Confessions

The Child Who was Never Born

2012-01-20T07:14:00.003-06:00

"The Child Who was Never Born"

Monument to the unborn dedicated in Slovakia

Created by a young sculptor named Martin Hudáčeka.

A group of young mothers in Slovakia commissioned a statue dedicated to the unborn.

It was inaugurated in the presence of the Slovak minister of health.

Lutheran Treasures

2012-01-19T08:43:00.000-06:00

I was chatting with one of my Lutheran friends this morning and she said, “Sunday, the choir is singing ‘Day by Day’ and we’ve jazzed it up quite a bit. We haven’t told pastor so he’ll be surprised. But he likes contemporary music anyway.”

That got me thinking… That sounds like something I’d expect to hear from a member of practically any church body, except Lutheran.

Being raised Baptist, and being the daughter of a Baptist minister, I have to say ~ You Lutherans don’t know what a treasure you possess! Please don’t trade it off for something else designed to appeal to human emotions, intellect, reasoning, and feelings! A church body’s doctrine is reflected in its worship and music. Yeah ~ it is… think about it. Pick up a hymnal ~ any hymnal. Then pick up a Lutheran hymnal. Compare the songs. What are they about? Who are they about? Is it full of “I, me, my, mine” or is it full of Christ? Although I love my friend dearly, I have to ask: What is it with all these Lutheran Baptist-wanna-be’s?

Before my husband’s application to the seminary could be accepted we had to go through an interview with our District President and a couple of other pastors. That is the process. During that interview one of the pastors, knowing my background, asked me, “was becoming Lutheran hard for you?”   My answer was, “YES ~ Absolutely! It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done because it required me to examine my entire belief system: what do I believe and why do I believe it?” His next question was, "Would you ever go back to being Baptist?" My answer: "Knowing what I now know, no! Never!"

Many years before that pre-seminary interview, before I met my husband, I had visited several different types of churches. Afterall, we were all worshiping the same God, weren’t we? So what does it matter if we do it in our own unique way? I supposed it was okay, as long as they’re sincere… after all, who am I to judge a person’s heart or the way they choose to worship?” I used to say that I was going to church there to get my ‘battery’ recharged.  I was a ’seeker’, so I attended those services until I left feeling just as empty inside as I had when I began.

Baptist from the age of 10, I felt more comfortable in a church where there was singing from the Baptist Hymnal, no one disrupting the service. There was more order and there were no surprises from the choir. Every congregational song was led by a paid Director of Music. Then the pastor would deliver a wholloping sermon as he beat the pulpit with his fist.  His job was to make people feel so guilty, so evil, so wretched and unworthy that they’d come forward during altar call at the end of the service. And he did a good job of it too! During altar call the pastor stood in the pulpit or at the front of the church urging people to come forward and ‘accept’ Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.  ”The first step is the hardest,” he would say. “… once you step into that aisle you’re on your way home.” So I treked down that aisle. And I did it again and again and again. But I couldn’t get that peace that they said comes from ‘knowing’ Christ.  There I often heard the word “grace” but the Gospel was used to beat people into submission to God. It wasn’t presented rightly. The idea is this: Jesus Died for You ~ you should live for Him. Like I *owed* him something in exchange for my salvation. His love was not unconditional. I lived in a perpetual state of doubting my salvation and I was constantly asking myself if I really meant it when I went forward and prayed the ’sinner’s prayer’. I was never sure of my sincerity.  So I profaned the blood of Christ by believing that if I tried hard enough, I might be able to earn this ‘grace’.  I was even Baptized twice ~~ because I wasn’t sure that I really understood what I was doing in my Baptism. What I was doing?? What WAS I doing???   What a mess I was.

Many years later, I sat in on an adult “information” class at a Lutheran church (LCMS). It was extrememly uncomfortable but I stuck it out for 3 weeks. I had been an unchurched Baptist for several years. But a Baptist, none the less, so I considered myself. I knew the Bible very well. And knowing the Bible I knew where to look in order to defend my Baptist beliefs. I let that pastor and everyone else in that class know how horribly wrong they were about baptism and communion. Oh Yeah ….. I let them have it.    The pastor just wasn’t looking at the scriptures rightly, and I was going to show him.  But I couldn’t out argue him. “This guy’s tough,” I thought. And it was aggravating, so I quit going. (As it turned out, that very pastor was one of the men attending the pre-seminary interview! Scary? You bet, but it made his day.)

After that, I didn’t visit any church for a long time, but I still considered myself Baptist.

Then I met my husband…. And this could turn into a really really long story so I will spare you the details, which you can read in some of my previous posts here.

Let’s get back to that pre-seminary interview now… I was sitting at a round table with some ‘big-wig’ Lutherans who would determine my husband’s future so my knees were knocking. Like I said earlier, becoming Lutheran was the hardest thing I’ve ever done – even harder than childbirth. In childbirth you know what you’re working toward. But examining your entire belief system requires some brutal honesty.

It was at that Baptismal font the day our baby was baptized. On that day I tried to resist what the Holy Spirit was working in me, but He was stronger than all my Baptist beliefs. For it was at that Baptismal font that I saw close up for the first time what the true meaning of grace is. I saw the pure and unconditional grace of God’s love for my little three week old son, who was helpless to do anything for himself, being poured out on his little head. And as the tears streamed uncontrollably down my cheeks, I knew that this was a work of God.

Not long after that I began adult Catechism with the pastor. I was fortunate enough to be the only person in the class. So I could ask him anything I wanted to. And I could argue fiercly as I wanted to. This pastor, God bless him, was kind and patient but firm in his explanations. He showed me what the scripture says about Baptism and Communion and salvation. It was all there – plain and simple. So how could I continue believing anything different than exactly what scripture said? I couldn’t, and I didn’t. And here I am.

Having wandered far off the topic I expected to write about, I will say this:

Lutherans who want to worship in a Baptist or Pentecostal way don’t know what a treasure you possess in Lutheran Worship. The Liturgy = scripture set to music. Simply stated, the evangelical protestant worship service is about going to church, giving to God, and doing for God because He is ‘worthy’ of honor, praise, and glory and it misses the mark – completely.

Don’t throw out the Liturgy in exchange for “feel good” stuff. We Lutheran Lutherans go to church to receive. Yes, we give back too. But the primary thing we receive are forgiveness of sins, salvation from death and the devil, and God’s pure, unconditional grace distributed to us in the two sacraments Christ established for us for His purpose.. and the Liturgy points us to Christ and Christ alone. The Liturgy shifts the focus of worship from “I, me, my, and mine” to Christ and what He has done for us.

One difference in musical text that has particularly struck me is this: The Baptist hymnal says “my salvation” while the Liturgy says “thy salvation”. Whose salvation is it anyway? Yours or His?

So, if you ever consider surprising your pastor with some entertaining happy-clappy feel good music, think about the text and what it is saying. Is it full of “shine Jesus shine” or “I, me, my, and mine”? Or is it about Jesus Christ alone and what He does and has done?

Just a post-script: I know there are true believers in other Christian denominations. And this is true. However, we must be able to recognize the error in their beliefs and practices. And we must not try to be like them in worship. We must continue to defend and protect the purity of Lutheran Doctrine and Lutheran Worship.

Both Sides of The Issue

2011-09-18T07:32:00.000-05:00

Often, because of my work with Central Minnesota LifeCare Center I find myself in discussions with people on both sides of the abortion issue. The stories I’m about to share with you are from people I have met outside our Center - none of them are client stories.

During the Stearns County fair I had a chance to visit with a young woman in her twenties. She said that all her life, abortion has been legal - culturally accepted, and presented by media and medical professionals as a normal acceptable option to women facing unintended pregnancy - obviously, she was born after the United States Supreme court legalized abortion in Roe v. Wade, on January 22nd, 1973.

It’s a cultural issue, said a friend of mine -- “we need to change the culture”. Cultural changes happen over time. It’s taken us 38 years and 2 generations to get here. We DO need to change the culture. Cultural changes happen one person at a time through education and awareness campaigns. We see firsthand that we are changing people’s lives, one person at a time. And we couldn’t do it without you.

Last year I visited with a young woman who wanted to argue in defense of abortion. “It’s a woman’s right, it’s her body, it’s her choice, it’s legal, it’s between her and her god”, - the usual arguments we’ve all heard in favor of abortion. We talked for awhile -- but the conversation reached an impass - So I said to her: “You’re in favor of abortion … then you probably won’t mind looking at some pictures of aborted babies, right?” She agreed. So we went to the computer and searched Google Images for “abortion”. We spent forty five minutes looking at pictures and videos of abortion. I took the time to explain the gestational age of the babies and what abortion methods were used to kill them. When we were finished she was horrified and said, “I had no idea! Abortion is evil!”. Then she told me about a pregnant friend of hers who was considering abortion so I gave her some brochures and information from the Center to share with her friend. Two weeks later she called to tell me that her friend decided not to abort. A baby’s life was saved.

Just last week someone told me she had seen a woman who was obviously neglecting her infant - the child appeared to be starving - “that baby should have been aborted”, she said. “Why not kill him now?” I replied, “Really, what’s the difference?”. Born or unborn, abortion is murder any way you look at it.

Some states have made abortion illegal after 20 - 24 weeks gestation - but that doesn’t mean late term abortions are not being done - babies continue to be killed throughout all stages of pregnancy. Abortion is infanticide. The state of Minnesota puts women on buses and sends them to Kansas to get late term abortions. Our taxes pay for the trip, lodging, and the abortion itself. This is an outrage!

At the county fair a stranger told me the story of her daughter’s hysterotomy. Hysterotomy is a legal late term abortion procedure, done in the last trimester of pregnancy - a Cesearean Section, performed in hospitals, that results in the death of the unborn child. Most babies are born alive with hysterotomy, and simply left to die in a surgical pan or linen closet. This woman’s daughter was 49 years old and following routine genetic testing it was confirmed that her baby suffered from a terminal birth defect and his chance of survival was poor. This is news that no expectant parent wants to hear. So her doctor convinced her that hysterotomy would be the merciful, compassionate thing to do for the child - “Why allow him to suffer after birth, he said. Just let him go now”. Hysterotomy is abortion. Abortion at any stage is infanticide.

Abortion is the un-choice. And abortion is no respecter of persons. Another woman told me about her abortion as a teenager. Church was a regular part of her family life in those days. When she found herself pregnant she feared the wrath and anger of her parents so she turned to someone she thought she could trust - someone from church. The woman from church was eager to help and although the teenager had chosen adoption for her unborn child, she was coerced into abortion. The Elliot Institute reports that 67% of women who chose abortion do so because they are being coerced, pressured, and threatened by parents, boyfriends, husbands, or friends. So the woman from church took care of everything for the teenage girl. She called Planned Parenthood, made the abortion appointment, and let the girl stay at her house for the night. In the morning, the trusted woman drew a nice warm bath for the girl. Then drove her to the clinic and dropped her off. A nurse led the girl by the hand to the “procedure” room, all the while telling her, “it’s not a baby, it’s not a baby." After the abortion the girl was take to another room full of small cots where other women who’d just had abortions were sobbing. The nurses did nothing to console them. So the teenage girl took her place among the crying women knowing that she had just killed her baby. And there was no going back. She didn’t realize that this was a forced abortion.

Women - I encourage you to mentor - and work to build trust relationships with the teenage girls you know. Because one day you may be the one person that a scared confused teenager might reach out to.

Abortion is genocide. In December of 1936 Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood wrote, “We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population.” Abortion is the leading cause of death among African Americans - more than 37% of them are aborted. Since Roe v. Wade, more than 53 million babies have lost their lives to abortion. -- At least 13.85 million of those babies were African American.

Roe v. Wade changed the legal definition of infanticide by stripping unborn children of their humanity and renaming them “products of conception”, “blobs of tissue”, and “parasites”.

I have seen Planned Parenthood’s “informed consent” video. In one or two short minutes they flash the shadow of a baby, 6 weeks after conception, and describe it as a “clump of cells” that has multiplied - as if it were some kind of tumor or cancerous growth. There is no mention of heart beat, facial features, limbs or organs. The child is not even acknowledged as a living thing.

Some people believe that First trimester abortion is a lesser evil. But there are no grades of evil. We live in the days when evil is called good - and good is called evil.

The only evidence of life is growth. When you understand that, there is no denying that life begins at conception.

Sexual Sabotage

2011-08-29T10:34:00.004-05:00

I'm currently reading a book called "Sexual Sabotage" by Dr. Juthith Reisman, a Catholic woman, who's done massive research on how the deviant, perverted, evil sexuality of Alfred C. Kinsey has influenced our culture since the late 1940's - early 1950's. This book tells the story of how America's chastity, abstinence, and love of marriage and family has been undermined in our cuture. Kinsey has normalized deviant sexuality, contraceptives, and abortion --- this is the ONLY "normal" our culture has known for 3 generations!

I highly recommend this book to all of you. It will change the way you see our culture - it's much much worse than we all realize. Kinsey has influenced our legal system, Roe v. Wade, the feminist movement, Planned Parenthood and abortion, pornography, and college, medical, and psyciatric textbooks and diagnostic manuals. Because of Kinsey's work The American Medical Association and The American Psychiatric Association have changed their definitions of abnormal sexuality - these are associations that decide what is "unhealthy" or "abnormal". Kinsey is pro-pedophile, pro-incest, pro-homosexuality, pro-rape, pro-bestiality, and pro-adultry/fornication, and pro-sado-masochism. Kinsey's research is based on the sexual abuse and torture of over 1,888 children between the ages of 1 month old and 15 years. He interviewed prostitutes and published their sexual behaviors as that of the average American wife and mother. He interviewed hundreds of prisoners jailed for pedophilia and the rape/torture/murder of innocent children, asking them to detail their crimes and published that as the typical behavior America's men and fathers. He discredited the WWII generation by accusing them of being "hypocritical" and hiding the "truth" of their sexual deviance from their children. This is how he won the Baby Boom Generation! He had great influence on the Viet Nam protests and "free love" movement of the 60's, and the legalization of contraceptives and abortion. Child pornography was born of Kinsey's "research" and "normalization" of pedophilia. Since America began acting out on Kinsey's false research, 25 new STDs have been created! Of course, one of them is AIDS. According to the American Psyciatric Association, homosexuality and bestiality is defined as "normal" unless it's disturbing the person who's doing it. There are pedophile organizations in the U.S. who are working, as we speak, to legalize pedophilia and protect pedophiles by classifying pedophilia as a "normal" sexual behavior - much in the same way homosexuals have accomplished this. Homosexuals are now a "protected" class in the U.S. -- this is what the pedophile's are trying to achieve -- protection under the law, which means that children will have no protection from them! We should be HORRIFIED!

Like a friend has said, "It's a cultural problem -- we need to change our culture" - We DO indeed need to change our culture. Change can be undone - It took us 60 years to get here, it may take another 60 years to undo it. But we have to start somewhere. Change happens one person at a time. We've got our work laid out for us.

Adiaphora or Not?

2011-06-06T09:46:00.006-05:00

See that little red pop top in the photo? That's ME. I'm not kidding! It might be you too.

Have you ever seen the little Δ in front of the last verse of a song in The Lutheran Service Book? I wonder if most people not knowing what it means just skim on by it. I've seen it happen on many occasions. Personally, I notice every little thing so the first time I saw it I had to find out what it meant. Regardless, I love to sing in Church.

Anyone who knows me also knows that I have a habit of going into gory detail when I tell stories - to the point of boredom on the listener's part. (I really hope not, but I'm not so vain I that I wouldn't say it's possible!)

Our Congregation practices weekly Communion. I know what you may be thinking: "That sounds a little Roman Catholic, doesn't it?" NO! Not at all! Weekly Communion is actually something practiced by the Early Christian Church. And not only weekly, but daily! Wow. That's a lot of the Sacrament of The Altar. But it's For You. Upper case F and Y -- For You for the strenghtening of faith. That being the case, why wouldn't anyone want it as often as possible? I personally would have it every day if I could.

Some pastors who advocate closed Communion say "never serve Communion on Easter Sunday because there are just too many visitors". Our congregation practices closed Communion so in a way I can see where that idea comes from. We normally have one Sunday morning Worship service, but on Easter we have two. That's a lot of visitors! And it's a lot to "screen" if you want to call it that. My husband knows 99% of our members so he'd find out at The Rail anyway and he's not shy about speaking to them at The Communion Rail.

Keep in mind that I'm a former Baptist and fairly new to Lutheranism. Meaning, I'm not one of those lifelong Lutherans who don't really know why they're Lutheran at all. I had never heard the word "adiaphora" until we went to CTSFW (Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne) in 2002. Sure, I'd sit in Kramer Chapel, usually somewhere near the back, and watch people "Crossing" themselves and "reverencing" the Processional Cross (a Crucifix) and Altar. The Sacristan would come out before the service and "incense" the Altar. At first, I thought "Is this what Lutherans do? It seems a little Roman Catholic". And there was weekly Communion. I tend to be an analytical person so I wanted to know what exactly was going on in Kramer Chapel. I learned that these things are called "adiaphora". I have to admit though, that after some time I fell in love with these things. Incensing the Altar is a tricky one, as nice as it may be, because my husband and I have fragrance and chemical allergies.

Every religion on the planet has adiaphoric expression. Including Christianity. There's an adiaphoristic controversy in Lutheranism, specifically in The Lutheran Church -- Missouri Synod.

I love Wikipedia (most of the time). Here's what Wikipedia says about Adiaphora: "Adiaphoron (plural: adiaphora from the Greek ἀδιάφορα "indifferent things") is a concept of Stoic philosophy that indicates things outside of moral law—that is, actions that morality neither mandates nor forbids. Adiaphora in Christianity refers to matters not regarded as essential to faith, but nevertheless as permissible for Christians or allowed in church. What is specifically considered adiaphora depends on the specific theology in view." Meaning that the goings on in Kramer Chapel are not mandated or necessary to the Lutheran faith. However, I believe that adiaphora brings a reverent element into Lutheran Worship. And I love it!

The little Δ before the last verse of a song in The Lutheran Service Book is actually adiaphoric. It's an indication that it is appropriate to stand while singing that particular verse. Not necessary, but entirely appropriate. For me, it's second nature to stand when I see the symbol. It expresses an attitutde of reverence.

I have been at The Communion Rail when one of these verses happened in song and because of my own love for adiaphora I felt sad that no one seated stood. Thus the thought that people may not understand the meaning of it.

Sometimes I wonder what thoughts people must have about my practice of adiaphora. Our Congregation is a casual one so my imagination runs wild on occasion (as my husband would testify) with questions to myself like, "do they think I'm too Roman Catholic?" But the truth is that many of our Congregants were indeed Roman Catholic at one time and converted to Lutheranism at marriage. So shouldn't they be used to all the adiaphora?

On Easter Sunday during Communion one of the distribution hymns had a Δ before the last verse so without thinking I stood up. And my good friend Amy stood with me. Then as I looked around from the corner of my eye, I saw that we were the only persons standing. I was horrified! And suddenly embarrassed. Another friend of mine was sitting directly in front of Amy and I. She turned her head and looked up at us but did not stand. I was further horrified! But, half way through the verse I was able to let those feelings go. I was thankful that Amy stood with me. After all, I'm the pastor's wife, shouldn't I know what I'm doing? Yeah. Too funny.

I have to admit that I spent the following week beating myself up for seemingly making a "spectacle?" of myself that day. But then I came to my senses and decided that my standing was not about them and their sitting was not about me.

A final thought: Maybe some of the visitors that day thought they were in a non-denom penticostal type church where it is perfectly acceptable for anyone to stand any time during any portion of the service, so maybe no one really thought anything of it. Maybe it's just my own vanity that caused the worries.

Just Snap Out of It

2011-05-21T08:11:00.002-05:00

A rare occurrence, I always enjoy sitting in the pew with my husband while someone else preaches. This usually only happens when we are on vacation or attending a funeral or wedding at another church.

While visiting out of state on one of those particular Sundays, the sermon included snippets about the mental health of Christians -- particularly that they should not need Prozac. "Should" statements can be damning and this one struck me as unsympathetic to the human plight of the Christian struggling with depression.

I can guarantee that there were Christians sitting in the pews on that day who struggle with depression on a daily basis, and probably some that take Prozac. Depression among Christians is controversial topic. I've heard both sides of the discussion. On one side you have Christians who categorize depression as a byproduct of sin alone with the merciless attitude that "if you are depressed then you're not in the Word enough, or in church enough, or praying enough, or busy enough". On the other side of the issue, there are Christians who have firsthand experience with depression and know how it affects people and their families -- and these people know that drugs like Prozac are helpful and a blessing.

Depression is no discriminator of persons. And it hits close to home for many of us. My mother is one of those who deny their own depression. And she suffers severely. She says, "all I need is Jesus". Well Jesus didn't keep her from locking herself in her bedroom for days at a time. And Jesus didn't keep her from the mental and physical abuse she forced on me from as early as I can remember. And at the age of ten, it forced me to be "the mother" to my four younger sisters -- my dad was on a ship half way around the world in the middle of the ocean. My mother's depression and mental illness robbed me of my childhood. In fact, as a child, we once knew a family in which the mother suffered tremendously to the point of hospitalization. My mother's response to that was "she's demon possessed". Well, I think we all know that demon possession is a far cry from mental illness. At least that woman was addressing her reality and doing something about it. Unfortunately, there's a negative social, and even religious stigma attached to depression. So where's the balance for a Christian who suffers from depression? And what is the Church's responsibility?

Depression is one of the most common mental disorders facing Americans today and Christians are not immune by proxy. In the world of mental health professionals depression is a medical "disorder" -- an "illness". It's not uncommon for the depressed person to hear comments like "just snap out of it", but depression isn't something that people can just "snap out" of. It's as much a physical condition as an emotional, mental one. Research shows that one in four American women and one in 10 men suffer from depression. The statistics on men reporting depression are probably under estimated because men are less likely to seek treatment for it. So how do we address depression in the Church? It's not really that tricky.

We live in a fallen world. And depression has a lot of root causes that can be hard to extract in therapy. But it is often a byproduct of physical illness. Chronic pain and life-threatening diseases like cancer or diabetes can certainly lead to depression. Sometimes depression is caused by the suffering from sins that have been committed against us. We live in a fallen world full of it -- sin. And yes, sometimes the natural consequence of depression arises from our own sin. Not a statement that Carl Rogers and other humanistic psycho theorists would believe in to be sure. But there is a remedy.

We may not have caused our depression, but we have to learn to live with it. And like any other affliction that torments the human condition depression is not any different. As long as we live in these sometimes seemingly cumbersome temporal bodies there will be pain and suffering. I never like to say "it isn't fair" because saying that disarms us and paralyzes us with an inability to function plummeting us into a deeper depression. And that can prevent us from seeking help.

I think it's important for us to remember that being a Christian does not automatically make one immune to the physical and mental illnesses that go along with having a temporal body living in a fallen world. We need to be a little more empathetic, merciful, compassionate, and loving toward our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who are suffering from depression.

Aborted Baby Body Parts for Sale

2011-04-07T12:37:00.000-05:00

Dr. Miles Jones

March, 2000

Watch the video

Aborted fetal cell line used in Neocutis Skin Cream

2011-04-07T11:45:00.006-05:00

From their website:"Of course, the important question is: How does the medical community do this in a way that is respectful of the dignity of human life, and that is conducted in a highly controlled and responsible manner? This is an understandable concern that we take very seriously. The small skin donation that, ultimately, made the development of our treatment possible originated from a single terminated pregnancy that could not survive to term and was deemed medically necessary by the attending physicians. This voluntary donation to medical research was granted by the parents with their written consent, and was performed in adherence with strict Swiss laws that regulate organ donations and similar procedures."The entire article is here.

Biotech company using cell lines from aborted babies in food enhancement testing

2011-04-06T16:58:00.004-05:00

Updated: 03/29/11 at 4:16 pm.

LARGO, Florida, March 29, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Pepsico, Kraft Foods, and Nestlé are among the corporations partnered with a biotech company found using aborted fetal cell lines to test food flavor enhancers, according to a pro-life watchdog group.

The internationally recognized biotech company, Senomyx, boasts innovation and success in “flavour programs” designed to reduce MSG, sugar and salt in food and beverage products. Senomyx notes their collaborators provide them research and development funding plus royalties on sales of products using their flavor ingredients.

Pro-life watchdog group, Children of God for Life (CGL), has called upon the public to target the major corporations in a boycott, unless the company ceases to use aborted fetal cell lines in their product testing.

“Using isolated human taste receptors,” the Senomyx website claims, “we created proprietary taste receptor-based assay systems that provide a biochemical or electronic readout when a flavor ingredient interacts with the receptor.”

“What they do not tell the public is that they are using HEK 293 – human embryonic kidney cells taken from an electively aborted baby to produce those receptors,” stated Debi Vinnedge, Executive Director for CGL, the watch dog group that has been monitoring the use of aborted fetal material in medical products and cosmetics for years.

Full story here.

Our Story of Prenatal Screening & Genetic Testing

2011-04-06T09:37:00.009-05:00

Fifteen years ago when I was pregnant with my youngest child my OB Gyn ordered a prenatal screening test called Alpha Fetal Protein (AFP). My doctor said that AFP is a common blood test that is done about half way through a woman's pregnancy with a one week window of "opportunity" being exactly four and one-half months gestation. Because of my medical background and the fact that I was near forty years old, my pregnancy was classified as "high risk". I trusted my doctor and his judgement so without giving it another thought I was off to the lab for the test. A couple of days later I received a phone call from my doctor personally, telling me that I should come in for a retest. There was a sense of urgency in his voice as he explained that the test was indicative of Down Syndrome. So I scheduled the retest for the next day and hung up the phone a bit shaken.The next day my doctor called again to tell me that my second test had come back positive for Down Syndrome. His exact words were "there is a 95% chance that your baby has Down Syndrome". In the same breath he stated that he wanted my husband and I to visit a Genetic Specialist in Sioux Falls. He said that this specialist had a state-of-the-art ultrasound machine that would help determine whether or not our baby was "normal". So we scheduled the appointment, not really knowing what to expect. The ultrasound was awesome! As I lay on the exam table in that specialists office I could see everything about my baby, including that he was a boy! But his gender didn't really matter at that moment because I was worried about his health. The doctor and his two assistants found Henry's little heart and I could see it beating. He said, "the heart looks healthy". Same deal with the lungs. Okay - that was a plus. Then the team of doctors continued on to measure the length of his thigh and upper arm bones. He said that babies with Down Syndrome have shorter bones. Then they measured the thickness of the skin on the back of Henry's neck. That was normal too. The doctor said that babies with Down Syndrome have thick skin on the backs of their necks. When the exam was over we went into the consultation office.The doctor asked if it were okay to include our information in a study they were doing on Down Syndrome in babies of older mothers. We said it was okay. Then the doctor went on to explain what the ultrasound exam revealed. He said, "There's never any certainty either way in examinations of babies with positive AFP tests, but it appears that everything is okay with your baby at this point." The next thing out of his mouth is what floored me. He said, "Do you want an abortion?" It felt like someone had jabbed a big knife right into my heart! I said, "NO - abortion is not an option for us." We left that office feeling hopeless with broken hearts and cried all the way home. But we agreed that whatever the health of our unborn baby, he was a precious gift from God and we would love him no matter what. In the weeks and months that followed I had uncontrollable bouts of crying mixed with fear of the unknown. We prayed ourselves to sleep at night, that God would give us the strength to face whatever lay ahead for our baby. About a month later God gifted me with a peace and reassurance that no matter what lay ahead, we would be just fine. Henry was born normal. He was a chubby little 8 pound 12 ounce baby - perfect in every way. And the first words out of my doctors mouth at delivery was "he doesn't have Down Syndrome". Still, at that moment it didn't really matter because the love for this baby was bigger than all the fears we had had about his health. The reason I'm writing this is because 80% of abortions performed after positive AFP tests end the lives of completely normal healthy babies. And it leaves mothers and families broken. Forever. Doctors must think they are doing families a "favor" by offering abortion to such prenatal screening tests. The truth is that prenatal genetic screening tests are completely unnecessary. There are some who might argue that such tests enable delivery room staff to be prepared for unhealthy babies. That's not good enough. Prenatal screening hurts women and obviously causes the death of babies through abortion. Prenatal screening is not healthcare. Abortion is not healthcare. When we believe that all life is a precious gift from God - that life becomes indisposable - not something we can just throw away because it's not perfect. We have no right to be "poking around" unborn babies with AFP or any other kind of prenatal tests in what is supposed to be the safest place in the world: their mothers womb. When we do this, we make ourselves greater than God, the giver and respecter of all life. Read another woman's story about prenatal testing and Down Syndrome here.

Just for Fun

2011-03-31T21:50:00.002-05:00

Some weird trivia:

The housefly hums in the middle octave, key of F
The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher
The longest word in the English language according to the Oxford English Dictionary is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis
An ostrich's eye is bigger than it's brain
A pregnant goldfish is called a twit
A pound of potato chips costs 200 times more than a pound of potatoes
Reindeer like to eat bananas
Twelve or more cows are known as a "flink"
A cockroach can live for up to a week without a head
A typical bed usually houses over 6 billion dust mites (YUCK)
Ants don't sleep
A dentist invented the Electric Chair
A sneeze can exceed the speed of 100 mph
A pineapple is a berry
Rain contains vitamin B12
Peanuts are beans
A moth has no stomach
A shrimp's heart is in its head
25% of your bones are located in your feet
4.5 pounds of sunlight strike the Earth each day

The Hidden Epidemic: Forced Abortion in America

2011-03-31T20:55:00.004-05:00

Most abortions are unwanted or coerced. Many are forced.

"Most abortions are unwanted, are coerced and many are forced, sometimes violently. Escalating pressure to abort can come from employers, husbands, parents, doctors, partners, profit-driven abortion businesses, landlords, friends and family, or even trusted financial, personal, school or religious guides, gatekeepers or authorities. They may be negligent in telling young or vulnerableindividuals or couples about available resources. They may misrepresent information or present false information as fact.
They may threaten or blackmail.

These are not idle threats. Coercion can escalate to violence. As this report shows, women who resist abortion have been beaten, tortured and killed. Some have been forcibly injected with drugs, secretly given veterinary or other abortifacient drugs to force a miscarriage. Others were the victim of hit men hired to injure or kill the baby, the mother, or both.

Sometimes, the threats involve blackmail or loss of one’s home or job, or the exploitation of those facing a crisis. In one case, an employer threatened to push his pregnant employee down the stairs if she didn’t agree to have an abortion. In another case, a maternity-shop retailer fired pregnant employees. In yet another, a homeless woman was denied shelter until she agreed to an abortion. Often, such pressure comes from all sides and can escalate."

Read more at the unchoice.

The Susan Komen Planned Parenthood Connection

2011-03-31T10:17:00.004-05:00

"In the United States, there are about 115 Susan G. Komen Affiliates. Of these, at least 112 sponsor a Race for the Cure to raise money for breast cancer awareness and research. To date, at least 43 of these Susan G. Komen Affiliates have given grants to Planned Parenthood Centers or other abortion clinics, totaling more than 100 grants given across the nation Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinics since 1998."
Read more about it at Life Issues.
Read Susan G. Komen Foundation's own press release dated March, 2011. In this press release they try to justify their support of Planned Parenthood, ignoring the fact that PP is one of the leading abortion providers in the country.
Corporate sponsors of the Susan G. Komen foundation are listed on their website.

23 Genders Identified in Australia

2011-03-23T17:42:00.001-05:00

Neutrois: "Not identifying with any particular gender." Apparently, neutrois is a gender in its own...This from another blogger:"In the beginning there was male and female. Soon there was homosexuality. Later there were lesbians, and much later gays, bisexuals,transgenders and queers. But anyone who thinks LGBTQ is the fullcount of contemporary sexualities is sadly out of date. For example, the transgendered have for some time been divided into those who are awaiting treatment, those have had hormone treatment, those who have had hormones and surgery, and those who have had hormones and surgery but are not happy and want it all reversed.""Enter the Australian Human Rights Commission with someexciting new developments. In an extraordinary document entitled Protection From Discrimination on the Basis of Sexual Orientation and sex and/or Gender Identity, the AHRC has come up with a further list of “genders” which they require us to recognize, and on whose behalf they want our federal government to pass anti-discrimination legislation. To date (by the time you read this,the AHRC's family of sexualities may have increased and multiplied) these are:transgender, trans, transsexual, intersex, androgynous, agender, cross dresser,drag king, drag queen, genderfluid, genderqueer, intergender, neutrois, pansexual, pan-gendered, third gender, third sex, sistergirl and brotherboy."

What are YOU giving up for Lent?

2011-03-20T14:06:00.002-05:00

A couple of days ago I overheard a conversation that went something like this: "So what did you give up for Lent?" "Cigarettes" "Oooooh ... you're GooooD!" followed by laughter. I admit that I had to smile.

My next thought was, "that's not really what Lent is about ... being good." Lent isn't even about giving up something bigger or better than the next person is giving up. It's easy to think that way, making it a battle of who's got the stronger will. But that's where a lot of people who observe the Lenten season by abstaining or refraining from anything end up.

Lent isn't a time for giving up sin. No matter how badly we might want to, we couldn't give up sin if our lives depended on it -- not even for Lent! Yet, we end up measuring our sin against the sin of others in an effort to justify our goodness before God. But when God measures sin - He holds it up against the Law -- and that changes everything because none of us can stand up sinless before the Ten Commandments. If you've broken even one of the Ten Commandments you're guilty of breaking them all.

There are three uses of the Law. The Law serves as a curb to restrain sin, a mirror to show us our sinful state and our need for Christ's redemption, and a guide to lead us to love, trust, and fear God to willingly keep His commandments. I like what this blogger says: the "law cannot make us willing." We are only willing when the Holy Spirit has worked faith in us to want to do the will of God. St. Paul in his letter to James says, "But someone will say you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works." James 2:18 (ESV)

Lent isn't a time for works, it's a time for thinking about the passion of Christ during His last days on Earth before His crucifixion through the day of His ascension. It's a time of self examination, reflection, and voluntary restraint in quiet repentance remembering what Christ has done for us.

Liturgical Dance

2011-03-19T14:53:00.030-05:00

Liturgical dance - it's all the rage! I've never seen this kind of dance -- except for what comes up on youtube searches. It certainly can be beautiful to watch. I'm not really surprised that some protestant evangelical and non-denom church bodies are incorporating this into their worship. Churches that use liturgical dance consider it a "ministry" and have broken it down into categories: processional, proclamation, prayer, prophetic, meditation, warfare, travail, and celebration. In liturgical dancing, colors matter. Amber means glory, blue is for hope, black is death, brown - the earth, bronze is for judgement, burgundy is wine, gold is wealth, gray is ash, green is freedom, and so on ... there are too many colors to list here. Indeed, the use and meaning of these colors have replaced the colors of the Church Year that we use in observation of the life and death of Christ. So why is this so appealing to Lutherans as useful in the Divine Service? Okay readers, you know I'm going to pick this apart don't you?

Thomas Kane says, "By bridging the visible and the invisible world of the spirit, liturgical dance serves the worship of the church by drawing the community into the sacred mysteries, revealing new dimensions of the word, and witnessing to the beauty of God. ... Liturgical dance takes on forms that combine different traditions, such as modern dance, ballet, folk dance and yoga. ... Liturgical dance presupposes a prayer life and a faith commitment on the part of those involved." So here, Kane saying that liturgical dance is prayer and an expression of faith.

According to Kathleen Kline-Chesson, "Liturgical dance is an invitational art. It invites us to respond to God with our whole being; it helps us move beyond verbal expressions to a fuller experience and expression of our relationship with God. Liturgical dances are choreographed to bring life and form to the joys, visions and struggles of a searching heart. When the dances are danced with the sincerity and confidence and spiritual discernment that worship requires, the Christian message is brought to life." Kline-Chesson believes, "For dance to become liturgical dance -- for it to call God into the midst of a celebration, for it to enliven and embody a particular scriptural message, and for it to help create and enrich a worshiping atmosphere -- it needs to be carefully crafted to fit the context of the entire liturgy, so people can respond ... Worship is an active not a passive experience, and one’s participation in the liturgy determines the outcome." Simply stated, liturgical dance is just another form of novel entertainment used by churches where the Gospel in it's purest stand-alone form is not taught or preached. And the Divine Service becomes just another service propagating the theology of glory. It all points back to the question: what is worship?

The problem starts with the belief that worship is an "active, not a passive experience" and that individual participation is necessary in order to create a meaningful "worshiping atmosphere." This attitude is evident in all types of churches, including some Lutheran churches.I've been to churches that in the name of individual participation employ front-and-center praise bands, orchestras, and women lectors. Big screen TVs with power point presentations replace the use of hymnals and the choir stands in the chancel facing the congregations, mics in hand. None of these things are really any different than liturgical dancing because they are all done for the same reason -- "participation in the service." We pass this attitude along to our singing children when we line them up in front of the church to be seen and "shown off" to their parents and grandparents. So why does anyone feel they need to participate in the Divine Worship service for it to be meaningful? There are all sorts of answers to this question, a common one being "I just want to serve." But I'm fairly certain that it always comes down to the visibility a person receives in doing such things. And the motivation for this is only self-gratification. The rhythm of worship in Divine Service is this: God gives to us in confession and absolution, hearing of the Gospel (the preached Word), Communion, Baptism and the remembrance of our Baptism. Through the Gospel and the Sacraments we receive God's gifts passively in the understanding that Worship is something God does, not something we do for God in an attempt to please Him. And then we return thanks and praise in the form of prayer and singing our thanks in the Liturgy and other songs from the hymnal. Liturgical dance has been used as a sacrament to deliver the Gospel. It really isn't much different than speaking in tongues.

Liturgical dance is being used as a type of invocation to "call God into the midst of a celebration" and as an expression of faith." Liturgical dance does not sync with the Liturgy, it replaces it completely and it points us to our own feelings as an indication of faith.

Particularly distressing is the idea that liturgical dance is intended to minister to the "joys, visions and struggles of a searching heart." Liturgical dance is considered a "ministry" by making anyone a minister and completely disregarding the ordination of men into Office of The Holy Ministry as God has established it. By allowing anyone to become "minister" liturgical dance violates the Divine order of creation by placing women in positions of spiritual responsibility and care over men. If liturgical dance is a tool to minister to the struggles of a searching heart then where does that leave the Sacraments? It completely replaces them and once again points us toward ourselves for the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation that the Sacraments offer.

Clearly, liturgical dance brings false teaching into the church. It replaces the Sacraments, undermines the Gospel, makes everyone a "minister," and removes observation of the Church year, which is all and only about Jesus Christ.

The Truth About Abortion

2011-03-17T21:02:00.001-05:00

Former Abortion Clinic Owner Carol Everett

Carol Everett's descent into the abortion industry began after she aborted her third child in 1973, under pressure from her husband and doctor. After the abortion her life began to fall apart; she had an affair, started to drink and eventually left her husband.
With a psychiatrist's help she got her life together enough to go to work for a medical supply company, which led her into the abortion industry. Working for an abortionist showed her how much money can be made in the abortion business, so she decided to open her own clinics.

Ms. Everett told her story at the first Meet the Abortion Providers conference in November 1987. Her statement has been slightly edited for readability.

We opened our clinic and the first month we did 45 abortions. The last month I was there, with two clinics functioning in the Dallas area, we did over 500 abortions a month in that clinic. I was compensated at the rate of $25.00 per case plus one-third of the clinics, so you can imagine what my motivation was. I sold abortions.

I had made $150,000; was on target in 1983 to make $260,000; and when we opened our five clinics, I would have been taking home about a million dollars a year. I expected to make more than that after we were functioning.
At the time we were planning to open the five clinics there were some problems between the partners. We decided to call in a business counselor and worked with him for thirty days. It turns out this man was a preacher. He told me that God had sent him because there was someone in there that the Lord wanted out. I left in 27 days.

Selling Abortion to Confused Young Women

I'm sure you've seen those numbers advertised that say "Problem Pregnancy," "Abortion Information," or "Pregnant?". When a young girl finds out she is pregnant, she may not want an abortion, she may just want information.
But when she calls that number that's paid for by abortion money, what kind of information do you think she is going to get? Remember, they sell abortions. They don't sell keeping the baby. They don't sell giving the baby up. They don't sell delivering the baby in any form. They only sell abortions.
The counselor that the girl speaks to on the telephone is paid to be her friend. She is supposed to seduce her into a friendship of sorts to sell her the abortion.

I cannot tell you one thing that happens in an abortion clinic that is not a lie.

There are usually two questions the girls ask. The first is: Does it hurt? "Oh, no. Your uterus is a muscle. It's a cramp to open it: a cramp to close it; it's a slight cramping sensation. Everybody's had cramps - every woman in the world."
Then they ask: Is it a baby? "No, it's product of conception; it's a blood clot; it's a piece of tissue."
When the girl goes in for the abortion she pays up front then goes into a room for counseling. They give her a 6 to 12 page form. This form is written by an abortion attorney to confuse the girl to death. It works and she doesn't ask any questions. She goes back to the two questions: Does it hurt? Is it a baby?
I cannot tell you one thing that happens in an abortion clinic that is not a lie.

No Words To Describe Abortion

I've never been able to come up with the words to describe the abortion procedure. There are no words to describe how bad it really is. It kills the baby.

Carol Everett at Providers I

I've seen sonograms with the baby pulling away from the instruments that are introduced into the vagina. And I've seen D & E through 32 weeks done without the mother being put to sleep. Yes, they are very painful to the baby. But, yes they are very, very painful to the woman. I've seen six people hold a woman on the table while they did the abortion.

Two Reactions: Acceptance or Denial

After the abortion, the girls are brought to the recovery room where there are two reactions. The first is: "I've killed my baby." It amazed me that it was the first time they called it a baby and the first time they called it murder. That is probably the healthiest reaction. That woman is probably going to have the ability to walk out of there and deal with it, and perhaps be healed and move on.
The second reaction is: "I am hungry. You have kept me in here for four hour and you told me I'd only be here for two. Let me out of here".
She is running from her abortion. She is not dealing with it; she's choosing to deny it. They say it's now an average of five years before people actually deal with the fact that, yes, they did kill their baby.

Women Injured -- and Killed

The girls that walk out of there are the lucky ones. We were seeing over 500 abortions per month and doing one-day second and third trimester abortions. We didn't use the laminaria, we did all the dilation on that one day and we were seeing a tremendous amount of complications.

The girls that walk out of there are the lucky ones.

Yes, we had a death. A 32-year old woman with a 17-year-old son and a 2-year-old son. Never made the papers. Her boyfriend felt guilty for his part in the abortion and he didn't want to deal with it. Her family thought, yes, she had probably had an abortion, but they didn't want to deal with it. It never came out. No lawsuit.
Then there was the girl who the doctors decided had a fibroid tumor at the back of her uterus. That's a highly common tumor that's very rarely malignant. The two doctors decided they were just going to pull it out after her abortion. They didn't know they were pulling on the back of her uterus, and they pulled the uterus out wrong-side-out of a 21-year-old; she had a hysterectomy.

The Effectiveness of Pro-Life Witness

Every time you pro-life activists are standing in front of the clinic you are holding a light on inside that clinic. You are holding those people accountable.
That day they are less likely to do an abortion on the woman who is not pregnant, or the woman who is too far along. The abortionist who brags about doing eight, ten, even twelve abortions an hour will slow down. He's afraid of you.

Way Too Serious

2010-08-14T10:50:00.004-05:00

Yeah, I've been guilty of this. And my blog shows it. But - I am not this serious most of the time. Ask anyone who knows me. I'm a little bit 'out there' when it comes to real life. But I'm also passionate about what I believe. I believe in absolute truth. I am loyal to my friends and family but am not afraid to speak the truth in love.

"It's Not Easy Being Green" really should be my theme song. It's really not easy being me. I struggle with stuff. I tend to be somewhat of a 'moral pietist' and sometimes that presents a challenge with the way I relate to the rest of the world. There are other people out there.

I work in a 'people' business. I see lots of wrongs. I don't see very many rights in my line of work. I get aggravated when I can't figure things out. And I have to keep reminding myself that sometimes it doesn't really matter 'why'. It's hard being in the here and now. I am always planning and thinking about what's coming next. Sometimes I can't let go of the past; usually things that I've done in the past. And none of those things are related to wrong behaviors, it's just regret and wishing I'd done things differently. Stupid and insignificant things like "I wish I hadn't asked so much for some DVDs and used clothing at my rummage sale, ARGGGH". And then I get frustrated with myself for not being any different than that. I'm not really a perfectionist, but I like organization (you would not know this looking at my house). I'm kind of a slob in what I consider 'my' space. I do have an issue with clutter though. Just ask my very kind and patient husband. I think if the tables were turned, that I couldn't be as nice to him as he is to me. I'm just not that good. But none of us are. Not really. I can only aspire to be more like my husband. And I wish I were; more like my husband.

I'm nice when I need to be and I don't share my opinion with everyone who asks. I have 2 or 3 close friends who I'd trust my life with. My intimate and best friend is my husband. There is nothing about me that he does not know and he still loves me. I'm thankful for him.

I like Maxine cartoons - all of them. She says the things I only wish I could say. The things I think come right out of Maxine's mouth with no regret whatsoever. She's old and she's okay with it. She doesn't need much to be happy. And she doesn't care what other people think. She's just who she is; rude, obnoxious, and brutally honest. I'm not saying that I want to be like Maxine. She's just pretend, after all.

I'm not a day-dreamer or wisher. I know that I'm in control of where I go and what I do with myself. I don't do anything out of obligation and I discourage anyone I know from being obliged to me. "Do what you love", is what I say. If you don't love it, don't do it otherwise it becomes a chore. I even have to be in the 'mood' to do housework. Sometimes several cups of coffee helps with that! LOL!

Sometimes I love myself, and sometimes not so much. I fear winter because I know the pain is coming. One of my greatest challenges is living with the chronic pain and exhaustion that comes with winter. I'm afraid for preschool to start because I don't know if I am going to be able to keep up with just 2 full days a week of it. I cannot trust my own body anymore; that it's going to be there for me in all my commitments. Somedays the pain is almost unbearable and the exhaustion is so debilitating. And those are the things depression feasts on.

Here I sit, writing on the topic of "way too serious", and look where I've landed. So now I'm going to go find something stupid to do. I'm going to get OUT of the house and do something mindless.

There it is! Cheers!

American Idol

2010-07-24T10:35:00.005-05:00

For almost a decade reality shows have be all the rage! And for our entertainment, producers of the world are continuously coming up with new and varied kinds of these shows.  These real life mini-sagas tickle our curiosity.  And because we almost have no lives of our own, we don't want to miss a single episode of seeing how different people react in different staged situations. It's easy to get hooked -- 'what's going to happen next?' -- 'who's going to get voted off, or left without a rose, or make it to the finals?'   I know several people who consider themselves "American Idol Junkies". Although I am not one of them, I can see how addicting reality shows can become.

So what makes an American, or anyone else for that matter, an idol?  Who's the one that decides exactly who the idols are? The judges?  The voters?  The media?  What ever else it is that makes anyone an idol, America is certainly full of them (idols). American culture reveres those dubbed 'celebrity' by whatever means. But the word 'idol' is not reserved only for human beings who have achieved fame. An idol can be anything and everyone has one.

What's your idol?  Perhaps it's money, or cars and houses, or job status. Maybe it's a smaller, benign thing  like the latest must-have fashion.  How about a habit, or secret addiction that no one else but you can see?  How about sex?  Never thought of sex as an idol? The sexual 'freedom' movement of the '60's changed everything.  The legalizatoin of birth control pills resulted in a 'worry-free' cultural attitude that 'sex is for anyone and everyone', no commitment needed. But even that has changed! Since the '60's sexual activity has become as non-personal as going to the movies.

Today, there are no boundaries. During what used to be considered 'family TV time', prime time sit-coms present all sorts of sexual behaviors as 'normal' and 'good'.  Sex is a recreational thing, just for 'fun'.  America's children are being desensitized to abstinence and chastity -- being a virgin is something to be ashamed of; it means "you're a geek".  In 2010, 'friends with benefits' is 'good' and 'normal'. "Awe, come on mom, everyone's doing it" -- "it's everyone's personal right"! Infact, some moms will agree with that.  How did we get here?

Ask almost anyone on the street. Today, sex is not a moral issue. The idea of recreational sex, cohabitation, and pregnancy outside of marriage is the 'norm'.  And it doesn't matter in which order you do it.  Anyone who objects is 'a bigot', 'judemental', 'intolerant', a 'goody-two-shoes'.

Sex is presented to preschool children, highschoolers, and college students as a basic human right -- and anything goes.

Organizations like Planned Parenthood (PP) are taking it straight to the classroom (your children): kindergarten through college.  According to PP, anything goes; it doesn't matter what kind of sex you like -- PP is encouraging children to try anything and everything they might be 'curious' about.  Courtesy of PP, even the Girl Scouts of America gets a private, graphic no-parents-allowed session on sex. And their brand of recreational sex means that nothing is off limits, afterall, it's just for 'fun' right?

Just turn your TV on -- birth control is widely promoted and acceptable for anyone of any age. Then, if and when pills, patches, and vaginal rings fail -- there's always abortion or the morning after pill.   "So what?" you may be thinking,  'These things are good and necessary in order to keep everyone's entitled right to sexual freedom". Really?

It's America's unborn children vs. dogs. Cruetly to animals is against the law. There are stiff penalties for torturing animals. Anyone caught poisoning or dismembering a dog is in danger of some serious legal consequences. But when recreational sex results in unexpected pregnancy it's perfectly legal to find a doctor to chop up and scrape your baby out of your womb. Yes, in America it's a woman's legal "right" to have her baby's head cut off and crushed to pieces so she can continue having nonconsequential recreational sex. Did you know that unborn babies feel pain when they are only 6 weeks (8 weeks by medical calculation) in the womb? It's true. Yes, it's against the law to fill a burlap bag with puppies and drop it in a river. But it's completely legal to pay someone to inject salt water into your womb with the sole purpose of frying the person living in there. Babies are being burned alive from the inside out by saline solution injections. Indeed, abortion is now an acceptable form of birth control.

Humankind is suffering from hardened hearts. How long are we going to let this continue? How long before we are able to recognize that abortion isn't really any different than slavery? Like slaves, unborn children are considered 'property', not persons. We must find a way to reverse and undo Roe v. Wade and it has to come from our Grass Roots. YOU can make a difference. Things change one person at a time. Get involved with your local pregnancy help center. You can make a difference by volunteering, donating, and praying for those who work to share the Life message with pregnant women.

For many years we have been at war with Satan and his helper, Planned Parenthood. And since Roe v. Wade, 1973; more than 50,000,000 unborn children have been sacrificed to the god of recreational sex. That is more deaths than the combined total of America's Civil War, World War I & II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Persian Gulf War. For every three babies concieved, one is aborted while there thousands upon thousands of couples longing and crying to adopt them.

Wake up America -- Enough is enough.

How did we get here?

2010-07-15T08:28:00.004-05:00

Pretty picture of sea turtle eggs, isn't it ..... There's jail time and/or a $50,000 fine for digging up turtle eggs like these.

I think it's only natural for us to want to save, protect, and preserve life. Not only for the sake of enjoying that life, but also for safeguarding of the future.

There are lots of pro-life causes and pro-life websites: http://savetheseaturtle.org/
http://www.savethewhales.org/

http://www.savetheearth.org/

What about http://www.nrlc.org/default.html and http://www.lutheransforlife.org/ or http://www.priestsforlife.org/ ? In looking, did any of these websites give you the willies? Probably not the sea turtles or whales .... But how about the human babies? People don't like to think about our biggest endangered species: human unborn children. Abortion is quick, legal, and as abortion clinics would like you to believe, virtually painless, so what's the problem?

There's a cultural attitude surrounding the abortion issue - even in America's churches. There is a double standard when it comes to how we determine the value of human life in this country. It's interesting that most who favor abortion oppose the death penalty. Why is that? Most people agree that slavery is wrong. But it was perfectly legal in the U.S. until 1865. Did you know that slavery was the major issue of the American Civil war in 1860? Simply being legal doesn't make it good, true, or right.

There are lots of arguements in favor of abortion too. Got no wiggle-room in your life's plans? Or maybe you have no plans at all and don't need the extra worry and stress that comes with an unexpected pregnancy. Some quick cash and fifteen minutes of your time and it's over with - forever. But is abortion really just a quick-fix answer to an immediate crisis? No.

Abortion goes against the laws of nature. Women are not 'wired' to have their babies scraped from the womb. Admit it or not - abortion is something that stays with a woman for the rest of her days. Sooner or later, she will be faced with the memories: the sights, the sounds, the smells ... and the soul-shaking pain of this irreversible life-altering choice and the loss of what could have been.

How did we get here?

Abortion has been around for a long, long time - check out the history: http://www.abort73.com/index.php?/abortion_facts/us_abortion_historyhttp://.

Regarding abortion, the pro-birth feminist, Susan B. Anthony said, "we must reach the root of the evil and destroy it".

This little baby died from a legal prostaglandin abortion. Can anyone tell me why this is okay? Why are the lives of sea turtles sacred over this?

There is no argument in favor of this. There is no comparing the value of this life to that of a sea turtle. You hear the pro-abortion politicians talking about the future of our children. This is it. This is the future of our children unless we have the guts to stand up and do something about it.

If you are suffering from a past abortion there is healing and forgiveness. There is no sin greater than the forgiveness God offers through the death of his son on the Cross. Jesus loves the little children - and that includes you.

You can begin healing today by visiting www.rachelsvineyard.org/ or www.silentnomoreawareness.org/ . The first step is the hardest. There is hope and there is healing. Take a step of trust.

Feeling the Spirit?

2010-06-24T20:02:00.002-05:00

Yesterday we observed Pentecost, the day we celebrate as the birthday of the Church, the body of true believers and the Bride of Christ. As described in Acts 2:1-3, it was quite a day! The twelve apostles “… were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the spirit enabled them.” What a day! Wouldn’t you have loved to be there on that day! Better yet, wouldn’t you have loved to be one of those with the tongue of fire on your head! Just imagine the excitement they must have felt! Don’t you feel the excitment just reading about it?! I do.

Something my husband said in his sermon yesterday reminded me once again of where I came from and how I got here.  He was talking about the wind and the tongues of fire and then he asked, “What are we missing?” When it comes to the Holy Spirit today – what are we missing? His answer – - ”nothing but the wind and the flames.” Huh?   What do we expect to happen when we receive the Holy Spirit?   I suppose the first question would be “how do we receive the Holy Spirit?”
Different denominations teach different things about this. This question is a source of  great controversy among Christians.
I know someone who belongs to a church that calls themselves “non-denominational”. This church teaches that the Holy Spirit comes to a person at the moment they begin speaking in tongues (languages known only to God). They do not believe that the Holy Spirit is given to all who ‘decide’ to follow Christ. I know that Pentecostals believe something very similar to that. This belief can be traced back to the first Pentecost.   But the Holy Spirit was around long before Pentecost and he revealed himself in other ways prior to that day. So why would God withold his Holy Spirit from some who believe and not others?
I should point out that when the Apostles spoke in other tongues at Pentecost, they spoke in other earthly languages. The languages (tongues) spoke in Pentecostal-type churches are unknown ‘languages’ that according to Scripture (I Corinthians 14:2), should not be done in worship. While you’re in I Corinthians, feel free to read that entire chapter. How appropriate that it follows what is written in Chapter 13.
Evangelical protestant Christians believe the Holy Spirit comes to them the moment they pray what they call the “sinner’s prayer”. But they have to be sincere about it once they’ve made the ‘decision’ to do so. So salvation and receiving the Holy Spirit requires that a person rightly and perfectly exercise their will.  So what becomes of those who are like the soldier who said, “… I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief” (Mark 9:24)? Not possible, for there is always some degree of unbelief in the human heart.
What do Lutherans believe? We know that we receive the Holy Spirit in Baptism and through the Gospel, the preaching of the Word.
So why the conflicting beliefs? God never changes, that’s probably one thing we all agree on. So how do we receive the Holy Spirit?
First, what do we know about the Holy Spirit? We know that He is part of the Trinity – - the Triune God. We know that Christ and the Holy Spirit are present with God throughout the Bible, from Genesis through Revelation.   In Genesis we read of the Triune God before the world was ever created (Gen. 1:26). And in Revelation we read of the Triune God at the end of days (Rev. 22:16-18). Jesus tells us of the Triune God in John 10:30 and John 14:6 - 9 and Matthew 28:19. The Holy Spirit was with John the Baptizer while he was an infant in the womb (Luke 1:44). The Holy Spirit is revealed to us in Christ’s conception (Matthew 1:18), in His Baptism (Matthew 3:16), in His tempation (Matthew 4:1).  So we see that the Holy Spirit was with Christ throughout His life on earth.  So how do we know when and how we receive the Holy Spirit and salvation?  We know the Holy Spirit serves to convict us of our sin. We know that He is also called The Comforter. Which comes first? What is the evidence?  Shouldn’t there be some physical sign and shouldn’t we feel something when we receive the Holy Spirit?
That’s exactly what Baptism is when it is done in the name of the Triune God – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit! Whether you believe it or not, that is exactly what Baptism is. Jesus instituted Baptism for us as a means of grace, a way to distribute the salvation from sin, death, and the devil, that he won for us when he died on the Cross.
In Mark 1:8 John says, “I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” When Jesus was baptized the Holy Spirit decended on him from heaven in the form of a dove (Matthew 3:16, Mark 1:9).  So why then, do we expect our Baptism to work anything less than the Baptism of Christ, the Baptism he institued for us?  Is that too much to believe?  As I said earlier, there is always some degree of unbelief in the human heart. No one is capable of perfect faith all the time.   Another example of human logic and reason diverting us from the pure and simple work of God. Why must we continue to make ourselves greater than God by refusing to believe his promises to us?  Why do we put more trust and faith in our own understanding of what Christ said rather than take him at his plain and simple Word?
Jesus didn’t need forgiveness of sins; he was without sin. So why did he want John’s Baptism of repentance? For us. He wanted it for us. In his own baptism, Christ made himself present in Baptism – for us.  By commanding that we “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” (Matthew 28:19) he took a baptism of repentance and transformed it into a means of grace by attaching his promise to it.
Both of the Sacraments we observe in The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, Baptism and Communion, were given to us by Christ, for us, for the forgiveness of sins and for life and salvation.
And so I ask you: If these two Sacraments are only symbolic and if God works nothing in them, why did Christ establish them?   And why did he Command us to continue observing them until he comes again? If Baptism is only symbolic and works nothing, why is it done in the name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit? Insisting that Baptism works nothing and is only symbolic amounts to profaning the name of Christ, doesn’t it… ?
We do not receive the Holy Spirit in flames of fire dancing on our heads, or speaking in languages known only to God. This is why Jesus left us with Holy Baptism, Holy Communion, and the Scriptures.
And of course, in adults who have heard the preached Word of the Gospel prior to baptism, this is when they receive the Holy Spirit which works faith in their hearts. So baptism is the next step.
Further, we cannot rely on any feelings of the corrupt human heart for certainty of God’s salvation in Jesus Christ.  Surely, our hearts, minds, and souls are corrupted by sin from the moment of conception. But we can rely on God’s promises which he has attached to the common earthly element of water, when combined with the Word, established by Christ for us.
Interestingly, I am actually finishing up this post on May 31st, the date of my own baptism in 1970 when I was eleven years old. And so I celebrate this day.

Is It Just Me?

2010-03-18T09:54:00.001-05:00

Have you ever stood in front of the mirror pondering over grey hairs and wrinkles? I have. My mom used to tell me “beauty is only skin deep, pretty is as pretty does…”.There is only nine years between me and my youngest sister. And being the eldest of five daughters, I heard “set an example for your younger sisters” a lot. My dad was in the Navy for 21 years prior to his ordination. And I can remember standing on the Naval dock in Hawaii waiting for his ship to come in after months at sea. It was always a special day and we made huge leis of brightly colored tissue paper at school to drape over the ship’s bow when it docked. I was a second grader in 1965. My mom got a new dress – black with a pleated skirt and rainbow colored belt. She was in her thirties then. I remember thinking how pretty she looked in it. It was just me and my three younger sisters at that time and my mom had us all dressed up in matching sailor dresses. Funny what we remember ~ they were little white dresses with blue trim. But in those days, my mom didn’t really need an excuse to dress us up. It was a nice time in my life.
The recent face transplant in France is a miracle! Or is it maybe, just uncharted waters in reconstructive surgery? For someone with disfiguring injuries it is a life changing experience. But for others, cosmetic surgery is about something else. It can even become an obsession or addiction. But why?
We all want to look our best. We care for our bodies with showers, lotions, clothing, exercise, eating, and the right amount of sleep (if you’re not a student anyway). We care for the way our bodies look with hair cuts, manicures, cremes, braces on our teeth, cosmetics, and foot baths. Granted, some of these things we do for comfort, but that is just another way of caring. Why? Because we love ourselves. We love others, and we want them to love us back. We want to live longer lives. We want to be healthy so we can get the most out of life. And we want to be happy.
So why does happiness have so much to do with the way we look? Why do some of us spend so much time in front of the mirror working on our faces, our hair, and our clothes? Is it really about how we present ourself to the world? Some of it, maybe. But a lot of it is how we feel when we look our best. And how we look says a lot about how we view ourselves and the world around us. You see it every day in one form or another. It may be a renegade teenager with multiple body piercings in gothic attire, someone wearing too much makeup, jewelry, or perfume. Another person might be too scantily clothed. Or maybe it’s something more “normal” like body waxing, permanents, and hair coloring. Whatever the reason, we all care for our bodies in a way that seems fitting to us.
I have a little mole under my nose. My mom used to tell me that it is a “beauty mark”. For many years, when I looked in the mirror it was the first thing I saw. And while most people never notice it, I never liked it. So a few years ago I had it removed. Well, bad pennies always turn up – it came back.
Beauty tends to be culturally defined. In Great Britian and England “less is more”, most women don’t wear much makeup. Some African cultures find-self inflicted scarring a thing of beauty. But how do we Americans define beauty? Unfortunately, we are a culture largely influenced by celebrity. We look to celebrity role models for direction in beauty, fashion, moral and ethical values, lifestyle, politics, and religion. And we allow our children to do the same! Think about it – sports and music celebrities, movies, and even cartoons! What are we doing? And what are we modeling as acceptable to our children? What are we condoning by doing nothing? Excessively expensive or inappropriate clothing? Eating disorders? Tatoos and body piercings? Plastic sugery? What’s next? It’s all culturally acceptable!
Indeed, the way we present ourselves is a reflection of who we are. For some, it is a reflection of who they’d like to be. Regardless, it’s easy to make an initial assessment about a person’s personality and character by their appearance. We all do it. Is anyone old enough to remember the book “Dress for Success”? It’s basically a how-to fake-it-til-you-make-it book for achieving “success” in the workplace. It implies that we can change things by the way we dress. I happen to think the book is shallow hogwash…. but that’s just me.
Maybe we need to rethink this beauty thing… I get a lot of emails from friends about what it means to be a “beautiful” woman. After reading the most recent one, I thought, “What is beauty as defined by Scripture”? I like Proverbs 31:30. It says, “Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” Or how about Proverbs 11:22? It says, “Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman without discretion.” Wow ~ that kinda hit’s home, doesn’t it…. True beauty comes from within a person. It radiates through their eyes. Have you ever talked with someone without ever noticing what they were wearing? My favorite verse on beauty is 1 Peter 3:3 & 4. It says, “Do not let your adorning be external – the braiding of hair, the wearing of gold, or the putting on of clothing – but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.” That says it all. Doesn’t it?
We are made in the image of God. Genesis 9:6 “…. for God made man in his own image”.
We are fearfully and wonderfully made! Psalms 139:14 says, “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well”.
We are to honor our bodies as the temple of God. 1 Corinthians 6:19 says, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?”
We are to present our bodies a living sacrifice. Romans 12:1 “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship”. We are to be different from the world. Romans 12:2 says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect”.
I know, it might sound like an awful lot of Law. But really it isn’t. Grace gives us freedom from the law. But we still have fruits of the spirit…

Spiders in My Bed

2010-03-18T08:01:00.001-05:00

OH NOE !!! I wash my sheets every week; sometimes MORE ~~ AND ~~ I just washed them yesterday! I know, ask you if you care… really……. and why would you?
But this morning when I was making my bed I found a DEAD spider in it! Thank GOODNESS it was on my husband’s side of the bed! He can handle it, he’s had cancer, afterall….. LOL!
Anyway… as you know, it doesn’t take much to ‘get me thinking…’ . AND this is no different.
I started wondering how the spider died. Did he get rolled over on? Did he get wacked by a million pound leg (in spider pounds of course)? Did he get chewed up and spit out? Because everyone knows that during the average person’s lifetime he eats at least 8 spiders in his sleep! And if you are one of those who didn’t know ~ well, now you do!
And who knows what that spider did before he died! He could have been crawling all over me. (shivers…. eeek…. yuck… freaks me out to think of it) And if he was doing that, what else was he doing? Did he crawl on my face? In my hair? Did he even think about crawling in my mouth? EEWWW!
Okay, so I’m a little scared of spiders. I HATE them. Especially the big fat hairy ones ~ and they are everywhere. You can’t get away from them! If I find one in the shower I am going unbathed until the professional spider killer gets home. That is unless I’ve had enough coffee and someone has made me mad enough that I think I can kill it on my own. I have been that brave, but not often.
I’m glad I didn’t find the spider on my side of the bed.

Stick-trees, Ice Sickles and Spiders

2010-02-25T11:31:00.008-06:00

This morning my husband, who is an early riser, in an attempt to help me wake up, flicked his bedside reading lamp on and pointed it toward my side of our king-size bed. “Are you going to read?”, I asked. “Nope” … “Oh” … “I am trying to simulate the sunrise for you” … “Oh” … “It’s not working is it”… “Not quite”… “But thanks for thinking of me”. “The sun is rising earlier and earlier every day now”, he said, in an optimistic voice. Not that I am a pessimist, in fact people who know me say that I can be unrealistically optimistic (is that a good quality?). At least the sun is shining ... The sun always shines in the morning but not enough to melt the ice sickles.

It's -4 degrees here this morning. But that's nothing compared to some of the negative double-digit temps we've had here this winter. And with that comes six whole months of stick-trees. The trees change into sticks before the snow even hits. Right now, I see stick-trees -- stick-trees everywhere. Stick trees with ice sickles. Two foot long ice sickles are hanging from stick-tree limbs across the street. Some of them are heavy enough to bend and even break tree branches. Three foot ice sickels are hanging from our roof eaves. At dusk, when you can’t see the dirt inside them, they look like shining Christmas lights. Excited about visitors, our dog runs to the door every time she hears one of them fall off. Ice sickels hitting the deck do sound like someone knocking on the door though. Needless to say, I'm about tired of winter. But spring is just around the corner. How do I know? The spiders are beginning to hatch.

This morning I saw a teensy baby spider crawling accross the bathroom sink. Where'd HE come from? It's -4 degrees outside! Did he crawl up through the sludge-lined drain in the sink? Did he come through the heat vents? He must have just hatched - he's so small! I have a hard time killing baby things - baby ANYthing is hard to kill. But I smoooshed him on the spot. He was too small to make a smudgy mess so it was fine. Part of the nastiness of spiders is the black gooey smear they leave behind when you swat or pinch them (with a tissue of course).

Come June 20th, we have lived in this parsonage for 4 years. Shortly after we’d settled in, I spotted a black furry spider (no baby, this one) crawling up the wall on MY side of the bed. After bringing this to my husband’s attention, he grabbed a Kleenex and pinched the fuzzy little head right off that ugly spider. It left a smudge on the wall (nice). Then, as if to say, “there, I did my part”, my husband offered the tissue to me. “NOooooo thanks! You started it, you finish it!” I do hate spiders.

Some bugs are okay though. Box-elder bugs. But that’s another post.

Baptismal Waters Cover Me

2010-02-24T07:08:00.009-06:00

"Baptismal waters cover me; Christ's wounded hand has set me free. Held in my Father's strong embrace, With joy I praise Him for His grace." (LSB, 616)

If you're Lutheran, chances are you don't remember your baptism. I was baptized by immersion when I was 11 years old and I remember everything about it. But simply remembering the event (or not) doesn't change it's power to cleanse us because it is not we who do the work in baptism. Rather, God has promised to work salvation and forgiveness from sin in the combining of mere water and The Word. How can this be?

Before Jesus, baptism was a Jewish rite of ceremonial Law to be carried out for the physical purification, washing, and cleansing of both people and things in preparation for coming into the presence of God. In his own baptism, Jesus transformed this ritual from an act required of the Law to a life-giving gift of grace. But how do we know?

Acts 2:38-39 says, "And Peter said to them, 'Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself'." (ESV)

Romans 6:3-5 says, "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his." (ESV)

Galatians 3:26 says, "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ." (ESV)

Awesome ...

Ironically, some denominations that have the word "Baptist" in their name believe that baptism is something that we do -- that God does not work salvation, life, and forgiveness of sins in baptism. Because of this, they call baptism a symbolic "ordinance". Unfortunately, this erroneous belief leads them to withold the gift of baptism from infants and small children who are not able to reason as adults do. So because they do not fully accept the Scripture as Truth on this matter, they continue to rob themselves and others in their teaching, of the realized gifts of baptism.

I was baptized in one of those churches. And although I was taught that baptism is only symbolic and a work that we do to keep in God's good graces, when I came out of the water I knew in my heart of hearts that God had worked something wonderful in my life.

Baa Baa Black Sheep

2009-08-02T09:31:00.001-05:00

Have you any wool? Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full……
Ever feel like a black sheep? Anywhere, I mean. Ever think you have sacrificed a lot for your faith? Parents, brothers, sisters, friends, jobs? And now, even freedom to worship, country, and national security. I waste too much time on feeling ostracized by people who I think should naturally be important in my life and vice versa. Sometimes I find myself asking questions like, “is it my turn to be the black sheep now?” or “am I being treated invisible because of my faith ~ because I am Lutheran?”. We’re not all on the same page. Like my husband has said, “Lutherans don’t make very good Baptists….” But you know what? Baptists make *awesome* Lutherans ~ that is former Baptists, of course. I know, I am one. But I digress….
No matter how surrounded we are by our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ in the One True Faith, it is so easy, and more common than some people realize, to feel so alone. It sneaks up on you. And it’s not about unity in the church. It’s more about unity in the family (of origin) or circle of [former?] friends, or acceptance in culture and politics…. It’s so easy to slip into the mindset that we are “sacrificing” so much to be Lutheran, even Christian ~ and in a free country that was founded on the Christian faith, no less. Sacrifice isn’t the right word though. Everything is a trade-off. The One True Faith is such a gift, there is no trade-off that would be worth losing or compromising it. Not family, not friends, not government, not death.
Jesus was a “black sheep” in his family. His brothers thought he was dillusional. The people in his home town thought he was crazy. The people of his own race thought he was an embarassment. The church leaders thought he was a heretic. And the people who crucified him thought he was a liar. But Mary, his mother knew… she always knew. And she was quite possibly considered a dillusional liar by people in her own community as well. But Joseph knew what Mary knew. Jesus Christ is True man and True God. He is the precious Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Jesus Christ is life in the midst of death. Jesus Christ is love ~ pure and true, in a loveless world. He is Lord of all and he is Saviour.
In Luke 12:51-53 Jesus says, “Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
No matter how we are rejected by our earthly families we have comfort in knowing that we are part of a much better family that we have for eternity… Romans 8:17 says that we are children of God and fellow heirs with Christ: “and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him”. Further, Romans 8:18 says, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” And this is not speaking of our own glory. This is the glory of Christ, the glory of being in the presence of Christ forever and eternity. Temporal earthly relationships, no matter how they might grieve us, are not worth exchanging for an eternity with Christ. The answer is to keep our eyes on Christ and the Cross, when we find ourselves feeling hurt over the lost love of family and friends, or grieving for the way we think things ought to be. We live in a fallen world.
I was confirmed in 1998. My confirmation verse is Revelation 2:10, “Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” At the time, a little part of me wondered why my pastor would give me such a confirmation verse. Being a Christian does not mean we will never have to suffer again. Physically, mentally, economically, socially or politically. Christians all over the world are trading this earthly life for eternity with Christ in his glory, not ours ~ HIS. Some of us have exchanged family and friends for faith and one day we may be required to exchange our lives on earth for the same, even in this country. Will you be ready?

More Like Jesus?

2009-07-13T09:19:00.002-05:00

The other day someone emailed me a photo of a sign that said “My boss told me to change the sign, so I did”. Okay… Too funny.While driving around town, I like to read signs. Church signs especially catch my attention. But some of the things I’ve seen on church signs amazingly look like they may have been taken directly from The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. I know ~ I shouldn’t really be surprised now, should I? Although January is nearly over, the sign I saw on a Baptist church today said, “Is your priority to be more like Jesus in 2006?”
What kind of question is that? Is my priority….. to be more like Jesus….. ? That sounds like quite a feat! Is that possible? Something to aspire to, I suppose. Do I really need to be like Jesus? Why? Yeah, a sign like that might look good to someone driving by about 50 miles an hour in casual passing on their way to work . But what does it really mean? And why do churches put messages on their signs anyway? Is it for the people inside the building, or those outside on the street just driving by, like me? Either way, it sounds like I need to walk the straight and narrow, maybe even try to be perfect. And what do I get for being more like Jesus?
The real problem with a sign like this is that it suggests that by merely making it my priority, I can achieve being like Jesus. Secondly, there is no grace in it ~ it’s all law. It’s just like asking, “Is it your priority to keep the ten commandments in 2006?“ We call this way of thinking “decision theology“. The driving force behind decision theology is the idea that man can bring himself into God’s plan of salvation through the right and good exercising of his own free will. But there is an error in this way of thinking. Mankind’s free will has been corrupted from the moment Satan seduced Adam and Eve to use their “free will” to sin against God by eating of the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden. They believed the devil’s lie that their “choice” (disobedience) would make them equal to God. The first time mankind exercised the use of his own free will sin entered into the world and the human race for all eternity. The consequence for all of us is physical death and spiritual death by separation from God in hell, a place of punishment created for the devil and his angels. And it cannot be undone by the human will. Likewise, mankind cannot bring himself into salvation by his own free will. We cannot be any more like Jesus than we can keep the ten commandments. Jesus is the perfect Lamb without spot or blemish; he is True Man and True God. He is without sin.
Our free will, which is part of our inborn human nature, is contrary to (against) God in every way. We see it from birth. Yes, little babies are born with a sinful rebellious spirit that is against God. We might not find the sins of infants as blatantly rebellious as that of a convicted murderer, but it is there nonetheless. We tend to see infants as innocent and pure. Untainted by the ways of the world, maybe, but not innocent, pure, or sinless by any means. Anyone who has raised a child can testify to that. Why do you think they call it “the terrible two’s”? Because at about two years of age a child realizes that he is his own person, so he exercises his own free will to be contrary by saying “no”. If babies are not sinful, why do they hear “no” so much from their parents? “No, no, no!” And why do they throw temper tantrums when they don’t get what they immediately want? Because they are rebellious against the God-given authority of their parents, which by the way is a breach of the 4th Commandment, and rebellion against God. So what does an infant who is not able to “prioritize” anything do for salvation? Children are not granted a lesser degree of guilt from sin just because they lack the ability to rationalize or verbalize it. This is why infant baptism is so important. For in Baptism an infant is brought into salvation through God’s grace and receives the Holy Spirit who works faith in him. Contrary to what mainstream Protestantism teaches, the Holy Spirit can work faith in infants. The work of the Holy Spirit in an infant’s life is not invalidated by the child’s inability to speak of it. God has the same set of rules for all mankind, infants and adults alike. He would not be a just God if he did not. Rather, he would be a God of double standards. So you see why infants need Baptism just as much, even more, than anyone. Believing in an “age of accountability” in essence is saying that mankind is not born with sin, but rather has no sin until he is old enough to know it. It’s like having a cancerous mole between your eyes. You can’t see it, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
Psalms 51:5 says, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” We were sinful from the moment of conception. I John 1:8 says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Likewise, I John 1:10 says, “If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” All have sinned ~ even infants. Romans 3:23 & 24 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
So where does this faith in Jesus come from? As Romans 10:17 says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” And again, in Ephesians 2:8 – “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” So faith comes through hearing, hearing through the word of Christ, and it is nothing that we can do for ourselves. God creates faith in us through his grace. But how? By the work of the Holy Spirit through the word of Christ. Not unlike what the Holy Spirit worked in Mary at the conception of Christ. Mary had nothing to do with it. We don’t know how Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit, but she did. Likewise, we cannot rely upon our own human understanding in this because it is beyond our earthly comprehension. Further, Galatians 3:2 says, “Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?” Our will has no part in our salvation. We do not receive the Holy Spirit by our own doing, by our own invitation, or by our own will. If we believe we must will ourselves into God’s grace then is it really grace? If we believe our salvation depends upon our own decisions then aren’t we making ourselves greater than God? If we are able to save ourselves by our own choice, then why did Christ die? The Holy Spirit alone works faith in our hearts. He descends upon us like he did on Jesus at his Baptism, on Mary at her conception, and on Elizabeth and her unborn baby, John. And we cannot trust our will to do anything good.
Just as we do, the apostle Paul struggled with human will, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.” (Romans 7:18 & 19). So desiring to do what is right does not work because we do not possess the ability to carry it out! This is a hard thing for some people to accept. Human nature wants to feel in control of things. But the truth is that when we are in control, everything goes wrong because we are filled with sin – and that’s the best we can do! Romans 8:7 & 8 says, “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Thank God for his free gift of grace that has nothing to do with our choice-making: “For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:3 & 4).
The belief that our salvation depends on what choices we make puts us in a perpetual state of uncertainty about our salvation. This is because the choices we make are based on human feelings, reason, and logic. None of these things are reliable or trustworthy.

I think some churches use their signs as fish hooks. Maybe they think some “catchy” little phrase might draw in visitors or lure seekers. Anyone can make it their priority to be like Jesus. Some people might think Buddha or the Dalai Lama are like Jesus. But thankfully, our salvation has nothing to do with our being like Jesus. Faith does not follow works – rather works are a natural byproduct of faith. An apple tree doesn’t groan to bear banannas, but naturally produces apples. Prioritize as you will, it is not enough. We can look only to God for our salvation. What a relief, huh?

Feminine or Feminist?

2009-06-18T09:39:00.001-05:00

When I was a young girl my mother used to say, “Don’t swing your purse, it makes you look like a bar-fly!”. “What’s a bar-fly“, I thought? I was only 12 and so you can imagine the kinds of thoughts that went through my head. Truthfully, I thought a bar-fly was some kind of insect (I was very naive in those days). And a “bar“? I couldn’t tell you what that was.

I am old enough to remember televised Viet Nam protests. And changing the channel would take you directly to the “burn your bra” barrels. I didn’t really understand any of this. I didn’t even know what a bra was! Although some people might think of those days as the beginning of the liberation of women and the birth of feminism, it goes back a lot further than that.

Since the beginning of time, women have been fighting the natural order of creation ~ beginning with Eve. Now that’s not to say that Eve is soley responsible for bringing sin into the world. It was not Eve who bore the tresspass of this offense. As stated in Romans 5:12-14,

“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned – for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.”

And this is because of the natural order in which God created the world. Adam took the responsibility for Eve’s disobedience. This is not to say that man was created a “higher” or more valuable being than woman. Man was created to be the head of the woman. Ephesians 5:22-24 says,

“Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its savior. Now as the church
submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.”
Submission… what exactly does that mean? It is not “ownership”, it is not “slavery”, it is not the right to abuse. Ephesians 5:25-30 says,
“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife, loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the Church, because we are members of his body.”
And further down, Ephesians 5:33 says,
“However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”
That doesn’t sound at all like ownership, slavery, or abuse to me. For in this scripture, God places equal value and worth on the husband and wife. But the husband is to be the head of the wife, and the wife to respect her husband. What’s so bad about that? Nothing, I say. What wife doesn’t want to be loved in such a way by her own husband? It is an honor to be loved in this way. And God has established this as the natural order of creation from the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 2:18 God says,
“Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helper fit for him’.”
So women are not “beneath” men in creation, just second in creation. Woman was made to be a suitable helper fit for man. Again, what woman would not want to be honored, loved, suitable, and fit to her husband in this way? Likewise, I Corinthians 11:3 says,
“But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.”
No matter whether or not you consider yourself to be a feminist, there is no denying that someone has to be in charge. In charge at work, in charge at home, in charge of county, city, state, country, and all government; in charge in worship, and in charge of all creation. Scripture has laid out the answer in the most plain and simple way for us.
Still, corrupt human nature, in it’s rebellion against God wants to be “in charge”. And it’s not only men. Women are equally guilty. Feminists not only want to be in charge, they want to be superior. And it is this desire to be unscripturally equal, even superior, that has damaged the family core. In the heights of selfishness, feminists are so busy taking care of their own wants and interests that they have lost all sense of balance within the family. They have sacrificed the emotional, spiritual, and mental wellbeing of their own families. Look around. Our children are evidence of this.
Feminism has become its own religion. And it didn’t happen overnight. No matter how it is presented or disguised, the rebellion of feminism is pure rebellion against God, not men. Although Feminism presents itself as independence from man, and reliance upon self, it is, in truth rebellion against God, the creator of all things, and Jesus Christ, True Man and True God. Feminism seeks to immasculate God with it’s prayers to a non-gendered “mother/father god”. Unfortunately, the feminist does not see that this is a prescription for bondage, disaster, and failure. It is also a prescription for spiritual, and yes, even mental illness. Feminism takes away a woman’s God-given place of honor and respect in the natural order of things, and replaces it with rebellious self-destruction.
The main concern of feminism is disguised as “equal rights”. Rights to financial, social, political, and economic “freedom”. Freedom from dependence upon men in any way, shape, or form (with the exception of careless sex on demand). Freedom from the balance of truly loving relationships with men in marriage. Selfish freedom from children that might result from careless sexual relationships with men, through the legal choice to destroy life within the womb. Freedom to choose other women over men as their mates. These so called “freedoms” are all contrary to the natural order in which God created the world and mankind. This is sin ~ all of it. And it doesn’t end there. Sadly, feminism is based on a deep underlying hatred for the authority of God and men.
The contented, fulfilled woman is the woman who retains the role God gave her at creation and the beginning of time. This does not mean that “a woman’s place is in the home”. Just as this also does not mean that the woman who chooses to be in the home is of lesser socioeconomic or personal worth. Consider the woman described in Proverbs 31: 10-31. She is a wife and a mother. She is loved by her husband and “she is far more precious than jewels” (Proverbs 10:31). Her husband trusts her. She is good to him and for him. She works, she is not lazy. She is a smart and successful business woman and she provides food for her family. She is beautifully dressed. She gives to the poor and is prepared for anything. Likewise, her family is well dressed. Her husband is proud of her. He holds a place of honor in the community and is well known because of her deeds. She is strong and dignified. She is kind and wise. She is more excellent than any woman. Her children call her blessed and her husband praises her. She fears the Lord.
So you see, a woman can function in the role God created for her and be successful in the home without compromising any of the “freedoms” that feminism proclaims. This woman has greater freedom than any feminist. This is the woman that feminists secretly long to be. But they will never admit it.

You're a WHAT?

2009-05-11T09:29:00.001-05:00

Our son was Baptized when he was three weeks old. My Southern Baptist relatives were shocked. But only one of them had any real response. One of my sisters asked me, “You are having your baby Baptized? Into *what* religion?” My reply was, “Christianity, The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod”. Not long after that I began adult Catechism and I was confirmed the next year.

If you’ve spent any amount of time visiting with an Evangelical Protestant you will know what I am talking about. I was raised Southern Baptist so when I became Lutheran I surprised my parents and my sisters. They thought I was straying from what they believed to be the one true faith. They thought I was nearly Roman Catholic! I think some of them may still be somewhat horrified.

This attitude is not uncommon among Evangelical Protestants. It can be attributed to their unfamiliarity with and misunderstanding of the Lutheran theology as a whole. I speak from the perspective of a former Southern Baptist. To Evangelical Protestants, there is no difference between the Lutheran Church and Roman Catholicism. And I was no different. Not understanding the difference, I felt uneasy about the Liturgical Worship of the Lutheran Church. It seemed too Roman Catholic. And I was further horrified as I read the last paragraph of the Athanasian Creed: “This is the catholic faith; which except a man believe faithfully and firmly, he cannot be saved”. I thought the word “catholic” meant Roman Catholic. But in truth, it refers to the Universal Church, the Body of True Believers. This seems to be a common misconception widely shared by non-Lutherans. It makes me wonder if anyone really knows and understands the difference between Lutherans and Roman Catholics, except themselves.

A lot of the misunderstanding of Lutheranism can largely be contributed to how we appear: our clerical vestments, Liturgical worship, holding to and administration of the Sacraments, and other things that might be adiaphoric in nature like Crucifixes, processionals, chanting, incense, placement of the Baptismal font, choir and organ. It makes sense that any unknowing observer would think us to be the same as Roman Catholic. But the difference is theological and goes much deeper than that.

Martin Luther never wanted people to call themselves “Lutherans”. Initially, we did not choose to be called Lutherans, but that’s the name we were given and over the centuries, we have become distinguished so for our beliefs. But why do some Anabaptists insist on being called Baptists? It’s ironic. Especially so because by withholding Baptism from those who need it, particularly infants, they are in contempt of Baptism. They despise Baptism by denying God’s work in it and by re-baptizing those who have already been Baptized. This in no way, nullifies God’s work in Baptism because we know that God continues to work salvation in Baptism even if it is administered by the Anabaptist, as long as it is done in the name of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghost.

It is interesting that although most Evangelical Protestants believe the Lutheran faith to be synonymous with Roman Catholicism, it is indeed the other way around. Evangelical Protestantism is very nearly equal to Roman Catholicism in its core theological beliefs. For both practice a works-equals-righteousness-equals-salvation-equals-heaven theology. And neither believes they wear the Robe of Christ’s righteousness without some doing of their own. We Lutherans wear the Robe of Christ’s righteousness without doing anything in return. It is a gift of God free and clear. Any good works that are a product thereof, are the works of God, not ourselves, because we are not capable of doing an good works. There is nothing we can do to be righteous before God. Isaiah 64:6 says, “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.” (ESV) Any righteousness we have is not our own, but it is from God. In Philippians 3:9 Paul writes, “… not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith -…”. (ESV)

Lutheran theology can be a hard concept to grasp because everywhere we go in this world and everything we do, we are required to do something in exchange for something else. We may even find ourselves hesitating to received good things from other people for fear that we will “owe” them something in return. Likewise, people want to feel like they have a responsibility in God’s plan of salvation for mankind. This is where Lutherans differ from all other Christians. Lutherans DO absolutely nothing to receive God’s salvation. We don’t have to make a “choice”, we don’t pray the “sinner’s prayer”, we don’t do penance, we don’t have to speak in tongues, we don’t have to fear purgatory or work to pray those we love out of purgatory. We don’t have to do anything in exchange for God’s gift of salvation. It is ours free and clear. We know how to receive. We receive in Baptism, we receive in Communion, we receive in Worship. And, we don’t do any of these things for God. But God does everything for us. He gives us His Holy Spirit, He gives us faith, He gives us forgiveness and we do not have to DO anything in order to receive it. Some may argue that Lutheran Baptism is a work toward righteousness. It is not. It is the pure and simple act of receiving alone. Likewise, Communion is purely and simply receiving the Body and Blood of our Lord for forgiveness of sins and the strengthening of faith alone.

Being Lutheran means living under Christ Alone, Scripture Alone, Faith Alone, Grace Alone.

Cowboy Church

2009-03-01T07:48:00.001-06:00

Have you ever heard of this?   I hadn’t until my dad (a retired Baptist preacher) told me about the one he and my sisters attend. Evidently, people can take their horses to this ‘church’ and remain seated on them during the entire service.
WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO DIVINE SERVICE? But then, we’re not talking about anything even remotely close to Lutheran Worship now, are we…. My mom’s greatest disappointment is that there is no choir she can sing in. Bet they still have altar call though. I wonder if they have poop-scoopin ushers? hmmmmm…..
Feud for thought….. that is if yah bring yer rifle…. Wonder if the preacher ever worries about preachin’ too much law with all those rifles in church…..  On a more serious note, it’s sad that these fad ‘churches’ are teaching so much, one being that you can receive God’s salvation without and separate from the Holy Spirit.
For more on that topic please read my post entitled "Feeling the Spirit". http://solagratia58.blogspot.com/2007/06/feeling-spirit.html
Endnote: We know there are true believers in other Christian church bodies where the Gospel of Jesus Christ is preached.  I'm an artsy person... My musing at this type of church is not to be taken as "poking fun" at them. To be sure, in protestant evangelical circles this type of church
is used as a tool for evangelism. If I were Baptist, I'd probably be intrigued
by the novelty of it. My sisters and parents in Texas find this kind of church
attractive, as I'm certain other "seekers" do. We love our brothers and sisters
in other Christian church bodies. The protestant evangelical world is a mission
field for Confessional Lutheranism.

When Were YOU Saved?

2009-02-09T09:25:00.001-06:00

While walking through the mall (if you like that sort of thing ~ personally, I hate mall shopping), it’s not unusual or uncommon to be approached by proselytizing anabaptists-in-training who like to ask, “Have you been saved?” The next question is, “When?”. The answer I always give is, “Yes, 2000 years ago when Jesus Christ bowed his head on the cross and said ‘It is finished’.” It gets them every time! Not one single person has ever asked what I meant by that or better yet, even try to argue with it (whoosh ~ the deed done, they’re gone as quietly as they snuck up)!A former S.B., I’ve done my share of door-knocking in my youth, always accompanied by an older experienced, and “wiser” Visitor, of course (they call it “visitation”). Visitation ~ it sounds like the last thing they do with a body before the funeral (actually, that is called a “calling” ~ I used to sell funerals & cemetery).
Unlike most confessional Lutherans I know, I was not Baptized as an infant. Rather, I was required to reach what anabaptists call “the age of accountability” before receiving the gift of Baptism. My dad was not always a pastor, and my parents were unchurched for many years so I don’t remember hearing the words of the Gospel until I was at least ten years old. Well ~ contrary to what anabaptists teach, it was when the Gospel first fell on my ears that I received salvation. But I was denied Baptism until I was eleven years old. It was only after I had secretly and shamefully said “the sinner’s prayer” and confessed it to my mom, followed by a meeting with the pastor of the Baptist church (in which I was asked to give my “testimony”), in order to determine whether or not I was indeed qualified, that I received Baptism. Confessing my sin in that way was like telling someone a dirty little secret about myself. And they attached that guilt to the Baptism. Thankfully, there is no requirement or prerequsite for Baptism.
So on May 31, 1979 I was received into the family of God through Baptism. It was not a date that was written down anywhere in my parent’s records, so I had to do some persistent digging to find it. Still, the date of my Baptism was important. As much as we had moved over the course of my childhood (my dad was in the Navy), I managed to remember the name of the church and what city it was in. So I “googled” them and emailed the pastor to ask if he had any record of my Baptism. He did not respond for months. Still, I persisted. He must have finally tired of my emails because he then referred me to his secretary who was eager to help. She mailed a copy of my Baptism record. It was like finding my birthday!
When anabaptists Baptize in the name of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghost, who are truly present in Baptism, it remains a valid, scriptural Baptism. But sadly, the error is in their belief that God works nothing in Baptism. Because to the anabaptist, Baptism is only symbolic; a work of one’s own doing that is only a testimony of salvation; something that is done to prove to witnesses that you are indeed “saved”. My question to this is, “then why bother to do it at all? I mean, works don’t save you, do they?” But this is what Baptism becomes for them, a work of righetousness. As in Communion, they don’t even claim to reach up to God, they only claim to proclaim the faith they believe they have worked in their own hearts.
But for Baptists, there is no sense of urgency to Baptize. They refer to Baptism as an “ordinance” ~ something that offers no grace, salvation, or forgiveness of sins, but is done only because Christ ordained it. Inspite of their disbelief in the gift of grace, forgiveness of sins, salvation from eternal death in Hell, and the devil, they indeed receive the same. Anabaptists do not recognize the work of the Holy Spirit in Baptism. And they despise infant Baptism. But Acts 2:38 & 39 says, “And Peter said to them, repent and be Baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” Aren’t babies included in the phrase “every one of you”? And this promise is for you and your children. Both adults and babies (your children) also receive the gift of the Holy Spirit in Baptism just as the Holy Spirit ascended upon Jesus in the form of a dove in his own Baptism. We know that babies and infants can have faith. Luke 1:41 says, “And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.” Even Elizabeth’s unborn child recognized the unborn Christ child. Again, Matthew 21:16 says, “and they said to him, ‘Do you hear what these are saying?’ And Jesus said to them, ‘Yes, have you never read, out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise?’”. Further, Matthew 18:2 says, “And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, ‘Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.’” Likewise, Matthew 19:14 says, “but Jesus said, Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” So why would a loving parent not want to bring their child to God through Baptism?
True believers cannot continue to doubt or argue with Scripture. We receive salvation, forgiveness of sins, and the Holy Spirit in Baptism. And it is the Holy Spirit who works faith in our hearts. We do not work faith in our own hearts, we are not capable. I Peter 3:21 says, “Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” Galatians 3:2 says, “Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?”
We all know the story of the thief on the cross. Truthfully, we don’t know whether or not he had been afforded Baptism prior to his crucifixion. It is probably safe to assume that he had not, and yet Jesus promised that he would be in paradise with him that very day. The thief recieved salvation through Jesus Christ alone, The Word made flesh who dwelt among us. And although the theif probably had not received Baptism, he recognized Jesus as the Son of God, True Man and True God, The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
Salvation is not of our own doing. God works faith in our hearts and lives through the Word and the Water. So we receive the Holy Spirit, who works faith in our hearts and lives. We are helpless to save ourselves by choice or decision. Romans 10:17 says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ.” And again, John 6:44 says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” It is the Father who draws us to him, not anything we as human beings might do.

... On Decision Theology

2008-03-18T08:56:00.001-05:00

This is in response (polished up a bit) to something one of my new blogger friends said. And since all of our paths don’t cross, I’m posting it here as well.

“One of the hardest things for evangelicals who convert to Lutheran theology, or at least for me, is getting away from “decision” mentality.”

I understand where you’re coming from. When you’ve spent so much of your life under the bondage of your own will it is hard to grasp the concept that we cannot make a decision ‘for’ or ‘to follow’ Christ. Let me explain.

Decision theology is rooted in the idea that a man’s ‘free will’ determines where he will spend eternity; that if a man is to receive God’s salvation through Jesus Christ, he must exercise his ‘free will’ in the way that would please God by ‘deciding’ to become a Christian. There are so many errors with this theology.

First, I will say that if a man is able to bring himself into God’s salvation through ‘accepting’ or ‘deciding’ to ‘follow’ Jesus ~ that man is making himself greater than God. Here is why: When Adam & Eve sinned in the garden, that was the beginning of Original Sin, the sin that we are born with since the fall of man. Because of original sin, man is corrupt to the soul. Everything about man is corrupted from the moment he is conceived. We are not only sinners, we are sin in the flesh - to the core. Thus, everything about mankind is contrary (against) what God wills for us. Therefore, our ‘free’ will is contrary to God.

Our free will is so contrary to God that we are **UNABLE** to exercise our will to do anything good, including being ’saved’. We have absolutely nothing to do with our salvation. It is soley and 100% God’s work, none of ours. It is through hearing of the Word (Romans 10:17) that the Holy Spirit begins working faith in our hearts. SO ~ BY THE TIME A PERSON IS ABLE TO MAKE A “decision” FOR CHRIST ~ The Holy Spirit has ALREADY worked faith in his heart. It is not a work of man, but of the Holy Spirit on hearing the Word. Jesus established Baptism for us. At Baptism, a child receives the Holy Spirit, who in turn works faith in that Child’s heart. In the adult convert, faith is often worked in their heart before they are Baptized.

Because our will is so corrupted by original sin, we could not come to Christ if we WANTED to ~ that’s how sinful we are. The bottom line is that if a person believes that they can bring themself into God’s salvation by the exercising of their own free will, they do not believe in original sin. This is what decision theology is rooted in.

I’ll give you several scripture passages that explains how it is God who does everything in our salvation, and that we are not saved by the exercising of our own [corrupted] free will.

GOD alone is responsible for the right exercising of our will in any matter, especially in our salvation:”For it is GOD who works in you, BOTH to WILL and to work for his good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13 (ESV)

It is GOD alone who works belief in Christ in our hearts:”Jesus answered them, ‘this is the work of God, that you believe in him who has sent me.” John 6:29 (ESV)

We cannot come to Christ without the Holy Spirit. God alone draws us to him: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me DRAWS HIM.” John 6:44 (ESV)

We are not ABLE to say that Jesus is our Lord, we are too corrupted by original sin: “Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and NO ONE CAN SAY THAT JESUS IS LORD EXCEPT BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.” I Corinthians 12:3 (NKJV)

Can you imagine a dead person raising himself from the dead? That is impossible! Isn’t it…. Lazurus could not raise himself from the dead ~ it was Jesus who raised Lasurus from the dead. In the same way God works faith in our hearts raising us from spiritual death to salvation in Jesus Christ: “You were DEAD in the tresspasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by NATURE children of WRATH, like the rest of mankind. BUT GOD, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, EVEN WHEN WE WERE DEAD IN OUR TRESPASSES, MADE US ALIVE together with Christ – by GRACE you have been saved.” Ephesians 2:1-5 (ESV)

Grace is not something WE decide to receive, GRACE is not something WE DO – if it were, it would not be grace. If we have to decide to recieve God’s grace then it becomes a WORK that we must do: “For by GRACE you have been saved THROUGH FAITH. AND THIS IS NOT YOUR OWN DOING: it is the GIFT OF GOD, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV)

GOD CHOSE US, we did not choose him: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit…” John 15:16 (NKJV)

Finally, we cannot exert our own will to attain salvation through Christ: “For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.’ So then it depends NOT ON HUMAN WILL or exertion, but on GOD, who has mercy.” Romans 9:15-16

When Jesus was baptized by John, the Holy Spirit came upon him in the form of a dove. IN THE SAME WAY ~ the Holy Spirit comes to US in baptism. Jesus ordained Baptism FOR US. BAPTISM is God’s way of distributing the salvation that Christ won for us on the Cross [as is communion].

Baptism is not merely an “appropriate initiation” into Christianity. By virtue of what Jesus established for us in his OWN Baptism, it is a means by which we receive the Holy Spirit. Yes ~ it is just the beginning!

I hope this helped you somewhat. As a former Baptist, I too struggled with letting go of the notion that I can bring myself into God’s salvation by the exercising of my own “free” [CORRUPTED BY SIN TO THE CORE] will. Remember ~ our will is CONTRARY to God and it is CONTRARY to everything good therefore our will is not CAPABLE of choosing Christ ~ it is the Holy Spirit who first works faith in our hearts ~ before we are able to confess it with our mouths. If we must “choose” Christ ~ then that choosing is a work toward righteousness. And we are not capable of desiring anything righteous unless the Holy Spirit has FIRST worked it in our hearts.

When someone asks you when you were saved you can always say, “two thousand years ago when Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins.” That always blows their minds.The Protestant Evangelical’s “testimony” is only an account of how they believe they have used their own corrupted free will to choose Christ. The drama that often comes in sharing of testimonies is only an account of the sins that person has committed, the same sins that all of us are capable of committing. He has received no more or no less forgiveness for the depth of his sin than you and I have. So why is an account of all that sin even necessary. Testimonials are all about the person who is “testifying”. Think on that… What do you hear in a testimony? An awful lot of “I, ME, MY, MINE” and very little of Christ until the very end when they take credit for GODS work.

Make sense?

Why Does The Lutheran Church -- Missouri Synod Practice Closed Communion?

2007-07-08T08:38:00.001-05:00

Before I became a confirmed member of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod I sat in on a few services. Yeah ~ a daring thing for a professing “Baptist” to do. Those Lutherans have an awful lot of communion. They do it at least every two weeks, and even more during Advent and Lent. Why is that? And they use real wine too. Hmmmm…. Likewise, an interesting notion to someone who considered herself a very conservative Baptist. Everyone knows that a “good” Baptist doesn’t drink wine, or any alcohol for that matter. And especially not as part of the Lord’s Supper, which is only observed once every three or four months in the Baptist church. And why do Lutherans go forward to the altar to receive Communion? Baptists just stay in their seats and the ushers pass the trays of white bread with the crust cut off and little plastic cups of grape juice up and down the pews like the offering plate ~ and anyone who wants to can take it. So, as I sat in the pew watching those around me walk up to the altar to receive communion, I have to admit I felt a little left out and a lot resentful. Why do Lutherans have communion so often, why do they have to “sign up” for it, and why can’t just anybody who wants to, go forward to receive it? “What snobs these Lutherans are”, I thought. But why did it bother me so much when I didn’t even know what Lutherans believed about communion? Still, on more than one occasion, I thought “maybe I can just sneak up there and no one will notice” or “maybe I should just say I believe what Lutherans believe about communion, so I could have it”. But it wasn’t that simple and in my heart I knew that. Sure, I had read the Pastor’s statement on the back of the bulletin about communion. It said (with my own thoughts at the time in italics):

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“+ I am a sinner, am sincerely sorry for my sins, and confess the need for God’s forgiveness. (okay – I agreed with that one. I know big-time what a sinner I am.)+ I believe in JESUS CHRIST as my only Lord and Savior from Satan, sin, and death. (yes, I believe that too!)

+ I believe that the true Body and Blood of Christ are really present in Holy Communion under the form of bread and wine (Augsburg Confession, Article X). (Now wait a minute! I had a huge problem with that. Southern Baptists believe that this is only a symbolic thing ~ don’t be talking about Christ’s true flesh and blood here.)

+ I desire forgiveness of all my sins, fellowship with Christ, and the proof of eternal life given in this Sacrament. (Okay, okay, okay! I believe all of this with the exception of the part about “proof of eternal life given in this Sacrament”. Afterall, didn’t proof of eternal life happen the moment I walked down that aisle to invite Jesus into my heart as my personal lord and savior, and agree to follow him?)

+ By the power of the Holy Spirit, I desire and intend to lead a more Godly and Christlike Life, trusting in God’s promises and obeying his commands. (yea, I guess I could say that and mean it…)
Those who hold in common this faith are welcome to join us in Holy Communion. If you have questions, or have not communed with us before, please speak with the pastor. (Now that was the clincher, I was sure that I did not hold in common that faith and I surely didn’t want to talk with the Pastor about it ~ he might try to “convert” me, and I wasn’t looking for that ~ I just wanted communion).”

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So I stayed in my seat without realizing what I was missing out on and my heart was a little achy, because even in my own ignorance about what it was, I loved partaking of The Lord’s Supper. But that is not enough.

What do Lutherans believe about The Lord’s Supper? It is not just bread and wine. It is not symbolic. It joins us to Christ and to each other. It works forgiveness of sins and strengthens our faith. Human nature asks how this can be. How can these common earthly elements of bread and wine work anything for our spirit? Jesus, himself gave us this Holy Supper. Luke 22:19 & 20 says, “And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me’. And likewise the cup after they had eaten saying, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.’” There is a lot to decypher in these two statements. This “new covenant” replaces the old covenant of Passover. (Likewise, the new covenant of Baptism replaces the old covenant of Circumcision, but I will save that for another time.)

God made promises to save and protect his people through their observation of Passover. God has attached, with his word, the gifts of grace and forgiveness to physical elements since the beginning of time, but it has to be done in His way. The Passover lamb was without blemish and was roasted whole, not a bone broken, on two spits (one horizontal and one crossing vertically over the other) upright over an open fire. Then it was eaten completely in haste with wine and bitter herbs; and all of it was to be eaten. Families too small to eat all of the lamb were instructed to invite enough guests over to help them eat the entire lamb. And it was the blood of the lamb smeared on the door posts that saved the Israelites from death. This was God’s promise. Likewise, it was at God’s command that the Passover be observed from thence forward. Jesus instituted The Lord’s Supper during Passover. Thus, under the new covenant, The Lord’s Supper is the fullfilment of the Passover meal and Jesus Christ is now become the Passover Lamb without blemish that takes away the sins of the world and saves us from death and the devil. True man and True God became the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

Just as God saved the Israelites who observed the Passover meal as he instructed them to, He now also saves us men who observe The Lord’s Supper as he has instituted it for us and for our benefit. Our Lord’s body was broken for us and his blood was shed for the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus took God’s wrath that should have been mans upon himself. This is the new covenant in his blood. Now we Lutherans do not claim to know how God accomplishes this in communion. But because Jesus said “this is my body” and “this is my blood” we believe that He is truly present in the sacrament. We acknowledge that this is a mystery from the human perspective. But he said it and I believe it. The word “Is” means IS. (no redefining the meaning of the word here.) I find it interesting that other denominations can pick and choose the things that Jesus said, as they wish to believe them. But there is no getting around the word “is”. It truly is that plain and that simple.

Why do we human beings expect God to work in wondrous ways through wonderous means? It is the Word of God combined with these common elements of bread and wine that bring the true presence of Jesus Christ into the Holy meal, as is true in Baptism. And this is a wonderous mystery. In Baptism, the Word combined with the water works salvation and forgiveness of sins. And without the Word, the bread would be bread alone, and the wine would be wine alone. Without the Word, the waters of Baptism would be water alone. God joins himself in and through the Word, to these common elements and they become the saving grace that was issued from the Cross of Christ himself.

I Corinthians 10:16 says, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” We practice close communion to protect the unbelieving soul from drinking to his own damnation. I Corinthians 11:27 says, ” Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord.” And as it is written in I Corinthians 10:17, “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.” And, so we also practice close communion to preserve the fellowship of true believers as they come to The Lord’s Table.

Before I became Lutheran, communion was a time to sit in my seat and beat myself up for being so evil that it required Jesus’ death to save me from my sins. It was a time for feeling guilt, shame, and unworthiness. And following communion, I left feeling the same.

But now that I know the true meaning of The Lord’s Supper, I gladly run to His table where I receive grace, forgiveness of sins, and strengthening of faith in partaking of, and participating in the Lord’s true body and true blood until he returns to take me home where I will join him at his own table in Heaven

This is an older post: Barbara Walters on Heaven

2006-04-12T09:01:00.001-05:00

RE: Barbara Walters’ television special on Heaven - a few years ago.

It is more and more apparent that the mainstream liberal media’s agenda is dedicated to the promotion of syncretism in Christianity and humanistic existentialist unionism in religion. They continue to present Christianity as the biggoted, intolerant, politically incorrect religious expression of a bunch of fanatical kooks. Why don’t any of these people seek to interview LCMS Pastors? Maybe it’s because our Pastors hold to the truths of the Bible without compromise. Maybe it’s because they have the courage to address, from the pulpit, issues that aren’t even spoken of in other denominations for fear of being called intolerant biggots. OR could it be because some of these other denominations embrace the lifestyles and behaviors that God condemns as sin (even ELCA). Where is OUR freedom to speak the truths of Scripture, on our own turf no less, without the threat of being arrested for “hate speech”. Not that fear of threat is a factor ~ it can’t be, else we have denied God’s Word, compromised Pastoral responsiblity, and endangered souls.

Syncretism attempts to unite all faiths claiming to be “Christian” into one “can’t-we-all-just-get-along” ecumenical lump. And so many of our congregations and lay leaders do not recognize or understand what this is and how dangerous an error it is. But when we agree to participate in and embrace ecumenical worship services, pulpit exchange, and participate together with them in the sacraments, we are denying Lutheran Theology and the confessions of the One True Faith as directed by Scripture and Scripture alone. That is not to say that there are not true believers in other Christian denominations ~ of course, there are. But we need to be aware of the theological differences between denominations and beware of being sucked into this mindset. The whole ecumenical movement is based on ignorance of one’s own beliefs and other denominational doctrines.
Unionism is the attempt to meld all religions into *one* by claiming that all gods are one in the same and that there are many different paths that all lead to the same god. This is nothing short of idolatry. But people are hungry to hear this because to the flesh, it is “affirming” and makes rebellious souls “feel” better about the way they live although it is contrary to what Scripture teaches and what God requires. It is humanist, existentialist, and doesn’t define or address sin. Forbid we say the “s” word. The rebellious soul does not want to take responsibility for admitting its inborn sin as defined by God himself, nor does it want to accept the consequences of sin: condemnation and eternal death and separation from God in Hell.
A good example of unionism, which still remains a great controversy within the LCMS because so many lay people don’t know what syncretism and unionism is, and how dangerous it is, is what happened at Yankee Stadium after Sept. 11 when Rev. David Benke prayed to Our Lord, The One True God, invoking (inviting or calling) His presence into a unionistic worship and prayer service with leaders and teachers of false relgions. The rebellious human nature has it’s own plan for salvation which is based on human rationale and feelings, but this is blatantly contrary to God’s plan. Fallen man’s plan is so much more complicated than God’s plan, and it doesn’t work salvation; it works damnation. Such people want to believe that all paths lead to the same place and the same god rather than to believe what God has laid out so simply for us already in the Bible. But believing the Bible means that you have to believe it is the inerrant inspired Word of God, unlike those intellectuals who like to call themselves “Biblical Scholars” but treat the Bible as if it were just another piece of literature. The first of the ten commandments is “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:3 ~ *Before ME* ~ that means *above me* and/or *in my presence*. Remember how the temple was desecrated with a statue of Zeus? An act of abomination and desolation declared by God himself. And that is exactly what Rev. Benke did at Yankee stadium. He invoked the presence of our God into the presence of false gods and religions in the guise of unity. An abominable damnable unity. And this act has been pooh-poohed by some of the finest lay people in our congregations as a wonderful act of tolerance, a way to “reach out” to unbelievers. I say no.
II Corinthians 6:14 – 16 says, “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God…”
As Lutheran Christians, we are here to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all people, not to befriend and embrace their false religions in the name of “outreach” or whatever else you might want to call it.