I wrote the following in response to a member sending me The Response: a call to prayer for a nation in crisis by Governor Rick Perry. He said it should publish it, so I am. You can read about the Reponse here: http://theresponseusa.com/ Continue reading
A Primer on Anfechtung
As Jerry’s fellow comedian says, “That’s pure gold Jerry; pure gold I’m telling you” when Jerry tosses him a joke as a bone to his sycophantic friend. Well my friends I toss not a bone but the whole steak. First I whet your appetite with this appetizer from Johann Gerhard: “; [T]hus does God the Lord also often allows the members of Christ to experience such anguish, so that they think nothing other than that God has forsaken them and will no longer look upon them in grace. We find such examples of temptations especially in David and Job. And with such temptations God more often assails, not the ordinary Christian, but rather the greatest saints, who have increased more than others in the knowledge of God” (History of the Suffering, Gerhard, 275). Continue reading
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Giants’ Shoulders
I’ve said for years that a Christian can safely reject anything said to them by someone who denies the reality of the Real Presence. This dwarf now has the shoulders of giants to stand on. Continue reading
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Human Limits – What Can Your Body Take?
That was the title of a September 2009 article in National Geographic. The most remarkable thing I found in this article was that they considered a 150 pound man to be the average. That’s probably the average 5th grader. Continue reading
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First Use of Ribbons to Show Support?
“On Saint Patrick’s Day in 1946 six Nipponese defense counsel appeared at the captial’s war-crimes tribunal wearing green lapel ribbons…” (American Caesar, 474)
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Libya Comes to the LCMS
If you think of what is going on in Libya and what went on in Egypt as popular uprisings against unjust governance, then you can say Libya has come to the LCMS in the form of ACELC. Continue reading
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Churchyard Saints
In a sermon written circa 1520 entitled “A Sermon on the Three Kinds of Good Life for the Instruction of Consciences” (LW, 44, 235-242), Luther breaks the church down by churchyard, nave, and sanctuary. “A churchyard saint, Luther says, is blind to sound doctrine, and his soul is tied to empty externals” (234). Continue reading
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Grief Observed
A Greif Observed is the title of one of C. S. Lewis’ most poignant books. It’s about losing his wife of only four years after being a confirmed bachelor. Even as a young man it was difficult to read, now I postpone picking it back up. You’ll get an idea of the poignancy of which I speak when I tell you his wife’s name was Joy and he entitled his auto-biography Surprised by Joy. [Unknowingly I have perpetuated a Lewsian legend. He didn’t name his autobiography after his wife. I’ve since reread A Grief Observed, and it tells you that. “Good grief Charlie Brown will I ever get anything right?”] But I’m chasing rabbits here; I wish to report the happy news that Elizabeth Kubler Ross has been unhorsed. Continue reading
Posted in For Anyone who dares, For Pastors Only
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Scripture as Graffiti
They finally got rid of the dingy Mobil gas station across from the church. After hearing it was to be a new bank and then a wine bar, it became another gas station. But this is not your father’s gas station. This is “Signature Fuels.” They kept the same building and put all new fancy siding on. That night the local gang tagged it with graffiti. It is a crime to tag a building with graffiti, but I think it more serious to use Scripture as a tag. Continue reading
Posted in For Anyone who dares, Missouri Megatrends
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Antichrist – a Teaching to be Ignored
“Luther’s judgment of the papacy as Antichrist is no longer accurate with respect to the modern papacy. But at that time it did apply, insofar as the papacy was destroying God’s order in the world because of a false understanding of the church, marriage, and family, and of economic and political matters as well.” So says German Lutheran Oswald Bayer in his Martin Luther’s Theology ( 4, fn. 8). Plenty of English Lutherans, and some confessionals, are now picking it up. But remember this isn’t just Luther’s judgment. It is the judgment of the Confessions we have bound ourselves to as a correct exposition of the doctrines of the Word of God. So ask yourself: is the teaching that the papacy is Antichrist free to be ignored? Continue reading
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