in death,

Yet I shall not perish,

But with Thee abide forever

There on high, In that joy

Which can vanish never.

The Lutheran Hymnal

Hymn # 77

Text: Luke 2:11

Author: Paul Gerhardt, 1653

Translated by: Catherine Winkworth, 1858, alt.

Titled: "Froehlich soll mein Herze springen"

Composer: Johann Crueger, 1653

Tune: "Froehlich soll mein Herze"