Scripture says, “Unequal weights and unequal measures are both alike an abomination to the Lord” (Proverbs 20:10). An “abomination” is a “disgusting thing.” In Biblical times, a dishonest scale cheated the buyer or the seller. Today, our dishonest scales are hidden in how our money is created and managed. When new money is printed, added to a bank ledger, or borrowed into existence, the first to receive it benefits, while everyone else bears the cost later through higher prices.
View article →The Flood—The Promise of the Rainbow—Gen. 9:1-17 (18-29)
https://youtube.com/live/qxpOkiutFMEThe Flood—The Lord Remembers Noah—Genesis 8:1-22
https://www.youtube.com/live/5kElVatW2Fg
"Catechism means the instruction in which the heathen who want to be Christians are taught and guided in what they should believe, know, do, and leave undone, according to the Christian faith. This is why the candidates who had been admitted for such instruction and learned the Creed before their baptism used to be called catechumenos. This instruction or catechization I cannot put better or more plainly than has been done from the beginning of Christendom and retained till now, i.e., in these three parts, the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and the Our Father. These three plainly and briefly contain exactly everything that a Christian needs to know. This instruction must be given, as long as there is no special congregation, from the pulpit at stated times or daily as may be needed, and repeated or read aloud evenings and mornings in the homes for the children and servants, in order to train them as Christians. Nor should they only learn to say the words by rote. But they should be questioned point by point and give answer what each part means and how they understand it. If everything cannot be covered at once, let one point be taken up today, and tomorrow another. If parents and guardians won’t take the trouble to do this, either themselves or through others, there never will be a catechism, except a separate congregation be organized as stated above."
--Luther's Words, AE53:64-65.
"Christ, to train men, had to become man himself. If we wish to train children, we must become children with them. Would to God such child’s play were widely practiced. In a short time we would have a wealth of Christian people whose souls would be so enriched in Scripture and in the knowledge of God that of their own accord they would add more pockets, just as the Loci Communes, and comprehend all Scripture in them. Otherwise, people can go to church daily and come away the same as they went. For they think they need only listen at the time, without any thought of learning or remembering anything. Many a man listens to sermons for three or four years and does not retain enough to give a single answer concerning his faith–as I experience daily. Enough has been written in books, yes; but it has not been driven home to the hearts."
--Luther, AE53:67.
It is not we who call ourselves Lutherans. Rather, our adversaries call us that. We allow this to the extent that this title is an indication of the consensus that our churches have with the orthodox and catholic doctrine that Luther set forth from Holy Writ. Therefore we allow ourselves to be named after Luther, not as the inventor of a new faith but as the asserter of the old faith and the cleanser of the church from the stains of Papist dogmas. Consequently, we also do not reject the names “Christian” and “catholic,” nor do we render ourselves unworthy of it by the approval of any heretical dogma, as did the Arians. Nestorians, Eutychians, etc. Rather, we called "Christians" from Christ as the only Author and Teacher of our faith. We are called "catholics" from our consensus with the catholic faith. We are called "Lutherans" from Luther as the asserter and defender of that faith, but especially as the reformer whom God raised up.
Johann Gerhard, Theological Commonplace, XXV.
And here comes Jesus—with no lecture, no conditions, no delay— “Take heart, son. Your sins are forgiven.” That’s not just a kind word. That’s a word that changes everything. That’s a word that moves you from death to life. We might think Jesus got it wrong—this man came for healing, and Jesus gave forgiveness. But that’s the point. Forgiveness is the healing. The real sickness isn’t in the legs; it’s in the heart. It’s the sin that separates us from God. And Jesus cuts straight to it. This isn’t Jesus showing off for the Pharisees or using the man as an object lesson. No, He loves him. He loves him enough to give him what matters most: peace with God.
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The Marks of a Living Church:
Faith – receiving the Word with the Spirit’s power.
Love – laboring for neighbor amid affliction.
Hope – steadfastly waiting for Christ’s return.
Election – grounded in Christ, not in speculation.
Conversion – turning from false gods to the living God.
As Gerhard writes, “Where these three—faith, love, and hope—flourish, there the Church is alive, for Christ Himself dwells there through the Spirit.”
Sunday’s OT and Epistle—Isaiah 44:21–23; Eph 4:22-28
https://youtube.com/live/qYiXWqpVVkc413: Debrief on the Bondage of the Will
https://youtube.com/live/XWES5fJM7IwThe Flood—Rain for Forty Days and Forty Nights—Gen. 7:1-24
https://youtube.com/live/_hyMzmJsZ1sThe Flood—Wickedness of Man; God’s Judgment—Gen. 6:5-22
https://youtube.com/live/J6_sf-VvxkgYou want to talk about weeds? Look at the cross. There’s the Lord of the harvest—hanging among the weeds, counted as one of them, so He could raise up a field of wheat. He took our impatience, our distrust, our self-appointed judgment. He took it all into the ground, and on the third day, the true Wheat sprouted from the soil—first-fruits of a new creation. Now He’s at work in you. In this messy, mixed-up field we call the church, He’s working through His Word, watering you with baptism, feeding you with His body and blood, forgiving, pruning, reshaping, keeping the wheat alive until harvest.
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"Let then every Christian take warning against the agitations of the socialists and communists. Their aim is a Fata Morgana, i.e., a brilliant airy appearance, like a fairy castle. The pilgrim makes one more effort to reach this castle. He finally reaches the place where the bewitching atmospheric appearance was seen. And behold, it is gone, and the deceived wanderer is now surrounded with a darkness and trouble all the more dreary."
- C.F.W. Walther, 1879.
Luther wrote, “Thus, even in worldly government, you can serve your lord or your city better by training children than by building him castles and cities and gathering the treasures of the whole world; for what good does all that do if there are no learned, wise, and godly people? I shall say nothing of the temporal gain and eternal reward that accrue to you before God and the world, how in this way your child will be even better fed than by raising him in the shameful, despicable, hoggish way you had intended. But I shall deal with this matter more fully another time in a separate book, God willing, in which I shall really go after the shameful, despicable, damnable parents who are no parents at all but despicable hogs and venomous beasts, devouring their own young.”
Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 46: The Christian in Society III, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1999), 210–211.
Now you belong to that love. You live from that love. You give what you’ve received — not perfectly, but faithfully. Because the one who loves you doesn’t keep score. He doesn’t measure your worth. He gives Himself to you over and over — in preaching, in baptism, in the Supper — until His love fills every empty space in your heart.
That’s how you learn to love your neighbor — not by trying harder, but by being filled with Christ. You can’t give what you don’t have. You can’t love from emptiness. But Christ gives you Himself — His body, His blood, His forgiveness, His Spirit — so that His love becomes yours.
View article →Thessalonians: Introduction — October 19, 2025
"According to the IMF, global currency reserves are at $7.1 trillion and $2.5 trillion euros now. These reserves are devalued at an annual rate of about 8 percent. Moreover, they can be confiscated or stolen any time if the United States dislikes something in the policy of the states involved....
According to analysts' estimates, conversion of global reserves will begin just because there is no room for them with such shortages. They will be converted from weakening currencies into real resources like food, energy commodities, and other raw materials. Other countries will be doing this, of course. Obviously, this process will further fuel global dollar inflation."
June 17th, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Because the truth endures when the world forgets. The Word stands firm when everything else falls. And the glory of God — the crucified, risen, forgiving Jesus — is still shining, still calling, still healing, still saving. So look to Him. Not to the crowd. Not to the opinions of others. Look to the One Isaiah saw, the One lifted up for your salvation. Look to His cross, His wounds, His mercy. That’s the glory that matters. That’s the glory that lasts.
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