So, There Really Is a Deep State

Posted on August 17, 2026 by Paul Harris

Harper’s Magazine’s cover blared: “Round Two: Trump’s Futile War Against the Deep State”. Before even reading it, I was struck that this liberal publication would admit the existence of the Deep State. It seems it wasn’t till Hillary Clinton, a liberal of liberals, said that her husband’s problems in office – I will be discreet here – were due to a “vast rightwing conspiracy” that it became acceptable to even think of political machinations going on deep within the state. Continue reading →

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Mary, Mother of God

Posted on August 10, 2026 by Paul Harris

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Your Body Bag House

Posted on August 3, 2026 by Paul Harris

That’s what a member asked me years before while still in the parish. I asked a question about my house, and he responded, “That depends. Is it your body bag house?” This needs no explanation, does it? You know what he means. The house you expect to die in. Well, we have one now. Continue reading →

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Most Controversial Blog Ever

Posted on July 27, 2026 by Paul Harris

It is possible to go so overboard about “faith” about believing – like Pentecostals do, some Baptists do, and some Lutherans too, then you end up having faith in faith, worshipping faith. The same is true of liturgy. You can go so overboard about liturgics that you worship worship. Can you so overboard about the Bible that you worship it? Would that necessarily be wrong? Continue reading →

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Have we believed in vain? 

Posted on July 20, 2026 by Paul Harris

That is the subject of  the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod president Matthew Harrison’s fund appeal of March 9, 2026. you may ask why I who haven’t been a member of the LCMS for 7 years would even know about this letter? Because the ever inept LCMS bureaucracy sent me the  letter. Continue reading →

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Together Again

Posted on July 13, 2026 by Paul Harris

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What’s Worse than Birthright Citizenship?

Posted on July 6, 2026 by Paul Harris

Christians may differ, radical Republicans on the right and noodle-headed Liberals on the left, notwithstanding about birthright citizenship. They can have honest disagreements – without compromising their confession, Scripture, or America. You may disagree with the 14th  Amendment being used to establish the so-called anchor baby policy which leads to a lot more people gaining citizenship than just the one born here.  You may agree with the 14th  Amendment’s intent to protect those born here regardless of their race or whether their parents are citizens. But to paraphrase the famous words of Seinfeld’s Poppie’s: “Birthright membership is absolutely wrong; about this there can be no debate.” Continue reading →

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Born on the Fourth of July, Really?

Posted on June 29, 2026 by Paul Harris

Last year, I admitted to a young woman who asked me, “Should we really be celebrating the Fourth of the July where people rebelled against legitimate rulers?”, that for years I had planed my vacation so as not to have to preach on or about the Fourth. I told her that I had once preached a sermon based on the “hymn” written for all those women living in sin and think they’re heading for marriage. “Two out of Three Ain’t Bad”. The chorus tells the sad tale: Continue reading →

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Of Shrouds, Carnivores, and Fathers’ Day

Posted on June 22, 2026 by Paul Harris

Wasn’t sure whether to include this as an entry for Fathers’ Day under the category of Families or  under Big Tech: Big Lie or Promise. Under that heading this reminds me of a classmate’s description of Death as an enormous shroud “that enfolds all peoples” (Is. 25:7, NIV). Or for you techies, the government’s Carnivore internet surveillance tool.
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For the Goose but not the Gander?

Posted on June 15, 2026 by Paul Harris

What does this post have to do with birds? Nothing. It’s the proverb “what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.” It means equality of treatment in similar circumstances, and may have come to mean that or meant that from its earliest use in the 16th century. Dickens, 1859, is apparently the first one to say it specifically but there are adumbrations of it as early as 1562 (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/what%27s_sauce_for_the_goose_is_sauce_for_the_gander#cite_note-5).  But this is not about male/female but black/white. Uh-oh. Continue reading →

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