Decepticon Invasion

Yesterday afternoon we received a phone call from a caller that was IDed as being from Atlanta, GA.



The caller asked for my wife by name, by her first name.

As is my custom, I asked who was calling.

The caller identified herself as Sandy, with a group name that I do not remember, and said that she was calling about the Pro-Life issue.

Her manner of speaking was unusual, not flowing with the normal flow that I expected.  Having read of robotic phone calls, I asked whether she was a real person.

She chuckled and said that she was a real person, and added that she has a slight speech impediment that might make her sound unreal, but that she was a real person.

This I knew was unreal and asked, “What is your name?”

She responded, saying, “Uh, huh,” with a pause of a second or two and then, “Sandy.”

After this the matter was confirmed and I ended the call.

I called back the number displayed on the caller ID, and the ear piercing tone sounded with the recorded announcement:  “The number you have reached is not in service.  This is a recording.”

So, now we not only have computers programmed to call us and harass us, but these robotic callers also have been programmed to respond with lies to our inquiries.  This has been occurring for some time, but now the lies are becoming more sophisticated.

I find this to be disturbing.

The phone company informed me that such is now possible using software that gives false phone numbers and ID’s.  This way the callers bypass attempts at blocking unidentified callers so that this safeguard does not protect a person from such callers.

Technology.  Uh huh.  As is often the case, what is touted as wonderful and liberating is frequently invasive and problematic.  Progress.  Technology.

I miss the simplicity of times past.  At least then the Decepticons were human and somewhat accountable.  Or at least so we thought.  More and more it is being revealed that deceivers have always hidden behind another form or a mask or a pseudo-identity.  It has been so from the very first deception by the father of lies.  I suppose it is foolish to imagine that anything under the sun has changed.

So what do we do?  Be aware and on guard for ourselves and for others.  Make the Decepticons known when it is possible.  Stand ready to help and comfort those who suffer from the deception and theft and other harm.  Proclaim the One who never lies, who is always faithful, who has provided the way through every trial and trouble even before we encounter them.  Sing the hymns of pure doctrine and everlasting hope and peace and joy.  Live in that hope and peace and joy.  Partake of the pure and unadulterated means of His grace.

It is good to know that the Lord is real, and that His voice and Word and doctrine are consonant, and that He has come as He promised and has given Himself for us, even unto the death of the cross, and has risen from the dead and ascended again to His heavenly throne and has sent His Spirit at Pentecost, all as He has promised repeatedly and consistently of old.  When He calls to us, it is always through the same means as He has ordained.  His proclamation has not changed.  His means continue unchanged.

With this before us, what does it matter if the Decepticons attempt their futile deceptive acts against us?  Ultimately what do we lose?  The kingdom is ours in Christ our Lord.  We are more than conquerors though the one having loved us.  We don’t even have to fight.  We don’t even have to strive to win.  The victory and the kingdom have been declared to be ours through the faith that also is given to us freely by the grace of God at work through His means.  What is really left but to abide in the peace of God that surpasses all understanding and to sigh the great and peaceful sigh of Amen?

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When a True Statement Is the Truth

This comedic captioned photograph from Indian Libertarians's Photos would be funny if it were not a true representation of the contrast between the views of these two men.

Both perspectives fall short of the truth, although the Dalai Lama’s does not fall nearly as short as the Obama’s.  Yet even the much fuller view of the Dalai Lama still falls short of the truth.  While the statements that he makes are true statements, they are not the truth.  The truth includes more.

Here is another example from the Dalai Lama:



Some other sources, such as Goodreads, attribute this similarly stated to Frank Zappa, “A mind is like a parachute. It doesn't work if it is not open.”

But to the statement itself, while it is a true statement, does it tell the truth?  The quote attributed to the Dalai Lama is less restrictive, saying “The mind is like a parachute, it works best when it is open.” Yet if one examines even this statement it is found not to be the truth.  In fact, it is not really even a true statement, but because it states a portion of the truth it sounds like a true statement.

The Zappa quote is completely false, for if a closed mind did not work, he would have no one to criticize for thinking with a closed mind.

The less restrictive statement attributed to the Dalai Lama speaks a portion of the truth, but not the truth.

A mind that is open can receive information and outside stimulation.  However, an open mind is unable to focus and process the information that has been received.  Focus requires a narrowing of one’s thinking.  Processing of information requires closing one’s mind so as to begin analyzing what has been received.  Furthermore, a mind that is open to all views or opinions is unable to perceive the difference between opinion and fact.

The Truth is not proportional.  The truth is always whole.  No part of the truth can stand apart from the whole.  The truth is integral.  If it is divided into separate parts it ceases to be the truth.

Even the analogy is not the truth.  An open parachute does not work properly unless it is attached properly to the falling person or object.  An open parachute does not work properly in a vacuum.  An open parachute does not work for an object that is not falling.  An open parachute does not function if it is upside down.  An open parachute cannot be worn inside a cockpit or other close quarters, but must be carefully and meticulously folded so as to be worn and deployed at the appropriate time.

An open mind is not sufficiently focused to consider the facts but only applies vague or nebulous perceptions.  While a healthy and well functioning mind opens to receive information, facts, questions, and even opinions, it also must close to the narrow evaluation process of assessing and acknowledging the truth revealed by these received data.

This fallacy carries into the major tenet of the Dalai Lama in the promotion of Religious Harmony.  If one reads what he declares in this matter, actually hearing what he says, it becomes clear that harmony is not what he teaches.  What he really espouses is dissolution and ultimate neutralization.

He says: “We must distinguish between belief and respect. Belief refers to total faith, which you must have in your own religion. At the same time you should have respect for all other religions.”

What does this really mean?  It means choosing ignorance over knowledge.  It means reducing one’s religion to mere ritual and sentiment and tradition.

He says: “If a harmonious relationship is established amongst societies and religious beliefs in today's multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural world, then it will surely set a very good example for others.”

What does this mean?  He concludes: “Therefore, it is very important to live in harmony and analyse where the opinion of the other lies. The best way to do this is to engage in dialogue, dialogue and dialogue.”

The essence of this is to target and bomb the dissenting parties with ignorance. “Engage in dialogue, dialogue and dialogue” is a longhand version of saying “Agree to disagree.”  If a person steps back so as to close one’s mind to focus on what is really being said, this means to agree to believe nothing and to count nothing whatsoever as important.

So for the Dalai Lama peace means to drive discord out of existence by means of bombing the dissidents with nothingness and emptiness.  So where is the truth?  Where is common understanding ever actually pursued?  Is this anything but another deceptive tactic?

How does the Obama define obtaining peace?  He says peace is obtained by bombing with drones.  Of course control of the media, invading the privacy of citizens, and blatant deception and lies are also among his favorite tools.

Perhaps the two are closer in their views than one may first perceive.

Does it really matter?  It matters to those who believe that the truth really matters.

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2014 Resolutions

Happy New Year!  Happy 2014!

It seems funny that flipping a page on a calendar should be counted as a holiday.  I suppose that when people don’t recognize the holy, they have to find something mundane to celebrate.  So we have New Years Day.

Certainly the observance of God’s grace to us in preserving us and carrying us through the past year into a new year is a cause for thanksgiving and rejoicing and celebrating.  Certainly the changing of the calendar gives cause to pause in retrospect.

Thus people also commonly make New Years Resolutions.  They examine their activities of the passing year and determine or resolve to do some things differently.  They make resolutions and promises concerning their actions in the coming year.  Some of these they actually mean.  Some of these they actually strive to keep, at least for a week or two or three.

Soon, however, when we make resolutions to amend our lives we find ourselves unable to keep our promises.  We find that we are unable to effect true change.  We fall back into the same old errors again.  Sometimes we manage to demonstrate these failings in different ways.  Yet we still fall short of our good intentions.

Christians may fall into this trap even more so than others.  I find it somewhat odd that in teaching people concerning Confession and Absolution that people are asked to promise this impossible task.  In the Order of the Confessional Service on TLH pg. 46 ff., two formats are given, both of which call the person seeking absolution to state the intention or purpose of amending one’s sinful life by the assistance of the Holy Ghost.  Surely this is the format of a resolution.  The newer hymnals have similar statements.

Admittedly, seeing beyond this is difficult.  Certainly the preaching against sin is necessary.  Certainly the Law of God or Commandments are given to direct souls away from sin to the holiness of the Lord.

Yet in searching the Gospel accounts concerning the times that the Lord Jesus granted absolution to sinners, do we ever find Him calling for a resolution from the broken and contrite sinner?  I cannot recall a single instance of the Lord Jesus calling for a person to resolve to do better before granting the blessed words of peace and comfort, “Your sins are forgiven you.”  He does give the warning afterward that they are to go onward without adding to their sins.  But He never evokes a resolution from anyone to whom He grants remission of their sins.

We do have an example, however, where He denies this making of resolutions as justifying.  When He tells of the publican and the Pharisee, He says that the publican made no such resolution, but merely confessed his sinfulness and need for God’s mercy.  This one, Jesus says, went home justified.  The other man, the Pharisee, stated all of the ways that he had resolved to try to please God.  The Pharisee listed his resolutions quite sincerely.  Yet this one, Jesus says, did not go home justified.

What does this mean?  What is the Lord Jesus teaching us with this example?  He is teaching us that we should never look to our own works for our justification.  He is teaching us that our resolutions, no matter how noble and no matter how sincere, will always fall short.  In fact, our resolutions only lead us into more sins that we need to have remitted.  If we make resolutions that we fail to keep, then not only have we sinned, but we also have failed to keep our word.

This is why the Lord has established for us His Church on earth.  Within His Church He has ordained specific means through which He works to restore us to His Holy Communion.  It is to these means of grace and remission and salvation and reconciliation and healing that He directs us to be turned.  This is the repentance to which He calls us.  He calls us to be turned from all of our own efforts, from all of our best intentions, from all of our resolutions, to receive the means through which His Word works all things for us.  His Word and Sacraments are the means through which He does for us what we cannot do for ourselves.  He works regeneration unto true faith through Baptism, as He washes us with His Word with the water.  In this washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit He applies the blood of the Word/Lamb to us by which we are cleansed.  In this connection we are joined into His everlasting Communion, wherein we partake of His body and blood given and shed for us, to renew us in His Communion as our sins are remitted and taken away.  As we hear His call to be gathered into His name to receive these things, we bow the knee and confess our need for His mercy, which He graciously bestows to us as the words of absolution are spoken over us.  Then we rise up to eat and drink at His Table of renewal and forgiveness, going forth in the confidence of the good conscience into which we have been restored.

God does not call us to resolve to be obedient or to amend our lives.  He calls us to walk in the Life that is in Him in His Holy Communion.  The obedience of faith is not a choice.  It is the fullness of living in communion with God in His kingdom.  Obedience flows from the faith that the Lord works in us.  Obedience flows from the trust that is generated within us concerning all that the Lord declares.  When we receive His absolution and partake of His Communion, we recognize His will as that which is desirable and good.  We recognize the fullness of the good life to which we have been restored so that we begin to walk in this newness of life or renewed life.

This is the difference of living by faith and living by works.  Living by faith is the life that flows from the ordained means of grace.  Living by works is the struggle to resolve to do better than we can hope to do for ourselves.  Through His Word and Sacraments, His means of grace to us, we receive God’s goodness into our very being so that we are sanctified to live in the grace that flows to us freely by His decree.

Surely this is better than making resolutions that we know that we cannot hope to keep.  Surely the way of grace, mercy, and peace is far better and desirable.

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Confusing Propaganda in Christendom

This morning as I was preparing for my day with prayer and hymns alongside of contemplating planning for my workday and responsibilities, after checking a weather forecast I also visited a Christian/Lutheran site and was reminded that today is the anniversary of the 09-11-2001 events.  I occasionally visit this blog to see what is presented.  Here is a snapshot of today’s posting and the previous post.

As I observed this my heart felt distressed.  I wondered which of the two is really what is being practiced during this Fifteenth Week after Trinity by those professing to be Christians.

I do realize that with this particular choice of images that the blogger’s motives and intended conveyance could be that Christians should remember those who suffered from this incidence of worldly violence and wickedness so as to be moved to pray for those who suffered as well as for those who committed this great wickedness.  Certainly this is to put the best construction on the intentions behind the use of this image.

But is this in any way indicated by the blogger?  Is this at all what is commonly understood by “Never Forget”?

A Google Internet search produced this compilation of images.  There appears to be a plethora of images produced concerning the sentiments and beliefs of people regarding the 9-11-01 events and the information disseminated by the government and media agencies.

Ultimately, however, what real advantage lies in remembrance of this day?  Who truly benefits from it?

If we stand back and divorce ourselves from the emotional impact of whatever is perceived regarding 9-11-01, what has been the result of propagating remembrance of this?  What things have been pursued in connection with “remembering”?



The bottom line is the point of concern.  With this image is expressed a great and horrible world-view, one that perpetuates itself and brings endless abuse, suffering, and grief.

“I learned on 9/11/01. Never Forget!!
Never Forgive!! Enough Said.”


Is this not the prevailing mindset and sentiment of those who say: “Never Forget”?

I certainly am not a defender of the religion of Islam.  I believe it to be a great evil in the world.  I believe that it enslaves people to a false god who hides his true identity, demanding to be called “the merciful” without any example of mercy demonstrated.  He demands to be embraced as the one who “oft forgives” without showing forgiveness.  He does not redeem but demands sacrifice.  He demands war against all of mankind, not in defense but to conquer by brute force.

This is the way of sinful mankind.  This is the way taught by their father, who has promoted disruption and deception and murder from the beginning.  This is the way of the sinful nature in which all men are conceived and born.

But this is not the way of the Lord.  This is not what He espouses or commands.  This is not the way of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Church.

His way is the way of forgiveness from the heart.  His way is to pray for one’s enemies.  His way is the way of the cross, bearing the shame of sinful mankind, offering forgiveness and life in exchange.

The Lord is merciful.  His command to His people is that they should not act vengefully.

For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.  (Hebrews 10:30)


Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures? To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste. For the Lord shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.  (Deuteronomy 32:34-36)


Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.  (Romans 12:16-21)

This concept is entirely foreign to the sinful nature.  Sadly, very few who profess to be Christian truly understand this either.

Thus, the vengeance of the Lord is often preached to the opposite end of what He Himself declares.  His judgment is turned upside down and inside out.  He Himself explains it very plainly.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:   That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.  (John 3:14-21)

   

What is the Lord’s recompense for evil?  What does the Lord mean by saying that vengeance belongs to Him?

He shows us from the cross.  On the cross He punishes wickedness in His own body and soul.  Having taken the flesh of humanity, having taken the sin of the world into Himself, He took vengeance for all of the wickedness and evil of all time.  He paid the vengeance price with His own suffering and death, His own rejection by the authorities and the religious leaders and the people and mankind.  He took the world’s condemnation and cried out in His suffering: FORGIVE!

We find this as His declared will already in Genesis.  He reiterates it endlessly throughout the Old Testament Scriptures, again in the New Testament Scriptures.

Yet the Lord is not blind to the daily struggles that mankind faces in this world of sin.  As a true Father, He does provide measures to help curb these so that evil does not completely obliterate His creation, especially for the sake of Man.  Thus He does speak of various temporal forms of punishment against wickedness in the world.  He does provide rulers, all of whom are sinful and therefore do not follow His will fully, often even with great wickedness of their own.  Yet through them He does limit and curb overall chaos.  This also is referred to as vengeance, which finds its ultimate display in the suffering and death of Jesus as well.

For the Lord and His household of faith, the continual cry of the heralds is: FORGIVENESS!

Forgiveness for all!

Sadly, most refuse this forgiveness and continue in their unbelief or self-defined beliefs.  Either way the result is the same, they turn the Lord’s forgiveness into something else.  They hinder themselves and others from rightly perceiving the will of the Lord.  Thus many view Christendom as nothing more than another worldly abuse, as a house of hypocrites and hate.

But that is not the way of Christendom.  The true Church of Christ is all about forgiveness and restoration and the love of God in Christ.

The Remembrance of the true Church is that proclaimed with the eating and drinking of the body and blood of the Lord, where it is His Remembrance that is shown and taught and proclaimed till He comes.  It is as with the Old Testament Passover, where the Lord says that the blood is a sign unto Himself so that He Passes Over His redeemed.  He made the same declaration concerning the rainbow, that it was sign to Himself never again to destroy the world by a flood.¹  His signs then also serve us, as we see that He is true to His promises to do as He has promised.  In His Church of the New Testament He has replaced circumcision with Baptism, the Passover with His Supper, and the various sacrifices with the divine liturgy and Confession and Absolution.

Those who receive and practice these as He has ordained them, without reinterpreting them, without redefining them, without adulterating and compromising them, they are the true Church.  Within this true Church forgiveness, mercy, grace, and peace reign.  These are what the true Church teaches the saints to hear and to remember so that they may continue in the new life into which they have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit.

The true Church has always been a tiny remnant.  False representatives and false churches have filled the earth so that very few ever know the joys of God’s Holy Communion.  But where the pure means of grace are administered, there the true saints are congregated by the Lord to Himself and they are continually renewed in Him.  Thus they are moved to act in conformity with what He restores in them.  As He forgives, so they also forgive.  As He remembers His promise not to call to His remembrance their sins and wickedness, so they demonstrate to those who do them wrong.

So, if Christians are moved to Remembrance on this day of great calamity twelve years ago, let this be their remembrance, their preaching, their teaching, their confession, and their practice.

The peace of God to all in Christ Jesus!




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¹ The flood was used to save Noah and his family from obliteration from those who had turned from fearing the Lord to their own ways.  The promised Seed and Salvation was to come through Noah.  As the last believer and preacher of faith in the Lord on earth, he and his family would have faced the same persecution as is being demonstrated today.  They would have been killed and Jesus would not have been born to save the world.  After the flood, God declared that this means of preventing the extinction of His people would not be repeated.  We see the fulfillment of this when unbelievers began to organize at the tower of Babel to establish a one-world-order by which they intended to raise themselves over mankind.  At Babel the Lord disrupted their wicked intentions by means of the confusion of their languages so that they dispersed and desisted their works of establishing themselves as gods over the rest mankind.  Although they continued in their unbelief and wickedness, nevertheless they were halted from their united efforts against the Lord and His plan of salvation.

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Independence Day!

Today I happened to visit Cyberbrethren where he has posted the article Festival of Mary’s Visit to Elizabeth in which he includes this wonderful artwork displaying the visit of Mary to Elizabeth:



Since he did not give the information crediting the author, I cannot give it at this time either.  But it filled my heart with joy to see this representation of this blessed event.  This artist truly portrays these women as the Holy Spirit moved them to know and respond to the salvific activity that the Lord was working in and through them.

Upon seeing this artwork my heart was immediately moved to pray, “Oh Lord, how dear Mary must have needed this visit and this encouragement that You provided her through this encounter.  Such an unusual and heavy burden she bore as the one through whom You came into the world to save us.  Yet this is the joy that You give to those in whom You are at work to save and to bring Your kingdom to mankind!”

I considered these things and thought that this truly is a fitting graphic for July the 4th as the Independence Day celebration.  For this surely is the true independence that mankind should happily celebrate.

I find it amazing that according to our sinful nature we look for independence with the mindset that we must set ourselves free from being dependent.  But as this wonderful graphic displays, truly joyful independence is being set free to be dependent upon the One who truly loves us and provides all good things for us from above.  Like a newborn babe, happily dependent upon mommy and daddy for all good and joyful things, so the regenerated believer in Christ Jesus is happily dependent upon the one true God, having been baptized into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit to live in the perfect and holy Communion of the Lord forevermore.

Christ came into the world to set us free from dependence upon the things that prevent us from partaking of this blessed dependence upon our loving God.  For only in trusting Him do we realize the true freedom that our hearts long to know.

God grant us a happy and blessed Independence Day!

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The Love of Many Shall Wax Cold

     And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. (Matthew 24:11-12)

     Upon viewing this video I was amazed that the driver in the car was so alert as to stop. The danger was quickly assessed and proper safety maneuvers were enacted.

     Then I was astounded by the same driver’s actions as he inspected the front of his car for damage, giving only a cursory glance toward the driver of the truck, with seemingly no concern whatsoever for the other driver’s well-being.

     This sort of love waxed cold is becoming more and more evident today, at least in my daily observations. The caring that I remember observing as common in years past seems to be fading into the shadows.

     At the YouTube page for this video a number of people commented. Some expressing alarm or disappointment that the man did not display any apparent concern for his neighbor. Others, however, expressed sentiments like this one:

     You think YOU'd care about some asshole who almost just killed you? I wouldn't. I commend the guy for illustrating his apathy for the other driver's health.

     This is very disturbing to me. I cannot imagine not caring. Furthermore, I cannot imagine praising such apathy. This is entirely alien to me.

     My citizenship and mindset are not of this world, and so I suppose that I must simply accept that from the worldly perspective, I am the alien.

     If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. (Colossians 3:1-2)

     In times past there were many, especially in this country, who embraced this mindset. There are far fewer today who truly hold to this and indeed we are seeing the love of many waxing cold, just as the Lord Jesus forewarned. The more that the Christian churches muddy their doctrine and practice, the less grounded that they are in the pure preaching and administration of the Word and Sacraments, the less that God’s love shines.

     This is not to say that even among those of other religions and corrupted Christianity and even among atheists that no sense of caring is displayed. One would be acting blindly to make such a claim.

     For the law of God is written upon the hearts of all men, having been inscribed from the sixth day of creation, when Man was made in God’s image. Thus even in our corrupted state, we still show the dim reflection of how we were originally created. Even the various other religions and false Christian religions reflect this. This reflection is, however, very dim and lacking the true love that is of God.

     For example, the yin and yang philosophy, embraces a dichotomy of supposedly complementary forces. Thus fighting styles and methods are often used to teach peace. This is a very, very different way from the way of Christ. This concept of peace and especially of love is expressed as a balance of forces. Not so for the way of Christ, where love prevails and rules the heart and life of the believer. Christ’s way is not at all harmonious with the worldly way. For the Christian love is not a choice. For the Christian love is the very essence of one’s life in Christ.

     Such love does not wax cold. Such love prevails even when one’s reactionary response would be that the other person deserves to be treated with apathy or even worse. Even when the Christian becomes momentarily lost in the way of the sinful nature, the Holy Spirit speaks peace and love to the regenerated nature so that God’s peace and love again rise triumphantly in the heart.

     It is sad to realize that many will never know this love of God in Christ. Many will settle for the worldly notions of love that depend upon a person’s own willingness to act lovingly and caringly. Even from this perspective, most imagine love to be merely an emotional response. Such a view of love is flighty at best and has no real substance.

     The love of God is such that one’s enemies are blessed rather than cursed. The true Christian is moved by God’s love to pray for even one’s enemies, even as the Lord Jesus Himself did from the cross and as St. Stephen did as his enemies were stoning him to death.

     In a world where even most who call themselves Christians think of love as a choice and often even as a meritorious work, when this essential article of Christian doctrine is obscured, it follows that the love of many will surely wax cold. Thus Christians will want to prize the pure means of grace and flee to them where they receive God’s love, His grace, mercy, and peace, freely as His gifts from above administered to us in forms that we can see, touch, taste, and hear, even as He Himself took bodily form to live, suffer, die, and rise again for our redemption, salvation, justification, sanctification, and regeneration to life in communion in His love.

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Amoral, Immoral, or Merely Pathetic?

Are words even necessary?

This is becoming more and more common.  This is something that in years past was occasionally observed, but now I see it every time that I park.  Sometimes I see it multiple times per visit.

Seeing things like this makes me hurt.  It is hurtful to see people act in this way toward their neighbors.  I have stood by and watched people push their cart behind or sometimes even into their neighbor's car.  It leaves me between bawling and brawling.

So I walk over and grab the carts and push them to the cart corral or to the store.  I certainly cannot leave them for the wind to slam into the neighbors' cars.  I cannot leave them for some struggling elderly person to encounter.  I certainly cannot change the hearts of those who do such things to their neighbors.

What can I do?  I can move the carts to a safe location.  I can turn from my feelings of distress and look to God for the peace that only He can restore to my heart.  I can pray for those who do such selfish things.  I can rejoice and give thanks that I am physically able to do a few little things on behalf of my neighbors.  I can rest in the assurance that for Christ's sake God forgives me of my own selfishness and thoughtlessness and that He calls me continually to be restored in His grace, mercy, and peace.

Hmm!  Life is really very, very good.

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Connecting the Dots

Today I encountered an article entitled: Connecting.the.Dots.  It is quite well written and makes some powerful points, especially about the connection of the effects of wholesale abortion on the devaluing of human life.

     In the earlier days of “legalized” abortion, there were warnings of the long-range effects on our society of wholesale abortion, of the careless destruction of the most defenseless among us, of its devaluation of human life. It was feared that a society that brutally takes the lives of its unborn children will become hardened and, in due time, reflect that brutality toward all human life.

The next paragraph really moved my thinking onward:

     There are, of course, many “dots” that can be connected to random killings–mental illness, violent video games and entertainment, etc. But can we sometime soon also connect the abortion dot? While violent killings are as old as Cain and Abel, random acts of violence against innocent human life continue to increase in number and horror, underscored by what happened on Friday. Brutality toward women and children, once shrugged off as a problem elsewhere in the world, now occurs too often in our own society not to connect this dot.

My first thoughts were regarding how people and leaders of church bodies are not connecting the dots that show the deterioration of their understanding of what it means to be the Church and saints.  My first thoughts were regarding the way that souls are being killed through allowing the pure Gospel and the Sacraments and the worship life of the churches to be corrupted and polluted and contemporized with the worldly views and beliefs and practices.  I continue to stand aghast and befuddled by what is happening and how the dots never seem to be connected.

But I also was moved to think of some additional dots that are not being connected with regard to these increasing acts of violence and even so-called random violence.  Some of these dots are very obvious, except that people are being directed through the media and government schools and programs to shrug these off or even pay them no attention at all.

I recently had a reminder of this with one of my former neighbors.  This man has very limited training, education, and skills.  He works hard to provide for himself and his wife.  He cares about others.  But he is struggling, as are many of us.

He has turned to me many times, both when he lived across the street from me and many times since then.  He has shown up many times at my front door, hoping to receive help from me regarding car problems, or to receive a ride to work or a ride home again at 11:15 pm.  He has borrowed and worn out a lawn mower.  He has asked and received help to move from one dwelling to another, using my time, my back, my truck, my trailer, my fuel.  There are many such instances.

Last month he wanted me to “loan” him money for fuel for his car.  He called and left multiple voice mails on my home phone and cell phone.  When I returned his call to learn what he wanted, his wife answered.  She then called him at work.  He called me from his place of work.  I reminded him that I am not his bank and that I also am struggling and don’t have any more money to give to him.  A short time later his wife calls saying, “You dare to call my husband?  Don’t you ever call my husband at work.  You don’t know who you’re messing with!”

Knowing what I know of her and her friends, this was very disconcerting.  It also was very hurtful.

With this, however, we have a few more dots to connect.

Why are people becoming so desperate and frustrated and angry?

When my wife and I have occasion to visit a doctor’s office or dentist’s office or have other occasion where we are asked medical history information, one of the questions we are asked is:  “What medications are you taking?”  The response from the inquirer is usually, “What do you mean you’re not taking any meds?  You are not on ANY medications?”

This is a very significant DOT.

Today, medications are prescribed and passed out more freely than candy.  More and more people are being prescribed mood altering medications.

More and more people are being “diagnosed” as clinically depressed.  The answer?  More meds!

But why are people depressed?  Why are they feeling desperate?  Why are people becoming more and more easily agitated?

This week I received the paperwork for the renewal of the registration of my work truck, trailer, and chipper.  The registration fees were raised $ 70.00 for this year.  This is over and above the property tax that I am required to pay on each of these.

Gasoline is over $ 3.00 per gallon and some forecasts say that this price will soon skyrocket, perhaps as high as $ 9.00 per gallon.  Electricity and natural gas and water/sewer rates also continue escalate.

Jobs and especially good paying jobs are becoming more and more scarce.  People are facing foreclosures on their homes.

Rising taxes and invention of new taxes, rising costs of living, decreasing availability of sources of income, forced insurance by the Obama administration & laws, loss of freedom and increases in unwarranted harassment by TSA, DHS, the police, and countless others, all these pile upon the already heavily burdened hearts and minds of hurting people.

Add to this the preponderance of electronic gadgetry and the added stress from these sources of continual stimuli.  After all, the human brain, body, and spirit can only handle so much stimulus before an overload occurs.

Then people begin to seek additional artificial sources of relief.  People turn to drugs of various kinds, both legal and illegal.  Overindulgence of alcohol, sexual activity, snacks and other foods, carbonated and beverages and high energy beverages are used to try to boost people’s ability to handle more stimulus.

On top of all of these, then add the processed foods to which people turn to try to reduce the stress of preparing their own meals.  These processed foods are loaded with excitotoxins and other chemicals.

There are even more dots, but even if all of these dots are connected, a horrendously messy web can be seen as the fabric of most people’s lives.  Eventually this becomes too much for people to bear.  Eventually, they can no longer find their way through the web to where they believe that they need to be.  Their frustration grows.  They become more and more anger.  As they try to suppress and control their anger they become more and more desperate and depressed.

The Lord has given answers to this dilemma.  He has connected the dots for us, the dots that lead to relief, comfort, redemption, hope, salvation, and peace.

     Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.  (Matthew 11:28-30)

     No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
     Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
     Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith
     Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
     But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.  (Matthew 6:24-34)

     God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.
     There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
     Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire. Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.  (Psalm 46:1-11)

     The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.  (Psalm 23:1-6)

     And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.  (Luke 2:8-14)

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Do We Really Need Moore Control?

Do we really need Moore control in our lives and over our citizenship?  Do we really need more governmental control over our freedoms?



It is reported at Michael Moore Takes To Twitter To Demand Stricter Gun Control that Michael Moore (and a number of other Twitters) has made a number of twit remarks concerning the recent Newtown tragedy and the need for Moore gun control laws to counteract the Constitution.  He does not believe that the American people should be allowed to govern themselves concerning their ownership of private property, particularly not private ownership of guns.

The Inquisitr report reads:

Michael Moore has taken to Twitter to call for tighter gun controls after a shooter killed 27 people – including 20 children – at a Newtown grade school.

The Bowling for Columbine director tweeted:

    “Too soon to speak out about a gun-crazy nation? No, too late. At least THIRTY-ONE school shootings since Columbine.”

He later added:

    “The way to honor these dead children is to demand strict gun control, free mental health care, and an end to violence as public policy.”

Other reported Twitters said:

Gun control is our only road to freedom. Freedom from the fear of senselessly losing children. I'm so saddened. WE NEED LAWS NOW.

- - -

Gun control is no longer debatable- it's not a 'conversation'- It's a moral mandate. '

I really do not know quite what to think of Michael Moore and other Twitters like him.

Could it be that they really are genuinely concerned citizens with good intentions who simply do not think through to the conclusions of their presumptions and demands?  Could it be that they are not really seeking to undermine the Constitution and the rights of American citizens but are simply very simple-minded people who have never learned to think logically and realistically?  Is it possible that they really are so irrational as to believe that making public policies actually effects any kind of change and solves problems?

Perhaps.

For the sake of learning and thinking, let’s consider this from that perspective.

In what areas do people who think this way acknowledge and even demand that privacy be respected and the respective actions of individuals be treated as rights?  What are some of these areas?

• Irresponsible/Casual Sex
  
• Abortion
  
• Alternative Sex & Lifestyles
  
• AIDS/HIV & other STDs
  
• Pornography
  
• Welfare & Foodstamps

What are some of the areas where people who think this way reject a right to privacy and a right to act according to their own decisions?

• Gun Ownership
  
• Home Schooling
  
• Open Practice of Christian Faith
  
• Banking
  
• Health Care & Insurance
  
• Income and Business
  
• Property Ownership & Use

Amazingly, people of this mindset praise Islam as a religion of peace while condemning preaching of the Gospel as HATE SPEECH.

How is it that with a topic like gun ownership and use, people of this mindset call for more governmental control of the guns that are not misused but often defend those who misuse guns?

Why do they defend murderers, seeking to prevent them from facing the death penalty, even though these abusers enacted the death penalty against others?

Why do they want to give more control of guns to the government, the same government that still has not answered for “Fast and Furious”?  How many people have died from the guns that this controlling government secretly and illegally supplied to known criminals and abusers of guns?  Is this not the same controlling government that is giving guns to known Jihadists and al-Qaeda terrorist groups?  Where is the logic in entrusting control of the guns to this irresponsible (or worse) government, and to take control away from law abiding citizens who have proven their responsible ownership and use of guns?

How is it that someone like Michael Moore can say, “The way to honor these dead children is to demand strict gun control, free mental health care, and an end to violence as public policy,” while saying not one word regarding the 137 children who are killed every hour in America through abortion?

Here are the statistics as reported at Abortion Statistics:

• 234 abortions per 1,000 live births (according to the Centers for Disease Control)
  
• Abortions per year: 1.2 million
  
• Abortions per day: 3,288
  
• Abortions per hour: 137
  
• 9 abortions every 4 minutes
  
• 1 abortion every 26 seconds

20 children are murdered by a person in a random occurrence and the Moore-like reactionists begin to call for taking guns away from people regardless of how responsible these gun owners have proven themselves to be.

Yet with a child being murdered ever 26 seconds in America these same Mooreites do not even consider demanding that abortion clinics and Planned Parenthood be held accountable and have their licences revoked.

1.2 MILLION children are wiped out in an ongoing bloody massacre EVERY year!  Three thousand two hundred eighty-eight every DAY!

Where is the outcry?

Where
IS
the
OUTCRY?


Where is the demand for the government to control or to stop this?

How is it that the things that they defend are harming the people and the children of our country and that the things that they attack are often the very things that benefit the people and the country?

I myself am not a great lover of guns.  I’m not even a strong proponent of self-defense.  Yet I certainly am able to understand why our Constitution was written with the right for these built into the Bill of Rights.

How is it that those who react to an incident like the Newtown tragedy never seem to report or respond to the cases where law abiding and gun carrying citizens have saved the lives of themselves or their families or even others from the attacks of people with nefarious motives?  Why is it that the media rarely if ever report such amazing and heroic stories?

Why is a teacher who is shot and killed trying to herd the children into a closet while 20 children are left undefended is counted as a hero, but a teacher who desires to carry a legal handgun so as to be able actually to defend the children and prevent most of them from being harmed is counted as an monster to be controlled?

If that dear teacher who herded the children into a closet had a handgun perhaps she could have shot the perpetrator and minimized the number of children who died.

Would that not be equally heroic and perhaps even better than 20 dead children plus 6 dead adults?  Or what if the principal and other administrators were so prepared and properly trained in the use of arms? What if instead of calling for the government to rob citizens of their right to bear arms if the call was for proper instruction in the ownership and use of guns to protect neighbors and children?

The writers of the Constitution deliberated these matters very carefully.  They themselves fought for the rights and safety of others.  Michael Moore and most Twitters are not known for investment in careful study of matters and then reporting the wisdom from it.  They do seem to spend a lot of time with Twits and Tweets and their flashes of brilliant logic.  Surely such 140 character comments outshine the laborious endeavors of those who drafted the Constitution.

How many times have such people come to the aid and defense of their neighbors?  With what means would they defend anyone?

Ah, of course!  They would whip out their cell phones and begin texting!

By the way, has anyone given thought to the number of people killed or injured because of some Twitter texting as compared to the number of people hurt by those who legally owned guns?

Furthermore, which has caused more harm and damage to America’s citizenry:

Gun ownership
or
Bush’s bailout and Obama’s stimulus?

Pushing yet further, which has caused the death and injury of more women:

Gun ownership
or
abortions?

Shall we push it farther?

Which has caused more harm and deaths for American people:

Gun ownership
or
Pharmaceuticals?

The logic employed by those who are calling for gun control, which really means gun ownership restriction, is not consistent with reality.  It is a reactionary response at best.

Calling for more government mandated mental heath control is even more illogical and even dangerous.  If one considers the increase in erratic behavior of the dangerous kind that has occurred as more psychological and psychiatric and mental health measures have been implemented, there is no reason to believe that these are actually bringing improvements to the mental health of the populace nor that they are reducing incidences of violence.  To the contrary, the evidence indicates the exact opposite to be true.

So what then is the answer?  What do we need?

We need for a change in focus among the citizenry.  We need for the people to remember that they are responsible for their own lives and actions.  We need for the people to turn from dependence upon government and the many other fallible sources of security so that they again look to the things that make for true security and peace and hope and blessedness.

Moore and his ilk are not really so far off from the rest of us.  We all tend to look to exert control in our lives and especially over the things that we find troublesome, unacceptable, and unpleasant.  We seek control for ourselves.  But we especially seek control of others.

Sadly, the more that we seek to have control, either by our own authority and power or through government or other authority, we actually make matters even worse.

A powerful example of this is the horrible atrocities committed by those who proclaimed themselves to be Christian authoritarians.  Those who presumed to be God’s controllers committed some of the most horrific crimes against humanity.  This is because they sought to be in control rather than to submit to that which effects the true beneficial control.

There is only one source that provides the control that benefits all alike.  That is the peace of God in Christ Jesus.  The peace that God’s love works among us is the only control that brings true unity and harmony.  When the love of God in Christ is what holds us and keeps us and guards us, then we love even as we are loved.  Then we look to neighbor with the same love that we have for ourselves. Then we do not seek to control neighbor, but to serve neighbor.  And neighbor, also motivated by this same love of God, seeks to serve us.

More guns are not the answer.  Neither is more governmental control of guns or of anything else the answer.  The more that we empower the government to control, the more that the problems are increased.

The evidence for this is not hard to find.  Consider the mistreatment of the American Indians, the importation of human slaves from Africa and other parts of the world, the mistreatment of Chinese immigrants, the Japanese internment, the prejudicial treatment of various races toward one another, the perpetual banking and monetary abuses.  We have suffered the proliferation of wars both here and throughout the world.  Do we, the average citizens, even know how many conflicts our military personnel are involved in throughout the world right now?  Where does the list of abuses of power by the government’s elite end?  The more power entrusted to these leaders, the more power that they exert.  The more power that they exert, the more that abuses will occur.

Michael Moore and those like him seem to imagine that those who abide by the law should be restricted and even punished in order to gain control.  This is because they do not believe that people can live peaceably together without this kind of coercive control.  The more that this is considered, the more absurd it seems that in order to protect the people from guns, they seek to employ guns to reduce guns.  And so the abuses against the innocent are multiplied.

However, when we, the people, act with the responsibility of our own vocations (callings), acting with loving response to the needs of those around us, these abuses diminish.  When we look not to those who rule with regulations and laws and force and taxes and fines and imprisonment, but turn from them to the One who rules through gracious care, forgiveness, love, and peace, then we see a lifestyle develop among us that flows freely and without coercive control.  In fact, it does not develop so much as it is nurtured and generated.  And the more that it is nurtured and generated among us the more that we desire it.

This is the way of God’s Holy Communion.  This is His good and gracious will.  This Advent season is the perfect time to stand back and reflect and see what God proclaims as His salvific will and plan.  Then, we are well prepared to approach with open hearts and minds to behold it in the Christ Mass.

If only Michael Moore and the world would stop busying themselves with twittering and facebooking and texting and seeking to control everyone, and allow themselves to see and hear what God gives us in the birth of the babe born in Bethlehem.

As for me and my house, this is where our hearts find peace and security.  Neither guns nor the control of guns can grant this.  Mental health mandates cannot accomplish this.  Declarations of public policy cannot bring this to fruition.  Nevertheless, the Lord does grant it freely and without end through the means that He has ordained.

It is truly amazing to remember that His plan is brought to us through a gentle virgin who delivered the Savior into the world in austerity.  The ultimate victory was accomplished through His self-sacrifice, yielding Himself into the hands of wicked men.  His reign is not by force but through the comforting promises of the Gospel, through which peace guards the hearts of those who receive it.  Those who abide in His kingdom gladly and willingly subject themselves to this way of peace, moved by the faith and love that His love generates in their hearts.

In the Christ Mass the Gloria in Excelsis that has been omitted during Advent shall return and the saints shall sing joyously with the angels and all the hosts of heaven:

Glory be to God on high, and on earth peace, good will toward men!

May Michael and his friends come to know this glorious and joyous good news in their lives, too.

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Why God?

When things do not go the way that we think that they should or that we want them to go, we cry out, “Why, God?

When something horrendous like the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut breaks out, those who suffer the direct effects are hit by such a shock that they are left with little other than to ask and cry out, “Why, God?”

Since we all have suffered shocking things in our lives and we all have suffered some form of loss and grief and anguish and heartache, we all relate to the circumstances of such an event so that we all are inclined to cry out, “Why, God?”

But deep down we know that this is pretense.  We are only pretending not to know why these things happen.  We pretend not to know because to admit that we know the reason is to face reality honestly, which leaves us with accountability, very painful accountability.  We do not want to face this.  We would actually rather allow things to become worse than to face the truth openly and honestly so as to confront the real problem and to deal with it.

Moreover, we know the futility of asking, “Why, God?”

After all, God has plainly told us why.  Even if He had not told us, the answer is plain for us to see.  There is no real mystery here.

No one can escape the truth.  The truth is unavoidable.  We attempt to find ways to bury it or to hide from it, but eventually the truth comes to the fore.  Eventually the light of the truth drives away the shadows in which we lurk so that we stand exposed by the light.

This is true both individually and societally.

Why does shit happen?  It happens because of the sin that is in the world, sin that inheres to each one of us and to society as a whole.  We are sinful people.  We are a sinful society.

We ignore the truth.  We bury the truth.  We lie.  We accept what is wrong and try to excuse it.  We allow what is right to be ignored and denied and even to be persecuted.

We have allowed God to be replaced with free will.  We have allowed creation to be supplanted by evolution.  We have allowed absolute truth to be diminished to relativism.  Theology is rejected for psychology.  Divinely revealed knowledge is cast aside for subjectively deduced reason that is given the pseudonym of science.  Grace is renamed as decision or commitment.  Love for neighbor and brother is replaced by tolerance.

We excuse the sacrifice of children by calling it “choice” and even a “right.”

Is it even possible to find a movie that does not have revenge as part of the plot?  Revenge, murder, selfish gain, selfish disregard for the safety of self and of others through extreme sports and fast driving.  Even running red lights is presented as cool.  Stealing of vehicles and breaking traffic laws is promoted as exciting and even acceptable.  Irresponsible and promiscuous sexual behavior is displayed as the norm.

The answer for people’s problems is taught to be some form of pharmaceutical wonder drug.  Depression is no longer counted as a reaction to grief and suppressed anger so that it now is a disorder caused by chemical imbalance that must be controlled medically.

And then we see the results of our defiance and cry out, “Why, God?”

Thankfully, God is not satisfied with merely answering our belligerent demand.  He does not stop with simply answering the question of why these things continue to happen and to become even more prevalent as society moves farther and farther from Him.  He presses onward to give the answer to the problem.  He actually puts the answer into action.

In slightly over a week we will again celebrate His answer, His solution, His salvation.

For those who are genuinely weary of the pretense and the perpetual denial of truth that always leads to the same disappointing end, He has provided His Gospel.  For those who are truly tired of seeking answers for themselves, He has given His Church on earth and the means of grace.  For those who honestly admit their own helplessness and cry out for real help, He says, “Come to Me and I will give you rest.”

Perhaps it is time that we stop crying out defiantly with, “Why, God?” and come together to cry out with relief, “Thanks be to God!”  This is the great gift of the Christmas season.  His name is Jesus.

+ + +

Newtown, Connecticut Tragedy

Such things leave us feeling the darkness of this world.  Especially for those who have lost loved ones, some children, how can they know anything but grief and devastation in their hearts and lives?

At Newtown school gunman forced his way in, police say it is reported:

Dr Jeannie Pasacreta, a nurse practitioner and psychologist who has been advising parents on how to talk to their children, says neighbours have been cancelling Christmas parties and taking down decorations.

And

Dr Jeannie Pasacreta, a nurse practitioner and psychologist in this picture postcard New England town, told me that neighbours were cancelling Christmas parties and taking down decorations, unable to celebrate amidst such searing grief.

The shock to these families is hard even to begin to estimate.

Again the school’s secular psychologist says:

People are at a loss, said Dr Pasacreta, who believes the lesson of this killing is to give more help to those showing signs of mental illness.

However, there is a much better lesson to be learned, for those who have suffered this tragedy directly, as well as those of us who experience it from a distance.

For those who cannot imagine themselves able “to celebrate amidst such searing grief” and find themselves cancelling Christmas parties and taking down their decorations, it would be very helpful to remember what the Christmas celebration really is.

For what reason was Jesus born into this world?  What did the angels shout and sing to the shepherds?  What did Gabriel announce?

But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

  (Matthew 1:20-21)

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

  (Luke 2:8-11)

And as prophesied by Simeon:

And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

(Luke 2:34-35)

Christmas is the accounting of the birth of the baby boy born into the world to suffer at the hands of evil men, to be tortured to death on their behalf, to save them from their condemned condition as sinners.  The Christmas celebration is the joy that is known through the promise that God Himself took our human flesh so that He would journey to the cross of our salvation.

What lesson should we citizens of the world take from this in conjunction with the Newtown tragedy and every other tragedy in the world?

Surely we should do as this psychologist suggests and seek “more help to those showing signs of mental illness.”  This begins with realizing that we all are showing these signs, due to our fallen and sinful condition.  We all look to the wrong sources for happiness and hope and security and satisfaction, so that we find ourselves hopeless, misdirected, wandering, disappointed, failing, discouraged, depressed, angry, frustrated, and desperate.  All of us are disturbed and need help.

So, then, we should turn to this time when Advent directs us to the promise of the coming Savior.  We should use this time of our grief to understand the ultimate cause of our grief and suffering so that we look to the one who comes to help us, to rescue us, to redeem us, and deliver us.  When we partake of His gifts of grace we receive that which our hearts and souls desperately need and desire, even though we often do not even recognize what it is that we need and desire.  In the celebration of the Advent and Christmas season, we are taught what this is and how God freely gives it.  We hear His tender calling to come and taste and see that He is good.  We hear the heavenly invocation to come and adore Him and receive Him as our gracious and saving King.

Will this take away all of the pain that the parents of these murdered children endure?  No.  But it will fill them with the grace and peace of God that overpowers this pain and makes it no longer what rules their lives.  The pain of the loss remains.  But the promise yet to be realized is far greater.

Is there more to this lesson?  Yes, there is.  We surely should learn not to ignore the fact that none of us knows the length of life in this world that has been granted to each of us.  We each should eagerly run to the fount of life, where God regenerates us through water and Spirit to be made to be members of His kingdom.  We should not delay to bring our little children to this washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, so that they are made safe in Christ’s body and are made to be regular partakers of His Holy Communion.  Then, both they and we are filled with the peace of knowing that together we are kept safe in Christ Jesus.  Then, when tragedy strikes, even in the midst of our shock and woe and fear and heartache, we nevertheless will rejoice in the comfort that came down from heaven as a little baby boy who is Jesus, God’s salvation for us.

For those whose children are baptized, the Christmas lights and decorations still can be viewed as reminders of God’s great promises, even as He promised that the descendants of Abraham would be like the number of the stars in the sky, and as reminders of the great light of God’s glory that shown round the angels as they announced the birth of the Savior in Bethlehem.  The world has usurped much of this and used it contrary to what is salutary, but God’s promises still shine for us, even in the darkest of nights.

This is why God has ordained Baptism.  This is why He also ordained the Holy Supper.  This is how He gives us great cause for celebration even in this world of darkness and suffering and terror.  No one can take away what God grants to us through these blessed Sacraments.

Take they our life,
goods, fame, child, and wife,
let these all be gone,
they yet have nothing won;
the Kingdom ours remaineth.

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Tis the Season?Some Fascinating Music Videos

Here are some music videos and their accompanying links:




Christmas Flash Mob by Journey of Faith at South Bay Galleria - official video





Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus - Must See! - YouTube


It seems that this is the one time of year when such things are counted as permissible, perhaps even to be encouraged.

But then, tradition is nearly always counted as valuable and acceptable, especially if it helps to foster merriment and good cheer so that people are thinking of “giving,” which translates to purchasing.

Yet the heart does rejoice to hear that the Gospel is proclaimed, even if only for a brief season and often with tradition and marketing as the motivation.  The Gospel is nevertheless briefly broadcast to fall upon the various kinds of soil, where perhaps it will sprout and take root and flourish for a precious few souls.




Joy to the World Christmas Food Court Flash Mob! - Must See!


How many people notice that this common use of this hymn or carol is truncated to omit the third stanza?  How many people even know the third stanza?  Though this video is offered by Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, they make no mention of the stanza that explains the reason for this marvelous “Joy to the World.”

Here is the entire hymn:

1. Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
 Let earth receive her King;
 Let every heart prepare Him room
 And heaven and nature sing.

 2. Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns!
 Let men their songs employ,
 While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
 Repeat the sounding joy.

 3. No more let sins and sorrows grow
 Nor thorns infest the ground;
 He comes to make His blessings flow
 Far as the curse is found.

 4. He rules the world with truth and grace
 And makes the nations prove
 The glories of His righteousness
 And wonders of His love.

Why is there cause for this wondrous Joy to the World?  It is because in Christ there is no more sin, the cause for sorrow and the curse that God placed upon the ground for Man’s sake.  In Christ, the Lamb who takes the sin of the world has come.  In Christ the curse, while still evident to remind us of the need for the repentance that the Holy Spirit works, no longer has power to bring us low and make us sad.  For in Christ we have redemption and justification and sanctification.

But people prefer to omit this stanza because apart from Christ there is no true Joy to the World because apart from Christ the curse still rules.  And so they embrace only the notion of the hope for joy, joy that is a fleeting emotion that must be conjured up through hyperbolic emotional facades.  Singing of carols without thought as to their meaning; bright lights on trees and the eves of the houses; flying reindeer and fat jolly old men in red suits farcically saying “Ho! Ho! Ho!” while the cameras flash and little children are urged into deeper delusions of self-gratification and lust for toys and other gifts of mammon, all these are promoted for the sake of fleeting moments of feeling happy without considering the cause of unhappiness in the world for which the Christ is come into the world to remove.

Perhaps the saddest realization of all is that this is done also in the churches, where the pure Gospel is supposed to be preached with the true Joy to the World that is realized only through the change of heart and mind that we commonly call repentance.

So, for those who know the true source of Joy to the World it is indeed proper to

Repeat the sounding joy:

 No more let sins and sorrows grow
 Nor thorns infest the ground;
 He comes to make His blessings flow
 Far as the curse is found.
 Far as the curse is found.
 Far as, far as, the curse is found.

After all, this is what the world most needs to hear, is it not, so that this joy may indeed be made known to the world?





Musical Interruption - Carol Of The Bells - Must See Christmas Video!


Wikipedia has a brief history of Carol of the Bells.


At Lyrics Carol of the Bells the full text of this very popular and merry song are available.  This again is fleeting hyperbole, but it does indeed move the heart, mind and spirit to momentary feelings of joy.


Certainly even such shallow songs can be of benefit in lifting the spirits of souls that are in need of upliftment.  But if this is all that people embrace, the emotional drop that occurs after the hype has ended can be devastating.  Such hyperbole has to be pursued continually and in the end has no real power to overcome the curse, only presenting a delusional momentary sense of escape.

In awareness of this some have taken songs like this one and have rewritten them to try to Christianize them and give them a more sanctified appearance.

One example is this one sung by the Ray Conniff Singers:

Ring, Christmas bells, Merrily ring,
Tell all the world Jesus is King!
Loudly proclaim
With one accord,
The happy tale;

Welcome the Lord!
Ring, Christmas bells,
Sound far and near,
The birth day of Jesus is here.
Herald the news
To old and young,
Tell it to all
In ev'ry tongue.
Ring, Christmas bells,
Toll loud and long,
Your message sweet
Peel and prolong.
Come, all ye people,
Join in the singing,
Repeat the story
Told by the ringing. Ring!
Christmas bells, Ring,
Christmas bells.
Loudly proclaim Ring!
Christmas bells. Ring!
With one accord,
The happy tale;
Welcome the Lord!
Ring, Christmas bells,
Ring, Christmas bells,
Merrily ring,
Tell all the world Jesus is King!

Another example is Michael W. Smith - Christmastime :

This lovely sounding song is yet another attempt to make Christmas merry through music.  The lyrics at Christmastime Lyrics - Michael W. Smith are nevertheless lacking in any real substance concerning the cause for Christmastime to be merry.  Apart from the real reason for the birth of Jesus to the world, His rule as King is a terrifying thing.  People turn to Jesus as King with the false notion that they are able to make Him King in their hearts and lives.  And so they find themselves trapped in charismatic hyperbole that they seek after all their lives.  They find a sense of peace for as long as they are able to convince themselves that they actually do honor Jesus as their King and Lord.  However, their own awareness of their sinfulness cannot be forever suppressed.  This leads to despair, sometimes even suicide.

But Jesus comes as a very different King than people choose to make Him.  He comes not with bright lights and flashy glory.  He comes not in hyperbolic singing.  He comes not through the giving of toys and presents from Santa under a glistening tree.  Neither does He come with demands to be worshiped.

Rather, Jesus comes as the King who gives Himself for us.  He comes through the humble vessel of a bloody womb, blood from which He Himself had to be cleansed and purified, the blood of Mary’s sin that she inherited from Adam, the same sin that inheres in our flesh.  He comes at the end of His ministry among the Jews humbly riding on an ass, even the foal of an ass, being carried as the King who is the final sacrifice for the sin of the world.

Today He comes to those who gather to receive Him according to His promise to give His very body and blood in the Sacrament of the Altar.  There He comes under the true Christ Mass gifts of bread and wine that we bring to His Table and He blesses with His gift of Himself in His true body and blood of our salvation and regenerated life in His Holy Communion.

Here is encountered the King of Glory offering us His gifts under the tree of salvation, a tree where the garland is a crown of thorns beaten deeply into  His bleeding scalp, a tree where the only light shining is the light of His love for sinful mankind and the glint that shines from His bright blood flowing down the trunk of the cross, blood shining with His own life that flows for the life of all who will be baptized into Him.

This King comes not to demand that we make Him King of our hearts and lives, but to enter into us through His means of grace to make His home our hearts, not by our choice and not by our commitment to Him, but by His choice and His commitment to us.  He pours Himself out to us and into us and as He creates faith in us, He begins to rule our hearts and minds through the peace of God that surpasses all understanding.  Then we finally know the Joy to the World that He comes to bring.  Then we realize that the curse is but God’s gracious call to stop seeking to make Jesus Lord so that we may receive Him as He comes to us as the one who truly is Lord of all.  Then our Joy no longer is something that we must produce through hyperbole, but the heavenly gift of Jesus who comes to us and produces in us what we cannot produce for ourselves.

Then our emotions are not the cause of our joy but merely reflections of the Joy who is come to the world to redeem the world and save the world from the curse of sin in the world.

Thus this season of Advent is a truly wonderful time of preparation for the celebration of the Christ Mass and these Advent hymns proclaim that for which we expectantly await:

"Come, Thou Precious Ransom, Come"

1. Come, Thou precious Ransom, come,
Only Hope for sinful mortals!
Come, O Savior of the world!
Open are to Thee all portals.
Come, Thy beauty let us see;
Anxiously we wait for Thee.

2. Enter now my waiting heart,
Glorious King and Lord most holy.
Dwell in me and ne'er depart,
Though I am but poor and lowly.
Ah, what riches will be mine
When Thou art my Guest Divine!

3. My hosannas and my palms
Graciously receive, I pray Thee;
Evermore, as best I can,
Savior, I will homage pay Thee,
And in faith I will embrace,
Lord, Thy merit through Thy grace.

4. Hail, hosanna, David's Son!
Help, Lord, hear our supplication!
Let Thy kingdom, scepter, crown,
Bring us blessing and salvation,
That forever we may sing:
Hail, hosanna! to our King.

"Oh, Come, Oh, Come, Emmanuel"

1. Oh, come, Oh, come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

2. Oh, come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save
And give them victory o'er the grave.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

3. Oh, come, Thou Dayspring from on high,
And cheer us by Thy drawing nigh;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

4. Oh, come, Thou Key of David, come
And open wide our heavenly home:
Make safe the way that leads on high
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

"Once He Came in Blessing"

1. Once He came in blessing,
All our ills redressing;
Came in likeness lowly,
Son of God most holy;
Bore the cross to save us,
Hope and freedom gave us.

2. Still He comes within us,
Still His voice would win us
From the sins that hurt us;
Would to Truth convert us
From our foolish errors
Ere He comes in terrors.

3. Thus, if thou hast known Him,
Not ashamed to own Him,
But wilt trust Him boldly
Nor dost love Him coldly,
He will then receive thee,
Heal thee, and forgive thee.

4. He who thus endureth
Bright reward secureth.
Come, then, O Lord Jesus,
From our sins release us;
Let us here confess Thee
Till in heaven we bless Thee.

Yes, indeed!  Tis the Season!

God bless us every one!

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